Omio News Blog

O2 Priority Offers Get Location-Based Revamp, High Street Discounts

O2 has decided to embrace the coupon culture of the UK by expanding its ‘Priority’ service to turn the nation’s mobiles into bargain-scoring devices.

Partnering with 30 high street stalwarts at launch including WH Smith and Odeon Cinemas, O2 Priority Moments aim to introduce location-based offers in a very similar vein to popular sites like Groupon, enabling money-saving deals to be piped directly into phones and with the chance to save customers as much as £105 each month.

In addition, the ‘Priority’ nature of O2′s Moments service (previously giving early access to concerts at the O2 and the like) enables value adds to these virtual coupons like free delivery or a complimentary glass of wine with a discount meal at Zizzi’s.

Bargains at launch include 50% off tickets at ODEON Cinemas (on Sunday to Thursday, take that Orange Wednesdays!); an exclusive – and more importantly free – Harvey Nichols canvas tote bag with every fashion or beauty purchase of over £25; half off WH Smith’s current ‘read of the week’, as well as a starter and main course for a tenner or a free glass of wine and dough sticks (nice) at Zizzi.

Other brands involved include hair landscapers Toni & Guy, speedy eaterie Yo! Sushi, stylish garment outlet French Connection, and the anniversary-saviour that is Hotel Chocolat.

With around £22m earmarked to push this campaign, O2 will certainly see its profile as the money-saving network as it begins to roll out the service, as well as being great for high-profile brands to align themselves with. Will savvy shoppers see O2 as the provider to be with for making substantial savings on the high street?

We’ll soon see, as the service launches right now, simply requiring current O2 customers to text the word ‘moments’ to 2020. 

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.

HTC Sensation Exclusive To Vodafone In May 2011, Other Operators From June

The HTC Sensation will be released exclusively on Vodafone in the UK and Europe in May, at least initially.

HTC’s all-singing all-dancing Android ‘multimedia superphone’, previously known to tech watchers as ‘Pyramid’, will be available a month later in June on T-Mobile and Orange according to Pocket Lint.  3 Mobile have also announced a vague ‘summer’ release period, and whilst O2 have announced their intentions to stock the handset to CNET today, they had no dates to give.

The Sensation, with its 4.3″ qHD screen (960 x 540 pixels) will take the throne of flagship handset from the popular Desire HD. It sports a smokin’ fast dual-core 1.2GHz Snapdragon processor, that should keep things running quicker than your fingers can press things. Video calling will be a doddle with the front-facing VGA camera, and you will be able to capture memories with the impressive 8MP camera at the rear, in full 1080p HD video at a smooth-as-eggs 30fps. The Sensation will also include the latest version of their widely praised Sense overlay for Android OS, which adds further tweaks to streamline the user experience.

Most interestingly, the handset will come preloaded with HTC Watch, a multimedia portal for renting or buying movies and TV shows on the move. However, despite the handset having HDMI out and wireless DLNA, DRM restrictions will not allow downloaded videos to be streamed over to your massive TV/monitor.  Whilst this may turn out to be something of a deal breaker for some, many more will love the convenience of being able to watch  from a large library of content on the handsets spacious 16:9 screen.

Pricing is still unknown at this point, but we will post any news up as it arrives. Alternatively, you can sign up for information on the HTC Sensation, as we get it, on OMIO’s deals page.

Sony Ericsson Xperia Play Now Available for Preorder – Free From £35 Per Month

Sony Ericsson XPERIA Play deals are now listed via BuyMobilePhones.net as being available for pre-order.

The UK’s big four carriers are listed – O2, Orange, Vodafone and T-Mobile, but nothing for Three or Virgin as yet.  The prices for the handset range from FREE on a fairly steep £35 per month package, all the way up to a £249.99 handset cost on the various contracts available, too numerous to list here.

Meanwhile, Expansys.com lists the handset at £539.99 SIM-free and have pencilled in the availability date as the 31st March 2011, so a maximum of just over 6 weeks to wait!

The Sony Ericsson XPERIA Play has to be one of the most poorly kept secrets since, well the iPhone 4, and we wonder if testing the public reactions in some way is due to a little hesitancy or insecurity on behalf of Sony themselves.

Sony stopped short of allowing the subsidiary Sony Ericsson to call it the ‘PSP Phone’ or similar, settling for a slightly less commital ‘PlayStation Certified’ stamp of approval, which only covers the XPERIA Play’s hardware setup, rather than gaming credentials.

