Samsung has announced that it’s the first smartphone provider accredited for joyn ‘Blackbird’.

Blackbird is the latest version of the GSMA’s joyn service, which was launched in 2012.

Office stationery retailer Staples and mobile card payment provider payleven have set up a distribution agreement that’ll see the payleven Chip & PIN card reader made available in all Staples stores across the UK, Germany and the Netherlands.

payleven offers a Chip & PIN card reader that can be used via Bluetooth with an Apple or Android smartphone. Businesses simply pay a 2.75% transaction fee whenever they use payleven to process a credit or debit card payment.

Consumers think mobile video calling services provided by mobile network operators would be better than those provided by third-party ‘over the top’ providers.

That’s according to a survey commissioned by telecoms software specialist OpenCloud and carried out by YouGov across the UK, France, Germany and the USA.

Vodafone is enabling customers to add loyalty cards and membership cards to its ‘mobile wallet’ app.

Although the application hasn’t yet been launched in the UK, it’s already available in a number of European countries.

Figures from Ofcom’s latest European Broadband Scorecard show that the UK leads the EU’s five biggest economies when it comes to mobile broadband coverage, mobile broadband take-up, mobile broadband choice and general internet usage.

The comparison rated the UK against the other countries in the ‘EU5’: France, Germany, Italy and Spain.

Mark Windle, head of marketing at OpenCloud, predicts that this year’s reduction in the number of traditional telecoms operators in some countries will provide an opportunity for other operators to innovate and capture market share in 2016.

He says next year will be a year of rapid change for telecoms… whether it’s MVNO disruption, competitive tariff pricing or simply defence from the ‘dark art’ of hacking.

Mark Bridge writes:

The most memorable moments in life often go unrecorded. You don't have your camera in your hands. Your finger is still hovering over the 'pause' button on your audio recorder. Or you were simply too busy experiencing whatever was happening. It's all about the one that got away.

That's where Kapture can help.

Mark Bridge writes:

James Rosewell shows me a colourful roll of paper that's the width of an iPhone but well over three metres long. When I look closer, I can see it's a printed copy of the Wall Street Journal's mobile website. That's a lot of scrolling to do... and a pretty unfriendly user experience for anyone reading the news online. Why does it work so badly?

This week the team review the Samsung Ultra Music F300 and Nokia 6120 Classic, review the past 7 days mobile news, debate the merits of 6 and 24 month contracts, and reviews of Minimo & Air Traffic Controller 2007

An update from the past few weeks mobile news following our Easter break, plus a review of the Nokia 3110 Classic.

The team pick over the winners and losers of the Mobile News Awards, review the Alcatel OT-C825 and look at Midnight Pool & PhotoProfessional V2.20 for your mobile.

The team review the Nokia 6300, take a look the latest news including Virgin sponsoring Big Brother and the latest on Vodafone's deals in India. SiL a new games for Mobile and PC, plus Instant SIS allows you to move applications between mobile devices.

The discuss the rumours behind the Google Phone, plus review the Motorola F3 and Nokia 7390 and the latest happenings in the Mobile Phone industry.