Phones

Available on various monthly plans from Vodafone is the Moto G4 Play.

This is a rather fine phone, not like some that are almost too large to hold, this fits easily in the adult hand. Like other recent phones it arrived courtesy of Vodafone. As I am aware of certain black spot areas south of London these areas always get tried for phone and also 4G coverage as part of my tests on the phone and service offered by Vodafone.

While most of us have at least one mobile phone, only a small proportion of us have a case for it. There are a huge variety of options from a wallet style that also covers the screen to those that just cover the back and sides of your phone.

While cases for phones are an important extra – they should in my opinion be supplied with the phone – I suspect the reason they are not is the same as that I was given many years ago for not supplying a USB lead with a printer the reseller wants the opportunity for an extra sale.

Usually it is Huawei that supplies my review samples of its handsets, but this time Vodafone provided the model.

Because of the relationship Huawei have with Android they always get the newest and latest version of Android, here the current version is 7.1.1 whereas the only other version of ‘Nougat’ I have seen is Version 7 several point releases behind.

While Android 7 phones are still in the minority this offering from Huawei has it. Until last year Huawei was a name I had not heard of. A huge launch brought the P9 to the world’s attention and although this was launched much later this is the latest version of the P8.

A rather nice phone that has the ability to fast charge via wireless, I did not try this, sticking to the perhaps safer micro USB connection. The word ‘Edge’ is taken literally here as the screen has no border at all, so the screen literally goes to the edge.

I know the centre of London quite well but move a few miles away it might just as well be a different city so I find Google Maps invaluable and that came into use just south of the Elephant and Castle whilst I was reviewing this unit.

As part of its presence at CES 2017, Huawei launched its Honor 6X handset. This latest addition to the company’s popular range of handsets comes with the claim of being the world’s first smartphone to come with dual-camera functionality priced at under £250.

At the end of last year WileyFox launched two new SmartPhones, at the event it was let slip that another was soon to be launched, during terrible January weather it was launched and this is what it was all about a larger screen with higher resolution and a larger battery.

Removing the back of a phone used for some to be essential in order to get access to the battery, now a lot of phones come sealed so batteries cannot be changed. This phone from Archos arrived without a back as the last reviewers cat had stolen/eaten/hidden it. But as it only performed a fashion role it is not essential; however I would not like to meet that reviewer’s cat on a dark night.

Having recently told you about the larger Xperia XZ here a chance to put the smaller sibling through its paces, like the larger offering both were supplied by Vodafone and with this I got the chance to check their coverage not only in England but also Scotland.

Adding to its range of smartphones, Wileyfox has introduced a new member of its Swift 2 family.

It’s small, available on a 30-day basis and provides a mobile hot spot service. For more information, read on….

Unlike a lot of phones that have a ‘plus’ or extra ‘enhanced’ version where the differences may only be minimal this has a big difference that you do not even need to measure it to see it’s the overall screen size which is a lot larger.

I never saw the first version of this mid-range SmartPhone, I was not even aware they had entry level phones in fact what I knew about this company before the launch in London I could have written on the back of a small postage stamp.

Vodafone has come up with a choice of special viewing options for its Smart Platinum 7 smartphone.

Continuing with its tag line of “For The Brave”, Huawei has released the next product in its popular Honor series.

“Your computer is infected with a virus” or “we can claim on your behalf for that accident you know nothing about” are just a couple of nuisance call topics.

I think of Doro for home phones and basic mobiles for those with hearing and sight problems. While they have released a SmartPhone previously I never got to see it. This was shown at their Xmas In July event but only arrived with me in November.

Over the years I have looked at a good number of phones from the French company Archos. Here I think I have received their first rugged phone. This is still a normal phone in other ways but it is able to stand up the odd drop or three.

This phone has no curves and for some that maybe in vogue, but I am no fashion guru. After Apple and Samsung perhaps the best known brand is Sony and this offering is the latest one from them to come across my desk courtesy of Vodafone.

Not everyone wants or needs the largest SmartPhone so this slightly smaller offering from Samsung may fit their needs. It seems that the mobile phone teams to follow are Samsung or iPhone as far as the vast quantity of publicity created.

Adding to its range of smartphone handsets, Huawei has released the Mate 9.

A visit to a central London location, just off Oxford Street, introduced me to a new handset from Wileyfox.

Both items from a company called tech21, first a case for an iPhone 7 and also for the same device something that Apple devices certainly seem to need a screen protector and this is called Impact Shield Self Heal 4.7 inches.

The Doro 8030 is an easy to use smart phone tailored to meet the needs of those mature people who form the company’s traditional market but now feel that they are ready to migrate to a smart phone.

At the recent launch of two new smartphones, the Swift 2 and the Swift 2 Plus, Wileyfox let slip, either by accident or design, details of a third phone, the Swift 2 X.

As every family member now seems to demand their own mobile handset, so some sort of control needs to be applied to their use and financial considerations.