The jury’s still out on whether the XPERIA Play will really do justice to the PlayStation brand, although Sony Computer Entertainment CEO Kazuo Hirai was there to show support for the handset when he appeared onstage at the MWC 2011 on Sunday night during the official reveal.

The XPERIA Play packs a 1Ghz Qualcomm Scorpion ARMv7 processor (an interesting choice given the profusion of multi-core mobiles coming this year), has 400MB RAM, a 4″ capacitive touch screen running at 854 x 640 pixels, and runs on Android 2.3  or ‘Gingerbread’.

Onboard storage comes via an included 8GB MicroSD, expandable to 32GB.  The handset can also record 720p video and DLNA will stream it to compatible televisions.  In addition to a 5MP camera at the rear, a 2MP front facing camera is on hand to provide video calling functionality for all you Skype heads out there.

The controller itself has the familiar four button directional pad, triangle/circle/cross/square buttons as well as L and R shoulder buttons, instantly familiar to the Playstation range.  Some gamers earlier bemoaned the lack of analogue sticks, but it so happens that the slightly mysterious touch interface in the middle will be usable in lieu, giving fans of FPS games like genre stalwarts Call of Duty and Killzone something to sleep well on.

Oh yeah and before we forget, it’s also a phone! You know, to call people on, although we can’t imagine that serious gamers will want to be disturbed when they’re right in the middle of a serious multiplayer firefight.   Good luck making that call!

Check out Omio’s deals page where you can find the best offers on the Sony Ericsson XPERIA Play.

O2 to get the Sony Ericsson Arc

Upcoming Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc Android mobile will be arriving on O2 in April, according to the coming soon page for new handsets on the O2 website.

Sony Ericsson’s Arc is a 4.2-inch capacitive touch screen phone, which boasts a Reality display and Sony’s Bravia mobile engine with stunning image quality.

The latest handset from Sony Ericsson will ship with Android 2.3, with an 8.1 MP camera and a microHMI port for the playback of HD video onto a compatible screen.

Xperia Arc will effectively be replacing last year’s Xperia X10 phone, which was their lead mobile until rumours of the PlayStation handset surfaced – with a more recent rumour that it will be announced at Mobile World Congress.

No tariff details have been released by O2 for the Arc, but we’ll bring you more details as and when we have them.

Check out the full range of Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc deals handsets at OMIO

O2 Android Updates Causing Issues: Removing Dell Streak Features, Freezing HTC Desire

The curse of modern devices struck has struck twice for O2 UK, as roll-outs of brand new Android firmware for both the HTC Desire and Dell Streak tablet have resulted in disgruntled consumers, missing features and in some cases ‘bricked’ handsets.

First up was the belaboured journey for an update to the Dell Streak, a cutting edge Android powered tablet running on a year-old ‘Donut’ build of Google’s smartphone operating system.

O2 finally rolled out an update to owners of their network-exclusive device, bringing their massive phones up to the new 2.1 ‘Eclair’ software.

Before long, forums flooded with complaints as consumers claimed that features had been removed as well as a host of new issues, including the removal of PC synchronisation, missing Facebook widgets, the loss of Windows Media Video playback as well as deleted contacts and messages.

With these features claimed to now be faulty by many Dell Streak owners, O2 are quickly looking for a fix to restore functionality.

This follows O2′s HTC Desire update woes, which saw the carrier’s over-the-air attempt to bring the Taiwanese manufacturer’s phone bang up to date result in numerous problems, the worst of which saw the device lock up and become completely unresponsive at the loading screen.

O2 responded to TechRadar regarding the issue, releasing the following statement:

O2 Launches Priority Tickets iPhone App

UK network O2 is making their customers feel special with a new Priority iPhone app, raising the velvet rope early to thousands of the country’s biggest gigs and events.

This free app leverages their sponsorship of a host of UK venues by giving a window of opportunity to O2 customers, letting them snag tickets up to 48 hours before they go on general release. With gig guides, artist search and venue maps complete with directions, Priority looks to be the ideal app for fans of live music.

The carrier doesn’t discriminate either, as they revealed plans to bring the currently Apple-only app to other devices including the O2-exclusive Palm Pre Plus:

“With this app we are making it even easier for [O2 customers] to have incredible experiences that they can share with the people that matter to them the most,” said Jonathan Earle, O2′s head of consumer mobile, in a press release.

