News

T-Mobile: “We’re all out of G1’s”

All stock already allocated to pre-orders as reports say 500,000 units could shift by Christmas.
T-Mobile says it has sold through all the Android-powered G1 handsets it has ordered from manufacturer HTC in advance of the October 22nd US launch.

In fact, reports from the Far East suggest that demand for the device is such that T-Mobile is on target to sell between 400,000 and 500,000 G1’s in the US and Europe by Christmas.

T-Mobile is apparently preparing a fresh order from HTC in the region of 1.5 to 2 million units.

In a statement regarding US launch availability T-Mobile said: "Given the great anticipation and the heavy pre-sale demand for the T-Mobile G1 with Google, we nearly tripled the number of phones initially available for delivery on our October 22 launch date, and have sold through them all."

T-Mobile G1

The company says it will continue to accept pre-orders until October 21 for delivery at a later date.

The much-anticipated G1 costs $179 with a two-year voice and data contract.

The HTC-built device will also be available from T-Mobile UK beginning in November, and across Europe in the first quarter of 2009. Countries include Germany, Austria, Czech Republic and the Netherlands.

Posted by: John

Samsung Cameras gives NV customers a year of 2 for 1 cinema tickets

So we all like going to the cinema and we all like photo’s, now Samsung have imaginatively put both of these together by doing a 2 for 1 on cinema tickets for a full year when you buy one of their NV range cameras.

Samsung Cameras gives NV customers a year of 2 for 1 cinema tickets

6 October 2008 – Samsung Cameras, leaders in innovation and digital imaging, is giving away a year of 2 for 1 cinema tickets to customers who buy a camera from the award winning Samsung NV series from 13th October until 31st December 2008.

The Samsung Camera NV range is packed with the latest technology, stunning design and user friendly functions. Customers are sure to find the right camera for them in the innovative Samsung NV range such as the award winning NV24HD with a 24mm ultra wide angle lens, the new NV9 with multimedia functionality or the new NV100HD with intuitive touch screen technology. This touch screen technology is the latest version of the award winning Smart Touch User Interface and provides a dramatically different way of organising and viewing your pictures and enables you to change camera settings, all from intuitive touches on the LCD screen.

For customers to claim their free annual cinema pass and access up to 165 cinemas across the UK, customers need to collect a voucher claim form from retail staff when purchasing a Samsung NV Camera. The completed claim form should be returned along with an SAE and a copy of the receipt to the address specified on the form. Alternatively they can download the form online at www.samsungcamera.co.uk/movies.

Customers will be sent their 2 for 1 cinema card and can visit www.myvue.com/2for1 for available films and venues. Customers must present the card at their chosen cinema to receive their 2 for 1 entry. What’s more, cards are transferable so the whole family can take advantage of the card.

This exciting offer is only valid from 13th October until 31st December 2008. For further information on the NV range and full terms and conditions, please visit www.samsungcamera.co.uk/movies.

This seems like a great idea and with the offer lasting until the end of the year it makes it appealing for the christmas market.

The NV range currently has 9 cameras in it and 2 of those are in a very girly pink colour so if you fancy getting your other half a camera and taking her to the cinema for free (not saying your all cheapskates) then why not have a look on the 13th of October?

Posted by: John

Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1 – Release date and price confirmed!

Thanks to Clove Technology, we’ve just found out the release date and price of the Sony Ericsson Xperai X1

Week commencing 6^th October, we will see the first of the brand new and highly sought after Sony Xperia X1 become available. With a truly spectacular specification and features set, the X1 has been gaining lots of attention.

• The X1 will have a QWERTY keyboard
• 3G/HSDPA/HSUPA
• MicroSD Slot
• 3” WVGA Display
• Bluetooth
• Windows Mobile

The price has been confirmed at just £439 + VAT. Available in either Black or Silver you can order yours today ready for shipping next week. CLICK HERE to pre-order yours today!

Posted by: Matt

Devicewire Bundles of Joy

The team over at Devicewire have thrown together 8 new package deals on HTC Devices that we thought you might be interested in. Each bundle has a saving of between £5 and £35 which if you ask me makes it very lucrative.

The have the following bundles on offer:

• HTC Touch Diamond Starter Bundle

This bundle includes the HTC Touch Diamond, the Official HTC Touch Diamond Car Kit Upgrade Kit, the Official HTC Touch Diamond Pouch Case and the Official HTC Screen Protector (Pack of 2).

