Google phone II on Vodafone !!

[miffed]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7894516.stm

Looks interesting !

[Ben]

Hmm. I reckon the best Android handsets will be from other manufacturers TBH and not HTC. I don't really know if this one will be anything special.

[miffed]

I am wondering whether there is actually any improvement over the G1 ? or if this is simply about 'sidestepping' T-mobile
At least it brings Android to a whole new bunch of people (in this case those that like poor CS and high charges :p )
I am starting to wonder about this "other manufacturers" thing , from where I am standing it is starting to look like no one is coming !

[Hands0n]

Don't be so impatient you! Samsung have an Android handset in the wings, supposed to be out 3Q/09 so quite a while to wait.

I don't think that the Vodafone G2 will do at all well unless they change their data tariffs to be competitive and attractive against the others. So far Vodafone have been miserly with data bundles - £12 gets only 100MB a month to play with in addition to something like 100 mins and 100 texts... Meagre is a word...

[getti]

Voda do 500mb for £5.00. Still not enough for a G2 handset

[Ben]

I think (know) Voda include 'unlimited' data in some of their contract tariffs now.

[Hands0n]

The latest info I have been able to find out is that the HTC Magic will be available on Vodafone on 1st May 2009 with pre-order from 17th April.


Vodafone UK have today confirmed that their upcoming Android phone (the HTC Magic ), will be available to pre-order from April 17th ahead of it's official release on May 1st.

In an email distributed to it's UK affiliates, Vodafone also revealed the HTC Magic phone will be available from £30 per month package that will include 600 minutes, unlimited SMS text messages, and unlimited internet and email.

Source: http://www.talkandroid.com/878-pre-order-htc-magic/

According to the announcement the deal is as follows:

£30 p/m
600 minutes
Unlimited texts
Unlimited Internet and email


Something to look forward to?

[gorilla]

That is certainly an interesting offer, but is the 'magic' a magic handset? I'm getting more interested in Android and less interested in the iPhone.

[Hands0n]

We could do with some Android users on Talk3G. Will you be our first? :D

[Ben]

Android + HTC != Magic

Just MHO. I want an Android handset but it's going to have to be a cracker. Not that I don't want y'all to get the early adopter bug and share all of your horrific stories ;)

[Hands0n]

I'll be interested in what Huawei bring out!

[gorilla]

If I can upgrade my iPhone in July, I'll do that, but if not I'll wait till the end of my contract and see what happens with Android. I'm not sure I could wait another 11+ months for a handset (not sure if the iPhone will last that long either!).

Can vodafone put their crapware on an Android device? That would be a massive turnoff.

Any chance of Nokia adding an Android handset to their range? Even though their committed to Symbian, what harm would it do? I'm sure they're at least testing internally (industrial espionage et al).

[Ben]

Vodafone will brand the balls off any Android device if given half the chance. As it happens, they may be limited to a wallpaper and theme at most, but time will tell - I would imagine Android is quite flexible if the network is prepared to make the effort?

I don't see Nokia ever releasing an Android handset, despite that being something that would appeal to me. Best we can hope for is renewed life for the open sourced Symbian project.

[3g-g]

Vodafone will brand the balls off any Android device if given half the chance.

Do you remember the days when it was just Orange that did that, now look what's happened!! Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but are O2 the only operator that don't go to town with branding?

[miffed]

£30 p/m
600 minutes
Unlimited texts
Unlimited Internet and email




... But they are not just minutes and texts , they are vodafone minutes and texts , superior to everyone elses ;):rolleyes:

[Ben]

Do you remember the days when it was just Orange that did that, now look what's happened!! Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but are O2 the only operator that don't go to town with branding?
Back up there, AFAIK Orange is still the only network with Homeshite :) Are they still doing that?

O2 has historically been praised for its restraint but TBH I don't know what the state of play is. Being iPhone customers is so good sometimes :D Gosh, could you imagine a heavily branded O2 phone, though? I'd imagine it'd work about as well as their website does half the time... god knows who they've got coding it but it's just horrific!

[Hands0n]

O2's website has changed beyond recognition (http://www.o2.co.uk/home) over the weekend!

No doubt that they are using some sophisticated tools to generate the website. Its as much going to be a problem of back-end database responsiveness as the front-end tooling used (Ajax and suchlike). All of these contribute to sluggish unresponsiveness, especially under and kind of load.

I've not had much chance to use the new O2 website but it is rather easy on the eye.

I'm hoping that Apple will resist any kind of branding, heavy or otherwise, on their iPhone. I cannot imagine that nasty Orange square or red V[odafeone] plastered on the casing. It should be enough for that network to carry the handset legitimately :D

I'd like to see SIM free iPhones in the UK which would save the need to mess around with the likes of Pwnage and Rebel Simcards to name but two popular means of unlocking. It must be clear to all of the operators, and Apple, that those determined to use their iPhones on other networks will simply do so. Its not rocket science.

This is like that silly little game of DRM that the music and film studios insist on playing. It is a battle that cannot be won. And it even costs the manufacturer (Apple in this case).

An example in point - one of my work colleagues absolutely flat out refuses to purchase an iPhone on O2. She's a dyed in the wool Vodafone user. But the itch for an iPhone got to be irresistable and so she finally plumped for a PAYG and paired it up with a Rebel Simcard, job done. She's now a happy camper, having achieved her desire of an iPhone on her fave network. She's not at all technical, but simply did some basic research on Google to find out about these "unlocking simcards" and the rest is history.

Wake up manufacturers and networks - it is our money, they are our phones, deal with it.

[Ben]

You know... I'm almost a proponent of the Apple+O2 partnership...

It pretty much just-works. You've got 'exclusive' bits like Visual Voicemail, plus all the data and WiFi you could ever want all taken care of.

But when you take it all into consideration, yes, all devices should be unlocked and usable on any network. I think Apple+O2 are just a good example of how to do a network tie-in properly.

[miffed]

Back up there, AFAIK Orange is still the only network with Homeshite :) Are they still doing that?

O2 has historically been praised for its restraint but TBH I don't know what the state of play is. Being iPhone customers is so good sometimes :D Gosh, could you imagine a heavily branded O2 phone, though? I'd imagine it'd work about as well as their website does half the time... god knows who they've got coding it but it's just horrific!

My E90 was pretty much branding free , other than the splashscreen , not that I kept the o2 firmware of course.
For me , the most annoying kind of branding is the external stuff , Vodafone seem to delight in plastering their name on everything at least twice , and in a pretty unremoveable manner , whereas I have never had a piece of Orange on T-mobile branding that I couldn't remove with a little effort.

[getti]

I'll be interested in what Huawei bring out!

Huawei have confirmed they are making a T-Mobile exclusive phone due out Q3 over at Mobile Today with a 5mp camera.

*waves goodbye to the HTC Magic*

[Hands0n]

To hell with the camera - I just want to see how Android advances, or doesn't! I certainly don't like HTC having the entire playing field to itself - although all credit to it for being first out of the gate with what is a very creditable handset in the G1.