Omio News Blog

Nokia To Close UK Online Store By End Of June

Following from the recent closure of Nokia’s online stores in France, Spain and the Netherlands, it has been revealed to us today via affiliate network Tradedoubler that Nokia will soon be closing their online shop in the United Kingdom.

As stated on Engadget, a representative from Nokia Spain said that “prices are too subsidized by the carriers and sales were low, so they will keep providing support,” equating to the fact that users will still be able to get customer assistance from their local Nokia site, despite not being able to purchase mobile phone deals. We suspect the same fate is due to fall upon the UK site very soon…

This is yet another woe for the Finnish giant that has seen its market share slip significantly in the last few years as they failed to capitalise on the steep growth in the appeal of smartphones, with analysts predicting Korean manufacturer Samsung is poised to overtake them in this lucrative market.

Whilst the deals available from Nokia Direct saw early and exclusive launches for the Nokia N8 32GB, Nokia E6 and Nokia X7, competitive deals from third party retailers and the lure of freebies proved too strong to convince cash-strapped consumers of going straight to source…

LG Ego Wi-Fi Revealed On Vodafone: PAYG Feature Phone Boasts Connectivity, Keys

Eagle eyed penny-savers perusing the wares on Vodafone’s website may well have noticed a new phone has been added to their Pay As You Go selection today.

The LG Ego Wi-Fi is a budget handset that comes with all the features you’d expect from a mobile that gives enough change from £100 to buy the long awaited Duke Nukem Forever including Bluetooth, a 2MP camera, video recording capabilities, an FM radio and a selection of games.

At a cost of just £65, the LG Ego is well placed to steal a march on pricey smartphones in the market, whilst still keeping strong thanks to some decent feature phone specs.

LG also obviously felt that the phone’s main feature was so important that they had to include it in the handsets name (and emblazoned on the Ego’s rear), and for a phone at this price point it is pretty impressive that it has Wi-Fi connectivity.

As the spiel on the Vodafone website states “the EGO’s Wi-Fi capability lets you get online affordably and easily at Wi-Fi hotspots across the country” whilst as with most phones these days, it has built-in social networking apps to let you keep everyone updated with what you had for breakfast…

Vodafone’s website also states that the phone has a QWERTY keypad “like the one on your computer” – an amazing feat in a phone that is a mere 12mm thick and weighs a paltry 86g – so it is likely the 2.6-inch TFT touchscreen will be the main input method.

Despite the fact that every time we see the name, all we can think of are the tiny plastic bricks that we used to use to create armies of pirate ships with, for those looking for a simple handset to stay online but without having to incur expensive data charges, the LG EGO Wi-Fi could well be the phone to watch.

Sony Ericsson Launches TXT Pro And Mix Walkman Handsets

Sony Ericsson chose today to embrace the world of social networking, taking to their burgeoning online community to reveal 2 new handsets, the Sony Ericsson Mix Walkman and the Sony Ericsson txt pro.

The announcement came through their Facebook page where they have been running a competition for four super-fans to review the phones before they were announced to a global audience.

Lesser fans can now vote on their favourite review (lives here but beware, you have to 'like' it to proceed!), and the reviewer with the highest number of votes will be granted their life’s desires (ten Sony Ericsson phones, of course!)

The devices themselves are both feature phones that seem to run on a proprietary operating system. Neither of the handsets are 3G enabled, so users will have to rely on Wi-Fi or the good old EDGE network for accessing the web.

Fans of the XPERIA mini range will notice that both of the phones have inherited the quartet of active areas in the touch-driven user interface, allowing users to put apps in each of the corner of the display for easy access.

The Sony Ericsson Mix Walkman is, as the name suggests, a phone aimed squarely at music lovers with comes with 100MB of internal memory, as well as the ability to add a microSD card (up to 32GB in size) for storing all your Bon Jovi and Duran Duran classics on.

The feature on this phone that has got us worried is the karaoke function, you would definitely understand if you’d been at the office Christmas party.

With one small click on the microphone key you can mute the dulcet tones of Lady Gaga and then sing along to the words on the screen to create your very own version of 'Poker Face'.

