HTC has announced that 50% of its handsets will be switched over to Android platforms in the upcoming year. Samsung’s plan isn’t quite as ambitious as this one but the company has reported that 30% of the phones that it produces in 2010 will use the Android platform. This means that there will be dozens of new Android phones for us to play around with next year. In addition to those that are released by these two handset makers we will see others created by additional companies.

This shift also means that there’s going to be a clear drop off in the number of phones that are based on the Symbian and Windows Mobile platforms. HTC was the largest Windows Mobile platform device maker to date and will be dropping half of those phones in favor of the Android platform. Last year a full 90% of Samsung’s phones ran on Windows Mobile. By 2012 the company expects to have that number down to a mere 20%.

Samsung also plans to completely phase out Symbian phones by 2011. Those new devices that aren’t switched over to Android will reportedly be switched over to the new Samsung OS that was recently announced. There has been a lot of skepticism about the launch of this new operating system. However there seems to be no skepticism about the proliferation of Android-based smartphones to come in the near future.

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The past two weeks have thrown the hacker world into frenzy. Last week reports emerged about the Dutch hacker who created the first iPhone virus for jailbroken handsets, days later another worm surfaced, this time by Ashley Towns a 21-year-old hacker who claimed to have written a similar program. It seemed his worm merely splattered Rick Astley’s face across the background of your iPhone - reports have since stated that charges will occur on the effected phones, as the virus access the internet in order to seek out new handsets and spread, leaving the owner of the iPhone picking up the charges - anyway I digress.

Since then a keen Dial-a-Phone reader brought to our attention the backlash of the online community against the young hacker. Ashley Towns took his story to the press claiming to have invented the first iPhone virus. It now appears the 21 year old simply used the original source code, created by the Dutch hacker and altered it to suit his cause. Halcon Technologies, a specialist group with a strong interest in computer security has released a statement expressing their outrage, and it looks like, an attempt to outline the facts… (more…)

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• Transparent monochrome screen measuring 1.8″.
• 3G with HSDPA, HSUPA and the usual NetFront web browser.
• A2DP Bluetooth and ActiveSync.
•  Sony Ericsson’s music player with TrackID and MegaBass.
• FM Radio.

So when Sony Ericsson gave the Pureness the tagline of ‘Talk. Text. Time’, they were summing up its ability very well.  You’ll notice from the above list there is no GPS or Wi-Fi, no colour screen, so therefore no video and perhaps the most obvious omission - no camera!  We understand the Pureness’s fashionable aspirations, but for a phone priced on the wrong side of £500, the opportunity to take a photo once in a while would be nice.  Still, we shouldn’t complain, as we’ll probably be too busy browsing the Internet in glorious grayscale to care!

All this is not really a surprise, as we knew the Pureness wasn’t aimed at techy folk, but at fashion folk, who have been well catered for.  The phone weighs just 70 grams and has a thickness of 13mm, plus its industry first transparent display is a real eye-catcher.  Also, in addition to the Xperia services such as the dedicated support line and 48-hour global replacement, the Pureness gets its own concierge who’ll book the best restaurants, clubs and events for you.

Jet-setters who think the Pureness will perfectly compliment their lifestyle won’t find it on the shelves with all the other common mobile phones, but in upmarket boutiques and department stores away from the riff-raff.  The release date is yet to be announced, but later this month seems likely.

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An Orange spokesman stated that since they cover 93.4 per cent of the population, while 3 covers 91, it’s a pretty clear case.  3 retaliates by saying that if you calculate it differently, 3 is actually the largest network with 95 percent coverage. The key difference is that 3 seems to be focused on area of coverage, while Orange is focusing on the population centers, and 3 insist that an external agency is required to spell out the honest approach.

It’s unclear what 3 will achieve with this: as the smallest of the big five mobile phone networks it needs to be aggressive, but we’d think that focusing on services would be better than arguing over adverts that have already aired.  It’s not like they can suck the ads back out of people’s brains.

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A growing concern for any country is the threat of missile attacks, whether it’s part of a larger political war or as an act of terror. While the real concerns may not lie with the missile itself, more likely the aftermath and political repercussions, a key strategy for countries facing any such threat is evacuating people to safe areas away from the strike zone. Currently air raid sirens are used to identify and alert cities that are at risk of a rocket attack following a hostile launch. But these alerts are not always effective. Back in June Home Front Command conducted a five-day missile drill to help prepare Israelis and ensure everyone could get to a safe zone. According to a poll conducted by the Home Front Command, 46% to 60% of the general public drilled got to a safe zone when they heard the siren. Leaving almost half of the population in dangerous hot spots.

With this in mind, the Home Front Command has announced that within two years they hope to install a rocket alert system in Israel that will be able to calculate the precise location of an impact zone, and alert residents in affected neighbourhoods via their mobile phones. Col. Dr. Chilik Soffer, head of the population department at the Home Front Command, said that advanced rocket sensors would soon be able to calculate the projectile’s exact landing site, “the rocket sensor will create a virtual ellipse and all the phones in that area will receive a warning”.

