Vectone Mobile offering 1GB of data for.. £1!

No, I’ve not heard of them either but, if you pop along to Poundland or buy one of these online, you can get 1GB of days over 30 days worth for just a quid.

If you go into the high-class Poundland stores you can pick a Vectone Mobile SIM up for just £1 (yes, a pound. who’da thought it eh?), and that’ll include £10 worth of credit for calls, texts and internet. However, the inclusive credit won’t give you the deal mentioned below, so you will need to top up on the Vectone website where, right now, a £5 “Data Pocket” 1GB bundle is only £1. Deal. If you’re buying a tablet as a present with mobile data, put your hood up and slip into Poundland and grab one of these SIMs so that the person receiving the gift can browse anywhere.

If Poundland is beneath you, try buying a SIM card from the Vectone website, and then top up from this page for your super-cheap data.

Tesco Mobile offering the Moto G for £99

It’s sadly showing as unavailable when we click on the listing but, if you can find it, the Moto G is now just £99 at Tesco.

If you’ve got 99 Clubcard points you can buy it that way but, for 99 quid, this is a steal. It comes from a name you know and has a 5 megapixel camera (plus a 1.3 megapixel front shooter), 4.5? 1280×720 pixel screen (329 ppi), 8GB of internal storage, WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS and it runs Android 4.3 Jelly Bean.

So next time you’re in Tesco getting a loaf of bread, have a looksie in the Tesco Mobile section and pick yourself up a Moto G for less than £100. You can double the Tesco points if you’re a loyalty card user, and get it unlocked fairly cheaply too, so it seems like a winner to us.

Spotify reportedly adding free, ad-supported listening to mobile apps

According to the Wall Street Journal Spotify is planning free, ad-supported listening for its iOS and Android apps.

In the past, Spotify has limited mobile listening to “Premium” paying members. Free, ad-supported listening was only available on desktop and laptop computers.

With the policy change, non-paying listeners will soon get a limited number of songs with ads in between, the report says. Spotify has inked a deal regarding rates to play songs with Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group, and Warner Music Group.

Thursday’s news from Spotify comes at a time when iTunes Radio and Rdio have been making a foray into the music streaming scene, so extending free listening to mobile could be seen as a way for Spotify to grow its user base. How Spotify treats free listeners will be similar to Pandora’s tactics of offering limited skips and streaming.

Spotify announced in July more than 20 per cent of the people who use the service regularly end up buying subscriptions.

Spotify declined to comment on the rumour.

Source Wall Street Journal

Flying high with mobile in flight

 

It has recently been announced that flyers in the US can now use their gadgets on all parts of the flight, all the way from take off to landing.

Now, Europe is coming in to line with this ruling after the European Aviation safety Agency (EASA) issued guidelines to “extend to all phases of flight the possibility to use personal electronic devices (PED) such as tablets, smartphones, e-readers and mp3 players”.

The ruling is still subject to review by individual airlines and should be implemented by the end of November, although guidelines also state that devices should be used in Airplane mode thus ensuring that no SMS or calls can be sent or received.

This is a major step in the process of expanding the freedom to use personal electronic devices on-board aircraft without compromise in safety,” said Patrick Ky, EASA Executive Director.

The EASA also said that they are “looking at ways to certify the use of mobile phones on-board aircraft to make phone calls.”  If this comes to fruition then get ready to listen to hour upon hour of others conversations in-flight. Oh joy!

Source: Android Community

Opis 60s Classic Mobile Review

It’s kinda hard to start with this one. This is a classic 1960's-style phone. If you’re old enough you may remember seeing one of these on a special table at home. A few decades ago people would rent these from the telephone company. I know, it seems strange looking back.

Now it has returned. It weighs a lot less, let me tell you. This is easy to carry around and there’s a comfortable handle at the back of the headset so that you can take it anywhere.

This particular model is, effectively, a large mobile handset. You plug it into the wall to charge and then you can unplug it and use it like your home cordless phone. However, you can also take it outside – anywhere you wish. It’s because, at the bottom there’s a SIM card slot where you can put any SIM card. I’ve put the Ovivo SIM card in that basically costs me nothing per month.

In the box you get a manual which details how to setup speed-dials and the local area code system. Put simply, this means that you can stick your local area code into this phone to simulate a home phone. If you call a local number you don’t (like most mobile handsets) have to put in the local area code once you’ve set it up. 0121 123 4567 then becomes just 123 4567 and so on.

