We’re hearing that Vodafone will be removing the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic from their range by the end of the week, and it’s likely as we progress into March that the other networks will follow suit.  As the phone has been out for a while, it seems it’s being replaced by the Nokia 5230, which although is a nice phone, has some less features compared to the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic.

Firstly, it’s got a 2 megapixel camera, compared to the 3.2 megapixel on the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, and it doesn’t have WiFi (not a problem for many people, but still worth pointing out; whilst at home, my phones often download larger files and data, which would quickly cut into the data limits placed on phone contracts).  It does, however, have built in social networking features (although adding a copy of Gravity to a Symbian phone only costs around £8, and is well worth it in my opinion).  It does also have more flexibility when it comes to the home screen layout, which may appeal to many.  With the move to Ovi Maps v3 now being free for S60 5th Edition phones, both can have free Navigation, although with the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic you may well need to update the software and maps before you get free navigation, whereas it’s more likely (although not confirmed) that the Nokia 5230 will ship with the free version out of the box.

So, if you are after a new phone, the Nokia 5230 is worth a look, but if the lack of WiFi will be an issue, then you might want to act quickly before the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic disappears from the shelves for good!

Both Orange and Vodafone have made a lot of noise about now selling the iPhone on their networks, but equally, if you already have an iPhone on O2, and want to move to Vodafone, but don’t want to buy a whole new device, there really wasn’t a good option; until now!

Vodafone have now announced their iPhone SIM Only deal, whereby you pay £25 per month, and for that you get:

• 600 voice minutes
• “Unlimited” 3000 texts
• 1GB of data (it’s worth noting this is often only 500MB with most Vodafone contracts)
• Flexible 30 day agreement
• 1GB of data via BT Premium OpenZone hotspots too

This is an interesting deal, and brings together the WiFi component of many iPhone contracts without the need to buy a new device.  Although this probably won’t be the first such tariff, it’s nice to see a network saying “hey, bring your existing phone to our network, and we both benefit”.

For more details, head to the Vodafone website to see the details about the iPhone SIM Only deal for yourself.

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…

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If you own a Nokia N97, then you should find that the free Ovi Maps software is now available.  It’s not yet integrated into a firmware update, but instead is available from the built in Software Update tool.  However, you’ll need v20 firmware already installed, so where does the Nokia N97 UK network operator branded versions stand…?

Well, for most UK network operators, they have offered v20 for some time, and hence if you don’t already have the new firmware, you can apply it and then pick up the Ovi Maps update (although you need a fair amount of free space on the C: drive, so if it won’t install, hopefully the v21 firmware which will include the new v3.03 Free Ovi Maps should be out at some point in the next few weeks).

Most.  Not all.  This week, it’s Orange in the doghouse, for still being on v10 firmware, and not yet having made v20 available for their customers.  Nokia have said they are working to ensure v20 is available to all, but yet again, things are complicated by the UK networks.

It’s nice to see the Nokia N97 finally included in the list of supported devices for the Free Navigation Forever campaign from Nokia, but personally, I still want to see Nokia offering it to S60 3rd Edition FP1 devices…

When Nokia made Ovi Maps free for a whole range of devices last week, one thing which wasn’t so strongly mentioned was the minimum firmware versions needed for certain devices.  Take the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic for example; although many devices shipped with v11 (and since then Nokia has released v20, v21, v30, v31 and v40 firmwares), you actually need a minimum of v31 to be able to install this latest version of Ovi Maps.

Obviously for anyone with a generic unbranded device, this is easy; a quick firmware check on the device, or using Nokia Software Updater on your Windows PC will soon confirm that there is a v40 firmware, and you can easily install it; but what about the UK network operators?  If you have a branded device, are you in luck?

Well, generally, the good news is yes, you are in luck.  It looks like the majority of UK branded product codes have had v31 released (although none that I checked actually had v40 released yet), so overall, you have a good chance of being able to upgrade the firmware in your phone, and then install the new free to use Ovi Maps.

However, all is not perfect; I did say “the majority”, and I’m sorry to say, the Orange product code for a Nokia 5800 XpressMusic Blue edition (the early devices Orange first sold) seems to be stuck on v30, and hence, although fairly up to date, not sufficiently up to date to allow the new Ovi Maps to work.  Ironically, the Black variant, which, being newer, has strangely always faired better for firmware updates seems to have v31 available, so those users are fine.

