Manufactures continue to produce new smartphones with ever increasing processor power, but the trouble is battery technology has seemingly been left behind. It is not just the slimmest handsets that have had some issues with battery life as the current iPhone model has also had its problems.

Another change with handsets in recent times is the growing trend of non-removable batteries, which also allows for thinner devices. Batteries eventually lose their efficiency over time and with a removable unit they can be replaced with a new unit, and sometimes a more powerful battery.

Recent new smartphones such as the Motorola Droid 4 and Droid RAZR now have batteries that cannot be removed. Motorola has made up for this in a way with the release of the Droid RAZR MAXX that comes packing a huge 3,300 mAh battery. In tests the device has been found to offer a big increase in time between charges.

There will be many smartphone owners who prefer a slimmer form factor at the expense of battery life, but having a device that is only slightly thicker could make a big difference. Another worry with the slimmer handset can be how strong it is. The Samsung Galaxy S II is one of the slimmest handsets available but has often been criticized for its fragile feel by some users.

With regards to battery life there are a number of things users can do to get more time out of there device. Turning things such as Bluetooth, WI-Fi and LTE radios off when not needed can extend battery life. There are special applications that turn off other apps that are still running in the background are often suggested, but there has been some doubt how much difference these actually make recently.

Turning down the brightness of the screen can be another help but not always practical. On newer Android handsets there is a Power Saver mode that helps users to manage the devices power. The feature automatically stops apps updating in the background, disables on-screen animations, dims the display, turns off vibration, and lowers the screen timeout setting. This feature normally activates once your battery level falls to twenty percent, but can be set at thirty percent.

Hopefully we will begin to see more devices like the Motorola RAZR MAXX and new battery technology, in the meantime take part in our poll below and tell us what you think about the matter.

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Solar power is nothing new and has been around for years, and even in small electronic items such as watches and calculators. But a report on TechRadar is revealing a team of researchers at the University of Cambridge are working on a system that would make that daily charging of your smartphone obsolete.

A prototype device has been built that recaptures wasted light from an OLED screen on a handset, and helps keep the battery topped up with power. According to one of the researchers from the team, only 36 percent of the light that a screen produces is pushed forwards. The rest of the light just escapes around the edges.

The prototype device has a number of solar cells that are made up from thin-film hydrogenated amorphous silicon, which lies within the handsets display. This is coupled with a thin film super capacitor, which evens out any voltage spikes to prevent any damage to the handsets battery.

There are extra cells placed around the edges of the display so any light that is wasted by the screen can be used. A smartphone with a 3.7-inch screen can produce up to five milliwatts of power in this way, but the prototype devices are still a long way from production.

Couple this with the technology we recently told you about that waterproofed your device, the days of charging daily and worrying about water damage may soon be over. Do you think this idea will find its way into our smartphones?

The news comes after Samsung’s quarterly sales report showed that they had received a surge in smartphone sales bringing in record profits for the South Korean based firm allowing them retain their title as the biggest technology company in the world in terms of sales. The report showed that an estimated 35 million smartphones were shipped during the quarter, around a 20% increase from the previous quarter.

According to the Register the Samsung Galaxy S II Android smartphone led the way when it came to sales with their 7” Galaxy Note tablet also selling well. A total profit of approximately $4.5 billion is reported to have been made which is 22% more than the last quarter and a staggering 73% more than the same time last year.

Meanwhile things were a little gloomier for their Taiwanese rival HTC, as the fourth biggest smartphone maker found that their quarterly sales took a dip for the first time in two years, which is surprising consider they are manufacturing there best products so far and some of the best product on the market. The profits they made were 26% lower than the same time last year. Experts are now expressing their concern for the company as the market looks to become even more competitive this this year and face some tough competition in both Samsung and the almighty Apple.

Do you think HTC have cause for concern? What do you think of the HTC products compared with other manufacturers’ products?

