Phone Week: Uncovered: the best time to upgrade your smartphone

Posted on by Gary Marshall
Phone Week: Uncovered: the best time to upgrade your smartphone

The best time to upgrade your smartphone

HTC and Apple

It isn't easy being a smartphone fan, especially if your timing's bad: no sooner has the ink dried on that two-year contract for the Uber Mega X than it's rendered obsolete by the slightly thinner, slightly faster Uber Mega Y.

And that got us thinking: are there patterns here? Should we be buying Samsung's in spring and Sony's in summer? Is August ever a good time to buy an iPhone? Let's look at the history and see what patterns emerge, so you'll know the best time to buy a new phone.

Trade shows

The most obvious pattern that emerges is the dwindling power of trade shows.

The big one for mobiles was always Mobile World Congress, which many manufacturers use to launch their most exciting products.

Increasingly, though, smartphone manufacturers prefer to host their own, separate events for their flagship phones to maximise publicity. Shows such as MWC and IFA are still important, but the biggest hitters are often announced elsewhere.

The other pattern that you'll see is annual releases, so if you're a keen early adopter it's a good idea to get your existing handset on eBay or sent to a reputable trade-in firm a month or so before.

Leave it too late and you may see the value of your phone plummet as it goes from next big thing to last year's model.

Apple

iPhone 6

Predicting a new iPhone launch is easy: for the first four years we saw new iPhones every summer, but in 2011 that schedule changed from summer to autumn and Apple's stuck to it ever since.

The iPhone 4S shipped in October 2011, the iPhone 5 shipped in September 2012, the iPhone 5S and 5C launched in September 2013 and the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus landed in September 2014. So it's a pretty safe bet we'll see the iPhone 6S in or around September 2015.

It's worth remembering that Apple is on a major/minor release schedule now: major revisions of the iPhone happen every two years, with relatively minor upgrades - the S models - in between. So right now if you're considering a new iPhone it's probably with waiting for the imminent launch of the new model, but don't expect massive changes.

  • Current flagship: iPhone 6
  • Launched: September 2014
  • Current estimated price (SIM free): £539
  • Expected iPhone 6S release date: September 2015

HTC

HTC One M9

The HTC One was announced in February 2013 and shipped in March, the HTC One M8 was both announced and shipped in March 2014 and the HTC One M9 was announced and launched in March 2015. So you can probably take a good guess at when the HTC One M10 will be unveiled.

HTC is one of the few companies that still likes to do things around MWC, although it sometimes holds an announcement event just before the show kicks off. It took almost a month to get the HTC One M9 into shops after its announcement, but the HTC One M8 launched on the very day of its unveiling, so in that sense HTC's launch timings can be a little variable.

It's also announced the HTC One M9+ is coming to Europe in July, so we might start seeing dual cycles in the future.

But if we were betting people, we'd be sticking a portion of our wages on a new HTC flagship at least being announced the next time the month rhymes with "larch".

  • Current flagship: HTC One M9
  • Launched: March 2015
  • Current price: Roughly £470
  • Expected HTC One M10 release date: March 2016

Samsung

Galaxy S6

Samsung loves variants - for every Galaxy there are eleventy-three variations to cover niches such as "smartphone owners who live under the sea" and "smartphone owners who don't believe Mars exists" - but the big ones follow a fairly predictable pattern.

All given the 'S' suffix, the Samsung Galaxy S4 was announced in March 2013 and shipped in April, the Samsung Galaxy S5 was announced in February 2014 and shipped in April and the Samsung Galaxy S6 was announced in March 2015 and shipped in April, while older handsets in the range followed a similar pattern.

Samsung's clearly working to an annual upgrade cycle here, with its launches timed for shortly after Mobile World Congress is over to ensure it gets the headlines all to itself, so we expect to see the Samsung Galaxy S7 announced in February 2016, as that's when next year's MWC is.

  • Current flagship: Samsung Galaxy S6
  • Launched: April 2015
  • Current price: Roughly £450
  • Expected Samsung Galaxy S7 release date: April 2016

Google

Nexus 6

Do you prefer your Android unadorned, its skin unsullied by TouchWiz or Sense? If the answer is yes then it's Google's Nexus range for you, and so far that appears to be sticking to a reasonably predictable schedule.

The first Nexus, the Nexus One, may have been a January launch back in 2010, but since then Google has aimed to launch its Nexus phones early enough for the lucrative Christmas shopping season.

The Samsung-made Nexus S was launched in December 2010, the (Samsung again) Galaxy Nexus was unveiled in November 2011, the LG Nexus 4 was released in November 2012, the LG Nexus 5 landed in November 2013 and the Moto-made Nexus 6 in November 2014.

However it's possible that the next Nexus (made my Huawei) could land earlier, as it's likely to be timed to coincide with the launch of Android M, which itself could arrive in late Q3, possibly September, so if you've got your eye on a new Nexus it's worth waiting until around then.

  • Current flagship: Nexus 6
  • Launched: November 2014
  • Current price: £499
  • Expected Nexus 5 (2015) release date: September 2015

Sony

Xperia Z3

While most smartphone makers tend to launch a new flagship once a year, Sony has taken to releasing two every year, at roughly six month intervals, so you may not have too long to wait if you want to upgrade to the next Sony flagship.

