Mobile Network Comparison

Struggling BlackBerry manufacturer RIM has claimed that the UK launch of its new Z10 smartphone has been the best ever seen. Hard as that may be to believe following BlackBerry’s fall from grace over the last several years, RIM released a statement saying that the first week of sales of the Z10 were almost three times as strong as any of BlackBerry smartphone release. No official sales figures whatsoever have been forthcoming, however RIM seems very pleased with itself and there have been reports that retail stores such as Phones 4u have run out of stock.

The Z10 is a new flagship phone running a brand-new operating system that RIM hopes will turn BlackBerry’s fortunes around. Not only does it come with the shiny new BlackBerry 10 OS but has also ditched BlackBerry’s hallmark QWERTY physical keyboard.

The size of the handset is quite big in comparison to the average and the bezel around the screen is quite wide. Having said that, it fits well in the hand and the 4.2 inch screen looks good – it’s high resolution and bright enough for outdoor use.

The Z10 comes with a dual core 1.5 GHz CPU, a decent 2GB chunk of RAM, an 8 megapixel camera and 4G support. Running on this hardware, the new operating system is very smooth although not that original. There are some aspects of the OS that don’t seem completely finished yet and the mapping software certainly pales in comparison to Google’s offering. It’s hard to see the Z10 as anything other than BlackBerry playing catch-up.

Still, it certainly seems like good news for RIM that this handset has been selling well. Of course, it still remains to be seen well it fares in the long term but these initial reports are certainly promising.

Where to get a BlackBerry Z10?

Click through the links below for the latest special offers on RIM’s new handset:

Have you ever owned a BlackBerry? What do you think of the new Z10? Have you seen it sold out anywhere. And, most importantly of all, would you buy one?

Continue Reading

EE is likely to be investigated by the Advertising Standards Authority soon over an advert for the new Samsung Galaxy SIII LTE. Other networks have claimed that the commercial posters are very misleading to consumers. It’s likely that an official complaint will be made in the coming days.

We have seen the poster in question ourselves and there are several reasons why the advert could be deemed intentionally misleading. It is branded with the standard EE colour scheme and font and states that the Samsung Galaxy SIII LTE is available for £31 a month with unlimited data (plus a £49.99 initial fee). The advert specifically mentions in its name that the handset is 4G LTE capable and, as most consumers now know, EE is a specialist 4G network.

However, what many people aren’t aware of is the fact that EE has been roundly criticised for not offering any unlimited 4G data packages. So then why is the 4G network EE advertising a 4G handset with unlimited data?

Well, the advert isn’t actually for EE despite all appearances. In fact, there’s a small T-Mobile logo and T-Mobile is a subsidiary of EE. Even though they’ve done all they can to style the advert with EE’s branding and even though they make a song and dance about the fact it’s a 4G-capable handset, the actual contract on offer is only available on T-Mobile. And T-Mobile only offers 3G data, not 4G. The Advertising Standards Authority regulates UK ads to ensure they are truthful and socially responsible and could likely find against EE for the above reasons.

Have you seen this particular advert? What did you think when you first saw it? Will the Advertising Standards Authority get involved? And do you think that EE will get away with it?

Continue Reading

Spotify, the subscription-based streaming music service in now available on Windows Phone 8 handsets. If you have a smartphone and like to listen to music, it’s one of the must-have apps currently available. The current release is still officially a beta form but we haven’t noticed any obvious creases or bugs so there’s not reason not to go ahead and install it now.

For those who don’t know, Spotify is a cloud-music service that lets you listen to any song from a massive library of millions of artists’ catalogues. You don’t need to own any of the records to listen to them and all music is streamed from the web rather than downloaded permanently onto your PC or other device. Without a doubt, Spotify’s library of artists is truly impressive both in depth and range. You’d be hard pressed to find a song that’s not on there (as long as it’s already out) regardless of whether it’s the latest Top 40 hit or a new single from a tiny band in your village.

Spotify is a free service but the catch is that you’re limited to a certain monthly allowance of music streaming and you’re forced to listen to advertisements in between songs too. You also can’t use the mobile phone apps with a free account. In order to remove the ads, unlock unlimited listening and get music on the go, you need to pay a £10 subscription fee – about the same price as buying an album a month.

There are a few issues with Spotify – the ads are annoying and repetitive and if you pay for a subscription, you lose all access to your starred tracks if you ever let it lapse. Also, for a cloud-based service it is not well user-oriented. Each of your devices is treated entirely separately so if you start listening to a record on your phone it’s not simple to finish off the LP when you get back to your computer or tablet at home. Also, it’s a peer-to-peer (P2P) app meaning that you’ll be using up some of your upload bandwidth allowance distributing music to other users so that the Spotify servers don’t get overloaded. This isn’t great for people with a low monthly data limit.

However, these relate to the service itself (which will hopefully improve) and not to the app in particular. If you already use Spotify and are happy with it, the app is pretty much an obligatory download. The app looks great on Windows Phone 8 devices with a really lush and clear interface. It’s also very easy to use and navigate between artists, albums, songs and playlists. It’s even simple to share music amongst other Spotify users.

You can download the app free of charge now. And if you’re not already a Spotify subscriber, you can even sign up for a free 30 day trial to check it out for yourself.

Are you a Spotify user? Have you used Spotify on a smartphone? Or is there another music subscription service that you prefer? Let us know 🙂

Continue Reading