Mobile Phone Blog:

Well, here we are, folks. It’s the end of another year in the brilliant, beautiful and often bizarre world of mobile phones, and what a rollercoaster of a year it’s been. We’ve had the credit crunch, we’ve had the meteoric rise of Android, we’ve had not one, not two, but three brand new operating systems enter the mobile arena, in the shape of WebOS, Bada and Maemo.

It’s been a monster of a year, it really has.

And let’s not forget, as well, that we now stand at the tipping point of a new decade. Not only is this the biggest year in mobile phones so far, but it also marks the end of the decade where mobile phones went from being, basically, luxury items, to being the must-have gadget. This is the decade that mobiles took over, so you’d better believe I’m going to do a bit at the end of this post summing up the best 10 years of the mobile industry.

But first, we need to take a look at 2009. What were the high points, not just in the mobile world, but in the world as a whole?

Let’s take a look back at the year, and the decade, that was…

Operating System of the year

Ooh, now here’s a question: what mobile OS wins the title this year? Is it Windows Mobile, with its latest incarnation, version 6.5? Or is it Symbian, who finally, truly, embraced the touch-enabled world? Well, no. There’s one OS that has risen from almost nowhere to be the most talked about OS of the year. That’s why, despite me preferring Windows Mobile, Android has to be the operating system of the year.

I mean, come on, think about it. At the start of 2009, there was but one Android phone on the market, the G1. At the end of 2009, not only are there some properly good Android phones out there, but with the Nexus One, it’s become the most talked about OS on the planet. That’s a bit of a meteoric rise, that is.

Comeback of the year

Okay, let’s be honest, we all know this category is going to be a two-horse race. There are two manufacturers who’ve gone from pretty much nothing at the start of the year, to being major players once again. Yes, I’m talking about Palm and Motorola. And d’ya know what? I can’t decide between them.

I genuinely can’t pick who had the better comeback, because they’ve both done brilliantly. With the Palm Pre, Palm brought themselves back into the mobile game with a vengeance, but then, Motorola did exactly the same with the double header of the DEXT and the Milestone (the Droid, if you live in the colonies). So, I can’t choose, and they’ll have to be joint winners. But big well dones to both of them!

Manufacturer of the year

Right then, down to the nitty gritty: who is the manufacturer of the year? Well, long-time readers will already know who I’m going to pick here (as well as people who looked at the pic just to the right, there), since I already did a blog post bigging them up. My choice for manufacturer of the year is, without a doubt, HTC.

You may ask why, but I’ll tell ya. First, they almost single-handedly proved Windows Mobile is alive and kicking. Second, they allied themselves to Android to make the best Android phones on the market. And third, they’ve gone from being a basic WinMo OEM manufacturer to being, in my mind, at least, one of the big manufacturers in the industry. So, HTC: well done, and keep on rocking.

Most over-hyped phone of the year

Let’s be honest, here; I know what I’m going to say is the most over-hyped phone of the year, you know what I’m going to say is the most over-hyped phone of the year, so I’ll just say it. It’s the iPhone 3GS. It has to be, literally every Apple fan in existence has talked about it, and when it came out, it was just an iPhone 3G with some tiny modifications, and a compass.

Any phone where they big up a six year old feature (copy/paste) as revolutionary, or where they say a 3MP camera is awesome, has to be a triumph over hype over substance. So, that’s why (and I know I’ll get flamed to a crisp for this, but I don’t care), the iPhone 3GS is the most over-hyped phone of 2009.

App of the year

Ah, another easy category, this one, as I’ve written about it many, many times. It’s the most downloaded app in history, and it is responsible for letting anyone who has a Java-enabled phone (y’know, even low-enders, not smartphones) to get the full internet on their phone. I’m talking about Opera Mini.