• HTC Touch Diamond UK Sat Nav Bundle

This bundle includes the HTC Touch Diamond, the Official HTC Touch Diamond Car Kit Upgrade Kit and the CoPilot Live software (Regional Edition).

• HTC Touch Diamond Europe Sat Nav Bundle

This bundle includes the HTC Touch Diamond, the Official HTC Touch Diamond Car Kit Upgrade Kit and the CoPilot Live software (Europe Edition).

• HTC Touch Pro Starter Bundle

This bundle includes the HTC Touch Pro, the Official HTC Touch Pro Car Kit Upgrade Kit, the Kingston 2GB microSD card, the Official HTC Standard Pouch and the Official HTC Screen Protector (Pack of 2).

• HTC Touch Pro Car Bundle

This bundle includes the HTC Touch Pro and the Official HTC Touch Pro Car Kit Upgrade Kit.

• HTC Touch Pro Memory Bundle

This bundle includes the HTC Touch Pro and the Kingston 2GB microSD card.

• HTC Touch Pro (UK & Ireland) Sat Nav Bundle

This bundle includes the HTC Touch Pro, the Official HTC Touch Pro Car Kit Upgrade Kit and CoPilot Live 7 (UK & Ireland).

• HTC Touch Pro (European) Sat Nav Bundle

This bundle includes the HTC Touch Pro, the Official HTC Touch Pro Car Kit Upgrade Kit and CoPilot Live 7 (European).

Pop over to Devicewire now and have a closer look at these amazing deals

Posted by: John

Expansys – Windows Mobile Friday

Thanks to our friends over at Expansys we are again able to offer two special Tracy & Matt deals this week.

The first offer is the MWg UBiQUiO 501

• Operating System: Windows Mobile 5.0 Pocket PC Edition
• Memory: 128MB ROM, 64MB RAM
• Dimensions: 122 (L) x 65 (W) x 13.5 (D) mm
• Weight:135g
• GSM/GPRS/EDGE: GSM 900/DCS 1800/PCS 1900, GPRS Class 10
• Bluetooth: 1.2 wth A2DP
• Wi-Fi: 802.11b/g
• Processor: TI OMAP 750 200 MHz
• Display: 2.5" QVGA Colour TFT
• Camera: 2 Mega-Pixel
• Memory Card: Mini SD
• Connector: mini USB

The second offer we have is on the MWg UBiQUiO 503G

• Operating System – Windows Mobile 6 Professional
• Memory – 192MB ROM, 96MB RAM
• GSM/GPRS/EDGE – Quad-band 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, GPRS Class 10
• WCDMA/UMTS – Tri-band 850/1900/2100 MHz, HSDPA 3.6 Mbps
• Processor – 520MHz Intel XScale 270 + Qualcomm 6280
• Bluetooth – 1.2 with A2DP
• Wi-Fi – 802.11b/g
• Display – 2.4" QVGA (240×320) Colour TFT
• Camera(s) – 2MP main camera, secondary 0.3MP camera
• Memory Card – Micro SD
• Connector – mini USB
• Dimensions – 123mm x 65mm x 15.7mm

The deals are only available between 11am and 4pm UK time on Friday the 3rd of October*. Normal pricing will resume at 4pm.

MWg UBiQUiO 501 save £50
Normally £149.99, now only £99.99 inc VAT, save £50
http://www.expansys.com/d.aspx?i=174339&partner=tracyandmatt

MWg UBiQUiO 501 on T-Mobile contract (£30 per month) plus FREE Slingbox Classic
Normally £209, now FREE**, save £209
http://www.expansys.com/d.aspx?i=174239&partner=tracyandmatt

MWg UBiQUiO 503G
Normally £229.99, now only £109.99 inc VAT, save £120
http://www.expansys.com/d.aspx?i=173349&partner=tracyandmatt

MWg UBiQUiO 503G on T-Mobile contract with 3G (£35 per month) plus FREE Celio Redfly
Normally £356, now FREE**, save £356
http://www.expansys.com/d.aspx?i=174244&partner=tracyandmatt

eXpansys are also pleased to announce that they are sponsoring for the second year the PDA Essential Awards 2008. You can vote for Best PDA/Smartphone of 2008 and Best GPS of 2008. Place your vote and two lucky winners could win the best device out of each category.

Posted by: John

T-Mobile G1 – Unboxed Photos

The guys over at TMONEWS have managed to get photos up of a G1 box and it’s contents.

