In Depth: 50 time-saving Google Docs templates
Google Docs templates make life just that much easier by providing the bare skeleton of a specific document, spreadsheet or presentation – all you have to do is fill in the blank bits with your information.
There are thousands of user-submitted templates to pick from - calendars, presentation designs, fax covers, invitations and business cards are just some of what's available.
With so many templates available it can be a little overwhelming searching for the good ones.
So we've done the searching for you - here are 50 of the best Google Docs templates that are time saving, elegant, easy to use or simply plain genius.
At home
1. Weight training workout
'Lose inches, tone up and get your best body' promises this template. The document shows you what exercises you should be performing during a week – by a fitness expert and Pilates guru!
WORKOUT: Keep your body in top form
2. Weekly spending
Weekly spending is probably the most simple and easy to use weekly expense template there is. Fill it up with your income and expense information and over time, you can track your savings, expenses and income over a weekly basis.
TRACK EXPENSES: Know exactly how your wallet has ended up empty
3. Health tracker
If you are very conscious about your health, the health tracker should suit your needs perfectly. Track your vitamin intake, hydration schedule, sleep, body measurements and more, along with a settings page to fill in your own personal details. The template also offers accompanying graphs as further ways to visualise your health over a period of time. What more can you ask for?
HEALTH CONSCIOUS: Track your health over a period of time
4. Group shared expenses
At University, you will most probably live with a group of friends, and keeping track of who paid for dinner and who owes money to who can lead to confusion and drunken arguments. This neat little shared expenses template solves this problem, also warning the user if there is an error in the input.
SHARED EXPENSES: Who owes who? Now you know
5. Life after college: four-step budget
Getting out of college means living independently, and suddenly having to take care of expenses such as electricity and rent can be a shock. This four-step budget is not only a way to decide where the money is going, but also to figure out if any money can be spent for leisure. All in all, this is a fantastic helping hand to get more organised after college.
LIFE AFTER COLLEGE: A step-by step process in getting financially organised
6. Family budget planner
It feels great when you know exactly where all that money is going. This stunning budget planner offers more than most because it has a category for just about any expense. From 'dry cleaning' to 'emergency funds', you will definitely know where to cut back and where all that money just disappears.
BUDGET PLANNER: Thoroughly plan your money spending
7. Home cost evaluator
This home costs calculating template is not going to calculate the cost of moving home to the exact penny, but it does a very good job at estimating, by giving consideration to mortgage, taxes and any further additional costs such as plumbing. Being a personal evaluator, you will need to enter a lot of figures into the spreadsheet to get the most accurate result.
MOVING HOME: Estimate the cost of moving home with this evaluator
8. Work-out routine
Not only does this work-out template help you plan your exercise schedule throughout the week, it also explains how to perform the more complex routines with instructions along the side. Adding new days is a breeze without any need to worry about complicated formulas, and it can be exported to Excel to view as various graphs.
WORK-OUT ROUTINE: Plan your aerobics and weights with ease
9. Emergency information for a babysitter
From every phone number of the family to the colour of the hair of a child or their allergy treatments – this template of emergency information features every single bit of information a babysitter would need in case of an emergency.
EMERGENCY INFO: Everything your babysitter could possibly need to know
10. Household chores
Handing over chores to the children can help you free up your time as a parent. Use this household chores template to do exactly that, by assigning and knowing exactly which family member is responsible for a particular chore.
HOUSEHOLD CHORES: Keep track of the chores in the house
11. Weight
Been working out lately but the clothes sizes haven't gone down yet? Use Weight to calculate your daily loss (or gain), average calories per day and other interesting figures that are shown in very intuitive graphs. However, you will have to look for the calorie count of every meal you have throughout the day.
KEEP IN SHAPE: Are you decreasing or increasing?
12. Emergency contact information
This emergency contact info template has many uses – at home, work or an event. It might even save your life and you don't have to do much, other than replacing the placeholder text with the actual emergency numbers. The glossy cartoon pictures are sure to catch the attention of a person requiring an emergency service.
EMERGENCY INFO: This can be useful in a variety of places
13. Sample motion chart
This template has many uses. For instance, with the current economic situation, companies would like to know where the largest unemployment rate is. By inputting the raw data, you will be presented with one of the most attractive interactive graphs we have ever seen. However, this template is not for the amateur.
MOTION CHARTS: The graph is very interactive and intuitive
14. Sales invoice
This sales invoice template features everything your company needs to make a formal and professional looking sales invoice. The only bit you have to do is fill in your details.
SALES INVOICE: A professional invoice in a few seconds
15. Project management schedule
Working on a large project can be complex because of the various tasks that are being worked on simultaneously. This template helps keep track of the various aspects of the project, including those that have been completed and which people are responsible for a specific portion of the project.
BETTER MANAGEMENT: All the information in one place
16. Summary statistics for data
Most science and statistics related projects would need important values such as standard deviation and skew. Enter the raw data into this template, and you are presented with a variety of useful values, increasing the efficiency of your whole project.
USEFUL STATISTICS: This template can make your research project easier
17. Business plan
Starting your own business can be a daunting task, and it is a good idea to plan out beforehand what you are setting out to achieve. This business plan template provides headings along with detailed placeholder text, making this part of your business venture much easier. The final result of this template is perfect to propose to potential sponsors of your product.
BUSINESS PLAN: The first page of a helpful and detailed template
18. Project progress template
At one point through your project, your boss will ask for a progress report to make sure everything is on schedule. Like the business plan above, this is a very detailed project progress template with detailed helpful placeholder text under sub-headings that help you summarise your current situation with ease.
PROGRESS REPORT: The introduction to a useful template
19. Convert anything
Convert practically anything with this very easy to use template. Type in the original value, the original type of value, and type of value you want it to be converted into. The genius in this template is you can type just about any value to convert into - yen to Canadian dollars or byte to megabyte. Brilliant!
CONVERT ANYTHING: It works
20. Text + Side Note 4
Making a fancy CV, report, article or concept look professional is a lot easier with this template that has the in-built heading replaced with black box outlines, along with side notes embedded into the document. Check it out and more from the same author.
COOL HEADINGS: Make an amateur look like a professional
21. Business card
Printing business cards is effortless with this business card template. Use the Find/Replace tool to replace all of the placeholder text, and after replacing the logo, you have eight cards in a page, ready to be printed. There are many other sizes (even 24 in a page), if you look around for templates by the same author.
BUSINESS CARDS: Open, insert your details and logo, print and you're done
22. Employee of the mo(u)nth
Frustrated with the fact that it has to be only one guy up on the wall? For a twist, use this card for the chattiest ones instead.
FOR THE CHATTY: Cheer everyone up at work
23. Time sheet with breaks
At first glance, this is an ordinary timesheet which calculates how many hours an employee has spent working, when you input values such as '9:00 AM' and '3:00 PM'. In addition, it calculates the wages of the employee based on the rate per hour. However, it also gives consideration for hours added into sick leave and vacation hours and an option for a different rate per hour for the time spent in vacation or as sick leave.
TRACK WORK HOURS: Know your timings better
24. Contemporary letterhead
There are a lot of letterhead templates to look through in the gallery. However, this letterhead template is probably the most colourful, yet subtle and very contemporary. Perfect if you are starting a new small business.
VERY CONTEMPORARY: An easy way to look professional
25. Test case template
One of the most complex templates you will find in the whole gallery is the test case template designed for Software Quality Assurance people. Describe test environments, and view graphs summarising the test and test coverage. Along with the instructions an example test is included for easier understanding of the template.
ADVANCED TESTING: Share your QA test results easily
26. Comprehensive travel itinerary
It can be so frustrating fishing around for the phone numbers of your hotel after you have landed at your destination. This travel itinerary template is handy to get all the necessary information, from flight times to the hotel name at your destination. Perfect to carry in your pocket while travelling.
TRAVEL ITENARY: All your travel details in one place
27. Road trip template
Heading out on a road trip can often be a cheap holiday, but there might be expenses you have not foreseen. This template covers most of the major expenses, but the highlight of this template is the integration of Google Maps directly into the spreadsheet. Type the necessary address into the appropriate cell and the distance is calculated in the adjacent cell, along with a map. A clever touch is the fuel cost that changes according to the distance calculated by Google Maps.
