Mobile Fun Blog

Fancy Driving a Mini using nothing but your Phone and an App?

Wednesday, February 2nd, 2011

Well, now you can. Well, almost – the BeeWi Mini Cooper S Bluetooth Controlled Car is a 1:20 scale model of a Mini Cooper S, but you can still race it round anywhere using the power of Bluetooth and an app on your Android or Symbian smart phone.

BeeWi Mini Cooper S

Although Bluetooth controlled cars are nothing new – Sony Ericsson launched the CAR-100 back in 2003 – the technology involved in controlling them has improved considerably.

You no longer need to steer the car by awkwardly pressing keys on your phone or fiddling with a joystick, instead, you take advantage of the accelerometer built into most phones and control accelleration and steering just by tilting your phone in the direction that you want the BeeWi Mini to travel.

You can see in the video below that the BeeWi Mini Cooper S Bluetooth Controlled Car is pretty quick and responsive.

The BeeWi Mini Cooper S Bluetooth Controlled Car works with any Android, S60 or Symbian^3 handset. If your phone doesn’t have an accelerometer don’t worry, you can still use control it using the touch controls on the screen of your phone.

Touch Screen Controls For BeeWi Mini

There’s currently no support for iOS, BlackBerry or Windows Phone devices, but we’re hoping this won’t be too far away.

The BeeWi Mini Cooper S Bluetooth Controlled Car can be paired to up to 8 handsets, with one phone active at a time. As with most Bluetooth devices, it has a range of around 10 metres, so you may need to chase it around a bit to stay in range.

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iPhone Mini and iPhone Pro on their way?

Friday, March 27th, 2009

Considering they only do one phone, the amount of attention drawn to the Apple iPhone is quite surprising, and at this time of year the Apple rumour mill kicks into overdrive. Apple are well known for introducing yearly updates for most of its products. The iPod for example has been updated around September almost every year since its introduction. It seems as though Apple are keen to follow in the iPod’s footsteps by announcing a new iPhone around June/July. We had the first generation iPhone announced in July 2007, and the current iPhone 3G was announced last June at their annual Developers Conference (WWDC).

Apple have just announced that this years Developers Conference is scheduled for the 8th June, and its already been discovered in the code of the new iPhone 3.0 operating system that there could be 2 new iPhones and 2 new iPod Touch models being announced. So what are we likely to see?




Our money is on the announcement of the iPhone Pro and iPhone Mini, and the renaming of the current iPhone to iPhone Classic.

iPhone Classic:

The current iPhone has been a massive success for Apple, and I can’t see them finishing it any time soon – having said that, stores around the world are already beginning to clear out their stock rooms to make room for the new models that will no doubt be on sale in July. I’m expecting to see an increase in storage on the iPhone 3G, along with a few other minor changes (OLED Display improved battery, improved camera), but overall the appearance of the phone isn’t going to change much.

iPhone Pro:

Rumours of an iPhone Pro have been around since the iPhone 3G was released, if not before. Reasons behind wanting the iPhone Pro vary greatly, but the main one seems to be that hard core business user miss the presence of a physical keyboard, and while the on-screen keyboard is good, some say it can take up too much screen space, limiting what you can do. Being a slightly larger device, an iPhone Pro would be expected to have more powerful processors, and be able to support an iPhone version of Apple’s Office software iWork, giving them the chance to be able to be much more productive when out of the office. Other additions would be a forward facing camera for video chat, along with support for iChat, an OLED display, improved camera and battery life.

Several website have created mock-ups of what they would like to see as the next iPhone. 9to5mac.com have a collection of ten of the best mock ups and Matt Brady’s concept also gets a lot of attention. Our attempt at an iPhone Pro Concept is shown above, click on the image for a larger version.

iPhone Mini:

There has been lots of talk in the past of an iPhone Nano, but the whole concept of the iPod Nano is that they’re unbelievably small, and given how much Apple (and everyone else) seems to love the iPhone operating system, I don’t think they’re going to change it as drastically as they would need to in order to make a really small touchscreen phone. Apple themselves have said that by making the screen smaller, it would cause problems with 3rd party apps, as well as usability. Having said that, surely if they were to increase the screen resolution, they could reduce the screen size a little, without causing too many problems? It wouldn’t surprise me either if the iPhone Mini had less features than the Classic or the Pro. To appeal to a new market, they would need a phone with a lower price point – to do that would mean cutting out a few features (GPS, App Store, Internet). Having said that the App Store and Internet Access are two of the iPhones big selling points, so I’d be surprised if they do.

iPhone 3.0 Software:

Regardless of the hardware that gets announced, pretty much every iPhone user is looking forward to the release of the latest version of the iPhone 3.0 Software. This update will add features that many say should have been on the iPhone since its launch back in 2007. Features such as MMS, Stereo Bluetooth, the ability to search your phone, forward messages and share contacts are features that are standard on most other phones on the market, but these are only just finding their way onto the iPhone.

