It’s no secret that FNB, First National Bank, is at the forefront of innovation at banking in South Africa, and actions are pointing at another first for South African banking from them.

FNB was the first bank that embraced social media, and since then has seen great success with its twitter consultant account, RBJacobs (FNB Guy), that helps FNB customers with quick solutions to problems they are experiencing as well as providing them with advice when they need it.

The last couple of weeks allot of FNB customers started asking about dedicated smartphone apps for the internet banking service, even though FNB gives customers access to mobile banking through their fnb.mobi site and through a USSD service, the company seems to have listened to their customers’ request and yesterday on twitter started asking around at what mobile platforms users would like apps for.

Shortly after users responded, FNB changed their profile picture by adding Apple, Android and BlackBerry logos to it, making it even more obvious that they will be launching smartphone apps. The FNB twitter account also mentioned that they will be announcing something today and questions answered by the account hinted that it may relate to dedicated smartphone apps for internet banking. This morning RBJacobs confirmed that today today they will be talking about the FNB App launch, confirming all the rumours.

Would you make use of a dedicated FNB smartphone app to do you internet banking? If so what platform would you prefer?

Yesterday I was lucky enough to have had a hands-on session with the all new Nokia N8. I must say that I was really impressed with the device and consider the Nokia N8 as the next level in multimedia smartphones.

For those of you interested in whats going on under the hood of the Nokia N8, here is a more detailed breakdown:

So what do you think? Is this the phone you are waiting to get your hands on?

The Samsung I8910 Omnia HD may be more than a year old already but it still stacks up against the better smartphones out there. In fact, I wouldn’t even go that far and call this phone a smartphone, cause its clear that when Samsung released this phone it was to satisfy the needs of all the multimedia junkies out there.

The I8910 Omnia HD features a 3.7″ AMOLED display ensuring that all things multimedia looks absolutely brilliant on the device. And when you have a 8 Megapixel camera capable of recording 720p HD Ready video you are sure to need a bright and colour rich screen like this.

The Samsung I8910 was the first phone that was capable of recording 720p HD Ready video, yet it never catched on as a must have device.

The 8 Megapixel camera on the I8910 is capable of taking gorgeous snapshots, even some closeup tests rendered crisp and clear images. The camera comes with all sorts of features, one that stood out to me was the panoramic setting that allows you to take 180 degree panoramic photos by just turning 180 degrees with the phone in your hand automatically taking a few snapshots and then auto stitching them together to render a seamless panoramic scene.

Another sign that the Samsung I8910 is built for multimedia is its support for video formats. Out of the box the I8910 supports DivX format allowing you to watch any DivX or XVid compressed video on the device, I tested it out with an episode of IT Crowd and playback was smooth and in sync. If I was on the go I could easily watch my series on the 3.7″ AMOLED screen.

Although the Samsung Omnia HD has all these great multimedia capabilities, one thing that kind of annoyed me was the interface. Me being used to Android now, I found it hard to get used to the Symbian OS on the I8910. That aside, I still think the interface is simple to operate, maybe too simple and that may be why I am not liking it and other power users will also.

The Samsung I8910 Omnia HD runs an ARM Cortex A8 600 MHz CPU with PowerVR SGX graphics to power that HD video playback and 3D games. It also features 7.2Mbps HSDPA, b/g WiFi and Bluetooth for all your networking needs and a Li-Ion 1500 mAh battery capable of 600 h standby time on 2G and 13 h 30 min talk time on 2G.

My conclusion, the Samsung I8910 Omnia HD is a superb multimedia phone, capable taking clear high resolution photos and HD Ready video with its 8 Megapixel auto focus camera and built in flash. Gaming graphics on the device is also superb and not to mention the DivX / XVid support. My wife loved this phone and if you are just like her and into photos and videos and like to take snaps on the go then this is the phone for you.

One thing where this phone could have been improved was perhaps with the operating system, but then again that is just me. If you are used to Symbian then it gives you just more reason to like it, I on the other hand would have loved to have Android run on this baby, luckily there is the Samsung Galaxy S out now.

All in all the Samsung I8910 gets my thumbs up as a superb multimedia device for people on the move.

If you are a real geek like me, you are always on the lookout for the next best smartphone deal. Gerhardt Fourie was kind enough to send through this list of specials currently available at MTN while he was busy shopping for his next smarthone.

Here is the specials currently going on at MTN for the month of August 2010:

As far as I know there is no pay-in fee for any of the above phones and the price is the monthly over a period of 24 months. The MTN 200 package includes R200 worth of airtime.

