It is finally out, the developer version of MeeGo has finally become available and it looks like Nokia and Intel managed to create a very solid contender for the smart phone industry with their latest operating system.

The MeeGo is a combined effort of the teams that handled the creation of Moblin (an Intel made, Linux based operating system) and the Maemo (Nokia’s proprietary operating system which was used in the N900 smart phone). The combined product is the MeeGo, a sleek looking user interface that brings together simple controls, a basic user interface and what might be the easiest platform to developer for. According to Intel, the new OS will not be exclusively tied up to their processors. This means that the MeeGo will still work on devices that make use of ARM made processors.

The developer copy has been released quite early in order to entice developers and enthusiasts to try out the new mobile platform, and from the looks of it, Nokia’s plan is going to succeed. They had quite the large community support for the Maemo despite the low public profile that system had during its development. It is likely that the same devs will also try out the newer MeeGo OS. So far, it has not been confirmed if the N900 will be upgradeable to the MeeGo OS –Nokia has yet to announce if MeeGo is new version of Maemo or a completely new system.

As for upcoming handsets, it seems that the very first Nokia phones to make use of the MeeGo will be popping up by October (alongside the launch of the Windows Phone 7). The Nokia N8 is still a Symbian handset but the Finnish manufacturer announced that after the N8, all other N-series devices will be using the MeeGo operating system.

Many might remember the classic Disney live action science fiction film Tron, the movie was famous for its (then) high end special effects and the (also then) intense, high speed light cycle matches. While several games over the years have tried to recreate the experience and the intensity of the movie, very few have come close. For the Google Android, an early game by the name of Light Cycle 3D by Battery Powered Games comes pretty close.

The game itself comes in full 3D, with lighting and graphics that matches the style and feel of the classic movie. While the title itself is not an official Disney product, it still brings plenty of the original spirit that has made Tron quite famous.

The game itself is simple, players steer a light cycle in a grid around a walled arena and blaze a large laser wall in their trail. This trail will stay up for the whole round. The point of the game is to force opponents into a wall while avoiding the walls that the opponents have made.

It is simple and easy at low speeds, but at higher difficulties and faster speeds, Light Racer can prove to be quite a challenge. In terms of controls, all cycles move at a similar speed, which makes the combat more of strategic steering than a race. With the only available controls being to turn left or right, players are made to face the challenging reality of this game early on.

In terms of graphics, this Google Android game is pretty top notch. Even on a low spec G1 handset, Light Ricer 3D runs are a pretty decent space. While having to tap the screen with a finger will obscure your peripheral vision, the overall gameplay is satisfying and fulfilling. According to the developer, version 1.2 of this impressive app is already available on the Android Market.

There is no doubt that the field of personal electronics is one of the largest earning industries in the world; with millions of mobile phones being manufactured, there is a definite need to own and have what is generally conceived to be a personalized handset. Of course, handset manufacturers are laboring hard each day to create new smart phones that will even have more customizable features.

Innovation is not always up to the phone manufacturers alone. Companies such as Qualcomm also play an important part in shaping the industry as well. In fact, the company that is known for the Snapdragon CPU is now back working on creating faster CPUs and has already achieved what could potentially be the new industry standard; the first new Snapdragon processor that will be running at 1.2 GHz.

The current industry standard is 1GHz. And while 0.2 is not all that large a number, the change in speed is a significant boost. Thanks to this, more mobile devices will be able to handle resource intensive apps better, have better loading times and of course, push the limit to the kinds of apps that can be played in a single smartphone.

The processor is not the only part getting an update. The touch screen display technologies for smart phones are also being improved with each passing day. Several manufacturers are focused on creating new ways to achieve a better 3D effect while others focus on technologies that make use of super thin flexible screens that could serve as a major catalyst that changes how mobile phones are designed and manufactured.

Battery life is also a serious issue, but as Apple and Asus has shown, it is possible to have a good product and still maintain a good power management setup –the iPad and the Asus Eee products has shown that there are commercial viable devices that can last for over 10 hours when in use. Intel also promised the same thing with their new Atom processor.

Despite the entire buzz generated by the upcoming Google phone, HTC Nexus One, another headline grabbing topic has managed to snatch the spotlight away.