The problem is not restricted to the Android platform either as earlier today we told you about malware being spotted on iOS 5. An article on the BBC is reporting of a new campaign to get smartphone users to protect themselves from cyber criminals. There has been a big rise in smartphone malware as criminals are creating Trojan copies of reputable apps.

Once these apps are installed on to smartphones they can secretly provide money for the criminals via premium rate text messages. Get Safe Online is a joint idea between the British government, police, and industry and is trying to raise awareness of the problem amongst users. Many users don’t realize there is a problem until they are landed with their monthly bill.

The applications can look like the real deal or can be free versions of well known games, and can quickly run up massive bills for the user. Rik Ferguson of Trend Micro said these apps can send texts every minute and often cost £6 per message. Users are often clueless of anything wrong happening because “the activity takes place within the device’s back-end infrastructure.”

Security Company Symantec have recently warned that there are at least six varieties of malicious software on the Android platform alone. With more owners using their smartphones for online banking now criminals have used this for financial gain.

You may think this is just some security companies getting people scared so they purchase security software for their devices, but there is plenty of free genuine security software available. Do you have security on your smartphone?

Nvidia are one of the companies making great strides with mobile technology, and its Kal-EI processor is predicted to take the mobile market by storm when it is released later this year. The current range of smartphones has been partly blamed for the slow take up of the Nintendo 3DS, as consumers look to have a single mobile device.

Nvidia have confirmed they have made big investments into the Google operating system, and according to myona the CEO of the company has said they “have a great working relationship with Google”. The company is predicting that once the processor hits production they “can run like the wind”. But Nvidia are not putting all their eggs into one basket, as its powerful quad-core processor may be finding its way to Windows 8 laptops and tablets as well.

Recently president of Epic Games’ Mike Capps said that mobile technology was developing fast enough to affect other markets besides computers. He feels by the time the eighth generation of iPhone is available it will “plug into your TV”, or even better connect wirelessly. He went on to say “what’s the point of those next-gen consoles?”

Capps feels that a smartphone would soon outrun the Xbox 360, and the upcoming PlayStation Vita will use a quad-core processor similar to what could be found in smartphones and tablets next year. The Vita is expected to run almost as fast as the PlayStation 3 when it is released.

The next generation of home consoles is likely to be even more of a home entertainment system than what they are now. Cloud gaming could be the next big thing found in the PS4 and Xbox720, but owners of the current generation of consoles do a lot more than just play games on them. Video streaming has become a big thing now, and is likely to grow.

Talk of the likes of Sony and Microsoft not needing to bother with new consoles is premature, and both companies will just release hardware that has moved with the times. They will also sell like hot cakes as long as they are priced right. The current crop of consoles should still have plenty of life left in them and having great graphics doesn’t always result in a great game.

What do you think will smartphones eventually replace the need for home consoles?

The two major players in the market Android and iOS have helped smartphones become the big market around the world. An article on InformationWeek is reporting on a survey by Nielsen, which has found what used to be just for executives is now a big part of the mass market. Consumers in the US are more likely to purchase a smartphone, with 55 percent choosing one when buying a new handset between March and May of 2011.

People are now turning their backs on the feature phone which used to be the device of choice for many. During the same period last year only 34 percent of new cell phones purchased were smartphones. Currently smartphones account for 38 percent of all devices in the US with feature phones taking up the rest.

In five years the smartphone percentage has climbed from single figures, and it can’t be much longer before they become the larger percentage over the entire market. Android continues to be the most popular choice, taking up 38 percent of new business. There are now around 500,000 new Android handsets being activated each day now, compared to eighteen months ago where the figure was around 60,000 every day.

Over the last few months the iPhone has shown the most growth with 27 percent of the US market, some of this will be down to the device now being available on the Verizon network. Added to this is the availability of the white version and more recently the unlocked model. Apple recently stated they had sold 18.65 million units during the last quarter, which works out to around 210,000 each day.

RIM have been having a trouble times of late but still hold 21 percent of the US market, with old versions of Windows Mobile taking 9 percent. Nokia’s Symbian comes in at two percent as does webOS. Windows Phone 7 and Palm OS each hold one percent.

