Tag: uk

Networks far from convinced by Government not-spot solution

The UK Government are pushing harder for networks to fill holes in their coverage. As costs to plug gaps in remote or sparsely populated areas are usually high, they’re not always on the priority list, so Culture Secretary Sajid Javid has made it his mission to rectify this. …

HTC Desire EYE exclusive in the UK to Three

HTC are just announcing all the details of their new products over in New York, the HTC Desire EYE is one interesting device with dual 13 megapixel cameras. We have now heard that in the UK this will be exclusive to Three. It will be launched in the …

Amazon Fire exclusive to O2 UK

Amazon have just announced latest mobile phone – the ‘Fire’ – is to launch in the UK on the O2 network. Customers can register for more information right now. Visit your local O2 store and pre-order ready for launch on the 30th September when signing up to a £33 …

Samsung Galaxy S5 mini and Young 2 to arrive in the UK in days

The Samsung Young 2 and the Samsung Galaxy S5 mini are due to arrive here in the UK very soon indeed, so if that Galaxy S5 5.1″ screen is too much, you can have a slightly smaller one instead. Sasmsung tell us that the shrunk-down version of the …

Want a cheap smartphone? How about an Archos 50c

Archos have just announced a cheap smartphone for you. Well, actually they’ve announced two of them. The first is the Archos 50b Oxygen smartphone, which costs a mere £129. It has a full black laminated 5″ IPS HD screen and an 8 megapixel camera with 1080p encoding and …

Kazam! The octa-core Tornado and a peek inside the toy box

Want to start selling your own smartphone? It’s not easy, and the new kid on the block is Kazam. They appeared in June last year and wasted no time in getting several handsets and ranges out onto the market. I sat down with James Atkins, the Kazam CMO. …

EE to create over 1,000 new jobs

EE have announced today that they are to create over 1,000 new customer service jobs throughout Britain within the next 24 months. It means that, starting with 250 jobs in Northern Ireland later this quarter, EE will be bringing more “customer service jobs” (presumably call centre roles) back …

Nokia Lumia 1320 arrives in the UK

A few weeks before it started raining we heard about the new 6 incher from Nokia. The Lumia 1320, which comes complete with 8GB internal storage, 1GB RAM and a dual-core 1.7GHz CPU, runs Windows Phone 8 and has a 5 megapixel shooter at the back to add …

Three 4G expanding rapidly

Over the last month we’ve posted updates on the Three 4G service. This has started to rollout for customers and not just the 2800 that originally got an early look. We were lucky enough to test the new network during a trip to London, where we checked out …

New Year data usage up 80% on Vodafone

We recently heard how O2 saw a 62% increase in data usage over the New Year festivities. Vodafone have now been in touch and they’ve seen an even greater increase – their smartphone customers used 80% more data than New Year last year. It seems that texting, although …

New Advanced 3G Dongle on Three UK

When it comes to data access in the UK, many customers flock to Three due to their great pricing and high data allowances. Oh – plus the fact they have a very fast DC-HSPA network offering 3G speeds of up to 42Mbps. This new dongle, made by ZTE, …

LG G Flex coming to the UK in a matter of days

It’s bendy, it’s curvy. No, it’s not an Olympic gymnast, it’s the LG G Flex. EE have announced that the device will be arriving in selected stores this weekend. You’ll be able to try out the device and have a play with it but you can’t purchase it …

iPhone’s on Three start getting carrier updates

Three officially started to roll out 4G today to a select range of customers. They will continue to add more over time until everyone gets 4G enabled and just lives in a 4G area. One step to allow 4G access on an iPhone is a carrier update which …

Nexus 7 LTE now available in the UK

International Android fans rejoice! The Nexus 7 LTE is expanding its availability to several more countries starting today. Google Play is now selling the mobile data-enabled Nexus 7 in Australia, Canada, Germany, Spain, France, UK, Japan and Korea. Pricing in the UK is at £299 for the 32GB model …

iPhone 5S and 5C on UK 4G – Confusion reins

So, a quick look on the Apple website reveals something a little worrying. Based on this information, the only UK networks who will be able to make the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c work at 4G speeds are Vodafone and EE. Many websites have picked up on this …

Google Play Music All Access now available in the UK

    Kiss goodbye to your data allowance and prepare for the listenfest (is that a real word?  Bah – Who cares!) that is Google Play Music All Access. The service that launched at first in the US has made its way across the pond and now takes …

Many don’t intend on upgrading to 4G

Remember how we ran a survey about 4G? Remember how you told us that extra speed really wasn’t a big deal? Well, now Ofcom have done a similar survey and they’ve reached the same conclusion. Just under a quarter have absolutely no intention of going 4G. It seems …

O2 confirm 4G launch in UK

We all knew it was coming but, with EE stealing a March on their competitors, the other networks were keeping exact launch dates close to their chests. O2 appear to have broken ranks and is prepping for a launch on August 29th. Initially it’ll only be available in …

HTC One mini to arrive on EE and O2

You know all about the HTC One Mini by now. As a Coolsmartphone reader you’ll have already seen our hands-on pictures and videos, but what you might not know yet is that it’ll be hitting both the EE and O2 network too. We’ve just had confirmation that the …

