The computer game industry is big business all over the world; top consoles such as the Nintendo Wii and the Sony PS3 sell millions of units every year and the development of games is one of the fastest growing businesses in the world. It didn’t take long for mobile phone manufacturers to realise that this is an important industry and that having good quality computer games is a good way to sell phones.
This attitude has perhaps reached its zenith as Sony Ericsson are set to release the Xperia Play this month, a phone specifically designed with gaming in mind. Even Research in Motion have got in on the act, releasing the Blackberry Torch last year in order to improve their image and make people see them as more “fun”. Keeping in with this “fun” idea, there are plenty of great games available for the Blackberry with many of them totally free. Here are some of my favourites.
Guitar Heroes: Warriors of Rock
This game was a sensation on the consoles and now it has come to mobile phones with this great version available for Blackberry. You are Johnny Napalm, wannabe guitarist at the CBGB club in New York. The aim of the game is to learn the entire set list, featuring many of rock’s greatest hits. The more levels you play the more songs you unlock so it is an addictive quest.
Snake
Remember snake? The massively popular game that featured on many a classic Nokia phone a decade or so ago. Snake was one of the very first games available on mobile phones and now it is back on your Blackberry. Nothing complex or stunningly good lucking here but what is here is an unbelievably simple and brilliant game.
Finger Trap
Another simple yet addictive game and one that is only playable on a touch screen Blackberry phone such as the Blackberry Torch. Basically, you have to stop the blocks smashing into your red squares. It gets quite frenetic at times, especially in the “wild mode” setting where everything is harder and faster.
Find more information on these classic games at dialaphone.co.uk.
The smartphone industry is increasingly competitive these days as providers fight tooth and nail to attract customers. For a long time the iPhone has been the device of choice, yet it is now facing strong challenges from HTC and the Windows 7 phone. One arena of battle is the world of apps as the major players race to host programs that allow gaming, word processing, free conference calling and other functions. The app war has begun!
Apple pioneered this part of the market by introducing an app store hosted on iTunes. This allowed them to sell a huge variety of different games and make a handsome profit from it – these apps greaty add to the functionality of the phone as they can do almost anything. Of course, Apple applies strict controls to keep inappropriate content out, and to prevent people from competing on their turf.
HTC uses the Android Market to allow its customers to access a huge variety of apps developed by a vibrant community of developers. Apple’s stringent restrictions don’t exist and there are more free App’s to be found here than on iTunes.
Windows has naturally developed their own marketplace which functions just like the iTunes stores. Unfortunately, as the device is quite new the store has far fewer apps than its bigger cousins – that said this will change as developers create Windows versions of their programs and bring them across to this new platform.
These three major players have all developed great stores that allow them to add value to their phones. You can expect Apple to make the most money out of this, yet HTC’s access to more free apps is likely to give them an edge in this evolving turf war.
It is very important for some people to have the newest and most advanced models of phones. Back in the 1950’s a person leased a phone from the phone company and kept for as long as they kept the house. With cell phones, if a person has a phone for over a year, the model is probably outdated. If a phone is outdated, especially if its owner is from the younger generation than they probably will go out and buy a new one. The problem becomes, what to do with their old phones? Often times people take their old phones and toss them in a drawer.
When they decide to have a garage sale, the old phones will find a space on the table and be massed with all of the old chargers and connections for someone to sort through and pick over. But there is a much better fate for these old phones. They can be recycled in various ways. One way to recycle mobile phones is through charitable organizations. These organizations provide phones to people who need them, such as battered women and the homeless, but are not always able to afford them. It is a great way to get a phone that may be obsolete for you into the hands of someone who would benefit from it.
The person who donates the phone can often get a tax break by donating the phone. A second way is to send it back to the cell phone provider. The cell phone provider will usually pay for the shipping and can often offer a person a discount on the new phone that the person is buying. The old phone is refurbished if possible by the provider and passed along to a new user. Either of these methods accomplishes one important thing. It keeps the old cell phones out of the landfills. there are things in the cell phones that can be harmful to the environment if they are not disposed of in the right way. By recycling the phone a person is protecting the environment. The last thing to remember about recycling a phone is to delete all of your information off the phone before you pass it on. You do not want other people to have access to your private information that could be stored on your phone.
It is fair to say that until last year, Sony Ericsson had not been a huge success in the smartphone market. Although their business in terms of standard mobile phones is still going rather strong, they had been somewhat left behind in terms of smartphones by companies such as Apple, HTC and LG.
2010 was the year to turn this all around though and although it was not the best year for the company in terms of sales, they did release several models that look to make sure that 2011 will be a far more positive year, this included the launch of the new Sony Ericsson Xperia Play.
The main landmark for the company last year was the release of their high end smartphone, the Xperia X10. This looks set to be the phone that brings Sony Ericsson back in line with the other giants of mobile phone technology but just what is so special about it. The phone has several new features, and here are a few of them to look over.
Two features on the phone that have been hailed by Sony Ericsson are the brand new Timescape and Mediascape, both exclusive to the Xperia X10. Firstly, the Timescape feature takes all of your communication details including info from Facebook, twitter, text messaging, email and your call log and places them all in one single menu. This feature makes your social networking and other communication aspects of your mobile phone use so much easier to access, something that we all want of course.
The Mediascape function is equally as useful and does a similar thing to Timescape but, of course, with media instead of communications. It places all of your photos, songs and videos into one easy to use set up with uncluttered folders and simple menus. Both features also make great use of something called the “infinity” button. This allows you to view all of the information related to one artist. This is great and means you can access information quick and easily without trawling through endless folders. Head over to phones4u to see the full range of Sony Ericsson smartphones.