So, a big well done to Opera, since the Mini browser was going up against things like MyPhone (a 100% essential app for Windows Mobile), the whole range of cutting-edge augmented reality apps on Android, and about 700 million fart apps on the iPhone. But no, Opera Mini wins easily; it’s brought the mobile internet to more people than any other thing ever, so it deserves to be app of the year.

Best moment of 2009 that was only tenuously related to mobile phones

Here we go, my own personal favourite moment of 2009, nae, of my life (well, alright, probably not of my life, but of the last few years at least). And it’s a recent one, because it’s Rage Against The Machine taking the Christmas number 1 spot from The X Factor. We, the people, could not be silenced, and we did good, folks, finally bloodying Irritable Cowell Syndrome’s nose.

And yes, it’s linked to phones, before you ask, because you could buy Killing In The Name (one of the all-time greatest rock anthems EVER) through Nokia’s Ovi Store. So, there’s your link. Still my favourite moment of the year, bar none, that. And anyone who disagrees, or says the song’s cack, or says it’s offensive to have as a Christmas number 1, then I value your opinion, but I’m afraid you’re wrong…

Phone of the year

Here we go, folks, the moment that you’ve all been waiting for: the phone of 2009. Will it be the Palm Pre? Will it be my next phone, the HTC HD2? Will it be the first ever Maemo phone, the Nokia N900? No, it won’t, frankly, because as good as they all are (and they are), there is one phone that tops them all. It’s the Motorola Milestone (or the Droid, as it’s known in the colonies).

Y’see, at the start of the year, I questioned whether Motorola even could make a comeback this year, or whether they were doomed. With the Motorola Milestone, they have not only convinced me, they have gone on to make it the most talked about and anticipated phone of the year. Over in America, as the Droid, it is flying off shelves, and over here, the same thing looks set to be repeated.

Motorola, you have done good. No, you have done better than good. You have made the most anticipated phone of the year, and that alone is why you deserve to win this final award. Kudos to you, the Milestone easily deserves this title!

And finally…the most important phone of the DECADE…

As I said at the start, today doesn’t just mark the end of 2009. No, it also marks the end of a whole decade, and it was the decade in which mobile phones, and other mobile devices, took over. I’ve been working in the industry since 2001, and even I can’t believe how much it’s changed, and how big the mobile industry has become. I’ll tell you something else, too: doesn’t time fly? Is it really ten years since we were all partying like it was 1999 (because it WAS 1999), and cacking ourselves that the millennium bug was going to end the world? Blimey, time does fly, doesn’t it? But in those ten years, can we pick out one mobile phone that’s been the most important? Is it possible to pick a phone of the decade?

Yes, I reckon it is. And I reckon I know what it is.

Y’see, there is, as far as I’m concerned, one single phone that’s done more to make the mobile world what it is today. It singlehandedly made mobile phones popular, turning them from luxury items into must-have, mass market commodities. Okay, granted, it was actually released in 1999, but what the hell, it was still on sale in the early years of the Third Millennium. It is, of course, the Nokia 3210. I’ve spoken about it before, always in hushed, reverential tones, and I genuinely believe that without it, the mobile industry may well have never become as big and as popular as it has done.

So, as we move into a new decade, join me in paying tribute to the phone that, more than any other, helped shape the first decade of the third millennium in to what it was. Ladies and gentlemen, the most important phone of the last ten years is the Nokia 3210.

Happy New Decade from everyone at Mobileshop.com! And be sure to subscribe now to get all the latest action from the world of mobile phones!

People contemplating buying a new phone next year may be interested to learn of plans by Orange to launch High Definition (HD) Voice technology on its mobile network in 2010.

The company will conduct trials on the service in the next few months and intends to roll out the technology across the UK shortly afterwards.

Orange said it believes that HD Voice will bring about a "new era" for mobile communications.

Tom Alexander, chief executive officer of Orange UK, said that he hoped people buying new phones in 2010 would be as impressed by the technology as he was.

"HD Voice really does inject a level of innovation into mobile phone calls, making it sound as if callers are actually in the same room," he stated.

