Archive for June, 2011

Vodafone reduce roaming charges

From today (June 1st), all Vodafone customers can use up to 25MB of data per day in 35 European countries. Regular travellers can opt to pay £10 a month, while customers travelling out of Europe can enjoy the same 25MB data allowance for £5 per day.

Heavier business users on the Vodafone Euro Traveller tariff (£36.50+VAT per month) will get 1GB of data, per month, to use in Europe. For other users, it will cost £8 for up to 100MB of data a day in Europe, or £25 a day outside Europe.

In addition, to eliminate the chance of shocking bills, Vodafone is introducing a £100 monthly cap on data usage for customers outside of Europe (users within Europe already receive these warnings), with a text alert when 80% of their monthly spending limit is reached. The automatic bar can then be removed only by sending a text (‘STOP’ to 40209) or calling customer services.

Vodafone is also reminding users to make sure they opt-in to Vodafone Passport, which allows customers visiting European countries, as well as Australia and New Zealand, to call back to the UK (or make call within the visited country) at their standard home rate for a fixed connection fee of 75p. Vodafone Passport users can even use their inclusive minutes if they are on contract.

Finally, the network is introducing daily text allowances. Customers on a price plan of £40 or above, and with 900 or more minutes per month, will receive a free allowance of 10 texts per day to use within Europe. Customers on lower price plans can opt in for £10 a month.

Posted by: James

Phones 4U to sell the HTC ChaCha this week

Phones 4u will this week start selling the HTC Cha Cha (so we are told), the first Facebook centric phone to be offered by the retailer. Remember this is one of two ‘Facebook’ phones that HTC announced back in February.

With a dedicated Facebook button the ChaCha will allow users to quickly share photos, locations, status updates etc.

Phones 4U are pricing the ChaCha at £300 on PAYG and from free on a £20 per month contract.

HTC EMEA operations and sales VP Jon French said: “This model is completely different from any other handset we’ve developed and has been designed specifically for those who share their lives through Facebook as second nature.

“It’s a great fit for Phones 4u, offering its audience a great blend of smartphone performance with the enhanced ability to chat or share their thoughts, photos and location even more easily than before.”

Posted by: James

Huawei to announce a new tablet – The MediaPad

Selling a tablet is all the rage at the moment. Not to be outdone, Huawei are planning to announce a tablet at CommunicAsia 2011 June 21st-24th in Singapore.

Huawei say:

Our latest tablet the "MediaPad" is our smartest, smallest and lightest tablet ever – guaranteed to transform the consumer’s entertainment experience. 

The announcement will be done via a live webcast and will have more information nearer the time. At present that is all we know however we do have a couple of nice photos below and it looks pretty sweet.

Transphone taking on the Padfone

Dual devices seem to be all the rage. Pipping Asus’ Padfone to the headlines by a day was CMIT’s TransPhone. Both tablets include built-in docks with smartphones to match, but are otherwise unique in appearance and features. The TransPhone includes a bluetooth headset and a slide-in smartphone dock, while the Padfone’s handset is completely hidden by a flip-up rear door. The CMIT device reportedly packs a 1.2GHz dual-core Qualcomm processor and SVGA display, along with USB and HDMI ports, though we’re still unclear on which OS will be running on the tablet. There’s also no word on pricing or availability, but the TransPhone is in good company there, so don’t get ready to ditch those standalone gadgets just yet.