There has been an increase in networks willing to add mobile phones running Google’s Android operating systems to their catalogues recently. Virgin Mobile already dipped their toe into the water in January when they launched their first Android handset the LG GW 620 InTouch Max.

The successful launch of this handset might have been the catalyst for them to announce they were going to add another three Android phones to their ranges. Whatever the reason Virgin Mobile has decided they will be bringing another three Android offerings to the UK public. The three new smartphones they will launch are the HTC Desire, Sony Ericsson’s Xperia 10 and the Samsung Galaxy Portal.

These are three very good smartphones and are bound to attract custom to Virgin especially as they say all the phones will be available at very competitive tariffs. The LG GW620 is available now on a variety of different pay monthly tariffs including one where the phone is supplied free on a deal costing £22 per month over 18 months. This deal also includes unlimited texts and unlimited internet as well as 250 free minutes of calls. This does compare well with other offers out there so we can expect the new releases to also be offered at reasonable rates.

In a statement about their decision to introduce more Android phones Virgin said,” As more and more customers are enjoying savings by bundling mobile services with their existing Virgin Media home entertainment services, we’ve been listening to feedback and are delighted to be able to offer a great range of high-end devices designed to make the most of the mobile web and entertainment on the go.”

Virgin Mobile have also introduced other top spec smartphones into their ranges in recent months including the Blackberry and the HTC HD2 . The HTC HD2 has a huge 4.3 inch touchscreen display as well as a 1 GHz processor that keeps everything working at a good pace. It also looks extremely stylish and runs on the Windows Platform and comes with the Opera browser. It is a very good smartphone and the HTC Desire due with Virgin next month should continue the trend and sell well when it reaches Virgin Mobile stores.

The announcement of the new Android additions to their ranges and the other smartphones they also now stock does appear to give Virgin Mobile far better scope in attracting customers looking for a wide range of phones

The Motorola Milestone should win awards and not necessarily for how good it is as a smartphone, although there is little debate that this is indeed the case. It deserves recognition for the fact that it is one of the most aptly named mobiles ever released. Although some people of a more cynical nature might claim that the Motorola Last Chance or the Motorola Please Buy Me would be more appropriate. The Milestone certainly represents a turning point for Motorola, which has been suffering at the hands of its rivals for many years and then took an even bigger hit during the recession that brought it to the brink of collapse.

Some people might remember that a few years ago Motorola was sitting on cloud 9 after the launch of the RAZR flip phone. This brought it a whole generation of mobile users who signed up to enjoy the highly fashionable mobile that was promoted by the likes of socialite Paris Hilton. Since then Motorola has been trying in vain to recreate that magic formula it stumbled upon, apparently by accident. It has come up with some frankly baffling mobiles over the last five years, but first the Dext and then the Milestone have managed to get enough interest back in the US manufacturer to save it from extinction. Motorola’s co-CEOs have predicted that the firm’s mobile arm will return to making a profit before the end of the year. However, plans to split the firm in two are also set to go ahead, which will see its consumer-aimed mobile and entertainment departments becoming distinct from its business-based service provision. This will mean shareholders are getting a good deal and hopefully will have a positive impact upon the Motorola mobile phones of the future.

In the case of the Motorola Milestone, there is a strong argument for the fact that the design of the phone itself had very little to do with its success and the community of fans that has grown around it. Whilst the RAZR sold itself on its looks alone back in 2005, the trends within the mobile market in 2010 are almost the complete opposite. No one really cares about how phones look any more. This is particularly true when you are talking about smartphones, as the current line up could look to the casual observer like all of the mobile designers in the world have been watching 2001: A Space Odyssey too frequently. Upon seeing the monolithic, intergalactic, unidentified slab surrounded by our ape ancestors, each one presumably snapped their fingers, shouted ‘eureka!’ and decided that black was the new black and that every mobile phone had to be rectangular and come with a touch screen. LG has gone so far as to hint that this situation could well be true in the recent ad campaign for the BL40 Chocolate, which aped Kubrick’s cinematic masterpiece.

