Your weekly fix of mobile, tech & telecom news
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Your network's coverage map shows a confident splash of colour right over your postcode — so why can't you make a phone call from your own sofa? We dig into the murky world of indoor signal, Ofcom's toothless obligations, and the workarounds your network quietly hopes you'll never find.
Every August, UK retailers and mobile networks roll out a wave of back-to-school smartphone promotions aimed squarely at parents. The deals look compelling on the surface — but run the numbers over 24 months and a very different picture emerges. We crunch the real costs so you can make a genuinely informed choice.
Most of us tick 'I agree' without a second glance, but buried inside your standard UK mobile contract are clauses that can cost you hundreds, trap you in deals you never knowingly agreed to extend, and leave you with surprisingly little legal recourse. We've done the reading so you don't have to.
Millions of Britons are paying full whack for mobile contracts that deliver little more than a flickering bar of signal the moment they step through their front door. From Victorian terraces to modern double-glazed new builds, the UK's housing stock is quietly killing your mobile connection — and your network almost certainly won't tell you. We investigate what you're actually entitled to, and how to fight back.
Family phone plans sound like a no-brainer — one account, shared data, and a discount for sticking together. But scratch beneath the surface of what UK networks are actually selling and the promised savings have a habit of evaporating into exit fees, mismatched upgrade dates, and data-sharing rules that benefit the network far more than the family. We run the numbers, expose the traps, and work out whether going it alone might actually be the smarter play in 2025.
Getting your child their first smartphone has become a rite of passage in Britain — and the mobile industry knows it. From upselling anxious parents on premium handsets to locking families into two-year contracts for a 10-year-old's first device, the tactics used to squeeze money out of the back-to-school crowd are worth knowing about. Here's what a sensible first phone actually costs, and why you almost certainly don't need what the shop is pushing.