Now, the mobile phone industry is certainly full of tech-enthusiasts, communication visionaries and connectivity idealists who value product innovation, practicality and most of all, purpose in the many mobile phones being cast into the spotlight. Recently, all the news has been about nothing other than the Nexus One. The confirmation of the Google headset is a milestone event in the mobile phone industry, when an OS giant decides to make a phone for itself. Now that the iPhone will be released by Vodafone, the Google Phone is stepping away from the limelight –showing exactly how influential the iPhone truly is.

Anyway, the big news from Vodafone is the not the January 14, 2010 release date, the big news, is the price list. Much to the dismay of many people hoping for an aggressive price war, Vodafone has decided to play it safe and is offering plans that are not unlike what is already offered by O2, Orange and Tesco. Also, the seemingly cheap monthly tariffs will tie you up for a good eighteen months. Not a pretty picture, but that is the only plan they have that has the 32GB iPhone 3Gs for free.

Sign up for the 80 Pound, 18 month  plan and you get the 32GB model for free, 3000 minutes of talk time and the standard plan offers (1GB of data and unlimited messaging –it’s a wonder they bother to point out that WiFi is free as well).

At least iPhone is not jumping blindly into the bandwagon. Knowing fully well the common complaints of iPhone users, the UK carrier has promised that their network will provide stable speeds and fast connections. Of course, we will still have to see if Vodafone will deliver, for now, here’s to hoping that they do.

After the success of the INQ1 last year, the manufacturer has now ventured into the land of QWERTY-equipped Smartphones with the upcoming release of the INQ Chat 3G. INQ have definitely taken notice of the QWERTY trend and have produced their first keyboard-enabled mobile phone.

Critics are claiming that the INQ Chat 3G is a knockoff of the award-winning Nokia E71. At first glance, we definitely wouldn’t beg to differ. While they definitely look alike, what we’d like to know is – how will the Chat 3G fare against the E71 when it comes to functionality and performance?

Look Alike

Design-wise, the INQ Chat 3G resembles the Nokia E71 – complete with its rounded corners, almost identical button set, and virtually identical screens. Both also share almost the same exact dimensions, the difference being only a few millimeters. The dimensions of the INQ Chat 3G are 114.5 x 61 x 12.8 mm, compared to the E71’s 114 x 57 x 10 mm measurements. Considering the fact that the E71 has gained numerous accolades as well, INQ was just right to pattern their newest Smartphone on such an esteemed unit.

Under the Surface

Aside from 3G connectivity, an HSDPA modem is also installed on the Chat 3G to ensure faster internet browsing speeds – much like that of the E71. The INQ Chat 3G is also equipped with a 3.2-Megapixel camera which is definitely comparable to the E71’s 3.15-MP snapper.

Both mobiles also share identical internal memories: 110MB for the E71 and 120MB for the INQ Chat 3G (both are expandable to up to 8GB via the microSD slot). However, details regarding the Chat 3G’s processor and OS are still in the dark so with regard to actual UI/OS performance, we’ll still have to wait and see.

All in all though, it looks like the INQ Chat 3G does have a shot at being the next Nokia E71.

INQ Chat 3G Links:

• INQ Chat 3G Deals
• INQ Chat 3G Sim Free
• INQ Chat 3G on T-Mobile

If the Cold War taught us anything – which, thinking about it, it really should have done – it’s that two or more powers squaring up to each other and building more and more and bigger and better weapons and waving them around and screaming at each other whilst hovering fingers dangerously in the direction of the ‘launch’ buttons doesn’t really get us anywhere. Except mired in a world of mutual distrust, and of course saddled with trillions of dollars worth of debt.

But, it seems, the world has not learnt, as the Samsung Pixon 12 proves to us all too well. With its 12 megapixels of camera-light-receivingness strapped onto its chest, the Pixon 12 is a veritable human bomber of a phone, out to make a statement and attract lots of attention but, all in all, being little more than a worked up show-off. And why is that? Well, as with most of these idiots, there ideas can be disproved via a series of very short, very simple, and utterly infallible facts. Such as

1. More megapixels does not = better pictures
2. More megapixels only = better pictures when spread across the far, far larger light-receiving sensors of, say, a real camera
3. The only thing more megapixels definitely = is more megabytes in the file size created

However, the world being as it is we don’t doubt that many millions are going to be conned into disagreeing with all of the above, listening to raving lunatics and boldly showing off their new Pixon 12 in many a pub around the world come it’s release date. The sad thing is it’s not a bad phone in its own right, as this Samsung Pixon 12 review tells you, but oh well, we’re off to go and join the hari krishnas and preach peace and love and happiness to all men. Join us. Or just watch the video below instead.

