Freeview HD has launched which means HD TV channels are available for free in some parts of the country.  To celebrate this the people behind Freeview HD have launched and iPhone App that lets you plan your viewing whilst out and about.

But there are only two HD channels available on Freeview HD I hear you cry (or maybe not?).  Fear not, the App covers all Freeview channels. You can customise it to your region and also search for a particular programme or category of programme.

All you need to do now is buy a Freeview HD box and enjoy free HD channels on your telly!

Orange have got into the Christmas spirit with a generous Christmas gift offer for prospective Pay as you go customers.

Anyone who buys an Orange Pay as you go phone for more than £30 gets a box of Christmas pressies worth £60!

The Christmas box includes:

• A pair of super-cool Skull Candy headphones worth £35
• 5 minutes of free international calls and 30 free photo messages
• Free ringtones, games and video wallpaper
• Random ‘fun’ gifts including a yo-yo and playing cards

Loads of Orange Pay as you go phones qualify for the Christmas box offer including:

• Nokia 2330 in silver for £39
• SonyEricsson W395 in pink for £69 - also includes free Benefit gift set
• Samsung Tocco Lite for £69

See all Christmas free gift phones

So you can spend £39 and get a phone and £60 worth of extra goodies - ideal for filling a Christmas stocking or two.  This offer is available until December 31st - although it’s probably the usual case of whilst stocks last so don’t miss out.

Go to Orange.co.uk

Orange and Twitter have announced a new partnership to offer a range of fully integrated update services.

Orange customers will be able to:

• receive free text updates and send direct messages or send new tweets via text messaging as part of their phone tariff
• upload and share photos directly from your mobile phone on Twitter via MMS - a UK first!
• no need to download or pay for special Twitter Apps for your mobile
• Twitter will join Orange’s Social Life service which groups together the main social networks into one place on their mobile portal under a single login for easy access.

You can customise the tweets you receive in your free text updates so that you only get direct messages or see tweets from particular friends and people you follow - so you can filter out the 300 or so daily tweets or verbal tweet-arrhea from certain well-known celebs and save your inbox/sanity. You can also set the time of day you want to receive the updates and time it with your lunch hour or daily commute!

Great news for the Twit-addicts amongst us and expect all more Twitter innovation from the mobile phone networks very soon.

Follow GadgetStylist on Twitter!

Orange yesterday became the second UK network to officially launch the iPhone 3GS and 3G.  Finally, we have choice!

Ok, so Orange’s tariffs and handset prices aren’t much different to O2 but there are still big differences to consider between the rival networks.  We really do have the opportunity to make a considered choice at long last and it’s important not to rush into signing up for one other on a whim.

1. Quality of 3G coverage - O2 has been criticised for its ‘patchy’ 3G coverage whilst Orange have today claimed to they have the biggest 3G network in the UK (a claim 3 dispute!), covering 93% of the population.  Excellent 3G mobile phone coverage is critical to an ideal iPhone experience as so many of the Apps rely on fast data access. Coverage varies form town to town and postcode to postcode so it’s important to choose a network with excellent coverage in your areas of work, living and play! Compare 3G coverage from O2, Orange and Vodafone.
   
2. Customer Service - Orange used to be the bee’s knees when it came to Customer Service - but things have changed.  Acording to JD Power’s huge annual customer satisfaction survey O2 are the 2nd best mobile network for pay monthly customer satisfaction scoring 698 out of a potential 1000 points to Orange’s 673.  Incidentally Virgin Mobile are 1st but don’t expect to see them launching the iPhone this side of a general election.
3. Treats and Freebies - Orange Wednesday’s offers you 2 for 1 tickets to the cinema every Wednesday night, and 2 for 1 pizzas at Pizza Express which can save you a few quid once or maybe twice a month.  If music’s your thing O2 offer priority tickets to The O2 (for Londonites) and the eleven O2 Academies dotted around the country via their ‘blueroom’ free club.
4. WiFi Hotspots - O2’s hotspot coverage includes both the WiFi hostposts in BT Openzone’s network and that of The Cloud, whilst Orange only offer BT Openzone so O2 arguably offer wider WiFi hotspot coverage.  The Cloud often run WiFi in pubs, just in case you like to Facebook your friends in the depths of the local boozer.

So will you stick with the cool blue or go bright Orange?

Compare all the Orange iPhone tariffs and deals on the iPhone with our mobile phone deal comparison service

Consumers need more help with mobile coverage problems according to a panel that advises Ofcom.

The Communications Consumer Panel says that one-third of consumers and small businesses regularly experience coverage problems and it recommends that networks should be forced to offer a “try before you buy” period when you sign up for a mobile phone or mobile broadband contract.

Despite widespread claims of 99%+ coverage from the operators this normally refers to population coverage not geographic coverage with coverage concentrated in areas with higher populations and substantial gaps in countryside.  In practice coverage can vary widely depending on the building you are in, hills nearby and the exact location of the mobile phone base station.  So you could be in an area with great coverage but have poor reception because of your exact location or thanks to a building blocking the mast.

Mobile broadband which relies on 3G coverage is notoriously patchy.  3G coverage is still lower than 90% of the population and the nature of the 3G phone signal means it can’t travel as far as the old 2G signal and has even more difficulty passing through walls.

Read our mobile phone coverage tips for some great advice.

O2 have finally announced the Palm Pre’s launch date.  The Pre will launch exclusively with O2 on October 16th.

The Palm Pre is touted as a serious contender in the fight to challenge the iPhone as the top smartphone with it’s slick new WebOS software that (apparently) seamlessly integrates calendars, messages and contacts from a range of sources such as Facebook, your Outlook account and other social networks. I can’t wait to get my hands on one for a proper test of it’s claims!

The Palm Pre will be free on 24 month contracts and free for £44 and above 18 month contracts.

Have you tried the Palm Pre, perhaps on hols in the US or you’re lucky enough to get a pre-launch trial sample?  If so, please let me know what you think by commenting below.

MiFi is the hot new product in mobile broadband. Both 3 and Vodafone have announced they will launch MiFi before Christmas with other networks set to follow. But what is MiFi?

Our pals over at Best-Mobile-Broadband.com have put together a MiFi - Mobile broadband Wi-Fi modems guide to explain what it is and to highlight the pros and cons of this new gadget technology.

Read Best-Mobile-Broadband.com’s MiFi guide here.

Samsung has announced the launch of the E1107 Crest Solar, the world’s first solar powered mobile phone.

The E1107 Crest Solar is aimed at the emerging markets as a cheap self sufficient communicator that will make a huge difference to communities in the third world.

An hour’s sun translates into 5 to 10 minutes of additional talktime (with phone switched off), so you heavy callers will need to use a normal charger in tandom with the solar charging.

Features include a torch, MP3 ringtones, FM radio, Mobile Tracker and Fake Call (whatever that is), all features that are apparently very important in emerging markets.

Ignoring the fact that such a landmark piece of technology should have a much better name, it’s great to hear that more and more eco-phones are hitting the market.  Even if this is only a basic phone the technology used in the E1107 will evolve and eventually appear in higher featured phones that require more power.
At a price of only $59, the E1107 Crest Solar will launch in June in Europe, parts of Asia and South America and India.

Source: Omio

The iPhone 3G S O2 upgrade backlash continues.

O2 iPhone 3G customers, my good friends included, are today experiencing a massive anti-climax.  We all know business is business but O2 have dropped the ball this time and wiped out most of the goodwill they built up with iPhone fanatics in one evening.  As soon as O2 loses exclusivity many of these customers will jump ship, costing O2 bucket loads of cash.

Yes, longer term contracts that tie you in to a specific phone are normal in the UK but the O2/iPhone situation is different for the following reasons:

1. O2 has quietly changed it’s policy from the previous rules on iPhone upgrades causing customers to feel cheated. Whatever the economics behind the decision, O2 have managed customer perception poorly and this will cost them business in the longer term.
2. Other highly sought after phones are announced months ahead of launch (e.g. Nokia N97) so potential buyers can plan their new phone purchase accordingly.  Just last week O2’s own staff were advising customers that no new iPhone was coming this year and encouraging them to sign up to 18 month contracts.  I was told this 13 days ago in an O2 store when my iPhone 2G died and I was faced with a £140 repair bill or, as encouraged by O2 staff, I could sign up for an iPhone 3G.  Thankfully I declined otherwise I’d be spitting blood today. How many people bought an iPhone 3G in the last 3 months based on O2’s store staff advice that no iPhone is coming and will now effectively have to wait a year until they can afford to upgrade?
3. O2 worked hard to secure iPhone exclusivity in the UK as it would drive thousands of new, high value, early adopters to switch to them from rival networks. It worked, but it’s these customers who are suffering the most from this poor upgrade policy shift.  O2 should have realised that they are the people who would most expect to have the latest and greatest iPhone in their pocket at all times. Their O2 loyalty has now been wiped out.
4. The iPhone 3G only cost $173 to build in June 2008 and that cost will have fallen over time as economies of scale increase.  Are O2 over playing the subsidy argument?  Surely they could facilitate a trade in scheme and sell refurbed iPhone 3G’s at a discount on PAYG and cheaper pay monthly deals to drive more customers onto their books?
5. 12 months ago O2 would have been aware that a new iPhone was due in June 2009.  Handset roadmaps plan at least 18 months into the future.  They should have factored this in to their iPhone 3G tariffs to allow for the huge demand for iPhone customers to upgrade. O2 could also have structured the iPhone 3G S prices to cover their lost revenue in an easier to swallow, transparent way.  They knew that the majority of iPhone users would want to upgrade and should have handled this properly.  The implied £360+ cost for someone with 12 months left to run is similar to the cost of a PAYG iPhone despite the fact that this customer has already paid 6 to 12 months of line rental plus in many cases an upfront payment for the phone, and therefore covered a big chunk of the subsidy already .

