Sometimes a company offers something that’s actually quite innovative, and personally, I wonder if this is actually a very fantastic offer.

Vodafone has announced Red Hot, which is a scheme whereby you rent a phone (for a 12 month period), and also pay line rental, and then at the end of the 12 months, you can hand the phone back, and get a new phone. None of the traditional 24 month tie in that most mobile operators are concentrating on right now. Now, as with all these things, there’s a few good and bad points to consider if you are thinking about the deal:

• It costs more than an normal contract, but then you get to change phones every year.

Let’s take the Samsung Galaxy S3 16GB, one of a small number of phones being offered on the deal (others include Apple iPhone 5 and the Samsung Galaxy Note II); normally buying on a traditional plan, it would cost £42 per month (24 month contract, unlimited minutes, unlimited texts, 2GB data per month on the new Red Data plan); the equivalent is £47 per month on Red Hot (12 month contract, unlimited minutes, unlimited texts, 2GB data per month). Given that the deal also includes insurance for the handset, it’s actually fairly comparable, and with the ability to change your phone after 12 months to the next greatest handset, quite a good deal.

• If you don’t want to swap after 12 months (because the new phone you want isn’t quite released), you can hang onto the current phone for up to 6 months.
• You don’t own the phone though, so although you can easily hand it back, you can’t sell it on ebay to recover any cost.
• If you hand the phone back damaged, then charges will apply. Of course, with included handset insurance, it would seem sensible to claim on the insurance and then hand the phone back (assuming the damage is covered within the small print of the insurance, though an excess charge will apply).
• You do need to return the phone and original charger.
• With £75 charge for deep scratches or dents, you might be wise to buy a case to protect it (after all, it’s not your phone).
• One final thing to watch out for; a “non-approved operating system” will occur the maximum damage charge, so you shouldn’t hand it back with a custom ROM installed (yes, I can see an argument that it’s still a variant of Android, but I suspect that’s not a gamble most people will want to take).
• It’s not exactly clear how much a phone next year will cost, but of course, you would be free to walk away from the contract anyway.

Although there’s a lot to consider, I actually think the prices aren’t bad, and well worthy of consideration, especially for those who are happy to swap phones every phone (but not more often). More details can be found at the Vodafone Red Hot page.

Further to the article last night about the Samsung Galaxy S3 on Vodafone, they have now informed me that any orders for the Samsung Galaxy S3 between now and 30th June may also be eligible for 2GB of data, for 24month contracts of £41 per month or more, instead of the usual 1GB of data (at that price).

Also, for those after the Pebble Blue variant, it seems there’s a delay of 2 to 3 weeks (according to Samsung) and right now there are only Marble White models for sale anywhere (in the UK).

Further to our update last night, 3UK are now also offering the Samsung Galaxy S3 on 3 as from this morning. At £34/m (24 month contract) and no upfront costs, the One Plan continues to offer great value with 2000 cross network minutes, 5000 texts, 5000 3UK-3UK minutes (on top of the cross network minutes), All You Can Eat Data, and the device is even able to use tethering too to connect your PC to your phone.

What’s more, 3UK have confirmed they have stock (at the time of writing) and would be able to deliver the phone to you for tomorrow (though I expect this situation to change later in the day).

If you are interested in the Samsung Galaxy S3 on 3 then head over to the 3UK website for more information.

This evening, Vodafone opened orders for the new Samsung Galaxy S3 (as opposed to previous pre-orders), which is likely to prove to be a very successful phone for this year (or at least until the next iPhone becomes available). The Samsung Galaxy S3 16GB is available in Blue or White, and at the higher tariffs will come free (24 month contract required), or if you are interested, Vodafone has an exclusive on the 32GB for a short period.

Some of the key features of the phone include:

• S Voice – Command your phone through your voice and not your touch.
• Social Tag – Links pictures with social media sites.
• Direct Call – Knows when you want to call and dials for you.
• Smart Stay – Knows when you’re looking at the phone and doesn’t time out or go on standby.
• Smart Alert – Let’s you know you have a message when you’ve been away from your phone.
• 4.8″ HD Super AMOLED display
• 2100mAh battery

Better than that, I believe that using my link to the Samsung Galaxy S3 and ordering online will also allow you to use an eVoucher code of 3MHPLR which will give you 3 Months Half Price Line Rental (you’ll need to order direct from my link, and not try to use cashback or loyalty sites, where this code is not valid).