So no, you won’t get text messages or the internet, but you do get a simple-to-use phone. Stick your SIM card in, charge it up and you’re ready to go. At the bottom there’s three LED’s to let you know if anything is going wrong. They’ll signify if there’s an issue with the SIM (by the way, you can enter a SIM unlock code using the rotary-dial system too), the battery or the signal. There’s also a big switch which is pretty self-explanatory to be honest.

Yes, using the rotary dial can be a little cumbersome and seems very old-fashioned at times but you can store 9 quick-dial numbers and hey – it’s got a PROPER BELL. Yes, a BELL. There’s no speaker here, this is a proper ringtone.

I’m guessing you’re puzzled at this point. Why would anyone want a classic style phone like this to carry around? Why the heck would they want it in their car? Well, it definitely raises eyebrows, that’s for sure. However, I think I’ve found another way that this can be used, and it may have already become clear when I mentioned the local area code system.

Elderly relatives, or those who’d perhaps like an extra line, would definitely be interested in this. Think about it. If you’re at an age where the internet doesn’t appeal and you’re fed up with the line rental costs plus the call charges, you can easily get yourself a £5 SIM-only deal from websites like MoneySupermarket – even cheaper if you want. If you disconnect your home phone line this, with the local area code behaviour, would be a cheaper option.

What would you rather do? Pay £15 per month in line rental for a fixed-line phone plus additional charges or £5 per month for this?

Plus it’s cordless, so you can unplug it from the mains and carry it around the house, perhaps pretending that you’re on some old ’80s comedy show.

It’s also ideal as an additional line, perhaps for a home business. Better still, there’s three different versions. First is a classic wired landline version – the Opis 60s Cable – which costs £59. Second is the Opis 60s Micro, a version that plugs into your smartphone, tablet or ultrabook for Skype etc – that’s only £19. This is the mobile version and you can get it from Amazon or Opis-tech.com for around £109.

All in all I loved the thing. This is proper out-of-the-box thinking and I’d like to see other home-phones with SIM cards in.

If people call you they’ll be using their packaged minutes, which is a winner. If you call them on their mobile number you’ll be paying (probably) a lot less than you would calling from a regular home phone, which is a winner. The battery life is epic, which is a winner. Great.

It takes us back to a time when pulse-dial was the norm and, AND… A N D …. it has a bell.

Love this. Stunning.

It's kinda hard to start with this one. This is a classic 1960's-style phone. If you're old enough you may remember seeing one of these on a special table at home. A few decades ago people would rent these from the telephone company. I know, it seems strange looking back. Now it has returned. It weighs a lot less, let me tell you. This is easy to carry around and there's a comfortable handle at the back of the headset so that you can take it anywhere. This particular model is, effectively, a large mobile handset. You plug it into the wall to charge and then you can unplug it and use it like your home cordless phone. However, you can also take it outside - anywhere you wish. It's because, at the bottom there's a SIM card slot where you can put any SIM card. I've put the Ovivo SIM card in that basically costs me nothing per month. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-SYVxyz2hE In the box you get a manual which details how to setup speed-dials and the local area code system. Put simply, this means that you can stick your local area code into this phone to simulate a home phone. If you call a local number you don't (like most mobile handsets) have to put in the local area code once you've set it up. 0121 123 4567 then becomes just 123 4567 and so on. So no, you won't get text messages or the internet, but you do get a simple-to-use phone. Stick your SIM card in, charge it up and you're ready to go. At the bottom there's three LED's to let you know if anything is going wrong. They'll signify if there's an issue with the SIM (by the way, you can enter a SIM unlock code using the rotary-dial system too), the battery or the signal. There's also a big switch which is pretty self-explanatory to be honest. Yes, using the rotary dial can be a little cumbersome and seems very old-fashioned at times but you can store 9 quick-dial numbers and hey - it's got a PROPER BELL. Yes, a BELL. There's no speaker here, this is a proper ringtone. I'm guessing you're puzzled at this point. Why would anyone want a classic style phone like this to carry around? Why the heck would they want it in their car? Well, it definitely raises eyebrows, that's for sure. However, I think I've found another way that this can be used, and it may have already become clear when I mentioned the local area code system. Elderly relatives, or those who'd perhaps like an extra line, would definitely be interested in this. Think about it. If you're at an age where the internet doesn't appeal and you're fed up with the line rental costs plus the call charges, you can easily get yourself a £5 SIM-only deal from websites like MoneySupermarket - even cheaper if you want. If you disconnect your home phone line this, with…Opis 60s Classic Mobile ReviewOpis 60s Classic Mobile Review88

A new twist on an old design, and I'm loving every bit of this. If you don't need the internet or texting, replace your home phone with this.

