Samsung BD-P1500 1080p Blu-ray Disc Player (Electronics) tagged "samsung" 143 times

Experience the blu-ray difference with the SAMSUNG BD-P1500. TheBD-P1500 lets you have it all - watch your favorite DVDs and blu-ray discs or listen to CDs with the highest-quality audio.

Full 1080p resolution gives you the most outstanding HD image quality.Enjoy a richer, bolder color palette via extended gamut YCC technology. HDMI 1.3 transmission bandwidth capabilities ensure the strongest signal fidelity, while the Ethernet connection lets you easily check for the latest firmware upgrades online. Control all your Samsung AV devices from one remote, via Anynet+ technology. And advanced audio compatibility, including DD+, and True-HD, offers premium sound, for the greatest HD experience.

CD & DVD Compatible
This blu-ray disc player offers state-of-the-art viewing with CD and DVD playback compatibility. Even as you take advantage of the latest video and audio advances, you can still enjoy all your existing media content.

Built-in Ethernet Connection
BD profile 1.1 interactivity lets you download the latest firmware upgrades and more with just a click of a button. Making firmware upgrades simple and easy, you can continually upgrade the BD-P1500 with the latest features.

Dolby Digital Plus and Dolby True HD
Immerse yourself in amazing sound. The BD-P1500 supports the new Dolby Digital Plus Audio format. It also supports uncompressed PCM Audio and Legacy dts 5.1 Dolby Digital. Dolby® Dolby TrueHD delivers powerful sound that is bit-for-bit identical to the studio master, unlocking the true high-definition entertainment experience.

1080p Resolution
Enjoy lifelike, vivid visuals and crystal-clear details with full high definition 1080p resolution.

Easily Connect Your Digital Devices
Tired of tangled wires? HDMI keeps it simple by using a single cable wire to deliver the sharpest, richest images possible. Conveniently and easily transfer high-definition video and audio from your DVD player to your HDTV and other digital devices using a single cable. HDMI version 1.3 transfers deeper color and higher resolution, and handles new, compressed audio formats.

Control it All with One Remote
You're in full command with the BD-P1500. Anynet+ delivers streamlined, one-touch control over all your Anynet+ compatible devices such as the TV, AV receiver, and home theater. You can operate all of them with a single remote control. A true “plug and play” product, it comes with a Consumer Electronics Control feature that lets you operate SAMSUNG HDMI products with one remote control.

Technical Specifications

Compatibility	Playback Media	BD-ROM / DVD-ROM / DVD-R / DVD-RW / AVCHD / audio CD
	Playback Formats	VC-1 / MPEG2 / H.264
A/V Quality	DVD Upconversion	Yes
	Dolby Dital Decoder	Yes
	DTS Decoder	Yes
	Dolby Digital Plus Decoder	Yes
	DTS HD Decoder	No
	Dolby True HD Decoder	Yes
Functional Feature	Local Storage	Yes
	Picture in Picture	Yes
	BD Profile	profile 1.1
Connectivity	USB 2.0	Yes (for SW upgrade and memory expansion)
	HDMI CEC	Yes
	Composite Video Outputs	Yes
	Component Video Outputs	Yes
	S-Video Outputs	No
	HDMI Outputs(Version)	Yes (1.3)
	Optical Digital Audio Outputs	Yes
	Coaxial Digital Audio Outputs	No
	Analog Audio Outputs	2-Channel
	Network	Yes (for SW upgrade only)
Product Weights & Dimensions	Dimension	16.9 inches x 3.3 inches x 10.8 inches
	Weight	8.6 lbs.
Shipment Weights & Dimensions	Dimension	20.6 inches x 7.1 inches x 15.0 inches
	Weight	12.6 lbs.

Answers to Basic Questions About Blu-ray

What is Blu-ray?
Blu-ray is a new optical disc format with over five and a half times the storage capacity of a standard DVD (25 GB versus 4.5 GB). A dual-layer Blu-ray disc can hold up to 50 GB of information. With that increased storage, movie studios can finally provide movies on disc in high definition, offering 6x the resolution or image detail of DVD and up to 8 channels of lossless (better than CD quality) digital sound. The new format can also provide interactive features that go well above anything ever offered before.

Is Blu-ray different than HDTV?
HDTV, or high definition television, is a new broadcasting format that offers widescreen, high resolution images offering 6x the resolution or image detail of DVD, with up to 5.1 channels of digital audio. Until now, the signals were only available through over the air transmissions (via an antenna), or through digital cable and satellite signals. You can not get HD signals from a standard video tape or DVD.  An HDTV is a high resolution video display that is capable of receiving and displaying these HDTV broadcasts or images.   Blu-ray is a complement to your HDTV. It's a disc media format that has enough storage to include an entire movie, plus soundtracks and bonus materials, recorded in the high definition format. You can play Blu-ray discs back on your HDTV and see the same, if not better image and sound quality as you do from HDTV broadcasts.

What kind of TV do I need to enjoy Blu-ray?
You can play back Blu-ray movies on any TV with composite video or better inputs (not RF), but to get a worthwhile benefit from the format over DVD you'll want to have a high-definition television, or HDTV, with a vertical resolution higher than 480p, and preferably higher than 720p. Most Blu-ray titles can deliver an image with a vertical resolution of 1080i or 1080p. The more horizontal resolution the TV can reproduce, up to 1920 lines or pixels, the better.

How are Blu-ray discs different than regular DVDs?
Blu-ray discs are the same size as DVD or CD, but use a blue* laser to store and read data as opposed to the red laser used in DVDs and CDs. The blue laser's shorter wavelength, combined with a smaller aperture lens and a thinner cover layer on the disc makes it possible to create a smaller beam spot size capable of storing and reading much more, smaller information on the disc.  A single-layer Blu-ray disc can hold 25 GB worth of data, compared to 4.5 on a standard DVD. A dual layer BD disc holds up to 50 GB. This translates into the ability to store a full 1080p HD image. This has a resolution consisting of 1920 by 1080 progressively scanned pixels, compared to standard DVD's 720 by 480 pixels.  In addition, Blu-ray has much wider bandwidth than DVD, delivering signals at speeds up to 48 Mbps, six times faster than DVD's 8 Mbps, and nearly 2.5 times the data of an HDTV broadcast's 19.2 Mbps.  *technically, it's violet, but who's keeping track?

Will Blu-ray discs play in my current DVD player?
No. You will need a Blu-ray player to be able to read the smaller, denser information found on a Blu-ray disc.

