It’s important to choose the right amount of data for your mobile plan. If you get too little, you might end up buying add-ons every month. If you get too much, then you’re paying for something you don’t use. So, let us help you get it right - and we’ll also throw in a few data saving tips for good measure. The amount of monthly data you need depends on what you use your phone for. If it’s purely for work, the chances are you’ll mostly be sending emails and browsing the web. For that type of usage, a 500MB allowance should be enough. But if you use your phone like most of us do - for fun, leisure and timewasting on your daily commute (streaming music and videos, playing online games… you know the kind of thing), then 2GB data is probably the minimum amount you need a month. And even then, you’ll need to be careful with video streaming. Watch a Netflix film in glorious HD and your 2GB will be gone in less than an hour. If you go for a bigger amount of data, like 5GB, then it

The waiting is finally over, and Apple’s latest smartphones have been unveiled. The new iPhones will be known as iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max and iPhone XR, and they all share features and tech that are truly off the scale. But first of all, let us explain the key differences between each one. The 6.5-inch iPhone XS Max – the biggest display ever on an iPhone – is truly awe-inspiring. It has the most storage space in any iPhone, up to a massive 512GB, which is enough space to hold 200,000 photographs. It packs dual 12MP cameras for great-quality photos and Face ID for secure unlocking and payments. The iPhone XS comes with the same amazing features, but with a 5.8-inch screen – the same as on the iPhone X. The iPhone XR is truly ground-breaking. Not only does it have all the great specs as you’d get with the iPhone XS and XS Max, but it does it all with the most advanced LCD in a smartphone. The screen comes in at 6.1-inches – a bigger display than iPhone 8 Plus but in a smaller desi

Do you ever think where we would be without smart people? Without them you wouldn’t have amazing life-changing inventions such as the lightbulb, the car, or even the smartphone. Being smart is cool. So, join us as we celebrate Smart is Cool Day, with a look at some of the best brain training apps around. You’ll definitely feel smarter after playing around with these. Luminosity Android (Free) / iOS (Free) Luminosity is one of the most popular brain training apps around, and for good reason. It’s crammed to the brim with games to exercise a range of mental skills including memory, attention span and problem-solving. It’s the perfect app to reinvigorate your grey matter and give your brain a boost. With a training programme on board, it’s like having a personal trainer for your brain. The developers reckon that a single session can turbocharge your mental skills. So, what are you waiting for? NeuroNation Android (Free) / iOS (Free) Take your cognitive skills up a n

Why do one thing when you can do two? This article takes a closer at multitasking on your phone. How to do it – and why you should. How to launch split-screen It’s easy – just a case of dragging and dropping. Open your chosen app, then select the app switcher icon (a square on the right of the nav bar) and select the first app. Drag the app to the top of the screen to drop it into place, then simply tap the second app and it’ll magically appear in the bottom half of the screen. Why multitask? Research while you write Got research to do for a piece of work, or writing an important email but need more details? Constantly switching between your web browser and your emails or word doc can be a right pain. Well, with split screen, half of the screen can be your writing and the other half can be your webpage etc. Research while you write, and save time. You can copy and paste from one place to another, or even drag and drop. Tweet and watch Want to catch up on the Bake Off latest g

So, you’re an Android user. Good choice. Not only is it an operating system that you can customise but it’s also very user-friendly. However, this doesn’t mean annoying niggles can’t crop up from time to time. If your Android’s playing up or is on its last legs, here are a few quick fixes to common problems that could save the day. 1. Apps playing up If your apps aren’t working the way they should, there are a few things you can check. Firstly, see if there’s an update available for the problematic app. If there is, update it. But if that doesn’t do the trick, force the app to close by pressing the square button on your home screen to bring up your multi-tasking menu. Then, locate the app and swipe it away. This way when you re-open the app any corrupted data will hopefully have been wiped away. Still hasn’t worked? It’s time to uninstall the app completely, and reinstall it. If that doesn’t work, try getting in touch with its developer for advice. You can usually find an email

