Save Money as UK Christmas shopping peaks online

Haven’t finished your Christmas shopping yet? If not, then you, like thousands of others, could be poised to flock to online shops next Monday in what could be the busiest online shopping day of the year.

'Cyber Monday' refers to the first Monday after 'Black Friday' - a day traditionally associated with the start of the Christmas shopping season in the USA - that is the Friday after Thanksgiving. 'Cyber Monday' falls on 30 November this year. The date has in recent years become a UK shopping phenomenon as online sales peak on a Monday two or three weeks before Christmas.

Wondering where to buy your gifts? Our biggest online shopping survey yet reveals the best shopping website.

Retail analysis suggests that shoppers spend pre-Christmas weekends browsing and buying on the high street, and then return to the office on the Monday morning to use price comparison sites to get the lowest prices or find items that were out-of-stock.

Shop around to save money online
This year, experts expect that shoppers will be keener than ever to find a bargain online in the face of the ongoing recession.

Feeling uninspired? If you’re looking for ideas for Christmas presents read our guide to the top Christmas present ideas

Popular gifts bought online include books, perfumes, CDs and toys which are typically at least 15% cheaper from online retailers than high street shops.

Sarah Kidner, editor of Which? Computing said: ‘You can definitely bag a bargain on the internet. However, we’d advise shoppers to look for hidden extras such as delivery charges before they buy. Shoppers should also check delivery times.’

Use the Which? guide to Christmas last order dates now to check which websites can deliver in time

Where to buy your Christmas presents
Our survey reveals the best online shops to buy from, including: John Lewis, BHS, and local garden centres

This article is sponsored by www.waterfeatureuk.co.uk Providing water features and fountains to UK gardens.

The Only way to do Christmas Shopping in The UK

Christmas is the best festival of the year and everyone looks forward to the day to rip open the presents and see what they’ve got. All people hope to get good presents that will be useful and Christmas shopping is a huge agenda as the holidays loom ahead. For those who enjoy shopping in general, Christmas shopping will be a lot of fun but tiresome. For people who are too busy and not that fond of shopping, it could be an ordeal. There is also the fact that all the stores would be filled with Christmas crowds and it is very probable that you might not find what you are looking for easily.

The best way to do your Christmas shopping in UK is to shop online. By shopping online, you can easily avoid the crowds. Each person likes different things and instead for going from store to store looking for just the right things to present to family, friends and relatives, you can shop with ease, comfortably in the confines of your home. All you need to have to complete your Christmas shopping is a few hours to find the best of things and a little patience to browse through prospective gifts.

There are also a few things that you should note before shopping online. You should make sure that you are shopping in safe stores and once you have started safe shopping you can plunge in and buy all the finest gifts. One of the best things about shopping online is that you have a lot of choices unlike going from store to yet another store where you would have to settle for an average gift. While others sweat it out trying to figure out the best gift, you can complete your Christmas shopping in UK in a couple of relaxing hours and watch your loved ones enjoy your cool gifts on Christmas.

Iphone 3GS Review

Mobile Phone Review starts with the new iphone 3GS. What makes it so special, or not so special as the case may be.
iPhone 3GS review

If it ain't broke, don't fix it -- right? We know countless reviews of the iPhone 3GS may begin with that cliché, but there's little chance you'd find a better way to describe the strategy that Apple has just put into play with its latest smartphone. In many ways, the 3GS is a mirror image of the iPhone 3G; externally there's no difference. It's inside where all the changes have happened, with Apple issuing a beefed-up CPU, new internal compass, larger capacities for storage, and improved optics for its camera. More to the point, the release of the 3GS coincides with the launch of iPhone OS 3.0, a major jump from previous versions of the system software featuring highly sought after features like cut, copy, and paste, stereo Bluetooth, MMS, tethering, video recording, landscape keyboard options for more applications, and an iPhone version of Spotlight. At a glance, what Apple seems to be doing is less a reinvention of the wheel and more like retreading the wheel it's already got (and what a wheel, right?). So, do the iPhone 3GS and OS 3.0 tweak the details in just the right places, or has Apple gone and gotten lazy on us? Read on to find out.

As we said in the intro, there is nothing visually different about the iPhone 3GS versus the iPhone 3G, save for the lettering on the back, which is now mirrored like the Apple logo. While we had seen leaked images of a matte finish, bezel-free version of the device, when push came to shove, what we got was essentially a carbon copy of the iPhone 3G. In terms of the general elements of the phone -- the plastic casing, mute switch, home and power buttons, etc. -- there is no change at all. In fact, if you were to lay this phone and its predecessor next to one another face up, the new model would be indistinguishable. Of course, the 3GS is not just a clone of the previous device, and Apple has made most of its significant changes inside the phone.
First off, the company has supercharged the CPU of the 3GS (remember, the S is for speed), jacking up the processor numbers from 412MHz to a rumored 600MHz. Additionally, the RAM is said to have doubled from 128MB to 256MB, the phone is offered with 16GB or 32GB of storage, and Apple has swapped out the previous graphics chip for a new version -- dubbed the PowerVR SGX -- which adds support for more robust visuals via OpenGL ES 2.0. All this should mean that end users will see a noticeable difference in app speeds and loading times (Apple claims an average of 2x faster loads, though since the company has been cagey about upgrade details, it's hard to know what the real differences are).

