Leaked pictures of Sony Ericsson Bei Bei

More details of the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1 Smartphone

Now here's a phone that's had me all excited ever since it was first announced at the Mobile World Congress back in February. The Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1 is a smartphone set to challenge the mighty Nokia E90. If looks are anything to go by, the XPERIA wins hands down, but as with any smartphone, it's not the looks that matter, it's the features and how easy they are to use.

Sony Ericsson are keeping tight lipped about the applications on offer with the XPERIA X1 for the moment, but they have released a set of specifications for the phone, if it's incomplete.

Full spec of the XPERIA X1 after the jump.

New LG Black Label Designer phone on its way

LG will be releasing the third generation of its highly successful LG Black Label series of mobile phones on 24th April. The Black Label brand has been LG's top designer brand for some time, and has featured phones that exude style and good looks while toning down the features. The new LG Black Label looks set to continue the trend for good looks, and it's not exactly under-endowed when it comes to features either. Details are scarce at the moment, but LG have said it'll come with a 5 megapixel camera.

The new Black Label phone hasn't been named yet, and won't be until the official launch. I'm betting they'll name it Keith. OK, not the usual name for a mobile phone, perhaps, but "Keith the LG Phone! has a bit of a ring to it, doesn't it?!

Actually, I tried to think of a more sensible name for it, but looking at it, nothing immediately springs to mind. The LG Chocolate looked good enough to eat, while the Shine was, well, Shiny. This new Black Label phone, though? I'm at a loss! So Keith it is.

Feel free to add your own name in the comments.

Control the World with the Nokia 6212 Classic with NFC

Nokia have announced the new Nokia 6212 Classic, a mid-range mobile phone with integrated Near Field Communication (NFC). Integrated what, you ask? Near Field Communication, a technology that enables the phone to communicate seamlessly with the physical world by just tapping the phone against other NFC-equipped devices.

For example, you can receive information, such as Web links or music files, about a CD by tapping the phone against an NFC-equipped advert. Tap the 6212 against another NFC-equipped mobile phone, and the two will instantly pair with each other via Bluetooth, letting you swap photos or tunes between the two devices.

Other uses include paying for bus or tube tickets by just tapping the phone against a ticket machine, or getting your chocolate or caffeine fix by tapping it against a vending machine. In fact, the range of things you can do with NFC are limited only to the amount of other devices that also come equipped with NFC.

Which, at the moment, is about zero! However, NFC is sure to become as common a feature in mobile phones as Bluetooth, and once the technology becomes pervasive in phones, it won't be long before other devices appear too, which ultimately should lead to a radically new way of controlling our environment through our phones.

More details of the Nokia 6212 Classic after the jump.

Welcome to MobileMentalism 2.0

After what's seemed like an eternity, I've finally got my brand new theme up and running. Check out the glorious new Web 2.0 look! You should find all the articles here much easier to find now, and the site isn't broken, either, unlike the last theme. There's bound to be a few glitches while the new theme beds down, but those will be ironed out shortly. So, back to proper blogging on Thursday 17th April, which is just as well, as I have news of an exciting new deal about a phone beginning with i. I've also got a few more new things to add to the site, which I'll be revealing next week, so stay tuned, and enjoy the brand new shininess that is MobileMentalism 2.0. Oh, and you might want to subscribe to the newsfeed to keep track of the new changes as they happen (not to mention the exciting mobile phone articles, of course!)

LG Vu brings mobile TV to the US

LG have been showing off their neat looking LG Vu phone at CTIA 2008. What's interesting about the Vu is its focus on mobile TV. 2007 was meant to be the year of mobile TV, with phone manufacturers such as Nokia rushing to release a mobile TV phone seemingly every week. However, it patently didn't happen. Either the service was too restrictive in terms of the programmes on offer, too expensive, too difficult to view on a tiny phone screen, or simply not actually wanted - much like 3G video calling.

Fast forward a year, though, and we have the LG Vu proudly displaying mobile TV on none other than AT&T - a US carrier. Yes, the US, land of the dinosaur phones, whose mobile carriers have such dominance over the market they act collectively to crush any innovation in the market.

Will mobile TV have more success in the US than it has in Europe? Well, one way to find out is to look at the phone itself!

