Omio

Vodafone BlackBerry Storm 9500: One Sold Every 13 Seconds

By Ernest DokucloseAuthor: Ernest Doku Name: Ernest Doku
Email: ernest.doku@omio.com
Site: http://blog.omio.com
About: I like gadgets, loads! I like talking about them, writing about them, using them, watching other people use them though binoculars... Some would say it was an unhealthy fascination, but then I'd be all like, "Shh...," and go back to doing gadget-related things. Hit me up on Xbox Live or PSN, I'm EJStyleS. I promise to give you a good match as well as talk about things that aren't gadgets. A bit.See Authors Posts (491)

Okay, they sold a BlackBerry Storm every 13 seconds on the Sunday after launch rather than right now, but that is still a pretty impresive feat for what was a huge gamble for both Vodafone and BlackBerry.

TechRadar spoke to Vodafone about the BlackBerry Storm, and their spokespeople were understandably pleased with the positive response to the first ever touchscreen-driven BlackBerry device:

“The BlackBerry Storm is in very high demand and we are doing everything we can to ensure customers can continue to buy it in store, online and through telesales.”

It seems like Christmas has come early for Vodafone, and pinning all their hopes on this phone being a stocking filler seems to have paid off. We think it has the cachet of luxury, e-mail functionality and coolness to appeal to the core ‘CrackBerry’ addict.

We think there could well be a Wii Fit-esque Storm drought this festive period…

BlackBerry Storm Released Today In UK, Ten Reasons Why It Beats The iPhone 3G And T-Mobile G1!

By Ernest DokucloseAuthor: Ernest Doku Name: Ernest Doku
Email: ernest.doku@omio.com
Site: http://blog.omio.com
About: I like gadgets, loads! I like talking about them, writing about them, using them, watching other people use them though binoculars... Some would say it was an unhealthy fascination, but then I'd be all like, "Shh...," and go back to doing gadget-related things. Hit me up on Xbox Live or PSN, I'm EJStyleS. I promise to give you a good match as well as talk about things that aren't gadgets. A bit.See Authors Posts (491)

The new touchscreen BlackBerry Storm has arrived in shops today, exclusively available on Vodafone in the UK just in time for Xmas, with talk of a November 21st US launch on the Verizon network.

BlackBerry has tried to move beyond the corporate space with this handset, offering an impressive web browsing and e-mail experience to rival the Apple iPhone.

The handset has a 3.2″, 480 x 360 pixel ‘clickable’ screen, and gives unlimited browsing on a Vodafone contract, despite there being no Wi-Fi connectivity.

Phones Review has listed 10 reasons why it is a must-buy over the iPhone 3G and the T-Mobile G1, with some better than others:

Check out the ten reasons below!

Read the rest of this entry »

Vodafone’s BlackBerry Storm 9500: A Formal Introduction

By Ernest DokucloseAuthor: Ernest Doku Name: Ernest Doku
Email: ernest.doku@omio.com
Site: http://blog.omio.com
About: I like gadgets, loads! I like talking about them, writing about them, using them, watching other people use them though binoculars... Some would say it was an unhealthy fascination, but then I'd be all like, "Shh...," and go back to doing gadget-related things. Hit me up on Xbox Live or PSN, I'm EJStyleS. I promise to give you a good match as well as talk about things that aren't gadgets. A bit.See Authors Posts (491)

World, meet BlackBerry Storm.

It gets thoroughly, thoroughly, handled in the next vid. Browsing, touchscreen loveliness, GPS, texts, video playback, it’s all here.

By the end, I felt like I had one in my pocket.

A bit scared of the Vodafone Music Store, mind.

Flashbacks of the bad old days where Voda firmware prevented things like homebrewed MP3 ringtones on certain Sony Ericsson handsets. Please let those dark days be behind us!

The BlackBerry Storm Is Both “Cool” And “Wicked” : So Says Lewis Hamilton

By Ernest DokucloseAuthor: Ernest Doku Name: Ernest Doku
Email: ernest.doku@omio.com
Site: http://blog.omio.com
About: I like gadgets, loads! I like talking about them, writing about them, using them, watching other people use them though binoculars... Some would say it was an unhealthy fascination, but then I'd be all like, "Shh...," and go back to doing gadget-related things. Hit me up on Xbox Live or PSN, I'm EJStyleS. I promise to give you a good match as well as talk about things that aren't gadgets. A bit.See Authors Posts (491)

One of the perks of driving in Formula 1 for McLaren Mercedes, aside from being able to just ask for an SLR and get it for free, aside from being able to get with one of the PussyCat Dolls and travel the globe for your career zooming at breakneck speed and being besieged by fans, is to get to show off new phones from your sponsors!

So here’s Lewis Hamilton getting paid to provide Vodafone’s BlackBerry Storm 9500 with the much needed “cool factor” that the T-Mobile G1 sorely lacks (apparently).

