Tesco
Latest
LG strolls into Town with C300 featurephone, offers portrait QWERTY for text addicts
Still on the lookout for an affordable QWERTY dumbphone? You might be in luck, as LG's just released this eye-catching Town C300 to cater to your texting and IM addiction on the cheap. Just like its predecessor, this new handset includes Facebook, Twitter, Windows Live Messenger, and push email integration, along with FM radio, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a 2 megapixel camera from the hardware camp. The damage? Just a mere £69 ($108) from Orange, but don't tell your friends -- keep the extra booze money to yourself. %Gallery-102995%
Tesco Mobile announces cheapest UK iPhone 4 tariffs yet
You're not going to believe this, but someone actually bothered to turn up to the iPhone 4 launch with a bit of competitive spirit. Tesco Mobile, an MVNA riding atop O2's network, has busted out its idea of what represents good value for iPhone lovers' money, and it has put everyone else to shame. 1GB of data and unlimited texts come as standard (seems like O2's network can handle the load after all). Two 12-month options are available, at £20 ($29) per month for 250 minutes and £35 ($52) per month for 750 minutes, accompanied by the big spender platter of unlimited minutes and an almost free 16GB iPhone 4 for those willing to spend £45 ($66) over two years. It's all great news for Brits, and you can see exactly how it compares to the big networks in our comprehensive, chart-intensive breakdown right here.
How-to: figure out the best value iPhone 4 contracts in the UK (updated)
Choices, choices. Do you get the 16GB or 32GB iPhone 4? The black one now or the white one a little later? We can't tell you which variant of Apple's next phone will hold its value best over the coming months, but we can try to clear up a bit of the fogginess surrounding price plans on offer from UK networks. Orange and O2 are the first to drop handset pricing and full contract details, but they haven't made it easy for the discerning buyer, with each carrier offering more than a dozen options. Vodafone, T-Mobile, Three, and even Tesco Mobile are set to follow suit in the coming days and weeks, but we thought we'd get the ball rolling with the pair we have now. Update: And just as we publish this, Voda has gone official with its tariffs. We've now broken them down into a more digestible format as well. Just for you. Update 2: Tesco Mobile has also outed its pricing and it's by far the best of the bunch. Check out the full chart inside the post. Update 3: Three's iPhone 4 pricing has now also been made known.
iPhone 3GS coming to Tesco Mobile on December 14, extreme price plans in tow
The marriage of a high-priced smartphone to a value-minded department store was always going to be interesting and Tesco has not disappointed. Having just announced that availability of the latest and greatest iPhone is coming on December 14, the company has also detailed some unique -- for the UK at least -- price plans to go with it. Most notable is the unlimited (subject to fair use policy) 3G web and BT Openzone WiFi access on offer, which will be free for a year to Pay As You Go and one-year contract customers or for two years if you're on a 24-month agreement. Tesco's also bringing the minimum monthly outlay down to £20 ($32) on its one-year contract, but that only gets you a £60 ($98) calls and texts allowance and you'd have to pony up £320 ($520) for the 16GB handset. On the other hand, you could go nuts and get the unlimited calls and texts plan for £60 a month, which isn't too bad value for the incessant chatterboxes out there. Finally, there's also half-price calling to your favorite five numbers, which isn't going to matter much to people on the all-you-can-eat price plan, but is a nice extra. [Thanks Tony H. and everyone who sent this in]
UK to get 4th carrier for iPhone
When I visited Liverpool last month, I saw that Tesco was everywhere -- as big box store, as a gas station, in smaller markets, and even Tesco Mobile, a joint venture with O2. So, it's no surprise to me to hear that Tesco is planning to offer the iPhone at its stores in the UK. A spokesperson told the BBC that the phone will be available "in time for Christmas." Tesco joins O2, Vodafone and Orange in selling the iPhone. [Via Engadget]