We love endless running games. They’re easy to pick up and play, and can be horribly addictive. Because every time you die during a run, you think you’ll be able to go further with just one more go, right? So here you go. If you don’t mind wasting endless hours long into the night, we’ve come up with five amazing endless runners for you to take a swipe at. They're all free from Google Play or the App Store. Minion Rush Even if you’re not a fan of those lovable minions, the spectacular Minion Rush is worth giving a go. We can’t think of an endless running game that’s more fun - or diverse. Yes, you’ll be doing the usual jumping, ducking and dodging, but you’ll also be riding on rockets, sliding through water and attacking bad guys (we’re looking at you, El Macho). And we haven’t even mentioned the mini-games yet. One minute, you could be collecting bananas on the moon, and the next, riding a fluffy unicorn high up into the sky. If you can resist shelling out your hard earned ca

The last few months have seen some awesome new phones release. And they all have one thing in common – a hulking big screen. Just recently you had the Samsung Galaxy A7 – and then you’ve got other phones such as the Huawei P20 Pro that are great for previewing your photos. This got us thinking about how much we love big-screen phones, and why you should love them too. Super-sized multitasking Big screens let you see so much more – which means they’re superb for multitasking. Multitasking lets you run more than one app at the same time, and in split-screen. So, you could be watching a film while having a group chat with your friends, and you won’t miss a second of the movie. With the screen split in two parts, you can do so much more at once. Better battery life Bigger screens mean better battery life. And it makes perfect sense – that’s because manufacturers can fit a larger battery into a bigger phone. So you can enjoy movies on the train, and browse your social media feed

It’s a decade since we saw the very first Android phone - it all started with the HTC Dream ten years ago. We’ve taken a look back at Android through the years, and how it’s got to where it is now. Join us in an all-out nostalgia-fest. Where it all started – the HTC Dream It seems like Android phones have been around forever, but it is in fact just ten years. But while these days we’re dazzled by phones like the Samsung Galaxy S9 or Sony Xperia XZ3, it wasn’t always this way. Take the first Android phone, the HTC Dream. It wasn’t exactly a looker – it was actually rather boring-looking, with a flat physical keyboard. But it was certainly a trailblazer – and helped pave the way for all the great things Android gives us today. It sounds like a small thing, but this phone let you copy and paste – the iPhone 3G didn’t let you do that back then. So, what made us love Android back then? Make your phone your own One of the great things we could do was make our home screens our own. We

Doctor Who has returned for an eleventh series - with the thirteenth Doctor along for the ride. The first episode has had rave reviews, with lots of praise for Jodie Whittaker’s performance as the TARDIS–travelling Time Lord from far-off Gallifrey. To celebrate, we’ve rounded up the best Doctor Who downloads for your smartphone, tablet, sonic screwdriver or any other mobile device. The Woman Who Fell To Earth (video) What better place to start than with the new episode itself? If you missed ‘The Woman Who Fell To Earth” when it first aired on the Beeb, then all is not lost – you can download it onto your phone for keeps, at a small price. If you’ve got an Android phone, you can buy it from Google Play for £1.99. If you’ve got an iPhone, you can buy it from The Apple Store for £2.49. Doctor Who: Legacy (game) Doctor Who: Legacy is one of the coolest gem-matching puzzle games around. But don’t let that ‘gem-matching’ part fool you. It’s much more than a mere Candy Crush clone

It’s been a busy year for Nokia so far, and our favourite Finnish phone maker isn’t letting up just yet. At an exclusive London event on Thursday 4 October, the Nokia 7.1 was unveiled in all its glory. So without further ado, let’s lift the lid on the new Nokia’s best bits. Strong looks, strong glass The 7.1 has a metal (series 600 Series Aluminium, since you ask) and glass build - and with attractive diamond-cut edges, it really does look like a premium piece of kit. Super-tough Corning Gorilla Glass 3 surrounds it, making the 7.1 impressively damage and scratch resistant. An edge-to-edge, top notch display The new Nokia will be rocking a 5.84-inch Full HD display, compatible with HDR content. Juho Sarvikas, Chief Product Officer at HMD Global, made a point of highlighting this feature at the launch event: “The Nokia 7.1 even offers real-time SDR to HDR conversion, meaning you can experience HDR quality entertainment, event when your content is not.” The screen goes all the

