Leading UK bed and mattress specialist, Mattressman is all set to join the burgeoning Tablet PC market where we have seen announcements from bigwigs as well as smaller players joining the fray. The UK mattress maker is all set to launch a tablet with the name Andy Pad, in honour of Android.
The Andy Pad is expected to land the UK market at the beginning of September. The Android based tablet which packs pretty catchy features includes a 7-inch touchscreen, a Cortex A8 system on chip clocked at 1.2GHz, 1080p HDMI connectivity, Wi-Fi, a front facing camera, a microSD card reader as well as a microUSB port.
Interestingly, the tablet which would run on Android 2.3 Gingerbread will also be bundled with number of pre-installed apps such as Twitter, Facebook and Bubble Blast II. The Andy Pad would be available in white colour having unglossy finishing. Also, when you switch off the device, the screen would appear in grey rather than black colour.
However, the Andy Pad would not sport a rear facing camera and onboard 3G (and GPS). Also unknown is the fact if the tablet would sport a resistive touchscreen or not as well as the amount of RAM and storage.
Initially, the tablet will be available in the UK only and those who are interested can register on its site. Surprisingly, the Andy Pad will come with a price tag of just £129. The tablet will have to withstand the tough competition not only against the iPad 2 or the Samsung Galaxy Tab but also the Kogan Agora 7-inch tablet which costs only £125.
The much awaited world’s first professional-grade tablet BlackBerry Playbook from RIM has finally made its way to hit the UK store shelves yesterday. The tablet PC is available for sale through retailers Insight, Currys and PC World stores, Phones 4u and the Carphone Warehouse.
You can place your hands on the 16GB Wi-Fi version by shelling out £399. However, those looking for 32GB and 64GB Wi-Fi models will have to shell out £479 and £559 respectively. PlayBook is also for sale from eBay with the 16GB model available for just £315.
The Playbook boasts a WSVGA capacitive touchscreen of 7-inch, 1GB of RAM, onboard storage expandable up to 64GB, QNX Real Time OS, GPS, Wi-Fi and a HDMI output. It is powered by a dual core TI OMAP 4430 SoC clocked at 1GHz. The device also comes with 2 cameras, one is a rear camera of 5MP and the other is a 3MP front facing one.
The Playbook also comes with a GPS accelerometer, a six-axis motion sensor as well as a digital compass. While it has most of all features, which are expected to be part of tablet, Playbook comes with a unique feature called BlackBerry Bridge.
A strong demand has been found for the PlayBook since its launch and pre-orders are already being placed as expected. The Blackberry Playbook with all the fabulous features is definitely one of the most awaited releases in UK.
Today it is a string of bad news for UK mobile phone lovers. After Sony Ericsson announcing about back out of its plans to launch Sony Ericsson W8 in UK, now it is Motorola.
As per unconfirmed news, Motorola is dropping its plans to release Motorola Milestone 3 in UK, but instead it is planning to release Motorola Pro in UK.
Original Motorola Milestone was a running hit in UK. Part of its success can be attributed to its multi touch touchscreen, its network connectivity and a very decent camera. Milestone 2 was not able to create a great mark in UK market, as it was not able to impress UK users with any path breaking features. Milestone 3 has created hype in market with its features, which were leaked last month and official look tutorials released. Definitely it will be disappointing news for UK mobile lovers.
To pacify UK mobile lovers from this bad news, Motorola has confirmed its plans to release Motorola Pro in UK. Pro also does have impressive features to lure users. It is built on Android Froyo (most latest version of Android) with Blackberry kind of look.
There was a lot of hype around release of Sony Ericsson Walkman. Music fanatics and fans of Sony Ericsson’s music capability are very excited to see brand new music oriented Smartphone from Sony Ericsson, whose walkman was a milestone in music devices industry. Sony Ericsson has a bad news to all these fans in UK.
Yes Sony Ericsson has decided to back out the plans of launching Sony Ericsson Walkman W8 from UK market.
Sony Ericsson is going ahead with its plans to go ahead with launch of super music Smartphone across Asia Pacific in China, India, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan and Vietnam. Previous Walkman series phones were successful across Asia Pac countries and anticipating success with this strong Brand Name, Sony Ericsson sources confirmed that they are going ahead with plans to launch this Music Smartphone across Asia Pac, while backing out plans to launch it in UK.
