The Curve is already the number 1 selling smartphone in the US, but the Blackberry 8520 is set to make RIM a whole bunch more money in the near future. Some have already branded this thing a ‘failure’, but we think those branders are, well, idiots. Because even without the 3G, even with a crappy camera, even without a few of the things that make the top-end Blackberries so very special, we think this thing is going to sell like hot cakes.

Only a couple of years ago, there was only one thing people wanted from phones: sleekness. Handsets were basically judged on how sleek / slim they were. All anyone wanted was the lightest / most shiny / least thick, so that’s all that manufacturers spent their times developing. However, times have changed, and even at the expense of looks, manufacturers are bowing to a change in pressure and making phones that actually favour function over form. The Blackberries, for example, have never even been close to attractive, and the Blackberry Curve 8520 is no exception. But what it is is the cheapest ever Blackberry. Nuff said, really. Full QWERTY, half-decent internet options, cool new trackpad… and all for far less than you’d ever imagined a phone like this could be, as you’ll find when you have a squizz at these Blackberry curve 8520 deals. Obviously you’ve not got all the features and gadgets that a full price Blackberry offers (check out this Blackberry Curve 8520 review for the full lowdown) but even with that in mind, the 8520 is going to do very well indeed.

So Nokia has announced the new Nokia N900, coming to a store near you very soon. We found a rather excellent video of this little device in action and as with all promotional videos it looks absolutely awesome! Whether the interface and OS stands up to anything like what this Video shows remains to be seen, but we are ever hopeful. Make sure you check back here for more info on when the latest Nokia N900 deals become available.. We think this one could be a huge seller.

Described as a “pretty supernatural being rising out of your pockets”, we have to wonder if the LG BL40 has gone too far. If it’s just a little bit too pretty. A little bit too sleek. The touchscreen a touch too large. Fair enough Toshiba smacked us around the head with the 4.1-inch screened TG01 recently, but the 4-inch LG BL40 Chocolate takes “look-at-me” look to a whole new level. Which is not an entirely bad thing, of course. If that’s the kind of reaction you want. Us? We’d be terrified of putting this thing in our pocket. Actually, we’d be slightly worried about fitting it in there in the first place. But given the amount of gravel, keys, change and other detritus stuffed into our jeans, we’d feel bad about putting this space-age object in there. It’d be like parking a Ferrari in a tiny garage filled with rusty watering cans and rotten potatoes. Not right, basically.

We don’t doubt this thing is going to find a very appreciative audience for these kinds of LG BL40 Chocolate deals. The BL40 is an absolute stonker of phone in many, many respects, even away from that VGA / 21:9 / etc etc. screen it’s got on board. With all the GPS, Wi-Fi, HSDPA and customisable options you’d expect from the very best phones out there, there’s simply nothing that this thing lacks. Apart from… well… modesty. And fair enough, not everyone wants there phone to be modest or simple. Some like to accessorise as much with their phone as they do with their clothes. If you feel that might well be you, then start wetting your lips: this thing’s due out in a couple of months. Check out this LG BL40 review, or have a look at the video below.

So the summer is coming to an end, yet we seem to be enjoying some rare sunshine here in the UK. To celebrate this rarity we have decided to put together a list of our 8 favourite mobile phones and the best deals that are available with them. We might make this a regular feature, it just depends how useful you guys think it is. So let’s get started.
1. Nokia N97 deals – The hottest Nokia mobile phone out there right now. Yes it has a few problems, but nothing a few firmware updates will sort out. You can get a free ipod shuffle on T-Mobile with 800 minutes and unlimited texts for under £40.00 per month.
2. HTC Hero deals – Android is the way forward and the HTC Hero is the best of the lot. At £15 per month cheaper than the N97 it is worthy of the number 2 spot. You do only get 400 minutes per month though.
3. HTC Touch diamond 2 deals – much improved from the original Diamond, we really like the interface on this phone. £30.00 per month on O2 is the one to beat here, with 400 minutes and 500 texts.
4. Sony W995 deals – The best Sony Ericsson phone available in the market at the moment. You get music, camera and a sleek design all rolled into one. And for a little of £21.00 per month on Orange we think that it is a bargain.
5. Blackberry 8520 deals -No list would be complete without a Blackberry. The new 8520 is a slimmer sleeker version of the older models and we are very impressed with it. There is a deal with Orange offering £170 cashback on a £35.00 per month deal, so now is the time to grab this one whilst its cheap.
6. Nokia 5530 deals – Wow this is a cheap mobile phone. Vodafone are offering this one with 600 minutes and unlimited texts for just £21.00 per month, an absolute bargain.
7. Samsung Jet deals – The new addition to Android community has been well received and if you are looking for an alternative to HTC this one needs to be considered. Grab it O2 for £29.35 per month on O2 or £21.20 on Orange if you don’t mind cashback deals.
8. Nokia N86 deals – Gamers delight in this fabulous handset. Yes there are cheaper Nokia phones out there, but if you like to game then this one is a must. Vodafone are offering it for £31.00 with 600 minutes unlimited texts.
So there you have it our run down of the best mobile phones with the best deals. It is probably worth bearing in mind that these offer change quickly so grab them whilst they are still around.

