Orange have taken smartphones under the £100 mark this week with a new Android phone costing only £99 with no contract. Their own-branded San Francisco handset is on pay as you go and packs decent mid-range features. But the killer of course is the price. Orange say they’re bringing apps to the masses.

Here are some main features on this phone:
· Talk Time: 4 hours
· Standby Time: 9 days
· Weight: 130g
· Dimensions: 116 x 56.5 x 11.8
· Camera Features: 3 megapixel
· Connectivity: WiFi / Bluetooth / USB / SatNav
· Music: MP3 / FM Radio
· Network Band: Tri band
· Video: Messaging
· Memory: 150 MB internal / Up to 32gb Micro SD Card
· Email: POP3 / IMAP4
· Data Speed: 3G +
· Operating System: Android
· Version: Eclair v2.1
· Other: Orange WiFi, Your Account
· Applications and Features: Orange Maps, Orange Messenger by Windows Live, Orange App Store, Email, Orange Wednesdays

As for the name “San Francisco”, I’ve really got nothing to say. But just wondering, when will there be a phone called London? soon I hope, though maybe it doesn’t have quite the same connotations.

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Sony Ericsson have added a business phone to their line up of eco-friendly handsets. The multi-tasking Windows Aspen joins the Elm and the Hazel in the Sony Ericsson Greenheart range.

The phone’s general features reflect the business niche that Sony Ericsson are gearing their Aspen handset towards: the key point being the Windows Mobile 6.5 operating system, the latest version of the Windows phone set up that allows users to co-ordinate their phone with their PCs. And a Blackberry-ish shape with both a touchscreen and a full QWERTY keyboard makes easy typing a priority.

On the entertainment side, there’s also a media player and a 3.2 megapixel camera. The phone has built in Facebook and Windows messenger apps and the “Human Curvature” design lets it fit in the palm of your hand more easily.

It’s not just calling the phones after trees that make these phones eco-friendly. Their green credentials come from the manufacture, the packaging and factors like power-consumption. Green features on the previous Greenheart phones that we hope to see on this one come in three categories.

1. Less energy and raw materials are used in their manufacture and packing:
- Made out of recycled plastics
- Free from hazardous chemicals
- The instructions booklet is not printed on paper but is an e-manual in phone
- Packaging has been minimised

2. The Greenheart phones are designed to be more energy-efficient
- Low power consumption charger (EP300 GreenHeart(TM))
- Clearer voice technology should mean lower volume is required
- A Widget Manager application, which allows users access to their social networking page via the stand-by screen and quickly switch between different social networks, reduces the battery-wasting waiting time.

3. They come with apps for helping you cut down on CO2 and energy use in other areas of your life..
- Walk Mate eco application
- Green calculator

You can also use a special power-saving charger which minimises the power wasted when charging the phone.

The Sony Ericsson Aspen looks beautiful, and it is a tough phone with amazing functions, and it’s quite eco-friendly. So how do you like this Sony Ericsson green heart new phone? The phone’s available in Iconic Black or Silver White.

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With the proliferation of highly advanced smartphones, it’s amazing how Nokia still continues to produce low-end phones yet possessing some nice, advanced features. One of these phones is the Nokia 5250, a touchscreen phone powered by Symbian and is being geared as a music-centric mobile phone.

The Nokia 5250 main feature has got to be its music player which has its own icon on the phone’s homescreen. The music player app supports Nokia’s Ovi Music Store, meaning you can purchase music tracks from the online store and download it directly to the Nokia 5250 phone. While the phone’s built-in memory is only 512MB which could hardly accomodate thousands of music tracks, you have the option to expand it via a microSD memory card up to 16GB. Aside from this, the Nokia 5250 also comes with a built-in FM radio and a complementary copy of Guitar Hero 5 Mobile.

Aside from the music player on the phone’s homescreen, there are also other apps, particularly social networking app such as Facebook, MySpace and others. The phone also lets you access your Ovi Mail, Gmail and Yahoo! Mail. You can also check out your IM accounts. For more apps, you can just check the Ovi Store to get the apps supported by the phone.

And since this is a music phone, it has to have long battery life. Fortunately, the Nokia 5250 can last you up to 24 hours of continous music playback or up to 18 days standby and 7 hours talktime.

Other features of the Nokia 5250 include – Symbian^1 OS, GSM/EDGE Network connectivity, 2.8-inch TFT screen with 16:9 aspect ratio and 640×360 resolution, and a 2 MP camera.

The Nokia 5250 is slated for a 4th Quarter release. It will cost you €115 to score this phone.

Well, how do you like the phone? I really like the polished design, it is quite chic, and the functions are ok to me. It seems a really nice phone to me.

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Verizon just made the Droid 2 available to the public! It was a much awaited release. Following the successful Motorola Droid phone, finally here comes its successor – the Motorola DROID 2. And Verizon has just made it available for pre-order days ago under its various mobile data packages. But perhaps what makes the Droid 2 a much awaited Android device is the fact that it will be pre-loaded with the Android 2.2 Froyo OS.

