Review: Walter Isaacson's 'Steve Jobs'

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 24px;"></span><br /> <div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 12px; font: normal normal normal 13px/19px Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px; padding-bottom: 0.6em; padding-left: 0.6em; padding-right: 0.6em; padding-top: 0.6em;"> <div mce_style="text-align: center;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: center;"> <img alt="" class="aligncenter" height="199" mce_src="http://img32.imageshack.us/img32/4388/jobsbiography1026.jpg" src="http://img32.imageshack.us/img32/4388/jobsbiography1026.jpg" style="border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; height: 332px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 8px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 8px; max-width: 640px; width: 225px;" width="135" />I've just finished a marathon session of reading all the way through<a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/steve-jobs/id431617578?mt=11" mce_href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/steve-jobs/id431617578?mt=11" style="color: #0066cc; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;"><span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="em" mce_style="font-style: italic;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.5;">Steve Jobs</span></a> on my iPad -- and I'm sure Jobs would have appreciated the odd harmony of people reading his life story on a device he helped create.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> After reading his biography, I'm no longer convinced that Steve Jobs would have liked me if we'd ever met in person. At least not at first. More likely, he'd have torn me a new one in our first meeting and told me that I sucked and everything I did was worthless. Then, in our second meeting, he'd have parroted my ideas back at me as though they were his own. It was apparently one of his signature moves, and it probably would have made me want to throw a chair at him.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> But even if I had been provoked that far, he most likely would have just bellowed that I should have thrown a better chair.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Reading biographies is perhaps a different experience for me than it is for most people, since I spent most of my Master's thesis examining the concept of truth in biographical works. Most of the memoirs, autobiographies, and biographies I've read have fallen into one of two categories. Either the text was something designed to lionize its subject and make him or her seem larger than life, or else the writer had taken pains to focus on only the parts of the subject's life that fit into a clean narrative arc while leaving everything else on the cutting room floor, an approach that leads to easy and almost cinematic storytelling but leaves out much of the facts.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Neither approach to biographical writing strikes me as particularly true; in fact, almost every biography I've read seems to contain about as much actual <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="em" mce_style="font-style: italic;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.5;">truth</span> as an episode of <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="em" mce_style="font-style: italic;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.5;">Star Trek</span>. The tendency to over-praise or over-dramatize is both pernicious and pervasive throughout the various forms of biographical texts.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Walter Isaacson's 656-page profile of Steve Jobs falls in neither category. It is quite possibly the <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="em" mce_style="font-style: italic;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.5;">truest</span> biography I've ever read. In the process of telling the unvarnished truth about Steve Jobs, it dispels much of the myth and magic surrounding the man and his legacy. It does not depict Steve Jobs as the information age's equivalent of Moses descending from Mount Sinai with an iPad in each hand. It would have been easy for some misinformed hack to portray Jobs that way in a quick cash-in "unauthorized" biography soon after Jobs's death, but it also would have been closer to fiction than biography.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> What Isaacson gives us instead is a portrait of a man with keen insight, brilliant powers of observation, and a stubborn determination to "put a dent in the universe." However, the biography also depicts a man with deep flaws, some of which arguably contributed to his early death. It humanizes a man who's spent much of the past decade as a living legend in multiple arenas, and it gives valuable insight into the <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="em" mce_style="font-style: italic;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.5;">person</span> Steve Jobs was, not just the icon he became.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> After reading his biography, I get the sense that no matter how brilliant Steve Jobs was or how many fundamental shifts in our landscape he spearheaded, in the end, he was as human as the rest of us. It's a testament to Isaacson's skill as a biographer that readers can at last obtain the picture of Steve Jobs as a human being rather than a legend.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Jobs's reputation as a control freak was legendary, yet he relinquished all control over the contents of his biography. It's a surprising move from a man who insisted on so much control over all of his life's projects -- the Mac, iPod, iPhone, and iPad were all born and thrived partially because Jobs refused to cede control over them. Jobs explained his motivations to Isaacson for his atypically hands-off approach to the biography. Partially it was because he wanted his children to know him better, flaws and all. It was also because he wanted to make sure that only someone possessed of all the facts about his life would write his story. "When I got sick, I realized other people would write about me if I died, and they wouldn't know anything. They'd get it all wrong. So I wanted to make sure someone heard what I had to say."</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Jobs's biography manages to allow him to get the last word in many debates. Many of the people who have toasted both him and his achievements will find themselves bearing the brunt of his last barbs against them. Some, like Jobs threatening to go "thermonuclear" on Android, have already been outed. Others are a bit more deeply buried within the text, but once found they're both candid and a bit stunning.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> "IBM was essentially Microsoft at its worst," Jobs said, reminiscing about the early days of the personal computer revolution. "They were not a force for innovation; they were a force for evil. They were like AT&T or Microsoft or Google is." My jaw dropped at this quote, but another later on in the book was more alarming. Immediately after heaping praise on his successor, Tim Cook, Steve said, "Tim's not a product person, per se." Considering that at many other points in the book Jobs heaped scorn on people like Bill Gates or John Sculley whom he also considered more concerned with profits than product quality, his unfiltered opinion of Cook's product sensibilities definitely raised an eyebrow.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Much of the biography will be familiar to hardcore Apple enthusiasts. Chapters on the birth of the Macintosh will be familiar to anyone who's read Andy Hertzfeld's recollections at folklore.org, and if you're a regular TUAW reader there won't be too much in the chapters about the iPod, iPhone, or iPad that you haven't already read. Older Apple fans will likely find the earliest chapters about the founding days of Apple not much more than a refresher course. But I suspect that few people will be able to read the entire book and<span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="em" mce_style="font-style: italic;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.5;">not</span> discover some surprising fact about Steve Jobs that they didn't already know.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> If you come into <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="em" mce_style="font-style: italic;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.5;">Steve Jobs</span> already hating him, the biography gives you plenty of reasons to hold onto that opinion. If instead you view Jobs as a personal hero, there are plenty of episodes within his life story that might make you reconsider that opinion. Isaacson doesn't shy away from describing Steve Jobs's darker moments or personality deficiencies, some of which border on the downright despicable. To put it lightly, Steve Jobs was not a "people person."</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> One of his ex-girlfriends read about Narcissistic Personality Disorder in the DSM and said, "It fits so well and explained so much of what we had struggled with, that I realized expecting him to be nicer or less self-centered was like expecting a blind man to see." Even his closest friends, like Apple design guru Jonathan Ive, noted that Jobs often exhibited a vicious and unnecessary lack of empathy for those around him. The fact that so many people all over the world have been lauding him since his death, both friends and dogged competitors, speaks to the complex and paradoxical nature of Steve Jobs, a man whose greatest goal was to establish empathy between people and technology but who often displayed precious little empathy of his own.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Isaacson's biography of Jobs isn't a character assassination by any means (though I do wonder why the first third of the book dwells so often on Jobs's body odor during the 1970s). That said, I still feel terrifically sorry for any employees who find themselves at the mercy of a supervisor who uses <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="em" mce_style="font-style: italic;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.5;">Steve Jobs</span> as a managerial handbook, just like the legions of young would-be entrepreneurs trying to emulate the callous Mark Zuckerberg they saw in <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="em" mce_style="font-style: italic;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.5;">The Social Network</span>.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> If anyone comes away from reading <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="em" mce_style="font-style: italic;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.5;">Steve Jobs</span> thinking that being a leader makes it okay to be an asshole, they'll have missed about 99 percent of the point. Anyone can cut an employee to shreds or throw epic temper tantrums at the slightest provocation, but replicating Jobs's intuition, perfectionism, dedication, and vision is arguably something that only one person in seven billion can manage to pull off.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="em" mce_style="font-style: italic;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.5;">Steve Jobs</span> is at its core the study of the man himself, but along the way it's also a fascinating history of the genesis, near-death, and resurgence of Apple. It also describes the birth, near-death, and ascendancy of Pixar, with fascinating details I've never read before. As the book follows Jobs through the personal computer revolution, the birth of the Macintosh, his "wilderness years" at NeXT and Pixar, and his return to Apple and subsequent paving over of the landscape for the music industry, cell phones, and tablet computing, Steve Jobs's biography also offers incredibly detailed insights into how our world shifted from the hobbyist computing era of the mid-'70s to the ubiquitous techscape we live in today. Steve Jobs didn't enact any of these revolutionary changes singlehandedly -- his biography takes pains to make that clear -- but he was most assuredly at or near the center of all of them.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Though the book makes his flaws obvious to readers, it also makes clear that we would be living in a very different world if Steve Jobs hadn't set out to put a dent in the universe. Anyone with even a passing interest in Apple's history, and anyone who's ever wondered how so very much about the technology landscape has changed so fundamentally in just 35 years, owes it to themselves to read this book.</div> </div> </div>

