So what is 4G anyway

In short, 4G, or the Forth Generation of Cellular Communications is the next step in mobile data evolution.

The main benefits of this new whiz bang technology will be that you can do things faster, receive more media and work far harder on a compatible mobile device. Ed Richards, the top man at Ofcom said:

"4G offers much better data services and therefore all the kind of things you can get on broadband at home or in your office that you aspire to do through your smartphone or tablet computer and so forth, that is exactly what 4G services will enable"

So what's the time scale for both the UK networks and handset manufacturers to have a product in place on a system works? Well, don't rush out to buy a 4G supported smartphone just yet as by the time it will work 100%, you'll already be on your next handset upgrade. All UK networks will bid next year (2012) for the license to offer 4G which, like a decade ago with 3G, will involve crazy sums of cash. 2013 is our confident guess so sit back and enjoy your 3G speeds up until then, safe in the knowledge that they're faster than 2G and your only paying for the data used and not the time spent on the network.

Beam me up!

Nokia/Microsoft Partnership - What do we want!

Speculate all you want - the Nokia - Microsoft partnership is a good thing for the mobile phone industry.

It was sad to see such a manufacturer heavyweight like Nokia stubble to its knees over the past 3 years with bombed smartphone products and glitchy, substandard operating systems. It wasn't always the case because Nokia had led the field for such a long time with well made, easy to use mobile phones but they just couldn't cut the mustard with the new kid operating systems in town aka Apple, Android, BlackBerry and Windows Mobile (to a certain extent).

So what do we, the end user want from this partnership?

Nokia's world class, durable, well designed and built handsets with Windows Phone 7 operating system with plenty of free applications but most importantly at a reasonable cost with no pointless million megapixel camera's and features that we would just never use.... oh and a battery which will last more than a day!

Too much to ask?

If the partnership is to succeed then they should focus on the mid range handsets and build device(s) which everyone loves. High end devices are now plentiful and that market is crammed.

Lets see what they offer in the up and coming months

Orange & T-Mobile share their network

Did you know that Orange and T-Mobile customers can now share both networks' signal to boost their chances of getting reception!

The obvious benefit of this is to allow 29+ million customers across both bases to use their phones more often where before there may have been signal issues.

The two networks merged back in 2009 and began to allow dual access in October last year. All customers had to opt-in initially to use both signals.

But from the beginning of February, users started to receive text messages telling them they would automatically get access to reception from both.

If you're an Orange or T-Mobile customer you will only get automatic access to both networks once you receive the text.

If you haven't received your text and you are either an Orange or T-Mobile customer then visit the following appropriate website,

Orange

T-Mobile

Does this service cost anything? Not at all and your existing allowance will still be used. Treat this like roaming whilst abroad but in this case you're roaming whilst on home turf

For all of the online business offers for mobile phones visit www.OnlineBusinessMobiles.com

Nokia/Microsoft Partnership Press Release

Open Letter from CEO Stephen Elop, Nokia and CEO Steve Ballmer, Microsoft

By Stephen Elop and Steve Ballmer posted on the 11th of February 2011 at 7:30AM

GLOBAL – Today in London, our two companies announced plans for a broad strategic partnership that combines the respective strengths of our companies and builds a new global mobile ecosystem. The partnership increases our scale, which will result in significant benefits for consumers, developers, mobile operators and businesses around the world. We both are incredibly excited about the journey we are on together.

While the specific details of the deal are being worked out, here’s a quick summary of what we are working towards:

• Nokia will adopt Windows Phone as its primary smartphone strategy, innovating on top of the platform in areas such as imaging, where Nokia is a market leader.

• Nokia will help drive and define the future of Windows Phone. Nokia will contribute its expertise on hardware design, language support, and help bring Windows Phone to a larger range of price points, market segments and geographies.

• Nokia and Microsoft will closely collaborate on development, joint marketing initiatives and a shared development roadmap to align on the future evolution of mobile products.

• Bing will power Nokia’s search services across Nokia devices and services, giving customers access to Bing’s next generation search capabilities. Microsoft adCenter will provide search advertising services on Nokia’s line of devices and services.

• Nokia Maps will be a core part of Microsoft’s mapping services. For example, Maps would be integrated with Microsoft’s Bing search engine and adCenter advertising platform to form a unique local search and advertising experience.

• Nokia’s extensive operator billing agreements will make it easier for consumers to purchase Nokia Windows Phone services in countries where credit-card use is low.

• Microsoft development tools will be used to create applications to run on Nokia Windows Phones, allowing developers to easily leverage the ecosystem’s global reach.

• Microsoft will continue to invest in the development of Windows Phone and cloud services so customers can do more with their phone, across their work and personal lives.

• Nokia’s content and application store will be integrated with Microsoft Marketplace for a more compelling consumer experience.