iPhone to be sold by Tesco in the UK, hemorrhages cachet
So we know the iPhone has been slumming it and selling itself on Walmart shelves in the US for a while now, but it's retained a somewhat more dignified cachet over here in Europe. Until today, that is. Just "in time for Christmas," British retailer Tesco will make it possible for you to buy your socks, no-frills groceries, and shiny smartphone all in the same place. You'll still be riding O2's network, thanks to the Tesco Mobile service, but the department store chain is likely to price its contracts more aggressively, as it already has a £30 per month plan that includes unlimited calls, texts, and web surfing. Maybe there's something to this whole "competition" thing after all then, eh? [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
For the UK's best Modern Warfare 2 deal, head to the grocery store
digg_url = 'http://www.joystiq.com/2009/11/09/for-the-uks-best-modern-warfare-2-deal-head-to-the-grocery-sto/'; Grocery stores aren't typically known for great video game deals -- we can't remember any notable supermarket game purchases since our local Albertson's cleared out its NES rentals. But Sainsbury supermarkets in the UK have an offer worth noting: the retailer has cut the price of Modern Warfare 2 to just £26 ($43.76), an amazing £29 off the regular price. Tesco is also offering a big price cut on Modern Warfare 2: it's £25 with the purchase of another bestselling game (The Guardian specifies "top-20" games), or £39.70 on its own. Tescos, which are open all the time anyway, will begin selling the game at midnight tonight, as will five Sainsbury's locations. Unless they're like stores in the US, in which case they began selling them last week.
Microsoft and Tesco strike up 'virtual DVD' partnership
Starting this autumn -- which is sort of like now -- Tesco stores in the UK will be offering "virtual DVDs" to customers who purchase certain home video titles. Promising no less than a "DVD-equivalent" experience, the new service will be replete with all the menus, copyright warnings and extra bits you'd find on the disc itself, plus additional exclusive content and movie viewing parties with online chat. We're not entirely sure films need all the added interactivity Microsoft has cooked up, but ambitions are to expand the bonus content and to offer the service in other markets "eventually." And hey, seeing as it's based on Silverlight, all that good stuff will be available on Mac too.
Tesco's 349 Mini 10 actually a 349 Mini 9
Can you say "oops?" That so-called Mini 10, which curiously emerged at Tesco before anywhere else, is actually not a Mini 10. As the story goes, folks across the pond who plunked down £349 for their very own 10-inch Dell netbook have started receiving shipments only to find a perfectly average Mini 9 within. Furthermore, Tesco's Mini 10 order page is now completely nonexistent, further signaling that a serious mishap occurred somewhere along the line. Hate to burst your bubble, but if you ordered one of these pups from this vendor, you should probably expect to hit the return to sender option and eagerly await a refund.[Via PortableMonkey, thanks Peter]
Dell Mini 10 shows up at Tesco for 349
Well, Dell might have been super cagey about pricing and release dates for the new Mini 10 during its CES Adamo non-event, but you can't keep the kids locked up forever, and Dell's netbook middle child seems to have shacked up at Tesco for £349 ($480). Basic specs are generic netbook -- 1.6GHz Atom Z530 (it lists a Z520, but we know it's a Z530), 1GB of RAM, 160GB hard drive, Windows XP, and a sesame seed bun -- but we were actually quite taken with Dell's "perfect 10" when we played with it at CES, and the addition of a multitouch trackpad, built-in GPS and optional WWAN certainly make the Mini 10 a little more interesting than the competition. We'll see how pricing looks when Dell sees fit to bring this guy Stateside -- let's hope this mix of features doesn't end up costing $900 like a certain not-a-netbook competitor with a similar spec sheet.[Thanks, Fry]
Tesco leaks 12-inch Dell E Slim specs running "Ubunto" -- October 6th launch?
