Omio News Blog

Everything Everywhere To Combine 31 Orange and T-Mobile Stores, Shed 95 Jobs

In the latest news regarding Orange and T-Mobile’s Grand Unification strategy, 31 stores across the UK are to be transformed into shiny Everything Everywhere retail outlets, with 28 jobs lost in the process.

The cuts are primarily within store manager roles, with one assistant manager also to go. Losses will also be felt in Head Office also, as 67 back office staff are to be made redundant in restructuring proceedings.

A silver lining is that 50 new roles will be created as a consequence, and those made redundant will be given the opportunity to go for these new positions.

An Everything Everywhere spokesperson had a comprehensive final word on the matter:

“This week, we have proposed to staff that we will be consolidating a small number of our Orange and T-Mobile stores in locations where it makes sense to do so.

“These proposals would see the consolidation of Orange and T-Mobile sites into single Everything Everywhere stores in 31 towns. These proposals would have an impact on store manager roles within these stores, but not frontline sales staff.

“We will be looking to redeploy any individuals affected by these changes wherever possible.

“We have also announced proposed organisational changes for our HQ retail department to deliver a new phase in retail which will focus on accelerating the company’s objectives of delivering the best network and service.

“As a result of the proposed new structure, regrettably, 67 retail head office roles are impacted.

“As part of the restructure we are also creating more than 50 new roles and we are hopeful that some of the individuals at risk will re-apply within the business.”

Source: Mobile News

Orange Brings ‘Quick Tap’ Payment Service To Android Devices

With Near Field Communication technology on the cusp of being The Next Big Thing in mobile, Orange’s ‘Quick Tap’ service has led the charge in letting us pay for stuff with just a wave of our mobile.

The fruity network has announced they are to take the contactless payment service beyond their lean selection of devices at present, with an aim to bring it to Android smartphones harbouring NFC in the coming weeks.

Currently live on phones like the BlackBerry Bold 9790 and spearheaded by a souped-up Samsung Tocco, getting more handsets on board could be key to broadening the appeal of the Barclaycard-powered system.

With over 70,000 high street locations – including Pret a Manger and Wilkinson – already supporting Quick Tap transactions of up to £15 (with a raise to £20 come June), showcasing popular handsets like the Sony XPERIA S as sporting NFC technology could serve as a real hardware differentiator in a contentious market.

Jason Rees, director of mobile payments and ticketing for Orange UK, said: “When combined with the ability to use it with credit or debit cards from all the major UK banks, then even more people will be able to experience the simplicity and convenience of shopping with their phone.”

Source: Mobile Entertainment

Orange To Range New Nokia Lumia 610, First NFC-Enabled Windows Phone

Finnish manufacturer Nokia has just announced a new version of their Lumia 610 smartphone, giving it the honour of being the first Windows Phone 7 device to boast Near Field Communication capabilities.

The product of baking in third party gubbins from both the hardware and software side – NFC doesn’t play nicely with WP7 at present - the Lumia 610 NFC is certified for both Mastercard and Visa’s contactless payment solutions, dubbed PayPass and payWave respectively.

It isn’t only financial transactions that NFC is good for, with the Nokia Lumia 610 just as easily able to hook up with a new breed compatible accessories in a manner not entirely dissimilar to Bluetooth connectivity.

Already showing interest in a card-free future with their ‘Quick Tap’ payment service on selected mobiles in the UK, fruity phone network Orange/France Telecom seems eager to range the NFC-enabled Lumia 610 for an early third quarter release.

Given the affordable nature of the Lumia 610 at present, this seems like a strong device to get the younger demographic in the habit of tapping in and out for more than just Tube journeys in future…

Source: Nokia Conversations

Mobile Phone Review Round Up: Samsung Galaxy Pro, Nokia X7, Samsung Tocco Icon, Sony Ericsson XPERIA neo and HTC Salsa

TechRadar

Samsung Galaxy Pro review

Verdict

The Samsung Galaxy Pro is a slippery little fish. We want to praise it for its keyboard, but berate it for its screen. Samsung could have helped matters by offering a higher resolution on the screen.

If you want a handset of this design, take a look at the HTC ChaCha or Nokia E6. But don’t forget the Sony Ericsson Xperia 10 Mini Pro which, while it is a side-slider, is teeny – or, indeed, any of the larger side-sliders that offer a more desirable, larger screen.

- Check out all the Samsung Galaxy Pro deals at OMIO today!

