Top mobile phones for 2009

12 months is a long time in the mobile phone world.

This year has seen quite a few “firsts” in mobile land, here I have just highlighted the major phones for the year, if you think of anymore, please contact me.

May – Android HTC Magic on Vodafone
Follow up to the T-Mobile G1 ‘Googlephone,’

The second Android-based phone, the Magic no longer has the slide out QWERTY keyboard of its predecessor, and is a slimmer, sleeker package from Vodafone

October 2009
Motorola’s first handset in several years and first Android phone – Motorola DEXT. This was available only on Orange but as the iPhone was coming out the following month, people did not sign up to the DEXT.

November 2009
Saw Orange get the iPhone – O2’s exclusitivity on the iPhone came to an end.
The first ever 12 mega pixel camera – the sony ericsson satio released onto the market.

December 2009 – Tesco launched the iPhone

Mobile phones in business

There are a wide range of business mobile phones. This post will just cover a few of the ones I have come across that have been selling well in the British high street. If there are some I have missed off, please feel free to comment and ad more.

Some of the best sellers, according to Vodafone are:
1.Nokia E71
A very popular phone indeed. This nokia phone has been a best seller and one of the greatest challenges to the Blackberry handset. It has push email, web browsing as well as multimedia capabilities including the 3.2 mp camera, video calling and media player. It comes in grey steel or white steel. The only slight disadvantage with the E71 is there is no track ball as with the Blackberry, so navigating your way on the web can often seem clunky.

The E71 and the Blackberry Curve 8900 are both free on plans with Vodafone.

2. Blackberry Curve 8900

The Blackberry Curve released in November 2008 is smaller and lighter than the previous curve and the Blackberry Bold. It is compact and light, fits comfortably in the pocket, more so than the previous versions which felt heavier and clunky to carry. It has been said that the Blackberry Curve 8900 is not just for business but for personal use as well. With its full QWERTY keypad, it provides a quick and easy way to access the web and reply to those necessary emails that just keep on coming. It is easy to set up the email function. The music player handles different music formats including MP3 and AAC. On top of that, it also has a video player. There is also a 3.2 mp camera, which is apparently better than the Bold.

3. Blackberry Bold 9000

Unlike the previous two handsets the Blackberry Bold 9000 is free on plans of 30 pounds a month from Vodafone. This blackberry has 3G coverage, meaning it is faster and quicker. It of course has WiFi as well like the 8900. However, the bold only has a 2 mega pixel camera, but if you are using this for work, taking photos may not be such a high priority. Choosing between all three will come down to personal preference and budget, let me know what you decide.

Images are from the the Vodafone store

Mobile phones for students

Students are at the forefront of the mobile phone revolution. Despite having no money, they tend to have the latest and best mobile phones.

Blackberry 8520
Blackberry once popular for business users has found a new user group – students. The Blackberry Curve is one of the top selling handsets in Phones4U.

http://www.knowyourmobile.com/smartphones/rim-blackberry/301855/blackberry_curve_8520_review.html

It has a touchscreen, newly designed multimedia player and a 3.2-megapixel camera. This mobile phone has been one of the most successfully Blackberrys.

The popularity of this phone increased and is increasing due to the QWERTY keyboards and instant access to Social Networking, Among Nokia handsets, the E-series phones is also very popular, especially the E71.

The iPhone has also been a hit amongst students. It is one of the best handsets for facebook and email. Once you download the facebook app, you will never be off it.

If you are a student and know of any other popular mobile phones amongst you and your friends, then please leave a comment.

Top mobile phones for teenagers

More and more children are getting mobile phones. According to the times half of British children aged 5 – 9 own a mobile phone.

Now it seems if you don’t have a mobile, you really do miss out.
You can’t call or text your friends. You can’t upload music to your phone, take pictures and then post them to facebook. So what type of phones do those kids get?

The most popular phone is the LGCookie

The LG Cookie KP500 is available on pay as you go. It has a camera, multi media player so you can listen to your favourite songs and has a 3.2 cm touch screen. It is available from most high street stores.
carphone warehouse
Orange shop
Vodafone shop

The LG Cookie can be purchased from £59 pounds from Orange plus you get a 10 pounds top up. If you go to TMobile it costs 49.99 and you get £10 worth of credit.

The other popular phone for under 18s is the Samsung Tocco Lite. Unlike the LG Cookie, this is also available on pay monthly. The Samsung Tocco Lite can be purcahsed for £68.99 from T Mobile and includes £20 credit.

10 years of mobile phones

In a few more days we will be in the year 2010.

I thought this would be a good time to review and reflect how the last 10 years have changed for mobile phones.
Now more than 4o million of people have a mobile phone. According to the guardian 99% of teenagers own a mobile phone and these are normally pay as you go as they cannot afford the contract phones.

I remember when I got my first mobile phone, around this time 10 years ago. It was with BT cellnet and a bit of brick even by those standards then. Texting was very popular among me and my friends as calling was way too expensive. It is interesting to see this trend has continued where young people are texting more than calling. Of course now, they are also acessing the internet on their mobile devices, something 10 years ago was unheard of.

1999 – Nokia 3210
saw the release of the Nokia 3210 which was very popular.
3 Games came preinstalled, the most famous was Snake. It was also the first mobile phones to feature an internal antenna. A big improvement from the other mobile phones which had a large and unsightly antenna. Picture messages was also on the handset. One of the most recognised was the Happy Birthday message. I remember sending many of them.
Most of my friends (under 25 years old) had the Nokia 3210, it was a good price across the major mobile phone operators.

