Phones

Silly Friday iPhone thing

Anyone notice how the little picture is a mirror picture of the larger picture. Is Apple going to mirror every video call? On the Apple’s site here.

Iphone 4 tarrifs in one place

O2, Orange and Vodafone seem to have finalised their tarrifs for the iPhone 4. There isn’t too big of a difference between most models but when it comes to getting the phone free then things can get a little tricky. Thankfully the pricing models are similar enough that you can just pick from the network that gives you the best service!

iPhone 4 pre-order figures

iPhone 4 pre-order event has yielded a colossal number of units pre-sold: more than 600,000. To put that in perspective, the 3Gs sold one million units in three days of actual sales. Meanwhile, we’re still a week away from the iPhone 4’s first in-store sale day. AT&T have run out and there were no white iPhones were available for pre-orde

Kind of a scary amount, when combined with iPad sales if these keep up Apple will inherit the world. I do, however, believe the pricing of the iPhone 4 is a lot more attractive than it could have been. Given the level of hardware in there the 4th gen is a good value bundle.

Wave 2 and Wave 2 Pro appear

Almost 23 minutes after the Samsun Wave arrive on UK shores the Wave 2 and Wave 2 Pro are announced. These Bada powered devices are known as the S5250 Wave 2 and S5330 Wave 2 Pro, both devices are more or less identical save for the fact that the Pro model has a sliding QWERTY keypad. This means that everything else, be it the 3.2? WQVGA touchscreen display, 3 megapixel camera, Wi-Fi, A-GPS, 80MB of internal memory, quad-band EDGE (no UMTS/HSDPA) and TouchWiz 3.0 UI is the same across the two devices. Both the Wave 2 and Wave 2 Pro will be available in South East Asia and Russia this August.

Read on for the press release:

Collapsible phones, the future?

This little video might be quite significant to the future of mobile devices. Be it games, telecommunications or navigation the screen is always the biggest aspect of the device. Imagine is it could be increased to aid a certain task. Well Sony is currently demoing a rather fancy new technology, a bendable OLED display. Sure it looks a little rough around the edges and the idea has been about for ages but the potential is immense when you think about it. The future Jack, the Future!

iPhone 4 will be unlocked

Today, Apple announced that iPhone 4’s can be purchased through Apple’s online UK store. It is available for £499 and £599 for unlocked versions of the respective models. A stunning move on the part of Apple, means you can get it on the network of your choosing with whatever tarrif you care for. Special pricing like in the U.S. is also available per carriers terms, and we think most people will opt for this. 

Will Nokia deliver poor results next week?

Nokia may warn of weaker-than-expected Q2 profits, according to analysts at the Macquarie Group. In a research note Macquarie analysts said Nokia’s warning could come within the next week. The note said Nokia is being hit by ‘stale’ products, a weak Euro and falling sales in Europe.

‘With no visibility on the N8, continued heavy competition in handsets and softening demand, we would remain on the sidelines even at these levels,’ the note said. Nokia declined to comment. The handset manufacturer is set to report its earnings on 22 July. Nokia’s shareprice has fallen by a third in the past year, despite being the top handset manufacturer in global terms. The fall is driven by fears over rising competition, little in the way of new smartphones and currency trends.

As the shares continued their downward pattern speculator George Soros picked up $16.9m (£11.61m) worth of Nokia shares to open a position via his Soros Fund management vehicle.

Vodafone’s iPhone 4 tariffs

Engadget have upped these charts of the tarrifs you can expect for the iPhone 4 on Vodafone. This network is of particular interest as they are usually the most expensive however that, debatably, provide the better service. It’s nice to see the 18 month option creep in here. However these tarrifs might not be set in stone as they were removed as quickly as they went up. Note the data cap on wi-fi hotspots, does that interfere with video calling? Check after the break for the rest:

Possible industrial action if O2 fails to raise 2% pay offer

O2 is on the ‘slippery slope’ to a damaging dispute, unless it improves on its 2% pay offer, the Communication Workers Union warned today.

The union is predicting that O2 workers will reject the company’s offer in a consultative ballot which closes on 29 June. It claims O2 staff are angry at the offer, particularly in the light of a recent 4.3% pay settlement at Manx Telecom, which is also owned by Telefonica. Assistant secretary Ian Cuthbert said: ‘O2 keep on saying to us that they believe that employees will accept the offer, however unacceptable the CWU thinks it is.

‘We’re confident that’s not the case. We believe our members are genuinely angry and disappointed that the better relations achieved with O2 following last year’s pay round has been needlessly squandered. He added: ‘If a tiny company like Manx Telecom can rewards its employees with that kind of offer, then so can O2. My message to O2 is very clear at this critical moment: listen to your staff or there’s trouble ahead.’

The union warned that, should O2 fail to adequately respond, ‘it will be placing itself on a slippery slope to a completely unnecessary and potentially damaging dispute.’
Cuthbert said: ‘The CWU negotiating team unanimously believes that offer is shabby – equating to less than half the benchmark inflation rate which was 4.4 per cent in March, with RPI even higher now.

‘We simply don’t believe that employees should have to take a pay cut if the company they are working for is highly successful.’
In a statement O2 said it welcomed the consultative ballot and was disappointed the CWU was not supporting its 2% offer. It defended its offer calling it ‘one of the best on the market’ adding: ‘ It is also in line with the offer accepted by the CWU with the Royal Mail and Virgin Media. We have consistently made pay increases and performance-related bonuses to all our staff throughout the recession, in stark contrast to most other companies in our sector and across UK industry.’