TRAVEL BLOG

More than a device that keeps you connected, mobile phones are important utility tools that are technological advanced and feature packed. These latest devices can perform various functionalities with ease. Besides being your companion, it is a fashion accessory, an entertainer and what not. The sleek and stylish handsets are empowered with high-end technologies to cater to the growing needs of people. These devices have enhanced the working styles of the users. Apart from meeting the growing expectations of the people, these gadgets have facilitated the various official and personal tasks of the customers.

The top manufacturers like Nokia, Samsung, Motorola, Sony Ericsson and LG are developing feature rich handsets like Walkman series from the Sony Ericsson, smartphones from Nokia, etc.

The latest mobile phone, Nokia 6500 classic comes with simplistic looks and an alluring design. The various connectivity options let you connect to other devices. Make use of entertainment options like 2 megapixel camera which lets you capture sharp pictures and record videos. at With the FM radio, listen to music and a variety of other radio programs. Experience fast downloads, web browsing, musical entertainment with the handset. The device includes Java Applications with Java MIDP 2.0 which gives you access to all the amazing games and applications.

Another latest handset, Samsung Armani is stylish by nature and is a head turner. The list impressive features include a 2.6 Inch high colour touch screen, qwerty keyboard, built in music player, 3 megapixel camera and Bluetooth technology. The mobile phone attracts the fashion conscious users who want to stand out in the crowd. The 3-mega pixel camera comes with LED photo light on the back allowing you to capture, store & share photos with friends.The 60 MB memory is expandable with a MicroSD memory card. The highly usable technologies and features make the handset appealing to all the users.

The Nokia N95 8GB holds a supreme position in the market with its amazing functionalities. The features that make this mobile phone technically sound are WiFi, WAP, GPRS, EDGE, Bluetooth and Document Viewer. The music player supports popular music file formats such as MP3, AAC, WMA and AAC+. Surf the web pages through the advanced WAP browser feature. Stay connected with your dear ones with the multimedia messaging features.

Sony Ericsson is known for their walk man mobile phones which made you enjoy your favorite tune anywhere and Sony Ericsson W980i is their recently released product for people who are more musically inclined. You do not need to buy a separate mp3 player; the mobile phone has its innovative application that can play your music in one gadget.

From the moment you see it, the appearance of Sony Ericsson W980i looked more of a music player than a mobile phone because of the keys designated on top of it along with the screen. The screen showed the song being played, battery life, and signal.

To further find out what Sony Ericsson W980i can offer you, read through the mobile review and have a full knowledge on great mobile phone deals or contract in store for the buyer.

Over-all review

If you love music and want to buy a new phone, Sony Ericsson W980i–flip top phone– should be your best option of choice. Sony Ericsson improved the quality of sound and made it easier to control the music through the buttons on top of the phone. It has the capacity to store 8000 songs with its 8GB internal memory.

While Shake control became a newest application for most recently released music phones and music player, SE W980i also acquired one for an easier changed of songs. You do not need to press buttons if you like, you can just shake the phone and songs will change automatically.

When you get tired of the tunes listed on your phone, you can go back to the basic of tuning in to your favorite FM stations. But do not take this application for granted, the built-in FM transmitter can also be used to transfer music into a compatible device while playing songs. Enjoy your favorite tune on your stereo either in your car or bedroom without the use of wires.

Other special features such as: 3.2 mega pixel camera, large screens, and 3G HSDPA handset is also a great catch to consider. You can now check mails, download music online, and use the internet with its high speed connection.

The phone offered 3 options for the connectivity: Bluetooth, USB wire, and PictBridge which gives direct connection to a printer.

Battery life, can last for 12 days in stand by mode or equivalent of 3.5 hours of using it for calling. Of course it will depend upon how you charge and take care of your battery which you need to read more of to have a longer battery life.

Deal or no deal

Mobile phone deals or contracts are a great way to acquire a phone if you cannot pay in one payment. The contract will tell you to pay in 12 months term and you get other advantages as you apply for the mobile phone deals. Like in credit cards, you will receive a monthly payment slip which includes the fixed payment for the phone plus the bills for other services you use such as SMS messages, calls, GPRS, etc. However, you should take note that the costs of calls are more affordable when you apply for a mobile phone deal.

