Leading games publisher THQ has signed a co-marketing agreement with 3 - which gives the 3G mobile operator a unique branding opportunity in some of THQ’s upcoming games titles.

The 3 agreement allows for the company to be included in THQ’s video game Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights scheduled to release later this Autumn for Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PLAYSTATION 3 computer entertainment system, PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system, PSP  (PlayStation Portable) system, Nintendo DS and Windows PC.

“To be able to offer 3 the ideal position between mobile and console games with Juiced 2 – THQ’s sequel to a two-million selling Juiced franchise is very exciting for mobile entertainment, ” said Adam Comiskey, International Vice-President, THQ Wireless.

“This is yet again an original marketing move for THQ Wireless. Through this integration, thousands of gamers around the world will potentially see the 3 logo within the Juiced 2 video game,” said James Scalpello, Director of Marketing, THQ Wireless.

“Juiced 2 is a great opportunity to reach out to a significant segment of our customers,” said Fergal Walker, Director of products, 3UK. “3’s prominent positioning within this video game enhances our credentials as the market-leader in mobile gaming.”

Under the new agreement, the 3 brand will be fully integrated into the mass market console video games. In addition, the Juiced 2 mobile game will be available for download directly from the 3 portal. In the game, players can create and customize a 3 branded car, designing everything from hot hatches to super cars. They can spray paint, choose modifications and race the 3 car to stunning effects.

About Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights

Juiced 2: HIN evolves the current street racing scene, letting players experience the culture of the real-life HIN tour, the nation’s largest lifestyle custom car show in an intense racing experience. Featuring track and drift racing at real-world locations around the globe, next-gen AI and unparalleled vehicle customization, Juiced 2: HIN brings street racing to life, allowing players to test their skills at live street racing events against a back-drop of DJs, fashion, models and musicians. Groundbreaking new features include addictive drift/ powersliding races and “Driver DNA” that tracks gamers’ personal driving traits. These profiles, along with the profiles of select celebrities will be available for download across all online gaming systems. Elite racing developer Juice Games has evolved the game-play that revolutionized online racing, giving players the power to create their car, assemble their crew and put it all on the line in intense pink slip and crew races. Gamers will also be able to bet cash on each event, bringing a gambling element to the game that greatly increases the importance of each race.

Ah this is an exciting one. While other operators are busy disabling the VOIP capability of all their handsets, 3 is embracing new technology with a degree of fearlessness unfamiliar to most mobile operators.

Link: 3 to launch cheap Skype handset | Technology | The Guardian

The mobile phone operator 3 is working with the online calls firm Skype on a cheap handset that will bring free mobile internet calls to the mass market.It has teamed up with a far eastern handset manufacturer to produce a phone, to be launched this year for pre-pay and contract customers. It will allow Britain’s estimated 2.5 million Skype users to make free calls and send texts. 3 has been working with Skype, owned by eBay, for well over a year, and already offers the service on its niche X Series platform.

I like the concept, I really do.

I won’t stop using a mobile operator. I still NEED (or want) to have connectivity when I’m sat on a farm in the middle of England somewhere — or worse, Hartlepool. I will still pay for the privilege of using a cellular call, especially when nothing else is available. There will always be a future of sorts for mobile operators. I think 3UK’s innovation — whatever the market reaction to a ‘Skype phone’ — will put it in a good position on-going.

And when the handset is available, we’ll be first in line to test it!

Since I’ve been in Italy, I’ve been thoroughly enjoying seeing ‘3 ITA’ appear on my Nokia E61i. I’ve been calling folk often. Why? Well, not only is the call quality excellent, the cost is brilliant — I’m using my existing ‘minutes’ from my 3UK account.

As a result, I am finding myself doing far less pained looks when the phone rings. Similarly, I’m not rushing to get off the phone when I’m speaking to people and I’m also not mentally calculating 55p x the minutes I’ve been speaking.

What a relaxing time it is!

