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Panasonic are back! The Japanese brand has officially announced their plan to release a Panasonic smartphone across the UK and Europe. Though limited details have been announced, we’re excited that the information unveiled so far suggests a high powered smartphone capable of challenging the Samsung Galaxy S2 and iPhone 4S.

Due for release in March 2012, the Panasonic smartphone will boast a stunning 4.3 inch OLED qHD display. Rumoured to have three navigation buttons along the bottom, it offers a similar interface to the Galaxy Nexus. Being a new release on Android, if Panasonic really want to establish themselves as smartphone innovators, expect the handset to be pre-loaded with the latest Android Ice Cream Sandwich. Panasonic’s allegiance to Android will surely boost the dominance of the Android Market further, which recently reported the preferred OS for 52% of smartphone users.

One factor which could potentially leave rival smartphone brands trailing is the camera specification. Panasonic are renowned for their premium Lumix camera range and have previously integrated this technology into a Japanese only Panasonic smartphone release (The Lumix Phone 101 P). The camera for this phone offered 13.2 megapixels, optical zoom and a real camera flash. Though it’s unlikely the new European Panasonic smartphone will be so camera orientated, let’s hope they use some of the technology to produce a great handset.

Stating the upcoming release as “dustproof and waterproof”, Panasonic have understood the need to offer durability and robustness in a high value handset. In addition to these features, images of a prototype model clearly have NFC engraved on the back which is a popular technology in Japan for sharing data and paying for goods with your smartphone.

A UK release of a Panasonic smartphone sounds exciting and should add a new dimension to an already competitive market. The official unveiling of the latest Panasonic smartphone is scheduled for the World Mobile Congress in February.

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Korean electronics manufacturers Samsung have reported end of year mobile phone sales of over 300 million. Comfortably beating last year’s record, Samsung have breezed past their 2010 best of 280 million units.

Part of Samsung’s success can be attributed to the Galaxy S smartphone series. Q3 of the financial year reported Samsung’s first time as the largest selling smartphone manufacturer worldwide, toppling Nokia from their throne. Both the Galaxy S and Galaxy S2, running the widely popular Android OS, are reported to have contributed significantly to the record breaking year.

In addition to the latest technology, Samsung also offer a wide range of budget handsets which all contribute to the record breaking year.

With a Samsung Galaxy S3 release anticipated as early as February 2012, Samsung look to set to steal a head start from the iPhone 5 in the battle of the next generation smartphones.

For our range of Samsung mobiles visit here.

Google have announced this week that the Android Market has reached its ten billionth app download. The popularity of the Android Market appears to be expanding at a phenomenal rate as 70% of total downloads have been obtained in the last 9 months. With no signs of slowing down, it’s expected the Android Market will soon see a regular 1 billion downloads per month; a figure which took 22 months to achieve the first billion.

The success of the Android Market is largely down to the huge availability of manufacturers offering the OS on their smartphones. With 52.5% of smartphone users operating on Android, the Market is accessible to more smartphone users than any other store.

Android still have some way to go before overtaking Apple as the leading app provider. The App Store announced their 15 billionth download in July earlier this year. With no recent announcement of Apples 20 billionth download, it can be implied the Android Market is fast catching App Store and could overtake for the top spot as early as next year.

To celebrate the success of the Android Market, Google have announced they will showcase 10 different apps per day for a bargain 10 pence price tag. With classic apps such as Minecraft and Fruit Ninja already released as part of the celebrations, next week seems the perfect opportunity to get the hottest apps onto your Android smartphone or tablet device.

To find out which apps are currently 10 pence, visit the Android Market. Alternatively find out more about Android smartphones here.

Rumours suggest Facebook are teaming up with Taiwanese mobile phone manufacturer HTC to release a new handset with deep Facebook interaction within its operating system.  Codenamed “Buffy” after the Vampire Slayer played by Sarah Michelle Gellar, a possible Facebook phone release in the next 12 to 18 months would use a modified version of Android in a similar fashion to the way Amazon recently launched the Kindle Fire.

Is a Facebook phone a viable product that would interest social media addicts? Creations such as the HTC ChaCha and the AT&T HTC Status already have their own dedicated Facebook button, allowing a user to post status updates and share multimedia content straight to their wall. Despite the innovation these mobile phones barely registered a poke against its smartphone competitors.