“Having launched on the iPhone we now plan to roll out the app to other platforms including Android and WebOS.”

Each major network is truly relying on separating themselves and courting consumers through value adds, with Orange Wednesdays now a necessity for cinema lovers and Vodafone offering a truly VIP festival experience if recent reports are anything to go by.

Source: Mobile Entertainment

O2 Restrict iPhone 4 Sales To Existing Customers

O2 have just announced that they will be giving priority to existing customers when accepting requests for iPhone 4 due to a shortage of supply.

The release of Apple’s latest handset has been one of the most hotly anticipated events in gadget history and with so much hype, people have been eagerly waiting for the moment that the new smartphone becomes available.

Anticipation was so high that when iPhone 4 became available on pre-order last week, websites taking orders buckled under the pressure, leading to vendors to reconsider how they managed their limited supplies.

O2 are now looking to reward existing customers loyalty to the network, with a priority pass to getting a new iPhone 4, with preference in the first few days given only to those those subscribed to O2 mobile broadband and home broadband and then mobile phone customers.

An official statement from O2 said:

iPhone stock will be extremely limited in the UK at launch and not everybody who wants one will be able to get one straight away. We want to make sure that our existing customers get priority so until at least the end of July, only existing O2 customers will be able to get an iPhone 4 from us.

Whether you’re an existing O2 mobile customer looking to upgrade, or one of our broadband customers looking to move your mobile to O2, our iPhone stock is reserved exclusively for you.

O2 also added that the iPhone 4 would not be available on the O2.co.uk online shop until at least the end of July.

Click here to see the different iPhone 4 deals as they become available. Alternatively, read about the different pricing details of the iPhone 4 under other networks.

O2 First To Scrap Misleading “Unlimited” Data Moniker

O2 have announced that they are doing away with the unhelpful “unlimited” data tags on their mobile internet packages, replacing them instead with a more transparent model that is tied to usage.

CEO Ronan Dunne said that the move was in response to customers demand for clarity in pricing as well as helping the network manage demand on the service and was confident that the new pricing would allow O2 to provide an overall better level of service.

All new internet packages from 24th June onwards would be subject to the below pricing structure. According to the network, based on current usage patterns, 97% of customers wouldn’t need to buy additional internet packages, as the lowest bundle (500MB) covers 2.5 times the average O2 customers use.

Existing Customers

Customers who already enjoy “unlimited” internet will continue to do so as a promotion until 1st October after which additional bolt-ons will have to be purchased costing £5 for 500MB and £10 for 1GB. O2 have promised that customers will “easily” be able to monitor their usage via regular text messages, although a more accurate measure would be to go to Settings>General>Usage. As a guide to usage, O2 have supplied this chart, which gives approximate figures for data consumption:

The new price structure is undoubtedly a win for consumer transparency and for the majority of users, the limits won’t be a problem, but if you’re a heavy user you’re going to have to take it easy on streaming videos and music or else be prepared to pay for the privilege.

More details on O2′s new data plans can be found here.

O2, Orange, Vodafone iPad Data Plans Revealed

Apple’s UK site finally went live with iPad pricing details last week, and now the data plans on three of the major networks have been revealed.

They each differ slightly, with O2, Orange and Vodafone all attempting to cater for both light and heavy users of Apple’s ‘magical’ device.

O2 are first up, offering a 500MB ‘daily rate’ for £2, and two monthly packages of 1GB and 3GB for £10 and £15 respectively.

Orange has a trio of similar offerings with a slightly less generous 200MB per day for £2, as well as monthly servings of 1GB and 3GB for £7.50 and £15. However, they also cater for the heavier user with a 10GB package for £25 per month.

Vodafone is a lot more straightforward, with two deals aimed at opposite ends of the spectrum – 250MB per month for a tenner, and an ample 5GB for £25 per month.

All of the above deals come with the leaner, meaner microSIM as the iPad requires a smaller version of the card currently nestling in your mobile to indulge in surfing over 3G (unless you have a rather large meat cleaver to hand…).

There seems to be iPad deals to suit the pockets of all adopters from May 28th, with the only real question being whether people will take their beautiful gadgets out of the house enough to make these tariffs worthwhile…

Information on the inevitable T-Mobile and 3 UK iPad deals will be passed on as soon as we get it!