Although alas I’m not doing any relaxing. I’ve been more or less glued to my laptop and the wifi or 3UK Modem connection for most of the time here. I haven’t had a chance to give my MaxRoam sim a whirl yet — when I came to try it out on the N95, I found it had run out of battery power. So, like every Brit abroad, I’m queuing for my power converter. The laptop is charging first, obviously, then the N95…

If you travel to Italy or any other country with a 3 network, make sure you’re a 3 customer.

Mobile network 3 have “called time on ‘one-size-fits-all’ call plans” today, with the announcement of their new customisable tariff concept.

According to the operator, Mix & Match has been designed to be completely flexible and to appeal to both value seekers and fans of the latest handset. For the first time ever, 1 minute is equivalent to 1 text. There are five options in the new tariff range, from £15 a month for 300 minutes and texts, plus 300 minutes of free 3 to 3 mobile calls, to £27 for 1100 minutes and texts per month. You can add an extra 200 minutes/texts to your plan at any time you want for just £3 a month up to a maximum of 1100 minutes/texts, avoiding any hidden, pricey penalties.

Once you’ve tailored your price plan, you match it to your choice of up to 20 handsets - including the rather in demand Nokia N95. You also get free voicemail, 300 free 3-to-3 minutes (including sister networks abroad), and it costs just 12p a minute to any network outside of your allowance.

On the data side, 3 are chucking in free Windows Live or Yahoo! Messenger services, free Skype calling, and free eBay bidding and buying.

Right now I am whizzing along at somewhere in excess of 100mph on a train out of Kings Cross, heading up to the North East of England. The train, run by GNER, offers free wireless internet - a wickedly good and reliable service.

However I have spurned wifi for the moment — because I’ve been asked by quite a few people to try out the 3UK USB modem ‘at speed’. If you recall, I’ve been thoroughly enjoying using near-8mb-broadband-style speed from fixed locations over the past week. How would the device perform in real-world conditions?

Very well, actually.

At 125mph, the train is speding through cell zones thus making it quite difficult — even for a standard mobile phone call to stay connected. Across 30 minutes, my connection disconnected about 3 times. I immediately reconnected and was back surfing in no time at all. Download speeds were impressive. If anything, they are anecdotally faster than the onboard satellite wifi of the train.

I didn’t try Youtube or any bandwidth intensive services — instead I used the connection for web browsing, blogging (this post) and receiving email.

To be honest I didn’t expect the USB modem to be any good at speed so I’m impressed. But like using your mobile phone on a fast train, disconnections are to be expected.

Link: T-mobile in Talks with Hutchison 3g over Network Sharing

T-Mobile and 3 are reportedly in discussions over sharing parts of their 3G network, according to the Financial Times (via Cellular News).

There’s also rumours that should this deal go through, the next logical step would be that T-Mobile purchase 3. James Barford, analyst at Enders Analysis, told the FT: “This deal, if concluded, would leave T-Mobile as the most obvious potential buyer of 3.”

Radio sharing agreements are not uncommon, with Vodafone and Orange agreeing a 3G network sharing deal back in February. The benefits for the operators are easy to see - with the amount of money saved in duplicate infrastructure, planning permission, etc, quite worthwhile in the fight to make the huge amount of money they spent on the 3G radio auction worthwhile.

Unsurprisingly, T-Mobile and 3 declined to comment on the FT article - which usually means something’s brewing..

I popped into the 3UK headquarters yesterday. Why? Well, I was in Maidenhead to see Kitt of Good Mobile Messaging — and when I checked my train for the way back to the city, I had a few minutes to kill. The 3UK offices are just by the train station to I popped in.

The lifts — or, elevators, if you’re not into Brit-speak — were sporting funky broadband-usb-for-a-tenner point of sale posters. Good. I like to see up to date marketing collateral in receptions.

I swiftly acquired an ice cool bottle of champagne and marched into the reception.

“Does Hugh Davies work here?” I demanded. Hugh is, if I’ve got my job titles correct, Director of Corporate Affairs for 3UK.

The nice receptionst lady paused a moment and looked me up and down. Decked out in pinstripe and shocking, shocking red tie, I didn’t look like a suicide bomber or terrorist, so she was content (I theorise) to confirm that this was indeed Hugh’s office.

“Great, I’ve brought him some champagne,” I declared, plonking it on the reception desk.

