Mobile Phones News Blog

The Nokia Lumia 710 was announced alongside the Lumia 800 at Nokia World back in October, but at the time it wasn’t given a launch date here in the UK. The phone has subsequently been released in some international markets, and confirmed as the first Nokia Windows Phone to make it to the USA, where it’ll launch on the T-Mobile network.

However, today there’s some good news for anyone wanting the mid-range Nokia Windows Phone handset, as a ‘coming soon‘ page for the Lumia 710 has appeared on the Three network’s website. While the page doesn’t offer a date for the phone’s arrival, its appearance suggests we’ll be seeing the device sometime early next year.

While not as outright sexy as the Lumia 800, the Lumia 710 shares many of its bigger brother’s features. For example, a 1.4GHz Snapdragon processor keeps things running very smoothly, while Windows Phone 7.5 Mango is displayed on a 3.7-inch, 480 x 800 pixel touchscreen – but instead of an AMOLED panel, it’s a standard TFT.

The main differences are with the camera, which has 5 megapixels instead of 8, and an internal memory of 8GB rather than the Lumia 800′s 16GB. On the software side, Lumia 710 owners will still have Nokia Music and Nokia Drive, along with access to the Windows Martketplace application store.

Those interested in an affordable Windows Phone 7 handset, who don’t want to wait for the Lumia 710 to arrive, could also check out the Radar, a similarly featured phone from HTC.

Rumours are spreading that Google is planning to launch its Google Wallet wireless payment system in the UK, just in time for the 2012 Olympics. Introduced back in May, Google Wallet remains a US-only service, however the French newspaper Les Echos says Google is opening up its Wallet for a trial in London.

The trial is said to take place during the first quarter of the year, ready to go live in the capital for the Olympic Games at the end of July. A number of banks, retailers and companies are talking to Google, with the report specifically mentioning Ingenico by name. This is an important point, as Ingenico sells retail payment terminals and already dabbles in mobile payment solutions, although only from the merchant’s side.

Google Wallet is one of the highest profile attempts to introduce NFC-based wireless payments into the West, although the UK already has several network-led trials for rival services, including a collaboration between O2, Orange, T-Mobile and Vodafone. Google’s Wallet is exclusive to the Sprint network in the USA, so it’ll be interesting to see which network (or potentially, networks) they partner with should this rumour pan out.

Then there’s the question of compatible phones. Google Wallet launched on the 4G Galaxy Nexus S, which isn’t available here in the UK, however a custom ROM has proved that Google Wallet can operate on the new Galaxy Nexus phone too, although once again the test mule was a 4G device.

As exciting as it sounds for Google Wallet to hit the UK in the next few months, it’s the phone compatibility issue that sounds most problematic. Are there enough Galaxy Nexus’s out there to hold a proper trial, and to make it worthwhile during the Olympics? Or will Google open the service up to other manufacturers such as Nokia, who has several NFC-ready phones in their range? We’ll have to wait until Google officially speaks out for the answers.

Almost half of all British holidaymakers have admitted to using their smartphones whilst on holiday, despite the potential to return home to a hefty bill.

A survey conducted this week by World Travel Market indicates that 48% of British holidaymakers tend to use their smartphones whilst abroad, despite the weighty roaming charges levied by network providers.

Despite the astonishing number of people who still use their mobiles abroad, 42% of those questioned said they did not use their phone on holiday due to an awareness of high roaming charges, which can reach up to £3 per gigabyte of data.

Although EU regulations restrict the cost of calls and data usage whilst using mobile roaming across much of Europe, users can still run up excessive charges for data roaming.

Charges for roaming outside the EU remain unrestricted and last week, one British holidaymaker returned home to a bill of more than £4,000 following a trip to the USA.

Thirty year-old Robin Baynes, on the advice of Orange, purchased a £6 data bundle which he believed would allow him unlimited data usage whilst abroad, only to find a bill of £4,180.83 when he returned to the UK. Orange has since admitted to misadvising Baynes and has reduced the bill, with a warning that holidaymakers should “call customer services before travelling abroad to find out about the charges and services available.”

