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Nokia E6 available to pre-order in UK, still on track for June release
The pre-ordering frenzy already began for the Nokia E6 in other parts of Europe, but the baton finally landed in the hands of UK Symbian enthusiasts. The sleek and sexy portrait QWERTY is up for grabs SIM-free on the official site for £349. We imagine this may not be enough to entice the average Joe, but then again, any folks interested in doing a pre-order have likely been eyeing this device for quite some time now. We can understand the intrigue, as this is an ideal upgrade for E71 or E72 owners: it's the same overall design, but adds Symbian Anna and a 2.46-inch capacitive touchscreen that employs the same pixel density (326ppi) as the iPhone 4's Retina Display. If pre-orders aren't your style, we're expecting it to land in stores sometime near the end of June. But if you just have to be the first kiddo on the block to own an E6, move onward to the source link to start the pre-order.
HTC Desire S gets a candy apple makeover exclusively at Vodafone UK
Oh, the Desire S. It's attracted plenty of attention around these parts, and if a thorough review or family scuffle wasn't enough to draw your attention, we imagine this fire engine paint job will do just nicely. Vodafone is bringing this exclusive red-headed beaut to its UK network, where it's available free with all monthly plans £30 or more. So, if you're the type who loves aluminum unibody enclosures but detests the color of... well, aluminum... it seems that you're in luck. Just don't get too cocky around MacBook Pro fans -- they're likely to get jealous of your free paint job.
Orange and Barclaycard launch 'Quick Tap' NFC mobile payments in the UK
Yay for the UK, it's now one step closer to catching up to the Japan of last decade. Mobile carrier Orange is today launching the UK's first mobile phone contactless payment service, dubbed Quick Tap, for purchases up to £15. It works on MasterCard's PayPass system and requires you to have a Barclays debit or credit card or, alternatively, a credit card from Orange itself. Gemalto is providing the SIM-based NFC compatibility, with Samsung's entirely unrevolutionary Tocco Lite being the (admittedly affordable) launch handset. Then you just need to trust the Quick Pay app to be as secure as promised and you'll be ready to go off and use your phone as a payment terminal at over 50,000 locations, including joints run by McDonald's, Eat, Pret A Manger, Subway, and Wilkinson. A quick intro video and a more expansive press release follow after the break.
BlackBerry PlayBook coming to the UK on June 16th, 16GB model costs £400
Brits eager for a taste of the first 7-inch BlackBerry device have just under a month of anticipation left to go. UK retailers have today revealed the date and prices at which they'll be selling RIM's PlayBook: depending on how much integrated storage you want, you'll have to pay up £400 (16GB), £480 (32GB), or £560 (64GB) for your slate, starting from June 16th. Aside from the gigabytes, you'll be getting the gigahertz too, with a dual-core 1,000MHz TI OMAP4430 processor keeping the PlayBook's insides warm and its outsides responsive. Availability will be widespread, with Carphone Warehouse, Phones 4u, Insight, and Best Buy UK having already announced they'll be stocking the tablet. You can even hit up the source links now and lay down some cash to secure your pre-order.
20 gigapixel, 360-degree panorama of Wembley Stadium is among world's largest, most detailed
Jeffrey Martin is a busy man. Having already shot an 80 gigapixel panorama of London's skyline and a 40 gigapixel peek inside a Czech library, he has now turned his attention to England's hallowed Wembley Stadium. The recently rebuilt home of football served as the stage for a new 360-degree panorama, shot during the FA Cup Final this Saturday, which spans 10 20 gigapixels in total and has been made available online at the source link below. Recording was done using a DSLR mounted to a custom robot rig that would continually pump out imagery to an equally exclusive Fujitsu workstation equipped with 192GB of RAM and 24 processing cores. All that grunt was used to automatically stitch more than 1,000 high-res images together, earning the finished product the honor of being one of the world's largest 360-degree sports panoramic photos. Give the source a bash to tag yourself if you were at the Final or to check who else was there. [Thanks, Adam] Update: We originally had this at 10 gigapixel, going from information on the FA's website, but it turns out to be a 20 gigapixel pic. Its claim for being the largest sports panorama may actually be disputed by Essendon FC in Australia, who managed to pull together a 20 gigapixel image of their own at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in late April. You can see that jumbo pic here, or check out a couple more from Daytona and the NCAA Final Four this year.
