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. Also, there's a personal message at the end. It's from me, Technical Markus, to anyone who's experienced, or IS experiencing, bullying; so, if that's the case, do read it all, and hopefully you can take some strength from it.]

Now then, I’ve been trying to find an angle to talk about Bemilo ever since I first heard about it, a couple of days ago. It wasn’t something that immediately jumped out at me as something I needed to blog about, ‘cos while it’s an intriguing service, and while I do sort of agree with it, it’s also, basically, boring. It’s basically a virtual network, that runs on Vodafone cell towers, that gives parents full control over their kids’ phones, and that’s fine.

So, why is this a rant, then? ‘Cos of the BBC, that’s why. In their usual left wing, hand-wringing way (and yes, I realise that all pretence of objectivity is going out the window, here), they’ve focused on the one bit of Bemilo’s sales pitch that strikes me as utterly cynical and stupid… (more…)

Right then, if anybody is looking forward to the Sony Xperia S (like I am), and is wondering what networks it’ll pop up on, in the UK, then wonder no more! Thanks to Unwired View, we now know which networks it’ll be appearing on, over here in Blighty! So, who’s going to be getting it?

Well, let’s not beat about the bush, it’s O2, Orange and Three. They’ve all confirmed they’re going to have the Xperia S on their networks, which is no real surprise; the big surprise, though, is that Vodafone have said they’re not going to be selling it. Well, alright, they say they have “no plans” to sell it, so whether that means they will do, in future, is anyone’s guess. It seems to be a phone that’s worth getting excited over, too… (more…)

Right then, feel like reading something that could be either: 1/one of the biggest bits of news to hit the mobile world in a while; or 2/ complete and utter cobblers? Yeah, of course you do! According to the Wall Street Journal, RIM, erstwhile purveyors of Blackberry phones, might be getting bought by someone. And it’s not just anyone, it’s the oldest mobile network in the world (and one of the UK’s biggest networks, too), Vodafone.

As always, then, the question is this: real or cobblers? And if it’s really happening, why would Vodafone be buying a phone manufacturer? Sure, they work with manufacturers, sometimes, but would they really buy one outright? Why would they do that? (more…)

Ooh, now then, here’s a thing. We all know that the Android Market is one of the most compelling bits of the Android OS, ‘cos it allows you to expand your phone’s functionality waaaaaaaaay past what it starts with, out of the box. The thing is, though, that setting it up can be a bit of a bum, what with needing a credit card and all that malarkey.

So, ’tis nice to see that, according to their own developer blog, Vodafone have come to the rescue. Yup, the big, red network is now offering operator billing for the Android Market, so you can buy apps, and pay for them on your monthly bill. And that is brilliant.

And I’ll tell ya why… (more…)

There is a possibility that the HTC EVO 3D may be delayed in the UK. The handset was set to launch next month but there is some new speculations that this is an unlikely release date.

Vodafone has removed the 3D capable handset from their coming soon page on their site and when asked to comment about the action the network said it no longer planned to include the Evo 3D in their smartphone range.

Either there are some technical problems with the HTC handset or the carrier has opted out of selling 3D smartphones after the poor sales figures of the LG Optimus 3D.

Right then, I’m about to voice an opinion that’s bound to be unpopular amongst the average Englishman, but I’m going to say it, anyway. So here goes: I think the European Union is a good thing. I’ve seen all the apocryphal (and yes, most of them are apocryphal, or, to put it more accurately, completely cobblers) stories about English cucumbers being banned for not being straight enough, and I feel I should point out how valuable, how important, things like the European Court of Human Rights are.

And now there’s another reason for me to support the EU. According to IntoMobile, the EU is planning to abolish international roaming charges, for voice calls within the EU itself, by 2015. (more…)

I am a nerd, and as such, I love Nathan Fillion. It’s the law, I’m afraid; if you’re a nerd, you have to love Nathan Fillion, hate the Star Wars prequels with a passion, argue over whether Star Trek: Deep Space Nine or Babylon 5 was better (for the record: Babylon 5 was), and consider Firefly to be the high water mark of televisual science fiction.

So, given that hit US TV show Castle stars Señor Fillion, I pretty much had to watch it, glorious, gender-swapped version of Murder, She Wrote that it is. And since it has a mobile phone formed the centrepoint of last week’s investigation, I can blog about it. Fittingly, though (y’know, ‘cos this is a murder mystery show), it took me ages to solve the mystery of what phone it was… (more…)

Right, I did a blog post a few weeks back, about Google Wallet, the search giant’s brand NFC-powered mobile payment thingie. You know, it’s the one where you wave your phone at a terminal, exactly like you would with an Oyster Card (NFC… same tech, y’see), to pay for stuff; it’s due to hit the UK at some point, although no-one has any idea when.

However, according to the Engadget, the UK networks have decided to try and trump Google Wallet at its own game, before Google even unveil the service over here. Specifically, Vodafone, O2 and Everything Everywhere (made up of Orange and T Mobile) have said that they’re working on their own NFC-powered mobile payment system. (more…)

Now then, you may very well know that, right now, there are a few phones that I’m ridiculously excited about. There’s the Samsung Galaxy S II, which looks, if I’m perfectly honest, completely gobsmacking. There’s also the Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc, which I still reckon is one of the prettiest phones I’ve ever seen.

And of course, there’s the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play, what with me being a gamer and everything.

The other one is a phone from my favourite manufacturer, HTC, and if you’ve been reading the blog, you may well have an idea of what it is. Yup, it’s the HTC Sensation, and I’m happy because it looks like it’s arriving this month… (more…)

Every now and then, someone will come up with a brilliant, brilliant idea, that I unreservedly love, because it’s, well, brilliant. For instance, when Orange unveiled HD Voice, I got rather, er, enthused about it. Well, today’s brilliant idea comes from Vodafone, who’ve decided to stick phone chargers in 500 black cabs, in London.

That ain’t all; according to The Guardian, they’ve also unveiled a scheme that will allow people to pay their cab fares by text message. So, if you’re stuck without any small change when you need a cab, you just text the taxi’s licence number to a central code, and the charge for the trip goes on your monthly bill. Or, presumably, comes out of your PAYG balance, if you’re not on contract… (more…)