Vodafone -- Engadget

Vodafone posts

xpPhone teased with specs and pictures, makes Windows XP young again

by Richard Lai posted Oct 30th 2009 at 9:33PM

Don't panic, we haven't gone back in time. What we're looking at here is the world's first but still-yet-to-be-released phone that runs on Windows XP, and its Chinese maker has just released some juicy specs and interface images to tease us all. The ITG xpPhone will be blessed with the chutzpah-filled AMD "Super Mobile" CPU, coupled with either 512MB or 1GB RAM. Storage options range from 8GB SSD to 120GB HDD (probably 1.8-inch) and everything in between. While the sheet confirms both GSM and CDMA support, ITG's pre-order page -- which looks more like a newsletter sign-up page at the moment -- is still vague on the phone's availability and price. For now we'll just continue to gaze at the interface pictures until something happens.

Gallery: xpPhone teased with specs and pictures, makes Windows XP young again

[Via Gizmodo]

Tchaikovsky's 1812 overture reconstructed from 1000 cellphones, 2000 text alerts (video)

by Thomas Ricker posted Oct 23rd 2009 at 5:33AM

We're suckers for a well done ad but this, this is simply amazing. Vodafone NZ's Symphonia features 1000 cellphones syncing 53 different ringtone alerts from 2000 sent messages to reconstruct Tchaikovsky's 1812 overture. We dare you to not be impressed. See how they did it after the break.

[Thanks, Brent R.]

Continue reading Tchaikovsky's 1812 overture reconstructed from 1000 cellphones, 2000 text alerts (video)

Vodafone puts BlackBerry Storm2 up for 26 October preorder

by Thomas Ricker posted Oct 15th 2009 at 4:34AM

And it's out. The BlackBerry Storm2 just made its first official carrier appearance with Vodafone. The promising followup to the much maligned BlackBerry Storm will be free on pay-monthly contracts from £35 on up. Specs include a 3.25-inch 360 x 480 pixel capacitive SurePress (new and improved) touchscreen display, 802.11b/g WiFi and 2100MHz UMTS/HSPA data, 256MB of flash memory (double that of the original Storm), 2GB of onboard memory with microSDHC expansion, 3.5-mm standard headset jack, 3.2 megapixel camera with video recording, built-in GPS, Bluetooth 2.1, and 1400mAh battery giving about 6 hours of 3G talk. BlackBerry OS 5 too, of course, when it lands on October 15th in the UK, Ireland, Germany, The Netherlands, and Spain -- France, Italy, and South Africa in time for Christmas.

Update: Now on official RIM page too with a detailed comparison against the original Storm.

Gallery: Vodafone and RIM introduce the BlackBerry Storm2 Smartphone

[Thanks, James]

Read -- Press Release
Read -- Pre-order

BlackBerry Storm 2 double feature: Vodafone display and Verizon training video sighted

by Ross Miller posted Oct 8th 2009 at 12:59AM

We're not saying BlackBerry's Storm successor is due for release just around the corner. We're not saying that, but we have been seeing a number of telltale signs that piezoelectrified touchscreen device is soon for this world. Herein we present the two latest pieces of evidence, a Vodafone display found at Carphone Warehouse and a leaked, very blurry Verizon Wireless training video that contains a scraps of details. It'll launch with BBOS 5.0, unsurprisingly, and come packaged with a 16GB microSD card and 2GB internal storage, a Bing search app, and City ID app. See it for yourself after the break -- excited yet?

[Via Berryscoop]

Continue reading BlackBerry Storm 2 double feature: Vodafone display and Verizon training video sighted

Vodafone nabs iPhone in prelude to UK price war

by Thomas Ricker posted Sep 29th 2009 at 4:22AM

Now that O2 has lost exclusivity, everyone's getting in on the iPhone action in the UK. First it was Orange, now Vodafone has inked a deal said to have been signed only last night as a defensive move to stave subscriber defections. The new agreement sees Vodafone selling the iPhone 3G and 3GS to the UK and Ireland in early 2010, a bit later than the Orange Apple expected before Christmas.

Update: Official Vodafone UK statement now live.