"Once people have tried it, they won’t want to go back."

Earlier this month, Orange revealed that the time people most enjoy picking up their mobile phone for a chat with friends or family is 16:30 GMT on Fridays.

Some of the phone currently available on Orange include the HTC Touch.

Visit the Mobileshop.com pay monthly page to see the full range of currently available fantastic HTC deals

Long-time readers will know, by now, that when I see a phone I want, I really have trouble shutting up about it. I was exactly like this before the Sony Ericsson X1 got released, and I didn’t shut up about it for months (until I actually bought one, in fact). You will also know that the phone I’ve currently got my sights on is the HTC HD2, and as such I, once again, cannot shut up about it. Hell, look at it this way: it must be a good phone, it even stopped me wanting the Sony Ericsson X2, the other phone I’d been mithering about for months…

It is, as I have said many, many times, an awesome beastie, and according to PocketNow, it’s going to get even more awesome in the future.

That’s because, apparently, it’s going to get an official update to Windows Mobile 7…

Now, for anyone who isn’t up to speed on Microsoft happenings, WinMo 7 is going to be their full, next-gen version of the mobile OS. As they’ve always said, WinMo 6.5 is merely a stopgap, a new incarnation of the current Windows Mobile environment. If you’re talking next-gen, all-the-stops-pulled-out awesomeness, Windows Mobile 7 is where it’s at, baby.

This is exciting, because I already think WinMo 6.5 is the canine’s conkers. Sure, it’s not perfect (as iPhone and Android fans are quick to point out), but it’s far from being a dead OS (as iPhone and Android always, and I do mean always, keep telling me, usually whilst calling me backwards for liking WinMo). It really is powerful, and the only real issues with it are the bits where the interface is, admittedly, showing its age.

But that doesn’t make it a bad OS. If you prefer Android, then fair play to ya, but I prefer using WinMo, so deal with it…

So, based on the fact I already like WinMo 6.5, and on the fact that WinMo 7 will be even more brillianter, when the HTC HD2 does get an official update to version 7 (the confirmation apparently coming from HTC’s own Twitter feed, saying it will happen), it could well become the most incredible, powerful, and downright mind-blowing smartphone that has ever existed.

I think it’s not unfair to say that when that happens, as well, it will enter the all-time great phone hall of fame, and will remain the best phone ever made for some time to come…

But then, it doesn’t run on Android, so I know at least 50% of the people reading this will hate me and call me backward for saying that…

[UPDATE: In another Tweet, HTC Russia have UNconfirmed WinMo 7 for the HTD HD2. So, either it ain't getting the upgrade, or it is but someone's going to get fired for leaking it early...]

More news as it happens! And be sure to subscribe now to get all the latest action from the world of mobile phones!

Well, folks, here we go. It’s the last day of the decade, and to mark the passing of this momentous day (well, alright, semi-momentous-ish), let’s take a look at a couple of videos that show absolute top-of-the-line, bang-up-to-date mobile phones running some old school games. Yes, I know this has nothing to do with celebrating the new year, but I don’t care.

First up is my choice for ‘phone that will, without doubt, be the next phone I buy’. You should know by now what it is, I go on about it enough; yup, it’s the HTC HD2, seen here running what was one of the best fighting games released on the PS1, Tekken 3:

‘Eeeeeeee, by ‘eck, that doesn’t ‘alf bring back memories, although I always favoured playing as Eddie Gordo, since I was, as accurately described by someone who actually was good at Tekken, a ‘sneaky, button-mashing git’.

And second on the roster is what stands out as one of the most advanced phones currently on the market: the Maemo-powered, utterly unique, Nokia N900. Only here, we see it playing a game from way back in the mists of time (well, 1996, to be exact). It’s the first person shooter with the twisted sense of humour (as well as pig monsters and strippers), that sparked controversy, and even got banned in Brazil: it is, of course, Duke Nukem 3D.