Are you a recent iPhone 3G customer?  What do you think about the upgrade policy?  Please add a comment below.

O2 have annouced the prices for the new iPhone 3G S.  You can get the iPhone 3G S ‘free’ if you sign up to a 24 month contract for £44.05 a month or more.

If you’re an existing iPhone customer wishing to upgrade you will have to pay out your existing contract as well as the pricing above.  This is covered in my previous  blog post O2 to charge iPhone 3G S upgraders up to £360 to end current contract.

The new iPhone allows you to ‘tether’ your iPhone to a PC or Mac and use it as a mobile broadband modem.  The cost for this is £14.68 a month which seems a little high when 3 offer a pay monthly tariff for £15 a month with 15GB of data but you will have to cart a USB modem around with you.  The iPhone 3G S allows you to ‘tether’  via Bluetooth which is rather cool.

Read more about the iPhone 3G S pricing at the O2 store

O2 have kicked all iPhone 3G owners in the teeth by changing their policy on iPhone upgrades.

On Twitter tonight O2 repeatedly confirmed that anyone still within the minimum term of their contract will have to pay extra to upgrade.  (see pic on right)  The GadgetStylist himself challenged O2 on this and got the same response. O2’s Fair Deal policy where new customers and existing customers are treated alike seems to have ended.

O2 Twitter page

If you have 6 months left on your contract - which is the minimum for any iPhone 3G owner - you’ll have to pay out 6 times your monthly contract!  In the meantime the value of selling your iPhone 3G on eBay is likely to be diminished by the new phone and a new cheaper price for the iPhone 3G which will stay on sale ($99 in the US - O2 tbc). A double kick in the teeth.

Accoring to O2’s Twitter post, if you bought an iPhone 3G 6 months ago you’ll have to pay at least £360 to upgrade to the iPhone 3G S at launch:

12 months x £30 per month = £360

The minimum an iPhone 3G owner would have to pay is £180 (£30 x 6 months) plus the price of the new phone, likely to be £100-£250.

BIG PIECE OF FREE ADVICE - downgrade to £30 tariff now to reduce your upgrade charge from O2.  Need to be 9 months into contract.

Really disappointing news for loyal iPhone owners everywhere. After months of build up and excitement iPhone fans all across the UK are now experiencing a massive anti-climax.

Update:

Join the petition http://www.gopetition.co.uk/online/28413.html

After months of speculation, Apple have just announced the new iPhone - the iPhone 3G S.

Launch date: June 19th

The updated features include:

-  2.5 to 3 times faster processor
-  7.2 Mbps HSDPA download speeds
-  New 3 megapixel camera with autofocus, auto exposure and auto whitebalace
-  Video capture - 30fps VGA with autofocus
-  Video editing on the iPhone
-  Voice control - e.g voice dialling, play songs, ask what song is playing,
-  Digital compass integrated with Google Maps
-  Built in Nike+
-  Better battery life (thank goodness!!) - up to 30 hours music, 10 hours video playback
-  More eco-friendly
-  16GB and 32GB

The faster processor enables much faster gameplay, some really slick voice dial and video editing.  The better battery life is a big improvement too.

The hardware will be the same as the current phone in black and white.

US Versions $199/$299 for 16GB and 32GB.  Old 3G iPhone to move to $99.

