PPI Claims And Recession Put Thousands Off Mobile Phone Insurance

January 26th, 2010

As if you need reminding, we’re in a recession and that means high unemployment, low spending levels and increased crime. At a time like this, insurance is increasingly attractive to help cover loan repayments or loss of items through theft, but rather than rising, the number of policies being taken out is falling.

This is mainly due to the dramatic cut backs being made by families up and down the country as they drop any non-essentials like mobile phone insurance to try and keep the wolf from the door. Add to this money saving; the increase in PPI claims for mis sold insurance and people are cancelling their cover left, right and centre. If you’re considering cancelling your phone insurance, first think about the possible cost to you if you lose your phone and second, be sure to look for cheaper policies.

Banking On Charges

November 25th, 2009

This is entirely non mobile phone related but very much linked to PPI. Keep an eye on the news for the announcement on the test case where the OFT took the banks to court regarding unfair bank charges. It’s expected that the banks will have to pay up, but true to form they already have plans to recoup the money by charging for cash withdrawals. The news is expected to hit the airwaves at 9.45am.

Mobile Phone Payment Protection

November 25th, 2009

You may have seen in the news that there have been issues with credit providers mis-selling Payment Protection Insurance. It really is a scandal and some of the circumstances under which PPI has been sold have been down right underhand and the tactics are shady to say the least.

Now, I’m in no way suggesting there is a problem in the mobile phone industry with this sort of thing. That said if you believe you may have been mis-sold then it may be a good idea to seek advice on making PPI claims. It’s could also be quite lucrative.

Smart Business Mobile Phones Lead a Worldwide Revolution

November 6th, 2009

Smartphones are popular, FACT. So popular that recent studies by Infonetics Research show smartphones increasing in sales year on year with a 21.5% compound growth predicted between 2008 and 2013. Yawn, but there is an interesting point here: why are they so popular?

Well, they do the lot and look good while they’re at it, plus they’re usually free or low-cost with a contract deal so the package seems irresistable. Possibly the biggest reason is that more and more Companies are choosing smartphones as their business mobile phones to enable their employees to work while on the go or between meetings.

Not everyone’s loving the smartphone revolution though, Martin Cooper, who is widely accepted as the inventer of the modern day mobile phone, believes that today’s phones try to be all things to all people and end up under-achieving across the board.

iPhone 3GS - Changing Things

October 19th, 2009

Since technology giants Apple released the 3GS model of their hugely popular iPhone, the way people are using mobile technology has changed. These days it is all about which applications you have downloaded or how fast you can surf the internet on your handset, previously it simply the ability to send a text message that got people excited. Texters turned into ‘appers’ and began communicating using applications downloaded from Apple’s award winning App Store. Software add-ons such as Skype or Ping are taking over and moving people slowly away from calling or texting friends and family.

With the increased browsing speed that the iPhone 3GS model possesses and for anyone with a need to surf from a mobile phone, it is a must have gadget. Apple have managed to set a trend once again following on from the massive success of their Macbook and iPod ranges. This trend has had other mobile phone manufacturers copying the simple but classy menu interface of the iPhone.

Apple have started a race and right now are way out in front, but the question is how long will it be until the others catch up?

BlackBerry Deals A Massive Blow To Rivals

September 15th, 2009

Aren’t modern mobiles great, they do absolutely everything from vibrating in our pocket to projecting our holiday snaps on the lounge wall. But it’s not all plain sailing - there’s the other side to our all singing, all dancing mobile friends, the dark side. We’ve all been there, when your phone straight down refuses to sing and instead of dancing - just stamps it’s feet.

You know what i’m talking about, those rare occasions that come around, when you actually need to use that awesome function on your next-gen handset - and it just wont work.

Favourites include:

- “no GPS signal”
- “no network found”
- the screen freeze
or the WinMo classic: “unexpected error” (when should an error be expected?!)

There’s nothing worse than a device that claims to be able to do something and then can’t. Why can’t things just… work? Well, if you own a Blackberry, you’ll be pleased by the latest news to come from it’s manufacturers Research In Motion (RIM).