For our oft-used phone actions -- flicking through homescreens, calling up search terms in Spotlight, scrolling through long lists -- we definitely felt like the 3GS was snappier than its predecessor. It wasn't like the doors were flying off, but there was a noticeable bump in speed, particularly when it came to initial data loads (how quickly you see content pop up within an application). When it came to opening apps which pull lots of that kind of content, like Contacts, Calendar, or Messaging, we saw an even more noticeable improvement. Comparing the 3G and 3GS side-by-side yielded small but absolutely palpable differences -- the 3GS does seem to eliminate quite a few of the hangs we find maddening as we go through our day. It's not the perfect salve, but it's a start.

We're excited by the cranked up CPU, but in our experience you'll see lowered load times (though obviously not as drastic) if you take a standard 3G and do a full restore, so there is the lingering question of whether or not the jacked-up feel of the 3GS will last, or will begin to bog down after months of use and heaps of data.

Overall we love the Ihone 3GS but hate the camera and loudspeaker functionality. The iphone 3gs is a great gadget but not yet a great phone.

Check out more Great buys from one of the cheapest online retailers here.

Poplar Tree Garden Centre Online

We pondered what to enter into our first review. We thought long and hard and decided that an entry of a local retailer, close to home but selling nationwide would be a great start. We set off googling online retailers in the North East and came accross Poplar Tree Garden Centre. For this review we thought we would base our findings on both our instore experience and online purchases.

We noticed that Poplar Tree Garden Centres website was full of products. When we say full, we mean full. There must be thousands of items on there. Mostly products related to gardening such as shovels, hedge trimmers and seeds. Looking a little deeper intot eh website indicated that they had diversified their range into furniture, both indoor and outdoor. It seemed a good selection. The prices were very competitive when checked against other etailers on comparison websites. Poplar Tree Garden Centre came just about cheapest on every product we tested, except certain childrens toys, which we didnt even expect them to sell so we presume that they werent able to bulk buy these items to be able to compete with toy store prices. They were still very affordable though and we liked the way they were related to gardening.

What did we decide to buy. Well we chose two products totalling over £50. The reason for this was that Poplar Tree advertise that online purchases over £50 are delivered nationwide for free. Even though we were local, we thought we would test it out. We quickly added a hand painted Martini Glass to our shopping basket and then chose a lopper. I needed my trees lopping so I thought I would kill two birds with one stone. The online checkout was smooth and fast and we had paid and recieved email confirmation from Poplar Tree within seconds. Impressive so far.

Online checkout complete, we jumped in the car and headed for Poplar Tree Garden Centre located in Durham City. It was a little difficult to find, near Maiden Castle Sports Centre in Shincliffe Village but the sat Nav took us straight to the main entrance. The carpark is huge. Easily capable of holding 150 cars, with an overspill also in use on the day we arrived. We were taken back as to how full the carpark was. There were at least 80 cars there and it was only 10:30am. After a short walk to the shop entrance we had a browse around the gift section first. They stock quite a unique range of gifts. Very well presented and I quickly spotted my Hand painted Martini Glass that I had purchased online. It was the same price instore. Some stores discount online items over instore but on the other hand, some dont. They also sold items such as framed coin collections, marble and glass ornaments, beautiful handbags, outdoor clothing and wooden handcrafted toys and living room furniture.

Moving through the sections of the store, we were suprised at how big Poplar Tree Garden Centre is. After talking to a member of staff about how things were going, it sounded like the owners were spending lots of money extending the store and refurbishing many sections of it. Inside was mainly stocked with gardening products such as grass seed, gardening tools, patio furniture, artificial hanging baskets. We also noticed that Poplar Tree have a Florist business seperate to the garden centre but operating inside. They have a huge selection of fresh flowers and specialise in weddings. They also sell Interflora arrangements nationwide and I grabbed details of the website to check out later. Its here if you want to check it out. They also have a seperate Wedding and events website especially for locals who are looking for a florist near Durham. You can see it here. Its quite impressive.

We took a right and headed outside where there were products as far as the eye could see. Everything from plant pots to plants and trees. It looks like Poplar Tree sell it all. It started to get very busy so we decided to head for the coffee shop for a tea and scone. They call it Brambles. Im not sure why. It is located in a wooden pavillion style building and when we got inside, we were pleasently suprised. It was flawlessly clean and had a wonderful mixture of people. The only problem was, we couldnt get a seat. Not to worry said a member of staff as she tapped me on the shoulder, you can sit outside. We ordered a sandwich instead of a scone and it was delicious. We sat in the mid day sun for a while, taking notes and discussing our experience. For a first review, we couldnt have asked for anything better. Full of people and friendly staff, Poplar Tree Garden Centre Durham was heading for a great review. It was a thumbs up from us.

Check out Poplar Trees website for yourself and see what you think.

Positives: Wide selection of goods and very helpful staff. Online purchase was easy and fast and came the very next day. Delivered to our work address as promised.

Negatives: Can get very busy in summer but Poplar Tree Garden Centre is big enough to cope.