Mobile Network Comparison

Check out this crazy video using smartphones in a pretty unique way. With the snow that’s falling at the moment, we thought it was a rather apt time to bring this out one. The music might be pretty awful but the timing and editing skills involved are pretty awesome and well worth a view.

How on earth do you think they did it?

Rumours are spreading that catalogue store Argos is going to offer its own mobile phone contracts later this year. There have been unconfirmed reports over recent days that Argos will launch it’s own pay monthly deals from its hundreds of UK stores. Analysts are saying that we could see Argos Mobile on the high street as soon as April 2013.

There is no firm news about the plans yet though. Initial reports suggest that they will start by trialling mobile contracts and, if things work well, will consider starting their very own virtual network. There is still no information about which operator they would run their services on.

It is thought that Argos is particularly keen on the move as its mobile income results have been particularly poor recently. The success of budget virtual networks such as Giffgaff and Ovivo have severely cut into their margins. This is especially the case as Argos has traditionally made good income on commissions from PAYG deals with the main network operators.

However, their plan to go into the contract market is risky and may not be well advised given it orders of magnitude more competitive than the PAYG market they are already struggling in. Still, it is reported that they are hiring industry experts such as Vodafone manager Ben Murr to help get the new service off its feet.

As well as contract services, it is thought that Argos will offer SIM-only deals too. The Argos network could turn out to be a strong competitor of rivals such as Phones 4u.

The official word from Argos has yet to come though. A spokesperson refused to confirm any of the rumours and proposed commercial partners have either denied or refused to comment on the plans.

However, despite this, the industry is abuzz with talk about this development. It is thought that if Argos can make the most of its existing customer base the new venture could be very successful. In fact, analysts are suggesting that Argos Mobile could grow its user base to a mid-six figure size within about two years of launching. This would make it one of the larger virtual mobile networks if this was realised.

What’s your take on this? Do you think that Argos Mobile would materialise? Can it compete with other virtual networks on price? And would you use it on your phone?

The Google Play store officially replaced the Android Market one year ago and to celebrate this birthday Google has decided to give all Android uses a gift in the form of some special offers and sales. The festivities will last for a whole week and you can get savings and money off on all sort of content. Items that are currently discounted include not only apps and games but also movies, music and magazines. And that’s not all. We also spotted some exclusive in-app content that’s only available now and cool bonuses such as exclusive in-game characters. You can even get discounts on accomodation.

Some great spots we’ve found include the pilot episode of the fantastic drama Breaking Bad absolutely free, Donnie Darko for just £4 in HD and 50% off games such as Monopoly and Plants vs Zombies.

But some of the content available is a little underwhelming. At the moment lots of the movies and music on offer are very old releases and there doesn’t seem to be very big savings available for new films at all. In fact, a lot of the “deals” aren’t discounted at all when compared to other online stores.

With a quick look around, we found DVDs available in supermarkets for the same price as Google’s deals. And some of the apps they claim to be giving away were always free.

Having said that, the celebrations have only just started and we don’t think Google would want to blow everything right away. Hopefully things will improve over the week and more and more great deals will be revealed. Keep and eye out on Google Play for the latest offers and surprises. After all, for Black Friday 2012 they had some pretty special deals. If you spot anything outstanding over the coming days, please come back and let us know in the comments.

Do you remember when Google Play was first launched a year ago? Do you use it regularly? And what’s your opinion of the current sale? Excited or let down? Let us know!