Oh, when will they learn? When will the fiddling, tinkering, time-wasting mobile phone researchers learn that less is most often more. That adding more and more and more features and alternatives not only confuses people, but also wastes valuable research and development time.

Take the new Samsung Omnia Pro as a painful example that’s come our way recently. It’s going to come with not one, but two User Interfaces (UI’s). One called “pro” the other “media.” Although keeping in mind that the launch date is still a fair way away (October 2009 at present), so there’s few other details available (and things might still be scrapped) we think this is a terrible, terrible idea. all things might not be finalised.

We can almost understand the logic – some people will be more media-heavy users, so they’ll want a PMP (personal media player) kind of interface, whereas other will be more heavily business and email-hungry, and they’ll want something more traditionally smartphone or businessphone-like. But, aside from the fact that this is patronising (because business people are too serious to ever use media functions, right, and people who don’t wear suits don’t want easy email access either, right?), it’s also a huge waste of effort. Why not just make the Samsung Omnia Pro B7610 a good phone? Tricky concept, we know, but try it again: it’s one handset, it’s one phone, it’s one device…. so why not just make it good. All-round, every function, every feature: good.

Now, we’re not saying the Samsung Omnia Pro B7610
’s going to be a bad phone, or that this dual identity thing isn’t going to work… we’re just saying it’s probably not going to work as well Samsung hope/pray it will. Check out a full Samsung Omnia Pro review here for all the main specs and features. Or have a squizz at this dull video below.

Sometimes it’s too easy to be a snob. Especially when it comes to phones. What’s that, you’re phone has only a mere 3 megapixels? Hah, well mine has 8 whole megapixels! And your’s it made entirely of plastic? Kneel before the brushed aluminium of my smartphone. Etc. and so on.

And we could easily be snobbish about the GW520. 3MP camera. Pretty good but not groundbreaking internet speeds. Pretty damned ugly with that slide-out QWERTY keyboard… But then LG are making no pretence that this is anything but a mid-range phone. They’re not trying to do a Blackberry, or dance the Apple. It’s a phone that offer more than a hell of a lot of phones out there, and does so at a price that’s more than reasonable. It is, in fact, one of the cheapest phones to be offering full ‘push’ services (so that emails, social networking updates and so on are pushed up to your attention, rather than waiting passively until you go and discover them) we’ve ever come across.

The GW520 isn’t going to win any style awards, but nor are LG hoping it will, and nor should you be concerned that is doesn’t. You should buy the LG GW520 if you’re one of those constantly-typing messagers and emailers. Someone who’s going to be tapping away with glee on that bigger-than-most keyboards. And someone who’s going to appreciate those pretty nifty push features along with the money left in their wallet. Read a full LG GW520 review here for more details. And all being well, this will be out any day now on pretty much any contract provider you want.

There’s been more than enough written about how the new Apple iPhone 3G S is faster, slicker and smoother than ever. But one of the things that especially caught our eye is the claim from a games developer that it will handle games better than a PSP Go. Michael Schade, head of developer Fishlabs, said that the Apple iPhone 3G S’s processing speed and other improvements will “push the iPhone beyond the PSP”. Obviously not every cheap application is going to exploit this, but he feels that as developers get their heads around what the phone’s capable of, some surprisingly impressive games could start to surface. Very interesting indeed.

But there is, of course, a whole lot more going on than just games. Here’s a run down of just some of what’s new:

• A 3-megapixel autofocus camera (with a cool tap-to-focus function)
• Video recording (and on-phone editing too)
• Digital compass (not that useful, but very cool looking!)
• Cut, Copy & Paste (from photos, documents, web pages, etc.)
• Voice Control
• Spotlight Search
• Landscape keyboard
• Voice Memos

We’re sure some people are going to be grumbling about the lack of any change in the looks – it’s not smaller, thinner or lighter – but we think people shouldn’t be so superficial. As every less than pretty girl knows, it’s what’s inside that counts, and the Apple iPhone 3G S has enough new features and tweaks to if not tempt people to upgrade from the previous 3G model, then definitely make those with the original iphone feel very inadequate indeed. There’s an Iphone 3G S review here, or why not spend 13 minutes in the company of a know-it-all Apple employee as he takes you on a tour of what’s on offer: