Browse > Home / Archive by category 'Cell Phones / Cell Phone Information'

Demand for iPhone 3G in 22 countries creates short supply

When you think about the massive task Apple are trying to deliver on Friday, July 11th then you have an idea that they will run into problems. Apple plan to launch the iPhone 3G in 22 countries on the same day and this demand will create a short supply for the new iPhone.

Apple will not be able to meet the demand for all 22 countries; you only need to look at the email O2 sent out with reasons as to why their upgrade system crashed on Monday.

O2 said that they had reached a point where 13,000 iPhone 3G orders were coming in per second, this is unbelievable and one that resulted in both a sell out of all online stock and a site that crashed.

Apple has only supplied a small amount of the iPhone 3g’s needed in the UK and we are sure this will be a similar pattern across the world.

If your looking at getting an iPhone 3G on Friday our suggestion is to get there early and maybe even take a tent. We have had confirmation from O2 just a few minutes ago that existing owners of the iPhone will be able to upgrade to the new iPhone 3G in store.

iPhone 3G Verdicts: owners wait for 2.0 software

Getting your hands on a nice new iPhone 3G before the release date is near impossible but it’s not a problem for the big players like USA Today, New York Times and Wall Street Journal.

The NYT finds the New in iPhone 2.0 “Relative”, the WSJ admits it’s a newer, faster, cheaper iPhone 3G but found that iPhone owners who are happy should hold off for the iPhone 2.0 software.

USA Today say the iPhone 3G comes really close to perfection and the reviewer said it has “no equal among consumer-oriented smartphones” after spending two weeks with iPhone 3G.

The three hands-on reviews of iPhone 3G have agreed in their own way that new users who have been waiting for the iPhone to drop price or get better features should defiantly buy the new version.

They also agree that existing owners of the first generation iPhone should wait for the new software update before thinking about buying iPhone 3G, that’s unless you need the higher data speeds of 3G and GPS features.

Read the detailed reviews of USA Today, NYT and WSJ but remember to get a drink first as it’s a long read.

Looking at the speed increase from the first iPhone to the second, I will have to update my first-gen iPhone as I do use web browsing and other data features a lot while on the move.

O2 shops confused on upgrading people to iPhone 3G

If you were confused over the upgrade problems the other day on O2’s website, this will be nothing compared to how confused the O2 shops are when you visit them asking questions about upgrading.

Today I decided to visit my local O2 store after trying to pre-order an upgrade for my current iPhone to the new iPhone 3G on the O2 website and hitting nothing but problems, errors and no way of upgrading.

To say the O2 shops have no idea on how existing iPhone customers should upgrade is an understatement and with different O2 stores saying different things, it gets worse.

When I asked a member of O2 staff at a Kent store about upgrading my iPhone to an iPhone 3G, they told me this could only be done online or through customer services. Then I spoke to mark at Phones Review and another O2 store in Hampshire said they got an email today saying O2 will be upgrading iPhone owners on July 11.

I then went back to my local Kent O2 store and they told me that this is not the case with them, that’s after they spoke to their manager and checked emails. So why are different O2 stores saying different things and where does this leave iPhone owners who want to upgrade.

The sales person at O2 said we should be very happy that we get to upgrade to the new iPhone 3G, as we are still in a contract and they are letting us come out early. So lets all say a big thank you to O2 for that honor and how well they are informing us to upgrade, where to do it and how good their system is at getting us upgraded.

Its two days to July 11, O2 stores and Carphone Warehouse stores are telling us they know very little at this time and they cannot upgrade us in store. Well apparently some O2 stores can, just depends which one you ask.

Update:
Confirmed, iPhone 3G upgrade will be in store

iPhone owners let down by O2 with 3G pre-orders

The first day of Apple iPhone 3G pre-orders was a couple of days ago now and what a let down that day was, even more so for anyone that owned an iPhone already.

Thousands of first generation iPhone owners including myself got a text from Apple around 8am on the first day of Pre-orders, the text said it will be a first come first serve basis, so I was there at 8.10am filling out the upgrade form.

