VodafoneUk -- Engadget Mobile

VodafoneUk posts

Sony Ericsson Satio, HTC Tattoo, and LG GM750 now on offer at Vodafone

by Chris Ziegler posted Oct 13th 2009 @ 10:19AM

Hey, Britons: about a nice three-pack of "wow!" to start your week off right? We'd like to direct your attention over to Vodafone, where three particularly notable handsets that we've been following in recent months are now in stock and ready for delivery. The HTC Tattoo represents the new low end in Android fare, bringing a resistive QVGA display and a 3.2 megapixel cam to the table -- it'll go out the door for free on a £25 monthly plan. Heading over to the Windows Mobile side of the trailer park, the GM750 is a Voda exclusive loaded to the hilt with that newfangled WinMo 6.5 everyone's been talking about these days; it comes loaded up with a 5 megapixel camera and, like the Tattoo, can be yours for nary a penny on a £25 plan. Finally -- get ready -- the Symbian-powered Satio from Sony Ericsson is ready for your consumption, all 12.1 megapixels of it, for just another 10 quid a month. We'll take all three, thanks.

[Via Electronista]

Read - Sony Ericsson Satio
Read - HTC Tattoo
Read - LG GM750

Vodafone nabbing Sony Ericsson X2 in November, Samsung Corby as 'Genio'

by Chris Ziegler posted Sep 23rd 2009 @ 7:16AM

Vodafone UK never seems to have a shortage of exciting new models in the pipeline; right now they've got no fewer than eight biggies listed on their Coming Soon page, and while we wouldn't necessarily categorize every last one as "exciting," there are a couple doozies in there. Besides the HTC Tattoo that we mentioned earlier, the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X2 is following on a month later in November holding down Windows Mobile 6.5 with its positively mind-bending customized home screen. Also notable is the Samsung "Genio," known globally as the recently-announced Corby -- Samsung intended it as an entry-level full-touch phone for the younger crowd, and to that end, Voda looks to be selling it on prepaid. It's gotta be a tough call deciding what to buy next for subscribers, but if you ask us, that's a positively awesome problem to have.

[Via CoolSmartPhone]

Vodafone kicks off 14.4Mbps HSDPA upgrade in UK

by Chris Ziegler posted Aug 28th 2009 @ 11:35AM

HSPA+ is the ultimate in pre-LTE wireless standards -- but before Vodafone UK gets there, it wants to take plain ol' HSPA just as far as it'll go by pushing downlink speeds all the way to 14.4Mbps. Great Britain's largest operator has announced that it has already flipped the switch on 14.4 in parts of London, Birmingham, and Liverpool, with the remainder of Her Majesty's Royal Network being bumped "on an ongoing basis." This puts rivals Orange, O2, and 3 in a bit of a crunch since they're just now in the process of rolling out 7.2, but then again, putting equipment in customers' hands to take advantage of the higher speeds is really the biggest challenge; otherwise, it's little more than a chest-puffing competition for these guys. At any rate, it makes you wonder about AT&T's claims that 14.4Mbps HSDPA had technical issues, doesn't it?

Vodafone launches BlackBerry 8520 in the UK

by Chris Ziegler posted Aug 13th 2009 @ 11:12AM

BlackBerry's newest consumer-class QWERTY smartphone -- the Curve 8520 -- seemed like a lock to launch on Vodafone UK on account of some scanned advertising a little while back, and sure enough, here it is. Considering that you can get virtually any phone in your wildest dreams for free on Voda as long as you pair it with an appropriately pricey contract, we're not sure why you'd take up their offer of the 8520, really -- especially considering that it tops out at EDGE speeds in a country where EDGE-only phones are antiquities better suited for museums than pockets. We guess that'd be what the "Why get this" section on the carrier's product page is for, eh?

BlackBerry 8520 coming to Vodafone UK, too

by Chris Ziegler posted Jul 25th 2009 @ 1:11PM

We didn't think Vodafone UK still had the stones to launch a non-3G smartphone in 2009, so color us a little shocked with this one. A scanned ad lends plenty of credibility to the rumor that the carrier will be joining T-Mobile USA in launching RIM's latest entry-level QWERTY handset, the 8520 -- and as the print states, these guys expect to be selling it at an "affordable price." CrackBerry claims we could see this one in August (which is when T-Mobile will be launching it, too), so if you're a Brit with a hankering for optical d-pads and BES, hang tight.

HTC Touch Pro2 now available to everyone on Vodafone UK

by Chris Ziegler posted Jun 18th 2009 @ 6:22PM

It'd originally been available to a random, totally select group of elite individuals, but availability of the HTC Touch Pro2 on Vodafone UK has now opened up to pretty much anyone who wants it. As is virtually always the case with European carriers, you can get this monster for as little as absolutely nothing depending on the contract and plan that you choose, so dive in and sign your life away for a couple years, won't you?

