In a match made in geeky heaven, ARM (the people behind the processor currently found in your , etc.) have combined a Motorola Droid (or in the Queen’s English) with a Lego Mindstorms kit to solve that 80’s favourite, the Rubik’s Cube. As if that’s not impressive enough on its own, the Android powered Droid manages to solve the popular puzzle cube in an eye watering 24.02 seconds! We could try to explain the intricate ins and outs of this exceptional publicity piece from ARM but chances are you’ve already clicked on the video below. If not, what are you waiting for?
UPDATE: For reasons beyond us, the original video has been removed. The below shows the same Lego Mindstorms rig using a laptop to solve a Rubik’s Cube. Just use your imagination to replace the laptop with a Motorola Droid (Milestone) and you’ll get the idea…
Frequent readers of the will know that every once in a while, we like to check out what’s going on in the realms of ultra luxurious and super exclusive (or ridiculously overpriced, to put it another way) . From the stunning series to the , there’s something to satisfy even the most discerning billionaire playboys out there. Unless, you actually want your mobile phone to do something other than just sit there looking pretty.
You see, as exquisitely luxurious as these pieces of design are, as mobile phones, they’re more than just a little bit rubbish. While they may be draped in Gold and encrusted with stunning jewels, on the inside we typically find dumb-phone operating systems, sub-par cameras and an all round general lack of features. But what if you want the best of both worlds? Enter The Chairman.
No, this isn’t some aging wrestler, the Chairman, made by Swiss watchmaker Ulysse Nardin, initially looks like any ordinary . Made from either stainless steel or pink gold and in various colours (all of which will be limited to a run of 1846, the year the company was founded), the Chairman will definitely stand out next to your friends . On the reverse of the phone, the Chairman displays its heritage with a watch-like kinetic rotor that can be wound to charge the battery.
In breaking from the norm though, the Chairman pairs the lavish design with a stunning feature set that would fit comfortably in any high end mobile phone. Gone is the dumb-phone operating system and in its place we find Google’s operating system paired with a 3.2 inch capacitive display (with multi-touch) AND alphanumeric keypad. Not a bad start and we’re not finished yet.
The Chairman also includes a fingerprint reader for locking the device, an (putting it on a par with the recently released ), 32GB(!) internal memory, playback, 3G connectivity, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and a USB port. The box contents are to a similarly high standard with Ulysse Nardin adding in Bluetooth Wireless speakers and a swish wooden dock for charging and backing up data on an external USB drive (also included).
Quite simply, if you stripped away the flash design and luxury materials, the Chairman would still be an excellent . Quite a departure from the normal style over substance rubbish we’re used to. All this doesn’t come cheap though with prices ranging from $12,800 to $49,500 (roughly between ?8200 and ?32,000) but then, if you have to ask, you probably can’t afford it. Oh, and if you’re reading this Mr Abramovich, the Ulysse Nardin Chairman is set to start shipping in around a months time.
We’ve seen HDTV’s that are capable of running internet widgets before. We’ve also seen the smartphone operating system make the jump to larger personal multimedia players (PMP) and netbooks. But what about an HDTV running Google’s Android operating system? Surely too good to be true right? Well, not if a little known Swedish electronics company has anything to say on the matter.
People of Lava (yes, that really is the companies name) have revealed an Android based HDTV (which the company are dubbing a world first) going under the product name of Scandinavia. Bizzare names aside, this 42 inch 1080p HD TV will boast internet connectivity and come pre-loaded with Android widgets on board including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Google Maps as well as a full web browser. The Android ready HDTV is set to launch later this year and is expected to seel for around ?2000 when it launches.
If you’re finding it a little hard to justify stumping up the best part of ?2000 for a new telly but still want to enjoy a summer of sport (including the FIFA World Cup!) in glorious HD, check out our fantastic range of with a ; the Samsung LE32B450. This LCD Samsung TV boasts a stunning design and picture quality to match and comes loaded with extras, from a built in Freeview tuner to 3 HDMI ports and Samsung’s Wide Colour Enhancer engine making for an incredible visual experience. Best of all, this incredible Samsung 32″ HDTV (RRP ?329.99) can be picked up absolutely free with a free phone for as little as ?25 per month. to check out some of our fantastic offers with a free 32″ Samsung HDTV.
Ok, so if you didn’t happen to catch the , chances are the title doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. Well, to kick off the annual Open, the events sponsors (yep you guessed it, ) planned a special exhibition match pitting two celebrity/ pro mixed doubles teams against each other.
The match, held in Miami, saw double platinum selling musician Jay Sean paired up with Ana Ivanovic to face off against former Spice Girl Mel B who had the good fortune of being paired with World no.2 Novak Djokovic for exhibition match of epic proportions. The winners? Well, let’s just say it wasn’t a good day for the Girl Power movement.
Yes Jay Sean and Ana Ivanovic proved too much for Scary Spice and Novak Djokovic, edging out their opponents in a thoroughly entertaining match. Speaking after the match Jay Sean said “I couldn’t have asked for a better partner than Ana - we gave as good as we got and hit some impressive shots at Mel and Novak.” Scary Spice Mel B added “Playing in this match was an amazing experience, as not only am I really competitive when it comes to sport, but I had the chance to play with Novak, who is undoubtedly one of the best players in the world right now.”
World no.2 Novak Djokovic had the last word on the match, commenting “I found it very exciting to play with Mel B and Jay Sean, and I think tennis needs more of these exhibition matches that bring celebrities to our sport.” To check out highlights from the match, hit the play button below.
have bagged the runner up prize and were commended in the Online Retailer category at this years Mobile News Awards. The prestigious awards event, held at the lavish Park Lane Hilton in London on Thursday night, is one of the biggest nights on the mobile industries calendar and all the top players were out in force hoping to get their hands on one of the awards on offer.