If my research is correct, that’s a silly situation to be in; depending when you bought your phone determines which colour you have, and with Orange, that can mean the difference between being able to install Ovi Maps or not.  Let’s hope Orange resolve this with some speed given the amount of advertising Nokia is putting behind their new Ovi Maps versions.

However, that’s not the end of the story; it appears 3UK are also stuck on v30, and hence anyone with a Nokia 5800 XpressMusic from 3UK will not be able to run the latest Ovi Maps either.

Obviously, I am not able to check every single colour and operator variant, but I checked over 10 different product codes to write this article; if you have a device from Orange or 3UK that has access to the v31 or v40 firmware (without changing the product code), then please add a comment and let me know the product code (from underneath the battery in the form of 0559360) and what firmware version you have access to…

So, to recap; well done to most UK operators (T-Mobile, O2, Virgin, Vodafone), and not so well done to Orange and 3UK for either not having v31 available, or having a mix of firmware versions.

In a move designed to make it clearer what the purpose of the device is, Vodafone has rebranded their Vodafone Access Gateway as Vodafone Sure Signal; ie a device that should guarantee you a good signal in your own home.  The Vodafone Sure Signal (which we covered at its launch here) is now a lot cheaper than it was (£50 to buy outright for many contract customers, compared to £160 for outright purchase at launch), and still needs a minimum 1mbps broadband connection, although most people now have well in excess of that.  To clarify that £50 price; you need a monthly contract of £25 or more to qualify for the £50 price; if your contract is less, or you have a PAYG contract, then the price is £120 to buy outright (although for all customers there is an option of a £5 per month contract instead with a minimum contract term).

So, if you live in a marginal signal area and you have a Vodafone contract (or PAYG phone), you might want to consider whether £50 (or £120)  is money well spent to ensure a good voice (and 3G) signal for your own personal use…

Just like buses, you wait for ages and then two come along together…

It’s been a bit of a week for firmware updates, and many recent devices have seen updates this week.  The Nokia E72 has now got the v22 firmware, The Nokia N86 gets v21, and the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic gets v40.  Each of these offers improvements for the device, and are worthy of investigation if you own these devices.  Of course, the operator-specific branded firmwares will take a little longer to be released.

For example, the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic changelog includes:

• Additional Kinetic Scrolling
• Changed UI in the homescreen similar to the 5530XM
• Updated Nokia Messaging
• OVI Contacts pre-installed
• New screen alarm when locked
• Keyboard updated: when in vertical mode it’s alpha-numeric, if you turn your phone to landscape mode, it automatically changes to full qwerty
• Keyboard updated: when you press a “key” the key that appears on top is now bigger
• Software updater is now updated and has some more options
• When phone key lock is on and you receive a call you see a slide to unlock and a slide to answer bar

However, the Maemo based Nokia N900 has had an even better week…

Earlier in the week, a small minor firmware update was released, which allowed the Ovi Store to become available for the Maemo platform, and then over the next day or so, the PR1.1 first major firmware release will start appearing on devices for applying.  This brings many little minor fixes to the platform, many of which were reported via the Maemo bug tracker direct to the developers, but probably the single biggest bugfix that is directly relevant to the UK is that 3UK SIMs are now supported by this firmware update.  So, if you have a 3UK SIM you want to use with a Nokia N900, then apply this update (2.2009.51-1) and then you should no longer suffer from “SIM card rejected” messages.

If you are yet to buy a Nokia N900, and have been put off by the high SIM-free price of the device, then Vodafone have announced they will be selling the phone soon.  There are rumours that stocks are already in store, but sales are being held to prevent it impacting on the launch of the iPhone on Vodafone, but I doubt whether anyone will be swayed from one to the other, as they seem to attract a very different customer.  Either way, this new firmware will be well worth applying to your Nokia N900 as soon as it’s available for you.

If you want to access this major update as an OTA (Over The Air) upgrade, you’ll need to apply the more minor upgrade from earlier in the week first, and then shortly afterwards this new firmware should become visible, however, if you use Nokia’s PC based Software Updater, you are able to jump straight to the latest firmware without the intermediate step.