Consumers are getting a great choice now with numerous handsets becoming available. Many handsets can be picked up free with a two year contract making it more affordable to own a smartphone compared to a few years ago. Apple figures are quite impressive as to be selling that amount of units for just one manufacturer would be the envy of other companies. But the Android platform has many good handsets from the likes of HTC and Samsung releasing alternatives for consumers.

Do you now own a smartphone?

Some of this trend is down to the amount of choice the Android platform has, and could mean Apple’s dominance in the smartphone market coming to an end, according to an article on The Tech Herald by Steven Mostyn.

An online survey by Intelligent Environments amongst 2,000 people, found that 28% of owners in the UK had an Android device, compared to 26% who had an iPhone. Of the people surveyed those aged between 25 and 34, 36% had opted to have an Android handset.

With people who had retired 25 percent preferred Android, but this could easily be down to price with cheaper options being available for Android. There were also fourteen percent who had a BlackBerry as their preferred choice.

Considering the Android platform has a lot more choice the iPhone is still doing pretty well, and things could even swing back towards the iPhone once the next version is released sometime this year. But at the end of the day it is much better for us consumers to have more choice, and since the iPhone was first introduced back in 2007 that’s what we now have.

Do you like the idea of more choice?

Smartphones are not the only new addition to the basket, dating agency fees are also in along with products such as an oven-ready joint, sparkling wine, dried fruit, MDF, hair conditioner and much more.

Things leaving the basket of goods include mobile phone downloads, vending machine cigarettes and spectacle frames without lens, you can see a full list of what’s in and what’s out of the nation’s shopping basket here.

The fact that smartphones and apps are being added to the basket shows just how important they have become in modern life, over the last year or so we have seen Android smartphones take off in the mid-end market with access to the Android market, prior to this Apple’s high-end iPhones with access to the App Store made purchasing apps an easy process, which has now become part of daily life.

We can’t see apps or smartphone being taken out of the basket of goods for a few years now, can you?

An article by Joe Wilcox of betanews is reporting that both companies saw their shipments grow rapidly during the fourth quarter of 2010. Samsung saw shipments rise by 438.9 percent, while HTC’s grew by 258.3 percent. The market share for both companies also increased by big margins, for the year Samsung’s share went up from 3.2 percent to 7.6; HTC grew their share from 4.5 to 7.1 percent.

Apple Insider are reporting that Androids popularity continues to grow in the US, the OS pulled further away from Apple and closed in on RIM. Android by December 2010 had taken 28.7 percent of the smartphone market, compared to 21.4 percent in the Q3. Apple grew their share up from 24.3 to 25 percent in the same period.

According to an article on Channel Register, the smartphone has overtaken the PC in the fourth quarter of 2010. Makers of smartphones sold 100.9 million units in Q4 compared to 53.9 million the previous year. The PC did recover a small amount and shipped 92.1 million units during the same period.

For the whole year the PC still was out on top for sales, with 346.2 million shipped compared to 302.6 million smartphones.

Another interesting product that was unveiled during the CES 2011 yesterday is Toyota’s new Entune Multimedia System. According to Mic Wright at electricpig.co.uk, the Toyota Entune system allows you to hook up your smartphone – such as the Apple iPhone or Samsung Galaxy S – to the vehicle, using an app and Bluetooth.

It then gives you access to a dashboard of different mobile apps including Bing Maps, weather, fuel prices, music apps and even movie ticket and restaurant reservations. The apps are all displayed on a touchscreen that is set into the dashboard of your Toyota vehicle.

The Toyota Entune system features an iheartradio app, which provides users with over 750 hometown stations, XM satellite radio and HD radio. It also features USB connectivity and voice recognition, so the driver can keep his focus on the road ahead.

You can read more about the Toyota Entune Multimedia System via the Toyota.com website here. You can see a video of the Entune system in action by visiting the electricpig.co.uk website here.