Samsung's free Explore 3D VOD service lands for British Smart TV owners
Americans eager to get their eyes on Samsung's 3D video on demand service are just going to have keep waiting, but our friends across the pond can break out their active shutter glasses and Santana Champ because Explore 3D has arrived in the UK. While the rest of us are stuck shelling out for Blu-rays and premium cable subscriptions for the luxury of watching videos in all their three-dimensional glory, Samsung Smart TV owners in Britain can now fire up movies, music videos, trailers and other clips for free. The company promised the service would be coming to the US and Europe shortly after its Korean launch in March and plans to expand its library of free titles to over 70 by the end of 2011. So, if you're still excluded from Sammy's free 3D party, relax -- your patience will be rewarded. Full PR after the break.
PlayStation Network restoration spreads across the world (update)
Now that North America has been thoroughly blanketed in the beautiful green light of a working PlayStation Network, it's time for other countries to sign on too, and the first out of the gate are the United Kingdom, Ireland and unspecified nations in the Middle East. Sony's official PlayStation Europe Twitter account reports that parts of the EMEA are beginning to light up now, and while there's no convenient map for you to monitor the rollout this time around, you can still get updates straight from the source -- follow the Twitter feed at our source link and Sony should let you know when to get your game on. Update: Looks like it's not just the EMEA, as PSN's spreading across the world -- as of noon PST, it's lighting up the smiles of bereaved gamers and music lovers in Australia, New Zealand, Mexico and South America as well. Update 2: We're hearing that the UK, Ireland and the Middle East actually went dark again for a tad, but now they should be up again. Update 3: Sony's having a bit of difficulty getting millions of passwords reset in such a short time, due to a number of things, including ISPs that are automatically blocking or delaying the huge influx of email password change requests. Give it time, folks.
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 priced at £1,293 by Amazon, shipping May 20th
The leaks should've already told you most of everything you need to know about the Lenovo ThinkPad X1, but here's some affirmation of perhaps the most relevant bit of info, the release date. Amazon has listed the ultraslim 13.3-inch laptop for pre-order, giving it the extremely specific price of £1,292.52 ($2,120) and a shipping date of May 20th. That's a heftier price tag than you'll find on Apple's 13-inch MacBook Air, however Lenovo will provide you with the latest generation of Intel processor -- in the shape of the 2.5GHz Core i5-2520M -- 4GB of RAM, 320GB of HDD storage, a backlit keyboard, and a promised eight hours of battery life. You don't need us to tell you that there hasn't yet been a laptop that's combined the thinness, processing power and battery endurance on offer from the X1. We'll be keen to check these mighty specs out for ourselves when it launches, but if you're already convinced, hit up the source link to get your pre-order in. [Thanks, Raj]
Acer's 3G-equipped Iconia Tab A100 up for pre-order on Amazon UK for £400
When we first caught wind of the pending release of Acer's Iconia Tab A100 WiFi version, we were amazed by its Amazonian pre-order promise of Android 3.0 for a mere £300. Now, a second version of the seven-inch slate has hit the same site with a May 14 release date, a sprinkling of 3G, and the cut-rate cost of its cousin has been replaced with a £400 ($660) price tag. Unfortunately, the extra hundred pounds takes the A500's 3G baby brother out of the bargain basement, but you didn't think you'd get all those G's for free, did you?