Smartphone fans has nothing much to lose with this back out plan, as Sony Ericsson Walkman W8 features were not so impressive. Its screen resolution is pretty low with 3.2 mega pixel camera (which is not so impressive, as now a days phones are available with 8 megapixel cameras).
Here comes some interesting news for all those who are looking ahead to place their hands on brand new handsets by sticking to their existing SIM-only deal and not willing to pay full price for the device. Network operator Orange has brought the perfect contract for such users.
You can grab the smartphone via Dialaphone by shelling an initial cost of £209 along with a tenner every month which will offer you 30 minutes and unlimited texts along with the phone. That is, overall cost is £449 which is cheaper than the suggested retail price of £499.
Also coupled with the device is a free Samsung Galaxy S2 SIM unlock code finder on Android market. Using this, you can use your phone with ANY SIM card once the device is rooted.
The Galaxy S II is the latest addition to the ultra-popular Galaxy S family. Slimmer, lighter and faster, Galaxy S II is mere 8.49mm thick, weighs only 116g and has a huge 4.27-inch Super AMOLED WVGA capacitive touchscreen.
The device comes pre-loaded with the latest Google operating system – Android 2.3 Gingerbread. The smartphone also packs a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, Bluetooth 3.0, NFC, micro USB, Wi-Fi as well as 1GB of RAM. And of course adding value is an 8MP camera with LED flash capable of recording HD 1080p video.
As per the market talks LG is manufacturing a dual screen mobile exclusively for T-Mobile network.
Though much information about this Smartphone from LG is not available, it comes with Twain screens. One of them being main touch screen other screen is embedded into QWERTY sliding keyboard. Even Name of the Smartphone is not yet out in market. It is recently showcased in one of the mobile event in UK.
Second screen in is fitted on sliding QWERTY keyboard amongst mid of keys. This screen is basically to sport frequently used apps for quick access, while main screen is where application will be launched. As per the news in market name of the device can be LG Flip II, though there is no confirmation from the manufacturer.
Information all that available is, LG is manufacturing this Smartphone specifically for T-Mobile. Information available is not enough to confirm if this is a high end Smartphone or not and to that point there is no information to confirm if it is a Smartphone. Another piece of confirmed information about the new Mobile is, it will be an Android based handset.
Apple is set to find another competitor in Sony with the company poised to launch its first tablet computers, codenamed S1 and S2. The iPad 2 rivals from Sony are expected to hit the UK market in September.
Both the tablets S1 and S2 were unveiled back in April 2011. The tablets are said to be available for pre-order from August and will be released officially in September according to Engadget site. Apart from Sony Direct, the tablets will also be available for sale from UK department store John Lewis.
Both the tablets will be running Google’s Android 3.0 OS. The tablets will offer Network Services for an Immersive Entertainment Experience, Playstation compatibility as well as DLNA support.
S1 is a conventional 9.4-inch tablet which is flat and shiny. The tablet which provides rich media entertainment boasts a Tegra 2 system on chip along with a new touch panel user interface.
On the other hand, S2 which is more ideal for mobile communication and entertainment, features dual touch screens of 5.5-inch opening up like a flip phone. Both the tablets which are said to be the first to enable the use of PlayStation games will also sport Wi-Fi and 3G/4G WWAN compatibility.
Sony is however going to be a late entrant in the tablet PC revolution given the fact that Apple has already revolutionized mobile computing with its iPad by launching it in April 2010.
Breaking all speculations whether it will be available in UK or not, finally news is out that 2011 Limited Edition of Samsung’s most successful and only Smartphone from Samsung, which sold ten million pieces, is now all set to head to UK.
Currently this special edition is being sold in Russia and China and going to be available in Netherland soon will finally make its way to shelves of UK mobile retail stores. Though its name says it to be limited edition of Samsung’s sward winning handset, it comes with few upgrades to original handset. It is faster than the original one as it will be equipped with 1.4 GHz Scorpion processor, while its predecessor is 1 GHz.
