Orange has today refreshed its mobile broadband tariffs, offering Dolphin, Panther and Racoon packages.
The Dolphin mobile broadband tariff comes with one hour of unlimited data. Customers can select to have the ‘happy hour’ between 8am-9am, 12pm-1pm, 4pm-5pm or 10pm-11pm. For £15 per month on an 18-month contract, customers will also receive 3GB of data per month, or on a one-month rolling contract, 2GB.
The Panther tariff comes with 10GB of data for £25 per month on a one-month rolling contract, or on a £35 18-month contract customers get unlimited data.
Existing Orange customers can opt for the Racoon £5 18-month tariff which comes with 500MB. Or for £10 per month, customers can opt for either 1GB on a rolling one-month contract or 1.5GB on an 18-month deal.
All 18-month mobile broadband contracts come with a free Huawei E1752 dongle or with a white Option 515M dongle for £20, which comes with an 8GB memory card.
Customers can opt for a laptop with the mobile broadband deals on a 24-month contract. The Asus 1005HGO netbook and the Compaq CQ61 notebook are available from £15 per month.
Orange will cap usage once customers exceed £40 over the standard monthly allowance (except for when roaming or sending SMS).
Orange UK Director of Broadband and Home Asif Aziz said: "Our mobile animal plans have been extremely popular as they allow customers to quickly select the right package which is best for them – so we’ve decided to extend these to our mobile broadband range – making it easier for customers to find the tariff that meets their digital needs and which is best suited to their personal lifestyle."
Posted by: James
It looks like Vodafone are the first UK network to announce they will be carrying the BlackBerry Pearl 3G. The device appeared in the coming soon section of their website today.
No news on when or how much I am afraid. We will have to be patient. However as soon as we hear any news we will let you know.
Personally I think this device is going to be great for RIM and i am confident it will ensure more and more customers switching to using a BlackBerry from their regular feature phone.
Watch this space.
Posted by: James
The guys over at engadget have been playing around with both the KIN One and KIN two and have published there thoughts. I would imagine it’s not the kind of review Microsoft was hoping for. Not only have engadget heavily criticised the new Windows phones but they have also slated the price plans that the KINs will be sold on.
Both Matt and myself have said from day one that in order for these devices to do well they will need to be sold at a really low price. Over in the USA it would seem that Verizon and Microsoft have decided not offer a great price deal on the KINs.
Oh dear, not a great start Microsoft. I do hope that the Windows Phone 7 devices will not be priced out of the market too?
Anyway, you can read the full article from engadget here.
Posted by: James
We have here the first effort from LG at making their handsets as ‘Smartphone like’ as possible as they have incorporated the android 1.5 OS into this handset to try and spice the market up a little. Has this attempt worked?
So should you buy a handset like this which, in terms of hardware, has a pretty decent specification that seems at first to be somewhat let down by an older version of Android being utilised?
Read on for my full review and let’s see what I think of it!
Gareth, James and Andy get down to another packed week of all things mobile. This week there is a lot of news about Palm, O2, HP, Tesco, Virgin Mobile and Phones4U. Also Andy’s bought himself an iPad. As a special bonus for those who have purchased the iPhone App you can have the Mickey Papillon Ringtone!
iPhone App
Regulars: James Richardson, Matt Davis, Gareth Myles and Andy Lee
While I was checking out crackberry.com earlier today I spotted that they mentioned a new YouTube player was available to download for free. I like free stuff so the app was downloaded straight away.
Streaming YouTube videos on a BlackBerry never gives you the quality picture you may find on other devices but it is still good to have a decent app for when you want it. If your BlackBerry is running OS 4.6 and up then I think this is a much better solution than heading over to YouTube on your BlackBerry web browser.
This new one is rather attractive. As you can see it’s extremely colourful and it’s is dead simple to navigate.
More after the break.
Nokia today announces the launch of Own Voice for Ovi Maps, a free app from Ovi store, which allows people to personalise the voice that gives them turn-by-turn instructions when using Ovi Maps drive navigation.
The Own Voice app lets you create a new voice pack, taking you through each step of the process. Find a quiet space to record, then let the app take you through each of the 53 required commands including the penultimate "You have reached your destination". When you’re done recording, you simply add your name, save and the voice pack is uploaded to the Own Voice website meaning that others can also choose your voice to direct them en route.
With 10 million downloads of Ovi Maps already on devices, there’s sure to be no shortage of voices to choose from. The app lets you browse new voice packs by popularity and by recommendation. Own Voice also lets people share voice packs by Facebook and Twitter and if you find one you really like (or hate) then you can rate it.