Motorola has taken longer than most other manufacturers to cotton on to the fact that mobiles do not have to appear in the hands of sexy young things to get sold. In fact nowadays it is more significant for Stephen Fry to be seen with a gadget than any of Hollywood’s brat pack. As such the Milestone is not built to be a bejewelled eyesore with poorly implemented proprietary operating software. It is big, it is bold and it has a full QWERTY keypad. It also uses Android with Motorola’s own MotoBLUR social networking interface plastered on top. And it is this last combination that saw the Milestone mark the turnaround in Motorola’s fortune. HTC had already proven that smartphones could be used as software platforms with cross-manufacturer compatibility for applications and an open source ethos driving things forward. All Motorola had to do was come up with a subtly compelling piece of hardware and combine it with an established piece of software with its own twist added in and it would have a hit. Which is exactly what it did.

Social networking on mobiles, which some have come to refer to as SNS, is penetrating the market at all levels. You can pick up mobiles for under £100 that come with Facebook, Twitter and Myspace built in. But the Milestone offers something which many others do not and that is unification for social networking gurus. If you have multiple profiles spread across different sites, which many in the modern world do, you will find that a majority of smartphones provide access to these in a relatively dislocated way, either as separate apps or as simple hotlinks to the sites; this is not the case for the Milestone thanks to MotoBLUR.

Now, it is generally accepted that Android can be used by any manufacturer if they want to produce a mobile that will have an instantly established user base and back catalogue of compatible software and this is no different for the Motorola Milestone. The Android community is strong and since it has been founded on the open source principles of Linux it will remain that way for the foreseeable future. As such there is already incentive to keep promoting the Milestone and for customers to hold onto their handsets for as long as possible. But in the current climate there is another reason behind firmer support of specific hardware and software platforms amongst smartphone owners and that is linked into the cost of the devices that are available. Most smartphones cost hundreds and hundreds of pounds, an in order to offset this cost you will find that network providers will subsidise handsets only partially and lumber them with extensive 18 or 24 month contracts. With so much invested in a single smartphone, users are automatically set to support their mobile of choice and as such stronger bonds can be built and longevity ensured for top sellers like the Motorola Milestone.

It is always nice to take a second look at a mobile phone and consider it from a different angle and the C903 is obviously noteworthy for its camera’s capabilities and its stylish slider design. These are two features that will sell the phone to many, but there is much more on offer here. For example, the Sony Ericsson C903 GPS functions are on par with many of its more expensive rivals and in most cases the C903 is able to outstrip the competition and offer GPS features that are comparable to a dedicated sat nav unit.

There are four major applications in which the Sony Ericsson C903 GPS takes a leading role and we will look at each in turn. The first is Google Maps and this is the software that most people will be particularly familiar with. Whether you have used Google Maps on your computer at home, or had some experience with it in the past on a mobile device, you will know that there are few other apps that can offer the same level of global mapping and satellite imaging. Google maps can be used to plot routes between two addresses or point on a map and it can also be used in conjunction with the Sony Ericsson C903 GPS to home in on your position and provide you with information on the surrounding area. Google Maps does not provide turn-by-turn navigation, so if you want to use it you will have to make adjustments by hand. However, this does mean that pedestrians will get the most use out of it and since Google keeps its mapping up to date with new routes and changes perpetually, you will always get the latest information directly to your C903 when you are out and about.

The second application that relies on the Sony Ericsson C903 GPS feature is called Wayfinder. Unlike Google Maps, this is a true sat nav software package that acts in exactly the same way as the kind of software that you would expect to find on a standalone sat nav device. All you need to do is enter the address of the place you are looking to get to and Wayfinder will plot an appropriate course and then lead you by the hand down all the necessary roads to get you to your destination as quickly as possible. You can choose between 2D and 3D views depending on your preference and because this uses turn-by-turn navigation you will be made aware of which route you need to take next well in advance so that you are prepared.

In addition to these two sat nav options, Sony Ericsson has added in even more ways to enjoy the GPS functions of the C903 with a little software app called Tracker. This is something that is aimed at fitness fans who are likely to spend more time on foot than they are behind the wheel. You can use Tracker to plot out routes to take yourself out for a jog around, whether you want to create a circuit through your local park or run from one location to another. Tracker will also keep an eye on your speed and the distance that you have covered, along with how long it has taken you to complete. This will help you build up an idea of your fitness level and can help you reach personal goals.