Will I be able to play standar DVDs on my Samsung Blu-ray player?
Yes. Blu-ray players are backwards compatible with your standard DVDs.  They can also play CDs.

Is Blu-ray the same as HD DVD?
No. HD DVD was a competing format with less storage capacity than Blu-ray. With Toshiba, its primary champion announcing on February 19, 2008 that they would end production of HD DVD products, the few companies that were supporting the format announced that they would instead create products for the Blu-ray format.

What does up-conversion mean?
Consumers have over 50 years worth of material in standard definition formats. Up-conversion is the process of taking that existing, standard definition material and converting it (lines and pixels are copied to some degree) to the higher resolution needed to display those signals on an HDTV. When done well, the process can often improve picture quality, though it can't increase actual resolution. The quality of the up-converter, included in everything from up-converting standard DVD players to Blu-ray players and HDTVs, can often determine the quality of the picture.

What kind of cables, connections do I need to have to make Blu-ray work?
You will need either a 3-wire analog component (typically labeled Y, Pr and Pb) or an HDMI digital video connection between the BD player and the TV. The HDMI connection is preferable. Not only will it provide better image quality, but it will pass along higher resolution audio and control information, as well. You may get limited up-conversion options with standard DVDs when using the component connection.

What is firmware and do I need it?
Firmware is like computer software, or the instruction set in the player that tells the hardware what to do under various conditions. Insert a disc, and the firmware tells the player to read the disc. Press the Play button and the firmware tells the player to play the movie. Generally speaking, the firmware is invisible to the end user. But Blu-ray keeps evolving, and new features keep being created. With each new feature that a movie studio comes up with, hardware manufacturers have to release new instruction sets, or firmware, to deal with it. Samsung's ability to easily update the firmware in their BD players makes them one of the best in the business.

 Who supports Blu-ray?
At this point, nearly everyone supports Blu-ray. All the major movie studios have announced that they would support Blu-ray with both new and catalog titles. Thousands of movies and music videos are already available. Most major electronics manufacturers have been supporting Blu-ray since the format's beginning.

Can I rent movies on Blu-ray?
Yes. Blockbuster, Hollywood Video and Netflix, among other places, offer Blu-ray titles for rent. 

Are my regular DVDs obsolete?
Not by the definition Merriam Webster would use. You can still play your regular DVDs on your Blu-ray disc player, so they're still useful, but you'll want to replace them with Blu-ray versions as they become available in the new format so that you can enjoy the improved image and sound quality. 

Is the only benefit to Blu-ray the video quality? Why should I upgrade to Blu-ray?
You will probably upgrade because of the video quality, but you may also appreciate the improved sound quality available on some players as well as the advanced interactive features.  Blu-ray offers the latest generation audio codecs that can play back up to 8 channels of surround sound with improved audio quality over that of standard 5.1 digital soundtracks. This includes Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, DTS High Resolution and DTS Master Audio.  Blu-ray also offers advanced bonus features that can include interactive game features or picture-in-picture commentary tracks, not to mention additional features that could be downloaded after the disc has been produced. 

Do I need to buy a new home theater system?
You don't need a new audio system, but you should at least have a surround system (five speakers and ideally a subwoofer) with Dolby Digital or DTS audio decoding to hear the theater-like audio experience that is available on Blu-ray. Some BD players offer more advanced audio codecs that provide even better quality sound through up to 8 channels of surround. 

What do all these audio formats mean?
You can hear better-than theater-like audio at home. As George Lucas has said, sound is 50% of the movie experience. With the right audio equipment, you can hear up to 7.1 channels of sound that is no different than what the recording engineers heard in the mixing room. 

What's the benefit of 24p?
Movies are recorded on film at 24 frames per second (fps). Video is recorded and played back at 60 frames per second. Movies must be converted to 60 frames before being played back on your TV.  Blu-ray discs record movie content in the original 24 frame format, and convert the signal within the player to output at 60 fps for standard HDTVs. Some current HDTVs, like Samsung's Auto Motion Plus 120Hz models, and undoubtedly more future ones, can accept and play back the 24 frame signal without the intermediary conversion to 60 fps, which can offer a smoother, more natural-looking image. 

What does Profile 1.0, 1.1, 2.0 mean?
Blu-ray's specifications for video are broken into three profiles, each with its own set of hardware and software requirements. Profile 1.0 gave hardware manufacturers a grace period to create players that were capable of Blu-ray video playback, but didn't need to meet the final standard profile requirements. This grace period ended October 31, 2007. These players, while not able to take advantage of all of Blu-ray's promised extra content, will provide full 1080p video playback.

Profile 1.1, also known as BonusView, makes certain requirements mandatory: picture-in-picture, secondary audio mixing, a minimum of 256MB of memory (built-in or removable), and the incorporation of a virtual file system. Players created and sold after October 31, 2007 are required to meet the Profile 1.1 specification, and therefore will take advantage of 1.1-enabled bonus materials on certain BD discs.

BD-Live (Profile 2.0) makes mandatory all parts of Profile 1.1, but increases the memory requirement to 1GB and adds the hardware requirement of a network connection. This specification enables the even-more interactive web-based bonus material found on discs that provide such content.

Features and specifications are subject to change without prior notification.

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Will the iPad mini 2 top the iPad 4 in pixel density?

It's time for everyone to act surprised as a new rumor claims that Apple's follow-up to the iPad mini will feature Retina display.

Surprising as the rumor may be, overseas investment firm Brightwire claims that manufacturer AU Optronics is working on 7.9-inch displays for the iPad mini 2.

The display is said to have a resolution of 2048 x 1536 pixels, with a ppi of 324, boosting its resolution well above the current iteration's 1024 x 798 screen.

Packing the screen with pixels also means a higher pixel density than even the current iPad 4, which comes in at 264ppi. That screen's resolution is, however, exactly the same as the rumored resolution for the new iPad mini.

iRumors

Shortly after the iPad mini was out in the wild rumors began popping up that Apple's next small-size tablet would feature Retina tech.

The exact same 324ppi display has been on the radar since November, and AU Optronics supplied screens for the first iPad mini, so the rumor comes as little surprise.

A Retina display upgrade for the next iPad mini seems like a no-brainer for Apple, especially with the iPad mini sandwiched between the Retina-equipped iPhone 5 and iPad 4.

Screen production is said to be in the piloting stage, and if Apple wants to avoid the same yield issues that plagued the original mini's production, we could be looking at a late 2013 release.

All that's left is a price, which hopefully will be brought down from the iPad mini's steep $329/£269/AU$369. Oh, and an official confirmation from Apple would be nice, though that may be little more than a formality at this point.

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Sony Xperia Z release date and price: where can you get it?

Buy Sony Xperia Z

The new Sony Xperia Z has turned a few heads with a top-end spec list…so how can you go about getting it?

The handset caused something of a stir at CES 2013, mostly because it saw Sony finally releasing a phone that wasn't a couple of generations behind the competition.

This means a massive 5-inch full HD display, which pushes closer to the edge of the screen so you're not left with a comically huge phone dwarfing your hand.

It's also water and dust resistant, comes with top-end Bravia tech and offers an impressive camera too – so which networks will be stocking it?

Clove is offering the handset with a SIM free price of £528 - putting it squarely alongside the low-capacity iPhone 5 and other top-end handsets, and it's joined by Expansys at that price point too.

Sony itself has jumped into the selling game with the Xperia Z, and you can pre-order it from its own website for £529 - although it's only stuck a 'coming soon' tag on the release date.

O2

The effervescent provider tweeted at stupid o'clock in the morning to confirm it would be bringing the handset to market, and it's confirmed the February release date from its "coming soon" page.

You can pre-order it now with prices for the phone starting from free at a high contract price, or paying £480 for the handset and getting it for £13.50 a month - although you do get those £300 Sony headphones if you sign up 'while stocks last'.

Oh, it is coming in "Exclusive Purple". That may mean it's only landing on O2 in that colour, or it's the actual name of the hue - you know, like Ranging Green or Megalithic Blue.

Three

The numerical network also confirmed it would be stocking the Sony Xperia Z and it's now given us a LOAD more information. You can pre-order the new phone from today although the cheapest contract price will start at £34 a month with a £69 upfront cost, and will be available from 28 February.

You can also buy it on PAYG though, and it's at a relatively cheap £449.99 if you want to go down this route. Three is also throwing in a pair of Sony headphones worth £300 for the first 1000 customers to nab one, but chances are that deal will be sucked up faster than a Dyson hopped up on Red Bull.

Vodafone

Big Red has done a blog post outlining some of the specs you'll have read about loads already, but it's also managed to confirm via Twitter that it will be stocking the phone from 28 February. You annoyingly can't pre-order yet, but we're sure it will pop up pretty soon.

EE / Orange / T-Mobile

Nothing from this tri-headed behemoth as yet, but we've asked the question and it has promised to furnish us with details as they become available.

Phones 4U

The independent retailer is already open for pre-registration on this top-end phone, and has now updated its listing to reveal prices and a special gift* for those that sign up.

The Xperia Z will be landing on 28 February (if you're not seeing the pattern here, shame on you) and will start at £36 a month on a range of networks.

* It's those blasted Sony headphones again. The electronics brand must have a surplus it can't shift.

Carphone Warehouse

We're going to get a little quote-y on yo' asses now: "Carphone Warehouse, has confirmed that it will be stocking the brand new Sony Xperia Z from launch in February." Saves us from writing that.

The retailer also confirmed that the Z will be available in later February to purchase, so it could beat Phones 4U to the punch of actually getting it into the hands of consumers.

We're going to be updating this piece with prices and any more definitive release dates as and when we get them (plus the inevitable offers of more headphones for EVERYONE) – stay with us during this difficult time.

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Week in Tech: It's the circle of life, it's the wheel of gadgets

If you've seen The Lion King - and if you have kids, or if you ever were a kid, you've probably seen it hundreds of times - you'll know about the Circle of Life. "It moves us all through despair and hope, through faith and love," says Rafiki the baboon, who also notes that "the past can hurt... you can either run from it or learn from it."

That's true in tech, too!

This week, we saw the circle of life in full effect: one noble platform died, and a new one was born - and we found ourselves wondering whether the company formerly known as RIM would run from the past or learn from it.

New shoots at BlackBerry

RIM used to be the king of Pride Rock, the go-to phone firm for road warriors, executives and email addicts, but as Mufasa says, "a king's time as ruler rises and falls like the sun" - and in recent years RIM's sun appeared to be setting. The BlackBerry platform has lost market share to Apple and Android, and its brand new BB10 operating system, which is designed to see it through the next decade, has been plagued by delays.

Now, though, BlackBerry's back! There's a new OS, BlackBerry 10. There's a new, flagship, touchscreen phone, the BlackBerry Z10. There's a new QWERTY phone, the BlackBerry Q10. There's a new company name - it's BlackBerry now, not Research in Motion - and even the poor old BlackBerry PlayBook is getting an upgrade.

It's exciting stuff, so exciting that RIM-sorry-BlackBerry's European MD made himself look like Rafiki's backside during a BBC interview when he was so excited he couldn't answer any questions.

Back in 10?

BlackBerry might not be good at answering questions, but we are - and the big one is, of course, "are the new devices and the new OS any good?" Reviewing the BlackBerry Z10, John McCann is cautiously impressed. While the BlackBerry Z10 is "an unassuming slab of black glass and plastic which mimics the general aesthetic design of many a smartphone" and feels a bit plasticky, it is "a decent all round phone" with a good camera, a decent messaging hub, lightning fast web browsing and other goodies. However, "the jury is still out on BlackBerry 10." It's nice to see a new OS, but not everyone wants to learn yet another system. In a word, it's "decent" - pretty good, but not jaw-droppingly brilliant.

That's a worry, says Gareth Beavis, because BlackBerry faces "an almost impossible task to win over smartphone users". There's "a massively understocked app store compared to rivals", it isn't cheap, and there aren't any must-have "killer apps". Here's the d-word again: It's a "decent enough product", but it doesn't offer "a game-changing experience".

"Five years ago that would have been enough," Gary Marshall says, "but today many are wondering whether a good-enough phone is good enough to save the BlackBerry platform. What happened? Ten things spring to mind." Marshall's list of major strategic mistakes, idiocy and sheer bad luck reads like a Carry On film - Carry On Losing Market Share, perhaps - featuring Bono, twin CEOs, riots and massive network outages. However, as Pumbaa the warthog points out, "you got to put your behind in your past" - and by binning the RIM name and its old OS, the newly anointed BlackBerry has done just that.

