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Orange begins HD Voice trial in Southern England, leaves out Buckingham Palace
Remember the good news that Orange brought to the UK on our alcohol-fueled New Year's Eve? We thought so. Anyway, it looks like said fruit company's still on course to "a new era for UK mobile communications" as it launches HD Voice trial in England today. Lucky participants across Bristol, Reading and Southampton will benefit from "crystal clear" voice calls, courtesy of the wider speech bandwidth -- 50–7000 Hz as opposed to the current 300–3400 Hz. Sadly, Orange isn't keen on dishing out deets about the special hardware, but our friends over at What Mobile had the chance to play with a modified Nokia X6 from yesterday's demo -- "It was like listening to AM radio and then switching over to listen to a CD." If all goes well, we'll meet the rest of the gang when HD Voice is rolled out "before the end of the summer." Press release after the break.
Orange plans to bring 'HD Voice' calls to UK next year
We've had some indication that Orange planned to expand its "HD Voice" technology beyond the hot testbed of Moldova sometime in the coming year, and it looks like the carrier is now starting to get a bit more specific about when the UK will finally have an alternative to standard definition calls. Apparently, Orange will begin trials of the new and improved, 3G-facilitated service early in the new year, and fully roll it out along with a "range of handsets" before the end of the year. Just what can you expect from HD voice? Why, it will make it "sound as if callers are actually in the same room," according to Orange UK chief executive Tom Alexander, who further added that "HD voice really does inject a level of innovation into mobile phone calls," and that "once people have tried it, they won't want to go back." Update: Orange has now pushed out a press release further confirming that trials will begin in the UK early in the new year, with a nationwide rollout due "later in 2010." In related news, DigiTimes is reporting that Foxconn has landed large orders for Android-powered handsets from Orange, although Foxconn itself has issued something of a denial on the matter.
