DataWind have announced they have updated the Pocket Surfer 2, which we have featured before.  The new version, the PocketSurfer 2R will cost a little more (£199 compared to the original holding a street price of £159.99).  It now additionally includes a touchpad, a new and improved display screen, advanced text entry and user interface, and improved network coverage via Vodafone (the original units were supplied with either T-Mobile or Orange SIMs).  This comes with 20 hours of web browsing per month for the first year, as with the original.

Even more interesting, they are offering Unlimited web browsing for £60 per year.  Datawind are stating this is absolutely unlimited, with no caps or fair usage limits at all.  They are stating that this will be a lifetime deal too (for the life of the device).  On the original Pocket Surfer 2, this would have cost £5.99 a month.

They are also offering roaming on the device for 5p per minute across Europe and the USA, although this may be only available by purchasing 600 minutes for £29.99, which is still 10 hours of surfing, which is a lot for a casual use device.  A quick note: Roaming needs to be activated on the device before travelling, which can either be done via phone, or directly on the device via “My Account”.

Update: The £60 fee for unlimited browsing appears to be a one-off cost (although we’re waiting for absolute confirmation from DataWind), and is for the life of the device.  Also, the Pocket Surfer 2 will be phased out, and replaced by a £150 PocketSurfer 2L, which will be very similar to the original unit (no GPS, no touchpad, not eligible for the lifetime unlimited browsing), but presumably will still benefit from the better Vodafone coverage.

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This entry was posted on Friday, October 3rd, 2008 at 2:42 pm and is filed under Gadgets. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.