Archive for August, 2010
Thursday, August 12th, 2010
The Sony Ericsson X10 Mini is an interesting phone. It’s a tiny Android phone that’s packed full of features. It’s compact size means it’s great for slipping in your pocket or bag on a night out, but it also makes it tricky to find a case that doesn’t interfere with using the phone.
Now that Sony Ericsson X10 Mini Cases and covers are starting to arrive into stock I thought I’d try out some of the most popular to see just how well they fit and protect the phone.
FlexiShield Skin for Sony Ericsson X10 Mini
FlexiShields are one of the best styles of case you can get for your X10 Mini. FlexiShields are a neat fit to the phone and as they’re so thin they don’t much extra bulk to your X10 Mini. They only cover the back and sides of your phone, leaving the screen and the buttons on the front fully accessible. The Keys on the side of the phone are covered, but the case is moulded to accommodate them and still allows you to press them without having to remove your phone from the case.
Flexishield Skin For Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini
On the back there are cut outs for the camera and flash, and on the bottom are cut outs for the charger, microphone and headphones. For full protection I’d recommend getting an X10 Mini Screen Protector too as the FlexiShield doesn’t cover the screen.
Sony Ericsson X10 Mini InvisibleShield
This technically isn’t a case, but it does just as good a job of protecting the phone without covering it up or adding to the size of your phone. InvisibleShields are a really strong film that sticks to your phone. It’s perfectly clear, so once fitted you can’t really see it. It covers all of your phone, with the exception of the buttons, and provides excellent protection against scratches. It has a slightly rubbery, non-slip feel to it which helps you to keep hold of the phone and reduces the chance of you dropping it.
InvisibleSHIELD Full Body Protector - Sony Ericsson X10 Mini
Noreve Traditional A Leather Case for X10 Mini
Noreve make some beautiful cases for phones and this is no exception. The quality of the case is excellent. Instead of having a stitched leather pocket to hold your phone, the Noreve case uses a ‘rail’ system to keep your X10 Mini in place. This allows the phone to be held securely without having the front of the phone covered with strips of leather that restrict access to the screen and controls. The side rails are positioned so that they don’t interfere with the volume or camera keys and all the ports on the bottom of the phone are also left accessible. Cut outs on the back of the case mean that you can leave the phone in the case to take photos.
Noreve Tradition A Leather Case for Sony Ericsson X10 Mini
PDair Leather Flip Case for Sony Ericsson X10
PDair used to be my favourite premium case, but I’m leaning more towards Noreve now because of the rail system that they use to mount the phone. This case is very similar to the one above, but with one big difference. The phone is held in place by a stitched leather pocket that does restrict access to the screen slightly. The other thing that I wasn’t so keen on is that the phone slides up into the pouch, this means that if you’re holding the case with the flip open there is a chance that the phone could simply drop out of the bottom, leaving you with a broken phone and an empty case.
PDair Leather Flip Case - Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini
On the positive side though, the case is very well made, has a detachable belt clip on the back and has cut outs that let you use the phone while it’s in the case – just make sure you keep a finger on the bottom of the case to keep the phone in place!
PDair X10 Mini Vertical Leather Pouch
With the X10 Mini being so small, I think that the best style of case for it will be either a FlexiShield or a Pouch. This leather pouch from PDair is really well made and is a perfect for the phone. It’s not a case that you can use the phone in – you’ll need to remove it every time you want to use it, but you can still have your phone in the case when using it with headphones. The case has a sprung belt clip built into the back and is lightly padded to help protect the X10 Mini against knocks and drops.
PDair Vertical Leather Pouch Case - Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini
It may not be the easiest phone in the world to get a case for, but the case manufacturers have all done a great job of developing an X10 Mini Case. My favourite is the Noreve Traditional A, followed very closely by the FlexiShield – both look good and offer great protection, but in different ways.
This is just 5 of the best cases and you can find the full range of X10 Mini Cases and X10 Mini accessories on the Mobile Fun Website.
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Tags: Sony Ericsson X10 Mini Case, Sony Ericsson X10 Mini Cases, Sony Ericsson X10 Mini Cover, Sony Ericsson X10 Mini Covers, Sony Ericsson X10 Mini Pouch, Sony Ericsson X10 Mini Pouches, Sony Ericsson X10 Mini Skin, Sony Ericsson X10 Mini Skins, X10 mini Case, X10 mini Cases, X10 mini Cover, X10 mini Covers, X10 mini Pouch, X10 mini Pouches, X10 mini Skin, X10 mini Skins,
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Wednesday, August 11th, 2010
Sony Ericsson have been fairly quiet recently – especially when it comes to Walkman branded phones. After a few unsuccessful product launches it made sense that they put more effort into their next batch of smartphones, and looking at how popular the X10, X10 Mini and X10 Mini Pro have been, it seems to have been worth it.
