The ‘world’s most advanced mobile computer’, apparently.

Following on the heels of the massively popular N-series mobile phones come the Nokia N97 and this looks like is going to be a must have phone when it launches.

The N97, which features touchscreen and a QWERTY keyboard, takes up where the N96 left off and is set to go head to head with other touchscreen handsets such as the Apple’s iPhone 3G, Ericsson’s X1 and BlackBerry Storm.

The Nokia N97 isn’t due to be available for another 6 months so this gives current market leaders Apple plenty of time to plugin in more gadgets/release an updated iPhone/buy Nokia!

N-Series reloaded

It seem that the world is going touch mad, in the nicest sense of the phrase. But the additional features packed into the N97 should be a real hit with Nokia fan; HSDPA, Wi-Fi, 32GB of memory plus microSD expansion and a 5 Mpxs camera (lens courtesy of Carl Zeiss) and video capture (apparently, video capture will be ‘DVD quality’). This is probably the biggest gripe I have about the iPhone - the crappy camera. The N97 could score big points on this feature alone.  The N97 also packs in about 36 hours of battery life for audio playback which is reasonable.

The Nokia N97 is expected to start shipping around July 2009 with a price of about £470…unless those pesky Chinese produce yet another ripoff!

Popularity: 60% [?]

It certainly looked like update 2.2 for the iPhone was going to make a lot of users happy. Sadly, that isn’t the case. It seems that happy downloaders of the much heralded update 2.2 have been stung by a series of problems including disapppering apps, failure to synch with iTunes and loss of WiFi/3G/EDGE signal. Added up, these issues alone give the iPhone 3G the value of a house brick!

There is a solution - downgrade, and fast. A procedure has been posted on the net and it goes pretty much like this;

1. Download iPhone OS 2.1 IPSW: [iPhone (first generation) | iPhone 3G]
2. Turn off your iPhone by holding down the sleep/wake button.
3. After the phone is off and hold the sleep/wake and home buttons at the same time for 10 seconds.
4. Release the sleep/wake button; continue to hold down the home button until iTunes detects the iPhone in “recovery mode.” Your iPhone is now in DFU mode.
5. Hold down the option key on a Mac or alt key on a PC and click “Restore” in iTunes.
6. Locate the IPSW file and select it.
Note, however, that they procedure may not work, and you may be forced to restore your iPhone with OS 2.2, potentially losing data in the process.

You’ll notice that I block quoted the details above so don’t try blaming me for any data loss/complete failure of your iPhone. Top tip - make sure you back up all your data before you attempt this downgrade. You may well find that you have to do a comple restore to get you iPhone/iPod working again!

“After the os 2.2 update. Safari suddenly disappeared. Syncing etc didn’t work or resolve the issue. I had to do a restore to get things back to normal.”

The two most widely reported issues were disappearing apps and loss of WiFi connectivity. Looking at the forums, it would appear that most application ‘disappearance’ were intermittent with one user commenting that Safari would ‘appear, then disappear…’ - sort of like a bunny in the magician’s hat but without the comedy value!

“I cannot connect to my wifi at home and I never had a problem in the past.”

This issue was fixed with minimal fuss - tell your iPhone to “forget” the current network config and then reattach to it. Other fixes included:

• Switch the router to WPA2
• Strip out any spaces in the WPA pass phrase
• Remove all security from your wireless router, connect and reconfigure the security
• Reinstall iTunes 7.6.1 on your computer (Mac/Windows).
• Connect your iPhone directly to your computer rather than through a hub (I’m somewhat dubious about this one)
• Turn off auto-lock On your iPhone, set it to “Never” in the General Settings and attempt to synch
• Restore the iPhone - only if you’re really desperate. Make sure you back up EVERYTHING!

Cannot sync with iTunes Several users have reported an issue in which they are unable to sync with iTunes after the iPhone OS 2.2 update.

Potential fixes for iTunes issues include:

All in all, not really a good day for Apple. Marks out of 10?

Popularity: 81% [?]

Well, it looks like all the hype and marketing behind the T-Mobile G1 handset have paid off - HTC are saying they’ve doubled their projected number of handsets being shipped. HTC believes they’re now target to hit a million of the G1’s out of the door by the end of 2009.

Initially, estimates suggested that HTC would be shipping between 400,000 and 600,000 units but it looks like the Android fans have gone ga-ga over the new handset. Then again, it could simply be backing of Google and a huge media campaign that have driven adoption so far.

On top of G1 sales, HTC are expecting to sell three million HTC Touch Diamond handsets by the end of 2008 so it looks like a bumper year for the handset manufacturer.

Popularity: 58% [?]

It’s not just the computing world that’s going ultra small - mobile phone manufacturers are pushing the at the boundaries as well and the INVISIO G5 is no exception. This has to be the world’s smallest Bluetooth headset. Take a look at the INVISIO G5’s specs:  whilst offering an impressive array of features. Just take a look at what this Bluetooth headset has to offer:

• talk time of up to 4 hours system and 150 hours standy (on a full charge)
• measures a miniscule 33 x 16 millimetres

Ok, it’s tiny but how does it match up? Whilst not a contender for the Worlds Smallest Bluetooth Headsetworks, the Motorola H5 MINIBLUE certainly offers a few more features:

• talk time of 1.5 hour
• works as a distance of up to 30 feet
• built-in speaker reduces background noise by channeling voice up  through the ear canal
• a rather funcky metal charging case included

It’s the age old cry ’size isn’t everything’!

Popularity: 58% [?]

Err, hooray!

