Step-up seen in demand for touchscreen mobile phones

Touchscreen – Hard to imagine a high-end mobile phone without one, huh? Gone are the days of tiny black and white screens with unresponsive buttons that gave in under our messaging demands. Touchscreens that give the sense of touch a whole new dimension are ruling the roost of the world of mobile phones in the present times and it is needless to say that there has been a strong consumer demand for mobile phones with touch-sensitive screens.

The Independent reports that the sales of mobile phones with integrated touchscreen interfaces are expected to increase by a massive 97% this year. It is also reported that by the year 2013, over 80% of handsets sold in the markets of developed countries such as Western Europe and North America will be those with touchscreens. According to Information technology research and advisory firm Gartner, 2010 will be a crucial year for touchscreen innovation in mobile phones. The firm also said that  touchscreen technology will also thrive across a wide range of consumer electronics products apart from mobile phones.

How recycling of mobile phones can save endangered Mountain Gorillas

Did you know that recycling of your mobile phones can help save the endangered Mountain Gorillas of Congo? Mobile Phones contain Columbite–tantalite, a dull black mineral most of which is extracted from Congo, the homeland of these black-haired gorillas. Since the extraction fields are far from any human inhabitation, miners tend to hunt down the gorillas for “Bush Meat”, the result of which the Mountain Gorilla population is facing extinction. Also, erosion of the areas has lead to severe pollution  of the surrounding lakes and rivers, disrupting the food chain.

An estimated one million tons of bush meat is consumed every year, not to mention large scale deforestation. Rboffers, a UK discount offers site has started a drive to save the Mountain Gorillas of Congo by urging its customers to recycle mobile phones, which can reduce the consumption of coltan.

Facebook Zero: New Trim and Slim Facebook for Mobile Phone Users

Facebook, the world’s biggest social networking website has announced the details of a new text-only version of it, exclusively for mobile phones at Mobile World Congress 2010 yesterday. Dubbed as Facebook Zero, this low-bandwidth site aims at those who gain access to Facebook on mobile handsets.

Ready to launch in the coming weeks, Facebook Zero is likely to become a blessing for the mobile operators, who are under strain due to the over-burdened bandwidths. This new site will omit any data intensive application including photographs.

A recent GSMA report revealed the alarming number of Facebook usage on mobile phones, around 2.2 billion minutes in December 2009 alone. Besides, the Facebook themselves said that they have around 100 million users, who access Facebook through mobile phones. Facebook Zero is likely to increase these figures further.

Facebook has another slimmed down version called Facebook Lite, for people with poor internet connections. However, this was made exclusively for developing nations. Facebook Zero is said to be an even more lighter version than Facebook Lite.

Samsung Wave Smartphone: The First Samsung Bada Phone Unleashed

Samsung has unleashed its first mobile handset that runs on new Bada operating system at the Mobile World Congress 2010. Dubbed as Samsung Wave S8500 Smartphone, this mobile phone seems to be a real game changer, featuring some of the strongest specifications existing in the technology. It has 1GHz processor, 720 pixels video capabilities, hi-tech AMOLED screen and many more to boast of.

However, the major highlight of Samsung Wave is its new operating system, Samsung Bada. Currently, Bada is available only on Wave and stays as a Samsung-only platform. It has many wonderful options for third party developers. This operating system employs Dolfin web browser, TouchWiz 3.0 user interface, social networking website updates and Microsoft Exchange. Certain queries related to the support for another smartphone OS and API do exist about Bada, but let us wait for its release to know more.

The next highlight, the Super AMOLED display of Samsung Wave that measures 3.3 inches, is claimed to be brighter, clearer and less reflective than the normal AMOLED screens currently used in mobile phones. It resists fingerprints as well. The support for bluetooth and Wi-Fi 802.11 is another exciting feature found in this Samsung mobile phone.

Other features appear to include in Samsung Wave S8500 Mobile Phone are 5 mega pixels camera, DivX, Xvid support, 3.5mm headset jack and so on. This latest mobile phone measures just 4.6 inches high, 2.2 inches wide and 0.43 inches thick.

Reportedly, Samsung Wave is evaluated as a strong Apple iPhone competitor. It will be released in April, but the price stays veiled.

UK Government Determined to Fight Mobile Phone Crimes

On the verge of increasing mobile phone crimes, UK Government has implored the mobile phone companies to come out with new innovations that can beat off people from theft.

According to the figures, an alarming rate of 228 mobile phones are being stolen from UK every hour. It is also reported that a lot of children have been attacked for their mobile phones, and most parents in UK are concerned about the safety of their children.

“Beyond making profits, mobile phone manufacturers have a social and corporate responsibility to  tackle mobile phone crimes.”, says Alan Campbell, Minister of Crime Prevention. “Besides, this is a good opportunity for UK to promote a new technology worldwide.”, he adds.

Mr. Campbell pointed out how the innovations in car industry, such as immobilisers has helped in the reduction of car theft. Decisively, he believes that a new technology can effectively reduce the mobile phone theft, which has become a social menace of the present days.

Michael O’Hara, a dignitary from GSMA says that the body welcomes any kind of innovations that can defend mobile phone crimes.

The requests from the Government came immediately after the Home Office announced the winners for designs in crime prevention contest.

The three winning designs include an ‘I-migo mobile phone alarm‘ that wails when the mobile phone moves ten metres away from its owner, a ‘Tie‘ solution that protects the data stored on the mobile phone, by electronically matching a handset to a SIM card, and a  ‘TouchSafe‘ that aims at making the mobile phone transactions (M-Commerce) more secure. These winning designs will be showcased during the Mobile World Congress 2010, at Barcelona from 15th -18th February.

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