I’m asking, what has been your favourite mobile phone, you have owned, ever!

I’ll start with mine. Now for me, this is an incredibly tough choice, it’s between the Nokia 3310, and the Nokia 3200! (Not exactly high-fliers, but allow me to explain).

The 3310 was my second mobile (2003), a replacement for my Sagem MC3000 that died on New Year (at twelve o’clock, which was a little scary). I hopped off down to Woolworths, and invested I think £60/£80 (I forget exactly) on the 3310.

Not only has this phone got to be the most difficult to break (I’ve thrown, sat on, dropped, spilt drinks over, run over mine quite a few times), but it also came with some of the most majestic ringtones ever (which I played whilst having dinner in Croydon Park Hotel once, not a good idea mind you), and the best game ever… Snake!

What I loved most about this phone was not only it’s simplicity, highly annoying but brilliant ringtones, and the game we all got addicted too, but just the pure awesomeness it had. It was revolutionary at the time, and its fascia customisability was brilliant. I bought quite a few myself, and new buttons (although the originals were the best).

Then in 2005 (January the eleventh to be exact), I bought my fifth or sixth mobile; the Nokia 3200. Now I was stepping into the world; my first camera phone and my first phone that had “Polyphonic Ringtones”.  This set me back, £80 with £10 free “airtime” as Virgin called it.

From what I remember many people hated the device, the buttons were odd (which I loved, and can text better on today, than on any other device), the camera was rubbish (but what did I care), and I was able to ruin the look of my phone by making paper templates to stick in the clear cover.

The 3200 had the features that the 3310 couldn’t aspire to yet; a Radio, a torch, the camera, voice recording, and a colour screen!

Nokia proved them-selves on durability with this phone, more so than any other. At this time in my life I spent the majority of my time falling off of my BMX, being completely clumsy, and still throwing things about. And it still worked perfectly (despite the aging battery) until September 2007.

It’s not only the devices I love, but the memories associated with them. The voice-recording feature on the 3200 was brilliant for recording dodgy singing or peoples snoring; and the 3310 – day long battles with friends, competing to get the highest score on Snake. (Mind you, I was eleven!)

I could ramble on endlessly about the brilliance of both of these devices (which I would be more than happy to use today). Which brings me to you!

What is your favourite mobile device you have ever owned? It can be one you have now, or one you had ten years ago; whatever it is, tell me what it is. I wonder how many of us consider our current devices our absolute favourites!

Any questions, or anything send me an e-mail at Samantha@mobileindustryreview.com and I’ll get back to you!

Let the memories commence!

Sagem, and mobiles in general have changed a fair bit since 2002 (when I got my first phone), and I was expecting Sagem to push along with that change. Creating a device which lives up to its stylish, and cool name; but I don’t think it did.

Firstly the looks; don’t get me wrong it looks lovely, but I’m not won over by it. The chrome finish on the front is only half completed on the back, which does hit you right in the face, reminding you that despite how much it’s tried, it’s not a high end phone.

This though, seems to be a fault that only I care about; as both my Mum and Grandma fell in love with the phone – I think my Grandma might even look to buy one – and certainly some of my friends were mildly impressed.

The usability of the Ice is also another winner for the “baffled” – it certainly amazed my Mum who proclaimed that “If I can use this phone, anyone can!” – A bold statement and one which I’m not too hesitant to agree with either.

Saying that though, due to the degree of simplicity of this device you cannot expect anything other than basic personalised adjustments to be made; if you want a mobile you want fine tuned to your idea of perfect, forget the Sagem. If you want a mobile to work straight out of the box, and you’re not that bothered about customisability, then you’ve found a perfect partner.

As far as features go, for seventy pounds, you really can’t go wrong. A FM radio player (perfect for someone like me), and a basic built in media player. These are ideal if all you want is to listen to a couple of songs, or if like me, you can’t resist a bit of Classic FM on the bus – but that’s purely personal preference.

You’ll also find a 3.2 megapixel camera too – although be warned, on the low quality screen the pictures will terrible. Don’t let that put you off, because once on your computer/laptop screen they’ll look a lot better. I would say, use the USB Data cable provided to do this, but that’s an extra; at which according to the Sagem site sets you back over £30!

The Sagem also has the ability to video record (which even the iPhone 3G can’t handle), which I believe is a must for any camera phone. However, due to the lack of USB cabling, you may find it hard to actually use your videos. I only managed to move pictures and music around because I have more than one phone on me, which was not only a long process, but one that would put me off using the camera.

Another slight problem I had with the Ice is once again the positioning of the headset connector. Being placed at the side of the phone not only makes the device about two centimetres wider, but also annoys the hell out of you when it continually falls out. I was also quite put off by the camera side buttons, they weren’t placed where they should be, which makes holding and shooting uncomfortable, especially in landscape view.

Despite everything the price will make the Sagem Ice a pure winner. For what is it is, you get plenty to keep yourself occupied if all you want is a phone for calling and texting on. It’s sleek enough to look stylish for anyone of any age or gender, but it’s also simple enough for any age and gender. The “leather” case included not only looks more realistic than the Nokia E66’s, but feels better too.

I fear though that Sagem have over-estimated their target market. I asked some friends “Would you consider buying this phone?” and because of its brand it was mainly a “no”. I, and many other “young people” have strong brand loyalty ties, mainly in the Sony (and Nokia); that’s because they have always been there. They have a presence, which frankly Sagem have never had. I doubt then, purely for this reason, that many pre-existing phone owners of the 14 – 18 year old margin will go out and buy this mobile.

Don’t get me wrong, Sagem are finally producing something worth more of a mention, but it’s too late. I see this as a “first mobile” for some, and ideal choices for people like my Mum and Grandma. Not exactly the “cool” teen market they were aiming for, but a market nonetheless.

