Motorola has unveiled StudioMOTO, a free online music studio that lets users create their own ringtones and videos for their cell phone, reports Mobiledia.

"Visitors can also mix and match footage from select artists to produce their own mobile video clips.

Using multimedia messages and StudioMOTO, users can send mobile postcards containing a combination of text, music, video and animation."

Reviews the Nokia 7360, and comments on the phone's camera: "The camera uses VGA instead of the newer XGA technology, putting it right out of competition in the megapixel race. It only supports 640 x 480 pixel resolution and comes with no zoom. There’s no flash either, but pictures taken under fluorescent light are clear enough. You can also use the night mode when it gets too dark. For reasons we can’t fathom, however, the colour temperature is inconsistent. We took 2 pictures at the same place with the same lighting seconds apart. One turned out bluish and the other warm."

Who would have thought: after dragging its feet for several years, Nokia is finally making a jump to the forefront of mobile technology again. Part of the maker's new N series of multimedia handsets, the Nokia N91 smartphone unveiled here today in Amsterdam is destined to give Sony Ericsson's W800 walkman phone a solid run for its money - unless it runs out of battery life first.

Integrating a 4 GB hard drive, the Series 60 based Nokia N91 is a surprisingly small smartphone given its mind-boggling feature set. The stainless steel exterior feels comfortable and solid, but you'd better not be suffering from spotless-related obsessive compulsive disorders as keeping it neat and clean is likely to prove virtually impossible.

First and foremost a music phone, I'm pleasantly surprised to see that Nokia has managed to integrate a 3.5 mm stereo headset jack directly into the handset itself, negating the need for any cumbersome dongles. Audio quality is superb, and although perhaps not as intuitive as Apple's ipod products, the user interface and dedicated menu keys placed in front of the sliding keypad cover is more than good enough.

Format support is reasonably comprehensive with MP3, AAC, WMA and M4A on the slate, and there's also an included stereo headset with remote control - the quality of which could be better, but remains a nice touch. Getting music on the handset should be a breeze; it will show up as a USB 2.0 mass storage device to which users can drag and drop files when connected to a compatible computer, and Nokia will also provide a dedicated application for music management. Incidentally, the USB connector is a plain, non-proprietary mini USB port: bravo, Nokia.

Music playback appears to be quite well integrated with phone functionality, with the N91 among other things pausing playback when receiving incoming calls - and, importantly, resuming playback when hanging up. Also present are dedicated volume controls, as well as an 8-band equalizer and the ability to download music over the air, or alternatively record it directly through a line in connector or from the built-in stereo FM radio of the handset - which also supports Nokia's Visual Radio concept.

Connectivity is abundant in the N91, which offers up GSM/GPRS/EDGE 900/1800/1900 MHz connectivity along with 3G for WAN scenarios. More impressively, Nokia has also managed to cram not only Bluetooth and Wi-Fi 802.11b into the N91, but also 802.11g; a previously unseen feat what regards mobile devices.

As if this wasn't enough, the 160g, 113 x 55 x 22 mm Nokia N91 also includes a 2 Megapixel camera which shoots stills at resolutions up to 1600 x 1200 pixels and records video in H.263, MPEG4 and RealVideo 8 formats - all formats which the device can also stream video in. As is typical of Nokia, image quality appeared to be very good from what could be purveyed through its 176 x 208 pixel display

Other highlights worthy of mention include the Opera based web browser with its exquisite small screen rendering capabilities, as well the same flurry of messaging options and PIM applications typically found in Series 60 based smartphones.

Manchester United is weighing up a move into mobile telephony through selling branded handsets to its millions of fans around the world, and then running the service itself.

'Its a real possibility and is something that we have been actively considering,' said Andy Anson, Man Utd's commercial director. The financial outlay would be kept to a minimum as the club is not about to go out and spend billions buying a network. The model would be Virgin Mobile, which rents capacity from established operators, but Anson says: 'There are cheaper options that we are looking at - things have moved on even since Virgin.'

Handsets sporting brilliant displays and cameras have propelled Samsung to a top shelf placement among esteemed handset manufacturers such as Motorola, Nokia and Sony Ericsson. Sindre Lia plays with T-Mobile's most wanted handset at the time of writing; the Samsung SGH-T809 slim slider.

Being slightly wider than most handsets nowadays, the SGH-T809 measures 3.8 x 2.0 x 0.6 inches and weighs in at 3 ounces. However, as the slider handset is also very slim and light, the width is duly compensated for by an all-encompassing cool and sleek design. The most apparent design trade-off is the mediocre 5-way navigational pad, yet the numerical keypad's flat buttons fortunately interact very well indeed with the handset's user interface. It should also be mentioned that the memory and charger slots' plastic inserts on each side of the handset kept popping out in a most annoying manner.

