Fancy a White iPhone 4?

If you’ve been putting off upgrading to the iPhone 4 because you want the white one, now could be a good time to do it!

I’ve just received been told that Mobile Fun have received their first delivery of White iPhone 4 conversion kits that allow you to change your standard black iPhone 4 to white.

Each kit includes a glass front and back panel, a white headphone jack, home button and dock connector.

White iPhone 4 Conversion Kit

While the task of making the conversion isn’t for the feint hearted, it’s fairly easy to do – just make sure you give yourself plenty of time, don’t rush it and make sure you’re not disturbed! If you want to know what’s involved before you order, take a look at the online instruction guide and make sure it’s something you’ll be confident doing as converting the phone from black to white will invalidate your warranty.

According to Mobile Fun, the White iPhone 4 Conversion kits are in stock and available now.

Zaggmate for iPad coming to UK

Zagg are well known for their range of gadget protecting InvisibleShield – a tough, thin film that protects your phones, laptops, iPads and iPods from scratches and scuffs without adding any extra bulk. For most mobile phones and media players, an InvisibleShield is all the protection you’ll need, but for larger devices such as the iPad it may not be enough on its own as the large screen could crack if it’s hit in the right place.

ZAGGmate iPad Cases

It’s because of this that Zagg have developed the ZAGGmate Case, a really thin aluminium cover that clips onto the front of your iPad, completely protecting the screen from scratches and crush damage. The Zaggmate has been coated to look like the back of your iPad and once fitted looks like you’re carrying around a block of aluminium.

ZAGGmate Case for Apple iPad

When you want to use your iPad, the ZAGGmate Case doubles up as an adjustable stand – holding your iPad at the perfect angle for typing, showing off your latest photo collection or watching a movie.

The soft lining ensures that your screen is looked after and stays free from marks and scratches, and a cut out on the bottom edge of the ZAGGmate means you can still charge your iPad with the ZAGGmate fitted.

That’s only half the story though. Zagg are also launching a ZAGGmate Case with a built in bluetooth keyboard and that adds less than 7mm to the overall size of your iPad!

The ZAGGmate Keyboard Case is proving to be exceptionally popular over in America, and I’d expect it to do just as well when we receive our first batch in the next few weeks.

ZAGGmate Case with Keyboard for Apple iPad

The ZAGGmate Keyboard Case fits over the screen of your iPad in exactly the same way as the ZAGGmate Case, and when you’re ready to use it, simply lift your iPad out, clip the stand in place and then prop your iPad up in either landscape or portrait mode.

The keyboard (once paired) connects as soon as its turned on and has a number of shortcut keys built in that allow you to return to the homescreen, launch spotlight, control your music playback and put your iPad to sleep. The battery in the keyboard should last several weeks without needing to be charged, and can be charged using a standard Micro USB charger.

As a cover, the ZAGGmate is great, but the addition of the keyboard makes it invaluable – especially if you spend a lot of time writing emails, documents, tweeting or updating facebook.

MobileFun.co.uk will be one of the first retailers in the UK to get the ZAGGmate and stock is expected towards the end of next week. Stock will be limited initially, so I’d order as soon as you can as I’d imagine these will sell through quickly.

Getting the right Parrot Car Kit

If you frequently use your phone in the car, for music or calls, a Car Kit is an accessory worth investing in. A car kit will probably be the most expensive accessory purchase you can make for your phone, so it’s worth spending some time looking at what’s available, reading reviews and making sure that the kit you’re about to buy does everything you need it to and most importantly that it’s likely to work with your future phones too.

If you’re looking to buy a car kit, then a Parrot Car Kit is the way to go. Over the last few years, Parrot have grown from a relatively unheard of company to one that produces excellent car kits that even the big names in mobiles, such as Nokia, can’t compete with.

Parrot Car Kits come in two options, fitted and portable. Fitted car kits are hard wired into your car (normally through the stereo) and portable car kits clip on to your sun visor and rely on an internal battery for power.

This post will run through each of the current Parrot Car Kits and highlight some of their Pro’s and Con’s to help you decide on which Parrot Car Kit you should go for.

Portable Parrot Car Kits

Parrot MINIKIT SLIM Bluetooth Car Kit

If you don’t want to go to the expense of having a fully fitted kit, then the Parrot MiniKit slim is a great choice – regardless of whether you have a smart phone or a standard feature phone.  The Parrot MiniKit Slim has all the basic features of the fitted kits, but without support for streaming music. It will automatically synchronise with your phone book, allowing you to dial a contact just by saying their name. You don’t have to mess around recording voice tags as the Text to Speech software will automatically match your voice print to a name in your phone book.

The kit is designed to be mounted on your sun visor and controls are kept to a minimum – two dedicated buttons to answer/end calls and a dial to increase the volume and navigate the system menus.

Battery life on the MiniKit Slim is excellent, offering up to 20 days of standby time and 15 hours of talk time.

Parrot MINIKIT SLIM Bluetooth Car Kit

Parrot MINIKIT Smart

The MiniKit Smart is the latest plug and play Parrot Car Kit. It’s been designed purely for larger smartphones, so standard sized handsets won’t really work all that well with it. Instead of clipping to your sunvisor, the MiniKit slim uses a suction pad to fix to your windscreen and combines a holder and handsfree kit. It’s receiving mixed reviews as it’s designed to hold your phone in landscape mode – perfect for sat nav, but not all smart phones can be used in landscape mode for calling and accessing the phonebook (mainly iPhones).

