FoneArena was the first place on the whole internet where you might have heard about the LG Optimus Me aka P350 . It's an affordable entry-level Android phone running Android 2.2.1. It supports 3G networks and packs a QVGA display

Here are the specs from LG itself.

LG is trying to bring Android phones at the price point which was dominated by feature phones.

The phone is launching in Europe first and would be released globally later.

LG Optimus Chat

We also had a chance to play with the LG Optimus Chat which is one of the few Android phones with a full QWERTY keyboard.

It has 4 rows of keys

It's slightly thick at 16 mm thanks to the Keyboard but most users wont complain. Also you can see the 3.5 mm audio jack on the left .

It has a 3 MP Camera on the Back.

Both these devices were both made public at MWC 2011 and you can expect them to hit markets worldwide in the following months.

The Optimus One was a great hit for the Korean handset maker and looks like the Optimus Brand is here to stay. Will it repeat the success of the Optimus One ?� We should be finding out soon.

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Taiwanese handset maker HTC said that it's business has not been impacted by the major natural disaster in Japan which has impacted many manufacturers including Sony Ericsson , Canon , Panasonic , Nikon.

HTC CEO Peter Chou said " HTC global supply chain and distribution channels remain unaffected and operating as normal. We have a comprehensive business continuity strategy and framework in place, which activates a secondary supply chain, in the event of a crisis or natural disaster, such as last Friday's massive earthquake. HTC is also working closely with our global supply chain and distribution channel partners to monitor the situation in Japan, and will take any necessary steps to ensure that our operations remain business unaffected."

Source

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After being hit by the largest earthquakes ever recorded followed by�a deadly tsunami that slammed into the Japan's east coast, leaving a huge swath of devastation, Sony Ericsson is one of the companies which has been affected by the disaster, since Tokyo has been the their hub from the�beginning. The company has been closely following the situation in�Japan and has been doing all that is needed for the safety of their employees. There are approximately 1100 employees (including consultants) working at both the offices in Tokyo, and confirms that no employee was injured, and no major damage �has been done to their offices. The affected area in northern Japan supplies a large portion of the world's electronics industry with components, and the current situation also seems to impact Sony Ericsson's business.

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Over the past 4 years and more than 40 review and trial phones that have passed� in my hands, there are barely a few experiences I can count as terrible. One of the most recent ones though occurred just a couple of weeks ago and it made me see things in a different perspective. See, my luck had it that I received a faulty Nokia E7 unit, which had software glitches from the first time I turned it on and then hardware issues as well. While this was bound to happen, as there will always be that one unit that runs away from quality control in production plants, it isn't the problems that arose that annoyed me, but the fact that Symbian's only way of fixing them was Restoring and starting from scratch.

Here is a recount of my adventures with the Nokia E7 and the glitches I started noticing as I went along battling it to get it to a working state.

When I first got the Nokia E7, I inserted my SIM, turned it on and set up my WiFi access point as I'd much rather use bandwidth connection over WiFi especially that there are some data intensive steps when you get a new phone.

With WiFi set as my main priority in both Destinations and Web, I couldn't get the Ovi Store or Ovi Maps to sign me in. I eventually noticed that my operator's data access point was set incorrectly, corrected it and tried again to no avail. It seems that although WiFi was a priority, Ovi still needed access to my data connection, but unfortunately rectifying the setting mistake after having tried to sign in just once wouldn't work. I did a first Restore of the E7, and when it restarted, I made sure the access point was correct before trying to set up my Ovi account even once. Success!

Except that didn't really last. I continued installing some applications and setting up my preferences, but I still felt that things weren't really smooth. A couple of hours later, I took an image to test the EDoF camera then opened the Gallery to view it only to be greeted by a black screen, no images, no folders, nothing. Restarting the phone didn't solve that, nor did Restore number 2. Enter Restore number 3 where I chose to Restore and erase all data.

