Last week Amazon released (a little earlier than everyone was expecting) a new Kindle model, the Kindle 3.  Not just is the device better in many ways (and cheaper!), but Amazon have also launched a UK Kindle Store, and a UK Kindle 3 directly using a UK mobile SIM.  Currently, a Kindle 2 International or Kindle DX International will have a US mobile SIM built into the device, and hence will roam onto the UK networks (although it could roam onto multiple networks, the Kindle does seem keen to stick with O2), whereas the Kindle 3 will have a UK Vodafone mobile SIM built into the device (which is still sealed, so there’s no access to the SIM or the battery).  What’s interesting is that with the release of the v2.5 firmware, all International Kindles in the UK have had access to the “full” internet experience (as opposed to the launch wikipedia-only access), so actually this internet access isn’t that different to the experience available to existing users.

So, what’s new and different with the new device…

• Firstly, it’s available (from 27th August)
• 21% smaller and 15% lighter, and has a 20% faster refresh of the e-Ink screen
• There are two models, the Kindle 3 WiFi, and the Kindle 3 3G/WiFi, which uses Vodafone as already mentioned
• The Kindle 3 WiFi will only come in Graphite, whereas the Kindle 3 3G will come in White or Graphite
• The same 6″ screen size of the existing Kindle 2, but with the better contrast of the Kindle DX screen
• Storage up to 4GB
• Prices are £109 for Kindle WiFi and £149 for Kindle 3G, with neither having any ongoing costs
• Minor changes to the keyboard (improving the 5 way cursor), and providing “previous page” buttons on both sides of the device
• The buttons (especially the next / previous page buttons) are quieter
• Updated web browser technology, to make every element faster
• Whereas before numbers were accessible from the top row of keys, you can now use the Symbol feature (which doesn’t turn off after the selection of the first symbol).  There are rumours that you can also use Alt-Q (for 1) etc., although the numbers are not marked on the keys
• Battery life now listed as 10 days for 3G version, and a month for the WiFi version
• There’s a microphone at the bottom, marked as “for future use”

Another interesting feature; a light for reading at night! No, not included with the Kindle 3, but the all new leather cover from Amazon includes a built in light (and what’s more, it gets powered directly from the Kindle via contacts in the hinge mechanism); personally on my Kindle 2, I have an M-Edge case with the M-Edge e-Luminator light which works well, but building it into the case is even nicer (and cheaper).

The Kindle Case should be available in Black, Orange, Brown, Pink, Blue, Green and Red (do watch out, the case will also be available without the light!) for £49.99 in the UK.

So, what about the pricing?  The Kindle 2 was roughly £200 last Christmas, so the price of the WiFi version is nearly half that, and I think that will make the Kindle 3 WiFi a plausible Christmas present, and with devices like the 3 MiFi, there’s no need to pay extra for the 3G version.

Don’t forget that you can now get the Apple iPhone 4 from 3UK and T-Mobile, who have both released the phone for sale today.  If you are thinking about getting an iPhone 4 on either network I wouldn’t hang around; O2 are still reporting having supply problems even now, so I suspect both these networks will have limited allocations, and those are going to go very fast!

I’ve already stated my opinions of the fact that 3UK have been able to carry this phone, but it’s nice to see that instead of being months after all the other networks, they are now considered “important” enough to have the same release date as one of the original big four networks.

Update: In fact, 3UK have stated they will be removing the iPhone 4 from sale from 5pm this evening due to stocks starting to run low.  Depending exactly how many devices get sold in the next few hours will determine whether it comes back on sale on Monday (however briefly until stocks run out completely).

We’ve covered giffgaff before, including making reference to their “unlimited” data, where we stated there was a 100Mb fair usage limit.  giffgaff have now clarified the situation, and we can confirm that this fair use limit does not always apply, and there are currently two options; unlimited data and free data; so what’s the difference…

If you just use the traditional TopUp system to buy credit then currently you can get “free” data.  This free data, which is subject to a 100MB per day limit was supposed to become chargeable from the end of this month, however, for O2 (the parent network) to implement the billing support was a major project, and O2 apparently offered giffgaff the choice between upgrading the O2 data network for everyone *or* providing the billing support, and giffgaff chose the network upgrade.  As such, giffgaff will start charging for their “PAYG data”, but not until the end of October (ie after both projects have completed).