The awards, which are split into several categories, were hosted by one of the biggest names in UK comedy; Michael Mcintyre, to give the event some much needed A-list appeal. Of the 20 awards up for grabs, the highlights were best network which was picked up by , just pipping and to the post, and best manufacturer which went to who just edged out manufacturers RIM and .
With HTC having recently gone through a vigorous campaign to drive brand awareness with online and TV advertising promoting their and set to launch what is easily an early contender for phone of the year, the , it seems HTC are going from strength to strength and very deserving of their title.
With Mobiles.co.uk commended and awarded the runners-up prize in the hotly contested best online retailer category, here’s hoping we can push on and claim the top prize at the 2011 Mobile News Awards!
Microsoft have unveiled the first advertising campaign to support their exciting new operating system . The ad (which you can check out below) helps portray the ease and versatility of the new Windows Phone 7 range quite nicely, showing us how we’ll be using our Windows Phones for every day life. The commercial, which was unveiled at Microsoft MIX 10 event (a 3 day conference for web designers and developers), works well to show the more family friendly side of the new Windows Mobile. We won’t go into too much detail, it’s worth a watch, but it’s definitely a vast improvement over the Windows Mobile 6.5 campaign which saw a man lugging around life size icons of Microsoft Office applications which only seemed to show how cumbersome the OS was.
One comment we will make (and we’re not making any accusations as these adverts take months to make); the ad does bear a striking resemblance to a recently revamped ad campaign for the which is currently airing stateside. It seems showing off the user friendliness of an operating system is the flavour of the month for most manufacturers these days.
What do you get when you pair two global superstars from the music and entertainment industry with two of the worlds top professional tennis players? One hell of a good mixed doubles celebrity tennis match, that’s what.
That’s right, Tuesday the 23rd of March will see a celebrity/ pro face off of epic proportions over in Miami when Mel B of Spice Girls fame pairs up with World Number 2 Novak Djokovic to take on double platinum selling musician Jay Sean and former World Number 1 Maria Sharapova. The exhibition match will mark the opening of this years Open, one of the premier ATP World Tour events with the current holder of the men’s title none other than our very own Andy Murray.
caught up with the stars who will be kicking off this years tournament with an exciting exhibition match to reveal the pros they would be pairing up with for the match. Check out the video below for a sneak peak of what we can expect on court and be sure to check back on the after the 23rd for all the highlights.
Poor old , despite being ubiquitous with cutting edge technology, it seems people are queuing up to have a dig at Job’s and Co. It’s not only their products that seem to be the butt of many a joke, but also their marketing and advertising that people seem to find perfect parody fodder. Cast your minds back to December and you’ll remember the comical send up of the adverts. And now, it’s the turn of Channel 4’s comedy off-shoot E4, who have decided to playfully poke fun at the upcoming Apple iPad. We won’t spoil it for you, check out the video below to see for yourself (and check out the to see just how well it has been parodied). Well, they say imitation is a form of flattery so i guess Apple should be flattered by the raft of send ups that have surfaced in recent months. I wouldn’t bet on it though…
A new exhibition has opened at London’s Heathrow airport this week, showcasing photographer Henry Reichhold’s latest work. Running in Terminal 5’s Expo area until May 2010, the exhibition features large panoramic photographs of two of the worlds most famous cities; Dubai and Mumbai. As interesting as all this is, at this point you may be wondering what exactly this is doing on the pages of a mobile phone blog. Well, rather than opting for a dedicated digital camera, Henry instead decided that a would be more than up to the job. The in question? Well, that’ll be Nokia’s 8.0 Megapixel N86.
That’s right, eschewing large cameras and lenses for a completely standard N86, the installation boasts over 90 images taken with flagship camera phone. Taken over the course of eight days in November 2009, the images were created by stitching several separate shots together contrasting the slums ob Mumbai with the fabulous wealth of Dubai.
Speaking about the exhibition, Henry commented “The Nokia N86 Explore exhibition visually maps the polar opposites of two of the world’s most extreme urban dwellings: Dubai is a showcase of extraordinary wealth, development and architecture, whilst Mumbai is an extraordinarily vibrant city driven by the resilience and incredible good nature of its people who live for the most part in poverty. It also goes to show the potential and range of new multimedia communication devices which are able to capture the world in a way never previously thought possible.”
Mark Murphy, operations director at Terminal 5 said, “We’re delighted to welcome Henry Reichhold back to Expo at Heathrow Terminal 5. His photographs not only add a dynamic visual presence to the airport but also challenge preconceptions of what can be achieved with a mobile. It’s very inspiring and certainly encourages us all to celebrate technology and create our very own mobile artworks.”
So, enough chit chat, i’m off to grab an camera phone and a one-way ticket to the far reaches of the globe. And if you can’t wait for my exhibition, be sure to check out Henry Reichhold’s at Heathrow’s Terminal 5 Expo Area before May 2010.
Who says Scandinavians are reserved? have dispensed with taste and modesty to bring us the Nokia N97 Mini Gold edition, a souped up version of their touchscreen QWERTY slider. Whilst on the inside the Gold Edition is a carbon copy of its more frugal counterpart, the outside is a very different affair that is definitely going to get you noticed (laughed at/ mugged) when you pull this thing out in public.
Replacing all metal detailing on the original with 18-carat gold and swapping the black frame for an off-white variant (because regular white is soooo last year), the new Gold Edition will retail for around ?600, quite a premium over the sim free price of ?389 quoted on Nokia’s web site. Still, exclusivity doesn’t come cheap. Personally, i’ll stick to the less garish N97 Mini and pocket the difference thank you very much, but if you feel like advertising the fact that you have a little more money than sense, the Gold Edition will be hitting Nokia’s flagship stores in the next couple of months.