ROAD TRIP: Plan it all in advance
28. Gas mileage log
Calculate your fuel efficiency by entering your milometer readings into the gas mileage log, along with the amount of fuel added at each trip to the petrol station. The template not only determines the cost per mile, but also tracks your mileage over a period of time using a graph.
KEEP TRACK: Know your car better
29. Basketball tournament
This template, created by Google, is a very complex 'bracket' tournament system that can be used for various sports tournaments. Finding out the total points for a team, or the leader of Bracket 1 is a pinch with this brilliant template.
PLAY TIME: Keep it organised
30. A wedding checklist
Your wedding is probably one of the most important times of your life and you would not want to make a blunder or mistake on this auspicious day. The wedding checklist divides all the necessary items into categories, and it is a good idea to go through the list when planning for a wedding.
NO BLUNDERS: Make sure you haven't forgotten anything
31. Packlist and trip preparation
Before going for a holiday, it is a good idea to clear leftovers from a fridge and clear out the trash. This packing list template is filled with a neat list of everything you need to remember before heading out for the holiday, along with essential items that need to be packed. When all of this info is presented neatly in different categories, it's hard to not find this template useful.
PRE-HOLIDAY: No unexpected worries after the holidays
32. Holiday gift shopping list
Christmas and other festivals are landmark events of the year and forgetting to give a gift to a friend or relative can land you in trouble. Make sure that doesn't happen with this colourful gift shopping table.
GIFT LIST: Forget about forgetting to give a gift
33. Party planner
For calculating the cost of a party, while keeping track of visitors and tracking items brought in by visitors that contribute to the party, try this party planning template.
PARTY PLANNER: Plan parties like you never have before
34. Personalised photo graduation invitation and announcement
Invite friends and family to your graduation event by using this invite template. Simply drop in a new photo and change the text to your needs.
GRADUATION CARD: A quick and easy way to invite people to your graduation
35. Checkbook register
Checkbook register is a simple template that you can use to keep track of cheques written from and paid into your account.
EASY REGISTERING: A simple cheque payment tracker
36. Band agreement contract
If you're setting up a band and you want a basic contract so each member of the band understands how they will be paid and what their responsibilities are then this band agreement contract should do the trick.
CONTRACT: Keep your band in order
37. Cost-benefit analysis for a car
Buying a new car is an important aspect of one's life. This template gives a helping hand in deciding which car gives the more bang for your buck – pop in the price you expect to pay along with a selection of mpg figures and you can compare annual fuel costs.
A BETTER CHOICE: Get a car that won't break the bank
38. Stock profit calculator
A basic stock profit calculator that takes all important values into account. It doesn't have any great unique features, but does the job very well.
MORE PROFIT: Build up your investment profits
39. Financial crossover point
Many people invest in shares, and if your investment returns a healthy profit per year and an average annual raise over the years, this template will let you know when your investments give the same money annually as your work.
A BETTER INVESTMENT: Know if those investments could be worth more than you think
40. Web doc 2.0
A web doc is basically a document that has been optimised to act as a web page. This template provides all the background work, allowing you to focus on the content of the website instead. Beware, however, because the webpage is very basic - you shouldn't expect any fancy JavaScript, and you have no control over the domain.
WEB DOCUMENT: A quick and simple website – but you would want to tinyurl it
41. Personal timeline
Record your entire life into a spreadsheet! This personal timeline is a fun yet time-consuming way to reflect upon your life, and think about your failures and achievements in life.
PERSONAL TIMELINE: See your life summarised into a spreadsheet
42. My dear diary
This template is a page from someone else's diary except it's you who fills in the words and adds a picture. My dear diary is a tidy, well-organised way to record interesting events of the day.
MY DEAR DIARY: Type out interesting stuff during the day
43. Benefits of saving early
The title says it all.
A BETTER FUTURE: When should you start saving?
44. 2009 monthly calendar
A calendar with plenty of writing space per day. Perfect to use in an office environment.
CALENDAR: Fill it in, print it out, pin it up
45. To-do list
This to-do list is basic but that's why it's brilliant. Not only is it easy to use, but like any document on Google Docs, you can access it from work and home.
TO DO LIST: A simple template to keep you organised
46. Om: optimise me
Think of this template as an advanced version of the previous to-do list with sub-tasks, categories and hyperlinks built into the document. Optimise me can also be viewed offline on any device with an internet browser and is designed to increase productivity.
OPTIMIZE ME: A more complex to-do list
47. Graduate school to-do list & timeline
Getting into the best college for your needs is a good start into a good future. This template helps you set out your goals and then choose your colleges and track applications.
GRADUATE: Researching colleges is a lot easier with this template
48. Bible progress
If you are a regular Bible reader, or simply interested to know how much you have read, use this Bible progress template and highlight the chapters you have read.
READ ON: Find out how much of the Bible is still unread
49. Tree map gadget
There are very few complex and sophisticated templates in the Gallery, and the Tree map is one of them. It takes organisation and visualisation of data to a higher level you're unlikely to see in other templates. At first glance, all you see is a simple table. However, the flash gadget is the key element that presents the data in a sort of map which has varying sizes of squares within it to make the larger aspects stand out more than the smaller aspects. (If you are into politics, this template should be a definite download.)
SOPHISTICATED MAP: The tree map is organised very visually
50. Plain typewriter
Everyone seems to have forgotten how documents used to be typed up in the old days. Well, this typewriter template is a reminder of how it used to look.
TYPEWRITER: Back to the old skool
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Opinion: The Ten Commandments of social networking
Birds do it, bees do it, even educated fleas do it. Well, perhaps not, but everybody else is busily cataloguing their entire lives on Twitter, Facebook and various other social networks.
So how do you ensure your status updates don't lead to unemployment, homelessness and drinking Special Brew under a bridge?
How can you ensure your tweets aren't a turn-off?
The answer is simple: follow the path of righteousness and stick to our Ten Commandments.
1. Thou shalt not overshare
Some things are best kept between you and your partner, doctor or psychiatrist. For example, if your update contains the words "pus", "warts" or "prolapse", you probably shouldn't post it.
2. Thou shalt not forget who's following you
It's easy to add lots of friends or to attract lots of followers, but it's equally easy to forget that your boss, your mum, your partner or your angry, violent ex is reading the stuff you post online. The golden rule of sharing is never post something you wouldn't want your mum, your employer, a judge or a potential romantic partner to see.
3. Thou shalt not post about other people
It's very exciting to know something that lots of other people don't, but if your friend or relative has a new job, has fallen pregnant, has broken up with their long term partner or is going in for gender reassignment surgery - which, let's face it, means they've had a hell of a week - it's not your job to tell the entire planet.
Similarly, if you're angry with a certain person who was supposed to do a certain thing but of course they didn't and you're so angry about it I mean it's not as if it's that hard is it and you've done your share and it's not fair and… maybe you should just tell them directly instead of making 200 people think they're back in primary school.
4. Thou shalt not spam
Spam is, of course, evil - and while it's not pushing herbal Viagra, inviting 25 pals to play a dumb quiz is still spam. So is polluting the Internet with constant updates on whatever game / magic space bear creator / complete and utter waste of time you're currently using, or posting promo codes for unbeatable special offers.
5. Thou shalt not spoil things for everyone
The box at the top of Facebook says "What's on your mind?" and the one on Twitter, "What are you doing?" Neither says "please tell the entire Internet the winner of the X Factor / the twist at the end of the latest blockbuster / the ending of District 9".
6. Thou shalt not live for today
There's an entire website, Lamebook - some of which isn't safe for work - detailing the stuff people post on Facebook that they're likely to regret in the not too distant future. We particularly like the post by the girl with the bruised scrotum.
7. Thou shalt not ignore the privacy settings
Social networks want you to share everything by default. Of course they do: they want the traffic. Some settings are more sinister than others, so for example Facebook Ads may use your profile picture to flog stuff to your friends. If you don't go digging for these settings you're probably sharing more than you'd like.