A momentary look of surprise and she was on the phone to Hugh.

“Er, I don’t have a meeting,” I said, helpfully, “I’m only dropping this off.”

I pictured a stressed-to-hell Davies barking into his phone, “WHAT? A WHO? WHAT? A BOTTLE OF WHAT?” at the poor receptionist and mentally made a note not to do this sort of impulsive random thing too often just in case it goes wrong. It’s not necessarily what you need, is it? A blogger turning up unannounced on your doorstep brandishing alcohol.

“Which Ewan?” the receptionist enquired. She’d got hold of Hugh.

I gave my full name and helpfully added “SMS Text News”.

She smiled and passed the phone over.

“Ewan!” bellowed Hugh, “I’m in London! But wait there, let me see if my colleague Guy Middleton can pop down to say hi.”

Wicked.

Guy Middleton, Guy Middleton, Guy Middleton. Hmm. Where did I know his name?

Obviously! Former managing editor of Mobile magazine. Of course! You can, I think, see a young looking Guy here. He’s got a cix account. Proper-geek that is.

Whilst I waited for Guy, I chatted to the receptionist.

“Got a 3UK account?” I asked her.

She shook her head before telling me she was on o2. She explained she was a temp and worked for the landlords who managed the 3UK building. Ok, fair enough. I always find that a little strange, going to offices and finding the receptionists use completely different networks from their tenants. Ages ago I chatted to a lady and a guy in Vodafone’s London HQ who both used Orange. Heh.

Guy arrived and we decamped to the very fancy canteen for a quick chat to deconstruct mainstream mobile media and swap tailor recommendations. I haven’t met Guy before but I am delighted to have done so. He graciously accepted the ice cool champagne and promised to place it on Hugh’s desk. Couldn’t talk too long though. He had work to do and I had a train to catch.

Collectively, I think I pay T-Mobile about 300 quid a month via two accounts. I have been really content with their Flext price plans and, of course, their data services — particularly since they lead the market with the Web’N'Walk plans for quite a while.

A while ago, I wrote that all of a sudden, I couldn’t use Agile Mobile, my instant messanger service, on my Nokia E61i. It just stopped working. Nothing would work.

I theorised that this could be due to T-Mobile actually implementing their ban on instant messaging via their standard Web’N'Walk plans. Fair enough. They did give enough notice. IM is meant to be canibalising their text revenues — or so many misguided operators believe. So I upgraded. I upgraded to the £12.50 per month Web’N'Walk that allows you to use instant messaging.

And?

F-All.

It was still screwed. Still didn’t work. So last night I took my 3UK sim from my E65 and installed it into the E61i and tried Agile Mobile. Woosh. It worked right away. No limitations.

That’s when I dumped T-Mobile. I do need a data connection. A proper data connection. I don’t need arsing around. I was happy to pay more — but it DIDN’T work when I did, so screw that, with bells on.

I’ve still got two accounts with them, but I will now decomission them. I’ll pay off the contracts. I’m now 3UK. Just need to figure out my transition strategy.

Link: 3 Sweden Launches 3G Push-to-Talk Service
3 have launched a 3G push-to-talk and presence service in Sweden, with the platform provided by Nokia Siemens Networks.

The solution includes network monitoring, operations and systems integration services - as well as a presence service that enhances the whole user experience.

Jan Blom, 3 Sweden’s Director of Business Marketing and Sales, says: “Following our successful trial and considerable research into this market, now is the perfect time to launch our 3Push-to-Talk service. The solution and services from Nokia Siemens Networks mean that we are able to focus fully on promoting new, value-added services to our customers.”

I’m off to meet 3UK Director of Sales, Marc Allera, tomorrow morning. I’m going to be asking two key questions — one related to the fact 3UK’s retail stores CAN’T have a relationship with me. (When I walk in to try and change my price plan or buy new services, their helpful sales people have no alternative but to ask me to phone customer services. Whereas I can do anything to my account at a Vodafone store).

The other issue I’m going to ask about is their strategy for attracting high-value customers.

However I’ve got space to ask Marc a load of questions, just like last time with their Director of Handsets. So if you’ve got some questions, add them below and I’ll put them to Marc.

