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Archive for March, 2010

The HTC Legend is the successor to the HTC Hero and it is the first handset by HTC which has a ‘unibody’ casing made from aluminium.  The casing gives the phone a smooth sleek look and gives it a touch of class that a plastic phone does not have.  At the same time it manages to look simple. 

The handset has a 3.2 inch screen which gives a sharp image and responds well to the touchpad function; the trackball feature from the Hero has been replaced with an optical joystick.  It is an Android phone and has the Sense interface.  Sense offers a number of useful applications which give the user easy access to a lot of information, such as contact lists and weather forecasts.  Users can also easily customise the home page.

The HTC Legend makes social networking much easier with a feature called ‘friend stream’, making different networking sites easy to view.  The web browser also allows easy access to other internet sites and text from sites can be copied without difficulty.  The Legend also responds to the way the user is holding it and the screen will move from portrait to landscape modes when the phone is turned and the sensitive touch screen keypad makes mistyping less likely. 

The phone has a 5-megapixel camera though picture quality is not always great and occasionally the Wi-Fi reception is not very strong.  There are not as many Android applications as other operating systems have but new ones are being added all the time. 

Most mobile phones are only used for a year or two at the most and then they are replaced and this means that more than a hundred million mobile phone handsets are added to Europe’s very own phone ‘mountain’ each year.

Recycling mobile phones through companies like Envirophone and Mazuma, plus others, can significantly reduce this problem. It makes sense too, because each year when you get an upgraded handset from your network supplier, you can simply remove the SIM, delete any personal information from you old phone and look up your phone model on the buyers website to get a price. Then simply request a post paid pack and send you phone away for recycling. You could earn yourself as much as £150 cash for mobile phones depending on the make and model and you will be helping to reduce that phone ‘mountain’.

It is actually illegal to throw your old mobile phone into the dustbin to be collected with the rest of the rubbish and there are around 65 million unused, discarded mobile phones hidden away all over Britain. It’s crazy to throw these away, especially when they could bring in some extra money. The best plan here is to find a deal for your phone via a comparison site on the Internet and sell it. If you wait it will drop in value fast. This should actually be a regular habit so that every time you get an upgraded handset, you sell your old one and get yourself some extra money. That way everyone’s happy and you are doing your bit for the environment too.

The BlackBerry Curve 8520 is not a high end mobile phone with blow your mind specifications, but instead offers some popular functions for those looking to own a BlackBerry on a budget.

On offer with this phone is a Wi-Fi facility ideal for those needing to connect to the internet while on the move and access to social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook means staying connected couldn’t be easier, although the lack of 3G means lower downloading speeds.

For such a cheap mobile phone the sound quality is very good and the Curve 8520 offers independent music control buttons, so you can stop, play, pause and fast forward whenever you please, even if the phone is tucked away in your pocket. It boasts a full QWERTY keypad and has a sharp, clear and bright screen making texting easier.

BlackBerry mobile phones are often pricey, but in order to make the Curve 8520 available to those with smaller budgets they have forfeited popular functions such as GPS. The camera is of average quality and has no flash and the keypad can be slightly harder to use as it is smaller than on other models.

The lack of 3G is off putting, and it loses some good functions and sacrifices quality in a few areas to keep cost low, but for someone looking for their first BlackBerry mobile phone this is a decent all round option and one of the best cheap mobile phones on the market.

The Samsung Pixon 12 is a highly sophisticated phone designed with a stylish black casing.  The handset has a 3.1 inch screen which displays 16 million colours on the larger than standard screen.  It has a resolution of 480 pixels by 800 pixels ensuring high quality images.

This phone is suitable for those who prefer to choose options on their mobile by using the touch screen.  Another similar phone is the Pixon M8800.

The camera on this phone is worth a mention; it has a 12-megapixel camera lens and an automatic focus feature allowing the user to use the touch screen to automatically focus on the preferred subject.  It also has GPS navigation which means that the camera will tag the date, time and location of the photograph.  It also has a smile detector ensuring that the subject will be snapped at the right time.

The Pixon 12 also allows the user to take part in video conferencing with other 3G compatible users; whether the user is in communication with a contact through video conferencing or watching a video from the phone function, the quality is extremely high.

The phone supports WLAN Wi-Fi technology so that connection can be gained from nearby WLAN and hotspots allowing access to the internet.

The inbuilt GPS also allows the user to navigate to the nearest fuel station or hotel.

The phone has a document function enabling the user to store documents, and to read them in popular formats.

Mobile phone reviews really don’t seem to like this addition to the Nokia mobile phones family; so is the Nokia X6 really an awful piece of kit or is it just misunderstood and a lot better than it was first perceived? The mobile phone news desks were buzzing when this phone was first released, it is a touchscreen phone and it does look good. The screen has been given precedence and reaches right to the edges of the casing. The Nokia X6 does not offer up a stylus, so you have to be comfortable with using your fingertips or get yourself a separate one, but this is then a pain to carry around.

Menus are typical to the Nokia brand, so if you have seen one of their newer phones you will have seen the menu for the Nokia X6. We have to say we too have mixed feelings about this handset. Clearly a contender for contract mobile phone, what concerns us is that you are going to be sick of this phone well before the contract is up for renewal and then sadly be stuck with it until such time as your contract runs out. It does have all the key functionality, GPS, Bluetooth, a camera and video, but this isn’t really what causes the gripes. It is the functionality that is going to irritate people; it is just hard to use, a bit clunky and awkward. It is sad to say that this phone could have been a market leader, it was definitely pointing in the right direction, but sadly it falls just too far short of the mark.