Whoa, that brings even more memories, that does! And since we’ll be waiting long past the heat death of the universe for Duke Nukem Forever (the very epitome of vapourware, that is), this is about as good as it’s going to get in the groovy world of the Duke. Honestly, 12 years to make a sequel, since it was announced in 1997, and they still haven’t come up with anything?

Now consider how much mobile phones have evolved in 12 years, to the point where they can comfortably play Tekken 3 and Duke Nukem 3D, without breaking a sweat. Yeah. No wonder people call it Duke Nukem ForNever…

More news as it happens! And be sure to subscribe now to get all the latest action from the world of mobile phones!

There’s a still a whole load of controversy (well, not controversy, but you know what I mean), about the Nexus One, with just as many people saying it is the Googlephone as are saying it’s simply a developer phone. Well, we know a bit more, today, thanks to Engadget Mobile, as it’s now being reported that prices and terms of sale, etc, have been spotted online.

The surprising thing for me is that Google will be selling it either as a sim-free deal, or with a T-Mobile contract, through their own site.

That is a bit of a surprise, but the pricing, to me, still seems to reinforce that it’s a dev phone, or at the very least, not a phone for mass market consumption, since it is, to say the least, a bit pricey. Basically, you’re looking at $530 for it sim-free, or $180 on a 2 year T-Mobile contract. Ah, but yes, there’s the other thing. Those prices are in American money, as there’s no indication as to when, or even if, the Nexus One will appear on these shores.

I also have to wonder what effect it’s going to have on the current Android ecosystem. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, even if this wasn’t going on sale to the public, I’d hate to be releasing an Android phone in the next couple of months.

You can guarantee it’s going to get compared to the Nexus One…

So, I have to wonder how upcoming phones like the Motorola Milestone and the Sony Ericsson X10 will fair. The Open Handset Alliance could get a bit frosty if Google release a phone that’s more talked about than all their hardware partners’ phones. Could be interesting, anyway…

More news as it happens! And be sure to subscribe now to get all the latest action from the world of mobile phones!

We continue the Christmas spirit, now, with a film that in no way has any Christmas spirit. No, to counteract the sheer terror that fell over me today, when I saw The Shaggy Dog and Mary Poppins were on the telly, I watched a comedy horror film that my sister got off Lovefilm ages ago, and that we’ve been very useless in getting round to watching.

The film is Doghouse. The Christmas spirit is put on hold. The outlook is ‘violence with a large helping of gore’.

And zombie women. Y’see, the plot of Doghouse sees a group of entire misogynistic men (including Danny Dyer, blech, how I hate that man), who trek off to a villager in the middle of nowhere, to help one of the blokies get over his divorce. Only when they get there, they find the village is devoid of men, and all the women have turned into ravening zombie monsters.

Cue much hilarity and comedy gore, as well as the odd bit of analysis of what it actually means to be a man. Oh, and evil zombie hairdresser. And a demonic lollipop lady. And Romana, ex-president of the Time Lord Council (yes, I am showing my nerd credentials here) as the evil mayor of the village (so far as I could gather).

And gore. Buckets, upon buckets, upon buckets of gore.

So, what results is, whilst it’s not as good as Shaun Of The Dead or the almighty Braindead, one of the funniest zombie movies I’ve seen for ages. And yes, obviously (since I’m talking about it here), it had mobile phones in. Hell they even played a major plot point for a change, when Danny Dyer’s character bans them on the minibus on the way in, to prevent, as he puts it, “spousal abuse through T-Mobile”.

Honestly, it’s the first film in ages where they came up with a compelling reason for them to not have mobile phones, other than the standard cop-out of not having any signal (every American horror film of the last few years, I’m looking at you). But what were the mobile phones on display?

Well, I’ll be honest, I kinda wasn’t paying attention to them. I think it’s a safe bet to say they weren’t top-enders like the Nokia N900, though…

So, in conclusion, mobile phones that actually played an important part in the plot for a change, a zombie virus designed only to turn women, demonic lollipop ladies and about 400, 000 gallons of fake blood.