Link: 3 launches tenner-a-month data | The Register

The Register are reporting that 3 are about to launch 3G mobile broadband from just ten quid a month.

At £10 a month, the basic Mobile Broadband package (”Light”) gets you 1GB of data, while £15 gets you 3GB, and £25 up to 7GB. Data usage outside these buckets is charged at 10p/MB. 3 will throw in a free USB modem to existing customers, or £29 if you sign up for eighteen months.

By comparison, T-Mobile’s web’n'walk Plus deal, which today offers the best value, permits 3GB for £24.68 (incl. VAT) and 10GB for £37.45 - which means that the “Plus” and “Max” offerings from 3 work out at a lower minimum price per MB. Vodafone offers 3GB for £25 per month, and a curious deal where you get £8.50 for 500MB in a twenty four hour period.

So there you go. Another good reason for T-Mobile customers to jump ship to 3.

Remember this story from earlier in the week?

Link: SMS Text News

I never knew that mobile operators actually had repair avoidance centres!
An SMS Text News reader got me on instant messenger this morning to relate a tale of woe.

A follow-up from Grant on IM (not via Skype, obviously, as it’s screwed).

Three sent the handset back in exactly the same condition - but they kindly added a “3″ logo to the it. They call that repairs?

No, I call that smart brand management, Grant! Deary me. Well, you can but try again. Or put up with it!

Fergal Walker is the Santa Claus of the UK mobile industry, although he doesn’t have the red suit, belly or white beard — but he does have handset subsidies to offer mobile geeks across the land — AND X-Series, which, is just genius. Fergal is the guy who decides what 3UK are going to put into your hand come contract renewal time so I was looking forward to meeting him.

I walked into the Congress Hall near Tottenham Court Road not two hours ago. I’d been told to ask for ‘Sarah’ or ‘Sarah’. I spied a group of people clustered around a Mobile Choice magazine and thought I was probably in the right area.

A girl called Tricia from Lewis PR asked if I was Ewan and introduced herself. She said I’d have 15 minutes with Fergal once he was finished with the chap who was currently interviewing him. She asked how I got started with SMS text News. I explained that I was a bit of a mobile geek and that I’d worked in the mobile industry. I wasn’t sure if she’d got the enormity of the ‘geek’ reference, so I demonstrated by bringing out my E61i and putting it on the table, joining it with the E65 in my pocket and the N95 in my other pocket. If she was shocked and horrified, she did a good job of appearing calm and relaxed in my company.

Quickly, Fergal finished with the other chap, not before I’d had a dig at the old media with Tricia and Sarah Pope (3UK’s Consumer PR manager) tactically keeping silent. I do like Mobile Choice, for example it’s got a comprehensive mobile review section at the back, but reading through the main pages of the magazine is like peering through a range of announcements already old covered in-depth years ago by the likes of Intomobile, AllAboutSymbian or Engadget.

Anyway, Fergal had stood up and bid the old media guy farewell and I was on.

I shook his hand and took out my questions from everybody at SMS Text News. I’d quadruple spaced them so I had space to write the answers and I think Fergal was slightly alarmed that I’d just taken five pages worth of questions out to put to him. In 15 minutes.

I explained I was a huge fan and that we’d asked for questions from SMS Text News readers the night before — he interrupted to say that he was a reader. Nice one Fergal.

I felt a little bit like Bob Whatshisname from the quiz show Blockbusters. I only had 15 minutes so I started firing questions like a machine gun geek. Normally I like to sit and have a chat with folk.

I went straight to the jugular, no messin’, with Ben Smith’s first contributed question:

Can he spill any beans about the Nokia N81 Music Phone and whatever Nokia are launching on 29th of August?

Fergal: No. It’s exciting, very exciting. It’s fantastic — we really are pushing mobile music forward. We’re the number one in mobile music downloads in the world and we’re second only to iTunes for music downloads here in the UK — and we’re bigger than iTunes in Sweden and Denmark.

I followed up with another one of Ben’s questions — one that I know a lot of people have been wondering.

Any plans to offer any Windows Mobile or Blackberry devices?

