Mobile Phone Blog:

Right then, now I’ve got an Android phone (an HTC One X… I may have mentioned that, before), it means I can actually try out all these apps I keep telling you about. It’s brilliant, ‘cos I can finally try the things I keep mithering on about, instead of merely looking on bitterly, and occasionally hitting my old WinMo phone for being utterly obsolete.

So, to celebrate, I decided to do a comparison between two browsers that caught my eye, because they’re the two browsers I use on my PC, and both of them are available now from Google Play (in brand new Beta form), so I reckon we should have a squiz, and see what’s what. So, it’s time to have a look at today’s big question: which is best, Chrome or Firefox? (more…)

Remember me talking about Google Glass, the project Google were working on, that entailed making a pair of Android-powered smart glasses? Well, we now have some brand new details about what these mythical beasties will actually entail, and it’s a bit less all-encompassingly futuristic than I expected, while still being pretty chuffing cool.

Y’see, according to CNet, we can forget any ideas of having a Terminator-style overlay, over everything we see. I can’t help but feel that’s a tiny bit disappointing, but let’s be honest, it should have been obvious that was never going to happen, because having your whole field of vision obscured by Youtube is sure to have you walking into an open manhole cover and dying… (more…)

Now then, here’s an interesting thing. It’s well known that the Nexus range is made entirely of Google’s own, untarnished view of what Android phones should be like, without any additional interface on top. The last phone to be released in the range was the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, and everyone seemed to love it, which is fair enough, really, ‘cos it was brilliant.

According to CNet, though, Google might be planning on expanding the Nexus range, ‘cos they apparently filed a patent back in January for a new sliding phone. And the thing is… it turns out that there’s a couple of rather compelling reasons to suspect this will indeed lead to a Nexus slidephone going on sale… (more…)

Hmm, well, I wondered how long it’d take for this to happen, after the close partnership betwixt Nokia and Microsoft was announced, although this latest bit of news has nothing officially to do with that partnership. Unofficially, though, I’d be lying if I said my brain wasn’t going, “Microsoft are working heavily with Nokia, and I bet other manufacturers’ll work with them less, because of that.”

Y’see, LG are distancing themselves from the Windows Phone platform, and according to The Korea Herald, the official reason is because sales of Windows Phone devices have been weak. Or, as LG themselves put it, “The total unit of Windows Phone sold in the global market is not a meaningful figure…” (more…)

Yes, folks, this is in fact my third post about Waterloo Road in less than a year, but there’s a very good reason for me doing so many posts about the show. Well, okay, two good reasons, in fact. The first is that it consistently features mobile phones, so it’s easy fodder for this blog, but the second reason is a bit weirder.

Basically, I’m completely in awe over how many utterly ludicrous things Waterloo Road includes in its storylines. Last night was the series finale, and I am now firmly convinced that the show’s writers are high, or at the very least, trolling their audience.

I’ll get back to that (hoooooooo boy, will I get back to that), but first… (more…)

Y’know, it’s not just mobile phones that I love, no sirree; there’s a couple of other technologies that I’ve always loved, ever since I was a wee nipper. One of ‘em is cars (naturally, what with me being a man), while the other is designed to fly through the air and, often, make things explode, really spectacularly (which cars generally don’t do, unless you’re a really bad driver). I’m talking, of course, about the aerospace industry, something I’ve been a fan of ever since I saw a Vulcan fly over at an air show, when I was a kid. Ye gods, that was a powerful beast!

What has this got to do with phones? Simple: according to National Defense Magazine, Boeing is making an Android phone… (more…)

After the news that Rockstar were bringing Grand Theft Auto III to mobile phones, it only seemed a matter of time until they brought over the other big franchise they’re known for, into the mobile world. Yes, I’m talking about Max Payne, and according to Joystiq, the John Woo-inspired action game is due to make its debut on smartphones (and tablets, naturally) this month.

It’s coming out on iOS first, on April 12th, (and they say it’ll work on the iPhone 3GS, which is a novelty, these days… I’m used to games only working on the iPhone 4S, or at best, the iPhone 4). The Android version will follow on April 26th, but as yet, there’s no list of which Android devices it’ll work on, although one is coming… (more…)

Right then, I’ve heard about an app called Instagram before, from when it appeared on iOS devices like the iPhone 4S. However, I never bothered to find out what it was, or what it actually did, other than that is somehow involved photos. And it had convinced hipsters all round the world that they could actually take photos that were all artistic and deep, and all that nonsense.

However, it’s now popped up on Google Play, so perhaps I’d better start taking an interest, and ask the important question: what, actually, when you get down to it, is Instagram? Is it just a tool for hipsters to pretend that they’re not mainstream, or does it have some merit? Well, read on, and let’s find out…  (more…)

Right then, we all know that Google have a specific range of phones, which is designed to show off the core Android experience, without any extra adornments to take away from Google’s own vision of a phone. It is, of course, the Nexus range, and the most recent phone from that range is, of course, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus.

However, there’s a rumour going about that they’ll extend to the Nexus range to introduce a tablet device, with the core Google experience, and according to PocketNow, this might be it. But as usual, it’s now time for us all to put our sceptical trousers on. Yes, we need to ask the question we always ask, when we get a leak like this: is it real or cobblers?  (more…)

Do you like reading? Of course ye do, everyone likes reading, right? Do you use the Amazon Kindle app on your Android phone? Well, if not, you should really try it, ‘cos it’s brilliant. I’ve become a huge fan of the Kindle recently, and now, the Android Kindle app has got that little bit better, ‘cos Amazon have updated it with a new feature, called Send-To-Kindle.

So, what’s that, then? Well, quite simply, it lets you send documents to your Send-To-Kindle email address, which pushes them to the device, and lets you view those documents on your phone, with the Kindle app. Oh, and a copy is stored in the cloud, as well, as a back-up. You may now be asking why that’s useful, though… (more…)