The Samsung J700 is a good choice if you are thinking to change your existing phone with a low mid range and budget phone. You will really like this creation of Samsung which is ladened with some good features to make your life more luxurious and easy going. The phone has some features which can give tough competition to models of other brands like Sony and Nokia within the same price bracket. This is a phone boasts of some good multimedia features and short cut keys.

Samsung J700 is a slider phone with some cute features in this phone. The phone has dimensions of 99.5 x 48 x 14.8 mm and weighs only 92 g. The light weight phone would be a hit among college students because they don’t feel like spending too much on expensive phones. And this may be a low mid range phone yet it has those multimedia features which the young generation are always in search of. The multimedia and the communicating features of this phone are by no means a low one.

The Samsung J700 supports GPRS, EDGE class 10. The 2 inches TFT touchscreen gives you the freedom to watch videos comfortably and paste colorful wallpapers. You will fall in love with this black and elegant gadget the moment you pick it in your hands. The 1.3 MP camera can really click good quality images. Though the phone doesn’t have flash but when you take pictures under comfortable light the images are quite clear and distinct.

The media player of the phone is something which the college chaps will love very much. It can play WMA files and MP3/AAC/AAC+/MIDI files too. The sound quality of the phone is superb whether you listen in hands free mode or via ear piece you enjoy a good sound in this phone.

Samsung J700 is a new launch and perhaps Samsung has tried to capture a particular audience like college students and those who are looking for budget phones. The phone can be little cheap but that by no means assert that it is out dated and has nothing special in it. You have JAVA MIDP version 2.0 for high resolution games in it, FM radio for those who love to tune to listen the recent releases or the retro clips. The phone is also equipped with a MPEG4/3GP video player and recorder. There is Bluetooth Printing and Organizer. There is currency converter and voice memo too.

For the longest time, I’ve honestly felt that the Chinese iPhone clones have included every major feature from the original and then some. But, when the Nokia N95 became almost as popular as the iPhone, we were all waiting with baited breath for its clone. That’s because the Nokia N95 has WiFi and GPS. We were hoping that one day these features would become standard in the clones. We already knew that CECT could pull off Windows Mobile because the current HiTune T68 includes it.

However, when the CECT N95 finally rolled out, it was a great phone full of great features and innovative design. In fact, everything was included - except WiFi and GPS. Although we understood that pricing kept some additions out, and we felt the phone was still a contender without them, we were still a touch disappointed.

Finally, though, there’s reason to celebrate. The HiPhone T32 (the very latest version, and sometimes also called The Daxian X999) has finally included all three of these things as standard.

Of course, as always with the HiPhone you can: surf the web; email and text (WAP browsing, MMS and SMS messaging); take photos and video on the digital camera and video cam; enjoy Bluetooth; listen to and watch MP3s and MP4s; and use Java.

The one standard feature this one doesn’t have is dual sim slots. However, it has improved the 2.0 mega pixel camera and added an e-book reader.

With the Windows additions like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, as well as tons more third party software available, this phone has evolved into a little productivity powerhouse. And, in my testing, these additions do not slow the performance of the phone any. It is still zippy and intuitive. After all, it has an expandable memory of up to 2GB to work with.

Of course, we were bracing ourselves for the price. Current comparable clones without these new additions average around $150. So where does that leave this new version? Currently, it’s between the low and upper $300s, depending on where you get it.

This price may fall as more become available, but I suspect that even with this price tag, these will fly off shelves because: the additions are too valuable to pass up; they were long desired; and they really do add so many more possibilities and applications to this phone. So, welcome to the party, T32. It’s about time.

The features of the Chinese iPhone clones can sometimes get confusing. The manufacturers upgrade and roll out new phones at such break neck speed that it’s easy to mistake one model for another. Many people mistake the new CECT P168C (aka the P168++) with it’s inspiration, the P168+ (aka iClone quad band). Or, people confuse the C model with the S model (more about that later). This article will discuss the standard and stand out features of the CECT P168C, so that you can see how it is different from some of the other Chinese quad bands on the market.

The P168C Supports 850, 1800, 1900, and 900 MHZ (Quad Band) But Which You Use Depends Upon Which Country You Live In: Technically the C model support all of the MHZ bands, but usually not all at once. I’ll explain. Typically, when you buy this phone, the seller will set it depending upon the country you are in. So, for example if you live in Canada, North America, or the USA, the seller will go into engineering mode and set the phone to support 850 / 1800 / 1900 MHz. But, if you live overseas, you’ll instead be given a 900 / 1800 / 1900 MHZ.

