The thieves, cheats, snoops and flashers of the mobile phone world

It has been a strange week on sister site Pocket Picks; a week that reflected humanity's less appealing characteristics. If mobile phone users can be considered a representative sample of the populace, then we've learned one thing conclusively; when we're not busy being deceitful and racy, we're behaving like loonies.

For starters, it came to light this week that 50 per cent of Brits regularly check up on their loved ones by reading their text messages!

Not all handset users are that bothered by privacy though; in fact, some are keen to use their mobiles as a tool for exhibitionism. Hence the release of PixMe TV, a sort of amateur porn version of YouTube for mobiles, but with the added incentive that each downloaded video generates a small quantity of income for whoever posted it.

Another saucy though much less graphic release this week was the new free mobile app 'Bra Quiz', a mobile game about, well surely we don't really have to explain this one. And continuing the theme of vice and villainy, a survey has concluded that 75 per cent of American professionals who own the device are physically addicted to their BlackBerrys, while in some parts of the UK it's almost impossible to get addicted to any sort of mobile gadget, given how often they're stolen.

Also on the devious tip, reprogramming or hacking phones on the sly is now going to result in a hefty jail sentence of five years. But if those doing the naughty ever feel the need to repent their sins, they can now download the Bible to their stolen handsets.

Elsewhere, Apple and EMI hit a historic accord this week, resulting in the (partial) removal of DRM from iTunes tracks; good news for any music lovers who long ago abandoned their iPod in favour an MP3 phone. Apple spent the rest of the week teasing gadget junkies, first of all with an email hinting again at a June release for the iPhone, and then by failing to confirm or deny the possibility of a 3G-equipped iPhone for the UK.

Now evidence of the aforementioned mobile loonies. This week saw a budding do-it-yourself gadgeteer fashion a Bluetooth mobile remote control system for his SAAB – the car, not the jet fighter, but impressively zany nonetheless. LG also embraced its inner clown by releasing a mobile phone that it claims is inspired by a banana. Never a dull moment, as they say.

Click 'Track It!' for some less illegal mobile content news next week.