Orange yesterday held it’s hands up and admitted that it’s data network was having a massive hissy fit leaving Orange users without mobile data access.  Voice data seemed to be unaffected but email and web browsing completely failed for many users. The full extent of the problem isn’t known, but forum posts and other articles are suggesting that many users had been having issues with the data network for a good while before Orange admitted the problem existed. Me included.

While this may have been a minor inconvenience to some, roaming buisness users were no doubt livid, and were made more so by Orange’s admission that they had no scheduled fix for the problem.

No information has been forthcoming about the cause of the outage.

Earlier this year the advertising standards agency upheld a complaint about Orange’s claim that its “3G network covers more people in the UK than any other operator“, the ASA ruled that because orange could not show that they had gathered data for the performance of their rivals in the same way that they did for their own network the claim was misleading.

A big company misleading people? Advertising people lying through their recently whitened teeth?
Surely not.

I can’t help feeling that this outage and Orange’s response is a fairly standard fare for big business nowadays. If you work for a big company, feel free to print out and keep my handy guide to managing major technical problems:

1. Say NOTHING until someone goes to the media. Arrange for your forum to be  ”down for maintenance”.  Spend more on advertising.

2. Deny the problem and stonewall any questions.

3. Keep denying the problem until several high profile third parties have confirmed it beyond the point where anyone with half a brain still believes you.

4. Issue a vague, non committal statement that the problem may possibly be real but only affects a few people and it’s probably their fault anyway. Stupid customers.

5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 until the problem is fixed or the media lose interest.

6. If the problem gets fixed, either:

a) SAY NOTHING, that would mean admitting you were wrong.

b) Announce the fix amidst great fanfare, casting yourself in the role of hero whilst glossing over the fact that it was your stupid fault in the first place.

7) If you are still getting flack, a member of management may have to do a Captain Oates.

Sound familiar?

The Downloadsquad website has published an article claiming that google plans to release a tablet based on it’s Chrome operating system before the end of november in the USA.  If it’s true, this tablet is going to be aimed squarely at the Ipad, the article claims that the tablet will be available at a heavily subsidised price on Verizon data tariffs.

That would be an interesting change of tactic for google who attempted to bypass the networks when it released the Nexus One mobile phone. The Nexus One was initially only available via google’s own online shop, unlocked and un subsidised. Although the Nexus One was a great phone, sales were disappointing because punters were not as willing to stump up the full cost of the handset as google hoped. By the time the Nexus One was made available at a subsidised price thorough the networks there were bigger and better devices available and google recently stopped manufacturing the device.

So back to the rumoured tablet. The article says that it will most likely be made by HTC and based on NVidia’s Tegra 2 “PC on a Chip”, this would make it roughly equivalent to an reasonably good netbook in terms of performance.

The Chrome OS is where it gets interesting for me, I’ve played around with development builds of Chrome OS on my netbook and I rather like it.

It’s basically just google’s Chrome browser on top of a very stripped down linux Kernel, which makes it very, very fast. Running Chrome from a usb stick on my Samsung NC10 results in boot times of less than 30 seconds, so expect the tablet to go from off to surfing the web in a very short time indeed.

Will this do any harm to the iPad’s sales? I don’t know, it depends on the price and how well non-nerds get on with the Chrome OS.  The Tablet is likely to have flash support right out of the box so you’ll be able to watch videos on You Tube (in your face iPad owners) – which let’s remember google owns and serves up ads on.

Of course this whole thing could just be a rumour put about to upset Steve Jobs. Tee Hee.

Soon to hit our shelves is the Vodafone Huawei Mobile Wi-Fi device that remarkably generates your very own Wi-Fi hotspot wherever you are. The tiny device weighs 90g and measures 90x60x12mm and when turned on it can provide up to 5 users with a Wi-Fi connection to the Internet.

If you have found that a smartphone doesn’t quite give you enough, then the Mobile Wi-Fi solution gives you that same flexibility of connecting whilst on the go but now you can use a laptop, netbook or tablet to get the larger picture. The internal memory can be expanded with a 16GB MicroSD card and you can also swap files between connected devices.