Nokia X7 review

Verdict

There are nice things we can say about the Nokia X7. It has good hardware design, a basically pleasing screen and good battery life. And Symbian Anna is a step in the right direction.

But we just aren’t sure where Anna is headed in the long term, and that alone could make the Nokia X7 a blind alley. And it doesn’t do anything supremely well.

If you are a Nokia fan and want a top quality camera you should be looking at the Nokia N8.

If you want a superb physical keyboard, then the Nokia E7 is worth your attention.

Great social networking integration? Go Android instead, with something such as the HTC Sensation.

With those bases covered, it’s tricky to see precisely where the Nokia X7 fits in.

- Check out all the Nokia X7 deals at OMIO today!

Cnet.co.uk

LG Optimus Me P350 review

Conclusion
You might have expected LG to better the Optimus One with the LG Optimus Me. Sadly, the Me is inferior in all but a few areas. The screen is smaller, the processor isn’t any faster and the camera’s still mediocre. Check out the Samsung Galaxy Fit, HTC Wildfire S and Optimus One before laying down your moolah.

- Check out all the LG Optimus Me deals at OMIO today!

Orange Rio II review

Conclusion
The Orange Rio II improves over its predecessor with a neater design, 3G and an updated operating system. Issues such as poor battery life, no Wi-Fi, unresponsive touchscreen and a generally slow processor take the edge off its performance, but you have to remember it’s costing you well under £100.

If you’re considering a BlackBerry 8520, but begrudge spending over £100 for a phone that lacks 3G, we’d recommend you seriously consider the Rio II. It’s cheaper and in many ways provides a superior experience.

- Check out all the Orange RIO II deals at OMIO today!

Pocket Lint

Samsung Tocco Icon review

Verdict
Overall, the Samsung Tocco Icon isn’t a massive step up from the Tocco Lite, but the inclusion of a capacitive touchscreen is certainly a compelling reason to buy if you liked the original phone. The compact chassis, slick design and ease of use also add to the package, while the features such as the straightforward audio player and the sneaky fake call function may appeal to some.

While the screen is large, the resolution isn’t great and that combined with the fact that there’s no 3G connectivity means that web browsing isn’t brilliant, although it is just about usable. Likewise, the social networking offering is very basic. What you really miss out on, however, is all the fun that you’d get opting for an entry-level Android phone with much more potential.

If your budget is tight, then the Samsung Tocco Icon offers you a reasonable touchscreen experience for your cash.

- Check out all the Samsung Tocco Icon deals at OMIO today!

Trusted Reviews

LG Optimus 3D review

Verdict

There’s plenty to like about the Optimus 3D, including its fun 3D features, fast processor and beautifully bright and vivid screen. However, problems with displaying 3D images on the screen and the phone’s short battery life mean that it’s not the must-buy handset that many were expecting.

- Check out all the LG Optimus 3D deals at OMIO today!

Reghardware

Sony Ericsson Xperia Neo Android smartphone review

Verdict
The Sony Ericsson XPERIA Neo has much of the cool technology sported by Sony Ericsson’s top-notch Xperia Arc but at a fraction of the price. It’s not as slim, but if you can put up with the bulk, it’s really a bit of a bargain.

- Check out all the Sony Ericsson XPERIA Neo deals at OMIO today!

Vodafone Smart Android smartphone review

Verdict
Though it runs Froyo and has a capacitive screen, the Vodafone Smart has been ruthlessly built down to a price. Despite that, for talking, e-mailing, texting, navigating and social networking it’s up to the job. Yes it falls down when faced with more demanding tasks, but a £75 mobile will never be the gaming or multi-media platform that a £400 1GHz Snapdragon handset is. The Orange SF is a better phone but then it’s twice the price and still doesn’t support Adobe’s Flash player

- Check out all the Vodafone Smart deals at OMIO today!

HTC Salsa Android smartphone review

Verdict
The HTC Salsa is a solidly built smartphone with a good screen, reasonable camera, fine UI and an emphasis on social networking, thanks largely to its clever Facebook button. This latter will endear it to ’bookers, but otherwise it doesn’t stand out strongly from HTC’s ever-expanding range of handsets.

- Check out all the HTC Salsa deals at OMIO today!

Orange Introduces New Web Browsing Bundles For EU Travellers

With mobile roaming a hot button topic after the European Commission revised pricing limits, Orange has seen fit to offer European travellers that on Pay Monthly, Small Business and broadband dongle tariffs 30MB of internet data for just £3 per day.