I am glad to see that Samsung is coming to the party with their new Galaxy S and Wave phones and at such a cheap prices. Please note that the N8 is only on pre-order atm and will only be available in September.

[Thanks Gerhardt Fourie]

With Apple, Black Berry and Android currently dominating the Smartphone Operating Systems market, all techies eyes was on Samsung when they announced that they will be ditching Symbian and introduce their very own Smartphone OS called Bada.

Samsung was already running the ever popular growing Android OS on some of their phones when they suddenly decided it was time to introduce their very own Smarphone Operating System Bada. Bada OS was introduced into the market a month back with the new Samsung Wave Smartphone.

Despite a lot of critique from the tech savvy users asking if there are place for another Smartphone OS, Samsung has proved that there is with the release of the Samsung Wave.

In just four weeks the new Bada based Smartphone has sold more than one million units world wide, that’s almost equivalent to the 3 million iPads Apple sold in 80 days. This just proves that Samsung means business with its new Bada OS.

The Samsung wave doesn’t just claim the title of the first Bada based Smartphone, but is also the first to have a super AMOLED display, and bluetooth 3.0.

I must still get my hands on a Wave handset but all in all the Samsung Wave looks like a good Smartphone and only time will tell if Bada has what it takes to become the Smartphone OS of choice.

Smartphones are currently taking the world by storm and is becoming the norm when it comes to choosing a phone. The only problem is that these phones are relatively expensive, but Vodacom is set to change that soon with the release of the Vodafone 546 smartphone.

Vodacom will be launching the cheapest smartphone available in South Africa soon with a price tag of a mere R400, but don’t expect too much for that price.

The Vodafone 546 features a TFT display with 256K colours running at a resolution of 320 x 240 pixels. It also has a 2MP camera, FM radio, full QWERTY keyboard and SD card support. Data capabilities include GPRS, EDGE and Bluetooth 2.1 support.

So these features may not look very attractive to you if you are used to a iPhone, Blackberry or Android phone, but for those looking for a cheap phone that can do allot for a next to nothing price, this will be their first choice.

At only R400 this is surely the cheapest smartphone available on the market, not the most attractive, and there are talks about a touch screen version to be launched as well for between R500 and R600.

Leaf is also set to introduce a lower end smartphone to the market by the end of June 2010 called the HTC Wildfire, whether is will be as cheap as the Vodafone 546 I doubt, but it does pack allot more.

Last night twitter was a buzz with Apple news, and one thing every Apple fanatic was waiting for was the announcement of Apple’s latest iPhone, the iPhone 4.

Steve Jobs started his keynote with “Here is something you already seen”, referring to the iPhone 4 that was lost.

When it comes to looks , Apple has again done a great job with the iPhone 4. Super slim and super sexy, in fact the iPhone 4 is the slimmest smartphone available on the market coming in at a mere 9.3mm thickness.

Another feature about the iPhone 4 that stood out to me was the Retina display, what this basically does is make the pixel density more allowing for a larger 960 x 640 resolution with crisper and clearer picture.

So its no secret that I am not a big Apple fan, and apart from the long battery life and the Retina display, the iPhone 4 is still just another smartphone.

The 5 Mega-pixel camera with LED flash, is something that is stock standard on most smartphones now a days, even the HTC Wildfire, a lower end smartphone comes with this. Also 720p HD video recording is also the norm on the latest smartphones, what makes the iPhone different here is that Apple developed an app where you can edit your videos on the go, unfortunately this comes at a price as everything with an i attached to it.

Thinking of importing this baby to South Africa? Maybe you should think again, to make space for the large battery in the  small iPhone 4, Apple had to use a micro sim slot. I am not 100% sure what the status are for microsims on South African networks, so maybe you should double check before importing a iPhone 4, on the other hand you can always trim your normal sim to make it fit.

Apart from the few features I pointed out the iPhone 4 is pretty stock standard when you compare it to say the HTC Desire. One think that really annoyed me about Apple and the iPhone 4 is the fact that they trying to introduce video calling on the iPhone 4 as a new technology called FaceTime. Come on Apple my Nokia of 5 years back could have done video calling, and better than the iPhone as FaceTime will currently only work over WiFi.

All in all the new iPhone 4 is really a beautiful device, something Apple gets right every time, but when it comes to features I am not yet convinced to make a switch.

If you are however a die hard Apple fan, the iPhone 4 is expected to ship 24 June.

Has HTC just launched the phone that could make it the leader in the Apple vs Google battle for smartphone domination? I may just think so with HTC’s latest smartphone to hit the market called the HTC Wildfire.

