It’s been two year since Google chose a Taiwanese electronics manufacturer to develop its first mobile phone based on its ‘Android’ OS. The Company was directed to reproduce the mobile device in large piece. All thanks to the name it created for itself design of proven devices and building of unique mobile phones.

An executive of Google in the name of Rich Miner has shown the prototype of the Google’s new mobile device to a handful of Boston entrepreneurs and venture capitalists, to which most of them have signed nondisclosure agreements. A number of people have seen the prototype of the new mobile device from Google. Paul Ferri, a founder of the Waltham venture capital firm Matrix Partners, has seen it, Dan Roth, the president of Voice Signal, a division of Nuance Communication Inc, which specializes on speech recognition technology for cell phones has seen it too.

Erin Fors who happens to be Google spokeswoman informed that “Mobile is an important focus for Google globally, and the team is reflective of that focus – there are people around the world working on a variety of Google mobile products.

The prototype has been praised for being able to scroll through icons horizontally, allowing different numbers of features easily accessible despite the limited screen by an entrepreneur who has seen the phone. Another entrepreneur who saw the prototype of the phone earlier this year described three-dimensional, animated buttons on the screen and a QWERTY keyboard. In August 2009, the wall street journal report accounted that Google had invested hundreds of millions of dollars in its mobile phone project, hoping that several manufacturers will build the phones while multiple carriers will assist in the distribution, with Google handling the supply of the software and probably delivering adverts to the devices.

Google’s Android OS has already been a massive hit on phones like the HTC Hero and T-Mobile Pulse, so we all have high hopes for a handset produced by Google. Let’s just hope it lives up to everyones expectations.

Now, weren’t you surprised when you heard that ASDA was putting Apple iPods on sale? Now tell me, didn’t your heart skip a beat? After all this was a company that didn’t really find the iPod to be anything special.

As you would have expected, the iPods were stashed in an unattractive part of the sound and vision segment, fortified with the cheapest pay-as-you-go mobiles. The iPods were also having a nice time with the cheapest and nameless MP3 players. Now the coolest audio device of all ages was no longer cool, or was it?

Anyway, Tesco has been ruffling it out in the mobile phone market for a while laying so much emphasis on cheaper part of the mobile market as it has no time for elegance or power. It’s a network for people who are more or less interested in value for money, quantity to quality (permit me to say), People who are not too concerned about the greatest and current technology.

It is therefore very difficult to see how the iPhone fits those caliber of products, but looking at it from another perspective, it makes perfect market sense. Apple isn’t really bothered on where its phones are sold. Wal-Mart has been selling US iPhones for a long time while Tesco Mobile is just an extension of O2 with club card points – The major network infrastructure is carried out by O2 which implies that those supermarkets are just upgrading their line of O2 kit.

Now doesn’t it look awkward that people will be able to purchase an iPhone with pet food and lipstick. Then there may be an advantage to this since Tesco Mobile will literarily not go into war with O2 since Tesco Mobile is O2 – anyway, let’s not forget that Tesco is truly large and if it is successful in the sales of the iPhones then it is going to have a two way effect.

The Pixi will be heading for the UK, though it has yet to be confirmed exactly when the second WebOS will arrive, but O2 has already expressed that they are “interested” in the device. For now, fans of this upcoming device will have to wait for further announcements.

Attention is stirring up for the Palm Pixi as this second Palm device promises users not only an enjoyable messaging experience, but also a device that is exceptionally small.

Size is truly the key factor with the Pixi considering its dimensions. The phone is only 55 x 111 x 10.85 mm. It may sound a little thick, but it is actually thinner than the iPhone, and this phone has a keyboard (not to mention a removable battery).

Aside from the small size, Palm has made it a point to bless this phone with an amazing external finish. The front of the device is a sleek black gloss with raised buttons while the back of the Pixi sports that familiar soft plastic texture.



Features and Hardware

This phone brings a lot of features in such a small space, and it does it well. The most notable feature is the QWERTY keyboard that is not only functional, but also very easy and quite fun to use.

It also has a 2 mega pixel camera which comes equipped with LED flash, making it very useful when taking quick images and casual photos. Do not expect to do high resolution photography with the Pixi though.

The WebOS, just like with the Pre, is an impressive platform. It has not been announced which version of the WebOS will be present in the Pixi when it is released in the UK, but hopefully it will have the latest, updated firmware.



Pixi Availability

At the moment, there are no Palm Pixi deals in the UK. Carrier O2 stated last September that they are interested in the device but have not said anything further.

BlackBerry Storm 2 deals are now available on Vodafone and people might be wondering if this second installment of the Storm series is still plagued by the old problems that beset the original BlackBerry Storm.

The quick answer is no, the new device has been designed to efficiently deal with all the problems and weaknesses of the first device, but to say that this device is worthy to be called an excellent phone would be an overstatement.