Battery life of the limited edition piece is also made much longer than its predecessor as it is made up of Li-Pro 1650 mAh, while original version is made up of Li-Pro 1500 mAh and cherry on top is Android 2.3 (also known as Gingerbread), while its predecessor is available on Froyo, Android 2.2.
Rest of all features are not changed, pricing information of this new version is still at large.
The Taiwanese mobile manufacturer which has earlier announced that its popular Desire smartphone would not be getting an Android 2.3 update has taken a significant u-turn and declared that it will be releasing Gingerbread update for the Desire smartphone.
HTC has taken this step post number of irate users who threatened that they will not be buying HTC products. HTC has posted on its Facebook page that contrary to what they said earlier, HTC Desire will be receiving Gingerbread upgrade.
HTC opined that it is tough for Desire to handle both Android 2.3 as well as its own proprietary Sense user interface at a go. However, Wildfire S was found to come with the latest OS inspite of sporting less powerful hardware.
It is still unknown if HTC will remove its Sense UI or will manage to cram both Android 2.3 and Sense UI onto the Desire smartphone. However, some users have been successful to install both Sense UI as well as Gingerbread on their Desire handsets.
Number of Desire users have been bound in 18 and 24 months contracts which will be expiring in the coming few months. After this, they will however be free to go ahead with HTC or give a try with some other Android device manufacturer.
If you have been waiting to hear more about the much anticipated first ever Three Dimensional Smartphone, the LG Optimus 3D, then here we are with the UK release date and pricing details of the device.
The Android powered 3D smartphone will hit the UK market on July 11th from a number of online retailers which will be offering the device on pre-order.
The retailer Clove will be offering the LG Optimus 3D in less than a month’s time as you can grab the smartphone from the retailer on July 11th by shelling out £454.80. The handset is available on July 12th for £469 from Play.com.
Amazon is set to offer the device on 13th of July with a price tag of £499. Both the network providers Orange and Three Mobile have confirmed to host the device. However, LG has not yet given any confirmation regarding the UK release details of the LG Optimus 3D smartphone.
The LG Optimus 3D which was unveiled earlier at MWC in February boasts an attractive 4.3 inch glasses-free 3D screen along with loads of many other fabulous features. The Smartphone will come with Android 2.2 OS, which is likely to get Gingerbread update later. It also sports 5MP dual rear-mounted cameras which allow taking 3D videos to be shot in HD 720p.
Nokia E6, Nokia’s so called business centric Smartphone has made its way into UK and as per Nokia’s sources has already started shipping.
As per company sources, Nokia E6 is now available in two modes Pay As You Go (PAYG) and contract basis. Nokia has maintained its pricing very competitive in both the flavors. While on PAYG it is available at £339 and on other mode (contract), the Smartphone is available for free of cost with contract of £ 25 per month. If user wants the phone to be free of service provider, SIM free option, it will be available at £10 extra over PAYG plan.
Nokia E6 is out of first lot of Smartphone along with Nokia X7, that are built over new version of Symbian mobile Operating System, Symbian Anna OS. Symbian Anna OS provides lot of enhancements. Important among those enhancements is better browser, while others are updated OVi Maps, which are now better equipped with transport maps and texting features.
Currently Nokia E6 is available in black, silver and white colors and as per company sources has started shipping back in May itself.
Riding high with success of Motorola Atrix, Motorola decided not to provide breathing space to its competitors before it could launch another super Smartphone.
In this direction, Motorola has come up with a new Smartphone, Photon 4G, 4G enabled Smartphone ready for release across worldwide along with UK.
Motorola has recently released specs of Motorola Photon 4G. Interfaced through 4.3 inch qHD captive touch screen with a resolution of 540 X 960 pixels, Photon 4G is one of the fastest Smartphone available in the market. Powered with Dual Core processor with Nvidia Tegra 2 processor of 1 GHz speed, processor speed is augmented with 1 GB RAM, which provides enough space for all most all types of Apps to be executed. The phone comes with 16 GB of internal memory, which can be enhanced to 32GB of external memory in form of SD Card.
The Smartphone is equipped with 8-mega pixel camera and a front facing camera to enable video calling. Comes with built in kickstand and is based on Android 2.3 version (also known as Gingerbread).
