O2 have announced that they will be the first UK network to provide Samsung's Jet Ultra Edition phone.

The phone has a 5 megapixel camera and a 3.1 inch AMOLED optimised for watching TV on the go. There's 2GB of storage onboard, as well as Wi-Fi and 3G connectivity, with an 800Mhz application processor running the show under the hood.

As well as the impressive screen, the Samsung Jet Ultra is a bit of a social networking showboat, with integrated network and email syncing, as well as plenty of widgets such as BBC iPlayer.

The phone is free on a £20 a month tariff, but you'll really want to opt for the more expensive £30 per month option, as that throws in the unlimited internet data needed to make the most of all those nifty apps.

To sweeten the deal, O2 are throwing in three classic gangster flicks on DVD to the first 10,000 customers, making it...ahem...an offer you cant refuse.

Virgin have today announced plans of a big push for Android phones on their network, having nabbed the highly sought after HTC Desire and Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 handsets.

The HTC Desire (pictured) was one of the stars of the show at Mobile World Congress 2010. Sporting a 1Ghz Snapdragon processor and a 3.7 inch AMOLED display, it's a take on the Google Nexus One Android phone, but wrapped up in HTC's superlative Sense skin.

The Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 isn't too shabby either, with a 4 inch touchscreen and the Timescape app tying all your social networks, contacts, streams and messages together in one place.

Both phones will be hitting stores in April, and while Virgin remain tight-lipped on the details of their tariffs, the network promise the price-plans will be "exceptionally compelling".

The smartphones join the Samsung Galaxy Portal and LG InTouch Max in Virgin's portfolio of Android devices.

The Android Market now has 30,000 apps available to download onto Android-based smartphones. The news sees the store double in size in just the last three months.

The Android OS is quickly building up a strong following, with the releases of the Motorola Droid / Milestone and Nexus One both proving that paired with the right hardware it can be an impressive platform. With many dubbing 2010 as the year Android really starts to show its stuff, the number of apps available could rise dramatically, with GetJar predicting that apps will be worth $17.5 billion in revenue by 2012.

However, while this is great news for Google, Apple's app figures will make for a sobering read. Around 14,000 new apps hit the Apple App Store every single month, so the Android Market place has a long way to go before it can catch up. Also, as 98.9% of Android app downloads are free, many developers may not be fully capitalising upon this lucrative market.

Could mobile phone apps be set to outsell CDs? That's the prediction GetJar are making, believing that applications will generate $17.5 billion worth of revenues in 2012, compared to CD's $13.83 billion as predicted by the IFPI.

The prediction comes on the back of a report showing that nearly 50 billion app downloads have been made, up from seven billion in 2009.

The number of app stores have also increased from eight to thirty-eight in 2009. GetJar CEO Ilja Laurs believes many will have only short life-spans however.

"This report signifies a battle for survival of the fittest among app stores worldwide - with app revenue and growth opportunities growing significantly," he says.
"There is no way that this many app stores will survive in the long term and while the value of the global app economy is set to be astoundingly high by 2012, we think only a few app stores will share this revenue."

Still, perhaps it's not as significant an achievement as it would have once seemed. CD sales continue to fall dramatically. Perhaps a more pertinent question is whether or not mobile apps will be worth more than digital music downloads by 2012 too.

Via: Mobile Ent

Silly, silly Microsoft; you wow us all at Mobile World Congress with your super-smart looking Windows Phone 7 Series handsets, and now you've gone and dumbed them right down again by not adding copy, paste and clipboard functions.

It's the same mistake the iPhone made. You can hardly call a smartphone smart if it doesn't have basic text editing tools like these, and the vocal iPhone community made sure that the same omission eventually got added in an update.

While Microsoft may claim few people use the copy and paste features on their mobiles, expect vocal power-users to force Microsoft's hand before long.

Via: Engadget

The Nokia C6 phone has been spotted in the wild, and, in terms of looks at least, it seems pretty similar to the Nokia N97 Mini.

Like the N97 Mini, the phone features a full slide-out QWERTY keyboard and curved styling, but with a few omissions that justify its yet-to-be-announced budget friendly price.

