Toshiba TG01 Review

December 17th, 2010 | Mobile Phones, Touchscreen

The Toshiba TG01 is a stylish handset, which offers one of the largest touch-screens currently on the market, at 4.1 inches.  However, due to the large size of its screen, this handset is not as pocket-seized and lightweight as many of its competitors.

What It Offers
This handset offers unique web-browsing facilities, which allow you to scroll around webpages with extreme ease and efficiency.  This handset also offers sat-nav.  The effects of the large screen bolster both the internet and the sat-nav.  Like all other phones, this phone also offers a built-in camera for that Kodak moment when you are on the go.  Another great quality of this phone is the long-life battery, which lasts all day after just one hour of charging.  It is therefore a great phone if you are constantly on the go.

Drawbacks
The Toshiba TG01 does not make use of Android technology.  It uses Windows interface, which we found sluggish and slow to use.  Additionally, the screens capability is not good enough to not require a stylus.  However, with such a mammoth screen you should be able to simply use your hands.  Users of this phone have also complained about its huge size, and how it is simply not practical to carry around all day.

Overall
Overall, although we rate this phone for its web-browsing facilities and its sat-nav, there are many drawbacks to this phone.  If you require something, which offers extreme reliability, then this phone is probably not the one for you.

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Mobile Broadband Internet Connection Options

December 14th, 2010 | Broadband, Mobile Broadband, Mobile Phones, Wireless Devices

Many people are looking to be able to connect to the internet no matter where they are.  Bulky desktop computers are being replaced by sleek and portable laptops.  Thick binder planners are being replaced by tiny PDAs.  Even mobile phones have the ability to get online.  As mobile broadband popularity grows, the options to get mobile are also growing.  There are a few devices to consider using for your mobile broadband needs.

Use the mobile phone data network to access the internet with your laptop.  Most UK network operators, such as O2 broadband, Virgin Media broadband, and Sky broadband offer USB data modems that plug right into a USB port on a laptop to provide high-speed access to the 3G data network.  The USB plugs are very small and can be left plugged into a laptop both when in use, and while packed into a carry case or bag.

Many people may not be aware that a mobile phone with broadband connection can be used as a modem.  Your broadband provider may need to enable 3G or GPRS data access on the phone.  Then, use a USB cable, Infra-red, or Bluetooth to connect the mobile phone to the laptop.  Your laptop should then be able to get online through the mobile phone.

With the growing popularity of the internet, many businesses offer free internet service to their customers, via Wi-Fi.  Others have Wi-Fi, but charge a fee for usage.  With a Wi-Fi enabled laptop, visit a local Wi-Fi hotspot, such as a coffee shop, fast food restaurant, airport, or shopping centre to access the internet.

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Dell Venue Pro Review

December 8th, 2010 | Dell, Mobile Phones, Touchscreen

The Dell Venue Pro has a slide out Qwerty keypad, a 4.1 inch touchscreen and runs on Windows Phone 7.  Vodafone offer a Dell Venue Pro deal on a 24-month contract for only £30 per month, including a free handset, 600 minutes and unlimited texts.  The Dell Venue Pro has a large touchscreen that is reinforced with scratch-resistant Gorilla Glass.  The camera included in the Dell Venue Pro has 5-megapixel resolution with an LED flash.  Users will be able to download apps and games from the Windows Marketplace as well as accessing their Windows Live and Xbox Live accounts.

Dell Venue Pro reviews say that it is neat-looking and the Qwety keyboard, though in an unusual position, is comfortable.  However, they reckon it is a little on the bulky side.  The phone should appeal to business users who need to regularly email from their phones.

The 4.1-inch display works very well with Windows Phone 7, but does make for a bulky phone, unlike the slim Samsung Omna 7 and HTC models, which also use Windows Phone 7 OS.  The Qwerty keyboard slides from underneath the display and each key is small, but easy to use.  The Dell Venue Pro is a great intermediate phone for people moving from a BlackBerry with keyboard, to a touchscreen phone.

The operating system offers music streaming with Zune Pass at £9 per month and Xbox Live integration for games.  There are also Office features and Outlook integration.

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What is the Best Type of Broadband Internet?

December 2nd, 2010 | Broadband, Mobile Broadband

There are three main types of broadband available in the UK; cable, ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) and Satellite.  Broadband providers may offer you a choice, but which should you select?  Broadband packages are many and varied and your selection will depend on your individual circumstances, speed requirements, download limits and of course, pricing.

