The Motorola Milestone is a great phone, but it didn’t exactly set the world on fire sales wise. When it launched the world was touch screen crazy and the Qwerty keyboard seem like an anachronism. But now that a hoard of consumers have really experienced life with a touch screen smartphone perhaps the market is ready for the Milestone 2.

The big features aside from the keyboard are 720p video on the 3.7in touch screen, built in DNLA for sharing video, audio and pictures via wifi to other DNLA devices,  1GHz cpu, 8 Gb of onboard memory and support for 32Gb sd cards and, it has android 2.2  with all it’s voice search goodness.

Apparently the Milestone 2 is capable of tethering – sharing it’s 3g/HSDPA broadband connection with other devices, like a laptop, over WiFi. This sounds great, but I would be amazed if any of the UK networks will ship the Milestone 2 with this feature still enabled, after all they want to sell you a separate mobile broadband dongle for your laptop.

The news has been saturated this morning with a story about a “little black dress” with a mobile phone built in to it. The media have been gushing about wearable technology, as they do every couple of years, and telling us that we’ll all be wearing phones built in to our underwear in the next few weeks.

Cue speculation about  ”iPants”, Tomorrow’s World-esque mock ups and visions of a future utopia like something out of the Jetsons. I wonder which “news” outlet will be the first to wheel out Kevin Warwick to tell us about how he’s a cyborg. Again.

On closer inspection it appears that what Cute Circuit – the firm behind the LBD – have done is stitch a sim card in to the dress and very little else. There’s no information on where the battery goes  or whether or not it’s washable, apparently you just have to bend your arm to answer calls. Oh, and it will be on sale next year.

Wearable technology has been in and out of the news for years, it’s possible, but does anyone want it?  You see the thing is, the problem wearable technology aims to solve (if there is one) was solved thousands of years ago by an innovation in the textiles industry – pockets.

My phone is currently in my pocket. If I need to use it, I can remove it in a matter of seconds, I can wash my jeans and simply move my phone to the pocket of another pair.

If my phone was an integral part of my jeans it would actually make my life harder. Assuming the jeansphone was washable, I still couldn’t use it while it was in the washing machine.  If I got mugged I would be walking home in my boxers. I pay precious little attention to fashion, but people that do would be saying things like “does this phone go with my shoes?” and “does my mobile make my bum look big?”

You could argue that having the microphone and speakers built in to your clothing would provide hands free functionality, true, but so do hands free kits that you can wear with any clothes you like. And, if your clothes mean you don’t have to wear a bluetooth headset while you walk around the supermarket you will have to find a new way of making sure everyone knows that you are an idiot.

Since mobile phones have become as much a status symbol as a communication device it’s hardly surprising that the fashion industry wants a slice of the pie, well I want a piece of the pie too and I have a plan to capitalize on people’s desire to show off their shiny new tech.

Behold the iHelmet – a revolutionary and magical helmet that holds your iPad on top of an eight foot pole sticking out of the top of your head, people will be able to see that you have more money than sense and are unusually susceptible to hype and marketing from hundreds of meters away. You won’t be able to do anything useful with your iPad while it’s attached to the iHelmet, oh, wait….

BT have just announced a 10% price hike for daytime land line calls, now this has precisely zero effect on me because I don’t make out going calls on my land line.

Come to think of it, I never take in coming calls, no one has my land line number, in fact the only reason I have a BT line is for broadband. I take for granted the fact that all the calls I make and receive are on my mobile phone, but I’m curious how many other people have abandoned their land Line for all but internet.

Mobile phone deals are coming with more and more inclusive minutes for a monthly price, so there’s less pressure to save mobile minutes by using the land line.

A big thing for me about land lines is that I don’t spend much time at home, so if someone calls my land line I will almost certainly miss the call. My home phone has an answer machine built in, but why would I risk missing an important call when I can just give out my mobile number?

If I move house, my mobile number stays the same, but it can be impossible to keep your land line number and it often takes several weeks to get a land line put in to a new home.

Fixed lines are under pressure from other quarters too,  Skype and other VoIP services can be a much cheaper way of making long distance calls, particularly over seas.

I can’t see a time when large businesses will be able to do away with land lines, certainly not in the near future, but save for broadband I would happily go without.  In fact if I was in an area where cable broadband were available I doubt I would have ever bothered with a land line.

I can’t help feel that domestic land lines are headed towards becoming pipes for broadband and no more. As cable and fibre optic broadband gather pace will home phones become a thing of the past?

What do you think?

Apple is under growing pressure to recall the Iphone 4 following continued public and media scrutiny over the so called “Death Grip” issue.

Since shortly after it’s launch, some Iphone 4 owners have been complaining that the signal strength drops significantly if you hold the phone in a certain way.

Apple’s first response was to say it wasn’t a problem, then they suggested that the problem was due to the way the reception bars on the phone were calculated and that, in fact, the reception was fine.

It didn’t take long for a few inquisitive nerds to get stuck in though, the most thorough dissection  of the issue I could find was over at anandtech. These guys don’t mess about and they did some pretty serious testing, the upshot of which seemed to suggest that because the Iphone 4 has an external antenna, holding it can effect the signal adversely.