Parrot MINIKIT Smart

Feature wise it has everything that the MiniKit Slim has, as well as support for music streaming – although the mono speaker won’t really do your songs justice. Controls are just as simple as they are on the MiniKit Slim, but if you’re using it in portrait mode they can be a bit fiddly. The MiniKit Smart uses advanced noise reduction and a reasonably powerful (for a car kit) 2w speaker to make sure instructions are heard, but if I’m being totally honest, for the price, you’d be better off either paying the extra £10 for the Parrot MKi9000 or choosing the Jabra Cruiser and a dedicated Car Holder.

Installed Parrot Car Kits

Parrot CK3100 Advanced Bluetooth Car Kit

The Parrot CK3100 has been around for a long time now, but it’s still a firm favourite, particularly among fleet managers. In terms of features it’s pretty simple – handsfree calling with voice dial and phone book synchronisation. It has a clear LCD display that shows you the name/number of callers and allows you to scroll through your address book without having to touch your phone. Installation is pretty straight forward as the CK3100 connects using the standard ISO connections on the back of your car radio – although not all cars use ISO, so make sure you check before you buy as you may well need some additional cables.

As with all of the Parrot Car Kits, the CK3100 doesn’t use an external speaker in the passenger footwell, instead, all audio is routed through your car stereo speakers. This gives you much more control over volume levels and callers are much clearer and easier to understand.

Parrot CK3100 Advanced Bluetooth Car Kit

Parrot MKi9000 Bluetooth Car Kit

The MKi range of car kits are all based around the same basic model – the MKi9000, the only difference is the screen that ships with the kit. In the case of the MKi9000 there is no screen, but that doesn’t hamper it’s performance, especially if you’re using it with a large screen smartphone. In fact, the MKi9000 is our top selling Parrot Car Kit.

The main difference between the MKi range of kits and the CK3100 are their music capabilities. In addition to being able to handle calls, the MKi kits do a brilliant job of streaming music from your phone, MP3 player or USB flash drive through your existing Car Stereo. Controlling the Car Kit is done through a small remote that can either stick to your dashboard or attach to your steering wheel.

Each MKi kit has a connectivity cable that has a 3.5mm line in, USB port and Apple Dock connector. This allows you to connect pretty much any audio source to the kit and enjoy the sound through your car stereo. If you connect an iPod or iPhone using the Dock connector you can also use the remote to control your music playback. Every Parrot Car Kit is easily updated. Frequent software updates are available free of charge from the Parrot website and will often improve compatibility/usability.

The Parrot MKi9000 has phonebook synchronisation and advanced speech recognition built in. This allows the MKi9000 to automatically retrieve all your contacts from your phone and transfer them to it’s own internal memory. Pressing the Answer key on the remote will activate the voice dialling and you just say the name of who you want to call. No messing around recording voice tags, just say thej name and it’ll dial the number.

Parrot MKi9000 Bluetooth Car Kit

If you do have an iPhone 3GS or iPhone 4, you have two options when it comes to voice dialling. You can either use the voice features of the MKi9000, or you can use the Voice Control features built into the iPhone by disabling phonebook synchronisation in the Bluetooth settings on your iPhone. I’ve chosen to use the Voice Control features on the phone purely because it allows voice control of the iPod app as well as calling. Instead of fiddling with the remote, I can just hit the answer button and say “play” and it will start playing music back – either over a bluetooth connection or through the Dock Connector. Voice Control on iPhone even allows you to tell the phone to play a particular album, playlist or artist, so if you have an iPhone and decide on a Parrot MKi Car Kit, I’d strongly recommend turning off phonebook sync.

Parrot MKi9100 Bluetooth Car Kit

There are very few differences between the MKi9000 and the MKi9100, other than the display screen. If you use a standard feature phone like the Nokia 6700 or choose not to have a car holder then this will be a much better choice. The high contrast LCD screen will show you the name and number of the caller, allows you to see the contacts in your phone book as well as see the settings for the car kit – you can still access all these on the MKi9000, but with out the screen all your options are read out to you.

Parrot MKi9100 Bluetooth Car Kit

If the idea of a screen sitting on your dashboard makes you nervous, don’t worry, it’s detachable and can be taken with you when you leave the car. In terms of features and usability, it’s very similar to the CK3100, but with music support. The MKi9100 is still worth choosing even if you don’t plan on using it for music. The £25 difference in price is minimal when you take into account the extra features that you get – easy software updates, removable screen and better phonebook sync & voice dialling.

Parrot MKi9200 Bluetooth Car Kit

The MKi9200 is significantly different to the MKi9100 and MKi9000. Most obvious is of course the screen. It comes with a 2.4 inch colour screen that will not only show names and numbers of callers, but also their photo and during music playback, album art is displayed (if present on your phone). The screen also has an SD card reader built into it. This means that instead of storing your music on your phone or USB stick, you can put all your music on an SD card (max 32GB) and have it in the car permanently.

Parrot MKi9200 Bluetooth Car Kit

Controlling the car kit is done using the same remote that comes with the other two kits, but with the bigger display, navigating the menu’s is a little bit quicker and easier. If you have use your smart phone or an iPod as your music source in the car then you may not need the extra features that you get with the MKi9200 as the MKi9000 will be more than adequate.