9

Mobile coverage spotty on your drive to work? You’re not the only one

Every year Ofcom produce an infrastructure report which details the state of our broadband and mobile infrastructure here in the UK.

It’s the first time that the regulator has looked at the mobile coverage provided on UK roads. Motorways appear to have fairly decent coverage, so you can browse at 90mph or keep in touch via WhatsApp…

“Yeah, I’ll be home in a bit. Woaha!! Where did that truck come from?”

However, head onto a A or B road and your satnav or email might slow up somewhat. Only 35% of these roads get coverage from alll four mobile networks, with 9% having no 3G whatsoever.

If you travel to work on a train then, unless there’s a booster strapped to your carriage, you’ll be aware of the hilariously bad coverage on the railways. Ofcom has started to investigate this and will be giving their results out next year.

The full report, which is really rather chunky, is available to download here (PDF) but it certainly backs up some of my experiences, although I must state that there’s several areas on my car-share up the M6 this morning where O2 dropped to GPRS. Methinks that Ofcom are relying on those hit-n-miss network coverage maps a little too much.

Tesco Mobile launches 4G

Tesco Mobile have just announced their 4G offering.

With the slightly cheeky tag line of “cheapest premium on the market”, 4G on Tesco’s Mobile will cost you an extra £2.50 a month on top of your current contract. This 4G premium can be added at any time, or taken off at any time too, should you not find it to your liking. There’s no increase in data for that, just increase in speed.

And why is the tag line a bit cheeky? Well although £2.50 a month is cheaper than the more typical £5 extra from most of the other operators, let’s not forget Three aren’t charging any premium at all for 4G – its free, including All You Can Eat data. Whilst we are still a few weeks away from Three’s 4G roll out beginning, Tesco Mobile uses O2 – so if you don’t live in London, you won’t have 4G coverage either at the moment. So that on/off premium might be quite handy…

Tesco Mobile launches 4G for customers on all Pay Monthly and SIM only tariffs

‘Flexi-bendi’ tariffs allow customers to use or remove 4G at any point during their contract, and to increase or decrease their data allowance as they choose

Tariffs start from £10 per month

17 October 2013

Tesco Mobile today launches 4G for less than the price of a cup of coffee*, making the latest mobile technology available for every budget.

The 4G premium on any existing tariff option is just £2.50 a month.

As the first virtual mobile operator (MVNO) to introduce 4G, Tesco Mobile is giving all customers the opportunity to benefit from the quicker speeds and larger data allowances that 4G provides by making it available on all its Pay Monthly and SIM only tariffs.

Renowned for market leading value, Tesco Mobile’s 4G tariffs start from as little as £10 per month (based on 500MB 4G data and 250 voice minutes).

Recognising that not all customers understand 4G and what it will hold for them personally, Tesco Mobile’s tariffs give customers the flexibility to try out 4G at their own pace.

At any point during a contract, Tesco Mobile customers can add or remove 4G. Plus, for those who don’t want to get rid of it completely, they can simply increase or decrease the size of their data to suit their individual needs.

Meanwhile, Tesco Mobile’s Capped Tariff allows customers to cap their monthly spend to ensure they aren’t hit with unexpectedly high bills at the end of the month.

A comprehensive range of the latest 4G smartphones will be offered on Anytime Upgrade plans which split the cost across two separate contracts, one for a handset and one for usage.

This gives customers flexibility and freedom to upgrade to new devices at any time, with no early termination charge on their usage contract if they choose to upgrade with Tesco Mobile.

Tesco Mobile 4G will enjoy the same coverage as O2.  The 4G page at tescomobile.com/4G has a coverage checker, plus information on the 4G rollout.

Simon Groves, Chief Marketing Officer of Tesco Mobile and Tesco Telecoms, said:

“4G is amazing and will revolutionise the way we use our mobile phones so of course we want to make it accessible and easy for all our customers to try it and enjoy it.

