Tag: eu
OK, the letters “GDPR” will probably spark confusion here. If you’ve had any involvement in it at work, you’ll probably have a cold sweat right now. However, for everyone else it’s a really good thing. Set out by the EU, it stands for “General Data Protection Regulation” and …
The phone company that no-one can pronounce (apparently it’s “show me”) has today launched a couple of new phones. The first is the Mi Note 10. It’s the latest episode in the Mi Note flagship series, and comes with a bonkers 108 megapixel camera setup. In addition to …
OK, stop everything. Let’s talk pricing before we go any further. This has just been launched here in Madrid with a starting price of €399. €399! That’ll get you 6GB RAM and 64GB storage. Cheap. Really cheap. There’s an 8GB + 128GB version for €449 and a 12GB …
Thanks to the many benefits of being in the EU, you can go abroad right now and benefit from inclusive roaming on your phone. If you’re on Vodafone, you get 5G roaming, and this has just expanded so that 62 towns and cities deliver the super-speedy system. Vodafone …
Let’s not try and get into politics. You can probably guess my stance as I’ve been lucky enough to visit several European countries over the years and I really can’t see any tangible benefit of leaving. As part of the EU, Britain has access to 36 free trade …
Things are moving uncomfortably quickly here in Britain. It doesn’t matter whether you voted to Leave or to Remain, this mess is not what anybody was promised or expected. The situation, as I type, is that the “Theresa May Deal” is to come back, for a third time, …
I think it’s fair to say that, if you can afford it, you’ll have a bit more confidence travelling to the USA for your holiday this year. With a Hard Brexit, Soft Brexit or No Brexit still being discussed, there’s a huge amount of confusion over whether flights …
OOoohh… bit dangerous this. Driving a bus round with promises written on the side. How much do we believe that ? 🙂 So, whilst Parliament goes into a full-on meltdown about a Brexit which nobody can agree on, Three have driven up and down the road outside to …
Brexit is an unmitigated clusterfuck. I’ve never, in my life, seen something handled so badly. The referendum was full of lies and illegal spending. Money came from off-shore and, with media organisations living in a world where clicks matter and truth does not, people were sucked in by …
Back in 2017, mobile phone firms here in the UK were banned from charging customers extra fees to use their UK allowance of minutes, texts or (most) data when in the European Union. It’s so freeing. To pop out of the Eurostar in France, to get off the ferry, …
Following on from their debut in France with the Find X, OPPO have today announced that their R series flagship product, the R17 Pro (also called RX17 Pro), will be arriving in European markets on November 16th. Pricing is €599, which is around £523, but expect to see …
After the disastrous handling of Brexit, I’m perhaps less inclined to believe what politicians say now. After all, the current Chequers Brexit Plan was knocked up in a weekend, and I don’t tend to trust things that we cobbled together that quickly. However, Brexit secretary Dominic Raab has …
As we mentioned earlier, SMARTY, the simple SIM only network, are backed by Three. Travelling within the EU, as you would expect, is included in your normal usage. You can head to Paris, Barcelona, Madrid, where-ever. Just use your phone as you would back in the UK. Further …
Whether you’re voting for a new US President or you’re deciding to be part of the EU, in 2016 something new happened. Social media giants allowed a “Wild West” to be created in the digital world. Unregulated and targeted adverts to be pushed hard into the psyche of …
As you may have read here on Coolsmartphone recently, Google Android was given a huge fine by the EU after exploiting their control over the Android OS. They were, it seems, reducing the appearance of rivals. However, with another huge fine being pushed through the door, people are …
Last year, after a lot of waiting and a lot of discussion, we finally got proper roaming across the bulk of Europe. It doesn’t cost you any extra, and many Brits are only just realising what a good thing it actually is. Fly to Germany, Spain, Cyprus and …
On a recent trip abroad, which happened in an EU country after the big “roam like home” rules applied, there was a definite split between the age groups on phone usage. Some mom’s and dad’s in restaurants still hunted for the free WiFi, but elsewhere on the beach …
Can our hung parliament and chaotic government really “take back control” from the EU? Who knows, but it does raise an interesting question. What will happen with our newly-acquired EU roaming deal? After Brexit, if we ever get it sorted out, will Brits see a return to the …
Today is June 15th 2017. This article, though, will be ignored by many. For reasons I can’t quite understand, it’s difficult to get clear and concise information across to some. I noticed this at the airport recently. We’d just landing at BHX (Birmingham Airport) and, despite standing next …
Here in the UK we’ve had our fair share of elections and referendums. Nobody seems to be in control and #Brexit is slowly turning into a bit of a mess. No worries though, because we’re still part of the EU, and the good thing about that is that, …