Rupert Englander, Head of Services, Nokia UK, commented: “Nokia continues to redefine the mobile navigation market by bringing free walk and drive navigation to millions of people around the world. Many of us have a love-hate relationship with our sat nav and being able to record or choose a voice that you love is a great way to make Ovi Maps fun to use.
Own Voice is available as a free download from the Ovi Store http://store.ovi.com/content/34132
Own Voice for Ovi Maps is available only in English and is compatible with all Nokia devices which support the new version of Ovi Maps (3.03) including Nokia 5800, Nokia X6, Nokia E72, Nokia N97, Nokia N97 mini and all upcoming GPS-enabled smartphones.
Walk and drive navigation is free on Nokia smartphones as part of a new version of Ovi Maps, available for download at www.nokia.com/maps. Nokia’s mapping and navigation software has been specifically designed for mobile use and is based on unique hybrid technology. The new version of Ovi Maps includes all essential car and pedestrian navigation features, such as turn-by-turn voice guidance for 74 countries in 46 languages, and traffic information for over 10 countries, as well as detailed maps for over 180 countries.
More information on “Own Voice for Ovi Maps” can be found from www.ovi.com/ownvoice
Posted by: James
Here’s another device made for T-Mobile by HTC, the myTouch 3G Slide. I can’t confirm at this moment in time if this new 2.1 Android device will grace our shores over here in the UK but in the mean time we can just look on and envy.
Designed by HTC exclusively for T-Mobile, the myTouch 3G Slide features a 3.4-inch HVGA touch- screen display with virtual keyboard as well as a roomy, slide-out QWERTY keyboard. Less than 15mm thick, the elegant design slides easily into your pocket proving that Android brains don’t have to come in a sci-fi box. The myTouch 3G Slide also features a 5-megapixel camera, a music player with a pre-installed 8GB microSD memory card, and enhanced video capabilities to make it easy for users to record and share pictures and videos, whether via e-mail, MMS or one-click upload to sites such as YouTubeTM and PicasaTM.
Specs are pretty sweet. Read the full T-Mobile press release after the break.
Independent retailer Phones 4u has launched its biggest instant cashback deal ahead of the bank holiday weekend. However, I wouldn’t get too excited.
Customers are being offered instant cashback or trade in up to the value of £350 from 29 April until the end of the bank holiday weekend when they sign up to one of the bank holiday special deals on offer.
The offer is available on the Nokia 5230 and Samsung Tocco Lite when taken out on a massive 24 month contract.
The Nokia 5230 is being offered for £25 a month with 200 cashback and 300 minutes and 3000 texts. The Samsung Tocco Lite is being offered for £35 a month with 300 cashback, 900 minutes and 3000 texts. The amount of cashback on both offers increases when a handset is traded in.
Phones 4u spokesperson, Russell Braterman said: ‘This is a really significant promotion for Phones 4u as its the biggest instant cash back deal we have ever run. We constantly strive to provide the best deals for our customers and are delighted to offer such incredible cash back value for everyone to enjoy this bank holiday weekend!’
It doesn’t take a bargain hunter to realise you are probably better off keeping whatever phone you have and staying far, far away from contracts that last over 2 years with a phone that might last 12 months.
Tesco has launched an all-out assault on Carphone Warehouse, with plans to open Tesco ‘Phone Shops’ on every high street and a major push into the contracts market.
The supermarket giant is speeding up the rollout of 500 new phone shops. From this week, it will open three phone stores each week to deliver at least 100 per year. With 107 Phone Shops already open, Tesco Mobile should hit its target of 500 shops by the end of 2013. Tesco anticipates it will create around 750 jobs this year through the rollout, made up of both Tesco staff and external recruitment.
It is estimated up to 3,000 jobs will be created over a three-year period. The first 200 Phone Shops will be in Tesco’s larger Extra stores. A further 300 phone stores will open in Tesco’s superstores and its high street Metro shops. Each will be customised to fit the store’s profile. In an exclusive interview, Tesco Telecoms chief Lance Batchelor told Mobile: ‘We are working out how to put a full service Phone Shop in our Metro stores and we are trialling different ways of doing this. This will give us the ability to be on every high street in the country.’
Tesco is also targeting the contracts market, adding 28 new handsets to its contract range this month. Batchelor forecasts at least 333,000 contract sales in Tesco Phone Shops this year. Batchelor said: ‘With prepay, we were only playing in half the market. Now, with our Phone Shops and the addition of 28 new handsets in our contracts range, we have moved into the whole of the consumer market.’ No commissions are on offer to Phone Shop staff in order to discourage ‘hard sell’ tactics. Tesco is also wooing the networks, with plans to deliver operator upgrades later this year.
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