Unlimited data. No, for real this time. While US carriers are tripping over each other to claim the death of uncapped data allowances, the UK’s 3G-only network operator is bringing them back like a pair of retro sneakers. Three‘s grandly titled The One Plan takes all limits and fair usage gotchas away and just lets you suckle bandwidth to your heart’s content. And that explicitly includes tethering your phone to your laptop and using it as a 3G modem — very classy. New and old customers will benefit from this, meaning that if you’re already on this plan you’re in line for a free upgrade. The offer’s effective now and contracts start at £25 a month with a minimum term of one year. We’ll be highly impressed if Three’s network, never mind this deal, survives a full year of being bashed over the head by iPlayer streams and YouTube uploads, but here’s hoping, eh?
So this is how it was supposed to go: Best Buy would start selling the Nexus S in the States on December 16th, and Carphone Warehouse would follow on a few days later — the 20th, to be exact — in the UK. Looks like the British are going rogue here, though, because Samsung’s Gingerbread-packed slate is showing “in stock” on Carphone Warehouse’s site right this very moment, which should theoretically mean it ships the same day if you order it before 5PM local time. Let us know if you get it in your paws before the 20th, alright?
Sure, it might be half a year after the hackers did it, but cut ‘em some slack: bureaucracy always makes issuing firmware updates difficult, so we’re just happy to see that Vodafone has outed a Froyo update for the HTC Magic at all. The Android 2.2.1-based package appears to contain all the usual goodies — including tethering support and the ability to move apps to external storage — which should give these aging beasts a new lease on life. Don’t get us wrong: the draw of a new Desire HD, Galaxy S, or Nexus S is probably strong for current Magic owners… but if this update is enough to keep ‘em in use until mid-2011, we bet the patience is going to pay off.
All the folks in Wales be speedin along now, just a chuggin with brand new Arqiva and Alcatel Lucent carriers utilizing Long Term Evolution masts through the Preseli Mountians. Soon testing will begin to see if it’ll be economically viable to bring internet to all those homes that otherwise had slow internet or no internet connection at all. A 800MHz spectrum left over from the digital TV switchover in the area will be used for the trial, this then to go on auction to network providers in 2011.
Theoretical speeds for LTE is of course up to 50Mpbs, which is basically hella fast, but also… you know… theoretical. The thing that is especially important in this situation is the 800Mhz band that can both easily penetrate walls and travel further distances than any internet signal before, allowing all those herders in the outer reaches access to SlashGear! How nice!
O2 is taking a stab at a similar service, offering 100Mbps downloads and LTE to Slough, their home borough in Berkshire, England. There Arqiva aims to give sweet speeds to “country-dewlling folk.”
MD of Arqiva’s Government in Mobile & Enterprise business Steve Holebrook spoke thusly on the matter: “Arqiva’s heritage in rolling-out projects of critical national infrastructure is matched by our long-standing commitment to providing solutions that are universal in their delivery. We firmly believe that the combination of LTE technology, the 800MHz spectrum and a neutral-host commercial model is the best way of providing rural communities with broadband quickly, efficiently, and cost-effectively.”
Of course, the fact that a high-end smartphone can be scored for free on a European carrier should come as no surprise to anyone — but in the case of the Desire Z on Vodafone in the UK, you’ll be looking at a minimum monthly spend of £35 (about $55) on a two-year contract if you don’t want to spend anything upfront, scaling up to £199 ($310) for the phone on a £25 ($39) plan. The specs are the same ones that you’ve come to know and love (or hate) — QWERTY keyboard mounted on a crazy hinge, 5 megapixel camera, 3.7-inch SLCD, and access to HTC’s new cloud-based Sense features — so if that gets the hairs on the back of your neck to stand up, run on down to your local Voda shop now and have at it.
Of course, the fact that a high-end smartphone can be scored for free on a European carrier should come as no surprise to anyone — but in the case of the Desire Z on Vodafone in the UK, you’ll be looking at a minimum monthly spend of £35 (about $55) on a two-year contract if you don’t want to spend anything upfront, scaling up to £199 ($310) for the phone on a £25 ($39) plan. The specs are the same ones that you’ve come to know and love (or hate) — QWERTY keyboard mounted on a crazy hinge, 5 megapixel camera, 3.7-inch SLCD, and access to HTC’s new cloud-based Sense features — so if that gets the hairs on the back of your neck to stand up, run on down to your local Voda shop now and have at it.
Want a GSM Droid 2? Or how about a Droid 2 Global without CDMA and a slower processor? However you want to look at it, Motorola’s Milestone 2 QWERTY slider is now shipping SIM-free in the UK — and that’s pretty much the only way you’re going to get it, because at this point, none of the UK’s major carriers are offering it directly. Expansys is retailing it for £379.99 ($599), which isn’t a particularly stellar deal when you consider a Droid 2 Global is $559.99 off-contract from Verizon… but then again, not too many Verizon stores around London, if you know what we mean.
Want a GSM Droid 2? Or how about a Droid 2 Global without CDMA and a slower processor? However you want to look at it, Motorola’s Milestone 2 QWERTY slider is now shipping SIM-free in the UK — and that’s pretty much the only way you’re going to get it, because at this point, none of the UK’s major carriers are offering it directly. Expansys is retailing it for £379.99 ($599), which isn’t a particularly stellar deal when you consider a Droid 2 Global is $559.99 off-contract from Verizon… but then again, not too many Verizon stores around London, if you know what we mean.
If there’s one benefit to living in the technological backwater that is Europe, it’s that “innovations” like iAds take a little longer to filter though — but filter through they eventually do, as evidenced by Apple’s announcement that its mobile advertising platform is hitting the Old World this December. French and British iOS users will get to enjoy being pestered by L’Oreal, Renault, Louis Vuitton, Nespresso, Perrier, and Unilever next month, while their German counterparts will have their lives enriched in January. This follows on the heels of news that iAds is headed to Japan in early 2011 as well, covering the biggest developed markets with glorious promotional material. Advertisers don’t seem to be shying away from the platform, either, as Apple boasts it has signed up half of the top 25 US ad buyers (as judged by Ad Age). Full press release follows after the break.
The Palm Pre was expected to do really well in the market and ultimately the phone failed. It sold better than some of the real epic failures like the Kin family from Microsoft, but Pre sales were nothing like what Palm and many people that waited for the phone expected. Palm was eventually gobbled up by HP and the first smartphone to trickle out from Palm since then is the Pre 2 and that device is available in the UK right now.
The catch is that you have to buy the phone SIM free because there is no direct carrier support. After the failed original, you can hardly blame the carriers for not wanting to offer the second version of the device. If you like the idea of an unlocked and contract free Web OS 2.0 smartphone you can grab the thing up right now for £399.
The phone can be purchased only at the Palm UK store. For that much green you get a 1GHz processor and a 5MP camera. The phone has multitasking and lots of other features. It sounds just like the original phone with some tweaks to the OS and hardware. Palms does say the design of the Pre 2 is more streamlined and it uses a 3.1-inch multi touch screen and has a slide out QWERTY keyboard.
The Palm Pre was expected to do really well in the market and ultimately the phone failed. It sold better than some of the real epic failures like the Kin family from Microsoft, but Pre sales were nothing like what Palm and many people that waited for the phone expected. Palm was eventually gobbled up by HP and the first smartphone to trickle out from Palm since then is the Pre 2 and that device is 