Can’t wait for the Galaxy S4 price and pre-order details to be announced? Register your interest for the Samsung Galaxy S4 at mobiles.co.uk.

With the release of the next Galaxy just months away we discuss the price of the Samsung Galaxy S4 vs Apple iPhone 5. Will the differences in price be worth the cost?

Anyone who considers upgrading to the latest smartphone in 2013 is sure to find many handsets fit for the job. As devices become more expensive, the decision process to choose the right phone becomes even more crucial. Here at mobiles.co.uk, we’re often asked whether a Samsung Galaxy or Apple iPhone are the best purchase? Here’s our say on the Apple vs Samsung debate.

Samsung Galaxy S4 Price

How much the next Galaxy smartphone will cost the consumer will be influenced upon the technology advances from S3 to S4. Expecting the S4 to house a Full HD 5 inch display, the extra pixels per inch are sure to increase the price against 2012’s S3 success.

Then there’s all those chips inside. Improvements to a faster quad core processor and an LTE chip for 4G internet speed, will add to the Galaxy S4 price. Whether Samsung decides to absorb this figure or pass it onto their customers will ultimately determine how much the Samsung Galaxy S4 will cost.

On the contrary, there are factors which may help to keep costs down. As more expandable memory options are available via Cloud Storage (Dropbox) or microSD cards, we believe Samsung will keep 16GB variants the focus within their product line. Samsung may even revive the 8GB variant to keep the price right for smartphone fans.

Apple iPhone 5 price

In the everlasting Apple iPhone vs Samsung Galaxy war, the iPhone has always priced up against a premium strategy. Often the most expensive smartphone on the market, Apple believe their easy user experience and high quality build of products justify the cost.

In 2012, the upgrade of 4S to iPhone 5 saw Apple’s golden child evolve in shape and performance. Including a larger 4 inch Retina Display, held together by a lighter Aluminium frame and utilising their best processor chipset to date was not going to come cheap. Apple increased the price of their iPhone to £528 or £46 per month at launch. Will the iPhone increase give Samsung an excuse to increase the price tag of their spring release?

Samsung Galaxy S4 to cost less than an iPhone?

Even though the next Samsung device will potentially deliver their greatest technology to date, we are safe to assume that the Galaxy S4 will cost below the iPhone 5 price. Comparing iPhone vs Samsung Galaxy S4 manufacturing price, Samsung’s 2013 release will offer expensive hardware in the form of Full HD screens and a quad core processor. To capture market share from Apple though, Samsung need to offer their handset for a lower price than the iPhone 5. Should Samsung play their price right, we’re pretty convinced the Samsung Galaxy S4 release will turn the heads of the core Apple following.

But what about the Apple user experience?

In Apple’s defence, their iOS operating system offers an easy to use layout which is consistent year after year and quick for users to pick up. For those who don’t dream about processors and touch displays, paying a little extra for an iPhone 5 may spare you the expense of a techy Android interface. Google’s Android operating system is quickly leaping forward with user friendly features such as Google Now and their reliable maps service. Apple may be regarded as the smartphone for everyone in 2012, but this year will see a closer fight between Apple vs Samsung for the attention (and money) of this market segment.

Samsung or Apple? Which is worth the cost?

Whether your touchscreen fingers reach for the iPhone or soon to be released Samsung Galaxy S4, both devices will be at the top of their game. If you crave the latest technology, 5 inch smartphones with 1080p displays will be all the rage in 2013, especially as 4G internet allows us to stream online content faster than before. The Galaxy S4 is more than likely to offer this technology at a price lower than the iPhone 5 . On the contrary, Apple’s consistent user experience may be a price worth paying for if you want to understand smartphones quickly and effortlessly. We expect the SIM free price of the Samsung Galaxy S4 16GB to come in around £510 and free on contracts from £40 per month. This would be £6 per month cheaper than the iPhone 5 at launch.

If the Galaxy S4 price sounds like a smartphone that meets your budget, register your interest for Samsung Galaxy S4 deals and updates from mobiles.co.uk. When this year’s device is announced, we’ll inform you on how to pre-order before it reaches the shops.

Our latest blog was written by Amelia Hunter of teqno-logical.com. 

Some smartphones like Motorola’s Defy and Defy+ or Sony’s super-resistant Xperia Go are not afraid of water. Those good old Nokia phones are also not afraid of anything in the world, even time. But if you’re a lucky owner of an Apple iPhone, you already know that water isn’t its the best friend, and letting it get wet isn’t the smartest thing you can do.

However, sometimes incidents happen, and not really waterproof devices that don’t have any protective cases, too, fall into water or down the toilet.