The only issue with this firmware update is that is does not bring the portrait-mode support that was expected, so it’s likely we’ll see another firmware update for the Nokia N900 in the coming months to address that oft-requested feature; also, MMS is still missing, although there is a third party app providing MMS support if you really need it (see here for more details, and here for another program by the same author which allows a secondary APN to be defined on the device, which is often needed to be able to send MMS).  However, we should point out that Nokia and Maemo are aware that the OTA firmware update will not work if certain other software is installed (especially applications from the extras-devel repository, which is not enabled by default on the Nokia N900).  If you are directed to perform the firmware update via your PC, one option is to turn off this repository, and uninstall any applications installed from it, and see if that fixed the “under-the-covers” software problems.

If you really want to see a fairly complete list of fixes, then head to the Maemo PR1.1 release information, although be warned, it’s quite technical, and quite long too!

Finally, if you want to get the latest version of Vagalume (the Maemo Last.fm / Libre.fm client) streaming Last.fm on your Nokia N900, then nokiAAddict has also written up the information on how to achieve this here.

Nokia 5800 XpressMusic Changelog courtesy of nokiAAddict.

Talk Android are reporting that representatives of both T-Mobile and 3UK have indicated that they are hoping to be able to carry the Google Nexus One in the future too.  One thing that does seem to be becoming clear though, the phone may not be available for sale in the shops in the UK any time soon.  In the same way you can buy an Amazon Kindle from the US, and get it shipped to the UK, it looks like Google will be handling the sale of this phone for the time being, and if you buy it from them, you can either pay for a SIM-free version, or you can buy the subsidised version, which they will then ship out to you.  Whether the Vodafone SIM ships direct is not clear, and there’s no word on whether upgrades will be available either.

Having said all that, getting other networks onboard will be key for Google’s long term plans, and T-Mobile and 3UK are obvious networks, both offering Android phones which they are happy to heavily promote.  I wonder if Vodafone will have an exclusive for a month (or 3) and then these other networks will be able to sell it too…

Rumours are also around that it may be possible to purchase the Nexus One from Google with a Vodafone SIM sooner than “Spring 2010″ implies, with a possibility it may even be within the next month.

Whereas 2009 seemed to be the year every smartphone was exclusively with O2, it appears 2010 maybe Vodafone’s year, as they currently have the exclusive on the Nokia E72, will be selling the iPhone 3G (and iPhone 3GS) within a couple of weeks, and they have announced they will be the network to bring the brand new Google Nexus One Android phone to Europe. Google have said:

“Manufactured by HTC, the Nexus One features dynamic noise suppression from Audience, Inc., a large 3.7″ OLED display for deep contrast and brilliant colors and a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon™ chipset for blazing speeds. Running on Android 2.1, the newest version of Eclair, the software includes innovations like a voice-enabled keyboard so you can speak into any text field, fun Live Wallpapers, a 3D photo gallery for richer media experiences and lots more. Of course, it also comes with a host of popular Google applications, including Gmail, Google Voice and Google Maps Navigation.”

The full tech specs include:

Size and weight

• Height: 119mm
• Width: 59.8mm
• Depth: 11.5mm
• Weight: 130 grams w/battery

Display

• 3.7-inch (diagonal) widescreen WVGA AMOLED touchscreen
• 800 x 480 pixels
• 100,000:1 typical contrast ratio
• 1ms typical response rate

Camera & Flash

• 5 megapixels
• Autofocus from 6cm to infinity
• 2X digital zoom
• LED flash
• User can include location of photos from phone’s AGPS receiver
• Video captured at 720×480 pixels at 20 frames per second or higher, depending on lighting conditions

Cellular & Wireless

• UMTS Band 1/4/8 (2100/AWS/900)
• HSDPA 7.2Mbps
• HSUPA 2Mbps
• GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)
• Wi-Fi (802.11b/g/n)
• Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
• A2DP stereo Bluetooth

Power and battery

• Removable 1400 mAH battery
• Charges at 480mA from USB, at 980mA from supplied charger

Talk time

• Up to 10 hours on 2G
• Up to 7 hours on 3G

Standby time

• Up to 290 hours on 2G Up to 250 hours on 3G

Internet use

• Up to 5 hours on 3G
• Up to 6.5 hours on Wi-Fi

Video playback

• Up to 7 hours

Audio playback

• Up to 20 hours

Processor

• Qualcomm QSD 8250 1 GHz

Operating system

• Android Mobile Technology Platform 2.1 (Eclair)

Capacity

• 512MB Flash
• 512MB RAM
• 4GB Micro SD Card (Expandable to 32 GB)

Location

• Assisted global positioning system (AGPS) receiver
• Cell tower and Wi-Fi positioning
• Digital compass
• Accelerometer

This is an interesting development, if only because Google are happy to either sell the phone subsidised (currently on T-Mobile in the US, but Vodafone will be coming for European support in “Spring 2010″), or you can buy it unsubsidised (and unlocked) for $529, and you can even have up to 2 lines of text engraved on the back (although along with many engraved Apple products, this does limit your ability to send the phone back unless it’s faulty).