8. Thou shalt not post first and think later
If you get drunk and buy a helicopter on eBay you'll regret it in the morning. The same applies to drunken posts, photos of you making a fool of yourself or anything else that seems a good idea in the heat of the moment. The Internet doesn't have a delete button, and even if you remove the photos or posts later you can't be sure that someone hasn't already stored them in their Big Blackmail Folder.
9. Thou shalt not post nonsense
Months or even years of goodwill can be undone with a single stupid post. Angry political rants, controversial viewpoints and tinfoil hat conspiracy woo is best left to blogs.
10. Thou shalt not be boring
"I'm hungry!" "I'm making dinner!" "Dinner is nearly ready!" "I'm eating dinner!" "I enjoyed my dinner!" "Why is nobody following me any more?" Just because you can post every single thing you do - or that your kids do - doesn't mean you should. Stick to the edited highlights and think of status updates and tweets as your Greatest Hits.
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Sony BMG in office piracy raid
Sony has got into a spot of bother in Mexico after one of its best-selling artists ordered a raid on the company's offices over a batch of apparently unauthorised CDs.
The album in question was created by Sony BMG after the artist's – Latin Grammy award winner Alejandro Fernأ،ndez – contract had run out with the company.
The compilation album was made with previously unreleased material, which Fernأ،ndez – who is now signed with Universal – claims is not owned by Sony BMG.
Sony assumed rights
"Sony assumed that they could take tracks that weren't part of previous albums and release them as an eighth album, as if it were new material, over which they had rights," explained Jose Luis Caballero, Fernأ،ndez's attorney, to Billboard.
"It's perfectly clear that the company's contract is limited to seven albums."
Sony BMG believes it has done nothing wrong, claiming the CDs were "totally authorised".
This didn't stop the raid, however, which saw Mexican police seize 6,397 Fernأ،ndez CDs, the masters, and art of the artist.
Sony hopes that the situation will be sorted out immintently, saying in a statement: "We trust that the Mexican courts will confirm our rights as soon as possible."
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Review: Creaceed Vocalia
Despite being an altogether sleeker package, there's not that much the iPhone 3GS has that owners of earlier models don't get with a firmware upgrade. One thing that is 3GS-only is Voice Control, the system for interacting with your iPhone with voice commands. With Vocalia, however, you can add this feature – in theory – to any iPhone or, so long as you add an external mic, the second-generation iPod touch.
It has three modes, Contacts, iPod and Bookmarks, along with a big HAL-like eye that blinks as you speak into the mic. Now, speech recognition is difficult, but Vocalia makes a sterling effort at getting it right.
Speak clearly with the iPhone a couple of inches from your mouth, and the first result will often be correct, even if some of the other matches seem weirdly unrelated. (With contacts, you can type your own shortcuts – 'the big bad boss', say – which usually result in better matches, though there's no true phoneme editing.)
So the tech works reasonably well, but there are problems. The Bookmarks mode requires you – thanks to limitations of the SDK – to manually export then upload your web bookmarks; there's no tie-in with Safari.
Worse, part of what makes Voice Control useful is that it's launched with a hardware button, making it safe to use for, say, voice dialling while driving. You need to look at the screen to use Vocalia, and thanks to another Apple limitation, even when you've found the number to dial, you have to manually tap a button on-screen.
We're impressed with the technology in Vocalia, but it's hard to recommend it when the benefits of Voice Control are, for most, negated by the fact that you have to interact with the screen.
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Review: Macally Hi-Speed Aluminiun 3.5" HDD enclosure
The Macally Hi-Speed might not be the cheapest 3.5-inch SATA drive enclosure, but it is pretty, looking like a mini Mac Pro.
Fitting a SATA drive is easy, but requires some disassembly and isn't ideal for regular drive swapping. It's got an excellent range of connectivity options, offering USB, eSATA and FireWire 400.
You can daisy-chain FireWire peripherals, so this option is available even if you don't have spare ports.
Also included is a backup app, but bizarrely for a device that looks like a Mac, it's PC-only.
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10 reasons to buy Sony's NW Series notebook
It's a rare pleasure to come across an affordable Sony Vaio, but the NW series is just that.
It features the same X-black LCD screen tech used on the top-of-the-range Z Series and it still looks decidedly fetching.
There's a Web button for getting you online in seconds from standstill, and a Screen Off button that, turns the display off, saving battery when you're just playing music. You also get a Blu-ray player and HDMI output for your money.
Here's 10 more reasons why you are going to want one...
1. Instant internet
The Web button boots up the laptop in seconds, letting you browse the web without needing to fully open Windows.
2. Blu movies
A Blu-ray drive comes built in. You can hook it to your TV via an HDMI output.
3. Video link
The built-in Motion Eye webcam is perfect for making video calls.
4. Designer graphics
The ATI Mobility Radeon HD4570 graphics card copes with hi-def video and moderately detailed 3D gaming.
5. Energy saver
The Display Off button saves energy and extends battery life.
6. Media worker
Bundled software includes Picture Motion Browser, for organising photos, Vaio Movie Story, for editing video, and Vaio Music Box, which creates playlists.
7. Free upgrade
It runs Windows Vista, but you're eligible for a free upgrade to Windows 7 when it goes on sale in October.
8. Get connected
You score three USB ports, memory card slots, VGA out and Wi-Fi.
9. Super soft
The fabric-like exterior is soft to the touch and makes it easier to grip.
10. Silver screen
This fine, 15.5-inch, 16:9 screen features Sony's X-black LCD technology.
Price: آ£849
Via T3.com
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HD DVD returns from the grave this Halloween
The decaying corpse of HD DVD is getting ready to claw its way out of the grave following the news that independent label Anthem Films will be bringing filmmaker Gary Ugarek's lo-fi zombie shocker Deadlands 2: Trapped to the defunct format.
Scheduled for release on 27 October, just in time for Halloween, the special HD DVD release of Deadlands 2: Trapped will be limited to a run of just 500 copies, each including a numbered certificate of authenticity. Speaking to the website High-Def Digest, Ugarek claims that his reason for championing a HD DVD release of his film came from his continuing love of the format and conversations with other like-minded collectors.
'Over the last 18 months, since HD DVD's demise, I and a small group of HD DVD enthusiasts have scoured every part of the planet trying to obtain the leftover releases of HD DVD material,' says the filmmaker. 'We were early adopters of the format and still feel to this day it shouldn't have been left to die off. So I set out to see if these HD DVD owners would be interested in a brand-new release. I presented all the information about the film, gave them access and links to trailers, the press kit and the technical aspects… and you know what? They loved the idea. The feedback was unbelievable. Within 36 hours of putting the question out there, I received over 200+ emails, within 96 hours 380+ requests from HD DVD fans asking me to make this happen... I presented the idea to Anthem Pictures, the distributor, and they liked it, and immediately jumped behind it'.
Full specifications for the HD DVD release of Deadlands 2: Trapped still haven't been confirmed, but early reports indicate both the Unrated and Original Work Print versions of the film, director's commentaries for both cuts, a featurette on indie filmmaking from the director's POV and a featurette on the theatre cineplex location. The disc can be ordered from here, priced around $30 plus shipping.
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Review: Radiopaq Sound Jacket
Radiopaq says its Sound Jacket "acts like a graphic equaliser that automatically adjusts itself continuously to best suit the music that is being played". In other words, it means it can restore the detail and depth that's often lost during compression.
Snugly housing your nano 4G without obscuring its controls or screen, it connects through your iPod's dock connector and offers a port in its base so you can charge and sync without removing it. Plug the earbuds into the Sound Jacket and they offer controls to adjust the volume and the level of influence. It's powered through the iPod, so no batteries are required.
Sound Jacket certainly does an excellent job in revitalising harshly encoded MP3s. It makes for a warmer, richer and more complete sound, especially regarding bass reproduction, which is much more to the fore when using the device (some might find it a little too bass-saturated). But this increase in sound quality comes at a price.
