Just came back from UK. Besides the dollar being very cheap, there’re two things I noticed: one is cell phone, the other is chip-and-pin.
Mobile phones stores are all over the place, fashion concious Londoners are snapping up new models (the current one is the Motorola RVZR) like crazy. The services are expensive just like other telecom services – Internet and landline phones. But the availability of prepaid cards is very convenient for travellers. I can just buy a 5GBP sim card and put into my tri-band GSM phone and immediately get a UK cell phone.
Magnetic-stripe based credit cards are being completely replaced with pin-protected smart-chip card. The security of smart card is much better than the magnetic card. This gives UK based banks much better protection from financial losses due to fraud.