We’ve known the Omnia has been coming for some time - we’ve even seen the Ads in the sunday newspaper today - but what is the total cost of all that marketing and advertising in the UK? Well, according to Mobile News, we now have an answer……

….. and the answer is nearly £5m!

The Omnia has come at somewhat an awkward time, in so much as the established competition (a certain Apple device) is selling like the proverbial ‘hotcakes’, and other newcomers such as the Nokia N96, and Sony Ericsson Xperia are looming on the horizon.

So it would appear Samsung is going to address this by dumping a ton of cash in to making sure that everyone and his mate knows about this device! Oh, and the global marketing campaign is going to hit around £24m, just in case you were wondering.

In the UK at least, Samsung has qualified their spend to say it covers advertising in the press, online, and also outdoor (in ‘the street’ so to speak), but no TV Ads. So I think once it is done, we are all going to be pretty aware of this touch-based smartphone….

I’ve still got to wonder though - does that UI layer that Samsung have added to WinMo really make it competitive with the iPhone’s native UI? Best get myself down the local mobile shop and find out!!

[Via: mobilenewscwp.co.uk]

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Related Articles at IntoMobile:

• The first firmware update for the Samsung SGH-i900 Omnia is ready
• Images: Samsung i900 Omnia vs Apple iPhone
• Samsung Omnia coming to AT&T in Q3?
• Samsung i900 Omnia hitting Germany in August
• Samsung i900 Omnia coming in white?

Anyhoo, just a quick round-up of “prices and devices” on the Nokia UK site right now - check out some keenly priced devices, plus one very interesting pre-order…..

First out of the gate is the E71 - the seriously good-looking emailer device that is going to bring the pressure to the Blackberry Bold. This device is much smaller than it looks, and is retailing online for the princely sum of £330. I’d have one in a hearbeat - ba-dump - oh look, I’ve just clicked on buy on the website!

Moving along swiftly, there are a number of devices that are now established in the marketplace, and hence don’t have such a premium pricetag attached to them any longer. I’d draw your attention to the former top-dog, the N95-8Gb, now retailing at £400. This is one seriously good handset, and to my mind in Top 5 of all-time devices.

But what about that hot pre-order? Well, that would of course be Nokia’s all-singing, all-data-dancing N96. On the UK website at least, it is coming in at an unashamed premium, but certainly not a price that would blow your mind…. how does £535 find you? Could you tolerate that in order to own a device that has universally been praised since pretty much it’s conception?

Part of my point here is to highlight what appears to be Nokia’s very keen pricing in the UK, but also I would imagine, on their other regional sites - it might worth an online trip to your local site to see what goodies they have for purchase. For me, I am getting just a bit excited thinking about the N96……mmmmhhhhhh……16GB of memory, just for me!

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Related Articles at IntoMobile:

• Nokia prices dip
• Best Buy China denies rumour that it will stop selling Nokia phones
• The Nokia Flagship Stores are having a huge sale on Friday
• Inflation drives SMS prices through the roof in Zimbabwe
• Nokia N96 and BBC iPlayer - a match made in heaven!

The 3109 is not the newest device out there, nor the prettiest - but crucially, it’s cheap, and it works very well for the average salesperson - which in turn means that it sells very well to corporates. The fact that there is no camera only really seeks to boost its merit for those more security keen organisations.

Let’s make no mistake - this device is not cutting edge, but the two things it does do very well are voice and text - the buttons are well laid-out and tactile, even for my monster paws. Call quality is also great, thanks to a nice loud speaker. Actually, I’d argue there is another weapon in the 3109 armoury - the battery. This is a 1000+ mAh battery, which means that given there is very little in the way of data-apps or 3G radios to drain it, it really does last forever. I had a full bar days after charging!

So what am I saying? Well, if you wanted a clear, easy to use, good quality device for not-much-money, this is a real contender - the thing is, there are plenty of those type of people, who don’t need to the latest bells and whistles, who would be happy to get this Nokia for around £75 SIM free - and they would be on to a winner!