As we stated in a previous post, you had to put your phone number in to get an upgrade code and this never came for the first couple of tries.

You were redirected to the start page even after completing the form that asked for bank details, account, address information and some other details.

What made things even worse for existing iPhone owners was the fact that new buyers were reporting to have placed orders for 8GB and 16GB iPhones, while the upgrade section was not working and taken offline.

After iPhone owners called O2, they were told the system will be up and working within a few hours and they were fixing the bug.

By the end of the day and trying at least once an hour, we were all left with a message on O2’s website that said “Due to huge demand for the iPhone 3G, we’re currently out of stock online”.

They then ask for you to come back on the 10th of July, now you tell me how this is fair to existing iPhone owners. As an iPhone owner, I feel let down by O2 and as many other users have who commented on Product Reviews.

Be ready for Apple iPhone 3G on Friday: Upgrade tips

Where to buy and what to bring - Locate a store near you where you can purchase your iPhone. Then find out what to bring with you. If you’re new to AT&T, for example, you’ll need your current wireless account number and password.

You can find an AT&T store from the choice of over 1,800 AT&T locations online here, also use that link to find an Apple Retail Store, only these stores will offer to personally setup your new iPhone 3G.

How to get ready for your new iPhone? The Apple iPhone 3G syncs with many applications on your Mac or PC. You will want to be ready and make sure you do the right things to have everything on your iPhone moved to the next generation device.

So if you organize your contacts, calendars, music, photos, and other information now, you’ll be ready to sync when you get your iPhone home. Learn more on how to do this here.

Feel free to share your tips on upgrading in the comments.

Problems upgrading to iPhone 3G today

Following on from the news today about being able to upgrade to iPhone 3G if you’re an existing iPhone owner, we have tried and also hit problems in doing so.

First you will need your mobile phone number and account number, you then will enter your number in a box and click “text me my upgrade code”.

Once you have this upgrade code your then meant to fill out a form with the new plan you want and your address, payment details and other information. That all sounds simple, but we have tried twice now and the first time got redirected back to the homepage and on the second had a bad browser request.

After putting in our mobile number and waiting for an upgrade code, it did not come but we did get a page to choose a price plan and fill in all details.

After filling in all our details (not sure where the upgrade code comes in here, there was no box), we then got redirected to the start page again and the second time the browser could not even complete the connection.

This could obviously be down to thousands of people hitting the site at the same time but there is one question we got to make a decision on. Do we try again later when it is quieter or have we already submitting our details twice, in which case, what happens.

Have you had any problems getting upgraded today if you’re an existing iPhone owner?

Rogers Wireless not to offer iPhone 3G unlimited data plans

As you know in just a few days time, we will be able to get our hands on the new 3G Apple iPhone. Most network carriers around the world have adopted the unlimited data pricing structure, but we are surprised to learn that Canada’s Rogers Wireless has decided not to join in the unlimited data pricing structure party.
The guys over at Phones Review learned of this and decided to explain to us as to why Rogers Wireless has made this decision, well in their own unique way.

They have come to the conclusion that Rogers Wireless does not see themselves as just another Apple iPhone 3G supplier. Why else would they not adopt the unlimited data plans, which does seem the way to go. It seems as if Rogers Wireless does not care about their customers, with that in mind we could see them losing a bundle of 3G Apple iPhone sales.

So why would Rogers Wireless have gone against what other carriers are doing, well there has to be one simple answer to that, and that is they wish to earn as much profit from Canadian iPhoners as possible. Why else would they not want to provide a decent service and give customers what they want? Fido are also not offering the unlimited data plans, so if you are a Canadian iPhone user, then looks as if you are getting a raw deal.

The sad fact of the matter is those of live in Canada and wish to own a 3G Apple iPhone, have no choice but to put up with this terrible decision from Rogers Wireless and Fido. If I was one of you I would not get the new handset, make these guys sweat a little and maybe they might just change their minds.

