Penny Mobiles – Mobile phone news, reviews & information

Vodafone’s mobile device offerings for April are several Android devices along with the Apple iPad tablet. The UK based mobile network operator’s official website is already promoting the devices for their upcoming launch.

Sony Ericsson’s XPERIA X10 is already confirmed for April and it looks like Vodafone might also offer the X10 Mini devices when they launch later this year. The XPERIA X10 may be the first Android smart phone from SE, but it looks like the joint venture have made a pretty good device for the open source OS. It has already been reported that despite the phone having only version 1.6 Donut installed, an update to the latest version will be made available within the next few weeks.

The HTC Desire and the HTC Legend are two of the Taiwanese manufacturer’s most anticipated devices. Both were first revealed last year when the HTC 2010 roadmap was leaked (along with several other devices). Both phones were showcased at the Mobile World Congress held in Barcelona, Spain.

The Desire is pretty much like the Nexus One in terms of specs, both phones have Snapdragon processors running at a full 1GHz, both use 5 mega pixel cameras and the two devices also have 3.7 inch AMOLED capacitive touch screen displays. Many are considering the Desire to be the perfect substitute to Nexus One.

The Legend on the other hand is a mid-range smart phone that may sell even more than the Desire. Despite the hardware advantage of the Desire, the Legend is expected to be priced at a more reasonable rate. It is also the successor to the HTC Hero. Both the Desire and the Legend will be using the Sense user interface.

Get to know more about HTC Legend, Desire and Vodafone UK’s other offerings at Know Your Mobile.

Symbian’s latest incarnation of its operating system has been rumoured about for quite some time not, but it was only until recently that an actual live demo of the system has been shown. While not as breathtakingly impressive as what Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 series promises, the new Symbian OS is still something to look forward to.

One of the largest advantages to the new system is the presence of gesture based controls which, according to sources, would be applied to both capacitive and resistive touch screen using the new OS.

Okay, the reason why Windows Phone 7 series was mentioned earlier was mainly because the new Symbian OS has a system that pretty much mirrors that of WP7. While the animations are a little rougher and the pages look a little less put together (lacking overall aesthetic composition), the Symbian^3 takes many of the elements that we find so impressive with WP7 (not to imply that Symbian was copying, after all, they were also developing the OS at the same time WP7 was being made).

The widget setup for Symbian^3 does as well as the tiles for the 7 series; content can be moved around, replaced and even deleted to leave a blank space. Navigation is also a matter of panning the screen around –in WP7, it is a matter of moving through the extended home screen, in Symbian^3 they see it more as moving from one home page to a new home page.

Since the demo was shown on a laptop emulating the system, we certainly hope that the Symbian^3 handset would come with some high speed processor to ensure that the new mobile platform runs smoothly and without any lags. No word yet on when the new OS will be released.

Get to know more about the upcoming Symbian^3 at GSM Arena.

It is bad enough that the average person comes across malware, spyware or any of the derivatives of a virus on a daily basis. If you thought installing a firewall or rushing over to anti-virus store outlets were bad enough, check out what just happened to a factory sealed mobile phone.

An employee from anti-virus software company Panda Research has reported her discovery of some malware called “Mariposa” installed on her new HTC Magic phone carrying the Google Android OS. She got her mobile phone from the British multinational mobile phone operator Vodafone according to the official Panda Research blog.

It appears that the employee’s Panda Cloud Anti-virus software detected the malware after she plugged her fresh-out-of-the-box mobile phone to her work computer for the first time. Autorun.inf and autorun.exe files were the cause for the anti-virus notification as well as a Lineage password stealing malware and a Confiker virus variant. The mobile phone was set up to infect any PC the phone was connected to as well as any other PCs in the network.

After the problem was isolated, it seems that the micro SD memory card that came with the mobile phone was to blame. The phone itself and the Google Android operating system were in the clear.

Because of this incident, Panda Research is planning to do check other HTC Magic phones to see if others are infected as well. So far, no other reports have been posted, and it is most likely an isolated incident. Perhaps the carrier just did a sloppy job of wiping the memory of a refurbished SD card or they just received a bad egg from their suppliers.