On top of that, if you select, say, the £41/month tariff (24 month contract), then not just will you get 900 minutes, unlimited texts (in reality capped at a couple of thousand), and 1GB of data, but you’ll also get the benefit of Vodafone‘s “3 Months Data Test Drive – Unlimited data for first 3 months”, which will allow you to really try out the device and not worry about the data limits (although 1GB will be plenty for many people, but not all).

For more information on the Samsung Galaxy S3, head to the Vodafone website.

I was fortunate to be invited to the Gadget Show Preview / Professional Trade Show event yesterday, and it’s nice to see The Gadget Show Live even bigger and better than last year. Whilst last year everything was iPhone / iPad related, this year it was nice to see a wider range of devices supported by the various accessories manufacturers at the show, with Kindle and Samsung Galaxy Tablets also getting a look in.

Even better; if you haven’t already bought a ticket, I understand from the organisers that a limited number of tickets are still available for today (Wednesday) and tomorrow (Thursday), although the rest of the week is now fully booked, so don’t travel unless you already have tickets.

Along with the main Gadget Show Live Super Theatre (featuring a massive 360 degrees viewing screen), there are a number of smaller seminar type presentation areas, and a few stands are running their own presentations too. In terms of exhibitors, there are the big guys (LG, Samsung, Sony, Canon, Kenwood, Philips and Pioneer), the larger retailers (PC World, Scan), and even a couple of mobile networks (Orange and O2), both of whom are running Show special deals during the event. As always, there are smaller companies (such as OrbitSound and Bicygnals) who are often worth a look at their slightly more specialised items.

There’s lot of food facilities (though a little expensive), including Subway and Starbucks, and even a chance to try the new Volkswagen Up! car in the driving experience; equally, for gamers, there are plenty of XBox consoles to try out, and a fair few Kinect installations on various stands. If you have children, look out for LeapFrog for younger ones, or something more fun such as the Parrot AR.drone for the older children.

Although The Gadget Show have announced that as from the new series (soon to start) only Jason and Polly will be presenting, all 5 of the “current” presenters will be appearing at the Gadget Show Live this year. For details of the shows and a full exhibitor list, head off to the Gadget Show Live website for more details.

If you want to attend, head over to the Gadget Show Live website and buy your tickets in advance of travelling (if any are left!); also don’t forget NEC charge £8 per car for parking.

Three have announced a refresh of their price plans as from tomorrow. Although The One Plan remains, all other plans seem to have been modified. However, the big news is that Three have abolished all out of bundle data charges, although this looks to be at the expense of newer lower limits.

The plans come in two flavours, Essential and Ultimate; all plans come with data, although the Essential plans only have 250Mb included for free. Should you run out of data (and you’ll get a text to tell you this), we assume your data will get cut off, instead of automatically incurring fees, but you can then add either another 250Mb (for £2) or add All You Can Eat data for £5, with both of these options lasting up to 30 days, and without any commitment to pay again in the next month.  This idea of allowing more data on an occasional basis seems a good move to me, although I would personally have preferred to see a slightly higher data bundle.

However, all the Ultimate plans have All You Can Eat data, so no worries there over your data usage. Again, I assume that The One Plan remains the only new plan available where you can tether (connect your PC to your handset and access data).

The plans are (with example handset prices; some handsets will cost a higher monthly charge, and all plans are for 24 months):

I headed to a special Preview Day today at the Gadget Show Live yesterday, and can report that’s it’s going to be a good show this year.  The first year it was run I felt there were a few too many small companies selling fairly useless gadgets, but whether it’s the economy or not I don’t know, but this year there were very few useless gadgets to be seen.  Equally, two years ago everyone was selling iPhone docks, and although there were still a variety of iPad accessories, it generally felt a much more balanced show.