Cable

Cable broadband is potentially the fastest variety, and generally easy to install.  If you already have a cable TV package, your provider will probably be happy to add broadband to your services as part of the bundle.  However, availability is not UK-wide, and is usually limited to highly populated areas.

ADSL

ADSL is the next step up from the old dial-up connection, it runs over telephone cables and uses the same line as the home phone, but is separated in most cases by a ‘splitter’ or micro filter so that both can be used at once.  It is widely available, cheaper than cable or satellite, and often available as a single service.  It is generally slower than cable, however.

Satellite

Satellite connections are not common, and generally only used by people in rural or remote areas who cannot obtain any other type of broadband.  A special dish has to be installed for satellite broadband, and these can be very costly, and take some time to install.  Speeds are incredibly variable, and bad weather can easily cut you off.  However, as a last resort, this service is available anywhere in the UK.

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BlackBerry Bold 9780 Review

December 1st, 2010 | Blackberry, Mobile Phone Reviews, Mobile Phones

The BlackBerry Bold 9780 uses the Blackberry OS6 operating system, which allows access to the best applications from the home screen and has an updated browser and media player.  The Qwerty keyboard is excellent and the angled keys allow for rapid use.  There are some very good BlackBerry Bold 9780 deals around; Orange offer a free handset with 700 minutes and unlimited texts on a 24-month contract for only £32.50 per month.

The screen is very small compared to other smartphones, but the new browser, with the auto-column functions, means that the user does not have to keep scrolling to read an article; it is much faster than the previous OS version.

The camera is faster than the Bold 9700, as well as having a very good 5-megapixel resolution.  There is also a Social Feeds app, which collects everything from BlackBerry Messenger, Facebook, Twitter and RSS feeds.  There are not as many apps available from BlackBerry as Apple, but there are some good quality ones, though they might be very expensive.

The BlackBerry Bold 9700 has a solid build quality and the universal search, though powerful, is now beginning to feel outdated.  BlackBerry 6 OS works better with touchscreen and the video recording is poor.

The BlackBerry Bold 9700 will remain popular with its current fans, especially business users, but will probably lose sales to the iPhone 4, HTC Desire HD and Samsung Omnia 7, especially for anyone looking for touchscreen rather than Qwerty keyboards and more and better apps.

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Palm Pre 2 Smartphone Review

November 28th, 2010 | Mobile Phone Reviews, Mobile Phones, Palm, Touchscreen

In this technological age, there is always plenty of mobile phone news around.  This means that anyone looking at mobile phone reviews with a view to finding information about the latest mobile phones may wonder where to begin.  If you are looking for a smartphone then the Palm Pre 2 could be the one for you.

Looking good with a 3.1” multi-touch glass display and Qwerty keyboard that slides out, key features of the Palm Pre 2 include multi-tasking, which allows the user to easily switch between a variety of displays.  By using a card stack of applications you could be playing a game, stop playing to check an email and return to the game without having to close a task.

As with many new mobile phones, the Palm Pre 2 has a range of features, including Bluetooth wireless technology, WiFi functionality, wireless connectivity and built in GPS.  Using the HP web OS 2.0 operating system, social networking functions can be used for Facebook, Google, Yahoo and several others.  A 5-megapixel camera includes built in flash and geo tagging, while a range of audio and video formats can be used, including MP3, WAV and MPEG-4.  The battery provides 5½ hours of talk time and 16GB of memory.

At the time of writing the Palm Pre 2 is not yet available in the shops, but it is expected to be released very soon, when it should be able to hold its own amongst the latest mobile phones hitting the pre-Christmas market.

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A Simple Guide to Finding the Right Broadband

November 26th, 2010 | Broadband, Wireless Devices

Increasing numbers of people are seeing the value of having a broadband internet connection.  If you are thinking of joining them but don’t know what to look for, here are some helpful hints to guide you in the right direction when investigating what is on offer in the broadband UK market.

There any many broadband providers offering different packages, so it is helpful to know what you intend doing online.  If you are new to the internet then you will probably want to take it one step at a time and will be going online for general surfing of the web and sending emails.  Anyone doing a broadband comparison of services on offer will see different packages, often based on the speed of connection and download limits.  A low speed and a small download limit should be fine for beginners.  Once you have found your feet and feel ready for more advanced usage, such as downloading songs and videos or playing games online, you will need a faster speed and a higher download limit.  Generally speaking the more activity you carry out online, the more you will benefit from faster connection speeds and higher download limits.