Barcelona is Orange’s own Froyo (Android 2.2) powered mobile phone and the service provider confirmed that it will be available in the UK soon.
The handset design resembles a BlackBerry phone given the fact that it has a 2.6 inch touchscreen and a QWERTY keypad. Termed as sleek and ergonomic by Orange, the handset has quick access keys just above the keypad so that you can navigate through the home screen easily.
It has a 3.2 megapixel camera, 3G connectivity, Wi-Fi, FM Radio, video calling, and HD Voice. Orange Maps come as an icing on the cake on the handset.
This handset will either come free on certain monthly plans or can be taken up on PayG. Similar to Orange SanFrancisco which is amongst the cheapest Android phones at less than £100, Barcelona is expected to be affordable.
Orange Atlanta is another budget phone announced by Orange which will be available for just £40 on PayG. Vodafone is another network which is set to launch a branded phone in Vodafone Smart soon. With a 2.8 inch display and a 2 megapixel camera, it will run on Android 2.2.
As soon as the UK release date and pricing details come out, we shall keep you posted.
The Asus EEE Pad TF101 Transformer has already hit the market in the UK at the beginning of April. Over the past few weeks after its launch, the price of this iPad 2 competitor is being cut down steadily.
The tablet is available for just £359.99 from Ebuyer which also includes the postage charges. This price is £20 less than the actual recommended selling price. The tablet has proved to be successful by withstanding the tough competition at Amazon as well as other online retailers.
Amazon has ranked the Asus Eee Pad sporting a keyboard at number two whereas that with a non-keyboard at number four in its best selling tablet list.
The device comes with a 10-inch IPS touch screen display with a one-mega pixel resolution. Spicing up the device are the Nvidia Tegra 2 system on chip clocked at 1GHz, 1GB RAM, 16GB onboard storage which is extendable to 48GB, a 1.2-megapixel front facing camera along with a rear camera of 5-megapixel, a mini HDMI, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth.
The tablet was originally launched with Android Honeycomb. However, later Android 3.0 has been upgraded to Android 3.1. Bundled with this update are number of improvements such as connectivity for USB accessories, a new refined user UI and more appealing Wi-Fi connectivity along with an array of updated standard apps.
Sony Ericsson has recently unveiled two new phones and this is the first time, Sony Ericsson has done a release over Facebook. The strategy was to reduce marketing campaign cost by capitalizing 4.8 million fans over Facebook, who actively follow Sony Ericsson page.
Timing and strategy of release by Sony Ericsson seemed to be propitious and this decision is not any whims, but completely calculated move by the company. The Twain under discussion is Sony Ericsson Mix Walkman and Sony Ericsson txt pro. While former one is banking on profuse fan base for Sony music capabilities and later one is text oriented phone with full range slide out Qwerty Keypad with social networking capabilities. Both of them are touch based phones with corner user interface capitalizing success of Xperia mini range. Both of them are packed dynamites of features expected by any Smartphone users.
Sony Ericsson Mix Walkman is coming with Zappin key as cherry on top into market, which provides more convenient way for users to search their favorite songs and an adjective to it is Karaoke function, which allows users to lower vocal track to sing out loud to the music track.
The technology leader Adobe has plans to change the future of smart phones. The Chief Technology officer of Adobe Kevin Lynch has announced that there would be location-based apps. These would notify users of relevant apps when they are in a particular location thus adding an extra dimension.
Lynch was speaking at the Open Mobile Summit when he demonstrated the technology on a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet. Lynch showed how the new features would change the future by linking the real and virtual worlds.
The smart phones equipped with this technology would sense the location of the user at a particular time. A notification would then be sent forth as if he was arriving at the Tussads and offers an app for the information on the Tussads. The user would be able to browse through the history of the location as well as the current events.
Adobe feels that there is a strong future with this social and location-based computing enabled by mobile. Lynch added that the demo isn’t far away from the realities of the current technology, already available in flash and AIR.
It seems that Adobe has a game plan to change the future. Only time and mobile hub would tell if this would spark another revolution. Stay tuned!
