News - Tesco plans to launch an own brand smartphone this year

[HEXUS]

Hudl 2 tablet is also said to be due out this September.

Read more.

[crossy]

Tesco's smartphone was said to be comparable to the higher-end of the market, with Clarke saying that it is "comparable to the Samsung Galaxy S5."

You mean stuffed to the gills with bloatware that no-one wants or uses?

Interestingly customers who also have a Tesco banking current account linked to their smartphone will be able to scan and pay with the device at supermarkets without going to a checkout till.

I'm sure muggers will love that feature.

Sorry, I really should try and be more positive. Hey, at least it's full blown Android, not Amazon's "almost but not quite" or some break-in-five-minutes-slab like the EE device is reported to be.

[cptwhite_uk]

After the Hudl I'm happy to give Tesco an open mind to the devices it promotes at this stage. Hudl was a top class product for it's price point.

[PewPew]

as long as it does not have tesco logo on it

[jim]

as long as it does not have tesco logo on it

That's an awesome idea, actually.

The whole device should be decked out in blue and white stripes, with Tesco Value written across the top.

[billybear]

I think Tesco could be in a position to compete with Amazon. If it bundles its services books, music and films for in exchange for say spend £40 this week on your groceries to unlock Blinkbox Music or buy a meal deal with a free movie for a night in, they could be on to a winner.

[DanceswithUnix]

I expect my current phone will do me fine until 64 bit Android becomes the norm enough to obsolete it.

The Hudl is a nice bit of kit, worth the £60 in vouchers it cost me, but I haven't seen much in the way of OS updates for it. That would worry me in a phone.

[Brewster0101]

The Hudl is a nice bit of kit, worth the £60 in vouchers it cost me, but I haven't seen much in the way of OS updates for it. That would worry me in a phone.

If the product works out of the box, some would say why do you need updates? And its true.

In the 5 years of having Android devices, can't say an update has ever given me anything that I was expecting when I brought the device, which it didn't do. Buy the device for the software it has on it today, not for what it may have in 12 months.

Hudl does everything I brought it to do - no update is going to change that.

[DanceswithUnix]

If the product works out of the box, some would say why do you need updates? And its true.

In the 5 years of having Android devices, can't say an update has ever given me anything that I was expecting when I brought the device, which it didn't do. Buy the device for the software it has on it today, not for what it may have in 12 months.

Hudl does everything I brought it to do - no update is going to change that.

My first Android device was an HTC Hero. It was cheap and already a bit of an old model, but by the end of the 2 year contract the world had changed around it and it could no longer run simple apps. When I tried installing a calculator app (Andy86) and was told my device was too old to be supported I couldn't take it any more, rooted the phone and put a custom ROM on it. The drivers weren't right for 2.3 though, they were 2.1 drivers with some shim code to translate to what 2.3 was expecting. It worked, but it was ram starved and slow.

My next phone was a One-X, I went higher end and for a newer model so I didn't end up in the same trap again. Two years on, the phone is still fine, but I could easily have bought something that could only run Gingerbread at the time and I would have had the same trouble again.

So yes buy for capabilities now, but I will keep an eye towards the future and I want at least basic security patches and bug fixes for a couple of years.

[HalloweenJack]

nothing wrong with the HUDL - and I asked Tesco support about updates (mainly the one for the frozen screen issue). they did say updates for firmware are coming.

and bloatware? is there any at all? think 3 apps which can be removed?