[Via Randomly Accessed and The Telegraph]

Vodafone debuts 360 online platform, H1 and M1 LiMo-based handsets

by Vladislav Savov posted Sep 24th 2009 at 6:30AM

This time last year, you might have thought that LiMo was waning in the shadow of Android's eminence, but we're witnessing the vanguard of a new resurgence in the form of the Vodafone 360 H1 and M1 handsets by Samsung. Being the first LiMo Release 2 devices, they'll come with a bagful of fancy 3D UI visualizations to splash atop 3.5- and 3.2-inch touchscreen displays, with the bigger H1 (pictured) getting the AMOLED treatment, WiFi, HSDPA and 16GB of internal memory, and the M1 receiving HSDPA and 1GB of expandable memory, but no WiFi. They are making their debut alongside Vodafone's new 360 online platform, which takes over from the former Live service. You can expect it to bring Facebook, Twitter, Windows Live Messenger and Google Talk integration, as well as an app store to compete with the other heavy hitters. The M1's three color options are pictured after the break.

Read - Vodafone 360 press release
Read - Vodafone 360 H1 product page
Read - Vodafone 360 H1 hands-on
Read - Vodafone 360 M1 product page

Gallery: Vodafone H1

Continue reading Vodafone debuts 360 online platform, H1 and M1 LiMo-based handsets

Vodafone thinking long and hard about its Verizon stake

by Chris Ziegler posted Sep 17th 2009 at 1:06PM

Though Verizon Wireless and corporate half-parent Vodafone are finally getting close to achieving technological synergy now that both are moving to LTE for their next-gen networks -- and contrary to recent statements -- rhetoric is heating up that suggests the marriage may not last forever. Speaking at an investor's get-together this week, Voda CEO Vittorio Colao said that "the board continues to look at" the company's investment in the joint venture with Verizon -- which we take as executive-speak for "everything's for sale for the right price." The popular rumor is that Vodafone's bummed about Verizon's failure to pay dividends for the past four years, which effectively means that Big Red isn't actively contributing to the wireless giant's bottom line. Verizon's made no secret of the fact that it'd love to own the joint venture outright, so come on, guys... Verizon's got money, Voda's got the goods, let's sit down at that oaken conference table on the 45th floor and work this out.

ITG's Windows XP-loving xpPhone now accepting pre-orders worldwide

by Tim Stevens posted Sep 17th 2009 at 7:21AM

It's been awhile since we last saw the xpPhone, a quick, quiet demonstration at Computex that left us doubting whether the thing would ever see the light of day outside a packed showroom floor. It seems our doubts are about to be put to rest as ITG, creator of the thing, has thrown up a pre-order page on the phone's website. There's no mention of a price, and indeed you won't be asked to plunk down any cash right now (it's not much of a pre-order), but what's interesting is that it asks you to choose between 3G modules for Vodafone, Orange, or AT&T. That means ITG seemingly has aspirations of a global release for this thing, and while we're not sure how many people are going to want to lug around a MID-sized monster celly with a "super big" 4.8-inch LCD and a weight of nearly a pound, surely some nation in the world has pockets big enough for this.

[Via Pocketables]

LiMo Foundation could be close to bearing fruit for Samsung, Vodafone in a big way

by Chris Ziegler posted Sep 10th 2009 at 8:14PM

The LiMo Foundation's platform is far from vaporware -- countless Japanese domestic market handsets run it in one form or another, which makes sense considering that NTT DoCoMo, NEC, and Panasonic are all counted among its founding members -- but outside the land of the rising sun, LiMo's had very little end-user impact even as it's collected big-name members and released several rounds of specs and whitepapers over the last year and a half. To a certain extent, that's by design; unlike Android, LiMo is as much about creating synergies for manufacturers and carriers as it is about giving subscribers flashy user interfaces, but a new Samsung for Vodafone leaked on Boy Genius Report today suggests that we might be getting flashy UIs nonetheless. We don't know what this phone will ultimately be called, but it doesn't take more than a couple glances to pick up on the fact that it's relatively high-end, equipped with an 8 megapixel cam and full AMOLED touhscreen. The social-oriented interface looks seriously tricked out with faces (hopefully of people the user knows) moving in and out in three dimensions -- usability is an open question, but at least it's pretty to stare at, which is really what a good phone's all about anyway, right? Word on the street is that this might be announced at a London event on the 24th, but here's our question: where's Verizon in all this?

LG Etna Android phone sneaks onto the scene at IFA

by Nilay Patel posted Sep 7th 2009 at 1:34PM

Well, well, looks like LG's got more in its Android bag than just that GW880 for China Mobile. Vodafone was casually displaying the Android-based Etna at its IFA booth, and while we don't know too much about the QWERTY slider, we do have some basic specs -- you're looking at 3-inch touchscreen, a five megapixel camera, and what looks like a pretty stock Android install. No word on price or release date, but LG is supposedly launching three Android sets this year, so we're hoping we'll find out more real soon.