Mobile games are great for helping you escape from life’s little stresses, but sometimes you want something with an extra dose of adrenalin to get your blood pumping on the train home. We’re talking about the latest mobile racing games. So, rev up your engine and prepare to floor it with these five awesome racers. CSR Racing 2 If you thought mobile games offered a tame experience to console games, think again. CSR Racing 2 sets a new standard for brilliant-looking mobile titles. Just like a gleaming red Ferrari, it looks great from every angle and is an amazing drag racing game to boot with realistic graphics and the chance to team up with friends and form a racing crew. You also get to build your dream garage of real world cars, upgrade and fine-tune them to suit your style. It’s a nitrous-fuelled blast to play. iOS / Android (Free) Real Racing 3 Real Racing 3 is another of the better racing games out there. It’s beautiful to look at, and gives you a proper in-depth dri

Every day, more than 70 million people use Snapchat lenses and face filters on their smartphones, and now, Snapchat is letting anyone become a lens creator with its Snapchat Lens Studio tool. So, whether you fancy some bunny ears or want to generally beautify yourself, you can now make a lens which can be enjoyed by millions of people. Lens Studio - taking Snapchat to the next level On social media these days, there’s no escaping the face filter selfies taken and uploaded online by Snapchat fans the world over. Ever come across a picture of a friend with dog ears or angel wings? Chances are it’s been created using a Snapchat filter. You’ll see pictures like this wherever you go – from Facebook to Twitter, Insta to dating apps. The new Lens Studio app can be downloaded by anyone – and could be particularly exciting for artists, developers and animators. It should mean we get to see new and interesting AR effects, and not just face filters. The sky’s the limit, and the only t

Ever wished you could take better photos? Well, thanks to AI-powered photography, you now can. It’s the next big thing in mobile, and it could revolutionise the way we take photos for good. But what is AI photography, and how does it work? Let us explain. First of all, what is AI? AI stands for artificial intelligence. It has its roots in machine learning from the 1950s. Boffins in the U.S. taught a computer to play draughts, by programming it to anticipate and predict the moves of a human opponent. With practice, the computer learnt how to become a better player. By mimicking natural human behaviour, the computer’s playing eventually became indistinguishable from a real person. AI has come on leaps and bounds since those primitive draught-playing days. It’s now inside our phones and other smart devices in the form of Google Assistant, Siri, or Amazon’s Alexa. These AI-powered virtual assistants are clever enough to understand us, answer our questions and respond to our voice co

Are you having a nightmare with your mobile connection? Sometimes phones can develop strange random faults – like only being able to get online when connected to Wi-Fi. Frustrating, we know. Don’t worry though, we’ve put together a list of tips to help you get those connection problems sorted. Make sure it isn’t just a slow connection At times a connection can be so slow that it seems like you have no connection at all. Take a look at the signal bars at the top of your screen, and check there are no symbols that show a mobile internet connection. Prime examples would be: E, 3G, 4G, H, H+ or 46/LTE. Any of these symbols show that your phone is in fact connected to the internet – which means your issue is internet speed. Get in touch with iD to check if there are any connectivity issues in your area. Turn it off and on again Yes, that’s right, the old cliché. But believe it or not, the low-tech fixes are often the most effective. And even if it doesn’t resolve the problem, it’s