All current BlackBerry users and those buying new BlackBerry deals will benefit from the ability to quickly hop on fast WiFi networks and avoid expensive roaming charges thanks to a deal done yesterday between RIM and global Internet access aggregator iPass.

Subscribers will get access to 140,000 Wi-Fi hotspots in 83 countries for a set monthly charge. This addition to what is already one of the best mobile phone packages on the market, will surely tempt some WinMo and iPhone faithfuls to jump ship. To find out more about the service, check out this article at the IDG News website.

Tradesmen Mobiles From Land Rover

June 22nd, 2009

Anyone watch TopGear last night? it was the first of the new series and if you missed it you missed the unmasking of The Stig! All of you who thought it was F1 legend Michael Schumacher were seemingly right, we’re not convinced though. But that wasn’t what caught our attention on last nights episode, it was the news that Land Rover’s branded mobile phone - the Land Rover S1 - has finally been released.

This ‘indestructable’ handset has been in the pipeline longer than transiberian oil and will finally be available to buy across the UK from today. It has been designed and built by Sonim Technologies and will compete in the trade mobile phones sector alongside other hardy handsets.

The Land Rover brand is synonymous with durability and performance and as you’d expect they wanted the phone that beared their name to live up to the reputation. So, rather than put a bit padding on the outside, Sonim have created a ‘Rugged Performance Standard’ - a twelve-point set of features that it believes all tradesmen phones should adhere to. These include:

- Submersible to a depth of one metre
- Survives drop from a mountain
- Dustproof and
- Oil and grease resistant

Pretty hardcore you’ll agree. If your work environment offers a generous amount of hazards for the average mobile phone, then this or any of the other trade mobile phone on the market might be just what you’re after.

Marmalade Communications FC Stun The Crowds

June 15th, 2009

A massive congrats to our 6-aside football team: FC Marmalade who maintined their position at the top of the Bury PlayFootball  Wednesday Night Premiership.

They continued their terrific form last week  by winning their 13th out of 14 matches to put them 6 points clear of second place Betis Hot Pot. Everyone at Marmalade Communications is right behind you so keep it up guys!

iPhone 3GS Vs Palm Pre

June 8th, 2009

It’s been a bit of a crazy week in the mobile phone industry. We’ve seen the dropping of Orange roaming prices as they compete with Vodafone and try to make their mobile phone deals more attractive. And we’ve finally had the release of the Palm Pre in the US which has been billed as the latest ‘iPhone killer’.

The Palm Pre is said to pose a serious threat to the jewel in Apple’s crown thanks to it’s innovative multi-app browser and attractive design. But Apple aren’t worried, industry insiders have revealed that Steve Jobs himself is to make an announcement later today about the imminent release of the latest iPhone handset, the iPhone 3GS.

If it makes it into the mobile phone deals of retailers any time soon, the iPhone 3GS is bound to steal sales from the Palm Pre; as the so-called killer is not due to hit the UK market until December this year. There are plenty of great business mobile phones coming on the market so stay tuned. Exciting stuff!

Business Mobile Phones Get Gwabbit

June 4th, 2009

If you use your mobile for business, you’re going to love this new app for Windows powered PDAs and handsets…

It’s called Gwabbit and it’s a Microsoft Outlook plugin-in that helps business professionals to get names, numbers and e-mail addresses from a contact’s e-mail into their address book without the need to copy, paste or type anything.

So how does it do it?

Gwabbit automatically searches the signature at the end of an e-mail and compares the details with the entries in your Outlook address book. If the details aren’t matched, Gwabbit will ask if you’d like to create a new contact. The slick app is so well designed; it almost instantly grabs e-mail, phone numbers and even a contact title to create full and complete outlook entries.

Its value on business mobile phones deals is emphasised when you consider how time-consuming typing on a miniaturized keyboard is. Plus if you haven’t memorised the details, you have to keep switching back and forth between the e-mail message and the address book to fill in more information, whereas Gwabbit does it all in just a few seconds.

Gwabbit is triggered by the presence of a phone number in the e-mail and if it ever drops the ball and doesn’t recognise contact details, you can select it from the menu. The fact that it only kicks in when a number is detected underlines the app’s target audience of business mobile phones used by professionals who are handling work emails and using their phone as a mobile computer.