Up to now the two million existing members of The Grid – in South Africa, Nigeria and Tanzania – were only able to chat and share content with other Grid members from their own country. Members could also chat to their Google Talk, MSN Messenger and Yahoo! Messenger contacts from The Grid.

With the new release, however, Grid members – irrespective of country or network operator – can become friends, chat to each other or share, rate and comment on photos and videos posted by the community.

The Grid was originally launched in South Africa in 2008 and has since developed into one of the leading South African social networks. In 2009 The Grid launched into both Tanzania and Nigeria – both developing African countries with high volumes of mobile web traffic.

The international expansion will make it possible for anyone with a cellphone to sign up and join the social network – at no subscription cost. Operations will be based in South Africa with the infrastructure hosted locally by Vodacom Business in their Midrand Data Centre.

Says Phillip Boshielo, Executive Head at Vodacom Ventures: “This international roll-out represents yet another important milestone in the development of The Grid as a leading social network. It’s also a milestone that I am particularly proud of. By making The Grid available to everyone everywhere, we’re harnessing the full power of the mobile web to create a truly global meeting place.”

The Grid can be accessed through its mobi site at http://wap.thegrid.co.za. Membership is free and members only pay standard data rates to their service provider.

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The X10 mini pro may be small in size, but it touts a 5 megapixel camera with autofocus and LED flash. The small size of the device gives it a nice feel when held in camera mode, so this morning, I went snapping the usual suspects.

There’s a dedicated camera button that launches the camera application, and when half-pressed focuses before you push all the way down to take the shot.

The camera interface is simple and easy to use. All controls are in the four (4) corners of the display and very accessible.

This cutie shoots fast too and is ready for the next shot almost immediately. That’s a good thing. But are the end results any good?

You be the judge:

From Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 mini pro Camera Samples, posted by Yomi Adegboye on 9/01/2010 (4 items)

Generated by Facebook Photo Fetcher

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Its Android time again after a very long break. The last Android smartphone that was reviewed here on Mobility Nigeria is the T-mobile G1 way back in May 2009.

This time, we bring you a unique Android smartphone that was recently released in June, the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini Pro. It is the smallest smartphone that I have ever seen. It is so small that at first I was scared that it would be absolutely unusable. Here are the specifications:

• Android v1.6 (upgrade to v2.1 coming in Q3 2010)
• Weight: 120g
• Size: 90 x 52 x 17 mm
• 2.55-inch TFT capacitive touchscreen of 240 x 320 pixels
• Scratch-resistant surface display
• slide-out QWERTY keyboard
• 5 megapixel autofocus camera with LED
• GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, HSDPA, HSUPA
• Wi-fi, Bluetooth v2.1 with A2DP, USB cable
• Qualcomm MSM7227 600MHz processor
• 165mb RAM
• Memory: 212mb + microSD slot (2GB card in retail box)
• GPS with A-GPS support
• Stereo FM radio with RDS

First Impressions
I have had it for a few hours, and have found it quite usable. Surprise, surprise. The QWERTY keyboard is good and the display responsive.

At the moment, I am installing and configuring it to my taste, and in the next several days, this cute babe will be put through its paces. Let me know if you have any particular questions that you would want addressed in the upcoming reviews.

In the meantime, here are a few pictures:

Size Comparison - X10 Mini Pro and the Samsung B7610

Size Comparison - Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini Pro and Samsung B7610

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Price: N34, 500.00
***Buying this phone does not qualify you for our WIN-a-smartphone promo, as this is not a Phone Store purchase.

If interested, you can pay for and collect the phone from our location in Ojodu.

Alternatively, you can pay by bank deposit into a designated bank account and also arrange for the phone to be sent to you within or outside Lagos. Cost of delivery will be the responsibility of the buyer.

Ready buyers may mail mobility[@]mobilitynigeria.com or call me on 08076400503.

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In this gallery of screenshots, you will catch a glimpse of the full editing QuickOffice suite and Nokia’s Chat application which supports multiple chat services. But that’s not all. There’s Facebook, Hi5, Friendster, MySpace, Twitter, Ovi Sync and YouTube, among other extras – making the E5 an excellent social networking tool.

If one must be straightforward, the E5 packs a wallop with a long list of built-in functionality. Those others will be examined in a subsequent review article.

For now, enjoy the following screenshots:

From Nokia E5 ScreenShots, posted by Yomi Adegboye on 8/28/2010 (12 items)

Generated by Facebook Photo Fetcher

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We took the Nokia E5′s 5 megapixel camera for the usual spin. This camera has an LED flash but unfortunately it is fixed-focus. There’s also no dedicated camera button though, so you’ll have to settle for using the D-pad to take your shots.

Overall, it isn’t a shabby camera and produces some nice shots.

“Camera shots using the Nokia E5′s fixed focus 5 megapixel camera.”

From Nokia E5 Camera Samples, posted by Yomi Adegboye on 8/27/2010 (5 items)

Generated by Facebook Photo Fetcher

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It is sensible in the sense that nothing major is missing, and its usability is one of the best out there in its category. Here are a few quick points:

1. the E5 has a very good battery life. I get over 24 hours of intensive use – always-on 3G mode, email client checking mails every 5 minutes, active Bluetooth earpiece connection, web browsing, calls, music, etc. With less intensive use, the E5 chugs on for about 2 full days.
2. the QWERTY keyboard is the most user-friendly I have seen yet in its class. Characters like comma, full stop, the @ sign, and question mark require one key press, instead of a combination of two keys on other candybar QWERTY and BlackBerry devices. The keys are also well domed, making them easy to use.
3. one-handed use of the device is tops. It is almost like using a regular phone – except that the QWERTY is there for when you need to really crank out text
4. good build quality
5. good music and video playback
6. very good web browsing
7. good (not superb) 5 megapixel camera

I could go on and on, but the summary is that the E5 does everything you want. It won’t win any awards for any groundbreaking feature, but it is a sound decision to make when you want a sensible device for everyday use.

