iPhone Europe: O2 accidentally shows its Pay/Go Hand

Well, the cat would seem to be out of the bag. Multiple sites are reporting that O2 posted handset prices, rates and offer details for the iPhone 3G on the Pay/Go tariff to their site, apparently late last night.

The details have since been withdrawn from the site, but are still available to us through various rumour sites and blogs which caught them.

So, how much is the handset gonna set us back? 8GB will be priced at £299.99 and 16GB at £359.99 (MacWorld UK erroneously states £400, however even their cited source disagrees). These represent modest £30.99 price hikes on the elder models.

However, O2 has seen fit to sweeten the deal. Primarily through those "top up £X each month and receive" offers, but more importantly by bundling 6 months of unlimited (3G) data. Naturally, a fair use policy is in place and the offer only applies to phones activated before...December 31st. Some time away at least.
After the bundled data period is over, unlimited data can be added for £10 a month, a neatly non-committed solution, much better than the £30 tariff.

Incidentally, the 6 Months of data is therefore worth £60. I would have been buying it each month anyway, so I like to think of it as a £300 phone (16GB model) with unlimited data at £10 a month, £60 of which is paid upfront.

At these prices, with these deals, I'm definitely going to go ahead and get a 16GB iPhone 3G with a white back. I pretty much have to now. My touch is nearing the limits because I've bought three movies, and I plan to buy at least 2, maybe 3 more.

So, all in all, I'm pretty happy.

Jens Out

Twitter

I'm now fairly regularly Twittering, so here's the link to my Twitter page:

Me at Twitter

I might put the Tweets in the sidebar here. I'm not sure, there's an awful lot of stuff in there...

I'll think about it and get back to you. If you have any input, don't hesitate to comment. I always enjoy comments. They give me proof I'm not talking to myself and the one person I know reads the blog.

You know who you are.

Take me away,
Jens

Update: I went ahead and added it anyway. It's not very big.

I tell you what I love about Twitter: I can post to the internets from anywhere I have mobile phone signal This means I can tweet whilst on break at work and all sorts. Surprisingly fun.

Housecleaning

Switched to a new design you may have noticed, it reflects the gradual change in tone up in here. I'm also currently in the process of tagging all the posts in the archive, and since I don't have any exams until June 3rd now, I should be getting that done in the next week or so.

I'm now on Twitter, dunno what I'm going to do with it, but I imagine I'll find some use for micro-blogging in the future. Follow me if you use it, but right now it's probably not worth joining just to follow me.

I'm hoping to get around to those exam reviews next week, I have some issues with all three I've done so far so stay tuned for that.

I finally enabled Advanced Desktop (Vanilla Xandros) on my Eee the other day, so I've been kind of geeking out. That's how I roll, yo.

Nintendo are bringing a turquoise DS Lite out. Hot damn. That might be the thing that makes me upgrade. That thing is lush.

Rumours abound Apple will unveil a 3G iPhone soon (Like, within 3 weeks) which will go on sale shortly thereafter worldwide. The most exciting rumour is that it may be sold contract-free at the fll price, with carriers offering rebates (Similar to the one offered by Carphone Warehouse and O2 recently) to drive contract sales. Well if I can get a 3G 16GB iPhone for £269, contract-free, then I might just have to go for that instead of the Sony.

I'd be more aprehensive about an 8GB, it wouldn't be a big enough upgrade on the touch.

Right, I'm off to spec up a computer to drool over at VooDooPC's website. I'll finish the upgrades to the blog soon.

Goodbye my Coney Island baby
Jens

On Mobile Telephony and the Months Ahead

Mbile Telephony

So I've finally picked out my new phone. Amazingly, it's a Sony Ericsson Slider. Why's that amazing you ask? Well, I hate most sliders and I hate most Sony Ericssons. Ironically, the only Sony Ericssons I do like are sliders. Some of the clamshells are okay.

So which one you ask? The W910i. Not really because of the Walkman, I have 3 iPods, but more because as a piece of kit, it suits my needs and it's a good upgrade on the RAZR.

It's a bit of a looker. If I ever end up somewhere with decent 3G coverage, I might even try sticking a 3 Sim Card in it to try and get in on some of that mobile TV love. I really want portable TV. If I need to, I'll buy one of those portable FreeView TVs...Speaking of, someone should put a hard drive in one of those.

Motor Racing

In other great news, Jenson Button came home an awesome 6th from 13th on the grid, setting the 5th fastest lap, reaffirming the point that Honda Racing F1 are back and their car is a quick racer, even if it's ultimate pace (IE, 1 lap pace) is not brilliant. They've shown they can mix it with Renault and Williams. Our faith has paid off. I'm very, very happy.

Multiplayer

On a brief Multiplayer note, we may have a graphics man lined up. Stay tuned. I would however like at this stage to announce that I am partnering with WizzKid, of WizzHack.co.uk, for the development of the Multiplayer Magazine website. WizzKid is a supremely talented web developer and I'm confident he can put together a brilliant package for Multiplayer.

The Months Ahead

GTA IV is released this coming Tuesday. Assuming someone's in to collect my brother's package, expect to hear from me about it - and the Xbox 360 being relocated to my room for the duration fo my brother's exams. He has more time consuming revision etc. than I will.

You'll probably hear from me again the following day when we finally get the final details of our exams and important dates, like when Study Leave starts. From then, expect content to be as normal only until Study Leave, at which stage it will be throttled (Though not, I imagine, shelved) until June 17th. But I intend to provide extensive coverage of my Mac mini's arrival and setup.

As to content in the exam period, I might post my impressions of how the exam went and review the exams themselves, something which I feel is sorely lacking. Exams are sorely in need of criticism. I'm planning to supply it.

After the exam period, I'm considering migrating this blog into a full-blown personal website, featuring pages dedicated to showing what hardware and software I use, an extended bio, dedicated links and contact page etc. I will, after all, have 2 months of free time and a brand new Mac with iWeb on it.

Also, below is the first in my series of music-themed signoffs. Anyone who can guess where each one's from (Song title, artist) gets the standard Jensonb reward.

That is to say, a cookie.

Going crazy and we're out,
Jens

Telephony

Recently, for whatever reason, I have gone from having virtually no interest in telephony to being into it in a big way. For instance, I'm planning on buying a (Admittedly novelty, but that's just who I am. For those of you wondering, yes it's Disney, no it's not Mickey. Assuming I manage to get it, I'll review it on All Your Disney) phone soon to plant on my desk.

Now, I'm not planning on using it as a standard phone. I'll be getting ahold of a VoIP system, most likely Tesco Internet Phone, and using it as a VoIP phone. But there's the kicker, I will be giving that number as the primary number for people to reach me on - previously I simply gave my mobile number.

This "home" or "desk" phone (Depending on how you look at it) is the precursor to my subscribing to Google's GrandCentral. As soon as that puppy hits the United Kingdom, I'll be signing up and merging my mobile and desk numbers into one. Perhaps +441322555367 (+44-13-CALL-JENS) or something like that.

I'm not sure what it is, but something has definitely prompted me to take more of an interest in telephony recently. For example, whilst Vonage and indeed Tesco Internet Phone (Previously) never held any interest for me, when I heard about GrandCentral, I had kittens.

I'll update you with more later along in my telephony plans.

Jens Out.

Feel Good.