The final app that uses the Sony Ericsson C903 GPS feature is called NearMe. This app uses the GPS to check out where you are and then provides you with a list of local amenities and businesses that you can search through to find somewhere to eat, somewhere to rest or somewhere to have a good time, amongst others.

The iPhone has proved that hardware is not particularly relevant in the modern smartphone market and it took two years for Apple to bother with a decent camera, MMS capabilities and video capture. However, HTC has been keen to keep its smartphones cutting edge in every possible way and so looking at the HTC Hero camera it is not surprising to find a capable, high resolution image capturing example present and correct. With a large touch screen display, quirky design and impressive software on board, the HTC Hero has it all, but checking out the performance and functions of the 5 megapixel camera is worthwhile if photography is one of your hobbies.

The first thing to say is that comparing any mobile phone to a standalone digital camera is not particularly useful, unless you are completely committed to ditching your camera in favour of an all in one mobile solution. As such it is more sensible to compare the HTC Hero camera to its rivals within the smartphone market, all of which sport built in photographic capabilities of varying quality. If you look at the Hero against its peers, the performance of its 5 megapixel camera is impressive. It may not have all of the software functions of the more photo-focussed mobiles, but for casual shooting whilst you are out and about it is perfect.

The HTC Hero camera benefits enormously from the presence of autofocus. Some smartphones opt for a fixed focus, whilst others require that the user manually focus the phone based on the location of their subjects within the frame. The former results in flat, dull photographs, whilst the latter increases the amount of time you have to spend setting up the shot before you can even press the shutter button. The HTC Hero suffers from neither of these afflictions and as such it is able to take sharp pictures of whatever you point it at. There is no shake reduction, so you will get the best results if you are standing still and not being jostled about, but this is a minor quibble.

The Hero is best suited to taking photographs outdoors. Lighting conditions are usually more suited to digital photography when the illumination is natural and even on cloudy days the Hero performs well. You might experience a bit of light leaking in around the edge of the frames, but a bit of practice will help you compensate for this and take the kind of shots that work. You can also shoot video which is of a suitable quality for YouTube or uploading to Facebook, although as with most mobiles you should not expect to produce any cinematic masterpieces using the Hero, unless you are going for the Blair Witch effect.

The only major drawback to the HTC Hero camera is that it is not accompanied by a flash of any kind. However, if you have got to grips with some of the other smartphones that do have flashes, you will realise that even those offering LED lights are fairly inferior when compared to standalone digital units. It is only the dedicated camera phones with Xenon flashes that can even hope to compete and if you go for one of these you will be missing out on all of the other great features that the HTC Hero has to offer. Describing the HTC Hero camera as a compromise would be to underplay the competency of its performance when compared to its peers. It could do with a slightly better interface and video recording is not perfect, but it is nice to know that the camera adds to a well rounded package when viewed subjectively.

Nokia’s first touch screen mobile phone was the 5800 XpressMusic and whilst this has had an enduring popularity and overcome early criticism, it was obvious to anyone using it that resistive touch screen technology was just not good enough to stay the distance. The iPhone had already brought capacitive technology to the table and with multitouch interaction and the elimination of the need for styluses in this instance made every other touch screen mobile look outdated. The 5800 was a music phone and Nokia’s latest high end multimedia device, the X6, has stuck with the touch screen design, but finally booted out the resistive technology in favour of the far more fingertip-friendly capacitive alternative. The results are impressive and worthy of explanation if you are still a little confused about the difference between the various touch screen technologies that are out there.

The Nokia X6 touch screen dominates the front of the phone and there are very few physical buttons present to make things muddled. The X6 is determined to get you using the touch screen for everything and Nokia has worked hard on the interface to make this as easy as possible. The icons are large enough for you to press them with a finger or a thumb and even those with relatively large digits will find that they will rarely make a mistake when navigating the menus.

The Nokia X6 touch screen itself is not only easy to use, but also easy on the eye. It has the widescreen aspect ratio of 16:9, which is the same as you will find on a majority of modern televisions. This means that watching widescreen content from the internet or from your memory card will look excellent and natural and there is rarely any stretching or cropping to contend with unless you are watching a movie that is presented in its full cinematic aspect ratio. Colours are vibrant and the backlighting is brighter than some of its competitors, which may help to account for the relative thickness of the X6. Automatic brightness adjustment can be activated and built in sensors will modify the settings depending on your surroundings, which not only improves the battery life but makes everything onscreen look that much better.

