Yesterday 3UK launched an updated website.  Although this new site has received mixed comments with some people liking it, and others not, there are a couple of things to be said about it.  Firstly, 3UK have kept all the information you need handy, such as coverage checkers.  Secondly, and this won’t be obvious from the site, but internally within the company there were champions requesting (and ultimately succeeding) that the website was not Flash based (and with it the potential to not allow direct links to product pages).  Overall, I’ve had a few visits to the website, and I’m happy with the redesign.

However…

At the same time, 3UK have removed the Mix and Match tariffs and removed the Texter tariffs (and the old Internet Texter tariffs). Now, there is 3 choices:

• SIM Only remains, offering a 1 month rolling contract for those who already have a phone, or are happy to buy PAYG phones to use with the service.
• Internet Talker tariffs, all 24 month contracts, all include “unlimited” 500MB Internet, and the standard range of free facilities (Skype, Windows Live Messenger, Twitter) and “unlimited” 3000 3UK-3UK minutes per month.  4 tariffs are available, called 100, 300, 500 and 900, which denotes the number of cross network minutes or texts per month available.
• For an additional £3 or £5 per month (depending on tariff), there are 4 Internet Texter tariffs, which offer the same 100, 300, 500 or 900 cross network minutes per month, but also come with “unlimited” Internet (*), and “unlimited” 3000 texts.

(*) It seems there is an inconsistency on the 3UK website; although both the Internet Texter and Internet Talker tariffs have a headline of “unlimited internet”, when you look at the detail the Internet Texter tariffs are shown as “unlimited internet”, whereas the Internet Talker tariff are shown as “500MB data”.  This either means 3UK has dropped it’s “unlimited” cap from 1Gb to 500MB, or there is a difference between these 2 tariffs of an additional 500MB.  Either way, some clarify is definitely required over how much internet is or isn’t included with these tariffs, and equally why has the limit dropped…

So, if you were after something like a Nokia 6700 Slide, to get it with 300 cross network minutes (24 month contract) will cost you:

• Internet Talker 300: £10 per month
• Handset: £6 per month

therefore a total of £16 per month.  To add those “unlimited” 3000 texts as well would cost an additional £5 per month, so the Handset with the Internet Texter 300 tariff would be £21 per month.

On one hand, I have to offer 3UK the greatest support for taking the initiative and including Internet access with every tariff (apart from SIM only), and that can be as little as £10 per month (it looks like this was the plan 3UK were talking to me about a month or so back), however, on the other hand, making all contracts 24 months may backfire for the many people who don’t want to be tied in for that long. I’m also not happy with the lack of clarity over what “unlimited” internet means, and why it’s now dropped from the old 1GB limit to the new 500MB limit (in fact, you’ll actually get your first warning at 400MB, whereas with the old limits your first warning was when you hit 1GB, and you could actually keep going for some while before being charged).

Having said all that; looking at the Internet Talker 300 tariff, it means you could have a Nokia 5800 XpressMusic for £10 per month (24 month contract) a Nokia E71 (Refurbished) for £13 per month (24 month contract), or if you fancy Android an HTC Hero for £19 per month (24 month contract, 2 months Spotify Premium) or even the HTC Desire for £20 per month (24 month contract, 2 months Spotify Premium); that’s an impressive range of handsets at impressive prices as long as you can accept the 24 month contract, and are happy with the 500MB per month data limit.

Finally, it’s worth pointing out that the majority of the prices I have quoted regarding these new tariffs are the online prices, which have an online exclusive £2 per month reduction over store prices, so to get many of these deals, you will have to visit the 3Store as opposed to going to your local High Street.

Having already covered the Nokia C6 a couple of times, there’s not a lot to say about this device, except it does appear to be a very interesting proposition…

Featuring the S60 5th Edition touchscreen, including the N97-style homescreen widgets, this device combines the feature spec of the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, adds a sliding QWERTY keyboard, upgrades the camera to 5 megapixel, and does so without adding too much extra weight or volume.  This device, as I have already said, it likely to sell very well, especially as Nokia are looking at a €220 SIM free price (that’s about £200), so we can expect it less than that on PAYG, and I would expect as little as free on 18-month contracts.

I could repeat all the specs of this device, but it’s best to head to the Nokia PDF Datasheet for the best information (here).

Even better, the phone is due to be actually available in Q2; showing Nokia has finally moved towards reducing the time between announcement and availability, which is a good move.  Of course, as it features a GPS, that means free navigation software too. One thing to be aware of; although it will launch in Black and White, in time there will be additional colours, such as Blue.

Nokia also released the Nokia C3 (below), which is a S40 QWERTY device.  This will have a SIM free price of €90 (£80)

Although being S40, this phone features email, chat, information on the homescreen (posting and status updates).  Looking at the spec, it seems to rival the INQ Chat 3G, so this should be a popular device too for those wanting QWERTY, but with the Nokia badge. This will also be available in Q2.  Again, more information on the spec is available direct from Nokia here.

