Now if you’ve ever read one of my rants before, you may be aware that I’m hung up on mainly two things.

The first being the lack of any originality in the Mobile sector (but I won’t go into that now), and secondly, price.

I’m a happy student; I live at home with my Mum, thanks to Ewan I have a job; but I also have quite a lot of expenditure. I fund all my school-books (and the price of them is astonishing), I pay for my own internet; I pay for all my socialising, my mobile, clothes and all the general stuff. Okay, I don’t have a mortgage to pay off; but even so, I’ve had to put off buying myself a car, and getting driving lessons because I simply cannot afford to be spending that much.

Well, I suppose that’s okay. At least I know I have my head screwed on, and I’m aware of my own financial limits. But even saying that, as I’ve mentioned before I really want a new phone – in fact I’ve been looking for something since the summer.

So it a two and half percent tax cut going to affect me buying myself a car, driving lessons, or even a mobile phone at the moment?

Simply, it’s a no.

Now, it’s not that I can’t afford it (because honestly, I can); the point being I know firstly I’m being cheated by mobile manufacturers. The clever plans to get you to think you’re buying into the latest technology to only find a month or so later the same company has released a better mobile, is just a joke.

Secondly, the amount of money I’m prepared to spend on a mobile is around £100, my absolute limit would have to be £120. Even so, two and half percent off of that is only a difference of £3! Now, even with my own self-admitted tightness when it comes to money, three pounds is hardly a noticeable difference now, is it?

Finally, I can happily predict that we’ll see lets say, some interesting sales in the near future. Well, this a blind guess, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t happen (and I don’t mean the normal January sales), I’m guessing there’ll be price reductions, sales, and attempts to move stock out of the back of the shop.

I’m saying this as a seventeen year old that has a job. Quite a few of my friends, also of the same age, in full time education in Sixth Form; who don’t have jobs. They rely on the menial amounts that their parents will spare them each week (which generally gets wasted on booze-ups at the weekend or something); and leaves them with nothing.

In fact, even just trying to get a new top from Top Shop takes a couple of weeks of saving, so think of how long it would take to get a mobile?

So do I think that Mr. Darling is going to spruce up the “young” people of England to be spending more? Certainly not, and I don’t see that this is going to affect the mobile market in any way whatsoever.

Then again, I may be wrong, and two and half a percent will make the world of difference; but if anyone was to work out their actual savings that they’re making by this VAT change, then I’m sure you may well find that it’s not a lot… A couple of pounds at the most!

Send any queries, e-mails or anything to Samantha@mobileindustryreview.com

My Mum gets Carphone Warehouse letters in the post; and the other day I arrived home from School, seeking out any interesting post for myself, when I came across a little Christmas brochure. I expected to see the usual mix of non-interesting and far-fetched mobiles, which have very limited appeal to someone who is as indecisive as I.

Then I came across the LG Cookie.

I’m not an LG fan by any means, yes their phones are nice, and I have to say although I appreciate the minor attempts at creativity with their naming processes; previous experiences of LG’s have taught me that they’re not my cup of tea. Should I mention I’m not a fan of their interfaces, or just generally how they work and feel?

However, the Cookie did catch my eye! It looks nice, it’ll be a new experience, it’s a touch-screen (another learning curve), and also the ability to use an on screen QWERTY keyboard, and importantly its price.

I don’t know what to do.

Now this could just be a sporadic urge to go and spend money, and get something just because I’ve seen it, and I like the price; but then I think… LG. An interface I know I won’t like, and will struggle to get grips with, and I fear I’ll see all the flaws in my purchase just after I’ve broken that “unbreakable seal” on the box.

It’s hopeless! I do this with every wonderful find I come across, and I deliberate an item and a possible purchase so much that it either becomes outdated and therefore useless, or I decide I don’t like it although secretly still wanting it, or I’ll find something else to admire and want.

I know for one, I can’t be the only person who does this; and I know for one that it’s probably a good safety precaution my mind has implemented to stop such impulse buying – a trait I really try to avoid at all costs.

Now I wonder, why is it I find mobiles such as the Cookie, and previously before it the LG KS360 before that, and there was also a Sony mobile before that too; why is it I loose interest, and forget about it, and then find some other mobile-crush?

Could it just be that no matter how lovely one major aspect or feature of a phone is say, it’s price, a new built in gadget or a sleek, slender design; it really isn’t enough to make a mobile good, or at-least good enough to buy.

What I’m beginning to see is that mobiles tend to be about one major factor, be it its connectivity, a particular design focus, a built in application, the camera, the media, the price, or its “technological achievements”.  I don’t want just one particularly above average feature as reason to invest in a mobile; I want a device that has equally good features which aren’t just surfing above the acceptable quality in phone.

So my next mobile-crush won’t be on a weak whim, a spur-of-the moment encounter, it’ll be something which offers more than one better than alright feature, and something I won’t fall out of love with.

Feel free to e-mail me anything at Samantha@mobileindustryreview.com

The former wood-pulp millers have just made public their latest handset, the 6260 Slide. Which is an addition to their other 6260 from 2004.

Although not really drawn as update as such on the previous series, it does still share the same model number. Only now the word Slide is has been added, almost as a suffix at the end.

The original model in case you were at all interested was of a clam shell design, and if you weren’t, it’s too late now.

They’ve tagged this one for marketing purposes as being ‘made for high speed sharing’, whatever that means.

We assume, and we’re sure there’s something about making the ‘ass’ out of ‘u’ and ‘me’ in there, it’s geared towards sharing photographs and videos via social networking sites out there.

Running from the Series 40 OS it’s capable of HSDPA and even has WIFI onboard, with images to be captured for its 5MP Carl Zeiss camera lens with flash.

There’s also GPS and Nokia Maps pre-installed, amongst other wonders accompanying the phone such as the navi-key functions for guiding your way around the OS.

It’s due to hit the shops early next year, with a price tag of 299 Euros. We’ve asked about possible networks carrying it, but none have been made public yet. Boo!