James Rosewell writes:

The merger of T-Mobile and Orange on 1st April 2010 is one of the most significant events in the evolution of the UK mobile industry since the original creation of Orange and 1-2-1 in the 90s. From now on the UK will have 4 mobile networks, and one of those networks will have ~35% of the market. A 35% market share comes with a lot of potential. Not only can standards be influenced in a way previously unimaginable in the UK, but economies of scale can be translated into profits.

The UK's Advertising Standards Authority has upheld a complaint about a TV ad for the Motorola DEXT. The advertisement for the DEXT (known as the CLIQ in the USA) described it as "the first phone with social skills", emphasising the way it offered easy access to messaging and social networking services.

However, INQ challenged the claim, pointing to its own phones that had been released before the DEXT.

Vodafone has been working with Opera to bring the mobile internet to more people in developing markets. The two companies have developed an enhanced version of Opera Mini 5 that's been designed to run on budget handsets using 2G networks.

The Opera Mini 5 browser has been embedded in a range of 20 devices and can also be downloaded to over 250 GPRS supported handsets in Vodafone’s customer base. Opera's browser compresses data, requiring  less processing power on the handset and less network capacity as well. Vodafone is also creating an on-screen browsing experience that'll feature step-by-step, simple instructions in local languages, with a strong emphasis on the use of intuitive icons to help those with lower levels of literacy.