December has arrived and that means Christmas is just around the corner. If you’re struggling for gift ideas for friends or family, we’ve come up with a top 5 from the sensible to the far out to help spark some inspiration in your quest for those perfect presents.

The must have product – iPhone 4s
No surprises there really? The latest phone from Apple offers some nice internal upgrades from its predecessor, the iPhone 4. The faster A5 dual core processor and compact 8 megapixel camera with HD video recording make the iPhone 4s a popular choice for smartphone buyers. Acquainted with your own built in assistant Siri, by next year he may just be offering help on what to buy you for Christmas!

The Sensible gift – Nokia 100
If you already own a top of the range smartphone, you’ll understand how careful you have to be with around large crowds or alcohol. Damaging your expensive smartphone can be an absolute horror story. Don’t pay insurance? Losing your smartphone can mean paying off the remains of the contract without the full benefits of your handset. For a sensible Christmas gift why not give a cheap pay as you go handset like the Nokia 100? It’s a great alternative to keep your smartphone safe at home, allowing you to go crazy and carefree at gigs and nightclubs, without tucking your phone up in bubble wrap. It even has a flashlight should you drop your keys at the end of the night!

The Time-Saving gift – Eye-Fi memory card
If photography is your passion then the latest memory card from Eye-Fi is a great piece of hardware that removes the need for all those cables to your computer and phone. Using a wireless home network, you can effortlessly send photos from your memory card direct to your smartphone, laptop or television. With endless memory mode, the Eye-Fi automatically sends old photos to a laptop device, so you can stay snap happy over the festive season!

The OMG Gift! – Zombie Bootcamp 
If you want to give a present like no other, why not prepare for an impending zombie apocalypse in Worcestershire? The day offers basic weapons training and a mission where you battle hordes of flesh eating zombies in efforts to survive. You never know, the skills learnt at Zombie Bootcamp may prove useful in the outbreak of an uncontrollable virus. Available on Firebox

The Novelty gift – Jelly Belly iPhone 4/4s cases.
If you want to give an iPhone 4 or 4s an individual look…. and smell, look no further than these novelty cases from Jelly Belly. With a range of unique scents such as cherry, banana, vanilla and even liquorice, it’s easy to present that perfect smell. The silicon shell design offers protection against scratches and knocks to keep your smartphone in tip top shape.

We hope our list lights up some festive inspiration for Christmas gift ideas.

The recent release of the Samsung Galaxy Note certainly has turned a few heads!   With properties of both tablet and smartphone we try to uncover exactly what it is and why it might appeal to you.

Is it a tablet?

From appreciating the product spec, one could be mistaken into thinking it’s a powerhouse tablet!  With a processor speed of 1.4 GHz and dual core technology, it currently outsprints all leading tablets when loading your favourite film or daily newspaper.  Tablets tend to offer greater functionality, and with the inclusion of a stylus pen, the option to ditch the pad and pen whilst you annotate pictures, draw maps on routes, or highlight presentations on a spacious 5.3” display, associate more with a tablet than smartphone.

Is it a Smartphone?

The essence of a smartphone is to ensure you stay connected on the go.  With 3G + WiFi capabilities, push email and social network integration, the Galaxy Note achieves this with ease.  Smartphone manufacturers are always competing to include the latest tech in their devices and one glance at the Galaxy Note spec sheet shows that Samsung have embraced this.  Despite a large screen size for a smartphone, portability is still achieved.  You definitely won’t look like Dom Joly if answering this device in the high street as you pick it from your pocket.

Is it both?

Samsung’s rationale for the Galaxy Note is to create a primary device which reduces the need to switch between others.  Any avid tech lover will own some, if not all of the following – smartphone, tablet, portable games device, music player and sat nav.  By replacing all the above with one main device, the consumer is able to enjoy the benefits of all their main portable devices in one smart package.  Rather than following the bandwagon of smaller, lighter, thinner is best, Samsung have adopted the attitude of efficient and multitasking devices (with a clear, high res display) are what consumers really want.  The option to explore the world with just one device in the pocket definitely appeals over owning an electronic store in your rucksack!

Whether streaming your favourite T.V show on iPlayer, reading push emails or receiving all those Facebook notifications, heavy usage of your 3G phone can leave you at risk of a nasty data usage overcharge.  As apps often refresh data without informing the user, it can be difficult to know exactly how your tariff is utilised.

