Hey, I'm Nirave - based out of London, I'm the European Editor for FoneArena. I love travelling and can usually be found reading, playing with the latest tech or writing about travel and tech. 
Apple looks set to open its first retail store in Belgium following years of speculation if postings on its jobs page are to be believed. Belgian blog Apple Nieuws Vlaanderen reports that yesterday Apple posted six job listings for positions in an upcoming Retail location in Brussels. The move follows similar listings for stores in Turkey (which opened earlier this year) and the United Arab Emirates. Continue reading “Apple set to open its first store in Belgium”
The Oppo Find 7 may have been introduced in March this year but the handset has finally made it’s way to the UK and is available to pre-order from Amazon UK. The handset starts at £319 for the 16GB version whilst those wanting more storage will have to fork out £379 for the 32GB version. Amazon are offering both of these storage variants in Black and White with a release date set for December 17th. Continue reading “Oppo Find 7 up for pre-order in the UK”
O2 have stolen a march on its rivals by launching the new Google Nexus 6 in the UK a few days ahead of Carphone Warehouse. The handset is available on O2’s Refresh tariff and is available to both new and existing customers. The retailer is offering a special deal on the handset, offering unlimited minutes and texts with 2GB data each month for £38 per month. For those wanting it on Pay As You Go, it will cost £479.99 which is less than Google’s own retail price. Continue reading “Nexus 6 lands in the UK at O2”
BT is expected to decide whether to make a bid for mobile networks O2 or EE by Christmas according to the Chief Executive of one half of EE’s parent company. Orange SA CEO Stephane Richard said that he expected the British company to decide on which network to bid for by Christmas. Continue reading “BT to decide on EE and O2 bids by Christmas”
O2’s Chief Executive Officer, Ronan Dunne, has claimed that reports of a takeover of the operator by rival Three UK is unlikely. Earlier this week, reports surfaced that Three could join both BT and Vodafone in eyeing up either EE or O2 for an acquisition but O2’s CEO says that a Three takeover is the least likely of all scenarios. Continue reading “O2 CEO: Three takeover is unlikely”
The smartphone industry is on what seems to be a never ending trend where handsets are getting larger and larger and continually blurring the boundaries that separate smartphones from tablets. Samsung were arguably the first to offer a consumer-focused large screen device in the Galaxy Note and the success of this phablet alerted rival manufacturers to the possibilities of a large screen device.
In the case of Chinese manufacturer Huawei, their latest phablet is their third generation handset and the Ascend Mate 7 definitely packs a punch. Not only does it have the highest screen to body ratio of any smartphone but it also has a specs list that can rival most devices, including the latest from Samsung in the form of the Galaxy Note 4.
The Ascend Mate 7 is definitely Huawei’s best ever phablet device but does it offer enough to persuade you to choose it over a rival device such as the Note 4 or Apple’s phablet, the iPhone 6 Plus? Continue reading “Huawei Ascend Mate 7 Review – enter the challenger”
Vodafone Ireland has begun rolling out its next-generation 4G+ LTE-Advanced network in Waterford City with further plans to roll out the service in the cities of Cork, Dublin and Limerick by the end of December. The 4G+ technology offers theoretical speeds of up to 300Mbps with actual real world speeds approaching up to 150 Mbps on the go. Continue reading “Vodafone Ireland launches 4G+ (LTE Advanced)”
As the tech industry moves to convergence with tablets arguably replacing laptops and hybrids replacing both of them, we’re seeing many new devices released that serve the purpose of acting as both your tablet and your laptop. Often all it takes is a keyboard cover like on the Surface Pro 3 but in the case of the Acer Switch 10, this is more than just a keyboard cover. Continue reading “Acer Switch 10 Tablet-Hybrid Review”
Vodafone could be set to increase the convergence of communications providers in the EU with a blockbuster takeover of Virgin Media owner Liberty Global in a deal worth a reported £80 billion. Following BT’s pursuit of O2 and EE in the UK, Vodafone have been eyeing a major ISP in response and the acquisition of/merger with Liberty Global would represent a real challenge to BT’s supposed dominance (once their deal completes). Continue reading “Vodafone could acquire Virgin Media owner Liberty Global in £80bn deal”
EE has today announced the launch of its groundbreaking new micro network which is designed to connect more than 1,500 rural communities currently without 4G services by the end of 2017. Continue reading “EE launches Micro Network for Rural Communities”
As part of our big weekend trip to Edinburgh with the folks at Acer UK, we spent a weekend using some of Acer’s new technology and one of these devices returned back to HQ with us. Dubbed the Iconia Tab 8, this device is Acer’s latest tablet and comes with a Full HD display, quad-core processor and vibrant 8 inch IPS display. Let’s take a closer look at Acer’s portable tablet. Continue reading “Acer Iconia Tab 8 Unboxing, First Impressions”
Wearable technology is a fast growing market and one of the companies eager to get involved is Acer; earlier this year they announced the Acer Liquid Leap (as a companion to their Liquid Jade smartphone) and as part of our weekend to Edinburgh with Acer, we had a chance to take a closer look at this smartwatch. After 36 hours with the Liquid Leap, how good is it and how does it compare to the likes of Android Wear and fitness bands like the Sony Smartband Talk and Samsung Gear Fit? Continue reading “Acer Liquid Leap SmartWatch First Impressions”
Hello from Edinburgh where we’ve traveled on the Caledonian Sleeper train yesterday evening with Acer UK for a weekend of live blogging, challenges and mobile technology. The train yesterday evening was an interesting experience (more on that in another post) but we’re now in Edinburgh ready for the challenges – what do Acer UK have in store for us? Continue reading “Acer Live Blog 2014 – Let the Challenges Begin”
Today is Black Friday, an US phenomenon that has made its way across the pond and inspired shoppers to spend like crazy. Every year on the day after Thanksgiving in the USA, companies go wild and discount products as they officially welcome the Christmas shopping season. In the UK, we actually have Cyber Monday (the Monday after Black Friday), which is when traditionally consumers go wild on the internet but this year a common trend is occurring – UK retailers are celebrating both Black Friday and Cyber Monday with a weekend of bargains. With that in mind, here’s 5 UK Black Friday tech deals you definitely won’t want to miss. Continue reading “Five Unmissable UK Black Friday Tech Deals”
One of the biggest trends in technology at the moment is wearable devices such as smartwatches and whilst many manufacturers have begun launching their first devices this year, Sony’s already on the third generation of the Sony Smartwatch range. Whilst this year’s smartwatch shares many similarities with its predecessors (such as durability and overall design), it features a few major differences and the biggest of these is its powered by Google’s new Android Wear operating system.
Whilst previous devices were powered by Sony’s proprietary user interface, the adoption of Android Wear has meant Sony can stop focusing on the software and instead look to innovate in hardware and design. Has this move paid off or should Sony have continued using its proprietary OS? Continue reading “Sony SmartWatch 3 Review”
