Are gender purchasing habits changing?

We live in a fast paced world where technology advances in leaps and bounds. What was essential yesterday may be forgotten today and this may be changing the purchasing habits of the genders.

In the mobile phone world this has never been more evident. 20 years ago a mobile phone weighed as much as a brick and looked pretty much like one too.

Then we saw the age of the small phone develop and the race was on to constantly create smaller and smaller mobile phones.

After miniaturization reached its practical limits a new technological twist occurred with the explosion of the internet and in particular social networking on sites such as Google Plus, Facebook and Twitter as well as Pinterest and LinkedIn.

This put miniaturization into reverse as larger and larger screens where desired to show off pictures, browse web pages and stream TV.

Smartphones and gender

If we go back in history by just 10 years to the point in time just before phones got smart the purchasing trends of the genders were clearly separate.

Men on a whole preferred mobile phones that were standard in size and had large or widely-spaced keys. Whilst women on a whole opted for mini-sized devices with smaller keys that could be easily punched with a nail.

But, then things started to change as mobile phones became smartphones. Today we have a huge variety of sizes to choose from starting at mini and running through standard to phablet at about 6 inches and finally to tablet at 7 inches and above.

Of course what we called mini 10 years ago resembles nothing like what we call mini today. A modern day mini is much bigger whilst the screen on a standard smartphone may measure 5 or more inches.

This situation is about to put men on the back foot. I personally have a phone with a screen a little over 4 inches in size but this really is the limit of my pocket.

So as women take advantage of larger-sized smartphones and phablets that boast superb screens for media and apps I am left wondering what the smartphone future has install for me?

Am to be restricted to the ranks of the less powerful mini smartphones in the future? Are pockets going to get bigger? Or, will we see a flip-style phablet launched that when folded can still find a home in my favorite trousers or pants (for those across the water).

How do you feel about the future prospects of mobile phones and do you see an innovation just around the corner?

You can view all the latest mobile phones, news and articles on Mobilephones.com.

Written by tech author Michael Brown.

Smartphone Selfie cameras to have more megapixels than main camera

An interesting question entered my mind yesterday as I pondered upon the latest smartphone announcements; Will the smartphones selfie camera soon have more megapixels than the main camera on the rear?

Last week I talked about the 5 megapixel selfie camera on the Huawei Ascend G6 in my article Cheap Phones and stated ‘ I am struggling to think of any smartphone that has a secondary camera this powerful’.

No sooner had I said this, the obvious happened and Huawei announced its new Ascend P7 which goes one better with an 8 megapixel selfie camera.

And so the scene is set.

Will a smartphone manufacturer give more megapixels to the selfie camera?

I believe there is a possibility that this will happen in the future although it would be most likely that it would not be one of the main brands that plays this gamble and tests the water.

I can imagine a great TV campaign around this as selfies are so hot at the moment and it would surely drive sales, particularly with the younger end of the market.

If Apple, Samsung, Nokia, HTC or Sony are listening then maybe you should give the selfie camera a boost in spec and maybe create the best selling phone of the year. Please don’t forget uncle Michael though when the bucks start rolling in!

Who has the best selfie camera?

If we take a look at the main players of the game then Huawei is the clear winner as mentioned above but you can see here the standings for the most popular phones:

• 1st - 8MP - Huawei Ascend P7 (release date June 2014)
• 2nd - 5MP - HTC One M8
• 2nd - 5MP - Huawei Ascend G6
• 4th - 2.2MP - Sony Xperia Z2
• 5th - 2MP - Samsung Galaxy S5
• 6th - 1.2MP - Apple iPhone 5s
• 6th - 1.2MP - Nokia Lumia 1020

Of course there are smartphones that have included timers or other tricks to allow the user to take a selfie with the phones main camera and although results are likely to be hit or miss it does show that the main brands are understanding the importance of this element.

Panoramic Selfie on the Huawei Ascend P7

If you are a selfie addict then why not take a look at this article ‘The best selfies ever taken’ and get some inspiration for your next pose!

If you think you know smartphones then there is one lesser well-known brand that has an 8 megapixel forward facing selfie camera.

Do you know which it is?

Digital cameras

Although most of us no longer purchase digital cameras as those in smartphones have improved so much that hasn’t stopped the camera manufacturers following the selfie trend too.

The best example I can find is the Samsung NX mini which has a 20.5 megapixel camera. On this device a rotatable touchscreen display pops out and allows the user to line up the perfect shot.

The fact that this is being experimented with opens up the possibility that we may in the future see once again a camera that rotates on a smartphone.

What are your thoughts and opinions?



By Mobile phone author Michael Brown

Are you sick of hearing about Apple vs Samsung?

By Michael Brown.

Have you got bored of listening to constant media and social chatter about Samsung vs Apple or how the HTC One has forward facing speakers?

If you have then maybe it is time to discover a few mobile phones made by manufacturers that do not throw out a huge amount of advertising and your mates at work probably are not talking about.

One such manufacturer is LG who are well-known for their TV line but do knock out decent smartphones too and you know that their TV screen expertise will be transferred onto their phone devices.

LG Optimus L7 II

The LG Optimus L7 II is a great example of a phone that has a wicked spec and a low price. It most definitely fits into what we call today a ‘mini’ with a screen that measures 4.3 inches. So, if you are looking for a pocket or bag friendly phone then this could be the device for you.

Optimus L7 II features

The first thing I love about this phone is the home button LED notification system. Okay so many phones have a flashing LED built in but this one operates with different colours depending upon the type of notification. Alerts can be set for incoming calls, messages, emails and calender reminders.

The design looks clean too with laser cut contours along the edges. The IPS display with True Colour will dazzle your eyes and have you wondering where phone and reality ends!

The Optimus range of phones have all featured the QuickMemo function and with the L7 II you can use your finger to write notes on top of any app or screen-shot. These can then be shared onto your social networking sites if you so choose.

Other top-notch features include cross-tasking with the QSlide feature, a high-capacity battery, language translations of foreign text written on signposts for example, Android operating system and a pretty decent 8 megapixel camera.

Price

In the UK there are some great LG Optimus L7 II deals that include up to £300 cash back. Take this into account and the rental works out at less that £8 per month.

If you don’t want a cash back deal then you can expect to find mobile phone deals from £11 per month.

The SIM free option isn't too expensive either coming in at under £160.