Buying a mobile phone should be easy and simple. With the rise of smart phones, this is no longer the case.

I am looking for a new mobile phone, I have a 2 year old Samsung mobile phone which is unheard of. I do not want to spend more than 25 pounds a month but I would like to have at least 300 minutes and 500GB of data download. I will share with you my quest for the ideal mobile phone:

1) Vodafone
I started my mobile phone journey with Vodafone as I have been with them for over 10 years (although I have never received any loyalty points or benefits from being such a loyal customer)
.
I do not want to be on a 24 or 18 month contract. That is too long. I switched to a SIM only contract with Vodafone in November and my bills have not been more than 25 pounds. So what can I get with my money?

BlackBerry: BlackBerry Curve 8520, Curve 3G 9300,
HTC: the HTC Wildfire only
LG: LG Cookie,
There are a number of Nokia phones on PAYG
Nokia 6700 Slide, 7230, C1-01, C2-01, C3-01, C5-03.
I can get 6 Samsung phones , C330, Ch@t 335 E1150, E2550 and the Galaxy Mini. I can get just 2 Sony Ericsson phones, the Spiro and the X10Mini Pro.

All of the Vodafone phones are available on PAYG.

Mobile phone operators

(source – flickr.com/photos/marksunderland/4543099719/)

2) Orange
So the next place to look was Orange who with T-mobile should now have better network coverage than it had in the past. I love all the offers you can get with Orange, especially the 2 4 1 cinema tickets so I thought I have a look to see what offers they have on PAYG.

Alcatel: OT-223, OT-335, OT-606.
BlackBerry: Curve 8520 and the Curve 9300
HTC: HTC Wildfire, HTC 7 Mozart
LG: Cookie Lite T300, Town C300, Town GT350, Optimius Me, Optimus One,
Motorola: Flipout
Nokia: 1616, C1, C2, Nokia X3 Touch and Type, C3 Touch and Type,
Orange handsets: Lisbon, Miami, Rio, Tokyo, Rio II, San Francisco
Samsung: E1170, C3300K, Monte Slider E2550, Tocco Lite (my current phone), Tocco Icon S5260, Solid Immerse B2710, Monte S5620
Sony Ericsson: Spiro, Zylo, Xperia X8, Xperia X10 mini

Not a bad range I have to admit, the San Francisco has to be a good deal at just 99 pounds for an Android handset.

3) O2:
With my research done, I popped down the road to O2. Kingston is great, it has at least 2 stores for each network provider.

Alcatel: One Touch 355, One Touch 708
BlackBerry: Bold 9780, Curve 8520, Curve 9300, Pearl 9105, Torch 9800
Nokia: C1-01, C3, C3-01, C5, C7, E72, N8, X2, X6 8GB, 2220 Slide, 2720 Fold, 6700 Classic, 6700 Slide
Sony Ericsson: Spiro, Xperia X8, Xperia X10, X10 Mini Pro, Zylo
Samsung: Ch@t335, Diva Diamond, E1050, E1080, E1150, E2121B, Galaxy Ace, Galaxy Europa, Galaxy Mini, Galaxy S, Libre, Monte Slide, Solid Immerse, Wave II, Wave 525, Wave 723
HTC: Desire S and HD7
LG: Al133, A140, Optimus Chat, Viewty Snap

4) TMobile:
Finally I came to Tmobile who with Orange should have the biggest network coverage in the UK under the Everything Everywhere brand.

Alcatel: OT-355
iPhone: iPhone4 16GB
BlackBerry: Curve 8520, Curve 9300
HTC: Wildfire
LG: GS101, GU230
Nokia: C1-01
Samsung: Ch@t 335, E1150i, Monte Slider, Zinnia E2121B
Sony Ericsson: Spiro, X8
T-Mobile:Pulse Mini, Unity, Vibe, Vairy Touch II, Zest

So all the network providers offer similar handsets. What I did find surprising was the HTC Desire was cheapest with Vodafone at 130 pounds.

I wanted to get a iPhone, but it works out as quite expensive. The only way I can get a free iPhone 3GS for free is if I pay 35 a month on a 24 month ontract or 40 pounds a month on a 18 month contract.. To get a iPhone 4 for free, you need to sing up to a 24 month contract giving you 1,200 mins, unlimited texts and 750B of internet on your phone.and pay 45 pounds a month. If you want only an 18 month contract, you have to pay 65 pounds a month but you will get 3,000 minutes, unlimited texts and 1GB of data.

Conclusion:
Either cough up and commit to the 24 months, or …. go to ebay

Think I will go to ebay and get my HTC Desire unlocked – better screen resolution than the HTC Wildfire. If I can get a cheap iPhone, maybe I will do that – perhaps I should wait till the iPhone 5 has come out, but then my phone would be three years old. Nearly an antique.

iPhone 4

I wonder did Apple do this on purpose? They knew there was going to be a huge number of people signing up for the iPhone 4, they could have made more ready. Lets see how the other mobile phone operators are reacting to the news.