The announcement earlier this month by Apple certainly got a lot of media attention, and a large round of applause from developers, but I can’t help thinking that they held back on something – Apple have another trick up their sleeve that they’ve not shared yet, something that relies on hardware in the new iPhones. I might be wrong, but from what I’ve seen in the past, Apple never reveal all their cards and are well know for saying “One Last Thing” at the end of their big announcements, and surprising most people with something unexpected.

Well, that’s what we think. What about you? What do you want to see the next version of the iPhone? Is the screen size/resolution theory a possibility? Will we get 2 new iPhones? What surprises do you think Apple have up their sleeve? Leave your thoughts below or discuss it on our Forums

(3 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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Which iPod have I got?

Wednesday, March 11th, 2009

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(2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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PowerBlok Charging Adapters

Thursday, August 7th, 2008

Whether you are a phone user or a gadget lover, one of the most annoying things about getting a new device is having to replace all of your chargers. For my current phone I’ve got a car charger, a spare mains charger at work and a USB charging cable that I carry around in my laptop bag. But what if I carried my iPod and PSP with me, or if my Bluetooth Headset takes a different charging connector to my phone – thats another charger I’d need to carry around with me! Thankfully PowerBloks make it easier to charge multiple devices with just one charger.

PowerBlok Charging Adapters

PowerBloks are simple adapters that convert any standard Mini USB cable into a USB charging cable, and can also be used to convert Mini USB Mains and Car chargers to work with your device. This is great news, as it completely removes the need to have a seperate charger for each device you own. I’m pretty sure that you will already have a spare Mini USB cable lying around at home that you can use to charge your phone, MP3 Player or games console – they even work on the new iPhone 3G. If you want to use this cable in the car or at work, just connect your cable to a USB Mains Adapter or USB Car Charger Adapter and you’ve got a fully functional charger that you can update as often as you like for a fraction of the cost!

One Charger for your TomTom, Bluetooth Headset, Mobile Phone and iPod

When you’re in the car you can now use the same charger on your TomTom, your phone, your iPod and your Bluetooth Headset, just change the PowerBlok adapter to switch between devices.

PowerBloks are available now for Classic Nokia, Nokia 2mm, Sony Ericsson, Samsung, Sony PSP, iPod and iPhone, with other manufacturers due shortly. We’re looking at putting together some bundle packs on the tips – which ones do you think we should do? What other devices should we offer adapters for? Feel free to add your suggestions below!

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Jabra BT2020 vs BT250v

Wednesday, February 13th, 2008

How do you make the best even better?

Some would say you can’t but Jabra have managed it with the BT2020. Its predecessor, the BT250v, was one of the best selling Bluetooth headsets in the world.

Why is the Jabra BT2020 better?
With the BT2020, Jabra have built on all the good points of the BT250v and;

• Kept the comfortable "behind the ear" design.
• Reduced its size.
• Reduced the weight from 23 grams to just 16 grams.
• Removed the flashing blue light and added a discreet LED.
• Improved battery life.

With the reduction in weight the BT2020 is now more comfortable and with the new discreet LED feature, there’s no constant flash to distract you. Despite the size reduction, battery times are improved. The BT2020 now has an impressive 360 hours standby time and up to 8 hours talk time. In real terms, you can leave it turned on for over 2 weeks before the battery runs out. When the battery does eventually run out, the BT2020 now has the option of being charged in your car. This was the biggest disappointment on the BT250v, the unique charging cradle meant that it could only be charged at home. Fortunately though, Jabra have now dropped the cradle in favour of a more standard Mini USB connection, and are including a car charger with the headset. As with the BT250v, the BT2020 comes with a variety of Ear gels to make sure there is a comfortable fit for everyone.

So if you’re looking to replace your BT250v, or are simply looking for a comfortable durable headset, then you won’t go wrong with the Jabra BT2020.

(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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