It's the day after the highly-anticipated launch of the Samsung Galaxy S3 and already we've had a hands-on demonstration of the handset, we know what its basic specs are and why it might well be an iPhone killer. The phone has a UK release date of the 30th of May, but now we all just want to know how we can get on grubby little mits on one, so here are the UK networks, plans and tariffs that matter.

Remember: Keep checking back for updates as more providers reveal more plans for the Galaxy S3 in the coming days.

Vodafone

Vodafone revealed it would be exclusively launching the 32GB version of the Samsung Galaxy S3 for the first month from the 30th of May. It'll be offering the 16GB version too in both white and blue.

You can get the 16GB phone for free on a price plan that provides you with 1200 minutes, 3000 texts and 500MB of data, and that'll cost you £36 for 24 months. Or, you can choose 600 minutes of calls, unlimited texts and 1GB of data a month.

www.vodafone.co.uk/nextgalaxy

Orange

You'll be able to get the Samsung Galaxy S3 for free on Orange's Panther or Dolphin plans at £36 a month for 24 months. On this plan, Dolphin users will have 900 minutes, 3000 texts and 250MB of data and Panther customers will have 600 minutes, 3000 texts and 1GB of data.

www.orange.co.uk

T-Mobile

Update: There's been a lot of talk about T-Mobile's plans and tariffs online, but none of this has been confirmed by the provider itself yet.

T-Mobile only has one plan available at the moment, you can get the handset for £36 a month, but you'll have to part with £199 upfront for it. You'll then get 2,000 minutes, unlimited calls to other T-Mobile customers, unlimited texts and unlimited data.

www.t-mobile.co.uk

O2

To get the Samsung Galaxy S3 with O2, you'll need to sign a 24 month contract that'll cost you £41 a month. For that you'll have 600 minutes, unlimited texts and 1GB of data per month.

www.o2.co.uk

Three

You'll be able to get the Galaxy S3 for free on The One Plan at £34 a month. If you pre-order the device before the 30th of May you'll also be entered into a draw to win a Smart TV.

http://three.co.uk/SamsungGalaxy

Related: 5 Reasons the Samsung Galaxy S3 could be our new favourite smartphone / Samsung Galaxy S3 official specs revealed

Samsung's new Galaxy S3 handset is here and we went along to the official launch event with Tech Digest to get some hands-on time with the fancy new smartphone.

Here's our quick demo video, which shows off the Galaxy S3's 4.8 inch HD Super AMOLED display, ridiculously clever (and slightly creepy) facial recognition picture tagging system, powerful 1.4GHz Exynos quad-core processor backed up by 1GB RAM, and picture-in-picture Pop Up Player multitasking feature and much more.

Related: Samsung Galaxy S3 official specs revealed / 5 Reasons the Samsung Galaxy S3 could be our new favourite smartphone

[Via Tech Digest]

This evening Shiny Shiny went along to Earl's Court in London for the launch of Samsung's new smartphone, the Galaxy S3. After a presentation from the team, plenty of demonstrations and some fun hands-on time with the new handset we think we may be in love.

So, here are five (of many) reasons why the Samsung Galaxy S3 could soon be our new favourite smartphone:

1. The big screen

We're used to Samsung pushing the boundaries when it comes to size, just take a look at the hefty Galaxy Note and its 5.3 inch screen, but the Galaxy S3 manages to impress us without making our hands ache quite so much at a large yet manageable 4.8 inches.

The screen itself has a Super AMOLED HD display, so combine that with the impressive size and you've got a device perfect for watching all kinds of media content, which obviously makes everyday tasks much easier and the key features really stand out.

2. Both voice and face recognition

Although there are plenty of new features to shout about under the hood of the new Galaxy S3, it's both the voice and face recognition that seem the most impressive at first.

S Voice is a Siri-like feature that allows you to search the web, set calendar reminders and check info on things like the weather, just by talking to the phone. It's hard to say whether S Voice will be a match for Siri, or if we're even THAT blown away by voice recognition anymore, but it'll be interesting to see how S Voice fares, particularly as Siri has faced some problems over here in the UK.

