All did not 'go well' and the episode was not published between Christmas and New Year. Thank you to editor Mark who continues to fix broken audio with patience far beyond what we deserve.

This week the team cover topics they missed during 2023 and catch-up on listener's emails:

• Beeper Mini: Why is there a market for an iMessage on Android? (update: it's effectively been abandoned since recording).
• Apple Watch Ultra 2: - Ben likes his, especially the bigger / brighter screen.
• Mark's email about our mobile network episode: Questions whether much brand loyalty is based on out-of-date perceptions from earlier in their life. Rafe says it's very hard for brands to move customers' perception of them.
• 'Brain stuff'.
• New year's resolutions: Brain training, checking your subscriptions, Zoe health stuff and time blocking
• Matt's email on Social Media: Do we believe in the everything app?

We'll come back to the Humane AI pin and ChatGPT.

Get in touch! Let us know your thoughts or topics you'd like to hear about in future via the website, Twitter (if you must) or Mastodon (preferred).

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Links:

• Beeper Mini
• Beepberry 'device'
• Apple Watch Ultra 2
• Duolingo
• Blinkinst
• Habitify
• Zoe health gizmo
• Time Blocking

This week the team discuss electric vehicles as 'mobile adjacent' technology:

• Ewan recounts his experience of EV-based car clubs in Denmark and Teslas in Saudi Arabia.

• Rafe brings the stats on growth of the EV market and paralells to the smartphone industry we've tracked for the life of 361.

• Ben recounts his experiences as a first-time EV owner and the planning the purchase of a second.

The team also talk about how the arrival of EV cars has made them re-evaluate which brands are 'best'.

Get in touch! Let us know your thoughts or topics you'd like to hear about in future via the website, Twitter (if you must) or Mastodon (preferred).

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This week the team go back to their roots and talk about mobile networks:

• Ewan is deeply underwhelmed with the offerings of the UK's mobile network operators, having spent time living and working around Europe and the Middle East. He's especially unimpressed with network availability on major transport links, having had almost-ubiquitous access to 5G coverage in the places he worked and travelled.

• Rafe's got some OFCOM data (because of course) that suggests things aren't as bad as Ewan thinks. He also notes that there are some rural areas with good 5G coverage, so people's experience will be very dependent on location. He does, however, acknowledge that new legislation has been required to help network operators upgrading existing masts (where planning restrictions had previously blocked them).

• Ben is surprised that the perceivable-quality of mobile network service hasn't changed in the 2 years since we last covered it on 361, except for a price reduction. He's also frustrated that network 'quality' so frequently causes problems even where signal 'strength' is reportedly good. He's also surprised by Rafe's suggestion that mobile networks might prefer their own customers to other MVNO operator's customers.

The team also discuss the growing market of app and eSIM-based providers that offer cheaper access to mobile operators when overseas.

Get in touch! Let us know your thoughts or topics you'd like to hear about in future via the website, Twitter (if you must) or Mastodon (preferred).

Support 361 Podcast

Links:

• OpenSignal - Mobile network testing
• Airalo - Travel eSIM provider
• MobiMatter - Travel eSIM provider
• Ubigi - Travel eSIM provider
• OpenBenches

This week the team talk about money, finance, 'fintech' stuff and the products we use:

• Rafe's been using 'helpful' tools including HM Revenue and Customs' app to manage his tax and NS&I's app to check for Premium Bond wins. He's also tried the 'green' debit card Tred.

• Ewan's also been big on Open Banking for money management trying Plum to setup rules and games to encourage saving. [Rafe says "also look at similar apps like Emma and Snoop"].

• Ben still uses You Need a Budget and virtual debit cards from Monzo. He's also using Monzo's built-in 'round-up' feature to save 'passively'. He's also using Chip which offers a (sort of) savings product marketplace.

The team wonder where 'the Monzo of credit cards' is and question if 'buy now, pay later' is the same thing, talk about mortgages for a bit, and consider if 'packaged bank accounts' are popular again.

Get in touch! Let us know your thoughts or topics you'd like to hear about in future via the website, Twitter (if you must) or Mastodon (preferred).

Support 361 Podcast

Links:

• HM Revenue & Customs app
• National Savings & Investment app
• Emma - Money management app
• Snoop - Money management app
• Tred - Carbon offset debit card
• Monzo Bank
• Starling Bank
• Plum - Money management
• You Need a Budget - Money management app
• Chip - Money management and savings app
• MoneySavingExpert - UK-based consumer finance advice
• Interactive Investor - Savings and investment platform
• Klarna - Buy now, pay later provider
• Habito - Online mortgage broker
• Revolut Ultra - Premium packaged product

This week the team consider that we might be at the "money ruins everything" stage of social media (eh, Reddit?). Rafe speculates that 'social' media is now driven more by advertising than friendship groups. We also talk about 'dark social', rafeblandford.com (Rafe's personal website) and remember Jaiku. Ben re-tells the 'Nazi Bar' story often cited as an example of how 'unmoderated' speech excludes people and isn't really 'free'.

We use:

• Ewan: LinkedIn and BeReal.
• Rafe: Reddit, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok (but only in read-only).
• Ben: Reddit, LinkedIn (grudgingly), Instagram (even more grudingly) and Mastodon (in hope).

Ewan's still on the road. This week he's in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

[Producer's note: This episode was recorded before Meta announced Threads. Content scheduling is hard.]

Get in touch! Let us know your thoughts or topics you'd like to hear about in future via the website, Twitter (if you must) or Mastodon (preferred).

