Mighty Gadget Blog: The latest technology news & reviews in the UK

In the old days pay as you go phones were cheap, cheerful and do everything required out of a phone one would need. They text, they ring. Nowadays, although not packing the super technological goods of an iPhone, HTC Desire or Galaxy S they still do their job and have basic extras. The LG “Cookie Fresh” GS290 is just that. As one of the cheapest touchscreen PAYG phones on the market (from £40ish) you wouldn’t expect too much, but if you want to know more on what we thought of it, then please click on and read our review.

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About a month ago Blackberry unveiled it’s latest phone that would be the first out with the new Blackberry 6 OS. Now we didn’t touch on it at the time but we’re letting you know now due to the fact it’s now got a release date and price for this country and it’s going to be later than Blackberry initially suggested (surprise, surprise).

AS said earlier it’s the first Blackberry release to have it’s all new Blackberry 6 OS. The 3.2” 480x360 touchscreen has a slide out QWERTY keyboard and will also sport 512MB RAM, 4GB of internal storage which can be expanded via MicroSD. There will be Bluetooth connectivity alongside WiFi b/g/n and it will also pack a 5MP camera with flash. Now although the specs aren’t mind-blowing, the phone’s OS should be a big enough draw to it, especially for all the Blackberry fans out there.

Initially Blackberry said it would be weeks after the US release it would reach our shores, sadly it’s now going to be late October. Our friends expansys have the phone up on their website now to pre-order but at a whopping £569.99 it seems quite pricey. Play.com also have the phone listed too, but they’re asking for a much more reasonable £499.99 SIM-free.

We’ve spoken about the Galaxy S quite a lot recently mainly due to the fact it looked great before it came out and all we keep reading from other sources is how great it is since it’s release. Samsung phones in my opinion have always been just “alright” never exceeding the strengths of Nokia of old or the iPhone today, but I’d love to have a go with Samsung’s iPhone killer to see if the hype is worth believing, plus it runs Android and I do love Android. Well Samsung are taking it to what seems to be the new “next level”. Nokia did it with the N97, Sony have done it with the Xperia X10. Take their giant smartphones and well, make them smaller.

The Galaxy Q has pretty much all the same specs as the Galaxy S, bt as nothing is actually truly official we can only let you know what we know. a 3” AMOLED screen still powered with the 1GHz processor and 16GB of storage. the other difference rumour is that the Q will be a “candy bar” phone and operate a full QWERTY keyboard (I’m always a fan of these) plus as it’s not out for a few months on release should have had the Android 2.2 upgrade. Couple all this with an 8MP HD video capable camera and a 1MP camera on the front, it certainly looks to be a decent enough downsize.

Sadly it’s all just rumourage, so no price or exact release date but you’ll be looking towards Christmas for the Galaxy Q.

Acer, famous for laptops and computer parts has today launched it’s brand spanking new Android 2.1 phone and given the exclusive rights to online mobile seller Expansys. If the phone is half as good as it’s laptops you can bet it will do well once the mobile carriers get a hold of it although selling it online, SIM free at the moment might be a risk.

Acer have described its Stream as a “high-end multimedia smartphone” and it delivers in the specs field to compete with the other top smartphones. Underneath the 3.7” AMOLED display is a 1GHz Snapdragon processor and 512MB RAM, running Android 2.1 (2.2 update won’t be far off) Also sporting a 5MP camera capable of 720p video capture and GEO-Tagging, it has Wi-Fi and is only a tiny 11.2mm thin. Couple this with 2GB of internal storage and microSD support there’s plenty of room. Social networking is the theme for the phone with apps pre-installed but also Acer Spinlets. This is a streaming service whereby the user can listen to select songs and post their favourites onto their social networking pages. It also has mp3, AAC, OGG and FLAC support for your tunes and MP4, WMV, DivX and Xvid support for your videos.

Available today on Expansys SIM free for £399.99

While we’re still waiting to see the first Windows Mobile 7 phones on the market but no doubt with the release of them not far off it’s time to see Samsung’s offering, well read a few tit-bits of what has been leaked so far.