Fergal: Intentions? You betcha. Plans? Yes. Confirmed news? Not yet — but we’re working on it. We’d love to do this and we certainly will. We’re just looking at the commercials at the moment. Maybe toward the end of this year.

Oooh now that is quite interesting. They could certainly go to town with a funky Windows Mobile HTC Touch style device and X-Series applications. And as for Blackberry, well I think it would get a lot of interest from those data-hungry Blackberry fans out there.

Next, a favourite bugbear of any 3UK watcher:

Why the discrepancy in launch dates between the various 3 networks internationally for handsets (including the N95)?

Fergal; Each of us [each 3 country] qualifies the handsets we offer independently, we do our own testing and we decide what’s appropriate for our marketplace. From our own history here in the UK and looking to the future, we are continually focused on our desire to maintain and increase quality. So in the case of the Nokia N95, we decided we could wait. There were some intense discussions here, I can tell you. But I believe we are vindicated by the problems that other mobile operators have had with the device. By waiting, we were able to offer a much, much better quality Nokia N95 to our customers — better GPS, improved battery life, plus support for HSDPA and X-Series too.

That does make a lot of sense to me. I was still doing my nut when I found out 3 Italy had launched the N95 way before 3UK

Ok next question.

What’s the score with the Sony Ericsson W950i — it was promised on X-Series from the outset?

Fergal: Very good question. We launched it. It sold out! We’re one of the only operators to push the boundaries — I mean really, really push the boundaries of our handset platforms to their limits. While we were able to do everything we wanted to with X-Series on Series 60, Symbian’s UIQ has proved a lot more difficult to get working.

Why do they forbid the use of non-3 handsets in their terms & conditions? With he more technical and demanding crowd they’re attracting with X-Series, how about allowing them, but unsupported (or similar)?

Fergal: We, unlike some operators, don’t make money from selling our handsets. We pass on the handset cost to the customer through their contract. If we open up our handsets, we’d be basically giving away pieces of kit — so for this reason our handsets are locked to the sim card.

I did clarify with Fergal though — you’re perfectly fine using another handset that you’ve bought elsewhere with your 3 sim.

For Nokia handsets, why isn’t it possible to firmware upgrade 3-branded phones?

Fergal: You shouldn’t be able to do this with the security measures we’ve put in place — this comes back to handset cost and my answer to your previous question.

To one of Grant’s questions now…

With regards to strategy — are you looking to increase the variety (and number) of devices availble or are you focusing on keeping quite specialist 3 equipment (fewer available handsets)?

At this point, Fergal broke into a big grin. I could see the excitement radiating from him.

Fergal: The former, Grant. If you look at the handsets we had available in May 2007 of this year, by October, we’ll have doubled our handset range.

Now that is very, very exciting.

Adam asked a similar question to Ben, asking:

Why is each 3 country so different in terms of handsets (variety and availability)?

Fergal: We’re like a federation of nation states. Each country in the world is different — and every market is different — for example, in Ireland you have to pay for your handsets whilst here in the UK, we’ll put the Aston Martin of handsets, (The Nokia N95) into your hand at no direct cost. Other global operators have tried to standardise on a global range across every country but we feel that severely reduces local flexibility.

Now to a question posed by Harry…

I got the Nokia 6120 classic on 3 last month [Fergal pulls out his 6120 to show me and nods] but when will HSDPA coverage be available nationwide?

Fergal: Nationwide coverage is to be confirmed — sometime toward the end of the year, but we’ll have significant coverage available by this September.

SE Fanboy asked this P1 question…

Will the X-Series work on my Sony Ericsson P1i? Cos my Vodafone contract is nearly finished and I only “do” Sony Ericsson

Fergal: If we decide to carry the handset, yes. Would it work with X-Series? Yes. [i.e. you can use 'unlimited' data, not all the X-Series applications will work though, as they may need to be tested for that handset]

Time was pressing so I finished off asking what Fergal’s first handset was. Turns out he used to work for Ericsson so it was, predictably, an Ericsson handset!