However, as part of explaining all of this, giffgaff have also confirmed that if you buy a “GoodyBag” (most of which come with “unlimited” data) then their is no hard and fast fair use limit; I suspect they still reserve the right to cut off someone who is running the connection 24×7, but in general, you can use more than 100MB a day without immediate impact.

giffgaff have said they may need to change this unlimited option in the future, but for now it stands, even though O2 no longer offer an equivalent tariff.

Yesterday, Apple announced the iPhone 4.  Today, all the 4 main networks have confirmed that they will be selling the iPhone 4 from June (24th), with many offering pre-orders from around the 15th.  So, that’s O2 (obviously), Vodafone and Orange (already selling the iPhone 3GS), and now T-Mobile who will all be carrying the iPhone 4 later this month.  It’s nice to see T-Mobile step up and offer the iPhone at last, although with all prices likely to be pretty much identical, even with 4 networks there’s no real competition on this phone.

Still no agreement or update from 3UK on their plans though.

This is a very interesting device, and one I had the fortune to get a sneak peek Hands On with last week.  This is a 5″ tablet phone, which I have to say is a little large to hold up to your ear when on a call, so you might want to budget for a Bluetooth Headset to not look quite so silly, or simply add this to your existing phone with a data only contract (more later).  However, it’s running Android, and features a very nice touchscreen, which can take the knocks of every day life (I saw the blunt end of a knife be punched into the screens of 2 devices and neither suffered any problems with the touchscreen still working fine straight afterwards).  Obviously Dell & O2 don’t condone this level of abuse, and do warn that there are still certain angles where a drop onto a hard floor will still cause serious damage, but at least it’s a little tougher than many, and features something called Gorilla Glass to provide that protection.

The device I saw had a range of additional Android applications installed onto them, so although I can’t comment on what comes as standard with the device, they seem to have full support of the Android Marketplace, and hence there is a whole raft of additional applications that can be installed.

Although I didn’t get long with the devices, they seemed to be coping with many demos without a major impact on battery life, although that obviously needs a longer trial to establish whether it can last more than the common single day of usage.

O2, however, are offering the phone on a whole host of tariff options, ranging from the 30-day rolling Simplicity contracts (the Dell Streak 32GB will cost £399 upfront on all Simplicity contracts) to the high end £60 per month “unlimited” everything 24-month contract (where the device will be free).

24 month smartphone tariffs

18 month smartphone tariffs

The Smartphone tariffs above offer unlimited texts, data and Wi-Fi at thousands of BT Openzone and The Cloud hotspots as well as a wide range of minutes.

12 month simplicity tariffs

30 day simplicity tariffs

Again, it’s nice to see Wi-Fi at hotspots included even on these tariffs.

However, maybe the biggest area of interest will be the Data Only options, where the device isn’t actually used as a phone at all, but instead, concentrates on it’s capabilities as an Internet Tablet…

* The 16GB Dell Streak is free on a £25 a month 24 month tariff until 30 June 2010, after which it’ll cost £49.

Although there’s quite a jump from the £15 per month 18-month contract to the £30 per month 24-month contract, with the smaller outlay of the phone itself, it works out roughly the same cost (within £10) over 24 months on both.

The specs of the device (taken from Dell) include:

• A sharp 5-inch capacitive multi-touch WVGA (800×480) display for a great full-screen experience watching video or browsing the web
• Fast 1GHz Snapdragon ARM-based mobile processor from Qualcomm
• 5 MP autofocus camera with dual LED flash that offers easy point & shoot capability and quick uploads to YouTube, Flickr, Facebook and more
• VGA front-facing camera enables video chat functionality down the road
• A user-removable (and replaceable) battery
• A 3.5mm headphone jack means many of you can use the Dell Streak as the music source (and more) in your car
• Integrated 3G + Wi-Fi (802.11b/g) + Bluetooth 2.1 (think headsets, external keyboards, stereo headsets, etc.)
• UMTS / GPRS / EDGE class 12 GSM radio with link speeds of HSDPA 7.2 Mbps / HSUPA
• A user-accessible Micro SD slot expandable up to 32GB. That means you can store  lots of movies, music, photos or other kinds of files.