Parrot Unika Steering Wheel Interface for MKi Car Kits

The Unika isn’t a car kit, but a rather clever accessory that works with the MKi range of car kits to fully integrate it into your car. It allows your existing steering wheel stereo controls to operate the car kit and completely eliminates the need for the remote control. Installation is a little fiddlier, so we’d recommend having it fitted by a professional installer. You don’t need to have dedicated telephone controls on your steering wheel, as the Unika will use a combination of key presses to activate the kit. In a Ford Focus for example, pressing ‘Rewind’ then ‘Forward’ will start music playback, pressing the SRC button will answer calls and confirm menu choices and a double press of the SRC button will activate voice dialling.

To check compatibility with your car, head over to the Parrot Unika Support Pages and enter details of your Car and Parrot Car Kit.

Parrot Unika Steering Wheel Interface

Parrot Head Units

Head Unit Car Kits haven’t ever proven to be all that popular, even though the idea behind them makes perfect sense. Installation is so much easier than fitting a regular kit, not only because of the reduced wiring, but the fact that you don’t have to find space behind your dashboard to hide the control box. Parrot currently only have the RKi8400 available, and the newly announced Parrot Asteroid should be available very soon.

Parrot RKi8400 Bluetooth Car Kit

It was launched at the same time as the MKi range of kits, but the RKi8400 isn’t proving as popular as Parrot would have hoped – although that’s probably due to most cars now having a non standard sized radio in them, rather than poor performance. The RKi8400 is essentially the same as the Parrot MKi9200, as it has the same 2.4inch colour screen, multiple ways to connect your iPod, MP3 player or USB stick and an SD Card Reader. The front of the stereo pops off, not only for security reasons, but also to expose a storage area where you can leave your iPod or MP3 player connected.

Parrot RKi8400 Bluetooth Car Kit

As with the MKi Kits the RKi8400 will synchronise with your phone to give you access to your phone book and voice dialling, as well as having a full keypad on the head unit itself. The replacement for the RKI8400 has just been announced, but no launch date has been given yet. The basic idea is the same, but the Parrot Asteroid will be running the Android operating system in an attempt to make media management even easier. We’ll post more details on the Asteroid as we get them.

If you’ve got any questions about any of the kits mentioned here, feel free to ask them in the comments below. Mobile Fun offer the full range and you can get more details on any of them on the Parrot Car Kits pages.

Review: Nokia BH-505 Bluetooth Headphones

Like a lot of you, I’ve been waiting quite a while to get my hands on a set of the Nokia BH-505 Bluetooth Headphones, Nokia’s latest Stereo Bluetooth Headset.

Now that I’ve finally managed to grab hold of a pair, I thought I’d put them through their paces. Are the Nokia BH-505′s any good? Read on to find out.

In the Box

One of the first things you notice after you’ve struggled to remove them from the packaging, is that they’re actually quite small and extremely thin. The way they’re packaged makes it look like you don’t get much with them, but to be fair you only need a charger and spare ear gels, so that’s exactly what you get.

Box Contents:

• Nokia BH-505 Bluetooth Headphones
• Nokia AC-3X Mains Charger
• 5 spare pairs of differently sized ear gels.

Features

Nokia have never really done much with stereo bluetooth accessories. They’ve released a few bluetooth headphones and bluetooth speakers over the years, but they’ve never been anything special compared to those offered by Motorola, Jabra and Sony Ericsson. The Nokia BH-505 look as though that’s set to change. They look fantastic and they’re easy to use. Feature-wise, the  BH-505′s have limited multipoint support, track controls, volume controls and NFC (Near Field Communication) for easy pairing.

Multipoint is becoming more and more of a standard feature on bluetooth headphones, so it’s a little surprising to see that Nokia haven’t fully supported it on the BH-505. You can use them with two devices at the same time, but only one device can connect for calls and one for music. Your phone is the obvious choice for calls, but for music, you can connect it to your iPod touch, PC or Mac, PS3 or another phone – although the second phone will be for music only, you won’t be able to answer calls from it

I don’t think this will be too much of an issue though. Nokia are clearly aiming this headset at social/sports users rather than business users that are likely to carry two phones around with them.

Design

The Nokia BH-505 looks to me like a slimmer, cleaner looking version of the Motorola S9 HD. They use a similar headband style that wraps around the back of your head.

The Motorola S9 HD’s are fairly bulky and the controls are quite fiddly to use as they are small and touch sensitive. The Nokia BH-505 has 2 simple buttons that add to the visual appeal of the headset and make using it a pleasure.

The headset is designed to be water/sweatproof so all sensitive parts of the headset are hidden away. The power button, LED lights and charging port are all discretely positioned and unless you know where to look for them you won’t find them.

The only thing that I found annoying was the plastic cover over the charging socket. It only peels back a few millimetres which makes it a little fiddly to get the standard 2.5mm charging pin into. The BH-505 has an IP rating of IP54 for splash and sweat resistance and is the only stereo bluetooth headset that I’ve seen to have an IP rating.

Controls & Set Up

Some people get scared away from Bluetooth Headphones, thinking that they’re difficult to use or set up. While this may have been true for early models, it certainly isn’t the case for the Nokia BH-505. Pairing is painless, the first time the headset is turned on it puts itself into pairing mode, all you do is search for bluetooth devices and enter the passkey 0000, if asked.

When tested with iPhone 4, the phone provided the passkey without asking me for it, completing the whole process in around 20 seconds.  If your phone supports NFC (highly unlikely at the moment, but all Nokia smartphones will by next year) pairing is as simple as activating NFC on your phone and tapping the phone against the headband on the headset.

As mentioned, the controls are kept to a minimum on the BH-505. The on/off button is located on the inside of the headband, answer/end is on the right earpiece and play/pause is on the left earpiece.