Review: Walter Isaacson's 'Steve Jobs'

I've just finished a marathon session of reading all the way through Steve Jobs  on my iPad -- and I'm sure Jobs would have appr...

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AT&T misses another iPhone opportunity

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 24px;"></span><br /> <div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 12px; font: normal normal normal 13px/19px Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px; padding-bottom: 0.6em; padding-left: 0.6em; padding-right: 0.6em; padding-top: 0.6em;"> <div mce_style="text-align: center;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: center;"> <img alt="" border="0" class="aligncenter" height="187" mce_src="http://img577.imageshack.us/img577/1754/attfreenoniphone2011100.jpg" src="http://img577.imageshack.us/img577/1754/attfreenoniphone2011100.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="279" /></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> This week, Apple announced that <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="em" mce_style="font-style: italic;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.5;">for the first time</span> you will be able to get a <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="em" mce_style="font-style: italic;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.5;">free iPhone</span> with a 2-year contract.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> The "catch"? The iPhone is the 3GS (not the 4 or 4s).</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Now if you are someone who regularly reads tech websites and who thinks it's perfectly logical to stand in line for hours to get the newest iPhone (or to get up in the middle of the night to order one online), then the iPhone 3GS might seem like a relic to you. But for the millions of cell phone users who don't have smartphones, the iPhone 3GS would be a great purchase.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> The hardware is excellent, and it supports AT&T's 3G network. No, it doesn't do "4G" -- but for most Americans, we don't live anywhere with 4G coverage anyway; people looking for a free smartphone probably aren't going to care about 4G, if they even know what it is. Subjectively speaking, my wife actually prefers the 3GS because she says the curved back fits better in her hand.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> The iPhone 3GS has a bigger App Store than Android or Windows Phone alternatives. When Apple releases iOS 5 in a few days, the 3GS users will be able to upgrade to it, free of charge.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> All told, it's a great phone, and <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="em" mce_style="font-style: italic;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.5;">in the USA</span> it is <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="em" mce_style="font-style: italic;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.5;">only available on AT&T</span> because Verizon didn't have the iPhone until version 4. It is now available <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="em" mce_style="font-style: italic;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.5;">for free</span> (with the same 2 year contract you're going to be stuck with anywhere).</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> You might think that AT&T would want to grab this opportunity to let people know about this great offer. You <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="em" mce_style="font-style: italic;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.5;">might</span> think that, assuming that you haven't watched AT&T bungle nearly every opportunity the iPhone has given it.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> The latest example arrived today: an email from AT&T with the Subject: "Huge online selections of free phones from AT&T!" Because I am, at heart, an optimist, I thought "Oh, they are going to start promoting the free iPhone deal."</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> I was wrong.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Inside the email, there are 3 phones shown (see screenshot above). The first two have tiny, hardware keyboards, and the third (in the background) shows something that looks like an iPhone knockoff but with rounded sides.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> No <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="em" mce_style="font-style: italic;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.5;">picture</span> of the iPhone 3GS.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> No <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="em" mce_style="font-style: italic;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.5;">mention</span> of the iPhone 3GS.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> They mention "Apple" as one of the manufacturers, but they don't use the name "iPhone" at all. <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="em" mce_style="font-style: italic;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.5;">The best-known smartphone brand in the world, and AT&T doesn't even mention it.</span> They can make a "free iPhone" offer that no one else in the USA can make, and they didn't make it.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> If you wanted to be <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="em" mce_style="font-style: italic;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.5;">extremely generous</span>, maybe you would want to say that the email had a limited amount of space for the image, so they couldn't fit the iPhone into the picture. But even if you click through to the "shop now and save" link, the resulting page doesn't show the iPhone 3GS at all.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Frankly, I don't know if AT&T is purposefully downplaying the iPhone, or whether they want to push people towards the iPhone 4 or 4S if they want "an iPhone" or if they just plain blew an opportunity to promote an advantage that they have over Verizon and Sprint. But I know which one I'd go with if I had to guess.</div> </div> </div>

AT&T misses another iPhone opportunity

This week, Apple announced that  for the first time  you will be able to get a  free iPhone  with a 2-year contract. The "catch...

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Opinion: Will the iPhone 4S camera kill off compacts?