The handset has an advanced facial recognition feature, which means once you've taken a photo of someone the clever camera will recognise them again in the future, allowing you to automatically tag them on social networks.

3. Its "pebble-like" shape

Throughout the presentation many members of the Samsung team stressed that the Galaxy S3 has been "inspired by nature", and although it sounded strange to hear JK Shin reel off the random flora and fauna that influenced the design of the device it does just feel like a big, smooth pebble.

The new smartphone may not look that different from its predecessor, but although it's a tad bigger than the Galaxy S2 it's been made with curved edges and feels natural to hold in your hand or slip into a pocket (plz keep this one away from your bra though).

4. The camera

The camera isn't just good at recognising faces, it has an 8 Megapixel sensor along with zero shutter lag and the ability to fire off 3.3 photos a second. There's also the Best Shot feature, which takes eight photos and then picks the best one.

5. Pop Up Play

It may seem like a fairly minor feature, but we can't get enough of Pop Up Play, which allows you to multi-task while you're watching a video. You simply start watching, hit a button to minimise the content and it then plays while being overlayed on the top of whatever else you're doing. Neat, huh?

The Samsung Galaxy S3 will be launching in 145 countries with 296 mobile operators and the 3G handset will be launched on the 29th of May in Europe, the 30th of May in the UK, and the 4G will hit North America, Japan and Korea in June. We'll get you details about pricing and network providers ASAP.

Related: Tech Digest - HANDS-ON: Samsung Galaxy S3 preview

Today Shiny Shiny and Tech Digest went along to Earl's Court in London for the highly anticipated launch of Samsung's new handset, the Galaxy S3. After a few loud and dramatic videos and a real life orchestra (fancy, huh?) the Samsung team took to the stage to introduce us to the slick new handset.

Throughout the launch Samsung was really keen to play up just how much the Galaxy S3 is based on nature (JK Shin even went as far as to say it's "inspired by water, wind, leaves and pebbles") and designed to work "seamlessly" with our day to day lives and from what we've seen so far these aren't just fluffy buzzwords...

Let's start by talking about the handset's impressive screen, the Samsung Galaxy S3 boasts a 4.8" HD super AMOLED 1280x720 display with a super slim bezel, which means the unit itself isn't much bigger than its predecessor, despite the huge screen. It has 8.6 mm thickness and weighs only 133g with a smooth, sleek shape, which the team were keen to stress is based on "a minimal, organic design."

The handset boasts a 8 Megapixel Auto Focus Camera with a range of in-built features like burst shot, buddy photo share and best photo, which is our favourite, as it automatically selects the best photo out of a series of eight. The camera itself has zero shutter lag, which means it takes the photo as soon as you press the button and then spends less than one second getting you back into camera mode. The rear facing camera can also capture full HD 1080 videos and there's a front facing 1.9 Megapixel camera too.

Samsung has packed a whole load of cool new features into its new handset, including a Siri-like S Voice recognition feature, which understands eight different languages and can search for information, show you the weather forecast, organise your schedules and much more. There's also Social Tag, which keeps track of the people close to you and recognises the faces of your friends in your photos, this means when you take a photo it'll recognise who it is, so you can hit a Facebook button and it'll take you straight to their wall to upload. Voila!

The Samsung Galaxy S3 is running on Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0 with a powerful 1.4GHz quad-core processor backed up by 1GB RAM. There's a 16 or 32GB of memory, with a 64GB option available soon, as well as expandable memory, which sets it apart from the iPhone. The handset also boasts a 2,100 mAh battery, which is pretty impressive too.

The Samsung Galaxy S3 will be launching in 145 countries with 296 mobile operators and the 3G handset will be launched on the 29th of May in Europe, the 30th of May in the UK, and the 4G will hit North America, Japan and Korea in June.

You can get the handset in a choice of two colours, blue and white.

Here's our hands-on with the Samsung Galaxy S3 from later in the night...

Apple has recently applied for a new patent that would allow users to send each other iTunes purchases using both NFC and email.

