Three has promised that it would be offering us 4G at no additional cost, but a couple of new price hikes in its One Plan has got us wondering if that's actually going to be the case.
The network has increased both its monthly and 30-day One Plans, increasing the £15 a month (on 12 month contract) deal to £20 and upping its 30-day deal from £18 to £23. That's an additional £60 a year you'll be forking out.
However, Three has told TechRadar that the price increases are nothing to do with 4G, despite the convenient timing ahead of Three's 4G rollout, which is believed to be happening early this year.
"There is no extra cost for 4G on Three," said a spokesperson. "We do not charge different prices for 3G and 4G services."
Upping the Gs
Three added that it reviews its pricing from "time to time" and will not differentiate depending on what data customers are using.
"Other operators have opted to have 4G-specific tariffs at higher prices, regardless of whether their customers are using 4G, 3G or 2G," said the spokesperson. "We do not differentiate."
Google saw the back of its Motorola division this week
Shock news from Google this week: it's selling Motorola, the smartphone firm it bought for billions, for a fraction of the price it originally paid. The lucky buyer is Lenovo, which promises to make Motorola "even more successful" and says that layoffs and cutbacks aren't in Motorola's future.
More expensive phones probably are in Moto's future, though: as Gareth Beavis says: "without Google's magic supply of money, we aren't going to be seeing devices like the ultra-cheap Moto G any time soon." Looking on the bright side, more tablets and phablets should be on the horizon too.
Google's acquisition of Motorola may look like a failure, says our columnist Gary Marshall, but it isn't. "Motorola is the pawn Google's sacrificing to save a much more important piece: all of Android," he says, noting that the news comes hot on the heels of Samsung agreeing to share patents and to stop messing around with the Android UI.
A stunning phone for very little money Moto G review
"It isn't hard to imagine the two sides having a conversation of the 'we'll get out of the phone business if you stop buggering around with our OS and share some of your patents' variety," Marshall says. By getting Samsung closer to the mothership and giving Lenovo a boost, "Android is stronger and more focused than ever before."
Is Nintendo still in the game?
Focus is something Nintendo's trying to do too, and it's helping its execs concentrate by slashing their salaries: president Satoru Iwata and other board members will be taking pay cuts ranging from 20% to 50% while they get the company back on track.
Profits are down 30% and sales forecasts for the quirky Wii U have been cut by more than two-thirds, and while the firm has ruled out bringing its games to smartphones it is apparently working on iOS and Android apps that complement its consoles and games.
Sony is giving the slimmed-down Vita a second chance
It's facing an uphill challenge: even Sony's PS Vita Slim looks more like a swansong than a device that's going to take gaming by storm in a market where the Xbox One and PS4 dominate console gaming and smartphones dominate the casual gaming market.
The answer might be in health monitoring: during this week's strategy briefing, Iwata promised that Nintendo "will attempt to establish a new platform business [that] is independent from our video game platform business", which will "enable people to monitor their health". That doesn't mean wearables, though, and while the platform won't be part of Nintendo's gaming business it will connect to the games in some fashion. Nintendo says it'll tell us more later this year.
Changing channels
Good news for anybody who thinks Sky's EPG is looking a bit dated: there's a new one imminent, and it'll reflect the changing way we approach TV. As Patrick Goss explains: "on-demand is brought to the fore, with Catch Up TV, TV Box Sets, Sky+ Planner and Sky Store as well as the rather necessary TV Guide." It's due in the Spring.
Sky's renewed HBO deal means more Game of Thrones in the UK
Sky has also been chucking some money at programme makers. It's signed a new deal with HBO to continue showing the US cable channel's Emmy-hogging programmes until at least 2020, and it's also been partnering in making new programmes. The rise of rivals from the likes of BT, not to mention Netflix, has been squeezing Sky's profits, and the deal shows that Sky is keen to pay for exclusive content to keep its customers loyal.
Who doesn't have a picture of the Nokia X these days?
It's looking increasingly more likely that we will see the Nokia X Android smartphone land at MWC 2014, and in true Nokia style it's tipped to arrive in a number of colors.
Fresh images claiming to show off the Nokia Normandy device depict an orange handset - apparently one of six colors the Android-toting smartphone will arrive in.
The images were picked up by French site nowhereelse, and while the handset does seem to follow the design of previous leaks, there's no guarantee the phone in question is actually running Android.
In fact, the French site goes as far as to say the "authenticity [of the images] is far from proven" - so take this latest leak with a sizeable pinch of salt.
The Normandy just got Tango'd (credit: nowhereelse)
The Nokia X is rumored to sport a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, 4-inch display, 512MB of RAM and 5MP camera.
TechRadar will be out in force at MWC 2014 to bring you the latest on any Android toting Nokia which may show up.
Think Google is destined to tinker with neat hardware that no one ever buys, surviving on the fat of its vast and profitable advertising business? Think again.
In reporting the company's quarterly financials today, Google CFO Patrick Pichette repeatedly called the Nexus 5 a "very strong" performer for Mountain View.
There's "strong interest in Nexus hardware," said Chief Business Officer Nikesh Arora, noting the Nexus 5 saw loads of reception, particularly during the holiday season.
Now, neither provided sales figures for the new Nexus, so just how it stacked up to other Android handsets is unknown. However, it is likely customers responded well to its stock Android KitKat carriage and low, no-contract price point.
Word on the street is Google may kill off the Nexus line next year, but if these company crows are to be believed, that tip may have missed the mark.
Chromecast no castaway
Turns out, the Nexus 5 wasn't the only hardware to get a shout out. Pichette also chatted up the company's $35 (£23, about AU$39) streaming stick, Chromecast.
"Play hardware sales drove a big chunk of quarter-over-quarter growth," he said. "Nexus 5 was very strong for us, and the Chromecast was a best seller all quarter."
Again, no hard figures, but the dongle that streams content from a mobile device or laptop to a TV was clearly a winner for the company. Pichette said both it and Nexus 5 saw "great momentum."
A hardware tale
Hardware, coupled with strong content and apps sales in the Play Store, helped drive Google revenue over the last three months.
Google won't give up its traditional breadwinner (ads) in favor of consumer-sold devices and services, but as long as hardware and content/apps continue as some of the company's fastest growing segments, the company should continue supporting and improving them.
The latest signs that Apple may be using a sapphire glass screen in its next smartphone come from a new patent that illustrates the extra-resilient material being used on an iPhone.
Its "Sapphire Windows" filing, discovered today by AppleInsider, details methods of growing, harvesting and polishing transparent sapphire wafers, then cutting them with advanced lasers.
Apparently the hardness of sapphire is so great that high-powered lasers are required in place of conventional glass cutting tools that would otherwise wear far too quickly.
That sounds like exciting news for clumsy iPhone owners everywhere, especially if you don't want to spend money replacing a shattered screen in the Apple Store.
The company has had success using sapphire for the camera lens cover starting with the iPhone 5 and added the laser-cut crystal to the outermost layer of the iPhone 5S fingerprint sensor.
Sapphire glass iWatch?
The text specifically calls out the "iPhone made by Apple, Inc." but it also goes on to suggest that the sapphire window shaping techniques could be implemented in other devices.
The patent mentions obvious Apple product categories including tablets and computers, which suggests the iPad 6 and future MacBooks screens could withstand extra brute force with this material.
It steers clear of mentioning wearables, but speculation has been focused on the unconfirmed iWatch ever since Apple confirmed its involvement in manufacturing sapphire crystal glass.
Apple is said to be aggressively pushing to take its Arizona sapphire manufacturing facility live in February, according to a report by 9to5Mac, so we should find out what that glass is being used for soon enough.