For example the Sony Xperia Z1 landed in September 2013, the Sony Xperia Z2 hit stores in April 2014 and the Sony Xperia Z3 landed in September 2014. However Sony changed things up a little bit with the Sony Xperia Z3+, which didn't arrive until June 2015, which is more like a nine month gap (and only a mere refresh, rather than all-new phone).

As such it's a bit harder to predict when the next Xperia flagship (likely to be called the Xperia Z5 since the Z3+ is already called the Z4 in Japan) will land. Our best guess is still a six month gap, but Sony typically times its late year releases with IFA in September, so that's where we're pinning our hopes on seeing the new, fancier, Sony phone.

  • Current flagship: Sony Xperia Z3+
  • Launched: June 2015
  • Current price: £499.99
  • Expected Sony Xperia Z4/Z5 release date: November or December 2015

LG

LG G4

LG hasn't been quite as consistent as some with the timing of its flagship launches. The LG G4 launched in May 2015 and the LG G3 landed in June 2014, but the LG G2 arrived in September 2013.

Our best guess for the launch of the LG G5 would be May 2016, but given that the release dates have been gradually sneaking earlier into the year it's possible that LG will try and push the release forward to March or April, so it's better able to compete with the Samsung Galaxy S7 and HTC One M10.

Either way you're not going to see the G5 until sometime in 2016, so if you want to upgrade to LG's latest flagship you can either grab the LG G4 or play the waiting game.

  • Current flagship: LG G4
  • Launched: May 2015
  • Current price: Around £450
  • Expected LG G5 release date: May 2016









Find love on Tinder – then bin them on Binder

Posted on by Gary Marshall
Find love on Tinder - then bin them on Binder

What do you do if the person you liked on Tinder turns out to be a lot less likeable in real life? You could feign a heart attack, have a pal call you with an invented emergency, or just pretend you need the toilet and run as if the Devil himself were on your tail. Or you could take the coward's way out and dump them digitally with the Binder app.

Binder - it rhymes with Tinder - is an iOS and Android app, and it's designed to kick people to the kerb, deliver the old dumparoonie and give them the Spanish archer. It's the Tinder of dumping people.

If you thought ending relationships by SMS was a bit harsh, Binder takes things a step further: give it the name of the person you want to dump, hand over their mobile number and Binder will call them to deliver the bad news on your behalf. It'll also text them to make doubly sure, and if you want to make yourself look even more of a monster you can share the good news on your favourite social network too.

You monster

The good news is that Binder is meant as a joke - the break-up calls are quite funny, and the app is based on one of a series of cartoons by a Scottish brewery - and you can tell from the tongue-in-cheek testimonials on the Binder website ("Some say love is the key to happiness. Those people are wrong") that this isn't an app to take seriously. But we can't help wondering if some people will do just that, and use Binder for real.

That's not just us in "humanity's done and it's time for the cockroaches to take over" mode. In the US, the Trash Day app enables San Franciscans to get someone else to put their bins out for them, and nobody appears to know whether the app is a Nathan Barley-style parody of tech startups or a genuine service (and if it is a parody, then Here Comes The Airplane is a parody of that parody).

There's no doubt that some people would rather live their entire lives through apps if they could, and maybe that includes dumping dates too. Does that sound far-fetched? Try explaining hipsters, Uber and Tinder to your gran.

If there's one thing we can confidently predict about the future, it's that it'll be weirder than we can possibly imagine.








In Depth: The 9 best and worst moments of Stephen Elop

Posted on by Gary Marshall
In Depth: The 9 best and worst moments of Stephen Elop

Stephen Elop, the man responsible for Nokia's Lumia devices at Microsoft and the Finnish firm's former CEO, is leaving Microsoft.

Elop didn't elope, though. He and Microsoft boss Satya Nadella "have agreed that now is the right time for him to retire from Microsoft," Nadella says.

It's part of a wider restructuring within Microsoft, and it means Microsoft is saying goodbye to the man responsible for these best and worst moments.

The 'burning platform' speech

When Elop joined Nokia from Microsoft, it was in trouble, and he made no attempt to sugarcoat it.

Speaking to Nokia employees in 2011 (the speech was later published for the world to read, too), he said that Nokia was standing on "a burning platform" that had "multiple points of scorching heat that are fueling a blazing fire around us."

Replacing Symbian with Windows

The former Microsoft man decided the best mobile operating system around was Microsoft's Windows Phone, and he bet Nokia's future on using it instead of the aging but well-loved Symbian OS.

It's a decision that was widely mocked, but there was smart thinking behind it: Elop believed that one manufacturer beginning with S would probably end up dominating Android, and if Nokia was in that market it'd be just another Android phone firm.

He was right about Samsung, and probably right about Nokia's chances as an Android manufacturer, too. However, unfortunately for Nokia, Windows Phone created all kinds of problems for their engineers and Microsoft wasn't as helpful as it could, or perhaps should, have been.