You can set this yourself, but most times the sellers will do it for you. (I’d recommend letting them unless you absolutely know what you are doing.)

Two Sim Cards Running At Once: Probably the biggest standout of the 168C is the “dual sim active” feature which means that you can really have two sim cards, phone numbers, and plans / carriers running at one time without needing to turn off or shut down the phone and while talking on it. For example, let’s say you are a customer of both AT&T and T Mobile. You would be able to use the phone on AT&T (talking, web browsing, emailing, texting, etc.) and you could then receive a call from your T Mobile sim at the same time. This greatly appeals to many different consumers who use their phones very often or receive a lot of calls, including executives, business owners, students, and even parents.

Standard And Bonus Features (Including Flow Or Multi Touch): Other than the customizable quad band and the dual sim active features, the P168C does have all of the standard and extra / bonus features or the “everything in one phone model” that we’ve come to expect from the clones. In addition to Bluetooth (A2DP), full MP3 / MP4, and the 2.0 mega pixel digital camera and web cam, this one allows web browsing, emailing, and texting (WAP, GPRS, SMS, and MMS). It also has handwriting entry, a voice recorder, and a stylus.

The manufacturer has slightly changed / improved interface. As a result, this phone is often referred to as having “less bugs.” It also includes the flow touch screen (often also called “multi touch.”) It’s expandable 2GB of memory can serve as a mini hard drive as it connects to your computer via USB for easy document and data transfer. It has a standby time of about 150 hours.

I’m surprised that, In spite of the upgrades, this phone doesn’t cost much more than the original iClone quad band (the P168 plus). I almost never see it over $150. More often than not, it’s in the low $100 range, depending upon how much memory is included.

This phone generally does not have the “shake and tilt feature,” (advancing music and media by only shaking the phone). If you’re looking for that feature on this phone, take a look at the CECT P168S, which includes it.

The mobile phones have become a necessity rather than a luxury. The phones are considered as inevitable and unavoidable gadget in an era of IT or information technology. The mobile phone market is flooded with thousands of mobile phone models from different manufacturers. Among thousands of models, it is really very tricky task to choose a good mobile phone. As time is passing by, newer and sophisticated technologies are pouring in form of high-end mobile devices. The excellent sound features have become an integral part in the upcoming phones. Among various top notch manufacturers, Samsung and Motorola are two legends of wireless communication which have been constantly boasting of elegant and powerful mobile phones.

The Samsung is one of the world’s leading brands in the world of high-tech phones. This brand manufactures innovative and cost-effective phones depending upon the demand of its prospective users. The Samsung is well known for a wide range of slider mobile phones. Undoubtedly, it can be said that Samsung is an undisputed king in the sliding mechanism. Some of the best series of Samsung are E, D, U and lots more. The Samsung’s E series phones are known for aesthetically pleasing design. Each handset of this family is unique and iconic in its own style. Some of the highly used features in the E-series are a camera with LED flash, high-end connectivity options, Internet and many more. These all features are packed in a way which make it a high-end phones.

The Samsung U-series going strong with remarkable capabilities in each of its family member. Moreover, among all the series from the lineage of Samsung Mobile, the G-series is latest and advanced which carry a whole new world of opportunities and possibilities ahead and giving a tough competition other contemporaries. Therefore, it can be said that the latest Samsung mobile phones belong to the third generation, as they are powered by 3G technology. The new generation phones come in an array of advanced features which include everything from communication and information access to entertainment. Some of the best launched advanced handsets from Samsung are G600, G800, D900, F700, U600, F480 Tocco and lots more.

On other hand, the Motorola is another big name in the world of mobile telephony. Motorola is the first commercial mobile phone maker in the whole world. The mobile phones from Motorola are equally smart in features and in looks. The phones from this lineage are mostly in form of flip-up or clamshell. After huge success of KRZR, RAZR, ROKR and RIZR range of Motorola, the journey is not stopped. Instead, the company has started focusing on some new technology and techniques to satisfy the users.

The slim, light and powerful handsets from the Motorola are endowed with features including high-performance camera, dedicated music player, vibrant screen, embedded Java games, standard connectivity tools, massive memory and lots more.

