The Hello Kitty phone is coming . . . your daughter will want one

Mobile phones branded with the popular children’s character Hello Kitty are due to hit the high street in July, prompting parental fears over the marketing of phones at the youngest in society.

Health fears persist about mobile phone use by children, with an authoritative report in 2005 concluding that 9 to 14-year-olds should make only short, essential calls. The report by Sir William Stewart said that children under 8 should not use mobile phones at all.

Products with Hello Kitty cartoon cat images are aimed at children as young as five. Parenting experts said last night that children would pressurise adults to buy the phone, which can be bought online for $599 (£310), as a fashion accessory.

Sue Palmer, author of Detoxing Childhood, which gives advice to parents on how to steer children through the problems of growing up, said that bringing a Hello Kitty phone on to the market was “very irresponsible”. She said: “A Hello Kitty phone would concern me considerably. The Hello Kitty website is aimed at 6 to 7-year-olds. The products are very pink and very attractive to young girls. What they are doing is looking for a new market and this is the thing I find so offensive. They need a new market and they are exploiting children.”

Two years ago Disney announced plans for a Mickey Mouse mobile phone service aimed at 8 to 14-year-olds, only to scrap the idea, citing an “adverse retail environment”.

The so-called Teddyphone, a phone in the shape of a teddy aimed at 4-year-olds and programmed to only call four numbers, also flopped.

In 2005 Sir William Stewart, then chairman of the Health Protection Agency and the National Radiological Protection Board, recommended that 9 to 14-year-olds should make only short, essential calls, use text messaging as far as possible and should have low-emission models. He said that those who were younger should never use them.

The British company Comment Retail Service, which has struck a deal with Sanrio to become the exclusive licence holder in Britain and Ireland for Hello Kitty phones, said that the phones were not going to be marketed at young children. Caroline Preston, sales director, said: “There’s definitely a fan base that you associate with youngsters and young teenagers.” She said that the phones were not targeted at children and would appeal to women in their twenties and thirties.

“Sanrio has been attempting to broaden their appeal out of the 10 to 12-year-old sector. She [Hello Kitty] has grown up and become more urban. If the market was for 5 to 15-year-olds we wouldn’t have become involved. Hello Kitty has mass market appeal. The price point and functional-ity is aimed at adults.”

The cat already features on clothes in Top Shop and H&M and adorns an estimated 22,000 products globally.

Taiwan’s second-largest airline, Eva Air, has a Hello Kitty branded aircraft, with the exterior decked with the Hello Kitty theme.

source : http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/

Contract Phones - Get Exciting Benefits

A latest mobile phone is appreciated by the people around the world for its premium capabilities and advanced technologies. The ability to perform various tasks with one device makes it a handset worth purchasing. A latest handset is expected to be powered by features like a high quality music player, camera, internet, connectivity features and other multimedia applications. These small and compact gadgets are equipped with innovative options to facilitate our work on the go.

The mobile phones uk offers amazing deals on the latest handsets to suit the pockets of all classes of people. The most preferred mobile phones are contract phones which offer cost-effective tariff options to the users. The contract varies from 12 to18 months. Furthermore, the users are assured of getting lucrative options. Get incentives like low cost tariff plans, free text messages, free talktime and free handsets. The online mobile shops are the best place to get some of the astounding contract deals. The new offers and deals provide the maximum satisfaction to the users. Get your desired handsets at the most affordable prices with the help of incredible deals devised on the handsets. While purchasing a contract deal, the user just has to pay the initial contract amount.

The user can find the most lucrative offers with the contract phones. These phones entitle you to numerous benefits. The first benefit is that you get the latest and most sophisticated mobile phones, sometimes free of cost. Secondly, you can avail the significant savings on your monthly mobile bills. This way the user can get maximum value for his or her hard earned money. Now a days, anyone interested in purchasing these phones can simply login and start exploring the online mobile phone shops. The reasons for the popularity of these phones are many. The user can find unbelievable deals with the latest camera phones, music phones, smart phones, etc.

One needs to compare the various deals offered by the top networks and then make a wise decision. This way, chances of getting a bad deal become less. Comparison of handsets, their features and deals is essential. From the comfort of your home, you can search for attractive discounts, offers and schemes. The online shops also provide the latest handsets at competitive prices. Get lots of benefits like free line rentals, free gifts and accessories, cash backs, etc. So go online and check out the tariff plans provided by network services like Orange, O2, Vodafone, T-mobile and Virgin. Get hold of your favourite gadget by signing up for a contract phones deal.

source : http://ezinearticles.com/

Sony Ericsson Preps Touchscreen iPhone Rivals

Is Sony Ericsson cooking up a world of hurt for Apple or has it just adopted the mantle of King Tease...?

Over the weekend the waning conglomerate released a promo clip in which it showed off its first handset with full facia touchscreen interface and more than a hint of Cupertino styling.