Onavo, a free app available on iPhone and Android, may help protect you against excessive data usage. By running in the background, the app compiles information and generates simple reports on how your data plan is used. With up to date figures on monthly usage, it’s easier to understand data usage and reassess how frequently you can surf the 3G network. Applications with high data usage can be restricted to Wi-Fi only and should you reach your overall data limit, Onavo will block 3G entirely to avoid charge fees.  

For those on iPhone, Onavo claims to be able to save up to 80% of your data usage by compressing download traffic. This means you can get more page loads for your megabytes! Though Android users currently lack this feature, crowdsourcing allows Android users to share knowledge on those apps which will drain your data allowance dry.

Onavo appears to be a smart tool capable of tracking the data usage of your smartphone. With feedback on how to improve the efficiency of your data plan and the ability to restrict 3G usage altogether, Onavo seems a sensible option for those who frequently exceed their data tariff.

Angry Birds was first released by Finnish developer Rovio in December 2009 for Apple’s App Store and then shortly after for the Android operating system.  To date, Angry Birds and its subsequent editions have been downloaded over a staggering 350 million times.

A simple, yet addictive smartphone game has now snowballed into a merchandise phenomenon.  Angry Birds t-shirts, cuddly toys, keyrings, stationery, baby bibs anyone?  It seems any physical product that the cute wingless birds can have their mugs slapped on get snapped up faster than firing the same birds out of that legendary catapult!  There’s even a film in the pipeline for our bird and piggy foes, although details of casting, plots etc remain unknown.  The game itself has spawned several copies and imitations but none have come close to the astronomical success of Angry Birds.

You have to ask yourself though, what will be the next smartphone game craze? Which developer will be able to follow Angry Birds and create the next portable gaming craze?  One thing is sure, Angry Birds have set the bar high and have led the way for smartphone gaming in the future.  They have also proved that a successful smartphone game can in fact become a brand and spawn lucrative merchandising opportunities.

Now, all thats left for me to do is think of an amazing idea for a new smartphone game…

Here at OSPS, we have noticed that there has been a lot going on over at BlackBerry recently and this Autumn they have a whole host of exciting new smartphones heading our way.  Take a look below as we take a peek at 3 new releases that we were really impressed with.

BlackBerry 9360 – Remember the BlackBerry 8520?  This smartphone was dubbed as BlackBerry’s most affordable smartphone ever, it was then followed up with the BlackBerry 9300 Curve 3G.  The BlackBerry 9360 is the new ‘affordable QWERTY smartphone’ but this time comes packing an impressive 800MHz processor, high speed 3G, Wi Fi and BlackBerrys latest OS7 operating system.  It really does pack a punch in regards to features and functionality considering the price bracket it sits in.  With BlackBerry’s trademark full QWERTY keypad and a responsive optical trackpad, social networking, emails, texts and of course sending messages over BlackBerry messenger (BBM) are super simple!

BlackBerry Torch 9860 – Perhaps you remember the BlackBerry 9800 Torch, the half touchscreen/half QWERTY smartphone BlackBerry released last year?  The BlackBerry Torch 9860 is in fact a full touchscreen smartphone, featuring a high resolution 3.7 inch touchscreen.  The Torch 9860 also makes full use of Blackberry OS7 including the liquid graphics addition, which brings all new levels of brightness, detail and clarity to your BlackBerry experience.  So lets talk specs, the 9860 rocks a huge 1.2GHz processor, 5 megapixel camera with 720p video capture, 4GB storage (and up to a further 32GB via microSD) and of course full social network integration.  Apps are of course, just a touch away and users can now enjoy over 40,000 apps via the Blackberry App World.

BlackBerry 9810 Torch – Finally, for those of you that want a similar specification to the BlackBerry Torch 9860, however simply cannot live without your physical QWERTY keyboard, this is the phone for you.  The BlackBerry 9810 Torch is a fantastic trio of a 3.2 inch touchscreen , optical trackpad and full QWERTY for perhaps the most complete navigation experience to date on a smartphone.  Like its previous two mentions it is also running Blackberry OS7 and like the 9860 features a 1.2GHz processor, however the 9810 Torch features larger internal memory at 8GB.