We each bring incredible assets to the table. Nokia’s history of innovation in the hardware space, global hardware scale, strong history of intellectual property creation and navigation assets are second to none. Microsoft is a leader in software and services; the company’s incredible expertise in platform creation forms the opportunity for its billions of customers and millions of partners to get more out of their devices.

Together, we have some of the world’s most admired brands, including Windows, Office, Bing, Xbox Live, NAVTEQ and Nokia. We also have a shared understanding of what it takes to build and sustain a mobile ecosystem, which includes the entire experience from the device to the software to the applications, services and the marketplace.

Today, the battle is moving from one of mobile devices to one of mobile ecosystems, and our strengths here are complementary. Ecosystems thrive when they reach scale, when they are fueled by energy and innovation and when they provide benefits and value to each person or company who participates. This is what we are creating; this is our vision; this is the work we are driving from this day forward.

There are other mobile ecosystems. We will disrupt them.

There will be challenges. We will overcome them.

Success requires speed. We will be swift.

Together, we see the opportunity, and we have the will, the resources and the drive to succeed.

Nokia C6 - mini review

Touch screen devices are good but sometimes a physical keyboard is required for the longer messages. The Nokia C6 will suit you if you need to do plenty of emailing when you’re away from your PC. It gives you quick access to all the main email accounts like Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo! Mail and Windows Live. And with a large QWERTY keyboard at your disposal, you’ll find typing out your message is a piece of cake.

Personalising your business mobile phone with different, useful applications is important. Ovi is the name for Nokia’s wide range of internet services. You can use these to make sure the Nokia C6 does what you want, how you want. With Ovi services, you get access to all kinds of content that’s exclusively for Nokia users. You can download apps that make sure you’re up-to-date with the latest news, sport and weather. Or apps for the games you love to play. And it’s easy to change your C6’s wallpaper to show the image you choose – it might even be one you’ve taken with the C6’s 5 megapixel camera.

Nokia Maps is built-in to the Nokia C6. It gives you turn-by-turn directions that help you reach your destination quickly and safely. That’s great news if you’re running late for an important client meeting. Or if it’s pitch dark, pouring with rain and you’re desperately trying to find the venue of your business networking doo. The C6 also gives you detailed guides to lots of cities in the UK and overseas.

Use our OnlineBusinessMobile.com comparison website to find the latest business deals for the Nokia C6

Google Nexus S - mini review

Here we announce Google’s latest smart phone handset, manufactured by Samsung, the ‘Nexus S'.

It is the first mobile phone to run on the latest Android 2.3 ‘Gingerbread’ Operating System. The operating system promises to take Nexus S one step ahead of other phones in its class. The Google Nexus S Smartphone will definitely prove hard competitor to other smart phones in the market with its host of multimedia features.

The Google Nexus S includes a 4 inch Super AMOLED capacitive touch screen with a resolution of 400 x 800. The curved glass display of handset has over 16 million vibrant colours. The device is made of black coloured curved case with a sleeker design compared to the earlier Nexus One offer. The Nexus S is thin with dimensions of 63mm x 124mm x 11mm and weighing only 129g. The phone comes with touch-sensitive controls and an improved user interface with an on-screen QWERTY keypad that enables users to enter the text significantly faster than previous Android phones.

The latest Android 2.3 ‘Gingerbread’ Operating System is installed in Samsung Google Nexus S Smartphone. The mobile phone enables you to handle multiple applications simultaneously With the help of the 1 GHz Hummingbird processor and the battery life is also good. The mobile phone boasts a 5 MP camera that comes with auto focus and LED flash. The phone also offers you a front-facing VGA camera as well as the back-facing one. The Nexus S is also equipped with the latest Near Field Communication (NFC) software making contactless payment a reality.

Samsung Nexus S also comes equipped with Google’s noise cancellation software, which when combined with audio software, drastically reduces the background noise, so that you hear crystal clear voice of the person over the phone. The GPRS-enabled phone promises to offer you wonderful internet browsing experience. It also offers you Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity. The Android phone comes with a whopping 16 GB internal memory, with 512 MB RAM. However, it doesn’t have scope for expanding the memory, as it doesn’t provide you an additional memory card. Nonetheless, you can store practically unlimited entries in the phonebook, in its gigantic internal memory.

Nokia partnership Microsoft's Windows Phone 7

Microsoft and Nokia are in talks regarding a partnership which could catapult both companies back in to the smart phone game which they have lost ground in recently due to Apple and Google's success.

The CEO of Nokia, Stephen Elop, (who at one point worked for Microsoft) has been talking to CEO of Microsoft, Steve Ballmer, about running Windows Phone 7, the computer giants latest mobile operating system, on their handsets.

Similar talks where held not so long back with Google's CEO, Eric Schmidt however no agreement was reached so an Anroid/Nokia partnership is non existent for the moment.

On February 11, Nokia will be holding an event where they will unveil the new strategy for the future of the company - Will they announce the Windows Phone 7 partnership then???