It is impressive how RIM has redesigned the transmissive touch screen interface to deal with the old SurePress problem -though this can be seen as more of a stubborn effort to keep the SurePress feature instead of moving on to capacitive touch screen technology. Still, the fact that the Storm 2 actually has working multi touch can be considered a great feat. The only real problem is that the onscreen keyboard has problems recognizing pressing two buttons beside each other at the same time.



The Moving Storm

What makes the Storm 2 lacking is its inability to make messages fast. Despite the improved touch screen and onscreen keyboard, it still does not give the speed and reliability of a physical keyboard. With the onscreen keyboards on other touch screen phones working a little better than the Storm 2’s, the phone loses some of that brand identity.

Aside from that, the Storm 2 is actually a decent smart phone with 3G capabilities, WiFi, a media player, a decent camera and all the usual features atypical of a smart phone.



Almost There

The Storm 2 is a decent, average smart phone, but considering that the other BlackBerrys are so unique in their own way shows that there is a lot more room for improvement with the Storm line. Hopefully the next one will continue the trend of improvement; for now, users of the old Storm might want to upgrade to the Storm 2 through Vodafone. The UK carrier is offering the device for free on plan. Individuals and businesses have plan options to choose from.

LG’s GM750 smart phone brings more Windows Mobile to all. Mobile users who are no longer fond of the Windows Mobile interface, might want to consider checking out this device before moving on due to the inclusion of LG’s S-Class user interface. Similar to the Sense on the HTC HD2, the new interface helps make Windows much easier to use. The common problem users have with Windows is its interface, by allowing users to access all of the Windows Mobile features on the S-Class, this problem is eliminated.

The GM750 is a slightly more expensive version of the GM730 –mostly due to the extra specs. Users who are looking for a cheaper phone should consider the GM730 as the WinMo 6.1 OS on the GM730 is upgradeable to the 6.5, making both devices equal in terms of OS features.



Features of the GM750

As stated, the LG GM750 uses the S-Class user interface, this touch based navigation system is intuitive and well designed, allowing users to quickly get to the Windows Mobile functions without any hassle.

Windows Mobile 6.5 brings all the usual features such as document editing, email, media playback and more. New to this version of Windows Mobile is the Marketplace; this newly launched Microsoft mobile application store allows users to easily find applications they need to purchase and download to their phones. As of this moment, the Marketplace is accessible through WinMo versions 6.5, 6.1 and 6.0. It can also be accessed online through a computer.

As a 3G smart phone, most of the GM750’s features are normally found on other device, with the notable exception of the 5 mega pixel camera. While not rare, this is still a step higher than the average 3.2 mega pixel camera on other devices. The cam also has auto focus and flash.



GM750 on Vodafone

LG GM750 deals in the UK are exclusively released by Vodafone (until the end of December at least), this offer allows users to get the phone for free at certain plans.

The Bold 9700 is the phone for messaging folk. Be it email, text or whatnot, the device provides a very ergonomic solution to any messaging needs. No need for a slide out keyboard, the front faced full QWERTY keyboard is easy to use with one or both hands without any hassle. Learning to use the device takes only a few minutes and anyone will be able to type easily on this phone. Thanks to the design prowess of BlackBerry when it comes to messaging devices, the Bold 9700 makes typing a truly enjoyable experience.



Simple Phone, Good Features

The Bold 9700 is the successor of the original BlackBerry Bold 9000. The phone does not suffer from the old problems that plagued the old Bold. It also brings some of the nicer features found in the BlackBerry Curve, most notable of which is the track pad.

The BlackBerry track pad is a nice smooth surface that you can easily tap or slide your finger over to navigate the BlackBerry OS. The result is similar to using a touch screen. The smooth gliding action is more relaxing than pressing on a hard key, making moving through the menus a lot easier.

The 2.44 inch screen provides excellent graphic quality with its 480 x 360 pixels of resolution. The 3.2 mega pixel camera on the other hand is a good choice for taking quick snap shots or for recording video clips with upload quality formats.

The battery can support up to 35 hours of continuous music playback. The device also has 256MB of onboard storage, this can be further expanded with the microSD card slot.

Free on Contract

BlackBerry Bold 2 deals are now available on T-Mobile and also on Vodafone, both carriers offer the device for free on 35 Pounds per month. Orange mobile UK has yet to confirm when they will release the phone but it is already listed as coming soon in their site.

The beta version of the newest Opera Mobile browser is out for Windows Mobile –much to the exalted cries of joy from Windows Mobile fans. The existing Internet Explorer mobile that is being used on WinMo phones suffer badly from incompatibility problems with many websites as certain sites will only load up to a certain extent while other sites will not load at all.

Still, Opera mobile is a great browser not simply because IE mobile is hard to use, the Opera browser is truly the best browser for mobile phones (as many would attest at least).