Four hours after getting the E7 and fiddling with it to make it work, I was back to square zero. Fantastic. However, everything worked properly, and I took my time setting up the device step by step, with long pauses to let it grasp every new change.

Obviously that didn't last either as I noticed some battery and keyboard lighting issues with my review unit. Obviously, this was the breaking point of the faulty unit and five days later, it was sent home and replaced with a new one that has been working flawlessly. Insert sigh of relief.

What pushes my buttons is that this sort of user experience is unforgivable out of the box in this day and age. And yes, this wasn't a prototype unit but a full packaged retail unit. Two days after starting to use the E7, I hated it passionately and it wasn't even my own money on the line. If I had purchased that unit, no matter what follow-up customer service I'd have got, I'm pretty sure I would think long before buying any Nokia device again. I realize I might have gotten the dud of the lot, however the software issues are real and opened my eyes to these Symbian issues:

• Why does the Ovi Store access point have to be set in the Web browser? Talk about confusing noobs! And while we're at it, why is that the case with every widget? I know the technical reason, trust me, but it's just plain retarded for average users.
• Why does the Ovi Account set up phase require access to my data connection when I have my SIM card inserted in the device but not when I don't, even though in both cases it eventually ends up fetching the data via the prioritized WiFi?
• Why does Ovi setup fail when my data access point is wrong, even though it is supposed to use WiFi as its access point?
• Why isn't there a proper Error message to tell me that the data connection is failing and to check my settings? It took me hours of running around the Settings to figure out that the "m" was missing from ".com.lb" in my data access point setting! Yet, all Ovi Store and Ovi Maps were giving me were a spinning wheel or some cryptic failed to connect error, while I was sure it was using WiFi.
• Why doesn't a correction of the setting after a wrong connection make things work? Why did I need a reset and to make sure things were right before even opening my Ovi account setup once?
• What is this problem with the Photos browser freezing on a black screen when there's a corrupt image? I had run into this on my N8, but I eventually found the culprit and deleted it from my computer via Mass Storage. I ran into the same issue with the E7, but I didn't have enough patience to look for the culprit so I restored and erased all data. I wonder what regular users will do when they run into this. Will they think their Symbian phone is faulty? Will they understand it might be ONE corrupt image damaging everything? Will they even think of restoring and erasing data? How many will have the intelligence to go look for that corrupt image and delete it via mass storage from their computer (because the built-in file manager will tell you it can't be deleted)?

Now, Symbian might be moving into an End-Of-Life phase, as Nokia switches to Windows Phone, but they still project to sell 150 Million Symbian units. Do they plan on achieving that while just making Symbian more beautiful, or do they plan on fixing some of these brainless issues to ensure that those 150 Million customers have a decent experience if something goes wrong?

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Nokia India in collaboration with the Union Bank today launched a slew of mobile based banking services. Primarily aimed towards Tier 2 cities where internet banking has not achieved much growth , the mobile banking service will allow consumers to deposit and withdraw cash from select Nokia outlets in collaboration with Union Bank.

The java based Nokia Money application to be pre-loaded on select Nokia devices will allow users to easily transfer money between contacts. A security pin code will ensure that even on loosing your phone , your money remains secure. The service has been launched in the NCR area with plans to cover 26 regions by June. A pan India roll out can be expected by the end of the year.

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Here is the FoneArena Motorola Milestone 2 Review, the latest version of the handset that saved Motorola in the past. It is unbelievable that barely two years ago, Motorola was on death knell. Then the company announced and release the Droid/Milestone, a high-end Android smartphone that was well received by smartphone enthusiasts. It was a remarkable comeback for Motorola and the rest, as they say, was history.

The Milestone 2 is Motorola's successor to the successful Milestone. With the Milestone 2, Motorola aimed to fix what was wrong with the original Milestone and also keep the specs current and relevant. Announced in late 2010, it is their current flagship QWERTY device and features a slide out full four-row QWERTY keyboard. In a world of nearly identical keyboard-less slate Android devices, the Milestone 2 is one of the few modern high-end smartphones remaining aimed at people who are stubbornly clinging on to physical keyboard.

