Since its release last month Samsung’s new flagship phone has quickly taken the mobile market by storm. Crammed full of unique features, it’s been declared by some as the best Android phone ever (Source: Mashable).

Getting to grips with any new technology isn’t easy, especially one that’s got so many innovative applications to get your head around. In order to make setting up and using your new smartphone as easy as possible, we’ve put together this handy guide, detailing everything you need to know about getting started with your Samsung Galaxy S4. more »

2013 marks 30 years since the first handheld mobile phone was released commercially. We’ve seen handsets of all shapes and sizes come and go since then, with trends and technology rapidly changing with the times. To celebrate, the Insurance2go.co.uk team have created an Infographic charting the rise of the mobile over the last 3 decades.

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Three, the operator based in Maidenhead, Berkshire have broken through the 9 million customer barrier for the first time. This is a fair achievement by the company who came the market last long after the other networks. They effectively had to grab customer from other networks which they have done successfully. They have always been competitive on price but have had to counter the perception of having a poor network coverage.

Recently, Three announced that they would not be increasing their prices for 4G services to existing 3G customers, a move that has wrong footed the other networks who are all looking to increase consumer spend with the newer faster services.

Congratulations to Three who have worked very hard to compete in a tough world.

There are reports that the mobile phone retailer Carphone Warehouse is in talks to sell its French stores which are part of the group called the Phone House.

Apparently the company is conducting a review of its European business and this sale is one of the options.

There are 250 Phone House stores in France and the possible sale has already got the interest of some French Networks and Retailers according to stories circulating online.

Research in Motion will today launch a new handset that they hope will be the springboard back to a healthy future for the company. The new handset is backed by new software that the company say is future proof for the next 10 years. A bold statement indeed, but tricky times call for bold actions and we’ll be watching with interest at the launch of the new handset to see if it’ll cut it in today’s hugely competitive market.

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Phones 4U have announced that they are to launch a new MVNO in collaboration with EE or Everything Everywhere to give them their full name. The MVNO is to target Data hungry folk with a really attractive proposition. The new venture will be call ‘Life Mobile’.

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We’re delighted to announce that our friends at MoneySavingExpert have put Insurance2go.co.uk as their recommended supplier of iPhone 5 insurance. We have been working for a while to make sure that our products are competitive and still offer strong good value cover, it’s always nice for this to be recognised.

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With Christmas bearing down on us – just nine weeks to go. Apple are strongly rumoured to be announcing the launch of the iPad mini at a press conference today. It is rumoured that the handset will be launched at a price point starting at £200 in the UK. A good price for the Christmas market and also one that will hurt the competition in an increasingly competitive space. Given that most people will still have a mobile phone and a PC or laptop for work, the Tablet market is a totally new market.

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Newsweek have announced that they are to stop a printed edition of their current affairs and news magazine. The news is very significant for publishing and it might well be the first really well known title to look to embrace a purely electronic format.

With Tablet PCs, eReaders and smartphones becoming more and more prevalent in Western society many papers and magazines are seeing sales of printed versions dropping alarmingly. It must be very persuasive for a paper’s owner to consider dropping printed versions and in one move cut out a whole load of cost from printing, distribution, pulping, rent on printers premises, employing a whole team to carry out the printing.

It could also make sense for a consumer. The new iPad mini is rumoured to launch soon and prices begin at £200. To buy a broadsheet paper for a year is in the region of £500 so consumers might be happy to save £300 by reading an electronic version of their favourite paper. Of course that depends on the cost of an on-line subscription.

By coincidence the Daily Telegraph is reporting today that the Guardian is on the verge of dropping the printed edition of its paper, something the Guardian denies. Both the Guardian and the Telegraph are available for free on-line, but there’s a crucial difference – The Daily Telegraph makes a profit and the Guardian doesn’t. It would be interesting to see if this were to remain the case over the coming 12 months. If the Guardian were to go for a purely electronic format presumably they would begin to charge for this service.

However, the difficulty facing publishers is that consumers seem to be very reluctant to pay for content on-line.  Many seem to simply go elsewhere for their news. This was certainly the case when The Times on-line decided to put up a firewall and asked people to pay for content, albeit a modest amount. Consumers have gone elsewhere for free services.

News International, the owners of the The Times and numerous other titles around the world, have long made the point that the hugely successful BBC on-line site is a significant distortion in the marketplace, offering users a place to obtain free news when other organisations have to begin to charge.

The good news for the makers of tablet computers is that it would appear that this switch to electronic versions of papers and magazines will fuel demand for more gadgets.

The news yesterday that the UK now has 4G services operational in four cities is very good news even if for now it is mainly for testing purposes. With 16 major cities live by Christmas things are finally moving.

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