Mobile Phone Blog:

Right then, if you’ve been a long time reader of this blog, you’ll know that before I got myself an HTC One X, the phone I used every day (and in fact, still use, as my second phone) was the HTC HD2. You may also know that the HTC HD2 has turned out to be one of the single most versatile phones in the entire history of mobile phones, ‘cos it can run just about any OS that you care to put on it.

Well, apart from iOS, obviously.

According to WPCentral, the latest news is that, in addition to being able to run every version of Android (including Jelly Bean), the HD2 can now also run Windows Phone 8, the brand new version that ye find in the Nokia Lumia 920… (more…)

Well, there we go then, folks; people have been wondering (well, okay, it’s mostly been me wondering, but it still counts) which of the currently announced Windows Phone 8 devices would be the first to hit the market, and now, we have our answer (and it’s not the big one that a lot of people have been talking about, ‘cos it’s not the Nokia Lumia 920)!

The winner, as in the first Windows Phone 8 beastie to actually hit shelves instead of just being a “Coming Soon” phone, is the HTC 8X. That’s going to be quite a blow for Nokia, that is, but I have to be honest, here, and say that the HTC 8X is, in my opinion, the more appealing phone. it’s just that I think that for a silly reason… (more…)

Hmm, now this is an interesting bit of news, if it turns out to be on the level. However, it’s kind of already interesting, because it’s kinda weird. Y’see, according to WMPowerUser, ZTE’s head of market strategy, Lu Qian Hao, has sent a pic to Chinese site Weibo, that shows an as-yet unreleased Windows phone. The kicker, though, is that he also included specs with the photo, and those specs are the interesting, and kinda weird, bit.

Basically, the specs that were passed on mention the phone as having a 5.9 inch screen, even more massive than the Samsung Galaxy Note II, which puts this firmly into phablet territory. However, the specs also include the screen resolution, and that’s where it gets a bit weird… (more…)

Well, would you credit it, that rumour’s still going strong. It’s been rumoured for a while, that Microsoft were planning on releasing their own, in-house Windows phone, just like they’re doing with their new Surface tablets, but so far, there’s been no concrete details about what it’ll be like, or even whether it exists at all. All we’ve seen so far is intriguing little titbits of info.

And today, we have another intriguing little titbit, courtesy of French site MonWindowsPhone (Google-translated link). Y’see, a phone seemingly codenamed the Juggernaut Alpha (awesome name) showed up in server logs earlier in the year, implying the device was being tested, but here’s where it gets even more intriguing… (more…)

Brace yourselves, folks, ‘cos I’m about to do something that may surprise you; as shocking as it may seem, I’m going to compliment Windows Phone 8! I know right? I was shocked too, but the fact is that I saw some pics on German site AreaMobile, and found something about Windows Phone 8 that I actually, genuinely think is brilliant. That something is high-contrast mode.

That’s it in the pic, being shown off on an HTC 8S, and what it does, right, is turn all your Start screen tiles black and white. The idea is that it makes everything (unsurprisingly) all high contrast, consequently making info shown on your live tiles easier to read. That’s a cool thing, but it’s not the main reason why I like it… (more…)

Right then, there’s been a lot of talk about Windows Phone recently, what with the world getting closer to the actual proper release of Windows Phone 8, and everything. There’s only a handful of phones that’ve been announced as using Windows Phone 8, so far, and of those, only three would really class as flagships, right?

So, which one’s best? Of the three superstar phones being made by HTC, Nokia and Samsung, which one is the one you should get; should you go for the HTC 8X, the Nokia Lumia 920, or the Samsung ATIV S? Which one would give you the most bang for yer buck?

Let’s find out… (more…)

Right then, we all know that the big Windows Phone flagship device is going to be the Nokia Lumia 920. However, we also all know that Nokia won’t just be launching top-end Windows phones, so what about their lower end models? Well, according to Engadget, this might well be the first…

It’s purportedly called the Nokia Lumia 510, and as you can see, it’s not running on the latest version of Windows Phone. No, it is in fact running on Windows Phone 7.5, and will presumably upgraded to 7.8 later. So, what are we looking at here? (more…)

I did a post a few days back, about how HTC have scheduled a press event for the 19th, where they plan on unveiling, well, something. No-one knows for sure what they’ve got planned, but something’s set to be announced, and a lot of people reckon it’s going to be their next raft of Windows phones.

And now, according to PocketNow, we may have a bit of an idea what they’re planning, if the latest rumour pans out to be true. Specifically, what it seems like they’re planning is another triumvirate of handsets, not unlike when they first announced the One series, but with the ‘One’ replaced by an ’8′. We may very also know the three phones are called, and again, it’s a very similar naming scheme to the One series… (more…)

[The opinions expressed in the blog post are entirely those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Mobileshop.com.]

Blimey, I’ve heard some ludicrous marketing nonsense in my time (in fact, I’ve written some ludicrous marketing nonsense in my time, too), but this little gem has to be right up there. It comes from the pages of PCPro, where they’ve been talking to Nokia’s executive vice president, Kevin Shields, and asking him why the Nokia Lumia 920 doesn’t have a microSD card slot.

And he said (italics are mine), “We started with the premise that we wanted an uncompromised physical form. To put an SD card slot in it would have defiled it.”

Erm, what? No, really, what? Did he really just use the word ‘defiled’, about a phone? (more…)

Well folks, Nokia and Samsung have already announced their first Windows Phone 8 devices, so it’s only a matter of time until my favourite manufacturer, HTC, announces one. This is not that moment, however (it’ll likely happen at that launch event on the 19th), but it is the day when the their first Windows Phone 8 device has potentially been leaked, and named as the HTC 8X.

I say ‘potentially’, because there’s always the possibility this could be cobblers, but we should bear in mind that the leaker is ‘Football’ (he leaked it on his Twitter feed) from the XDADeveloper forums, and he apparently has a history of, well, being reliable. Sooooo, with that in mind, what are we looking at? (more…)