The complications of getting your devices linked to the Mobile Wi-Fi simply don’t exist as there are no wires or software needed, simply turn on and use straight away. Thoughtfully Huawei have included both mains charger and USB charger for ease of replenishing the battery power.

You may note that we have brought you the Mi-Fi from 3 in the past but this latest model can now let you indulge yourself into Vodafone’ award-winning, dependable mobile broadband.

It sounds like gamers are in for a real treat later this year as rumours surface of a Sony Ericsson and Google collaboration that will produce the PSP Phone. The handset is set to be on offer in a landscape slider form that incorporates the Playstation gaming buttons with the L&R buttons on the top left and right of the handsets shell.

Android v3.0 is expected to run the handset and will offer access to the Android Marketplace where popular gaming titles are expected to be available for download. On the phone side things the display should measure 3.7-inches or more and a 5-megapixel camera may also be on hand. The 1GHz processor should keep things moving without a hitch so this has to be one of the most exciting prospects of the year.

The month of October has been pencilled in but this may be a bit of a stretch, so maybe this one will be topping the charts in the most wanted Christmas gift list. Keep your eye on our Blog and we will keep you updated as the details and launch become official.

After I melted my phone on holiday and with my daily clumsiness getting more extreme, the guys at Mobiles please thought it would be a good idea for me to get a tough phone. Tough and Rugged mobile phones are specifically designed for those who either work in a dangerous environment, are always outdoors or are just plain clumsy like me!

The Sonim XP3 Quest has been labelled the toughest phone in the world with its shock resistant shell that will almost never let you down. It is water resistant up to one meter and dust resistant making it an ideal phone for builders on site. It doesn’t come with all the fancy features of the HTC Desire but you can be sure the XP3 Quest comes in handy in some extreme environments with a built in torch and extra loud ringtones to ensure you don’t miss an important call.

For all our great rugged phones check out our tough phones page to get the best deal on your new best friend!

With all the bad press lingering around Apple at the moment we just spotted another cool app to remind us how handy they can actually be. Phones like Apples iPhone and the HTC Desire offer a great range of apps to help make life easier. Flight Tickets are constantly advancing their technology and the latest to appear is the British Airways app which lets users check in and board with their phones. A barcode is sent to the app which can be read by a scanner and used as a boarding pass to get you on board quickly.

When it is launched on Monday it will be available to Executive club users and will cut out paper tickets making it a much simpler process. The app also provides details such as check in times, flight updates and boarding gate information.

Chris Davies, head of digital marketing, said: ‘Mobility and convenience is key for our customers, so that no matter where they are, they can turn to their mobile phones to find the very latest information…The Mobile Boarding Pass feature for Executive Club iPhone users will be especially welcome for those customers unable to print off their own boarding cards when returning from overseas. We’re committed to putting our customers in charge, making the British Airways’ travel experience even easier.’

The app will be free for anyone in the Executive Club on Android, Blackberry and iPhone devices…who knows, one day you can just get your phone to go on holiday for you!

Last week I jetted off to Marrakech to sample their fantastic Souks and glorious sun. Luckily I remembered to turn off all the right things to ensure I didn’t end up with a hefty phone bill. Unfortunately I didn’t remember that Morocco is a HOT country and leaving my iPhone in direct sunlight for about half an hour (by accident) gave me cause for concern for my precious iPhone. Those clever people at Apple disabled my phone until it cooled down and thankfully it survived it’s trauma with a few minor injuries (see images below).

If you are about to set off on your summer holidays and want to take your iPhone to carry your favourite tunes, snap photos by the pool or keep in touch with family back home by calling an texting then the best thing to do is turn off all your internet features. Here’s how -

First go to settings – general – network and turn off 3G and Data Roaming.

The next thing you may want to do is turn off your Voicemail as you can expect to be charged when you receive a voicemail and when you listen to it. To turn off your voicemail on O2 dial 1760 to avoid those extra charges.