Worst thing? It actually does look really cool! That browser is slick, the UI looks tidy (if Vodafone-d to the gills) and the accelerometer switching videos from portrait to widescreen on the fly is nice!

Saw Nicole from the Pussycat Dolls close up a bit ago. She ain’t all that, so I’m not jealous! The fact that he owns a Storm, however…

Source: Engadget

BlackBerry Storm Launched: Vodafone UK Exclusive!

By Ernest DokucloseAuthor: Ernest Doku Name: Ernest Doku
Email: ernest.doku@omio.com
Site: http://blog.omio.com
About: I like gadgets, loads! I like talking about them, writing about them, using them, watching other people use them though binoculars... Some would say it was an unhealthy fascination, but then I'd be all like, "Shh...," and go back to doing gadget-related things. Hit me up on Xbox Live or PSN, I'm EJStyleS. I promise to give you a good match as well as talk about things that aren't gadgets. A bit.See Authors Posts (491)

After all the talk, rumours and leaks, the BlackBerry Storm 9500 has finally been announced for the UK, and is an exclusive to Vodafone in the UK and Verizon in the US.

BlackBerry’s first touchscreen handset also is the world’s first to have a ‘clickable’ touchscreen, with word that the keyboard will feel a lot more like a real one, with a degree of ‘give’ when you press it. This is obviously meant to appeal to those missing a real keyboard, and claims to be much better than the current haptic feedback solution.

It has all the things that we look for in a 3G touchscreen device, an accelerometer for both landscape and portrait modes, a 3.2 megapixel camera, a headphone port for music and video playback, and even cut and paste!!

Look, as businessan and Vodafone CEO Frank Rovekamp shows off the Blackberry Storm in simple terms for the masses!

“It has a really big screen!” It sure does… The handset has been earmarked for a November release, with Vodafone yet to announce pricing. They are apparently aiming for that sweet spot of free on a £35 a month tariff, and if they manage that then the Storm will be a very destructive force this winter!

Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 Set For October 17th Release Date on Vodafone?

By Ernest DokucloseAuthor: Ernest Doku Name: Ernest Doku
Email: ernest.doku@omio.com
Site: http://blog.omio.com
About: I like gadgets, loads! I like talking about them, writing about them, using them, watching other people use them though binoculars... Some would say it was an unhealthy fascination, but then I'd be all like, "Shh...," and go back to doing gadget-related things. Hit me up on Xbox Live or PSN, I'm EJStyleS. I promise to give you a good match as well as talk about things that aren't gadgets. A bit.See Authors Posts (491)

The ads have started (on the London Underground anyway), the official site is up, all the questions have been fielded, all that was left unknown was a concrete release date for Sony Ericsson’s super smartphone, the Xperia X1.

Well, thanks to CoolSmartPhone, the latest release date is said to be the 17th of October on Vodafone. Pushed back from a release on business tariffs from the 6th of October, we’ve been waiting for the longest time (to quote Billy Joel) and can’t wait to see whether the panels are as slick as we saw at the launch event, or have been given some sort of Voda-firmware facelift…

The 17th will see the phone go live to purchase on the website, as well as enter Vodafone’s high street branches. Is it an exclusive in the vein of the BlackBerry Storm, or will all networks see a piece of the Xperia?

Maybe a move to red side is in order…

UPDATE: Xperiancers has a good video of how the real deal Xperia looks and feels, pretty slick for the old Windows Mobile!

UPDATE: On the way home, saw a sexy ad on those Tube video screens, confirming that the Xperia was indeed due on another network, namely O2. Cheers, Kragom!

Source: VodaForum/Xperiancers via CoolSmartPhone

Vodafone Brings “Books On Mobile” With GoSpoken

By Ernest DokucloseAuthor: Ernest Doku Name: Ernest Doku
Email: ernest.doku@omio.com
Site: http://blog.omio.com
About: I like gadgets, loads! I like talking about them, writing about them, using them, watching other people use them though binoculars... Some would say it was an unhealthy fascination, but then I'd be all like, "Shh...," and go back to doing gadget-related things. Hit me up on Xbox Live or PSN, I'm EJStyleS. I promise to give you a good match as well as talk about things that aren't gadgets. A bit.See Authors Posts (491)

Vodafone have managed to synthesise the technologies of old and new with ‘Books on Mobile,’ allowing for subscribers to download the latest literary hits onto their phone, either as audio or in e-book form.

The service is a joint venture with GoSpoken.com, an audio book site created by British soldier turned novelist, Andy McNab. The major publishers will be represented, including titles from Random House, Penguin and Harper Collins, at a cost of betwixt £5 and £15.

The cost of the books will be added onto the monthly bill, and are able to be downloaded over the air via 3G connections.