Symbian and Android force Mobile Linux Group LiPS merge with LiMo

It seems that Mobile Linux Group LiPS has had to merge with the LiMo Foundation because of increasing competition from the likes of Symbian and Android, this merger will only help to advance their OS. On Thursday the Linux Phone Standards (LiPS) Forum announced that they will be rolling their activities and members into the Linux Mobile Foundation (LiMo), it is hoped that this move will help to create a stronger entity for pushing mobile Linux.

Linux hope to be able to bolster their mobile Linux developer community as well as being able to increase the adoption of mobile devices. This move is now more important than ever, as there is now huge competition from Open Source competitors from the likes of the Nokia preferred Symbian and the Google backed Andriod. Linux hope that by unifying these companies, they will be able to provide a ubiquitous Linux-based mobile platform.

LiPS Forum president Haila Wang, has said “LiPS Forum is proud of our standardization efforts, development activities and other achievements of the last three years.” Wang then added “Our membership agrees that LiPS’s greatest impact can be realized by adding our members’ expertise and resources to LiMo Foundation. Together, the member companies can better strive for a unified and ubiquitous Linux-based mobile platform.”

Many have been expecting this merger for some time now, LiPS has wanted to create a formal standard for mobile Linux, and the LiMo Foundation has wanted to create a Linux framework which could then be quickly designed for mobile Linux. This new system will also face competition closer to home, in the form of the Linux-based Android operating system. However it is thought that the LiMo Foundation will have their handsets on the market first, the first of which should hit the market in a few short months.

Source

Predicting The Future: Android, Symbian Foundation, Apple iPhone, RIM Blackberry

Predicting the future of any industry in this technology world can be very hard and man has certainly not learned how to see the future just yet, well from what we know. On our post about the Google Android OS vs. Symbian open source and the much talked about Android vs. iPhone 3G, we had a very interesting point raised.

Harikrishna Neerkaje questioned how we could think that Apple was not one of the biggest players in the future of the cell phone business. They raised some very good points. Saying, “Without a doubt Nokia will be a key competitor but so will RIM & Apple (at least as far as Smartphones are concerned). In fact there are quite a few other players who build excellent smartphones on the Windows Mobile platform who too will be key competitors.

The only thing certain is that Android is not a “Today’s” platform and predicting the future is something man has not yet learnt”.

These were the six main points raised by Harikrishna Neerkaje - First the most popular smart phone today by volume of sales is RIM Blackberry. Second the fastest growing smart phone today by volume of sales in the last 2 quarters is Apple iPhone. Third the largest Cell Phone Manufacturer by volume of sales (not just Smart phones) is Nokia. Fourth the largest Mobile Phone OS by volume of sales is MS Windows Mobile. Fifth is on the Symbian Foundation, as yet only an announcement. It will take time to operationalize, but does have an OS which is already on many smartphones. Sixth and last is about Android and The Open Handset Alliance, with no phone in the market as yet and none expected till end of Q4 2008 in the US. So as yet they are not a competitor to anyone and there is no “data” that indicates that they will be a serious competitor in this space at any time.

Harikrishna Neerkaje ended by saying, how does this make Android and Symbian the biggest players, what’s your view?

Foolproof iPhone Software v2.0: more secure data wipe function

It seems that more and more iPhone users have concerns over Apple’s data reset methods on their handset, but the computer giant have now taken some extra steps for a more secure data wipe function, this will be integrated into iPhone Software v2.0. Most people are familiar with the beta version of this software, and Apple say that the new full version of iPhone Software v2.0 will use a more foolproof method of erasing all of your personal data and settings from the handset.

This function is accessible just like the previous version, just select Settings > General > Reset > Erase All Contents and Settings. The main difference with the new version over the old iPhone software is how the function will wipe all data, much like the “Secure Empty Trash” function which is used on Mac OS X. Once this is done all data will be deleted, unlinked and then overwritten many times, this will then make it irretrievable by some of the best recovery tools on the market today.

