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Posts Tagged ‘Mobile Phone’

The Dangers of High Costs for Data on Smartphones when abroad

Posted by Admin on June 2nd, 2010 No Comments

With the World Cupjust around the corner, many Football Fans will be travelling to South Africa to watch the event, and with SmartPhones becoming an important part of everyday life many fans will be expecting to use the mobile Internet to keep in contact with Friends and Family, but will they be aware of the costs.

Many smart phone users won’t be aware of the huge difference in costs for mobile data when using their device on a roaming network, but as highlighted by the Customer Focus Website, even uploading a single picture to Facebook can prove to be expensive.

To upload a meg picture in South Africa will cost the following for contract users:

  • 3UK – £1.25
  • 02 - £6
  • Orange £8
  • T-Mobile  – £7.50
  • Tesco – £8
  • Virgin £5
  • Vodafone – Currently £14.99  From 15/06/10 £3

Theres a massive difference in price across suppliers so anyone heading to the World Cup should shop around. 

On an important side note, any Windows users who are using the Mobile Internet when working abroad should turn off Windows Updates – otherwise they may unwittingly pick up a massive bill.


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Posted in Technology

The Samsung Galaxy Portal with Augmented Reality is launched in the UK

Posted by Admin on March 31st, 2010 No Comments

3UK have launched the Samsung Galaxy Portal smartphone  into the UK Market.

The 13.2mm thick Samsung Galaxy Portal comes  with the Android Operating System (Version 1.5) which whilst not the most up to date version is certainly polished, powerful and easy to use.

Augmented Reality is finding a home on the new wave of Smartphones and The Samsung Galaxy Portal features Layar – the popular augmented reality application which combines the phone’s camera, compass and GPS data to gives you information about where you are like your nearest petrol station or cash point.

Android provides plenty of customisation options and the Samsung Galaxy Portal provides 10 home screen for your applications and Widgets, show your iPhone owning friends android widgets and watch them turn green with Envy.

Whilst there are other more powerful Android phones out there, this handset provides a cost effective way to enter the Android market.

The Samsung Galaxy Portal is available from 3UK in red & black or white & green from £20 a month with unlimited internet, texts and 200 anytime any network minutes on a 24month contract and costs £184 on Pay As You Go.


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Posted in Technology

Using Google Latitude to find your friends

Posted by Admin on March 21st, 2010 No Comments

Google Latitude is a tool that lets you see the location of your friends on your computer or Mobile phone using the Latitude App.

Google offers Latitude tools for several mobile phones but we have been testing the Google Latitude Widget on Android.

The Android Widget runs on one of your phones home screens and uses the most up to date location data available, eg GPS, or Mobile Mast location, to automatically update the Latitude service with your where abouts.

Your friends can then see your location on their device or by using the iGoogle widget on their computer.

The app works great although you will notice an extra drain on your mobile phone battery, this is a perfect tool for finding your friends


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Posted in Technology

Telegraph news Android App – get the latest news straight to your mobile

Posted by Admin on February 21st, 2010 No Comments

With so many apps now available for most mobile devices it’s hard to spot the good apps from the not so good apps, so if it helps, as we find a useful app we will share it with you here.

Today’s app is the Telegraph App available free of charge from the Android Market

There’s currently an uproar from the printed press about the BBC’s plans to launch a free app which will provide news feeds to users, but the functionality is already available, free of charge through the fantastic Telegraph App.

Delivering all the top news from the Telegraph.co.uk website,  over either Wifi or Mobile data,  straight to your Android Mobile Phone (eg the HTC Desire, Google G1 etc) , this fantastic app becomes a virtual newspaper and  is the only tool you will ever need to keep you in the loop.

You will certainly never need to buy a news paper again.

The video below shows the Telegraph application in action.



Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/netbookjohn

Posted in Technology

3 release the Nokia 5230

Posted by Admin on February 12th, 2010 No Comments

3 have added the Nokia 5230 smartphone to their range of  mobile phones, for both their Contract and Pay As You Go customers.

In addition  to the standard Skype, Windows Live Messenger and Email apps that come with 3 handsets, the touch screen Nokia 5230 features an integrated Facebook application with access to live feeds and photo uploader and a Twitter application so you can send and view tweets easily.

Running the Symbian operating system the user interface will be familiar to those users who have used Nokia smartphones before, and as well as being easy to use, there are many apps readily available, from Internet browsers to GPS mapping applications.

3 have also made the Symbian version of Spotify available to it’s user, for an additional monthly service Nokia users get access to the premium version of the music streaming application. Previously this application was only available to owners of the HTC Hero, so it’s go to see 3 expanding this service.

If you are looking for an easy to use introduction to multimedia smartphones, on a mobile data friendly network, and at a reasonable price then check out the Nokia 5230 from 3.

The following video shows the Nokia 5230 in action.



Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/netbookjohn

Posted in Technology

Sony Ericsson to release an Android Phone, the Xperia X10, in 2010

Posted by Admin on November 4th, 2009 No Comments

rachel-sonyericsson226
Sony Ericsson are set to launch their first Android phone, the Xperia X10 AKA Rachel, in the first quarter of 2010. The X10 runs version 1.6 of Android and inside has a 1Ghz Snapdragon processor from US chip firm Qualcomm, the user interface will be optimised to support social networking applications. The built in camesony-ericsson-xperia-x10-Androidra will be better then most cameras found in  Android phones weighing in  at an impressive 8.1 megapixels, and the unit also boasts a large 4-inch capacitive touch display with a 480×854 pixel resolution.  The X10 follows the recent trend in the smart phone market to target fans of Social networking sites and Sony Ericsson are hoping that the X10 will win back some of the market share that they lost in recent times.


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Posted in Uncategorized

Google to Launch Google Maps Navigation for Android 2.0

Posted by Admin on October 29th, 2009 No Comments

mobile_logo Google are set to launch an update to their Google Maps Application, which will add full turn by turn GPS voice guided navigation functionality.

nav-overview-5The application, which will rival the functionality of traditional sat nav devices, eg TomTom and Garmin, will be included free of charge with version 2.0 of Google’s Android Operating System and will also include speech control.

Google’s web site outlines the following features:

# Search in plain English. No need to know the address. You can type a business name or even a kind of a business, just like you would on Google.

# Search by voice. Speak your destination instead of typing (English only): “Navigate to the de Young Museum in San Francisco”.
# Traffic view. An on-screen indicator glows green, yellow, or red based on the current traffic conditions along your route. A single touch toggles a traffic view which shows the traffic ahead of you.
# Search along route. Search for any kind of business along your route, or turn onnav-overview-8 popular layers such as gas stations, restaurants, or parking.
# Satellite view . View your route overlaid on 3D satellite views with Google’s high-resolution aerial imagery.
# Street View. Visualize turns overlaid on Google’s Street View imagery. Navigation automatically switches to Street View as you approach your destination.

A video of Google Maps Navigation can be seen below



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Posted in Technology

3UK Launch Unlimited Mobile Spotify Service in the UK

Posted by Admin on October 22nd, 2009 No Comments

Hero_Spotify_Angle3UK are preparing to launch an unlimited Spotify mobile service in November, which will allow their customers to access the streaming music service through their mobile phone handsets.

Initially available to 3 customers with the HTC Hero handset, the tariff will include access to the popular music streaming service, which normally costs £10 per month.

3 have released some pricing details for uk customers: The service is provided on  a £35  per month tariff on a 2 year contract and you will need to pay £99 upfront for the HTC Hero handset.


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Posted in Music

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