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 24px;"></span><br /> <div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 12px; font: normal normal normal 13px/19px Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px; padding-bottom: 0.6em; padding-left: 0.6em; padding-right: 0.6em; padding-top: 0.6em;"> <div mce_style="text-align: center;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: center;"> <img alt="Opinion: Will the iPhone 4S camera kill off compacts?" class="aligncenter" height="211" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/classifications/events/iPhone-2011/iPhone%204S/iphone_4s_photo-470-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/classifications/events/iPhone-2011/iPhone%204S/iphone_4s_photo-470-90.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="282" /></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> As the world went into frenzy last night over the newly launched iPhone, which rather disappointingly turned out to be the iPhone 4S and not the much longed for iPhone 5.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> However, there was one improvement that caught our attention. The improved onboard camera now boasts an 8 megapixel sensor, up from the 5 megapixels on the 4 along with an f/2.4 aperture lens for improved low light shooting. An advanced hybrid infrared filter has also been included, promising to boast more accurate and uniform colours.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> The new iPhone 4s is powered by the new A5 chip and iOS 5. Apple claims that the image signal processor in the A5 chip is "just as good as the ones found in in DSLR cameras" and gives you the ability to tap to focus and control focus. Apple also claims that there's zero shutter lag, allowing you to catch action as it happens. To help further with that, the camera app will be accessible straight from the lock screen.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> New advanced algorithms in iOS 5 claim to offer better colour accuracy, better white balance and greater dynamic range.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> On top of all that, it also boasts new face detection which automatically detects whether you're shooting a portrait or a group shot, focusing on the most prominent face in the frame and balancing exposure for up to 10 faces.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Bringing over the LED flash from the iPhone 4, which automatically kicks into action when needed, the iPhone 4S would seem to offer everything that most budget compact cameras currently do.</div> <h4 style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> Time to leave the compact at home?</h4> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> They say that the best camera is the one you have with you, and of course, everyone always has their mobile phone to hand. As the cameras on board mobiles get better and better, it becomes less appealing to bring along an additional gadget to take up valuable pocketspace.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Taking a glimpse at the sample photos posted by Apple appears to show some incredible results. Particularly impressive is the depth of field capabilities that the f/2.8 lens brings.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> In the pictures, colours light bright and rich with accurate white balance. During the launch event, we were able to steal a sneaky shot.</div> <div mce_style="text-align: center;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: center;"> <img alt="iPhone 4s picture" class="aligncenter" height="315" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/classifications/events/iPhone-2011/iPhone%204S/iphone_4s_photo-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/classifications/events/iPhone-2011/iPhone%204S/iphone_4s_photo-420-90.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="420" /></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> If you enlarge the picture to the high-res version you can see that the camera has coped well in the mixed low light conditions of Apple's Covent Garden store. Although the picture itself is rushed, results look very promising at this stage and we'll be keen to test out the camera more as soon as possible.</div> <h4 style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> Limitations</h4> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> As compact camera manufacturers try to cram their latest offerings full of appealing features, including touchscreens, GPS tracking and digital filters, it's worth remembering that beyond everyday shooting, the iPhone 4S camera still does have its limitations.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Firstly, optical zoom. Even the most basic of digital compact cameras offers 3x or 4x optical zoom, with some, such as the newly revealed Nikon Coolpix S8200 brandishing 14x optical zooms. The iPhone 4S however, offers only digital zoom, which is limited in terms of producing the best optical quality.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Although the iPhone 4S is packed with the LED flash, which should work well for close up subjects, it won't work as well for other situations where the subject is further away. This is where the standard electronic flashtubes in most digital compacts still have the edge.</div> <h4 style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> Other camera phones</h4> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Of course, the iPhone 4S isn't the only phone to be packing a serious camera punch. Although the iPhone's new camera specifications are impressive, it is really only playing catch-up with other mobile phone manufacturers in the market who have already introduced excellent cameras.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> It is however, the only camera phone to cause a frenzy whenever a new model is released, as proved by the hits to TechRadar during the launch announcement.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> If you're willing to forego the craze and are after a phone with excellent shooting credentials, two models you might want to consider are the Samsung Galaxy S2 and the Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc S, which boasts an EXMOR R sensor.</div> <h4 style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> Conclusion</h4> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> So is the compact camera market in trouble? It's a bit of a cop out, admittedly, but the answer is both yes and no.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> We find it unlikely that anyone who owns the new iPhone 4S (or any other decently specced camera phone) will find it in themselves to lug around a budget compact on a day to day basis. It is this area of the market that has the potential to see most losses.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> However, in terms of image quality, the iPhone 4S is unlikely to be able to compete with some of the premium compacts on the market, such as the new Canon Powershot S100 which has the ability to shoot in RAW, features a 5x optical zoom and a maximum aperture of f/2.0.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> It will be interesting to see how the budget end of the compact market responds to the increasing capabilities of phone cameras, so watch this space.</div> </div> </div>

Opinion: Will the iPhone 4S camera kill off compacts?

As the world went into frenzy last night over the newly launched iPhone, which rather disappointingly turned out to be the iPhone 4S a...

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Review Roundup: This week's hottest reviews on TechRadar

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 24px;"></span><br /> <div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 12px; font: normal normal normal 13px/19px Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px; padding-bottom: 0.6em; padding-left: 0.6em; padding-right: 0.6em; padding-top: 0.6em;"> <div mce_style="text-align: center;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: center;"> <img alt="Review Roundup: This week's hottest reviews on TechRadar" class="aligncenter" height="212" mce_src="http://cdn.mos.techradar.com//Review%20images/TechRadar/Home%20Entertainment/Samsung%20UE60D8000/SAM45491D-01-470-75.jpg" src="http://cdn.mos.techradar.com//Review%20images/TechRadar/Home%20Entertainment/Samsung%20UE60D8000/SAM45491D-01-470-75.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="282" /></div> <h3 style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> This week's hottest reviews on TechRadar</h3> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Has the economy suddenly picked up? This week we got our hands on the fantastic 60-inch, 3D-capable and Smart TV-enabled UE60D8000 from Samsung, which doesn't come cheap at £4,300, and then the £1,000+ Asus MARS II Limited Edition graphics card landed on our desk.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> At the other end of the spectrum we were impressed with the Samsung PL120, which can be picked up for under £100 and the Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini Pro, which is both small in price and size.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Read on for this week's most popular reviews on TechRadar.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Samsung UE60D8000 review</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> When Samsung gave us exclusive access to its brand new flagship LCD TV, we were excited. It's hard not to be excited by these new Samsungs - just look at them. There's almost no bezel at all, which means the picture goes right to the very edge of the TV. The gorgeous looks are backed up by an equally gorgeous watching experience.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Both 2D and 3D pictures are handled excellently and once you've experienced its mind-blowing big screen images, mesmerising design and class-leading smart functionality you'll be hunting around for £4,300 so you can own one. And if you can't raise that much cash, you can always check out the 55-inch or 46-inch versions.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Asus MARS II Limited Edition review</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Combining two Nvidia GeForce GTX 580 chips on one card, the Asus MARS II is by some distance the fastest and most powerful graphics card in existence. It weighs the same as six elephants, is bigger than a double decker bus and is probably worth more than your car. In certain benchmarks, the MARS II is 20 per cent quicker than any other card, although at times two GTX 580s in SLI come close.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> It's not just the performance that impresses us, it's the temperature management and build quality. With a three-figure price tag it was never going to be a consumer's champion, but there's a lot on offer here for overclockers and modders beyond simply raw performance.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> BlackBerry Torch 9860 review</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> When is a BlackBerry not a BlackBerry? How about when the BlackBerry in question has no physical keyboard and is in fact RIM's first proper touchscreen smartphone? Yep, the BlackBerry Torch 9860 marks RIM's first foray into pure touchscreen control, without any of the SurePress shenanigans of the Storm 2 or the slide-out keyboard of the Torch 9800 and 9810.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> With the improvements of BlackBerry OS 7 and better specs across the board, the result is largely a success. It's a slick package from afar, but using the BlackBerry Torch 9860 after the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S2, HTC Sensation or iPhone 4 feels like going back to 2009.</div> <div mce_style="text-align: center;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: center;"> <img alt="BlackBerry torch 9860" class="aligncenter" height="202" mce_src="http://cdn.mos.techradar.com//Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/BlackBerry/BlackBerry%20Torch%209860/pr/Torch_9860-9850_BottomAngle-420-100.jpg" src="http://cdn.mos.techradar.com//Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/BlackBerry/BlackBerry%20Torch%209860/pr/Torch_9860-9850_BottomAngle-420-100.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="252" /></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini Pro review</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> So, just as Sony Ericsson accompanied its X10 Mini with the X10 Mini Pro in 2010, this year's excellent new Xperia Mini is now accompanied by a heavier, sturdier model of the same size, the Xperia Mini Pro. The new smartphone also has a slide-out QWERTY keyboard for those of you still stubbornly refusing to go 100% touchscreen</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Samsung PL120 review</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> For £100, this is a camera that you'll get a lot of use out of, from holidays to updating your profile picture on Facebook. The tiny size means that it'll simply fit into a pocket when it's not being used and the price means if it does get broken, it doesn't cost the earth to replace.</div> <div mce_style="text-align: center;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: center;"> <img alt="Samsung pl120" class="aligncenter" height="189" mce_src="http://cdn.mos.techradar.com//Review%20images/PhotoRadar/Samsung/PL120/press/samsung-pl120-1-420-100.jpg" src="http://cdn.mos.techradar.com//Review%20images/PhotoRadar/Samsung/PL120/press/samsung-pl120-1-420-100.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="252" /></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">Also reviewed this week:</span></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">Audio systems</span></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Creative ZiiSound D5x & DSx system review</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">AV receivers</span></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Pioneer VSX-2021 review</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">CCTV</span></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Smart Witness Smart-i review</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">Compact cameras</span></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Samsung ST95 review</div> <div mce_style="text-align: center;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: center;"> <img alt="Sasmung st95" class="aligncenter" height="189" mce_src="http://cdn.mos.techradar.com//Review%20images/PhotoRadar/Samsung/ST95/samsungst95f-420-100.jpg" src="http://cdn.mos.techradar.com//Review%20images/PhotoRadar/Samsung/ST95/samsungst95f-420-100.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="252" /></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">Components</span></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Kingston HyperX 240GB SSD review</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Smart Witness Smart-i review</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">Coolers</span></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Cooler Master Hyper 612S review</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">Cooling</span></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Cooler Master Hyper 612S review</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; 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Review Roundup: This week's hottest reviews on TechRadar