He then went on to give me this handset range sneak preview:

Sony Ericsson K530
Sony Ericsson K770
Sony Ericsson K850
Sony Ericsson W910
Nokia 6500

…. And the LG U990…. The Prada Phone!

But a double-hard-wideboy version of the Prada we all know and sort-of-love. The U990 will be sporting:

3G, HSDPA
5 megapixel camera
TV out
120 frames/sec playback
170mb internal memory +external memory support
And the Prada touchscreen UI

I’ll need to see that one. That sounds fantastic.

By the way, make sure you check out Ben Smith’s long-term road test of 3’s X-Series published yesterday.

I’m meeting Adam Davis tomorrow from 3UK. He is Head of Handsets & Product Marketing… or something like that, I’m not entirely sure. I’ll find out when I get his business card.

Have you got any questions that you’d like me to put to him about 3UK’s handset strategy?

I’m DEFINITELY going to ask him about the Nokia N95 trauma — although, that has more or less been explained by the fact they found it bug-ridden and waited to work out the issues before dropping them into customer laps.

Leave your questions below and I shall put’em to Adam then stick his answers up here. I might even do some video, depending on how he reacts.

SMS Text News regular (and world-renowned foosball player) Ben Smith has been living with 3’s X-Series in the UK and his travels for just over six months. It’s been his ‘regular drive’ - his everyday handset and a home for his main work and personal number. What does he think about it? Here’s his long-term road test of the service.

Read the rest of this entry »

I never knew that mobile operators actually had repair avoidance centres!

An SMS Text News reader got me on instant messenger this morning to relate a tale of woe.

Grant’s handset isn’t faulty per se, it’s just that the back and front covers aren’t connecting properly. For some reason they’ve come apart. This was a problem from day one. Dust and muck is therefore getting in — thus Grant thought he’d take preventative action and whacked the handset off to 3UK support.

A few days later they got back to him. Not good. They couldn’t find the problem, apparently. I reckon because there isn’t actually a handset problem (you know, it works fine, it’s the case that he’d like sorted). This is despite Grant attaching a diagram to point out the issue.

Here is the diagram in question:

Grant’s getting more and more irate — as anyone would, sat without a handset.

But I’m willing to bet his annoyance was tripled when he was told that his issue was being dealt withby the Repair Avoidance Centre at 3UK.

Heh. Dear me. I wonder if you phoned up to make a late payment if you’d be transferred through to a new Get That Sodding Money From Him department.

Looooooooooooooong ago I decided to part company with the traditional mobile operator/user relationship. I don’t bother with handset insurance, I don’t bother trying to get replacement or temporary handsets. I take total responsibility for my handset strategy. I don’t know if I could cope, at all, with posting off my handset into the ether then arsing around making call-after-call and waiting days to get anything.

In fairness to the mobile operators, it must be a total headache, having to deal with replacement handsets, repairs and the like. It would probably be cheaper to implement a new policy of no returns, just immediate replacement: e.g. If you send your handset to us for repair, we will send you a new £14 cheap-as-chips Motorola donkey phone by return post, and we’ll sell your old handset to somebody else to fix.

I really can’t help myself when it comes to good service from mobile companies.

Listen to this.

Or, better still, read…

Not 2 minutes ago, I got a phone call from Richard at 3UK Customer Services.

“How are you getting on with your plan?” he asks me, in a good Scottish brogue.

“Ah, er, well…” I begin, for, accurately speaking, I’ve actually got two handsets on T-Mobile Flext 50 and Flext 75 and, to tell an absolute truth, my 3UK sim card has been sat on my desk for a few weeks (although I just put it in the new handset I got the other day).

So, “Not much, actually Rchard,” I finished.

“Well, is there anything we can do for you?” he asks, as I commence wetting myself.

There’s nothing better than a mobile phone company calling to ask how you’re doing and to make you a wicked offer.

I explained that I was a huge fan of the way the Flext credit works. Huge fan. I waxed lyrical about how I didn’t really like being restricted to ‘minutes’ or ‘texts’ — I just want a credit balance.

“We can do that!” Richard explained.

“Oh, you can?”