While there are real issues with the Symbian S60 5th Edition interface, I don’t see what people are complaining about the non-touch version (3rd Edition) as it is today. Everything looks lovely and works well. I am able to customise the menu to my taste and there are subtle effects implemented by Nokia.

The Web browser supports multiple tabs, javascript and Flash, and handles everything that I need well, so no issues there at all. With 256mb RAM and a 600 MHz processor (same specification as the N900), it is no wonder that I hardly encounter anything slowing down or freezing up on the E5.

Web browsing is also super friendly with keyboard shortcuts that enable you to zoom, go back, switch between tabs, reload a page and more.

Email Issues – again.
One thing that I do still have issues with is Nokia’s implementation of email on their smartphones. The interface is lovely, but for some reason, there are periods that the email client is connected to the server but does not download any fresh mails. There are days I go to bed and for the 7 hours that I am asleep, the E5 does not download any mail until I pick it up and select the option to “Send and receive now“.

Not good. What is wrong with Nokia and email? My mobile history is checkered with clashes with Nokia’s email clients on smartphones, whether we are talking Symbian or Maemo.

Email management is made user-friendly though with keyboard shortcuts too. Users can delete mails, mark mails read or unread, and carry out a number of various actions via keyboard shortcuts. Now, if only Nokia can fix the auto-retrieve issue…

Conclusion
Besides the email auto-retrieve issue, I have no other complaints about the E5. It is a device that almost anyone will love and find handy.

My verdict: I rate the E5 a 4.75 out of 5.

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I found that amusing (and you will find out why shortly), but never got to respond to his “complaint”. For starters, what is NFC?

Near Field Communication or NFC, is a short-range high frequency wireless communication technology which enables the exchange of data between devices over about a 10 centimeter (around 4 inches) distance. This makes NFC specifically suitable for mobile payment, identification and other related services.

Basically NFC turns a mobile phone into a contactless card and electronic reader, and allows the phone to communicate and exchange information with other NFC devices.

With all the excitement pushed by the gentleman, the reality is that there is a very limited choice of devices on the market at the moment. There are no more than a handful of NFC phones available. Nokia has announced that from 2011 their new smartphones will be NFC-enabled.

In the meantime, NFC on mobiles is still almost entirely on trial. For example, perhaps the most easily obtainable NFC handset is the Nokia 6212 Classic (pictured in this article), but even that is no longer in production. While some other manufacturers have NFC devices, they are either for development or trial purposes.

This was what made the gentleman’s comments amusing. There is no NFC revolution going on anywhere yet. Even if he lived in North America or Europe and wanted to purchase an NFC phone now, he would be hard pressed to find one.

Do you know of any NFC devices in circulation? Have you used any? Have any useful information about NFC? Tell us about it.

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So come with your Symbian, Blackberry, Windows Mobile, Android and Maemo devices.

In addition, winners of the three (3) smartphones that we are giving away in our WIN-a-smartphone promo at this event. Of course, winners who are not resident in Lagos will have their prizes delivered to them after the event.

Details of the event:

• Saturday 25th September, 2010
• 1.00 p.m. – 3.00 p.m.
• Free Registration/Admission
• Dress Code: Casual English

You can let us know whether or not you will be coming via the comments section or Facebook.

Sponsors and Partners Welcome!
Phone manufacturers and phone retailers (or anyone else for that matter) are welcome to sponsor this event. Send us a mail at mobility[@]mobilitynigeria.com if you are interested in sponsoring this event or partnering with us in making it happen.

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Every September each year Apple announces new products especially its iPod group of products. The iPod Touch in particular interests me.

According to Bloomberg, a U.S. news agency, and PCWORLD, the 2010 Apple event would be held on September 7th – barely two weeks from now. The obvious speculation here is that there will be a revamp of the iPod line of Apple products. Another forecast is that an Apple TV called iTV will also be released.

The new iPod Touch is speculated to feature a front and forward facing camera. It may also likely resemble the iPhone 4 in hardware design and features. As such we should be expecting the following new hardware/software features in the new ipod touch (4th Generation).

1. Beautiful Gorilla glass body -a gorgeous thing on a phone
2. External Wi-Fi antenna
3. Front and back facing camera with likely ability to use Facetime (video calling via Wi-Fi)
4. Retina display
5. Factory fitted iOS4
6. And perhaps the video editing feature of the iphone 4; imovie!
7. 1 GigaHertz CPU (A4)
8. 512 Megabyte RAM

For those of us that have been holding off buying the iPhone 4 because of the exorbitant price (About 200,000 Naira in Nigeria), this is your chance to actually use something close and perhaps as gorgeous as the iPhone 4. The iPod Touch 4th generation is likely to be an iPhone 4 look-alike but without the GSM/3G antenna.

It should thus be able to do all that the iPhone 4 can do apart from making and receiving calls. But some may claim it could still make calls perhaps via wireless (by Wi-Fi) through Skype or Fring apps for instance. All these depend on your perspective.

I just have to warn you though, given the secretiveness of Apple, all these forecasts mentioned above may just well be only speculations. However, Apple has not failed us over the years in its yearly September announcements. And I believe if any of these come true, this may be the best selling iPod Touch of all time. We may soon have in our hands a genuine iPhone 4 substitute.

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