So what should you do if you’re a victim of phone water damage? Actually, there is no guaranteed way to make it work after it has taken a shower, but you shouldn’t give up anyway – if you follow the steps below and do everything quickly, the chances are high that you’ll be able to revive it.

1. Take the iPhone out as soon as possible – don’t let it spend too much time in water.
2. DO NOT try to switch it on, no matter what. It will only make the things worse. Also, DO NOT try to plug it into a charger for the same reason – even if it was possible to save it, after its contact with electricity you can just throw it away and buy a new one.
3. Take out the SIM card, but be very careful not to shake the iPhone too much, or the displaced water can harm the phone even more. Try to wipe the SIM card with a towel.
4. Some people advise using vacuum cleaners to draw the residual moisture, but even if it works with devices that have removable batteries, it won’t work with the iPhone, unfortunately. So don’t waste your time on it. Neither should you use a hair drier – it’s completely senseless.
5. When the SIM card is removed, put your iPhone in a huge bag of silica gel if you have one (which is not likely…) for at least two or three days – silica gel absorbs moisture better than anything else.
6. If you don’t have any silica gel at hand, you can try using uncooked rise instead – it can also draw out the moisture. Just fill a big bowl with rice and bury your phone in it, again for two-three days.
7. After those two to three days, when your phone is most likely completely dry, you can put the SIM card back and try to turn it on. If you’re lucky enough, your iPhone will be working again. If no… well, at least you’ll know you did everything you could.
8. One more thing:it is usually useless to take a drowned iPhone to the shop you bought it from, since the technicians there will know it was soaked (there are special “Liquid Submersion indicators” on the iPhone – they turn pink when water touches them), and it’s a non-warranty case. However, you can still need the help of the guys from the service center to do a factory reset to make the phone work better.For the latest Apple iPhone 5 deals and, visit the Mobiles.co.uk Apple shop

The LG Nexus 4 was announced on October 29, created to come and update Google’s famous Nexus line. The previous Nexus phone, which was made by Samsung, wasn’t the coolest device on the market in terms of hardware, though it came with the latest version of Google’s Android OS. Now the Nexus 4 manufactured by LG is running the new Android 4.2 OS, which offers a lot of amazing improvements. But what else can this phone boast of? And is it really worth buying? We’ll try to find it out now.

LG Nexus 4 hardware

LG has tried to arm it new Nexus 4 with the best features of the famous Optimus line, yet keeping its price as low as possible. That’s how we got a huge 4.7-inch device offering a resolution of 1280 x 768 pixels (320ppi pixel density – not bad, hm?), protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 2 and weighing only 139 grams (4.90 oz).
Inside the phone you will find a quad-core processor clocked at 1.5 GHz, together with 2GB of RAM, similar to the LG Optimus G. Well, you can call it a powerful CPU of course – they say it’s almost as good as that of the Samsung Galaxy S3. We are not sure the 2100mAh battery is enough to power these energy-consuming processor and touchscreen, but it’s still said to provide at least 15.3 hours of talk time, which is not bad, of course, if it’s true. The cameras are usual 8MP and 1.3MP ones – almost all modern smartphones have such cameras now.

Another advantage of the Nexus 4 is the wireless charging technology: the phone uses the Qi wireless standard, so finding a charger for it won’t be a big problem, but Google has still announced the Wireless Charging Orb – a really cool and stylish accessory that is expected to be fully compatible with the Nexus 4.

All of the specs mentioned above seem to be rather attractive, but the LG Nexus 4 has two big shortcomings, too. First, it comes in two versions only featuring 8 and 16GB of internal memory and NO support for microSD cards, so you can forget about storing huge amounts of data on your phone. For many users it’s a very big problem. Second, LG and Google haven’t added LTE support to the phone: they said LTE wasn’t quite “consumer-ready,” whatever it means; but perhaps they did it just to cut down the price of the Nexus 4. This will be a problem for those who’re used to LTE, but people from areas with no LTE coverage won’t care at all.

Android 4.2 and its new features

Most versions of Google’s Android OS have special “sweet” codenames coming in alphabetical order: Cupcake, Donut, Éclair, Froyo, Gingerbread, Honeycomb, Ice Cream Sandwich, and Jelly Bean. Developing the Jelly Bean experience with further smoothening to the UI, Android 4.2 has a lot to offer.

First of all, it now supports multiple user accounts (though it’s available in tablets only – yet), each coming with its own homescreen, apps and widgets. Gesture typing, which has long been available thanks to the popular Swype app, is now built in the system, available for both smartphones and tablets. It’s also possible to place widgets on the lock screen and access quick settings (including display brightness, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and battery life) even faster than before – via the notifications area. Google Now has become smarter, too.

