The UK Mobile Report

Virgin is top dog in SIM sales

Virgin is the leading seller of SIM-only deals, with almost 30 per cent of the market according to GfK research. Despite competition from the likes of Lebara and all the main operators, it has ramped up sales thanks to direct promotion to Virgin Media subscribers and advertising linked to Channel 4's reality fest Big Brother show.

Lebara review

I wrote about Lebara a few months ago.

Lebara is a SIM-only, pay as you go option piggybacking on the Vodafone network and aimed at those who make lots of overseas calls. You also get £20 credit to start you off. It's been heavily promoted at mainline stations and tube stations in the London area; not sure about outside London.

The rates sounded good, but I hadn't heard from anyone using it. Then today I got this from Petimi, a Hungarian who runs a web design company:

Lebara Mobile low-cost international calls work like a charm on my
mobile. Absolutely flawless voice quality and very reasonable prices.
I also wrote a quick Lebara review on my blog. ind it here if
interested: http://blog.pi-imagedesign.com/?p=26

The bottom line is that when Petimi calls home he pays 4p per minute for a landline and 14p per minute to a mobile.

He seems a happy bunny but I can't verify the authenticity of the review having not talked to him directly.

Meanwhile in other news Lebara has announced that it is to sell top ups through 1,900 Tesco outlets. This apparently relates to 26,000 till locations, bringing the retail outlet total for Lebara to 90,000.

Web 'n' Walk in crawl mode?

T-Mobile has admitted that its data service went down yesterday, as reported in this Register story. But the reader comments are somewhat at odds with T-Mobile's details. T-Mobile said the service was down for 12 hours in the North of England during Sunday night and Monday morning. But one reader said it was down for almost 36 hours, while others said that they were affected in Wales and the Midlands.

Don't take a suitcase, buy underpants when you get there

So you thought it was bad over here? Think again; US airlines look set to charge you a packet to take your bag from here to there as they desperately seek new ways of introducing hidden costs. It's already up to £15 on American Airlines now, according to this piece in the New York Times. It points out that the secret to travelling light is to wear five layers on the flight, and to strip shortly after take-off - nice one. Personally I'm pleased to see all those people who used to get on the flight with massive bags full of stuff getting charged a packet for the pleasure.

Five reasons why English football managers don't work abroad

1. They are not Jose Mourinho
2. They don't speak Portuguese
3. They don't speak Italian
4. They don't speak Spanish
5. They don't have Frank Lampard's mobile number
This video of Jose's first press conference at Inter Milan proves the point rather well. Good luck Jose, see you on the road to Rome (for the final of the Champions League, naturally). Now how about that....May 2009, Abramovitch versus Mourinho in the Olympic stadium. Now that's what I call gladiatorial.

Make music on the iPhone

I met the guys behind this software when they were pitching mobile translation software at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. This time the software is called Band and it lets you make music on your iPhone by converting it into a range of instruments....how long before we see the first busking iPhone player?

TV on the iPhone

...using SlingPlayer of course. Here's their own (rather grainy) demo.

HTC X7510 review

This video review care of MobileBurn. A nice detailed look at this highly portable computer. What I really like is the magnetic casing and the almost secret camera. Only problem reported was that "there was a problem with the Wordpress visual editor; the delete key on the keyboard causes everything in the editing box to disappear." Otherwise very tasty. Expansys is selling them for £685 (inc. VAT), sadly still only on pre-order. There's is also a nice unboxing video from Unwired here.

Google Maps for mobile review

OK here's Google talking about Google maps. The presentation is a bit woody but it gives you an idea of how Google Maps for mobile could take over the known universe. In this demo it maps your route and tells you what time the buses are, with earlier or later times if you want them. Transport for London are you listening?

Nokia N78 review gets thumbs up

The Register has completed its review and the verdict is very good, if a bit brochure-sounding:

"From its sleek, minimalist good looks to its raft of impressively well-integrated features, the N78 is a gorgeous little number. The 3.2-megapixel camera, feature-packed music player, A-GPS and maps, quality web browser plus documents readers and email make it an ideal travelling companion for business or pleasure."

The only criticism was the slowness when running a several applications at the same time. Par the for course, sadly.