Thanks for posting that, Reg. When I was walking the West Highland Way recently I was wondering what piece of technology would combine phone, internet and reading matter (I don't have a smartphone), so your comments are very interesting.

Yes Peter... but if the news is bad, you can always switch off...

And you can get the latest Test Match scores???????oh no !!!!

I hiked the Stevenson Trail in August and set my Ipad Mini up to make phone calls. I wanted to avoid roaming charges and only take one piece of technology with me. It worked a treat. I downloaded books, maps, sent and received emails, made phone calls, took a few photos (I do not take photos normally) looked up places and street maps when arriving in places and so on. I charged it for free on electric hook ups on camping/camping sites, no one minded. All I had to buy was a Mi-Fi, put £10 on a PAYG Voip site, download the MobileVoip app and bingo I was up and running. I remember sitting outside of my one man tent in a clearing in a wood on the outskirts of Florac. I phoned my sister on her land line for free and paid 2 euro cents a minute to phone my wife on her mobile. I thought that was pretty good value.