Ok, I admit to having a FaceBook account but I rarely use it. Maybe it’s just me, but sometimes it all gets a little too much. How many of those ‘friends’ in your FB account are really friends? Think about it for one moment; when you add a friend FB suggests other people who might be friends so you add them and then FB suggests more individuals who might be of interest… ad infinitum! You see what I mean.

I’ve no doubt raised the hackles of some the FaceBook fanboys (and girls) so here’s some news that should keep you touch with all things FB no matter where you are: mobile phone operator 3 are to launch a FaceBook handset.

The success of 3’s Skype handset has prompted them to look for yet more ways to empty our wallets into their waiting hands.  In addition to the FB functionality users will also get Skype integration, an eBay tracker and Windows Live Messenger on a HSDPA (up to 7.2 Mbps) handset.

The handset is due to go on sale for £99 in December on a PAYG tariff.

Wallets at the ready FB fans, if the economy hasn’t sucked us all under by then!

Popularity: 58% [?]

You can stop holding your breath; as of the 31st October the T-Mobile G1 went on sale in the UK. Unfortunately, it’s exclusive to T-Mobile (we’re sure that will change in the future - it’s not like Google to be tied to one distributor). The G1 is available for free on T-Mobile Combi and Flext tariffs which start at £40 a month. This tariff includes unlimited mobile internet browsing so this should appeal to many of you.

The G1 includes Google Maps, allowing users to view maps, satellite imagery and get driving directions. A really nice feature of the G1 is that Google Maps synchs with the built-in compass - 360 degree navigation made simple. There are currently 50 applications that users can download for free at Android Market (it’s a sort of App Store clone) but expect to see a growing list of goodies as developers jump onto the Android bandwagon.

It’s looks like the G1 is off to a good start; free apps, a reasonable tariff and some pretty interesting features built into the Android OS should entice many users over to the way of Google. How will Apple respond to this?

Popularity: 78% [?]

aka Android based handset

It hasn’t been officially launched yet but images are already in the wild. Do a little digging on the T-Mobile site and you’ll shots like this:

The handset, apparently designated G1, will be officially unveiled later today. Cometh the hour, cometh the insatiable hordes - there seems to be a huge appetite for info on this handset with little or no marketing on Google or T-Mobiles part. Not surprisingly, Google participation is enough to guarantee a huge following.

So, it’s only a matter of hours before we get the official announcement. In the meantime and just in case you haven’t seen them, here’s the rumoured G1 specs:

• One touch access to: Search, Maps, Gmail, Youtube, Calendar, and Google Talk
• Gmail account and data plan required
• GPS
• 3.1 MegaPixel camera
• Dimensions: 4.6 x 2.16 x 0.63 in
• Weight 5.6 ounces
• 480×320 65K color screen
• 5 hour talk time, 130 hour standby time
• Expandable up to 8GB

Popularity: 49% [?]

But not until 2010!

Ok, I admit that it’s some way off but I’m pleased that Mozilla has finally decided to take aim at the mobile market.  The latest info comes as Mitchell Baker, chairperson of the Mozilla Foundation, laid out her plans for the coming two years.

Other plans include making more internet data public and developing existing products to be more effective.

Baker is also committed to expanding the role of Firefox and growing its market share, at thet same time as developing new browser technologies such as Aurora.

This isn’t new news. Mozilla is already working on a mobile version of the Firefox browser but no delivery dates have ever been announced. Baker’s current stand is that she will not commit to an explicit timeline. So, in line with current policy, expect the Mozilla mobile browser release ‘when it’s ready’!

Popularity: 66% [?]

Doubles Market Share in A Year

The economies of the world are falling apart but Blackberrys market share is up (to the tune of 17.4%) according to Gartner. Admittedly, the market is still dominated by Nokia, which shipped 15.3 million handsets although their figure fell from 50.8% a year ago to 47.5%.

RIM sold a total of  5.6 million smartphones during April through June, that’s up from 2.5 million a year ago. Key growth areas for RIM have been outside their main business market.

Nokia won’t take this lying down. Expect them to add functionality to the N-series multimedia phones (if they don’t they’re going to lose even more market share).

Credit Suisse said it expects Nokia’s smartphone market share to fall to 41.6 percent in 2009, hurting profit margins.

Gartner said global smartphone sales growth almost halved from the first quarter to 15.7 percent.

Although current economic trends have hurt smartphone sales badly the launch of the iPhone 3G has reinvigorated the market - everyone is buying it!

To add even more hardship for Nokia, it’s been announced that HTC sales have more than doubled over the past year, hitting 1.3 milliion sales and pushing HTC up from seventh place to third position in the market.

With figures like these you’d hardly believe that the economists of the workd are predicting doom and gloom!

Popularity: 47% [?]

Apple rapidly gaining ground

Figures released yesterday by Symbian show second quarter sales of 19.6 million units sold. Good news for Symbian until you consider that 159 Symbian based units have been released in the past 6 months compared to just one from Apple!

More interestingly, the figures show that Symbian’s growth was only 5% for the past year which isn’t great when figures show Apple are shifting 800,000 units per week! That’s not to say Symbian is by any means dead. The open source OS still holds the biggest market share of all but, at the same time, faces increased competition from Apple and RIM. With Google throwing their Android OS into the ring Symbians position could change - but not anytime soon.

The main contender at this moment is Apple. The iPhone 3G’s sales hit 6 million units since launch and climbing.

So, could Symbian be knocked off the top spot? If Apple continues to ship the iPhone 3G at current levels then they could conceivably take the top spot in about a years time. Factor in the Android question and Symbian could be trailing in an even shorter space of time.

But Nokia’s decision to open source Symbian may just give the OS the boost it needs to keep the top spot.

Popularity: 23% [?]