Nokia N-Gage now live

Those of you longing for a better mobile gaming experience will be pleased to know that Nokia have now made the new N-Gage gaming service live on their web site. Currently only of any use for owners of Nokia N81, N82, and N95 phones, the N-Gage service will be rolled out to N73 and N93 owners in the coming months.

N-Gage, of course, used to be a phone in its own right, but after performing dismally, it was pulled by Nokia. The new N-Gage platform seeks to resurrect the concept of mobile gaming, but on existing phones, rather than on a dedicated gaming phone.

More details of the new N-Gage platform after the jump.

VelocityMobile pitches cheap smartphones

New player VelocityMobile have been getting themselves some publicity from CTIA 2008 by announcing two new phones - the Velocity 103 and Velocity 111. Both phones are smartphones, but although they undoubtedly look good (particularly the 103), they're not exactly innovative. You get the same features you'd expect on even mid-range phones these days, so I'm not sure how Velocity are defining 'smart'.

However, where they aim to differentiate themselves from the competition is through price. According to Velocity Mobile president, David Hayes, "Velocity Mobile was created ...[to] bring leading-edge smartphones to the mass consumer market."

Apparently they aim to do that by combining Western design philosophy with Eastern manufacturing efficiencies, although how they think they're going to undercut someone like Nokia, whose size leads to economies of scale that even small countries couldn't compete with, is anyone's guess.

ClarityLife adds new feature to mobile phones: cataracts!

Right, now April 1st has been and gone, we can get on with the real mobile news - thankfully! Apologies to regular readers for the lame April Fool's joke on April 1st. Everyone else was doing it, but that's no excuse, and after finding myself bored senseless by reading lame joke after lame joke, I realized that I'd committed the same sin on my own blog! So, no more April Fools from now on!

Anyway, on with the news. A newcomer to the mobile phone world, ClarityLife, has released a new mobile phone that offers, well, nothing at all! As you can see from the pic, you get four huge buttons, a monochrome screen, and a one touch emergency button on the back...and that's it.

Nokia partners with Apple to develop iPhone2

In a move that has stunned market analysts, Nokia has agreed to partner with Apple to develop a new successor to the iPhone. Alarmed by the rise of the iPhone, which is set to net Apple $3 billion this year and up to $45 billion next year according to market analyst Piper Jaffray, the giant Finnish phone maker has decided its best option is to work with Apple to develop an advanced smartphone that will be a hybrid iPhone/N-Series phone, combining the high-tech features of Nokia's N-Series range with the iPhone's revolutionary interface.

An insider at Nokia says the new super-phone will be a class-leading N-Series phone called the Nokia N-iPple, and will feature the same user interface as the iPhone, together with many of the high tech innovations that Nokia's N-Series is famed for. The insider claims the list will include:

• HSDPA
• aGPS with support for both Google Maps and Navteq Maps
• 7 megapixel camera with auto-focus
• DVD quality 60fps video recording (similar to the LG Viewty's)
• 3.5" haptic touchscreen with iPhone interface
• iPhone accelerometers
• MP3 player with Nokia's new Flair Loop audio enhancement software
• Tight integration with iTunes
• 3D graphics plus support for Nokia's N-Gage platform
• Built-in video projector
• High precision halogen light
• Class-leading magnetometer
• Integrated lighter
• Reduced ironing option

Nokia and Apple are unsurprisingly being tight-lipped, with both declining to comment on the rumours. However, much of the Apple blogosphere is jumping on comments Steve Jobs made at this year's MacWorld conference as evidence that such a phone is currently being developed. During the conference, when asked by a journalist for information on any forthcoming new Apple phones, Jobs stated simply: "nipples."

With CTIA Wireless starting today, Apple and Nokia might publicly announce the deal in a move that will overshadow much of the other news coming from the conference - which is exactly what Apple did last year with the launch of the iPhone.

Update: Yes of course this is an April Fool's joke. I'm not sure which is more ridiculous, a phone with a "Reduced ironing option" or the thought of Apple and Nokia ever working with each other!! I was going to claim that Nokia were buying Apple, but given what's happening in the banking sector at the moment, with every slight rumour causing the share prices of a bank to collapse, I figured I better play it safe! And did nobody get "Flair Loop audio enhancement software"? Flair Loop? Anagram of April Fool? Anyone? On my own here, aren't I?!

No more April Fools jokes, I promise!