Sound Mobiles

Sony Ericsson to Offer Unlimited Tunes (too)

Sound Mobiles — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 07:46:54 +0000

Following hot on the heels of an announcement made by Nokia earlier this week, Sony Ericsson have declared that they too will now be offering an unlimited music download service for their Walkman branded line of phones.

No prizes for guessing which music label signs up first, but we’re keen to see who else jumps aboard this business model.

From the FT:

Dan Cryan, an analyst at Screen Digest, a media and technology consultancy, said that competition had encouraged Sony Ericsson to launch a product it had once rejected as devaluing music.

“Sony Ericsson’s market share is shrinking,” he said. “If everybody is launching ‘all you can eat’ services, which make handsets more attractive to end users and to operators, they don’t have much choice, especially when so much of their brand value is built around the Walkman.”

The announcement of the exact details of the service is supposed to be made by Sony some time this month with a launch date for the service due before Christmas.

It seems like a winning formula to us - who wouldn’t want unlimited music downloads for a set-annual fee?

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BBC iPlayer available on the Nokia N96

Sound Mobiles — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 13:41:16 +0000

Not only will the owners of Nokia’s new N96 have got their hands on one of the best mobile devices around, but they’re also going to be given access to the BBC television library through BBC’s iPlayer, following an announcement by the BBC that the application will be made available for the mobile platform.

From the 1st of October, a purpose-built application will be made available through the BBC website for users who’ve already got their hands on the device, and new phones will find the application pre-installed.

The BBC iPlayer gives people the opportunity to view TV shows from the last 7 days, making this an ideal application for anyone who missed out on that episode of Eastenders or Dragons’ Den…

“This partnership is critical to ensuring we continue to reach out to audiences wherever they are and allow them to catch-up on their favourite BBC programmes,” added Mr Huggers.

Simon Ainslie, managing director at Nokia UK, said: “The Nokia N96 is going to provide a gateway to quality viewing on the move.

“The enormous success of iPlayer has demonstrated the desire audiences have for accessing programmes at a time and a place that suits them,” he added.

We just can’t wait to see if this will be rolled out across the rest of the Nokia product range any time soon - in fact, we’re looking forward to seeing it available on every mobile platform out there. Given the BBC’s stance on platform independence, surely it would be a mistake to align with just one manufacturer?

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Nokia Unveils ‘Comes With Music’

Sound Mobiles — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 15:01:54 +0000

Earlier this week, Nokia held an event in Amsterdam to which a number of prolific bloggers and other media types were invited, in order to make an announcement on some new products/services Nokia are planning to soon release.

One of those services, titled ‘Comes With Music’ raised a few eyebrows as it comes at a time when rumours have been circulating regarding a subscription-based itunes service - ‘Comes with Music’ seems like it could be nokia’s answer to that rumour.

During the event the company announced Nokia Comes With Music, a revolutionary program that enables people to buy a Nokia device with a year of unlimited access to millions of tracks from a range of great artists - past, present and future. Once the year is complete, customers can keep all their music without having to worry about it disappearing when their subscription is over.

The service is set to launch with support from Universal Music, and Nokia is currently in talks with the other major music labels to get them included.

According to Universal Music CEO Lucian Grainge:

“It’s fantastic to work with Nokia on Comes With Music,” said Grainge. “We feel it’s an innovative way for people to discover and enjoy new artists, while at the same time having access to the amazing depth of the Universal catalog. Comes With Music allows our artists to reach new audiences in a very easy and affordable way.”

One of the first devices to make use of the service will be the new Nokia 5310 XpressMusic…

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New Dell Laptop comes Mobile Broadband Ready

Sound Mobiles — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 14:17:49 +0000

Following on from the official announcement of the Dell Inspiron Mini this week, Engadget reports that Vodafone have secured a deal to provide built-in mobile broadband to the device, with an EU wide exclusivity contract.

We’re already seeing a number of providers offer free laptop’s in exchange for customers signing up for a mobile broadband contract, and we wonder if this is something we can expect to see more of down the line with Dell & Vodafone?

Despite photos of the Inspiron mini floating around for the last few weeks, it’s only on Monday that Dell officially announced the device, aimed at being a competitor to Asus’ eee Laptop. It’s certainly a cute looking device, and with a range of memory options (4gb - 16gb) it might actually end up being a little more useful than the Asus which is currently maxing out at 8gb of memory.