O2 are ranking number 4 for the term “iphone 4″ and it immediately takes you to the page which clearly describes O2′s response to a shortage of handsets. They are saying that only those O2 customers can get the iPhone 4 and then after July 4th, it will be available for non customers. I registered my interest for the new handset and I have been receiving emails with a count down of when I can go and buy the iPhone. This was a nice touch as it lets customers stay excited about the launch.

There was no place to register my interest on the Vodafone site. They also do not mention anything regarding an iPhone shortage, does this mean they will have enough when they become available in their stores? Their site has no new content about the iPhone 4, simply an overlay which appears to be from Apple and sits on the old Vodafone iphone URL.

I registered my interest on the Orange site who sent me an email a week ago letting me know when the iPhone 4 would be available. On their website, like Vodafone, there was no mention of an iPhone shortage, simply a detailed breakdown of their price plan. Orange are the only UK network to reveal their prices for the handset and the tariffs. Prices range from £169 for the 16GB handset on the cheapest £30 per month two year contract, to free for the 16GB model on a £75 per month two year deal.

I am sure demand will only increase once Vodafone and O2 announce their deals. Lets just hope not too many customers switch from O2 since their capped data usage was announced.

Firstly on April 1st, it was announced that T-Mobile and Orange had become a single UK entity. Tom Alexander who is the Orange UK boss is the chief of the new company and T-Mobile UK boss Richard Moat is the chief financial officer. It comes seven months after France Telecom and Deutsche Telekomeir first announced their plans to merge the UK operations.

This means that the organisations can share confidential financial and customer information and begin consolidating the two businesses and Orange UK and T-Mobile UK now cease to exist.

Orange said : “Further to announcements of September 8, 2009, and to the obtaining of all necessary approvals, Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom today announced the successful completion of the UK merger transaction and the formation of the new Joint Venture. The JV will be accounted for using the equity method as of April 2010 for both Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom.”

Last week Orange also announced their new business mobile broadband packages allowing customers to choose a package that suits the way their business works. They have two packages both tariffs cost £10 a month and Orange has included an additional 1GB usage allowance per month to dip into:

1. Business Everywhere 5 to 9 – as the name suggests is for businesses who work from 5pm – 9am and want unlimited data. It is mainly aimed at start-ups and entrepreneurs who have day jobs and need mobile broadband access outside regular office hours.

2. Business Everywhere 9 to 5- are for businesses who want the same package but access 9am to 5pm.

There is also a service for frequent travellers who access an extra 5MB of data every month to use in Europe. Not worldwide yet, but who knows in the future?

Not to be outdone by Orange, T-Mobile expanded its Business Unlimited tariff by offering free conference calling and compatibility with its Boosters. There is conference calling for up to 20 people and customers now have access to a range of international boosters for businesses working abroad. They are Euro Talk and Text, Euro and Australasia Talk and USA and Canada Talk.

The plan “Business Unlimited” comes with unlimited calls, texts, email and internet access and costs just £35 a month. Customers will also receive free voicemail, free next day phone replacement, free 24/7 online account management and dedicated UK-based customer support.

Max Taylor , head of business marketing said: “We know that transparent pricing and predictable costs are crucial to any small business trying to manage its cashflow. By adding more to Business Unlimited at the same price, we’re enhancing what is already the best value small business tariff on the market and giving businesses greater control and peace of mind over their mobile costs.”

Watch out for more news from Orange.

Find out more news

Orange launches the App Store

The Nokia 6700 and the Sony Ericsson W995 will be the first mobile phones to be preloaded with the App Shop and will be available in January. As the year progresses, the list of handsets will increase to include Samsung, LG, HTC, Motorola and RIM handsets. The app shop will be available to around 1 million customers in the UK and France.

Orange does plan to make the App Shop avaialable to other countries including Spain, Poland, Romania, Switzerland, Slovakia, Belgium, Austria, Moldova and Portugal with local content. The apps will be compatible with different operating systems. It will be interesting to see how Orange’s App shop performs in this highly competitive market

Orange iPhone

As you have probably read in the news, Orange launched the iPhone on Tuesday this week and what a record day it was. By 4pm on November 10th, Orange announced that they had sold more than 300,000 handsets. Orange stores sold more iPhones than at Carphone and Phones 4U. (the company who leaked out the launch date). Staff at Phones4U were motivated and still are to upsell the iPhone. They receive £7 commission for selling an iPhone 3G S on a £45 tariff or above and £5 for the 3G version for tariffs £40 and above.

People have been flocking to the Orange iPhone, following on from all the advertising including Orange’s £4millon campaign “You’re covered” which started last week. They are promoting how widespread the Orange 3G’s network is. Orange last month won “WHAT mobile” award for Best network coverage so they have certainly been spending a lot of time and money into improving their service. That was one of the areas that was letting them down.

Unfortunately for those who were waiting for a cheaper contract will be disappointed. Orange have avoided a price war with Apple and the tariffs are roughly the same as with O2. Customers can pick up the latest version of the phone which is the iPhone 3GS for free when they sign up for a contract for £45 a month over 24 months. If you are feeling rich and you don’t want to be tied in, you can always get the iPhone on pay as you go from £343.

http://www.mobilenewscwp.co.uk/News/361070/orange_outruns_indies_for_iphone.html

The first 12mp camera

There has been a lot of hype and publicity around Sony Ericsson’s first touch screen phone. It has to an incredible 12.1 Megapixel sensor, Autofocus, touch focus and a Xenon flash. It delivers top quality photographs, so you never need to take a separate camera out again.

