Press Releases

JUMP is working for Phones 4U

Phones 4u today announces the success of its nationwide roll-out of JUMP (‘Just Update My Phone’), with one quarter of overall sales on the top selling handsets taken out on the flexible contract, which enables consumers to upgrade their mobile phone as often as every 6 months.

After an initial trial period, JUMP has been available in all 640 stores nationwide since 1^st June 2012. The response from consumers has been extremely positive: one quarter of all sales on the latest handsets are JUMP contracts; one in five eligible consumers have already ‘JUMP’ed and upgraded their handsets to newer devices; and 98% of these traded-in older devices at the time of upgrade.

Alistair Firth, Director of Customer Experience at Phones 4u, said: “We’re delighted at the initial response to JUMP. In some stores, JUMP contracts account for up to two-thirds of all contracts being sold, with uptake around London, Birmingham and the surrounding areas doing particularly well.”

So far the highest selling handsets on JUMP contracts are the newly launched Samsung Galaxy SIII (51%) and the iPhone 4s (40%) validating the research that indicated that for customers looking for the very latest devices on the market, flexibility around being able to upgrade to the next latest device when its available is very important.

Firth continues: “The initial results support research conducted prior to our trial, which found that some people have been frustrated by 18-24 month contracts and want to get their hands on the latest devices sooner. We’ve found this particularly true with early adopters from the younger age ranges, with results revealing a peak for customers aged around 21 taking out JUMP contracts.  We will continue to work hard to ensure that we always have the very latest smartphones available within our JUMP range for this particular audience”.

Differing from other flexible offerings on the market, JUMP doesn’t require any upfront fees at the point of upgrade and customers own their handsets rather than lease them. For the added flexibility of being able to upgrade as often as every six months, customers will only need to pay an average added monthly cost of £2.99 – £3.99, dependent on the original JUMP contract chosen.

Posted by: James

HTC One S named ‘European Media Phone of the Year’ by EISA

HTC Corporation, a global designer of smartphones, today announced that its acclaimed HTC One S has been named ‘European Social Media Phone of 2012 – 2013’ by The European Imaging Sound Association (EISA). This is the second time that HTC has received this accolade after winning the same category last year with the HTC ChaCha.

Florian Seiche, President of HTC EMEA said, “Delivering the most personal consumer mobile experiences is a primary focus for us as at HTC – the ability to connect people and enable them to share content socially via their smartphones quickly and easily is something that consumers want to enjoy everyday. We’re delighted to be honoured with this award for a second time and would like to thank both EISA and our customers for their continued support of HTC.”

A unique association of 50 special interest magazines from 19 European countries, EISA is the world’s most prestigious multimedia magazine group. Every year, the editors-in-chief from all EISA members meet to decide which products analysed in their publications during the year deserve the coveted EISA Award.

The ‘European Social Media Phone 2012-2013’ recognises ingenuity in social media integration, networking and a handset’s ability to connect multiple social networks simply, while making sharing content and social interaction just as easy.

For more information on HTC One S please visit: http://www.htc.com/www/smartphones/htc-one-s/. For more information on EISA and the award selection process please visit: http://www.eisa.eu/.

Posted by:James

LG Optimus 4X HD available to pre-order from Phones 4U

If you have been waiting for the LG Optimus 4X HD it is now time to get your orders in with Phones 4U. In addition the first 50 people to preorder the 4X HD from Phones 4u, including upgrades, will also be given a pair of tickets worth £100 to see Cheryl perform live this Autumn

The 8.9mm slim Optimus 4X HD includes 16 GB internal memory, runs on the latest version of Android OS, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, and comes in both black and white. Besides the smooth and fast performance, the Optimus 4X HD boasts an 8 megapixel BSI (Backside Illumination) Sensor camera with LED flash.

Advanced multimedia features are delivered with  LG’s new User Experience (UX), Optimus UI 3.0, which includes QuickMemo.  QuickMemo allows users the ability to jot their thoughts and ideas on any screen and share it instantly with friends and family, without having to open a separate application. The Optimus 4X HD comes with Media Plex, which combines a range of functions to enhance image and video playback such as Fingertip Seek and Live Zooming. Media PlexT also includes Time Catch Shot this allows the user to select and save the best shot among the images taken just before the shutter button is pressed.

Available to preorder from Phones 4u today, the LG Optimus 4X HD will available in black at Phones 4u stores and online from 27^th August, FREE from £26 a month on a choice of networks.  The white colour variant will follow shortly after.

Samsung confirm the launch of the Galaxy Note 10.1

Samsung today announced the launch of the Galaxy Note 10.1, an extension of the Galaxy Note category. The Galaxy Note 10.1 offers the functionality and precision of a pen and paper on a 10.1-inch large display, which will enable people to amplify their creativity, productivity, and learning ability.

