Nokia 1100 gets highly sought after for its potential criminal use.

One of the most popular handsets in the world - Nokia 1100 has found itself in the middle of a banking fraud scandal, according to a Dutch investigator. Allegedly, criminals are paying an arm and a leg for working second hand units of the once-50-euro handset that are manufactured in Nokia plant in Bochum, Germany.

Investigators are observing huge amounts of money being offered for the outdated handset recently. The largest recorded sum up to now is 25,000 euro (about 32,000 US dollars), which is about 11 times its weight in gold. According to the investigators the criminals are looking to acquire only units that are manufactured in the Bochum plant of the company.

The supposed reason behind this peculiar requirement is that those handset most probably come with flawed software or hardware, which allows them to be hacked and used to make a working copy of someone else's phone line.

When set up this way, the Nokia 1100 receives the same calls and most importantly text messages that the original recipient gets, without them ever suspecting anything.

The loophole that the criminals are allegedly using is that many European banks now send temporary transaction authentication numbers or mTANs as SMS to the account holders as a security feature for authorizing online money transfers.

This is where the supposedly counterfeit-capable Nokia 1100 handsets step in. As they receive the SMS intended for the authorized account holder, criminals can acquire a working mTAN and initiate a transfer after they have stolen the needed online ID credentials in some other way.

At this stage Nokia have refuted those accusations claiming that they have not identified any flaw or wormhole in their phone software that would allow the alleged use cases.

However, the investigations still continue.

Samsung Blue Earth Solar-Powered Phone (David Lim, Auckland, New Zealand)

Samsung's the first Solar Powered Full-touch Screen Phone, named Blue Earth($TBA). Samsung develops this green phone to reduce CO2 emissions. It features Solar Panel on the back of the phone, made from recycled plastic extracted from water bottles, recycled packaging; adjusting screen brightness, backlight duration and Bluetooth can all be adjusted in an energy-efficient mode called "Eco mode" and even an "eco walk" function that lets the user count their steps with an in-built pedometer, calculating how much CO2 emissions have been reduced. The Samsung Blue Earth will be available in the UK during the second half of 2009.

Mobile phone Backupa and Rescue (Auckland, New Zealand)

What makes smashing or losing a mobile phone such a pain is the fact that few phone owners sync or back up their contacts, images and songs stored on the gadget.

Some mobile stores now use transfer devices that allow customers to walk away with their contacts and media on a USB stick, or to transfer everything when upgrading.

But increasingly, mobile apps are able to do "over the air" back ups of contacts, diaries, and data to remote storage servers.

"That means that when you leave the store, all of your mobile content is automatically backed up," said Dianne Canham from mobile synchronization firm CelleBrite.

"The user doesn't actually have to instigate anything like going on the internet, or download anything, as this happens automatically," she said.

How Tough is your phone?

Putting your life in your handset is risky, especially if you kill it. But at the 2009 MWC, i-mate showed off a handset that can take much more punishment than most.

Named after a US military spec, the 810-F can be dropped from three metres (10 feet), works in temperatures ranging from sub-zero to 60 degrees Celsius, is dustproof, and water resistant.

Dan put its toughness to the test by driving over it in a car. It stayed in one piece and even its touchscreen was still working.

If you prepared to splash out £600 on this handset when it comes out in April, then you too could impress your friends. One of its useful features is that your data can be protected if you lose it.

"If this device is lost or stolen, you can log in at any place and set a lock, an alarm, and even wipe the data located on the phone at any time," said Michael Cavey, sales director at i-mate. "And if it is damaged we'll replace it."

Add power to your mobile phone: Qualcomm's SnapDragon

First on the list of common annoyances are underpowered smartphones that take too long to perform tasks or crash when more than two applications are open. One potential answer could be Qualcomm's Snapdragon chipset which its makers claim is about 50% more powerful than those in current smartphones.

The first versions of the chipset run at 1Ghz and help to power hi-res graphics, new user interfaces, while running Windows Mobile.The Toshiba TG01 is the first handset to sport it. Qualcomm is working on a version that runs at 1.5Ghz - which, it claims, will be broadly equivalent to the processors found in most netbooks.

Enrico Salvatori, vice president at Qualcomm, said the chipset's ability to support applications is what makes "the mobile internet user experience compelling". "The Snapdragon is delivering high performance in terms of multimedia, video, high definition, encoding and decoding, and supporting of a camera", he said.

Qualcomm has also developed Mirasol screens that draw their inspiration from structures found in nature. The screens use tiny amounts of battery power and can be seen in bright daylight. Reflective properties on the device's screen produce brighter images outdoors, according to Cheryl Goodman-Schwarzman from Qualcomm MEMS. "Colour comes in to the display, and it reflects back out colour. The brighter the light, the clearer the display," she said.

imate JAM, JASJAR PDA, Phone Repair & Unlock, Auckland, New Zealand

Kiaora and greetings from Omni Tech Limited. We are the leading mobile repair specialist in New Zealand. Our team is highly trained and qualified mobile phone engineers. Besides that our repair centre is equipped with cutting-edge hardware and up-to-date software to cater for mobile phone repairs. Now we even repair Apple iPhone, iPod and Sony PSP Players.

Our areas of specialisation are:
(1) Hardware and software repair.
(2) LCD, speaker, microphone, housing replacement.
(3) Phone unlock (lost PIN number) and network unlock
(4) Language change and software update
(5) Water damaged and impact damaged repair.
(6) 3G Apple iPhone software updated to Ver. 2+

We cater for professional mobile phone repair services for mobile devices such as GSM and CDMA mobile phones, PDA, SmartPhone, Window Mobile Phone, Apple iPhone (2G/3G) and Apple iPod. Please note that our turnaround time for repair is no more than four (4) work days (excluding shipping time or waiting time for phone parts).

Currently we are providing out-of-warranty repairs and supports for authorised mobile phone dealership, insurance sectors, transport industries, construction firms and tourism sectors.
We will be pleased to offer your company the following services:
(1) Inspection with technical report
(2) Provide out-of-warranty repair on hardware and software
(3) Free price quote/estimate of repair cost
(4) Sourcing for spare parts and accessories (phone, PDA, etc).