Hard to say what's going on exactly what this clusterfrack of a listing over at Tesco. While the Dell laptop shown is the £299 Inspiron Mini 9, it's labeled with an Inspiron Z530 title bellowing a 12-inch display. Moving down to the specs, we've got a spec-for-spec match to the unreleased 12.1-inch E Slim exclusive we brought you back in June: same 1.6GHz Atom processor; heavier 1.2kg (2.6-pounds) weight; bigger 12-inch WXGA (1,366 x 768 pixel) display; wider 29.9-cm (11.8-inch) dimension; and 40GB hard drive spinning Ubunto Ubuntu Linux. So Tesco, October 6th you say? Full Tesco specs listed after the break because that read link won't be up for long. P.S. Dell doesn't sell a Atom-based 12-inch laptop under any model number presently, nor does it have a Z530 in its product roster.[Thanks, GeorgeJ, Craig and Yau]
Whoops! Tesco sells Xbox 360s for 33.24
Apparently someone over at UK retailer Tesco slipped up on the company's online store, because an Xbox 360 bundle normally priced at £340 GBP was selling for just a hair over 33 pounds sterling, long enough for a number of customers to gleefully order the next-gen system at the no-gen price.Sky News reports that once the payment is accepted, Trading Standards rules in the UK state that the retailer must comply and deliver the product. Numerous payments were accepted for the drastically-reduced Xbox 360 bundle, which also includes Forza Motorsport 2 and Viva Piñata. One crafty consumer successfully ordered 39 consoles, although no orders have yet been delivered. Despite the rules set forth by Trading Standards, Tesco's site maintains that they do not have to conform to erroneously-marked prices unless they fail to notice before shipment. We'll wait and see if any lucky gamers get their cheapo 360s in the mail. Think anyone sprung for overnight shipping?[Thanks, Jurie]
Oops: Tesco accidentally sells 360s for 33
"One Xbox 360, please.""Very good, sir. That will be £33."This is the conversation we imagined ourselves having with a Tesco employee on our imaginary trip to jolly old England. It could have happened too, as Tesco recently (and accidentally) listed a killer Xbox 360 bundle for the low, low price of £33.24 (~$70 US). The offer included an Xbox 360 with wireless controller, Viva Piñata, and Forza Motorsport 2. It was, in short, a hell of a deal. From the looks of things, someone neglected to add a zero to the bundle's price, which should have been ten times larger.As one might expect, the mistake has since been rectified, though not before customers managed to place orders at the discounted price. One customer had payment accepted for thirty-nine orders, though they have yet to be delivered. Apparently it is illegal for a company to change the price of a product once payment has already been accepted. The Tesco website, however, states that if a mistake in price is made, the company is not obliged to abide by the mistaken price so long as the customer is contacted prior to the item being shipped. We get the feeling there will be lots of disappointed bargain hunters out there.
The MODEC electric delivery van
While the simple van may not be the most glamorous of vehicles, it's hard to argue against a practical electric version that could do the same tasks, but without burning fossil fuels. That's exactly what the MODEC does, an electric van with a 100 mile range that can shift up to 2 tons of goods from supermarket to customer's doors. UK supermarket company Tesco recently arranged a contract to upgrade its home delivery fleet to the MODEC, which has a top speed of 50 MPH with its 102 horse power electric motor. It ain't no Tesla, but it's sure got style.[Via Autoblog Green]
US Tesco building to sport "world's largest" solar roof
Unbeknownst to most, we are lovers of our planet Earth and depend so much on solar power that we're often compared to the mighty Birdman. We cheered during Sanyo's CES keynote when it announced "Think GAIA," and now we come again to applaud Tesco. Joining forces with Solar Integrated Technologies, the British supermarket giant is set to build what it claims to be the "world's largest" solar roof on its new distribution center in California. By the end of the $13 million project, the roof will provide 1/5 of the facilities power and save "1,200 tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year." With all that said, now we have to go and ponder whether or not this is enough for us to leave our beloved Trader Joe's.