Providing an intuitive experience and armed with a 1.4 GHz quad-core processor and 2GB RAM for enhanced performance, the Galaxy Note 10.1 is designed to simplify the process of capturing ideas, accessing information and multi-tasking, making each easier and faster and allowing people to express their ideas in an efficient way.

Simon Stanford, Vice President, UK & IRE Telecommunications & Networks Division, Samsung UK and Ireland said: “Following the success of the very first Galaxy Note which we launched at the end of last year, we’re delighted that our UK customers will now be able to experience the evolution of this device for themselves. The Galaxy Note 10.1 is a product we are very excited about and will offer our customers a new way to use and experience a tablet device. As well as being able to consume content such as videos, photos, document and the Internet, the Galaxy Note 10.1 also gives them the power to produce, create and customise that same content – something they won’t get from any other product on the market.”

The Galaxy Note 10.1 incorporates key intuitive features and capabilities such as side-by-side multitasking. This is thanks to its ‘Multiscreen’ on a 10.1-inch large screen; unique S Pen with a variety of S Note templates and productive tools (Shape Match and Formula Match); Learning Hub* for accessing educational curricula and Adobe’s premium creative application Photoshop® Touch.

Nokia Lumia 610 – available now on Three

We mentioned the Nokia Lumia 610 as a deal from eXpansys a few days ago. Today Three have announced they now have the Lumia 610 available on their network too.

The affordable Nokia Lumia 610 runs the latest version of Windows Phone (7.5), offering one of the quickest smartphone experiences available with access to more than 100,000 apps in the Windows Phone Marketplace . The unique Windows Phone operating system brings live information updates on friends, news and apps straight onto the home screen, allowing the user access to information they want at a glance. In addition, Windows Phone 7.5 can act as a mobile Wi-Fi hotspot so gadget fans can share their internet connection, connecting laptops and tablets to it with ease.

Like all smartphones in the Lumia range, the Nokia Lumia 610 comes with a selection of fantastic apps that are unique to Nokia products such as Nokia Drive and Nokia Music. Nokia Drive provides sat nav with turn-by-turn, spoken directions so there’s no chance of getting lost. Fantastic for listening to music while on-the-go, Nokia Music is a free service and includes ‘Mix Radio’ which provides regularly updated playlists showcasing the best in new music and old favourites (data charges may apply). Plus, Nokia Music also features a built-in gig finder to help people find out what’s on in their area. Music maestros need never be without their tunes again.

The Nokia Lumia 610 also includes a fantastic array of photography features. Group Shot allows the user to take a high speed sequence of images and combine the best bits of each, ensuring that everyone in the shot has their eyes open and beaming smiles. Action Shot allows sport and wildlife enthusiasts to create a montage of several shots, and the Panorama mode makes it easy to capture the big picture. While the Self-Timer ensures you have plenty of time to be captured in the picture too.

Sylvia Chind, Head of Devices at Three said: “Not only is the Nokia Lumia 610 an affordable and attractive handset, it’s also packed full of fantastic features for photographers which make it a stellar choice for any first time smartphone buyer.”

The Nokia Lumia 610 is available from £15 a month with no upfront cost on the Ultimate Internet 100 plan with a guarantee of no surprise out-of-bundle data charges.
The smartphone is also available on Pay As You Go for £149.99 plus a top-up. All in One 15 costs £15 and gives 30-day access to All-You-Can-Eat data along with 300 any-network minutes and 3,000 texts. Or All in One 25 costs £25 and offers 500 minutes, 3,000 texts and All-You-Can-Eat data for a 30-day period.

Key features:

• Windows Phone 7.5 operating system
• Free turn-by-turn sat nav with spoken directions with Nokia Drive
• Free playlists and customisable radio channels with Nokia Music
• Navigate your city’s public transport system with Nokia Transport
• Fantastic camera effects including Group Shot, Self Timer, Action Shots and Panoramas
• Share your photos, videos or music collection with friends by sending the content wirelessly to your DLNA-enabled TV or set-top-box

Posted by: Matt

Viewsonic Appoints New Managing Director for Europe

ViewSonic Corporation, a global provider of computing, consumer electronics and communications solutions, are pleased to announce the recent appointment of Mark Lufkin as Managing Director for the European Region.

Mark will be heading up the whole European operation across Western/Eastern Europe and Russia. He will be in charge of the entire ViewSonic product range across the region.

Mark brings a strong, diverse background in both the sales and marketing of electronic solutions for European markets. He has extensive experience in growing new business by driving sales teams across multiple European locations and is skilled in developing channel strategies, programmes, systems and tools.  Mark was most recently Director of the Software and Peripherals Business Unit of Lenovo EMEA driving sales to commercial and consumer markets through European distribution channels. Prior to that Mark was Vice President of EMEA and APAC Channel Sales for Promethean, a global leader in interactive, integrated digital education solutions. Mark will be located in the Regional Head Quarter offices in Central London.

