For a small little device (102 x 60 x 20mm and weighing 115g), it packs a hell of a punch!  This device takes a 3.5mm connection from your phone, your mp3 player, your DAB radio, anything really, and produces a very rich stereo sound from a single unit.  This is achieved by the companies’ airSOUND technology to achieve this.  The T3 is designed to either hang around your neck and use your chest cavity to enrich the sound, or you can place the device on a hard surface to achieve the same affect.

It has two switches, the first a power switch to turn the unit on or off (the device has a rechargeable Lithium battery built in giving up to 10 hours music), whereas the second sets the airSOUND to either Off, Normal, or High.  The volume is controlled by the device it’s been connected to, as it has no direct volume control.  We found the neckstrap a little small, so left the device on a solid wooden desk for a few hours, and connected it up to the LG Renoir, which sports Dolby Mobile as well, and wow, what a nice rich sound we heard from the selection of mp3 tracks we had on the LG Renoir.

Keeping the Dolby Mobile turned on seemed to make the sound even richer, and allowed us to hear additional background lyrics that we had never even noticed before when using in ear headphones, or playing the same tracks through a normal music system.

Orbitsound explain their airSOUND technology with the following:

“The problem with personal music systems like the iPod® or the Walkman® is that you have to wear headphones. And the trouble with headphones is that they are not really stereo – just two separated mono signals clamped to your ears.”

“Listening to stereo means hearing the sound from both speakers with both ears – that’s what gives you the stereo soundfield in between the speakers. With headphones you can only hear the left speaker signal in the left ear and the right speaker in the right: most people therefore hear the sound in the middle or back of their head, as opposed to in front and around you where the soundstage is supposed to be. With the orbitsound T3, the music is literally in the air, all around your head. This means that the sound from the T3 is a real spatial stereo soundfield. With the T3 you are not isolated from the environmental sounds around you, as you are with headphones; you can listen to your entertainment and still be aware of traffic noise and people around or behind you in the street.”

To be honest, that’s the only downside we see to the unit; not everyone wants to hear other people’s music, and so for situations like a train, this device will not be popular, but for listening or sharing the music with others, we think it gives a good sound.

We’re going to give this device some more testing, including looking at battery life, as well as giving it a greater variety of music and connect it to more devices and will report back.

The device costs £49 (which includes the device, neckstrap, mains charger and a short 3.5mm to 3.5mm audio cable) and is available direct from orbitsound’s online store.

This link came from Jonathan Jenson, but what a useful site!  BillMonitor allows you to enter details of your monthly costs (calls, texts, data usage, frequency of roaming abroad, whether you want a new handset or not) and comes up with the best tariffs from their database.

This seems a very useful service if you are looking to change phone, just looking to change tariff, or simply want confirmation that you are already on the best tariff!  If you are happy to give them access to your current online billing account from your mobile network, they will even use the exact content of your last bill for the calculation, and send you the assessment via email (not supported on all mobile networks yet).

BillMonitor have told Jonathan that they hope to keep the personal site free, but are likely to charge for multi-handset calculations for business users.  This looks a very useful site!

Probably our only complaint would be that they class a heavy data user as someone who uses “70Mb” per month; whereas with many of the networks now offering 500Mb, 1Gb, 2Gb, and some even correctly using the word “unlimited” this could result in additional charges for some users unless they take care.

We also note that having selected to roam into one of the “3 Like Home” countries, BillMonitor still calculates calls and data charges as if roaming, whereas they should come out of the 3UK tariff directly.  Also, right now, they only cover the major UK networks, although they aim to add ones like Virgin and Tesco soon.  Apart from these little points we recommend you try out BillMonitor too.

Thanks again to Jonathan for reporting on the site over at Mobile Industry Review.

On top of the other Google Gears-enabled applications, Google have confirmed yesterday that GMail is the next application / website to support offline working.  This is slowly being rolled out as a Labs addon to users, so you may not see it in your Labs Settings yet (Labs support is also browser specific), but it should be there soon.

Although a lot of people are now using Mobile Broadband to keep connected, if you just want to prepare a quick email that can wait to be sent later, or you want to be able to read that report you got sent earlier in the day, then this new facility will be welcome.

After mentioning the Truphone G1 Android client earlier in the week, but having no additional information about it, Truphone have now provided this information and more!

The Android app allows you to make low cost international calls from your home country, but will work even when you are out of reach of Wi-Fi as it also supports their Truphone Anywhere service.  As well as supporting voice calls, you can IM your MSN and Yahoo! contacts, and with GTalk (Google Talk) you can IM or call your contacts.  Truphone also support twitter within their app, allowing you to tweet or see your friends’ tweets.

If that’s not enough, Truphone have also announced an update to their iPhone client, which now adds those IM capabilities to that version too.  Inline with the Android version, you can IM your MSN and Yahoo! contacts, and IM or call your GTalk contacts.

Finally Truphone have stated they still plan to bring Skype calling and IM to their iPhone client, but are not yet happy with the user experience, so it’ll be a little longer before it’s announced and available.

It’s been a good week for Android apps, and with both fring and Truphone now starting to roll out twitter support, it’s been a good week for twitter mobile clients too!  The Android and iPhone Truphone apps are available from their respective application market websites.

Although initially only available for their S60 client, fring have now added last.fm support into their client.  They have provided the details here, but basically you have access to the majority of the last.fm functions within the fring client (search & tune-in to your favorite artists, view album artwork, skip tracks you don’t like, even show your love or ban them).  Their article also brings out a couple of interesting other things coming soon:

• They plan to offer twitter support within the last.fm addon
• They are finalising their S60 5th Edition (ie Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, Nokia N97) client which will be available soon

As part of this, they have released a YouTube video showing the fring client in action…

To get this last.fm functionality, you need the latest (currently v3.37) fring client, and then you need to subscribe to the last.fm addon in the Add-on tab.

Thanks to FreshPlastic for the screenshot.

Last week was interesting for Android smartphone users; lastminute.com, Truphone and last.fm all released (or announced) Android specific apps…

The last.fm application provides access to a whole range of last.fm facilities, although we’re not sure if it yet offers to scrobble (document what you listen to from your local music collection, as opposed to streamed music from last.fm).  One key feature is the ability to keep the music streaming in the background when you move to other applications, although given the general complaints about the T-Mobile G1’s battery life, this may not be a well used option by those away from mains chargers throughout the day.  However, they’ve released a nice video showing the integration of the app…

lastminute.com have released their nru (Near You) application; this provides information on what you can do near you, based on your current location and the direction you’re facing. Move your phone around to see what there is to do in different directions, from bars and restaurants to cinemas and cafes.  If you lay the phone flat, it shows a compass like view of the options, whereas it displays what’s available in the direction you are walking when the phone is held up; a very nice neat trick.

Finally, Truphone have launched their Android application too, although there is not yet any information on their website about this new version, but Mobile Industry Review covered the application last week, and covered the basic functionality of it.

More information from last.fm, and here are the Android Market links for last.fm and lastminute.com.

We’ve talked about the new Current Cost unit for somewhile now, but can now show more detail about the unit, in the form of an unboxing and simple setup guide that we’ve produced…

(If you can’t see the video embedded in the page, please click here)

We’ve also managed to get some more information from Current Cost about the spec of the unit, which includes the following key points:

• Display size: 9.3cm x 12cm (base) x 15.5 cm
• Viewable Screen: 7.3cm x 9cm
• 24 hour rolling consumption (bar graph) display (social division into 3 x 8hr periods)
• PC connection for streaming data for seven years historical data.
• Tariff pre-set at prevailing rate (issued by the purchaser). Adjustable to 99.9p

Even more interesting, is that the unit can support 10 sensors, which Current Cost are hoping to use in the short term for additional sensors which will be individual appliance sensors, allowing you to monitor the exact energy usage of a number of key electrical devices in the UK.

Also, better than that, we understand that the stock of these new units should be arriving with Current Cost any day soon; please don’t hound them though, they will update their website once the units are available for sale.  We’ve also had confirmation that Current Cost are hoping to be able to offer them for sale at the same RRP as the existing units.

Are you planning on standing inline from 8am at one of Nokia’s UK Flagship stores on Friday (Regent Street or Terminal 5)? Or have you pre-ordered a Nokia 5800 XpressMusic from Vodafone?  If so, you might want to head over to DailyMobile.se and read this article, which covers how to use a freeware Zune video convertor application to create videos in the best format for the Nokia 5800.

As with all video conversion tools, it’s not going to be blisteringly fast, so maybe you should download it now and start converting the videos before you get the device over the next few weeks…

If, however, you are a Mac user, you’ll need to look at other tools.  However, on the plus side, Nokia has released an iSync plugin for the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic which is available here.

Of course, either way, you may want to install the latest firmware, which has recently been released for this device (v11.0.008) if it’s not already on there.  The Changelog includes:

• Homepage is not defined for Vodafone Live!
• Last word disappears when selecting receiver in SMS
• My Nokia: phone displays “#” in front of Application name.
• During Back-Up & Restore operation, calendar entries are not restored
• Operator menu link within Welcome application
• Invalid message pops up before playing the file received via Bluetooth.
• Input Method, VKB just display number when selecting a WLAN access point which contains a password.
• Chinese box HWR control buttons and FS HWR control bar are too small.
• Unable to add image to Contact bar from Gallery when there is about 5 GB of data in memory card
• In Arabic UI, in calendar, the arrows on the top are reversed in week view and day view
• UI-rotation is too sensitive
• Search: Google search service is missing in Search.
• Contact could not display when switch numbers in Singtel 2-in-1 SIM card
• Maps: Wrong layout of the strings in the Maps search and favorites views
• Could not send new email if user name and password is not pre-defined
• Phone drops from service when both A5/3 +GEA3 used simultaneously with WLAN
• The Messaging application crashes a lot specially when replying or trying to send SMS you have to remove battery to be able to use the device again
• License Manager for Maps is not integrated to SW
• 5.0 Touch: Phonebook crashing when adding detail: Birthday, Anniversary
• Web screen is messed up
• Non stop Music Player “Library update”
• Clock, Alarm is inactive when phone is power off.
• APN Configuration Settings Update to be used for the Setting Wizard
• Ex-Factory settings are wrong
• UE unable to open Setting Wizard
• StartUpSettings version updated.
• Phone lost correct time during power off
• USSD – “Call Control Send USSD” command
• UE drops from 3G, then cannot sync to 3G cells
• Browser: Flash objects causes problems while browsing

Finally, lastminute.com have updated their fonefood widget to work with the 5800 too.  Head over to their mobile site, or download the widget here.

The rumour mills are saying that there’s a chance Vodafone are getting an exclusive with the Palm Pre, when the GSM version launches later this year.  If this is anything like the last few smartphone exclusives Vodafone have had, it may be limited to just a 3 month period before the device is available on all networks, or, to truely compete with the likes of the iPhone and T-Mobile G1, maybe they’ve negotiated a complete exclusive…

A device we had high hopes for is no more; Kogan have delayed their Kogan Agora and Kogan Agora Pro indefinitely, citing concerns over compatibility with future Android applications.  This is a great shame, as the device looked good, as well as having a nice high spec.  The area of concern comes from the screen resolution, which may not be futureproof.  Hopefully Kogan can change their screen resolution to a new standard supported resolution and release a new version later in the year.

We can’t take the credit for finding this device, that should go to Shiny Shiny, but once we saw the device, we thought we should let you know about it too.  The IDAPT I3 can charge 3 devices at any time, but the beauty of the device is that those 3 charging slots use interchangeable “tips”.  Buying from Amazon, you get 6 tips in the deal (Nokia 2, Samsung 2, Sony Ericsson 2, iPod, miniUSB, and NDS for Nintendo DS-Lite).  Other tips are available, either direct from the IDAPT, or via Amazon.  The tips are swapped by pressing the two buttons either side of the tip…

Even better, the device has an on/off switch, allowing you to save electricity when it’s not charging…

The nice thing about this charger is that most devices will stay upright whilst charging, and still be easily accessible.  The only downside is that as it’s not a true cradle supporting data too, devices like your iPod will need removing to sync your music library.

Of course, this will be interesting for devices such as the new Nokia 5800 XpressMusic or the Nokia N85, both of which has their charging sockets on the top of the phone (which limits any decent cradle ever being available for them).

We say buy one of these IDAPT I3 units (or the 2 port version once it’s available) and have it near to the front door, and then pick up your fully charged phone, camera and iPod on the way out (or use it to charge all the phones in the house).  An interesting device, and just £35 too…

Update: You can now get an even greater selection of charging tips, including the new microUSB format, which is being adopted by many mobile phone manufacturers as a single standard connector.

Vodafone have announced they are selling the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic as from next month, and are already accepting pre-orders for the device.  The phone will be free on 18-month contract of £25 and over, and they hope to delivery pre-orders before 4 February.  More information can be found on the Vodafone website here.

If you don’t fancy the Nokia 5800, Vodafone have a range of other bargains on offer here.

Dr Jukka has updated some of his applications to be compatible with Symbian S60 5th Edition (ie Nokia 5800 XpressMusic and Nokia N97 devices).  Theme Scheduler and Profile Scheduler do exactly what they say, but, being free, are often preferred by users over other commercial offerings.  The latest versions, 0.55 in both cases, now supports the touchscreen devices, although Dr Jukka says further optimisations may still be needed.

The only downside of these apps, as Gerry over at nokiAAddict.com has pointed out, it that they both need self-signing by the user from symbiansigned.com before they can be used; this whole situation of neeing to sign applications needs to be fixed by Nokia, else it will continue to lose marketshare for high end smartphones to the likes of Apple and Google (Android).

Thanks to Gerry for alerting us to these updates.

iPhoneMMS.net have released an MMS application for UK O2 customers.  The application is available in the iTunes store here, although you appear to need to buy credit direct with iPhoneMMS.net to allow you to send MMS.  This is currently only available on O2-UK, so if you have unlocked your iPhone and using it with a different network you are still out of luck.

The minimum topup is £3.79 for 10 MMS (which is cheaper than some networks charge directly!), although you get greater savings if you buy more credit (75 MMS), and there is no charge for incoming MMS.

We love MOO business cards, and are happy to recommend them, both for their ability to be fully customised, but also the speed and efficiency of their service.  MOO produce a whole range of different cards, from their trademark half height business cards, through traditional sized business cards, and also other items such as postcards, greeting cards and stickers.  As such, we have a 20% discount code available for new customers to use against the purchase of 1 MOO product.

To benefit from the discount, simply visit MOO and use the following friend referral code: SBQGN9

Please note this code will expire on January 31st 2009, and will then no longer be valid.  We will publish any other offers from MOO as and when we receive them.

In December 2008, 3UK saw record numbers of their customers using the Internet directly on their phones.  Included in their figures were the following:

• 200,000 unique Facebook users in the month
• between them, they generated 67 million page views, more than double the figure 6 months ago
• The INQ1 customers use Facebook on their phones more than customers with other handsets

This last point is an interesting one; most phones from 3UK are capable of accessing Facebook’s mobile site, yet it’s taken a phone which is heavily marketed as having built in Facebook support for it to become more popular.  Given it also has built in last.fm support, we wonder if that is now much more popular on 3 than before too.

