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"Anyone got a OnePlus One invite?" is a phrase I remember well. They were the good ol' days. Actually, no, they weren't, they were awful. Anyway, those days are now behind us because OnePlus has announced an exclusive partnership with UK carrier O2 to sell the OnePlus 3 in brick-and-mortar stores.
It's been a while since we've seen any progress on the carrier billing front. Admittedly it's something of a niche feature - if you're using a smartphone there's a good chance that you also have a credit or debit card handy. But if for some reason you'd like to send your Play Store purchases to your wireless provider and pay them along with your bill at the end of the month, it's a handy option. Now it's available on a smattering of new carriers in Bulgaria, Estonia, Ireland, Lithuania, and Qatar.
Happy Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge pre-order day UK residents! If you've been anxiously fiddling and waiting for Samsung's new flagship to land in your hands, you are now one step closer to fulfilling that goal. Many UK carriers and sellers have started today their pre-orders for the devices, with various offers, bundles, colors, and configurations to choose from. Here are the details.
Direct carrier billing is one of the most convenient ways to buy apps and content from the Play Store. Instead of making sure you have a valid credit or debit card or trying to find gift cards or setting up a Paypal account, you can simply have the purchase amount billed with your regular mobile service.
After its introduction at CES, the curvtastic LG G Flex 2 is almost ready for primetime. The phone has been available for pre-order on Sprint in the US for a few days with a free Quick Circle case, but its global rollout is about to commence. It will first be offered on "major carriers in the United States, Hong Kong, Singapore, France, Germany, and the U.K," according to an LG Press Release, followed by key markets in North and South America, Europe, and Asia.
The US isn't the only market where carrier consolidation is the name of the game. UK carrier O2 is being purchased by Hong Kong businessman Li Ka-shing, who already owns Three Mobile in the UK. The agreed upon price is reportedly a whopping £10.25 billion ($15.4 billion). If all goes as planned, the deal would reduce the number of major UK carriers to three.
There's this company over in the UK that's ready to sell Moto 360s to people on that side of the pond. O2 is its name. Anyone who heads over to the carrier's website will now see the smartwatch for sale at £199.99. It seems to only be available in black.
You've got a new billing option in Google Play if you're a customer of Canadian carrier Telus or O2 in the UK. Fire up the Play Store, and you'll see carrier billing pop up in the checkout screen. Yay, another way to give Google money.
Listen up, UK readers: if you're rocking an HTC One from 2013, and you got it from O2 or Three, check your notification bar for an update. According to this HTC support page, a fresh, steaming copy of Sense 6 is headed your way. The unlocked GSM model of the One M7 should also be getting the update. (Apparently the unlocked update is going out by country, since the US unlocked model was already updated.) Vodafone UK and EE users will have to wait.
United Kingdom citizens, your long wait for LTE service is finally over... assuming you haven't gotten fed up and switched to EE already. Vodafone and O2, half of the UK's "big four" wireless providers, have both switched on their 4G/LTE networks today. Vodafone's LTE network is limited to London at the moment, while O2's network fares slightly better with a rollout to London, Leeds, and Bradford.
Remember that nifty multi-carrier LTE version of the Nexus 7 that was shown off when the tablet was revealed last month? Google has been mum on a specific release date for that version, but United Kingdom carrier O2 is more than willing to chat it up. According to both a tweet from the official 02 account and a short blog post, the "4G" Nexus 7 will hit the UK on September 13th.
If you've been waiting to pre-order the Samsung Galaxy S4, today's the big day, and you're not short of choices when it comes to retailers or networks.
Don't say we don't love you, United Kingdom readers. Those of you rocking an HTC One X on the O2 network should check your settings menu, if you haven't gotten the update already. HTC representatives have taken to Twitter to announce the arrival of Android 4.1 to the former flagship handheld, and users on the company forums have confirmed the upgrade to software version 3.14.206.27. It looks like a nationwide rollout this morning afternoon, so warm up that wireless connection if you want some Sense-flavored Jelly Bean.
Jelly Bean Updates Roll Out To Unbranded UK, Switzerland, Luxemburg Galaxy S IIIs And Branded Ones In 8 Other Countries
The pace at which Samsung is pushing out Galaxy S III Jelly Bean updates is picking up steam in Europe
The pace at which Samsung is pushing out Galaxy S III Jelly Bean updates is picking up steam in Europe with the much anticipated arrival of Android 4.1.1 for unbranded UK handsets. The Brits aren't the only ones getting it today - in fact, the list is quite sizeable. Here, check it out:
European O2 and Vodafone Galaxy S III owners, it's finally your turn to check out Jelly Bean first hand. Following last week's updates on Hutchison Whampoa networks (Three/3/H3G), now O2 and Vodafone joined the party and started pushing out Android 4.1.1 to Galaxy S IIIs in at least the following locations:
Now that Samsung has officially announced the Galaxy S III Mini, Phones4U has started to take pre-orders in the UK, with prices for the mid-range phone starting at £25 a month.
It looks like mobile device users in the UK can expect 4G services to begin rolling out a bit sooner than previously expected – six months sooner, to be specific.
At a time where phone networks in the UK are fighting over 4G spectrum, it's easy to forget that not everyone is willing, or able, to spend £40 a month on a fast mobile phone - just ask those public sector workers who are striking over pensions today.
That Richard Lai fella sure gets all the luck, eh? Not only was Engadget’s London-based editor amongst the first to get to play with a Streak (aka Mini 5), Dell’s impressive 5” Android slate device, he’s now gotten an exclusive look at an early build of Eclair 2.1 running on the “tablet-phone”. While the previously unexpected 1.6 to 2.1 update is intended as a stop-gap measure to reduce the pain of waiting for Froyo, Engadget encountered several new features in their time with the new OS. While nothing has changed drastically, Eclair on the Streak has brought a few improvements and niggles of note:
The official German O2 Twitter account posted a tweet this weekend that the Motorola Milestone (better known as the Verizon Droid to us Yanks) will be getting Android 2.2 in mid-late September of this year. Also contained in the announcement was news that the HTC Desire will be receiving FroYo in mid-to-late August, and the Galaxy S in mid-September while the Flipout and X10 are still TBD. It’s great to see these phones receiving prompt updates to the latest OS version after the slower rollouts of some of the previous updates (We’re looking at you Eclair).