EE pass 500,000 4G customers

EE have sent a press release out this morning confirming that they’re 4G network has now passed the 500,000 customers. They are well on their way to hitting 1 million by the end of the year – a goal set by the company themselves. EE also highlight a few other …

EE announce new 30 day 4G plans

EE have just announced new 30 day rolling SIM-only contracts here in the UK. The new plans will allow access to the 4G network without the long commitment. Customers can then try 4G to see how it works for them and sign up to a longer deal with …

Confirmed – HTC First UK launch cancelled

Over a week ago we reported that the HTC Facebook phone – the “First” – had vanished from the “Coming Soon” section of the EE website. We reached out to EE about this and, at the time, they told us that they still intended to range the handset …

O2 to make mid-contract swapping easier with O2 Refresh

You know how it is. You’re on the bus with your Samsung Galaxy S2 or HTC Desire S and some flash Harry steps on with the latest HTC One, iPhone 5 or Samsung Galaxy S4. It’s a pain, but we’re all resigned to either waiting our turn for …

Google Play cards now in UK

Looks like Android users in the UK can finally pick up Google Play vouchers so no need for card details to be saved for app purchases, perfect if you are worried about charges adding up or your kids trying to buy apps or games on their own device …

Three say “neigh” to data limits

Three have gone a bit pony with their new ad campaign. The new commercial features a moonwalking Shetland Pony (yes, you read that right) and you’ll be able to share version of the ad through an online remix tool – ponymixer.com. It’s to promote the fact that people …

Galaxy Fame heading to Three

Three have just announced that the brand new Galaxy Fame from Samsung will be heading to their network on both contract and PAYG plans. Although no price or date has been confirmed we at least we now know of a new device coming soon. With MWC less than …

Field Trip now available in the UK

Just like those school trips you used to take, this app will help you discover the world around you. It’ll pop up with interesting info on events happening in the area you’re in. Created by Google, you can learn about local history, local music, restaurants, places of interest …

HTC Butterfly flies past Europe

Quick summary then. The HTC Butterfly has a 1920×1080 5″ 1080p screen with 440 PPI resolution, quad-core 1.5GHz CPU, 8 megapixel camera (and another 2.1 megapixel shooter up front), a long-life 2020 mAh battery and it’s all powered by Android. It was launched at the start of this …

Google Play now lets you redeem gift cards

On Friday Dan told you about Google gift cards and how they’re headed to the UK. Yesterday I did a check and, sure enough, there’s the chance to Redeem gift cards in the menu of Google Play. There’s one problem though. You simply can’t buy Google gift cards …

Google Wallet coming to the UK? [UPDATE]

One of our eagle-eyed readers (thanks, Daniel!) has spotted a signup page for Google Wallet – on Google UK, no less. The signup page, located at www.google.co.uk/wallet/, promises that the next version of Google Wallet is “coming soon”, presumably with UK support. This signup page is nothing new – the …

EE 4G 4D in Battersea

Listen, I’ll fess up. We were offered a sponsored post. You’ve seen the adverts already and heck, we would’ve got 10p for every view of the video below. HA! Christmas in the Caribbean baby. But no, we’ve got our standards. I mean sure, I once posted about an …

Mobile networks – Can they take the strain of mobile data?

The Internet is changing. Pirate sites are getting blocked, bandwidth is managed and now providers like Verizon to throttle down speeds for anyone daring to download illegally pirated material. Despite all that, data use is on the rise, and people seem to be ignoring public WiFi hotspots too. …

The 4G tryout

As a big promoter of data use on mobile phones, I’ve already pushed the boundaries. Over a year ago I did the AYCE Challenge on Three and used 44GB in two weeks (no really, here’s my bill). The end result? No extra charge for data use – even …

EE 4G – My review

My thoughts on the 4G LTE technology? Well, to be honest it’s taken be back in time. This is both a good and bad thing, and I’ll explain why. I’m old enough to remember a time when mobile phones weren’t in everyone’s pocket. My first phone was a …

Could Google and Microsoft be looking into UK broadband?

Google and Microsoft have been rumoured to have been showing “extreme interest” into providing mobile broadband/wifi here in the UK. The UK’s airwaves currently have “White space.” White space is segments of the current spectrum between those bands being used for TV, Radio and the mobile phones. Currently …

3G Issues on 3. Data down.

Note: If you are looking for information on the data issues from the 4th June 2013, click here. Several users of the 3 network are reporting a complete data outage this morning. Users have taken to social networking site Twitter to complain that they are getting limited or …

On test – How does EE 4G perform in the real world?

You’ve seen the news and the TV reports. A reporter, stood inside or next to an EE store slap-bang in the centre of London or Manchester. He lifts the handset, does a speed test and tells us how great 4G is. I could have done the same, but …

4G in the UK goes live. EE is go.

Today marks the launch of 4G here in the UK. Beginning with 11 cities, EE will also offer a fibre broadband service to some 11 million premises too. The company is throwing in £1.5 billion into this roll-out and their 4G network will expand by 2,000 square miles …

4G Speeds – A reality check

I’ve written about this before, but I think we need a revisit today. Last night we gave you the pricing and plans for the UK’s first 4G network – EE. It’s provoked quite a response and a lot of questions. Some expected something different. Perhaps more data allowance …