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Tag: vodafone

  • Vodafone and Dropbox Team up on Cloud Storage

    Vodafone and Dropbox Team up on Cloud Storage

    vodafone-dropbox

    Vodafone and Dropbox are partnering to provide the telco’s Android and iPhone users with free cloud storage for a year.

    Starting this month, new Vodafone users will have 25 GB of cloud storage space on Dropbox. This service will be available to Vodafone’s Android and iPhone users. A majority of Vodafone’s Android phones will come preloaded with the Dropbbox app.

    What’s the implication? Well, Vodafone users can now count on extra space that can also make switching over to a new phone a much easier process as all you have to do is save all your videos, photos, and all your files on your old phone to Dropbox and then just sign in to your Dropbox app in your new phone and all your files will be there waiting for you.

    Vodafone also said that it will use Dropbox as its platform for its Backup+ service that allows Vodafone users to backup messages, multimedia content, and contacts on the cloud. The Backup+ service will start rolling out by the end of March, 2015 and will be ready for use over the coming months.

    The partnership between Dropbox and Vodafone is not entirely a new concept as just last year around October 02 entered a partnership with Box to resell the cloud storage service to SMEs.

     

  • Microsoft Unveils Windows Phone 7 Global Portfolio

    Microsoft announced nine new Windows Phone 7 handsets that will be available this October and November from over 60 mobile operators in 30 countries in Europe, North America and Asia Pacific.

    Windows Phone 7 will be available in a variety of form factors from device-makers such as Dell, HTC Corp., LG and Samsung, and from mobile operators including América Móvil, AT&T, Deutsche Telekom AG, Movistar, O2, Orange, SFR, SingTel, Telstra, TELUS, T-Mobile USA and Vodafone.

    All Windows Phone 7 phones will include the Snapdragon processor from Qualcomm. A broad selection of phones will begin shipping in October 2010 with more arriving in 2011, including phones from Sprint and Verizon Wireless.

    The following devices will come to North America, Europe and Asia Pacific in the holiday 2010 timeframe.

    In North America:

    AT&T
    • HTC Surround, United States
    • Samsung Focus, United States
    • LG Quantum, United States

    T-Mobile USA
    • HTC HD7, United States
    • Dell Venue Pro, United States

    TELUS
    • HTC 7 Surround, Canada
    • LG Optimus 7, Canada

    América Móvil
    • LG Optimus 7, Mexico

    In Europe:

    O2
    • HTC HD7, United Kingdom, Germany

    Orange
    • HTC 7 Mozart, including France, United Kingdom
    • Samsung OMNIA 7, including France, United Kingdom

    SFR
    • HTC 7 Trophy, France
    • Samsung OMNIA 7, France

    Movistar
    • LG Optimus 7, Spain
    • HTC HD7, Spain
    • Samsung OMNIA 7, Spain

    Deutsche Telekom AG
    • HTC 7 Mozart, Germany
    • Samsung OMNIA 7, Germany

    Vodafone
    • HTC 7 Trophy, including Germany, Spain, United Kingdom
    • LG Optimus 7, including Germany, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom

    In Asia Pacific:

    SingTel
    • HTC HD 7, Singapore
    • LG Optimus 7, Singapore

    Telstra
    • HTC 7 Mozart, Australia
    • LG Optimus 7Q, Australia

    Vodafone
    • HTC 7 Trophy, including Australia

    “We have a beautiful lineup in this first wave of Windows Phone 7 handsets,” said Steve Ballmer, chief executive officer at Microsoft. “Microsoft and its partners are delivering a different kind of mobile phone and experience — one that makes everyday tasks faster by getting more done in fewer steps and providing timely information in a ‘glance and go’ format.”

  • Microsoft Introduces KIN Windows Phone

    Microsoft finally announced KIN, a new Windows Phone designed specifically for people who are actively navigating their social lives. The phone is brought to life through partnerships with Verizon Wireless, Vodafone and Sharp.

    KIN supports Microsoft’s new cloud computing service with an optimized GUI. The hardware design was developed in partnership with Sharp. There are two models called KIN ONE and KIN TWO. Both phones feature a touch screen, slide-out keyboard and very simple interface.

    ONE is small and compact; TWO has a larger screen and keyboard, in addition to more memory, a higher resolution camera, and the ability to record high-definition video. The 5 and 8 megapixel cameras in ONE and TWO, respectively, have image stabilization and a bright LumiLED flash.

    KIN automatically brings together feeds from Microsoft and third-party services such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter. The home screen of the phone is called the KIN Loop, which is always up to date and always on, showing all the things happening in someone’s social world.

    Another new feature, the KIN Spot is a new way for people to share what’s going on in their world. It lets them focus first on the people and stuff they want to share rather than the specific application they want to use. Videos, photos, text messages, Web pages, location and status updates are shared by simply dragging them to a single place on the phone called the Spot. Once all the people and content are in the Spot to share, the consumer can choose how to share, and start broadcasting.

    KIN Studio is a phone online. Almost everything created on the phone is available in the cloud from any Web browser. Photos and videos are freed from the confines of the phone and presented in an online visual timeline.

