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The mobile phone industry is highly competitive, and this means that companies are offering hundreds of different mobile phone deals to attract users.

If you are looking for a low cost talk time and text package, and already have a mobile phone handset then Sim only deals are an excellent choice. An additional bonus is that you don’t get stuck in a long contract, and have the option to cancel your deal at any time (with a standard 30 days notice). Here are the top two sim only deals currently on offer:

* Vodafone – Vodafone offer several great sim only deals, but the best is the top level ‘Talk 30 Day’ package at just £20 per month, which gives you 600 free minutes and unlimited text, and you can keep your existing number. There is also free delivery when you buy online and a 14 day returns policy in case you change your mind.
* T- Mobile – again there are several sim only deals available from this network, and currently the lowest priced ‘Solo’ package is the best, offering 300 free minutes and unlimited text for just £15 a month. You can keep your existing number and also upgrade to Internet access for £1 per day.

Pay as you go deals (PAYG) are ideal for people who do not want to be tied to monthly line rental, and currently there are some great offers on from top lenders including Orange , Vodafone and T Mobile. Orange PAYG packages are easy to understand and based on 4 ‘animal’ plans, Dolphin, Canary, Racoon and Camel. Two plans offers rewards when you top up each month (the more you top up the more rewards you get), and handsets start from as little as £19.99 per month:

• Dolphin – free texts to any network when you top up with £10+ per month.
• Canary – free evening and weekend calls when you top up with £10+ per month.

The other plans offer good standard rate calls:

* Racoon – calls are a base rate 15p per minute to any network, anytime, texts 10p anytime.
* Camel – call over 50 countries from just 5p per minute, UK calls 20p minute to any network, anytime and texts 10p anytime.

The mobile phone industry has boomed over the last five years and changing technology combined with clever marketing strategies have ensured that this gadget has gone from being a luxury to a major necessity. With many companies keen to maintain their record sales in this competitive market the benefits for the consumer can be seen in the hundreds of mobile phone deals and promotions that are currently on offer, from the free handset packages featuring the latest in mobile technology to free laptops with mobile broadband sign up.

However the sheer number of deals can be overwhelming when you are trying to decide which mobile phone suits both your lifestyle and budget, so it can be a good idea to visit one of the mobile phone comparison websites like Dialtosave.co.uk, which offer an overview of all the current promotions and deals available.

DialToSave provides a comprehensive overview of all of the latest deals and promotions on mobile phone packages and broadband services (including home, business and mobile broadband), as well as offering services for making low rate international calls from either landlines or mobiles from the UK. DialToSave also offers a helpful review section, where you can see professional and personal reviews on all of the latest handsets from both users and website editors.

Mobile Phone Deals

All the latest mobile phone deals are featured on DialToSave, including free line rental, unlimited text, free calls, automatic cash back and also a variety of free gifts such as iPod Nanos, Nintendo DS Lites and Sat Navs. There is also a mobile phone deal of the day featured on the main mobile phone deals page, and you can browse through the other deals quickly and easily, either by the mobile phone handsets offered or by the network provider. There are some excellent deals featured on DialToSave, such as a free Samsung Tocco F480 touchscreen handset, with 300 free anytime minutes, 200 free texts and 6 months free line rental (on a 12 month contract) on the T Mobile ‘Combi 30’ package, which works out at just £15 per month, or £180 in total. DialToSave only provides information on the best deal for each combination of handset, tariff and cash back/gift available, so that you don’t get overwhelmed with the amount of choice, or miss out on the real money saving options.

Cheap International Calls

DialToSave also provides two fantastic, low rate cheap international calls services from as little as 1p per minute, anywhere in Asia, America, Africa and Europe. The first service is an international access number service intended to be used with landlines, and DialToSave provides you with relevant access number, which is input before you dial the international destination number when you make your call. The second service is intended for mobile users and is a top up credit service that also provides you with the relevant access numbers to connect you at a low rate with your international destination.

Handset Reviews

There are a huge variety of handsets and mobile phone technology now on offer and it can be difficult working out which one will suit your needs. DialToSave provide a number of honest and detailed handset reviews, full of lots of useful, practical information such as how resilient and robust the handset is in a real life situation, and what the sound quality of the media players is really like.

The mobile phone industry is one of the fastest evolving technologies on the market, and 2008 saw the widespread and rapid growth in what is now being considered the future of this industry, mobile broadband.