But Apple’s bad luck didn’t stop there, Consumer Reports, one of the most respected consumer reviews and product testing houses in the US did a dramatic about turn after initially giving a positive review. Consumer Reports’ Mike Gikas  said:

“Consumer Reports has confirmed that the iPhone 4 has an antenna problem. Bottom line, we can’t recommend the iPhone 4 until Apple fixes this design flaw.”

Ouch.

But it gets worse,  Cult Of Mac were none too impressed with Apple’s PR, so they got in touch with some experts they described as “crisis communication experts” to get their take on the situation. The experts didn’t beat about the bush, saying things like “Apple will be forced to do a recall of this product”. Some of them even likened the situation to the recall disaster and subsequent PR nightmare suffered by Toyota.

The stock market reaction to this has been swift with Apple’s share price dropping by more than 10 dollars.

No doubt Apple will weather this storm, but what effect will it have on future product launches? Will iPhone fans be quite so willing to queue up to buy the iPhone 5 on launch day or will they wait and see if it works properly first?

Apple have a huge fan base, and they have spent a colossal amount of time and effort cultivating and image of excellence and cool. Whether or not the recent furore takes the shine off remains to be seen.

If you take a sneaky peak at the rumoured handset release schedule for the rest of the year, then it’s clear to see that a wide range of new and exciting smartphones are set to light up the industry. New buyers and those who are upgrading their old handset are set to have a tantalising selection of new phones on offer that will easily outclass those of your friends.

July

Nokia E5 – Takes the best of the E71 and E72 to bring a Symbian operated smartphone that boasts a full QWERTY keyboard.

Sony Ericsson Zylo (W20) – From the Walkman brand this handset not only offers the best in music applications but brings social networking and motion based gaming to ensure this is set to be one of the most entertaining of the new release.

Samsung i5500 (Corby/Galaxy 5) – This is an Android (Google OS) based phone with WI-FI, GPS and a document viewer that provides a budget handset suitable for business and personal users alike.

August

Nokia X6 8GB – Nokia have cut down the internal memory of the older models to bring the pricing structure in line for those who want this popular handset at a lower price tag.

Blackberry Curve 9300 (Kepler) – Famous for their business oriented messaging phones, Blackberry has re-mastered their functional QWERTY keyboard phones to fill the gap in the mid-priced arena of business handsets.

September

Nokia X2 – A slim candy bar phone with dedicated music buttons, a 5-megapixel camera and 16GB of internal memory.

Sony Ericsson Hazel (Greenheart) – Made from Eco-friendly materials and with a CO2 calculator the Hazel will bring something new to the marketplace. With Sony Ericsson’ walkmate and a splash resistant coating the Hazel is as practical as it is functional.

October

HTC Vision – This is the HTC Desire but with a QWERTY keyboard for those who can’t stop messaging.

HTC Ace – No details as yet but likely to be as popular as HTC’ previous models.

Sony Ericsson X8 (Shakira) – A social networking masterpiece with music functions, Track id and a Google software package that brings a familiar feel to Internet browsing and places the most popular sites at your fingertips.

Nokia N8 – The N8 is set to be Nokia’ flagship release this year and offers a Symbian v3 OS as well as a superb range of optical and entertaining features.

Sony Ericsson Yendo – A full-touch Walkman phone with integrated Facebook and Twitter.

November

HTC Gold – This one is rumoured to be HTC’ first smartphone running the Windows Mobile 7 operating system and should be pretty responsive with 1.3GHz processor.

Nokia E7 – This one sports an aluminium casing and large 4-inch AMOLED display. Further features that make the E7 desirable include a QWERTY keyboard with tilting touchscreen display and an impressive 1.6GHz processor.

Samsung i8700 Cetus – Suspected to have an 8-megapixel camera and Samsung’ Bada OS this will be Samsung’ hottest release of the year.

So, plenty of phones to choose from and which is set to be the most popular model from this selection is still under debate with our money split 50-50 between the Nokia N8 and the Samsung i8700 Cetus.

In an interview with the Guardian newspaper, Google CEO Eric Schmidt announced that 160,000 new Android phones are being activated every single day, that’s about 4.8 million phones a month.

The figure in may was 100,000 a day and the number of android apps is on the rise too – 65,000 compared with 50,000 a month ago. With more Android based super phones announced almost every day it look like Android may become to mobile phones what windows is to PCs.

And the comparison with PC’s doesn’t end there, the latest Android offering from Motorola is on a par spec wise with the home computers of only a few years ago. The Droid X is a beast of a phone, it boasts a 4.3″ screen – compared to 3.5″ for the iPhone,  it also has a 1GHz processor and 8 GB of onboard memory.

These specs coupled with the 8 megapixel camera and HDMI port, yes that’s right, an HDMI port, mean that not only can we expect phones to take on some of the roles traditionally carried out by PCs, but maybe video cameras too.

Who knows what other devices will come under pressure from mobile phones?

Samsung have obviously been busy preparing for the launch of this super smart phone with its extremely long list of high spec features. It’s release is imminent and Vodafone already have their deals on pre-order.