[Via CoolSmartPhone]

Vodafone murders roaming charges in cold blood -- for the summer, anyway

by Chris Ziegler posted May 18th 2009 @ 4:26AM

Who needs cheap roaming when you've got free roaming? It's funny how much crap the GSMA has given the European Union over its law-bound roaming caps for carriers, only to have Vodafone UK turn around and wipe roaming charges off the map altogether. From June 1 through August 31, subscribers who opt into the carrier's Vodafone Passport service pay home rates for voice calls from 35 European countries plus Australia and New Zealand; afterwards, they'll pay 75p to connect, which still seems reasonable if you make a few very long, droning calls (say, boring but obligatory corporate teleconferences). Unfortunately, data roaming's still more expensive than it should be -- but we suppose you could try doing some HSCSD if you were the enterprising type.

[Via MobileBurn]

Vodafone UK selling HTC Magic on May 1

by Chris Ziegler posted Apr 29th 2009 @ 6:16PM

As Vodafone Spain goes, so goes Vodafone Germany, so goes... well, you see where we're going with this. Voda's UK branch has issued a press release trumpeting the fact that they'll be next to sell HTC's second Android device as of this Friday, May 1 -- and as is all too often the case with these guys, you can get it for precisely zero pounds sterling depending on your plan (the lowest is a £35 deal with 600 minutes, unlimited texts, and unlimited data, though if you preorder before the 1st, you can get it for £30 instead). To commemorate the occasion, they'll be giving away 20 Magics through the month of May, which is 20 more than T-Mobile USA is selling at the moment. We're not bitter or anything.

[Via MobileBurn]

Vodafone lays out the dope on Christmas extravaganza

by Chris Ziegler posted Nov 21st 2008 @ 4:26AM

Think you need to go all-in on a postpaid contract to get the best crap a carrier has to offer? Well, quite often you do -- but not on Vodafone in the UK, where its recently-announced Christmas lineup contains perfectly decent fare like the Samsung Steel and Omnia for £80 and £400, respectively. Granted, that's a little (okay, a lot) more than you'll pay on contract, but at least the options are there, right? Those two comprise part of a monstrous 16-phone lineup announced to lead Vodafone through the holiday sales rush, which includes the high-horsepower Sony Ericsson C905 and X1, the Nokia N96 16GB, and the BlackBerry Storm on contract, among a host of others. Voda sweetens the pot for buyers of the Samsung G600, Nokia 6500 Classic, and Sony Ericsson K770i by throwing in a digital photo frame, which particularly comes in handy with the G600's respectable 5-megapixel resolution. All told, the lineup's a little overwhelming, but if we had to choose between an overwhelming lineup and an anemic (read: American) one, you know which one we're picking ten times out of ten.

Palm Treo Pro now available on Vodafone UK

by Chris Ziegler posted Sep 21st 2008 @ 11:54PM

Business customers in the UK are now invited to sign up for the Treo Pro, beating out shipments of the unlocked version straight from Palm's own store. Pricing ranges from £340.43 (a curious figure that works out to about $624) to free depending on the plan you've selected, and we do like the sound of "free" compared to the $549 Palm charges. Then again, that $549 buys you a phone devoid of carrier branding. Life's about trade-offs, eh?

[Via CoolSmartPhone]

Vodafone, O2 to launch the XPERIA X1 in UK and Germany

by Nilay Patel posted Sep 10th 2008 @ 4:32PM

Sony Ericsson finally came clean with that September 30 launch date for the XPERIA X1 this morning, and now the carrier situation is starting to resolve itself -- as previously hinted, Vodafone will launch the sleek WinMo slider in the UK, and both Voda and O2 will have it in Germany. O2 UK hasn't confirmed anything yet, and we still haven't heard from any carriers in the third launch country of Sweden, but we'll keep you posted over on Engadget Mobile as soon as we hear anything.

Vodafone UK launches LG KF750 Secret

by Chris Ziegler posted May 29th 2008 @ 9:56PM

Alright, Vodafone's making this too easy: going to its link for the LG Secret is currently producing a "Sorry, we could not find the product requested" error, which only serves to reinforce the phone's stealthy name. We're figuring they're just working out a few technical details on their end, but at any rate, LG's fashionable 5 megapixel slider should now be available from Voda retailers in the UK, offering a 2.4 inch scratch-resistant display, carbon fiber shell, HSDPA, and all the other spoils that go with being a high-end device these days. It clocks in at just 11.8mm to boot, which should be slim enough to make it a secret in your pocket, too. Looks like the carrier's selling it for anywhere from free to £250 (about $491) depending on the plan you select, so cost shouldn't be a concern (upfront cost, anyway) if you absolutely must have this one.

[Via MobileBurn]

Samsung's SGH-i620 set to hit Vodafone UK's shelves

by Sean Cooper posted Jul 17th 2007 @ 3:48PM

There it is friends, the Samsung SGH-i620 in glorious black and white, posing for us as it gets primmed and propered for its launch on Vodafone UK. This nifty Windows Mobile 6 Standard slider has been covered in the past, but we now know that is sports a 2 megapixel cam and we hope an improvement on the i600's d-pad. Still no word on GSM frequencies, or -- the rumored -- HSDPA support, but we assume its launch in the United Kingdom precludes its arrival over here any time soon. No other solid details yet, but as soon as Vodafone updates its "Coming Soon" pages, we'll do the same here. In the interim, here's hoping we hear word of an SGH-i627.