Now you can get hands on iPhone 4G 16GB version for free if you upgrade to 24 months Flext 60 contract for £60 per month (£30 after discount). Sounds expensive, but this is top tariff which gives you unlimited calls, you can select flexible booster and 1GB internet usage. iPhone will cost you £720 over 2 years, but you will get mobile service as well, so deal is not bad. The only downside is you are tied with this operator for 2 years.

If you have been waiting for Apple’s latest toy and on T-Mobile, call them now and see what options you have.

Following is from Samsung press release:

Enhanced User Experienced
The Galaxy Spica becomes a highly intuitive communications device offering users the option to personalise no less than nine side-scrolling screens. Users can really let their imaginations run wild, creating different home screens according to different personal interests or requirements.

The handset now features augmented reality technology that displays real-time digital information of your surroundings over the view-finder of the Galaxy Spica’s 3 megapixel camera. The Galaxy Spica also features Samsung widgets, Visual bookmark and PC Sync support to enable users to synchronise their devices quickly.

Enhanced Multimedia and Messaging Functionality
The handset now comes with a number of enhanced multimedia features which transform the Galaxy Spica into a personal entertainment device. Media browser allows you to browse through your media collection with ease. The camera has been upgraded to offer enhanced picture options and viewing functionality.

Improved messaging functionality means that it is much easier to attach files to MMS and email that users can easily add contacts to messages direct from the phonebook. Improved contact management enables users to find a necessary contact very easily through the alphabetical index.

The upgrade will be available from March 2010 in Germany and gradually rolled out to other European markets, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Asia, Africa and rest of the world.

The upgrade will be available through PC Studio 7, Samsung’s sync software

Up till now, you had to pay subscription fee for it and I don’t think it had many users, especially here in UK.

This is Nokias bold move to attract new customers to it’s high-end market. Nokia has been loosing a lot of customers in this segment to Apple and to phones running on Android platform. Recently Nokia has failed to impress customers with it’s latest smartphones, competition has produced much more interesting and innovative products.

In the press statement, Nokia says that the new version of Ovi Maps includes high-end car and pedestrian navigation features, such as turn-by-turn voice guidance for 74 countries, in 46 languages, and traffic information for more than 10 countries, as well as detailed maps for more than 180 countries.

Anssi Vanjoki, Executive Vice President, Nokia said: “This is a game changing move. By leveraging our NAVTEQ acquisition, and our context sensitive service offering, we can now put a complete navigation system in the palm of your hand, wherever in the world you are, whenever you need it – and at no extra cost. By adding cameras at no extra cost to our phones we quickly became the biggest camera manufacturer in the world. The aim of the new Ovi Maps is to enable us to do the same for navigation.”

Mapping is one of Nokia’s strongest assets, following the acquisition of Navteq, the electronic map company for $8.1bn in 2007. The move to make the maps free counters Google’s announcement in October that it would offer free maps and turn-by-turn navigation for all new Android phones.

Nokia will be integrating location based services into it’s Maps software, for example there will be interface to Facebook, where you could publish your current location. Traffic information, details of speed cameras and speed limits will also be free.

Source: Nokia Press Release

Have a quick glance at specs:

General: 2G Network     GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
3G Network     HSDPA 2100
Size: 129 x 70 x 9.9 mm
Weight: 129 g

Display: TFT resistive touchscreen, 256K colors (65K effective)

480 x 800 pixels, 4.1 inches
- Touch-sensitive navigation controls
- Accelerometer sensor for auto-rotate
- 3D user interface
- Shake control
Sound:     Alert types     Vibration; Downloadable polyphonic, MP3 ringtones
Speakerphone: Yes
Phonebook: Practically unlimited entries and fields, Photocall
Call records: Practically unlimited
Internal Memory: 256 MB RAM, 512 MB ROM
Card slot: microSD, up to 16GB
Data: GPRS     Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 – 48 kbps
EDGE     Class 10, 236.8 kbps
3G     HSDPA, HSUPA
WLAN: Wi-Fi 802.11b/g
Bluetooth: Yes, v2.0 with A2DP
USB: Yes, microUSB
Camera: 3.15 MP, 2048×1536 pixels, autofocus
Features: Videocalling
Video:    Yes, VGA@30fps
OS: Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional, upgradeable to Windows Mobile 6.5
CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon QSD8250 1 GHz processor
Messaging: SMS (threaded view), EMS, MMS, Email
Colors: Black, White
GPS: Yes, with A-GPS support
Java: Yes, MIDP 2.0
- Pocket Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, PDF viewer)
- MP3/MP4 player
- Facebook and YouTube apps
- Photo editor
- Voice memo/dial
- Organizer
Battery: Standard battery, Li-Ion 1000 mAh
Stand-by: Up to 276 h
Talk time: Up to 5 h

Phone definately has all the top specs you need from a smartphone, to name a few: 1GHZ Snapdragon processor, large memory, 4.1 inch display, GPS, HSDPA and accelerometer. Phone is very slim and easily fits in shirt pocket. You would think that this kind of device would cost you dearly, but currently there is a deal at Orange shops where you can get this on Pay as You Go for only £149.99 with £10 top-up. That is very good value for money, especially if you want to use the device for internet surfing and watching videos on the move.

On the other hand, there are few drawbacks that I think worth mentioning. Device runs on Windows 6.5, although much improved, still not the best mobile operating system. Also screen is resistive touchscreen, which means not very responsive to finger touch, but you will be ok using nails or stylus. Headphone jack is only micro USB, but there is an adapter to 3.5 mm bundled in the box.

Offer for this phone is only available from Orange shops or online, so if you are looking for inexpensive large screen phone, get your Toshiba while stocks last!

The BlackBerry Curve 8520 smartphone is the latest BlackBerry® smartphone in the Vodafone UK range, which includes the BlackBerry® Storm™ 9500 smartphone – an exclusive to Vodafone.

Priced from free on selected price plans, the BlackBerry Curve 8520 smartphone is ideal for consumers and businesses and of all sizes. Its full QWERTY keyboard features a new touch-sensitive trackpad that makes scrolling through messages and navigating web pages fast and easy. The BlackBerry Curve 8520 smartphone also comes with:

* A 2-megapixel camera with zoom and video recording
* Dedicated keys for music and video
* Built- in Wi-Fi®
* Support for business and consumer mobile email
* Advanced media player
* 3.5 mm stereo headset jack and BlackBerry Media Sync
* MicroSD card slot with support for up to 16GB
* A 2GB memory card

The BlackBerry Curve 8520 smartphone is available at www.shop.vodafone.co.uk/shop/mobile-phone/blackberry-curve-8520 for consumers, www.vodafone.co.uk/curve8520 for small business customers and through Vodafone Account Managers for Corporate and Public Sector customers.

* For consumer and small business the BlackBerry Curve 8520 smartphone is free on a 24 month contract at £25 a month.
* For Corporate and Public Sector customers, the smartphone is priced at £185.
* The BlackBerry and RIM families of related marks, images and symbols are the exclusive properties and trademarks of Research In Motion Limited. Wi-Fi is a registered trademark of the Wi-Fi Alliance. All other brands, product names, company names, trademarks and service marks are the properties of their respective owners.

Source: Vodafone Press Centre

Phone has several improvements, most important ones being:

1. Faster Internet download speed

2. Cut, copy, paste (how long did it take to put these basic features in!)

3. Keyboard in landscape mode

4. Video recording

5. Improved search

6. Compass

7. Voice Control

8. Camera upgrade (3 mega pixels)

New iPhone will be available from Apple stores.

You can get full review of new features on Apple’s website.

There are other impressive features that are included in this phone like noise cancellation. You will be heard clearly no how noisy your surroundings will be.

E-Series device will include A-GPS, high-speed HSDPA and HSUPA connections, and a 3.2-megapixel camera.

Mobile VPN is built in to make it easy to access company intranets. This comes with Call Connect support, which enables businesses to integrate Nokia mobile devices with corporate phone systems, enabling users to be contactable through a single number, have a single voicemail box and offer least-cost call routing.

Getting up and running with email is simple. Support for Nokia Messaging, Mail for Exchange and IBM Lotus Notes Traveller make it simple to add personal or work email accounts to the device and the new to the E52 email user interface makes accessing your email a joy.

The Nokia E52 will ship with a 1GB microSD card and a free 60 day trial for Files on Ovi. It’ll be available in two colours, metal grey and golden aluminium which will help show off the 2.4-inch display (which also has automatic landscape support). The device also sports a compass alongside Nokia Maps and A-GPS. Plus, with speedy HSDPA (10.2Mb per second) and newer HSUPA upload access at up to 2Mb per second, the E52 is equipped for effortless content sharing on the move.

It is possible that this device will be as popular as Nokia’s 6310i, which had excellent battery life and was very popular with business users.

E52 will be ideal for people who are always on the phone and use email on the move.

The Nokia E52 is expected to be available on sale in the second half of this year.

iPhone proved to be very popular among UK punters, O2 sold over million iPhones.

Below is the table with new iPhone tariffs:

Apple prepares OS update for iPhone and iPod Touch in June, version 3.0. Update will bring long-awaited features like MMS support, copy-paste support and many others.

Source: O2 Press Release

“Samsung S5600 and S5230 are significant products to our full-touch screen mobile portfolio, bringing stylish designs and intuitive user interfaces,” said JK Shin, executive vice president and head of Mobile Communications division at Samsung Electronics.

“We are committed to strengthening our portfolio of full-touch phones by introducing a variety of handsets to suit every lifestyle. These two new products will bring the exciting experience of touch to mobile phone users and will further enhance Samsung’s leadership in the full-touch market,” he added.