Oh, and 3; shame on you for using the word unlimited in the information you sent us… Although the ASA may have just ruled that the term is acceptable for mobile consumers, we’re not so convinced.  If there’s a cap or a fair use limit, then that’s the amount of service you are including for the price, and all mobile networks should be upfront and clearly state that, not hide it in the small print…

After announcing our 5% off discount code earlier this week, Halfords are running a special 10% off everything event this weekend, which includes SatNavs (unlike our discount code).  This 10% discount is available online only, and runs over the weekend.  Whilst this promotion is on, you will be unable to use our 5% discount code, but if you are unable to purchase over the weekend, our 5% discount code (enter AFF5OFF at the checkout) will start working again on Monday.

As always, head off to Halfords to see what they have for sale!

fring have just updated their S60 client (now v3.37.16).  “fring is a mobile internet service & community that enables you to access & interact with your social networks on-the-go, make free calls and live chat with all your fring, Skype®, MSN® Messenger, Google Talk™, ICQ, SIP, Twitter, Yahoo!™ and AIM® friends using your handset’s internet connection”. fring will also automatically log into your WiFi hotspots for you.

The changes in this new version are mainly bug fixes, although they have received mixed responses since the introduction of ads into the client in the previous update.  However, they have also stated they will soon have a client for S60 5th Edition phones, such as the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic and the Nokia N97.

As always, the client can be downloaded from here, with the release information on fring’s blog here.

It’s a while since we’ve heard anything from SatMap, but, according to Pocket GPS World, they’ve just released a new update (v1.3) for their device.  The Changelog states this update includes:

Map Features

• OSGB: the grid reference in the UK is now in 10 figure format (e.g. TQ 1596257240)
• European Datum: now included to support international mapping (e.g. UTM)

User Interface

• European Languages: Swedish, French, German and Italian are now supported.
• GPS Position: now has a new icon featuring a Direction of Travel Indicator.
• Planning Screen: now shows the blue GPS position circle and the brown planning position circle on the screen.
• 2D GPS Data Indication: if the GPS signal is poor, the unit will display position but not elevation data. This is shown as a “2D” icon.
• Map Scale: this is now displayed continuously during zooming.
• Trail Up / North Up: the switch between these two options is now instant.
• Live GMT (UTC) Time: now added to the GPS Status screen.

Functions

• Button Lock: now available on double press of the Power Button (indicated by the padlock icon).
• Power Off Confirmation: two key operation to close the unit down to prevent accidental power off.
• Press & Hold Backlight On: in the Power Control setting it is now possible to select an “Always Off” option on the Screen Turn Off function. This allows users to save power by having the backlight always off: to turn it on, press and hold the backlight boost button.

Settings

• Map Title Screen: this now auto cancels after 5 seconds.
• One Button Press: this is now the default setting, but the double press option can be restored in Button Control settings.

Routes

• New Data Box Options: total ascent, total descent, max and min elevation have been added.
• Trip Log Screen: the ?Stop? button now stops all data recording until re-started, including the height profile graph.
• Distance To End: now measures the distance to the end of the route, along the route itself.
• Knots & Nautical Miles: now available as an option.
• Waypoint and POI Names: now displayed when the cursor is over them.
• POI Naming: when POIs are entered there is a prompt to name them.

This update is available from here, with a warning that you must be running v1.16 or higher else you risk corrupting the device; story courtesy of Pocket GPS World.

Halfords are currently in the middle of a large sale.  On top of the normal offers you can receive, we can offer an additional 5% savings on all products (except SatNavs), by using our link, selecting your products, and then entering AFF5OFF at the checkout.

Halfords have recently cut their home delivery lead time from 5 days to 4 days, and can now offer next day delivery if you order before 2pm.

We don’t have an end date for this discount code, but be aware it may expire when the current sale finishes.