So whereas the N97 Mini had 16 GB of memory, a capacitive touchscreen and Wi-Fi, the C6 instead has just 256 MB of built in memory expandable by Micro SD, a 3.2 inch resistive touchscreen and 3G HSDPA connectivity with no word yet on Wi-Fi.

We'll have more details on availability and pricing as they reach us.

Via: NokNok

Flurry, the company whose analytic tools are used in apps to count the number of unique iPhone and Android handsets in use, have today revealed that the Motorola Milestone/Droid is proving more popular than the original iPhone.

In its first 74 days on sale, Flurry have counted 1.05 million Milestone and Droid handsets sold, compared to 1 million iPhones sold over the same 74 day launch period.

Flurry note that increased awareness of the benefits of smartphones have helped sales of Motorola's handset, effectively piggybacking off the back of Apple's success with the App Store. Going on sale just before the Christmas rush also likely helped boost sales.

Note that this victory is over the original iPhone, and not the iPhone 3GS, however. The iPhone 3GS sold 1 million units in a miraculous 3 days, so Apple clearly win out there.

While Google will be pleased to hear their Android platform is now thriving, the same cannot be said about their Nexus One phone. A mere 135, 000 Nexus One handsets have been sold. While increased carrier support in the coming months will undoubtedly see this figure rise, Flurry suggested that it "may go down as a grand, failed experiment or one that ultimately helpes Google learn something that will prove important in years to come".

Via: Mobile Ent

Pick up the Sony Ericsson Vivaz from the 3 network and you'll get built-in access to the Symbian version of Spotify, it has been revealed today. The app allows you to stream over 6 million songs direct to your mobile, as well as storing playlists for offline listening.

Sylvia Chind Head of Branded Devices, 3UK said "The Sony Ericsson Vivaz is all about sharing experiences. Whether you are using the integrated social networking applications like Facebook and Twitter, uploading to YouTube or sharing playlists with our exclusive Spotify deal. Because our network is designed and built for the mobile internet customers are really able to get the best experience from smartphones like the Sony Ericsson Vivaz."

However, keep in mind that you'll need a premium subscription with Spotify to use the music streaming app on the phone, which costs £9.99 a month.

The Sony Ericsson Vivaz is available in silver from £35 a month with unlimited internet, texts and 750 anytime any network minutes on a 24 month contract, and costs £329.99 on Pay As You Go where every top up comes with a free allowance of texts and data which lasts for 90 days.

Music lovers are being well taken care of with 3 at the moment. As well as the Symbian version of Spotify hitting the Vivaz, 3 also recently nabbed Nokia's flagship Comes With Music phone, the X6.

Still getting your head around having a 3D TV in your living room? Well how does a mobile phone with a 3D display sitting in your pocket sound? If a rumour over at Samsung Hub is to be believed, it may not be just a pipe dream. Could the Samsung SCH-W960 be bringing the 3rd dimension to smartphone screens?

According to Samsung Hub, the phone will feature an AMOLED screen compatible with stereoscopic images, allowing the user to eventually watch 3D TV channels once they launch, as well as converting 2D content to 3D.

Ok, so the screenshot they've managed to nab isn't exactly flashing this purported new technology, but the spec sheet is admirable with or without a 3D screen. It's apparently packing a 3.3 inch WVGA screen, a 3MP camera with xenon flash as well as dual TV tuners for catching the goggle-box on the go.

Though it's not official at this time, Samsung's 3D phone could be revealed as early as the 23rd of this month during Samsung's Unpacked showcase the the CTIA Wireless event.

We'll keep you posted if this one proves to be real.

Today is another round of Free Fridays from network operator Vodafone. If you're a customer on their network, for one day only you're entitled to £37 worth of free ebooks, downloadable straight to your mobile.

Among the books on offer are "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" by Stieg Larsson and Lewis Carroll's classic "Alice in Wonderland", both of which have been given a Hollywood makeover recently. There's also "Twenties Girl" by Sophie Kinsella, "The Murder of King Tut" by James Patterson and Alex Preston's "The Bleeding City".

