The tax would be one per cent of the sale price of gadgets and would be used to help fund French culture, such as film, music and art.

Former chief executive of French pay-TV channel Canal Plus, Pierre Lescure, lead the government-funded report that put forward the proposal. A total of 75 measures were suggested in the paper, which aimed to find new ways to “protect the cultural exception in the face of digital innovation”.

According to the proposal, the smartphone tax could raise in the region of €86 million (£73 million) a year.

Aurelie Filipetti, culture minister in France, commented on the report: “Today we have extremely sophisticated technological equipment that is extremely expensive to buy, but which contributes nothing to the financing of the works that circulate on that same equipment.”

She added: “Companies that make these tablets must, in a minor way, be made to contribute part of the revenue from their sales to help creators.”

France has always been very proud of its own cultural heritage and has gone to great pains to protect it. A Cultural Exception policy already means that broadcasters pay fees to fund cultural projects, but the government is looking for a way for big technology companies, such as Google and Apple, to pay similar contributions.

Windows Phone UK commissioned research which found that 28 per cent of parents have been the victim of unexpected costs from their children buying apps or spending extra money within the app.

It appears that eight-year-olds are the biggest trouble, running up bills of an average of £59.59. But even younger people have been found to have run up extra costs, with more than a third of children aged four and under making purchases without permission.

Brett Siddons, from Windows Phone UK, commented: “Our research reveals parents are worried about the impact of app and in-app purchases on their bills and we understand the stress this can cause.

"With technology becoming more and more intuitive, it's important that parents can trust in the technology they use and feel as safe as possible when handing over their smartphone and tablet devices to their children."

An Office of Fair Trading investigation was launched last month into app-based games amid concerns that children in particular are being tricked into spending money on 'free' apps.

Conducted by Telmetrics and xAd, the study found that 46 per cent of respondents use mobile exclusively when researching online. Meanwhile, 50 per cent said that they start their search with a mobile device.

According to comments from Bill Dinan, president of Telmetrics, the trend is due to the fact that people always have their smartphone close by. "For most consumers, even if they are searching on their PC, they still have their smartphone in the other hand to call business or conduct parallel research," he explained.

But it appears that people use their smartphones slightly differently to the way in which they use their desktop PCs when researching. The study found that 57 per cent of people go straight to an app or the website of the brand they are looking at, while many people using desktop computers will head to Google or an equivalent search engine first.

The research confirms that attitudes are changing, but it is unclear where the next twist will take the market.

The Asha range is designed to be an affordable alternative to the premium Lumia range and is likely to be popular with a younger market keen to keep in constant contact with friends and family.

Social media is given prominence on the handsets, but they also boast a number of other desirable features. These include a two mega-pixel camera and Bluetooth connectivity. The camera includes an edit function that allows users to make sure their pictures look their best before they are uploaded to Facebook, for example.

The much-discussed WhatsApp button, meanwhile, integrates the chat service into the handset, allowing users instant access to the service.

The handset is at the lower end of the market and is expected to be priced at around £50 when it lands in the UK in the second quarter of this year. A variety of different colours is likely to make the handset even more appealing to a young audience, who can buy the phone in yellow, cyan, black, magenta and white.

Thousands of apps are advertised as free. But in some cases, while they are free to download, people are running up large fees by paying for extras within the game. Children in particular are doing this, resulting in some surprisingly high phone bills for parents.

Cavendish Elithorn, senior director for goods and consumer at the OFT, commented on the situation: "We are concerned that children and their parents could be subject to unfair pressure to purchase when they are playing games they thought were free, but which can actually urn up substantial costs."

In one case, a parent reported being hit with charges of more than £3,000 for content in a game that their child was a fan of.

The investigation is due to focus on whether or not the way in which the add-ons are marked breaches consumer law. However, there may be further inquiries into the way in which the games are initially sold.

The next phase of the investigation is due to be published by October of this year.

The device boasts a 6.3 inch screen, making it perfectly designed for watching videos or for using more than one application at the same time.