If you only get an hour or two to attend, my suggestions for companies to visit include:

• LG, if only to view their ultra slim OLED TVs, which look very impressive
• Samsung, for having a wide variety of options from TVs, home appliances and the Galaxy Tab
• 3View, for having a Freeview PVR with a range of additional functions, such as BBC iPlayer
• Revo, for having a decent range of good looking and quality sounding DAB radios
• Viewsonic, for promoting their risk free ViewPad trial (which we covered here)
• Orbitsound, for their range of impressive speakers (both portable and for your TV) using their airSOUND technology

A couple of others companies caught my attention with new gadgets, and I’ll cover those later.  I will say that although Samsung had a massive banner running the length of one of the halls advertising all 3 Android Tablets (the Tab, the new 8.9″ and the new 10.1″ tablet), they only seemed to have the original Galaxy Tab on their stand.

It looks to be a good week for 3UK; they have already announced they will be selling the new Samsung Galaxy Pro, which combines a QWERTY keyboard with Android to provide a Nokia E71 / BlackBerry type experience.  With many people (including me!) moving away from Nokia in the short term, this may well be one device that attracts their attention.

The 2.8″ touchscreen and 3 megapixel camera may not be sufficient for many road warriors, but I think this will be a popular device.  With rumours that BlackBerry will be providing access to their BlackBerry Messenger application from Android and iOS, someone could buy one of these to replace an ageing BlackBerry and not miss the BBM IM support they are used to (once it’s actually made available).  It also features:

• 800MHz processor
• 3MP Full Focus Camera
• Android Froyo+ version 2.2.1
• 2.8” Capacitive touch screen (320 * 240)
• 108.6 x 66.7 x 10.6 mm
• 2GB microSD, expandable up to 32GB
• Portable Wi-Fi hotspot

If the QWERTY phone doesn’t interest you, and you are looking for a budget Android device, possibly on PAYG, then the Samsung Galaxy Mini may well be for you.  Available in April in either Black & Silver or Black & Green, it features:

• 600MHz processor
• 3MP Full Focus Camera
• Android Froyo+ version 2.2.1
• 3.14” Capacitive touch screen (320 * 240)
• 110 x 61 x 12 mm
• 2GB microSD, expandable up to 32GB
• Portable Wi-Fi hotspot

However, on top of these phones, 3UK have announced that they are extending their unlimited All-You-Can-Eat data package to a couple of PAYG tariffs too.  Today, the All-You-Can-Eat data (with no limits at all) is generally available on The One Plan (available on contract with a new phone, or on a SIM Only basis), but now it will be available on some of the current PAYG tariffs.

That last point is key; many people are still on the slightly elder PAYG tariffs, which offered lots of extras simply for topping up (the latest tariffs provide a greater range of value options once you have topped up); so you may need to change to the latest PAYG tariff first.

However, if you topup with enough money, and then select either the All in One 15 (£15) or the All in One 25 (£25) then you will get:

• All in One 15: 3000 texts, 300 cross network minutes and All You Can Eat data (all valid for 30 days)
• All in One 25: 3000 texts, 500 cross network minutes and All You Can Eat data (all valid for 30 days)

We should point out that the All in One 10 continues to have 500MB of data (valid for 30 days), or you can simply purchase “500MB data” for £5 (valid for 30 days); what the previous tariffs offered was “Internet Max” which gives 2GB for those same 30 days.

A lot of people stayed on the old PAYG deal due to the better data allowance available, but with these new unlimited offers, it may be worthwhile people moving to these new tariffs.  Of course, if you are regularly spending £25 per month on PAYG, you may well be better to look at the One Plan SIM Only (12 month contract) which gives you 5000 texts, 5000 3UK-3UK minutes, 2000 cross network minutes as well as All-You-Can-Eat unlimited data for £25 per month, but does come with that higher commitment.

If you are on the older PAYG tariffs (anyone who had a PAYG SIM from before September 2010 and hasn’t already elected the newer tariffs will be) will need to call 333 from their Three phone, or 0843 373 3333 to request the latest PAYG tariffs.

We also note that Tethering is not supported on the All in One deals, but is supported on the One Plan.

As always, more details are available in the 3Store.

Picture courtesy of Samsung Hub.