Either way, it seems that the problem will be contained because Vodafone has just recently discontinued their HTC Magic line. It creates a new issue though because the only Android OS device in its stocks right now is the Tattoo.

Head over to Engadget for more information about the malware found in the Magic.

Apple has done it again. You thought purging the app store of mature apps was the end of it, but apparently it was just the beginning. Now, pre-fabricated apps are also deemed unworthy and Apple is out to get rid of them by the handful.

Pre-fabricated apps are applications that were generated with the use of templates such as RSS apps that were built by your run-of-the-mill app creating services. Apple is specifically tossing out new submissions that are basically just duplicates of already available apps. We all know how many of these are launched every day so expect to see a whittled down list of new apps in the online store.

Good news to those who were able to launch pre-fabricated apps before though, Apple is not removing apps that already have their approval. They are also giving a fair warning to app building services such as “AppMakr” and are giving them the guidelines on what to improve in order to make their apps acceptable for distribution in the Apple app store. Adding features such as offline functionality and in-app purchasing may just increase the chances of getting a nod of approval from Apple.

This move seems to be to the users’ advantage. Apple is encouraging app developers to create practical and innovative apps instead of just wasting virtual space for apps that already exist or have very little use. This would mean spending less time wading through the app store looking through pages worth of clone apps.

This may also mean that impulsive consumers would be able to spend on at least decent quality apps instead of regretting a spot purchase. Quality policing is something that Apple should have done in the first place, but better late than never, right?

Clearing the app store of mature content was just the beginning. Apple is out to prove that they hold a high standard of quality and that they care for their faithful fans by making sure they do not settle for less than they deserve. Seeing the app store filled with apps that carry the Apple seal of approval is surely going to be a treat for any Apple owner.

Head over to Gizmodo for more information about the App Store purge.

A few weeks back, Nokia surprised everyone by announcing that their Ovi Maps satellite navigation service will be offered for free on all of their smart phones that are compatible with Ovi maps.

The announcement instantly boosted the overall value of almost every other Nokia smart phone as the devices were instantly transformed into walking and driving navigation tools. While Nokia has yet to explain how it managed to work out such an awesome deal, we are all just too happy that the average Nokia phone will now give you voice instructions to the closest pub –pretty sweet deal isn’t it?

Now, it turns out that Alpine will be teaming up with the Finnish phone manufacturer to bring that unlimited map support to cars. Alpine is a well known “dashboard system manufacturer” for automobiles and this new tie up will allow drivers to dock their Nokia smart phones to their dashboard, output the maps on a larger LCD screen and have the voice navigation to be  on the car’s stereo system. And with the Ovi maps service being completely free, this is some pretty good value for your money –placing GPS manufacturer Tom Tom with some pretty heavy competition from Nokia.

Getting deeper into your car functions, the Alpine setup for the dashboard will enable users to use widgets on the LCD screen. It will not only show your maps, but some other digital information as well. Aside from the usual GPS readouts like destinations and points of interest, the widgets can be made to display fuel levels and other important information –making the effort to glance at the screen well worth it.

So far, the new systems for the dashboard is not yet available; but expect to see the new gear for your car to come out sometime this year.

Read more about the new Nokia and Alpine team up at Mobile Choice UK.

It has been recently announced and confirmed that there will still be more devices using the older Windows Mobile 6.5 operating system despite the fact that Microsoft is now focusing its efforts on the new Windows Phone 7 series devices.

The reason for this is simple; first, there are already thousands of users for the older version of the OS. Second, Windows Mobile still has a stronger grasp in the business sector as compared to the newer WP7 OS. This is because the 7 series mobile platform is geared more for the use of the general mobile phone user.

Games, applications, social networking and media are the staple functions needed for average users. While there will still be an Office menu that houses SharePoint, OneNote and even upcoming software, it still lacks that specialization found in other WinMo devices.

