News

Roaming Data Costs in EU to be Slashed

The average cost of using smartphones and tablets in the EU is to be more than halved under plans from Brussels to introduce price caps.

The EU wants to abolish premium charges for roaming data services – and is set to extend caps on mobile phone call roaming charges for a further four years to 2016.

It will be announced that from next year new price caps will be imposed on data downloads.

Surfing the internet or receiving emails while abroad will cost no more than 81p per megabyte from July 2012, falling to around 40p by 2014, compared with a current average of around £1.80.

It comes after an EU directive was introduced to force down the cost of making and receiving mobile phone calls while in Europe.

The proposals are part of a series of measures by Neelie Kroes, the EU commissioner responsible for telecommunications, to cut down on roaming charges by 2015.

Operators had hoped that special offers on roaming tariffs, including day passes and passport deals for offers while in other countries, would be enough to convince Brussels to drop price controls.

They were originally due to expire next July, five years after they were imposed despite industry objections.

Source: Sky News

Posted by: James

Sony Ericsson Xperia neo in Red – available now exclusively on Vodafone

Exclusively available to Vodafone in red, the brand new Sony Ericsson Xperia neo is powered by the latest version of Android, Gingerbread (2.3). With refined technology for easy use and a 3.7 inch touchscreen -  the quality is top notch.

The neo combines Sony BRAVIA image quality technology with HD video capabilities and an 8.1 megapixel camera. In addition, the device boasts a 2-megapixel front facing camera with face recognition, making it great for video calling.

Plus, with access to the thousands of apps available on the Android Market, you can improve everything on your handset from how you text and email through to how you like to receive the latest news and views.

The neo is available now, free on £26, 24 month price plans including 300 minutes, unlimited texts and 500MB of data. For more information, visit the Vodafone online shop.

If you missed our unboxing video you can see it here.

Posted by: James

BlackBerry stands at UK rail stations

The UK BlackBerry team will be hanging out at a selection of major railway stations over the next week or so. If you fancy a free coffee on them as well as a chat about your BlackBerry device, or if you are thinking of switching over to BlackBerry then why not pop along and have a chin-wag. You will also get a chance to win tickets to see Tinie Tempah as well as pick up a goodie bag!

You can find the BlackBerry stands at the following locations:

• Free coffee at BlackBerry Stand (London St Pancras) – Monday 4th July
• Free coffee at BlackBerry Stand (London Waterloo) – Tuesday 5th July
• Free coffee at BlackBerry Stand (London Liverpool Street) – Wednesday 6th July
• Free coffee at BlackBerry Stand (London Victoria) – Thursday 7th July
• Free coffee at BlackBerry Stand (London Paddington) – Friday 8th July
• Free coffee at BlackBerry Stand (Leeds Train Station)- Monday 11th July
• Free coffee at BlackBerry Stand (Manchester Piccadilly) – Tuesday 12th July 

Posted by: James

Facebook to have Skype video chat

Facebook and Skype are working together to bring in-browser video chat to the Facebook site. That’s according to a story posted by TechCrunch.

The report suggests that there will be a web-based component that would presumably require you to download and install something but could also, conceivably, interface with the full desktop version of Skype to bring this functionality. Perhaps recent updates to the Skype app. may include something already lurking there?

TechCrunch have been following Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg who apparently tipped off Seattle press that the company would be launching an “awesome” new product next week that has been built by Facebook’s Seattle team. The press invitations to that event went out today, saying nothing more than “Please join us for an event at Facebook” on July 6.

So lets see what Facebook come up with in a few days time. In any case I’m sure it’ll be interesting!

Posted by: Matt

HTC EVO 3D priced?

A little over a week ago HTC officially announced that the HTC EVO 3D was coming to the UK in quarter 3 of this year. HTC were not specific about the exact release date nor could they give any indication of the price but we did expect that it would exceed the price of the HTC Sensation by a small amount.

Today I was perusing the pages of Amazon looking at how their prices on smartphones stack up against the specialists that we know. Turns out that Amazon are not too badly priced, but still a bit more expensive than the specialist stockists. As expected really.

However, while looking at the like of the HTC Sensation on there I discovered that the HTC EVO 3D is already listed in Amazon.co.uk and is being offered for pre-order. The price is an eye-watering £569.99 which is £120 more than the HTC Sensation. Seems quite a high price to pay for the 3D screen when you consider the other spec is much the same as the Sensation.