There are a fair few rumours flying around the internet today about Apple's next steps and what treats the brand has in store for its future handsets. Our favourite of these rumours has to be that a friendly little iPhone in the next few years could well allow us to give each other gifts by tapping our devices together.

According to Patently Apple, a new patent application from Apple allows users to give iTunes purchases as gifts to others:

"On April 26, 2012, the US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple that introduces us to gifting iTunes purchases via NFC or email. Apple's patent generally relates to digital media content and electronic devices being configured to transfer information from one user's account to another user's account."

It seems that these new gifts can be sent with personal voice messages and images too, meaning we never have to do more than lift a finger next time it's someone's birthday.

A new project on Kickstarter is looking for funding to create a bra that stores your mobile phone and all your random stuff neatly under your arm. Right now we can't tell whether this is plain ridiculous or a genius idea...

There are plenty of amazing projects on Kickstarter and plenty that make us question how some people manage to get through life on a daily basis. The JoeyBra sits somewhere in the middle of these two, it's a bra that has a special pocket to store things, like credit cards, keys and your gadgets. In theory it makes sense. You're a young, free woman with breasts, why would you carry your stuff around in your bag when you could strap it to your body?

The first thing we have an issue with here is obviously the fact it'd be pretty darn uncomfortable. I'm not the skinniest gal out there, but my iPhone is definitely longer than the little piece of bra at my side, so not only would it be annoying to swing my arms around with glee, but it'd create a pretty unsightly bulge, even if I was wearing something baggy. So let's not even get started on how deformed you'd look if you had a Samsung Galaxy Note...

This also brings us onto the issue of getting the phone out, would you have to choose between exposing your breasts or your stomach every time you got a text? There are enough sleazy weirdos in the world without us flashing a bit of flesh every ten minutes.

Now moving on to our second issue, the JoeyBra is described as a "sexy yet functional" way for women to carry around their gadgets. We get it. Bras carry breasts. Breasts are sexy to some people. But why should women want to carry their rubbish around in a way that's 'sexy' as apposed to say, oh I don't know, comfortable? And will there soon be a way for men to carry their gadgets round in a 'sexy' way?

We don't doubt a lot of thought, effort and research has gone into the JoeyBra, and we can certainly see the benefits of having somewhere to store smaller things, like money and credit cards, on a night out. However, the bulges, issues with getting your phone out to actually use it and promise that it's a 'sexy' way to store your bits and pieces makes us feel a little uneasy.

Check out the JoeyBra on Kickstarter.

Today LG has launched its new glasses-free 3D handset, the Optimus 3D Max, onto the European mobile market. But does anyone really want a smart phone with 3D capabilities or are we content with boring, flat 2D?

We saw LG's latest handset at Mobile World Congress earlier in the year and as you can expect it's all 3D this and 3D that. The glasses-less device allows you to see mapping apps in 3D, edit and capture photos and videos in 3D and for entertainment fans watch your favourite TV shows and films in 3D too.

However, as much as we love 3D here at Shiny Shiny, we're happy to see there's a 'Hot Key' on the side, which allows users to switch between 2D and 3D, kind of like the dial on the Nintendo 3DS. This is great news for those who feel a bit queasy staring at a 3D screen all the time and need to be able to turn it off as and when.

There are some other cool new features, like an upcoming maintenance release that will include a HD Coverter, so you can watch high-res content on a TV through Mobile High-Def Link.

If we forget about the 3D capabilities of the device, it's still a decent smart phone. The handset is both slimmer and lighter than its predecessor, measuring 9.6mm and weighing just 148g. It's got a 5MP camera that captures photo and video content in 3D, a 1.2GHz Dula-Core processor, a 4.3-inch 3D WVGA display with Gorilla Glass and it boasts 8GB of internal storage and Micro SD support. However, it's running on Android 2.3 Gingerbread and there's been no official mention of when the update to Ice Cream Sandwich will be coming, which for some may be a little worrying.

Dr. Jong-seok Park, president and CEO of LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company, said:

"We are deliberately pushing the limits of mobile entertainment innovation with the Op-timus 3D Max.

