Vodafone announces blockbuster 31-phone lineup
So, this actually went down a couple days ago, and we've been sitting here trying to process all the information ever since. The idea of any carrier -- let alone a non-Japanese one -- announcing thirty-one handsets in one fell swoop simply boggles our mortal minds. We take it so seriously, in fact, that we liken it to the discovery of penicillin or man landing on the moon; if a US carrier were to launch 31 handsets at once, we wouldn't be surprised to see it on the front page of every newspaper in North America. Alas, this isn't Cingular or Verizon with the announcement -- it's Vodafone, so let's get down to business. First up, Nokia is bringing six phones to the party: the 6070, 6151, 6234, 6288, 7390, and the N73; all but the 6070 are 3G, and you get your choice of cams ranging from VGA all the way up to the N73's monster 3.2-megapixel shooter. LG will be contributing its KU800 (a Chocolate variant) and L600V, both with 3G data. Motorola rolls deep with four models, the MAXX, V1100 (an HSDPA-capable Vodafone exclusive), MOTOKRZR K1, and V3xx. Sagem's got the my600V and my800V -- both lower-end 3G devices -- and the super simple myC5-3. We're starting to get a little fatigued here, but let's keep going; Sharp has their 770SH and EDGE-only GX29 in store with 1.3-megapixel and VGA cams, respectively. Sony Ericsson brings their K310i, K610i, K800i Cyber-shot, V630i (another Voda exclusive, hence the "V," we're guessing), and W850i Walkman phones, though no mention of the P990. Samsung wins the title of "World's Most Phones Launched By A Single Manufacturer In This Particular Vodafone Announcement," dropping the X510V, X680V, Z400V, Z540V, Z560V, Z720V, ZV40, and ZV50. Last -- and possibly least -- the Vodafone 710 inaugurates Voda's self-branding initiative, bringing 3G and a 1.3-megapixel camera in (what should be) an inexpensive package. All told, six of the new phones will rock HSDPA, and a total of 24 support some manner of high-speed data. Now if you'll excuse us, we need some milk of magnesia and a nap, but we hope we've brightened the day of a Brit or two among our readership. [Warning: PDF link]




















Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
sports fan @ Oct 19th 2006 2:37PM
Wowsa, thats a lot of good information to process. Thanks for the overview - I could never keep up with all the new cell phones on the market and coming to the market!
Cesar Cardoso @ Oct 19th 2006 3:28PM
Hm.. maybe NTT DoCoMo or KDDI will come up with 32 new phones in the next megalaunch?
jonny @ Oct 19th 2006 3:44PM
This is a bit of an odd announcement. The N73 has been available for months and I'm sure some of the other phones on that list are quite old.
ConPermiso @ Oct 19th 2006 7:21PM
man. i hope T-Mobile pays attention to this...you can actually introduce more then 3 phones at one time AND you can introduce phones that take advantage of all of your network's features.
kashif @ Oct 19th 2006 7:53PM
#4
They do use all of their networks features... one at a time.
mroach @ Oct 19th 2006 7:54PM
Yeah, something doesn't smell right about this. The V630 is an old phone and it's a Vodafone exclusive! The K610 and K800 are also old.