On top of the £569.99 price tag Amazon.co.uk also says that the estimated release date is September 12th 2011. Now this I suspect is just an estimate but if HTC leave it till September for the EVO to go on sale I think that will be giving the likes of the LG Optimus 3D too much ground and the price difference between the Sensation and the EVO 3D is just too high.

It’ll be interesting to see what happens over the coming weeks and see what the final price becomes. Watch this space!

Posted by: Matt

Samsung Galaxy Z not coming to UK?

A few days ago we spoke about the Samsung Galaxy Z, the Galaxy S2’s smaller brother. It’s already been offered for pre-order in Sweden and it was thought to be coming to the UK soon too. However, according to several sources that have apparently had word direct from Samsung the Galaxy Z will not be making a UK appearance after all.

Although it is entirely possible that Samsung will change their minds, they seem all too keen to put the Galaxy name on anything and offer it for sale. Personally though I had thought this one made a great deal of sense filling a small gap in the market. The 1GHz dual-care CPU and slightly smaller than Galaxy S2 screen with Super LCD rather than AMOLED screen set it up to be that little bit cheaper than the beefy S2 whilst still offering a great deal of spec for the money.

Don’t be surprised if we see this go on sale in a month or so!

Posted by: Matt

BlackBerry Desktop Manager 2.1 for Mac adds PlayBook support

Great news for BlackBerry PlayBook owners as RIM have just provided an update for BlackBerry Desktop Manager for the Mac to now include PlayBook support.

Until now if you had a BlackBerry PlayBook you’d have been forced to use the PC version of Desktop Manager in order to backup and sync your device or if you wanted to add media to the PlayBook it was WiFi or nothing, leaving Mac owners out in the cold.

Thanks to this version 2.1 update, Mac users can now automatically sync music, movies, and photos between the PlayBook and their Mac via iTunes and iPhoto over USB. Awesome!

If you want to download the update head on over to BlackBerry.com to find the latest version.

Posted by: Matt

The Samsung Galaxy Z

This one is not available here in the UK yet and has only recently become ready for pre order on the Three network in Sweden. To sum the device up it is clearly a cheaper and not quite so well specced version of its big brother the Samsung Galaxy S II.

So how is the Galaxy Z different.  To start with it is a smaller device with a 4.2 inch screen as opposed to the 4.5 on the SGSII. We also lose the Super AMOLED Plus screen and in place we get a S-LCD. The camera has been downgraded to a 5MP but is capable of recording video in 720P HD. It is not quite as sleek and slender but still packs a punch when it comes to specs. Running Android 2.3.3 Gingerbread this new Galaxy could well be what many people have been looking for that could not afford or justify splashing the cash on a SGSII.

Lets just hope we get a UK announcement for this one. If the price is right I see it doing real well.

More specs can be seen below:

HTC UK gets a new boss

With the announcement of a new European office in Slough this week HTC has appointed Everything Everywhere director of devices Phil Roberson as its UK head.

The move follows former HTC UK & Ireland country manager Jon French’s promotion to a global role. In his new role, Roberson will be accountable for HTC UK’s performance, reporting to French.

During the last year Roberson is credited with brokering deals to get the iPad and iPhone on the T-Mobile network in his role as director of devices. He has also been championing the benefits of a multi-OS strategy within Everything Everywhere.

Prior to that he was head of terminals at T-Mobile. As well as overseeing the company’s handset portfolio his scope of influence extended to purchasing, trading, stock control and more.

I am pretty sure I sat next to Phil last year on a train and he was a very nice chap!

Posted by: James

Orange to refresh prepay tariffs and rewards

Rewards for users on prepay plans revised while call and text message charges rise slightly

Orange will refresh its price its prepay price plans and rewards in a move it said would make them richer to more customers. The changes are effective as of tomorrow (July 1).

Customers on the Dolphin and Monkey plans will receive 400 free text messages (an additional 100 SMS) plus free internet as a monthly reward for topping up £10 a month.

Canary plan customers will now be able to purchase the operator’s unlimited texts extra for £5 by texting ‘5’ to 6620.

In addition, call charges are rising from 20p to 25p on the Dolphin, Monkey and Canary plans while users on these plans, as well as Starter users, will be charged 12p per text as opposed to 10p.

An Orange spokesperson said: “Following a review of our pricing structure, we can confirm that Orange will be making some changes to its PAYG price plans from 1st July including improvements to Orange top up rewards and Extras. Orange PAYG top up rewards are now richer and Extras are available to more customers.

Source: mobilenewscwp

Posted by: James