Looking for a new smartphone? Sony’s Xperia range could be right up your street. They’re amongst the best Android handsets around, and they’re all packed with features. We’re talking amazing screens, fantastic photography and great design. But which model should you go for? Here’s a quick guide to help you out. Sony Xperia XA2 A feature-filled phone that won’t break the bank, the Sony Xperia XA2 is a mid-range successor to the Xperia XA1. This newer model is a slimmer device with more power. Key features It’s got a 5.2-inch Full HD display, and a superb 23MP camera that also shoots 4K footage for video that’s so clear, you’ll want to share it on your living room TV. Who is it for? The Xperia XA2 is a great phone for anyone who’s looking for something slim, powerful and affordable. Get the Sony Xperia XA2 now at ID mobile Sony Xperia XZ1 Want something that’s more of a step up? Then go for the Sony Xperia XZ1. Key features Its metal body gives the fe

Have you heard about the new Honor Play phone? It’s a new smartphone built for gaming, and has something called GPU Turbo, which boosts gaming performance. It makes your favourite games look better, and feel better to play. But what is GPU Turbo, and how does it work? Here’s everything we know so far. As great as the latest mobile games are, they still have some way to go to match console games. However, they’re getting close. And that’s where GPU Turbo, which is backed by Huawei and its sub-brand Honor – comes in. What is this GPU Turbo? It’s a new feature found on the new Honor Play phone. Huawei and Honor claim it will dramatically improve your gaming experience on mobile. What does GPU Turbo do? It speeds up graphics and processing performance to boost games that use up a lot of power, such as PUBG Mobile, or CSR Racing 2. According to Honor, you’ll get a graphics boost of up to 60%. That’s a massive difference when it comes to making your favourite games look b

Torn between the Samsung Galaxy S9 and the Samsung Galaxy S9+? We’re not surprised, both are great Android phones, with amazing photography skills. We love taking photos with either phone, here’s a few reasons why you will, too. Take photos like a pro at any time of day Taking photos at night isn’t easy. Only the best cameras can take a great shot in low light. What you need is a good aperture, and the Galaxy S9 has that. It can automatically switch between two aperture sizes (f/2.4 and f/1.5), for spectacular photos during the day, or late evening in dim light. For dark scenes, the camera lens switches to an f/1.5 aperture to let in more light. You’ll find this perfect for shooting on a night out, or in dimly lit venues like restaurants. During the day, the lens goes back to f./2.4 for clear daytime photos that are sharp and full of colour. Slicker slow-motion shooting Slow-motion video recording isn’t an entirely new feature, but it’s something the Galaxy S9 phones do incredibl

You may not realise it, but your phone can help you in more ways than you know. It can get you out of a tight spot, and be a real lifesaver when you least expect. So, with that in mind, here’s a look at five ways your phone can get you out of trouble. Find an emergency route to work You’ve forgotten to set your alarm - nightmare, and now you’re late for that all-important job interview. Stressing will get you nowhere. Instead, whip out your phone, and use one of the many map apps available for Android or iOS phones. Apps such as Citymapper and Google Maps are great at finding you an alternative route, and will tell you how long it takes to get to where you want to go. They will also notify you of any possible delays. Now that’s a real lifesaver. Find a place that does last-minute flower deliveries There’s nothing that gets you in a cold sweat quite like forgetting an important anniversary. It’s a good thing there are plenty of last-minute flower delivery apps you can do

The Samsung Galaxy A8 has arrived, and there are plenty of reasons to get excited. Why? Because it’s an affordable smartphone, yet one that’s packed with features you’d expect to find on a premium phone. We’ve recently got our hands on an A8, and we’re mightily impressed by what it can do. Here’s what we think of it so far. A screen worthy of your viewing time The A8 has taken its share of inspiration from the more premium flagship Galaxy S8. In fact, the A8 isn’t too far off the same look and feel. The glass front, and rear metal frame is as much of a joy to look at as the S8. The upper and lower bezels around the phone have also been slimmed down, so most of the front is just screen, and distracting black borders around the edge are a thing of the past. As specs go, you’re looking at a 5.6-inch Super AMOLED display with Full HD+ resolution. Naturally the viewing experience is great. The colours are bright and punchy, and images are full of close-up detail. The A8