The main reason why everyone is cooing over this phone is the impressive 4 inch AMOLED touch screen. The Galaxy S is powerful too with a 1GHz processor and 512 MB of RAM coupled with the TouchWiz interface to ensure a great user experience. That’s not all though, there is a 5 megapixel camera on board and a HD video recorder to capture brilliant videos that can be shared with friends via Blutooth or MMS.

Listen to your favourite tunes wherever you are with a great media player and stay entertained with You Tube and Google Talk applications. Google is also there to assist users with Google Maps, Search and Mail along with a document viewer and digital compass making it the ultimate business phone. The Galaxy S also comes with a great web browser with 3G HSDPA support and WiFi for super fast browsing the WiFi hotspots. Although the Galaxy S sports a 4.0 inch screen it still remains a compact device measuring 122.4 x 64.2 x 9.9mm and weighing just 118g.

Deals start at just £25 a month with 300 minutes and unlimited texts making it the perfect device for staying in touch. Compare Galaxy S deals today for a great new phone.

The soon to be released KIN ONE and KIN TWO have been designed for ‘broadcasting and sharing everyday moments’, basically bringing us another set of social networking phones to keep in touch with every move our friends make.

The Kin One is perfect if you love to chat! With automatic updates to “The Loop” (homescreen) from social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter users can stay in touch with all the latest gossip wherever they are. Chatting with friends is easy via SMS, MMS, email or through a social networking site with the slide down QWERTY keyboard for super fast typing and with a fast HSDPA Internet connection users can browse the web with ease. The phones many features can also be accessed from the 2.6 inch touch screen display. Features of the Kin One include a 5 megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash, face and smile detection to capture great photos from your mobile. There is also a media player and access to the Zune Music Store to keep your music collection alive. Being a Microsoft phone users can also use the Microsoft Office application to view and edit important documents. The Kin One is ideal if you love to chat with friends from a stylish and unique handset.

The Kin Two is similar to the KIN one in that it is a social networking phone with style. The KIN two also features “The Loop” and the slide out QWERTY keyboard makes messaging a breeze with the large 3.6 inch touchscreen display making it a very user friendly device. This crystal clear screen is great for showing off pictures and HD videos captured on the superb 8 megapixel camera. Images are enhanced with autofocus, LED flash and smile and face detection to capture the perfect picture. Pictures and videos can be stored on the 8GB of internal memory. Users can access the Internet with 3G and HSDPA support as well as download games to their phone for entertainment on the go.

The two KIN’s are not currently available and are expected to be released but we have a great range of social networking phones to compare at Mobiles Please.

Mobile phone maunfacturer’s HTC have recently released two great new handsets which are available from just £21 a month!

The HTC Legend is an Android based smartphone similar in design to the popular Hero, with a sleek and stylish design and HTC’s trademark chin. An alloy casing surrounds a super sharp 3.2 inch AMOLED touchscreen which displays web pages and photos beautifully. Social networking fans rejoice as the Legend features a Friend Stream application which allows you to keep up to date with all your contacts across various social networks putting all updates, photo uploads and messages into one application.  With aGPS, Google maps and quad-band for international roaming the HTC Legend also makes an ideal travel companion.

For just £25 you can get your hands on the Legend with 600 minutes and unlimited texts every month!

The HTC Desire offers all the features of the Legend but comes with an extra boost! Along with a 3.7 inch touchscreen the Desire features an optical joystick and boasts a 1GHz Snapdragon processor for a fantastic user experience that won’t let you down. The Desire is available on a number of superb with unlimited texts and 600 minutes for just £25 being one of them.

The two HTC powerhouses are ideal for those who love the latest gadget. The Legend has all the looks of a super stylish smartphone and the Desire comes with an enviable range of specs in a similar style to the Nexus One giving you two great options.

With most new mobiles offering app stores and the demand for making mobile phones fully customisable to the users needs, more and more apps are appearing and taking over the mobile world!

Currently Apple are the top dog’s with their App Store for the iPhone but Google’s Android Market store is trying it’s best to catch up with an estimated 30,000 apps.

Android fans don’t get too excited as there is still a pretty large gap of around 115,000 apps. The Android Market store has increased it’s apps from 10,000 to 30,000 in just 6 months so is expected to expand rapidly with the growth of the Android OS. Android has changed the way mobile users work and with Google selling 60,000 smartphones a day the snowball effect is sure to take off.

The brand the Motorola Milestone is one of the many phones to host the Android OS. It is a great alternative to the iPhone, N900 or Google’s recent Nexus One and is the first smartphone to host the new Google Android 2.0 OS. Similar to the Motorola Droid, the Milestone has a fantastic 3.7 inch screen – perfect for viewing web pages and a slide out QWERTY keyboard which is ideal for messaging. The Milestone is not just a business phone, for those who want to stay entertained on the move there is a decent media player and handy 3.5mm audio jack as well as expandable memory up to 32GB. If you are interested in taking great photos on your favourite device then the Milestone has a great 5 megapixel camera with autofocus, dual LED flash, image stabilizer and impressive camera software.