Whenever you press an onscreen icon, enter a letter using the QWERTY keypad or tap on the screen twice to zoom in on a web page, a small jolt of vibration will be emitted by the X6. This is referred to as haptic feedback in the industry and has been present in Nokia’s other touch screen mobiles in the past. It acts as an indication that you have pressed a key and whilst it was definitely necessary on resistive screens which required pressure to make an accurate input, with the Nokia X6 touch screen it is useful but not essential, because the capacitive technology makes it much harder to mess up as you type or touch.

It is important to realise that the Nokia X6 touch screen will react only to the touch of a human finger. It will not detect the pressure of a stylus or even a fingernail because it reacts to bioelectrical signals. This means you only need the lightest of touches to get a touch registered, but also means that more advanced interaction such as handwriting translation and drawing are out of the question. Several firms are in the process of creating styluses that work with capacitive screens, but these are a little way off yet and will probably only have a small audience to which they appeal when they do arrive.

It would appear that high end retailer John Lewis are making a key shift in their strategy by stocking Pay As You Go items from mobile network operator 3 including such items as mobile phones dongles and the operators Mi-Fi device.

A range of 3’s products will be stocked by all 29 John Lewis stores nationwide with 22 stores carrying mobile phones, which will also be available through the John Lewis online store. Up until now John Lewis stores have only stocked a very small number of PAYG handsets from Vodafone and T-Mobile. These have ranged from the extremely cheap LG Sapphire to the Sony Ericsson W595 which has been their most expensive mobile phone at over £100. The mobile phones the company will be stocking from 3 will range in price from budget to high end devices.

Speaking about the new venture, Simon Moore, head of consumer electronics at John Lewis, said: “The new 3 products are great for our customers who have increasingly mobile lifestyles and need to keep in touch on the go.”

Although this doesn’t look a huge venture as 3 are the smallest UK operator and the deal so far is only with PAYG, there could be a bigger strategy behind it. John Lewis also own Waitrose Supermarkets and there are more than 220 stores across the country. It hasn’t been confirmed, but there have been rumours that they want to extend their mobile sales into the supermarkets either by using in-store concessions or MVNO. Having seen the success of other rivals like Tesco Mobile in the mobile phone market taking a step into this arena would appear to be a natural progression and they could set themselves up as serious competitors to other retailers like Asda, Curry’s, Argos and others.

3 Mobile seem happy enough about the new deal with their Sales Director Amanda Lambert saying “We are delighted that 3’s products are going on sale in John Lewis stores. 3 is all about offering people innovative ways to stay in touch coupled with great value prices – and we feel this is something that should appeal to John Lewis’ customers too.”

John Lewis do have a reputation for providing quality goods and service – especially in electronics – and their staff have already been specially trained to demonstrate and answer queries about the new 3 products. The more high class stores (Selfridges being one) haven’t successfully managed to make an impact in the mobile phone market, but if John Lewis include Waitrose stores in their future plans they might just be the exception.

If you decide to become the proud owner of a Nokia N900, you will quickly be aware of a couple of things. The first is that the N900 is not really designed for being held in any other way than landscape. This is made particularly clear because the Nokia logo is mounted about the screen when it is held in its natural widescreen orientation. The second is that the N900 is not aimed at the mainstream. Aside from its price, it has in the Maemo 5 operating system one of the most powerful, customisable pieces of mobile software on the planet. This means that as you sleep a veritable army of dedicated enthusiasts will be working behind the scenes to create software, hacks and ports for the N900. You will need a bit of skill and a willingness to experiment yourself if you want to get the most out of the N900, but the rewards for taking the plunge can be significant.

It is the Nokia N900 gaming capabilities that are likely to make it appealing to an audience beyond those looking for productivity apps and enterprise functionality. Until now the iPhone has been championed as the king of mobile gaming and whilst this is true if you consider the sheer volume of games that have been released, the N900 has it licked in terms of hardware. If you are looking for an experience that is similar to that offered by Apple then the N900 can be used in conjunction with the Ovi Store, which is Nokia’s equivalent of the App Store. This is filled with an ever-increasing library of software and games and you can get titles for free as well as for a small fee. This is certainly a useful function, but it does not cover all of the Nokia N900 gaming potential. For that, we need to go to the boundaries of legality.