The specs read like a typical late 2010 high-end product. Powering the Android 2.2 (Froyo) device is a TI OMAP3630 chipset with a single core 1 GHz Cortex A8 processor and PowerVR SGX530 GPU. The device has 512MB RAM for running applications and 8GB internal flash storage for installing applications. A 1400mAh Li-Pol battery ensures the device runs from at least a couple of hours a day to two days depending on how heavily used.

Other features includes quad band GSM, dual band 3G HSDPA, accelerometer, proximity sensor, WiFi 802.11b/g/n, DLNA, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR with A2DP, GPS receiver and 5MP camera with auto-focus and dual LED flash (including support for Geo-tagging) and electronic compass. The microSDHC card slot supports cards up to 32GB (the maximum currently supported by the standard).

Motorola has kept the packaging of the Milestone 2 to a minimum. The box is small which reduces wastage. Included with the Milestone 2 is a USB cable, a USB wall charger and a pair of earphones. It also comes with a 8GB microSDHC card for expansion.

The Milestone 2 is not only attractive, it is well designed. On the right side you will find the volume keys. The power button and 3.5mm headphone jack can be found on the top. The microUSB port and LED to indicate charging resides on the left side. The front is dominated by the display and four touch sensitive keys: menu, home, back and search. I am not a fan of touch sensitive keys as they are easy to accidentally activate. Above the display are the earpiece, ambient light sensor, proximity sensor and LED notification.

The rear of the phone features a 5 megapixel camera with dual LED flash. Like all phones, the lens itself is protected by a glass. The glass itself isn't protected by a cover however. Opening the battery cover reveals the battery. Unfortunately the microSDHC slot isn't hot-swappable as the battery is in the way.

The Milestone 2 looks and feels smaller than it is. It is slightly thicker than the keyboard-less Nokia N8, just a bit slimmer than HTC's Desire Z and about the same as the QWERTY toting Nokia E7. Below is a comparison of the thickness of the Milestone 2 with other devices. From bottom to top: HTC Touch Pro 2, Motorola Milestone 2, Nokia N8, Samsung Galaxy Ace, Nokia 5630 and iPod Touch 4G (in case).

The built quality of the Milestone 2 is brilliant. It is almost entirely clad in metal. Even the battery door is metal with rubber texture on the outside to help with grip. At 169g, the Milestone 2 is reassuringly hefty. The bottom half of the slider (the one that houses the keyboard) is heavier which helps with balance and usage.

The keyboard is plastic in nature and offers decent feedback. The much maligned D-pad on the original Milestone is gone, replaced by four arrow keys on the bottom right. The keys are thus bigger and more evenly spread over the surface. I was also disappointed to find that the keyboard was only limited to four rows of keys.

While I initially hated the keyboard, after two weeks of us I've grown used to it and actually prefer it to the on screen QWERTY keyboard. Key travels are small and top row is built too close to the display making it difficult for people with stubby thumbs. It isn't the best keyboard on a smartphone I've ever used, but it isn't the worst either. The keyboard has a backlight, which makes typing in the dark a breeze.

The 3.7" capacitive TFT display with 480�854 pixel resolution is sharp and has sufficient brightness. The colours are well presented and aren't as over saturated as those on an AMOLED display. This may be good or bad depending on your books. Personally while I do not mind the saturation of an AMOLED display, as I prefer the flexibility offered by TFT displays where you can use white background without overwhelming the battery. An IPS display like the one featured on the iPhone 4 would have been a better compromise. A Gorilla Glass coating provides resistance against light scratching.

