Your weekly fix of mobile, tech & telecom news
Every autumn, millions of UK smartphone owners install the latest iOS or Android update and swear their phone feels clunkier than before. But is that sluggishness real, or are we being nudged towards a shiny new handset we don't actually need?
Cracked your screen? Knackered your battery? In Britain, getting your phone fixed can cost almost as much as buying a replacement. But a growing movement — backed by new legislation — is starting to crack the manufacturers' stranglehold on repairs.
You signed up for unlimited data. You're paying a premium for it. So why does your Netflix buffer every evening and your Spotify stutter on the commute? The answer is buried in the small print, and it's costing British consumers dearly.
Your phone proudly flashes '5G' in the corner of the screen, yet pages load at the speed of a wet bank holiday weekend. We investigate why millions of UK customers are paying premium prices for a network experience that feels suspiciously familiar to 2012. The answer lies in a technical distinction the networks really don't want to talk about.
Every ping, every location check, every silent refresh happening behind your screen has a price — and over the course of a month, it adds up to something worth paying attention to. We've crunched the numbers on background app activity and found that the average UK smartphone user is effectively subsidising a second phone's worth of data and battery drain they never asked for.
IP68 ratings look impressive on a spec sheet, but how does a flagship smartphone actually hold up after twelve months of British drizzle, bag-bottom grime, and the inevitable pavement encounter? We've been putting premium handsets through the kind of real-world punishment no lab test replicates — and the results are not what the marketing departments would have you believe.
When serious criminal cases involve encrypted smartphones, it throws a spotlight on a corner of the mobile market most people never knew existed. We look at what these devices actually are, how they work, and why law enforcement finds them so difficult to crack.
You plug your phone in at 100%, wake up eight hours later, and it's already down to 78%. No calls, no streaming — so where did that charge go? We dug into the murky world of background network activity, firmware scheduling, and carrier-side processes to find out who's really responsible.
Millions of Brits hand back old smartphones every year believing they'll be responsibly recycled or refurbished. The reality is considerably grimmer. We trace the journey of traded-in devices from UK high streets to overseas dumping grounds — and identify which retailers and networks are actually doing it properly.
Think you know which apps are eating your data? Think again. We ran a month-long monitoring exercise across the most popular UK apps and the results — particularly for a handful of household names — are genuinely eye-opening. Here's what's quietly burning through your allowance before you've even opened the app.
The refurbished phone market in the UK has exploded well beyond second-hand iPhones, with a dizzying range of grading systems, retailers, and warranty promises now competing for your attention. We've cut through the confusion to explain what those condition grades actually mean, which UK sellers are worth trusting, and how to make sure your consumer rights have your back if things go wrong.
Mobile number portability promised British consumers the freedom to switch networks without losing their phone number — a genuinely radical idea when it launched three decades ago. But in 2025, a combination of deliberate friction, opaque processes, and regulatory gaps means that promise has been significantly hollowed out, and the people paying the highest price are often those who can least afford it.
Millions of UK commuters are shelling out for 5G tariffs every month, yet the moment they board a train or step onto a bus, that blazing-fast connection disappears entirely. We dug into Ofcom data, spoke to frustrated commuters, and crunched the numbers on just how much this phantom service is actually costing British workers each year.
Amazon Prime Day 2024 is almost here, and the early deals are already stacking up. Here's everything UK shoppers need to know about dates, what to expect, and which phone and tech bargains are worth your attention.
Concept cars have always been the stuff of dreams, but over the last ten years they've become something far more relevant to tech fans — rolling showcases for the connected, 5G-powered future of driving. We round up the ten most stunning concepts of the past decade and ask what they really mean for UK motorists and their mobile lives.
Lenovo's Tab M9 is making serious waves in the UK tablet market, offering a compact Android experience at a price that makes the iPad Mini look frankly embarrassing. But does cutting so many corners actually matter when the savings are this dramatic? We dig into whether this budget slab deserves a spot on your desk.
Most of us tap a few words into Google and hope for the best — but there's a whole toolkit of search tricks hiding in plain sight. From filtering results by date to finding exact phrases, these ten tips will save you time and frustration whether you're on your phone or laptop.
You're paying up to £50 a month for mobile coverage that disappears the moment you step through your front door. Ofcom's own data reveals a yawning chasm between the glossy coverage maps networks publish and the reality of trying to make a phone call from your kitchen. We dig into why Britain's homes are signal black holes — and what you can actually do about it.
Networks have spotted a lucrative new market in anxious parents and are rolling out 'kids' phone plans at prices that would make your eyes water. But strip away the colourful branding and the parental control features, and you might find you're paying a significant premium for things that are either free or available far more cheaply elsewhere. We've done the maths so you don't have to.
A five-minute phone call to your mobile network is all it takes for a fraudster to hijack your phone number, bypass your bank's security, and drain your accounts. SIM-swap fraud is surging across the UK, and the frightening truth is that the networks meant to protect you are often the weakest link in the chain. Here's everything you need to know before it happens to you.