Expect to start seeing these phones in the UK very shortly…

Although nothing has been announced yet, if you go into the Settings page within Twitter, and select Mobile, the UK entry has been updated as:

• UK: 86444 (Vodafone, Orange, 3 and O2 customers)

Now, this seems to imply that 3UK have joined the other listed networks in providing the ability to send and receive twitter messages and DMs via SMS.  Obviously until it’s formally announced we won’t know the exact limits (eg the number of free SMS you can receive per month, or exactly how the billing of sent SMS will work), but this is a positive move for 3UK, although with their inclusion of free internet on PAYG, and the fact that many of their phones are now shipping with Twitter clients directly may limit how many people truly need such a function, but it’s nice to know it’s coming…

That just leaves T-Mobile who aren’t playing…

Thanks to Liam Green-Hughes who drew my attention to this earlier today.

Although not the first UK mobile network to provide a statement on the Nokia N900, Vodafone are the first to announce that they will be selling the phone as from January (according to their website).  This is good news for this popular Maemo device, and the word on the street is that the amount of firmware customisation by Vodafone will not be too heavy.

As the phone is still at the “pre-register for updates” stage, Vodafone have not yet released pricing, but it’s likely to be inline with the Nokia N97 and Nokia N97 Mini pricing and tariffs.  It’s also interesting to see the iPhone 3GS is still marked as “Coming Soon”, whereas the Nokia N900 already has a date attached to it.

If you are interested, head over to the Vodafone website and register for updates.

Oh, and the other network? 3UK have already indicated they are unlikely to carry the Nokia N900 as it’s a little bit of a niche device for them…

Let’s start with the first issue; actually, it’s not called a MiFi in the UK, it’s called the Novatel Wireless Intelligent Mobile Hotspot 2352, as 3UK own the trademark MiFi in the UK (although Novatel Wireless own the MiFi trademark in the US).  So, the device competes with the 3UK MiFi device, and in some ways is better, and in others, not quite as good.

Firstly, the downside: it is currently only available SIM-free (for around £200), which is a lot more than the 3UK MiFi, which can be picked up for £50.  Of course, the 3UK is locked to 3UK, and only works on 3UK, whereas the Novatel MiFi is not locked, and will pick up the internet access point from whatever SIM is put into it, making it more suitable for anyone looking to use a network other than 3UK.

In terms of ease of use, it has one advantage over the 3UK MiFi; when you turn it on (by pressing and holding the power button) that’s it; it sorts everything out, and “just works”, whereas the 3UK unit needs you to then press and hold the 3G button as a second step.  The Novatel device also gives you access to the microSD card slot via the web interface, whereas the 3UK device only allows access to the card slot via the USB cable.

There are other minor differences; eg the 3UK device comes with the wireless encryption key under the battery inside the unit, but also on a piece of card to allow easy setup, whereas the Novatel only has the code attached to the inside of the battery cover.  This, at first glance, seems better, as it allows the device to remain powered whilst you connect a new device, but I discovered that every time I took the battery cover, my natural instinct was to turn the unit back the right way up (to allow you to see the status lights to see whether the new device had connected), and the battery would loosen enough to switch the unit off.  A minor point, and obviously once everything is setup, not a problem in real usage.

Another minor difference is that the Novatel device will work on 2G as well as 3G; whereas 3UK only offer a 3G-only Mobile Broadband service (although their handsets can roam onto Orange’s 2G network, their broadband devices can’t), and although I wouldn’t want to share a 2G connection to multiple devices, a slow connection may be better than no connection…

I’ll be continuing to trial the device for a little while, but at first glances it looks a nice unit, although everyone I speak to says the 3UK MiFi has one of the best 3G radio components available today, so it will be interesting to see how the Novatel device works under the same conditions that I tried the 3UK MiFi under…

giffgaff is a new virtual mobile phone network operator, sitting on the O2 network (in fact the company is actually part of O2), but with an innovative business model, and hence tariff.  Firstly, no call centres (some will celebrate this single point), in fact they have very few staff at all, and will be relying upon other customers to help in the online forums (the main route to support).  When an existing member is thanked within the forum, they will earn kudos, which adds up, along with many other things into giffgaff points, which add up to hard cash (or at least credit).

