Many smart phone users won’t be aware of the huge difference in costs for mobile data when using their device on a roaming network, but as highlighted by the Customer Focus Website, even uploading a single picture to Facebook can prove to be expensive.

To upload a meg picture in South Africa will cost the following for contract users:

• 3UK – £1.25
• 02 - £6
• Orange £8
• T-Mobile  – £7.50
• Tesco – £8
• Virgin £5
• Vodafone – Currently £14.99  From 15/06/10 £3

Theres a massive difference in price across suppliers so anyone heading to the World Cup should shop around. 

On an important side note, any Windows users who are using the Mobile Internet when working abroad should turn off Windows Updates – otherwise they may unwittingly pick up a massive bill.

Three UK today announced it will offer dedicated data plans for iPad with Wi-Fi + 3G, beginning May 28.

All data plans will be available without a contract, providing the freedom to activate or cancel a plan at any time.
iPad allows users to connect with their apps and content in a more intimate, intuitive and fun way than ever before. Users can browse the web, read and send email, enjoy and share photos, watch HD videos, listen to music, play games, read ebooks and much more, all using iPad’s revolutionary Multi-Touch user interface.

 iPad with Wi-Fi + 3G models are just 0.5 inches thick and weigh just 1.6 pounds — thinner and lighter than any laptop or netbook — and deliver up to 10 hours of battery life for surfing the web on Wi-Fi, watching videos or listening to music, and up to nine hours of surfing the web using a 3G data network.

 
“Three is pleased to offer competitive data plans for iPad with Wi-Fi + 3G in the UK,” said Marc Allera, sales and marketing director at Three. “Our network, the largest in the country, has been optimized for the mobile Internet, ensuring our customers enjoy the very best mobile performance on iPad.”

Two UK plans for iPad with Wi-Fi + 3G have been announced by 3, 1GB for £7.50 per month or 10GB for £15.00 per month.

The camera’s on HTC have improved over the last year and the Wildfire is no exception with it’s Five-megapixel camera with auto focus and LED flash.  The Wildfire also includes a standard 3.5mm audio jack so you won’t need an adapter  to plug in your headphones.

The HTC Wildfire includes the HTC Sense interface so that keeping up with your social networks and instant messaging is very easy.

Not all Android phones have to be expensive to provide top of the range features.

The HTC Wildfire will be available from 3uk shortly.

• 71 per cent of British people believe portable Wi-Fi access in a car, where up to five passengers can connect to Wi-Fi devices, would be useful for work and entertainment while travelling

• Car travel with children is so painful that 54 per cent of British travellers would rather stay home and avoid discovering the UK by road

• What’s worse is that almost 10 percent would rather have root canal therapy than endure car travel with the kids

• The M25 is considered the most tedious motor journey by 40 percent of British people, followed by the M1 (22 per cent) and the M6 (20 per cent)

• 8 out of 10 parents have battled with kids when travelling by car because they get bored or restless if left without entertainment

• 60 per cent would be more likely or would consider travelling in a taxi with Wi-Fi

• One in three British people (34 per cent) would use In-car Wi-Fi for social media purposes and emailing friends, followed by one in five (21 per cent) for work purposes and one in six (18 per cent) to stream online videos (eg BBC iPlayer and YouTube)

3uk are providing a cost effective method of providing in car Wifi, they have released a special version of their MiFi (a Huawei E5830 Mobile Internet Router) that includes an in car power adapter. The MiFi provides Wifi Connectivity so it’s easy to connect Laptops, iPods and even portable Games consoles, proving access to Social Networking, Traffic Updates, email, online gaming etc, from your car seat.

Suddenly those long car journeys don’t seem to quite that bad

The tool which is integrated into the existing Google Maps application uses the internal GPS functionality on the phone handsets to help you find your destination and includes step by step voice navigation along side the latest live traffic news.

Converging technology can produce interesting applications, and the synergy of GPS and live 3g data can help you plan the best route and can really help you have better, quicker and hassle free journeys.

If you have an Android phone then down load the free application from the Android Market.

3UK have launched the Samsung Galaxy Portal smartphone  into the UK Market.

The 13.2mm thick Samsung Galaxy Portal comes  with the Android Operating System (Version 1.5) which whilst not the most up to date version is certainly polished, powerful and easy to use.

