Blackberry Storm Marketing Blunder - Joke or Mistake?

Yesterday, Engadget ran a story about Vodaphone’s Blackberry Storm page. Just check out the screenshot from Vodaphone’s website and tell me what is wrong with the picture.

The images have been taken down since the post, but it leaves you to wonder, was this a marketing ploy, a mistake, or just some angry graphic artist taking out a bit of frustration?

What do you think?

UK looking forward to Touch Pro

I am sure there are some very happy folks in the UK today because Engadget Mobile is reporting that the UK has a target window to start saving for. It appears that Vodafone has indicated that the HTC Touch Pro may well just arrive sometime in August.  So US folks may be disappointed but look at it this way; you know it will arrive here soon after ( we hope).

You can read the original link at CoolSmartPhone

Business Data Accessibility with "Mobile Data Now"

One of the frequently heard promises of the handheld mobile device and services industries has long been instant and easy access to business data from any location at anytime.  The practical fulfillment of that promise has been nothing less than illusive, if not downright disappointing.

Along comes “Mobile Data Now” from Mobile Data Now Ltd in New Zealand.  According to their website: “Mobile Data Now provides a platform for accessing business data and applications by simply using the messaging applications users have on their mobile phones and are already familiar with, such as email, SMS and instant messaging.  If you can send a message, you can use Mobile Data Now.“

For years I have been intrigued with practical prospects for the deployment of mobile solutions that easily provide actionable back office information to mobile workers.  Accordingly, I will be taking an in depth look at “Mobile Data Now” and will be reporting back with a complete review.

In the meantime, you can learn more directly from the Company at their website.

Copyright ©2008 Richard A. Bilancia — All Rights Reserved

Vodafone Germany Launches Visto-Powered Mobile Email

Vodafone E-MailConnect Delivers Ease of Use and Device Choice to Germany’s Mobile Mass Market

Visto, provider of secure and easy-to-use mobile email, today announced that Vodafone Germany has selected Visto Mobile to power its new mobile email offering — Vodafone E-MailConnect. Based on Visto Mobile, this new service brings easy-to-use mobile email to Vodafone’s consumer, prosumer and small business markets throughout Germany.

[Read more]

Nokia introduces the Nokia 6124 classic exclusively with Vodafone, optimized for fast internet browsing

Nokia today announced the launch of the Nokia 6124 classic, exclusively available from Vodafone in Vodafone markets. The Nokia 6124 classic is a compact multimedia device offering Vodafone customers faster and easier access to all of Vodafone’s high speed Internet and entertainment services.

Vodafone and Nokia will make it easier to access the Internet quickly at the click of a button on the Nokia 6124 classic. Customers will get the full suite of communications, content, Internet services and browsing, through seamlessly integrated Vodafone services on this Nokia device.

[Read more]

Vodafone UK Sat Nav Powered by Telmap Available for Consumers

Vodafone UK and Telmap, the world leader in advanced mobile mapping and navigation solutions, are today introducing Vodafone Sat Nav– an operator branded mobile navigation solution available for the UK consumer market.

• Vodafone branded satellite navigation solution available to Vodafone UK customers
• Initially available on four consumer devices for £5 per month
• Included for 12 months on the new Blackberry Pearl 8110 smartphone

The launch of Vodafone Sat Nav for consumers, powered by Telmap, is the first operator-branded mobile navigation service aimed at consumers in the UK. The solution has already been successfully launched into the enterprise market, where it is available on a number of devices.

Vodafone Sat Nav provides users with a complete mobile navigation experience, including both in-car and pedestrian navigation. Featuring 3D maps that enhance the navigation experience, up-to-date maps and directions it also gives the customer instant access to live traffic alerts and millions of points-of-interest such as hotels, restaurants, shopping and attractions.

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More on the Vodafone Palm Treo 500v

The other day, I posted a video from Europe showing the Palm Treo 500v. If you are more into looking at photos take in the US, check out the photos from Torturous Trevor From Gear Diary…

Take A Look at the Vodafone Palm Treo 500v at Gear Diary.