The thin iPod nano is considerably bulkier when it's slotted into the Sound Jacket, which is a significant drawback considering its small form factor is one of the nano's main selling points.
You can certainly kiss goodbye to third-party peripherals such as carry cases, though it still fits most speaker sets because there's a dock adaptor on the bottom of the Radiopaq.
As you might expect, the Sound Jacket does a lot less for music that's encoded at a higher bit-rate setting. So, surely encoding music at a higher rate to start with makes more sense than spending آ£70 on a micro amp that bulks up your nano?
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Opera 10 tops 10 million downloads
Opera 10 was downloaded 10 million times in the first week of its release, breaking the company's download record for the popular browser.
The latest browser from Opera has been well received, bringing with it the Opera Turbo technology to make websites load faster when the connection is not great.
10 million downloads in the first week may not be in the league of Mozilla's Firefox browser, which has a huge market share, but CEO Jon von Tetzchner is delighted with the growth.
Consistent growth
"While we have consistently grown in our download rates with each consecutive launch, Opera 10 has far exceeded any previous record we had," said von Tetzchner.
"To us, this means that Opera 10 delivers a more compelling reason to choose Opera, and that reason is Opera Turbo.
"The concept of turbo browsing was the result of our One web initiative, as our goal is to ensure that Web browsing is fast, efficient and universal, anytime, anywhere."
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Orange and T-Mobile announce plans to merge
Orange and T-Mobile in the UK are set to merge, creating the country's largest mobile network.
As we reported yesterday, the parent companies Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom were tipped to be in talks, and have now entered a period of exclusive negotiations, with a deal expected to be complete by the end of October.
The new plan will see between آ£600 million and آ£800 million pumped into the joint venture between 2010 and 2014 for transitional costs, but it's expected the new 50:50 partnership will realise savings on capital expenditure for the two networks of آ£620 million, with آ£100 million a year thereafter.
The merger will create the UK's largest mobile network, with a 37 per cent subscriber base, dwarfing O2's 27 per cent, Vodafone's 25 per cent, and making 3's share of eight per cent look very small indeed.
Big value
The new partnership will be worth around آ£3.5 billion, with both parent companies contributing their UK networks to the deal. Deutsche Telekom will give T-Mobile debt free, whereas Orange will come with آ£1.25 billion of debt, in order to equalise the value of the networks for the deal.
For the consumer, this likely means not only more competitive pricing as the new network will be able to compete heavily with O2 and Vodafone, but a much improved broadband offering, with Orange's well-established fixed line offering and T-Mobile a market leader in the mobile version.
It is anticipated 90 per cent of the free cash flow will be split between the two shareholders, and Deutsche Telekom can now write down less of the value of T-Mobile UK after getting more from the network than if it was just sold.
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Lack of Kindle hurting UK eBook market
The failure of companies like Amazon to release eBook readers in the UK could be inhibiting the market, according to the latest research from YouGov.
An in-depth study of owners and potential buyers of eBook readers suggests that the presence of only one major manufacturer in the British eReader market – namely Sony – seems to be affecting the UK industry.
A weighty 65 per cent of potential eBook reader buyers were aware of Sony, but with Amazon (42 per cent) and Apple (35 per cent) the other two main manufacturers that these people were aware of, consumers may perceive that competition is scarce.
Of course, Apple has not produced an eBook, the Amazon Kindle is not yet out in the UK, and awareness of the likes of Elonex/Borders' eBook and BeBook was low.
Tech vanguard
"Whereas the first wave of purchasers are early technology adopters, what YouGov characterises as the "Tech Vanguard", the second wave of purchasers, those likely to purchase in the run up to Christmas, are more likely to be younger, female and less tech savvy than current owners", said Caroline Gaskin, Consulting Director at YouGov.
Sony has recently announced another two of its Reader devices for the UK, although it is not releasing a third which brings 3G connectivity, explaining to TechRadar that the British eBook market was 'too immature'.
"The lack of products from Amazon and Apple may inhibit this market in the short term," continues Gaskin.
"Prospective Apple purchasers are focused on style with prospective Amazon purchasers more interested in the range of e-books available.
"There is a misplaced association in future purchasers' minds between the arrival of the Kindle and the delivery of the full Amazon catalogue to the hardware.
"Sony prospects are focused on the reputation of the company and the style of their products."
The research programme was called The E-Reader Experience, a quarterly multi-client research programme launched by the Technology and Telecoms Consulting division at YouGov, and the survey sample was 318 owners of electronic readers and 784 'intenders'.
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Review: Intel Core i5 750
Our first taste of Intel's new mainstream 'Lynnfield' CPU comes in the form of the entry-level Core i5 750 processor.
Officially, it's a 2.66GHz quad-core processor with 8MB of L3 cache memory and drops into the new LGA 1,156 socket. As for pricing, expect to pay around آ£150 from your favourite etailer.
For the most part, its internal workings are identical to existing Core i7 processors which have been on sale since late last year. It's built using the same 45nm silicon production process and benefits from Intel's newest processor architecture, known as Nehalem.
Changes from Core i7
But getting the price down means something had to give. Gone is the original Core i7's triple-channel memory controller, replaced by a simpler dual-channel item.
The mega-bandwidth QPI external interconnect has also been given the chop, replaced by the much slower and more humdrum DMI interface. All of which means there's much less bandwidth available into and out of the chip.
In order to simplify the overall platform, Intel has also shunted the PCI Express controller onto the Lynnfield processor die itself. Consequently, the new P55 supporting motherboard chipset is essentially a single-chip solution. Again, that a move that should help bring the overall cost of the platform down.
Of course, as a Core i5 rather than Core i7-branded chip, this processor lacks HyperThreading technology.
However, offsetting the superficially dumbed down feature set is a more aggressive implementation of Intel's auto-overclocking feature known as Turbo Boost.
On the original Core i7 processor, it increased operating frequencies by a maximum of 266MHz. For the new Lynnfield processors, a boost of up to 666MHz is possible, depending on thermal conditions.
That's how the Core i5 750 stacks up on paper. But does it deliver the goods on your desktop? The answer is that is depends on the software you choose to run. In heavily multi-threaded applications such as video encoding, the lack of HyperThreading hurts performance by as much as 20 per cent.
That said, this chip is still faster than anything AMD, Intel's main rival in the PC processor market, can produce. It's also significantly quicker than Intel's old Core 2 Quad CPU. Indeed, the picture gets even better when you factor in single-threaded performance and overclocking.
Few PC games are genuinely multi-threaded and for that reason the Core i5 750 gets much closer to its HyperThreaded Core i7 brethren when things get messy in your favourite online frag fest.
Overclocking Intel Core i5
Even better, this chip is an absolute monster overclocker. Using a simple air cooler and standard voltages, our review sample will run at 4.33GHz. At that clockspeed, the lack of HyperThreading becomes rather academic.
All of which means there's just one snag preventing Intel's new mainstream mean machine from being an instant winner: price. Not the price of the chip itself. آ£150 for this much performance is great value.
But given the simplicity of the new P55 motherboard chipset, it's perplexing to find that the cheapest Core i5-compatible motherboards currently cost nearly آ£100. That figure needs to come down to much nearer آ£50 before Core i5 adds up as an overall PC platform.
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Review: Intel Core i7 870
It's day zero for Intel's new mid-range processor, the chip codenamed Lynnfield. Available in both Core i5 and Core i7 trim, it's the latter we test here, specifically the top spec Core i7 870 model.
The 870 is rated at 2.93GHz as standard, though Intel says with Turbo Boost enabled it can reach speeds up to 3.6GHz.
In our testing, Turbo Boost never achieved more than 3.2GHz. But before we get to the performance nitty gritty, allow us to recap the specs of this new Core i7 beast.
Despite the carry-over Core i7 branding, this is a genuinely new processor. It even requires a new socket, known as LGA1,156, and a new motherboard chipset, the P55. At the same time, it sports fundamentally the same 45nm processor architecture as the existing "Bloomfield" Core i7 processor, including monolithic quad-core layout, an integrated DDR3 memory controller and 8MB of L3 cache memory.