Update: LG tells us that the Etna will be available in Germany "before Christmas."

[Via MobileTechWorld; thanks Whois]

Samsung NC10 being offered by UK carriers, Vodafone's pricing surprisingly good

by Vladislav Savov posted Jul 13th 2009 at 3:46PM

Laptops bundled with mobile telephony contracts rarely arouse our penny-pinching passions, but UK carriers are getting pretty aggressive with pricing for the Samsung NC10. Vodafone takes the lead by offering the extraordinarily well-reviewed netbook for free with a £25 ($40) monthly tariff over two years, which makes for a total contract cost of £600 ($972), or just over twice the retail price of the device -- that, dear friends, is a good deal. Packages from the other carriers are similarly stonking, coalescing around the £30 ($48) per month mark, with Three standing out by asking for only an 18-month commitment. We'd prefer even shorter contracts, but can't quibble too much with the value on offer.

Read - O2 (£29.38/month for 24 months, 3GB limit)
Read - Three (£30/month for 18 months, 5GB limit)
Read - T-Mobile (£30/month for 24 months, 5GB limit)
Read - Vodafone (£25/month for 24 months, 1GB limit)

Palm to disclose UK Pre launch details next week?

by Darren Murph posted Jul 1st 2009 at 9:06AM

We heard way back at CES that a GSM Pre was in the works, but not until now have we heard who exactly in the world would be using it. According to confirmation received by T3, Palm is gearing up to disclose the whos, whats and wheres behind the UK launch next week, meaning that we've got seven days (give or take) to twiddle our thumbs until we know which carrier (O2 or Vodafone, most likely), how much and when it'll be available for purchase. We know it's agonizing, but at least you've a time frame to circle in your Trapper Keeper now, right?

Kindle's German launch stalled by T-Mobile and Vodafone?

by Ross Miller posted Jul 1st 2009 at 1:56AM

A news item is circulating the internet reportedly from German business weekly Wirtschaftswoche claiming Amazon is facing a major hurdle in trying to bring its Kindle to Deutschland. The problem at hand? The two big wireless providers in the country, Vodafone and T-Mobile, are both saying "nein" to providing Whispernet service, and apparently the issue has to do with how much money Amazon was willing to give -- unsurprising, if true. Another, very likely reason for T-Mobile's unwillingness is that parent company Deutsche Telekom is rumored to be working on its own e-book reader, and we gotta believe those company picnics would be mighty awkward if a large subsidiary was given the competition a major boost. We can't imagine this stopping Amazon for long, and we'd be very surprised if the Kindle didn't find some way to sneak itself into the region sooner or later.

Vodafone doesn't waste any time, offers Samsung Jet free on contract

by Donald Melanson posted Jun 16th 2009 at 11:56AM

Samsung may have only just officially taken the wraps off its Jet touchscreen phone yesterday, but it looks like folks in the UK can now already get their hands on one courtesy of Vodafone -- and for free, no less. Of course, that's if you're willing to sign a two-year contract and grab a minimum £20 per month plan, which actually isn't too bad a deal as far as these things go. In case you missed it, or understandably have it confused with one of Samsung's other new phones, the Jet packs a 3.1-inch AMOLED display, along with a 5-megapixel camera, built-in GPS, a speedy 800MHz processor, a WebKit-based browser and, last but not least, Samsung's un-smartphone TouchWiz 2.0 interface.

[Via Pocket-lint]

Nokia's Ovi store makes soft landing in a few markets, might be headed to your neck of the woods soon

by Paul Miller posted May 25th 2009 at 12:02PM

With that May launch window closing fast, it looks like Nokia might get Ovi Store in under the proverbial wire: it just went live on Vodafone in Australia, which was soon followed by other carriers, and then Ireland and Singapore. According to a post that was subsequently pulled from Nokia's Conversations blog, Nokia confirmed the rollout and said that it was progressively moving the Ovi Store to "production servers," and that we could "expect a broader announcement and consumer availability soon." Unfortunately, since that post has been pulled, we're not really sure what to expect, but at least the lucky few with Ovi can beam back important missives on their Twittix apps about what life is like in the future. Above are shots of the store live on an N97.