Choosing a phone case is tougher than you think. You could get one that offers protection from anything you can throw at it, or one that’s super-stylish, but perhaps not as strong. Still stuck for ideas? Then let us inspire you with these helpful tips. Choose your colour The colour of your new phone case might be the first thing you consider. Go for something bright if you want to transform your phone into a fashion accessory, or something transparent if you want to show off your phone - and keep it protected - without covering it up. Go for something that’s tough Along with looks, protection should be at the top of your thinking. Phone cases come with varying degrees of toughness. How tough you decide to go depends on your lifestyle, and how clumsy you are, because let’s face it, we’ve all dropped our phone at least once. The most rugged cases completely wrap up your phone, to protect it from sudden drops and scratches, and are even certified for guaranteed protec

When searching for a great camera phone, one of the things we tend to look at first is how many megapixels it has. A phone with a bigger megapixel count may sound tempting, but there’s more to a great camera phone than that magic number. Here are a few more things worth considering. All about the lens A good lens is an important – if not the most important – factor when it comes to phone photography. It controls how much light comes into the camera. Many manufacturers have their own trusty external lens supplier. Nokia for example loves using Carl Zeiss lenses in its higher-end cameras, as the company is renowned for high quality lenses capable of capturing crisp, sharp image. The Huawei P20 Pro relies on a Leica lens, in its excellent triple-lens camera phone. Look out for aperture Aperture is another thing to consider. Aperture is measured in f stops, followed by a number. Ideally you should look for anything below f/1.9 - these will be the best at capturing brillian

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Google's newest version of Android has an official name at last. The P is for ‘Pie’. It’s rolling out right now, and it’s packed with some extremely handy new features. Let’s check them out. A clever operating system Google Pie will get to know your habits, and use this info in a really smart way. For example, if there are one or two apps you use the most, the battery will make sure there’s some battery left for them – directing power to those apps at the time you need them. On top of the adaptive battery, there’s also a thing called adaptive brightness, which works out for itself how you use your brightness settings. Get more from your apps App Actions is a feature that predicts the next thing you’ll do, and serves you your content faster to save you time. For example, you may start the day at 6.30am with a news update and a check on the trains – your phone will suggest the right app at the right time, and they’ll be right there waiting for you in your app drawer. There’s also

It’s not long now until Apple unveils its next flagship phone, and the excitement has ramped up another notch with invites being sent out for a 12 September event at Apple's Cupertino campus. The invite doesn't even mention iPhone, or much of anything else, but that hasn't stopped the rumours from flying around. Here's our roundup of what the tech press is expecting from the next iPhone. Or iPhones, rather... A trio of iPhones are expected “Apple Inc. is preparing to release a trio of new smartphones later this year: the largest iPhone ever, an upgraded handset the same size as the current iPhone X and a less expensive model with some of the flagship phone’s key features.” Bloomberg “Here's what's likely to launch this September: 5.8in OLED: This could be called the iPhone 11 or XI 6.5in OLED: The larger iPhone, this could be called the 11 Plus or X Plus 6.1in LCD: A cheaper version, but still with the notch design.” Techadvisor Design and display “With a screen close to

Smartphone cameras are improving all the time, and these day, we’re all snap happy. But as well as having a great camera, if you really want great photographs, the right app can make all the difference. It’s not just filters – there’s so much that photography apps can do. Here’s our top five. Enlight Feeling creative? Enlight is packed with features. Aside from the standard crop and effect options, you can also alter your shots’ exposure, remove defects, superimpose images and turn your photos into beautiful works of art. It’s the number one photo and video app in 128 countries, and we’re not surprised. Download it here from the App Store Snapseed We reckon Snapseed is a great alternative to Instagram – and as everyone knows all about Instagram, we’re keeping this blog an Insta-free zone. Snapseed has loads of filters, and goes all out to make your photos altogether more arty. It has nearly 30 filters, and tools aplenty to help you edit your photos – things like white