It all sounds very good, but I can’t help but feel that iPhone app Stanza is a very good alternative, at the lovely cost of free. It has hundreds of literary classics for free download, including all the ones you didn’t want to read at school and now will find brilliant like Dracula, a selection of up to date content from newspapers and magazines, even religious texts if you’re in a particularly pious mood.

Trust me, it may not have that unmistakable feel of a book, the text may be a touch on the small side when reading from a mobile, but the feelgood rhetoric of Orwell’s 1984 makes Tube journeys home almost bearable. Almost.

BlackBerry Storm 9500 On Vodafone: Leaked Launch Video!

By Ernest DokucloseAuthor: Ernest Doku Name: Ernest Doku
Email: ernest.doku@omio.com
Site: http://blog.omio.com
About: I like gadgets, loads! I like talking about them, writing about them, using them, watching other people use them though binoculars... Some would say it was an unhealthy fascination, but then I'd be all like, "Shh...," and go back to doing gadget-related things. Hit me up on Xbox Live or PSN, I'm EJStyleS. I promise to give you a good match as well as talk about things that aren't gadgets. A bit.See Authors Posts (491)

Seems like Vodafone are very serious about launching the BlackBerry Storm 9500 as an all-in-one solution for the masses, if this impressive launch video is any indication!

Washing away the bad memories of the BlackBerry as a stuffy business phone, the suspected television spot tends to focus on the clean user interface, swift browser, the slick social networking options, GPS and impressive media functionality with that huge screen.

A nice surprise is that it will be able to act as a wireless modem, providing internet on the move and getting one over on the usual suspects. Just watch the video, it’s not even cringeworthy!

The BlackBerry Storm 9500 is looking like to be Vodafone exclusive for the foreseeable , and is just what they need to counter the highly successful iPhone on o2. Could this be the phone to get City boys (the ones left, anyway) as well as casual consumers onto the touchscreen bandwagon?

Vodafone Radio Ad Deemed ‘Too Quick,’ Omio On The Radio!

By Ernest DokucloseAuthor: Ernest Doku Name: Ernest Doku
Email: ernest.doku@omio.com
Site: http://blog.omio.com
About: I like gadgets, loads! I like talking about them, writing about them, using them, watching other people use them though binoculars... Some would say it was an unhealthy fascination, but then I'd be all like, "Shh...," and go back to doing gadget-related things. Hit me up on Xbox Live or PSN, I'm EJStyleS. I promise to give you a good match as well as talk about things that aren't gadgets. A bit.See Authors Posts (491)

A Vodafone radio ad has been pulled from UK stations as the ’small print’ at the end was reported too quickly to understand, reports the BBC.

Responding to one complaint (there’s always one person, isn’t there?), the Advertising Standards Authority agreed that the terms were read out too quickly for people to decipher.

The lady’s voice in the ad, which can be heard here, was not sped up in any way, according to Vodafone’s defence. If this is true, then at least she has a blossoming career as a rapper ahead of her!

It was only a matter of time before one of these ads that rapid fire their terms and conditions at the end would get pulled up because they are just too fast to understand! As there is apparently no code of practice with regards to the speed of presenting them, Vodafone were just unfortunate to be brought up on it.

Speaking of the radio, Omio’s very own Matt Wheeler will be on BBC Three Counties radio at around 12.45, talking about mobile phone deals in the wake of the credit crunch. So, if you are in the area, have a listen!

Not a tenuous link at all…

Source: Textually

Vodafone UK launches Facebook Connect To Friends

By Ernest DokucloseAuthor: Ernest Doku Name: Ernest Doku
Email: ernest.doku@omio.com
Site: http://blog.omio.com
About: I like gadgets, loads! I like talking about them, writing about them, using them, watching other people use them though binoculars... Some would say it was an unhealthy fascination, but then I'd be all like, "Shh...," and go back to doing gadget-related things. Hit me up on Xbox Live or PSN, I'm EJStyleS. I promise to give you a good match as well as talk about things that aren't gadgets. A bit.See Authors Posts (491)

Want to send messages to your friends on Facebook, and pay for it? Well, Vodafone thinks you do and has launched a trial which lets users send texts from a phone to the profiles of others.

Install the Vodafone Connect to Friends application to your Facebook profile, and enjoy the ability to send SMS messages to…well, everybody. Send messages to non-Facebookers, non-Facebookers can use it, and you don’t even have to be registered to Vodafone…

It will start out as a text messaging service, extending to incorporate picture messages as time goes on.

Subscribers get 25 free texts, and more messages cost 10p, whilst MMS or picture messages cost 30p. If already part of Vodafone, these are subtracted from your tariff charges or put straight on your bill.

Wasn’t sure of how good an idea mobile messaging to Facebook is, as people have got mobile phones to receive them already. Being able to send messages to all your friends at once however, cataloguing your misadventures whilst out would be awesome. But you can’t, so…

Source: Mobile Today