Such was the stir created by the clip - which depicts the model as a sliding multimedia powerhouse of unknown specifications - that it has already been christened the newest member of the XPERIA line (rich considering the original XPERIA has yet to be released and isn't known to be part of a series of devices).

Now I don't mean to be a Monday morning buzz kill, but if I were forced into a bookies at gunpoint (it would take something of significant calibre) I'd put my money on it being marketing guff in a similar vein to the infamous Nokia mock-up which surfaced in August last year. Of course this handset eventually turned into the Nokia Tube which we should be seeing at some point in Q3.

With handsets the calibre of the RIM Thunder, Samsung i900, and nüvifone - not to mention the iPhone Black - all on the way, Sony Ericsson must know it doesn't have the luxury of a similar 12 month delay...

source : http://www.trustedreviews.com/t

First Look: Sony Ericsson K660i

They're good for music and photos, but how do Sony Ericsson phones handle the Web? Our first test run of the K660i shows some promise.
Having already made waves with their music-loving Walkman phones and camera-totting Cybershot range, Sony Ericsson (SE) is now targeting online addicts.

At $399, the K660i is a mid-priced candy-bar handset with equally middle of the road features, except for the fact it offers tantalising download speeds where HSDPA (3.5G) is available.

Pandering further to web wanderers, a row of four keys on the keypad convert to illuminated shortcuts when using the phone horizontally with the web 2.0 friendly NetFront browser fired up. These keys provide quick access to bookmarks, an online search, SE’s own dedicated web portal and a zoom function for navigating larger web pages.

Other onboard web applications include Google Maps, RSS Widgets, plus we threw on a Gmail reader and Opera Mini which is an excellent mini web browser.

The other possible use for a HSDPA handset of course is hooking it up to a notebook as a wireless broadband modem. This requires the usual software drivers installed, and works well, though it’s easier to rack up the data costs this way if you’re not careful.

The display is on par with other handsets in this price range, measuring 2” diagonally with 240 x 320 resolution. While it’s a little small, the images are still crisp even viewing web sites while holding the handset at arms length.
There’s a camera on the front, above the display for video calls, with a two-megapixel camera on the back for better quality shots, though no sign of a flash or auto-focus and only a digital zoom option.

While not a key feature, the K660i is also a capable music player, and there’s an M2 memory slot for up to 4GB of media storage. The speaker offers ample volume, but due to SE’s custom audio jack, only the supplied earbuds fit.

The design and features suggest to us the K660i is aimed at the back row of the school bus, though with its attractive price and high speed data capabilities we expect to see it falling into older hands as well.

source : http://www.pcauthority.com.au/

A quick look at Nokia's Beta Labs

Nokia are engaging the attention of mobile risk takers by introducing a number of new beta applications.

Of particular interest are the Nokia Communication Center, Location Tagger and Music PC Client.

It makes sense to let your users do the bug and feature testing, as once released you can guarantee uproar if the software isn’t quite right.

However Nokia should perhaps have encompassed all their Beta software as Internet Radio Beta is all on its lonesome.

If you are adventurous give Nokia’s Music PC Beta (buggy) client a try as it could be Nokia’s answer to Apple’s iTunes.

source : http://www.portal.itproportal.com/

Hottest mobile phones of the moment

Lining up your next mobile phone can be a bit like speed dating. After a few minutes of staring at the shelf, the array of candidates blurs into one ugly mess. WiFi? Megapixels? Storage capabilities? Visual radio? How about a phone that rings?

Yet we still want them - a lot. Our phones feel part of us, like an extra limb. Was there ever a more convincing challenger to the handbag and shoe for the crown of accessory we’re most likely to spend money on? A new generation of phone freaks is getting nerdy about mobiles in the same way that boys do about trainers and girls do about handbags.

If anyone doubts the cultural sway of the mobile, consider Dior’s decision to launch its first phone - a hyper-designed, sapphire-crystal beauty, yours for a cool £2,300 - just as the luxury market is bracing itself for a downturn. The message is: the mobile phone isn’t going anywhere. Here are our favourites.

source : http://women.timesonline.co.uk/

Mobile phone use linked to behavioural problems in children

A study of more than 13,000 children in Denmark claims to show a link between use of handheld telephones by pregnant women and problems such as hyperactivity in their children.

The risks are increased if the child then uses a mobile themselves before the age of seven, according to the report to be published in the journal Epidemiology.

The study raises renewed questions over the safety of mobile phones, which have in the past been linked with brain cancer.

The scientists behind the research at the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA) and the University of Aarhus in Denmark stressed that the results "should be interpreted with caution" and checked by further studies.

But they added: "If they are real they would have major public health implications."

The programme surveyed 13,159 children born in the late 1990s. Results showed that mothers who did use handsets were 54 per cent more likely to have children with behavioural problems. That figure increased to 80 per cent when the children also later used the phones themselves.

source : http://www.telegraph.co.uk/