Mobile Phone Blog:

Right then, I’ve written about it before, but since it’s now appeared in the wild, it’s time to write about it again; yes folks, according to PocketDroid, the Panasonic Eluga has gone on sale. In Germany, that is. No, it’s not actually been released in the UK, yet, but we do know a rough date when it will be released over here.

Specifically, it’s due to hit these shores on April 24th. The question in my mind, though, is how well it’ll do when it’s up against some real heavy hitters, in terms of the HTC One X, and the soon to be announced (more on that later today, so stay tuned) Samsung Galaxy S III. I reckon those are the two most exciting phones currently available, so does the Panasonic Eluga stand a chance? (more…)

I’ve already said, on ohhhhhhhh so many occasions, just how excited I am about the HTC One X. It’s an ungodly powerful beast of a phone, and I’ve pretty much reached the conclusion that I need it in my life. The possibility of me buying one has moved on to be a cast iron certainty, and part of the reason why I want it so badly is the fact that it has the newest version of the HTC Sense UI, version 4.0.

But what is the newest version of Sense like? Well, for anyone who’s ever whinged about Sense being too resource-intensive, and taking away from the core bits that made Android good, you’re in for a treat. The best way to describe Sense 4.0 is that it adds to Android ICS, without getting in the way of ICS’s good bits… (more…)

Well, there’s a bit of news I wasn’t expecting. It seems that the Android Market, famed from Android phones all round the world, is evolving, Pokemon-style. Oh sure, it’s already changed and morphed a lot since its inception, but now, it’s entering a whole new era. Yup, the Android Market is evolving into Google Play…

Basically, what seems to be happening is that Google are renaming it, to reflect the fact that it’s not just for phones, but includes content like e-books and movies, and now encompasses the entire Google ecosystem. Hence, Android Market might not be the best name any more, since it no longer looks to be limited to just Android…  (more…)

Have you ever wondered what a virtual ukulele would sound and play like, if it were on iOS? No, me neither, but the fact is, someone has gone and made a ukulele app for that platform, and it’s called Futulele (awesome name, that). Observe…

Okay, despite my feelings on the likes of the iPhone 4S, that’s actually pretty clever. As you can see in the video, the app’s running across both the iPad and the iPhone (the two are connected by Bluetooth), so you use the iPad as the strummy bit, and the phone as the fretboard bit. And then you make sweet, beautiful music… (more…)

Click here for part 2 in today’s epic three-post stream of consciousness!

And while we’re on the subject of camera phones, what does my favourite manufacturer (that would be HTC, as you well know) have in store for their phones, to combat the new Nokia 808 PureView (well, okay, not just to combat the PureView, but to give them an edge in general, when it comes to mobile imaging)? According to AndroidAndMe, what HTC has is ImageSense.

Now then, you may be asking what ImageSense is (and I hope you are, otherwise this blog post is going to be a bit superfluous, really), but at its most basic, it’s a suite of new imaging-type stuff, that means HTC phones are going to take better photos than ever. As explanations go, though, that’s a bit lacking, so time to go deeper…  (more…)

Well, folks, that’s it for another year. After a week of exciting things happening, and me going squeeeee more than once, Mobile World Congress 2012 has drawn to a close. I’d say that I’m off to put my feet up and sup some sangria (what with MWC being in Barcelona), but since I don’t drink, and since I’m not actually in Spain, that’d be a bit pointless, really.

Instead, let’s have a look back at the smartphones that have been thrust mewling into the arms of an expectant public. And yes, that was an attempt at a poetic birth analogy. You’re welcome. So anyway, let’s look at my top 3 phones of MWC2012, and I bet you can guess which one I ended up being most excited about… (more…)

Despite the fact I’ve only briefly played with HTC Sense on Android, I’ve always been a big fan of the UI that HTC sticks on all of its Android phones. The details of the latest version, HTC Sense 4.0, were leaked a while back, but now we finally get to see what’s new for ourselves…

Right, first things first; I honestly think he’s exaggerating a bit about how sluggish the UI was on the HTC One S. Sure, it looked a tiny bit sluggish in places, but it generally looked fine to me, and if you were paying attention when brought up the task manager, you’d have seen that he had rather a lot of stuff running. So, to be honest, it’s pretty impressive that it wasn’t chugging more… (more…)

A couple of weeks ago, I did a blog post about the upcoming Acer CloudMobile, where I gushed a bit about the design, but where I, alas, couldn’t say much about the specs, ‘cos no-one knew what they were. Thanks to a new hands-on from Engadget, we now know a lot more. Have a look…

Yup, still pretty! It’s also starting to sound like the phone may also be a bit more impressive than I suspected, which’d be nice, ‘cos brains and beauty is always a rather compelling combination, ain’t it? The bit that sounds most impressive, though, is the screen…  (more…)

It’s a well know fact that there’s a few upstarts who’re causing some big time stylee commotion in the mobile industry, and they’re best described as “ex-OEM manufacturers from China”. Chief among them are ZTE and Huawei, but today’s story is about the former, ‘cos according to their own press release, ZTE have only gone and announced a Tegra 3-powered, quad-core superphone.

Yes, basically, a company regarded by many as a young upstart in the industry has gone and announced a phone that’s more powerful than the HTC Sensation XE, which is, when you get right down to it, one hell of an achievement.

So, is it any good?  (more…)

Ooh, not long now! What with it being slated to appear at the Mobile World Congress, it’s really not long until the next HTC flagship gets unveiled, and as I’ve said many times, I’m excited. I’m even more excited today, though, because according to PocketNow, we already know what the phone will look like. Yes, it’s the HTC One X, and what it looks like is that, over there, to the right.

What it looks like, unsurprisingly, is an HTC phone, and that’s caused some people to launch yet another tirade against HTC’s design department. Rest assured, though, that I’m not going to do that; I like HTC’s designs, so it looking hauntingly like the HTC Sensation XE (albeit without the Beats Audio logos all over) is fine by me…  (more…)