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Related Articles at IntoMobile:

• Back to basics: Nokia announces 3109 classic
• Nokia 8600, 3109 Classic information is up
• Nokia 3109 Classic information is up
• Follow up: Nokia 8800 Arte “lived in” review
• New Nokia phones are coming: 6263, 6555 and 7500

Few days ago, Samsung has announced the “European wide market availability” of its iPhone-killin’ i900 Omnia smartphone. Currently, the all-touchscreen device is available in Italy, Netherlands, and Germany; and will be available in most of European countries including UK, France, Spain from September.

And that’s about all we have from the Samsung’s release. In the rest of the text they’re talking how Europeans crave for multimedia features on their mobile phones and even provide data to prove it…

Here’s the link to the full release if you care to know more.

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Related Articles at IntoMobile:

• Samsung i900 Omnia hitting Germany in August
• Images: Samsung i900 Omnia vs Apple iPhone
• The first firmware update for the Samsung SGH-i900 Omnia is ready
• Samsung i900 Omnia coming in white?
• Hands-on Samsung Omnia i900

A new LG device has been spotted at the FCC’s website. The “VC” prefix clearly suggests we’re going to see this baby hitting the Verizon’s portfolio, and from what we can tell it will be an interesting phone, especially for the youth.

Not much is known at this stage, however we do see a presence of 3-inch 480×240 screen, a “game pad” of some sort and a detachable QWERTY keyboard. Is Verizon about to introduce a heavy texter’s dream phone or what? Plus, let’s not forget all the games you’ll be able to play on that gorgeous screen. We’re watching this one, have no doubt about it…

[Via: Engadget Mobile]

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Related Articles at IntoMobile:

• Motorola VU30 spotted for Verizon
• MOTORIZR Z6tv MediaFLO phone spotted in the FCC listings; Heading to Verizon?
• Nokia 3555 spotted on FCC; Heading to AT&T AND T-Mobile
• Verizon product roadmap leaked - 5 new handsets for August
• Sony Ericsson K530c spotted on FCC; Heading to AT&T or China?

1) Download and install FExplorer
2) Navigate to C:\ or any other drive depending on where you have chosen to save the SMS messages and browse to the System\Mail folder
3) Here you will find different folders such as 0010001_s, 00100001_s, etc which in turn will contain certain files such as 00100000, 00001000, etc. These are the actual deleted messages.
4) To view the contents of a message, open the file with the built-in Hex/Text Viewer of FExplorer by going to Options—>File—>Hex/Text Viewer.

5) Now you can save this file for future reference to a secure location on your mobile phone or alternatively, transfer it to your desktop computer via PC Suite.

Note: You will have to manually go through the contents of each file in order to find what you are looking for.

Well it seems it is a revolutionary bit of kit.

In short the Sony Reader eBook PRS-505 is an electronic book with a very clever screen that is not backlight, and is really thin so it feels a bit like a book and you need light to read from it.  Its internal memory will allow up to 160 ebooks to be stored whilst memory card slots allow for even more expansion.  With an impressive battery life, the Reader will allow for 6,800 page turns.

Our friends at Clove Technology expect to have the Sony Reader eBook PRS-505  in stock this coming week.

Overview of Sony Reader eBook PRS-505:

Experience the joy of reading your favorite books-all stored digitally in one compact mobile device. The slimmer, redesigned Reader eBook lets you carry a stack of books in one hand.

The Sony Reader eBook holds about 160 eBooks or hundreds more with optional removable memory cards.

Smaller than a typical paperback, 8mm thick and very light: it's a stylish unit that fits in your coat pocket. Its portable size makes it the perfect travel companion; allowing you to read a variety of books whenever and wherever you want. Its long battery life lasts up to 6,800 continuous page turns, and the amazing paper-like screen technology is easy on the eyes.

A perfect companion, with a compact and lightweight design, you can take it almost anywhere and read your books whenever and wherever you want.

