Another HD Mobile Phone/Camera

The Ninja has already raved about the looming Panasonic Lumix mobile phone but another Asian firm, Altek, has unveiled an equally impressive device. The Leo is an Android-powered mobile phone partnered with a 14meg image sensor and 3x optical zoom. The styling of the device is also incredible - it looks amazing - and Altek are calling it the world's 'first 3.5G professional camera smartphone'.

With all the innovations in Android this could be an absolutely stormer of a phone, capable of allowing photographers to have a quality snapper in their pocket at all times as well as the best mobile OS! Rumours are it will be launched in Europe in early 2011...roll on the launch date!

Nexus Two? No...Nexus S

Last year Google launched the Nexus One – a mobile phone created in partnership with HTC (long the favoured mobile phone manufacturer of The Ninja). The Nexus One was intended to provide a pure Android experience, offering the finest iteration of the open source software and hardware a user can find. It was also expected to offer a unique retail approach whereby users could buy an unlocked handset directly from Google themselves, avoiding contracts and then pick their network of choice.

This did not turn out to be as radical a concept as they had hoped but the device itself was warmly received and treated with reverence by all who used it. With Android growing rapidly in popularity, it was seen as the premier option and received preferential treatment in terms of updates of the operating system, receiving Android 2.2 (codenamed ‘Froyo’) well ahead of any other devices.

Now it seems that a new edition is on its way – a Nexus Two. It will land in the coming weeks and will feature Android 2.3 (Gingerbread). In a small change, it will be made by Samsung and should help push the operating system further ahead in this highly competitive market which has long be heralded as the future of computing. It will be interesting to see what impact it has…

Digital Economy Act 2010 - Under Review...

Thank goodness that cooler heads have prevailed and the Digital Economy Act will now receive a judicial review.

The Act was rushed through Parliament in the 'wash up' period ahead of the General Election and was intended to shore up our digital operations and help clamp down on activities such as illegal filesharing and thereby ready the nation for a more robust and secure future in this field.

However, the bill was horrendously skewed towards corporate demands and placed the rights of the individual web user right at the back of the queue. Indeed, it came to light that the bill's 'three strikes' policy was written using text provided by the BPI (British Recorded Music Industry) the trade body of the record labels - i.e. those who stood to benefit most from a powerful, industry-focused bill.

Mercifully, the collective efforts of organisations such as the Open Rights Group and isp companies such as Talk Talk and BT have persuaded the courts that a review is necessary. Hopefully a more balanced approach can now be implemented.