Customers who nab "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" ebook will also be entered into a prize draw to win a private screening of the film adaptation for themselves and 50 mates, at a cinema of their choice.

To check if your handset is compatible with the offer, visit vodafone.co.uk/freefridays.

The Opera Mini 5 mobile browser has just been given a beta release for Android phones. Free, fast and efficient, other versions of the browser have already racked up over 50 million users worldwide.

Opera Mini speeds up the browsing experience by compressing data before it is sent to your phone. There is also a host of desktop features such as tabbed browsing, bookmarks and password managers.

"Android users should not have to compromise when it comes to surfing the Web on their phones. Opera Mini will give Android users a fast and cost-efficient access to their favourite Web sites and services," said Dag Olav Norem, Vice President of Products, Opera Software.

Click here to grab Opera Mini or visit m.opera.com/next to download it directly to your Android phone.

Vodafone are said to be preparing to axe as many as 500 jobs in an effort to cut costs.

Vodafone employs around 9,000 staff in the UK, with the job cuts hitting their Newbury headquarters hardest. "The roles affected are in a number of areas, across a number of locations, primarily in back office functions,"a Vodafone statement reads.

Vodafone did confirm that they would also be looking to fill 170 new "customer facing roles" however. This is in addition to 50 new graduate opportunities picked from 3,000 applicants.

It's not the only possible shake-up at Vodafone HQ, as CSS Insight analyst Shaun Collins believes that the company could also be making moves to acquire the 3 network.

"Firstly such a deal would be competitively appropriate, and secondly (owner) Hutchison has been looking for options for 3 UK. It would be inconceivable if the two had not talked about 3 UK being acquired. After all Vodafone and 3 merged their businesses in Australia so there is a track record and the channels for communication are there," Collins commented.

Via: Net Imperative

O2 have today updated their iPhone tariffs. That in itself wouldn't be too exciting, were it not for the fact the new deals include pricing details for video calling. With the current generation of iPhones unable to make video calls, have O2 just revealed a key feature of the rumoured iPhone 4G?

The latest iPhone 3.2 SDK certainly suggested that video calling was on the cards for the next generation of iPhones, and developers haven't been exactly shy in confirming that the 3.2 OS already has some limited support for video calling under the hood.

If it proves to be true, the video calling feature all but confirms the next-gen iPhone will have a front-facing camera. Video calling has never been as popular on handsets as had been expected, but if any device was going to change consumers attitudes towards the service, Apple's phone stands as good a chance as any.

Nokia are looking to file a patent for a mechanism that would allow phone batteries to recharge themselves when out and about by collecting the kinetic energy generated by movement.

It'd work like this: the heavier components within a phone would be placed on a pair of symmetrical rails. As the phone moves in your pocket or hand, the components would slide up and down the rails, with piezoelectric crystals generating small electrical burst to be harvested by the battery.

Neat huh?

With portable gadgets becoming more central in our day-to-day lives, the fear of a depleting battery when away from a mains connection is an ever-more pertinent one. Well played Nokia then for making some interesting developments here.

Click here to read the details of the patent in full.

Via: Symbian Freak

It's a rumour as old as the Ark itself, but new images floating around the blogosphere seem to show a new Microsoft Project Pink Zune phone, looking very much like the real deal.

Some of you may remember a few renders popping up in September of a Project Pink Zune phone, code named "Pure". The new images now up on Gizmodo seem to show this same QWERTY phone in a physical build rather than just design stage mock-ups.

According to the leak, this Project Pink Zune phone will be manufactured by Sharp, but be Microsoft branded, much like the HTC built Google Nexus One Android phone.

The interface in the screens acquired by Gizmodo do not seem to show any Windows Phone 7 Series features, so it can be assumed that this new Zune phone range, if officially released, will be a separate product line, much like the social-media focussed Sidekick phones developed by Danger who are now also owned by Microsoft.

Via: Gizmodo

Think your retro rotary phone sets you apart from the pack? Get with the times and think again - this Android based landline phone from DSP is what all the cool kids will be using to prank call from in the future.