Being a much talked about and overhyped smartphone, expect the Motorola DROID 2 to pack-in tons of great features that will surely give its rivals a run for their money. Let’s take a closer look at what the DROID 2 has to offer then.

DROID 2 features a 3.7 touch screen 480×854 WVGA display that supports up to 16M colors and has a slide-out QWERTY keyboard. It is equipped with a 5MP camera with auto-focus, touch-to-focus, face detection, panoramic modes and other great camera features. This camera also captures DVD-D1 videos and has its own dedicated camera key.

Going further inside the DROID 2, you’d have an Android phone running on T1 OMAP 1GHz processor with its own dedicated GPU, an 8GB internal memory, 8GB pre-installed microSD card, Android 2.2 OS with Motorola Application Platform, aGPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and speakerphone.

The DROID 2 is also loaded with various Verizon-specific features including 3G Mobile Hotspot support for up to 5 devices, Visual Voice Mail, VZ Navigator, Skype Mobile, V Cast Media Manager, VZW backup assistant and of course a plethora of Google apps and third-party Android apps.

The Motorola DROID 2 is available for pre-order now from Verizon Wireless. It will set you back for $199.99 if you opt to get it with Verizon Contract which will run for 2 years.

With such gorgeous hardwares and so many powerful useful functions, the Motorola Droid 2 is a smartphone of the highest quality! So if you’re looking for a nice smartphone now, just check it out, you won’t be disappointed.

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The incoming Samsung Eternity II and Samsung Flight II wanna-be smartphones for AT&T finally have an official release date, with the Eternity II being released on August 15th. It looks like they’ll both be ready to take on the onslaught of back to school competition that will be starting in a few weeks.

The Samsung Eternity II sports a 3.0″ touchscreen that helps take advantage of the fact that it has support for the optional AT&T Mobile TV powered by FLO TV in it for streaming live shows. It’s also got a full HTML web browser with one-finger zoom, a 2.0 megapixel camera, a mobile email, music and video player, and AT&T Social Net for keeping on top of your Twitter, Facebook, and Myspace accounts.

The Samsung Flight II sports a touchscreen as well, but has a slide-out horizontal QWERTY keyboard, along with a 2MP camera, full HTML web browser, mobile email, a music and video player, and enhanced social networking with PicDial, Star Tweets and WHERE. The Flight II is available now exclusively at Radio Shack and the Eternity II now available at AT&T too.

Go and get a dark blue beauty to dive with you for this august!

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Vodafone is to offer the iPhone 4 on a Pay As You Go tariff. Also adding in a few extra incentives up until November this year, Pay As You Go iPhone 4 Vodafone customers can enjoy one year’s worth of data which will be capped at 250MB a month in addition to one year’s access to BT Openzone Wi-Fi, set at 1GB a month.

Vodafone have launched the Pay As You Go option as a reaction to customer needs; with many people preferring the flexibility that PAYG systems offer. Mark Bond the Consumer Director of Vodafone has also stated that there will be further options and incentives introduced later this year.

Of course, the main disadvantage of PAYG is the hefty cost of buying the phone which when on contract, is usually offered for free. The 16GB PAYG iPhone 4 through Vodafone will cost you £480, whilst the 32GB version will set you back a whopping £570. If you’re still a lover of the iPhone 3GS, this will cost you £385 on the Vodafone PAYG deal.

Yes, quite pricey, but if you use the iPhone like a smaller iPad, (like browsing the web a lot, or downloading things quite often on the iPhone 4) then you might find the contract thing actually quite reasonable.

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Acer and Expansys has officially announced the availability of the Acer Stream this August 9. A high-end multimedia smartphone, the Acer Stream is a nice mobile device both in and out.

Inside the smartphone are powerful features that optimized the phone for movie playback, music listening and web browsing. Outside is a well design form factor made from highly resistant materials Feature-wise, the Acer Stream is in full steam with advanced features topbilled by a 3.7-inch WVGA AMOLED display boasting of 1.67 million bright color. Completing its superb display feature is an incredible contrast of 2000:1 that allows the phone to display clear images even in light condition.

For its connectivity features, the Acer Stream offers fast 3G connectivity at around 7.2mbps download speed. It also features Bluetooth and WiFi.  Specs-wise, the Acer Steam features Qualcomm Snapdragon 1GHz processor, 512MB RAM which are both perfect for running Android 2.1 OS. The Acer Steam allows you to record 720 HD videos and have it played back with Dolby Mobile quality sound, powerful bass and crystal clear clarity.

Other features of the Acer Steam include – a 5MP camera, integrated GPS, geotagging, HDMI port, and micro-SD card support. The Steam has three types of predictive keyboards, a smart dialer and redesigned contacts list.

With all those features, the Acer Stream will let you quickly start favorite apps in one touch, easily switch apps with the History panel, customize your phone and enjoy smooth animation and fine graphics.

