Buzzin Mobiles

Budget electronics company Binatone have launched their HomeSurf Tablet range at IFA, the consumer electronics and home appliance show held in Berlin.

The most affordable and all encompassing solution to ever hit the European market is released surely with an eye on the upcoming Christmas sales and represents real value for money in a range that starts at just £129.99.

The stylish HomeSurf range is Binatones response to consumers calling for an easy to use tablet with excellent functionality at an affordable price. The company aim to put the tablet in the hands of everyone, regardless of age, experience or technological know how.

Available in two handy sizes, users of the entry level HomeSurf 7™ will enjoy supreme clarity with a 7 inch TFT LCD resistive touch screen which auto-rotates, providing exceptional viewing pleasure.  Featuring 2GB of built-in storage, customers can easily store over 250 photos or around 500 songs.  And with plenty of battery life and easy video playback, it has never been so simple to undertake a multitude of tasks, whilst on the move.

For those that are seeking a little more, the HomeSurf 8™ comes with a larger screen and longer video playback time, giving an enhanced tablet experience.  Both products in the range possess a MicroSD card slot (SD/SDHC), built-microphone and stereo speakers, as well as a rechargeable Li-Ion battery and 3.5 mm stereo audio jack with headphones to make it easy to listen to music or watch the latest movies.

Binatone HomeSurf tablets

Technical Specification:

HomeSurf 7™  Touch Tablet

-          7” TFT LCD, 800×480 pixel (WVGA)

-          Resistive Touch Screen with Stylus

-          WiFi b/g

-          Android OS

-          2GB Storage (expandable via MicroSD)

-          Auto rotating screen

-          MicroSD Card slot (SD/SDHC)

-          Rechargeable Li-Ion Battery

-          Video Playback (MP4, H.264, XVID)

-          Rechargeable Li-Ion Battery

-          Stereo Speakers

-          Built-in Microphone

-          3.5 mm Stereo Audio Jack with headphones

-          Mini USB cable for data transfer

-          Video Playback Time 3h

£129.99 / € 169.90 UK and European version

HomeSurf 8™  Touch Tablet

-          8” TFT LCD, 800×600 pixel (SVGA)

-           Resistive Touch Screen with Stylus

-           5 Cap-Sens keys

-          WiFi b/g

-           Android OS

-          2GB Storage (expandable via MicroSD)

-          Auto rotating screen

-          Micro SD Card slot (SD/SDHC)

-          Video Playback support MP4, H.264

-          Rechargeable Li-Ion Battery

-          Video Playback Time 4h

-          Stereo Speakers

-           Built-in microphone

-          3.5 mm Stereo Audio Jack

-           Mini USB cable for data transfer

-           Charging dock with Speaker

£179.99 / € 229.90 UK and European version.

The UK supermarket giant Tesco has announced its cheapest mobile contract ever through Tesco Mobile. For just £6 per month you can enjoy unlimited texting and 100 minutes of call time, with their one month SIM only contract.

Recognising the growing demand for a no thrills, good value service the SIM only contract offers outstanding value for money without commitment to a long contract. Tesco Mobile  subscribers will also benefit from Clubcard points with their monthly bill.

The launch is aimed at customers who are happy to hang on to their existing handsets and are looking to reduce outgoings on their monthly mobile bill.

There has been a massive increase in the SIM only market over the past year and the Tesco Mobile tariff looks cheaper than any other deal currently available.

Recent research conducted by Tesco Mobile showed that less than 5% of mobile contract users are currently able to spend less than £10 a month on their phone.

16 to 24 year olds, who are the most prolific texters are the highest spending age group for mobile contracts with just under a third (31.6%) spending more than £30 a month on their mobile bills.

The research highlighted that cost is key when it comes to choosing a new deal; with 77.6% of mobile owners saying that the monthly cost is the deciding factor in selecting a new tariff.

Tesco Mobile is one of the fastest growing networks in the UK and according to J D Power, is the number one Pre-Pay Network for customer satisfaction.

Once again the Apple iPhone 4 is all over the press for the wrong reasons, it is claimed today that the top selling smartphone could be vulnerable to exploitation by remote hackers, although the threat at present only exists on paper.

The problem it appears is in the way that Apple’s Mobile Safari handles Adobe PDF documents, as the browser is designed to automatically open such files, there are fears that a hacker could embed a malicious code in the file.

Apple say that the company is well aware of the reports and the threat involved and are currently investigating the problem.

Mobile experts have suggested that the only way of preventing Mobile Safari from automatically opening PDF files is by jailbreaking a phone and installing an application, called PDF Loading Warner, that then asks for permission every time the browser tries to open a PDF file.

Some have even suggested installing an alternative browser such as the much lauded Opera Mini, although no-one can be clear on whether this would solve the problem completely as they had not been checked for exploits.

It would appear that the only real option is to wait for Apple to offer a fix to the problem, although the iPhone company have been slow to respond with fixes to the mobile browser in the past.

It opens up the debate as to whether smartphones would benefit from having their own security or anti virus programme in place, many have argued that there is no need for such measures with the current OS that are being used.