All of which may have you wondering why Intel is even bothering with the new Lynnfield chip. Why not stick with the Bloomfield Core i7 with its LGA1,366 socket and avoid confusing poor old punters with two mutually incompatible Core i7 chips?
It all comes down to cost. The original Core i7 processor, launched late last year, is actually a server and work station chip in disguise.
With a triple-channel memory controller and super-fast QPI interface, it's built for bandwidth and with server and workstation systems in mind, not desktops. That makes it an unnecessarily complex and therefore excessively expensive processor for normal PCs.
For Lynnfield, therefore, Intel has replaced the triple-channel memory controller with a dual-channel item and dumped QPI in favour of the simpler but slower DMI interface. Intel's reasoning is that this shouldn't unduly impact on performance because a single-socket desktop chip is less bandwidth hungry than its multi-socket server and workstation cousins.
It's a nice theory, but somewhat undermined by the monster آ£400 price tag attached to this particular Lynnfield chip. But more on that in a moment.
The other big difference with Lynnfield is the addition of an on-die PCI Express controller. That's the high-speed interface used for peripherals such as graphics cards. The immediate effect is that motherboard chipsets supporting Lynnfield no longer require a northbridge chip. That should make for simpler and cheaper motherboards.
On the downside, it puts an absolute limit on the number of PCI Express lanes. With just 16 lanes, Lynnfield is limited to a maximum of two graphics cards. In practice hardly anyone uses more than one card, much less more than two. Strictly speaking, however, it's a limitation for really high end rigs.
Performance testing
But enough digital double talk, what you really want to know is just how quick this new mainstream monster really is.
The answer is it's very, very quick. In fact, the loss of a little bandwidth has done absolutely nothing to slow it down. On the contrary, thanks to a more aggressive implementation of Intel's Turbo Boost technology, it's every bit as quick as its equivalently-priced "Bloomfield" Core i7 sibling, the 950.
It also helps that Core i7 variants of Lynnfield boast HyperThreading technology, unlike the cheaper Core i5 variant. Clock for clock, HyperThreading delivers a performance boost of approximately 20 per cent in heavily multi-threaded applications such as video encoding and media editing. It's worth bearing in mind however, that HyperThreading is typically of little if any benefit in games.
But best of all is the chip's overclocking prowess. Courtesy of nothing more exotic than a air cooler and using standard operating voltages, our review sample is currently humming a 4.33GHz tune. At that speed it's utterly untouchable.
Whether it's coding video at astonishing frame rates or rendering multiple HD movies at the same time, there's little this chip can't handle. Even Intel's uber-expensive $1,000 Core i7 975 Extreme Edition does no more than match it when overclocked.
Verdict
An impressive performance, no doubt. But here's the problem. Intel will also sell you the new Core i7 860. It's a 2.8GHz CPU and offers quite literally 95 per cent of the performance for half the price. It's a much, much more sensible starting point for a high performance PC.
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Intel unleashes new Core i5 and Core i7 chips
With four cores, eight threads and monumental memory bandwidth, Intel's Core i7 processor is hugely powerful. But it comes at quite a price. In fact, thanks to a complex architecture designed mainly for workstation and server systems, it's arguably overkill for desktop PCs.
What we'd really like, therefore, is a rejigged version of Core i7 with all that juicy multi-threaded performance but the superfluous server trimmings discarded. As luck would have it, Intel is launching just such a chip today.
That's the good news. The bad news is that we're not quite sure what to call it. Internally at Intel, it's codenamed Lynnfield. Confusingly, however, versions of the new chip will be sold as both Core i5 and Core i7 processors.
The defining difference between the two is the presence of HyperThreading. Core i7 chips get it and can therefore simultaneously crunch two software threads per core and eight in total. Core i5 CPUs don't and thus are restricted to four threads.
Making matters even more baffling for the average PC-buying punter, this new chip also gets a new 1,156-pin processor socket. The net result of which is that Intel is now selling two entirely different and mutually incompatible Core i7 processors.
First, there's the existing Core i7 900 series and its LGA 1,366 socket. Joining it is the new Core i7 800 series along with the Core i5 700 series, both of which require the new LGA 1,156 socket.
As a branding exercise, Lynnfield is frankly a bit of a mess. But we might just forgive Intel if the chip delivers on its promise of premium performance at a more palatable price. To find out if Intel has pulled it off, hop on over to our reviews of the Core i5 750 and Core i7 870 chips.
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Monopoly Google maps mashup game close
A multinational game of Monopoly will be launched on Wednesday when Hasbro and Google Maps collide to bring Monopoly City Streets to the world.
The Monopoly City Streets game, which promises 'a world of property empire building on an unimaginable scale' launches on 9 September.
So what is it? "A live worldwide game of MONOPOLY using Google Maps as the game board,' says the game's official site.
Goal
"The goal is simple. Play to beat your friends and the world to become the richest property magnate in existence.
"Own any street in the world. Build humble houses, crazy castles and stupendous skyscrapers to collect rent.
"Use MONOPOLY Chance Cards to sabotage your mates by building Hazards on their streets."
There is also a blog running with a little more detail, and the Guardian has a more detailed view.
Bagsy the top hat.
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IFA 2009: Hands on: MSI X600 review
We grabbed a touch and try of the new MSI X600 ultra-slim notebook on the IFA show floor. This new lappy joins the older X-Slim models, the X320 and X340.
The MSI X600 runs Intel's latest low voltage platform (the GS45 chipset) and a Core 2 Duo chip alongside a pretty impressive spec – 500GB of storage, 4GB of memory and it boasts ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4330 3D graphics.
The notebook, which has a 15.6-inch screen, is light for its size at 2.1kg. It's also extremely thin even though it has a DVD drive – just 9mm at its thinnest point. It's not cheap, however – the top spec version has a price point of آ£800, while the slower, 320GB version is a more respectable آ£600.
As is the norm, the screen is in the 16:9 widescreen format. Res? WUXGA (1,680x1,050).
The keyboard and trackpad were perfectly usable - rather like Samsung's X-Series also announced at IFA - these thin and lights really don't skip on usability even if you are paying a premium for the notebook itself.
MSI X600 is smart and boasts a more complete set of features than a netbook. You also get the usual notebook refinements such as VGA and HDMI ports, card reader and web cam. And yep, that's eSATA, too.
The notebook will be available in both black and 'sterling silver'. Both versions run Windows Vista Home Premium and will ship in the coming days. Expect the X600 to have Windows 7 on launch, though. There's also a two-year warranty to boot.
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Review: LG GD910 Watch Phone
LG has finally launched the GD910 Watch Phone to the UK public, for the far-less-than expected price of آ£500.
The question we want to answer in our LG watch phone review is as it's packed with a touchscreen, Bluetooth and even a camera, is it still just a gimmick or the start of a real life Dick Tracy era?
The phone/watch (we'll go with phone) is a sleek number, given the amount of technology packed under the hood.
It features a leather-like strap, which adjusts through a simple 'tug to fit' system, which loosens fairly regularly, so you'll need to keep tightening it up.
The SIM slot is located with the battery at the back of the phone, removed with a fair amount of force using a coin. The phone will still work without a SIM card, but unless you're desperate to use it as a music player on the wrist, it's a little redundant.
The unit itself is a sleek design, and the touchscreen is much better than others on the market (but then, a 1.4-inch touchscreen must be easier to work with than a huge 3-inch plus effort).
The three buttons on the side are a little fiddly to operate, with arm hair often pinched when using them. Similarly, when using it on your right arm, the screen is also obscured by the hand trying to work the phone.
LG has been clever in the design of the GD910 Watch Phone though, with the call button opening up a number of menus, and the hang up button taking you back to the top screen, with the middle button simply navigating back and forth.
It feels very light on the wrist, with the chunkiness far less than we were expecting. It's no stretch of the imagination to see this being used as a 'normal' watch.
CLAMPED: The charger holder sits snugly on the side of the LG Watch Phone
The charger is a novel design, with a clamp holding the phone to a metal plate, which then connects to a USB charger for computer compatibility as well. It took a couple of goes to get this snugly fitting, but when we did we had to admit it was pretty cool.