Getting unfairly blamed for all of Nokia's mistakes

To outsiders, it looked as if Elop essentially flew Nokia into the sun, destroying the world's favourite phone maker. But he inherited a company that was in a mess after years of bad management. He might not have made the right decisions, but his heart was in the right place - and he wasn't the one who didn't see the threat that iPhones and Android posed to Nokia's core business.

Binning Nokia's mobile payment platform

In 2012, Nokia canned its Nokia Money service, which enabled people to send money to others and pay for goods using just their mobile phones. The decision seemed strange given the hype around m-commerce - hype that Apple and Google are both currently surfing with Apple Pay and Android Pay, respectively - but Elop didn't want Nokia to waste its energies on doing lots of things in a half-arsed fashion. It would concentrate solely on doing phones in a half-arsed fashion instead.

Being accused of skulduggery

Many people suspected that Elop was a Trojan Horse, and that his move to Nokia would ultimately result in the company being sold to Microsoft.

Elop proved them wrong by driving Nokia to the brink of collapse and, er, selling it to Microsoft. But insiders are adamant that the £4.6 billion deal wasn't the result of any Machiavellian scheming: Elop was serious about wanting to save Nokia, and its sale to Microsoft was a personal defeat, not a triumph.

The move was prompted by angry shareholders who felt, rightly, that Nokia was still too far behind Apple and Android. They were probably pretty upset that their shares had dropped by 85% since he took over, too.

That bonus

As if the Finns weren't angry enough at Elop's handling of Nokia, he managed to add 18.8 million Euros to injury: that was the bonus Elop would be awarded when Nokia's sale to Microsoft went through, and it worked out at roughly one million Euros for every one billion Euros that Elop wiped off Nokia's market capitalisation on his watch. When asked to take a smaller bonus, Elop said he couldn't, because he was getting divorced.

Sending one of the worst layoff e-mails of all time

"Hello there," Elop began his long, rambling memo back in 2014. It took him a full 11 paragraphs to get to the point, which was that Elop's bit of Microsoft - the devices unit - was going to make 12,500 people redundant. NYMag's furious takedown of the memo is funny and entirely justified.

Doing a Nokia to Windows Phone

When Elop returned to Microsoft, he turned Windows Phone into the massive success it is today. Ahem. His departure is a clear signal that Microsoft isn't happy with Windows Phone's performance or strategy. It's some turnaround since the speculation that Elop was returning to Microsoft in order to succeed Steve Ballmer as Microsoft CEO.

Not being Tim Cook

Stephen Elop wasn't the first choice of Nokia CEO: according to the book Operation Elop by journalists from the Finnish newspaper Kauppalehti, the executive head-hunters first approached a supply chain wizard called Tim Cook. You may have heard of him. Had he answered Nokia's call, things might have turned out very differently, but instead Nokia ended up with what the book's authors describe as "by many measures… one of the world's worst, if not +the+ worst, chief executives."








In Depth: Can the Apple Watch work without an iPhone?

Posted on by Gary Marshall
In Depth: Can the Apple Watch work without an iPhone?

The Apple Watch isn't designed to replace your iPhone just yet. In fact, it depends on it.

Many Apple Watch apps are really just displays for things running on your iPhone, and some key features aren't available if you aren't paired to an iOS device.

For example, the Watch doesn't have a GPS receiver, so if your phone isn't around you can't track the distance you've travelled beyond measuring steps.

And it doesn't have its own camera, so while you can use it as a viewfinder for your phone it doesn't have the ability to snap anything by itself.

Apple Watch

That doesn't mean the Apple Watch is a dumb terminal, though. It has its own processor, sensors and on-board storage, and we're sure we'll see stacks of innovative apps as developers discover the possibilities.

We're already seeing some interesting applications, and the Watch isn't even out yet. Here are the key things you'll be able to do with an Apple Watch even when there's no iPhone for it to talk to.

Pay for stuff

Once you've set up Apple Pay via the Apple Watch app, you'll be able to use the Watch to pay for things in shops (or at least you will in America; at the time of writing Apple Pay has yet to launch in the rest of the world).

The app creates a unique token that's stored on the Watch to use as a card number. To pay, simply wave your watch at the Apple Pay-compatible terminal and let the built-in NFC (near-field communication) radio do its thing.

Get on planes or go to the movies

Apple Watch

Apple's Passbook is on the Apple Watch, so anything already stored in it - aeroplane boarding passes, electronic tickets and anything else scannable - should work just fine without your iPhone.

It'd be nice to see more firms embrace this idea, because to date Passbook has been a big disappointment in the UK: we dreamed of binning our various loyalty, ID and membership cards in favour of electronic equivalents, but so far we're still wandering around with pockets and purses full of plastic.

Listen to music, audiobooks or podcasts

Apple Watch

The Watch has its own storage space, of which 2GB is reportedly available for music - so you can use the Watch's built-in Bluetooth to pair with a pair of wireless headphones and get music on the move.

Naturally you won't be able to stream from the likes of Spotify without an internet connection, but 2GB is more than enough storage for a run, a workout or a short commute.

Open doors

One of the smoothest features we saw at the Apple Watch launch event was SPG Keyless, a feature that enables Apple Watch users to unlock Starwood hotel rooms without anything as old-fashioned as a key.

