Mobile Network Comparison

What’s that? There’s an Apple media event today? Do you think they’ll mention the new iPhone? Of course they will.

With most of the details of the new iPhone already leaked, today’s launch didn’t hold many surprises. All the same, we’ve got all the stats and details for you right here. Wanna know the name of the new phone, the screen size, the all-important pricing? Read on…

So everyone’s guesses about the name were right – it is, of course, called the iPhone 5. Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing Phil Schiller started his presentation by announcing the new phone’s name. He went on to say that it’s the thinnest and lightest iPhone ever. It’s only 7.6mm thick and weighs just 112 grams. We’d rather they doubled both of those dimensions and gave it a better battery life…

Next, some points were mentioned about the screen. It’s now finally caught up to the rest of the smartphone market and is 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio. Phew – no more crappy 3:2 ratio iPhone. It’s also claimed that the new screen has better colour saturation. The screen is also bigger at 4 inches and has a 1136*640 resolution. The pixel density is still 326 ppi. It’s pretty disappointing there’s no HD screen still 🙁

The next big announcement is the 4G connectivity. But it’s not that exciting as we all already knew that. Looks like EE (Everything Everywhere) will have a 4G iPhone monopoly for about a year after all. What will 4G LTE mean in practise? Well theoretically it allows for massive fat pipe bandwidth allowing your access to the internet at up to 100Mbps. The reality might not be quite as rosy. In other countries whether 4G is already active, speeds aren’t quite at the 100 Mbps theoretical maximum yet and people are having to pay a hefty premium for the speeds. Expect to pay maybe about £50/month for a decent 4G plan. And also watch out for bandwidth caps – it’s unlikely we’ll see truly unlimited 4G plans unfortunately. Mobile phone companies are still playing catch up in investing in the future.

With regard to the rest of the phone’s innards, Apple are claiming that the new A6 chip it’s sporting will offer twice as fast processing power and twice as fast graphics too. Sounds promising if it delivers. The iPhone 5 has both graphics running off the same main chip unlike the previous 4S which had a separate graphics processor.

What about the battery life? Things aren’t that different. After all, lithium ion technology is only improving gradually these days. It seems to have hit a bit of a wall. Still, Apple claim there is over 200 hours of standby time (that’s more than 4 days, we’ll believe it when we see it). Also, they reckon it will manage 40 hours of music, 10 hours of video and 8-10 hours of internet.

Phil next moved on to the new camera? Can it beat the Samsung Galaxy S3 and high end Nokia Lumia? First of all, the lens delay is meant to be fast and it can take photos at the same time as videos. The camera’s sensor is only 8MP but this is still decent for a phone. It sports a ƒ2.4 lens and can record 1080p video at 30 frames per second. Even the front camera can manage 720p recording.

There’s also a new connector called “Lightning”. Unless you’re willing to fork out for a bulky and overpriced converter, that means all your existing chargers, docks, speakers, car adaptors, etc. are now useless. Gee, thanks.

The new iPhone will run a new improved iOS 6. From the presentation, it’s hard to make out what’s outstandingly new about it though. Siri is slightly improved and there’s new Maps but that’s about it. Nothing mindblowing. And no mention of NFC at all. For those expecting Apple to catch up with Android by finally introducing widgets and all the other features missing from iOS, they will be a little disappointed. Lame-o!

Finally, one of the most vital stats – pricing. We don’t know the UK prices just yet but there will be three models. Unsurprisingly, they come in at 16GB:, 32GB and 64GB. The 16GB will be $199, the 32GB will be $299 and, guess what, the 64GB will be $399. Those are network-subsidised prices! We have no word on pricing details in the UK yet other than it will start at a whopping £529.

So there we go. Wanna get your greasy mitts on one? It’s out on 21st September and we’ll of course round up all the best deals available in the UK for you.

tl;dr? Here’s a round-up of the key points:

• It’s called the iPhone 5.
• 7.6mm thick, 112 grams.
• It runs new iOS 6.
• It taller now – five rows by four columns.
• Screen is now 16:9 and 1136*640.
• 4G LTE. Of course.
• A6 CPU is 2x faster than iPhone 4S.
• 200+ hours standby, 8-10 hours internet.
• 1080p video, 8MP.
• New lightning connector.
• £529!
• Out on 21st September at 8am, preorder on 14th September.

It just goes to show that you can’t trust mobile networks. After their straight-up denial that they would be rebranding Everything Everywhere have dropped some pretty strong hints that they’ll be launching a new exclusive 4G brand in the UK tomorrow.

Everything Everywhere – which was formed by the merger or Orange and T-Mobile in 2010 – has always suffered some criticism for its choice of brand. Recently, when it was awarded the 4G monopoly in the UK for the next year or so, there were rumours that the company would take advantage of this situation by launching a new 4G-focussed brand name. At the time, company spokespeople vigourously denied this claiming that the well-recognised high street names would remain.

However, it now seems they weren’t being entirely truthful. Will the new iPhone 5 expected to be announced on Wednesday and all-but-certainly to come with 4G connectivity, Everything Everywhere are riding the wave by showing off their exclusive right to offer 4G connections (to iPhones and other phones) here in the UK.

There has only been heavy hint-dropping and no official announcement from Everything Everywhere as of yet but they have recently registered many 4G-related trademarks so it seems pretty clear than the new brand name will be related. Although analysts have suggested that it will further confuse consumers who largely are still unaware that Orange and T-Mobile are not separate brands any more, it’s fairly certain that a new mobile brand is coming to the Everything Everywhere family.

The brand-new (no pun intended) Nokia Lumia 920 is coming out in the UK soon too. Like the iPhone 5, it will be 4G enabled and, as Everything Everywhere is the only company running a working 4G network, it seems they will have an exclusive deal on that too. In any case, while we can’t be sure until the official announcement tomorrow, currently we’re betting that tomorrow will see the launch of a new 4G brand from Everything Everywhere highlighting these two phones. Let’s wait and see 🙂

There’s been lots of talk recently about Everything Everywhere in light of the ongoing 4G negotiations and Ofcom’s recent decision to allow Orange and T-Mobile to provide the UK’s first 4G service, months ahead of any of their rivals. Apart from the fury about their being granted a monopoly for 4G, there has been significant speculation about the company’s future branding.

Although Orange and T- Mobile have been merged together as Everything Everywhere for a couple of years now, they have continued to operate on the high street as two separate brands. Their head-start with 4G has led some to suggest that they will use the opportunity to rebrand focussing on being the only UK network able to offer 4G speeds from the end of the year. Existing users could gradually be migrated over to the new network according to industry sources. Another alternative that has been mooted is for a third brand to emerge alongside Orange and T-Mobile specifically to focus on high-speed 4G.

However, the network has been quick to deny any such claims. A spokesman for Everything Everywhere said that they remain committed to the existing brands. The company said “It is well known that we ran a brand review last year,” a spokesperson said. “The outcome of that brand review is confidential. However what we can say is that we remain committed to our hugely successful brands Orange and T-Mobile … Any suggestion otherwise is entirely speculative.”

So for the time being, the UK’s largest mobile network is going to stay separated as Orange and T-Mobile. We do know for sure that the brand consolidation can been considered though and discussed at the highest levels in the company so, despite the denials, we certainly wouldn’t rule it out completely. It might make more sense to use this opportunity to launch a new company name but it’s clear that the rebranding exercise will be very costly. What’s more some would deem it foolish not to continue cashing in on the existing brands that are recognised internationally and have been built up for some time now.

What’s your take on this? Is Everything Everywhere a good brand name? Would they be better off rebranding Orange and T-Mobile? And do you think this would even ever happen?