However, as well as keeping costs down, they are keeping the tariff simple, and encouraging individuals to recruit their friends and family onto the same tariff…

• Calls, SMS, MMS, call forwarding, and even video calls between giffgaff users will be free (as long as you topup £10 every 3 months, and only calls up to 60 minutes will be free)
• UK landlines and mobiles (and voicemail) will cost 8p/min
• UK SMS will be 4p each (possibly showing a more accurate figure than other networks)
• MMS will be 16p each
• Video calls will be 50p/min

That’s the general stuff out of the way, now let’s look at the two exciting bits…

• Freefone calls (0800) will actually be free!
• Data will be free for 6 months!

Wow, it’s really good to see a network returning to the Orange / T-Mobile ways of many many years ago and providing freefone numbers for free.

The reason for free data is partly to gauge the interest in the service, partly to allow them further discussion on what pricing to set.

If you want a SIM, head over to the giffgaff website and order one, and let us know how you get on!

Some content courtesy of Dan at The Really Mobile Project.

Firstly, in a move we are fully supportive of, Vodafone has announced that as of 1st December, all marketing must refer to their mobile internet service as “500MB of mobile internet data”, and will no longer use the wording “unlimited mobile internet”.  This is a very positive step, and we welcome the change, and hope this drives all other UK networks to adopt the same attitude.  Here at UK Gadgeteer we’ve been careful to lay out the true figures for some time, but it’s nice to see the change being applied across all marketing activities.

Of course, given that competitors such as 3UK offer 1GB for the same money (or less), it would be nice to see their offering increase, but at least they are starting to offer a level playing field and allow the consumer to be able to choose their level of service knowing exactly what they are buying.

However, in an equally positive move, Vodafone UK is making their mobile internet service completely free tomorrow (Friday 27th November 2009); this is only from mobile handsets, but whether you have a PAYG or Pay Monthly contract, you can surf the internet directly from the phone, and it won’t cost a penny.  Equally, if you already pay for mobile internet on your phone, then any usage tomorrow will not eat into your data allowance.

Interestingly, we note it’s exactly three months since Vodafone last offered mobile internet free on a Friday; we can only hope that Vodafone find their network is able to cope, and can open up free / inclusive mobile internet to even more people as standard.

Well done to Vodafone!

Orange announced today that they are now supporting Twitter for text messages, but will also offer support for uploading photos via MMS too.  In a similar arrangement to both O2 and Vodafone, you are able to send and receive certain tweets throughout the day, although whereas O2 and Vodafone both clearly state the limit of the total number of free tweets you will be sent via SMS per month, Orange have not provided any details of their limit.

You can send tweets via SMS, which will come out of your inclusive bundle, or be charged at your normal rate, and if you include your username and password, you can also MMS a photo to the same shortcode (86444), and this will appear on Twitter via Orange’s Snapshot service.  MMS will also come out of your inclusive bundle (if you have one), or will be charged at 30p per MMS.

Vodafone have now launched the Nokia E72, with stocks due into stores in the next few days.  It will be available for free on the following 18 months contracts:

• £35 per month for 600 minutes, “unlimited” 3000 texts, “unlimited” 3000 minutes of landline calls (each call lasting less than 60 minutes), “unlimited” 500MB internet access
• £40 per month for 900 minutes, “unlimited” 3000 texts, “unlimited” 3000 minutes of landline calls (each call lasting less than 60 minutes), “unlimited” 500MB internet access
• £45 per month for 1200 minutes, “unlimited” 3000 texts, “unlimited” 3000 miuites of landline calls (each call lasting less than 60 minutes), “unlimited” 500MB internet access

For those wanting a updated Nokia Symbian device with QWERTY and a 5 megapixel camera, then this may well be the phone for you.  For those after a touchscreen Symbian device, the most recent options are obviously the Nokia N97 Mini and the Sony Ericsson Satio.