According to Starwood, the keys work via Bluetooth Low Energy and are popped up by the iPhone app as push notifications the day before you check in.

The same idea could of course work with any other kind of Bluetooth-enabled smart lock, so it's possible we'll see Apple Watch-compatible locks for your home, garage or gym locker.

Track your fitness

Apple Watch

The Apple Watch doesn't need to be paired with your phone to monitor your heart rate or workout: it can store that data and sync it to the Health app when you get back from your run, cycle or trip to the gym.

Control your Apple TV

Apple Watch

Apple's Remote app has been ported to the Watch, and like its iOS sibling it enables you to control your Apple TV via the magic of wireless radio.

You can also use it to control iTunes and iTunes Radio on your computer, assuming you live in a place where iTunes Radio is actually available.

Do watch things

Apple Watch

Hardly a surprise, this, but time-related functions such as the alarm, stopwatch and timer don't need a phone to function.

What iPhone-free features do you think we'll see from app developers? Let us know in the comments.








In Depth: Black Friday UK: the deals that broke the internet

Posted on by Gary Marshall
In Depth: Black Friday UK: the deals that broke the internet

Black Friday: the biggest shopping day on record

Did you pick up any amazing Black Friday deals? I got a watch I'd fancied for ages and a TV I didn't think I could afford.

If you're wondering what the blimmin' heck I'm on about, then you might just have missed some brilliant bargains.

I'm talking about Black Friday, which has gone from a weird thing Americans do to one of the most important bits of the tech fan's calendar.

Black Friday is the day after the US Thanksgiving holiday, and it's when retailers start slashing prices to kick-start the festive shopping season.

It's famous for the so-called "doorbuster" deals, amazing and amazingly limited special offers that just happen to cause outbreaks of fisticuffs in front of news cameras, which in turn make the viewing public think that that particular retailer must be bargain central. Funny how that happens, eh?

There's a second day, Cyber Monday. That's the Monday following Black Friday, and it's supposedly the day when everybody goes "aaaagh! It's December! Must buy presents!"

Many retailers offer Cyber Monday deals now, although they tend to be more modest than Black Friday ones and fewer people get into fights. Next up? Boxing Day sales!

After months of controversy and hype, the Xbox One goes on sale today

How Black Friday hit big in the UK

In a few short years the British have gone from mocking Black Friday to getting rather excited about it.

Barclaycard reports that this year's Black Friday was the highest spending day on record, with online sales up 37.5% compared to last year.

John Lewis reported that sales were up 56.8% week on week and 21.8% year on year, with the firm shifting an impressive £179.1 million in a single week.

WorldPay says the number of transactions was up 124% while Visa Europe reported spending rising by 1.6%. The New West End Company, which represents businesses on London's Oxford Street, Regent Street and New Bond Street, expected £220 million to be spent in those three streets alone in one day.

The overall picture is the happiest the high street, virtually and in the real world, has been for some time.

And the online numbers are particularly impressive when you consider that the moment Black Friday began, many retailers' websites fell over like a Victorian gentlewoman confronted by a flasher.

Some sites' "we're too busy! Queue now!" pages looked a little suspicious - so for example disabling JavaScript on the Currys website bypassed the traffic wardens and took you to a very smooth and quick-running website, which was very interesting.

But stores like Game were genuinely offline as angry execs no doubt threatened to take the web teams' Nerf guns and amusing desk ornaments if they didn't get the site back online, stat.

In the US, HP and Best Buy went down; in the UK people found themselves unable to access Argos, Tesco and Boots.

If only there was some way of predicting when demand was likely to be quite high, such as LOOKING AT YOUR OWN SODDING ADVERTS. Ahem.

Were there really Black Friday bargains?

Yes, there were. Our teams of highly trained bargain finders tracked some really good deals on laptops and routers, TVs and Hi-Fis, Chromecasts and consoles and Kindle Paperwhites and Apple iPads.

Some deals were too good to be true - a quick price check of some (but not all) of Amazon's lightning deals showed that some rivals' un-discounted prices were awfully close to Amazon's discounted ones - but others, such as 60% off fine technology magazines, were genuinely good.

And as we may have already mentioned, your correspondent got a big telly.

What's in it for retailers?

They get to shift old stock to make room for new things, and many of us buy more than just the bargain - so for example you might buy a flat-screen TV, remember that every single one of them sounds like it's been thrown down a well, and shell out for a soundbar too; or you might buy a set of Beats headphones and a funny little hat to put on top of them.

Cross-selling isn't the only way retailers make money: in some cases, what the shops lose by slashing their profit margins is more than compensated for by selling the items in large volumes.

What's in it for me?

Cheap things! UK retailers aren't quite as mad as the US ones - even the biggest doorbusters were fairly modest deals on things such as Polaroid TVs when US shoppers were getting 300% off Mac Pros and helicopters and guns and stuff.

But discounts are discounts, and if you got a good deal and you also used a cashback debit or credit card and signed up for a cashback website and applied a voucher code the retailer probably owes you money now, or at least a hug.

What should I do for Black Friday next year?