Video 1st Look at the Palm Treo 500v

At about the 5:45 mark of the Smartphones Show gives us a great look at the 500v on Vodaphone.

 

This show catches my rss feed from youtube here and there. You see, this European show done by Steve Litchfield is pretty heavy on Nokia, etc but he does talk about Windows Mobile Phones here and there. IMHO, he uses the word Smartphone a tad loosely!

My Personal New Phone Desire - HP OAK

Once again, another slide from the leaked Vodafone slides from The Boy Genius Report. This one is showcases another device from HP that seems to have it all and actually looks sweet. I love the AT&T Tilt, but this one is looking quite nice. I just hope the 1010mah battery numbers are just filler for real specs to come.

 

Let’s see… HSDPA? Check. Slide Out Keyboard? Check. WiFi, Bluetooth, and GPS? Yep, Yep, Yep. Quad Band GSM? Check. (AT&T-ability) Windows Mobile 6 (hopefully 6.1 by the time it hits)? Check. Touch Screen? Check. Good Looks? Check.

The slides indicate a Vodafone launch around Sept 2008. That would mean that it will launch in 2009 based on the current roll outs from HP right now. I am excited to see them trying, but disappointed in how long they can drag out a launch. This goes all the way back to the 6900 series. If this was launched in a timely manner, it would have so so much better than it did. Too many “better” phones came out in the 3-4 months that it was dragged out.

Leaked HP Silver Info Shows Up

I know this is just a rendering, but if it comes out resembling this in any way, it will kick the pants out of the 6300, 6500, and 6900 series all combined. It looks to have similar specs as the 6900 series, but with Windows Mobile 6 and HSDPA Support. I sure as hell hope that the battery info is inaccurate though. I don’t think that battery will last me to lunch.

This Vodafone info that The Boy Genius Report uncovered sure does open a lot of doors. I sure hope that this one comes to AT&T when/if it hits the US.

Holy Spoiler Batman, err I mean Boy Genius

This is a huge spoiler for Vodafone coming out of the Boy Genius Report. I know it takes a lot of nerves to post something this detailed, but they are doing it with regularity at BGR. I was sent a similar document for T-Mobile last year, but I just couldn’t publish it.

This document published by BGR details the roadmap of 2008 Windows Mobile devices on the Vodaphone network. But I live in the US, what does this matter to me? Easy… Some of those devices will surely end up here too.

The big surprises for me are the Palm and HP devices shown on this chart. I will dig for some details on each of these devices and share more as I can. Check out info about the HP Silver if you can find some more info. This looks promising. Looks like the HTC P730 will hit in January as well. That is the updated HTC Vox, the nice smartphone with the slide out querty.

Good News UK Readers, The Samsung SGH-i640v is coming to Vodaphone Soon

the::unwired reports that the Samsung SGH-i640v is coming to Vodaphone Soon. The Vodaphone website shows this one as coming soon.

The Samsung i640v Vodafone live! device with Windows Mobile 6 device is great for messaging and email with its QWERTY Keyboard. The large high quality screen and 3G HSDPA (broadband speeds) makes it a great device for browsing Vodafone Mobile Internet, it also features a 2 megapixel camera, bluetooth, video calling and memory expandability (up to 4Gb MicroSD). You are always ready to go with the spare battery and battery charging station included.

The i640, which appeared now on Vodafone UK’s coming soon section of devices, is the same Windows Mobile 6 Standard smartphone as the SGH-i620, except it’s sporting a silver, Vodafone exclusive design. Other features are triband GSM/GPRS/EDGE, singleband UMTS/HSDPA up to 3.6 Mbps and Bluetooth 2.0+EDR but no WiFi. Last but not least it features a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, 2 megapixel main camera and a second front facing camera for UMTS video telephony

LG KS20 Video and Photos

Arne Hess has another great looking Vodaphone Windows Mobile offering to share with all of us!