Like BlackBerry, Microsoft survived thanks to deals with the business sector. MS’s market was second only to that of BlackBerry’s, making it one of the most relied upon systems.

According to reports, WinMo will be renamed to Windows Phone Classic once the new OS is ready to take charge. Many are expecting the massive shift to happen once October hits.

The new HTC HD Mini smart phone and the Sony Ericsson Greenheart Aspen are both confirmed to be using the new 6.5.3 Maldives version of the operating system. So far, no word yet as to what new phones with the OS will be coming out, but HTC has already announced before that it will be working on more WinMo devices.

Current handset owners should not expect updates to WP7, but the current version will still be getting new apps and other features as well.

Get to know more about the Windows Mobile 6.X series and the devices lined up for the OS at Pocket Lint.

Vodafone is one busy mobile network operator with plenty of new devices coming this March and April.

The Apple iPad is a definite top biller with Steve Jobs’ latest gizmo taking the headlines just before the Mobile World Congress. The only drawback to Apple’s tablet device is that most people do not even know what to do with it. While this gadget has the potential to change the way we look at daily published materials such as newspapers and magazines, the average folk is still not aware that this expensive and impressive device is not capable of something as basic as multi tasking. But many expect to see this device to get more users once people start realizing how nice it is.

The Google phone Nexus One is also headed to Vodafone though many of us wonder how much good this will do for the dying Google Android handset. While the device is impressive with its 1GHz Snapdragon processor, 3.7 inch AMOLED capacitive touch screen, 5 mega pixel camera, speech recognition software and noise reduction system, the fact that the only way to obtain the phone is through the online store is pretty discouraging. Expect many to pass this for the HTC Desire.

Speaking of HTC, Vodafone will be bringing us a winner of an Android this March as the HTC Legend will finally hit the shelves. The much anticipated successor the HTC Hero will be offered by Vodafone in various deals. The device comes complete in all its aluminum covered glory. The Legend has a 3.2 inch AMOLED touch screen, a 5 mega pixel camera and a Qualcomm 600 MHz processor. It also uses the HTC Sense user interface on top of the Android operating system.

Read more about the HTC Legend Android smart phone at Mobile Choice UK.

Well, it looks like LG has been pretty busy lately. Despite the initial reports from HTC and Asus, it looks like LG is far ahead of its peers when it comes to developing the very first Windows Phone 7 series smart phone.

As much as we would like to say that we are impressed, the new device is still short of our expectations. While the OS to be used will definitely be something, there is that slight disappointment at the generic looking phone that we saw in the images.

The LG Panther comes with a pretty glossy plastic body. Matte is significantly better, it is edgy and classy; better yet, it is not a fingerprint magnet. The keypad on the slide out QWERTY keyboard on the other hand is very promising. The keys look pretty spacious, though we do prefer the 5 row setup which makes numbers much easier to type in.

Specs wise, LG is quiet. The back of the phone clearly shows that a 5 mega pixel camera will be present on the device, the rest we can only guess about. Qualcomm’s chips will be used in the CPU –Microsoft did announce that WP7 is exclusive to Qualcomm technology so we are expecting to see either the Snapdragon 1GHz processor or maybe the upcoming dual core version.

The large display will definitely be a capacitive touch screen. Since WP7 relies heavily on touch based controls and gestures, it would not be surprising to have a capacitive AMOLED screen that can handle the graphic intensity of the new OS.

Reports state that we can expect to see the device come out this coming September. It is a lot earlier that the initially announced holiday release; and we are certainly not complaining.

Read more about the new WP7 device from LG at Pocket Lint.

February’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona saw a whole raft of new mobile devices that are soon to hit the marker and many interesting concepts found the light of day at the Congress. One new device, T-Mobile’s new collaborative effort in concert with France’s Sagem and China’s Huawei, is a new Android-powered smartphone at an extremely low price as it will retail on the UK market for a touch under £100 at £99.99 on pay-as-you-go plans. The Mini seems designed, and priced, to immediately take on the HTC Tattoo and on first impressions the Pulse Mini does a pretty decent job with its specifications.