As we can see from the photos the box design has been left simplistic and to be honest rather boring considering HTC are famous now for weird boxes what with the pyramid design and the slide one way pull the other boxes. Understandably this has been a T-Mobile slant on the box and the chances are the the official HTC version will be boxed very differently.

Inside the box, from the pictures, we see that there is the Phone, Wall Charger, Battery, Wired Headset, Data Cable, Carry Pouch and the usual CD’s / Literature.

One thing I will say is not to judge this book by it’s cover as I am sure the device itself will pack a few punches and surprise many of the techy people out there with just some of the things it can do.

Posted by: John

T-Mobile G1 in pictures

As I said in my previous post, yesterday I managed to get my hands on the G1 briefly. Here are some more photos for you to look at. Click thumbnails to enlarge.

T-Mobile G1 – front view

G1 left and right views

G1 bottom view and keyboard open view

T-Mobile G1 vs HTC Touch Pro

T-Mobile G1 white version

Obviously I’ll be trying to get my hands on the G1 to review in due course.

Oh and one tip for event organisers – funky coloured lighting may look cool, but can we have standard lighting somewhere for photos and video? 🙂

Posted by: Matt

Samsung M8800 Pixon – Press Photos & Specs

We have finally been able to find photos (courtesy of GSM Arena) for the Samsung M8800 Pixon and have several updates about its impressive specs sheet that you may be interested in.

After we published a Samsung teaser on Friday, today we finally see the Samsung M8800 Pixon in its full glory.

Official photos of Samsung M8800 Pixon

First of all, the Samsung M8800 Pixon is thin – at 13.8mm. Samsung now have the slimmest 8 megapixel cameraphone but a point to note is that it only beats the LG KC910 Renoir by 0.2mm.

The Pixon has not only DivX, but also Xvid video support making it a true multimedia device.

Unlike the initial unofficial reports, the M8800 Pixon won’t be featuring tri-band UMTS support, so 3G is a no-go in the US (Sorry Guys across the pond).

Next there’s the tilt-and-flip photo browser, which allows flipping through your photos by simply tilting your handset. We didn’t pay much attention to that feature when we saw it back in the commercial video, but Samsung seem to be making a great deal of it so we thought it was worth mentioning.

Samsung are currently not commenting the GPS feature, which makes us wonder whether it will be possible to use it for anything else besides photo geo-tagging, guess we will need to wait for the official release to find out more .

The plan at the moment is to start shipping in mid-October starting in France and soon continuing to most other European and Asian countries. The price is estimated at £435 at the moment but knowing Samsung this could change any time.

Samsung M8800 Specifications:

• Quad-band GSM, HSDPA 2100 7.2 Mbps
• Dimensions: 107.9 x 54.6 x 13.8 mm
• Weight: 121 g
• 3.2" TFT (256k Colours) 200 x 400 pixels with Accelerometer sensor
• microSD up to 8GB with 200mb Internal Memory
• GPRS Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 – 48 kbps
• EDGE Class 10, 236.8 kbps
• Bluetooth v2.0 with A2DP
• MicroUSB port V2.0
• WAP 2.0/xHTML, HTML Browser
• 8 MP, 3264×2448 pixels, autofocus, video(WVGA@30fps, QVGA@120fps), flash; secondary videocall camera
• Built-in GPS receiver
• A-GPS function
• Camera – geo-tagging, auto-panorama shot, face, smile and blink detection, advanced shake reduction
• DivX/XviD/H.263/H.264/WMV/MP4 player
• MP3/eAAC+/WMA/AMR player
• SRS (Surround Sound System) Virtual 5.1CH
• TV out functionality
• Java MIDP 2.0
• FM radio with RDS
• Organizer
• Office document viewer
• Built-in handsfree
• Voice memo/dial

Posted by: John

Sony Ericsson launches PlayNow plus

Earlier this week Steve was invited to Lund, Sweden by Sony Ericsson where he was introduced to a number of new SE products and services. Steve will be sharing some of this news with us all over the next few days and we’ll also have some exclusive video footage for you including a fantastic presentation and demonstration of the Xperia X1.

For now we have the SE PlayNow plus press release for you:

Sony Ericsson today announced the launch of PlayNow™ plus, which will offer users the ultimate mobile music experience with the freedom to discover, download, play and recommend unlimited amounts of music wherever they are and whenever they like, directly over the mobile data network.
PlayNow™ plus is due to set a new standard for the unlimited music experience on a mobile with unrivalled download speeds, high-quality audio and access to the largest music catalogue of any unlimited download service. Sony Ericsson’s PlayNow™ plus music service guarantees ‘all-you-can-eat’ unlimited access to millions of music tracks.