Therefore, it can be said that in the enticing and exciting world of mobile phone, Motorola holds a very important position, world over. These power packed devices offer unmatchable style, great sophistication, latest technology, extreme durability, endless entertainment and high functionality without compromising on quality. The latest Motorola phones can help you to shoot great videos, click amazing pictures, download and play most rocking music and communicate with your friends.

To conclude, both the mobile phone manufacturers are offering the best to their prospective users. With their special features and techniques, the mobile phones from both the brands have become the hottest choice among various segment of users. But, if you are looking for slider phone, then Samsung phones boast of wide choice while Motorola is known for clamshell mobile phones.

Sony Ericsson has announced two new handsets, the G700 and G900 to be released in 2008. The G700 and G900 names sound like part of the Samsung mobile phone collection, with Samsung having previously released the G600 and G800.

The two 3G handsets look like pretty standard handsets. They both feature a camera (G700 - 3.2 mega pixel, G900 - 5 mega pixel), FM radio, multimedia player, stereo Bluetooth, memory stick micro, 4 hours talk time and 13 days standby in 3G mode, and the G900 boasts WiFi. Both phones weigh in at 99 grams and measure 106 x 49 x 13mm.

The most interesting aspect of the two phones is that they are both touch screen, Symbian smart phones. The touch screen measures 2.4″ and allows the user to scribble notes, surf the web, and select menu items. The handset also comes with handwriting recognition which is handy when writing an sms. Users also have the freedom to add their own applications to their mobile phones.

My personal opinion is why have a touch screen? It creates a slight wow factor about the new phones but it doesn’t really save you any time when using the phone, or make the phone functions work any more efficiently than a standard mobile phone. And of course you need to make sure you don’t lose your stylus! Many people will love the touch screen but I feel it’s a bit of a waste of time.

Whatever your thoughts are about the touch screens the G700 and G900 are two stylish mobile phones. The G700 will be available in silk bronze color scheme and the G900 will be available in dark red and dark brown color schemes.

HTC in cooperation with Google has created a new cell phone with an Android operating system. The mobile phone is called “T-Mobile G1″ and is characterized by a special design, with a large screen that can be pushed to the side to reveal a full 5 row qwerty keyboard.

The mobile phone is said to become a major competitor to Apple’s IPhone. The mobile phone is build around an open source operating system, just like the IPhone, so both developers and the phone manufacturers can bring the users content and applications support. In practice this means that everyone can build applications for this mobile phone for anyone to buy or just download for free over the Internet. Using the built-in keyboard, it has become easy to navigate around on the phone, on the net and doing tasks like writing e-mails or other documents.

The G1 comes with:

528MHz processor WLAN function 3.2 inch touchscreen Full 5 row QWERTY keyboard 3.2 megapixel color camera with auto focus Full HTML browser Google Talk which is an chat program GPS navigation capability with Google Maps Street View which means that you can watch maps in real pictures from where you are and in street view Gmail YouTube

And many other Google features.

The mobile phone weights 158 grams, which also include the battery. The G1 also has a built-in microphone and speaker and supports many audio and video formats like Mp3, AAC, ACC+ and Mp4

The G1 has a search box on the desktop which is meant to search both the phone and the Internet. To reach the search box you just have to slide to the right with your fingertip and the desktop slides to a screen with a search box only. The search box also has some cool features. For instance it tries to guess what you want to search for by listing the most common searches on the Internet, while you are typing.

One of the features that makes the G1 stand out from the iPhone is the background picture.

On an iPhone, you can not put background pictures on your desktop, while on a G1 phone you just gets a panoramic picture when “sliding” around on the desktop.

The G1 looks pretty much the same as the previous T-Mobile Sidekick series.

I don’t like the design very much. I did expect a little more with Google and HTC working together, but I do also think that the software works really good and has some very nice functions. The G1 is very simple to use and you can take some shortcuts and directly add them to your desktop.

The absolute greatest advantage is the ability to accept open source programs, and I predicts this concept will be the future.

I’ve had the CECT P168 (aka iClone) since it first came out. I often evaluate and write about Chinese import mobile phones and this one is still among my favorites. Many consumers seem to agree with me too because this phone is now so popular that it’s become almost main stream.