Symbian says goodbye

As the new BlackBerry said hello, Symbian said goodbye: Nokia's venerable mobile OS is no more. Marshall shed a tear. "We've gone through an awful lot of Symbian phones over the years," he recalls, but "Nokia neglected what [CEO] Stephen Elop would later describe as a 'burning platform', failing to take the iPhone threat seriously enough quickly enough, inventing but not shipping devices awfully like today's iPhones and iPads, and getting bogged down in bickering and bureaucracy... in Symbian, Nokia had an OS - but what it didn't have was time to build an ecosystem to rival Apple and Google." Here's hoping BlackBerry doesn't follow in its footsteps.

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Zuck: We really aren't making a Facebook phone, what will it take to make you believe us?

"We're not going to build a phone" - so said Mark Zuckerberg on Facebook's earnings call yesterday, trying once again to put those Facebook phone rumours to bed.

He's said it before - that making a Facebook phone would be "the wrong strategy" - but it failed to stop the gears of the tech rumour mill turning.

This time, the young CEO was more emphatic: "We're not going to build a phone. It's not the right strategy for us to build one integrated system... Let's say we sell 10 million units - that would be 1 per cent of users. Who cares for us?"

10 million units, no big deal

He's starting to sound a bit Ballmer as he continues, "We have a billion people using our products and we need to make Facebook really good across all the devices that they use.

"Rather than just building an app that's a version of the functionality that you have today, I think making it so that we can just go deeper and deeper is going to be a big focus for us."

While it's not obvious what that means, we wouldn't be surprised to see the social network at least working more closely with the big phone manufacturers and software-makers to bed the network more deeply into phones' operating systems. It's already baked pretty well in to Android and iOS, but it sounds like Facebook wants to go even further.

So Facebook won't make a phone of its own, but that doesn't mean it's not "a mobile company" - Zuck's words, because for the first time ever more people are using Facebook from mobile devices than on the web.

Okay Zuck. No Facebook phone. We believe you. (Just.)

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Record number of smartphones shipped in 2012

As if it wasn't obvious enough already that the smartphone had arrived, new numbers released on Friday confirmed what we already suspected--everyone is switching to smartphones.

According to the latest analytics from Strategy Analytics, not only were there a whole lot of smartphones shipped during 2012, but last year was also a record year for the increasingly popular devices.

Some 700 million smartphones were shipped out in 2012, which was a 43-percent increase over 2011's numbers.

To make matters even more impressive, those numbers were possible with the European and North American growth slowing to just 43-percent from 2011's 64-percent.

No surprise

Quarter after quarter, Samsung consistently showed it was the manufacturer to beat, which is why it shouldn't come as a surprise to learn Samsung shipped a record 213 million smartphones last year.

Just so we're all clear on how impressive Samsung's new record was, the previous record-holder (Nokia) manged just less than half of that with 100 million units shipped in 2010.

The Galaxy S3 alone sold as many units this year as Nokia had shipped all of 2010, and that's just one of Samsung's offerings.

That insanely large number allowed Sammy to capture 30-percent of the overall market, and gave the manufacturer a nice lead on both second-place Apple (19-percent) and third-place Nokia (5-percent).

Best of the rest

Despite Samsung's ridiculous year, both Apple and Nokia more than did their fair share of shipments during 2012.

Thanks in large part to the success of the iPhone 5, Apple was able to increase its shipments by 46-percent, which equated to 135.8 million units.

Even though Nokia may have fallen of the pace a bit during 2012, its 35 million smartphones shipped was still good enough to capture a place on the pedestal.

Unfortunately, what Samsung gained in marketshare, Nokia lost, as the company's 15.8-percent stake in 2011 dropped to just 5-percent.

Even with the Lumia 920 and its other Windows Phone 8 devices, Nokia just could muster enough traction to hang with the leader of the pack.

Every other manufacturer combined tallied just 316.3 million units shipped (a 45.2-percent share), which the top three easily surpassed on their own.

2013 should prove to be an interesting year for smartphones, as many of those 2010 contracts will have expired, meaning consumers will be looking to devices like the Galaxy S4, iPhone 5S, and Sony's Xperia Z to replace aging phones.

Whether or not such an incredible amount of smartphones will be shipped again only remains to be seen.

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10 best iOS writing apps for would-be authors everywhere

Many of us would like to write a book. But unless you're a genius (or you have low standards) you need to plan your story before you dive into its imaginary world.

That's why more than half of the apps we've mentioned here deal with the literary underpinnings of your book: defining your characters, planning pertinent plot points, describing locations, even picking out the motivating factors that drive your hero forward, like fixations, frustrations and phobias.

We'll also show you how you can make a significant saving on two leading reference works that ought to be found on every writer's virtual bookshelf.

Writing is something we all have to do at some point in our lives, and even if your scripting efforts centre more on notes for the milkman than chapters and verse for the masses, you'll find an app here to meet your needs.

1. A Novel Idea

Break down the writing process into manageable chunks and it isn't so daunting

Price: Free
Works with: iPhone, iPod touch, iPad

The most successful stories - from War and Peace to A Christmas Carol to those tales about that Harry Potter fella - use fairly similar plot and character arcs. Key developments happen in a recognised order, and they build to a resolution through a series of mini climaxes.

Plotting your book along similar lines with a tool like A Novel Idea should make for a stronger story and more fulfilling conclusion.

Here, you work through the screens in whichever order you choose, entering character names and backstory, location descriptions, scene developments, and even random ideas, and they'll all be corralled inside an overall novel container. You can store several novels inside the app at once, if you're fortunate enough to have more than idea on the go.

What's really clever, though, and makes it more than an untidy tub of ideas, is the way the various parts all link together. So, describe half a dozen locations in the Locations tab and they'll populate the menus in the Scene tab screens, ready for dropping straight in. This saves time and will keep everything uniform throughout your novel plan.

We'll admit that it's slightly clumsy about saving each step before you head back to the overview screen, but otherwise it's an effective way to break down a daunting task into manageable, less threatening chunks. A £1.99 In-App- Purchase enables Dropbox syncing, scene writing and export to iTunes.

2. Contour

A professional film-plotting tool that has much to offer to novelists, too

Price: £5.49 / $7.99
Works with: iPhone, iPod touch, iPad

Contour has a dedicated following on the Mac where it's long been used to plot movie scripts, but that doesn't mean it isn't ripe for outlining novels, too.

It starts with four simple questions: who is your main character, what do they want to accomplish, who (or what) is trying to hamper their progress, and what would happen if they didn't succeed? Simple. Those four questions define your story from beginning to end.