Let's be clear here, the LG GD910 Watch Phone doesn't actually do a lot beyond calling, texting and playing the odd bit of music... but then again, would you want it to?
To that end, the GD910 has a basic interface, but given the limited poke-ability on the 1.4-inch screen, you can understand why.
The main interface is divided up into six categories - Time, Contacts and Messaging (and Settings), Alerts, Memo and Calendar, and a direct link to Voice/Video calling.
The touchscreen, as said above, is much improved over LG's 'proper' touchscreen efforts, and allows you to navigate around the phone easily with swipes left and right.
On some occasions, such as trying to slip past the Voice/Video call section, more often than not we inadvertently hit the options to open up the dialler, which is a little annoying.
Elements like the clocks and calendar also have a vertical option as well, so you can scroll up and down to choose new options, such as a range of clocks to choose from, memos or a shortcut to the music player.
ALL THE CLOCKS: There are a multitude of choices for your clockface
Voice calling is also activated by long pressing the back key in clock mode, and gives you a choice of options to say. For instance, saying "call Chantal" will lead to the phone asking if that's what you want to do (more often than not, it recognises the name well) and then calling after you say yes.
There are more obscure options in there, such as asking what time it is, which we can only assume is useful when you only have a Bluetooth headset on. However, simply looking at your wrist makes a lot more sense.
Hitting the correct options and swiping left and right is very easy, and we're impressed with the overall responsiveness of the LG GD910 Watch Phone.
Let's make something clear - make sure you use a Bluetooth headset when calling on the LG GD910 Watch Phone. It's very easy to sync nearly every option on the market (we used Jabra's new HALO headphones with built-in microphone, which give stereo sound and dual microphones) and they just make much more sense than talking to your wrist.
We tried the latter option when out and about, but a) people can hear your speakerphone conversations, b) there aren't a lot of places where you won't annoy everyone and c) you look like a complete fool.
Video calling is a little more acceptable, but simply the angle of holding the phone pointed towards your face is a little much. It's much easier to take it off your wrist when video calling, which isn't too bad thanks to the VGA camera on board (although we're not convinced video calling will ever be much use anyway).
Finding the right contact to use is actually a lot more similar to a normal phone than you'd expect. You can browse the last called menu by hitting the Call button or head through the contacts list. You can both scroll and name search through the latter, although we wouldn't recommend scrolling through using the touchscreen, as this takes a very long time.
The contacts list gives users the option to call using a small icon next to each name, or hitting the name opens up the option to video or voice call, or send a message.
Users can also set up groups to send mass emails to friends, which makes a lot of sense when you consider how much harder it is to interact with the phone repetitively.
ON A CALL: The screen during a phone call on the GD910
Considering how small the unit is, we were impressed with the coverage on the LG GD910 Watch Phone, with 3G holding on well no matter where we were.
And we have to love the convenience of having a vibrating alert on your wrist for a call or a text - it makes life so much easier to know you're never going to miss a call thanks to such a feature.
We were actually quite surprised at how easy it is to message on the LG GD910 Watch Phone, with the touchscreen's virtual keypad working quite nicely. It's the standard 12-key layout, with either a T9 predictive text option or the normal multi-tap available.
Given that screen space is at a premium, the tricks LG has implemented to allow easier texting on the GD910 Watch Phone are impressive. Choosing a new predictive text word is enabled by a drop-down menu next to the message, and other options, such as capitalisations and symbol mode, can be accessed by another menu at the bottom of the screen.
One slight irritation stems from the fact that the messaging function doesn't start with a capital, so the pernickety user will have to fiddle about sorting that out from the start, but it's hardly a major gripe.
Accuracy for texting on the LG Watch Phone is actually phenomenal considering how teeny tiny the screen is, with around 95 per cent accuracy at least, increasing as you get your finger used to moving very short distances around the screen.
We were impressed with the performance, and although the screen is a little small, the tricks to extend it work well, although we can't help feeling it's not a killer reason to buy the phone.
The camera on the LG GD910 Watch Phone is frankly laughable, and, let's be honest, it's there because LG could include it. The front facing camera is only around for the video calling, and clearly someone at the Korean firm saw an opportunity.
Pictures can only be taken using the on-screen button, so unless you want to take pictures of your own face, there's not a lot you can do with it. LG has put some nice white balance functions on the GD910 Watch Phone, but it seems a bit redundant when you can't actually take real pictures without trial and error to try and catch the subject.
Here's a sample shot compared to the Olympus SP-565UZ so you can make up your own mind:
The LG GD910:
The Olympus SP-565UZ:
As you can see, colour, depth, clarity - pretty much everything on the LG GD910 Watch Phone is very sub-standard. But we can't imagine the camera was put on there as a highlight.
We're sad that the LG GD910 Watch Phone doesn't allow videos to be watched on the device like some other options from lesser-known Asian brands, but we guess you can't have everything in such a sleek device.
Music playback (via our Jabra HALO headphones... we must reiterate you should NEVER use the external speaker in public for anything) was good and bassy, and navigation through the music player was actually a lot easier than we hoped thanks to the responsive touchscreen.
The photo viewer is also a decent effort, with a list view for your files and a simple horizontal view to look at your snaps. You can also zoom into the photos and scroll around using the touchscreen, although it's mostly for personal viewing as showing photos to others requires you to practically dislocate your wrist.
As you can imagine, there's no Movie Maker or Photo Editing suite on board the LG GD910 Watch Phone, but there are some organisational things to keep you occupied if that's the way you want to use your wrist.
The calendar, memo functions and calculator are all on there, and work pretty well. The calendar is available from the top menu, with the usual functionality from a mobile phone, namely being able to set appointments or anniversaries and have a repeat or single alarm to remind you it's happening.
The memo function also lives on the top menu, displaying the last written note, which weirdly can't be left blank after the first time you write on it. Note: best write something you don't mind reading over and over again as you swipe past.
We would have been thoroughly outraged if we couldn't have a calculator on the LG GD910 Watch Phone, as a calculator on the wrist is something we've been after ever since we were a child. Thankfully, you're still just as cool wearing one as an adult (well, we think so).
Multiple alarms also live on the GD910, meaning you can set reminders for yourself whenever you want, and there are more alarm options than the old 'beep-beep, beep-beep' sounds of ye olden digital watches.
Battery life is actually pretty good, and we have to admit we weren't expecting such after being given the holster charger, but we managed a good three days of use before we needed to recharge.
Admittedly we barely used the music player, there's no internet and the camera function was left to gather dust, but we did text a fair bit, and the calling over Bluetooth was used fairly regularly.
We switched to our Jabra HALO headphones almost straight away for a better Bluetooth experience, but we've been told the headset in the box will power down faster than the phone itself, so it might make sense to take a backup in order to make sure you don't have to chat to your wrist.
USB CLAMP: The connector for standard LG phones is clipped into the clamp for charging
The connectivity on offer was pretty standard - unlike most other watch phones (not that we expect many to have used many others) the GD910 at least packs 3G, allowing the cool video calling.
There's obviously also Bluetooth 2.1 on board with A2DP connectivity, so you can use both a single headset and stereo Bluetooth cans to listen to the on-board music and calls.
We were a little annoyed not to see a 3.5mm headphone jack for when the battery on the Bluetooth headset runs out, but we'd imagine that wasn't possible given the size of the GD910 Watch Phone.
The phone works automatically as a mass storage device when connected to the PC using the bundled USB lead (which you have to extract from the back of the charger) meaning you can drag and drop images and music onto the GD910.
LG GD910 Watch Phone: Hands-on gallery
LG GD910 Watch Phone: Official gallery
Reviewing a watch phone is a tricky prospect, as so many of the usual features and elements we look for are obviously not going to be here.
But that doesn't stop it being something very different, and we like to at least have something different to play with.
We liked
The GD910 Watch Phone has a lot of cool features, namely the fact it's a watch and a phone combined. The sleek design was quite surprising, as well as the low weight on the wrist, and the battery kept going far longer than we expected.
The touchscreen is excellent too, probably only because it has to deal with 1.43-inches of touch area, but it still gave great accuracy when texting and trying to find a contact in the list.
We disliked
There aren't a huge range of features on the GD910 Watch Phone, and if you run out of Bluetooth power then you're stuck looking like a fool chatting to your wrist.
1.43-inches of touchscreen isn't enough either, and despite looking sleek on the wrist it could do with being a little bit larger. Another annoying problem is not being able to keep the backlight on and have one of the cool clocks illuminated day to day, instead of heading to the standby mode all the time.
Verdict
The LG GD910 Watch Phone is, ultimately, a ridiculous device, as a phone on your wrist isn't the most practical idea.
However, we can't help but like it because it just is really cool - it's a watch phone for crying out loud, the sort of device you'd design in school when asked to make your ultimate gadget (we're waiting for the next generation that spits out biscuits, then the dream is complete).
It's 'only' آ£500 as well, which might sound a lot for a pared down phone, but it's a lot less than the آ£1,000 on contract we were expecting.
The LG GD910 Watch Phone isn't going to be the best seller of the year, and the price will probably only attract people with enough money to waste on casual trinkets, but it's a decent effort and one that will hopefully spawn better devices in the future.
Related Links- More mobile phone reviews
- TechRadar's Reviews Guarantee
- Search for the best LG GD910 Watchphone deals at Omio
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PS3 Slim arrival produces massive sales spike
A neat new look and a price cut has worked wonders for Sony it seems, with sales of the PS3 increasing by more than 1,000 per cent according to the latest industry figures.
The new PS3 Slim may not please everybody, but coupled with a price drop, Sony has managed to gain an eleven fold increase in the sales of its console.
The data was assembled by Chart-Track who told gaming blog Spong that its system topped out at 999 per cent and that it was actually more.
11 fold
"There has actually been more than an 11-fold increase in sales over the previous week," said a spokesman.
"The PS3 also outsold the other three top-selling consoles (Xbox 360, Wii and DS Lite) by 3-1."
Chart-track does not give out specific numbers, so we can't tell you exactly what that means - but the news is clearly positive for Sony and its PlayStation brand.
The price drop makes the Blu-ray playing console an attractive proposition and that is clearly something that the buying public are aware of.
Via Spong
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Spotify for Symbian S60 shown off
Not content with launching its Android and iPhone applications, Spotify has also given a first glimpse of how Spotify mobile will run on the Symbian S60 platform.
A video on the Spotify site shows the fabulous Spotify application running on the S60 platform.
"You've had a few hours to play around with our iPhone and Android apps but we didn't want to leave out all those people who have a phone that runs the S60 mobile platform," said Spotify's Andres Sehr.
In development
"So here is a first look at a demo of the Spotify running on S60 which is currently in development.
"It's an early version and we still have a fair bit of work to do before we can release it but we wanted to give you a little idea of what to expect.
"And like our other mobile apps, Spotify for S60 will be available for our premium subscribers."
You can also take a look at the Spotify on iPhone review from TechRadar, or see how the phone industry has reacted.
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Phone industry delight at Spotify arrival
Some of the big hitters in the UK phone industry have reacted with delight at the arrival of a Spotify app for both Android and iPhone handsets.
Both comparison site Omio.com and Carphone Warehouse have expressed their pleasure that Spotify made it through the vetting process to get onto the Apple handsets – and that a similar app is available for people who use Android handsets.
"Spotify is another big step in music for mobile phones and provides users with the legal means to download the latest music cheaply," said Carphone Warehouse CEO Andrew Harrison.
"The application proves the music and mobile phone industries can benefit from greater co-operation and innovation."
Major coup
Omio's Ernest Doku was similarly effusive, saying: "Getting into bed with Apple and Android is a major coup for Spotify and great news for all Spotify aficionados.
"Spotify was smart enough to recognise that it needed to crack the mobile market if it wanted to grow revenue streams and establish itself as a profitable, sustainable business rather than just another internet fad.
"The problem Spotify has faced to date has been how to turn free users into premium subscribers.
"By providing music on the go, this should finally give premium Spotify subscribers an incentive to splash out for the service, and آ£9.99 per month for an unlimited mobile music portal is an attractive proposition.
"This announcement also pours cold water on those doubters who questioned whether Apple would want to allow an application that is a direct competitor to iTunes.
"What Spotify offers is a clean, simple and legal alternative to music piracy and that has to be a good thing. Apple has doubtless taken that into account when making the decision to add Spotify to its app stable."
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Review: Spotify for iPhone
Going mobile has been a massive push for Spotify's music-streaming service, as exclusively revealed to TechRadar earlier this year, while a US launch isn't that far off. It's not being outrageous to suggest that taking Spotify onto mobile is make or break for the company.
The Spotify app is downloadable in both Apple's App Store (and a version is also available in the Android Market).
The headline feature of Spotify for iPhone is the ability to save playlists for offline playback, and it's this which might have caused Apple most concern during the approval process (though as you'll hear, this needs Wi-Fi). It will, however, assuage the concerns of those who continue to disparage the network coverage of O2, AT&T and others.
You'll need a Spotify Premium account to use the iPhone app, which may seem draconian, but someone needs to pay for all this stuff. So that's 99p per day, آ£10 a month or آ£120 a year.
Like the Last.fm app, Spotify for iPhone also means you can listen to music over-the-air via Wi-Fi or 3G but naturally Spotify's ability to search and stream any track in its library is absolutely key. The Radio function isn't present in the Spotify iPhone app like it is on the desktop, while there's also no Play Queue or way to save previous searches.
Unlike the iPod app that can run in the background, Spotify on iPhone suffers the same problem that Last.fm has - it's only single-tasking and so when you're listening to tunes, the rest of your iPhone is dead to you.
Despite the early stage of the software, the Spotify app is fast and responsive and, like the desktop software, streams tracks within seconds.
So let's get on with it. Spotify on iPhone. As soon as we logged into the app, we were presented with a list of playlists – there are three main tabs, Playlists, Search and More and we'll separate our hands-on into those three areas.
Playlists
Adding a new playlist to Spotify on the PC almost instantly added it to our iPhone list, too. Completely dynamic and very responsive.
The updating was similarly superb for adding new tracks to the playlists. All are kept in sync rather nicely.
Clicking Offline playlists at the top of the screen takes you through to this screen, enabling you to select which playlist to take offline (note the warning message saying they need Wi-Fi to download, so you can't download a batch of tracks over 3G).
Then going back to the main playlist screen, you can see them queuing to download.
After enabling Wi-Fi, the tracks start to download automatically. We'd be very, very interested to know in what format the tracks are downloaded and stored, while the number of tracks you can download may be limited we guess – perhaps even by Apple.
Clicking on the specific playlist takes you to this screen, where you can shuffle or play a specific track, as well as edit the list.
Switching on Airplane Mode turns the app blue, with non-synched playlists greyed out and synched ones available to play.
Here's Bruce playing offline. Oh, and if you quit the app when it's playing (probably because you want to do something else temporarily) it will start playing from where you left off.
Search
Taking things back online, let's search for a track. Wi-Fi off, though, so we could see it working over a typically poor O2 data connection. Songs were pretty slow to load over Edge, and we had to give them time to load as they lurched and paused quite badly.
However, when on 3G, there was no problem and very little inter-track latency. Sound quality is also excellent.
The Search is self-explanatory, while you can flick through the Tracks, Albums and Artists tabs when you have typed in your search term. Once you've found your album or track, you can add it to a playlist, shuffle it or play.
Here's the artist search tab.
As with the desktop app, navigating around can be a little tricky if you want to browse through albums. This was a little frustrating for us, but probably not so much for others.
Here's the main play screen and, below it, the information screen, enabling you to browse the album (useful if you'd just searched for a specific track) and add it to your playlist.
Presumably this would be where any buy links would be – that must be a plan for Spotify, but since it has a deal with 7Digital, we're not sure how that would (or, most likely, wouldn't) work out with Apple.
Oh and by the way, unlike the desktop version of Spotify, the iPhone app doesn't sync details of your played tracks to Last.fm.