For those worried about that 500MB data limit, there are options with Vodafone to purchase higher data rates; eg for £15 per month, you can get 3GB, but are limited in some uses (file sharing, VOIP), or for £25 per month, you can get 5GB without limit. Alternatively, if you go over the 500MB limit, for the rest of the month you’ll be transferred to the £1 per day until the 1st of the next month (for 15MB per day, and then they’ll charge you £2 per MB).  Interestingly, on some Vodafone pages they clearly and simply state the limit, and don’t use the word “unlimited” at all (mainly those designed for existing customers), whereas the pages aimed at new customers are littered with the term…

Last night I was privileged to be invited to a small, cosy location in London 2 floors underground to discuss with LG some of their new phones recently released, and about to be released.

John Barton, the UK Sales & Marketing Manager, spoke candidly about the LG range, and there’s a summary of the devices that were discussed after the break…

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The iPhone has been locked to O2 since they first launched the device, but now the device is available from other networks (currently only Orange, but it will be available on Vodafone in the New Year too), O2 are now offering people the ability to unlock their iPhone.

If you are a Pay Monthly customer, then the unlock is free, and can occur at any time during the contract; you will still have to continue making the monthly payments until the end of the contract (and it’s not clear whether or not O2 will let you port the number away from O2 during this contract period), but O2 will unlock your iPhone for free.

If you are a PAYG customer (and many iPhone 3GS were bought like this, as it proved an efficient way of getting the iPhone upgrade before the customer’s iPhone 3G contract term was up) then it’s a bit more complicated.  Firstly, you need to have had the iPhone for over 12 months, and it will cost £14.69, so you need enough credit for that too.  Also, if the iPhone 3GS was registered with the PAYG SIM, you’ll need that number to perform the unlocking, as that’s the number linked to the phone sale.

If the phone was bought from an O2 store, Carphone Warehouse, or Apple UK, you should have no problems getting your iPhone unlocked; from any other source, and you will have to speak to the company you bought it from to sort out the unlock; ebay sales may run into problem unless you have the original SIM and number used to originally register the iPhone.

You need to complete an unlocking form, and the process can take upto 14 days, and to complete the process once you have entered the code O2 supply, you’ll need to have a non-O2 SIM to place in the iPhone, and then connect to iTunes via a USB cable to get the final confirmation message.

It’s nice to see O2 offering this service, although it’s a shame that due to the subsidies, PAYG customers have to wait 12 months (whereas other networks with less subsidised phones can often provide the unlock code within hours of first registering the phone), and for those who find their iPhone is linked to a SIM they don’t have or can’t find may have problems unlocking at all.

For more information, head over to the iPhone unlocking webpage at O2.

Vodafone have just released the Nokia N97 Mini for sale in the Vodafone Shop.  It’s free on the £35 per month (24-month contract) tariff, or £40 per month (18-month contract).  This is pretty much the same contract as you’ll get with a Nokia N97 today, but if you are after the slightly smaller device (with a slightly lower spec too), then this might be the device you are after.

I wrote a guide on how to use 3UK, Skype and ping.fm to send messages to Twitter (and other Social Networking sites) from a 3UK phone back in May (read it here).  Well, we should provide a few updates to that article now…

Firstly, when we wrote that article, you needed a 3UK-supplied phone running the Skype on 3 application, and as we have mentioned recently, you can now use a non-3UK supplied phone, as long as you still use the 3UK specific Skype on 3 application.  With the Free Skype Calls Forever promotion, you can even use this app even if your credit has run out!

Well, ping.fm also support Windows Live Messenger, and 3 now offer this for free too, so you can set this up in the same way, and then be able to choose your method of providing alerts to your favourite social networks.

Why bother we hear you cry; twitter has an SMS number that you can text directly; why go to all this bother.  Well, it doesn’t matter if you have 1000 “unlimited” texts every month, or 4000 “unlimited” texts a month, the twitter SMS phone number is provided by Manx Telecom (from the Isle of Mann), and although the number is within the UK range of +44, because it’s not provided by one of the UK mobile networks (along with the Channel Isles, the Isle of Mann is not technically part of the UK), some networks, including 3UK, will not include the text as part of your UK text allowance, and may even go further and charge you for sending an international text message.

What other options do you have? Well, for twitter; both Vodafone and O2 now support the sending and receiving of twitter SMS messages directly (with the sending coming out of your inclusive minutes, and the receiving being capped around 500 messages per month).

If you want to try this out on your 3G phone, then you can get a Free 3UK SIM from 3UK.