If you forget which way round they are, each button has a raised symbol on them so you can feel which is which.

The answer/end button activates voice dialling and last number redial and if you’re an iPhone user you’ll be pleased to know that pressing and holding the answer key will also activate voice control on iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4.

The only other controls on the headset are 2 small sliders – one on each ear. These sliders push up to increase the volume or fast forward, and push down to decrease the volume or skip back a track. They do the job they’re supposed to, but are a little on the small side and it’s easy for your fingers to slip off them.

Audio Quality

Nokia accessories have always been pretty good when it comes to audio quality. The BH-505′s won’t blow you away with crystal clear sound, but for listening to MP3′s off your phone and taking phone calls they are more than adequate. Avid music fans are probably better off sticking with wired headphones, but for casual users that enjoy listening to their music on the bus on the way to work or while you’re down working out at the gym, you’ll find the audio quality is excellent.

Unlike some bluetooth headphones, the BH-505′s have volume control built in. This means that when you turn the volume up, it’s the headphones doing the work and not the phone. This may not seem like a big deal, but it’s the only way to change the volume level if you’re listening to your music from an iPhone or iPod touch as the bluetooth restrictions on these devices prevents volume control from working.

Why Choose

The Nokia BH-505 is a great headset for anyone who takes part in physical activities or that just enjoys listening to music without the hassle of wires. It’s not overly expensive and the sound quality is impressive for something so slim. It’s easy to use and set up and will work brilliantly with just about every bluetooth enabled phone out there – even the iPhone.

Also Consider

If the Nokia BH-505 aren’t quite what you’re looking for you might want to take a look at these other Bluetooth Headphones.

• Motorola S9-HD Stereo Bluetooth Headphones
• Sony Ericsson MW600 Stereo Bluetooth Headset
• Jabra Halo Bluetooth Headphones

My Rating

Introducing the HTC Desire Media Link

HTC are having a great time at the moment. It seems like every handset they launch is a winner, with the HTC Desire and HTC Desire HD proving to be incredibly popular.

Both versions of the Desire are great for both taking and looking at photos, recording videos and watching movies, but what if you want to watch your content on your HDTV at home?

The traditional way of doing it would be to transfer your media to your Mac/PC and then burn your video to dvd to play it back, but that’s such a long winded and slow process no-one really bothers.

HTC Media Link

Thankfully though, technology has moved on and HTC have brought out their tiny Media Link DLNA adapter that allows you to stream music, pictures and videos from your phone to your TV wirelessly. What’s more, as DNLA is a fairly common standard, it will also work with most other brands of phone that support DLNA as well as a number of laptops and cameras, although compatibility will vary from device to device.

If you’ve never come across the term DLNA before, you might want to have a quick look at our post on What Is DLNA? as this explains what it is and why you’ll want it!

Footprint is not much bigger than a bank card

In a way, the Media link adapter is similar to the latest Apple TV. It allows you to play content from around your house or from your phone, without having to mess around with plugging your gadgets into your TV. Simply power it up, connect it via HDMI to your TV and away you go. There’s no support for streaming from websites, not yet anyway, but as the HTC Media Link is running Android it might appear in a future update.

The HTC Media link connects quickly and easily to your existing wireless network, and all the set up is done through your PC. All you need to know is the name of your network and the password and you’ll be up and running in less than 5 minutes. All you need to do then is make sure your phone is on the same network, launch the Connected Media app, find the photos, videos or music you want to play back and hit play. Your content will then be displayed on the screen.

Engadget recently reviewed the HTC Media Link, here’s a quick video from them testing it out with the HTC Desire Z.

You can read their full review of the Media Link on the Engadget site. For more details, head over to the HTC Media Link product page.

Angry Birds iPhone Case now in Stock

If you’ve got an iPhone, you’ll no doubt have heard about Angry Birds – the addictive and frustrating game that’s all about destroying pigs to get your eggs back.

It was one of the most popular apps of 2010, and it’s popularity has lead to a range of Angry Birds toys and accessories hitting the shelves.

If you’re mad about Angry Birds, you’ll want to get your hands on one of these fantastic new Angry Birds iPhone 4 covers. They’re ultra thin, leave all the ports accessible on your phone and will protect the back and sides from scuffs and scratches – but most importantly, they feature your favourite characters from the game - Red Bird, Pig King and Yellow Bird.

Tech Explained: 4G Phones in the UK

Last week Las Vegas played host to the Consumer Electronics Show – the biggest event of the year in terms of electronic gadgets. All the big names from the world of TV, Gaming, Audio, and Mobile phones were there, each trying to out shine their competitors by revealing their product line ups for 2011.

While most gadgets that were announced are exciting, we were more interested in the mobile phone side of things, but as it turned out, it’s not all such good news – not for us in the UK anyway. All the 4G handsets that were announced are US only – with the exception of the Motorola Atrix which has already been confirmed as coming to the Orange network, but without the 4G branding.

Introducing 4G

Most people have heard of 3G phones. The technology has been around for about ten years and is now pretty much the standard. For those that aren’t familiar with it, 3G allows mobile phones to access the internet at higher speeds, make video calls and allows you to browse and call at the same time. 3G is more about the speeds and network capacity than features such as emailing, internet, tethering etc. These features are all possible because of 3G, but some will still work even on a slower 2G or GSM connection.

