The Register has a really good analysis on how apple came late to the mobile phone market but in doing so completely rewrote how manufacturers and networks work together.

Really liking the look of the new Nokia N97 scheduled for release in the 2nd quarter of 2009. The full keyboard will make it a blackberry squasher and with all of the iphone-like features, Nokia will hope this one regains some market share for them.

One of the things I see really frequently online is people advertising free ringtones, 100% free ringtones and similar attractive propositions. In almost every case though it is just a con to get the mobile phone user to sign up to a ringtone subscription service costing £12 or more every month. The instructions to unsubscribe are given at the time of signing up but I bet they are never confirmed by writing or email to the hapless user. These free ringtones deals are nothing of the sort and are simply a misleading way to rip off money from predominantly young and unsuspecting mobile users. There are so many people out there looking for free ringtones that even once they have ripped off money from one user, another will step in to take his place in the elusive search for a truly free rintone. In my view it’s criminal and should be stopped.

Another offering from Sony Ericsson, the W810i combines a whole bunch of technology in one neat little package. The W810i might appear like a miniature brick compared to similar spec Motorola phones but it is definitely worth a look.
The Sony Ericsson W810i boasts these features:
* 2 Megapixel Camera
* Video Player
* Java
* FM Radio
* Image Viewer
* Picture Editor
* Organiser
* Voice Memo
* SyncML
* Built-in Handsfree
There are a lot of other phones with similar but the W810i has a torch too!
Here are a couple of Sony Ericsson W810i reviews:
Sony Ericsson W810i Review at Mobile-Review.com
Sony Ericsson W810i Review at ZD Net

The Nokia 6280 is another slide open design from Nokia. The 6280 has a 2 MP camera which brings it in-line with many other phones on the market. The 84 MB internal memory in the 6280 is impressive, but the support for Mini SD memory helps you boost it much further. Thanks to being able to extend the memory makes the Nokia 6280 a pretty useful MP3 player too.

Nokia 6280 Features:

• Nokia 6280 slide-open case
• Two-way video calling capability due to the way the camera is sited
• Two integrated digital cameras: 2 megapixel and VGA - one for video calling one for decent shots
• Nokia High-resolution 262K colour display
• Multimedia player
• E-mail client supports SMTP POP3 IMAP4
• Nokia Xpress audio messaging
• Bluetoothâ„¢

Nokia 6280 Reviews:
Read the Nokia 6280 review at Mobile Phones UK
View the Nokia 6280 review at 3G.co.uk

Buy the Nokia 6280
Order the Nokia 6280 free here.

The Nokia 6111 phone has been around for a little while now, so why include it here? Well in my view it’s everything a phone should be. The Nokia 6111 has ease of use comparable to all Nokia’s. The 6111 has a protected keypad with the slide opening thing. The Nokia 6111 is compact but fits easily in your hand, and finally it’s got just enough of a camera to take the odd snapshot, but not enough to fool you into thinking your a photographer or something. Overall reviews of the quality of the Nokia 6111 are not good though - hopefully this was just teething problems.

Read the Nokia 6111 review at Mobile-review.com
Read the review of the Nokia 6111 at Mobile Phones UK (contains all those faulty 6111 quality issues)

Verizon’s release of the Motorola Razr V3m for around USD70 has created some great reviews. A 1 GB memory card will give the V3m enough memory to store a lot of songs. Hopefully it will be available in the UK soon.
In the meantime, CNN net reviews the Motorola V3m:

The Motorola Razr V3m adds an integrated music player, VZ Navigator (Verizon’s GPS navigation service), and a Micro SD card slot. Like the V3c, it has a 1.3-megapixel camera, Bluetooth, a speakerphone, EV-DO support, and access to Verizon’s 3G service.

and InfosyncWorld reviews the Motorola V3m like this:

The RAZR V3m improves on the sleek, eye-catching looks of its wildly-popular by adding much-needed microSD memory expansion…

The Register has an article on how it is a bad idea to use a mobile phone during a thunderstorm.
Apparently if you are hit by lightning normally there is a good chance that the charge will carry to the ground on the outside of your skin unless you give it an access point into your body by holding something metal against your ear for instance.
Sadly the article comes because of a girl hit by lightning whilst using her mobile phone.

This is an article from the BBC about how mobile phones are a catalyst in us being less punctual and displaying our rudeness. I agree entirely with it.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/5128394.stm

One of the gadgets that came with the Motorola V3 I received last month was a USB cable and some software called Motorola Phone Tools. Initially I was using it to transfer photos to my PC but then came across a ringtone feature in the software. This lets you take MP3’s that you’ve got stored in your computer and edit them down to a ringtone then transfer them to your phone. It works really easily and thanks to this I’ve now got free ringtones for my Motorola V3.
The Ringtone generator allows you to take a sippet from the song you want so that you are not filling your phone’s memory with the entire file. The transfer takes just a few seconds and I doubt I’ll ever pay for a ringtone again. Free Motorola ringtones - superb.