Ofcom is rethinking its plans for a next-generation 4G mobile phone network. The UK’s telecoms regulator wants to cover at least 98 per cent of the population and make space for smaller local 4G networks. It wants to promote competition between the phone networks to provide 4G to customers, to try and clear the current …

The name’s ray… Blu-ray. All 22 Bond films appear on Blu-ray for the first time this year in the Bond 50 Blu-ray collection. Shocking… positively shocking. Mix a Martini — shaken, not stirred, obvs — and invite Mish Moneypenny or Pushy Galore round to enjoy the girls, guns, gadgets and high adventure in high definition — 00720p, perhaps? All 22 …

Sony has unveiled the first phones for a decade to drop the Sony Ericsson name. Sony Ericsson becomes just Sony this year, and the Sony Xperia S and Sony Xperia Ion are the first to bear the stripped-down name. Japanese giant Sony spent £918m buying out Swedish telecoms company Ericsson, and the results are already appearing. Sony says the Xperia …

Nokia’s top-end Windows Phone, the Nokia Lumia 900, will only appear in the US, thanks to its 4G LTE technology. Following the launch of the smaller Nokia Lumia 800 in Europe, the 900 is the first Nokia Windows Phone to appear in America.  It looks a lot like the 800, itself based on the abortive Nokia N9, with a polycarbonate …

What do you call the remote control in your house? The remote, the clicker, the hoofer-doofer — or the iPhone? Sky has teamed up with telly-watching app Zeebox to turn your smart phone or tablet into a remote control for your Sky box. Remote-control features will be built into Sky apps so you can take charge of your viewing with …

Another major new smart phone is facing claims of a broken battery. Owners of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus report that the phone is failing to charge. CNET UK readers Vikram Shankar and Andrew Lee contacted us separately with concerns about the battery in their Galaxy Nexuses (Nexii?). At Google’s support forum, other Galaxy Nexus owners report the problem too. When …

BlackBerry phones are getting a fistful of new features. They’re updating to BlackBerry 7.1, which brings with it new NFC features, unlocks your FM radio and adds new goodies to BlackBerry Messenger. BlackBerry maker Research In Motion has unveiled the new BlackBerry 7.1 operating system at CES this week, alongside updates to the BlackBerry Messenger, BlackBerry Traffic and BlackBerry Travel …

Grab some popcorn: Netflix is live in the UK and Ireland. You can now stream on-demand films and TV programmes to your computer, phone or tablet — even over 3G — with a month’s free trial available now. Netflix is massive in the US, and its launch in Blighty will be a huge boost for online streaming of movies and …

Fancy firing up Android apps on your telly? You could do just that with the LG’s Google TV, the first  telly to use the system announced for the UK. Google TV puts Google in your gogglebox by using Android — Google’s mobile phone and tablet software — to run your telly. Sadly, although it’s the first to be officially confirmed …

Everybody knows a text message saying ‘I’m on my way’ means ‘Bargain hunt finishes in 5 minutes and then I’ll jump in the shower. See you in an hour, maybe?’ And new research bears this out, suggesting we’re more likely to lie in a text than when talking on the phone or face-to-face — while video chat is most likely …