4G takes fast data connections several steps further, but unlike 3G, there is no defined standard yet for 4G and this is bound to cause some confusion. If you’d asked a few years ago what was likely to become 4G, you’d have probably been told Wi-Max or LTE, but now it turns out that Wi-Max is all but ruled out, and a tweaked version of 3G, HSPA+, is likely to become the standard for 4G. Confused yet? I know it’s a bit tricky to understand, so here’s a bit more about each of the different technologies.

LTE – Long Term Evolution

LTE is already available in the USA and will be rolling out to more countries this year, but the UK isn’t one of them. A UK release is planned, but we will be behind most other countries when it comes to LTE deployment by around 2 years.

LTE can provide speeds of upto 150 mega bits per second, compared to most current 3G networks which can provide speeds of up to 7 mega bits per second, (this varies by location and network).

HSPA+ – High Speed Packet Access

This is an even faster version of current 3G technology with maximum speeds of around 42 mbps.  Although HSPA+ is slower than LTE, it’s an easier and cheaper option for the networks to upgrade to.

No new licenses are required in order for the networks to run HSPA+, but transmitters and other equipment needs upgrading. Some UK networks are already using HSPA+ to provide speeds of around 21 Mbps and are calling it their 3G+ service.

Over the coming months I’d expect some networks to start using the ’4G’ tag and coverage should start to increase, becoming available in more places rather than just major cities and built up areas. HSPA+ networks are already in development and will run alongside LTE networks when they arrive  in 2012/2013.

Wi-Max

WiMax networks are still being developed, but they are focusing more on providing wireless broadband access and computer networking, rather than mobile phone services.

Manchester was one of the first places in the UK to launch a commercial WiMax service, where people can access fast broadband, without the need for a phone line.

Some phones are likely to be launched with WiMax support, but it’s unlikely to become the standard for 4G phones.

All this of course is subject to change – Ofcom still need to allocate all the necessary bandwidth in order for all this to be possible, and as is often the case in the world of mobile phones, nothing is certain until it actually happens!

UMB’s Guide to App Stores

Apps are all the rage at the moment, with most major retailers, banks and publications all launching their own app. It’s not just news and shopping though, most of the big names in gaming are also developing for the various app markets, releasing some of the biggest titles in the gaming world for mobile phones.

While you might not give that much thought to the app stores, it’s worth spending a few minutes to understand the different stores and how they operate as it may play an important role in choosing your next phone. Once you’ve committed to spending money on apps for one platform, there’s every chance that you’ll want to stick with that platform when it comes to choosing your next phone, in order to keep all your apps.

Having so many Apps to choose from is great as it means that you can now do much more on your phone than you ever thought you’d be able to, but with so many App stores out there it can get a little confusing, so we thought we’d put a quick guide together to explain the differences between the main App stores and point out a few things that are worth bearing in mind before you make your next phone purchase.

Apple iTunes App Store

Apple kick started the App revolution when they launched their app store a couple of years ago and since then every other handset manufacturer has followed suit and launched their own version of the App store. It’s no surprise then to find out that the iTunes App store is the largest of the bunch and has more apps than any other App store. All App purchases need to be made through your iTunes account and can be downloaded through your computer or directly onto your iPhone or iPod touch.

Apple have a very strict approval policy, which although heavily criticised, does mean that the apps are of a very high standard, are generally reliable and can be fully trusted. There are thousands of free Apps available, with the paid Apps starting at 59p and most paid ones will have a ‘lite’ or trial version that you can use to try it out before you buy.

Last year Apple introduced a system called in-app purchase. This allows you to purchase extra levels, extend your subscription or add functionality to the app without having to buy a separate version. Some of the extras can be expensive, so always check out the top in-app purchases section to get a full idea of the cost before you commit to buying an app as there are no refunds.

If you upgrade your iPhone or iPod touch, all your apps will sync across to the new one with no hassle.If you have multiple Apple devices in your house, you can use Apple Home Sharing in iTunes to install the App on upto 5 different devices at no extra cost.

Cydia

Slightly controversial, Cydia is an App store for Jailbroken iPhones. We wouldn’t recommend jailbreaking your device as it will leave you open to a number of security risks, but if you do decide to do it, Cydia is the place to go. They have a wide range of apps – including those that Apple have rejected. The Cydia store isn’t policed and there is no one monitoring the Apps to make sure that they’re not compromising your data or doing things that they shouldn’t be.

If you upgrade your iPhone or iPod touch, you won’t be able to back up your phone to iTunes and any apps may be lost unless you use a third party application to back up your phone.

Android Market

Android is the next biggest smartphone OS after iPhone for touchscreen devices. Their App store is much newer than Apple’s, but it’s filling up with Apps quickly. You can only download through your phone, and the Android Market is only available on handsets that are classed as a “Google Experience” handset. Fortunately, most Android handsets are, but there are a few exceptions. To avoid any disappointment I’d recommend trying the phone before you commit to it in order to make sure that the Android Market is installed. For non-Google Experience phones, you can still get Apps on to your phone, but you’ll normally need to download them directly from the developers site and then transfer them to the phone manually.

Unlike Apple’s App Store, the Apps aren’t as strictly vetted and not all apps behave as they should, so take time to read the reviews of an App before you download and install it.

If you upgrade your Android phone you can quickly and easily re-download any apps that you’ve purchased through the Android Market. You can also use a back up app to transfer your apps to a memory card.

Nokia Ovi Store

Nokia have had a download service for years, but it wasn’t particularly popular and only ever had a limited range of applications. Since the introduction of OVI services a couple of years ago, their Download! service has been re-branded and relaunched as the OVI Store. The Nokia OVI store is slightly different to that of Apple and Android as it offers themes, wallpapers and ringtones for your phone, as well as games and applications.