Now that their touchscreen phones are out of the way, they’re paying more attention to their Walkman range, with 2 new handsets being released within weeks of each other – the Spiro and the Zylo.
Sony Ericsson Spiro
The Sony Ericsson Spiro is a simple, compact slider. It’s not loaded with all the latest features and gadgets, but is easy to use and has all the features that the everyday user would need.
The main changes are to do with the software on the phone. The menu system has been given a make over, with a number of changes to make things quicker and easier. The Walkman software has also had a number of tweaks to how it handles your music. The biggest change though is the integration of Facebook and Twitter into the menu system.
The Sony Ericsson Spiro is due in the next few weeks and we’ve already got a wide range of Spiro Accessories and Spiro Cases available.
Sony Ericsson Zylo
The Sony Ericsson Zylo is a very similar phone, but has 3G connectivity for faster internet access. The faster connection means that you can also watch YouTube videos on the phones built in YouTube App. Like the Spiro, the Zylo has built in support for Facebook and Twitter and an updated Walkman player. The other main difference to the Spiro is a 3.2mp Camera.
The Sony Ericsson Zylo is available to pre-order now, and as with the Spiro we’ve already got a wide range of Zylo Cases and Zylo Accessories to choose from.
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Wednesday, August 11th, 2010
If you’ve got the iPad or iPhone 4 you’ll know how great it is for internet, gaming and reading, but by downloading Pages and Numbers for the iPad you can use it for all your everyday office work, writing your reports, essays and letters. These Apps aren’t available just yet for iPhone, but a slip up at the iPhone 4 launch suggests that they’ll be available soon.
On all of Apple’s touch devices, the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, a touch screen keyboard is the main way to enter text. It’s easy enough to type on, but the lack of feedback when you press a key and inaccuracy when typing means that not everyone gets on with them. There is a way round this though. The software that runs on these devices (iOS 3.2 on the iPad and iOS 4.0 on iPhone) now supports Bluetooth Keyboards. This is a massive step forward as it means that you can now connect a ‘proper’ keyboard to your iPhone or iPad for faster, more accurate text entry.
If you find that you are often writing long emails or reports, then one of the best iPad accessories you can buy is an iPad Bluetooth Keyboard. These keyboards come in a range of shapes and sizes and are really easy to set up, just turn them on, pair it to your iPad or iPhone and you’re ready to start typing at full speed on a normal keyboard.
Our sister site GearZap sells a number of iPad Keyboards, so I thought I’d spend some time trying out some of their most popular ones and here’s how I got on with each of them.
Every now and again something comes along that makes you wonder why no one came up with it sooner and this is one of them! It’s a protective carry case that has a built in bluetooth keyboard built on the inside cover. The case then folds to form a landscape holder for your iPad, positioning it just like a netbook and making it perfect for writing documents in Pages. The keyboard is made from a soft silicone so you won’t get the firm click that you’ll get with a regular desktop keyboard, but you do get more feed back from it than you would by using the on screen keyboard.
KeyCase iPad Folio Case with Built in Bluetooth Keyboard
What I really liked with this case is that you don’t need to worry about having to constantly replace batteries. The keyboard has a rechargeable battery that uses the same charger as your iPad – this is great as it means you only need to carry around one USB charger.
Another thing that stood out is that the keyboard features all the standard Mac buttons, including volume, music controls and the command and option keys. This may not sound like that big a deal, but without them you wouldn’t be able to use any of the keyboard shortcuts (such as Cmd-A to select all, Cmd-C to copy etc..) with your iPad or iPhone.
Building the keyboard into the case is a great idea as it means you’re always going to have it with you. The case doesn’t add a lot of bulk to your iPad and the soft silicone keypad helps to protect the screen of your iPad when the case is closed. If they can build in an extended battery to the case too I think we’d be on to a real winner!
Any Apple fans will notice that this is the same Bluetooth Keyboard that’s included with all new Apple iMacs. It’s an incredibly thin, full sized keyboard that pairs quickly and easily with the iPad and iPhone. It’s obviously got all the Mac keys, so all your shortcuts will work. It looks great and has proper keys that press and click as any desktop keyboard would.
Apple iPad Bluetooth Keyboard
The Apple keyboard is powered by two AA batteries and the battery life is excellent. The keyboard goes into power saving mode as soon as it’s not being used and comes back on as soon as a key is pressed.