But, not matter how commonplace the P168 phone becomes, I find that I am almost always questioned by people who see me using it. They want to know how hard it is to set it up, how user friendly it is, or if the instructions are in Chinese. The answer is it’s not very hard for most people right out of the box, but if you need help, it’s widely available. Instructions are also available in almost every language.

There are a couple of companies who have either written e-books or compiled software indicating how to use, set up, and sync the CECT P168 for your specific carrier. For example, there are now guides specifically for: AT&T, T-Mobile, Cingular, Roger’s Wireless, Vodafone, CTI, Orange, O2, and Moviestar, to name only a few. I find that typically, if someone is going to have a problem, it’s usually with the MMS. These guides will help you set this up in minutes. (The 168 is tri band and works with most carriers with no installation software needed. However, make sure your GSM carrier users either the 900, 1800, or 1900 Mhz band.)

Additionally, the guides come in just about any language you can imagine, including English, French, Italian, Spanish and German, for starters. These guides which are usually either in PDF (e book), CD rom, or in printed format, and usually only run between $5-$10.

The replica mobile is now so widely available that companies are beginning to generate accessories for it. You can easily get replacement batteries, sim cards, memory cards, cases / skins, Bluetooth headsets, and chargers for this phone, usually for well under $10.

So, there is no need to think that you can’t figure out or buy accessories for the iClone. As I’m sure you know, when a product is popular, a whole industry is going to spring up around it, which is exactly what has happened. From my own experience, this is a very easy phone to own and use.

It has been very interesting to see the iPhone clones evolve into what they are today.?What started out as an attempt to offer an alternative to Apple’s technological gold mine has graduated to include a long line of high quality phones that offer a huge variety of features.

The initial best selling iClone (the P168) was a very successful tri band model that was upgraded (the P168+) to include the 850 MHZ band (quad band) for many rural AT&T customers.?Meanwhile, the shake and tilt feature was introduced on some other popular models like the A380i and the A88.

For some, shake and tilt is a great feature.?When you want to advance music, photos, video or media, you only have to gently shake the phone. When you want to take it to wide screen, you just tilt it.?This makes the phones very user friendly or intuitive.?Not everyone sees the need for this feature, but those who do really love it.

The new CECT P168S is an upgrade of the P168+ (plus) and it sort of combines the features of the quad band model with the shake and tilt models I’ve previously mentioned. Folks who embrace the novelty features like shake control have really taken to the S model, which some believe is the knock off that combines the best of both worlds.?This article will discuss some of the stand out features of this upgraded quad band.

With A Smaller Size, The S Version Is Considered A Mini: The 168S is often called a “mini” because it only weighs 85 grams and has the compact measurements of 112 x 56.8 x 14.8 mm. Not everyone embraces these small, sleek models, as folks who watch a lot of video want as big a screen as they can get, but many actually prefer a streamlined model that can fit in a small pocket.

In Addition To Dual Sim Standby, And Supporting All Four Bands, It Has The “Special Ripple Effect” And Offers Two Colors / Finishes: This mobile phone can be set to support 850 / 1800 / 1900 or 900 / 1800 / 1900 MHz, depending on where you will be using it. Although you could set this yourself using engineering mode, I’d highly recommend letting the seller set it for you, or buying a model that you know is already set where you need it.?

The 168S supports “dual sim standby” which means that the phone supports two sim cards that are working at one time. Theoretically, you can take a call on a Cingular sim while web browsing on T Mobile. It also has what is called the “special ripple effect,” allowing the user to change pictures by running or dragging your fingers across the screen. This goes nicely will the “menu flow touch” or “multi touch” also supported by this phone.

The S model comes in silver or black finishes.

Additional Standard And Bonus Features: The S version’s small size does not mean that it is lacking in any way.?It has all of the standard features that we’ve come to expect with the clones, including: allowing you to browse the internet (GPRS Class 12); email and text (SMS, EMS, MMS,); use Bluetooth; listen to and watch MP3 / MP4; listen to?FM radio; read e-books; and take photos with the 1.3 mega pixel camera and web cam. The CECT P168S has a talk time of about 120 -180 minutes.?It can support up to 2GB of memory.

The price on this one is not bad at all. It usually falls in the low $100s, and is almost always under $150.?If you’re asked to pay more than this, you can usually do better by shopping around.