While this may not be our cup of tea in Omio Towers, it is sure to appeal to all those bedroom superstars singing into their hairbrushes (other pretend microphones are available). The phone also comes with two interchangeable bands that festoon the edge of the phone, that Sony Ericsson says users can use to “adapt the colour of your phone to your mood”...although we aren’t quite sure what mood a green hen is intended to reflect.

The txt pro (yes they really have spelt it 'txt,' just like cool kids) has a slide out QWERTY keyboard and has a pretty nifty feature that pulls together tweets, Facebook updates and SMS messages from up to five friends and displays them in a single stream...can you say 'social networking savvy'?

Both the Sony Ericsson Mix Walkman and txt pro will be released in Q3 of this year, but unfortunately no pricing has yet been released.

Sign up to express your interest, or check out literally tons of other mobile phone deals here on Omio!

Vodafone Bumps Up Pay Monthly Contract Pricing, £1 Increase For Tariffs Over £25

Vodafone UK have chosen June to conduct a price ‘refresh’, resulting in the majority of pay monthly tariffs over £25 a month being raised by the princely sum of £1.

There have also been some changes to allowances within each of their plans, with some tariffs seeing more minutes and texts tacked onto their packages.

The price increases have also occurred on some iPhone tariffs, but without the allowance adjustments so £40 will net you a free phone, 900 minutes, unlimited texts and 750MB of data on a 24 month contract.

Sub-£25 tariffs have also seen a shift, with the majority seeing a 50p increase. All of these adjustments are currently available to view on the Vodafone site.

These changes will make for interesting viewing in terms of comparison sites, with even the slightest changes in the cost of deals having a significant knock-on effect in the rankings of the most popular offers.

Looking for more of the best-priced mobile phone deals on the market? Compare between millions of tariffs and hundreds of handsets here on Omio.

HTC ChaCha: Hands On With The Facebook Phone

The nice people over at OneMobileRing have just got their neatly manicured hands on the HTC ChaCha and have posted some photos of the Facebook-friendly Android phone they took as soon as they got it out of the box.

As we discussed in mid May, the HTC ChaCha is a welcome departure from the rectangular design we have come to know (and get a tad bored with) from the phone making behemoth. As you can see from the photos, the ChaCha is a lot smaller than a lot of the Taiwanese phone maker’s recent offerings like the HTC Sensation and should fit nicely into the dainty hands of all those social networking-obsessed teenagers that this handset is sure to appeal to most.

The dedicated Facebook button is the back-of-the-box feature that a lot of phone fans will be most excited by and is very noticeable, stuck as it is in the bottom right corner, away from the rest of the ChaCha’s four-row physical keyboard.

If your on the look out for a phone to keep you connected to your social hub twenty four hours a day, then take a look at the millions of mobile phone deals available on Omio.

Motorola Atrix Deals Now Available On T-Mobile!

As of today, the formerly Orange-exclusive Motorola Atrix will also be available on T-Mobile for free from £35.75 per month on a 24-month contract. For this you’ll get 900 minutes, 500 texts, 500MB of data and a choice of one of their funky Flexible Boosters.

For those looking to truly unlock the potential of the Atrix’s 1GHz dual-core processor, for an extra £5.10 a month you can get the HD Multimedia Dock thrown in for free as well.

This dock can then be used to connect the mobile phone to a TV, keyboard and mouse to turn it into a desktop computer of sorts and as well as converting the handset into a delightful bedside alarm clock.

Like the idea of using the Motorola Atrix as a full-blown computer but would like to be able to do so on the move? No need to fret, as there is also a “Lapdock” available which transforms the phone into a laptop with dedicated operating system, though prices online start at an eye watering £249.99, while you’ll need £299.99 tucked away in the bank if you want to buy it directly from T-Mobile.

Already got yours and stuck for things to do with it? Well, here’s ten great ideas for Motorola Atrix fans to do straight away, courtesy of T3!

For millions of mobile deals, including more of the latest dual-core mobiles, be sure to visit Omio!

O2 Exclusive White Sony Ericsson XPERIA Play Arrives On UK Shores, With Three Free Games!

After numerous delays, Apple finally released the white iPhone 4 at the end of April, 11 months after the phone’s lighter hue was initially announced.