This move follows revamped browsing bundles from the network, giving pay monthly consumers an option of 30MB, 150MB and 500MB data packages for between £15 and £150, each eligible for 30 days from purchase.

Considering that out-of-bundle data charges are a whopping £3.07 per MB, these packages are certainly a necessity for those looking to take their mobiles with them when going away on a European holiday.

To purchase one of these mobile internet bundles, Orange Pay Monthly users can call customer services by dialling 150…whilst Pay As You Go folk would do well to bury their mobile in a sandcastle or just leave it at home…

Whilst new EU rulings mean that data roaming charges will cost no more than 81p per MB on 1st July 2012 and fall to around 40p by 2014, this is one more affordable way for Orange subscribers to browse when abroad in the meantime.

Orange offers iPad 2 and iPhone 4 for just £99

Orange has starting selling the iPad 2 and iPhone 4 on an even more subsidised ‘combined’ cost, whilst also offering a combined tariff – for both of those Apple products to share, at £65 a month.

The fruit flavoured and coloured network is carrying the 32GB version of iPhone 4, combined with the 16GB iPad 2 for £179; Apple’s 32GB iPad 2 and iPhone 4 costs £229, with the 32GB iPhone and the 64GB iPad has the princely sum attached of £299.

Going down the scale of capacity and costs is the Apple 16GB iPhone 4 paired up with the 32GB iPad 2 at 149 of your English pounds, where the 64GB iPad 2 and 16GB iPhone 4 costs £229.

Part and parcel of these combi deas is that costly £65 monthly contract, which does have an unlimited BT OpenZone websurfing package, an unlimited text message allowance but only a 2GB mobile broadband bundle and 600 anytime minutes.

Check out all the Orange deals at OMIO!

Orange and Barclaycard Roll Out NFC-Enabled Samsung Tocco Lite Handset

A lot of the talk at this year’s Mobile World Congress centred around NFC (Near Field Communications) and how it would revolutionise the spending patterns of mobile phone users.

By allowing consumers to pay for products by simply swiping their phone – Oyster Card style – at a pay point, it is hoped that NFC will make paying for products quicker, also meaning people can leave their credit cards and loose change at home.

Telefonica and La Caixa bank conducted a trial in the Spanish town of Sitges last year with fairly positive results, and now the UK public are going to be able to give the new technology a go themselves, as Orange have teamed up with Barclays to roll out the ‘Quick Tap’ service.

Customers will need the Samsung Tocco Quick Tap mobile phone and a Barclaycard account that they then use in conjunction to load credit onto the phone. Once consumers have money loaded, they are able to make purchases of £15 or less at high street retailers. Shops that have signed up to the system currently include McDonalds, Subway, Wilkinsons and a number of Boots stores.

The Samsung Tocco Quick Tap is available for free from £15 per month from Orange. Check out this as well as millions of other mobile phone deals on Omio!

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.

MWC 2011 – Orange to release the Optimus 3D and Optimus Black in Q2 2011

From MWC 2011:

In a press release today, Orange have revealed that they will be be ranging two of LG’s newest handsets at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the Optimus 3D and the Optimus Black.  Both handsets are due for release in the second quarter, so expect a release between April and June.  As soon as Omio hears anything more specific, we will report it of course.

The dual core Optimus 3D combines a dual 5MP 3D camera, with a 4.3″ glasses-less 3D screen, meaning that users can capture 3D videos and pictures on their handset.  Whilst some are still on the fence over whether 3D is still just a gimmick, the announcement of LG’s partnership with Youtube to provide a 3D content portal means that user uploaded video’s and other multimedia content will have an outlet.  Users will also be able to play 3D games on the handset, and with an online games portal beating even the Nintendo 3DS to the market, it will be interesting to see how much of an impact, if indeed any, this will have on the Big N’s plans.

The Optimus Black is marketed as the ‘world’s slimmest mobile device’ ranging from 6mm to 9.2mm thick.  The Optimus Black has a revoltionary low-power/high-brightness screen.  The Nova display displays at up to 700 nits meaning it will be bright even in direct sunlight.  On top of this power consumption is also reduced.  LG claim that during normal use, the display will only use 50% of the power of conventional displays.  It also weighs in at something of a featherweight 109g, so don’t expect it to wear a hole in your pocket.

We will be keeing our ears to the ground regarding availability and pricing as we get closer to the date, so rest assured, check back at our deals page for more info on both handsets.  We will also be posting hands on impressions and videos throughout MWC 2011, so stay with us for more info.

Read the full press release below:

Read more…