“I am pleased to have recently joined the ViewSonic Corporation, a company I have long known and respected for its diverse product range and its sustainability in a challenging and constantly changing market place. I am looking forward to pursuing the numerous possibilities that exist for ViewSonic in Europe in order grow the business and build the brand.” Mark Lufkin-Managing Director-Europe

ViewSonic Europe will be focusing its strategy to concentrate on its core products; projectors and monitors. ViewSonic aims to become one of Europe’s leading brands by providing a diverse range of high quality products and by developing its channel and customer relationships across Europe.

Posted by: Matt

Everything Everywhere gear up for the Olympics

With the Olympic Games starting in just a week and a half it seems that Everything Everywhere have been planning for the extra mobile traffic for quite some time. With Ofcom’s recent report showing that over the past 18 months mobile data traffic has doubled there may be some speculation as to how the UK networks will cope.

Everything Everywhere have sent us over the following statement. As you will see, they have anticipated the Olympic surge and have acted accordingly. I wonder if the the other networks have done similar?

“We’ve been preparing for London 2012 since before Orange and T-Mobile merged to become Everything Everywhere, investing millions of pounds to ensure a good experience for both British and international visitors to the Olympics – who will benefit from our integrated networks which provide the UK’s largest 2 and 3G coverage.

Our network specialists have looked to previous global and national events, and analysed sites around the UK where we expect additional demand over the course of the Summer – including tourist attractions, transport hubs and sporting venues, and upgraded hundreds of key sites to cope with additional demand.

We’ve also increased measures in place to maintain service and operational stability during the games. Additional field maintenance resource in the areas of the country most affected are in place, alongside dedicated incident managers to ensure a very rapid response time to any service affecting incidents.

The Joint Operators Olympic Group (JOOG) is also providing as much capacity as possible using external mobile base stations in the Olympic Park to support the number of visitors expected each day. The operators have built 30 sites across the Olympic Park including 14 in-building solution.  At off park venues a further 17 temporary sites are being provided to add additional capacity.”

Posted by: James

ZTE announce the Grand X

Today in London saw ZTE launch their latest Android offering; the Grand X. Running Android 4.0, sporting a 4.3 qHD display and a  NVIDIA Tegra 2 1GHz processor the device may not have the best specs but for under £200 on pay as you go it looks rather appealing.

The device is planned for release next month (August) and will initially be available through Virgin Mobile and Phones 4U.

I got hands on with the device earlier today and it is pretty sweet. The design and build quality look great and speed wise it was pretty nippy. With the price so low I suspect ZTE may well be on to a winner with the Grand X.

Let us know your thoughts in the forum. You can catch the full press release and a few more photos below.

Sony Xperia P now available from Three

From today you can now order the Sony Xperia P from Three or grab it in store from tomorrow.

The sleek, aluminium-finished smartphone features a 4″ reality display with WhiteMagic technology to deliver the most colourful viewing experience, even in bright sunlight. The phone also features a 1GHz dual-core processor for super-fast performance.

Helping people take the perfect picture, the Sony Xperia P features an 8 megapixel HD camera with Exmor R sensor and unique Fast Capture technology allowing the phone to go from sleep mode to ‘snap mode’ in just one second. The Sony Xperia P also makes it simple to share photos, music and videos on TVs, laptops or Sony PlayStations® using an HDMI cable or wirelessly by DLNA.

Sylvia Chind, Head of Devices at Three said, “The Sony Xperia P is an affordable and stylish smartphone, ideally suited for quick-fingered photographers. Running on Android, people can make the most of this great device by personalising their experience with countless photography apps like Instagram, downloadable through Google Play.”

The ZTE kis heading to Virgin Mobile

ZTE today launched  the Kis smartphone to be distributed in the UK through Virgin Media from today.

Available exclusively from Virgin Media at launch, the ZTE Kis is a feature-packed Android handset entering the Pay As You Go (PAYG) market as the best value Android available at just £49.99.

Key functionality

· Display: 3.5”, HVGA 480*320, 262k colours, TFT, Capacitive

· Processor: 800MHz

· Camera: 3.2MP Auto Focus, 2 x digital zoom

· OS: Android 2.3 (Gingerbread)

· Connectivity: Bluetooth 2.1, WiFi, GPS, WAP 2.0, Tri band

· Storage: Internal 512MB ROM, 256MB RAM.  External memory up to 32GB, 2GB micro SD card included with device

· Dimensions: 114.3 x 61.6 x 11.5mm, 120g

· Battery: 1400 mAh Li-Ion

Full press release below: