Posts filed under Articles

Back in 2001, Microsoft laid siege to the Web. Thanks to its dominant desktop position, it dominated the browser market with IE6 and ultimately killed off its competitors. The result was years of stagnation, a willful disregard of Web standards, and a Web development environment that actively discouraged any innovation throughout the Noughties.

Today, Apple is doing the same to the mobile Web. Not by a dominant market position, but by a lawsuit for patent infringement that it’s thrown at HTC.

And not just any old lawsuit. If they win, Apple will get a permanent injunction against HTC, which will bar them from importing or selling touchscreen smartphones in the US, along with triple damages and maximum interest for all such smartphones they’ve already sold.

In other words – the end of HTC, the end of Android, and the end of any innovation in the smartphone market.

This is is huge. This has the potential to be more damaging than Microsoft ever thought of being.

Read on for how Apple is threatening the mobile Web in the most aggressive attack yet made.

If you’ve got a T-Mobile G1, the first ever Android phone, you might be a bit envious fo all the new Android wizzardry crammed into Android 2.1 phones such as the Google Nexus One and Motorola Milestone.

The G1 only supports Android 1.6, and although T-Mobile are in the process of updating this with a minor tweak, it is just that – minor!

But wait, what’s this? Android 2.1 running on a G1? Must be one of those dodgy ports, right?

Well yes, obviously, but here’s the thing – Android 2.1 is so optimized, adn the code so much more efficient than the older 1.6 version, that it actually runs much faster than 1.6, and faster, even, than the original Android 1.0.

So should you try and install Android 2.1 on your G1? Read on to see…

The Apple iPad has now launched and all the hype has dissipated like the lancing of a grotesquely engorged ulcerous boil. Through the clearing mist lies reality and the path to the future, which, oddly, doesn’t feature the iPad at all.

In fact the only thing that’s caused the iPad to exist in the first place is the limitations of current display technology.

Find out why after the jump.

HTC surprised everyone when they released the HTC HD2 late last year. The HD2 is nothing short of the best Windows Mobile phone on the market now, and probably will be for some time (particularly given that HTC are pretty much the only company investing in innovative Windows Mobile phones at the moment).

The surprise is that HTC actually bothered to make a phone this good. Given their expertise with Google’s Android, their obvious close relationship with the search engine giant (just look at the Nexus One, which Google designed and HTC built), and the critical success they received with the HTC Hero (another Android device), why bother developing such a great phone as the HD2 on such a dog of a platform as Windows Mobile?

Step forward an intriguing theory…!

The noughties was a decade of tremendous innovation for mobile phones that saw the total number of phones worldwide reach a staggering 3,973,453,793 (and counting).

Megapixels rose, gizmo upon gizmo was shoe-horned into phones that got ever thinner.

Today, as we start a new decade, it’s worth looking back to see how we got to where we are now. In the process, we’ll answer such burning questions as:

• which mobile phones were the icons of the Noughties?
• how did we get from featureless phones with tiny black and white screens to the technological marvels of the iPhone and the Droid?
• which mobile manufacturer saw its market share go from 21.1% to 4.5%?
• which was the single most important year for mobile phones in the entire decade and why?
• and what was the most successful mobile phone of the decade?

Read on and all will be revealed!

With so many super-whizzy touchscreen smartphones to choose from, how do you choose the best smartphone for you?

Simple: read our smartphone buyer’s guide! We’ve identified the 10 essential features that every smartphone should have and distilled them into one huge buyer’s guide that’ll help you choose the best smartphone that’s perfect for you.

How much information have you got stored on your mobile phone? Think about it – your contacts, addresses, important and memorable texts, hundreds of photos and tunes, and now, of course, dozens of apps. Losing your phone is now more costly than buying a new one – your whole life’s stored on it.

Backing up your mobile data is therefore essential. But how do you do it?

Easy – you read the following guide on the top 5 ways to backup and safeguard your mobile data!

Music streaming service Spotify has hit a winning streak. Not content with winning awards for its Web-based music-streaming service, it’s also set to take the mobile world by storm, firstly with a Spotify app for Android phones (above, and in the video below) and the iPhone, and now with a dedicated Spotify phone.

Most companies are happy enough with just a smartphone app to add to their Web app, but Spotify figures that it might as well go the whole hog and build an entire phone around its service. And why not? If Twitter and Facebook can do it, then surely the world’s most talked about music streaming service can too?

But a Spotify phone won’t just shake up the mobile phone world – it’ll shake up Starbucks, too. Read on after the jump to see how…

A new report by Strategy Analytics predicts that 3G and 4G mobile technology is set to find its way into 20 different mobile device types that are anything but mobile phones. From laptops to cameras, GPS devices to portable game consoles, every type of mobile device is set to become 3G-enabled as the technology and its cost shrink inexorably.

By 2014, the company predicts over 100 million of these always connected devices will have been bought, leading to a golden age of mobile technology that’s set to transform every type of gadget you currently own.

I’ve always thought buying a new mobile was unnecessarily complicated, but things just seem to be getting worse! I’m currently with T-Mobile on a monthly contract for a SIM with Web n Walk Plus, which I use in my unlocked Nokia E90. I love my E90, but it’s become slow, doesn’t have a touchscreen, and, worst of all, has started to act – flaky! It no longer sends individual texts – it sends three at a time. It refuses to call out, and doesn’t like accepting calls too much either.

Now, all of this could be due to the network rather than the phone (though that’s unlikely, as my girlfriend’s also on T-Mobile, and she has no problems), but even if it is, it’s got e thinking that I want a new mobile, even if I don’t need one!

So, I went shopping – and ended up with a headache! Here’s why after the jump.