LG’s recently introduced Windows Mobile 6 Professional smartphone, the LG KS20, is a typical rep of a new Windows Mobile touchscreen smartphone generation: Stylish and optically reduced to the max, the LG KS20 sports all the latest and greatest features including HSDPA, WiFi b/g, Bluetooth, an FM radio as well as a 2 megapixel autofocus camera with photo light and a front facing video telephony camera.

Check out all of Arne’s photos and a video at the::unwired…

Sony Ericsson introduces the V640i

Sony Ericsson today announces the V640i, a stylish music phone with a funky feature set, available exclusively with Vodafone in selected markets.

• Real music, real time - Download a full-length track in around 14 seconds
• Name that song - Record a song clip on your phone, identify it immediately using TrackID(TM) and download it instantly
• Manage your media - Drag and drop music and videos betweenphone and PC

Available in two rich colors or shades - Havana Gold and Quick Black - the Sony Ericsson V640i available exclusively with Vodafone provides a true music and entertainment experience. With support for Memory Stick Micro(TM) (M2(TM) up to 4 gigabytes - that’s up to 3600 full-length tracks - and a dedicated music key to help you navigate all of those songs, the V640i really can be your music library on-the-move.

The V640i is designed to appeal to music lovers looking for no-compromise performance. Weighing in at a pocket-sized 97grams, it delivers 3G Broadband (HSDPA) Web browsing on your mobile. It also means that it takes about 14 seconds to download a full-length music track; up to four times faster than average on a 3G phone.

[Read more]

Palm Treo 500v Smartphone announced

Palm Europe Ltd today announced the Palm Treo 500v smartphone which combines multiple forms of communication and multimedia capabilities with high speed 3G/UMTS mobile internet access, allowing users access to popular websites such as MySpace, YouTube and eBay whilst on the move. The new Palm Treo 500v smartphone will initially be available exclusively to Vodafone customers from October.

The Palm Treo 500v smartphone runs on a Windows Mobile 6 standard platform and has a full keyboard, large screen, video streaming capability and a comprehensive multi-messaging functionality covering Instant Messaging, SMS, email and phone and personal information management software in a new design. The compact form factor is available in two colours: glacier white and charcoal grey.

It will initially be available to Vodafone customers in Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, the UK and Vodacom customers in South Africa.

“The new Treo 500v adds a third internet ready Vodafone live! and Microsoft Windows Mobile device to our recently announced Global Handset range,” said Jens Schulte-Bockum, Global Terminals Director, Vodafone Group. “When combined with our high-speed 3G/UMTS network and fast access to the internet, along with great browsing and messaging support, we are confident the Palm Treo 500v will appeal to the growing group of consumers looking for the same functionality and ease of use our business customers continue to enjoy from this type of premium device.”

With the Palm Treo 500v smartphone customers can also manage documents using mobile versions of familiar Microsoft applications like Outlook, Office, and Windows Live(TM) for Windows Mobile. In addition users can share the Treo 500v smartphone’s data access with a laptop, so they can stay connected anywhere within wireless coverage.

Treo 500v Features and Benefits

• All-in-one smartphone with messaging, email and web
• Full keyboard for fast and easy typing
• Automatic delivery of Hotmail/MSN, Yahoo!, and Gmail, email as it arrives
• Large, high-resolution screen
• Internet Explorer Mobile full-featured browser
• Access to Google Maps and eBay
• Vodafone live! for news, sports, and entertainment on the go
• 3G/UMTS network
• Planner with address book, calendar, to-do lists, and more
• View Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Adobe PDF files
• Windows Media Player Mobile for music and videos
• 2.0 megapixel camera captures video too
• 150MB of memory, expandable with microSD expansion card
• Windows Mobile 6 Standard software
• Microsoft Direct Push technology for delivery of Outlook email
• Bluetooth wireless technology
• Device available in two colours: glacier white and charcoal grey

Source: Palm press release