Finally, Nokia announced the Nokia E5, which will not be out until Q3, and will most likely replace the Nokia E63 (which makes sense as the Nokia E63 is S60 3rd Edition FP1, whereas the Nokia E5 is S60 3rd Edition FP2).

This, again, is  QWERTY device, and will feature a GPS with free navigation (a step up from the Nokia E63), and increase the camera to 5megapixels too.  At €180 (£160) SIM free, again, this is competitively priced to be even more popular than the Nokia E63.  Given this will be aimed more at the business market (although I would expect certain UK networks to pick it up and release it for everyone), the extra delay between now and release is unlikely to be a big issue.

I’m really impressed by these phones, I’m not going to rush out and buy them all, but for the mid-market they are aimed at, these devices will sell really well.  My only criticism is that the C-Series now has an S40, a S60 3rd Edition and a S60 5th Edition device, making it difficult to associate one OS with a range, but that’s not so different from the old 4 number range, which covered all 3 OSes as well.  For those who are looking for a top spec flagship phone, these aren’t it, and that should be announced in the coming months…

A day or two ago, I got a nice SMS from 3UK:

From 3: On Apr 22 some prices change. You still get free texts, internet & 3-to-3 calls. New: free Twitter & 0.facebook.com

It finishes with a 3UK web page for more details.

Wow, I thought; 3UK are just making the existing free twitter browsing permanent, and adding support for the new 0.facebook.com website (which provides a mobile text only interface to Facebook; ie access to news and information, but no photos, keeping the data usage down); what a nice bunch of people, providing these extra services for all their customers.

However, curiosity got the better of me, so off I went to the website to see the finer details of the changes, and boy did I get a shock…

So, here are the full details of the PAYG changes coming next month:

• Voicemail is no longer free; it is now 15p/minute.
• Calls to landlines and Mobiles goes up from 20p/minute to 25p/minute.
• Sending a picture message goes up from 25p each to 30p each.
• Making International calls from the UK goes up roughly 5p/minute for the majority of countries.
• Making roaming calls whilst in some countries goes up 4p/minute (Band 0 countries).
• Receiving calls whilst roaming in some countries goes up 9p/minute (Band 1) or 25p/minute (Band 2).
• Calls to 084x and 087x numbers increase by 5p/minute, 5p/call, or both.
• Calls to 090x numbers increase too.

“Some prices change” really doesn’t seem to cover it, and I think 3UK should be making more of these changes before people wonder where all their credit has gone.

I do note that 3UK are promoting both Twitter and 0.facebook.com being free and don’t need a TopUp, which implies (maybe incorrectly), that these, like Skype and Windows Live Messenger, continue to work even if your credit runs out, which is one small positive to come out of all these changes.

In other news, Sylvia Chind has confirmed the following handset information (see here for full details):

• The Nokia E72 will be available in May, and is likely to be as much of a hit as the Nokia E71 has been.
• The Nokia N900 is not coming to 3UK, and nor is the HTC HD2.
• The Samsung Galaxy, Sony Ericsson X10 and HTC Desire are coming to 3UK (although we had already announced all those devices here at UK Gadgeteer)
• They are still hoping to bring the iPhone to 3UK, but it’s not here yet.

This is generally good news for 3UK in terms of their handsets, and it’s unfortunate it’s come at the same time as all these PAYG price increases, but for many 3UK customers, now might be the right time for a new phone, and a move to a contract to soften the impact of these PAYG price changes.

I received some limited information from 3UK yesterday, about a new £10 per month plan.  This is aimed at the many current customers who topup with £10 a month; in essence, 3UK seems to be saying “instead of spending £10 per month on topups, take a £10 per month contract, and this means you won’t need to topup each month, and we’ll even throw in a new phone in the deal”.

Given 3UK’s current lowest plan is a £12 per month contract, and that’s a promotional rate, it’s not clear whether this will be a promotional tariff or a permanent plan (as permanent as any mobile tariff ever is).  Also, I wouldn’t expect the high end phones such as the Nokia N97 or HTC Hero being available on this plan, but it’s interesting that they are looking at providing a low end tariff.

This post was written in advance of most of the Mobile World Congress 2010 Press Releases and companies announcing new products, so what do I think will be announced across the week of the event…

Firstly, HTC will announce a replacement Android device to replace the Hero, possibly with a QWERTY keyboard too.

Nokia will announce a new top of the range N-Series device to replace the N97, and hopefully not following the trend of the Nokia N96 and the Nokia N97 in not really being a fantastic / perfect device to head up the range.

Nokia will announce at least one new E-Series device, possibly using a form factor not seen within the E-Series range before.

INQ will announce something; either a concept of their Android devices due later this year, or an actual phone, possibly also announcing more operators who will be taking their phones.

Sony Ericsson seem to have already announced a range of new phones:

• The X10 Mini and the X10 Mini Pro (which adds a QWERTY slider), both Android devices
• The Vivaz Pro; a QWERTY slider version of the already announced Vivaz, both S60 5th Edition devices and shown below
• The Aspen, a Windows Mobile device

The Vivaz will be available in Q1 2010 along with the X10, whereas the X10 Mini, X10 Mini Pro, and the Aspen will all appear in Q2 2010.

