UK telecoms regulator Ofcom wants to ban inflation-related rises in phone and broadband contracts. Instead, it says any potential mid-contract price rises should be set out in pounds and pence.

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.

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.

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.

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.

By incorporating advanced algorithms and machine learning capabilities, AI can help to optimize a smartphone's performance, providing users with a faster, more efficient and user-friendly experience.

Mark Bridge writes:

I've been taking a look back at the devices I've written about during the past few years. Some are still faithful companions, others... well, let's just say my faith was misplaced.

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?

Mark Bridge writes:

In recent years we’ve seen many a newspaper headline about the high charges for mobile data when abroad. Horror stories that warned of bills exceeding £1000 per week.

The latest Orange Digital Media Index (ODMI) has just been published, giving information about the consumption of digital media on mobile phones.

Nearly two million Orange customers use their handsets for social networking, visiting over one billion mobile web pages each month. 64% of mobile social networking users are men, with the average man viewing a third more pages than women when they visit social networking sites. However, women send more SMS and MMS messages than men.

We've previously reported about mobile devices from the United States that offer in-car WiFi. Now 3 UK has launched its own in-car WiFi service based on its MiFi device. In fact, it's really just the MiFi device with an in-car charger and a windscreen mounting – but the introduction of this package reveals a growing need for connectivity.

David Kerrigan, 3 UK's Head of Internet Services, said "Our research suggests that over 25% of the population are interested in having the internet in their cars, with families and travelling work colleagues showing the most interest. Mobile workers can check traffic information and email on route to a meeting and kids can social network or download tracks to an iPod Touch while on a road trip".