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

Call charges will be the same as at home in UK, promotional period will run from 1st June till end of August. Reduced charges also apply to sms and mms.

If you are interested, you must apply for Vodafone passport by texting “Passport” to 97888 if you are a Pay Monthly customer or 2345 if you are on Pay as you Go.

Below is full list of countries covered:
Albania, Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Canary Islands, Channel Islands, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Faroes, Finland, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Isle of Man, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Madeira, Malta, Monaco, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Ireland, Romania, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Vatican City, New Zealand, and Australia.

Please take note that data charges are not included and will still incur higher charges!

T-Mobile confirmed that it will be issuing the Cupcake update over the air. As many owners eager to get the update will already know, among other things, Cupcake will bring a full touchscreen keyboard and video capture with the phone’s camera.

The update is “live” now, and will be a phased roll-out, so the May timescale quoted is when all G1 owners should get the refresh by, but presumably could be from now on.

Update is about 44MB in size. It includes important additions such as virtual keyboard, which would be absolutely necessary for new Android driven handsets which do not have hardware keyboard. Vodafone has started selling second Android phone Magic, which is full touch screen phone.

Phone is said to be available from April. See below summary of this phone’s features:

Processor: Qualcomm® MSM7201a^TM, 528 MHz
Operating System: Android
Memory ROM: 512 MB
RAM: 192 MB
Dimensions: 113 x 55 x 13.65 mm ( 4.45 x 2.17 x 0.54 inches)
Weight: 118.5 grams ( 4.18 ounces) with battery
Display: 3.2-inch TFT-LCD flat touch-sensitive screen with 320×480 HVGA resolution
Network: HSDPA/WCDMA:

*900/2100 MHz
*Up to 2 Mbps up-link and 7.2 Mbps down-link speeds

Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE:

*850/900/1800/1900 MHz

(Band frequency and data speed are operator dependent.)
Device Control: Trackball with Enter button
GPS: Internal GPS antenna
Connectivity: Bluetooth® 2.0 with Enhanced Data Rate
Wi-Fi: IEEE 802.11 b/g
Camera: 3.2 megapixel color camera with auto focus
Audio supported formats:  AAC, AAC+, AMR-NB, MP3, WMA, WAV, AAC-LC, MIDI, OGG
Video supported formats: MP4, 3GP
Battery: Rechargeable Lithium-ion battery
Capacity: 1340 mAh
Talk time:

*Up to 400 minutes for WCDMA
*Up to 450 minutes for GSM

Standby time:

*Up to 660 hours for WCDMA
*Up to 420 hours for GSM

(The above are subject to network and phone usage.)
Expansion Slot: microSD^TM memory card (SD 2.0 compatible)
Special Features: G-sensor, Digital Compass

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.

First generation G1 phones were sold exclusively by T-Mobile in UK and so far failed to attract large number of customers.

The second generation Google phone, apparently called the HTC Magic, reportedly boasts a 3.2 megapixel camera, WiFi, and a built-in GPS receiver, which already present in G1.

Other handset manufacturers are rumoured to be working on their own Android driven handset, but we have not heard any firm dates on releases so far. Android presense on Mobile World Congress this week has been weak as well.

Samsung had been expected to launch an Android-based phone in Barcelona this week, but executives have conceded that the phone will be delayed until later this year.

The exclusive deal to supply the G2 will provide a significant boost to Vodafone as it battles Apple’s dominance of the smartphone market.

The move, which could be announced shortly, is expected to save Vodafone £1bn a year at a time when revenue in some European countries is being hit by competitive pressure. The agreement is expected to be viewed positively by the City and should be seen as a feather in the cap of new chief executive Vittorio Collao, who took over from Arun Sarin.

Orange and Vodafone already share the costs of running some aspects of their base stations, but the latest agreement goes much further and is expected to include integrating their 3G access networks and possibly a degree of collaboration in managing their international network coverage. Germany’s T-Mobile and Hong Kong-owned 3 recently signed a pact that will enable them to pool their 3G network services in Britain.

In the City, investors are nervous that Vodafone will be hit by the global slowdown, but there is little evidence of consumers cutting back on calls or texting.

Colao is seeking to cut costs at the company to the tune of £1bn by 2010-11 and wants to make Vodafone “simpler” and “faster”, to cope with rising economic, competitive and regulatory pressures. He said: “My ambition is to lead Vodafone in an industry I believe is still attractive, and to fully explore … Vodafone’s strong advantages in brand, scale and assets.”

Vodafone has announced changes to its dividend policy by abandoning the practice of paying out 60 per cent of earnings.

Source: Guardian.co.uk

You can also enter a competition to win this handset, simply enter your details here, and you will be entered into prize draw. Vodafone will give 20 of this handsets away, so waste no time and register your name!

Storm has impressive list of features and capabilities:

* 7.2 mbps HSDPA/UMTS (2100/1900/850 MHz)
* Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE (850/900/1800/1900 MHz)
* 1GB of memory, 192MB RAM
* 1400 mAhr battery. Standby time: 528 hours
* MicroUSB port
* MicroSD and MicroSDHC expandable up to 8GB
* 3.2 megapixel camera with flash
* Video capture. Normal mode (480×320) and MMS mode (176×144)
* Assisted GPS

Device lacks Wi-Fi, which is a little dissappointment, but should be compensated if you get it with unlimited data tariff and have strong signal where you live.

* Top up £5 during the month and receive unlimited texts weekday evenings in the following month
* Top up £10 and receive unlimited evening and weekend texts the following month
* Top up £30 or more and receive unlimited texts to use at any time the following month

Unlimited Weekday Evening text period is from 7:30pm until midnight each weekday evening

Unlimited Evening and Weekend text period is from 7:30pm until midnight each evening and from 7.30pm on Friday to midnight on Sunday.

Word ‘Unlimited’ doesn’t really mean unlimited, there is a fair usage policy of 3000 texts per month. Texts can be sent to any mobile number in UK.

New and existing PAYT customers can opt in free by dialling 2345 from their handsets. Vodafone will kindly send you a text message on the first day of your offer period informing you about offer that you qualified for.

T-Mobile hadsuccessful campaign when they launched ‘Top Up and Stretch’ campaign. Now Vodafone promising to give more value when they top up.

“Vodafone is the first and only UK mobile network to let pay as you talk customers send free unlimited texts when they TopUp from just £5 per month. And with a new simple flat rate of 20p for calls, we continue to offer outstanding value,” says Ian Shepherd, consumer director for Vodafone UK.

To mark the launch of ‘Text Unlimited’, Vodafone UK will also be launching Sony Ericsson K770i in exclusive colors: ‘Star Heaven Silver’ and ‘Touch of Pink’.

Vodafone will have huge marketing campaign to promote this offer, including outdoor, radio and press ads.

Check Vodafone Press Release for more details.

The new stores will start to appear on the high street and in shopping centres from September starting with Bristol Cabot Circus and White City London in September and Liverpool One in October. It is planned that the majority of the new retail locations will be found, and work completed to turn them into stores by spring 2009.

Most of the new stores will follow the award winning design, which includes defined zones such as a ‘self-service’ area at the front of the store for products including phone covers and top-ups, as well as online self-help, while at the back of the store there will be a ‘pharmacy for phones’ where customers can receive advice on a phone or service.

There will also be a distinct area for business customers, as well as sales pods with working handsets so customers can try live services like Vodafone Mobile Internet. All stores will also have the award winning ‘Q-Management’ technology, a tool that ensures customers know how long they have to wait and are served quickly. Since 2006, 150 existing stores have been refurbished.

Source