Nomophobia sweeps the UK – The fear of being without your mobile phone

 

Researchers found 66 per cent of people are terrified of being without their phone, and the younger they are the more worried they are.

First identified in 2008, it would appear nomophobia – defined as ‘the fear of being out of mobile phone contact’ – is increasing with far more admitting to the problem than when a similar poll was conducted four years ago.

A survey of 1,000 people in employment found two-thirds of them fear losing their mobile phone.

The study, commissioned by SecurEnvoy, revealed that 41 per cent of the people polled have two phones or more in an effort to stay connected.

When asked if they’d be upset if a partner looked at the messages and texts on their phone almost half said that they would.

Women worry about losing their phones than men – 70 per cent of the women surveyed, compared to 61 per cent of the men, yet it is men that are more likely to have two phones – scoring 47 per cent and 36 per cent respectively.

When split by age it is young adults, aged 18 to 24, who are more nomophobic (77 per cent), with the 25 to 34 age group second (68 per cent). The third most nomophobic age group were those aged 55 and over.

 

 

2012 approaching, what’s in store?

It’s been a whirlwind 2011, in fact so busy, I’ve hardly had a moment to think, let alone update this blog. So much has been happening, both in terms of technology and my own businesses. Goldsims.co.uk has been inundated with enquires, just prior to the launch of the apple iphone 4s. I guess that everyone wants a good number to go with their new purchase.

Technology has changed so much in eight months it’s been difficult to keep up with all of the changes particularly Apple with the new release of  iPhone 4S.  Perhaps I can keep more up to date with ‘Siri’, Apple’s new helper, who can easily translate all of my dictation onto screen and update my blog automatically.

Mobile phone reviews have become quite boring recently as many manufacturers struggled to keep up with Apple.  There are still going to be the loyal blackberry users who prefer the keypad buttons instead of touchscreen, but otherwise it seems that Apple still lead the field by some way.

Our latest review is the Samsung galaxy S2 which is about as close as we get to the iPhone 4S. The Samsung galaxy S2 is the latest best-selling galaxy and seems to be a lot better than its predecessor. It has a 4.3 inch screen, which makes most displays look underpowered and undersized.  It weighs just 116 g. David Bailey would be proud of this phone, (for those of you who remember David Bailey !) It packs an impressive 8 megapixel camera. Ideal for capturing shots of people lined-up outside your local Mac store, prior to the launch of a new product.

It’s about 8.5 mm thick, the screen resolution is impressive making images pin sharp and there is also a secondary camera which is 1.3 megapixels for video calling. All in all, not bad.

When you use the phone to switch between apps, it shouldn’t get clogged up either.
There is a dual processor, making the whole thing work twice as quickly as other androids. Plus, it includes the latest version of Gingerbread.
Other hot features include support for NFC – Near Field Communications. This should change the way we work again, but it’s too complicated to talk about that just yet.

If you fancy an Android based system, this is good option. If you’re a Mac fan – iPhone 4s takes a lot of beating.

Almost Christmas…

Ipad 2 – March 25th UK release date

Roll on March 25th, that’s all I can say.
It looks as though Apple have done their usual trick of releasing the lastest version of an already hugely popular gadget. As we contemplate the release of the iPad 2, no doubt somewhere within the apple armoury, lies the iPhone 5.

So, what’s all the fuss about exactly? Steve Jobs reminded me of the chap who introduced The Six Million Dollar Man in the 70′s. Words and phrases like “Thinner, Lighter, Faster – took me back to the introduction of that seventies hit series.. We have the capability to re-build him – “Better than before, better……, stronger…………., faster !!

Luckily, the iPad won’t set you back Six Million Dollars. I hear from Apple that prices haven’t been released for the UK and I’m anticipating no increase from the current model (release price).

SO what’s inside the box and why should we buy one?

Fast – It’s much faster than iPad 1, thanks to something called A5 chip technology. It’s dual core processors really eat through information quickly. In fact, the CPU performance is twice as fast as the iPad 1.

Graphics are up to 9x faster than iPad 1. Nine times !! I thought iPad 1, had superb graphics.

Same low-power as the A4 chip, keeping battery life up there in double figures – yes, 10 hours.

Two Cameras – Front and Back. Great for “face time” communications over wifi.

Thinner – 33% thinner than iPad 1. This thing is only 8.8mm thick. The iPad 2 is thinner than the iPhone 4. That’s amazing.

Lighter – 1.3lbs (that’s light).

Two colours – Available in Black & White.

Excited enough yet?

www.apple.com/uk

Iphone 4 Killer?

Well – let’s see.

The new LG optimus 2X is expected soon.

Built as the worlds first dual-core smartphone, the LG optimus 2X raises the stakes and gives android devices a much-needed boost in this market.

The phone boasts a large 4 inch (800 x 480) pixel display, an 8 Megapixel primary camera plus a 1.3 megapixel front facing camera, plus all of the usual goodies that you’d expect from the top-line android phone.  The real interest is with the  1GHz Tegra 2 processor. “Dual core” is a buzz-phrase that smartphone customers might not be familiar with, but most modern PCs use this technology to give a speed boost. It means that the processor is split to act as two processors. This theoretically makes the device twice as fast. All other android devices are single core and you can often tell with games and video feedback as some phones stutter whilst other process kick-in. Dual core will go some way to preventing that.

