Friday, October 1

Tech Review: King Mobile Phone

Time and money. These are two things which most of us lack and lust after. The product of time and money gives convenience. King Mobile Phone is a small business that specialises in the phone unlocking and debranding industry.

Having needed to use my mobile phone abroad recently and not having time in abundance I needed to unlock my HTC Hero from my network operator. Utilising King Mobile Phone's services in the past to unlock a previous handset I had some confidence in turning to them again. However, this time I needed the job done remotely, i.e. didn't want the hassle of taking it to their premises to have the unlock done. Having had bad experience with other remote unlocking companies in the past I was sceptical about this. I proceeded cautiously.

In hindsight I needn't had worried as everything went smoothely. The site works by the user sending the make and model of their handset along with the IEMI number on their very easy to use form. This information is then used to deliver you a release code, via an email with instructions, which unlocks the handset from the network. The turn-around time is quoted between 1-24 hours depending on the handset. Whilst there also exists an option of you purchasing the software from the website to unlock the mobile phone yourself, it is more worthwhile to purchase the 'release code' option if you are looking to unlock a single handset. This added option will be appeciated by more tech-savvy users.

The website also provides a debranding service along with a postal and an on-site service on their premises in South London.

Whilst my release code took slightly longer than had been estimated I was definitely happy with the quality of the service provided and the ease of which it was to unlock my handset. Once I had received the code it was just a matter of minutes before I was able to use a sim card belonging to another network. The site also provides support via a forum and instant messaging such as msn.

Pros:
Simple process
Relatively cheap
Reliable
User section showing the progress of the order

Cons:
None, although if you're in a hurry to unlock your handset having it done on-sight might be a better alternative.