The most important thing seems to be that the main mobile companies are back on form, and releasing devices worthy of discussion…

A billion minutes may not sound a lot to most telecoms companies, but 3UK have just passed a billion minutes of Skype calls on their network!  That’s an impressive figure.  The billionth minute was made by Stephen Timms (Minister for Digital Britain) to the CEO of Merlin (a medical charity).  It’s nice to see that 3UK have donated a small number of 3 SkypePhones to Merlin to allow them to communicate whilst they are out in Haiti.

This is an impressive figure, and in fact, 3UK have said that they are handled over 3 million minutes of Skype calls are handled every day!

3UK want to promote the use of Twitter, and so for the whole of February and March, access to Twitter will be free!  What exactly is and isn’t included?  Well, 3UK have stated that access to Twitter for tweeting messages and pictures will be free of charge, whether you are accessing Twitter via the mobile browser, or using the integrated client on devices such as the INQ Mini 3G, Sony Ericsson T715, or even the INQ Chat 3G.  If you already pay for Internet access on your mobile phone, then accessing twitter will not come out of your internet data allowance.

Although this is only a 2 month period, this means that right now you can use Skype, Twitter and Windows Live Messenger for free on your device.  As always, 3UK seem to be pushing the boundaries on what could and should be included within the contract, and we hope this promotion can be extended in the long term.

Last week I attended an event hosted by 3UK.  In attendance were a variety of 3UK staff from Marketing & PR, Products & Services, Customer Services, and the Networks team.  I had a chance to chat with people for each area and was able to ask a wide range of questions, especially those that you had added as comments to my request last week.  As a result, I’m able to provide a glimpse into what 2010 holds for 3UK (although nothing truly exclusive and brand new was announced, there was some useful information provided)…

Please read the questions and answers after the break…

(more…)

Later this week, I’ll be meeting up with a number of people from all different departments within 3UK, so here’s your chance to get any questions you have asked direct to people within 3UK who may be able to provide feedback for you…

Obviously they need to be general questions about the overall service, or plans for the future (although I doubt they will magically reveal their future product / phone handset plans), as I won’t be able to deal with specific individual problems, but if you have any questions, please add a comment and although the comment may not appear on the public site, I’ll read it and pass on the question if appropriate…

I already have 3 or 4 questions to put to 3UK, so I’m hoping this event will provide some useful information for you when I writeup the event.

In attendance at the event there should be 3UK staff from Customer Services, Handsets, Mobile Broadband, and Products & Services, so whatever your question, I’ll try to pass it on…

When I covered the INQ Chat 3G last week (here), I didn’t mention anything about the PC software side of things, so I thought I’d add a few comments on that here.  From one point of view, it all looks very smooth and slick, but when you go into the weeds, it’s not so perfect…

Firstly, when you connect the phone to your PC, it brings up a little menu with a variety of options, including installing the drivers to user your phone as a modem, and the option to install DoubleTwist, the new application INQ are using to manage your media.

Now, I thought this was very good, but when you click to install DoubleTwist, it actually opens a webpage and takes you directly to the DoubleTwist website to download the latest version from there.  From one point of view, this is good, as you always get the latest version, but it’s not exactly “out of the box”.  So, after a download and an installation, I was surprised to find the latest version of the software wasn’t able to recognise the phone at all.  In fact, reading the handy hint cards that came with the phone didn’t reveal the problem, until I happened to search the online INQ forums (although my phone arrived the same week most shops started selling it, I guessed that INQ Mini users may have had similar issues), and eventually I found the answer; you need to use a microSD card (not included in the box) to be able to use DoubleTwist…

Now, I acknowledge that the phone doesn’t have a lot of spare memory capacity built in, but it did seem a shame to not mention anywhere that music management needed an additional memory card.  One memory card later, and all was well.  Well, as well as could be expected; you see, I’m not (yet) a big Apple fan, so I rarely use iTunes for music (podcasts and other videos yes, but not music) as hence although DoubleTwist was capable of transferring my iTunes music across to the phone, that did not amount to much…

Here again, I found a minor issue with DoubleTwist; it happily copied the music from a couple of my iTunes playlists across to the phone, but didn’t actually copy the playlist; ie it copied all the songs, but made no attempt to build equivalent playlists on the phone to allow easy selection of the music again.

Apart from one or two niggles (that I covered within the actual INQ Chat 3G review here), this did seem a little bit of a let down to me, and although it’s outside of INQ’s control, I do hope that either DoubleTwist improves their software, or INQ can persuade them to support playlists just for them…

So, overall, the PC Software options are nicely integrated and thought out, but, like the phone, let down if you a power user.

My time with the INQ Chat 3G is now up, so I won’t necessarily keep up to date with how the software (on the phone or on the PC) improve with time, but I hope they do.  One thing I forgot to mention with the hardware review; since being announced, the price of the INQ Chat 3G has dropped a fair amount, and at only £89.99 on PAYG, it’s actually a hell of a lot of phone for the money…