Homework. We'd recommend bookmarking a smart, sassy, thoroughly independent tech website - hello! - and finding a great source of deals worth looking at - hello again! - so that you don't waste time on pointless offers.

This page right here will be the place to come for all the best bargains on all the best products.

And we'd suggest a shopping list, not of specific model numbers (the likelihood of the GargleBargle BHS21212/EGH3/B2-E42 just happening to come with a 70% discount is pretty slim) but of brands and broad product categories.

If you know the going rate for a 50-inch Samsung LED TV, you'll know whether £100 off the one you're looking at is a good deal or just the going rate; similarly if you know that the iPad you're looking at is the latest one, you'll know that even £30 off is pretty good going.

When is Black Friday?

In 2015, Black Friday falls on Friday 27 November. That gives you plenty of time to start saving, or to learn martial arts if you fancy your chances down the local ASDA at midnight.

What is Black Friday?

What is Black Friday?

Black Friday is the first Friday after Thanksgiving, and it represents a perfect storm for retailers: many people in the US have the day off, and as a result it's been the busiest shopping day of the year for nearly a decade.

To make things even busier, many retailers now offer some of their best sale bargains on Black Friday. Even Apple joins in.

When is Black Friday?

That depends on when you're reading this. If it's 2014, Black Friday is Friday 28 November. If it's 2015, it's Friday 27 November. And if it's 2013, you've been asleep for a year. The things you've missed!

How did Black Friday get its name?

Take your pick: some say it's the day that retailers' profits finally move into the black, although Wikipedia reckons that the true origin of the term comes from Philadelphia where it referred to the disruptive pedestrian and vehicle traffic that occurred during the holiday.

Is Black Friday as big a deal as it seems?

Yes it is. Every year there are reports of fisticuffs as bargain-crazed shoppers beat each other up, partly because of the practice of using "doorbusters" - amazing and excruciatingly limited deals to attract as many customers as possible. US-based retailers such as Amazon are now keen to make it a tradition here in the UK.

Is Black Friday connected to Cyber Monday?

Cyber Monday is the Monday immediately after Black Friday, and it was invented in 2005 in an attempt to create an online equivalent of Black Friday. What this has resulted in now, is an entire 4-day weekend of hot deals both in store and online.

What's TechRadar doing for Black Friday?

No one likes a tech bargain more than TechRadar! And we don't want to keep them all to ourselves.

So we'll be beavering away tirelessly all weekend to constantly bring you the hottest deals as they go live online. You'll need to keep your wits about you though, because many deals only last for an hour or until stocks run out. So you need to be quick off the mark - and we'll be on hand to make it as easy for you as possible.

Tune in to TechRadar on November 28th, 29th, 30th and December 1st to get at the hot deals first!

Where do retailers put their best Black Friday deals?

Don't you know that patience is a virtue?! It's not Black Friday yet, but okay - we've put together a list of retailer's Black Friday pages so that you can take a look now and see what it's all about. We'll be adding more soon, and of course, this page on TechRadar will be the place to be with a curated list of all the best deals!

Amazon Black Friday page

Argos Black Friday page

Very Black Friday Page

Currys Black Friday page

John Lewis Black Friday page

Black Friday UK deals 2014

The Black Friday phenomenon well and truly took off in the UK this year. Traffic to this deals page has been phenomenal all week, and the sheer volume of clicks on retail websites has seen many of them crumble under the strain.

We've seen an incredible number of amazing Black Friday deals come through from UK retailers and even though Black Friday itself has been and gone, many of the deals are still available.

In case you're still catching up, Black Friday is a special time of year when retailers online and on the highstreet shift a lot of stock by drastically reducing prices on hot items for a limited time.

We'll be updating this page throughout the weekend with new deals so do keep checking in with us! And remember, it's Cyber Monday on Monday!

TechRadar Deals: Shadow of Mordor, speakers, chargers, soundbars + more!

Sunday's Black Friday Deals

Magazines: Get up to 69% off magazine subscriptions atmymavouritemagazines.co.uk with the code XMAS20

PRICE MATCH: Today John Lewis is running a price match scheme to guarantee you the best prices on hot items like iPads, TVs and more. See John Lewis Price Match offers

Xbox One: Get an Xbox One console with two control pads and a copy of Assassin's Creed Unity for £299.99 at Amazon.

Hi-Fi: LG CM2440DAB Micro HiFi - just £99 at Very, saving £49.

TV: Sony Bravia R-Series 32-inch TV - now just £189.99 at eBay.

Home Cinema: LG DH4430P 5.1 Channel 330W DVD Home Cinema System - now just £105 at Amazon.

Camera: Canon EOS 100D Digital SLR - now just £429 at John Lewis.

Desktop PC: Lenovo C460 All-in-One Desktop PC, Intel Pentium, 4GB RAM, 1TB, 21.5-inch Touch Screen - now just £429.95 at John Lewis.

Wi-Fi Booster: TP-Link range extender to boost your router's signal, save £25 and pay £14.99 at Amazon.

HDMI cable: HDMI KING 1.8M (6ft) Imperial Series 240hz+ HDMI Cable v1.4 Gold Plated, Double Insulated just £3.49 at Amazon.