As well as announcing the new iPhone Apple have also formally launched the new iPhone 3.0 software which will be free for iPhone customers and £5.99 for iPod Touch users launches on June 17th.  It includes 100 new features including:

- Cut and paste across all Apps
- MMS
- Spotlight search
- A new home screen to help search for content or Apps more quickly
- Rent and buy movies from iTunes directly from your iPhone
- Parental controls for Apps
- Tethering* - use you iPhone for mobile broadband via a USB connection & bluetooth- PC and Mac.
- 3 x faster web browsing with Safari
- Landscape QWERTY keyboard
- Find My iPhone feature - you can remote erase your data if you lose your phone
- Peer to Peer gaming over Bluetooth
- Push notification which means Apps can now proactively notify you of events.

* Operator dependent and could require an extra tariff add on.  O2 (assume UK), Rogers (Canada) confirmed - US not confirmed yet.

New Apps have been announced too including a TomTom app and accessory that makes the iPhone a real SatNav at last.

What does everyone think?  Add a comment below.

SonyEricsson are set to launch the C901 GreenHeart and Naite eco-phones.

Sony Ericsson C901 GreenHeart

SonyEricsson this week announced the first ‘GreenHeart’ eco-friendly mobile phones to go into production. The SonyEricsson C901 GreenHeart and Naite are designed to minimise the impact on the environment of both the initial manufacture of the phone and in terms of the energy used to run the phone day to day.

The C901 GreenHeart comes in smaller packaging, is made from 50% recycled plastics and the user guide is built into the phone, saving a few trees along the way.  The charger is designed to use less electricity and the C901 GreenHeart uses lots of clever tricks to reduce the amount of battery power it uses.

The C901 GreenHeart may have tree-hugging hippy credentials, but it doesn’t compromise on features whilst helping to saving the world.  It has some pretty high-end features including a 5 megapixel camera with flash and smile shutter (whatever that is!)… and I think it looks great too.  Being environmentally friendly doesn’t always have to be as embarrassing as driving around in a G-Whizz.

Sony Ericsson Naite

SonyEricsson are also about to launch the Naite, a more budget friendly eco-phone.  It features a 2.2 inch screen, 2 megapixel camera and will follow the C901 GreenHeart, hitting the shops later in Q3.  The Naite also has a rather ‘right-on’ Carbon Footprint Calculator which uses a built in pedometer to encourage you to save the world by showing the tangible carbon saving of every step you take.

I am really excited to see this development in the phone market.  The mobile industry has ignored the huge negative impact they have on the environment for too long.  More efficient chargers that switch off when the phone battery is full should have been introduced years ago.  I just hope that the retailers and mobile operators get behind the GreenHeart products and make them a success unlike previous green products that never even made it as far as the shelves of CarphoneWarehouse.

The C901 GreenHeart is slated for a June release in the UK - watch this space for more news.

Source: Omio

Full marks to Ernest at Omio for spying the Samsung Blade in Vodafone’s new phone line-up for June.

Details are slim but it will be a  touchscreen phone with a sexy AMOLED display.  A 5 megapixel camera and ’speedy and powerful multimedia’ capabilities suggest the Blade could be another iPhone nibbler. The placement of the Vodafone logo in the image and the lack of previous news of this phone suggest it could well be a Vodafone exclusive.

The Blade comes out on June 18th.  Watch this space for more news.

Source: Omio.com

Orange have gone credit crunch crazy  - they’ve launched a £5 a month mobile phone tariff.

For £5 a month you get 50 free minutes, 50 free texts and a Nokia 2630 mobile phone.  You will need to sign up to a 36 month contract but Orange will send you a new phone after 18 months, about the time that your phone will need to be replaced.

As well as the headline £5 tariff, new tariffs will launch at £10 and £15:

• £5 -  50 free minutes, 50 free texts and a Nokia 2630 handset
• £10 - 100 free minutes, 300 free texts and a Nokia 3600 handset
• £15  -  200 free minutes, unlimited texts and a Nokia 6500 slide handset

Announcing the innovative new tariffs Neil MacGeorge, Director of Pay Monthly said:

“In the current economic climate, the demand for both low-cost monthly plans which include a phone and SIM only deals has materially increased. These new 36 month ‘phone plans starting at £5 will provide light users with more choice since currently their only option is a pay as you go package. They are ideal for people who don’t want to go through a top up process, are happy to commit to a contract, want the security of knowing that they won’t run out of credit and who want a phone included in the package.”

Orange also annouced new 18 month SIM Only tariffs which apparently offer 50% more value than the equivalent 30 day SIM Only tariffs

• Dolphin 10: 100 free minutes, 500 free texts
• Dolphin 15: 300 free minutes, unlimited texts
• Dolphin 20: 800 free minutes, unlimited texts
• Dolphin 30: 1600 free minutes, unlimited texts and 500MB of data

The new tariffs will launch online today.

Read more at Orange.co.uk