The 3600 is one of the compact Nokia mobile phones that functions as a slider. This slim device is just 14.5 mm thick with a length of 97.8 mm and a width of 47.2 mm. At just 97.3 grams, the Nokia 3600 is one of the lighter mobile phones on the market.

After you compare mobile phones, the Nokia 3600 will stand out from the others for a variety of reasons. This functional slider includes an integrated 3.15 megapixel camera that is equipped with an LED flash and autofocus to improve the quality of your pictures.

The Nokia 3600 is capable of SMS and MMS messaging. Users will also be able to utilise this mobile phone for instant messaging, and to send and receive email. To browse the internet, the Nokia 3600 includes the Opera mini 4 browser.

In order to store pictures, email, and text messages on the Nokia 3600, this mobile phone includes 512 megabytes of internal memory. Users will appreciate the microSD expansion slot that can accommodate cards up to 8 gigabytes in size.

The Nokia 3600 is quad band which means it is suitable for users who travel frequently. This Nokia mobile phone does not support 3G networks and does not include integrated Wi-Fi. This means that browsing the internet may be a bit slow, but the other features included in the Nokia 3600 more than make up for this.

There are several Nokia 3600 deals available to users that range between nine and 24 months in contract length.

It is a fact that of the 90 million mobile phones used in the UK, only around 3% of users actually have their old mobile phone units recycled. With such an extremely large number of people still throwing their old mobiles into the nearest rubbish bins and even into water sources, what hope is there for one individual like you to help protect the environment? Will it actually make a difference if you have your phone recycled while the majority of the population does not?

Yes, you can definitely make a difference. No matter how seemingly small your efforts are, it is still most definitely an effort worth making. The very first step in making a difference is not to consider what the majority is doing. If you are interested in making a contribution and recycling your mobile phone, then search the internet for the best mobile phone recycling companies. Upon entering your phone details if you like the cash for mobile price offer, then by all means go for it. You will then be sent a padded, self-addressed envelope for you to put your phone in and mail to the recycler. You can then expect the payment within seven days. The cash is good but it also serves as an incentive for you having made that small difference for the benefit of the environment. And perhaps it is true that before you can convince others of how good and beneficial phone recycling is, it is best to experience it yourself first.

You can then spread the word around among your friends, family members and co-workers. You can even put up an entire website just to promote recycling and you can make some flyers and other print ads.

The HTC Snap is an incredibly versatile phone, which considering its thickness is something of a marvel. They managed to get a full QWERTY keyboard onto the handset and the Snap also comes with Wi-Fi, GPS and HSPDA as well.

The keypad has nicely raised keys, which are really responsive and make texting or emailing a breeze. It operates in a similar fashion to the BlackBerry and pushes emails making accessing accounts convenient. A useful feature is the “inner circle” where you can group together important contacts and access all their emails at once.

HTC has made using the Windows mobile system a success by keeping it simple, doing away with the fiddly touch screen, and making the system actually work.

Along with its superb keyboard the Snap has a fairly good 2-megapixel camera, with video facility, an audio player that supports all the major formats and a pretty decent battery life. There is no flash or auto-focus with the camera and it does not come with FM radio, but its connectivity is good with Bluetooth, mini USB and a 192MB memory.

There is the perennial complaint about leaving out the 3.5mm headphone jack, which is directed at many phone manufacturers, but on the whole the Snap is an excellent mobile. This is primarily a business, emailing phone and not a touch screen with multimedia mobile cinema, so if you are looking for a good phone to keep you in touch with the office this is the one.

The Samsung Tocco Lite is Samsung’s version of the LG Cookie, a cheap mobile phone, including a touchscreen without 3G capability and available in black, white and shocking pink. This is a fun to use phone making it easy to access Facebook, MySpace and YouTube, and with its bright, clear screen and responsive keypad a simple phone to operate.

The Tocco Lite has all the usual features you would expect a phone to have these days, 3.2-megapixel camera which performs well in daylight but not so good in poor lighting conditions, a video recorder, music player FM radio with RDS, a memory card slot and Bluetooth. Using Samsung’s Touchwiz system and downloadable applications like a clock and weather forecast, you can customize the Tocco to suit you needs.

The interface is simple to use and moves swiftly between screens, and the sound quality for music and video clips is good and has a virtual 3D system and equaliser. The battery life is pretty decent and not having the masses of power hungry applications and gadgets of the larger phones, the battery has a decent lifespan. Don’t however expect it to compete with the older generation phones.

The down points on the Tocco Lite are exactly the same as the LG Cookie, there is no Wi-Fi, 3G or GPS, and it does not come with a headphone jack. Without the luxury of 3G video clips, YouTube can appear a little shaky.

If you are looking for a decent quality budget touchscreen both the Tocco Lite and Cookie are excellent with little to separate them.

If you have purchased a new mobile phone then you may be wondering what to do with your old handset.  There are many different methods of disposing of your old handset, and you could even make some money from it.

One of the most financially rewarding methods is to use an online mobile phone recycling service such as Envirofone of Mazuma.  These services allow you to get a quote for your old mobile phone online, and if you are happy with it you will be provided with an envelope to send it in to the company.  Once it has been tested you will then be paid the amount quoted.  This is a great service if you would like cash for mobile phones safely and responsibly.

Another option for disposing of your old mobile phone is to donate it to charity.  There are several charities, such as Oxfam or Actionaid who will gladly take your old handset and put it to good use.  Infrastructure in third world countries is notoriously poor, and mobile phones provide a much better service for the citizens of the country. 

Recycling your mobile phone in one of the above methods will also be beneficial towards the environment.  Many people discard of old mobile phones in the bin, and these end up in the landfills.  The mercury can leak from old mobile phone batteries and contaminate the surrounding land – which can have long-lasting damage on the environment.