We just had a Web Cube arrive from the team at Three UK to test out, review and put though its paces. Data is something we cover a lot on the site from the AYCE Challenge to other data news you might have seen recently.
So when I got an email asking would I like a cube to trial of course my answer was YES!.
So the Web Cube arrived about an hour ago, the first thing I did was record an unboxing video. Now before i get the normal comments, yes the video was recorded single handed with a camera it was not a professional setup with tripods or backlighting you see on some other sites but considering this device has only just started to appear on sale I wanted to get the video up as soon as possible to share with everyone.
Once the device has been used for a while I will be doing a bigger proper review with more photos, videos and thoughts on how well it is working so far.
In case you don’t know what the Cube is… it’s like Mobile WiFi (MiFi) but plugged into your power at home to be an internet connection around your house. No need for a router, no need for a phone line just a SIM card and a power socket.
So here we have…… the Web Cube by Three!
Video link – Youtube
[yframe url=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryglEiwatmw’]
Link: Three Web Cube
Just turn it off when your not using it 😉
The first picture is after a few hours usage (can get more usage than this) and the second is a fully charged battery after getting up in the morning, I only loose around 5% per night.
No issue with my 4S, I always get over a day, sometimes two days standby and multiple hours of usage. I don’t use my phone for music, just internet browsing, games, sat nav (tomtom, copilot) and the odd phone call. I have all location services turned on, Siri on, iCloud backup and WiFi Sync on as well as having the phone check my mail every hour.
I had the iPhone 4 32gb before and all I did when I got my 64gb 4S was to restore my old backup onto the 4S. If you have poor battery life then I suggest taking it back for a replacement as this issue must be more of a hardware fault than a software one.
Every other mobile user when battery doesnt work well…. “its a bad design” “oh well” “must be faulty il change it”
Ios users “the sky is falling on our head” “must be software” “oh well iphone currentmodel+1 will solve the problem”.
Just saying….
T
Same problem here, but I am fairly sure it is a software issue (hung process using lots of CPU = battery) as have read tests where they did a ‘backup and restore’ between devices where the device the software was restored to was getting the problem as well (previously it had no problem).
So, basically my phone is on charge the entire day, pathetic.
having recently moved over from android to windows phone, i am still amazed at how efficient the OS seems to be while the phone is on standby. on a low use day, my htc titan gets through about 20% of the battery. i can honestly get two days of reasonable use out of it and easily get a day of hammering the hell out of it! haven’t used my mobile battery recharger since i got it 🙂
@ccsnet:disqus – dude, the iPhone 4 and the iPhone 4S are so similar, I think its an understandable frustration that the battery life is so much worse running the same software. It feels like something fixable, hence the frustrations, speculation and desire for a fix. Think about what’s happening with the Transformer Prime right now – hardware/software issues cause people to be frustrated when they’ve parted with hard-earned cash.
@6de6d9fc77ca5d63e82424f08276a82b:disqus – it’s a mobile phone, not a laptop! I need it on to take calls even when I’m not tapping at the screen! But regardless, have taken to doing this on commutes where I wouldn’t take a call anyway in an effort to extend the battery life a bit further.
This is exactly what I found. I had a Galaxy S and I missed the qwerty keyboard I had on my Nokia N97 (huge mistake I know, don;t ridicule me), so I bought the HTC 7Pro. The reality was that the HTC WP7 thing just worked, everything worked fine, it’s just a no thrills…. But like you I just got bored…. I’ve got the Galaxy S2 now (I’m a student, I couldn’t afford the Nexus in December) and I’m relatively happy, I keep thinking I should;ve got the Note though, but that’s an aside. I’m quite keen to do this sort of comparison but use a HP Pre3, because WebOS (and QNX for that matter) just look fun to use with their gestures, be interesting to see if we both find the same. But, it’s good to see that I’m not the only one who appreciated the simplicity of WP+Zune before I got bored.
nice review. i agree with most of the content as i am a recent wp7 from android convert. i’d have to say that although the lack of customisation initially worried me, i know realise that i spend more time just using the phone than tweaking it and i think i prefer that after all. it is a culture shock but i for one love windows phone 🙂
They can say there is no spee cap until they are blue in the face (or even magenta) but there is something going on which is not letting speeds go over 1Mb/s. It was there when I worked for the company and looks to still be there today. Problem is most of the time no one even knows where to look for the information so staff dont know if there is or is not. But a customer on the new plan with a new phone not getting over 0.93, its pretty obvious there is something blocking it
I also seem to be getting limited at around 0.96Mb. If you go into the T-Mobile App or on-line account you can see that there’s a “Booster” called Capped Data Rate, in my case along with Unlimited Internet, Video Calling, Remove Content Lock. I tried cancelling this using the on-line account and it told me that my change would be applied on 22nd Feb. We’ll see.
Capped Data Rate is a service on there so you get charged no more than £1 a day if you dont have a data package on your account
Sorry but I’m a bit confused with this story. T-Mobile say they do not limit to 1MB/s (which is pretty damn fast anyway equating to 8Mb/s, faster than many peoples broadband). They can cap me at that speed if they want! People are just too fussy.