More
Then there's the More tab. Not a lot to say about this one, but there are options for help, as well as to sign out and force the offline mode to switch on.
Our verdict
Spotify for iPhone is fast over 3G and great to use. We're sure it'll be a winner especially for the offline playlists. Better buffering over Edge would also be a huge bonus.
Remember that while the app will be free, you'll need a Premium Spotify account to use it.
آ£10 a month doesn't seem too bad, but most of us already pay a lot of cash for entertainment each month. آ£50 for Sky, آ£35 for your mobile, DVD sub and more. Is the extra cost justifiable when we all already have libraries full of music anyway?
The Spotify iPhone app certainly has have the potential to be a game changer, even if our gut feeling is that the usual Apple restriction - no multitasking - does restrict it so much that it's simply not convenient for many situations when you want to listen to music while doing something else with your iPhone.
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Updated: Lady Gaga launches Gaga 'Heartbeat' headphones
Hands up if you want to look just like shock pop Lady Gaga? Anyone? Anyone? Well, should you be looking to emulate the Poker Face singer then you could buy into her new Heartbeats headphones range.
It's fair to say that Gaga is somewhat unorthodox - and from the pictures we've managed to procure, the Heartbeats are also a little out of the leftfield.
"Heartbeats by Lady Gaga" are engineered to deliver all the music the artist intended you to hear, with incredible sonic clarity, pounding bass, and all the power demanded by today's music," says our favourite press release of the week.
"The self-inspired design, including every detail developed with Lady Gaga, is both a unique reflection of Lady Gaga's style and fashion sense as well as her commitment to the sound quality of her music and the way it's heard."
I would die if...
And just in case you remain to be convinced, Lady Gaga chips in with: "In the deepest hour of the night, I confess to myself three things; I would die if I was forbidden to write, forbidden to love, or forbidden to fashion.
"Heartbeats embody the trinity of my human-being, with one additional vow: that SOUND matters. Wear heartbeats, love each other, and celebrate the art and lifestyle of music."
There's no statement on pricing or availability, but who could resist, in the deepest hour of night, the need for fashion, writing or love? Anyone? Anyone?
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Nokia shifts two million N97s in three months
Nokia has managed to sell two million units of its flagship N97 mobile phone in the last three months.
Combined with the sales of the fast-selling 5800 XpressMusic, the two touchscreen devices have raked in 10 million sales in the last 10 months worldwide.
This means that it has outsold the previous bestselling device - the N95 - beating even Nokia's expectations for the N97.
Unique position
Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo said: "We have a unique position in the smartphone market. Nokia is the undisputed leading player in the smartphones space."
However, it's not all sunshine and roses at the Finnish base, because profits for the company are still way down, and sales are 13 per cent down year-on-year in most regions.
Still, with the N97 Mini, the N900 and the X6, Nokia is at least trying to keep top-end devices flowing into the mobile space.
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Review: Vodafone Access Gateway
Ever got frustrated by weak mobile signals in your house or workplace? Us too. Now Vodafone has a plug-in router-alike solution – the Vodafone Access Gateway - that means you won't ever again have to crane your head out of a top floor window to get decent in-home coverage.
The Vodafone Access Gateway is effectively a 3G mobile phone signal booster that you plug in to your existing broadband connection – like having a mini cellular base station in your own home or office.
Once connected to your router, you can make calls or use data services with your 3G phone with a full-strength signal. It won't matter what network coverage is like around your home location. It'll all be routed through your internet connection.
The Vodafone Access Gateway is a small wedge-shaped box, approximately the size of a fixed line broadband router (it measures 190(h) x 150(w) x 37(h)mm and weighs 414g).
Made by French telecoms manufacturer Sagem, the Gateway is a 'femtocell', which provides low-powered cellular connection in-building, linking the phone to the mobile network via a home broadband connection rather than via normal network cellular base stations.
Up to four Vodafone 3G handsets can make or take calls, or use data services, through the Gateway at any one time, and any 3G mobile phone in the UK is compatible with it.
Setting up
Up to 32 Vodafone mobile phone numbers can be registered for the device, so you can enable family, friends, work colleagues and even neighbours to access the Gateway – provided they're with the network – though rest assured, it's not accessible to casual passing stranger
As well as mobile phones, other devices such as USB modem sticks and data cards can be registered for access to the Gateway The list of registered numbers can be added to or changed with a quick call to the support line.
Vodafone has launched the Vodafone Access Gateway primarily as a device for boosting signals for the home or small business where signal strength is an issue. It is selling the device on its own for a one-off fee of آ£160, or it can be had from free bundled with certain 3G handsets for a contract payment of آ£15 per month.
Alternatively, existing Vodafone customers can get one for an additional monthly charge of آ£5.
The set-up procedure for the Vodafone Access Gateway is very straightforward. The device plugs in via a cable to a spare Ethernet port on a fixed broadband router, and is powered via a mains plug.
A fixed broadband connection with a minimum speed of 1Mbps is required - if you're unsure, your connection can be tested on Vodafone's Gateway website.
A series of four indicator lights on the curved white casing show when the power is on or off, whether there is an internet connection, if a phone call is being made or if a data session is active, and when the Gateway is ready for use.
Before enjoying full in-home cellular coverage, though, you do have to register the device online. It's no great task – just the list of phone numbers you want to use with the device and other regular details, and the serial number of the Gateway.
Once registered, you're promised an email confirmation of registration within 24 hours to confirm you're up and running – though our confirmation took little over an hour to arrive
Plug in the device for the first time, and the initialisation process takes up to an hour to complete. Vodafone recommends the Gateway be left on for up to 6 hours to optimise itself on the first connection.
Performance
Following Vodafone's connection procedures was a breeze. It was ready to operate within a couple of hours from first getting it out of the box and registering online. And with no extra configuration necessary for the handsets connecting to the device, it required no effort for setting up or using for us or registered users.
Immediately we found our signal strength, which hovered around the 2-3 bar mark for local cellular connection, boosted to a full 5 bars with HSDPA indicated. It does what it says on the tin, with no fuss or hassle.
The cost of calls and data are treated the same as if you were using the regular mobile network, and will be covered in your normal inclusive airtime and data deals – there's no special deal for using your own broadband connection to route calls!
Out of range of the Gateway, your phone will use the regular Vodafone cellular network, and as you may be using one of these in a low signal area users could find calls being dropped as they leave Gateway coverage or switch between base station and femtocell coverage. We, however, didn't experience any issues with it.
We liked:
The Vodafone Access Gateway works great in boosting in-building signal coverage. Its set-up procedure is straightforward and requires minimal technical know how, giving it an easy-to-use appeal. No phone configuration is required either – once set up, you just use your phone(s), or other mobile devices, as normal.
It works well and provides consistent voice and data connection at full strength within range of the Gateway.
We didn't like:
The price isn't particularly cheap at the moment, so its appeal to users may be limited; alternative networks with better local coverage might appear a simpler, cheaper option. We'd have also liked the facility to amend our user list online rather than having to phone a helpdesk. All else was fine.
Verdict:
The Vodafone Access Gateway could prove a useful investment for Vodafone customers struggling with indoor coverage in the home or office. Vodafone has delivered a simple to set up and use solution that lives up to its billing.
Whether the benefit is worth the price will depend on your particular needs and communication alternatives, though it does work efficiently and effectively.
Related Links
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Google defends its books project
Google has insisted that its controversial plan to scan in the world's books actually represents the democratisation of print.
Google struck up a deal with US publishing groups to scan millions of books, including many that were no longer in print.
However, the US justice department, rival companies, civil liberty groups and the EC are all raising questions about the deal, suggesting the deal appoints the internet giant librarian for the internet, giving it an 'enduring monopoly'.
Clancy's defence
Google's Dan Clancy, who is heading up the project, insists that these out-of-print books should not be allowed to go unread by future generations.
"We have seen a democratization of access to online information," Clancy the European Commission. "You can discover information which you did not know was there.
"It is important that these (out-of-print) books are not left behind. Google's interest was in helping people to find the books."
The arguments have only just begun on this matter, which is not likely to be settled quickly.
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