Those of whom who have upgraded to the new Apple iPhone 3GS seem to have plenty to shout about – sure, the camera is rather better quality than before and includes autofocus, video recording and a built-in video editor/uploader; but let’s be honest here, it’s a 3MP camera with a pretty ordinary lens, on a phone.

That hasn’t stopped Japanese electronics accessories manufacturer Factron from designing and releasing the Quattro, an almost alienesque metal monstrosity of an iPhone case, complete with detachable, interchangeable lenses to improve the camera even further – coming in macro, wide angle and fisheye flavours, which range from $15 to $55 (~£10-35).

While I hate to criticise without having much further knowledge (the Factron site is in Japanese and doesn’t seem to offer much more info, sadly), I really can’t help but focus on the glaringly obvious downsides of such a heavy duty metal case:

• Overheating? The 3GS has already been known to overheat – surely sticking it in this isn’t exactly going to help.

• Signal? Isn’t all that metal mesh surrounding your phone going to destroy your reception?
• Aesthetics? With the strong aesthetic appeal of the iPhone, surely you would have to be a little stir crazy to place your thin, sleek handset into this bulky, pocket-destroying case. Not to mention the fact that a case with that much metal is likely to scratch your precious iPhone…
• Portability? Clearly you can’t stick it in your pocket with a massive lens on it like that. Which leaves the only alternative – removing the lenses and carrying them around in a separate bag. And take a look at those corners – imagine those digging into your thighs as you walk down the street.
• Price? Well, here’s where it all goes horribly wrong. You can get your hands on a Factron Quattro for just under $200. Yes, $200 (~£125). Considering the iPhone 3G handset has fallen to around $99 after the release of the 3GS, by buying this you’d be paying enough for 2 iPhones. Or – and call me crazy here – a separate camera…

OK, so at least it’s imaginative, and the design certainly will turn a head or two. But who on earth would spend $200 (~£125) on an impracticable case and set of lenses for their iPhone when for that money, they could just buy a decent 8MP camera (with flash, optical zoom and all the other goodies you get from a standalone digital camera)?

I’m not sure about anybody else, but in my eyes this could be a prime nominee for the most shameless and pointless attempt to cash in on Apple’s new generation of iPhones… still, different strokes for different folks!

I recently upgraded from an N95 (an awesome phone) to its bigger brother, the N96. Though I’ve gone with Nokia for my last few phones as I’ve grown to love the way they work, I think I’ve owned a couple or so phones from pretty much every brand out there by now.

With each one I found the same thing – the phone at launch has certain issues. Always.

My shiny new N96 had pretty lame battery life. The camera took a good 6 or 7 seconds from opening the camera app to me being able to take a picture. The menu was a bit slow to react, the search was sluggish, and my Bluetooth connection was occasionally cutting out while I was transferring my photos. Happily, I’ve had enough phones to know by now that the early kinks of all these smartphones are generally ironed out in the months following its launch, with numerous firmware upgrades. Do most don’t bother with these? A quick trip to Google rewarded me with the update file, which I duly ran and – amazingly enough – it was almost like having a new phone. The battery seems to last a lot longer now, and the camera is much improved, and I haven’t had the Bluetooth issue since. There’s a lot more that has been fixed, too, but I’m glad that all my major problems with the phone were sorted out. I’ve had this experience now with phones from Nokia, Sony Ericsson, and Motorola. A phone that was a bit of a pain to use before suddenly gets a new lease of life. Sometimes the new firmware will include major updates – take Apple’s new 3.0 OS, for example, which brings copy/paste, MMS and device-wide search capabilities.

So, Google your phone model and see if you can find a firmware update – it’s a must!

Source: www.lifehacker.com/

Apple’s first foray into the world of mobile phone technology has cooked up a bit of a storm over in the good ol’ US of A. The intelligent multi-touchscreen interface has proved a big success with iPhone users, and with each successive firmware update the handset is getting closer and closer to becoming a serious contender in the UK mobile phone market.

While the phone has its small flaws, we have to remember that this is Apple’s first effort, and it’s only going to get better from here. However, from a design perspective the handset has become something of a icon in techno-culture, with many nerds queuing for days to make sure they got a handset when the phone originally came out. This includes the hilarious story of the woman who brought $16,000 to an Apple store with the intention of buying their entire stock, paying $800 to steal the first position in line, before finding out that it was strictly one handset per customer.

While those looking for a good deal on an iPhone will want to take great care in avoiding the purchase of copycat models from China, those who already own a Windows SmartPhone may be interested to know that LifeHacker have posted a tutorial on turning your handset into an iPhone – and since this blog is all about pimping your phone, it would be remiss of me not to mention it.

The tutorial is not only pretty in-depth, but the results aren’t actually too bad in terms of ripping off the iPhone’s look and overall feel. You’ll still retain all the functionality of your SmartPhone, but with the look and feel of the iPhone (sans touchscreen, of course).

Here’s the full tutorial, in case you missed the link above: http://lifehacker.com/software/hack-attack/turn-your-windows-mobile-phone-into-an-iphone-269055.php

Source: www.n95users.com/forum/
Anyone who has used the N95 will know about the excellent quality of the 5MP camera. with its Carl Zeiss Optics Tessar lens, the picture quality is nothing short of incredible for a mobile phone camera. And now, N95users forum moderator salada2k has come up with an ingenious (and cheap) tripod solution for the N95, so you can really get the most out of the phone’s imaging capabilities instead of relying on a steady hand.

The only things you’re going to need for this are a cheap, small-ish tripod (the kind you generally get with a budget digital camera), a 3.5mm audio cable, and 5 minutes of your precious time.

First of all, get rid of the cable on the 3.5mm jack cable, as well as the bendy tube, so you’re left with just the cable head. Stick that in a vice and drill a small hole in the back of the jack, making it slightly smaller than the screw bit on the top of the tripod.

You’re almost there already – now simply screw the modified jack onto the end of the tripod. The inside of the jack will become threaded on the tripod screw, meaning you’ll have a nice snug fit without any wobble.

And there you are – stick the phone on top via the 3.5mm socket, and you have your own, very inexpensive tripod for your N95! The best bit is that if you really feel the need to carry on using your digital camera instead of the one on the N95, you can just unscrew the jack off the top, and the tripod is 100% intact. Cool and multifunctional!

Source: www.modmymoto.com
Motorola phones are known for their innovative design and tiny form factor; but unfortunately they have never much scope for customisation. The lack of software modifications, for example, has led to many frustrated Motorola users complaining about the slow speed of the phone’s interface due to heavy RAM usage, the ugliness of the software compared with that of the build of the phone, and small software limitations such as the inability to use the speakerphone if the phone is flipped shut.

However, with the release of ‘monster packs’ from Motorola as well as custom packs created by phone modders, you can now improve both the looks and functionality of your phone, and with relative ease.

Mod My Moto is a great place to go to find custom monster packs, most notably the newest release from forum member apristel. His latest pre-modded monster pack gives your Razr v3 phone a new lease of life, with a sleeker, more elegant UI and many other hardware improvements besides.

All you need is to download the pack, a few bits of software, and follow the flashing & flexing tutorial generously provided by themotoguide.com.

Be warned that flashing erases data stored on the phone, so make sure you do a backup before trying out these customisations!

If you’ve got more specific questions about flashing, flexing or any other questions about, there are plenty of people who can help you on the Mod My Moto and MotoModders message boards. Find a monster pack that suits you, and pimp your phone!