What follows consists of a series of obstacles and triumphs that see your hero progress to the point where the strands of your book are resolved in the final chapter. Contour breaks down your story into three acts and shows you how to structure each one, guides you through the process of developing your character through the orphan, wanderer, warrior and martyr phases that characterise every successful story arc, and makes it easy to identify weak points in your plot.

If you still don't quite understand what you ought to be doing, it includes the underlying plots to 17 blockbusters, including Up, The Incredibles and Slumdog Millionaire, so you can learn from the pros. It's expensive compared to A Novel Idea, but well worth it if you're serious about writing.

3. Chambers Dictionary & Thesaurus

With these reference tools on your home screen, you'll never be lost for words

Price: £4.99 / $6.99 (Dictionary) £2.99 / $4.99 (Thesaurus)
Works with: iPhone, iPod touch, iPad

Don't underestimate the value of decent reference books when writing your magnus opus. You won't get much better than Chambers; the Dictionary app includes all 260,000 definitions of the mammoth 12th Edition, which runs to almost 2,000 pages in print.

The bonus here, of course, is that you don't need to leaf through each one to find the word you're after; you simply type it in, and up it pops. Likewise, the Thesaurus should help you avoid tired prose if used with care (and you avoid the temptation to slip in anything too flowery, florid, fussy, verbose, rococo… ahem).

This digital edition actually outguns the printed equivalent, for while the dead tree volume contains 420,000 synonyms - 20,000 more than you'll find here - they are organised under 18,000 key words, while the app edition gives you alternatives to 40,000.

The two apps are linked for cross-referencing from one to the other, which is why we've included them under a single heading here, and there are also fringe benefits for crossword lovers, too; it can assist you in figuring out words if you type in the letters you've got.

4. Novel in 30

An editor geared towards writing a novel within time constraints

Price: £2.99 / $4.99
Works with: iPad

Novel in 30 could equally be called in Novel in 365, if you're a slow typist. Although it's geared up to achieving NaNoWriMo's target of 50,000 words in 30 days, you can extend your deadline to as long as a year, and your word count to 300,000. Whichever metrics you choose, it'll average your word count over each day so you know how much you still have to write.

As you start writing, Novel in 30 will tell you how many words you need to write each day, how many you've knocked out so far and whether or not you're going to hit your target. It's extremely motivating.

At the top of the screen there's a series of sheets, each of which shows how many words you wrote that day, while below it, a running word count tallies your overall input. You can only write a single novel at once and there's a built-in backup feature that uploads your novel to Dropbox. You can only change the font - a good thing; it means there's less to distract you.

5. Byword

Distraction-free writing with the added benefits of Markdown syntax

Price: £1.99 / $2.99
Works with: iPhone, iPod touch, iPad

Byword is a simple, clean text editor that, crucially, shows count words in selections - not just in the complete document, as is currently the case for rival iA Writer.

Its virtues go beyond that, though. It's interface is relaxing; it's entirely black and grey on white, and you can choose from four typefaces. The regular keyboard is supplemented by a single-deck toolbar that you can swipe to switch between word count, punctuation and embedding tools, the latter of which let you add a web link, image or list.

The second and third toolbars also include a set of four cursor keys. The clever thing about the embedding tools is that they each invoke Markdown syntax. Markdown uses plain-text characters to denote formatting. In the working document they remain unobtrusive, but once you export it to HTML or email it as rich text, it's converted to complex formatting.

6. MindNode

Plotting your novel and its intricate internal connections visually

Price: £6.99 / $9.99
Works with: iPhone, iPod touch, iPad

MindNode is a piece of software geared around making mind-maps. It's often easier to work your way through a sticky plot point using mind maps than lists and bullets. Mind maps are organised brain dumps: a way for you to get all of your thoughts, concepts and possible outcomes onto the page in a logical, trickle-out manner.

So, if one branch concerns your hero uncovering a murder, the twigs that come off it might deal with the implications, how it affects the relatives, who was the culprit and how they might eventually reveal themselves.

Supplementary branches would deal with other important concepts, such as morality and discrimination, or could handle the development of supporting characters. Literally anything and everything that relates to your story can be plotted out.

The major benefit of doing this on screen rather than paper is that you can drag your various branches around the canvas, and switch from an overview to a more detailed aspect.

7. Lists for Writers

A miscellany of useful facts, names, places and tid-bits for any writer

Price: £1.49 / $1.99
Works with: iPhone, iPod touch, iPad

Lists for Writers is more than a random bundle of lists. Organised into logical sections such as words, settings, plot points, personalities and characters, it's a quick-fix inspiration unblocker.

The shortest way to come up with a character name used to be a quick riffle through the phone book, but here you have extensive lists of male and female first and last names, occupations, and obsessions. You can pick out a phobia or character trait from the alphabetical lists, with each one defined so you know whether it fits your hero or villain's personality.

There's a rhyming dictionary for poets, and lists of US and world cities, landforms and weather traits. Lists for Writers is a simple way to quickly resolve a sticky plot point in the planning stages, and could be used to sketch out transient characters during the writing process too, allowing you to keep the words flowing without a potentially distracting internet venture.

8. Writing App

Plan and write all in one app for anything from a short story to novel

Price: £1.99 / $2.99
Works with: iPad

On the one hand you have a plain text writing environment that lets you get on with laying down your story without getting tied up in formatting options and settings, on the other, you have an integrated planning tool like A Novel Idea and Contour.

Writing App doesn't give you as much guidance as Contour, but it does provide plenty of structured space for you to flesh out your characters and locations as you go along. The key to creating believable characters is knowing them as well as you do your family, so it encourages you to fill in as much as you can about their occupation, strengths, weaknesses, personality and even hobbies.

To get a clearer picture of each one you can specify their age, eye colour, hair style and height, and then start to think about the world they live in by moving on to adding locations, and the things they use in the items tab.

9. Index Card

A modern take on an ages-old method for planning complex storylines

Price: £2.99 / $4.99
Works with: iPad

Sketch out scenes with Index Card and quickly re-order your story by rearranging them on your desk or pinboard; it's a time-tested method that's recreated here to great effect.

In much the same way you'd shuffle your cards in real life, here you can drag them to new locations on a cork board and their neighbours will shift about to accommodate them, which makes it easy to plan alternative story paths. Each card can be a character profile, location description or any other aspect you choose, but using them to write a synopsis of each scene means you can then drag them into chapter- or arc-based stacks.

Card projects can be exported as plain or rich text files, copied to Dropbox or printed, making Index Card a great app for planning your novel on a commute, or in downtime that you can't otherwise use for writing. There's also an iPhone version.