Samsung S5600

The Samsung S5600 attracts style-conscious users with its slim and compact design. Boasting sophisticated design, the phone is packed with multimedia features that enable its users to enjoy unique mobile experiences.

Equipped with a 2.8-inch QVGA full-touch screen, Samsung S5600 adopted the TouchWiz User Interface, designed to customize and personalize the way you use your phone. Mobile widgets can be dragged and placed on the screen for one-click access to your favorite applications. Full Internet browsing support with an accelerometer sensor for auto-rotation also gives users exciting mobile Internet experiences via 7.2 Mbps connectivity.

To enhance the usability for touch mobile phones, Samsung adapted “Gesture Lock” feature, which enables the users to unlock the phone and execute the menu directly as they draw a letter of the alphabet on the screen. Users can set which menu they want to correspond to each letter, from A to Z.

Samsung S5600 supports a 3 mega-pixel camera with the latest digital camera features such as Smile Shot. The phone also features music recognition using Shazam’s “Find Music” service. With this service, users can find virtually any song they want to listen to, even at an unexpected moment. By recording and sending a tune to the Shazam server, users can easily track down and even purchase the song through participating operators’ music stores. Multi-codec support including H.263, MPEG4, and WMV eliminates the hassle of file format conversions. The handset’s generous memory (80MB and Micro SD slot up to 8GB) ensures ample storage space for multimedia content.

Samsung S5600 will be available in European countries from May.

Samsung S5600 Product Specification

Network: HSDPA 7.2 Mbps (900/2100MHz), EDGE/GPRS Quad Band (850/900/1800/1900MHz)

Display: 2.8″ 16M TFT (240 x 320)

Camera: 3 Megapixel CMOS (Smile Shot)

Video: H.263 / H.264 / WMV / MPEG4

Video recording: QVGA@15fps

Audio: FM Radio with RDS, DNSe, MP3, AAC, AAC+, WMA, eAAC+, WMA, AMR,MIDI,SP-MIDI, i-melody, WAV

Value-added Features: Music Recognition/SNS/Photo Contact/Gesture Lock/Wide Idle screen

Google Search/ Google email/ Full Internet browsing / Photo browser

TouchWiz UI with Mobile Widget

Connectivity: Bluetooth v2.1 / USB 2.0 FS

Memory: Internal Memory 80 MB + External Memory slot : microSDHC^TM (up to 8GB)

Size: 102.8 x 54.8 x 12.9mm

Battery: 1000 mAh

Samsung S5230

Samsung S5230 comes with the latest multimedia features in a slim and compact body that measures a mere 11.9mm. Adopting a 3.0-inch WQVGA full-touch screen and Samsung’s TouchWiz User Interface with Mobile Widgets, the phone enables its users to enjoy their mobile easily and intuitively. Using “Photo Contact,” users can call a contact by simply touching an appointed image.

The S5230 boasts various multimedia features including a 3 mega-pixel camera and video recording supporting QVGA@15fps. It supports multi-format and DNSe for ease of use and better sound quality. The phone also features music recognition using Shazam’s “Find Music” service. To enjoy various multimedia content, S5230 supports 50MB memory capacity with an external memory slot up to 8GB.

Samsung S5230 users can enjoy full Internet browsing with an accelerometer sensor for auto-rotation. For convenience, the phone also supports a QWERTY soft keyboard, “Gesture Lock” and handwriting features.

Samsung S5230 will be available in France and other European countries from April.

Samsung S5230 Product Specification

Network:EDGE/GPRS Quad Band (850/900/1800/1900MHz)

Display: 3.0″ 262K WQVGA LCD (240×400)

Camera: 3 Megapixel CMOS (Smile Shot)

Video: H.263 /H.264/ MPEG4

Video recording: QVGA@15fps

Audio: FM Radio with RDS, DNSe, MP3, AAC, AAC+, WMA, eAAC+, WMA, AMR,MIDI,SP-MIDI, i-melody, WAV

Value-added Features: Music Recognition/SNS/Photo Contact/Gesture Lock/Wide Idle screen/Handwriting

TouchWiz UI with Mobile Widget, Google Search/ Google email/Full Internet browsing/Online Widget

Various full embedded games

Connectivity: Bluetooth v2.1 / USB 2.0 FS

Memory: Internal Memory 50 MB + External Memory slot : microSDHC^TM (up to 8GB)

Size: 104 x 53 x 11.9 mm

Battery: 1000 mAh

Source: Samsung Press Release

In December 2008 Vodafone already announced that 150 employees in Vodafone Ireland will be made redundant.

Weak consumer spending is forcing mobile operators and handset manufacturers to cut costs and optimize their operations. Nokia announced voluntary redundancy and is hoping that it can reduce it’s global workforce by 1000 people.

Nokia hopes to reduce the number of involuntary redundancies that it may have to make as part of cost efficiency plans.

Nokia will open application on 1 March for its Voluntary Resignation Package until 1,000 people have applied. Application will close at the latest on 31 May. Senior executives and direct labourers will be exempt.