This week's hottest reviews on TechRadar Has the economy suddenly picked up? This week we got our hands on the fantastic 60-inch...

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IFA 2011: First look: Mitsubishi Home Cinema Laser Display

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 24px;"></span><br /> <div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 12px; font: normal normal normal 13px/19px Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px; padding-bottom: 0.6em; padding-left: 0.6em; padding-right: 0.6em; padding-top: 0.6em;"> <div mce_style="text-align: center;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: center;"> <img alt="IFA 2011: First look: Mitsubishi Home Cinema Laser Display" class="aligncenter" height="212" mce_src="http://img560.imageshack.us/img560/2874/mitsubishi147090.jpg" src="http://img560.imageshack.us/img560/2874/mitsubishi147090.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="282" /></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Would you pay £4,000+ for the best TV ever? Mitsubishi is hoping so, but just can't make up its mind whether to launch its Home Cinema Laser Display in Europe. We do hope it does.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Our extended demo with this very special display proved one thing: rear projection TVs are brilliant, and - thanks to lasers - approaching a position where the achievable size and, crucially, picture quality advantages over both plasma and LCD (and that includes LED backlit variants) are significant enough to attract the high rollers after a slice movie perfection.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> We knew this would happen. Just a few years ago the last rear-pro TVs disappeared almost entirely because we, as a nation, thought they were too chubby.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> And, if we're honest, they very well still might be. The Laser TV Mitsubishi had on show in Berlin was basically the same as the 75-incher it sells in the Japan and the US, and during our demo a lot of folk first stood in awe of the picture before diving behind it to measure-up its girth.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Some came away shaking their heads - it reaches around 32 cm - though no one after a home cinema screen for a spare room or loft should care a jot about that.</div> <div mce_style="text-align: center;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: center;"> <img alt="Mitsubishi home cinema laser display" class="aligncenter" height="189" mce_src="http://img801.imageshack.us/img801/5386/mitsubishi142090.jpg" src="http://img801.imageshack.us/img801/5386/mitsubishi142090.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="252" /></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> This is a product that should be seen as a 24-hour alternative to a home cinema projector and screen (the latter of which has roughly the footprint as the L75-A94), and in that little battle it does well.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Mitsubishi's laser display also has some novel design attributes, not least of which is a slim bezel that measures little over a centimetre on its sides.</div> <h4 style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> Easy on the eye</h4> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Mitsubishi's demo, which was more about gauging the reaction of consumers that it was a bona fide launch (that should come in 2012), proved one thing to us; laser light is impeccably easy on the eye. After a hard slog around the 3D-dominated IFA halls, watching the L75-A94 was a delight.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> And that was despite some frenetic, pacey video featuring lots of fast-moving sequences supplied in 2D by a Marantz Blu-ray player. All scenes were rendered without a hint of blur, flicker, image lag or stepping.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> This extraordinary fluidity isn't the only advantage of lasers. Detail is as high as on any high-end projection, while colour is very natural and never over-cooked. Contrast in a 2D image isn't overwhelmingly good, but neither is it a problem.</div> <div mce_style="text-align: center;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: center;"> <img alt="Mitsubishi home cinema laser display" class="aligncenter" height="189" mce_src="http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/811/mitsubishi242090.jpg" src="http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/811/mitsubishi242090.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="252" /></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Put into 3D mode - and that's active shutter we're talking about here - the L75-A94 must be slipped into either the Brilliant or Super Brilliant brightness boost modes, largely to make up for the light the 3D specs take away. The results are decent, though watching action sequences and fast-moving objects wasn't nearly as pleasant as watching the L75-A94 display 2D hi-def footage from Blu-ray.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> During our test it wasn't possible to see the 2D-3D conversion, though we seriously doubt we missed anything special on this 70kg screen. If it ever gets launched in the UK, it could be a real home cinema heavyweight.</div> </div> </div>

IFA 2011: First look: Mitsubishi Home Cinema Laser Display

Would you pay £4,000+ for the best TV ever? Mitsubishi is hoping so, but just can't make up its mind whether to launch its Home Ci...

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Samsung Galaxy S II 2000mAh Extended Battery Revealed

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 24px;"></span><br /> <div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 12px; font: normal normal normal 13px/19px Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px; padding-bottom: 0.6em; padding-left: 0.6em; padding-right: 0.6em; padding-top: 0.6em;"> <div mce_style="text-align: center;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: center;"> <img alt="" class="aligncenter" height="243" mce_src="http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/4659/ershehjte540x405.jpg" src="http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/4659/ershehjte540x405.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" title="ershehjte" width="324" />As you may already know, the battery on the Samsung Galaxy S II, through some excellence in the hardware in the phone, awesomeness in the way the battery is connected to the device, or magic, is a totally awesome performer. The Samsung Galaxy S II lasts two full days according to Chris Davies original review. What you’re going to get here is a 2000 mAh battery and new battery cover so that you can replace your current 1650 mAh battery and get even MORE time out of your best-selling Android device. Mister xeq544 over at XDA has the first one we’ve seen, straight outta Euro.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;"></span></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Of course there’s also the 1650 mAh replacement battery and case as revealed a few weeks ago. But what the heck, everyone loves a big fat battery for their thinnest smartphone in the world to make it no longer the thinnest smartphone in the world – and what’s best? It’ll only cost you 23 Euro! That translates to something like $35 USD at the moment, not sure what the price is going to be once its released here in the states.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> This package coming straight from Samsung means that this battery is completely factory approved, and it’s literally a bit thicker than the original battery, so you’ll need the extended battery cover – also, again, included in the package. Since this is an official Samsung package, the battery cover has the same texture as the original as well. This reminds me of the extended battery of the HTC ThunderBolt – fatness forever!</div> <div mce_style="text-align: center;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: center;"> <img alt="herthreehrs" class="attachment-thumbnail aligncenter" height="150" mce_src="http://img196.imageshack.us/img196/741/herthreehrs150x150.jpg" src="http://img196.imageshack.us/img196/741/herthreehrs150x150.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" title="herthreehrs" width="150" /><br style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;" /><img alt="herhseehr" class="attachment-thumbnail aligncenter" height="150" mce_src="http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/1894/herhseehr150x150.jpg" src="http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/1894/herhseehr150x150.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" title="herhseehr" width="150" /><br style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;" /><img alt="varegaergrea" class="attachment-thumbnail aligncenter" height="150" mce_src="http://img62.imageshack.us/img62/8121/varegaergrea150x150.jpg" src="http://img62.imageshack.us/img62/8121/varegaergrea150x150.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" title="varegaergrea" width="150" /></div> </div> </div>

Samsung Galaxy S II 2000mAh Extended Battery Revealed

As you may already know, the battery on the Samsung Galaxy S II, through some excellence in the hardware in the phone, awesomeness in th...

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Inverted Twitter App, Socialize with a Black Color Theme

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 24px;"></span><br /> <div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 12px; font: normal normal normal 13px/19px Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px; padding-bottom: 0.6em; padding-left: 0.6em; padding-right: 0.6em; padding-top: 0.6em;"> <div mce_style="text-align: center;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: center;"> <img alt="" class="aligncenter" height="324" mce_src="http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/6968/twitterblacktheme303x54.jpg" src="http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/6968/twitterblacktheme303x54.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" title="Twitter black theme" width="182" />We all love Twitter right? Well those of you that haven’t fully migrated to Google+ of course. Today I have another Android app that has been inverted with a black color theme for you all to enjoy. Now you can tweet, twit, or do whatever it is you do in style with the “Black n Bold” Theme for Twitter. This adds style to Twitter while saving battery life at the same time.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> This isn’t the first Inverted app I’ve posted as of late. Recently I showed you all the Google+ Inverted App and everyone seemed to love that although a few had issues with getting it going at first. Last week we featured Gmail getting the same treatment but today is all about the little birds of Twitter (and the wales).</div> <div mce_style="text-align: center;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: center;"> <img alt="" class="size-medium wp-image-48143 aligncenter" height="191" mce_src="http://img577.imageshack.us/img577/7228/twitterblack540x319.jpg" src="http://img577.imageshack.us/img577/7228/twitterblack540x319.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" title="Twitter black" width="324" /></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> See for yourself with the picture above. It looks sharp right? I’ve been using this for the past few hours this morning and I’ve yet to experience any issues. Make sure to uninstall the original Twitter app first, and back it up if you’d like although it’s always available from the market. This does not require root so you can just go ahead and check out the details at the source link, and download the modded APK and install like any other application. If you have any questions before continuing make sure to ask over at the RootzWiki thread.</div> </div> </div>

Inverted Twitter App, Socialize with a Black Color Theme

We all love Twitter right? Well those of you that haven’t fully migrated to Google+ of course. Today I have another Android app that has...

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HTC Vigor Details and Picture Appear on Dutch Website

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 24px;"></span><br /> <div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 12px; font: normal normal normal 13px/19px Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px; padding-bottom: 0.6em; padding-left: 0.6em; padding-right: 0.6em; padding-top: 0.6em;"> <div mce_style="text-align: center;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: center;"> <img alt="" class="aligncenter" height="347" mce_src="http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/4816/htcvigorspecs.png" src="http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/4816/htcvigorspecs.png" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" title="htc-vigor-specs" width="161" />We might have seen our first look at the upcoming HTC Vigor late last night thanks to a Dutch Phone site that posted it up, but it was quickly removed. Seen in the picture below this could very easily be a fake photo but it does look very similar to the Sensation or the popular HTC Thunderbolt that the Vigor is said to be replacing over at Verizon Wireless.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;"></span></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Along with the photo we also saw the impressive spec sheet to go along with it. According to the site the HTC Vigor will feature all those specs we saw leaked back in July. Those include a 1.5 Ghz dual-core processor, a 1280</div> </div> </div>

HTC Vigor Details and Picture Appear on Dutch Website

We might have seen our first look at the upcoming HTC Vigor late last night thanks to a Dutch Phone site that posted it up, but it was q...