If you are a Facebook user ensure you turn your notifications off by going to settings – notifications and turn to ‘off’.

If you are unsure about any charges you could incur abroad and want to make sure you don’t spend too much abroad check with your network as they are usually helpful in showing how to stick to the guidlines.

Remember! Even if you have an unlimited data and Wi-Fi allowance it will only apply to usage in the UK. Most networks now notify customers with a text regarding their data usage to help them stick within budget. Here is a guidline to each networks iPhone data charges.

O2 charge £3 per MB within the EU and £6 per MB outside the EU. Vodafone charge £1 per MB for the first 5MB, and £5 per 5MB thereafter in the EU; for the rest of the world it’s £3 for each MB up to 5MB, then £15 for every 5MB after that. Finally, Orange charge £3 per MB within the EU, but a rather costly £8 per MB for the rest-of-the-world.

We’ve heard a few rumours about the unannounced N9 being a pretty decent phone but latest images have shown that is it coming with a rather large 4 inch display. The Symbian 3 device will hopefully feature a multi touch capacitive touch screen and a QWERTY keyboard; branching out from Nokia’s usually straight forward designs.  Other features that should be expected on the N9 are an 8 megapixel camera with dual LED flash, 3G and WiFi and an uber handy HDMI port.

We can’t wait for Nokia to get a move on and release some interesting phones especially the highly anticipated N8 which should be available on a number of deals shortly. Keep an eye out for all the N8 deals coming soon to Mobiles Please and we’ll keep you posted on the interesting looking N9.

There comes a time when tapping away at a QWERTY keyboard is too much like hard work, so the geniuses that brought us T9 predictive text are now introducing Swype technology to the mass market. Instead of pressing individual letters on the keyboard, users just drag their fingers from one letter to another in a fluid motion and the computer works it out from there.

It doesn’t even have to be that precise as the software can work out what you are trying to type. In demonstrations, hurdles like capitals and double letters are overcome by pausing or doing a squiggle, while spacing and punctuation are automatic.

Swype’s inventor Cliff Kushler said the technology could have an enormous impact and be used anywhere people have to use a keyboard, such as video games, sat-nav devices and ticket machines. ‘We’ve squeezed the desktop computer, complete with keyboard and mouse, into something that fits in a pocket,’ he said.

Obviously Swype technology has no taken over yet but the Samsung Galaxy S already has the technology and another 50 models worldwide are set to feature it by the end of the year.

Won Park, director of United States technology sourcing at Samsung said: ‘It could become the de facto standard for tablets, next-generation TVs or next-generation remote controls. It has tremendous potential.’

From next week travellers in the EU will be protected from running up massive bills for mobile data.

If you are abroad and using a mobile broadband dongle or one of the many smart phones with an always-on data connection, your data connection will be cut off if you hit a 50 Euro limit.  As soon as you reach 40 Euros you will be notified by your network, and given the option to lift the cap if you want to.

This new EU regulation comes in the wake of several recent stories of unwary travellers running up truly staggering bills whilst abroad. Last year, a student from Nottingham managed to run up a bill of nearly £8000 in a single month. William Harrison took a mobile broadband dongle to Paris with him for a summer internship and was clobbered by the monster bill after using skype to keep in touch with family and friends in the UK.

Even with the new regulations most of us will not want to run up a 50 Euro bill, so what can you do to protect yourself?

First and foremost, check what your network will charge you for data roaming, some networks will allow you to add a pre-paid data roaming bundle to your tariff.

Smartphones with always on data connections can catch you by surprise, they can connect to the internet automatically to check emails etc without you doing anything. Most smartphones will allow you to disable data roaming, so make sure you do this before you set off. The method varies from handset to handset so you may have to research a little.

Here’s an example of what you need to do with an HTC Desire, it’s similar on most Android based phones:

Go to Settings, choose Wireless Controls, then Mobile Network Settings. Next make sure the check box marked ‘Data Roaming‘ in un-checked and you’re good to go.

Happy Holidays.