It is a true multimedia phone. It has a built in 3.5 inch touchscreen and has Wi-Fi connectivity for high speed web browsing. As well as GPS for SatNave and support for music and video file formats.

It is avaible on Vodafone, Orange and O2. Vodafone are giving the Satio away for free but requires at least a £35 a month on a 24 month contract or a more expensive plan on a shorter 18-month contract.

However, now tha the phone has been out for a couple weeks, it has been getting some negative reviews from customers. A lot of reviews have mentioned poor battery power and the phone freezing. Some also say the exterior looks too plastic.But despite some of these poor comments, we still have to give credit to Sony Ericsson for its first Symbian S60 smartphone, it normally releases J2ME phones.

For more information, have a read of the following:

http://www.mobile-phones-uk.org.uk/sony-ericsson-idou.htm

http://www.cnet.com.au/sony-ericsson-satio-339295076.htm

http://www.electronista.com/articles/09/10/12/four.touchscreen.phones.hit.vodafone.uk/

More to be added shortly…

iPhone on Orange will be available on November 10th.

Unfortunately for those who were waiting for a cheaper contract will be disappointed. Orange have avoided a price war with Apple and the tariffs are roughly the same.

Orange customers can choose between an 18 and 24 month contract, or if you are feeling rich, you can always get the iPhone on pay as you go from 343 pounds.

October is an exciting time for Orange as this month they also opened their first ever multimedia store last week. The store opened in Midsummer Arcade in Milton Keynes and is aimed at encouraging more engagement between customers and mobile multimedia technology. The opening came at the same time as the launch of the Motorola’s DEXT mobile. The store has all the multimedia technology you would expect. There is a 70-inch cinema-style screen and seating for product demonstrations, workshops and film previews.

I wonder if Orange are trying to compete with Apple in the space for the most coolest and interactive mobile/app stores. If the reviews of the store are anything to go by, they are certainly making headway in this area.

I am interested to see what deals these network providers will give us customers. I think the iPhone is still expensive, the cheapest package has to be with the 8GB iPhone and still costs just under 45 pounds a month for 1200 minutes and 500 texts.The 8GB iphone comes free, but everyone is now raving about the iPhone 3GS which some say will not be available on other networks.

The iPhone should be available in Orange shops from at the earliest end of next month. So, there is another reason to join the Orange network. Not only will you get your 2 4 1 on cinema tickets and great deals at pizza express you can get your new iPhone. Ofcourse nothing has been finalised with the mobile operators and therefore they do not know exactly when or how much their new iPhone deals will be. But one thing is for sure…. O2 no longer have the exclusitivity and will therefore need to work even harder to keep their customers.

O2… see what they can do.

This data is over a year old, but then if I want data for this year, I have to buy the report and I thought… well this is good enough for the time being. It is important to share what has been happening in the mobile market. If you all have any more recent up to date reports, please let me know.

http://www.telecomsmarketresearch.com/resources/UK_Mobile_Operator_Subscriber_Statistics.shtml

As you can see Vodafone and O2 are the leaders in the market place in the UK. O2 has been very successful since it got its hands on the exclusitivity of the iPhone. The first generation iPhone came out November 9th 2007, 5 months after it was launched in the USA. The second generation iPhone hit the market in July 2008 and the third generation came out June this year.

O2 UK sold 1 million iPhones during 2008 which has boosted revenues for Telefonica (parent company of O2) for Q4 2008. Revenues rose 10.4 percent in the fourth quarter, based on stable local exchange rates, climbing to €1.755 billion (£1.6 billion). So O2 has a lot to be thankful for. However, they are set to lose this exclusitivity October 9th this year and O2 are already starting to get their hands on other smartphone manufacturers such as the Palm Pre to make up for any exodus in customers when the exclusitivity runs out.

Source: http://paidcontent.co.uk/article/419-earnings-iphone-boosts-o2-uk-q4-revenues-grow-10.4-percent/

Exclusivity can have a dramatic effect on the mobile operator’s sales. According to ZDNet news, as of March this year, the G1 Android handset accounted for 20%of T-Mobile’s contract sales. The G1 was at the time, the only handset on the market to use Google’s Android software stack, which was launched exclusively on T-Mobile at the end of October 2008. And according to T-Mobile, the G1 produced the operator’s “best-selling launch of 2008″.

According to Strategy Analytics, they forecast 900% Android phone sales growth during 2009 and shipments of Apple’s iPhone will grow 79%.
The reason for the big forecast is due to Android’s low-cost licensing model, its semi-open source structure and Google’s support for cloud services. Vodafone recently launched the world’s second Android phone – the Magic May 30th this year. Smasung and Orange are also jumping on the Android bandwagon and will launch their phones by then end of the year.