Called the Cetus, we know that it will have to meet Microsoft’s strict minimum requirements for to run the OS which we’ll run through

• High end processor : Armv7 Cortex/Scorpion or better
• 256MB RAM
• Capacitive touchscreen
• FM Radio
• accelerometer
• at least a 5MP camera
• at least 8GB of internal storage

Whether the Samsung Cetus will better these we’re unsure as the full specifications of the phone aren’t available yet. What we do know is that it will have a 4” 800x480 AMOLED screen. On top of that it will have a front facing camera aswell as a 5MP camera on the reverse. It will also have Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity with built in GPS and a Micro USB slot.

Sadly that’s all we can offer for now as there’s no images or hardware specs. If any new information comes about we’ll update.

The Samsung Galaxy S hasn’t been with us long but the super 5 star rated blower is apparently getting an update early next year, according to Russian “internets” types. Now rumours are exactly what they are, RUMOURS but apparently the Ruskies are very much on the ball when it comes to Samsung mobile rumours and have gotten it right before. The one thing making this a certified rumour is the specs look amazing, a bit too good to be true. We’ll give you the rundown of what they said anyway, we can certainly hope it’s true.

The Galaxy S certainly packed some great specs but the S2 takes it to the next level. A bigger 4.3” 1280x720 Super AMOLED screen (wow in itself) with 32GB of storage and the ability to add another 32GB from microSD. It will also pack A-GPS, Bluetooth 3.0 and N-standard WiFi. Camera wise you’re looking at 8MP but again the ability to shoot HD video. To tap into the iPhone 4 market it’ll have a similar style accelerometer/gyroscope feature. Now the rumour also states that by the time the phone’s due, next year, this mobile will be running Android OS 3 but also a massive 1GB of RAM.

Again the only thing with rumours is details, and we have none but I’m sure IF we get some more, we’ll pass them on

The Motorola Droid or Milestone as us Brits know it by had quite a good success in this country, but was even more successful in the States. Well the US phone company has now announced the first Milestone family follow up will be due July 15th in the US, in time to rival the now released iPhone 4. One of the main successes for the Milestone/Droid was its Android OS and its slide out keyboard which although wasn’t the most comfortable it worked pretty well. The rumour mill has ground out quite a few chunks of information or photos of dropped protoypes in gym’s etc well now we have an official update for sure.

The Droid/Milestone X doesn’t appear to have the keyboard last time opting for a total touchscreen experience. A 4.3” FWVGA 854×480 screen certainly makes the phone look large, like the Xperia X10 but the body itself is still pretty slim. Powered by a 1GHz processor running the brilliant Android 2.1 upgradeable to 2.2 Froyo later this summer for Flash support) with an all new MotoBlur running over the top. It will also have an 8MP camera with 720p video capture and further media support with an apparent DLNA app and HDMI out.

Unfortunately the release is US only for now but keep an eye out for a UK release.

Sorry for the cheese but it had to be done. Remember the Samsung Beam we spoke about a while back , the first mobile phone to incorporate a projector so one can show their pics and vids onto a wall. Well back then it was just a prototype, now Samsung are unveiling it in Singapore next month so it can’t be too long before we can get our hands on it in Blighty and leave us all with “Beaming” smiles…………

As with the new-wave of Samsung mobiles it’s blasting us with a 3.7” Super AMOLED screen for those super nice rich, bright colours and that wonderful Android OS. Connectivity wise you’re looking at HSDPA, 3G, Wi-Fi and the new Bluetooth 3.0. Packing an 8MP camera for good quality pics, it’ll also shoot HD video, a must for todays top smartphones. Now obviously what makes the Beam stand out is it has a mini projector, capable of 50” wide images at a brightness level of 9 lumens. It’ll also back a-GPS and a built in FM radio.

Obviously we wont have any prices till the networks announce it’s release but I’m glad to see this phone made it past prototype and hopefully will live up to it’s potential.