The release of the HTC Wildfire due in July 2010 comes on the heels of the new iPhone rumored to be launched around the same time. The new iPhone however is aimed at the high-end of the smartphone market, and this is where HTC saw the gap.

Android has been making great headway with the release of HTC’s latest smartphone, the HTC Desire, some saying that its better than Google’s own Nexus One. But again this smartphone is aimed at the high-end of the smartphone market.

This is where HTC has now introduced the HTC Wildfire, a almost clone of the HTC Desire but at way less a price. The HTC Wildfire is set to bring smartphones to the masses at a cheaper cost almost like they did with the HTC Tatoo, but the HTC Wildfire should not disappoint.

The HTC Wildfire comes with a 3.2″ touch screen just a tad bit smaller than the HTC Desire’s 3.7″, but maintaining the same 5-megapixel camera that the Desire has. The HTC Wildfire will also ship with a slower CPU than that of the Desire but great news is that it will come with Google’s latest Android Operating system, Android 2.2 also known as Froyo. The new Android Froyo is said to be four times faster than previous versions of the Android OS.

HTC’s main goal with the Wildfire is to bring smartphones to the masses at a cheaper cost, and also giving them tight social networking integration. “HTC Wildfire makes the HTC Sense experience available to young mobile users for the first time. It brings all your communications into one place, whether it’s through Facebook, Twitter, text messages, images or email, ensuring that you are never far away from the conversation and always close to your friends.” said Florian Seiche, Vice President, HTC EMEA.

Something new that the HTC Wildfire will add to Android is the ability for users to recommend applications through social networks, email or text messages through the new app sharing widget.

The HTC Wildfire will be available to the European market by July 2010, whether we will see it in South Africa, I have my hopes seeing as we got the HTC Desire almost immediately after it launched abroad.

Nokia announced their latest smartphone the Nokia N8, a smartphone that intuitively connects to the people, places and services that matter most.

With the Nokia N8, people can create compelling content, connect to their favorite social networks and enjoy on-demand Web TV programs and Ovi Store apps.

The Nokia N8 introduces a 12 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics, Xenon flash and a large sensor that rivals those found in compact digital cameras. Additionally, the Nokia N8 offers the ability to make HD-quality videos and edit them with an intuitive built-in editing suite. Doubling as a portable entertainment center, people can enjoy HD-quality video with Dolby Digital Plus surround sound by plugging into their home theatre system. The Nokia N8 enables access to Web TV services that deliver programs, news and entertainment from channels like CNN, E! Entertainment, Paramount and National Geographic. Additional local Web TV content is also available from the Ovi Store.

The Nokia N8 also features impeccable social networking integration, something that is crucial in this day and age. Users can update statuses, share locations and photos and view their live Facebook and Twitter feeds all from the N8′s home screen.

Free OVI Maps walk and drive navigation is also bundled with the Nokia N8 ensuring you will always find your way no matter where you are.

The Nokia N8 is powered by latest version of the world’s most used smartphone software, Symbian ^3.  Symbian ^3 introduces several major advances, including support for gestures such as multi touch, flick scrolling and pinch-zoom. The Nokia N8 also offers multiple, personalizable homescreens which can be loaded with apps and widgets. The new 2D and 3D graphics architecture in the platform takes full advantage of the Nokia N8’s hardware acceleration to deliver a faster and more responsive user interface. Symbian^3 also raises the bar in performance by delivering greater memory management allowing more applications to run in parallel for a faster multi-tasking experience.

What do you think, does the N8 have what it takes to compete with the likes of the new HTC Desire or iPhone HD soon to be released?

With the iPhone 4G expected to launch later this year and the tremendous uptake of smartphones, feature phones have been taking a backseat ride as people are now a days more concerned as to what apps a phone can run then the features it has.

I still believe features matter in a phone and every now and again a new phone gets released with some really great features that is worth mentioning. Leaked specs of the HTC Incredible reveal that it is just such a phone worth mentioning as it looks like one incredible device on paper.

The HTC Incredible will feature a 1GHz Snapdragon CPU, 8 GB internal memory, microSD memory card support, an 8-megapixel camera with autofocus and video capture, and a 3.7′-inch, 480×800 pixel OLED screen. Then there is the normal features that you’d expect from a smartphone like Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth, 3G, Accelerometer and the latest Android OS, Android 2.1.

The HTC Desire and Legend is set to launch in South Africa the 15th of April 2010, the HTC Desire will be the current top smartphone to hit the South African market. The HTC Incredible is set to top the HTC Desire with regards to specs and shouldn’t disappoint.

Now that’s one bad ass Android phone I would like to get my hands on.