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Review: Vodafone 555 Blue

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 24px;"></span><br /> <div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 12px; font: normal normal normal 13px/19px Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px; padding-bottom: 0.6em; padding-left: 0.6em; padding-right: 0.6em; padding-top: 0.6em;"> <div mce_style="text-align: center;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: center;"> <img alt="" class="aligncenter" height="150" mce_src="http://cdn.mos.techradar.com//Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Hands-on%20shots/vodafone555blue-1-200-200.jpg" src="http://cdn.mos.techradar.com//Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Hands-on%20shots/vodafone555blue-1-200-200.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="200" /></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> With social network-'addicted' teens and a global Facebook population greater than that of the United States, bringing out an affordable PAYG Facebook-integrated feature phone should be a sure bet, in theory. But then we also know that there are lies, damned lies and statistics. So, is the Vodafone 555 Blue as sure a bet after all?</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Well, for a basic feature phone, the Vodafone 555 Blue is a pretty enough handset. With its silver-and-white matt plastic casing, it has only just enough weight behind it. It sits comfortably in the hand with its curved corners, and with a QWERTY keyboard it's very, very reminiscent of that other Facebook phone, the HTC ChaCha – without, it seems, any of the ChaCha's features.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> At only 12mm thick and rather light, the Vodafone 555 Blue will fit easily into teenage pockets. It's built to be cheap, yes, but the build itself is light and bright, and although there aren't too many features to crow about, it is at least nicely packaged.</div> <div mce_style="text-align: center;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: center;"> <img alt="Vodafone 555 blue review" class="aligncenter" height="189" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Hands-on%20shots/vodafone555blue-9-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Hands-on%20shots/vodafone555blue-9-420-90.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="252" /></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Aimed at 16-25s who want a little social networking without monthly bills, the Vodafone 555 Blue is a pay-as-you-go handset fully integrated with Facebook, right down to the little blue logo key that, when pressed, will take you straight to your news feed.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> There's a 2MP camera on board for uploading pictures to the social network, a QWERTY keyboard, microSD slot and an earphone jack.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Along with the physical keyboard, the phone is navigated by a series of five soft keys (including the navigation pad) located beneath the screen:</div> <div mce_style="text-align: center;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: center;"> <img alt="Vodaphone 555 blue review" class="aligncenter" height="189" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Hands-on%20shots/vodafone555blue-10-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Hands-on%20shots/vodafone555blue-10-420-90.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="252" /></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> And the volume rocker on the left-hand side:</div> <div mce_style="text-align: center;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: center;"> <img alt="Vodaphone 555 blue review" class="aligncenter" height="189" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Hands-on%20shots/vodafone555blue-4-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Hands-on%20shots/vodafone555blue-4-420-90.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="252" /></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> The camera is reached via a button integrated into the keyboard, which is handy for pulling up the feature quickly.</div> <div mce_style="text-align: center;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: center;"> <img alt="Vodaphone 555 blue review" class="aligncenter" height="189" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Hands-on%20shots/vodafone555blue-2-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Hands-on%20shots/vodafone555blue-2-420-90.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="252" /></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Speaking of the camera, despite only boasting 2MP, the Alcatel-constructed mobile phone comes with a single LED flash.</div> <div mce_style="text-align: center;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: center;"> <img alt="Vodaphone 555 blue review" class="aligncenter" height="189" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Hands-on%20shots/vodafone555blue-8-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Hands-on%20shots/vodafone555blue-8-420-90.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="252" /></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> However, the Vodafone 555 Blue's screen measures a mere 2.4 inches and only 320 x 240 pixels, so the subsequent viewing of images isn't the highest quality ever. Plus, the connectivity of the Vodafone 555 Blue is a little poor, with only EDGE and 2G capabilities. Given the lack of contract-style data allowances, a little Wi-Fi wouldn't have gone amiss.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Still, it's not a handset that was made to be top of the range, for app-lovers or for addicts of several social media sites. Indeed, it's simply to fulfil those basic Facebook overshare needs, plus a few calls and texts.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Having been built on a Java-based system designed specifically for this handset, and packing only 200MHz processing power, the user experience of the Vodafone 555 Blue was never going to be particularly speedy.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Setting up Facebook from the second you turn on the phone, you're prompted to log in to the network – or sign up for an account, if you're one of the seemingly few people who don't have one yet.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Once you've made it to the home screen, the view is set up like a giant mobile Facebook app, making room for a few extras such as calls, texting, a browser and a music player. All of it, however, is in that familiar design you're already used to.</div> <div mce_style="text-align: center;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: center;"> <img alt="Vodaphone 555 blue review" class="aligncenter" height="189" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Screen%20grabs/screengrab1-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Screen%20grabs/screengrab1-420-90.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="252" /></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Predictably, with such a small amount of power behind it, the Vodafone 555 Blue is pretty slow to use. Navigation itself is fine, and there are even a couple of cool keyboard shortcuts, such as Alt+M to take you to the Music player. You can also head into the settings to add shortcuts of your own.</div> <div mce_style="text-align: center;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: center;"> <img alt="Vodaphone 555 blue review" class="aligncenter" height="189" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Screen%20grabs/screengrab2-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Screen%20grabs/screengrab2-420-90.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="252" /></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> But when you dip into things that need a bit of extra juice – such as attempting to view a friend's photo album – things begin to slow to a frustrating pace.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> The trackpad is responsive enough, but might end up giving you RSI in your thumb from repeated scrolling, especially if you want to brave a little internet browsing in Opera Mini.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> There's one home screen, with a scrolling bar along the bottom for shortcuts to your most-used parts of Facebook (Messaging, News feed, Chat and so on).</div> <div mce_style="text-align: center;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: center;"> <img alt="Vodaphone 555 blue review" class="aligncenter" height="189" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Screen%20grabs/screengrab3-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Screen%20grabs/screengrab3-420-90.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="252" /></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> For extra-speedy News feed navigation, just press the Facebook logo soft key. One irritating thing about the News feed itself is the fact that it's supposed to update over the air, but we never found that happened.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Our Profiles? Absolutely fine, and would auto-update whenever we opened them, but not the News feed. We found that you hou had to manually update it – and wait forever while doing so. Not cool, and unlikely to go down well with the target market on account of everyone being used to things being instant.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> The menu page is customisable to a small extent, allowing you to choose which apps you want to see in its grid view. However, don't get too excited, as when we say 'apps', we mean… the calculator. Or the notes editor. Adventurous things, those.</div> <div mce_style="text-align: center;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: center;"> <img alt="Vodaphone 555 blue review" class="aligncenter" height="189" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Screen%20grabs/screengrab4-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Screen%20grabs/screengrab4-420-90.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="252" /></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> For almost everyone who picks up the Vodafone 555 Blue (because, let's face it, to buy this phone you must already have a pretty severe love of Facebook) navigating around its system will be easy, as you're guided by the familiar.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> The softkeys and QWERTY keyboard aid in the ease of it all, and there's nothing here software-wise that's complex enough to get even less techy people in a spin. All in all, having borrowed a familiar interface, it looks cute and will easily attract hardcore but low-tech Facebook fans.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> The contacts book is one of the few impressive things about the Vodafone 555 Blue. With its deep Facebook integration, the contacts setup is reminiscent of an Android phone, merging both SIM and Facebook contacts into one lovely list.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> The contacts view is populated with friends' Facebook profile pictures, and reaching the actual profiles themselves from the contacts view is quick and easy.</div> <div mce_style="text-align: center;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: center;"> <img alt="Vodaphone 555 blue review" class="aligncenter" height="189" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Screen%20grabs/screengrab5-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Screen%20grabs/screengrab5-420-90.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="252" /></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> The phone even managed to match up some SIM contacts to their Facebook profiles, despite the fact that they were listed under different names – which is something that even actual smartphones often have a problem with. If there are a few doubled contacts, however, simply manually 'merge to Facebook' and you're all set.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Dipping into profiles from the contacts list, you're presented with the standard Facebook information – Info, Wall posts, Photos and Likes and interests.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <img alt="Vodaphone 555 blue review" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Screen%20grabs/screengrab6-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Screen%20grabs/screengrab6-420-90.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="420" /></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> For some reason, not all of a contact's information is held here, however, and opting to see the full profile will take you out of the app and into the Opera Mini browser, which breaks up the experience a little. Still, it's fairly great integration for such a standard phone.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> To call a contact, all you have to do is find their name and press the call softkey. There's also smart dialing – begin to type a contact's name and it will bring up their information, which is always handy.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <img alt="Vodaphone 555 blue review" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Screen%20grabs/screengrab7-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Screen%20grabs/screengrab7-420-90.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="420" /></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> There's a separate Favourites list for your most-contacted friends, plus a Phone list that separates out your purely SIM-held contacts, should you need them.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <img alt="Vodaphone 555 blue review" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Screen%20grabs/screengrab8-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Screen%20grabs/screengrab8-420-90.