Talk to the Hand: O2's launching phone gloves made from old mobiles!

 

If you thought touchscreen-friendly gloves were the best thing to happen to your poor, freezing hands, get a load of these: O2’s Talk to the Hand gloves are made up of recycled phone parts and let you talk on on the phone just by raising your hand.

O2 has paired up with artist Sean Miles to create the fashionable tech, made from of vintage Pineider and Miu Miu gloves along with parts from phones that come through O2’s recycle program. The gloves are made up of a speaker unit in the thumb and a microphone in the finger of the glove, and they pair to your smartphone over Bluetooth to give you an easy, if ridiculous, way of speaking down the phone on a cold day.

O2 Recycle and Miles are working together to “upcycle” old items into new, desirable gadgets that look good and perform equally well, and these gloves aren’t the first product in the series. Miles has created “Walkie Talkies” before, which combined vintage footwear with old mobile handsets to create custom phones, but he isn’t just stopping there: his next project is to combine phones with handbags, so you don’t have to spend time rummaging around to find your phone when it rings. Of course.

Would you be interested in the Talk to the Hand gloves, or would you rather stick with your phone in your pocket? Let us know what you think in the comments below.Tags:

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Vodafone Smart Mini gives you Android Jelly Bean for just £50!

Outside the excitement of E3 and Apple’s WWDC conference, Vodafone has had its busy worker bees hard at work, and this week, the company is launching a low-priced mini-marvel that’s packing a lot of software goodies under its pint-sized hood, all at a similarly small price too. Say hello to the Vodafone Smart Mini, a £50 handset that’s armed with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. Is this your next budget phone?

The Vodafone Smart Mini won’t cost you much, but that doesn’t mean the phone’s potential is as small as its price tag. Far from it: it might just be the perfect phone for the younger ones in the family, or if you need a temporary, yet capable smartphone, as the Smart Mini is an extremely effective mini handset that comes complete with a 3.5-inch touchscreen, a two megapixel camera and a 1GHz processor that’ll keep things humming along nicely.

There’s also 4GB of internal memory to get you started, but you can upgrade your storage options up to 32GB with a microSD card, and you’ve also got access to all of the hundreds of thousands of apps on the Google Play store. It also comes with the usual 3G, Wi-Fi and GPS connections to keep you connected, and while it might not be a HTC One superphone, you can’t go wrong for £50 on Pay as you go if you need a solid, cheap handset right now.

Is the Smart Mini the budget smartphone you’ve been looking for, or would you rather shell out for an expensive phone? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below www.tell-me-first.com

Mobile World Congress 2013: What to expect during this week!

 

Sony’s big PlayStation press conference isn’t the only gadget event going down this month. Next week in Spain, the world’s biggest phone makers and app developers will converge in Barcelona for Mobile World Congress, a giant expo much like CES – but non-stop smartphones.

We’ll be covering all the happenings from it live, but in the run up to the mobile bonanza, we take a look at what to expect, from Windows Phones galore to a few big name no shows…

Nokia’s next big thing

Nokia is holding a press conference early on Monday morning, and we can’t wait to see what it’s got in store. The Finns have mostly managed to keep things under wraps, but there are a few exciting rumours whizzing around: MWC may be where we meet the Lumia Windows Phone with a full-on, 41 megapixel PureView sensor like the Symbian-ridden 808 cameraphone.

Nokia’s also been rumoured to be working on a Windows tablet to take on the Microsoft Surface – we don’t know for sure if it’ll be on show, but at the very least, expect a successor to the Nokia Lumia 920.

Big name no shows

While Mobile World Congress was the venue for Samsung’s flagship Galaxy S2 Android smartphone two years ago, times have moved on, and many of the biggest names on mobile now launch their new handsets at their own events. All the rumours point to Samsung giving the Galaxy S4 its own launch event in a few weeks’ time, while HTC has scheduled its own one for tomorrow, just days ahead of Mobile World Congress. Apple meanwhile has shunned these events for years, so don’t expect a new iPhone or iPad next week – in Barcelona, anyway.

The Chinese invade

In their absence, you can expect to hear a lot more from the Chinese upstarts. Huawei and ZTE both showed off impressive phones at CES in Las Vegas last month – including the gigantic Ascend Mate phablet – but they kept mum on a release in the West. With the world’s press gathered in one of Europe’s finest cities, might they announce release dates for their tasty new smartphones? Here’s hoping.

Samsung’s iPad mini rival

Samsung may not be showing off the Galaxy S4 in Barcelona, but the company is believed to be working on an eight-inch rival to the iPad mini, and it’s coming soon. Expect to see this cut-price slate next week – whether we’ll see Samsung’s rumoured low cost seven inch tablet next week as well remains to be seen though.

Asus goes insane

One thing you can rely on at a tradeshow: Asus will turn up with something ridiculous. Last year, it was a phone that powered a tablet. This year, it’s reported to be working on a “Fonepad”, a seven inch tablet that can also make calls, Dom Joly style. Will it be at Barcelona? Will it be utterly absurd to use? We’ll find out next week.

Stay tuned for all the coverage from Mobile World Congress next week. In the meantime, what are you hoping for? Let us know in the comments below.

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Smartphone stocking fillers: Five amazing phones for under £100

 

Hard to believe how time flies, isn’t it? Yep, Christmas is on us once again, and to help you find the perfect presents for all your family, we’ll be running regular gadget gift guides – with a twist. Kicking things off, we’ve got the best smartphones that cost £100 or less – check out how much power you can get for under a ton right here.

Huawei Ascend G300

For bang on £100 on Pay As You Go with Vodafone, you can pick up one astonishing bit of kit: the Huawei Ascend G300 squeezes in a 1GHz processor and even a four-inch screen – the same size as the iPhone 5’s, for a quarter of the price. Best of all, it’s been recently updated to the faster, smarter Android 4.0. Best for: your nephew or cousin who’s deep into mobile, but can’t afford a monthly contract just yet.

Sony Xperia Miro

It may pack a slightly smaller 3.5-inch screen than the Huawei Ascend G300, but the Sony Xperia Miro is a polished affair nonetheless, with a more sturdy build quality, and Android 4.0 out of the box, and access to all the hundreds of thousands of apps on the Google Play store. It’s available for £100 on Vodafone Pay As You Go for a limited time so don’t hang about. Best for: your Sony loving, iPhone hating brother.

Nokia Lumia 610

We love Android, but its open ended nature isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. Out of the box, Windows Phone is easier to use, and Nokia’s build quality is legendary. That makes the Nokia Lumia 610 for £99.95 at Carphone Warehouse on every network except Three a spectacular deal. Its beautiful live tile homescreen is easy to use, and integrates Facebook and Twitter beautifully. Best for: your child or niece/nephew’s first smartphone.

Huawei Blaze

There are a surprising amount of Android phones with tiny screens and tiny prices knocking about these days, but make no mistake, this one is by far the best. Its 3.2-inch display is responsive, and despite the aging 600MHz processor, it’s surprisingly fast. And though it runs an older version of Android, 2.3, it still provides all the core Google services, including free satellite navigation with turn by turn directions. For under £40, this really is an impulse purchase. Best for: that uncle who’s been asking which is the best satnav/phone/anything to buy.

BlackBerry Curve 9320

A full on BlackBerry, with a solid keyboard, blazing 3G speeds and BlackBerry Messenger for instant chat with all your mates on the go, for under £100? Orange has one, this year’s impressive BlackBerry Curve 9320. Don’t expect stocks to last though, or complain when BlackBerry 10 rolls around in January. Best for: The hopeless BBM addict in your life.

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