Samsung's 5.3 inch Galaxy Note handset was the original popular big-screen handset and the phone proved to be more popular than expected. It is thought that the launch of an updated and even bigger version signals a move towards a new way of consumers using smartphones.

Principal technology analyst with the Davies Murphy Group, Chris Green, told the BBC that while there is a "genuine demand" for these larger smartphones, companies are currently struggling to define the difference between a smartphone and a tablet.

He continued: "When you've got this up against your head you'd have to argue you're using a tablet and not a smartphone – it's definitely going to compromise its functionality because it's simply too big and too cumbersome to use as a traditional telephone device.

"But ignoring the phone functionality, as far as the rest of the smart device goes it looks quite phenomenal."

Samsung's Galaxy range has been dubbed an iPhone slayer before. In fact, some of the firm's handsets have even managed to outsell iPhone launches in the past, putting the business in an excellent position for future development.

Charlie Kindel has been taken on by the business after his 20-year stint at Microsoft, where he most recently worked on the company's Windows Phone.

Mr Kindel led the Windows Phone developer platform work, as well as the Windows Media Centre, before he left the business in 2011 to focus on some US start-ups. He has now shifted his focus to Amazon.

A statement on his LinkedIn profile reads: “I'm building a new team going after a totally new area for Amazon. I'm hiring cloud and mobile developers and testers, product managers and program managers.”

Amazon's recent acquisitions further point to the likelihood of the development of a smartphone. In January, the firm acquired a computer speech provider, Ivona, which it is thought could help with the building of a competitor to Apple's Siri.

The online retailer has not issued any comment on the appointment of Mr Kindel, but all the signs are so far pointing towards a probable smartphone launch in the coming years.

Reports from the Wall Street Journal suggest that suppliers have started to lose faith in HTC after the telecommunications giant has experienced several years of slow business.

An anonymous source informed the paper that suppliers no longer consider the firm to be a 'tier-one customer'. This is having a particularly negative impact on sourcing parts for the company's unique ultrapixel camera and its sculpted metal casing.

"The company has a problem managing its component suppliers as it has changed its order forecasts drastically and frequently following last year's unexpected slump in shipments," the source noted.

Meanwhile, a statement from the firm's chief marketing officer explained that the business is working "tirelessly" to fulfil as many orders as possible. "We will start fulfilling pre-orders by the end of March in certain markets and will roll out to more markets as we approach April," he added.

HTC has seen its market share drop in recent years as Apple has solidified its place and Samsung has started to win round more and more fans with its Galaxy range.

This is according to recent research conducted by IDC, which has revealed the extent to which smartphones have changed our relationships with social media.

The study looked at nearly 7,500 iPhone and Android users in the US aged between 18 and 44 and queried them about their phone usage during one week in March.

In addition to discovering the high percentage of time people spend looking at their Facebook accounts on their handsets, the results also revealed that 79 per cent of people reach for their smartphones within 15 minutes of waking up, while 62 per cent grab their phones immediately. This percentage was higher among 18 to 24-year-olds, suggesting that the younger generation are more dependent on the high levels of connectivity provided by their smartphones.

IDC remarked of the findings: "Device pocketability drives engagement throughout the day and when it's most convenient for each person.

"Over a week, we see the highest levels of engagement Friday through Sunday. These are the days we connect with those most important to us both online and in the physical world."

The handset has been eagerly anticipated by smartphone aficionados who are keen to see if it will stack up against Apple's iPhone 5 offering.

In short, the answer to this looks like a 'yes'. The S4 boasts a host of new exciting features, including eye movement tracking, which will add to the user's experience and offers a very hi-tech feel to the whole phone.

The eye movement tracking is one of the most talked-about features on the phone. It can be employed in a number of ways, but perhaps the most useful is its ability to pause and play video when the user looks away and looks back again. Other options for using the eye movement system include scrolling and new ways of browsing the phone's contents.

But not everybody is convinced just yet. One reviewer interviewed by the BBC at the launch of the handset wondered if the features would actually be of much use in the real world.

"For me the key is going to be that all of these features need to be useful everyday. [This biggest risk is that] you have the 'wow factor' the first time you use it but then you're not going to go back to them," she stated.