Beautiful design, powerful feature, if you like it just as I do, the Acer Steam now retails for £399 at Expansys. Go and get your own one!

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The x10 mini is a scaled-down version of Sony Ericsson’s flagship phone – the X10. The strapline is “Mini but Mighty” and it does pack a lot of power in its 90 x 52 x 17 mm frame. It’s a slider handset with a 5 megapixel camera and a high speed internet receiver built over an Android operating system, giving you access to all those apps.

The handsets have a reputation as great camera and video phones, though the user interface can be a bit counter-intuitive.

Anyway white is The Thing apparently. They tell us: ”The timeless fashion pallet dominated the collections this summer with everyone from Stella McCartney, Fendi and Calvin Klein featuring dazzling white ensembles. The fashion elite are also well aboard the white wagon.”

There you go. That’s why you should really get a white phone this summer. This white Sony Ericsson X10 mini pro is totally adorable and fashionable, totally the white phone you should have to go along with all your fashionable outfits! And also, it makes a great cellphone for daily use and for entertainment.

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Want to see how these are working out? Well, that’s a “WOW”, the news are that this new slider touchscreen Blackberry – The Torch 9800 will launches in US soon.

It has a slider keyboard and a full touchscreen and it is the latest gadget in Blackberry’s redoubtable range of business phones. The Torch was unveiled yesterday and will go on sale in the US on AT&T from 12th August. Features of the new flagship phone include the Blackberry OS 6.0. The new operating system will be rolled out to other handsets but the Torch will be the first phone to carry it.

The Torch features a 3.2″ touch screen with 480×360 pixel color display. The unusual feature is the slide-out QWERTY keyboard and optical trackpad.

The key features of the new Blackberry operating system are: a new “PC-like” web browser. It renders pages “beautifully” apparently, with tabbed browsing for access to multiple web pages at the same time and pinch-to-zoom capability and – secondly – a Universal Search tool.

The new device is geared to take advantage of your media resources elsewhere, so it syncs to iTunes, Windows Media Player DRM-Free music, photos and videos on the go from your computer to your BlackBerry. Sync from your home computer music library to your BlackBerry can be done wirelessly over Wi-Fi.

And based on the picture above, the Torch 9800 looks nice too, a very beautiful design. Although I do adore the traditional Blackberry look, this phones looks really cool and nice, so maybe it is time to make a change. The phone’s launching in the US first on the 12th August, for more information you can check out the AT&T pages.

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This week, I got my paws on Sony Ericsson’s Vivaz. With HD capability – and a nice new curvy design – I wanted to know whether it pulls off the multimedia magic we’ve all been promised.

First, let’s talk about the looks. Much has been made of the ‘human curvature’ design, and it’s not exactly been a universal hit. But I like it, actually, and certainly don’t think you’d be ashamed to take it home and introduce it to your mates. However, while I like the fact that it’s lightweight, the casing does feel a bit flimsy – taking the back off to get to the battery and SIM is a bit fiddly, and I was worried that it might snap with a teeny bit of pressure. The 3.2 inch touchscreen looks great though, and buttons are kept to a minimum (I was particularly pleased to see the camera shutter button, along with a video button, along the edge – much nicer to use than on the touchscreen itself, as in the iPhone).

However, I was disappointed upon opening the box to be presented with: a stylus. I’d vainly hoped there wouldn’t be the need. And I wasn’t particularly convinced with the thing when texting – the handwriting feature wasn’t quite as responsive as I’d hoped (I got lots of ‘hollo’s, even with my neatest handwriting), while the mini and full-sized QWERTY keyboards had me wishing for something in between. I did also struggle to see the screen properly when outdoors (just occasionally) as there seemed to be a bit of glare even on days that weren’t particularly bright.

Web browsing was nice and easy though, and the 360×640 pixels make sure your picture is sharp and bright. I must confess, despite regularly trying to ditch the stylus I kept having to pick it up again whenever I didn’t get the response I wanted.

But, I hear you cry, what about the camera? Well, this is where the Vivaz starts to show off a little. With 8.1 megapixels, face and smile detection helps to make sure you get the snap you’re after. And having the hard button on the side means it’s easy to grab a picture even in those blink-and-you’ll-miss-them moments. We thought that video quality was great – it’s certainly a good idea for anyone who wants to be able to grab some footage or pictures whenever they like, and upload them straightaway to YouTube or Picasa. YouTube (along with Facebook and Twitter) is preinstalled, too, alongside iPlayer and other video services, meaning your favourite videos are close to hand.

Ultimately, I had mixed feelings about the handset – it’s stylish, perhaps a bit specialist, but could be so much more user-friendly in terms of the interface. For the average user, the Vivaz might just be a bit fiddly for everyday use. But for multimedia fans who take pictures and movies regularly, it’s not bad at all.

Overall, this is a nice looking phone with pretty nice functions, but I have to say that I’m indeed a little disappointed, for they’ve promised so much more. But still the phone is really pretty!

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