Which camera phone should you buy this Christmas?

Five must-have features of a Web browsing smartphone

Browsing the Web on your mobile phone has traditionally been a really bad user experience. Useless keyboard entry, screens that are too small, slow and expensive data rates, and poor content have all made the mobile Web so difficult to use as to be almost useless for all practical purposes except cheating in the pub quiz.

Recently, though, all this has started to change, as a new wave of advanced smartphones have combined with super-fast network technology and forward-thinking mobile operators, which has finally made the mobile Web a reality.

But what do you need to look for in a mobile phone handset to browse the Web effectively?...

Is the Mobile Web really a failure?

The New York Times has an interesting article in which they brand the mobile Web, and 3G networks in particular, a failure. According to the article, data makes up only 12 percent of revenue for mobile phone operators, while a survey by the research firm The Yankee Group shows that only 13 percent of US mobile phone users use their phone to browse the Web more than once a month.

For the most part, these depressing statistics are true. However, things aren't as bad as the article makes out. Indeed, with the right device, the mobile Web is here, now, and is gloriously usable.

More details after the jump.

Leaked pictures of Nokia N96

Nokia are on a bit of a roll at the moment, having just released the excellent Nokia N82, and now comes news of a possible forthcoming model, the Nokia N96. As you can see from the pics, the new form factor is a little, er, interesting. Featuring a slide out QWERTY keyboard that doubles as a keypad when turned vertically, the N96 is bound to cause a bit of a stir...

...or at least it would if it wasn't a fake!

Vodafone forces T-Mobile forced to unlock iPhone

Applen have been selling the iPhone with a ridiculous locked contract that not only forces people to stick with one operator for 18 months - 2 years, it also prevents them from using the iPhone on any other network.

In the UK, that network is O2 - if you want to have an iPhone, it has to be on O2, and it has to be on an 18 month contract. Across the rest of Europe, the operators you use differ, with different operators winning the iPhone deal in different countries. In Germany, T-Mobile won, for example, while in France, it was Orange.

The only common feature across all of Europe is that Vodafone lost. You can't use an iPhone on Vodafone's network in any country...until now!

New Japanese phones offer Earthquake early warning alerts

The latest Japanese phones from NTT DoCoMo offer a novel feature that could be life-saving. Called Area Mail, the new feature provides quick emergency reports delivered to mobile phones in a specific area, with dedicated ringtones and messages used to alert the user to an impending emergency.

Given that Japan is one of the most seismically-active regions on Earth, an earthquake warning system is the obvious application of Area Mail, which can send its alerts out to mobile phones within an area identified as most at risk. This has the benefit of alerting only those who need to be alerted, and not unnecessarily panicking those who are outside the danger zone.

NTT DoCoMo also announced a few other interesting pieces of mobile phone technology...

Samsung 8 megapixel camera phones on their way in 2008

Samsung have announced brand new technology that will see them mass-produce 8 megapixel camera phones complete with auto-focus in the first half of 2008. Currently, mid-range phones mostly feature a 3.2 megapixel camera, while the high-end phones, such as the Nokia N95 and Sony Ericsson K850i feature 5 megapixels.

Although other phones have offered high megapixellage (Samsung famously released a 10 megapixel monster back in 2006 in Korea, for example), this is the first time a major handset manufacturer has committed itself to extremely high megapixels for the mass market.

More details after the jump.

Nokia E90 Sat-Nav report

I'm coming back from London now (again writing this post on the train), having spent a glorious afternoon seeing Spamalot in the West End. While there, I got the chance to try out my Nokia E90's Sat-Nav functionality in earnest, and the results were, well, mixed..

Moblogging with the Nokia E90

Well, I'm off to London now, writing this post on my Nokia E90 on the train. Apart from the connection dropping out at Slough (just when you need something to take your mind off the scenery!), i've been browsing without problem, and now moblogging.

The Nokia E90 really is performing much better than I ever thiought possible.Web browsing is superb on it. i'll be testing out the Sat-Nav features when I arrive, as I always manage to get lost, so I'll let you know just how useful the E90 is for finding your way around.

As far as moblogging goes, though the Nokia E90 scores 10 out of 10!

Nokia E90 - the world’s best PDA?

I've had my Nokia E90 Communicator for a couple for weeks now, and I'm really starting to use it in earnest. What are my impressions so far? One word: awesome! I've stopped thinking of it as a mobile phone, and see it more as a laptop for those times when I don't actually have my laptop with me.

It's everything I wanted it to be. It's the perfect web browser for when you've got time to kill and just want to browse the web. When you're watching TV with friends, for example, and aren't really interested in the Tv programme itself - you can simply whip out the E90 and start reading the latest TechCrunch articles to while away 10 minutes or so.

But it's become more than just a 24/7 web browser...much more...