The speed seems to hit 0.98 and then stops…. compare that to my average text on Vodafone of 4.00 and on Three 10.00 it shows that T-Mobile is MUCH slower!. When it says 1MB/S that does not mean 8MB/s it means 1MB/s!
Sorry Dan but that does not make any sense at all. 1MB/S means 1MB/s?
I second this review. Although I had to pay £12 for the active traffic subscription. I’ll be annoyed if they have made it free now! In fact even more annoyed since its rubbish for major incidents, like say the Hammersmith Flyover being closed? Sat in traffic for over an hour because of that!
Please stop using MBpS and start using Mbps. There is a difference people!
BTW, I get 1.98Mbps on T-mobile (not on the Full monty package though)
That’s right Matt. T-Mobiles original tweet said 1 MB/s, megabytes per second.
I am on o2 and receive average 3 to 3.5 download and 2.3 upload, tested over 10 speedtest attempts. Maybe because I am limited to 500mb on my contract, they do not care as they know I will only be a sporadic user, I use the Wifi mainly on mine at home and work.
I don’t see the point in t-mobile offering this if you have data speed limit, interesting to note people on t-mobile not on the full monty tarrif getting higher speeds.
Thanks Tom. I’ve always been a fan of CoPilot, but have ended up using Google instead. I’ve always wondered about going back to CoPilot, mainly for the rerouting that you discuss. Great review – my thinking cap is now on.
Not so much to do with “The full monty” but I upgraded to a SGS2 in December and on my way to work I ran some speed tests and didn’t get anything above 0.94Mbps DL (tests done right by 7 sites I planned).
Got to work rang T-Mo and said I got quicker before the upgrade. They apologised saying “we don’t know how your DL rate has been reduced, but we’ll put it to where it was before the upgrade”. Within seconds I was back to 1.89Mbps.They have tiered DL rates, the more you pay the more you get and it’s a simple mouse click away for them. The thing is the average customer doesn’t know so they never ask. The sad thing is, Tmo and 3UK use the same 3g network, yet Tmo cap you, 3UK don’t. Makes 3UK look very tempting.
This is indeed interesting. What’s the best way to go about asking for the speed increase? Are there any tips to coax it out of them?
It’s the age old thing. You don’t as, you don’t get.
Only 7mm thick? I’ll be scared to break the thing… May be a little too dainty for my club hands
have had this for months now, and its superb, but activetraffic is just under £10 per year, not free sadlyy
Excellent article, I will recommend my friends to read it.
I apologise for the mistake. As I went through all the features the ActiveTraffic one was the only feature that didn’t pop up and ask me to subscribe, I assumed it was free.
A message from CoPilot has confirmed that the copy they gave me had the ActiveTraffic already activated. Again, I am sorry for the mistake!! 😀
But what about the HTC Edge? Surely that’s going to be the big HTC announcement?
Yep. That should also be announced in Barcelona
—
Leigh Geary
http://www.coolsmartphone.com
Is the HTC Edge expected to be a model up from the Ville in terms of specs? And also ICS Android?
Yes, ICS, it’s their new flagship. It will be the first quad core smartphone. Much bigger screen than the Ville. It’s their answer to the Galaxy Nexus.
ah good – very much looking forward then…, thank you.
Wow, it’s fairly chunky. I’ve had impression it was much tinier.
Looks good if unspectacular. I’m sure software will be great
My main issue here is the camera – why do they have to have it sticking out the back? – My HTC Desire has got scratched and cracked over the last year and half, and as such the optics are no blurry. Never dropped, but just having it in my pocket.
I would think that an embedded camera (like IPhone or Lumia) is much less liable to damage.
replied in error – can’t delete
Are you thinking to upgrade your SGS2, Leigh? 🙂
Yep I expected it to be much smaller as well. Looks cool though.
I’ve looked for an option to change the strength of the vibration but had no luck. Could anyone suggest anything?
Grrr! Just release the damn thing, the S2 is great but OLD. I don’t want to be locked into a 18-24 month plan with an old phone.
Samsung must be loving it that their (premium anyway) Galaxy range is getting ever closer to that Apple type fan base nirvana.
That photo isn’t final, look at the battery!
I’m on a normal T-Mobile plan too with an HTC Desire and cannot get higher than 0.94Mbps. Certainly not anywhere near 1.88Mbps. It was dreadful during the bad weather averaging 0.51Mbps. I need to try again in a good HSDPA area.
What’s the best way to go about asking for the speed increase? Are there any tips to coax it out of them?
You could try 150 saying that you took out the contract on the advice of a salesperson in store and only now have you become aware of the speedtest app on your phone. You are not getting what you were lead to believe was possible and it’s capped at less than 1Mbps. Mention other friends get upto 2Mbps and are on the same contract….
Thanks. I’ll give that a try. You don’t ask, you don’t get.
Possible Malaysia have it?