Portable hard drive: WD My Passport 2TB Portable Hard Drive for £59.99 at Argos.

TV: Samsung UE40EH5000 40-inch LED TV - pick one up for just £249.99.

Hi-Fi: Philips MCM2150/05 70W Micro Music System With FM Radio and CD Player - just £60 at Tesco.

Hi-Fi: Philips BTM2056 Hi-Fi System with Bluetooth Wireless connectivity and CD Player - just £60 at Tesco.

DualShock 4: Pick up a spare PS4 controller for just £29.99 at Game.

Google Chromecast is currently just £18 at a variety of retailers. See the deals at Amazon, Currys and Tesco.

iPhone: Save up to £200 on iPhones at Carphone Warehouse this weekend!

Tablet: Samsung Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 direct from Samsung for £349 with code NOTE150.

iPad: Apple iPad mini 2 - 16 GB just £209 at Currys.

Nikon DSLR: For just £339 you can pick up the Nikon D3200 DSLR Camera with 18-55 mm + 55-200 mm Telephoto Zoom Lens at Currys!

Canon: Pick up the Canon PowerShot SX510 12MP Bridge Camera for just £119.99 at Argos!

HP Printer: HP 2544 Wireless All-in-one Colour Inkjet Printer just £24.20 at Tesco!

Android tablet: The ASUS MeMO Pad 7-inch tablet is currently just £79 at Currys and Very.

TV: Sony KDL40R483 40 Inch Full HD Freeview HD LED TV just £299.99 at Argos.

Dell PCs: Dell is offering 12% off all XPS laptops and desktop PCs this weekend!

Breaking Bad: Get every episode on DVD for £40 at Amazon.

EXPIRED: Sony PS4: Get a PlayStation 4 with Driveclub for £289 at Amazon.

USB storage: WD My Passport 2TB Portable Hard Drive for just £59.99 at Argos.

Bluetooth speaker: Anker A7908 Portable Bluetooth 4.0 Speaker for £29.99 at Amazon.

Headphones: AKG K452 High-Performance On-Ear Headphones for £54 at Amazon.

Headphones: Sennheiser CX 300 II for £21.99 at Amazon.

Kindle: Amazon Kindle Paperwhite eReader at John Lewis for £79.

Tablet: Lenovo Yoga 10 at Very for just £159.

TV: Panasonic TX-42A400B 42-inch at Amazon for just £309!

Fitness band: JAWBONE UP at Currys for £39.

Home cinema: Panasonic SC-BTT405EBK 5.1 Smart 3D Blu-ray Home Cinema System all for just £149 at Currys!

Headphones: Beats by Dre Solo 2 for just £134.99 at Currys.

Magazine subscriptions: With the voucher code XMAS20 you can save an additional 20% on all magazine deals at MyFavouriteMagazines.

Cool gadgets: The best tech you can buy in 2014

Best Black Friday Deals

Panasonic TX-39AS500: One of TechRadar's favourite TVs of 2014, save £100 and pay just £299 at The Co-op.

64GB USB stick: Transcend 64GB JetFlash 700 Super Speed USB 3.0 just £21.46 at Amazon!

Sony SSCH400: a great compact camera currently just £152.10 on Amazon UK

HP Printer: Save £160 on the HP Envy 120 e-All-In-One printer. Was £249.99 now just £89.99 while stocks last!

EXPIRED: Kindle Fire HDX: Pick up an Amazon Kindle Fire HDX tablet with 32GB storage for just £129. That's currently cheaper than the 16GB version!

Google Chromecast currently just £18 on Amazon - comes with 90 days free Google Play Music All Access streaming!

Samsung Galaxy Tab S: 10.5-inch white Android tablet, just £298 at PC World (saving £100) when you use the code BLACK100

Nest Learning Thermostat: get Google's smart heating system for just £149 at John Lewis.

Amazon Fire TV: Pick up Amazon's new internet streaming box for just £69 while stocks last!

Laptops and computing: Very has some amazing deals on laptops and other computing items - check them out on Very's Black Friday computing page.

EXPIRED: LG G2: Available on Pay as you Go for just £150 at Vodafone

Dyson DC30: Handheld vacuum cleaner, now just £99.95 at John Lewis.

EXPIRED: Sony headphones: Sony BTN200 Bluetooth wireless headphones on Argos for £29.99.

EXPIRED: Dyson: Pick up a Dyson vacuum for just £149.99 at Argos.

Asus laptop: 15.6-inch Windows 8 laptop, 4GB RAM and 750GB HDD now just £299 at PC World.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 Kids: Get a child-friendly Samsung Galaxy tablet for just £89 at Very!

Broadband Extender: Boost your router's reach with this BT powerline adapter kit, just £25.99 at Amazon.

Kindle Paperwhite: Save £20.Normally £109, currently £89 at Argos.

Quadcopter Drone with camera: Pick one up for £39.97 at Appliances Direct

Google Nexus 5

Black Friday Phone Deals

Phones.co.uk: Check out this Black Friday UK page for great deals on iPhones and Android smartphones: Phones.co.uk/BlackFriday

Vodafone: Currently some great deals on LG G3, Samsung Galaxy S5, HTC One M8 and more over on Vodafone's Black Friday page.