The other thing that you’ll notice with the OVI store is that not all apps will work on all devices. Unlike Apple and Android which only have one operating system, Nokia phones run on several different versions of software, some phones have smaller screens and keypads and others are touch screen. This does make developing Apps for them more difficult, so you’ll need to make sure you filter the apps by phone model before you buy anything.

Apps for Nokia phones are generally available for phones running S40 and S60 software. Other phones can still run Apps, but these will normally need to be a Java application. More on that later. Apps in the OVI store are checked by Nokia so you can be confident that the App will do what it says it will do.

You can d ownload apps from the OVI website or directly through the phone. You can transfer Apps between phones, but it’s not particularly easy unless you downloaded the app through your PC, but you’ll need to make sure that the app is compatible with your new phone when you upgrade.

BlackBerry App World

BlackBerry were one of the first to follow Apple and launch their store. It’s been around for a while now and there are plenty of Apps to choose from. Apps will generally work on all models of BlackBerry, so compatibility isn’t normally a problem.

You can download apps directly to your phone using the BlackBerry App World app, or you can download them to your PC and sync them over manually. There are plenty of free apps to choose from, along with hundreds of paid apps.

Switching BlackBerry isn’t a problem, just use the Desktop Manager to backup your old phone and restore it to the new one and you’ll find all your apps in place and ready to go.

Windows Marketplace

Windows is going through a massive change at the moment, with an all new Windows Phone 7 due in September/October. Along with it will come a new way to download apps and a new App Store. Microsoft are following in Apple’s footsteps, all apps need to be approved by them and there will be strict rules on what they can and can’t do. In future, all App purchases will need to go through Microsoft, rather than third party websites.

Their current app store is a little all over the place. The latest version of their phone software, Windows Mobile 6.5.3 has Windows Marketplace built in and allows you to download apps directly onto your phone. If you’re running any other version of Windows Mobile 6 you’ll need to download the App in order to shop at Microsoft, a lot of effort really considering that there are only 700 apps available. You’ll find lots more Windows Mobile Apps on sites such as Handango, but these Apps aren’t tested on every device, they’re not policed and may have performance issues.

In a questionable move by Microsoft, any Apps you buy for your current Windows Mobile 6.X device won’t work with Windows Phone 7 when it comes out later this year, so when you upgrade all your apps will be lost.

LG Application Store

The LG Application Store is probably the most confusing of them all. They use different operating systems on their phones and their store doesn’t make it particularly clear which apps work on which phone. Apps can be downloaded either through your computer or directly onto your device, but to avoid any confusion I’d recommend downloading through your device. Most apps for LG phones are Java Applications, this means that they will work on pretty much any phone, but as they’re usually protected files, you can’t always transfer them from one phone to another.

If your LG handset is running Android or Windows Mobile I’d recommend using the Android or Windows Marketplace.

Samsung Apps

Samsung seem to be missing a trick with their App Store as they only currently support four handsets. The main one being the Samsung Wave, which is the only handset that uses the Bada menu system. There over 1500 apps to choose from, but with such a small range of supported phones, you’re likely to be disappointed.

If your Samsung runs Android or Windows, stick to those App stores, for standard Samsung phones you should be able to find plenty of Java Applications, just not at Samsung Apps.

Everyone else

You’ll notice that Sony Ericsson, Motorola and HTC don’t have their own App Stores. HTC only produce Android or Windows Mobile phones, so having their own App store is unnecessary. Motorola and Sony Ericsson are in a similar position, both are now switching to Android on their smartphones, while their standard feature phones will happily run any of the readily available Java Apps.

Java Apps are the most universal type of app. While they won’t work on every phone out there, most phones support them which is why they’re still one of the most popular formats for mobile phone games. You’ll often find that Java Apps are protected files though, so you won’t always be able to transfer them between phones.

iPhone 4 Tariff Comparison

If you’re hoping to get the new iPhone 4 when it launches later this month you’ve got a big decision to make – which network do you go with? In the past this hasn’t really been too much of a problem, as every iPhone release prior to this one was exclusive to O2. This time round we’ve had announcements from every UK network and Tesco Mobile, with rumours that Virgin Mobile are also going to be offering it.

Tariff and handset pricing is slowly starting to become available and while all networks are pretty close, there are a few differences between them. There are also a couple of other things to bear in mind when you take out a new contract on the iPhone 4.

18m or 24m contract?

As much as I don’t really like the idea of a 2 year contract, they do actually make sense when it comes to iPhone. The main reason being that if Apple stick to their annual iPhone update, there will be a new iPhone every June/July.

If you opt for an 18 month contract, chances are that when you’re out of contract in January 2012, you won’t want to upgrade to what ever iPhone is current as it means you won’t be able to upgrade again in June/July with out paying a heavy penalty. So, if you’re going to wait for the newer one, you might as well sign for 2 years in the first place and save yourself some money.

Several friends of mine that have an iPhone 3G held off upgrading to the iPhone 3GS for this very reason, and like me, they’re going to be first in line for the iPhone 4. Those who ran out and upgraded to the iPhone 3GS at the end of their contract in January are now kicking themselves as it means they’ve got to shell out a lot of cash to get iPhone 4 or wait until this time next year for iPhone 5.

16GB or 32GB?