We’ve use the eee a few times, and love the linux OS that it comes with - Dell are also offering a version of Linux on their new ultra-mini laptop, but for an extra £100 or so, you can get Windows XP on their instead.

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HTC Announce the Stunning s740

Sound Mobiles — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 09:13:34 +0000

Always finding ways to cater to a wider market, HTC have recognised the need for a more traditional smartphone within their range of products. Not wanting to exclude those who prefer a full QWERTY keyboard, HTC have managed to design a phone for them too…

The beautiful HTC s730 is a truly fantastic looking device, following many of the styling queues set out from it’s big brother, the HTC Touch Pro. Although clearly a much smaller device than the industrial looking Pro, the s740 manages to squeeze the keyboard in by sliding out underneath the device.

Initial specs for the phone look good, featuring:

A 2.4″ QVGA screen
3.2mp Digital Camera
microSD slot
Wi-Fi
FM radio

It’s around the same size as many of the ‘normal’ consumer devices on the market, measuring 116 x 43 x 16mm, weighing in at 140g.

The HTC s740 is due out some-time in September, and when we have some indication of what networks it will be available on we’ll let you know.

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The Best Pink Mobile Phones Available

Sound Mobiles — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 18:50:02 +0000

Pink is officially in. It seems every manufacturer is producing pink handsets these days, and as everyone likes to have a phone with a bit of personal character, we’ve pulled together a list of what we think are the very best pink mobile phones available on the market today.

If you’re interested in getting your hands on any of the phones listed below, you can check out the deals available on them by clicking on the images or going directly to one of our partner sites, listed on our partners overview page.

Blackberry 8110 GPS Pink

Featuring the incredibly useful BlackBerry email system, and GPS navigation, the Blackberry 8110 GPS Pink is a phenominal business phone for anyone with a sense of pink tinged style.

Key features of the 8110 Pink Include:

2.0mp Digital camera
Video Recording
GPS with maps software
Bluetooth
Fully Featured Email Client
MicroSD Card Slot

A Selection of the Deals Available on the 8110 Pink

Blackberry 8310 Curve Pink

Much like it’s little brother the 8110, the 8310 Pink boasts an impressive featureset including GPS, the famous BlackBerry email client, full web browser, and QWERTY keyboard - making this phone a must-have for the serious business user with a love for Pink. It’s getting a little old now, and we’re hoping to see a BlackBerry Bold in pink at some point soon - as soon as it’s announced we’ll have it listed here.

Key features of the 8310 Pink Include:

Full QWERTY Keyboard
GPS with maps software
Bluetooth
Fully Featured Email Client
MicroSD Card Slot

A Selection of the Deals Available on the 8310 Pink

Nokia 3500 Classic Pink

This classic, (see what we did there), good looking phone is great for anyone looking for a stylish handset with an affordable price tag, full feature set and cute looks. If that’s what you’re looking for, then the Nokia 3500 Classic Pink might just be the handset for you.

Key features of the 3500 Classic Pink Include:

2mp camera with 8x digital zoom
Stereo MP3 player with dedicated control buttons
Integrated handsfree speaker
microSD memory card slot
Polyphonic ringtones

A Selection of the Deals Available on the Nokia 3500 Pink

Nokia 5310 Pink

Another fantastic phone to be released with a pink colour option, the nokia 5310 boats a full feature-set and stylish design with a crisp screen and simple-to-use interface. The 5310 has been a huge success for Nokia to date, and we’re sure that the addition of a pink phone will only help that increase. This is one of our favourites, and a phone we’d highly recommend for any user - in pink or not!

Key features of the 5310 Pink Include:

2mp camera with 8x digital zoom
Stereo MP3 player
Integrated handsfree speaker
microSD memory card slot

A Selection of the Deals Available on the 5139 Pink

Samsung F480 Tocco Pink

This fully touch-screen operated phone is ideal for anyone who loves to show off the latest technology in front of their friends. Boasting an impressive feature list, the Samsung Tocco has now been released in pink which is why we’re very pleased to include it in the list - this is our favourite by far, and the one we’d highly recommend anyone getting hold of.