HTC Sensation up for pre-order at Vodafone UK, delivery promised by May 19th
HTC couldn't let Samsung and Motorola have all the dual-core fun in the UK and it's now let Vodafone detail the earliest known availability of its mighty Sensation. That 1.2GHz, aluminum-clad handset has gone up for pre-order today, with Vodafone aiming to deliver "by the 19th of May." Not exactly the firmest of promises here, but it's good to know that in a couple of weeks we'll have yet another contender in the dual-core Android wars. We suspect other European markets will be joining the UK at about the same time, and T-Mobile in the US shouldn't be too far behind either. [Thanks, Tom]
Samsung Galaxy S II on pre-order in South Korea, introduces Olleh Touch for NFC payments
When Samsung teased us with those clever Galaxy S II commercials, we could feel the growing anticipation for its early UK arrival. Coincidentally, today marks an end to Britain's exclusivity, with South Korea's KT now offering the dual-core stunner for pre-order. We've learned this Korean Galaxy S II includes NFC, coinciding with the carrier's roll-out of Olleh Touch, a payment system being implemented at local grocer Lotte Mart. Sure, NFC inclusion increases the phone's thickness to 8.9mm, but if parlor tricks are your thing, we'd imagine it'll still easily pass under doorways. [Thanks, Aditya]
4 apps for the Royal Wedding
When it comes to European royalty, Americans go crazy. Beyond the garden-variety obsession with royalty, British royalty in particular is like Yank catnip. The ultimate bonkers-maker, however, is British royal weddings. When there's a royal wedding across the pond, Americans absolutely seem to lose their marbles. There's just no getting around it. You can't listen to the radio or turn on the TV without hearing about Prince William and Kate Middleton. Seriously, right now those two are bigger than Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez, which I didn't think was even possible. And don't even think about browsing a newsstand. Close to half of the magazines have the royal and royal-to-be on the cover. Maybe it's the romanticism of it all or the fact that we Americans tend to mix fantasy with aspiration, but whatever the cause, I'm happy to contribute to the hysteria. Without further ado, here is a list of four iOS apps that allow you to live out the royal wedding on your iPhone and iPad. Best of all, all the apps are free, so you can hold onto the family jewels. The Royal Wedding by Hello! -- This app, brought to you by one of the trashiest gossip magazines in the UK, is little more than a photo scrapbook of the fairytale romance between Wills and Kate. It's got dedicated albums for the bride and groom, along with albums dedicated to royal wedding rings, wedding dresses and gifts. One of the cooler albums shows images from past royal weddings.
Samsung Galaxy S II to arrive in UK on April 27th, but only through Phones 4u
UK phone retailer Phones 4u has scooped itself a short-term but enviable exclusive -- it'll be the only place in the UK where you'll be able to buy Samsung's Galaxy S II in April. The 1.2GHz dual-core Android superphone has already been announced for wide availability in the Queen's Kingdom on May 1st, but Phones 4u will get you one as early as April 27th, plus it'll throw in a free 8GB microSD card if you pre-order one now. The Galaxy S II will be available for free on two-year contracts costing £35 per month and above and there'll be a choice of carriers. Only Orange's tariffs are listed at the moment, but we imagine the others will be showing up soon as well. Jump past the break for the press release.
White iPhone 4 appears to be ready to order at Three UK (update: gone!)
Looks like somebody pulled the trigger on an order page for the mythical white iPhone 4 a little early over at Three UK. The phone that had previously been listed on the carrier's site for a long, long time (sans any ability to actually order it) has now sprouted up a page all its own with the magical option to "buy now." We managed to get all the way through to an order confirmation page, so if it's a mistake it's a very thoroughgoing one. Calling up Three's telephone ordering line and PR personnel brought us no closer to finding out the truth, but this particular order page was discovered via a tweet by a Three affiliate -- whose tweets have since gone private -- suggesting it was dug up from someone in the know. Our suspicion is that Apple's finally about ready to dish this phone up to the people and Three has been caught testing out its order page ahead of the inevitable onslaught of white iPhone orders. Hit the source link to see the premature revelation for yourself. Update: Three finally wised up to the fact nobody else was yet offering the pale phone for sale and has pulled the page. For now. Update 2: Three's official statement on the matter: "This page is not live at the moment, it was built at the same time as the iPhone black page so that we have it ready when and should the time come to launch white. For now, it's a hidden page that's inactive."
Motorola Atrix to launch exclusively with Orange UK in early May
Just in time to duel with the Samsung Galaxy S II, Motorola's Atrix is crossing the Atlantic for an early May release in Orange livery. UK carrier Orange has proudly announced it'll be the "exclusive launch partner" for the Atrix in the UK, offering the dual-core handset for free on two-year contracts costing £35 per month or more. A Work and Play Kit that includes the phone's Multimedia Dock will be made available at a reduced £50 price to new customers buying the phone, or for free to existing Orange subscribers upgrading to the Atrix during May. Business customers on some of the more overpriced fully featured tariffs will also get the chance to snap up the Lapdock for free. Jump past the break for Orange's fulll press release or hit the source link to register your interest now.