As with all good things there is always a downside, if you have an 8GB Apple iPhone it will take longer to complete the wipe, about an hour in fact. A progress bar will appear on the screen to tell you how things are going. Just to give you a bit of advice, as the wipe takes some time to complete, make sure that you plug your iPhone in to the mains; this is because the new software is CPU intensive.

This new update comes after an Oregon State detective was able to successfully retrieve personal data from a refurbished iPhone sold by Apple. The detective was able to retrieve such files as emails, photos and financial information. Let us hope that iPhone Software v2.0 rectifies this security flaw.

Source - Phones Review

Open Source Symbian OS vs Android by Open Handset Alliance

There is a battle coming and the major winner in this battle of the brands will be the consumer thanks to Open Source, cheaper prices and better support. The new Open Source Symbian OS is being formed and will see the Symbian operating systems from NTT DoCoMo, Motorola, Sony Ericsson and Nokia become one big powerhouse.

This is bad news for Google Android that was in a position to take over the world with the help of the Open Handset Alliance (a group of big companies). With the MOAP, UIQ and S60 operating systems becoming one, we could see Symbian gain a much bigger market share in the U.S.

The news that the above four are joining the Symbian Foundation is bad, but what makes things even worse for Google’s Android would be the fact that Vodafone, Texas Instruments, STMicroelectronics, Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics are also joining this new Foundation. Google and Open Handset Alliance do have T-Mobile USA and Sprint backing them but then these do not even come close to Vodafone and AT&T’s market share.

HTC has also teamed up with the OHA, but when we look at the overall picture of the powerhouses behind the new Symbian Foundation, it looks like this could become the most powerful mobile operating system ever. It will not be simple to make this happen, the Symbian Foundation will need to take the best of each OS to create one that creates endless possibilities.

We have talked a lot about Open Source of late and How Microsoft and Apple need to start waking up to this form of software, with the news of the Symbian Foundation being completely open source, it looks like other big brands will fall behind if they do not change. The Symbian Foundation will have many goals and one of the biggest is the same with all open source platforms, it will be to encourage developers to build compelling applications to benefit the community.

What can Google and the Open Handset Alliance partners do with Android to take most of the market share?

Source: Read

T-Mobile reckons it can beat any competitor’s tariff

When we are looking at a new mobile phone we do not always just think about that phone and its features, when the phone we want is in mind, we then want to think about what network to choose for best coverage and the best deal we get in monthly cost, free minutes, text messages and other free services.

T-Mobile has stepped up to the plate and reckons they can beat any of their competitor’s tariffs, T-Mobile say they will give you more minutes for your money. They even make that claim if you are in the middle of a contract; this is pretty impressive but just how good is it.

The T-Mobile deal will apply to Solo, this is the mobile phone operator’s SIM-only offering and the Combi service that will mean an 18-month contract. This is only for customers paying thirty pounds a month on either of the tariffs. Now if this is you, then you are able to demand more minutes for that £30 a month.

The problem T-Mobile has is with being fourth place in the UK and they want more market share, they hope to get that by offering more minutes and better deals. They will have to remember that this is not the only reason we choose a mobile operator; we like to get the best coverage as well. T-Mobile will have to make sure they give all the other things we want in a mobile phone service as well as cheap prices.

The Solo service from T-Mobile is very attractive, you get around 1,400 minutes a month to use and that’s a lot of talking. The Combi tariff is also very good but only gets half the minutes for £30 a month. So get looking if you are on the Combi or Solo tariffs, find more elsewhere and you will get a better deal.

Source: Read

6 Issues with the new Apple iPhone 3G: 3rd party app solutions

Steve Jobs is known for his attention to detail and that shows in all of Apple’s products but with all good products you do get flaws and today we highlight 6 Issues with the new Apple iPhone 3G. These problems with the iPhone 2 will mean very little to some users but they will disappoint other people.

First up is the lack of voice dialing; This is a must for many cell phones but the new iPhone has no voice dialing and that means tapping in the number in what can be very awkward situations sometimes, personally this has not caused me any major problems of yet.

