Tag Archives: EE

5G, BBC Radio Suffolk, Covid19, Gadget Man, Interview, James Hazell, Matt Porter, Radio, Radio Interview, Technology, The Gadget Man

Gadget Man – Episode 169 – Ofcom orders Phone Networks to Stop Locking Phones + Advice and Tips about Switching Networks

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In this episode, I chat to James Hazell on BBC Radio Suffolk about the ban on locking mobile phone handsets in the UK.

Mobile phone companies will be banned from selling ‘locked’ handsets, under a range of new rules from Ofcom that will make switching even simpler.

Some companies – including BT/EE, Tesco Mobile and Vodafone – still sell mobile phones that can’t be used on other networks unless they are unlocked. But this is a potentially complicated process which can also cost around £10. Ofcoms research shows that more than a third of people who decided against switching said this put them off.

Switching between mobile networks should now be simpler following Ofcom ruling
Switching between mobile networks should now be simpler following Ofcom ruling

Almost half of the customers who try to unlock their phone have difficulties doing so. For example, they might experience a long delay before getting the code they need to unlock their phone; the code might not work, or they could suffer a loss of service if they did not realise their phone was locked before they tried to switch.

So, following consultation, Ofcom has confirmed that mobile companies will be banned from selling locked phones. This will allow people to move to a different network with their existing handset, hassle-free. The new rules will come in from December 2021.

BBC Radio Suffolk, Facebook, Gadget Man, Matt Porter, Podcast, Technology, The Gadget Man

The Gadget Man – Episode 149 – Virgin goes from EE, via BT to Vodafone, Britbox launches and Drone Registration is now compulsory

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Welcome to Episode 149 – It’s all go again with the mobile phone market in the UK, the confusion surrounding Mobile Virtual Network Operators and actual network operators becomes confusing again! Virgin Mobile is currently carried by EE which in turn is owned by arch-rival BT, so now Virgin is moving to Vodafone. It shouldn’t affect your service, but you should check your coverage as EE and Vodafone may differ!

Britbox has now launched in the UK, although it was launched in the USA some time ago. Britbox offers BBC and ITV material and will also offer Channel 4 and Channel 5 stuff to in time.  It becomes confusing when much of the material is still offered on BBC iPlayer, ITV Hub, All4 and My5, you can even pay for some of these services to remove the adverts with ITV Hub+, 4+. I’ve signed up to check it out, so more on this later. I’m not terribly sure it has room to operate alongside global players such as Netflix, Amazon and Apple TV.  Time will tell.

UK Drone registration is now compulsory for anyone flying an aircraft over 250g.  Operators have until the end of the month to register their drones. It requires the payment of a £9 annual fee and you must affix your Operator ID to any drones you choose to fly.

Listen in to the stream to find out more,

Matt

Road Trip, Tesla, The Gadget Man

Electric Car Road Trip – 1200 miles in a Tesla – What tech gear are we taking?

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A ‘Gadget Man’ Road Trip would be nothing with a car stacked full of technology, here’s a quick summary of the gear we are rocking for the trip.

The Car

This is of course an ‘Electric Challenge’, so we are driving a Tesla Model S 100D. A 4 wheel drive, twin motor electric car, packing a 100 kWh Lithium-ion battery with a projected range between charges of more that 300 miles. We can also take advantage of Tesla’s very own Supercharger network, meaning our charge times will hopefully be under 30 minutes. Enough time for a coffee and meal on our long journey. The car is packed with driver assistance technology and always on 4G connection for maps and music streaming.

The Drone

We will be taking along a DJI Mavic Pro for aerial shots. The Mavic is an outstanding, foldable 4K drone with a 25 minute flight time. It boasts the most advance stabilisation technology available today, combining GPS, Glonass and Optical stabilisation and obstacle avoidance.

As a backup, we will be taking along a DJI Phantom 3 Standard with 2 batteries.

Cameras

Our filming will be carried out on a DJI Osmo+ 3 axis stabilised camera with 3.5x optical zoom and 4K video recording. This will be backed up by a GoPro Hero camera, Panasonic Lumia G3 and Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge smart phone.

On board the car, we have a Transcend DrivePro 230s dashcam and hopefully a Samsung Gear 360 (2017).

Editing and Blogging

Our editing will be carried out on a Dell Latitude Rugged with Core i7 and SSD drive, this will be complimented by a Transcend SSD drive and SPS Rugged USB3 1GB Hard drive.

Comms

We are looking forward to confirmation that EE will be providing us with 30gb of data and a in car wifi hotspot, to allow us to Live Stream, and Vlog during the journey.

Tracking

Our trip tracking is being provided by Coderus. Custom built apps on our mobiles will transmit our GPS coordinates to our server in London, this information will be pushed to www.eastwestroadtrip.co.uk and www.thegadgetman.org.uk to allow for our friends, families and supporters to view our progress in real time. This is looking to be a fabulous addition to the trip and will encourage interaction with Paul whilst I concentrate on driving.

EE, Gadget Man, Technology

The Gadget Man – Episode 56 – EE Power Bar

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powerbar1This morning I chat to Mark about the EE Power Bar. The Power Bar is a rechargeable battery pack which can supply power to your phone on demand. Like other battery packs, the Power Bar is recharged via USB cable. You can use the included usb cable to charge your phone, or you can plug other USB cables to charge your iPhone.

It also has a torch and flashing light function, which is useful if you are scrabbling around in the dark.

If you are an EE customer, you can pick up a free Power Bar, you have to send a text message to get a redeem code from EE first and this text costs 35p.

The really great thing about the Power Bar is that if you are out and about and you have used up all your charge, you can simply nip into an EE shop and they will swap your flat Power Bar with a fully charged unit, great if you are a heavy phone user.

It’s a nice little gadget and the fact it is almost free is even better.