“As Tesco Mobile launches 4G we’re bringing it to all our customers at a great value price and if it’s not for them, they can switch back to 3G or adjust their 4G data allowance to suit their needs whenever they like.  It’s why we call it Flexi-bendi 4G and its what makes our 4G offering the most customer centric in the market.”

Mobile Choice awards – the winners

Mobile Choice have an awards event every year to celebrate the best of the industry in different categories from best handset to best network.

Winners of these awards are usually quick to include the prize in their advertising or PR information so these results are a pretty big deal for the next 12 months going into 2014

On the 3rd October, Mobile Choice held their event in London and counted the votes from over 21,000 entries to determine who is the best of the best.

 

HTC picked up three awards for the HTC One, Phone of the Year, Best Video and Best Design so a big well done to them.

Sony picked up the ‘Best Camera’ award for the Xperia Z and in network news it was EE who picked up the ‘Best Network’ title, their first time since the merger

Here are the full list of results….

Four reasons why messaging is now the most important trend in mobile

5:35 PM

Mobile apps linked to messaging services are taking over the two most important Asian app markets, Japan and Korea. Today, nine out of the ten biggest revenue generators on South Korea’s Google Play app chart are Kakao apps. It is effectively becoming impossible to launch a major hit in the Korean app market unless you use Kakao’s messaging app as your platform. This in turn means that everyone interested in mobile apps is using Kakao. The messaging app has turned into the dominant platform for game distribution. LINE’s role in Japan is not quite as strong, but games for this messaging app regularly hold about half of the positions in Japan’s top-10 iPhone and Android app revenue charts. According to several industry sources interviewed in Tokyo during the Japan Game Show last week, “LINE Pokopang” is widely expected to become the top revenue generator in Japan sometime in the new year when the “Puzzle and Dragons” juggernaut finally fades. This is the first reason messaging is the most important trend in mobile right now — here are three more:

First, time spent on messaging apps is exploding even in markets where games linked to these platforms have not yet taken off. According to The Hindu, people in India now spend 27 minutes per day on chat apps, up from 7 minutes just two years earlier. Many of the most populous countries in the world — China, India, Japan, Korea — have now fallen in thrall of the messaging apps. Their share of the daily leisure time of consumers is rapidly expanding. This will inevitably give messaging app vendors a golden chance to turn into content delivery companies. And to stage a serious offensive against Facebook, Twitter and Google.

Second, revenue growth generated by games linked to messaging apps is unearthly. LINE is now generating 67% revenue growth — between quarters, not annually. China’s WeChat is already on a big, global marketing binge, which has helped it boost its presence dramatically from Italy to Nigeria over the past summer. Asia’s titanic trio of WeChat, LINE and Kakao can now afford to use television, newspaper and billboard campaigns to spread their gospel of messaging apps and associated games to billions of people across the globe. This is a battle that America’s tech giants have basically slept through. Google, Facebook and Twitter did not grasp the importance of messaging apps as content platforms and WhatsApp basically rejected this concept as too tacky. As a result, the Asian chat apps are now circling the globe like a herd of Godzillas, gobbling up chunks of consumer leisure time.

Finally, one of the hottest app industry topics in Tokyo last week was the expansion of content services that we are about to witness. Over the next year, a rapidly expanding selection of comics, videos and music will start flowing to users of WeChat, LINE and Kakao. Making content consumption more social has largely eluded Netflix, HBO and their ilk. This is something that may be made a mass market reality by Asia’s chat app behemoths.

Mobile app stores will hit 102 billion downloads this year

 

7:45 PM

The explosive growth of mobile apps isn’t showing any signs of slowing down. According to research company Gartner, 102 billion apps will be downloaded from mobile app stores in 2013, nearly 40 billion more downloads than 2012. Total revenue of app downloads is also expected to increase from $18 billion last year to $26 billion by the end of 2013. Although Gartner‘s projections show continuous growth through 2017, the rate of growth is expected to slow starting next year.

“We expect strong growth in downloads through 2014, but growth is forecast to slow down a bit in later years,” said Sandy Shen, research director at Gartner. “The average downloads per device should be high in early years as users get new devices and discover the apps they like. Over time they accumulate a portfolio of apps they like and stick to, so there will be moderate numbers of downloads in the later years.”

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Asda Mobile switches to use the EE

Virtual Network Operator, Asda Mobile, used to use the Vodafone network. However, from the end of October, they’ll be switching across to EE.