“Aye no bother at ALL. Listen, here’s how it works, £35 a month and we give you 180 pounds worth of credit,” he says, as the word ‘SOLD’ is already flashing up on in my eyes. That’s rather interesting that they’re matching the Flext plans. I had no idea.

“Right, make it so,” I said.

“What new handset would you like?” he enquired.

“Errrrr? Well.”

That shocked me. N95? Well. Got one of those. Got two actually, although some bugger in Africa is no doubt using it after that arse grabbed it from me a while ago.

“E65 then, what about that?” I asked.

“Sure. That’s free as you’re a high-end customer,” he said, continuing, “Now, we’ll have that to you on Monday, is there anything else we can do for you?”

I paused for a few moments of mobile nirvana.

I asked him to retain the X-Series stuff.

Get in.

So, I’m not entirely sure why I signed up. But you know, …….. it’s my duty as a mobile industry blogger, right?

Goodness knows what I’d do if I had a phone on every network. I’d be running up 24 month contracts like no tomorrow.

This was a surprise. Now and again I have a look through the stats and see what everybody’s looking at. I find it very useful to research what you — grouped together as the growing SMS Text News audience — is actually reading, versus what I think qualifies as news.

So, here we go: The most read post on SMS Text News, ever.

After rumours, hints and the odd shocked-and-saddened-from-Surrey style rants from yours truly, finally, the Nokia N95 arrives on 3UK.

I found the link burried deep within the 3UK site — I thought, for some reason, that they’d be trumpeting the handset’s arrival from the frontpage — but after a few clicks, I found it.

Many others have already found the link and with a ordered their handsets, the excitement pouring off them. The N95 launch on 3UK is the tech world equivalent of the last Harry Potter book hitting the stores.

T-Mobile certainly got there first and scooped up quite a few willing potential 3UK customers who just couldn’t wait the extra few months — the handset was such a draw. T-Mobile’s open access policy (”Here is your pipe to the internet, enjoy”) is exactly what you want when you’re brandishing one of the most modern handsets. However, add in X-Series and the various prepackaged X-Series applications, together with an unmetered, unrestricted internet connection — and you’re moving into 7th Heaven.

I haven’t set eyes on an Nokia N95 on 3UK with X-Series as yet, but I’m pretty confident in asserting that it could possibly be the best joint implementation of handset and network, ever.

I talked to various people at 3UK about the N95 delay. Time and time again they gave me an answer that I didn’t like, but accepted. I paraphrase:

Because we value the mobile Internet experience very highly we wanted to make sure that we had the most stable handset possible – we believe this new version of the N95 provides this.

That’s right, it’s not just some bog standard N95 you’re getting with 3UK. No. Here are the key points:

The new N95 version PR1.2 offers greater stability and improved user experience
This latest version of the N95 can access 3’s ever growing high speed HSDPA mobile internet network
The latest version of the N95 has an improved battery life and a fix to enable faster GPS performance
3 is launching the updated version of the Nokia N95 with full X-Series support

A little bit more from 3UK on the Nokia N95:

The N95 is an influential handset with a variety of rich media and location-based features which will allow X-Series users to make the most of their unlimited data tariff. As well as this it is an excellent device for using exclusive X-Series applications such as Skype and Slingbox

This ensures the N95 now works perfectly as a mobile Internet device, allowing users to surf the web, use mobile applications and view and interact with mobile media in the best way possible.

It will cost £49.99 on a £28 monthly X-Series tariff

It will be free on our £45 or above tarriffs

Have you got yourself one from 3UK?

How is it performing?

I think I could name at least 20 people planning on buying a Nokia N95 on 3UK, the moment it’s possible. If, like it’s Italian counterpart, the British N95 comes laden with X-Series goodness…. well… that could be a handset to lust over, big time.

Are you getting one?

UK mobile operators T-Mobile, 3 and Vodafone have confirmed plans to begin rolling out the High Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA) standard in the UK by the end of the year.

The technology - which uses packet scheduling - takes the performance enhancements found in the High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) standard and brings them to the upload side of a data connection. The net effect is a balancing of the theoretical maximum upload and download speeds.

Vodafone have already launched the technology in Germany, and will begin rolling out their UK service later this year. Rivals T-Mobile and 3 will also be aiming to start upgrading their network by the end of the year, with Orange planning to introduce the HSUPA service in 2008.

