Cubalaya Blog UK

UK iPhone Released on November 9th

Today it was unofficially announced that the release date of the iPhone in the UK will be November 9th.  The expected price of the 8GB model is 269 pounds, or around $542, which is a considerable leap in price compared to the US.

O2 will be the service providers, and there will be free Wi-Fi service from The Cloud, a pay-as-you-go public Wi-Fi provider.  This free service is probably a compensation for the poor 2.5G data service available on the continent, and for the lack of 3G capability on the iPhone (due to high battery consumption). 

   

Apple is currently developing an iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store, which will enable users to download music directly to their iPhones, wherever Wi-Fi is available.  This service is expected to launch before November, and therefore should be available by the UK release.

Furthermore, you can win a free unlocked 8GB iPhone by entering a comment on this CrunchGear blog, as they are looking for people from the UK to voice their opinion on the iPhone.  Also check out the TechCrunch blog, talking about the upcoming release.

GPhone vs. iPhone?

Although Google executives all but deny it, a few leaks, the recent publishing of a patent, and a lot of healthy speculation can only lead one to think that the iPhone won't be alone for very long.  When given a moment's thought, it seems that Google has the right basic applications for a successful 3G, Wi-Fi-equipped mobile phone.  GMail, Google Search, Google Video, YouTube (acquired by Google last year), Google News and Google Maps can provide a strong basis for mobile phone services such as e-mail access, GPS, video playback and web-surfing.

One thing Google hasn't done yet, though, is step into the hardware world.  But rumor has it that Samsung is handling that part of the business, leaving the Internet giant free to focus on what they do best- user-friendly operating systems.  Best of all, Google might be looking to bypass the mobile service providers and traditional payments, instead enabling the customer to pay for everything from the phone bill through parking fares to vending machines through the newly patented Text Message Payment system.

Looking at the supposed design of the GPhone, it's hard not to draw comparisons with Apple's recently released iPhone, even though we haven't seen it yet in the UK (in October perhaps?).  The iPhone is quite compatible with some of Google's services and so have they recently increased the compatibility with Google on their personal computers too, but it looks like they will be in direct competition sometime next year. 

One can only expect that the GPhone, whatever qualities it may have, will probably cost less than the hefty $500 price tag of the iPhone.

Sony Ericsson W960i

Sony Ericsson recently announced the launch of their W960i mobile phone. It's a nice looking model as you'd expect with a large screen to give you 'tv quality images'. One of the key selling features of this model will be the integrated sony walkman technology. It will have the latest touch screen functionality making the most of that larger screen. It will have 8GB which they claim will allow you to store up to 8000 tracks. This is another move prior to the new Apple iphone to integrate two of the key portable technologies of mp3 players and mobile phones. There are plenty of other neat functions that will come with this phone such as the music recognition software and 3 click music download option which clearly play further to it's portable music player persona. You will be able to record a few seconds of music and get back the song and artist name in full which is probably a novel feature to impress friends rather than a life enhancing function. It will also naturally come with all the other functionality you expect on a phone today such as the digital camera. We are now arguably seeing the type of phone that was expected from the Sony Ericsson marriage and it is going to be interesting to see just how good this latest model is when it launches in several weeks time.

Useful Sites and Links

Official Sony Ericsson site

The Cubalaya Shopper