Their offers, from what we can make out, will remain the same. They do some SIM-only deals at the moment, but sadly the amount of data isn’t up to much. As an example, their £10 per-month gives you 100 minutes of talk and unlimited texts but only 100MB of data. On GiffGaff you can get 500 minutes and unlimited texts plus 1GB data for the same.

Anyhoo, EE have recently provided a load of iPads to Asda staff…sorry, “colleagues”, to play Angry Birds on whilst they’re working. Oh, no wait. It’s to help them do admin and stuff. EE will also pipe WiFi into stores so you can watch the latest edition of Great British Bake Off whilst buying boxes and boxes of ready-made cakes. Cakes. I love cakes, but they do make you fat. I wish I didn’t sweat when I walked up the stairs.

Where was I? Oh yes. Asda will be fed from EE 2G and 3G masts. Boom.

Full detail below..

Asda selects EE as UK MVNO partner for Asda Mobile

Builds on EE and Asda’s existing partnerships for in-store Wi-Fi and provision of mobile services

6 September London – EE, the UK’s most advanced digital communications company and the biggest and fastest network in the UK, has been chosen by Asda as the new network for its MVNO. As of late October, Asda Mobile customers will have access to EE’s network which offers the best 2G and 3G coverage in the UK.

The MVNO partnership builds on EE’s existing partnerships with Asda including white labelled in store WiFi across the supermarket’s retail estate, as well as mobile services to Asda’s colleague base.

Asda Mobile MVNO
Asda’s MVNO partnership with EE will enable Asda to deliver a new phase of growth to its Asda Mobile proposition, delivering market leading new services and great value propositions to its customers on the UK’s biggest network. EE has been selected based on the strength of its network, its strong industry reputation, and its flexible and technologically advanced MVNO platform.

Further detail will be revealed in the coming weeks.

Free in- store WiFi
Asda is working with EE to provide Public WiFi across its entire estate of over 568 Asda stores and their head office in Leeds. The free Asda branded service, which has already attracted nearly half a million sign-ups, was launched to make the shopping experience even more convenient for its customers.

In addition, EE has supplied 700 iPads to stores and depots around the country to help Asda colleagues handle administrative work quickly and easily leading to a better customer experience in store. It allows them to access internal apps and store planning from anywhere in the store and is supported by the WiFi in store. This has provided 7 hours back to store managers each week.

Asda sees Public WiFi as a reflection if its commitment to customer service innovation and is working with EE on further service enhancements.

Mark Ibbotson, Retail Director, Asda, said: “EE already provides excellent service to our customers and colleagues by providing free WiFi in store, and through our business to business contract. So this mobile partnership felt like the next logical step.

“Our decision to take our MVNO business to EE was driven by our ambition to further improve the experience for Asda Mobile customers, by taking advantage of a bigger and faster network, with first class network coverage – and offering even better value.”

Gerry McQuade, Chief Marketing Officer, Non-Consumer Mobile at EE, said: “By choosing the EE network, ASDA Mobile will guarantee its customers access to the UK’s biggest, best and fastest network. Our partnership with ASDA is a great example of how EE can provide integrated solutions that help businesses keep their colleagues and customers better connected, wherever they are.”

3CX Mobile Device Manager On Premise edition now available

We’ve covered 3CX Mobile Device Manager a number of times, but this version is slightly different. The “On Premise” edition sits on Windows Server and provides and easy-to-deploy solution for managing mobile devices across your company. It’ll provide location tracking, remote locking, password enforcement, remote wipe, app management and a lot more.

It’s easy to manage and use, sitting on top of a Windows Server within your organisation. Best of all, you can give it a try right now with a free edition supporting up to five devices.

Once you’ve got it installed you can manage WiFi network settings on devices, check CPU and memory usage, remotely configure email, manage apps on handsets and receive alerts when policy violations occur.

If you like it, you can buy it and purchase a licence that’ll fit your requirements. For up to 50 devices it’ll cost $1295, which is €1030, but it’s a one-time fee.

We’ve come a long way from every employee having a locked-down BlackBerry, so if you’re responsible for IT and have lots of staff with iPhones and Android devices, give this a spin.

Editor / Founder of Coolsmartphone. I’m the one who films hands-on videos in the car. :) News, reviews, gossip – anything phone / tablet related – I love it.

Check out my blog on http://www.cupofcoffee.co.uk or follow me on Twitter – http://twitter.com/gears