Download torrents on your mobile phone!

Many of us have what the mobile phone operators call ‘unlimited internet’, which actually means you can use the internet on your mobile phone as long as it is line with their fair usage policy. SymTorrent gives phones with the Symbian OS the ability to download torrents on the go.

Screenshots from http://amorg.aut.bme.hu/projects/symtorrent

How many people do you know that use torrents to download files that are just a few megabytes in size? How many people do you know that use torrents to download 100% legal files? Be honest, they may not all be large and illegal, but most are! How long will it be until you have either obliterated the bandwidth according to your fair usage policy or had your account cancelled because of illegal downloads, now that your torrent activity is suddenly very traceable.

That aside, it could be a good way to grab small and legal files, especially when away from home and in reach of a Wi-Fi network, which would make the downloading of large files and keeping to the network Ts & Cs!

Nokia 5800 breaks sales records in India

According to the Economic Times in Inida, the Nokia 5800, or Tube as it was once known, has broken mobile phone sales records in India by shifting 58,000 units in the first 3 weeks of sales. Hang on, 5800, sells 58000 – I think someone has done some creative rounding to reach that wonderfully marketable number!

58,000 sales in just 3 weeks

The phone sells for 20,000 Indian Rupees which converts to around £280, which incidentally is the same price that Carphone Warehouse are selling it for here in the UK. As a Nokia 5800 owner myself I got the phone free on a £15/month deal.

Back on the 23rd January this year, Nokia announced in a press release that they had just shipped the millionth Nokia 5800 – this was the same day the phone was launched in the UK.

I can attest to the quality of this phone and have witnessed almost blanket love for it from other owners in forums across the internet. It’s got everything you need for both media playback and internet browsing, and comes in a convenient candy bar size so my pocket isn’t bulging. I am yet to attach the plectrum styled stylus alternative, though as a guitar player I am very tempted.

Universal Mini USB Charger – At Last!

Yes, it’s another post about mobile phones and yet more news to come out of the Mobile World Congress! This is great news though, for everyone – the main mobile manufacturers have all agree that going forward their phones will use a universal mini USB charger. Gone are the days of having a new charger for every phone, none of which work with the other! This will drive the price down of spare chargers and of other accessories like car chargers, as companies strive for market share.

Every house will have one soon!

With this announcement I am hoping that one of my other gripes is addressed and corrected going forward, and that’s the inclusion of a 3.5mm jack to be included on all phones. Nokia are very good at this, Sony Ericsson and Samsung are not. With the media players being so high spec on new phones they are evidently targeting audiophiles and those people will want to use their own headphones/earphones without having to use a dongle, if one is even available. It’s all very well having 16Gb of space of memory to store all our music, but without the ability to get the best audio quality you may as well not bother. Please, make the 3.5mm jack standard.

New Phone: Nokia 5800

Nokia 5800 XpressMusic to give it it’s full and proper name! I picked it up today after ordering it yesterday, on a whim really! I have had a Sony Ericsson K850i for the last year, which despite almost universally bad reports, has served me pretty well. That is until recently when it has decided to turn itself at random, usually when I making a call or writing a text! Having already been to the repair shop once I decided now was the time to admit it has had it’s day and move on.

As an iPod Touch user I have been tempted by the iPhone but the lack of video recording and MMS is a big letdown – I have an 8 month old son those features are pretty essential to me. What I do like is the touch screen functionality so have been looking at the Samsung Pixon and Omnia, as well as the LG Renoir – all had their good and bad points but none stood out as a must have and all were on fairly pricey contracts, something I wanted to avoid as I currently use only a small portion of my call allowance.

A quick scan of Avforums drew my attention to the Nokia 5800 and the Carphone Warehouse offer of £15 a month for 100 minutes and unlimited texts. I never thought the day would come when I would be more of a texter than a caller, but it has so this deal seemed perfect for my needs. Add £7.50 for the unlimited web bolt-on and he whole package would be £12.50 less than my current contract and a swanky new phone as well – sold!

It has Wi-Fi, a 3.2″ widescreen display, full touchscreen functionality, 8Gb memory card included and all the other bells and whistles I was looking for. I’ve not used a great deal yet but so far I am very impressed. The touchscreen is very responsive and texting is very easy which is usually the biggest test for a touchscreen phone. Next will be connecting it to my laptop and adding a bunch of songs and pictures, and configuring the phone to pick up my wireless network.

So far so good for Nokia’s first foray into touchscreen phones, which for the market leader in mobile phones, some may say they are playing catch-up?