Such a creation may be the result of Google phones pushing their Google Plus social network and the favouritism of Twitter integration within the latest iPad updates. As neither Facebook nor HTC prefer to comment directly upon these rumours they released the following statement: “Our mobile strategy is simple: we think every mobile device is better if it is deeply social. We’re working across the entire mobile industry; with operators, hardware manufacturers, OS providers, and application developers to bring powerful social experiences to more people around the world.”

Whether project “Buffy” turns out to be true or just a spin on the rumour mill, it seems certain Facebook are looking to continually progress their accessibility for mobile users worldwide.

Some of you Apple iPhone fans with older models that haven’t managed to be able to bag yourself a new iPhone 4S may be disappointed. An unofficial statement was leaked from Apple’s engineering division today regarding the new personal assistant software, Siri.

It looks as though there’s a strong possibility that Siri will only work on iPhone 4S with no plans to support the older generations. Now there are rumours that this could possibly be a sales and marketing strategy to keep the sales for the iPhone 4S high due to the significant drop in price for the iPhone 4. There are hackers out there though, trying their very best to port Siri over to the older devices and if they are successful, then this could prove the latter rather than it being down to technical deficit.

In the meantime though, for those of you that are looking for the new iPhone 4S, here at Mobiles.co.uk we now have it back IN STOCK.

We have some great deals at the moment with the iPhone 4S 16GB free at ?36 per month from Vodafone on a 24 month contract term.
Just order your iPhone 4S before 4pm Monday to Friday and you’ll receive it the next day.

So, Nokia are nowhere in the high end smartphone business having tried and failed to topple the all conquering iPhone and a slew of Android juggernauts. From the Nokia N8 to the recently released E7, the hardware has been up there with the best of them but the operating system, namely Symbian, has always been lacking. Well, at Nokia World last week, Nokia at long last announced the handset that will sport an OS to match the beautiful hardware; the Windows Phone 7 powered Nokia Lumia 800.

Taking design queues from the Nokia N9 (which sadly didn’t get a UK launch), the Lumia has a seamless one piece body and and 3.7” curved touchscreen. Not just stunning to look at, the one piece design also aids durability giving the Lumia and reliable and solid feel; this is a phone built to last. On to the touchscreen, at 3.7” it’s marginally bigger than the iPhone 4S and features eqaully impressive quality and clarity thanks to the Clear Black AMOLED technology.

On the inside, the Nokia Lumia 800 is running the latest version of Microsoft’s mobile OS; Windows Phone 7.5 (or Mango) and powered by a scorching 1.4GHz processor. The aforementioned OS brings new features such as multi-tasking and copy and paste whilst the processor ensures said multi-tasking is snappy, fluent and effortless. On to apps and you’ll be pleased to know, as the fastest growing app store of any mobile OS, you should find plenty of great titles to keep you entertained on the move.

Keeping in tune with Nokia’s strong heritage in camera phone technology, the Lumia 800 boasts an 8.0 Megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss Optics, autofocus and a dual-LED flash all coming together to ensure the 800 takes stunning photos. On the video front the Lumia captures in 720p HD and deep integration with your favourite social networks (thanks to Windows Phone 7) means that uploading your pics and movies is a breeze.

Want more? How about Wi-Fi, 16GB internal memory, 512MB RAM, Bluetooth, GPS, SatNav with free turn-by-turn navigation(a first for Windows Phone 7) and acess to a suite of Microsoft Office applications including Word, Excel and Outlook. In short, this is the Nokia phone we’ve been crying out for for the past 2 years.

Available to pre-order now, the Nokia Lumia 800 is launching on the 16th of November. Free from ?25 per month, pre-order yours now!

Google have finally announced their latest Android smartphone and have made the awesome decision to allow Samsung to manufacture the Google phone. The Samsung Galaxy Nexus wont disappoint you if you were previously upset about the Nexus which was created by HTC.

The distinct advantage of owning a Galaxy S over any of the other Samsung Galaxy mobile phones is that this is the first smartphone to offer Ice Cream Sandwich (The latest Android software) which is the successor of Gingerbread. A nice new feature is the unlocking mode where you can actually unlock your phone is using face recognition and voice typing is also available which is very similar to iPhone’s Siri.

Although the mobile phone looks quite compact in the photo above dont be fooled, the 4.65-inch display makes the Galaxy Nexus almost as large as the HTC Sensation XL however this is made up in thinness at only 7mm compared to the iPhone 4′s 9.3 mm and the Nexus is also 5g lighter than the Apple iPhone 4 weighing at only 135g.