There are other measures that can be taken before getting on the flight, to ensure that users don’t rack up their phone bill:

• Rather than making a call, consider sending a text. It is often cheaper to send a text and many networks allow you to receive a text whilst abroad without charge.
• Switching off ‘data roaming’ means that your mobile phone won’t spend a fortune on your behalf. Many mobile apps (such as push email and notifications) can connect to the internet periodically without your knowledge.
• Finally, and perhaps most obviously, turn off your mobile.

Almost half of all British holidaymakers have admitted to using their smartphones whilst on holiday, despite the potential to return home to a hefty bill.

A survey conducted this week by World Travel Market indicates that 48% of British holidaymakers tend to use their smartphones whilst abroad, despite the weighty roaming charges levied by network providers.

Despite the astonishing number of people who still use their mobiles abroad, 42% of those questioned said they did not use their phone on holiday due to an awareness of high roaming charges, which can reach up to £3 per gigabyte of data.

Although EU regulations restrict the cost of calls and data usage whilst using mobile roaming across much of Europe, users can still run up excessive charges for data roaming.

Charges for roaming outside the EU remain unrestricted and last week, one British holidaymaker returned home to a bill of more than £4,000 following a trip to the USA.

Thirty year-old Robin Baynes, on the advice of Orange, purchased a £6 data bundle which he believed would allow him unlimited data usage whilst abroad, only to find a bill of £4,180.83 when he returned to the UK. Orange has since admitted to misadvising Baynes and has reduced the bill, with a warning that holidaymakers should “call customer services before travelling abroad to find out about the charges and services available.”

There are other measures that can be taken before getting on the flight, to ensure that users don’t rack up their phone bill:

• Rather than making a call, consider sending a text. It is often cheaper to send a text and many networks allow you to receive a text whilst abroad without charge.
• Switching off ‘data roaming’ means that your mobile phone won’t spend a fortune on your behalf. Many mobile apps (such as push email and notifications) can connect to the internet periodically without your knowledge.
• Finally, and perhaps most obviously, turn off your mobile.

Following the announcement of Google Android Ice Cream Sandwich, you may recall HTC sending out a statement advising their users they were examining their range to see which devices would be getting an upgrade.

Now, once again via their official Facebook page, they’ve listed the first set of handsets which will be blessed with the latest version of Android. There are seven devices in all, but before you get too excited only four of them are available in the UK.

If you own an HTC Sensation, a Sensation XL, a Sensation XE or an HTC EVO 3D then Ice Cream Sandwich will be headed towards your phone in ‘early 2012′. In the USA the brand-new HTC Rezound will be seeing the upgrade along with the HTC Amaze 4G and the HTC Evo Design 4G too.

Owners of HTC phones not mentioned shouldn’t give up hope just yet, as the statement adds the company is ‘continuing to assess their product portfolio’ and that details on other updates and the timing of those already announced will be coming soon.

Here in the UK we’ve already seen the announcement of the first two HTC phones with Beats by Dr. Dre branding, the HTC Sensation XE and the Sensation XL. These two smartphone giants are already available too, but it has been a different story in the USA, where they’ve only just seen their first Beats customised handset, the HTC Rezound.

Yes, that is how they’re spelling the name and no, we’re not quite sure why either. The Rezound seems to take several styling cues from the Sensation XE, but adds some very interesting technical specs to the package.

The phone has a 4.3-inche  touchscreen with a ‘true HD’ 720p resolution, that’s 720 x 1280, and should provide a beautifully clear and sharp image given the relative (well, in comparison to the Sensation XL) small size of the screen. Inside a 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon S3 processor and 1GB RAM keep things moving, and Android 2.3 Gingerbread is its operating system.

HTC say the’ll be upgrading the phone to the latest Ice Cream Sandwich version of Android early next year, plus of course HTC Sense will be placed over the top.  An 8 megapixel camera with dual-LED flash and 1080p video recording sits on the rear of the device, plus there’s also DLNA support, Bluetooth 3.0, Wi-Fi, 16GB of internal memory, a microSD card slot, GPS and HDMI-out. Inside the box, Rezound owners will find a pair of Beats in-ear headphones too.