The Milestone 2 runs on Android 2.2 (Froyo) customised with Motorola's MOTOBLUR UI. Motorola has promised that Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) will be made available as a firmware update sometime this year but have not given any clear date as to when they will unleash it. Having been using the Milestone 2 for two weeks, it is clear that the Milestone 2 is in dire need of an update. Compared to a Gingerbread running Nexus S, the Milestone 2 is slow and almost always struggle to cope with multi-tasking. A snappy device this isn't.

Almost all Android manufacturers are installing some form of custom UI in order to differentiate and MOTOBLUR is Motorola's attempt to take on HTC Sense UI and Samsung's TouchWiz. The love it or hate it UI doesn't completely skin the whole of Android, but its presence is clearly felt in the homescreen. Unlike Samsung's TouchWiz, Motorola did not attempt to skin the application launcher.

Motorola has made it very easy to migrate from another Motorola device with MOTOBLUR. I simply logged in to the account I previously set up when reviewing the Motorola DEFY and voil�, all the widgets were set up to the appropriate social networking accounts.

Speaking of widgets, the MOTOBLUR features plenty of them, both the default Android widgets and their own. The resizeable widgets are boxy and offer no control over their transparencies. I am not saying they are ugly, but it does take some getting used to especially when compared to third party widgets. Having said that I love how we can customised each of the social networking widgets to only display updates from a certain group of friends or tweeps I am following. It makes it much easier to keep updated on people who matters most.

Other widgets included are Weather, a self explanatory Sticky Note, Picture Frame, News and Calendar. You can easily download free and paid widgets via the Android Market. There are seven screens to populate the widgets across, which should be plenty.

As expected for a device that comes with a QWERTY keyboard, the Milestone 2 is an excellent messaging device. Built over Google's now almost mature Android platform, the Milestone 2 has a universal messaging application with support for standard text messaging (including MMS), Google Mail, Facebook and Twitter direct messages. It also supports other email services. Threaded messaging is included as default. Universal Inbox is where everything goes into and can get overwhelming. There is also a dedicated GMail application available from the Android Market.

The Webkit browser is a good performer. As the Milestone 2 is bundled with Adobe Flash 10.1, it handles Flash content well. I've had no issues loading YouTube and Flash-based games, apart from the odd stutters associated with the device. The browser works like any modern smartphone browsers do � it was pinch to zoom, as well as tap to zoom. Text reflow makes it easier to browse websites that are not mobile optimised.

Coming from Motorola it wasn't surprising to find that the Milestone 2's reception was excellent and I've not encountered any major issues with my two sim cards (Three UK and T-Mobile UK). The phone supports HSDPA so is theoretically capable of downloading at speeds up to 10.2Mbps, but as always this is dependent on many factors like network base station and congestions, as well as the kind of data plan the user has. Call quality is excellent as it comes with a dual microphone with active noise cancellation.

The built-in GPS receiver is good to get a cold lock, even with aGPS turned off. With aGPS turned on (wireless networks), locks are almost instantaneous. While Google Maps is preloaded, it is advisable to download the latest version from Android Market. Where available, Google Maps also provide Street View and voice navigation.

The 5MP camera is usable in daylight but forget about using it in areas with poor lighting. Get a compact camera instead. It also supports 720p video recording. There is no front camera so forget about face to face video calling. Below are samples from the Milestone 2's camera. Click on them for the full unedited image.

While the Milestone 2 has a reasonably sized battery, unfortunately I found that I am only able to eke out half a day worth of productivity before needing the charger. This is with Twitter and Gmail running in the background, pulling in data every couple of minutes. To be fair, most modern smartphones have poor battery life, but Android devices seem to suffer most from poor power management.

If you are in the market for an Android QWERTY phone, it is worth keeping in mind that the Milestone 2 is one of a few high-end Android devices that qualifies. There aren't many alternatives � in fact the only I can think of currently is the HTC Desire Z. The Desire Z, while having a lower clocked processor, has proven itself as a great performer. Outside of the Android ecosystem, there is the newly released Nokia E7 which runs on Symbian