"This device has evolved significantly since we introduced the first Optimus 3D at Mobile World Congress in 2011. Our second generation glasses-free 3D smartphone is as thin and light as any other high-end smartphone while still delivering a spectacular picture in either 2D or 3D."

But the big question is does anyone REALLY want a 3D phone or is it a bit of a gimmick from the brand?

If you enjoy shooting video content in 3D or rely on your device for entertainment purposes and love everything Avatar-esque then give it a go. However, for some the fact it's running Android 2.3 may leave them feeling a little left behind, most would probably be happier with a more advanced smart phone with no 3D screen and others may just have motion sickness from seeing the word 3D far too much in this article already.

Details about where you can pick up an LG Optimus 3D Max to follow later this week.

A new study proves that we're a nation of crazy sexters, but it seems that not only are we a bit careless and send our naughty messages to the wrong people, but many of us admit to taking part in a bit of mobile flirting with people other than our partners. You should be ashamed UK.

If you don't know what sexting is (what have you been doing with your spare time?!), then our good friend Wikipedia explains that it's "the act of sending sexually explicit messages or photographs, primarily between mobile phones". Many people we speak to seem to think sexting is reserved for over-excited teens (unless that's just their excuse), but according to a new study by mobile site Recombu more than half of us adults admit to sexting. This stat doesn't really surprise us at all, but a lot more of the research was quite revealing...

According to the study, women are a little more reckless (or confident about talking dirty) than men, with 48% admitting they send sexts to a partner in comparison to 45% of men.

But although women may be more into sexting, men are more likely to have a few sexting buddies other than the person they're with, with 25% admitting they've sent a sext to someone despite having a partner (we're not sure what "having a partner" constitutes here, but based on the experiences of other people we know *cough* we assume these sleazy guys have girlfriends). However, women are hardly angels, with 16% admitting they've sent a text in the past despite also having a partner.

However, the most worrying stat has to be that 11% of sexters says they've been caught out at least once and have accidentally sent a dirty text message to a friend or relative by accident. Well that's certainly a guaranteed way to ensure your next family meal is the most awkward occasion of your WHOLE ENTIRE LIFE.

[Via Mashable via Recombu]

Motorola have announced that their RAZR Maxx handset will be hitting European and Middle Eastern stores in May following its current release Stateside.

Though it will drop 4G support as it makes the trip across the pond, the handset still marks a fairly significant jump in battery life from the last RAZR release, back in October 2011. Upping the device's thickness from the 7.1mm orignal to 8.99mm, it's a fair trade considering it allows for a higher capacity3300mAh battery that pushes talk time from 10 hours up to 17.6 hours instead.

Other than that, the Android handset stays more or less the same as its October incarnation.

The RAZR Maxx packs a 960 x 540 pixel 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Advanced display, 1.2GHz dual-core processer and 1GB RAM. An 8MP camera sits on the rear, with support for storage expansion through a microSD card.

No precise release date nor pricing info available yet, nor which build of Android it will launch with, though Motorola's Ice Cream Sandwich update is due any time now.

We'll update with these details as we get them.

Via Tech Digest

RELATED | REVIEW: Motorola RAZR

A study that aimed to find out where we're most likely to lose our phones across the globe has discovered that Manchester is the ultimate breeding ground for forgetful mobile owners. We're not sure whether this says something about crime rates, memory in the area, or just that you can have a REALLY good time when you're in the north.

Many of us have unfortunately had the experience of being out one night, feeling particularly forgetful (read: drunk) and losing our beloved mobile phones in a random bar/toilet/street. Now when this happens and you realise the morning after, it does feel like your world has ended, especially as it usually coincides with a particularly expensive upgrade. But now it seems we have conclusive evidence that you're most likely to lose that expensive iPhone in Manchester than anywhere else across the globe. We're not saying don't go there, we just want you to be extra careful on your next night out.