I call that a result!

More news as it happens! And be sure to subscribe now to get all the latest action from the world of mobile phones!

Finding a suitable mobile phone deal and the appropriate handset for your needs is much easier than you think.

Using Mobileshop.com’s mobile guide, you can be walked through each new deal on the market and pick the one you really want.

Not only does this beat having to deal with crowds on the high street, but it could work out cost-effective, because online deals can often provide better extras and freebies when you sign up.

To begin with, simply click on the manufacturer of your choice. So if you’re after a coveted Apple iPhone 3G S 32GB Black, direct your mouse to Apple’s name.

Each of Mobileshop.com’s bestselling deals will appear in an easy-to-use format that lets you compare and contrast each in terms of free minutes, monthly cost, length of contract, free texts and so on and so forth.

You can click on as many manufacturers as you want, so it is simple to see which deal is going to be most suitable for you.

Visit the Mobileshop.com pay monthly page to see the full range of currently available fantastic Apple deals

Those who want a contract phone at the lower end of the price spectrum could consider the Sony Ericsson W995 Black, which was recently described as "a great media phone".

Gadget blog Fonehome listed the handset as one of the best of the year, saying that while it has no touchscreen and is not technically a smartphone, it is a runner-up in the category of "unsung hero" of 2009.

The Sony Ericsson W995 Black, is currently available on a monthly contract from £20 on Orange for 24 months, meaning it could be obtainable for consumers who want to keep costs down in 2010.

It comes equipped with an FM radio, Bluetooth connectivity, an eight-megapixel camera, Wi-Fi, 3G and an mp3 player.

Users could also benefit from the 18MB memory capacity, TFT screen and 370 hours of stand-by battery life. It weighs a total of 113 grams.

Visit the Mobileshop.com pay monthly page to see the full range of currently available fantastic Sony Ericsson deals

Ah, here we go, this is a question that’s plagued mankind since the dawn of the mobile age. The question of whether using your mobile phone in a particular situation will: 1/ be beneficial; 2/ get you shouted at; or 3/ mean you never, ever get intimate privileges with your lady ever, ever again. If, like me, you find that you actually prefer your phone to human contact (f’r'instance, I wouldn’t have flu, now, if I’d stayed away from those icky ‘human beings’), but realise that at some point, you’re going to have to deal with people actually there with you in person, then help is at hand, thanks to ScordIt.

Without further ado, here are their two handy cut-out-and-keep (well, alright, probably print-off-and-keep) guides to using your mobile phone in the two most tense social occasions known to man: with your folks at Christmas, and with a laaaady.

So, there you go. You should now never get shouted at for using your mobile phone again. Or have intimate privileges (I do like that phrase, it sounds like a Mills & Boon novel) withdrawn, which is a horror all too many men know of. Honestly, I tell ya, women say the world would be a better place if they ruled it, but what they forget is they already do. I swear to god, show a bit of leg, or purr at us in that voice you do, that you know we can’t resist, and we’ll just fall over themselves to be helpful. Men, we are useless. Face it. We’ll do anything a purring woman tells us. Admit it.

Sorry, I seem to have drifted away from the point somewhat, there.

Ah yes. Handy guides. Whether you’ve got an iPhone, an HTC Hero, or a Nokia N900, these guides could well save your life. Or at least mean you do get intimate privileges in future…

More news as it happens! And be sure to subscribe now to get all the latest action from the world of mobile phones!

When I was a nipper, I can remember being scared witless by the original BBC adaptation of John Wyndham’s novel, The Day Of The Triffids. I can remember John Duttine trying desperately to survive as large, mobile (and quite obviously made of rubber) plants menaced civilisation. Still, it was better than the film version, what had Howard Keel in it.

And in 2009, there’s a new version. Yes, The Day Of The Triffids has been remade. Again.