More compact than many paperbacks, it weighs about 9 ounces (without cover), is 1/3" thin. You can easily hold it in one hand.

The Reader eBook provides a new way to experience reading. It boasts an impressive 6-inch display, utilising a breakthrough E Ink technology that's almost paper-like, making it easy to read, even in bright sunshine. In addition, the screen allows for high contrast and high resolution, with a near 180º viewing angle. The text can also be magnified for sight-impaired readers.

The Sony Reader eBook isn't just about reading eBooks. Using the included eBook Library 2.0 PC Software, you can easily transfer Adobe PDF documents, Microsoft Word documents, BBeB Book, and other text file formats to the Reader, allowing you the flexibility to access and view multiple files at any time.

Features of Sony Reader eBook PRS-505

• Easy to use menu and simple, intuitive controls

• Add bookmarks, read page-by-page or "fast forward" through the book

• Automatically find the page you were last reading.

• Call up your stored books quickly: by author, title or date

• MemoryStick  DUO and SD Card slots allow you to optionally increase capacity up to approximately 13000 titles!

• Very low power consumption

• Can be fully charged in only 4 hours from a laptop or PC via supplied USB cable.

• Uses the EPUB standard - the most widely used eBook type.

• Use with headphones to listen to music while you read (MP3 or AAC files).

• All necessary software (eBook Library) plus quick start instructions supplied. Full user guide is included on PDF.

• Complete with soft tan case

What’s in the box of Sony Reader eBook PRS-505?

• Sony Reader eBook PRS-505

• Soft cover Tan, man made

• USB Cable 

• Quick Start guide

• eBook Library software

• User Guides (PDF)

Sony Reader eBook PRS-505 specification:

Display Screen

Technology - E Ink® "Electronic Paper"

Screen size (inch) - 6

Resolution - 170 pixels per inch

Grey scale - 8-level grey scale

Storage Capacity

Built in flash memory (MB) - 192 (Approx. 160 eBooks)

MemoryStick™ MS DUO slot - YES (Approx. 13000 from 16GB Stick)

SD Card Slot - YES

Power

Battery Type - Rechargeable lithium-ion

Battery Life (reading EPUB eBooks) - Approx 6800 page turns

Recharging Time - Four hours with USB, Two hours with optional AC charger

Compatible Formats

Unsecured / free eBooks & text files - EPUB eBook, BBeB Book, Adobe® PDF, Microsoft® Word, TXT, RTF

DRM (Secure / purchased) eBooks and text files - EPUB eBooks (Adept) BBeB eBooks (Marlin)

Unsecured Audio files - mp3, AAC (not most DRM audio)

Image & Photo files - JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP

General data

Width (mm) - 122

Height (mm) - 175.3

Depth (mm) - 7.6

Weight (g) - 260

Audio Output - 3.5 mm stereo mini-jack (for headphones, etc)

Posted by: Matt

[ Post Tags: Sony Reader eBook PRS-505, ebook, sony, clove technology, gadgets, tracyandmatt.co.uk, tracy & matt ]

Hello Kitty in a DJ booth with a speaker in the base is a pretty cool juxtaposition of dance music and Kitty. She even bops her head back and forth with the music. Plug in your iPod or similar music playing device and observe the cuteness for yourself. If you’re really looking to give in and completely “cute out” we recommend the pink version. Hey, we won’t judge you… we’re already there ourselves.

She will set you back by $24.99 this time round.

Product Page via Gizmodo

• YAHTZEE Adventures
• EA Mini Golf
• Lemonade Tycoon
• Mahjong
• MONOPOLY: Here & Now The World Edition
• SimCity
• Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 09
• Need for Speed Undercover
• The Sims 3

Sounds as thought EA’s going all out to help boost both Apple products’ portfolios as a gaming device. Lemonade Tycoon…now there’s a time-waster.

Source: IntoMobile

Besides HSDPA support in T-Mobile's young 3G network you will get a 2 megapixel camera, built-in music player with stereo Bluetooth and TeleNav navigation. All in all not that bad for the price it comes with.