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="420" /></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Although Facebook profile integration is still a factor in the phone list, it's nice to be able to see the contacts whose phone numbers you didn't get by pure accident of it happening to be included on their profile.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Calling is fairly standard on the phone – connectivity is fine and the speaker emits a loud, clear sound. Shortcutting to your last-dialled numbers can be done by clicking the call key, and a voicemail tab is also included in the call log.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <img alt="Vodaphone 555 blue review" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Screen%20grabs/screengrab9-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Screen%20grabs/screengrab9-420-90.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="420" /></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Messaging: the second place where Facebook integration comes out tops on the Vodafone 555 Blue.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Messaging with this feature phone is awesome. From the innocuous little envelope shortcut on the home screen, you're taken to the universal Little Inbox of Wonder, with your SMS, MMS, Facebook messages and emails all in one place. We loved it, but wished there was a bigger screen to make the experience really great.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <img alt="Vodaphone 555 blue review" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Screen%20grabs/screengrab10-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Screen%20grabs/screengrab10-420-90.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="420" /></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> That aside, having all of these forms of messaging in one place is really useful, and it was even momentarily amusing to see SMS and email overlaid with the same style as Facebook messaging. The ease of being able to contact your entire Facebook family, as well as your SIM contacts, without dipping in and out of apps is something that we can see becoming a little addictive.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> And then there's the other messaging gem: the close proximity of Facebook Chat, the shortcut for which can sit on the scolling bar at the bottom of the home screen. But one tip: get rid of the 'Who's available' alert, otherwise you'll find it difficult to have a conversation with anyone at all.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <img alt="Vodaphone 555 blue review" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Hands-on%20shots/vodafone555blue-3-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Hands-on%20shots/vodafone555blue-3-420-90.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="420" /></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> With the physical QWERTY keyboard, typing is pretty swift on the Vodafone 555 Blue. And despite the lack of spacing between the keys, it didn't take us too long to get up to speed. There's a messaging shortcut to take you to the editor, with the option to write a new message sat at the top of the inbox.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Again, as with everything else on the Vodafone 555 Blue, the phone's internet browsing capabilities are limited to what a very casual user might need. Connectivity is a bit rubbish, with just 2G, Bluetooth and no Wi-Fi. No Wi-Fi – on a Pay-and-Go phone!</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> The HTC <a href="http://www.techradar.com/reviews/phones/mobile-phones/htc-chacha-930922/review" mce_href="http://www.techradar.com/reviews/phones/mobile-phones/htc-chacha-930922/review" style="color: #0066cc; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;">ChaCha</a> has 3G, Wi-Fi and a USB port, so obviously the Vodafone 555 Blue was never intended for any sort of greatness in its market.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> The handset comes with an Opera Mini browser and there are several issues that hamper any decent usage: the processor, the 2.4-inch screen and the touchpad navigation. It takes an absolute age to load anything, and needless to say there are no Flash or video capabilities.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <img alt="Vodaphone 555 blue review" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Screen%20grabs/screengrab11-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Screen%20grabs/screengrab11-420-90.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="420" /></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> When you open the browser, however, links shared by your Facebook contacts are all rounded up and waiting for you to read, which is a nice little feature.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> On the screen the colours are bright, although imagery gets a little pixelated when you start to zoom in too far.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <img alt="Vodaphone 555 blue review" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Screen%20grabs/screengrab12-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Screen%20grabs/screengrab12-420-90.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="420" /></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> The internet capabilities of the Vodafone 555 Blue are very definitely aimed at light usage markets, and it's not about to set anything on fire.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> It copes fine with standard usage – maybe for someone who just wants to catch up on the news or Google something now and again, when they can tear themselves away from their Facebook feed. However, it's slow to load, and who can say if the target UK audience will have the patience to wait for it?</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <img alt="Vodaphone 555 blue review" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Hands-on%20shots/vodafone555blue-8-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Hands-on%20shots/vodafone555blue-8-420-90.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="420" /></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> With the HTC ChaCha and INQ Cloud Touch both packing 5MP, the Vodafone 555 Blue is an instant letdown at 2MP. It does have a single LED flash – a small saving grace – but that doesn't stop photos looking grainy on the 320 x 240 pixel display.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Any pictures you do upload to Facebook, then, are going to be rather blurry disappointments. Colours are decently true to life, if a little dull, and there are no editing tools to speak of.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> The camera itself has few modes: there's the Night mode and Video mode, and that's about it. You can change the brightness a little, but we couldn't see that it made any discernable difference to the photo quality. You can zoom, if you knock down the image quality, but what you gain in closeness to your subject you'll lose in clarity.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> The camera will automatically switch off if left unused for a few seconds, and can be reached via the keyboard shortcut key.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <img alt="Vodaphone 555 blue review: camera sample" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Camera%20pics/vodafone555-bigben-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Camera%20pics/vodafone555-bigben-420-90.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="420" /></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">NO FLASH: </span><span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="em" mce_style="font-style: italic;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.5;">Taken without a flash, this grainy image is lacking much detail, although the colours are accurate and some of the blue of the sky was captured.</span></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> See the full-size image here</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <img alt="Vodafone 555 blue review: camera sample" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Camera%20pics/vodafone555-londoneye-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Camera%20pics/vodafone555-londoneye-420-90.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="420" /></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">DARK: </span><span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="em" mce_style="font-style: italic;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.5;">Again taken without flash, the lights and colours that were so bright in person are barely picked up by the camera, with most of the subject staying in darkness.</span></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> See the full-size image here<span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="em" mce_style="font-style: italic;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.5;"><br style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;" /></span></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <img alt="Vodafone 555 blue review: camera sample" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Camera%20pics/vodafone555-street-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Camera%20pics/vodafone555-street-420-90.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="420" /></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">NOISY:</span> <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="em" mce_style="font-style: italic;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.5;">This picture, taken in direct sunlight, results in surprisingly realistic colours, but the shadows are quite intense, putting the rest of the image almost entirely in darkness. Again, the image is noisy and lacks overall detail.</span></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> See the full-size image here<span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="em" mce_style="font-style: italic;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.5;"><br style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;" /></span></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <img alt="Vodafone 555 blue" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Hands-on%20shots/vodafone555blue-5-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Hands-on%20shots/vodafone555blue-5-420-90.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="420" /></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Similarly to the stills camera mode, the video capabilities of the Vodafone 555 Blue are basic.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Unfortunately, you can't upload videos to Facebook because even small files are too big, and you can't email them either. The inability to do this seems to defeat the point of a Facebook phone. Then again, it is a PAYG effort, so perhaps it shouldn't be that big of a surprise.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <img alt="YouTube logo" mce_src="http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/5339/youtubeinsert42090.jpg" src="http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/5339/youtubeinsert42090.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="420" /></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> There are only three options to toggle with in video mode – the brightness levels, Night mode and microphone. There's not a single editing tool, so you're not going to be churning out crowd-pleasers with this one.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> For the Vodafone 555 Blue feature phone, media isn't a priority. Thoughtfully, Alcatel has thrown in a music player and FM radio, but other than that there's little going on.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <img alt="Vodafone 555 blue review" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Screen%20grabs/screengrab15-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Screen%20grabs/screengrab15-420-90.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="420" /></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> The internal memory is a tiny 400MB, but a microSD slot has been provided for external memory of up to 16GB. The music player supports MP3 and WMA files that, with the additional memory from a microSD card, means that the Vodafone 555 Blue would be decent enough for a little listening on the go.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> You're provided with a pair of moulded plastic earphones that, although uncomfortable, do give a decent enough sound even into the top ranges of volume, but wouldn't do for any extended periods of listening.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> We tested them with the FM radio, which we found a little difficult to tune with the trackpad. It's also not possible to subtly follow a station's tuning when white noise starts creeping in.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <img alt="Vodafone 555 blue review" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Screen%20grabs/screengrab13-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Screen%20grabs/screengrab13-420-90.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="420" /></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> The external speaker is surprisingly loud and gives a very balanced sound without too much bass. With the provided earphones the sound is somewhat muted and the bass distorts at the highest volumes (although these aren't too loud).</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> With our own, more comfortable, earphones, the connection left a little to be desired – producing muffled sounds unless the connector was hanging half-in, half-out of the jack.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <img alt="Vodafone 555 blue review" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Hands-on%20shots/vodafone555blue-6-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Hands-on%20shots/vodafone555blue-6-420-90.