Needless to say, what with this being a modern day retelling, they had to include mobile phones, because when you think about it, mobile phones would tend to undercut the drama of the situation a bit. So, you have to admire how the producers got round that problem by, within a mere 24 hours of the big cataclysm happening, saying mobile phones couldn’t get a signal (as shown on Joely Richardson’s character’s phone, a Palm Treo Pro… hmm, the BBC like giving characters in their shows old phones instead of cutting edge stuff like the Palm Pre, don’t they)…

Wow, that is one seriously useless mobile network, if the cell towers stop working within 24 hours. What a cop out!

Anyway, the plot. Plants called Triffids. Carnivorous, ambulatory plants. That are intelligent. Kept in farms (did anyone think that was going to end well?), to milk them for biofuels, thus ending our reliance on fossil fuels (on a side note, that is a very clever way to update the plot of the original). Solar storm. Everyone in the world goes blind, except the people who, y’know, weren’t looking at the sun. Society crumbles. Eco-nutter releases the Triffids from one of the farms. Hell on earth, dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria, Eddie Izzard does evil.

So, what are my thoughts on it, now that we’re halfway through (with part 2 on tonight)?

Okay, first up. Eddie Izzard as a villain? Granted, he seems to actually now be able to act, but he’s too cuddly to do truly evil. Although he does tricksy really well. Actually, no, you know what, Eddie Izzard worked as a villain. He brings comedy baggage with him, which actually makes him doing evil quite chilling. I’ll tell you who doesn’t work, though: Dougray Scott as the leading man. Let’s not forget that Scott was the man who was going to play Wolverine. He has a certain air of an unsprung trap about him. Presumably the producers saw that, too, which is why he gets battered into unconsciousness, seemingly, every 35 seconds.

Given that he seemed to spend most of last night’s opening episode with the look of a stunned duckling about him, it seems a waste of talent. And the flashbacks he had every single time someone belted him in the head got tiresome after about the 7th time…

And there’s the big problem. The Triffids. They looked decidedly dodgy in places, with the obvious rubber replaced by obvious CGI, but that wasn’t the real problem. No, the real problem is much simpler.

Plants. Are. Not. Scary.

Oh, there were hints of scariness, don’t get me wrong, and there was one particularly effective scene right at the end, with about three billion (or possibly six, I may have over-counted them) of the malevolent magnolias approaching through the fog, which was rather creepy. But it’s hard to get really freaked out by something that you can beat by wearing a ski mask and wielding a machete. They are, quite frankly, a bit rubbish. Even with the whippy stinger things, they are still just Venus fly traps with a god complex.

Come to think of it, I’m not entirely sure why the 1981 TV version scared me so much. I think I was scared of my nan’s yucca plant, which just looked alien and wrong (seriously, it had spiky leaves and a giant pink spiky flower, you can’t tell me that’s right). Maybe I’ve just grown past the age where it’s possible to be menaced by broccoli. Oh, but don’t think the entire concept of the Triffids is going to escape my ire, either. I’m prepared to accept that, as presented in the story, they’re a viable source of biofuels. I’m also prepared to accept that the devilish dandelions would be farmed for said biofuels. I’m not prepared to accept that the scientists involved wouldn’t have thought to remove their stingers to make them harmless, thus rendering the whole concept of The Day Of The Triffids, whether it’s the book, the film, the TV adaptation or the other TV adaptation, entirely silly.

That’s some monumentally bad plotting, when your story’s about ambulatory, predatory, intelligent asparagus menacing blind people, and that bit isn’t the silliest part of it…

[UPDATE: Part 2. It got better. A lot better. Central rule of drama, throw Vanessa Redgrave and Brian Cox at something, it WILL get seriously better... also, the marigolds got scarier...]

More news as it happens! And be sure to subscribe now to get all the latest action from the world of mobile phones (but probably not from the world of intelligent killer parsnips)!