The only UK operator not figuring in these plans is O2 - who have at present not announced plans for HSPA enhancements to their network.

(Thanks to SMS Text News reader Mike for providing additional information to correct this article)

As we reported last night, 3UK is shocking the market with phenomenally good European roaming pricing, starting from 30th August 2007.

More from the news release:

3 customers are set to make serious savings on international roaming rates as the network announces its new EU rates. Following the recent EU announcement capping mobile roaming prices in Europe from 30th August, 3 is slashing prices below what the new EU law requires.

From 30th August, 3 customers travelling to EU countries will pay just 25p per min to make a call to any standard UK landline or mobile and just 10p per min to receive a call wherever they are in the EU. This compares with the capped EU Eurotariff of 38p per min to make a call and 19p per min to receive a call*.

3’s new pricing structure, which is 34% cheaper to make calls and 47% cheaper than the EU Eurotariff to receive them, will apply to all customers, whether they’re on Pre-Pay or Contract deals. Charges for SMS messages will be fixed at 25p per text.

So be sure to take your 3UK handset on holiday!

Got a note in from an SMS Text News reader this afternoon who confidently asserts that 3UK are about to announce the following roaming price update tomorrow:

3 are reducing europe roaming charges from 30th August: -
25p/min to make a call abroad
10p/min to receive a call aboad
25p/text to send a text whilst abroad
No charge to receive a text abroad

If that’s anywhere near accurate, it’ll certainly position 3UK as the cheapest mobile operator bar none.

That would mean that my 103 minute call to 3UK customer services from Geneva last year would have only cost about £25 down from the £89 I paid.

The reader also reports that 3UK are about to introduce data roaming for GPRS & MMS to over 40 countries. About sodding time. The absence of this has really been winding me up.

I think it’s time for a new handset. My poor E61 is trying to run Jaiku, Good Mobile Messaging, and Truphone - all at the same time. It’s crashing about every two minutes at the moment - which is not so good.

I’m thinking of keeping the E61 for email with Good, and going to an N95 for my general usage. There’s a few issues though, which I’m still yet to figure out.

Firstly, I’m getting a bit peeved with T-Mobile. Web’n'Walk on 3G is about as much use as a chocolate fireguard of late, so I’ve switched it to GSM. It’s slow, constantly breaks, and is generally flakey.

Second, I’d like to try Three, but the N95 isn’t available yet.

Third, I’ve got about another 11 months left on an 18 month contract with my E61 on T-Mobile.

Fourth, the number everyone uses to reach me goes to my E61 via T-Mobile.

Any suggestions on how to fix this pickle appreciated

I’m still really quite annoyed at not being able to get hold of a Vodafone Spain USB modem. Despite what it says on the website, the lady in the shop down the road was not having any of it.

She didn’t respond well to my pigeon Spanish at all.

I thought of thrusting my credit card at her and pointing to the USB modem in the good old British way but I gave up reasonably quickly.

In future, I reckon the way to go is to get the chaps at Spainsim.com to sort you out. I didn’t really have enough notice for them as they’ll need a day or so to post it to your hotel.

I looked in the Orange shop opposite the Vodafone one. There was no mention whatsoever of data so I didn’t bother even getting engaged in contractos discussions.

I spent most of yesterday trying to get my sodding E61i to work properly. I’ve captured a lot of the carnage from this stag weekend via the E61i’s pretty efficient camera, however I feel like I’ve been walking about with no arms. I can’t believe that 3UK have no data roaming agreements. Surely that’s not the case?

Well I went and had a look at 3UK’s Spanish Coverage. Sure enough. I’m nailed. NOT data coverage.

That’s just hugely, hugely disappointing. Whatever the underlying policy, it’s crazy. I depended on being able to use my 3UK sim properly — and that means both voice and data to me. I was expecting to be nailed for stupid-amounts-per-meg.

Still, here is my solution: I swapped my T-Mobile SIM into my E61i and reconfigured Good Mobile Messaging to work again on that handset with the T-Mobile sim. So all is good in the world.