Key features of the Tocco Pink Include:

5 Mega pixel camera
3G Web Browsing
Music player and FM radio
2.8 inches Touchscreen

A Selection of the Deals Available on the Samsung Tocco Pink

Samsung U900 Soul Pink

The Samsung U900 is one of our favourite slide phones of the year. It’s got a great camera, incredibly high-speed internet access, FM radio, and a funky OLED keypad that changes it’s display based on whatever the current function of the phone is. There aren’t that many Pink Slide Phones available on the market at the moment, but if that’s what you’re looking for, you won’t go much wrong with the U900…

Key features of the U900 Soul Pink Include:

5 Mega pixel camera
High-peed 3G Web Browsing (7.2mbps)
Music player and FM radio
FM Radio
Adaptive OLED key interface

A Selection of the Deals Available on the Samsung Soul Pink

Sony Ericsson W580i Pink

One of the most Popular walkman branded phones, the Sony Ericsson W580i Pink is a serious entertainment handset that now comes in everyone’s favourite shade of rose. It’s got some interesting features, including the nifty TrackID service that lets you find out what track you’re listening to if you’re not sure.

Key features of the W580i Pink Include:

2.0mp Digital Camera
Built-in MP3 Media Player
HSCSD (High Speed Data)
MP3 Ringtones

A Selection of the Deals Available on the Sony Ericsson w580i

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Nokia N85 and N79 Now Official

Sound Mobiles — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 08:36:47 +0000

There’s been plenty of buzz around these two handsets for the last few weeks, so it’s not a massive surprise seeing their announcement, nonetheless, behold, the new Nokia’s N85 and N79.

The N79 features the same old Xpress on covers we used to have on the 5110 and 3210 which is a cool feature for anyone looking for a funky style phone, the N85 it nice enough, and we look forward to having a play with them both.

Initial specs were leaked by BJR a while ago, but to recap if you haven’t seen them elsewhere:

Nokia N79 Stats

5mp Camera, Dual LED Flash, Carl Zeiss Lense;
FM Transmitter;
24 Hours of Music Playback;
3.5mm Headset Jack;
GPS with Nokia Maps Version 2.0;
4 GB microSD card bundled;

Nokia N85 Stats

2.6 inch AM OLED 2.6 inch QVGA 16 million colors display;
5mp camera;
Dedicated N-Gage gaming keys;
HSDPA; Wi-Fi; Bluetooth;
GPS with Nokia Maps 2.0;
FM Transmitter;
28 hours of Music Playback;
3.5mm Headset Jack;
MicroSD support;

We’re looking forward to having a play with them, and we’ll let you know exactly what we think of them when we do.

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HTC Announce the Dream Handset

Ol — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 07:47:07 +0000

We’re a little while behind the curve with this bit of news, but HTC have recently announced their very first Android based mobile phone, the Dream. Expectations are high for this device, as it looks as though it may be the real spearhead of Google’s new mobile OS technology - here’s hoping it won’t disappoint.

Specs aren’t forthcoming at this stage, but as far as we know the HTC Dream will come equipped with:

A Large Touch-Screen featuring Haptic Technology
A full Full QWERTY keypad, making it ideal for business users
A Keypad that either slides or swivels out for easy text entry
Intuitive internet navigation controls below the touchscreen display

That’s about all we know at this stage - there are a few images floating around, but we’re not 100% if any of them are real - make your own mind up by checking out the shot below.

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Mobile Projectors are Here - Samsung Concept Lights the Way

Ol — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 09:55:38 +0000

We haven’t got any information on this in terms of model numbers, actual feasibility of it being released, or even if this is a working prototype, but following on from our post last week about 6 mobile technologies you should be excited about, we found these images of a Samsung phone with a projector built-in.

Apparently, the phone can display a 3′ image on a wall, making it an ideal tool for business users who are tired of carrying a laptop around with them - you’d need compatible software like a PowerPoint viewer to make this worthwhile as a business device though.

Other specs are thin on the ground, but the phone (designed by Eun-Young Kim) is apparently equipped with a 3mp camera, and 3g comms. That’s about all we know.

More Detailed shots of the Samsung Mobile Phone Projector

The TV Jack port is an interesting feature, although we’re not sure why you’d want to have to plug this into a mobile phone - shouldn’t this have an integrated arial?

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HTC Touch Pro Unboxing

Ol — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 08:56:11 +0000

Omio made a post today showing the HTC Touch Pro being (finally) unboxed.

It’s a great looking handset, and we can’t wait to get our hands on it ourselves, but until we do (which we WILL), we’ll have to make do with drooling over this - Enjoy!

The HTC Touch Pro Being Unboxed

If you’re one of the people lucky enough to get your hands on this beautiful device, why not let us know what you think of it by rating the phone and leaving a comment?

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