Support 361 Podcast

This week Ewan's back on the road and tests the new 361 mobile recording setup. The team reflect the state of their smarthomes, it's not good... at all.

The team discuss the various smarthome systems they use, the changes made since last season and how their attitude to setting up smart-home tech has changed over time. Reliability's certainly been a problem, but have new standards like Matter improved things?

Rafe also has a bird-shaped surprise or two for the team.

Listener questions this week:

• What do you use for USB-C charing when traveling?
• Do you have any smarthome cameras and would you recommend them?
• What smarthome platform have you chosen to use and why?
• Do you use any long-range smarthome devices?

Get in touch! Let us know your thoughts or topics you'd like to hear about in future via the website, Twitter or Mastodon.

Support 361 Podcast

Links:

• Mu folding travel chargers
• Aqara smarthome devices
• Asus Mesh WiFi (Zen XT9)
• Home Assistant
• Philips Hue
• Lightwave smart switches and plugs
• Bird Buddy smart and connected bird feeder
• Arlo smart wireless cameras
• Ikea smarthome devices
• Awair air quality sensors
• Amazon air quality sensor
• Aqara FP2 presence sensor (mmWave)
• Matter smarthome standard

After a short (18 month) break the team are back, well rested and ready to discuss Apple's big 'virtual reality / augmented reality' announcement at their global developer conference.

The team discuss:

• How does Apple's Vision Pro device compare to others?
• Is Apple 'doing' the metaverse now?
• Can we say 'foveated rendering' with a straight face?
• What is 'spatial computing' for?
• Will people be willing to wear these headsets?

Get in touch! Let us know your thoughts or topics you'd like to hear about in future via the website, Twitter or Mastodon.

Support 361 Podcast

Happy Christmas Special! The team gather at the (definitely real) Blandford Manor for the annual drinks party and a look back over 10 years of this nonsense as they stumble upon (and through) the 361 archive.

Clips played in this episode are from:

• Smartphone convergence, the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play & a tiny bit of Dom Joly
• 361 Degrees, the making of...
• The Great App Store Debate: Fab or Fad?
• Roaming ranting...
• Apple is the next Nokia
• 361 Live "Mobile Question Time" Part 1
• Can Facebook make money from mobile?
• Ewan wants a better phone than you...
• Ubuntu Mobile: What and why? (and again, why?)
• What’s the place for Smartwatches?
• It’s a very Echo Christmas
• The on-demand economy & #RubRafe

As ever (but especially for these episodes) our thanks to Mark Cotton for the buttery smooth audio, Sarah for content far better than we deserve, and the rapidly expanding 'cast'. Thank you all for indulging us.

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In a dramatic break with 10 years of tradition, the team share their Christmas gift suggestions actually in time for purchase before Christmas (it will never catch-on). Suggestions range from £5 to £500 including:

• Cases and bags
• Bluetooth trackers
• Books
• Voice assistants
• Noise cancelling headohones
• Computer accessories
• Something Rafe describes as a 'solar powered novelty'

Let us know your thoughts on these subjects or anything you'd like to hear covered in future via the website or Twitter.

Support 361 Podcast

Links:

• Woolnut Leather Tech Organizer
• Peak Design Bags
• Apple AirTag
• Tile Bluetooth Tracker Devices
• Nolii Set Battery
• Anker PowerCore battery
• Mu Folding Plug
• Book: "Framers: The power of mental models to make better decisions"
• Book: "Rule of the Robots"
• Book: "We Are Bellingcat"
• Google Nest Hub (2nd Gen)
• Amazon Echo Show 5 (2021 release)
• Sony WH-1000XM3 headphones
• Bose 700 Headphones
• Sony WH-1000XM4 Headphones
• Puro BT2200s Kids Headphones
• Elgato Stream Deck Mini
• Keyboard Maestro
• Kikkerland Solar RainbowMaker
• Reindeer on Zoom
• Hue Go
• Philips Hue 100w equivalent
• Elgato Key Light
• DJI Mini 2 drone
• Raspberry Pi gifts from The Pi Hut
• Nintendo Switch OLED
• Gift a Kindle Book

This week the team recap topics from earlier in the season including:

• Curve being blocked by Creation Credit cards - a listener asks if we still want to use Curve
• JP Morgan launches Chase-branded banking in the UK - we try it out in its earliest (and still very limited) form
• Amazon's Astro robot - will we add Amazon's $999 robot to our smarthome security setup?
• 15 minute delivery - Rafe updates us on some very high profile ads and promotions in London as the firm's give-away some of their investors' money
• Android 12.1 will (probably) add native support for folding devices
• Sky launches 'Glass' a smart internet-connected TV that you can pay for monthly

Let us know your thoughts on these subjects or anything you'd like to hear covered in future via the website or Twitter.

Support 361 Podcast

This week the team break our '1 question, 3 answers' format to look at the subject of flexible screens:

• Why would you buy one?
• Are they any good?
• Should Apple make one?

We're definitely agreed that - at last - they are worth considering, but beyond that it's more hope than science. And Rafe mentions some Nokia concept devices from years ago... you'd expect nothing less.

Let us know your thoughts on these subjects or anything you'd like to hear covered in future via the website or Twitter.

Support 361 Podcast

Links:

• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 5G
• Nokia Communicator
• Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 5G
• Motorola Razr 5G
• HUAWEI Mate X2
• Xiaomi Mi MIX FOLD
• Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G
• Microsoft Surface Duo
• Nokia Morph phone concept
• Polymer Vision Readius e-Ink rollable screen phone
• LG Rollable OLED TV R