For a start there is a pretty decent 3.2-megapixel integral camera bundled with the device which usefully includes an LED flash, thereby allowing good quality pictures to be snapped even in failing lighting conditions. This is a nice addition – especially given the Mini Pulse’s budget price – as many devices have good cameras but forget to include the flash which severely curtails the usefulness of the camera. The device also comes complete with a 2.8-inch resistive touchscreen and a 3.5 millimetre headphone jack input, a significant upgrade on the Pulse (the Pulse Mini’s predecessor) which only offered a 2.5 millimetre input jack.

It’s always good to see that new devices offer improvements on the old, though the Pulse Mini’s measurements of 106×57x14mm indicate that it is far from being the most elegant or slim device on the market today though an Android-powered phone at under £100 will, in all likelihood, not suffer overmuch as a result of this. The device comes with an internal memory capacity of 300MB as well as a microSD card slot through which, with a memory card, the device’s memory can be ramped up to as much as may be needed.

There is little question, however, that the star feature of the Pulse mini is its Android 2.1 operation system coming, as it does, on such a well-priced device. Unfortunately for the assembled media at the Mobile World Congress the software that had been loaded onto the demonstration device was somewhat unstable and seemed to keep crashing which took some sheen off of the proceedings, however Samsung assured all those attending that the released retail device will come fully equipped with the Android 2.1 operating system that would be stable and work comfortably with all items.

In terms of menu configuration the Mini Pulse’s home screen is somewhat unique, though some may say a bit unusual, as it features 15 panels in a 5×3 grid formation which the user can swipe through by going up, down, left or right in order to make their selection. The device also features a D-pad controller and by pressing the controller’s central button the user can zoom out of the main panel view and view all 15 home screen panels at once so that one can be selected. This is unique as the vast majority of home screens are generally arrange from left to right as demonstrated on many of the major HTC models.

Although the Android operating system looks great on paper as well the truth is that, due to the low-cost of the device, short-cuts have been taken on some of the other specs and this ultimately means that the capability doesn’t play out as well as you might want – especially not in a QVGA resolution screen. Also, the resistive display is disappointing for many users as it is not particularly user-friendly compared to many of the capacitive screens found today. The manufacturer must have realised this, though, as a stylus has been included to afford easy inputting of text

Connectivity wise although it features Bluetooth and Wi-Fi the Mini Pulse has no GPS capabilities, and it seems that this must affect the wider usefulness of the device as the lack of GPS capability will render all location-based applications for the Android system null and void. Still, overall it is a solid phone and one budget spenders looking to get in on the Android phone craze will likely appreciate.

Well, that we did not expect to see.

Facebook has been a powerful and solid pioneer in the world of social networking. Their many innovations and features online have created an entire new world of social networking and online activities. Millions of people have signed up to the site in order to stay in touch and find new friends.

Now, according to reports, Facebook has patented the concept of creating a news feed that lists down a quick view of all the new activities of your contacts. It is pretty surprising that Facebook would patent something like this, but so far, they have not made a move to enforce their ownership of the idea –as many other social networking tools have similar functions.

Well, this will hardly change things unless Facebook’s going to crack down on people –and it will certainly get messy if they ever play that card.

Aside from the new patent, things are pretty quiet for Facebook. The company is constantly growing, adding hundreds of new apps each day and prospering well since then. That’s great. With Facebook and Twitter being the top reasons why people access the internet more, it is not surprising that Facebook begins considering its later options.

Speaking of networking Google has been causing a lot of problems with the Buzz. And with Facebook holding the patent, they can probably get Google to stop bothering people with the Buzz service. Buzz has been the target of many complaints due to the lack of security and the many privacy issues that have led some to shutting off the service.

Some are already considering filing a lawsuit against Google, like an American woman whose privacy from her ex husband has been compromised due to Buzz. Similar other cases caused by Buzz also exist.

Read more about the Facebook Patent the Guardian UK.