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Vodafone gets Sony Ericsson X10 Mini and HTC Wildfire

by Scott Bicheno on 9 June 2010, 10:21

Tags: Sony Ericsson, HTC (TPE:2498), Vodafone (LON:VOD)

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qaymz

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Android light

Vodafone is the first operator to announce it's stocking Sony Ericsson's shrink of the Xperia X10 - called simply the X10 Mini - since we saw it launched at Mobile World Congress back in February.

Given that SE also launched the X10 Mini Pro - the Mini plus a slide-out QWERTY - we're not entirely sure what the point of the X10 Mini is. Especially since one of its USPs - being the size of a credit card - will presumably make typing on the touch screen even more awkward.

Anyway, it's yet another Android option from Vodafone. It was launched with version 1.6 and judging by both Vodafone's and SE's reluctance to specify what version it's sporting in the wild, that hasn't changed.

If you struggle to see the point in a ‘small' 2.5 inch screen)smartphone, maybe the price will appeal. You can get the X10 Mini ‘free' for £20 per month from Vodafone, while the Xperia X10 costs £35 per month.

Another new Android handset to come in at that price point is the HTC Wildfire. As we wrote last month, it seems to be positioned as a more affordable version of the HTC Desire, probably aimed at younger users. It runs Android 2.1 and is priced at the same level by Vodafone as the HTC Legend, which it now presumably replaces.

When HTC launched the Wildfire, it predicted Q3 availability for it. Technically that starts in July and it's currently on pre-order at Vodafone.

 

HEXUS Forums :: 5 Comments

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Posted by directhex - Wed 09 Jun 2010 10:28
Do they still have the worst data rates in the UK network market?
Posted by scaryjim - Wed 09 Jun 2010 11:33
I've always found data very snappy on my HTC Magic on Vodafone, although I couldn't give you figures…
Posted by Brewster0101 - Wed 09 Jun 2010 13:12
Vodaphone recently reduced the data allowance on unlimited data tariffs to 500mb per month. This falls iin line with Three and Orange. T-mobile and O2 I believe offer 1GB of data per month. In a time when mobile data usage is on the up and mobiles are more designed for data then this is a massive step in the wrong direction.

Although not entirely vodaphones fault, the mobile infrastructure in this country just cant handle the amount of data the public want to use without a major upgrade.

You hear so many tales across all the networks about poor data speeds and connection issues, I think its a very much hit and miss with these. I have three on my mobile which works mostly fine, but has its bad days and also a Vodaphone usb stick which works in the same way, sometimes good, sometimes rubbish.
Posted by directhex - Wed 09 Jun 2010 13:27
Brewster0101
Vodaphone recently reduced the data allowance on unlimited data tariffs to 500mb per month. This falls iin line with Three and Orange. T-mobile and O2 I believe offer 1GB of data per month. In a time when mobile data usage is on the up and mobiles are more designed for data then this is a massive step in the wrong direction.

Although not entirely vodaphones fault, the mobile infrastructure in this country just cant handle the amount of data the public want to use without a major upgrade.

You hear so many tales across all the networks about poor data speeds and connection issues, I think its a very much hit and miss with these. I have three on my mobile which works mostly fine, but has its bad days and also a Vodaphone usb stick which works in the same way, sometimes good, sometimes rubbish.

I dug through all the small-prints today.

Three “Unlimited” is 500 meg.
Orange “Unlimited” is 750 meg.
T-Mobile “Unlimited” is 3 gig.
Vodafone don't do “Unlimited” - they only have 500 or 1000 meg fixed contracts
O2 “Unlimited” is really unlimited (i.e. their fair-use policy explicitly has no upper limit, it just says don't be stupid with it)
Posted by crossy - Wed 09 Jun 2010 15:07
directhex
I dug through all the small-prints today.
Three “Unlimited” is 500 meg.
Orange “Unlimited” is 750 meg.
T-Mobile “Unlimited” is 3 gig.
Vodafone don't do “Unlimited” - they only have 500 or 1000 meg fixed contracts
O2 “Unlimited” is really unlimited (i.e. their fair-use policy explicitly has no upper limit, it just says don't be stupid with it)

Yep, that pretty much squares with what I found when I went looking. I really fancied an Xperia X10 or HTC Desire, but there's no way that I'm going to go down that route with a 500MB/pm cap (because I'm with Three at the moment), so I'll stick with me ole Nokia N95 on PAYG.

I was thinking about transferring my number to T-Mobile (solely because at 3GB/pm they seemed to be a bit more “with it” than the rest) but I hadn't realised that O2 had a “better” deal. That said, I'd heard O2's 3G network coverage was … :censored:

The way I feel at the moment, the first company to come out with an X10 on a £30pm with 6GB/pm internet or better is going to get my business, (although I probably could quite happily “live” with 3GB/pm if I wasn't using Spotify etc).

Bob