Luckily a certain Japanese/Swedish phone maker hasn’t had nearly as many problems with the white version of the Sony Ericsson XPERIA Play, and it is now available to order from O2 Direct a mere 2 months after the phone was let loose on the Great British public.

The phone is available for free on a 24 month contract for £34 per month and comes with 900 minutes, unlimited texts and 100MB data, with O2 is also throwing in 3 bonus games and a multimedia dock worth £29.99.

The dock charges the phone and can also be used to connect the handset to a home stereo system.

To claim the free games, players should visit www.sonyericsson.com/O2bonusgames and enter their mobile number, followed by their IMEI code (located on the label under the battery) to choose their 3 bonus games – courtesy of O2 and Gameloft – until the 31st of July.

With the Sony Ericsson XPERIA Play getting an Android update to 2.3.3 earlier this week, now is the perfect time to pick up the definitive gaming handset.

Samsung E2121B: Spend A Penny On A Brand New Mobile Phone!

There isn’t much you can buy for a penny these days.

Gone are the days when you could take your pick from Flumps and Fried Eggs down at Woolworths, only having to hand over mere shrapnel for the delights you had chosen.

However for those with copper coins burning a hole in their pocket and are also on the look out for a budget mobile phone, One Stop Phone Shop have come to your rescue!

They are offering the Samsung E2121B for just 1p on Pay As You Go (so long as you snag £10 of Talk Mobile credit upon purchase), which seems like a great deal to us.

Admittedly the E2121 isn’t going to compete with the Samsung Galaxy S II for the affections of ardent smartphone lovers, but weighing in at a mere 74g and with the ability to both make calls and send text messages (that’s what some people allegedly use phones for these days), we might opt for a couple ourselves…

Check it out on the One Stop Phone Shop site here.

Nokia Comes Top In O2 Eco Survey, Saving The Planet One Phone At a Time

Mobile network O2 revealed the latest scores in their planet-loving Eco rating scheme today and manufacturer Nokia has taken the top two spots, with the Nokia C6-01 and Nokia E7-00 both scoring 4.1 out of 5 (stars? wedges? rainbow wedges?).

The Nokia C7-02 scored came joint second with a respectable score of 4 and the Samsung Galaxy Mini, Samsung Galaxy Ace and Sony Ericsson X8 round out the selection, meaning three of the top six phones come from the Finnish manufacturer’s stable.

This will be welcome news for the handset giant who has dominated the headlines after shacking up with Microsoft for their future smartphones, has seen a slight slump in their share of the smartphone market, as well as recently announcing that their Symbian operating system will be no more come 2012.

O2 launched their Eco rating scheme in Aug 2010 and it currently covers 90% of the handsets ranged by the provider. It covers 3 broad areas including ‘the overall environmental impact of the device over its lifespan’, ‘;the functionality of handsets, highlighting devices which help people live more sustainable lives’, as well as ‘the ethical performance of manufacturers’.

With Nokia keeping costs low and quality high, as well as selling resilient mobiles to the furthest flung corners of the globe (where the brand name is still synonymous with the term ‘mobile phone’), it is all the more impressive that the Finnish phone maker is still great good at making devices in huge volumes, whilst still maintaining a relatively small impact on the planet at large.

LG Optimus 3D Now Available To Pre-Order, Free From £25 Per Month

At Mobile World Congress we were told that we would be able to get our hands on the Korean manufacturer’s glasses-free masterpiece, the LG Optimus 3D in late April.

Since then we have been sitting waiting patiently for our chance to own the world’s first 3D phone (sort of, well Japan always gets cool tech first) and our wait could be over as BuyMobilePhones are now listing the Optimus 3D as available to pre-order on T-Mobile, Orange, O2 and Vodafone.

The deal that catches our attention is a 24-month offer on T-Mobile and includes a free handset, 600 minutes, 500 texts and 500MB of data for just £25.54/month.

With popular Taiwanese phone maker HTC also coming out with their own glasses-free 3D mobile, the Evo 3D, it seems that this could be the summer when portable depth-faking technology really takes off.

If an ‘eye-popping’ 3D phone doesn’t take your fancy, then there are literally millions of other mobile phone deals available to compare on Omio.