Second we have the problem of cut and paste, this is something I use everyday on my home computer and with iPhone 2.0 firmware supporting saving images to the iPhone, we really need cut and paste as well. This will not be a feature on the iPhone 3G come July 11.

Third is multimedia messaging and the fact that the iPhone 3G does not have it, yes Apple want you to go online to look at photos that have been sent to you and they love to give the iPhone the ability to do this almost anywhere. This is great but we would still like the ability to multimedia message directly from the phone and not visit a web page.

The fourth problem would be the lack of Flash as standard, nearly all web browsers support flash but the iPhone web browser lacks this very important feature that is needed for all browsers that want to be just like a desktop.

The fifth problem is with replacement batteries and just like the Macbook Air, the iPhone 3G does not have batteries you can replace yourself. This does not matter if you do not need to replace the battery but as soon as you need too then you will find it a big problem.

The Sixth problem comes in the form of video recording, and the fact you cannot do it as standard like you can with even some of the most budget cell phones. This again may not be an issue with everyone but it still makes the iPhone 3G look bad for such a simple feature.

Now if we think about the amount of applications that are being made for the iPhone 3G then you will see that many of these problems have been fixed already with 3rd party apps. The 6 Issues may only need some software to give the iPhone those abilities. You can see from the video below that the video recording issue has been fixed with a 3rd party application.

The question is: would you want a phone with limited features or one that can be vastly expanded like the iPhone 3G?

Source: Phones Review

India Mobile Phones: iPhone, Samsung, Nokia and Sony

Growth in India is massive and this is shown in many industries, the recent news of over 1 billion computers being used around the world and this increasing to more than double by 2014 thanks to growth in developing markets proves this. The mobile phone business is also seeing massive growth and in India over 10,000 mobile phones are sold every hour.

According to IDC Research, over 85 million mobile handsets were sold in India in the year up to March 2008, but that is increasing still with a 24.4 percent increase in the last quarter. It’s not just the phones that are increasing; the technology of these devices is also moving at a fast rate with a high-level of connectivity, this includes WCDMA (3G) network and EDGE.

The latest ORG statistical reports show that Samsung has a seven percent mobile phone market share in India and that gives it third place, although they have planned on doubling its business by the end of 2008. They plan to do this by setting up an internal team to look for alternative distribution channels. Sony Ericsson holds second place with 8.1 per cent of the mobile business.

Samsung and Sony Ericsson are small fish in India compared to Nokia who is said to have a massive 59.5 per cent market share. It will take some doing to replace Nokia at the top spot. Nokia may be the world’s largest seller of handsets, but they are planning on expanding the entertainment services to increase revenue. Nokia need to do this because of profit margins being low on phones sold in places like China and India.

The Economic Times in India has said that Apple’s 3G iPhone will be in India on July 11, when you look at Apple’s website it does not have India down for July 11, only saying coming soon. So it looks like the iPhone 2G and 3G phones will take a little longer to get there, but when they do it will really shake up the India mobile phone market.

Could the Apple’s iPhone knock Nokia from the top spot in India?

Infosys say Holographic cell phones within two years: would you want one?

In a recent post I had said that one of the top features for a cell phone was the quality of the camera, but according to Infosys this is about to change. The Indian company has said that a holographic cell phone will be with us within two years. Infosys are in the process of developing a holographic handsets, this will be able to send, project and capture 3D images.

Infosys, has said that “by the year 2010 the mobile phones will “routinely” beam 3D films, games, and virtual goods, and will have particular applications in the business world helping accident investigators, teachers and doctors.” These future handsets will use a powerful processor; this will be able to take a normal 2D image and then convert it into a 3D image. The process that the phone will use to do this is called “Fourier” these algorithms will then give the images a third dimension without losing any of the resolution.

A spokesperson from Infosys, has said “Holographic handsets have the capability of enriching the user experience, with an actual 3D experience and higher-quality images. This gives users a more realistic experience in areas like gaming, medicine, movies etc.”

I am not totally sold on the whole holographic handset, I do understand that for future phones we all want to see some really cool features. I do worry though that the Holographic handset is one feature too far, I do not think that I would have any use for such a feature, but then again I am only one person.