Another of the optimus 2X strengths is the camera. The eight megapixels stills camera is a step up from the typical five megapixels found in other android phones. The 1080p video camera is certainly very good and is possibly the best in class. HDMI output means that you can output to an HDTV. We don’t know exactly how big and heavy the phone is, but the 4″ screen is larger than most and is probably similar in size to Sony Ericsson X10.

The internal flash memory is 8 GB with an additional micro SD slot. We understand Korea get first bite of the cherry from January 2011. Other european countries are to follow shortly. Will this be the iphone killer everyone has secretly desired? Probably not.

Nexus S hits the spot

Google and Samsung seem like a pretty good combination if you are looking for a phone that surfs the web, finds data quickly and navigates you around the globe for free, plus up to the minute traffic data using google maps.
This week, we’re looking into the “soon to be released” NEXUS S.

So, what did we discover about this neat little phone measuring a few millimeters?

The Nexus S is the latest android phone to capture an audience and our belief is that this phone is the most competition the iPhone 4 has ever had.
If you don’t like apple, this is certainly a phone for your consideration.
Nexus S is the first phone to run Gingerbread, the fastest version of android ever. With lots of multitasking and wifi hotspots included, you’ll always be organised and connected.
Nexus S is manufactured by Samsung and is the first smartphone to launch with a contour display. The curved glass screen fits comfortably in the palm of your hand and along the side of your face. A bright screen with higher contrast means colours are incredibly vibrant and text is crisp.
The google mapping system is simply brilliant, with more functions than you could imagine. Working hand in glove with the mapping system, is the navigation. One of the great things about the navigation system is free traffic and voice, plus visual options in 2 or 3d.
Google traffic keeps you up to date with roads which have heavy traffic and re-routing is easy. When you are browsing the map you can zoom into a certain area/building say a restaurant and look at a restaurant in 3-D using the Google mapping system you can use street view to identify the actual street you are walking or driving along.

The software is Gingerbread.

In gingerbread, typing is faster and more accurate with the new keyboard layout which includes additional space in-between the keys and has larger fonts. The Internet VoiP dialling allows you to quickly access contacts from your phone and dial without using third party applications for internet phone calls.
The Nexus S can also function as a wifi hotspot itself.
This clever little system works on the 3G network and would easily provide up to 6 devices, such as a laptop or notebook, with a wifi connection.
NFC – (Near Field Communication) The Nexus S can read information from smart tags or anything with a smart tag within it. This new technology is becoming more popular everyday, so the technology is probably a little ahead of the market and this function will come into its own in the fullness of time.
Push email, always makes sure that you are always up to date with your latest emails.
More and more people are watching videos on the go and using the latest YouTube application for android means having millions of videos right in your pocket. Youtube for android has been redesigned to include a personalised home screen, in-page playback and a rotate for fullscreen gesture.
Nexus S comes unlocked and will work with most usual airtime carriers.
Carphone warehouse are the chosen retailer, with a PAYG price tag of just under £550.
The Nexus S on a contract, is likely to set you back £35 per month and upwards depending on the tariff.

Apple TV arrives in style

Well, Apple TV is here and it’s smaller than you can imagine. It fits into your palm and packs a punch. The little unit is only 10cm’s square and just 23mm’s tall.

A slick solidly built matt black box of tricks that should be easy to connect and set up in minutes of opening the box. One word of advice – you will need to buy an HDMI cable to connect Apple TV to your Television.  You will also need to have your wifi working, so that the box can communicate with your computer, which should also be switched on.

So, what can the Apple TV do for you? Once set up, you can view movies that are in your itunes library, view your photo collection, search You Tube and Flickr from your TV screen and buy or rent movies from the itunes store, listen to internet radio or play your itunes collection through your TV. Ideal if you have a sophisticated surround sound system.

If you own an iPad, you can switch from viewing a movie on your iPad and watch the same movie on your TV at the touch of a button. One moment it’s on your iPad, the next, it’s on your TV.

Ah, the one thing I didn’t mention – you have to be running software version 4.2 minimum on the iPad. You should also make sure that the latest software is downloaded on the Apple TV. This is really easy. Just go into the settings menu on the Apple TV, ask for an update and hey presto, you’re up to date. If you don’t update your Apple TV software, (which only takes a few minutes) you will have sound but no vision.

The neat little Apple aluminium micro thin remote is typically sleek, offering usual functionality; fast forward/rewind, play, pause and select. The free remote app for iPhones and iPod touch adds a little zest to the operation of the Apple TV and is worth downloading.

The maximum resolution is 720p, which is fine for viewing photo’ s, even on a 50″ TV.

All this for under £100. Brilliant.

Nokia N8 – Coming very soon

The new Nokia N8 is the world’s first Symbian 3 device. The phone will capture spectacular images with it’s 12 megapixel camera, Carl Zeiss optics and xenon flash.

High definition filming in 720p makes your video recording crystal clear. With HDMI connection and Dolby surround sound, your high-definition movies will look and sound great.

Upload your photos to Facebook, social media and tweets combined, from your home screen. You can have several home screens as the device is easily customised.

Ovi maps look fantastic on the Nokia’s 3.5″ screen, with free lifetime navigation, you shouldn’t get lost again!

The Nokia N8 is quick to load webpages and with its flash support, you’ll see websites as they are supposed to look.

The N8 also supports web TV and other bolt-ons.

The 3-D capabilities of the N8 take gaming to a new level – you’ll love the graphics.

Music fans will love the 48GB memory device for music giving you endless soundtracks for two days with amazing audio quality.

For more info and some pretty pictures and video go to; http://events.nokia.com/NokiaN8/