With a 3.5 inch touchscreen and built-in Wi-Fi, this sleek looking home phone has a web browser, apps for emailing, web radio and web widgets, and can also be used as a universal remote for managing all your other household gadgets.

A built in accelerometer means you can also expect a couple of games to make their way to the phone too.

No pricing or release date for this one yet, but consider us sold on it.

Via: Gizmodo

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• If I Had a Landline, I Would Use This Android Phone [Phone] (gizmodo.com)

To call the launch of Sony's PSP Go a disaster would be a bit like saying the Titanic's maiden voyage had a few hiccups; it bombed pretty hard, mostly due to the fact it wasn't compatible with PSP owners' back catalogue of UMD games.

But according to the Wall Street Journal, Sony may be preparing to launch a tablet-smartphone-PSP hybrid, as well as a smartphone with PSP-style gaming capabilities which will send all the naysayers packing.

According to "people familiar with the matter", Sony are once again calling upon Sony Ericsson to help in the design of the devices, though Sony are said to be more closely involved than in the past. The Wall Street Journal also suggested that these two devices will be compatible with a new online content platform that Sony plan to launch in the US this month.

Kunimasa Suzuki, responsible for Sony's VAIO and Network Mobile Center will apparently be taking up the charge of delivering these "segment-spanning" devices.

Still, if the precedent set by Nokia's N-Gage is anything to go by, mobile-gaming hybrids may not be quite as exciting as they first seem.

Via: Wall Street Journal

Tired of tapping away at a touchscreen to search files and folders on your smartphone handset? Well that could all be a thing of the past thanks to Google's new Gesture Search app.

If you're a US owner of an Android 2.0 handset such as the Google Nexus One or Motorola Droid (or Milestone as it's known to UK residents), you can now draw characters onto the touchscreen with the app to search contacts, music, bookmarks and more.

Drawing the first few letters of the word will drag up any appropriately named files and programs. If the app confuses your inputs, it'll simply bring up results based on all the characters it feels you were most likely trying to draw.

It's a little disappointing that this didn't get a simultaneous release worldwide, but we'll keep you posted as to when it hits the UK Android store.

Click here for more info.

LG have unveiled their new Cookie Fresh handset at this week's CeBit 2010 conference. An update on the Cookie Plus, this one comes with 50% more chocolate chips....just kidding.

What it does do is build on the LG Cookie's popular and wallet-friendly touchscreen experience. There's a low spec 2 MP camera and (presumably) QVGA resistive touchscreen in here, coupled with more high end features such as the S-Class interface found in the LG Arena.

There's also an FM radio, 3.5mm headphone jack and expandable microSD memory, so you'll have yourself a half decent PMP if you pick the Cookie Fresh up too.

Like the tasty Cookies before it, we'd expect this handset to be pretty affordable when it launches later this year.

Via: Portable Gear

Samsung's S7070 handset, otherwise known as the "Diva" has hit UK shelves.

With a "girly" design that features diamond shaped buttons and a quilted back cover, the Diva also has a string of social networking tools built in, such as Myspace and Facebook.

Being a fashion-orientated phone, it isn't big on high end features, so don't expect to be receiving any 3G signals or using a swanky touchscreen. There is however a 3.2 megapixel camera with "beauty shot" modes, an FM radio (but no 3.5mm headphone jack), video recording, Bluetooth and SD card expansion up to 8GB.

According to Samsung: "Samsung Diva is the first mobile phone we have launched directly targeting young females. We know they want mobiles that are exceptionally stylish, but they also need the latest technology and practical features and our Samsung Diva won't disappoint".

To snare this "young female" market, Carphone Warehouse are also bundling in a free goodie bag full of concealers and foundations from Benefit with the phone. If you pick up the handset from O2, you also grab yourself a 12 month subscription from iSUBSCRIBE.

Still, aren't phones marketed towards specific genders old hat now? Just ask Shiny Shiny's Anna Leach, who asks the question "Has the iPhone killed the girl phone?"