Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Mobile
  3. News

EE launches the UK’s cheapest 4G LTE phone and plan deal

Andy Boxall
By
EE Kestrel
Image used with permission by copyright holder

UK network EE has long been criticized for its over-priced 4G LTE tariffs. It has responded to this by launching not only a new cut-price plan, but also a budget 4G phone to go along with it. EE says the new deal is the cheapest way to get a 4G plan and phone together in the country. According to reports, the EE-branded phone is also the first in a new range of hardware wearing the network’s name too.

How cheap is cheap? It’s £14 ($23) per month for two-years, and this gives you 500 minutes of talktime, as many SMS as you can send, and 500MB of 4G speed data. If 1GB of data is more inline with your needs, then the monthly charge increases to £19 ($31).

Recommended Videos

Sign up to any of these tariffs, and you get the new phone, called the Kestrel, for free. It’s a rebranded Huawei device, and 4G LTE connectivity is about all that makes it stand out. The screen measures 4.5-inches and has a 960 x 540 pixel resolution, and a 1.2GHz quad-core processor with 1GB of RAM provides the power.

Related

Android 4.3 Jelly Bean is the aging OS, to which Huawei and EE have added a simplified user interface, along with a selection of pre-installed apps. There’s a 5-megapixel camera on the rear, a 1-megapixel video call lens over the screen, 8GB of internal memory with a MicroSD card slot, and HD Voice support. If you’d prefer to buy the Kestrel on Pay As You Go, it’s yours for £100 ($165).

It’s hard to argue with EE’s budget option. Head over to Vodafone, select the similarly specced Samsung Galaxy Express 2, and the cheapest 4G tariff option has 3GB of data each month for £34 ($56). That’s a lot more data. but it’s a lot to pay for a relatively basic phone. It’s the same story at O2, where the Sony Xperia SP comes with 1GB of data for £28 ($46) per month over two years. If you can live with 500MB of data, and a basic phone, EE’s Kestrel will end up costing £336 ($555) when your contract ends.

The Kestrel isn’t available on EE’s website at the time of writing, but we’ll update when it appears.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Andy Boxall
Andy Boxall
Senior Mobile Writer
Andy is a Senior Writer at Digital Trends, where he concentrates on mobile technology, a subject he has written about for…
Skip the Google Pixel 5 — the Pixel 4a 5G is the phone to get
Galaxy A52 5G vs Google Pixel 4a 5G

Google has finally taken the wraps off of the Google Pixel 5, offering a series of premium features like an OLED display, a dual-sensor camera system that will likely be incredible, 5G support, and a quick Snapdragon 765G processor. All those features together are likely to offer a premium experience, and at $699, it's a great deal.

But it turns out, those features aren't exclusive to just one Google phone. In fact, they're all available in a $499 phone, too — one that Google itself makes.

Read more
With the Pixel 5 and 4a 5G, Google finally priced its phones to succeed
google pixel 5 announced pixel5

Google's Pixels have long been a top choice for technology enthusiasts. For people who understood the importance of simple software and a phone that offered an experience greater than the sum of its parts. And for people who loved having an easy-to-use, yet exceptionally powerful, smartphone camera.

But Google ran up against a huge obstacle: Few people actually tried a Pixel phone to find out how great they were -- because they were too expensive. The first four generations of Pixels were priced comparably others in the market or coming soon, on par with where we expect the iPhone 12 to land and the cost of this summer's Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra for example. And when faced with that choice, people went with the sure thing: The big name they already knew.

Read more
New leaks offer the best look at Google’s Pixel 5 and Pixel 4a (5G) phones
Google Pixel 5 render leak

Earlier this week, alongside launching the Pixel 4a, Google teased a pair of upcoming phones: The Pixel 4a (5G) and Pixel 5 it plans to launch later in the fall. Now, a series of leaks have revealed just about every detail you need to know about these devices.

A report by Steve Hemmestoffer (@OnLeaks), who has a reliable track record, offers the best look (in collaboration with Indian outlets, 91Mobiles and Pricebaba) at the Pixel 4a (5G) and Pixel 5 through a bunch of high-resolution renders. Both the phones share a similar, minimalistic design that can be found on the recently announced Pixel 4a as well. There’s a nearly edge-to-edge screen on the front with a tiny cutout for the selfie camera and a square-ish camera housing on the back.

Read more