Hasta La Gadget!

Nokia just posted up some of the first official details on the launch of the Booklet 3G, and they’re… actually a little confusing. The aluminum netbook will hit O2 Germany for €249 ($366) on a €20 ($29) tariff over 24 months, but there’s also mention of a “flat rate data tariff” of €25 ($36) per month — we’re guessing the flat rate is for buyers who snag the Booklet for the full price of €699 ($1,029), but honestly, that’s not how the post on Nokia Conversations reads at all. We’re trying to get it cleared up, and we’ve got a feeling we’ll be hearing about availability in other markets including the States soon enough, so stick around.

Update: Okay, the Nokia PR is out and as commenter Amyd has helpfully translated for us, you’re looking at two different payments here: the O2 MyHandy purchase program, where you buy the Booklet for €249 upfront and dish out €20 a month for two years, and the actual O2 wireless service, which is €25 a month. That’s a total of €749 for the Booklet 3G, plus the service fee — yeah, we’ll pass.

Filed under: Laptops

Nokia Booklet to hit O2 Germany October 22 for €249 on contract (update: €749 total) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 07 Oct 2009 13:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve been furnished with the above page from an O2 in-store catalog detailing the HTC HD2 (aka Leo), which was set for a UK release on October 12 (though we’re hearing that may have slipped to the 26th). Interesting that it’s pictured with a stock Windows Mobile 6.5 UI instead of TouchFLO 3D. Is O2 rushing HTC’s new hotness out the door in response to losing its iPhone supremacy? Or did an absent-minded employee just slip out the catalogs ahead of time? We’re getting in touch with O2 to find out and will update with more details as we get them. For now, check out the full catalog page after the break.

[Thanks, Peter W.]

Update: After O2 stonewalled our phone enquiries, we decided to drop by our nearest (which was still annoyingly far away) store to have a look for ourselves. Alas, we only found September issues of the catalog, and the above snapshot is from the October iteration, which sports a big fat Pre promo on the front. So, anyone else seen an advance copy yet?

Continue reading HTC HD2 makes first official appearance in O2 UK catalog

Filed under: Cellphones

HTC HD2 makes first official appearance in O2 UK catalog originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 Sep 2009 08:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A trusted tipster with a proven past just gave us the launch day scoop on the hotly anticipated HTC Leo. A Windows Mobile 6.5 handset we recently spied with HD2 branding and a 4.3-inch capacitive touchscreen display with 800×480 resolution — a pixel density that should give plenty of room for finger-friendly TouchFlo 3D navigation. According to said source, the O2 intranet site lists the “HTC HD2” on its future products list with an October 12th launch date. O2 peeps will immediately recognize the lack of XDA branding which makes the claim a bit suspicious. Then again, HTC has been trying to break the shackles of pointless carrier rebranding for years. Truth be told in the days ahead.

Filed under: Cellphones

HTC HD2 (aka, Leo) launching on O2 UK October 12th? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 24 Sep 2009 06:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You know, we admire Palm’s patience. We knew a GSM Pre was in the works about 8.43 minutes after its CES presser ended in January, and we’ve been waiting all this time for some carrier in some part of the New World to grab hold of a GSM version of the world’s first webOS handset. If you’ll recall, we last heard that O2 Germany would be giving its loyal users the chance to get that very handset before the holiday season, but now an updated image on the site clearly indicates that it’s coming this fall. As in, before winter. As in, within the next few months. As in, not nearly soon enough.

[Via PreCentral]

Filed under: Cellphones

GSM Palm Pre now looking at ‘autumn’ launch in Germany originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 20 Sep 2009 10:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We really couldn’t make this stuff up — it would seem that T-Mobile has been sneaking some hi-tech contraband into the UK in the form of unlocked iPhone 3G handsets, which it is now peddling to its most valued clientele. And by that, of course, we mean the piggies that pay up the most every month. Limited to an extremely select 150 units a week, the Apple devices are being used as incentives for high-rolling customers to renew their eye-gouging contracts of £75 per month and above, though we suspect only a few chums in corner offices know exactly how much T-Mob is charging for the handset itself.

We’ve done some digging, and while O2 has exclusivity on the iPhone 3G until September, that does not prevent T-Mobile from essentially functioning as a reseller of unlocked SIM-free units. Further distancing itself from legal action, the carrier is only offering the handsets to upgrading customers (as opposed to newcomers), thus the phones technically come sans a SIM. So, the suits at Magenta Towers must be feeling pretty smug right about now, having danced through a loophole and secured a wildly popular (albeit older generation) phone, all in the name of keeping high-brow customers from jumping ship. While you won’t hear any PR from T-Mobile on the matter, we have a full statement from O2 on the subject of losing 3G exclusivity come September. You ready?

We have a multi-year agreement with Apple to sell iPhone in the UK. This relationship continues.

Man, those Britons keep it short and sweet, don’t they?

Filed under: Cellphones

T-Mobile UK sneakily offering iPhone 3G to moneyed customers originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 04 Aug 2009 04:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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