PlayNow™ plus is very easy to use, with millions of songs available on your PC or phone at the click of a button.  No need for cables, PlayNow™ plus offers simplicity and a great out of box experience with 1000 of the best selling songs already in the phone.

 
Instant satisfaction:

• Turn on the PlayNow™ plus phone and start to browse, download, and play unlimited amounts of music—anytime, anywhere
• PlayNow™ plus brings you 1000 of the recent most popular songs, both locally and globally, already preloaded and access to millions more.
• Using the latest high speed mobile networks you can now enjoy super fast downloads. Music is downloaded to your phone in seconds.
• Enjoy music on the move and at home:
• As well as being able to browse millions of tracks on your phone, a complimentary PC player is available allowing you to download and play as much music as you like on your PC.

Ease of Use:

• There is no more need for slow and cumbersome cables to get music from your PC onto your phone.  Send your favourite playlist from home to phone in a matter of seconds.

Keep your favourite music forever: 

• Keep your most-played music tracks at the end of your contract to play whenever you like on whatever MP3 compatible player you have.

Share the experience:

• Create your own profile, recommend your music to your PlayNow™ plus friends, and catch up on the latest music news with direct links to artists and their songs.
• To add to the discovery and community aspects of PlayNow plus, TrackID™ charts, generated by
• consumers around the world, are also included.

“All mobile consumers want to have content on their phone, but many find the experience difficult, slow and time consuming,” said Lennard Hoornik, Corporate Vice President and Head of Marketing at Sony Ericsson.  “With PlayNow™ plus, there will be no more barriers, we’re giving consumers the freedom to instantly discover, download, play and recommend all the music they want—anytime, anywhere.”

The service is due to launch commercially with operator Telenor in Sweden in the fourth quarter of this year, with further roll-outs around the world beginning in 2009. A special edition of the Sony Ericsson W902 Walkman™ phone including the PlayNow™ plus service will be the first phone to be launched.  Sony Ericsson will include, as part of the service, 1000 of the recent most popular digital songs, with each Sony Ericsson W902 Walkman™ with PlayNow™ plus for Telenor in Sweden. Pre-loaded music offers are also planned for subsequent PlayNow™ plus-enabled phones.

Posted by: Matt

LG KC910 (Renoir) press launch

Last night I attended the official LG KC910 (aka LG Renoir) launch event here in London. The KC910 picks up where the LG Viewty left off and boast a number is incredibly features such as being the worlds thinnest 8 megapixel camera phone with Schneider-Kreuznach certified optics, xenon flash, image stabiliser, auto-focus, manual focus, Face Tracking, Smile Shot and blink detection. It can record video from 5 frames per second (FPS) up to 120 FPS, allowing it to record in both slow and fast motion. It also plays DivX and Xvid movies straight out of the box, without the need for additional encoding.

The LG KC910 Renoir

I recorded much of the official part of the launch which you can see below. The Renoir will be available soon on all of the UK networks as well as there being a SIM-free version.

LG KC910  Specification:

• 8 mp Camera with Xenon flash and Schneider-Kreuznach optics
• 30 FPS video recording at 640×480, 60 FPS at 320×240
• Internal GPS w/ Geotagging
• Dolby Audio
• Divx/Xvid support
• Manual Focus
• Smile, focus, face detection, Image stabilization
• Quad-band GSM, HSDPA 7.2 mbps
• Bluetooth Yes.v2.0 with A2DP
• Browser WAP 2.0/xHTML,HTML
• Built-in GPS receiver
• Data GPRS Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots),32- 48 kbps
• EDGE Yes
• 3G HSDPA,7.2 Mbps
• WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11b/g
• USB Yes,v2.0
• Document viewer- DOC,XLS,PDF
• MicroSD up to 8GB
• 3″ touchscreen, 240×400  with Haptic feedback
• TV out support
• Dimensions 107.8 x 55.9 x 14 mm
• Weight 114 g.

We should be getting our hands on the LG KC910 within the next week or so and you can expect our unboxing video and review to follow shortly after.

Sorry the video isn’t great – it was another dark event and there were lots of people standing in the way and I was also using my old camcorder as Steve had the good one for his trip to Lund with Sony Ericsson. However, hopefully you’ll be able to hear the relevant bits!

If you were there and I didn’t get to talk to you then drop me a line!

Posted by: Matt