If you thought Bluetooth headsets – staple ear decoration for mini-cab drivers, construction site foremen and, well, all ****s who think that a flashing piece of plastic hooked into their ear hole looks good – were painful to be around in your day to day life, just you wait until the next mini revolution in mobile phones happens: watchphones.

That’s right, in some kind of back to the future style scenario, watchphones are back in the shape of the Samsung S9110 (and we say back, because one of Samsung’s last notable efforts in this category came in the shape of the SPH-WP10, an almost unbelievable ten years ago). And as well as the S9110, LG are getting in on the act with the GD910, although their effort is arriving next month rather than this, and costs £1,000 whereas the Samsung S9110 comes in at under £400. But regardless, we don’t doubt that in a few months, you’re going to start seeing a lot of people with strange looking watches. All the most strange when you see them seemingly dislocate their elbows and wrist in an attempt to talk into these things like they’re a phone. See…. do you see why we’re worried? Because, as quaint an idea as a watchphone is, we just fail to see how it’s going to be all that practical. Either it’s going to be something you have to twist and turn up to your face in some weird way, or it’ll just be on permanent speakerphone (which will really, really wind us up). Or it’ll go down the route of the so-called “hands-free” sets. And don’t get us started on hands-free sets… IT’S NOT HANDS-FREE YOU IDIOT BECAUSE YOU JUST TOOK LONGER TO USE YOUR HANDS TO STICK THE EAR PIECE IN, RE-ADJUST THE STUPID DANGLING MICROPHONE AND THEN ANSWER THE CALL THAT YOU WOULD NORMALLY TAKE TO ANSWER THE CALL. AND LOOK! LOOK! NOW YOU’RE HOLDING THE MICROPHONE BIT CLOSE TO YOUR MOUTH AS YOU TALK. JUST USE THE ****ING PHONE LIKE A NORMAL PERSON YOU ****ING **** ****.

Ahem. Anyway. Yeah. Watchphones! Woooo!

Check out this Samsung S9110 review for less rant, more stats. Or have an early look at some Samsung S9110 deals.

Sometimes phones come along that, well, baffle us a little. But then, all we need to do is try and watch TV for ten minutes, pick up a newspaper, or basically interact with the world outside the internet for any amount of time to remind ourselves that it’s not our fault, the world is just absolutely insane.

So, once reassured of that fact, we can bring you news of the Nokia 6760 slide. To our mind, this looks like not only an ugly phone, not only a clunky phone, but actually doesn’t even look like a phone at all. More like one of those split screen LCD games like Donkey Kong that Nintendo and the like used to make. But then we realise that the 6760 is designed for people who have no idea what a split screen Donkey Kong game looks like. And then we feel a little old. And a little sad.

Because the 6760 is for those young folk who use their phone more as a portal to their social networking account, as a way of sending emails, as something to use to chat to your friends. “Chat”, that is, in the sense of sending short text-based messages to each other. Not, you know, using your vocal chords or anything crazy like that. And with a heavy heart we realise that these Nokia 6760 slide deals are not for us. That neither are these 6760 deals. Or even this Nokia 6760 slide review. And we are a little forlorn… until we dig out our old Donkey Kong game and try and beat our best score. Then it’s all okay again.

Watching the video below (which you should do now if this post is going to make any sense whatsoever) made us think a little bit of all those high-octane, techno-music-laden, epilepsy-flashing Lucozade ads you get on TV now, especially for the Lucozade Sport variety. Because, we all know that Lucozade is for one thing and one thing only: hangovers. That the only reason any normal human needs to ingest that much sugary syrupy gloop in one go is because their brain is banging a marching band theme and they’ve got to get through the next 8 hours at work. However, the way that the stuff is sold to us is through all these professional sporting types using it and explaining how it makes them just that little bit more perfect and incredible.

Balls, we say. Which is just what the video for the Nokia 3720 Classic made us say too. Because, apart from perhaps the beer one, none of these scenarios are in anyway realistic. Okay, maybe the pool one too, as we’re sure you might have jumped into some kind of pool/ocean with all your clothes on before too. But apart from those, they’re ridiculous. ‘Oh, look at that, I just realised i’d placed my phone on the golf tee instead of my golf ball! How silly am I! At least it was my new Nokia 3720 so I know that as I only played a very weak chip shot it’s going to be okay. Phew!’ and so on and so forth.

