Mobile Network Comparison

3 UK has launched a campaign to combat the ‘rip-off’ data roaming charges in Europe with an open letter addressed to the government minister in charge of telecoms regulation:

Three’s customers make the most of their smartphones, but data roaming charges force them to limit their internet use the moment they leave the UK. High wholesale data charges should be capped at €30 per GB or less to make mobile internet accessible wherever consumers want to use it. With average data use for our smartphone customers approaching 1GB a month this is a real consumer issue

By 2014 a customer using 1GB of data abroad could still be charged around £400 if a European plan to standardize the charges customers pay for using mobile data outside the UK goes through.

It is understandable why Three may want to act upon this when inside the UK it only costs around £10 or less for 1GB of data for a month. You can even get unlimited data for cheap. The network’s campaign has received some support from various trade companies and many more businesses will be likely to support 3’s campaign. This is especially so as data roaming prices are very limiting while companies and customers alike are becoming more dependent on smartphone access throughout the day.

Orange have released a new set of bundles combining an iPhone and the new iPad. The most basic of packages will cost £65 per month, which includes the new iPad and an iPhone 3GS 8GB free.

Here’s the full list of all the different packages available and the upfront cost.

The bundle package includes 600 minutes, unlimited texts, and 2GB of data to use across both devices, as well as BT Openzone access.

On top of the iPhone and iPad combined packages, the new iPad is also available separately on Orange for a 24 month contract. This will only cost you £25 per month. This contract includes 1GB anytime data, and 1GB of data between 12am and 4pm, as well as unlimited access to BT Openzone.

The new iPad with 4G data was launched on 16th March and 3 have already announced a contract deal from £25 a month which includes a huge 15GB, while Vodafone are charging £27 a month for 2GB data. O₂ will be announcing data plans, but will not sell the device.

Tomorrow sees Apple’s long-awaited official release of The New iPad – which is the pioneer in the surging tablet market. Simply called The New iPad, it is successor to the iPad 2, and its enhanced and updated features make it a mouthwateringly desirable must have. So, without further ado, let’s delve into the specs.

A Retina Display

The new iPad offers a gorgeously high resolution screen; the retina display. It provides resolutions of 2048*1536 or, in other terms, 3.1 million pixels. That’s double what the number is from the iPad 2 and 1 million pixels better than any HD Ready TV on the market. Such a high resolution has never been seen on such a device on this scale where it has 4 times the pixels as the nearest non-Apple product. Moreover its all fitted into one thin and sleek 9.7 inch device where it will be next to impossible to find distortion and fuzziness in display.

Updated Processor

The A5X processor isn’t the A6 Quad Core processor that the internet were fervently raving on about yet its an updated processor to the already excellent A5 processor. The A5X processor does live up to other expectations though as it packs in quad core graphics which is the contributory reason driving the enhanced pixel density. Moreover, games wilkl load up significantly faster additionally improving the gameplay and smoothness. All of the enhancements were expected but what adds the icing on the cake is the new iPad manages to hold onto its 10 hour battery life. A significant length in recent days where smartphones need charging at least once or twice a day.

4G Connectivity

The uprising of 4G in America has seen Apple’s first foray into the 4G LTE network. Long Term Evolution (LTE) signifies the next generation in high speed wireless connection where videos load up in an instant whilst webpages in a blink. To be precise, the speed is up 42 Mbps.This is the first sign of the long term future for any type of wireless connection buy 4G is still to yet to make its mark in the European markets. In this case, the 4G models will default back to enhanced 3G signals such as HSPA and HSPA+.

Camera

The camera has now been revised so that it now sports a 5 megapixel lens at the back of the aluminium body. This is a major step up from the poor 0.7 megapixels in previous models. Additionally, Apple have refined the optics of the camera so that it now caters for an extra lens whilst they have increased the width of the aperture so that more light can enter into the camera. The result; more colour and finer detail into the camera shots. The iSight Camera is the Apple jargon but its fundamentally the iPhone 4S‘s features being rubbing off of.

Video

Staying in the business of the camera, the picture video quality has also seen a bump up from 720p resolution into the 1080p HD resolution which takes beautifully staggering video recordings. Other amazing features which contributes to the overall professional video camera perspective include the following:

• Video Image Stabilisation – whether on the move or a shaky hand the camera automatically smooths out the bumps and creases from the shakiness of the camera shot or video recording to produce a smooth and crisp photo.
• Illumination Sensor – this sensor allows the camera to increase the amount of light captured which consequently enhances the camera in low light areas.
• Hybrid Infrared Filter – this keeps harmful IR light from hitting the main camera which improves the accuracy and patterned uniform of colours. This is rarely found on other mobile devices due to the expense which is generally found on high spec SLR cameras but reflects Apple’s persistency that its not all about the number of megapixel but the technology of the components of the camera which provides the all round clarity and crispness of the image.
• Five Element Lens – Efficiently captures light to contrive an overall sharper image where even the minute of details are exemplified creating a brighter, clearer and crisper formation of photo.

Text Dictation

Maybe the biggest disappointment that Apple didn’t include in the new iPad is Siri the Artificial Intelligence Personal Assistant which proved to be the viral hit of many YouTube videos. Least to say, the iPad does provide a semi-skimmed version of it called “text dictation”. A mix between a normal voice control from a standard iPhone and Siri you can ask the iPad with one click of a button you can ask the iPad the following: Write an email, Send a text, Search the web, Create a note, Tweet a thought.

That’s just a quick snapshot of the possible questions but we will only know how far the iPad can handle the complexity of questions when its released to general public camping and queing outside the Apple Store for 18 hours waiting for the 16th March.

What’s left?

The price of course. For all of the professional quality camera and enhanced processor with the record smashing 264 inchs per pixel retina display. The same price as the iPad 2. Here’s a snapshot of the prices:

Wifi only version

16GB – £399
32GB – £479
64GB – £559

Wifi + 4G version

16GB – £499
32GB – £579
64GB – £659

Meanwhile if you’re interested in getting a iPad, you can order a free micro-SIM from the highest-rated network on our site here. it comes with £5 free credit to get you started and we also have a page with all the settings you need for the new iPad.

Summary

A slick, beautifully slim and delightfully responsive touch screen tablet. The new iPad has yielded what made the iPad 2 such a massive hit with a lightweight form factor, stunningly thin design and a dual core battery efficient A5 processor. Whilst it managed the iron out the gripes that iPad 2 owners were bemoaning about; camera, lack of 4G and low-res display.

Please comment below, what you think of the new iPad – whether you like it, what you like about it most or on the other side, what you don’t like about it and why?