EXPIRED: Sony Xperia E3: Android smartphone for just £69 at Very - save £100!

iPad mini

Black Friday Apple Deals

EXPIRED: iPad mini: Price war on iPad minis! Pick one up at John Lewis for just £149. The same iPad mini £149 deal is available at Tesco.

iPad mini 2 with Retina display: Pick one up at John Lewis for just £209

EXPIRED: Apple iMac: Get £100 off all iMacs at John Lewis for one day only

EXPIRED: Apple Macbook: Get £100 off all Macbooks at John Lewis for one day only

iPad Air 2: Pick up a second gen iPad Air, the best tablet ever made, at Rakuten from just £330!

Apple TV: Pick up an Apple TV at Amazon UK today for just £64!

Sony PS4 review

Black Friday console deals

Mini hub: Best Black Friday PS4 deals

Mini hub: Best Black Friday Xbox One deals

Sony PS4: Get a white Sony PS4 for £299 at ShopTo

Sony PS4: This is a great deal. PlayStation 4 console, PLUS Grand Theft Auto V AND The Last of Us Remastered AND Destiny + Vanguard AND a 12 month subscription to PlayStation Plus... all for just £399.99 at Game.

Sony PS4: Get a PS4 with Driveclub for just £289 at Tesco.

White Sony PS4: Get a PS4 with Driveclub for just £289 at Amazon

Sony PS4: Get the PS4 Console and Little Big Planet 3 for £299.99

Sony PS4: Sony PS4 with Little Big Planet 3 and The Last of Us Remastered for just £299 at Amazon.

Sony PS4: Get a PlayStation 4 PLUS Grand Theft Auto V, Watch Dogs, Wolfenstien: The New Order and Battle Field 4 for only £399.99 at ShopTo

PS4: Another PS4 bundle with four games, this time with Grand Theft Auto V, Watch Dogs, Alien: Isolation and InFamous First Light all for just £399.99 at ShopTo

EXPIRED: DualShock 4: Pick up a spare PS4 control pad at John Lewis for just £24.99 for one day only!

EXPIRED: Xbox One: Get an Xbox One with a copy of GTA V for just £289 at eBay UK.

Xbox One: Get an Xbox One with a copy of GTA V at Amazon for £299.

Xbox One: Get an Xbox One on its own for £289 at Tesco.

EXPIRED: Xbox One: Get an Xbox One plus copies of Wolfenstein: The New Order and Alien: Isolation for just £389.99 at eBay UK.

Xbox One: Get an Xbox One with an extra controller for £289 at Amazon.

Best TV 2014: what TV should you buy?

Black Friday TV Deals

Mini hub: Best Black Friday TV deals UK 2014

Samsung UE40H6400: a brilliant 40-inch HD TV currently just £379 at John Lewis.

EXPIRED: LG 49LB5500: Great deal on this 49-inch LED TV, just £329 at Tesco!

LG55UB820V: PC World has an excellent deal on this 55-inch LED HD TV - save £200 with voucher code BLACK200!

Sony Bravia KDL-42W76: Full HD LED 42-inch TV, currently just £399 at John Lewis.

Sony Bravia KDL-40R483: Full HD LED 40-inch TV for just £299 at Argos!

Panasonic TX-39AS500: One of TechRadar's favourite TVs of 2014, save £100 and pay just £299 at The Co-op.

EXPIRED: Luxor 42-inch TV: Get this 42-inch TD LED TV for just £279 at Very.

Panasonic TX-40AX630B: 4K Ultra HD 40-inch TV, save £300 - now just £699 at Very.

Panasonic TX-48AX630B: 4K Ultra HD 48-inch TV, save £400 - now just £899 at Very.

LG 49UB850V: 49-inch 4K Ultra HD TV, save £1000 - just £999 at Very.

Samsung UE40HU6900: 40-inch4K Ultra HD TV, save £400 - now just £599 at Very.

Tesco Hudl

Black Friday Tablet Deals

Samsung Galaxy Tab S: 10.5-inch white Android tablet, just £298 at PC World (saving £100) when you use the code BLACK100

LG G Pad 8.0 tablet: pick up this Android tablet at John Lewis for just £99.95!

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 3: Pick up a Samsung Android tablet from John Lewis for £149.

iPad mini: Price war on iPad minis! Pick one up at John Lewis for just £149. The same iPad mini £149 deal is available at Tesco.

iPad mini 2 with Retina display: Pick one up at John Lewis for just £209

iPad Air 2: Pick up a second gen iPad Air, the best tablet ever made, at Rakuten from just £330!

Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 Kids: Get a child-friendly Samsung Galaxy tablet for just £89 at Very!

Best laptop 2014: which notebook should you buy?

Black Friday Laptop and Computing deals

Cheap laptops: Very has some amazing deals on laptops and other computing items - check them out on Very's Black Friday computing page.

Apple iMac: Get £100 off all iMacs at John Lewis for one day only

Apple Macbook: Get £100 off all Macbooks at John Lewis for one day only

Asus laptop: 15.6-inch Windows 8 laptop, 4GB RAM and 750GB HDD now just £299 at PC World.