As with any device that has fixed internal storage, always get the largest capacity device that you can afford. If your budget allows it, go for the 32GB. You might not have enough music to fill it now, but you’re going to have this phone for another 18 – 24 months. Just think how much extra music, photos, videos and apps you’re going to be carrying around with you in the future. If your phone can’t store it all, it means you’re going to have to constantly update your play lists and transfer videos on and off the phone.

Which Network?

This is the big question and one that there isn’t a straight forward answer to. Tariffs from O2 and Orange have been confirmed, Vodafone have had some pricing leaked, but this isn’t confirmed yet.

UPDATE: Vodafone have confirmed their tariffs now and the charts below have been updated to include them.

UPDATE 24/06/10: Three have now released their tariffs, but haven’t confirmed if these are 18m or 24m, but given the aggressive pricing, we’d assume 24m. Charts updated with new pricing.

In terms of services and supported features, O2 are the only network to currently support Visual Voicemail, so if this is something you want/need, you’ll need to stick to O2.

Most tariffs include unlimited texts, but not unlimited internet. Even those that say unlimited have an asterisk next to it that says there’s a MB limit on your data. Vodafone were the most generous with the iPhone 3GS, giving 1GB of data each month. O2 are introducing a data cap of 500MB on most tariffs and Orange sit in the middle on 750MB. In all cases this should be more than enough for most users, so long as you try and stick to wi-fi for data intensive apps or video streaming.

I’ve put a pricing comparison below that shows the differences between the networks, but with so many combinations available, I can’t list them all and you’ll need to take a look at the network’s websites for full details.

To try and give a more accurate reflection of cost, you’ll see that there’s a total contract cost and an average monthly cost in the tables below. The total contract cost is the cost of the phone plus your line rental, and the average monthly cost is this figure divided by how ever many months are in your contract. This makes it easier to see the savings of a 24m contract over an 18m one.

iPhone 4 32GB

The value for money is just a quick way of working out whether you’re getting enough from your contract. The 24m £30 deal may look like the cheapest way of getting an iPhone 4, but the reduced number of minutes, text and data make it an expensive way to run the phone. The higher this number is, the more you get for your money.

iPhone 4 16GB

Again, the value for money table shows if you’re getting enough from your contract. The 18m £30 deal again looks like it’s the cheapest way of getting an iPhone 4, and although the contract cost is the lowest, you don’t get much in the way of minutes, texts or data.

Remember though, the Vodafone prices are based on those that were leaked earlier in the week and I’d expect these to change to fall in line with O2 and Orange. As soon as pricing is confirmed for other networks, I’ll get this updated.

10 of the best iPhone Bike Apps

Following on from my post on iPhone Bike Mounts, here is the list that I promised containing the top ten iPhone Bike Apps. Some are free, some are paid but they’re all available in the app store now and are designed to make tracking your movements and recording your progress as easy as possible, in addition, some of the apps will provide some form of navigation or integrate with maps from the Ordinance Survey.

Whether you commute to work  on your bike, cycle for fun or to keep fit, there will no doubt be an app here that will come in handy. I’m not going to pretend to be a cycling enthusiast – my bike only comes out of the shed about 4 times a year, but writing this gave me a good excuse to fetch it out and take it for a spin to see how these apps measure up.

Reviewing 10 apps in full would probably have killed me, so I only tested the main, basic features of the app. For a more detailed review of some of the features, you’ll need to read the reviews in iTunes, but you’ll find a summary of the app and my initial thoughts listed below.

1. MotionX GPS

I was keen to try Motion X as it’s had a lot of mentions and recommendations on various iPhone forums. As with most of the apps here, there are two versions, a Lite version and the fully functioning app. The full version has more features than the lite version and is well worth the £1.79.

It’s one of only a few apps that have iPod support built in, allowing you to change/control your music without having to quit the app and lose your data.  Controls on screen are clear and simple and can be used even when cycling. It can store over 300 waypoints, 100 routes and has the option of sharing them using Google Earth, Google Maps or Facebook/Twitter. As well as recording your route, it will allow you to monitor your speed, distance and journey time.

MotionX Lite – Free

MotionX GPS – £1.79 

2. RunKeeper

There are two versions of this app available, the free version and the pro version – I tried the free version and was pretty impressed. The App isn’t just for cycling, it can be used for a number of sports and has the ability to change activity in the app settings. It tracks your speed, distance travelled and number of calories burned off and tracks your progress on a map. All workouts can then be synced to a website where you can monitor your progress

It has built in support for iPod so you won’t need to close the app to change tracks or switch playlists, but as with every app on this list, if you get a call or a text it can interfere with the data it records. Hopefully when iPhone OS 4.0 comes out next month this kind of app is one that will be able to run in the background.

The extra features in the Pro version don’t add any extra features to the core purpose of the app, but allow you to do more with the camera & iPod, as well as giving you audio updates on your progress through your headphones.

RunKeeper –  Free

RunKeeper Pro – £5.99 

3. Cyclemeter

At just under £3 this is a great app. In terms of functionality it’s similar to RunKeeper, (to be fair, the functionality of all the apps on this list are very similar) but the main difference is that this app has been designed specifically for cyclists, with other dedicated apps for running & walking. Featurewise this is a real challenger to RunKeeper as it’s half the price, but has pretty much all the same features – possibly a couple more.

I liked the fact that you can start and stop tracking by using the answer button on your earphones instead of having to touch your phone. Voice prompts and alerts are another prominent feature of the app – you can set up alerts that tell you your speed, distance etc at pre-defined intervals, or just tap your headphone remote for an update.