Dell's WiFi-only Streak 7 goes Euro-trippin', now available in the UK for £299
With one of the original 5-inch Streak's chief downsides being that it was considered too small to be a proper tablet, Dell did the sage thing this January and introduced a 7-inch variant in the Streak 7. The newer slate is outfitted with a nice Tegra 2 dual-core chip, 16GB of storage, a 5 megapixel rear- and a 1.3 megapixel front-facing camera, a WVGA (800 x 480) display, and now the eminently reasonable UK price of £299 ($487). Alas, where Dell fell short with its Streak family expansion was in installing Android 2.2 on the 7, which hasn't changed during its trip over the Altantic, and in offering pretty poor battery life -- which might actually be a bit better here since Brits are receiving the WiFi-only model. Then again, if we're having to praise a device for improving itself by omitting a valuable feature like 3G, perhaps that tells you all you need to know about its viability. At least the Streak 7 is priced correctly and Dell does promise a Honeycomb update is in the offing. You can order yours at Dell's UK outlet linked below or jump past the break to familiarize yourself with the company's press release.
Fujitsu to build 1Gbps fiber optic broadband network in the UK, but needs BT to play fair first
Good news for anyone feeling left behind by the broadband revolution just because of their post code: Fujitsu has just announced a joint venture to deliver fiber optic connectivity to neglected rural homes in the UK. Built on hardware provided by Cisco and supported by Virgin Media and TalkTalk, this network will focus on channeling fiber directly to the home, which is said to provide symmetrical 1Gbps bandwidth with up to 10Gbps speeds considered possible down the line. Best news of all, perhaps, is that the cabling will be available on a wholesale basis to all ISPs, not just the ones involved in the project, so the UK may finally get a decent taste of what competition in the internet service space feels like. Alas, there's a key line in the press release that notes the new venture is dependent on BT providing "access to its underground ducts and telegraph poles on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms," which it apparently isn't doing at the moment. Ah well, we're sure they'll sort things out like the mature professionals that they are. Full PR after the break.
Samsung Galaxy S II to be available May 1st in the UK
Samsung has just delivered a most welcome (and concrete) bit of news for British smartphone lovers. Its next do-it-all Android superphone will be available on May 1st in the United Kingdom. The Galaxy S II will emulate its predecessor by being made available "across all major networks and retailers." The press release promises a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, which indicates we're looking at the Exynos 4210 variant of this handset. We'll try to track down availability information for the rest of Europe, but at least Brits can now stop fretting about the delay / non-delay of this marquee phone's launch.
HTC Flyer hits UK pre-order status at £600, comes with 3G and 32GB of storage
The one Android tablet that isn't riding NVIDIA's Tegra 2 dual-core chip and Google's Honeycomb iteration (but might still be worth buying) has this weekend become available to pre-order in the UK. The Carphone Warehouse is listing a £600 ($983) fee for owning the HTC Flyer, which is more or less a match for the €669 price Amazon.de is offering to German slate lovers. In exchange for a dozen rose-tinted notes with the Queen's face on them, you'll get a 7-inch, 1024 x 600 display, encased in an aluminum unibody case and powered by a 1.5GHz Qualcomm chip. HTC's Sense UI has undergone some tablet-friendly tweaks and there is of course that Scribe stylus to flex your artistic muscles with. 3G connectivity and 32GB of storage flesh out the Flyer's hardware offering, while the underlying Android Gingerbread OS is promised to get a Honeycomb-flavored update, most likely some time this summer.
Motorola Xoom UK pricing official at £580 for 3G and £480 for WiFi-only
Motorola has now confirmed that the latest round of prices the Carphone Warehouse, PC World and other UK retailers are listing for its Xoom tablet are indeed the officially sanctioned price points for the Honeycomb slate. After being listed at £600 for the 3G model and £500 for the WiFi-only version initially, the 32GB-equipped 10-incher is now mercifully £20 cheaper, at £580 and £480 for each variant. A quick glance at Apple's online store tells us that those levies match up exactly to what a corresponding 32GB version of the iPad 2 will cost you, signaling Motorola's intent to at least be on par in terms of pricing. Stores are still showing the Xoom under a pre-order status for now, but that should be changing swiftly if Motorola wishes to live up to its promise of availability this very week.