10. Kobo

A less fussy, more fun alternative to the ubiquitous iBooks

Price: Free
Works with: iPhone, iPod touch, iPad

After writing itself, the second best way to learn how to write is to read. There are plenty of reading apps, including iBooks, but Kobo does the most to make reading fun. We prefer its brighter, less fussy interface, and we love the Reading Life stats that present your progress through each book in the style of a newspaper infographic.

You even get awards for reading more, and it's not long before you're hooked, competing with yourself to get to the next milestone.

As with Kindle and the iBookstore there are plenty of free classics to download, free samples and most books are significantly cheaper than the paper-based versions. The only downside is that you can't buy books directly through the Kobo application.

It's easily worked around, though; buy from Kobo's store through your browser and refresh the app's shelves by pulling them down, and your new purchases appear.

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Samsung Galaxy Note 8 pops up in purported photo leak

The Samsung site SamMobile published an image on Tuesday of what appears to be the Galaxy Note 8, the 8-inch Note successor that will bridge the gap between the Galaxy Note 2 and the Galaxy Note 10.1.

The photo shows a large-looking white tablet with several specifications listed under the Spanish-language word "especificaciones."

These specs include an 8-inch 1280 x 800 display, 16GB of storage with a microSD slot, a 1.6GHz quad core processor, 2GB of RAM, 5- and 1.3-megapixel rear and front cameras, and, of course, the Note series' signature S-Pen.

However, the source of the Galaxy Note 8 photo is unclear, beyond that it came directly from Twitter.

Galaxy Note 8 launch confirmed

It was only on Monday that Samsung Mobile Communications president J.K. Shin confirmed that the Samsung Galaxy 8 would make its official debut at Mobile World Congress (MWC) in February.

That report corroborated rumors from the week before that the big/small Galaxy Note tablet would appear at the Barcelona trade show.

MWC 2013 could see the unveiling of several high profile devices, not least of which might be Samsung's Galaxy S4, according to another Tuesday report.

Too big, too small, or just right?

The Galaxy Note 8 is named for its 8-inch size, and not because it's the eighth Galaxy Note, which it isn't.

The mid-sized tablet will compete with Apple's iPad mini, Amazon's Kindle Fire HD, and Google's Nexus 7.

Tuesday's SamMobile report also claimed that the Galaxy Note 8 (previously known under the codename "Kona") would sport Andriod 4.2: Jelly Bean and a 4600mAh battery.

There's no way to know for sure whether the device in the image that was leaked on Tuesday really is the Galaxy Note 8, but either way we'll know exactly what it looks like by the end of next month.

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Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini gets an NFC reboot

The Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini has been relaunched with NFC capabilities, but it's hardly a game changer.

When the Galaxy S3 Mini was launched back in October we were a little under whelmed with the handset's specification against its slightly inflated price tag.

One of the main features missing on the Galaxy S3 Mini from the original Galaxy S3 was NFC technology, but Samsung has now righted that wrong with a new model.

That's all, folks

So what else does this updated version offer? Well, nothing. That's your lot – the addition of NFC to a phone which still rocks the same 4-inch WVGA Super AMOLED display, 1GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, 5MP camera and Android Jelly Bean OS.

We've spoken to Samsung, which told us this new model with its fancy contactless technology will replace the version currently on sale by the end of the month.

Price-wise the new Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini should be the same price, so you'll need to fork out around £270 if you want it SIM-free, while contracts start at £15.50 per month over two years with a free handset.

We also asked if current Galaxy S3 Mini owners would be able to swap their NFC-less handsets for the new model at a reduced rate, but Samsung is yet to get back to us on this.

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Samsung Galaxy S4 returning to squarer design ethos in leak

Another day, another Samsung Galaxy S4 rumour and this time it's another press image claiming to be the hotly anticipated smartphone.

The image in question has been chilling out on Picasa for over a month with the folks over a BGR stumbling across it recently, and it shows a handset which is less rounded than the current Samsung Galaxy S3.

When the Galaxy S3 was launched some eyebrows were raised over its design as the rather squared look of the Samsung Galaxy S2 had been radically overhauled for a smooth, more rounded affair.

When two become one

According to this latest image leak the Galaxy S4 will take design cues from both handsets to form an aesthetical compromise between the two.

Another thing to note on this image is the date shown of the phone's display – Monday April 22 - which could be the launch event or Galaxy S4 release date, with several other reports pointing towards action in April.

As with all the image leaks running up to a handset's launch there's no guarantee that this is a genuine snap, it's more likely a Photoshop forgery but we won't know for sure until the Samsung Galaxy S4 is unveiled.

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Samsung officially breaks cover on the rugged Galaxy Xcover 2

Today Samsung uncovered its latest rugged smartphone with the Galaxy Xcover 2.

A follow-up to last year's Galaxy Xcover, the Galaxy Xcover 2 is built for the outdoors with a dust and sand proof case. The battery cover also has a lock mechanism to prevent it from popping off when dropped.

The case is water resistant up to one meter, which goes along with the 5-megapixel camera that can now operate underwater.

The Galaxy Xcover 2 also has a GPS enhanced with a global navigation satellite system which Samsung claims offers 20 percent more accurate location tracking.

Samsung's tough new smartphone

While the Galaxy Xcover 2 is well-equipped for the elements on the outside, the inside is a fairly standard mid-range handset with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.

The 4-inch WVGA display is covered in Gorilla Glass for added protection, packing inside a 1GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, and 4GB of memory that can be expanded with a microSD card by up to 32GB.

The rear 5-megapixel camera also has an LED flash, which can double as a flashlight, while the front of the smartphone also has a VGA camera.

Most of the Galaxy Xcover 2's specs were revealed earlier this month through Samsung's leaked 2013 mobile roadmap, which also let us know that Samsung plans to launch the rugged smartphone in February.

Today's announcement didn't elaborate on those launch plans, but with MWC 2013 around the corner this likely won't be the last heard from the Samsung Galaxy Xcover 2.

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Samsung sells 63 million smartphones in three months

Samsung has reported record financial figures, with a huge 76 per cent jump in profits for the last three months of 2012. This is thanks mostly to its range of Galaxy smartphones flying off the shelves.

This follows the record revenue Apple reported recently. So it's boom time for mobiles.

Samsung's net income rose to a record 7.04tn won ($6.6bn, or £4.2bn), which is up from 4.01tn won over the same period last year. Its mobile profits more than doubled over the same period, too.