If we are comparing the Galaxy Nexus to the iPhone then we will have to point out that the camera is only 5 megapixel compared to 8 megapixel cameras found in the Samsung Galaxy S2 and iPhone 4. Overall the new android mobile has its advantages over other smartphones such as the brand new software it runs on and its super AMOLED HD display which will be a significant upgrade from the Nexus S.

Apple and other retailers watched in delight as thousands queued this morning to get their hands on the iPhone 4S. The iPhone 4S has reported to of attracted the longest ever queue for an Apple product at 778 people.  Many people queuing were due to missing out on pre-ordering with their chosen network. Despite this, Apple have reported that the iPhone 4S broke the record previously held by the iPhone 4 for pre-orders.  Approximately, One million pre-orders were taken for the iPhone 4S in the first 24 hours of launching and around three million of the shiny new handsets are expected to sell over the course of the weekend.

The most popular variant pre-ordered and purchased has been the iPhone 4S 16GB white which is free from ?41 per month on Vodafone.  The most popular feature seems to be the newly introduced 8MP camera which now matches other handsets such as the Samsung Galaxy S II.  The next new introduction which fans are thrilled about is Siri, the new voice assistant.  Siri enables iPhone 4S users to send messages, make calls and place diary entries by voice control.

Some Apple stores have reported to be completely out of stock and you could be waiting 1-2 weeks before they will be getting any more.  Mobiles.co.uk however still has iPhone 4S stock remaining! To receive your iPhone 4S with next day delivery just order before 4pm and make sure you use royal mail. Even if you order your phone over the weekend you’ll still receive your shiny new phone on Monday. Why wait in the cold queuing for hours, order with Mobiles.co.uk today to secure your iPhone 4S!

Dedicated to celebrating the best of the mobile phone market, uSwitch polled the nation in their Mobile Awards Survey and enlisted the help of some of the mobile industry’s top names to form the Mobile Awards Judging Panel. And we saw some great success for both  Mobiles.co.uk and Carphone Warehouse awarded:

• Best Online Retailer: Mobiles.co.uk
• Best Highstreet Retailer: Carphone Warehouse

In the ‘Best Online Retailer’, the judges noted: “The Mobiles.co.uk website is easy to use, offers an incredibly large range of exclusive contract deals on all the latest phones – and a fantastic selection of affordable SIM only offers and pay as you go handsets.”

Referring to ‘Best Highstreet Retailer’ category, the judges commented: “With a great selection of handsets and tariffs, knowledgeable and impartial staff, and a range of time exclusive deals, Carphone Warehouse stole the march on its high street rivals on several occasions in 2011.

Google announced that they were working on a replacement to the Nexus S last May with subsequent leaks revealing the phone will be called the Nexus Prime. Like the Nexus S it’s expected that the newest phone from Google and Samsung will be running a previously unreleased version of Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich). Let’s have a look at what we can expect from the handset.

Firstly the name, this was leaked accidently by Samsung when references to the handset were found in a list of settings on their website. The name hasn’t actually been confirmed by either Google or Samsung so this could just be a code name whilst the phone is being developed. We were expecting to see the handset revealed at the Samsung Unpacked event however this was delayed in a gesture to Steve Jobs who passed away last week. 

That’s as concrete as the rumours get so from here on in were basing this article on unfounded rumours and guess work. We imagine that the Nexus prime will be based largely on the ever popular Samsung Galaxy S II, as a result you can expect Dual Core processor (Maybe as powerful as 1.5GHz according to the latest rumours). An 8 mega pixel which in turn unlock full 1080p video capture. An improved screen wouldn’t be beyond the realms of reason so it could be one of the first phones to offer 720p resolution display. The place to be at the moment in terms of screen size is around 4″ which we imagine is going to be needed to get a high resolution display.  We haven’t seen any leaked images on how the phone  will look but the Nexus S is one of the nicest handsets on the market and we imagine the Nexus Prime won’t let down Google’s portfolio.

Ice Cream Sandwich will be the latest version of Androids operating system, with most handsets now running Gingerbread 2.3 and tablets running Honeycomb 3.x it’s starting to get a bit tricky keeping up to date with the latest versions. Google are going to make this simple for us by creating an OS that runs on all devices and this is going to be Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0. As far as we know at the moment there aren’t going to be any new features but we’ll know for sure once the Nexus Prime hits the market place.