In a bid to increase the number of people that make it to the safe zones the alert will take four forms, mobile phone vibration, an audio alert, light flash or text message, “The more specific the alert, the more ready people will be” Soffer also stressed the importance of getting alerts to communities early. Around 90% of civilian casualties sustained in Israel during the second Lebanon war involved people who were struck by projectiles while they were in open areas, away from buildings. Civilians who seek cover in designated safe areas during rocket attacks are not likely to be wounded or killed.

If the Home Front Command can devise an advanced system, no doubt it will be rolled out worldwide. Despite the obvious positives, saving thousands of civilian lives there is the possibility that these alerts could be sent to warn the targets, therefore ruining any mission objective. Although if technology has advanced to receiving rocket impact estimations to a mobile phone one would assume it wont be too long until similar technology is made to counteract it.

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If we take a trip back, August saw email giant Hotmail get infiltrated by hackers who got access to personal email accounts. It led to the Microsoft system shutting down for more than 2 hours. A group called Hackers Unite claimed responsibility, apparently they wanted to highlight flaws in Microsoft’s security, and post a few email account logins and passwords online for fun.

Almost a month later the Guardian came under attack. They estimated ‘ Up to half a million’ personal details about subscribers to the online job section were at risk. The job site gets around 10million unique subscribers every year, luckily the Guardian managed to stop the hack before it finished. Even so, the compromised info might have included the person’s name, email address, cover letter and CV, a good background history then!

Finally, unlike the other two Play.com managed to compromise its customer’s personal details all by itself. A massive computer glitch saw thousands of order confirmations get sent out to the wrong people. One Play.com customer received 80 emails for orders he hadn’t placed. Although names and addresses of customers were exposed, it doesn’t look like payment or credit card details were. Play.com are still trying to figure out what went wrong!

So just how much trust can we put in these online companies? Are these freak examples or are Internet sites too easy to infiltrate?

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Samsung have announced they will be debuting a new mobile phone operating system in 2010, with a full unveiling to come in early December at an event to be held in London.  The new open mobile platform is to be called ‘bada’ from the Korean word for ocean, but we do secretly hope some inspiration came from someone wearing an Ivy League suit at the meetings too.

Samsung already make smartphones with Windows Phone, Android and Symbian operating systems, but according to the new bada website, their new platform represents the ‘future of their smartphone experience’.  They go on to say that the demand for applications and a smartphone-like experience on non-smart phones is growing and that bada will bring this to everyone, indicating it will be used across a range of different phones.

A new arm of their application store is also going to be a big part of bada, with Samsung encouraging developers to write applications which make use of not only the web, but internal features such as the address book and the dialer.  An SDK will also be available at the upcoming London event along with various developer days in the future.  This ease of customisation is also important to network operators, and Samsung’s openness of the fact should make it popular with them too.

Samsung are giving nothing concerning bada’s look away, however they have published a vague timeline.  December will see the official launch, with the first phone running the OS available during the first half of 2010, with more appearing in the second half.  No other details on the phones are stated, however it does indicate that bada is for use with touchscreen phones.  Also during the first half of 2010, applications will go on sale in the Samsung Application Store, with a UK rollout coming later in the year.

We’re not quite sure if the world needs another smartphone OS, and we would imagine there is a degree of competition between Samsung and LG’s S-Class UI here, but judging by the impressive job Samsung have done with TouchWiz recently, it does bode well for bada.

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Since then an 80’s worm is targeting more jailbroken iPhones. 21-year-old hacker, Ashley Towns has written a program, similar to a virus that will attack unsecured iPhones. Don’t panic just yet; it will only change the wallpaper to show a picture of 80’s singer Rick Astley…ok maybe it’s time to panic! So what did the hacker have to say for himself, well his reasoning is similar to the Dutch hacker. He wants to warn people about the dangers of not changing default passwords for their phone.

Only iPhone users who have ‘jailbroken’ their phone will get the worm. If you’re unlucky enough to get hacked, and maybe to a nastier extent than just having ridiculous wallpaper, don’t bother Apple. Or at least that’s the message it’s sending out; the company doesn’t support jailbroken phones and has tried to prevent jailbreaking through numerous software updates. Apple has also stated it is illegal to jailbreak your iPhone.

So before you get too carried away with all your iPhone apps remember to change your passwords. And if you want to rebel and get your hands on ‘illegal’ iPhone programs, think again, yes you’ll be able to do things no other iPhone can do but do you really want to run the risk of waking up to Rick Astley?… Though not.

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What Exactly Is Cell Phone Poetry?

In the strictest sense of the phrase, cell phone poetry refers to poetry which is crafted using the mobile phone as the device on which to write the poetry. The most common method of doing this is to create a text message which is actually a poem. Because of this, the format of cell phone poetry tends to be short. The haiku is a very popular style for people who are interested in applying the art of cell phone writing to the world of structured poetry. Poets who write on both paper and mobile phone say that the main difference between the two formats is that it can take days, weeks or even months to perfect a poem on paper but that the process of writing out a poem on a cell phone is much quicker due to the nature of the technology. (more…)

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