    The KIN Studio automatically backs up texts, call history, photos, videos and contacts, and populates a personalized digital journal.

    It also gives customers tons of storage to keep all those photos, videos, contacts and texts.

    KIN will be the first Windows Phone to feature a Zune experience — including music, video, FM radio and podcast playback. With a Zune Pass subscription, users using Zune software on their PC can listen to millions of songs from Zune Marketplace on their KIN while on the go.

    KIN will be exclusively available from Verizon Wireless in the U.S. beginning in May and from Vodafone this autumn in Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom.

  • Google Officially Announces Nexus One – the “Superphone”

    At the special Android press conference in Mountain View, Google officially confirmed the company’s first phone – the Nexus One.

    This HTC-branded device is running Android 2.1 and comes with 3.7" AMOLED 480×800 WVGA display, 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset, 512MB flash onboard memory and 4GB removable SD Card (expandable to 32GB), 5 megapixel auto focus camera with LED flash and geo tagging, stereo Bluetooth, 3.5mm headphone jack, compass, GPS, accelerometer and light and proximity sensor.

    There is also an option of personalized laser engraving: up to 50 characters on the back of the phone.

    Android 2.1, a version of the platform’s Eclair software offers applications like Google Maps Navigation (offering turn-by-turn driving directions with voice output), Email (multiple Gmail accounts; universal inbox and Exchange support), Phone book (aggregate contacts from multiple sources, including Facebook), and Android Market with the access to more than 18,000 applications.

    Additionally, it futures voice-enabled keyboard for all text fields and voice-searching.

    Nexus One is initially available from the new Google web store in the US without service for $529 or starting at $179 with a two-year contract from T-Mobile USA. It is also coming to Verizon this Spring and Vodafone later this year.

    Google will initially take orders from consumers in the US and three other markets – the UK, Singapore, and Hong Kong.

    In the coming months Google plans on partnering with additional operators. They also expect to launch more phones with Android handset partners (including Motorola) and to expand the web store to more countries.

    "The Nexus One belongs in the emerging class of devices which we call ‘superphones,’ with the 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset making it as powerful as your laptop computer of three to four years ago. It’s our way to raise the bar on what’s possible when it comes to creating the best mobile experience for consumers," said Andy Rubin, VP of Engineering.

  • US-style Billing Would See 40m Europeans Dump Cell Phones


    Vodafone has voiced its opposition to plans to introduce a Receiving-Party-Pays (RPP) model in Europe, saying the move would force operators to raise retail charges.

    The telecoms company said this would lead to 40 million users getting rid of their cell phones, according to a report in the Financial Times.

    Viviane Reding, the EU telecoms commissioner, wants to reform the industry and has been carrying out a public consultation on its proposals, which closes on Wednesday.

    As well as adopting RPP, the plans also include reducing mobile termination rates from an average €0.08 a minute to between €0.01-0.02 in the next few years.

    According to the report, Vodafone isn’t opposed to the argument for cuts, but wants to see the rate at between €0.05-0.06 per minute by 2012.

    Reding favors the US-style RPP system, in which users pay to receive calls as well as making them, because American consumers pay lower call charges and make greater use of their mobiles. Termination rates are typically set at near zero.

    Vodafone used its submission to the European Commission, seen by the Financial Times, to argue against the adoption of a RPP model.

  • Vodafone to launch "world first" converged solution of services and equipment in Australia


    A three-way initiative between Vodafone Australia, Cisco and Research In Motion (RIM) is to launch an integrated business communications services in Australia known as Vodafone Business One.
    Starting later this year, it will combine all telecommunication services – fixed and mobile, voice and data, services and equipment – into one managed service with single-point accountability on installation, technical support and fleet management and one monthly invoice.
    The service will be focusing primarily on small-medium sized businesses of between 10 to 100 employees.
    By using Wi-Fi-enabled BlackBerry smartphones along with Cisco Wi-Fi and IP-PBX in the office, Vodafone Business One customers will be able to make calls within the office zone at fixed-line rates, while making calls outside the office via the Vodafone mobile network.
    Both fixed and mobile calls will be covered by a single account-level service fee.
    BlackBerry smartphones can automatically select Wi-Fi as the preferred transmission method to send and receive calls and emails, as well as access other data applications, when in the office.
    Customers can choose to use IP phones or their BlackBerry dual-mode smartphones while in the office.
    Russell Hewitt, CEO at Vodafone Australia described the service as its most significant strategic play since the launch of 3G services three years ago.
    “With the announcement of Vodafone Business One, Vodafone has evolved from being a ‘mobile-only’ provider, to the world of full-service telecommunications services, enabling Vodafone to bring the principles of innovation and competition it has delivered in the mobile space to the fixed-line arena,” he said.
    Hewitt said the service offered a genuine alternative to spending money on traditional, fixed-lines with costly line rentals.
    Vodafone says that it will begin a progressive rollout of Vodafone Business One over the coming months to small and medium-sized enterprises in New South Wales before extending the service to customers in all major business centres by the end of the year.