Source

Google Android on Schedule to threaten Apple iPhone growth

Yesterday we reported that Google Android handsets pushed back to fourth quarter meaning that there were delays (See Here) well despite rumors of these delays in Android the Google project seems to be on track as normal for an end of the year release.

They did say that they will start shipping the first Android-enabled mobile phone later this year, so after reports of the delay which of course published (We tell the news how it is, we heard of the delay so we published), The Wall Street Journal published an article citing unnamed sources that Google Android-based phones may be facing delays and will not make it at the end of the year due to problems by Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile, and that we may not see until 2009. Google did indeed set the 2nd half of 2008 as the release date for the first Android-enabled phones which means we should see it at the end of 2008 which in all means there is no delay at all.

Google is again refuting that Android’s dates have slipped and they say “We remain on schedule to deliver the first Android-based handset in the second half of 2008,” a Google spokesperson wrote in an e-mail to BetaNews today. “We’re very excited to see the momentum continuing to build behind the Android platform among carriers, handset manufacturers, developers and consumers.”

Just so you know Sprint Nextel, for its part, has never publicly stated any intentions to release an Android phone any time in 2008. Now moving on to Google Android to threaten Apple iPhone growth, the announcement of the new Apple iPhone 3G was big news and obviously going to be one of the most popular phones on the market but it seems that Android could threaten the iPhone’s growth potential, Google Android the all new OS for mobile phone is open source that the internet giant is creating. Android which was announced some time back has over 30 partners and has the most potential to become mobile phones what Google is to the internet, Google are obviously wanting to deploy ads placed on mobile phones and generate huge revenues, should Apple be worried? Well it seems so in my eyes.

Google are making great efforts to make an operating system to work on a variety of carriers and handsets which is why there were talks of delays which of course is now old news, we feel that Google could dominate which will of course make the iPhone old news, Google like Apple have a very big wallet, Apple has indeed shown with the Apple iPhone that the cell phone market is highly crack-able despite entrenched players, Apple believe they will set a goal which is of course on goal for selling 10 million iPhone’s by the end of 2008. Google are trying so hard to build an OS across a number of hardware platforms which surely gives them a wider market. The cell phone market in the states has dropped in sales by a staggering 20% last year which is why we feel Google Android will fill this spot, smartphones accounted for 17 percent of all handsets sold in the first quarter of 2008 which is around 7 percent the year before according to NPD’s Mobile Phone Track.

Even if there was a Google Android delay it would not make any difference at all on the grand scale of things, do you think Google Android will threaten Apple iPhone growth?

£350 for PAYG iPhone 3G at Apple Store, Carphone Warehouse and O2

When it comes to buying a new mobile phone it’s the contract that some users do not like and today we are hearing reports that the PAYG (pay as you go) iPhone 3G options will cost you £350 from O2, Carphone Warehouse and Apple Stores from July 11th onwards. When it comes to the subscription contracts, Apple staff are unfamiliar with this and customers of the iPhone 3G will want to sign up for the service at Apple Retail stores in the UK.

The staff at Apple UK Stores also have no means to run credit checks, so before the release of the iPhone 3G in UK stores, they will need to get this ability and also the staff need to be fully trained. Phones Review are Reporting that O2 are starting to work very closely with Apple to help them run credit checks and sign people onto contracts in store.

The unsubsidized prepay 3G iPhones will be a lot less hassle for both the retail stores and the customer but then you will have to pay a price for that, hence the £350 instead of FREE or £100 options on a contract.

Will you buy the PAYG iPhone 3G or buy the phone on a contract?

As I have an iPhone contract already, the same option sounds good to me for the amount of web browsing, text messages and calls I use. Some users will want an iPhone but will not make many calls; it’s these people that may want to consider the pay as you go option. At least we have a prepay option with the second-generation iPhone.

Summing up the UK costs for a iPhone 3G, you will get the phone on O2 contract from Free to £159 for the 16GB version and the 8GB model costs from Free to £99. £350 is said to be the cost for PAYG. This is a really good price when you think it cost £269 for the first generation iPhone.