The keyboard is light and portable, but if you’re planning on carrying it around with you, you might want to put it in a protective case as the keys stand out from the keyboard and it would be quite easy to damage or lose a few keys, so for that reason I’d say this is best left at home or on your desk and not carried around.
I wasn’t as impressed with this one as I was with the other two. Just by looking at it you can see that it’s been designed with Windows and Symbian users in mind. It’s a compact keyboard that rolls up when not in use so it’s almost perfect for carrying around and using on the go but for one thing, because this keyboard is flexible, you need to use it on a flat surface. This means that using it on your lap on the train, or on a park bench in your lunch break is almost impossible.
Flexible Bluetooth Mini Keyboard
The keyboard has a built in battery and charges using a USB cable connected to your PC. It uses a Mini USB cable so you’ll need to carry two around with you if you want to charge both your iPhone/iPad and keyboard. The keys on it are a soft silicone that is dust and splash proof - similar to those on the Folio Case.
Because it’s been designed for Windows there are a number of keys on it that won’t do anything with iPad or iPhone and as there are no Mac buttons you won’t be able to use any keyboard shortcuts either.
Summary
If you want a simple, lightweight portable keyboard for occasional typing then the Flexible Bluetooth Mini Keyboard will do the job nicely, but if you plan on using it more often or want the ability to use keyboard shortcuts, then I’d recommend going for one of the other two keyboards instead.
There are other iPad Bluetooth Keyboards available, these are just the three that I think work the best with the iPad. If you’ve seen an iPad Keyboard that works really well that we’ve not mentioned here, let us know using the comments form below.
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Thursday, August 5th, 2010
July was a relatively quiet month for handset releases, but iPhone 4 continued to out sell every other phone. There were a couple of handsets that made their way onto the shelves including the HTC Wildfire and Sony Ericsson X10 Mini Pro.
Over the next few months we’ve got some great new handsets due to make an appearance and not only will we have a full blown handset war on our hands, but also a battle for the number one operating system too.
Android
Android on the Desire
There seems to be no stopping Google’s Android operating system at the moment, with most handset manufacturers now offering at least one smartphone running Google’s operating system. The latest version, 2.2 has just been released to owners of the HTC Desire, with other handsets to follow shortly.
View all Motorola HTC Release Dates
View all HTC Release Dates
View all Samsung release dates
Symbian^3
Symbian^3 on the N8
Nokia are still really struggling, and there aren’t many new handsets on the horizon. In the next few weeks though we are expecting to see their latest flagship handset, the N8, as well as a couple more social networking phones such as the X5-01.
View all Nokia Release Dates.
Windows Phone 7
Windows Phone 7
We’re getting closer to it’s release date of September/October, but no phones have been officially announced yet that run Windows Phone 7. Rumours still suggest that both HTC and LG will be amongst the first to release Windows Phone 7 handsets, with Samsung not far behind.
View all HTC Release Dates.
View all LG Release Dates.
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Tags: BlackBerry 9105 release date, BlackBerry 9300 release date, BlackBerry Curve 3G release date, BlackBerry Pearl 3G release date, Huawei S7 release date, Motorola Flipout release date, Nokia C3 release date, Nokia E5 release date, Nokia N8 release date, Nokia X5 release date, Nokia X5-01 release date, Samsung Europa release date, Samsung Galaxy Europa release date, Samsung i5500 Corby release date, Samsung i5500 release date, Sony Ericsson Cedar release date, Sony Ericsson X8 release date, Sony Ericsson Yendo release date,
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Thursday, August 5th, 2010
Normally when it comes to upgrading your phone, it’s just a case of popping the sim card out of your current phone and inserting it into your new one. Apple have complicated this with the iPhone 4 and iPad by using Micro Sim Cards in both devices.
If you’re upgrading your phone through a network or are taking out a specific iPad data plan then you won’t have a problem as you’ll get a micro sim as standard, but if you’re buying your iPhone sim free or on Pay as You Go you’re going to run into a snag.
Micro Sim cards are exactly the same as a standard sim card, they just have less plastic around the edge of the gold chip. You can of course request a micro sim from your network, but this could take a couple of days – leaving you without a phone. The other option is to trim your existing sim card to fit. This may sound complicated, but it’s actually quite straight forward – especially if you use a MicroSim Cutter Tool.
MicroSIM Cutter Tool
The sim cutter tool takes all the hassle out of cutting your card to size, just slide your sim into it, press the lever and hey presto, one fully functioning Micro Sim Card.
You’ll need to make sure that you put your sim card in the right way up or you may end up cutting the sim card and rendering it useless.
Currently only iPhone 4 and iPad use micro sims, but over the next few years I’d expect them to appear in more smartphones and tablets.
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