Augmented Reality is finding a home on the new wave of Smartphones and The Samsung Galaxy Portal features Layar – the popular augmented reality application which combines the phone’s camera, compass and GPS data to gives you information about where you are like your nearest petrol station or cash point.

Android provides plenty of customisation options and the Samsung Galaxy Portal provides 10 home screen for your applications and Widgets, show your iPhone owning friends android widgets and watch them turn green with Envy.

Whilst there are other more powerful Android phones out there, this handset provides a cost effective way to enter the Android market.

The Samsung Galaxy Portal is available from 3UK in red & black or white & green from £20 a month with unlimited internet, texts and 200 anytime any network minutes on a 24month contract and costs £184 on Pay As You Go.

The 3 network is considered to be one of the highest available 3g Networks in the UK, and this compliments Internet Integrated Smartphones, and makes social networking easy and enjoyable.

The Nokia X6 comes complete with a high quality 5MP camera, so high quality photo’s shouldn’t be a problem, and will look great on the 3.2″ touch screen

The phone runs the Symbian Operating system, so finding an app for any occasion or to meet any requirement, and a free turn-by-turn Sat Nav Application is included.

As you would expect from a Nokia Smartphone Multimedia isn’t a problem and Video and Audio capabilities (including access to 3′s Spotify Service) are impressive, and as with all phones on 3 you will have unlimited access Skype and Windows Live Messenger for free.

The Nokia X6 is available online, in 3 Stores and telesales from today.

PhoneArena have reviewed the Nokia X6  and their review can be seen below.

The handset runs the ever improving Android Operating System and features an incredible 3.7-inch AMOLED display, so images, videos and web pages will look crisp and vibrant.

The Android operating system has always been incredibly user friendly and easy to use, although it can sometimes be a little sluggish on early handsets, but the Desire features a 1 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, like that found in the Google Nexus One, so there is plenty of processing power available to allow fast multi-tasking of applications.

Android is designed to allow the use of Widgets, of which there are now many, which deliver information straight to your phones desktop, so you will never be without those sports results or weather updates again.

The Android Operating System is designed to be integrated with the Internet, in practice this proves to be a great asset and turns Android phones into true multi-purpose communication devices, emails, Facebook updates, tweets and the like can be sent straight to the handset in real time, so that you are never out of the loop with friends or work.

The integrated 5 megapixel camera in the Desire in significantly improved over early Android models and features, Face detection, Auto focus and flash, Widescreen photo capture and Geotagging.

As standard the HTC Desire HTC Desire will feature Skype, Windows Live Messenger, Email on 3 and Twitter alongside an integrated Facebook application.

The HTC Desire is an incredibly desirable handset so keep an eye on the 3 Website for a formal release date

The video below shows the HTC Desire in action.

In addition  to the standard Skype, Windows Live Messenger and Email apps that come with 3 handsets, the touch screen Nokia 5230 features an integrated Facebook application with access to live feeds and photo uploader and a Twitter application so you can send and view tweets easily.

Running the Symbian operating system the user interface will be familiar to those users who have used Nokia smartphones before, and as well as being easy to use, there are many apps readily available, from Internet browsers to GPS mapping applications.

3 have also made the Symbian version of Spotify available to it’s user, for an additional monthly service Nokia users get access to the premium version of the music streaming application. Previously this application was only available to owners of the HTC Hero, so it’s go to see 3 expanding this service.

If you are looking for an easy to use introduction to multimedia smartphones, on a mobile data friendly network, and at a reasonable price then check out the Nokia 5230 from 3.

The following video shows the Nokia 5230 in action.

Most people would naturally assume that the longest established Networks like O2 or Vodafone would give the largest coverage of 3G data, but that isn’t necessarily correct. The actual answer is that it’s one of the youngest Mobile companies in the UK, Three,  that based on the positioning of their masts and residential population figures that actually have the Largest Mobile Data coverage.

3uk have just activated it’s 10,000th site in Shooters Hill, South-East London which brings access to it’s data network to over 92% of the countries population.

With more and more businesses becoming reliant on Mobile data to conduct business, and an increase in the popularity of  Mobile Apps, like the music application Spotify, in the consumer market Mobile Data Coverage, Network Reliability  and Contention Ratios are fast becoming Big Issue’s.

3UK are looking to add a further 3000 sites this year and are also working with T-Mobile through the Mobile Broadband Network Limited joint venture to further increase network coverage.