Google Android handsets pushed back to fourth quarter

No matter where we turn, the entire world seems to be interested about is the latest 3G Apple iPhone, but there is also another cell phone due out that could get as much or maybe even more attention. The handset in question is the Google Android powered handset, and the Wall Street Journal has been running a story about how the phone had to be pushed back to the fourth quarter of 2008.

Initially Google had planned to launch the cell phone in the second part of the year however; a number of delays have put it back to later in the year. A number of partners working on these Android handsets with Google have different launch dates. T-Mobile hopes to be able to deliver their version in the fourth period, while Sprint Nextel has said that they will not be able to have their version out this year. China Mobile is yet another partner who will have to delay their launch until some time in 2009.

There are a number of companies involved with the development of the Google Android phone; these include HTC, Intel, Motorola as well as T-Mobile, nVIDIA and Qualcomm. All of these companies have one sole purpose, and this is to develop open standards for mobile devices. Having Google working with these phone companies will be great for the user, the search engine giant hope to boost the quality of Web browsing, to do this they are enhancing the audio and video experience for mobile phones.

Andy Rubin, director of mobile platforms at Google, has been explaining that managing the software-development effort, as well as giving the partners the option for new features takes time, he said that “This is where the pain happens,” he also added that “We are very, very close.”

Nokia Connection 2008: new E71, E66, N-Gage and Ovi platform

If you wanted to get an update on just what’s been happening at Nokia Connection 2008 then the gadget blog have just done a recap of the events leading up to the middle of day two. The main highlights include the launch of the new Nokia E71 and E66 enterprise phones that are basically the same apart from the two different ways of input.

The Nokia E66 and E71 have both got security encryption, push mail, better options for enterprise solutions and also a revamped OS. The Nokia Connection 2008 Launch Party also saw a closer look at the new N-Gage and the more solid Ovi platform that lets you upload audio, photos and video for free…this has been said to be a Flickr killer.

It’s really funny when some new service or product is released and it’s automatically a Killer of the number one product or service because it has better options, if only it was that simple. We are still to see an mp3 player used more than the iPod and a service to beat Flickr. Other features of Ovi look good and include the ability to embed photos on blogs and create channels; other winners for Ovi are the better mobile upload platform and social networking aspect.

Nokia are also hinting about going into the mobile advertising business and this will be in the form of contextual ads, but this is a tough business especially with brands like Google already well on the way in that industry and with a trusted advertising brand. Currently not many details are being released about Nokia’s mobile advertising strategy but we hear it will be aiming at a simpler solution.

You can get the full coverage of Nokia Connection 2008 on CellPhone 9.

Get the 3G iPhone: What happens to old Apple iPhone?

Like many other iPhone owners, I am in one of the 22 countries that will get the 3G iPhone on July 11th and like many other iPhone owners I will be getting the new 3G iPhone. When I first thought about upgrading I thought we would be trading in our first generation Apple iPhone for the new 3G iPhone but I have not seen anywhere say that you have to do this.

The information so far states that you pay $199 to AT&T (£99 on O2 in the UK) for the new 8GB 3G iPhone and you also have to start a new contract. There is no information about your old iPhone, so I am guessing you get to keep this.

If you are getting the new 3G iPhone, then what will you do with your old Apple iPhone?

This has got to be a question a lot of iPhone owners have asked themselves, and if you look online you can see that a lot of people have unlocked their first generation iPhones and if this is the case, will we see many first generation iPhones being handed to friends and family who then put different networks on them.

The iPhone 2.0 may be 2mm thicker but its also lighter, got GPS and much faster 3G. The new phone also costs less than what we paid when the first iPhone was released and the next firmware that’s due mid July will include a lot of upgrades to enhance all iPhones. Sadly the 3G iPhone still has just a 2-megapixel camera, which in this day and age is a little poor.

Let us know what you plan to do with your old iPhone when upgrading or are they really going to take them from us (that’s unlikely).