The study, which is the first of its kind to focus solely on global mobile phone loss, was conducted by mobile security specialists Lookout (we've written about these guys a few times before) and revealed that on average people in Manchester lose their phones twice a year compared to the national average of once a year. Wow, that's still a lot of lost phones and a lot of expense, Lookout predicts that if none of us make an effort to find our mobiles then we're all losing at least £150 a year on average. Ouch.

Unsurprisingly, as a nation of binge drinkers who like to live in our locals, pubs are the most likely place we'll lose our mobile phones with nightclubs coming in second place and coffee shops third.

To coincide with the research, Lookout has launched a new section of its website called Mobile Lost & Found, which is a space for people to discover the places where phones are most often lost, the likelihood of losing a phone by region, and the financial impact of lost phones too, all in the form of colourful, interactive maps.

Related: APP OF THE DAY: Lookout solves all of your major mobile dilemmas

Nokia has allegedly made a new application for a patent that would see tattoos alerting people that they're getting calls. Yes, really.

Tattoos, good. Nokia, good. Phone calls, good. But all three combined?! Hmm we're not quite so sure. According to Dvice, Nokia has applied for a patent that would see people have demagnetised ink painted onto their skin as a way to be more personally alerted that they're getting a call. Bear with us here. The ink becomes re-magnetised when it picks up on magnetic changes in the air and signals from your phone, so technically your 'tattoo' would then vibrate, so could well alert you when you get a call, or text, or email with a strange, skin-crawling movement. Lovely.

Although we can see this proving useful in certain situations (and being pretty darn cool to see in practice), is it really worth the effort? Can't we all just keep our mobiles on vibrate in our pockets?

There's nothing in the patent about whether the tattoo would be permanent, so don't worry, it might just be like a henna tattoo or one of those rubbish transfers you had when you were a kid.

Of course this technology (despite the fact it may not be useful to everyone) is rather exciting, and the team at Dvice hint that it could be used for all kinds of things, like different stimuli for different signals, or even different callers. Although the merging of technology and skin kind of has us a little scared, remember Terminator? The Borg? This is how it all begins...

[Via Dvice]

We've all been there, you're on your way to an important meeting and don't know where you're going, or you're catching up with a friend and said you'd text them with details about where to meet and THE WORST THING IN THE WORLD HAS HAPPENED. Your phone battery's died. Cue crying, hyper-ventilating and roadside tantrums.

Of course we'd totally recommend that you pester over-enthusiastic Apple sales assistants for a place to charge up in the meantime, but to stop it happening in future here are a few valuable tips from Lookout Mobile Security. A lot of the advice might be obvious, but keeping track of which apps are constantly trying to work out your location, dimming your screen and switching from ring to vibrate are all handy tips we often forget about when we're in a rush.

[Thumb image via nathanborror]

According to various sources, Samsung has unveiled a new model of its popular (and freaking HUGE) Galaxy Note handset at CeBit this week in a shade of dark pink.

From what we can tell it's got all the same specs as the original blue and white versions, so was a pink model really necessary?

The debate about whether tech brands should venture into the sickly sweet and rather controversial world of pink gadgets has been raging for YEARS.

The general consensus seems to be that yes, it shouldn't have to be pink to make the female sex want it. Yes, it can be a little offensive to think women just want stuff that's the colour of candy floss. But no, we shouldn't be getting quite so angry about it because (and many may find this hard to stomach) some women clearly buy pink gadgets, or they wouldn't be wheeled out time and time again by so many tech brands.

We've got no surefire answer as to whether pink gadgets on the whole are awesome, disgusting or giving out the wrong message to youngsters, but thought we'd collect together some past articles from Shiny Shiny and a few of our other favourite sites about the whole debate:

How gadget makers try to understand the ladybrain by Katie Lee.

All hail the pink mobile phone: Top ten pink handsets by Lucy Hedges.

Where are all the gender neutral gadgets for kids? by Cate Sevilla on BitchBuzz.

[Image via Engadget]

Panasonic has unveiled a new smart phone for European markets, strangely named 'The Eluga', which sounds a bit like the beluga whale or some kind of cheap perfume, but in fact comes from the phrase 'elegant user-oriented gateway'. Fancy.