When Nokia first began showcasing the N900, it created a video to outline the kind of emulation that was possible using the Maemo 5 platform. In that video, an emulation programme was shown running classic Nintendo titles from yesteryear. Nintendo got a little upset as it looked like Nokia was encouraging people to download pirate ROMs, but in actual fact the intention was to show off the kind of cross-platform capabilities which the N900 offered thanks to its powerful hardware and flexible Maemo platform. The emulation community is still considered to be verging on the illegitimate, but there are plenty of legal ways to enjoy the Nokia N900 gaming capabilities.

The most recent Nokia N900 gaming hack that has come to public attention involves a PlayStation 3 controller. Using the Bluetooth connectivity offered by the N900 and the Bluetooth signal that is given out by the wireless PS3 control pad, an inventive hacker has been able to use the two in unison and control N900 games using the full size pad. This is useful for several reasons and significantly bolsters the Nokia N900 gaming credentials. Using the N900’s TV output, you could hook up the phone to your television at home and then sit on your sofa using a wireless controller to play games on the big screen. For the time being this is not something that too many people will attempt, because the process of installing the necessary hack is a little daunting for even experienced mobile modifiers. However, it does prove once more just how flexible the Maemo software is and it could be something that third party accessory developers could pick up on. If a firm was to produce a wireless Bluetooth controller for the N900, there is a high chance that it would become a hit and if official software support was provided via the Ovi Store, then the N900 would cement its position as the premiere mobile gaming platform of the modern era.

It has taken a while to catch on in the UK, and there are still literally millions of old handsets lying around homes in Britain (some estimates are as high as 90 million unused handsets), but mobile phone recycling looks to be on the increase. There has been an increasing awareness among UK consumers about just how mobile phone recycling actually works. With people wanting to try and make a difference to the environment and also aware that in the current climate -where money is tight- it is an easy and reliable way to put some extra cash into their pockets, business is booming.

Last October network operator 02 launched their own scheme called “02 Recycle” and in just over five months they have already paid out over £1 Million in cash to people exchanging their obsolete mobile phones. Many of the old handsets that are collected can be reused, so it does make some impact on the natural resources used in manufacture and on the environment. Any phones that do not work and cannot be reused have the parts stripped down to be recycled for use again.

The eco-friendly scheme was launched by 02 in response to the vast number of mobile phones that were being sent to landfill sites for disposal, which was having an adverse effect on the environment.

The 02 recycling operation is run by Redeem Plc and their Chief Executive Jamie Rae said that it was a phenomenal achievement for the company to break the £1 Million barrier in only five months. He also added that the numbers highlighted an emerging understanding among UK consumers about environmental safeguards. You can redeem your old handset for cash or vouchers at 02 or at many other reputable mobile phone recycling companies like Envirofone or Mopay.co.uk by visiting the website entering details of the phone you are recycling you will be told a price for the phone, you then enter your contact details and the transaction can proceed. It’s all really simple.

Here at dialtosave.co.uk we have a whole section of our website dedicated to recycling mobile phones, where we bring our visitors up to the minute information on the best daily deals available. For instance today you could get as much as £181.00 for recycling your old Nokia N97. Even if your phone doesn’t work it is possible you might still get a few pounds for it, so it’s worth checking out.

It is impossible for a mobile manufacturer to release a new phone that claims to be a multimedia entertainment powerhouse without offering users the chance to customise their experience with exclusive downloads. The W995 from Sony Ericsson makes these claims and thankfully if follows through by meeting the conditions laid out above with the PlayNow download service and entertainment hub. You can access PlayNow from the W995, or you can head online and use your PC if you want to give your mobile internet connection a bit of a breather. Some manufacturers offer music downloads, others offer games and many offer wallpapers and ringtones. However, Sony Ericsson is one of the few to combine all of these different sections into a single place and the W995 can have its usefulness and longevity extended indefinitely thanks to PlayNow.