Another factor to consider when making any broadband comparison is the contract length.  Some broadband providers may offer a better price on a longer contract, but you should consider whether the same contract will be suitable for you in, say, 18 months, especially if you are an internet beginner who may well require more than the package offers in future.

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Sony Ericsson Elm Overview

November 23rd, 2010 | Mobile Phone Reviews, Mobile Phones, Sony Ericsson

The number of mobile phone news articles to feature eco friendly new mobile phones is usually fairly minimal, but a few of the latest releases do offer something to users for whom green issues are important.  One such phone is the Sony Ericsson Elm.

Made from recycled plastics that do not use hazardous chemicals, the Elm is part of the Sony Ericsson Greenheart range.  Other green features include a low power charger, eco friendly apps, an e-manual and reduced packaging.  Eco friendly apps include the Walk Mate Eco, which monitors the level of carbon saved by walking instead of driving and a ‘Green Calculator’, which displays your level of carbon emissions.

Moving on from its green attributes, the Sony Ericsson Elm has plenty to offer in the way of features for users who are about to compare mobile phones, before making a final decision on which to purchase.  Among the most useful are a 5-megapixel camera, including LED flash and video recording; GPS, including Google Maps, Wi-Fi, 2.2” touchscreen and Bluetooth.  The 280MB internal memory can be expanded up to 16GB with a microSD card.

Dals for prospective users looking for cheap mobile phones inevitably require taking out fairly long contracts. O2 offer the cheapest way of obtaining a free Sony Ericsson Elm with a 24-months contract costing £10.00 per month.  A similar deal with Orange will cost £25.00 per month, as will a contract with Vodafone.  T-Mobile also offer a free Sony Ericsson Elm handset with their 24-month contract, which costs £25.00 per month.  The cheapest price for a handset on Pay As You Go is with T-Mobile, which costs £49.90.

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Samsung Wave 575 Review

November 21st, 2010 | Mobile Phone Reviews, Mobile Phones, Samsung, Touchscreen

If you are looking at the latest mobile phones and do not know what to choose, then a good starting point could be the Samsung Wave 575, which is a development from the previous Samsung Wave 525 and Wave 533.  The main difference from earlier Wave models, for anyone seeking to compare mobile phones, is that the 575 has G HSDPA support, whereas the Wave 525 and Wave 533 have quad-band GSM/EDGE support.

Running on the BADA OS system, the Samsung Wave 575 has a 3.2” touchscreen and a 3.1-megapixel camera with geo tagging and video recording.  Media playback features include MP3 and WAV formats.  As the Samsung Wave 575 runs on BADA it is not compatible with the rest of the android market, but there are many different apps available from the Samsung App Store.  For example, the Touchwiz 3.0 interface will allow users to browse the internet using a Dolphin 2.0 web browser.

As with most other new mobile phones, the Samsung Wave 575 offers users the ability to play games and even download them.  GPS, predictive text, image editor, organiser and bluetooth capability are also present.

At the time of writing the Samsung Wave 575 is about to be released onto the market, so there are no mobile phone deals being advertised for it.  However, you can be sure that as soon as it is available it will join the many contract mobile phones offered free to users taking out extended contracts.

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Palm Pixi Plus Review

November 18th, 2010 | Mobile Phone Reviews, Palm

Palm’s webOS has proven popular with users who really use their phone mainly to communicate.  Palm’s recent webOS based phones make for easy calling, texting and emailing.  Part of the charm is the consistent quality of the built-in QWERTY keyboards common to Palm phones, and the Palm Pixi Plus is no exception.

The Palm Pixi Plus has its main strength in the comfortable, full keyboard at the bottom of the handset.  This is complemented by a bright, sizable screen that goes a long way to showing why the Palm webOS touch-screen interface has won so much praise.  The smooth email interface and the QWERTY keyboard makes composing emails BlackBerry-style a cinch.

On the other hand, webOS 1.0 is old mobile phone news and is not going to excite anyone keen on running the latest apps on their phone.  In addition, the 2-megapixel camera is not really capable of taking usable pictures.  Battery life is also disappointing; with many users reporting that they can’t get through a day’s work on a full charge.

When you read mobile phone reviews, it is often all about the extra features, capacity for apps, camera quality and so on, yet many people who buy phones do so to communicate, and not to play.  In that case, this Palm Pixi Plus review leans towards giving the handset a thumbs-up for making communicating easy.

Palm Pixi Plus deals are a little hard to find, but 02 offers the handset free of charge from £25 per month.

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