The Rezound is a Verizon exclusive device in the USA and will connect to their fast 4G LTE network, so we won’t be seeing the same device over here. However, the slimmer and equally powerful Sensation XE or its bigger brother the Sensation XL should make up for its absence!

Renting movies for your phone or tablet through the Android Market was announced during Google’s I/O conference earlier in the year, however like many new Google initiatives, it was only available in the USA.

There’s good news for Android-owning movie fans in the UK this morning though, as Android Movies has gone live on our shores too. The library has around 1000 films on offer at this early stage, including new titles such as Senna and Green Lantern, plus some older catalogue titles.

Pricing is reasonable, with films costing between £2.49 and £3.49 to rent depending on their age, and they’re viable for 30 days on your device; however once you start watching it’ll expire in 48 hours.

To gain mobile access to the movie store, you’ll need to download the free Video app for Android, or you can browse via the web store. Downloads will work over both Wi-Fi and 3G and if your phone or tablet has an HDMI-out, you can watch the film on a bigger screen too.

It’s always good to see Google expanding previously US-only services to the UK, and if you’ve already given it a try, let us know what you think about Android Movies in the comments.

While we were all safely tucked up in bed last night, Google and Samsung were holding an event in Hong Kong, where they unveiled the long-awaited Galaxy Nexus smartphone and the equally long-awaited Android Ice Cream Sandwich operating system.

Known over the past months as the Nexus Prime, Samsung and Google have chosen to merge their Nexus and Galaxy smartphone brands to create the new device, Samsung’s second all-Google phone after the Nexus S.

Nexus hardware is Google’s showcase for Android, which always appears without any manufacturer UIs or carrier interferance, thus providing a pure Android experience. Not only is this great for developers, but it’s also welcome for fans who want to use the software Google designed without compromise.

Android fans may recall Motorola gave us their ‘best smartphone on the planet’, the Droid RAZR, yesterday; so how does the Galaxy Nexus stack up against it?  While some aspects of the Galaxy Nexus beat the RAZR on paper, there are others which don’t quite stack up.  Here’s the feature list:

• A 4.65″ Super AMOLED HD touchscreen with a 1280 x 700 pixel resolution.
• 5 megapixel camera with 1080p video recording, plus a 1.3 megapixel video-call lens.
• A 1.2Ghz dual-core processor.
• 1GB RAM.
• Either 16GB or 32GB internal memory.
• Bluetooth 3.0 and Wi-Fi.
• NFC.

In the USA the Galaxy Nexus will run on an as yet unconfirmed network, while in the UK and elsewhere it’ll connect to fast HSPA+ networks, just like the iPhone 4S.  The chassis is another of Samsung’s exercises in squeezing as much cutting-edge tech into the slimmest design possible, and at just 8.9mm thick, they’ve done another amazing job.

The Galaxy Nexus retains the Nexus S’s curved screen design, but does away with screen mounted buttons entirely, using instead a system called ‘hyperskin’ where the usual Search, Back and Home keys are software-driven and part of the screen.  The design itself is very similar to the Nexus S, just a little bigger.

The massive screen should look good though, as Samsung are renowned for producing sharp, clear and bright displays, and that HD resolution should make the Galaxy Nexus perfect for video.  Inside is a 1.2GHz processor made by Texas Instruments, which is slightly more restrained than some expected, especially given the appearance of 1.5Ghz dual-core chips recently. The 5 megapixel camera may sound very 2009, but thanks to some new software it could perform very well.  Judgement will be reserved until it arrives.

But few will be basing their purchasing decision on the hardware alone, and it’s the presence of the newest Google Android OS which will make the phone desirable. Android 4.0, named Ice Cream Sandwich, has seen a redesign over Gingerbread and comes with a host of tweaks rather than a lot of brand new features.

The Samsung Galaxy Nexus will go on sale in November, and it’s going to be very interesting to see whether the software and massive screen is enough to entice Android fans away from the wafer-thin RAZR.