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Ofcom helps protect customers against unexpected roaming charges

Ofcom helps protect customers against unexpected roaming charges

UK service providers must notify customers when they connect to a different network

New rules from UK telecoms regulator Ofcom will protect customers when they use their mobile phone on a foreign network. In addition, customers will be alerted if they are inadvertently roaming, perhaps because they're near an international border.
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Global smartphone market is set for recovery, says new forecast

A new forecast from research specialists Canalys shows the smartphone market is set to recover next year. Worldwide shipments declined by 12% last year but that decline is expected to slow to 5% this year.
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Vodafone and Three plan to merge their UK businesses

Vodafone and Three plan to merge their UK businesses

New Hutchison/Vodafone network would be biggest UK operator

Vodafone Group plc and CK Hutchison Group Telecom Holdings Limited have agreed to combine their UK telecommunication businesses, respectively Vodafone UK and Three UK. The merger will create a large new network operator to compete with Virgin Media O2 and EE.
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UK mobile payment service Paym to close in March 2023

UK mobile payment service Paym will close on 7th March 2023. The service, which allowed users to make and receive payments using their mobile phone numbers, was launched in 2014.
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Qualcomm legal action moves forward in the UK

Qualcomm legal action moves forward in the UK

Which? seeks payout for Samsung and Apple smartphone owners

Consumer protection organisation Which? has been given permission by the UK's Competition Appeal Tribunal to represent Apple and Samsung smartphone buyers in a legal case against chip manufacturer Qualcomm.
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Opinion Articles

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Which mobile operating system will top the charts at Christmas?

James Rosewell writes:

It seems to be accepted that the Apple iPhone will be the top selling mobile phone this Christmas now it’s available on almost every UK network. The more interesting question is which handsets will hold the number 2 to 5 positions - and what operating system will they be running when the smartphone scores are announced in the new year?

Christmas OS TreeMicrosoft announced Windows Phone last week and I commented on the importance of persuading their heartland fans to move from iPhone and other platforms to Windows Phone. Disappointingly, finding a mobile retailer willing to sell a Windows Phone is not easy at the moment. Orange tell me they’ve withdrawn the one model they were going to offer from Toshiba. Vodafone didn’t even know what a Windows Phone was.

On the other hand, Android based devices in the form of the HTC Hero and Motorola DEXT among others are available on the streets today - and they're running an operating system that’s been commercially available for 18 months. As anyone who bought a G1 or even an HTC Magic will testify, Android handsets have not been without their problems. However, many of those early bugs have been resolved and both new devices appear very capable; packed full of “App Store” value, adding downloads, out of the box functions, hi-res touch screens and - in the case of the DEXT - a lovely slide-out keyboard. They won’t knock Apple off the top spot but if the competition can exploit Apple’s premium pricing and poor battery performance I’d be willing to bet an Android phone will feature alongside a Symbian-based device in the top five. I’d even go as far as to suggest the DEXT may herald the return of Motorola.

Conversely, Microsoft and its partners will have to work very hard in 2010 to rectify what could be a very bad Christmas if they don’t get high-quality Windows Phone based handsets into the channel quickly. Ultimately they could lose out to Android as well as to Apple.

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Recent Podcasts

BlackBerry contemplates its future, Vodafone reveals its 4G plans and ZTE puts its phones on eBay

Podcast - 14th August 2013

This week we're talking about BlackBerry's options for the future, Vodafone's 4G launch, Apple's patent victory and LG's new smartphone.

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Motorola reveals the Moto X, O2 readies its 4G and the UK government cures black spots

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The Motorola Moto X smartphone opens this week's show, despite not having a European release... but there's plenty of other UK news.

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Interview with Ruth Barnett of SwiftKey

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Google's new gadgets, freedom for 4G frequencies and many mid-year mobile results

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We also talk about the latest collection of quarterly results from Apple, Samsung, Amazon, LG and Facebook. Who's doing well - and should anyone be worried?

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Challenging results, crowd-sourced smartphones and cracked SIM security

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