If you love taking photos, you’ll probably like the new camera mode in Android 4.2 called Photo Sphere. It’s a good improvement to the usual panorama mode, allowing tilting the phone not only left and right, but up and down, too, so you can get even bigger and cooler panoramic images.

So many features that were earlier made available via different apps are now implemented in the OS itself, so you won’t have to use any third-party apps any longer, which is of course very nice. Plus, Android 4.2 is promised to perform better and lack the lags of the previous versions, which also sounds very attractive.

LG Nexus 4 price and availability

The LG Nexus 4 is expected to be launched on November 13 in the UK, Germany, France, Spain, US, Canada and Australia, while other countries will get it a bit later, by the end of November. The 8GB model will be sold for £239 at the Google Play Store.

So is the LG Nexus 4 worth buying?

Well, what do we have here? The LG Nexus 4 is quite an attractive smartphone with good hardware and software. It does have a couple of shortcomings, of course, like the lack of LTE and microSD card slot, but the low price fully compensates for this.

If you like to store much info in your phone and use the super-fast LTE networks, perhaps the LG Nexus 4 is not for you. For all the others it’s an almost perfect smartphone for a rather affordable price.

Simon from best-mobile-contracts.co.uk outlines some of the features that make the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 a unique device that will appeal to all sorts of creative individuals.

Some people are not quite sure if the Galaxy Note 2 is supposed to be a phone or a tablet. In terms of size it certainly falls into a grey area between the two. Its 5.5 inch screen makes it much larger than some of the largest Android phones available today, yet it is much smaller than the sort of devices that come to mind when the word “tablet” is mentioned. Samsung are quite clear though that the Note 2 is a phone, not a tablet.

If the Galaxy Note 2 were merely a Samsung Galaxy S3 with a larger screen then there would perhaps be little demand for it, but the Note 2 is much more than just an oversized phone. So what makes the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 so special? Unlike most touchscreen phones on the market today the Note 2 comes with a stylus known as the S Pen. Rather than its larger screen size, it is this stylus that distinguishes the Note 2 and makes it a truly unique device.

The S Pen is ergonomic and has a rubber tip, so using it will feel just as natural as using a real pen or pencil. Just like a real pen, the S Pen makes it much easier to write or draw and many apps come included with the Galaxy Note 2 to help you with these tasks. The Note 2 supports handwriting recognition, so you can use the S Pen to write just like a normal pen. This is certainly much easier than trying to type with an on-screen keyboard and is a great way to quickly jot down notes or ideas.

Apps for the Galaxy Note 2

S Memo is an app that has been designed specifically for this purpose. S Memo allows you to take down notes using handwriting recognition, which can be automatically transformed into digital text if you so desire, and you can also augment these memos with images and sound clips. While S Memo was available on the original Note, the Note 2 adds a new Easy Clip feature. This allows you to take irregular shaped screenshots which can be pasted into your memos, or shared via email and social networks. Using Easy Clip, you simply draw with the S Pen around the portion of the screen you wish to copy and then select what you wish to do with it.

S Memo is ideal for jotting down ideas, writing minutes or taking notes during a lecture. But the Note 2 does not restrict you to taking down notes with S Memo – you can also add notes to images and videos. Load a video that you have transferred from a computer, downloaded, or recorded on the Note’s camera, and you can draw directly onto to it to add comments, funny moustaches or other annotations.

Along with the many apps included on the Note 2 there are many more apps available from Google Play which have been designed specifically for use with the Note 2 and its S Pen. Many of these revolve around artistic endeavours such as drawing and animation, and make the Note 2 an ideal device for artistic individuals.

The Note 2 comes with S Planner which can help you to organise your week, and it is a great device for catching up on your emails thanks to Wi-Fi and 3G connections. Air View is a new feature that has been added to the Note 2 which allows you to use the S Pen to get a quick preview of messages in your inbox without touching the screen. Simply hold the S Pen over the desired message and you can get a quick glance of its contents without loading in its entirety.

So why buy a Samsung Galaxy Note 2?

The Galaxy Note 2 is not just a larger smartphone. While Samsung classifies it as a phone it has much of the functionality you would expect from a tablet, and the S Pen allows it to offer a unique set of apps to help you unleash your creative side. As well as being ideal for artistic individuals the use of handwriting recognition and an ergonomic stylus makes the Note 2 a great device for quickly jotting down ideas while you sit in a café or wait for a train. The unique features of the Note 2 may appeal to some people more than others, but anyone who plays around with the phone for just a short while will start to feel more creative within a matter of minutes.

Order your Samsung Galaxy Note 2 today from Mobiles.co.uk.