3G surprise

I got rid of my 3G brick from Hutchison 3G UK in August when my contract ran out and am now back on a normal phone. One of my friends Andrew was asked by Orange to try one of their 3G handsets, a Sony Ericsson device. Whilst being no slim jim, it is svelte compared to last years 3G phones. Unfortunately much of the story around his 3G experience was similar to my own.

• Both he and his girlfriend thought that they would use the video phone, but that hasn't been the case, many of the features are useful to a salesman at Dixons but get little real world use
  
• He is told by friends that they can never get hold of him and always has voice mail waiting for him
• The battery life less than 24 hours, more like 18 if he leaves Bluetooth on by accident. In comparision I get four days real world usage from the two Nokias that I use. One of which is an old phone the other a 6600 smartphone with the Bluetooth always left on

Despite analysts being quoted in the press about the UK having a 3G Christmas; word on the street is that most of the carriers promotions won't be launched in time, so traction will pick up in January at the earliest.