On the software side, here’s what you can expect:

• A customized multi-touch version of the Google Android operating system that features Dell user interface enhancements
• Access to over 38,000  apps (and growing) via the Android Marketplace
• Microsoft Exchange connectivity and integration through TouchDown
• Google Voice support
• Integrated Google Maps with voice-activated search, turn-by-turn navigation, street and satellite views
• Quick access to activity streams via integrated social network app widgets like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube

The only downside I can see to the device right now, is that I believe it ships with Android 1.6, although it’s likely that Android 2.1 or 2.2 will become available as an update, but not until later in the year (we’re hearing September).  The device as it stands, though, will be available tomorrow from O2 Stores and the O2 website.

I should point out as part of our “Not Unlimited” campaign, that I doubt that any of these “unlimited” references actually get you unlimited service, but O2 have not yet provided the detail behind what the actual unlimited limits are.

In time for Friday’s launch of the Apple iPad, Vodafone have announced that they have produced some iPad SIM Only tariffs, allowing you to purchase your Apple iPad from Apple and then use it on Vodafone.  With the Apple iPad needing the new micro-SIM format (which is the same design as the current popular SIM, but with less card around the edges of the contacts, so although it’s possible to cut an existing SIM down to size, it’s then no use in normal devices) this is a good move by Vodafone to pick up more customers who are after, what is after all, a data only device.

So, the iPad SIM Only tariff options are:

• £10 per month (30-day rolling contract), 1GB of data per month
• £15 per month (30-day rolling contract), 3GB of data per month
• £25 per month (30-day rolling contract), 5GB of data per month

For those who want to use Vodafone and want the benefit of a 30-day rolling contract, these look very good tariffs, although I believe the O2 iPad tariffs additionally come with some Wi-Fi allowance too, so they may be worth a look as well.

Wow, what a refreshing article to write; here’s a company who, when they offer unlimited internet, do not have a hidden data usage cap or “fair usage policy”, here’s a company who, when they say “we think free should mean free”, allow 0800 freephone numbers to be dialled free of charge from your mobile.  Yet they only charge 8p per minute to call other mobile networks, charge 4p per text, and a £10 TopUp (giffgaff call them goodybags!) will give you unlimited (yes they mean this) texts, and unlimited (yes, again, actually unlimited) internet access, along with 100 minutes of free calls (all lasting 1 month).

Now, nothing is perfect, and there are a couple of minor caveats to the “unlimited” internet; it must be personal use only, commercial and automatic use (whatever “automatic” means?!?) are not allowed, and finally, you are not allowed to connect your PC via your phone (tethering).  I wonder if the fact my phone has a scheduled connection once a day to synchronise my calendar would count as “automatic”; I suspect not, although something that happened every 5 minutes may be a different matter…

However, it’s a breath of fresh air seeing a company thinking like this.  The company? giffgaff, the new virtual mobile operator, owned and utilising the O2 network.  They are SIM only, so you need to purchase / bring with you an unlocked phone, and they are keeping their costs down (and being able to offer such offers) via community support, and no call centres.

So, if you have an unlocked phone, are outside your contract and currently spend more than £10 per month, or topup by more than £10 per month, can cope with remembering to topup every month, and the O2 network is an option for you, then you might well want to consider giffgaff…

Thanks to Jonathan Jenson who pointed out these offers to me.

Update: James Body has been in touch (see comments) and confirmed that giffgaff do have an element of a Internet fair usage policy; it’s 100MB per day, but it appears it’s likely you’ll need to go over that limit multiple times in a week before they issue a warning to reduce your usage, and only if you fail to act will they bar a user.   So far, they have warned 2 users, and not barred anyone.  Of course, 100MB per day equates to 3GB per month, which is far in excess of any other network, and would be a serious amount of usage by anyone (although a limit is still a limit in our eyes).

