Mobile Phone Blog:

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

Ooh, it feels like forever since I’ve had a really good rant, even if my last rant was actually less than a fortnight ago. In fact, there’s a bit of a link between the last rant, and this one, ‘cos they both entail Windows Phone in some way. The last one was about Nokia CEO Stephen “Chuckles” Elop, and this one is about his former employers, Microsoft.

Now then, there’s a phrase I’ve used many times, but which good taste prevents me from using here, so I shall call it a “Richard move”. Yeah, if you know what the short form of Richard is (hint: it’s not Rick), you know what I’m saying, and the fact is this: according to the WindowsTeamBlog, Microsoft are about to pull one of the biggest Richard moves I’ve seen in the mobile world… (more…)

HTC is said to be planning to partner with ST-Ericsson to bring chip production in-house for its lower-end smartphones.

According to China Times the Taiwanese manufacturer is looking to bring production of application processors for future low end devices in-house, allowing greater control over manufacturing and more effective costing of hardware.

Both Apple and Samsung have bought lower end devices to the market that have been cheaper to manufacture.

LG is apparently targeting Samsung with its new smartphone as a rumoured LG handset is set to take on the highly-anticipated Samsung Galaxy S3.

Codenamed the LG D1L the device is rumoured to be the company’s first Android Ice Cream Sandwich smartphone with reported specs including a dual-core Qualcomm MSM8960 1.5GHz processor, a 4.7 inch HD display, which is slightly larger than what the Galaxy S3 is expected to have.

The LG D1L is said to arrive at the end of May which is before any rumoured release dates of the Samsung Galaxy S3.

Production for the Samsung Galaxy S 3 has apparently already started, well at least on the screens of the handset.

According to sources from Samsung Mobile Display the eagerly-awaited smartphone will feature a non-pentile display with an HD resolution, making it the first of its type to come from Samsung’s OLED division.

Specs for the device has not being confirmed by Samsung but its expected the phone will feature a quad-core mobile chipset, the same Mali 400 MP GPU as the Samsung Galaxy S II, a larger 4.5 to 4.65 inch HD Super AMOLED screen with a 720p resolution, an impressive 12 megapixel camera and of course will run of Google’s latest Android 4.0 operating system.

The hot rumoured Samsung Galaxy S3 has apparently already hit 10 million pre orders, most likely from carriers.

The successor to the award winning Samsung Galaxy S II has still not been officially announced and with no specs or release date confirmed though according to Eldar Murtazin the S3 has already hit the landmark figure.

If most recent rumours are to be believed the smartphone will feature dual-operating systems and a quad core processor.

The next iteration of the iPhone could see Apple moving away from the 3.5 inch display screen they have favoured over the last few years, and in its place will be a screen of super-sized proportion, which many of the handset’s Android competitors already boast.

This is according to an insider, of course, who spilled the beans to Reuters, and there was talk of a massive 4.6 inch display for the next iPhone model.

The same high-density retina display, as seen on the iPhone 4 and the iPhone 4S, will be present too, so there’s nothing to worry about there!

This larger handset, rumoured to be launching in Q2 of this year (yes, just 6 months after the launch of the iPhone 4S) will bring Apple in-line with the latest range of Android smartphones, some of which sport 5 inch displays, such as the Samsung Galaxy Note, and are more of a phone/tablet hybrid (or a ‘phablet’ if you will).

We’ll bring you more on this as and when it develops but, for now, stay tuned!

A rather startling discovery has been made by a team of researchers at a University based in Purdue, USA.

The team has found that those annoying pop-up ads within your Android apps are not simply annoying, oh no, they also consume up to 75% of the app’s total power consumption!

This was uncovered using an energy profiler, EProf, which can analyse the power consumption of a device by monitoring each and every app and the research team used a Nexus One running Android 2.3 as a test subject. The apps tested include Angry Birds, FreeChess and the New York Times.

While testing Angry Birds, researchers found that only 20% of the total power consumed by the app was used to run the game, the remaining 80% was used to display the ads.

Sadly, there is little you can do about it apart from buy paid versions of the app that won’t serve up ads, but in future we’re hoping that developers will take heed and find another way to make money other than serving up battery-sapping adverts!

Interestingly it’s likely the budget Nokia Lumia 610 will have Wi-Fi hotspot functionality rather than the more higher-range Lumia 800 and the Lumia 710.

The Nokia Lumia 610 is a 3.7 inch smartphone with a 800MHz single core processor and the Wi-Fi hotspot functionality will allow up to five devices to be connected. The feature isn’t really unique but it is interesting how Nokia has decided to include it on the 610 and not the 800 or 710.

There is a chance the other Lumia devices may get the functionality with an update.

Bad news for Samsung Galaxy Note users as there is a possible delay for the update to Android Ice Cream Sandwich.

The manufacturer originally announced the update would roll out during the first quarter of 2012 but now according to its Norway Facebook page the update may be postponed till Q2.

It’s unsure if this will just affect Norway of if it is global so stay posted for further updates.

An image of the Samsung Galaxy S3 has been leaked online, prompting rumours that the handset could be announced before the month is out.

The snap, sourced by Phone Arena, shows a handset with the same super slim form factor and plastic exterior as the best-selling Galaxy S2.

However, in keeping with the recent smartphone trend, Samsung has dispensed with front-facing physical buttons in favour of purely touchscreen ones.

The screen appears extended too, and backs up rumours that the S3 will feature a super-sized display thought to be about 4.8-inches.

Text visible on the screen in the image suggests that the device will make its debut on 22 March, although as Phone Area suggests, the image does someone smack of a Photoshop mock-up.

There’s only one way to find out, and it looks like all will be revealed next Thursday… or not, as the case may be!