The biggest advantage of Opera Mobile is ironically, the weakest factor for IE mobile which is site compatibility. Opera mobile is able to read scripts better than other browsers. The biggest new feature in the version 10 of the Opera mobile browser is how closely the mobile browsing experience is to the desktop browsing experience.

One such example is the addition of the speed dial function which is used in the desktop version of Opera. Mobile version 10 sports what is called by some as a “speed boost”, allowing web pages to be downloaded smoothly and in a faster manner as compared to other browsers; the developers have dubbed this feature as Opera Turbo.

Other important feature the Opera’s developers have pointed out is the standardized browsing experience across different mobile platforms. They describe the experience of using Opera mobile on Windows Mobile and on the Symbian OS to be relatively similar. This allows users of the Opera browser to easily adjust regardless of what mobile phone they use.

There’s a video of Opera Mobile 10 beta that demonstrates the browser at work; those of you who are already familiar with the Opera browser and would like to try out the new version may download the beta at Opera Mobile’s website.

It is with great excitement that I announce that the latest and greatest Opera Mobile 10 beta is now available for Windows Mobile users. This Opera Mobile 10 beta had been around for the Symbian Operating System but not available to the greater public as yet. It is now available for download to Window Mobile Users for free as I speak.

Yes, it’s true. I am confirming authoritatively that there is a beta version available for download for all Windows Mobile users. This cool mobile web browser is available for free although it’s the Beta version that is yet available. According to developers, this release brings consistent user experience across the various platforms that support the Opera Browser and desktop.

Well, seriously speaking, the Opera Mobile 10 beta version for WinMo smartphones should be the same as those for the Symbian-based devices and with similarity in features especially to the recent Opera Mini 5 (the Opera version for non-smartphones). A whole lot of goodies herewith present in this Opera Mobile 10 Beta version such as Speed Dial (This is basically nothing but a list of visual bookmarks). Tabbed Browsing is also available (makes it possible to open a number of web pages at the same time from one browser) and more importantly, there’s the perceptive interface. You have also got the Login Manager and possibility for server-side compression Opera Turbo.

HTC’s HD2 is getting great competition from Acer’s F1. Originally known as the neoTouch, this little Acer Windows Mobile phone got a name change when it came to the UK. The Acer neoTouch F1 is a touch screen Windows Mobile phone with a 1 GHz Snapdragon processor making it the HD2’s direct competition as both devices use Snapdragon and the same operating systems.

The Acer F1 is made more for people who prefer to use Windows Mobile directly, as the phone uses only the Windows Mobile OS. The HD2 on the other hand, uses the HTC Sense interface for navigating the phone’s features and functions. The difference also affects the screen used by the phones as well. The HD2 uses a capacitive touch screen for its Sense interface while the neoTouch F1 uses a resistive touch screen for Windows Mobile users who would like to employ the use of their fingers and stylus input.

Plans

Right now, Acer neoTouch F1 contracts are available on both Orange Mobile UK and O2. The neoTouch can be availed of for free or for half price according to the different plans available. The device is also readily available on retail for 349.99 Pounds –a good price for a Snapdragon phone.



F1’s Hardware



This phone sports a nice 3.8 inch resistive touch screen display. Being resistive, the screen is able to detect both finger and stylus input –though it has no multi touch and the screen sinks a little when pressed. The camera is 5 mega pixels with LED flash, it can also capture VGA quality videos as well.

The Snapdragon processor runs at 1 GHz (though it has been reported to be over clock-capable in some tests). There is no physical keyboard so users have to rely on the onscreen keyboard –which some report says is hard to use.

Despite the fact that the iPhone is a direct competitor for all major Google Android devices, the iPhone still gets application support from the major developer. The Google Maps iPhone application was first released over a year ago and has needed an update for quite some time now. With the new version 2.0 of Google Earth on the iPhone, users may now upload custom made maps, have the app in 13 different languages and an improved interface that responds to commands better.

To access the custom maps, users are required to log into their Google Earth accounts in order to user their own and their contact’s uploaded maps. Navigation has been improved by making the interface a little more intuitive. Visual cues such as glowing icons when touched make the interface navigation a lot easier too. The size of the application is reported to be from 10 to 11 MB and it is readily available right now from the iPhone App Store.

Google Earth is a project by Google, a virtual globe that features detailed images of the world as seen through satellite photos, aerial photography and through GIS 3D. On October 2008, Google Earth was made available on mobile through the iPhone. This service allowed users to browse the digital globe and view spectacular images of major locations all over the world. Google Earth currently provides the most detailed globe information in terms of geographical and image data on a public level.

With Google Earth finally updated on the iPhone, users of the Apple device are hoping that other features such as Google Maps would also be updated. With Google still concentrating on their Android operating systems (particularly the upcoming, rumored, Flan), it is unlikely that users of the Apple device will be seeing any other significant updates this year.