Although I am not an expert on internet security we are warned on a daily basis of the vulnerability of our PCs to attacks and to this end there are numerous free antivirus downloads for computers.

While there are now some anti virus software developed for mobile devices, there does seem a split in opinion as to whether mobile users actually need such programmes.

It would be interesting to hear from anyone who has their own experiences on this subject.

Getjar, the second largest mobile app store in the world, have announced that they have reached three million downloads per day, outpacing rivals in the market place.

Second only to iTunes, Getjar offer the full range of mobile applications across all mobile platforms including Android, Blackberry, Java, iPhone, Symbian and Windows Mobile.

With over one billion downloads to date, GetJar conducted a review of more than 70,000 apps within its store to identify user interests and trends among its millions of users. As of July 2010, YouTube, Facebook and Yahoo! Mobile remained among the top, with games “Warships Sea on Fire” and “Racing Mania” top among its category. Other leading categories include lifestyle, entertainment, music, maps, search, financial, sports and productivity downloads.

With downloads coming from more than 200 countries and 2000 different handsets, GetJar is also uniquely placed to see shifts in demographic trends in consumption by region, platform and handset and content type.

It is interesting to see patterns emerging from different countries in the world and Getjar CMO Patrick Mork comments:

“Clear patterns are starting to emerge, we see Indian consumers downloading more productivity applications that enhance the usage of their phone compared to Americans for example and English consumers downloading more entertainment apps then Indians. Religious apps are popular in the Middle East. Downloads by platform are also shifting quickly. Android wasn’t even a part of our business last year. Today, it’s the 2nd most popular platform developers are submitting on when uploading content to GetJar and we have at least 3 devices in our top 20 list of devices in the US that are Android powered.”

A understandably delighted Ilja Laurs, GetJar founder and CEO said:

“We’re thrilled to have reached three million downloads per day, which allows us to tap into consumers’ perceptions and attitudes, and what is trending across the U.S. and the rest of the world. We’ve seen our daily downloads grow more than 300 percent year-on-year with significant growth coming from North America, Western Europe, Asia and South Africa.  As consumers move from ‘browsing and searching’ to ‘downloading and tapping’, we are seeing that apps are becoming a mainstream way for people to consume content not only in the developed markets on smartphones but all over the world on all different types of handsets.”

Here are the top ten mobile apps, decided by overall downloads:

1.       Facebook Mobile
2.       eBuddy Messenger
3.       Nimbuzz
4.       Migg33
5.       Opera Mini browser
6.       Yahoo! Mobile
7.       Google
8.       Yahoo! Mail
9.       Bitstream Bolt Browser
10.      YouTube

Top 10 Social & Messaging Downloads
1.       Facebook Mobile
2.       eBuddy Messenger
3.       Nimbuzz
4.       Mig33
5.       Yahoo! Mail
6.       shut down mobile by sms
7.       Snaptu
8.       qeep
9.       RockeTalk
10.      eBuddy Lite Messenger

Top 10 Handsets by Visits (US)
1.       Sanyo Incognito
2.       Apple iPhone
3.       Samsung Seek
4.       LG Rumor Touch
5.       Samsung Impression
6.       Sanyo 2700
7.       Samsung Instinct
8.       Samsung Solstice
9.       LG Rumor II
10.      HTC Evo

Over the last decade in the UK, the number of summer music festivals has reached epidemic proportions, it is possible to visit a festival every weekend during this period and support has grown from the army of music fans eager to experience a weekend of noise and mayhem in conditions that they would otherwise avoid.

The UK weather is notorious for its unpredictability so it is essential to include wet weather gear, wellies and umbrella when packing your tent and sleeping bag for a weekend of festival fun.

Not so long ago arming yourself with a mobile phone was considered a sensible and necessary precaution, enabling one to keep in touch with friends at the festival and in case of emergencies.

But these days smartphones are the norm and prior to leaving home it is advisable to load your mobile device with the latest mobile applications that will transform the phone into the ultimate festival survival kit.

Whether it’s ‘glamping’ (glamorous camping) or camping at V-Fest or Bestival, music lovers can transform their mobiles, choosing from hundreds of weird and wonderful apps that work on any mobile platform (such as Android, Blackberry, Symbian among others) and handsets – not just iPhones – and suit every festival-goers’ needs.

During those early mornings before the music starts, festival-goers can download apps to surf the web to catch up on last minute festival news, or check out the weather forecast to see if it’s a day to get out the high-factor sunscreen or the waterproof ponchos. When darkness arrives, avoid the risk of ending up in a random-strangers tent or falling down a rabbit hole, with an app that turns mobile phones into a handy torch.

GetJar, the world’s second largest mobile apps store next to Apple, has put together a top five list of the best festival apps, to keep party-goers smiling, come wind, rain or shine during this summer’s festivals:

1) MobileTorch – turns your mobile into a torch to help light the way back to your tent
2) ForecaWeather – check what the weather’s going to be like so you know whether to take the brolly or shades
3) Shazam – Identify that wicked festival tune by simply holding your phone towards the music and selecting ‘Tag Now’
4) Google Maps with Latitude – map where you are and find out where your friends are too
5) PhotoBucket – share your festival pictures, as they happen, with your mates