But, I guess the point is proved, nonetheless. This is definitely, definitely the only phone you should consider if you’re one of those people who drop things constantly, sit on things daily, or just otherwise find yourself crushing all your nearest and dearest electronics. And, I guess, if you’re some kind of world exploring, desert crossing, waterfall climbing, camel racing type of weirdo it might come in rather handy for you too. Have a little click here for the official Nokia page, or take a look at this Nokia 3720 review instead.

Pants! Darn! Oof!

Because there’s little that annoys us more at the moment than network providers renaming phones. Why is that? Two reasons, dear (and patient) reader. So sit back, relax and, as always, get ready for a rant:

1 – Mobile phone network providers like to re-name phones because it gives them an overinflated sense of self worth. Not that their sense of self worth could get much more inflated. So the HTC Hero is not the HTC Hero when T-Mobile get their sticky little mitts on it, it becomes instead the T-Mobile G2 Touch. And then all the dolts out there who don’t understand how the world works go, oohhhh, look at that, look at the pretty phone that T-Mobile have made (well, actually, the T-Mobile Touch is actually a hella ugly phone, but you get the point), aren’t they so clever to be able to make phones as well as providing network coverage. NO, THEY ARE NOT, THEY ARE NOTHING MORE THAN FAME THIEVES.

2 – People like T-Mobile like to pretend that they have lots of exclusive products that absolutely no one else has when in fact they don’t, they simply re-name and re-brand and, if you’re really lucky, re-colour something, then claim that the thing they’ve done so to is all theirs and no-one else’s and oohhh, aren’t you so lucky that we’ve done this for you. NO, WE ARE NOT LUCKY, WE ARE DUPED, CONNED AND TRICKED BY YOU YOU FAME THIEVES.

Erm, anyway. Glad we got that off our chests. For less ranting, more facting, check out this T-Mobile G2 Touch review. Or for some FLAGRANT LIES you can even check out the official page.

Sony Ericsson have always annoyed us and pleased us in equal measure. But with the Sony Ericsson Xperia X3, it looks like they’re heading towards pleasing us more than annoying. Which, well, makes us happy.

For so long they’ve created phones that are really great in some or even most areas, but that have been crippled by annoying quirks that we just haven’t been able to forgive them for. A phone of there’s might have a fantastic music player, for example, but then it’d have no 3.5mm jack socket and you’d have to use and/or buy Sony-specific headphones. Or another model might have a superb, high-mega-pixel camera, but then you’d have to buy Sony Ericsson memory cards (at a far higher cost than the industry-standard microSD cards). Not so, in both cases, for the Sony Ericsson xperia X3. Quite why it took them so long to realise that it’s a good idea to allow the use of the kind of technologies the rest of the industry is happy to support is beyond us. Actually, it’s not: is what simply about them being greedy and wanting more profit for themselves, but let’s not hold that against them.

Oh, and did we mentioned that the X3 is a Google Android phone… well, it is. And if you follow this blog regularly you’ll know how happy that makes us. So, all looks good for this little beauty, as is expanded on in this Sony Ericsson Xperia X3 review. The sad thing is it’s not due out for a few months yet, but you can still have a look at these Sony Ericsson Xperia X3 deals in the meantime, or take a sneak peek at what the UI is going to look like.

You should count yourselves very lucky, you know, that this blog is so coherent. Not in terms of, say, most of literature, of course. But in comparison to a huge heap of steaming blogs out there, you should feel pretty glad you found this one. During our research for the LG GW300, for example, we found some absolute gems. It might interest you to learn that, “the device aims at the users who dote of messaging services, whether for business, entertainment or leisure pass time activities.”

So there we are then. Does that help? Do you now understand what the LG GW300 is all about. Are you one who dotes on messaging services?

Let us translate for you instead: this thing has just about nothing going for it apart from the QWERTY keyboard stuck to it, and the fact that it’s going to be crazy cheap. But before you stop reading, consider that this is the very point. Because those who ‘dote’ on things like SMS, emails and status updates, are of course the younger folk out there (that’s according to GSM Arena and most other more articulate sites out there), and they are going to dote over the price tag of this thing big time. They won’t care about the lack of just about everything else (GPS, 3G, WiFI, etc.), they’ll just be glad their thumbs get to tappety-tap on a proper keyboard for the price of a couple of weeks pocket money. So there we have it. In a slightly more understandable nutshell than the one quoted above. Check out this LG GW300 review if you want even more non-crazy English opinions on this thing.