Today, here in the UK, it’s time to vote. Have you decided which party you’re going to vote for? If so, how exactly did you come to your conclusion? Perhaps now, more than ever, your decision won’t have been made after reading the manifesto of each party. If …
Wanna know what’s good? The fact that, on June 15th, you don’t need to worry about using your mobile when you travel out of the UK and into the rest of Europe. Now sure, we don’t know what is truly going to happen when Brexit kicks in, but …
Let’s put aside the “Trump” business and all the #Brexit news shall we? I’m here to tell you that being part of Europe is a good thing.. for your phone bill. Whilst we in the UK are part of it, roaming charges are no longer a problem. From …
Silicone Vally is not having an easy time at the moment. The worries of the incoming Trump administration have started to show, it turns out no one can work out how to do cars, and it appears their long replied on Irish tax loop hole is closing fast. …
OK, story so far then. We’re all fairly familiar with the “bill shock” that comes with a trip across a local border here in Europe. Take a short trip on the Eurostar and your phone suddenly costs a whole lot more to use than it does back home. …
Hey people. It’s Friday. We can wind down now, possibly get on a plane and go and get some sunshine yeah? Well, if that’s the plan, you can always get yourself a Three SIM and enjoy their “Feel at Home” service. As you know by now, it’ll let …
It’s a company which is big and, like many others, is “careful” about how taxes are paid. By “careful” we of course mean that they try to avoid paying any if they can. A lot of large companies do this and a lot will offer the same defence …
I like Honor. They’re clever, produce good handsets and they price them sensibly. In certain ways it’s like the early days of branded HTC handsets. HTC were always keen to show us their kit and they wanted to impress. They were proactive and eager. Now Honor are doing …
Hutchison (owners of Three) badly wanted to grab O2. Following disapproval by UK competition watchdogs, they tried everything to change minds. They added guarantees that prices for O2 and Three customers would be frozen for five years. They’d also promised £5 billion of investment and to open their …
If you’re planning to use your mobile phone across Europe then, until now, Three has been your best bet. Their “Feel At Home” offering let’s you use your phone as you would in the UK, but across European destinations such as France, the Republic of Ireland, Sweden, Spain, …
Want the Google Play store installed on your phone? Google makes the installation of Google Android apps a prerequisite. They simply have to be preinstalled, which in turn gives itself a monopoly in the market. This is upsetting the anti-competition heads in the EU. If proved guilty, Google …
This past year I’ve travelled around Europe quite a bit and the data roaming and connectivity costs are just insane. We were promised by the European Commission that this would all be sorted out soon enough. Now I don’t care who I upset, this is a massive cash …
When is free, not free? Or free, kinda, but not quite all the time. Except… mostly. Yep, we’re talking about those apps and games which are built around the freemium model. There’s more than one way to build a freemium app. The first way is to build a …
It has been a long time coming but the European parliament has voted to scrap all roaming charges from 15th December next year, assuming it is approved by all the individual governments. The vote was 534 to 25 so heavily in favour, possibly due a recent survey that found …
We all know that using a phone abroad can be very expensive especially for data. There may be hope on the horizon though thanks to this woman. This is Neelie Kroes and she is the European Commissioner for Digital Agenda. With EU roaming charges already set to drop …
If you’re in the US you’ll know that, whether you’re in New York or Los Angeles, calling your friends in other American cities isn’t that expensive. However, if you live in the UK and travel the short distance to France you’ll suddenly find that calling costs ramp up. …
Following recently announced roaming deals from Vodaphone and Three, T-Mobile are the latest to announce their roaming offering ahead of the new EU billing rules that apply from 1st July 2012. Known as Internet and Broadband Travel Boosters and available from 19th June, the operator is making several choices …
At first there was the US Department of Justice, then there was the European Union. More recently there have been battles with HTC, Samsung, Motorola and now a war of attrition seems to be building with Google. Microsoft’s lawyers must be laughing all the way to the bank. …
After the Ofcom ruling where networks have to lower the cost of roaming within the EU, O2 have today announced their plans starting from 1st July and initial impressions look very good. Data will now cost you £1.99 for a day when you connect and that will get …
There is some good news for smartphone users that travel throughout the European Union today as the European parliament voted to place a cap on the cost of mobile roaming charges. To take effect from July, the rates are to be limited to 24p per minute for calls and …