2000
The Nokia 3310 was the successor of the 3210 and was even more popular. More than 126 million handsets were sold. This mobile phone also had interchangeable casings, allowing people to personalise their own handsets.

2002
The smartphone BlackBerry was released. It supported push e-mail, mobile telephone, text messaging, Internet faxing, Web browsing and other wireless information services.

2004
Motorola RAZR V3
One of the most famous phones of 2004, partly due to the advertisements featuring David Beckham and also because it was the thinnest phone available, 13.9 mm thick.

The keyboard had revolutionary precision-cut design, with the numerals chemically-etched to keep the pad flat. In the dark, the whole keypad lite up with a blue glow.

http://r.phonedog.com/shared/images/items/3035-main-medium-motorola-razr-v3-black.jpg

2007
Nokia N95

This handset was revolutionary for its time. It was truly a mulit media device, had all the latest gadgets on it, including a top camear and music player. There was a waiting list to get the N95 and was available first on T Mobile.

Nokia N95 image source

2007
The iPhone

Revolutionised mobile phones as we know today. The iPhone launched June 27th, 2007 was the ultimate phone to have, great internet access, touch screen phone, music player, you just had to have an O2 contract. The iPhone started the mobile internet era as mobile search for Google took off (which was the default search engine on the device) and mobile apps became popular.

2008
Android G1

The first Android phone launched in October in the US and UK. In the UK it was available on just the T mobile network on contracts from 40 pounds a month.

Mobile phones for Christmas

What did you get for Christmas? I am sure some of you would have received a new mobile phone. You will be happy to have got a lovely new phone but what if it is the wrong one? Well here is some advice for those that find themselves in the situation:

1. If it is a contract phone, unfortunately you will not be able to return it. Only if the mobile phone is faulty will you be able to do so. The contract lasts for 12 or 18 months, whichever length was signed for. You can go back to the shop and speak to someone about your query of course but you cannot be guaranteed to get a refund or change the mobile phone.

2. If it is a pay as you go phone and you have not opened the packaging or inserted your SIM card, then you should be able to discuss the possibilities with the retailer.

3. If you are unable to return the phone, you could always give it away – a charitable thing to do. There are many places where you can donate to-

http://www.mazumamobile.com

http://www.redeemplc.com/somerfield

http://www.wateraid.org/uk/donate

http://www.mobilephonexchange.co.uk

Orange app store

It was only a matter of time before more network operators jumped on the app bandwagon and Orange is no exception. They will launch an app store in three weeks time. Called “The App Shop”, it will have more than 5000 apps, games and ringtones to download which will only show on compatible handsets. Very clever indeed, so you don’t have to waste time searching for apps that will not work on your mobile phone. Some will apps will be free, others will have to be purchased but will simply be added to the customers bill – no need to register separately. This makes it very easy to download as many applications through the Orange website as the customer wants.

The Nokia 6700 and the Sony Ericsson W995 will be the first mobile phones to be preloaded with the App Shop and will be available in January. As the year progresses, the list of handsets will increase to include Samsung, LG, HTC, Motorola and RIM handsets. The app shop will be available to around 1 million customers in the UK and France.

Orange does plan to make the App Shop avaialable to other countries including Spain, Poland, Romania, Switzerland, Slovakia, Belgium, Austria, Moldova and Portugal with local content. The apps will be compatible with different operating systems. It will be interesting to see how Orange’s App shop performs in this highly competitive market

Real time search

This week saw the launch of real time search by Google.
But what exactly is it?

According to Google Fellow Amit Singhal “Google Real Time search is Google’s relevance technology meeting the real-time web. There is so much information being generated that relevance is the key to any product, and that’s where Google comes in.” This means when you type in ”

How does this affect SEO? Well if there are results dynamically generated in the SERPs, then the organic results will not appear as often. Therefore website owners have to work even harder to make sure their site appears in the SERPs.
1. Content is king – use keywords in the title, on page copy, on your social networking sites. Then when someone is searching they can find the content in the real time search results as and why they are created.

2. Make sure it is topical. So write about current events, events that will be in the news, that people will be looking for. This post is current with what is happening in search and should be picked up. If someone posts a comment on your blog, make sure you respond and have conversations with your followers.

I will be adding more information about real time search, in the meatime, have a read from webpronews

iPhone price war

Tesco, Britain’s biggest retailer just increased their product offering to include the iPhone.
It will be available, in time for Christmas on the shelves from this Monday. They are offering just a one year contract for the iPhone 3G, which is six months less than with O2 and Orange.

Those looking for the shorter term contract can get the iPhone 8GB 3G for a one off cost of £222 plus £60 a month. This also includes £60 of flexible credit to spend as they choose.

Those who want a free iPhone 3GS 16GB can get one when they sign a 24-month contract for £60 a month and will receive unlimited calls, texts and browsing.

Tesco Mobile is a joint venture between O2 and Tesco and they also offer iPhone 3G and 3GS on its Triple Credit Pay As You Go price plan. All Tesco Mobile iPhone customers will have at least 12 months free unlimited data and access to the BT OpenZone Wi-Fi (UK).

Customers can sign up to these new phone deals in the Tesco Phone Shops and Tesco Direct website.

Tesco already well known for its price wars, has certainly opened up another one with the iPhone. I wonder what Vodafone will launch with in the New Year. They are keeping everything under wraps.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1234790/Tesco-sparks-iPhone-price-war-20-month-contract.html

http://www.mediaweek.co.uk/News/MostEmailed/973298/Tesco-Mobile-woos-consumers-new-iPhone-deal/