The Samsung SGH-T809 sports an impressively bright and clear 262K colour screen with a resolution of 320 x 240 pixels. The handset's megapixel camera also impressed us, taking stills with excellent white balance and sharp colours. Pictures can also easily be sent by MMS, or be posted to an internet photo album via the camera application.

For storage of images, the SGH-T809 offers up 65 MB of internal memory, as well as a 32 MB microSD memory card, while a USB cable has also been bundled for quick and simple transfer of images and music files. Supporting MP3 and AAC file formats, the SGH-T809 sports a slick-looking audio player with a 4-mode equalizer and 3D sound. The handset's speaker and earphones, on the other hand, are of entirely average quality and we're also not entirely fond of an adapter being required for connecting headphones with a 3.5 mm jack.

As for phone-related features, the Samsung SGH-T809 supports GSM 850/1800/1900 MHz networks, as well as GPRS and EDGE Class 10 support. Furthermore, the handset features a phonebook capable of storing 1000 entries, SMS, MMS and e-mail support as well as polyphonic and MP3 ringtones, WAP 2.0 browser, Java and Bluetooth. Unfortunately, though, voice dialing and e-mail client have been left out.

The guys over at The Inquirer have word that Vodafone KK (recently bought by Softbank) have launched a 3G handset with a VGA-resoltuon screen in Japan.

The 904SH is made for Vodafone by Sharp. By contrast, the best colour screen handsets have previously only boasted QVGA (Quarter VGA).

So the 904SH has a screen with four times better resolution than its competitors. The phone appears to be something of a bargain as it will typically cost Japanese subscribers £120 ($210).

It offers a range of advanced features such as a 3.2 megapixel camera; a Motion Control Sensor (for playing 3D games), and a Face Recognition function that authenticates handset owners by sensing their facial characteristics.

The phone also includes bluetooth, and parental control features.

Motorola's second revision of the ROKR phone has been approved by the FCC. Interestingly one of the documents posted on the FCC's website hints that the ROKR E2 may sport iTunes afterall. When it was announced, Motorola said the E2 had its own music player by default but that there would be support for multiple players (presumtively based on carrier wishes).

Features of the Motorola ROKR E2 include:

* QVGA display
* SD card slot
* Runs Motorola's new Linux bases OS
* Bluetooth
* 1.3 megapixel camera

The E2 is expected to ship later in the second quarter. No carrier partners have been announced.

has made it easier for mom and dad to play Big Brother. Their new Family Locator Service, which launches today, lets customers use the GPS capabilities built into phones to track up to four mobile phones over the internet or on a wireless device.

Parents can ask the service to periodically find a phone and display it on a road map. They can also set an alarm so that they will be notified if their child isn’t in a certain place by a certain time. Children know that they are being watched, too – they receive a text message every time that they have been located.

The software is available from Sprint Nextel for $9.99 per month. Other companies have been selling extra devices or add-on services that provide similar results, but Sprint is the first carrier to make it available. Besides parents there will be obvious applications for people with elderly parents or employers with workers who spend a lot of time in the field.

To coincide with the start of his latest tour, Robbie Williams has teamed up with Sony Ericcson and T-Mobile to launch the Robbie Williams special edition W300i handset, reports Pocket-lint.

It is the first time an artist has been directly involved in the design of a phone and is also the first pre-pay Walkman handset launched in the UK.

The clamshell handset will pre-loaded with a range of previously unreleased content - including a "live" video clip, wallpapers and the opening song from his concert. A Robbie Williams logo is embossed on the back cover, and two additional Robbie Williams skins personalise the phone. Fans will have direct access to the WAP site of RobbieWilliams.com on their phone and will see a Robbie Williams video clip when they start and shut down the handset. The Special Edition W300 will be available in all of T-Mobile European markets in June.

The suspense of “24”, the hit TV series, is even more intense when you become a participant. With I-play’s “24, The Mobile Game” on your S60 device, you become a member of the Counter Terrorism Unit (CTU) team. You have the chance to accept a high-priority, time-sensitive assignment from Jack Bauer, and to interact with him during a mission. You play as a new member of the Los Angeles CTU office. When you start out, you are just in time to start investigating some unsettling chatter over unauthorized channels. Chloe brings you up to speed before you finally meet Jack, and things begin to accelerate.

The plot is played out through a series of mini-games. Each mini-game is an activity that would make sense for the CTU team to tackle. Some of them are puzzle-oriented, such as decoding messages, cutting bomb wires, and cracking security measures on a computer through a color-coded sequence. Others are action scenes. You can use the game’s ‘spy phone’ to control the mission and to guide Jack Bauer and other agents through the longest day of their lives. Use infrared satellite surveillance, phone tracing, and electronic lock picks to unravel the conspiracy before time runs out. As in the TV series, time is of the essence. You can replay the game to try alternate paths for the characters to try to beat their fastest times. As with the TV series, a matter of seconds can make a dramatic difference in the outcome of the mission.