63 million smartphones sold

Samsung didn't say how many smartphones it sold in the last three months of 2012, but analysts estimate it was around 63 million.

The Korean mobile maker also has big plans for its much-rumoured Galaxy S4 smartphone. It's reportedly ordered 10 million components for the handset, hinting it reckons it can sell that many every month. Which would be quite some feat.

The S3 has sold more than 40 million units worldwide, and Samsung is widely expected to repeat this success with the S4.

Samsung's Galaxy Note 8.0 is expected to make its debut at Mobile World Congress at the end of next month, along with its Galaxy Tab 3 range. The S4 isn't expected until April or May.

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Sky Broadband admits too many new users are slowing down network

Sky has apologised to its broadband customers after admitting that a barrage of new customers have overloaded its network and slowed down connectivity.

The Register reports that Sky Broadband Unlimited users in certain parts of the UK are experiencing massively reduced download speeds at peak times.

One user in North Wales has seen their connection drop from 14Mbps to 2Mbps in the evenings, despite Sky promising never to slow down the service, even at peak times.

Another user in Bristol saw their download speeds drop even further to 0.8Mbps, despite living just 500 yards away from the phone exchange.

Capacity issues

When contacted by The Register, Sky revealed that an increase in network traffic, as well as a large increase in new users is causing the service to run over capacity in some areas.

The company said: "Following a combination of an underlining increase in network traffic as well as an especially high rate of new customer additions, we are aware of capacity issues in a limited number of exchanges."

"We are aware of the issue and are adding new capacity to those exchanges as soon as we can. We apologise to all customers who have been impacted by this issue."

Hopefully those affected by the issue will see their service return to normal sooner-rather-than-later. Otherwise, how are they expected to take advantage of the company's new Sky Go Extra service.

 

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Sony Togari could join the oversized smartphone brigade

An image claiming to show the huge screen of a handset currently known as the Sony Togari has leaked online.

Picked up by Chinese site CNMO the display apparently measures 6.44-inches, dwarfing the already big Samsung Galaxy Note 2 and also toppling the ridiculously sized 6.1-inch Huawei Ascend Mate.

Super sized smartphones seem to be the in-thing at the moment with a host of 5-inch handsets making an appearance at CES 2013 and the success of Samsung's Note series hasn't gone unnoticed by its rivals.

Togari, or not Togari?

Little else is known about the rumoured Togari handset, but the screen is expected to feature a full HD, 1080p resolution.

Sony unsurprisingly isn't forthcoming when it comes to talking about future products, so there's certainly no guarantee the Togari or even a 6-inch plus handset is in the works over at the Japanese firm.

There's a chance that the Sony Togari could be unveiled at MWC 2013 at the end of February and TechRadar will be present at the firm's press conference to bring you the latest on any new devices.

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Twitter's yo-yo valuation reportedly stands at $9 billion

Twitter is now worth an impressive $9 billion (UK£5.6 AUD$8.6), following a fresh round of investment, according to reports on Friday.

Giant US investment firm BlackRock has made an $80 million (UK£50.6, AUD$76.7) offer to early Twitter employees to buy their stock, the Financial Times claimed on Friday.

The FT said Twitter had facilitated the deal, allowing its staff to cash in, but will not raise any cash in the process.

The new valuation is up 10 per cent from Twitter's last round of fundraising in 2011, but lower than the alleged $11bn (UK£6.9, AUD$10.5) it was said to be worth following secondary stock trading late last year.

IPO set for 2014?

If the deal goes through, and all staff take up the option, BlackRock will own just under 1 per cent of Twitter. Both sides have declined to comment.

Twitter's increased valuation comes as it continues to look towards an IPO, which could happen in 2014, according to recent reports.

Although the company is "not in a rush" to go public, it appears to be unperturbed by the negative experiences of fellow web giants Zynga and Facebook.

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Sergey Brin takes Google Glass for a ride on New York subway

Google's Project Glass Augmented Reality specs have made another appearance in the wild, this time on the bonce of company co-founder Sergey Brin.

The company executive, 39, took the glasses for a test run on the New York City subway last week and was snapped wearing them by fellow passenger Noah Zerkin.

Update: Zerkin has added some more detail about the encounter to a post on his personal blog, including the fact that Brin revealed that Project Glass Explorer dev units will be shipping to cash-rich devs within months.

"I told Mr. Brin that I know a few people who are eagerly looking forward to the Glass Foundry events. He told me that the Explorer Edition would be shipping out to devs in a couple of months," he wrote, before kicking himself again for not giving him his card.

Original story continues:

Ironically Zerkin is an augmented reality fan with his own projects in the field, but insists that the meeting was coincidental and that the pair did not know each other.

Speaking after their conversation, Zerkin seemed to be sensing a missed opportunity. He said: "Come to think of it, perhaps I should've mentioned my projects to Mr Brin. Or given him my card."

Rare public outing

The last time Brin, who oversees Google's top secret X Labs innovations, was seen sporting the specs was at a charity event in April last year. A month later, CEO Larry Page wore them at an event in London.

The Android-based glasses will feature a display that sits in front of the users eye and a camera to pick up the world around, and will likely be controlled by voice commands and/or a virtual keyboard.

It is thought that the ultra-futuristic tech is still in the development stages won't be available to the general public until 2014.

It seems likely that we'll learn more about the availability and launch features during Google's annual I/O conference which is coming up in May.

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The doomsayers knock Apple as Nokia shows signs of recovery

What begins with A and is totally doomed? That's right, it's Apple, which only managed to sell 47.8 million iPhones in the last three months.

That's the most iPhones Apple has ever sold, and is a clear sign that Apple is doomed - as is the news that Apple sold more iPads than ever before, and that iOS devices are flying out of the door at a rate of ten per second. Dooooooooomed!

Actually, it's not all rosy for Apple. Its hyper-growth appears to be slowing and sales of Macs are down, partly because of delayed products - the new iMac didn't ship until the very end of the quarter - and possibly because tablets and smartphones are eating traditional computing's lunch. Apple remains ridiculously, enormously rich, of course, but the stock market wasn't impressed.

While Apple's sales growth may be slowing, Windows Phone is going from strength to strength. It's miles behind iOS and Android, of course, but its market share almost tripled over the last three months.

That means it's closing in on the BlackBerry, which doesn't look like it'll be Britain's third favourite mobile OS for much longer. It's particularly good news for Nokia, whose UK share is up 50 per cent year on year.