Lenovo Yoga 2: 13.3-inch touchscreen Windows 8 laptop now just £499 for one day only!

Canon G1 X Mark II review

Black Friday Camera Deals

Mini hub: Black Friday Camera Deals 2014

Sony DSCH400 Digital Camera: a compact camera with 63x optical zoom,a bargain for just £152.10

Sony Cyber-shot DSC HX400: Digital Bridge Camera - a great cashback deal on this DSLR-style handling camera. Get it now for £305.10 (£265.10 after Sony cashback)

Samsung WB1100F Smart Bridge Camera - these are running out fast over at Very.co.uk. Now just £109.99.

Sony A7 with 28-70mm lens cheapest ever - this award-winning Sony camera is now just £999.00

Canon EOS 100D DSLR Camera with EF-S 18-55mm III Lens - Black (18MP, CMOS Sensor) 3 inch Touch Screen LCD - a great price on this DSLR with a further discount to £319.99 after cashback.

Nikon D3200 Digital SLR Camera - another sub-£350 DSLR over at Amazon for £329.99

Canon EOS 1200D Digital SLR Camera - available for just £260 after using the Canon cashback promotion.

Canon PowerShot SX510 HS Camera - 30x optical zoom, wifi and GPS tagging. Snap it up at a knock down price of £138.29

EXPIRED: Sony A5100 Compact System Camera - a whopping £200 off this Sony camera at John Lewis, now just£349.

EXPIRED: Canon PowerShot S200 Digital Camera - another John Lewis compact camera on offer for £149.

Samsung Level Over review

Black Friday headphones deals

Sennheiser CX 300 II: Excellent earphones! Save £23 by picking them up at Amazon for £21.99.

EXPIRED: Philips SHB6017: Bluetooth wireless sports earphones on Amazon for just £39.99.

Beats Solo 2: Get these Beats by Dre for just £135 at Tesco!

Sennheiser Over ear: Save £60.99 on the Sennheiser Momentum Closed headphones - now just £199 at Amazon

Sennheiser MM 30i: Ear-Canal Headset, now £29.95 on Amazon.

Sennheiser HD419: Sleek closed back headphones, save £15 - now £39.95 on Amazon.

Sennheiser HD201: Closed dynamic stereo headphones, now just £17.98 on Amazon.

AKG K550: High performance headphones, save £150.99 - now just £99 on Amazon

More headphones deals: Lots more black friday deals on headphones at John Lewis - check them out!

GTA V

Black Friday Games Deals

Far Cry 4 for Xbox One: Just £37.99 at Zavvi just for today

The Evil Within for PS4: £23.99 just for today

PES 2015 for PS4: Pick it up for just £24.99 for a limited time

The Last of Us Remastered on PS4: Just £24.85 at Amazon UK

Metro: Redux on PS4: Just £18.85 for today only at Shopto

Call Of Duty Ghosts Hardened Edition (PS3/Xbox 360) for £9.99

The Last of Us Remastered (PS4) (hard copy not download) for £24.85

Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor (PS4) for £24.99

PES 2015 (PS4) for £24.99

Lego Batman 3 (Xbox One) for £29.86

The Evil Within (Xbox One/PS4) for £23.98

Elgato Game Capture HD60 for £119.99

Assassin's Creed Rogue (X360 & PS3) for £24.99

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (PS4/Xbox One) for £29.97

Lords Of The Fallen (PS4/Xbox One) for £24.95

Football Manager 2015 for £17

Jawbone Up24 review

Black Friday Fitness Band Deals

Fitbit Flex: Wireless activity and sleep tracker, big saving on Tesco. Currently just £39!

Sony Smart Band: Save £40 on the Sony SWR10 Core Smart Band and get it at Very.co.uk for just £39.99.

Jawbone UP24: Wireless activity tracker just £49.99 at Amazon today!

Black Friday Deals UK: 2014's biggest bargains listed

Assorted Black Friday deals

HP Printer: Save £160 on the HP Envy 120 e-All-In-One printer. Was £249.99 now just £89.99 while stocks last!

5-port USB charger: Anker Astro 40W 5-Port USB wall charger. Normally £19.99, get it for £15.99 with our exclusive discount code which is BFDEALS1.

Portable USB charger: Anker 2nd Gen Astro E5 16000mAh External Battery charger, normally £29.99, get it for £23.99 with our exclusive discount code which is BFDEALS1.

Black Friday landing pages:

Get Black Friday deals on games:

Black Friday PayPal deals

PayPal will be running some excellent deals on Friday, the most interesting ones being:

1. Steam, saving up to 75% off the latest games from 26th November to 2nd December

2. iTunes, 20% off £15, £25, £50 and £100 iTunes codes from 26th November to 1st December

3. Spotify, 3 months of Spotify Premium for the price of 1 month from 24th November to 31st December

All offers will be live on Friday at www.paypal.co.uk/BlackFriday

Get more Black Friday UK deals early!

Amazon will be adding new hot deals all week next week, but it's already gotten the ball rolling with some pretty enticing deals. They don't last long though so you need to be quick. You can keep track of what's going by going here: Amazon Black Friday deals