Mobile broadband is a relatively new technology, which allows you to access the Internet without the need to plug into a fixed line. This means you can browse the web and check your emails using devices such as laptops and Internet compatible mobile phones from almost anywhere, even when you are abroad on holiday or business trips. Mobile phone companies offer this 3G mobile broadband as a part of many of the latest handsets packages, and also provide mobile ‘dongles’ (portable modem sticks that plug into USB ports) that can be used to access the Internet via laptops and PCs (as long as you are in an area of network coverage). Experts also predict that the recent release of laptops with integrated 3G wireless Vodafone data cards will grow rapidly in popularity from 2009 onwards, and with the competitive mobile broadband deals and fast download capacities this is predicted to soon equal Wi Fi connectivity sales.

Advantages

One of the main advantages of mobile broadband is that the prices are currently very competitive and you can get connectivity packages from as little as £10 per month, and some deals offer a free laptop if you sign up to a two year contract. Mobile internet is very convenient for those who travel a lot, or who use the Internet frequently and want the ability to access whenever or wherever they are. As the dongle plugs directly into your laptop it does not need its own power supply, and this combined with its small, compact size means it is completely portable and can simply be slipped into a handy pocket in your laptop bag until you need it.

Disadvantages

Currently only a few of the main providers offer mobile broadband services such as T Mobile, Vodafone and Orange. This means that if you are in an area with poor network coverage from these services you will not be able to take advantage of the various mobile broadband offers. Also some customers have found that the quality of mobile broadband can vary in relation to the network coverage, so at busy peak periods download times can be very slow. Also to maintain the integrity of the network most providers currently place quite restrictive limits on download allowance (from 1GB to 10GB) so this type of connection may not be suitable for heavy Internet users.

Conclusion
Despite the restrictions on mobile broadband there is no denying that some of the current deals are very cost effective, and the technology is only going to improve as time goes on. Mobile phone operators are in a key position to offer very aggressive mobile broadband features as they already run fixed line systems, so they are able to offer mixed media and access packages at extremely competitive prices.

Asus are unbeatable at the moment for providing the world with cheap, easy to use mini laptops and the release of the ultra portable Eee PC 701 shows that they are still on top form, with the cheapest package costing just £169.

Eee PC background

The three ‘e’s in the title of this mini laptop range are supposed represent Asus’s vision of the future of portable computing, “easy to learn, easy to work, easy to play”. The Eee PC is about the same size as a hardback book and weighs just 920g, which is truly amazing when you consider that a standard laptop can weigh as much as 3kg.

Design

One fault with some of the other smaller laptops on the market is that they can look a bit plasticky and toy-like, but Asus have countered this with a sophisticated pearl white finish on the 701, which gives it a more professional and grown up look. Its petite, slim outer case is simple and functional, and the 701 looks equally at home in the classroom, boardroom or dining room table.

Functionality

Mini laptops do make some sacrifices for their smaller size, and this is most notable in the 701 in the keyboard, which really is tiny with less than a 1mm gap between each key (unlike the 5mm gap on standard laptops). This makes it hard to type out larger documents, and also may result in a few mistakes as you accidentally hit the wrong keys, especially for those with larger digits. However it is perfect for quickly typing out notes and drafting letters, and so is ideal for carrying about to meetings or lectures.

There are three USB ports, a D-Sub video output port and audio jacks, which is very generous considering the small size of the 701, and a memory card reader so that you can use supporting memory cards of up to 32GB. There is no internal modem in this model, but there is an Ethernet port so that you can connect to the Internet if you want to, and they have even managed to squeeze in a webcam just above the screen and speakers on either side of the display.

Features

At under £200 you should not be expecting a lot of features from the Asus Eee PC 701, but it does have an impressive Intel Mobile Celeron-M ULV 900MHz CPU, and a choice of 256MB or 512MB of RAM. For those who want to install Windows or use the Internet the 512MB of Ram is a must, but if you just intend to use the Eee PC as a word processor then the lower RAM option is cheaper and perfectly adequate.

Purchasing the Asus Eee PC 701

Prices vary across the different vendors, and depending on which version you buy you can expect to pay between £169 - £220 for the Eee PC 701. Look out for websites that have promotions and deals on such as Overstock.com, where you can sign up to the onsite newsletter and receive an Overstock.com Coupon Code that can get you money off at the checkout on a huge variety of stocked items.

Most vendors will sell accessorises such as the wall charger and screen protector separately and it can be a good idea to shop around for these, as you can get some great deals on the Internet. For example Newegg.com sells the Asus Eee PC AC Wall charger for just £11.56, and the Eee PC reusable screen protector for just £3.85. You can also get money off at the till if you use one of the Newegg.com Promo Code vouchers, which you can get (along with other offers) by signing up to the regular newsletter before you make any purchases.