Author Archive: Gareth

Report says EU may okay mobile charges for accepting calls

European mobile phone users may have to pay US-style charges for receiving calls after Viviane Reding, the EU telecoms commissioner, said she was prepared to accept the industry changing its longstanding business model.

In an interview with the Financial Times, she signalled she was poised to propose rules to cut the cost for Europeans when sending text messages while abroad. She is considering taking similar steps to cut the cost of web surfing on mobiles while overseas.

Vodafone HTC Touch Diamond

Vodafone are now showing the HTC Touch Diamond as coming soon on their business website.

Feature rich Windows Mobile 6.1 device utilising HTC’s new Touchflow UI. This device is in a tablet form factor meaning it is touch screen only. The Diamond surpasses the iPhone in all aspects (vodafones word not ours), the key differentiator is the inherent flexibility of the Diamond. It comes loaded with Vodafone Email Plus and the Vodafone Sat Nav program. Launch expected in July.

via Vodafone

10 Things the new iPhone must have (Look back)

I posted an article at the end of May with a list of 10 must have features the iPhone 3G must have for it to be a worthwhile upgrade. I thought it would be interesting to look back at the article and see what we have been given by Apple and what’s been missed and see if it’s a worthwhile upgrade.

iPhone 3G Podcast Special, T4 Show and Mobile Tech Addicts

Just spent a great hour discussing the impending launch of the iPhone 3G with Michael Manna of the T4 Show. In this episode (65) we discuss O2 iPhone 3G contracts, O2 HSDPA networks, pay as you go, highs and lows from the WWDC iPhone 3G announcements, what was disappointing and what was good and the upcoming App Store.

You can listen to the show directly here. or subscribe in iTunes here.

Thanks to Mike for inviting me onto the T4 Show.

Update Spookcall closes after one week

Spookcall, the UK’s first caller ID-spoofing service available to the general public, has decided to close less than one week after launch.

We reported the launch of the controversial service on Monday. It allowed anyone to impersonate any other phone number on a call recipient’s caller ID display. Spookcall also offered customers the ability to disguise their voice using software. It cost £5 for every 10 minutes of faked calling.

Vodafone UK claim to have the fastest Mobile Broadband ?

Vodafone UK is the most reliable and the fastest network for mobile broadband according to LCC International, the largest independent wireless engineering company in the world.

The conclusion follows 28,000 network tests throughout March, April and May 2008 and comes a month after Vodafone UK announced it would start to do more to simplify mobile broadband for customers and talk less about theoretical possibilities and more about real speeds and actual benefits.

LG VX8610 first phone with built-in Bluetooth headset

LG has launched a sliderphone handset with an integrated Bluetooth earpiece – a world first, the company claimed.

The handset’s dubbed the ‘Decoy’ – or, more formally, the LG-VX8610. As you can see from the pics, the headset slips into a bay on the back, where it’s kept charged up and ready to be released at the push of a spring-loaded button.

O2 Brings 3,000 New Wi-Fi Hotspots to iPhone Customers

O2 today announced a deal with BT Openzone to enhance the unlimited Wi-Fi package offered to all iPhone customers. From July 11th, iPhone users will have access to more than 3,000 BT Openzone premier Wi-Fi hotspots as part of their monthly tariff, for no extra cost.

Review : ASUS EEE PC 701 XP

I have had the Asus Eee PC 701 in my hands or should that read hand, for the last few days and to be honest I wasn’t expecting very much from this as I have used quite a few UMPC devices before all running Vista and found the compromises to be too great to be useful and performance very poor.

Well I have to say my opinion has turned full circle after using this little device for a couple of days.

Review: SMS-Chat and Fun Contact from Vito for WinMo

Vito software, a Russian mobile software development house has recently updated to of their applications SMS-Chat and Fun Contact.  Both applications make SMS and Contacts on your Windows Mobile device far more finger friendly.  I’ve been using them every day for a while and after the jump you’ll find some more details on these excellent applications, available for sub £10 each.