Steve Jobs wasn't that nice

Does Apple owe part of its success to Steve Jobs putting the frighteners on people? It certainly looks that way: in a case alleging a conspiracy between tech firms to eliminate competition and drive down potential employee wages, some of Steve Jobs' emails have been published.

One, sent to Palm, is rather Godfatheresque: "I'm sure you realize the asymmetry in the financial resources of our respective companies when you say: 'we will both just end up paying a lot of lawyers a lot of money.'," Jobs wrote. These days, of course, Palm sleeps with the fishes.

Apple isn't the only big tech firm in hot water: Sony is too, and the UK's Information Commissioner has just slapped it with a £250,000 ($400,000) fine for breaching customers' privacy.

The fine is for the infamous PlayStation Network hack of 2011, which compromised millions of users' details, although Sony says it'll appeal against the ruling.

Your car, connected

If you think security's important now, wait until our cars are connected: imagine if someone could hack into your Honda, tweak your Toyota or fanny about with your Ford. That's where we're headed, although the car companies didn't quite put it that way when they got together to talk about the future of the connected car.

As Jamie Carter explains, "the digital highway is here, but nobody is quite sure which direction it will take." At the moment, connected-car tech largely involves GPS, safety features and the odd bit of in-car entertainment, so "there's a big prize for whoever can figure out the connected car's killer app before someone else does." And they should probably avoid the term "killer app", too.

Toyota says that "the internet of the automobile" won't be like the one you have at home or work: it'll be about apps that "enhance the driving experience". Ford says there are three different users - the car, the driver and the passengers - with "distinctly different" needs, and it thinks the answer is to have everyone bring their own devices.

So, phones, then. And Nissan reckons it's mainly about navigation, but that over time you'll be able to get email and have your car invade your privacy. The consensus? The connected car is coming, but it isn't coming very quickly.

Pushing buttons

What's even sexier than a man who knows about cars? A man who knows about tech, according to a not-spurious-oh-no survey by a memory company. Its survey found that women want "technosexuals".

Our columnist Gary Marshall explains: "Technosexuals are men who know where ladies' buttons are, and how to press them" - apparently women like nothing more than a man who can "improve their hardware". Marshall tries not to make the joke, but he can't help it: make sure your skills are up to date and your hardware current, he counsels. "Let's face it. No woman wants to be presented with a horrible old floppy."

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Slipped Samsung roadmap lays out mobile plans for first half of 2013

Samsung has seemingly let slip its 2013 mobile roadmap, outlining the company's handset lineup for the first half of the year.

It seems that TechnoBuffalo managed a sneak peek at Samsung's upcoming portfolio including the Galaxy Note 8.0, Galaxy Pocket Plus, Galaxy Young, Galaxy Grand, and Galaxy X Cover 2.

The Galaxy Note 8.0 revelation is somewhat undercut by the spec sheet that leaked earlier this month, followed by Samsung confirming the 8-inch tablet's appearance for MWC 2013.

The roadmap confirms those leaked specs, with a 1280 x 800 TFT LCD display, Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, a quad-core 1.6GHz processor, a 5-megapixel rear camera, 1.3-megapixel front camera, 4600mAh battery, and the S Pen stylus.

We also now have a launch timeline for the Galaxy Note 8.0, which should arrive in March with either 16GB or 32GB of storage in both 3G and Wi-Fi flavors.

Big in February

The leaked roadmap reveals that February will see the launch of two of Samsung's larger handsets with the Galaxy X Cover 2 and the Galaxy Grand.

The Galaxy X Cover 2 is a 4-inch follow-up to last year's rugged Galaxy X Cover, coupling a dual 1GHz processor and Android 4.1 with a dustproof and waterproof case. It also features a 5-megapixel rear camera to bring it up with other Galaxy smartphones, along with 4GB of storage, a microSD card slot, and a 1700mAh battery.

The Galaxy Grand takes on a larger task, offering a 5-inch WVGA display with dual SIM card support. It will also pack a 1.2GHz dual-core processor with Android 4.1, an 8-megapixel rear camera, a 2-megapixel front camera, 8GB of storage, and a 2100mAh battery.

Both the Galaxy Grand and Galaxy X Cover 2 are slated for February, so we may even see them arrive before MWC 2013 in Barcelona.

Return of compact smartphones

Samsung also has a duo of smaller form factor smartphones up its sleeve with the Galaxy Pocket Plus and Galaxy Young.

The Galaxy Pocket Plus offers a 2.8-inch display and runs Android 4.1 with an 800MHz processor, 2-megapixel camera, and 4GB of storage. A single SIM model was supposed to launch this month, while a dual SIM card handset is slated for February.

Jumping ahead to April then sees a new version of Samsung's Galaxy Young handset, a 3-inch Android 4.1 smartphone for a budget with 4GB of storage and a 3-megapixel camera.

To MWC 2013 and beyond

Missing from Samsung's first half of 2013 roadmap is the anticipated Galaxy S4.

The latest rumors point to Samsung skipping MWC 2013 with its flagship smartphone, instead favoring an unveiling at its own press conference in March for an April launch.

While it means more months of waiting for new Galaxy S4 details, the roadmap outlines four new smartphones and the Galaxy Note 8.0 tablet for an expected MWC lineup. And without the S4 around, Samsung's other mobile hardware may now actually get their fair share of the spotlight.

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UK's 4G auction starts today, gavels at the ready

Ofcom has thrown open the doors to the UK's 4G spectrum auction to the seven hungry bidders eager to get a slice of the 800MHz and 2.6GHz action.

It's the largest mobile spectrum auction ever to take place in the UK with the space on offer equivalent to three quarters of the current mobile spectrum.

In the running for the spectrum are Everything Everywhere Limited, HKT (UK) Company Limited, Hutchison 3G UK Limited (Three), MLL Telecom Ltd, Niche Spectrum Ventures Limited (read: BT), Telefonica UK Limited (O2) and Vodafone Limited.

No updates on progress

Sadly we won't be able to keep you updated on the progress of the auction and how much money the bidders are ploughing into the 4G cause with Ofcom keeping everything behind closed doors until it concludes.

More frustratingly there doesn't seem to be a specific end date for the auction, with Ofcom saying it will "conclude in a number of weeks."

The auction will allow more networks to offer 4G mobile data, with the likes of O2, Vodafone and 3 wanting to challenge EE which was allowed to launch its 4G service early.

It's not just 4G mobile connectivity on the cards however with the likes of BT looking to acquire some of the spectrum to improve its broadband coverage, especially in rural areas.

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