Recorded routes can be uploaded to Google Maps and shared with others and it’s got twitter and facebook support too -but to be honest most of your friends will be too busy playing farmville to notice that you’ve just been on a bike ride.

Cyclemeter - £2.99 

4. SportyPal

SportyPal is essentially a speedometer for your bike. It uses GPS data to calculate your speed and distance travelled. It stores your routes and lets you upload them to the SportyPal website, where you can analyse and review your trips.

It’s simple, works well and has a nice clean interface. It’s jumped on the Facebook/Twitter bandwagon, but I’m not really sure what the point of it is.

It’s a good app if you’re just looking for simple tracking and speed data, but there are other apps that do more for slightly less, although none of them are quite as clean and simple to use.

SportPal – £2.99 

5. B.iCycle

This is a really nice app that’s been designed specifically for cyclists – and it shows. The screen layout is clear and uncluttered. You have 3 screen options – split screen shows your speed and position on a map, big map for full screen tracking on a map and a data screen that shows all the stats you could possibly want to see.

There is an export option – at the end of your trip the app will ask you if you want the route emailing to you as a KML or GPX file. You can then use this file in Google Maps/Earth to see where you’ve been. Maps in the app are downloaded as they’re needed, but once downloaded, it saves it on to the device, allowing you to continue to use the app even if you’re out of signal.

It’s not as fully featured as some of the others in this list, but it’s still worth looking at, although there’s no lite or trial version, so you’ll need to pay to try it.

B.iCycle – £5.99 

Outdoors is a great app, but not one for the casual cyclist. Mountain bikers, trekkers and walkers who enjoy venturing cross country will absolutely love it, but for your average city commuter it’s probably got way more than you’re ever likely to need.

It has maps from Ordnance Survey maps included with the application that allow you to browse and plan routes across your chosen region. As you’d expect with OS maps, the level of detail is excellent and in 1:250000 scale. Maps are stored on your phone, so even if you lose signal you can continue to wander about. You can build and plan your own routes on the device or import them from the web and save them on your phone.

The App isn’t designed exclusively for cycling as it gives you the choice of either walking or cycling. The only downsides to this one are that it’s not cheap – The main app is free but for more detailed regional maps, you’ll need to download them as an in-app purchase – these are currently going for around £10 each – so for the whole of the UK, it could get expensive. Having said that it’s still an awesome app. Tracking isn’t as detailed as some of the others in the list, but this is more about route planning and navigating than it is tracking your route and recording your progress.

OutDoors is free, but regional maps are £9.99 via in-app purchase 

7. Every Trail

EveryTrail is similar in a few ways to Trails but has a lot more functionality. It allows you to track your routes, attach geo-tagged photo’s to your route and then share your routes with friends and family either through Facebook & Twitter, or through the EveryTrail website (Pro Version only). You can save your trips and can also search through trips made by other app users.

To be honest, for commuters and those who cycle to keep fit you might struggle to find a use for this. It can be used for walking as well as cycling, and I’m more likely to use this again then next time I go camping or on a trekking weekend than I am the next time I go out on my bike. It’s a great app for recording and sharing where you’ve been and is a must have app if you enjoy leisurely walks or bike rides out in the country.

I tried the free version which is ad supported and didn’t really bother me too much. The free version doesn’t give you the option to sync your routes with the EveryTrail servers or let you save maps for use offline, so if you’re out cycling in the middle of nowhere and lose signal, you could have problems. Start off with the free version to make sure it’s what you need, and if it is upgraded to the Pro version – the £2.39 is well worth it.

EveryTrail – Free

EveryTrail Pro –  £2.39 

8. The Bike Computer

The Bike Computer is a relatively simple, no frills app that tracks your route and displays information on your progress. It’s from the same developer as EveryTrail, but is clearly their budget offering.

It does an ok job, information is clear and easy to read while you’re cycling, but I found it a little on the buggy side. Updates are promised soon, so if you only cycle for a hobby and don’t need anything too serious it’s an ok app to go for.

Cost: Free

9. Trails

This is more of a tracking app than a monitoring app. It’s all about recording where you’ve been, recording gps data for photos. It has got some monitoring ability, but speed is recorded as minutes per mile, suggesting that it’s aimed more at walkers than cyclists.

I tried the free version, which was fine, but it only lets you store 5 routes at a maximum of 5 minutes in lenght, so if you’re often going out and about and want to record where you’ve been, you’ll need to pay for the full version which gives you unlimited routes. Routes can be imported and exported in the GPX and KML formats – standard formats for handling GPS data to geo-tag photo’s and record your journeys in google maps and various other online sites.

Trails Lite – Free 

Trails – £2.39 

10. Trailguru

This is a really simple, basic tracking app. It tracks distance, speed and elevation. You can view where you’ve been on a map and post your route to the Trailguru website.  It’s pretty basic, but does what it sets out to do.

There’s no iPod integration either, so you’ll may lose data when trying to change track. Although it’s a free one, there are other, better alternatives.


Trailguru – Free

One app that’s worth a small mention that I already had on my phone was CoPilot Live. While strictly speaking it’s not a biking app, it does have a cycle mode and is better at getting you from point A to point B than some of the others listed above. What it lacks though is any form of tracking – but if like me you end up in a random field in a part of town you’ve never seen before you’ll be glad you had it!

So there we go, that’s my top ten iPhone Bike apps. If you use any of the apps listed here, let me know what you think of them, or if you think I’ve missed any out add it to the list by leaving a comment below.