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="420" /></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Transferring music to the Vodafone 555 Blue is a bit of a hassle, as you have to do so via Bluetooth rather than just plugging in.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Once all devices are connected, start your computer's Bluetooth transferring software and pick the Vodafone 555 from the list of devices. Transferring large files can take a few minutes, but the downloaded files are immediately sieved through to the music player.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> This means that there's less to sort, but there's actually no way to sort through files with formats not immediately recognised.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <img alt="Vodafone 555 blue review" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Screen%20grabs/screengrab14-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Screen%20grabs/screengrab14-420-90.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="420" /></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> There's no building of playlists, but you can set the songs to shuffle and the music player will keep playing in the background while you browse Facebook. But be warned: this is one of the few things the Vodafone 555 Blue can do that will actually have an adverse affect on your battery life.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">Battery life</span></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <img alt="Vodafone 555 blue review" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Hands-on%20shots/vodafone555blue-11-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Hands-on%20shots/vodafone555blue-11-420-90.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="420" /></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> The good news about the lack of features on the Vodafone 555 Blue is that the battery life is pretty good; mainly because there's nothing in it that's heavy-usage enough to drain the resources.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> It has a standard Lithium-ion battery that's quoted as offering three hours of talktime and 324 hours of standby time, and we lasted a good couple of days without having to charge it.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;"><img alt="Vodafone 555 blue review" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Hands-on%20shots/vodafone555blue-12-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Hands-on%20shots/vodafone555blue-12-420-90.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="420" /></span></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> This may be handy for the target market and was great for us, too – until we cried thinking about all the cool features it could have had. Or how it could have been a smartphone.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">Connectivity</span></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;"><img alt="Vodafone 555 blue review" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Hands-on%20shots/vodafone555blue-6-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Hands-on%20shots/vodafone555blue-6-420-90.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="420" /></span></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Connectivity-wise, as we've already mentioned, there's not much going on. 2G, EDGE and Bluetooth are all on board, but there's not a peep of Wi-Fi, no 3G and no USB port for computer connections. It's painful. When trying to pair the device with a computer using Bluetooth, we failed miserably.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <img alt="Vodafone 555 blue review" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Hands-on%20shots/vodafone555blue-5-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Hands-on%20shots/vodafone555blue-5-420-90.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="420" /></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Maps are easy to explain on the Vodafone 555 Blue: there aren't any. And as for apps, well, what are described as 'apps' are your bog-standard calculator, note editor and so on. They're not about to set anyone alight, and although there's the option of a couple of Java games (including <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="em" mce_style="font-style: italic;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.5;">Sims 3</span>, which is pretty cool for this phone), they're just trials and you'll have to fork out for the full things.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> There are a couple of RSS news feeds, though, which is a plus. However, the feed simply gives you the headline paragraph and then the URL to open the rest in the browser, which then takes an age to open. As a result, there's no news-reading for the Vodafone 555 Blue owner without a signal.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> For anyone whose Gmail contacts differ from their Facebook contacts, there's also Palringo, for instant messaging.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> The calendar is nicely synced with Facebook, automatically adding in any contacts' birthdays, which is good given that they're not actually mentioned in the news feed itself.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Of course, what you're paying for with this phone is essentially one<span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="em" mce_style="font-style: italic;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.5;">giant</span> app that's solely Facebook-oriented. The additional add-ons are pared down so that Facebook is the main focus. It is of course, well integrated, but that doesn't mean it can't make for something a little boring. Unless, of course, you're 13 years old and <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="em" mce_style="font-style: italic;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.5;">live</span> on the site.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <img alt="Vodafone 555 blue review" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Hands-on%20shots/vodafone555blue-10-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Hands-on%20shots/vodafone555blue-10-420-90.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="420" /></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <img alt="Vodafone 555 blue review" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Hands-on%20shots/vodafone555blue-9-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Hands-on%20shots/vodafone555blue-9-420-90.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="420" /></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <img alt="Vodafone 555 blue review" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Hands-on%20shots/vodafone555blue-7-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Hands-on%20shots/vodafone555blue-7-420-90.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="420" /></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <img alt="Vodafone 555 blue review" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Hands-on%20shots/vodafone555blue-2-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Hands-on%20shots/vodafone555blue-2-420-90.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="420" /></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <img alt="Vodafone 555 blue review" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Hands-on%20shots/vodafone555blue-3-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Hands-on%20shots/vodafone555blue-3-420-90.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="420" /></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <img alt="Vodafone 555 blue review" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Hands-on%20shots/vodafone555blue-4-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Hands-on%20shots/vodafone555blue-4-420-90.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="420" /></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <img alt="Vodafone 555 blue review" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Hands-on%20shots/vodafone555blue-5-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Hands-on%20shots/vodafone555blue-5-420-90.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="420" /></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <img alt="Vodafone 555 blue review" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Hands-on%20shots/vodafone555blue-6-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Hands-on%20shots/vodafone555blue-6-420-90.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="420" /></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <img alt="Vodafone 555 blue review" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Hands-on%20shots/vodafone555blue-8-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Hands-on%20shots/vodafone555blue-8-420-90.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="420" /></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <img alt="Vodafone 555 blue review" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Hands-on%20shots/vodafone555blue-1-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Hands-on%20shots/vodafone555blue-1-420-90.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="420" /></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <img alt="Vodafone 555 blue review" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Hands-on%20shots/vodafone555blue-9-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Hands-on%20shots/vodafone555blue-9-420-90.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="420" /></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <img alt="Vodafone 555 blue review" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Hands-on%20shots/vodafone555blue-11-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Hands-on%20shots/vodafone555blue-11-420-90.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="420" /></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <img alt="Vodafone 555 blue review" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Hands-on%20shots/vodafone555blue-12-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Hands-on%20shots/vodafone555blue-12-420-90.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="420" /></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <img alt="Vodafone 555 blue review" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Hands-on%20shots/vodafone555blue-1-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Hands-on%20shots/vodafone555blue-1-420-90.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="420" /></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> So, what do we have here? We have a feature phone. A cheap, cheerful, enjoys-dabbling-in-Facebook-without-commitment phone.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Considering the price range and low-tech market it's aimed at, the core Facebook integration of the Vodafone 555 Blue and ease of use without commitment to contracts are big pluses in its favour.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> It's lightweight and easy on the eye, with quick and simple access to the minimum of features that a low-tech Facebook lover is likely to need.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">We liked</span></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;"><img alt="Vodafone 555 blue" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Hands-on%20shots/vodafone555blue-10-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Hands-on%20shots/vodafone555blue-10-420-90.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="420" /></span></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> It has deep integration and some pretty sweet contacts and messaging features for such an otherwise poorly specced piece of equipment. For young people who want to keep in touch without getting too deep into the tech, or having the commitment of a contract, this will be perfect.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> For them, you imagine, always being just a small step away from their entire Facebook contacts list might be a pretty enticing thing. To be able to snap a quick pic and upload to Facebook on the go can just about be done with this phone.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">We disliked</span></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;"><img alt="Vodafone 555 blue review" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Hands-on%20shots/vodafone555blue-7-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Mobile%20phones/Vodafone/Vodaphone%20555%20Blue/Hands-on%20shots/vodafone555blue-7-420-90.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="420" /></span></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> However, we're talking about a generation who are used to getting what they want and getting it now – and here the slow connection speeds and dire horsepower of the Vodafone 555 Blue are likely to be a turn-off. You can't even get too deep into the Facebook experience itself, because watching videos and viewing photo albums are a total faff.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Those looking for a smartphone with added Facebook integration will probably plump for the HTC ChaCha (the white phone in the picture above) instead.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">Verdict</span></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Perfect for those who want a nice-looking handset and minimal networking capabilities without any contract commitment - plus love to spend as much time as possible on Facebook. For those looking for a more media-based experience, however, you won't find it with the Vodafone 555 Blue.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> In today's smartphone-enlightened times, we're expecting more even for the price. Unless your three favourite things are Facebook, phoning and texting, you'll want more from your handset.</div> </div> </div>

Review: Vodafone 555 Blue

With social network-'addicted' teens and a global Facebook population greater than that of the United States, bringing out an ...

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