You will need to create an account on the PlayNow website when you first get the W995 and you will need to pick out the right phone model and enter your mobile number to make sure that your account is synchronised between your PC and your phone. This is quickly completed and then you can check out the lists of the latest music, games, applications, wallpapers, themes and ringtones. If you have something specific in mind to download to your phone then you can use the search tool to look for it. However, if you are just browsing you can look at the most popular items of the day using the simple interface. There is even a separate tab for checking out the items that are free of charge and if you are feeling thrifty you can still customise your phone and keep yourself entertained in this way.

Keeping an eye on the PlayNow music charts can almost become a hobby of sorts. Seeing what other Sony Ericsson W995 users like to listen to and download and then comparing it to the official UK top 40 singles chart gives an interesting indication of how tastes differ between the British public as a whole and the smaller demographic within that which owns Sony Ericsson mobile phones. Although you get a majority of the hit tunes correlating between PlayNow and the official charts, it seems that Sony Ericsson and its customers are also supportive of more obscure acts and up and coming artists.

Having PlayNow on your W995 and your PC also allows you to synchronise your TrackID finds. TrackID is Sony Ericsson’s song discovering software that lets you find out the name and artist behind an unknown song you hear whilst out and about. Songs that you capture using TrackID are stored in a list for later use and you can check out this list online via your mobile or computer. You can then download any songs that you really love, or come back to them at a later date and see if you are still interested in making a purchase.

One particularly useful feature of PlayNow is that you are allowed to download your purchased audio tracks twice without having to pay for them twice over. This is because Sony Ericsson recognises that people usually have music libraries that are almost identical on their computers and their mobile phones and that downloading a song direct to your mobile could leave it locked in limbo and inaccessible for use elsewhere. So with PlayNow you can buy a song on your W995 and then log on to the service via your PC and download it to add to your existing collection. You can then transfer it to any other portable media device that you might have if you do not want to use your W995 as a music playing companion 24/7.

As the baby brother of the 5800 XpressMusic, the Nokia 5230 is surprisingly well-equipped to perform as a multimedia phone for music, video and internet access whilst you are out and about. The software on the phone itself has been honed over several years to give you a listening and viewing experience that is able to rival standalone portable media players. One aspect you may not have considered is the software suite that allows you to organise your music on your PC and then transfer it onto your phone, which in this case Nokia has called Ovi Player in order to link it into its range of Ovi-branded services.

The Nokia 5230 Ovi Player software is something you will want to install as soon as you have a few minutes. It usually comes in the retail package that accompanies the 5230, but can also be downloaded from Nokia’s official website if you would prefer it, or indeed if your computer does not have an optical drive and so cannot read the disc. When you first load up the Ovi Player it will automatically initiate a scan of your PC in search of compatible music files that are ready to load onto your 5230. Once your library has been compiled, you can arrange your tracks to view them by recording artist, album name, genre or by the date upon which they were added. It is perhaps easiest to describe the Nokia 5230 Ovi Player as an alternative to iTunes for those who are happier with a Nokia device in their pockets and you will see why in a moment.

There will usually be some discrepancy between the music that you have stored on your PC and that which you have transferred over to your 5230. The Ovi Player works around this by showing you separate libraries relating to each one so you can get a good idea of how full your 5230 is and what new tracks you have yet to transfer over. You can also see any audio CDs that you have inserted into your computer and playing a CD back via the Ovi Player is just as easy as you would expect. The Ovi Player also allows you to rip CDs onto your hard drive, or directly to your phone, so that when you pick up a new disk you can have it available on your 5230 library quickly.

As well as allowing you to organise your music, rip songs from CD and transfer them to your phone, the Nokia 5230 Ovi Player gives you access to a fully featured music download service. Here you can browse the latest tracks, find your favourite artist and download their song quickly via your internet connection. Although the Nokia 5230 is capable of downloading and purchasing music directly from the phone,you could use the Ovi Player on your PC to perform this action if you were concerned about eating into your monthly data tariff. You can take the pain out of purchasing music using the Ovi Player as you can register your own payment card in a few minutes and then have access to instant download using your stored details. When you do purchase a music track on your phone, you can transfer that track to your computer, which is excellent news as some alternative devices will keep the track tethered to the device that downloaded it. You are then free to listen to it both on your phone and on your PC, which makes paying for your music a sensible choice to make.

The Nokia 5230 Ovi Player software is excellent overall, as it performs in exactly the way that you would want, whether you are buying songs, transferring them to your phone or making a playlist from your existing library.