Find some pictures I’ve taken by and of the Sagem by clicking “here”.

Have any questions? Post them below, or e-mail me at samantha@smstextnews.com

So, I’m beginning to really look forward to a holiday too. Its booked for a couple of weeks time and I’ve not even contemplated anything I’ll need. I guess the mad rush around the stores on a Friday evening will have to happen. Sigh.

So, to at least get one thing right, I’ve been contemplating a holiday phone.

Having been stung for £200 for taking my normal mobile to Morocco – Two voicemails kept trying (and failing) to get through. It tried to call me up to three times an hour. Each one ended up counting as a connection (cost 25p) as it went to the Morocco server before going back to my voicemail and ultimately it was rather expensive.

Strangely, I’m no longer with Phone’s 4 U, the company that said – “Sorry, that’s the way it is.”

So, anyway, holiday mobile phones:

If you want a decent camera in the phone then there’s only one option. The Samsung G800. It has an optical zoom so it can actually take decent pictures.

An mp3 phone. There’s the iPhone, obviously. All of the Sony Walkman phones. And, well, just about any other. Many of them contain Wolfson audio chips so will sound as good as the iPod.

If you’re an exercise bunny, maybe the Samsung miCoach too.

But all of these are expensive. And, in reality, you want something cheap.

The Orange site lists three phones for under a tenner. Alcatel OT-E227, Nokia 1208 and Sagem my220x. They’re not exactly sexy. They are very much ‘Fisher Price does phones’. But, you’re not going to care if you lose them.

If you insert a local PAYG sim so you’re not paying international roaming rates when calling the local restaurant to book a table and you’re laughing.

Thankfully, I did!

I got an e-mail telling me about another company called Doro – they specialise in simple phones for the elderly and disabled. The best thing about this company is that they sell in high-street retailers, such as Currys.

I also got another e-mail about keypad sizes. This is an issue which infuriates me, I have the least-nimble fingers known to mankind, and I find small buttons near impossible to use. It has actually got so bad, that no matter how brilliant a phone is, if its keypad is useless I can’t buy a phone.

And Kip, who comments a lot around SMS Text News suggested the Sagem Ice?

So I’ve gave my Mum the Sagem Ice to play around with for an hour, and I gave her a couple of tasks – write a text message, take a photo, change the ringtones, and listen to a song I put on the phone.

Simply, my Mum was able to do those tasks. I gave her no guidance whatsoever, and she managed it. She even said “I even managed to change the ringtone, and if I can do it, anyone can. It took me half a year to work out how to do it on my Sony!”

So there you go, maybe the Sagem is the perfect solution for some of the Baffled but equalled styled out people of today?

I’ll be doing a full review on the Sagem phone shortly.

Here’s the announcement:

Purple Labs the leading software provider for mass-market mobile phones, announced today that it has signed a memorandum of understanding to acquire the mobile applications suite and software engineering team of Sagem Mobiles, a French manufacturer that develops mobile phones branded by Sony Ericsson, Orange, Vodafone and other customers. The asset sale to Purple Labs is linked to an announcement by SAFRAN, a French technology group, that it is selling its Sagem Mobiles business unit to Sofinnova Partners, one of Europe’s leading venture capital firms and an investor in Purple Labs. SAFRAN will join Sofinnova as a shareholder in the new entity, which will be called Sagem Wireless.

More at the press release.

There, set in huge blocks of ice, was Sagem’s latest handset – the T-Mobile exclusive my721x “so ice”.  I’m not sure about the name, but the styling certainly looked good – brushed aluminium in a slim candy-bar form.  Talking to Julien Bertheuil, Head of Sales UK and Ireland, he highlighted the key features of the device:

• A 3.2 megapixel camera
• Bluetooth
• FM Radio
• Stereo speakers
• Opera mini web browser
• ‘Real time’ battery-life estimate (expressed in hours and minutes of standby or talk)
• Extended language support, including Polish

The device is ‘only’ a 2G / GPRS unit, but as Julien pointed out this handset is priced at £69.99 on PAYG – a  competitive price point where the other headline specifications and styling would be most desirable to consumers.  Access to purchase phones is also a major issue, he told me, for the youth and budget market for handsets in this price-level so it will be available through the retailer Argos who have stores on most UK high streets and a large online presence as well as T-Mobile’s own stores. Sagem, it seems, are looking to shift a lot of these…

These certainly aren’t smartphones, but the spec and finish look promising.  Samantha, SMS Text News’ latest recruit and official ‘young person’ will be reviewing it soon.  Look-out for her write-up.

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Speaking to Thomas Brenac, Managing Director of Sagem UK and Ireland, about where this handset existed in Sagem’s range I was surprised to hear he considered this ‘higher end’.  There have been, he explained, 3 key price points for some time: ‘under £30′, ‘under £50′ and ‘under £70′ with a fourth emerging segment of ‘under £10′. I was surprised… sure there are handsets available in this range, but do the specs differ so visibly and are consumers so price sensitive?

The supermarket behemoth is knocking out four handset models for the bargain price of £5 – one Nokia and three Sagems – with 50,000 devices up for grabs. The phones are pay-as-you-go but shoppers don’t need to buy credit or sign up to a deal to get the phone itself.

The devices unsurprisingly aren’t the prettiest or the most fully functioned out there, but at £5, I’d be tempted to stick one in the cupboard for those unavoidable times when my primary mobile gets lost/stolen/dropped in a toilet. While it might be a popular move with anyone in need of a backup handset, it won’t be popular with parents who’ve been putting off their tween’s inevitable first mobile with the ‘you’ll have to save up for it yourself’ line.