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• O2 slashes price of SIM free Samsung Galaxy S2 to £399
• Apple closing in on Nokia as world's largest handset maker
• App week: Google Earth Honeycomb, Playboy on iPad
• HTC Wildfire S available for just £13.50 on contract

O2 slashes price of SIM free Samsung Galaxy S2 to £399 Posted: 07 May 2011 01:34 PM PDT Posted by T3 Online on Sat 7 May 2011 Stellar Samsung handset has all the makings of a genuine iPhone 5 rival Mobile network O2 has reduced the price of a SIM free Samsung Galaxy S2 to under £400. O2 are offering the phone for £399, £100 less than online retailer Expansys. Since its UK launch late last month, the handset has been feted by many as the finest Android phone on the planet and has earned rave reviews from tech journalists, making the price-drop all the more eye-catching. However, before you all rush out the shops, there is a catch. You will not be able to unlock the device for approximately 90 days. Fear not, however, because you will still be able to use the phone with O2 or Tesco Mobile, both of which offer some competitive deals. Related links Samsung Galaxy S2: Hands on picture gallery Samsung Galaxy S2 review:hands-on Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 launched Samsung Galaxy S review The Galaxy S2 will be available on any of the five PAYG tariffs currently offered by O2, which means that you will have to stump up at least an extra £7.50 top-up for the first month. The Samsung Galaxy S2 is arguably the highest-specced Android phone ever. At 8.49mm, it is the world’s slimmest and boasts a vibrant 4.3-inch WVGA touchscreen, a snappy dual-core 1.2GHz processor, 1GB RAM and 16GB of on board storage for all your multimedia goodies. It also carries a 2MP front facing camera for video calls and a feature-laden 8MP rear camera. Would a SIM free Samsung Galaxy S2 for under £400 be too good to miss, or are you counting down the days until the iPhone 5 launch? Let us know what you think via the T3 Twitter and Facebook feeds. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Apple closing in on Nokia as world's largest handset maker Posted: 07 May 2011 07:49 AM PDT Posted by T3 Online on Sat 7 May 2011 As Nokia looks over its shoulder, Apple pushes on with Android in hot pursuit Apple has muscled into second-place in the worldwide handset market, further eroding Nokia’s diminishing marketshare. The other big winners, compared to the first quarter of 2010, were Samsung and HTC, who are both heavily assoiciated with Google's Android platform. According to research from IDC analysts, the ubiquitious iPhone 4 now makes up nearly 20 per cent of the market, shipping 19 million mobile devices in the first quarter, only five million units shy of Nokia, who shipped 24 million units. While Nokia is still comfortably the world’s largest manufacturer of handsets, especially in developing countries, they now have less than a quarter of the market, compared to nearly two-fifths of the smartphone market 12 months ago. Related links iOS 4: The new features explained iPhone 5 rumours: What we know so far Apple iPhone 5 video Finnish saunas will be crammed with Nokia’s top execs hoping that their recent high-profile affiliation to Microsoft will be the start of it stealing hearts and minds back from Apple and Android's hugely popular software. While this is encouraging news for Apple, the movers and shakers at Cupertino will be well aware of the threat posed by the Android army, led by manufacturers Samsung and HTC, who both gained traction in the market, with 10.8 % and 8.9%, respectively. The other faller was Research in Motion's BlackBerry, who recently announced that Microsoft's Bing would power their search. They slipped by half-a-point, to 14%. In more encouraging news for the smartphone market as a whole, sales saw an 80 per cent jump, with nearly 100 million handsets sold in the first quarter of 2011. Is it only a matter of time before Nokia gets overtaken as the world’s largest handset maker, or are they due to stage a Microsoft-inspired comeback? Let us know what you think via the T3 Twitter and Facebook feeds.     This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

App week: Google Earth Honeycomb, Playboy on iPad Posted: 07 May 2011 03:00 AM PDT Posted by Chris Smith on Sat 7 May 2011 Every Saturday we round-up the week in mobile applications bringing you news of the biggest new releases across all major platforms and a host of reviews from T3's App Chart. Let's crack on... APP NEWS: Android app news: Google Earth comes to Honeycomb Google has equipped Honeycomb tablets like the Motorola Xoom with a native Google Earth application. The free download sees an upgrade from the smartphone iteration, allowing you to fly to your favourite location and view 3D photos from 197 million square miles across the world.   iPad app news: Telgraph adds tariff Readers of the Telegraph's iPad app will now have to pay £1.19 a month or £9.99 a month to access the content. The free ride has ended with the Telegraph now adopting a similar subscription model to The Times. The app features all of the best content from the newspaper as well as videos and galleries.   Android news: 7digital adds downloading skills Digital Music service, 7digital has launched a major upgrade to its Android app, allowing users to download tunes straight to their devices. Android users will now have access to the company's 13 million strong library on the go.   iPad app news: Playboy in all its glory According to the master philanderer Hugh Hefner, Playboy will land on the iPad complete and uncensored on 18th May. Hefner posted the revelation on his Twitter page. Playboy for iPad featuring full nudity would be a stark contrast to Steve Jobs' porn-free philosophy so it'll be interesting to see how Hef has gotten around that.   ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ App of the Day | Wikitude World Browser Augmented reality app fed by Wikipedia and other sources to give you tons of information on your surroundings T3 App Chart | Top 10 Android Apps | Wikitude World Browser ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------   APP REVIEWS FROM THE T3 APP CHART: Android app review: Good Reads Good Reads is like a digital book club, with the whole world invited. You can read reviews from fellow app users, as well as compare prices and buy books from within the application. It's a great way to discover new books if you have friends involved too.   Windows Phone 7 app review: Crackdown 2: Project Sunburst Windows Phone 7 is getting some pretty decent titles on its Xbox Live portal and Crackdown 2: Project Sunburst is another strong addition to the portfolio. It's a standard tower defense game crossed with a Tamagotchi according to our expert reviewer in that it keeps going even when you're not playing.   iPad app review: ArtRage They call the iPad a blank canvas for app developers, well ArtRage for iPad is literally just that. "If the iPad is really to become a serious digital sketchbook this should be one the apps to convert artists," says our reviewer.   Link: T3 App Chart     This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

HTC Wildfire S available for just £13.50 on contract Posted: 07 May 2011 12:20 AM PDT Posted by T3 Online on Sat 7 May 2011 Carphone Warehouse offering baby HTC for bargain basement prices The HTC Wildfire S is now available on contract for as little as £13.50 from the Carphone Warehouse, and that’s when you've picked up the phone for free. For that bargain-basement price, you get a ‘modest’, okay stingy, 50 minutes of talk time and 100MB of data on HTC’s low-end device, but in these testing times, the cost is sure to entice those on a budget or light users to part with their cash. Related links HTC Wildfire S officially launched HTC Wildfire S UK prices revealed HTC Desire S review HTC Incredible S review HTC Sensation review:hands-on The Wildfire S is a little belter and in our recent T3 review, it was rated as the best budget Android handset on the market. The Taiwanese giant certainly didn’t scrimp on the specs, with a 600Mhz processor, the latest Android 2.3.3 software and a capable 5MP camera, all encased in a dinky 3.2in display. If the Wildfire S is a little underpowered for you, throw in an extra fiver and you can pick up the 1Ghz HTC Desire S in store. Will HTC’s bargain basement Wildfire S suit your multimedia needs, or will you dig deeper for a Desire S? Let us know what you think via the T3 Twitter and Facebook feeds.   This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

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