The official Panasonic Twitter account revealed details of the phone earlier in the week and this morning provided a highly-anticipated update on its News Portal.

The phone is described as a "high specification waterproof smartphone for the style conscious", meaning not only is it slim with a 7.8mm profile and light weighing in at 108g, but it's protected for up to a depth of 1 metre for up to 30 minutes in water.

In terms of specs, the Eluga is a pretty capable smart phone, it's running Android Gingerbread (with an update to Ice Cream Sandwich coming in the summer) with 8GB of memory, a 1GHz Dual Core Processor and an 8MP camera.

It also has a tonne of cool built-in features, like NFC capabilities, Swipe and Share, which lets you watch content on other devices and 'eco mode', Panasonic's new power-saving technology.

The Eluga is set to go on sale in Europe in March, but we'll keep you post about the exact date and pricing details.

We all know we use our mobile phones far too often, so when we came across research detailing whereabouts we end up texting, calling and Facebook stalking, we weren't at all surprised that the results revealed we actually do those things EVERYWHERE.

However, as we started reading the stats from a recent survey into mobile phone usage and found that 55% admitted to using their phones in bed and 34% stated that they often use their mobiles during a fancy meal, we started to worry that we're sacrificing quality time with loved ones to check emails and flick through Twitter. Shame on us all.

The research, commissioned by Lloyds TSB, also found that one third of mobile owners often use their phone in the bathroom, 63% use them on public transport (this subject got people very angry when we discussed it last year) and 10% check them during a wedding or christening. They admittedly can both get a little dull though, right?!

Maybe our views are just changing a little and it's more acceptable to use mobile phones anywhere and everywhere nowadays. We're not sure what to think really... Sure quickly checking your phone now and again is fine, but if you spend time scrolling through tweets when you're meant to be enjoying a meal with friends or cuddling up to someone in bed, that's when you need to start having a serious word with yourself...

[Image via Dominik Syka]

Today LG announced its new handset, the Optimus LTE Tag, an Android device, which uses NFC (Near Field Communication) to change your smartphone's settings with a simple swipe wherever you happen to be.

The new feature, called LG Tag+, uses special stickers or "tags" that can be stuck anywhere and then programmed to change your phone's settings once you've tapped it against them. LG uses the example of entering your office, so there you'd swipe your phone on a sticker and it would switch to silent mode and activate Wi-Fi for you automatically, but that's just one example, you can do all kinds of things with plenty of tags and plenty of imagination.

The Optimus LTE Tag's specs make it a very capable Android device, it's running a 1.2GHz Dual-Core processor, Android 2.3 Gingerbread and has a 4.3-inch IPS display.

There's been no official word about when the smartphone will be available or how much it'll cost, but according to early reports it'll be launching onto the Korean market before we see it anywhere else.

[Image via Mashable]

If you accidentally leave your mobile phone at home, it loses battery or it just dies on you for no apparent reason, you know that it can leave you feeling a bit lost and panicky. What if something serious happens to one of your relatives? What if there's an emergency and you need to make a call? And most importantly, what if you're tagged in an unflattering photo on Facebook without even knowing?

We all know it feels strange to be without our mobile phones, but since 2008 it's been considered an ACTUAL phobia, known as nomophobia. Although it may seem a bit ridiculous, a recent survey has found that the phobia is increasingly found among the British population, especially women.

The study, sponsored by SecurEnvoy, has found that two thirds of the 1,000 respondents in a recent survey admitted to feeling scared about being without their phones. More than 41% of those interviewed admitted to having two phones or more as well, just in case something were to happen to one of them.

The research also found that women are prone to worry about their phones much more than men, with 70% feeling the fear compared to 61% of men. It also comes as no surprise that the younger generation (aged 18 to 24 years old) are more nomophobic, with 77% admitting to being scared about being disconnected.