Pre-orders of the Sony Ericsson Xperia Pro, which made appearance four months ago at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, are already being accepted at the start of this month. However, its actual UK launch date has been postponed to late July.
The handset is currently listed by Sony Ericsson on its UK retail online store for £349.99 SIM Free which is showing its availability as ‘late July’.
Speaking of the Xperia Pro features, the device is powered by a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon SoC and backed up by 320MB of on-board memory. The handset which boasts a full sliding QWERTY keypad comes with a microSD card for memory expansion. It has a 3.7-inch 854 x 480 pixel capacitive screen and it can last seven hours of talk time.
The Xperia Pro runs on Android 2.3 aka Gingerbread akin to most other handsets from the Japanese manufacturer and it has a full sliding keyboard. It comes with Wi-Fi, HSPDA, an 8-megapixel with AF, flash, and 720p video recording.
This handset is expected to replace the smaller Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini Pro which is available for sale on Prepaymania for £130 and above.
Finnish Mobile manufacturer Nokia has come up with a free messaging service, called as IM for Nokia for its handsets. You can download this simple instant-messaging app from Nokia’s Ovi app store today.
After installing the app, users will have log in using their Ovi account username and password. Then, friends can be added to the service by giving their account details.
IM for Nokia is an integration of different platforms into a single app. Using this, you can log into all the apps like Google Talk, Yahoo Messenger, Ovi Mail, Windows Live Messenger and MySpace IM. This app comes with a catchy home-screen widget.
This is similar to other IM apps. Good thing is that the future Nokia mobiles will come with the app pre-installed on them. More details can however be known from Nokia’s official blog.
Nokia X6, 5230, N8, E7 along with few other handsets will be able to enjoy the app. The app is also available for download on series 40 phones.
The IM for Nokia app is not just like Apples’ new iMessage app. iMessage app allows you to send text messages over Wi-Fi and 3G for free. IM for Nokia which use your data is a good way to interact with your friends across various networks.
The new reports state that the official iPhone app from The Guardian has had more than 400,000 downloads. The app launched in January seems to be quite a hit among the UK mobile users.
Guardian News & Media which owns and runs ‘The Guardian’ paper along with ‘The observer’ and the website has released a report which has stated the aforementioned news.
The app, which was released way back on January 19th, has been downloaded by users more than 400,000 times thus far. The iPhone allows users to get some content free of cost. There is a subscription plan as well for the users that charges £2.99 for six months and £3.99 for an annual subscription for full access to the app.
The report states that the iPhone app has 67,258 paid subscribers. The number looks more satisfying when seen in the context that in the US, where the app is available free of cost, the Guardian for iPhone app has received only 36,089 subscribers.
The report has also put forth the statistic that about 10 percent of the online traffic for the Guardian website comes from its mobile website.
At a time when the mobile has become the buzz of the world and everyone seems to be joining the bandwagon, ‘The Guardian’ seems to have set forth the benchmark for others. It remains to be seen, however, if they would scale more peaks
HTC ChaCha or ‘Facebook phone’ encompasses all the core elements of today’s smartphones and provides those extra features that keep it afloat. The handset which boasts a portrait-oriented keyboard is available for sale in the UK on Vodafone and Three Mobile.
The handset boasts a smaller 2.6-inch touchscreen display having HVGA resolution as well as a smaller 1250mAh battery. However, the device has a full QWERTY keyboard which allows easy typing on the Facebook chat app. It also comes with a 5MP rear camera coupled with flash as well as a front facing VGA camera.
This eye-catching petite smart phone, which was launched at MWC earlier this year, packs more than a punch of social networking with the dedicated Facebook button of the device. It also features a Qualcomm SoC processor clocked at 800MHz, 512MB RAM, 512MB of ROM, GPS, BT along with Android 2.3 Gingerbread.
You can grab the handset on a two year plan by shelling out £26 which will provide you 300 minutes, unlimited texts, data allowance up to 250MB along with 1GB allowance on BT Openzone Wi-Fi.
On the other hand, Three offers the handset for £29 bundled with 2000 minutes, 5000 texts, and free voicemail along with you can eat data. There is however no Wi-Fi allowance with this deal.
The SIM free version of the Facebook phone is also available for £250 from Amazon.