Andy Kemshall, SecurEnvoy CTO and co founder, said:

"The first study into nomophobia, conducted four years ago, revealed that 53% of people suffered from the condition and our study reveals this has now risen to 66% in the UK and shows no sign of abating. A reversal on the 2008 findings is that, back then, it was men that were more afflicted yet today it's women. I'd be inclined to draw the conclusion that, perhaps because more men have two phones, they're less likely to misplace both and therefore be left phone-less."

We're obviously a little bit wary of the research, because asking a group of people whether they're scared or not may not is a little subjective and may not necessarily constitute an actual phobia. However, we've been without a phone for few hours before and it was pretty terrifying...

[Image via Yutaka Tsutano]

Following in the footsteps of the Nokia Lumia 800 earlier this week, the latest handset to get the white-washed look is the HTC Sensation XE.

Originally released in September last year, the new white Sensation XE matches the first version of the phone spec for spec. You're still getting a 1.5GHz dual-core processor and luscious 4.3-inch qHD screen with the handset.

It'll be running Android 2.3.4, with HTC's Sense UI laid over the top, there's also an 8MP camera on the rear, capable of shooting 1080p video, and a VGA front facing one for video calling.

You'll also find either an 8GB or 16GB microSD card popped on the box depending on how much you pay, perfect for filling it up with tunes on the device which has Beats Audio integration from the ground up.

It'll be available in the UK from the 20th of February and according to Clove it'll be £408.

[Via Tech Digest]

We all know that January sucked for all kinds of reasons, it was cold, Christmas was over and there never seemed to be any sun. But really we hated it because we spent far too much over the festive period and we just had to wait so freaking long until pay day.

Well according to stats from SellMyMobile.com a lot of us tried to beat the January money blues by selling our old mobile phones. A huge £2.6 million worth of old handsets were recycled in January, a 30% increase from January last year.

It's hardly surprising that the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4 were the most popular phones recycled last month, after all we all know Apple fans just have to have the latest model, so we're guessing they all got an iPhone 4S for Christmas.

However, it was BlackBerry that dominated the list, with the BlackBerry Curve 8520, BlackBerry Bold 9700, BlackBerry Torch 9800 and the BlackBerry Curve 8900 making up 40% of the site's top recycled handsets.

Keir McConomy, MD for SellMyMobile.com, said:

"As smartphones become increasingly more popular, we're seeing the average value of mobiles recycled go up and up - and this is only set to increase as handset innovation continues. Just by looking at the top 10 list of most recycled phones, you can see consumers are cashing in on the most valuable phones out there."

We've always been a little sceptical about whether you actually make any decent amount of money from giving your old mobile phones to recycling websites, but if you're getting rid of something fairly new you can get a fairly good deal, which doesn't involve having to get involved with the headache that is eBay. Just be sure to shop around for the best deal.

[Image via Honou]

You may think you know your stuff when it comes to the latest smart phones, but could you tell us what MMS, data roaming and 3GS all mean without having to think about it? Thought not, and it seems you're not alone with the majority of Brits revealing they don't understand a lot of mobile-related terminology. But which term or service or product has us the most stumped?

Well, according to a new study conducted by GoodMobilePhones.co.uk, more than 62% of Brits don't know what data roaming is, which would explain those massive phone bills when people step off the plane after a week abroad...

More than 1,680 mobile phone users were asked "Which mobile phone related terms do you not fully understand, if any?" and were asked to select all that applied from a list of possible answers.

Here are the five that have us most confused:

1. Data Roaming - 62%
2. 3G - 56%
3. MMS - 47%
4. Wi-Fi - 43%
5. Bluetooth - 28%

It seems a quarter of those who said they were unsure about data roaming were just being modest and could define the term when asked, but most thought it was something to do with "accessing emails", which we suppose isn't that far off. Kinda.

The study may have just been a bit of fun, but it does show that we're really not as clued up as we should be when it comes to how our mobile phones and network providers actually work.

If you're worried about data roaming charges in the future, instead of burying your head in the sand try out an app specially built to keep a track of your spending while you're abroad, like Onavo or My Data Manager (both available from iTunes and the Android Market), which enable you to monitor your spending and avoid any nasty surprises when you get home.

[Image via Creativity 103]