To put that “100MB a day” in perspective, if you don’t stream music / video, and aren’t uploading lots of pictures every day, many people find the 150MB free Internet that 3UK offer can easily last 1 month, so for most users it shouldn’t be a problem.

We covered the reduced price on the O2 Joggler last week (here), and it looks like this has been very popular; to the extent that most O2 Stores have now run out of stock, and O2 have advised all Stores there is a Nationwide shortage.  So, right now, if you want to order one, you’ll need to order direct on the O2 website, where O2 have also indicated that delivery is now up to 7 days, instead of the original Next Day Delivery.

In fact, this might be the only way of getting one at the reduced price of £49.99; we understand that stock will not return to the O2 Warehouse until late next week, and the earliest an O2 Store can order new stock will be the 17th April; which is after the reduced price offer finishes (15th April).  Although it’s possible an online order will also need to wait for this stock to arrive, at the moment you can still order it at the reduced price.

Now, once you get your O2 Joggler, what to do with it?  Well, first of all, get all the software updates, as this will add all the latest functionality.  Try these things which might be worthy of doing:

• If you don’t already have a uPNP Server, then you might want to install MediaTomb (Linux and Mac OS X only) to provide access to your music  / pictures / videos over your local network without having to make another copy of your media collection for the Joggler.
• If you want to install additional applications, the first thing you’ll need to do is to get telnet working, and there’s now a new way of doing this, that was released yesterday; head here for more information.
• Or, for those more security conscious, get ssh working from here.
• Setup the ability to access Live BBC Channels (see here; you’ll need to have telnet access, and you’ll need to use telnet to get the streams working).

Would you believe it, just hours before a nice 4 day break, and lots of companies choose today, April’s Fools day of all days, to release interesting gadget news.  I don’t have time to write up each and every story, so here’s a short summary and links to more information…

3UK have announced their HTC Desire prices and timescales.  Interestingly, they will initially launch an unbranded handset (although it’s still likely to be locked to 3UK) from 20th April, with the branded handset following around the 3rd May.  This unbranded handset will still be able to download the 3UK specific applications from the Android Market, so early adopters won’t miss out.

In pricing terms, for new customers it will be £35 per month (presumably an 18-month contract now confirmed as 24 months) for unlimited 3000 texts, unlimited 1GB internet, unlimited 2000 minutes of 3-to-3 calls, and 750 minutes of other calls; to buy the phone on PAYG will cost £350.

Further details (although it states the original unlimited information, not the true “fair usage limits”), see here.

A quick comparison to Vodafone, shows that £35 per month (18-month contract) will get you unlimited 3000 texts, 500MB internet, and 600 minutes of calls, which shows the 3UK to be slightly better value (even more so if your friends are on 3UK!)

Update: It’s been confirmed that the 3UK contract is for 24 months, so although it may offer more minutes than Vodafone each month, by being tied in for an additional 6 months makes any form of comparison less valid.

Of course, if you are looking to make calls abroad, especially to loved ones this Easter (*), then maybe you should look at Truphone. As well as being fans of this service, we’re always happy to promote their free offers, and this weekend they are offering free calls to landlines in 10 countries (the countries were chosen and voted for by Truphone customers; it’s nice to see a company offering it’s customers this ability). For some of those countries, it’s also free to call mobiles, but you’ll need to check the Truphone offers page to make sure before you start making those calls.

(*) We should point out that the free calls are only available on Saturday and Sunday, and are based on GMT (remember the UK is now on BST), so please check.

Even more interesting, Truphone have put together a short video allowing you to spot the minor differences between the ringtones they use to denote whether a call will be free or not.  To access the video, please click  here.

Finally, and by no means least, the O2 Joggler has suddenly got interesting…

Firstly, O2 have reduced the price down to £49.99, available online or in your local O2 Store, but only until 15th April. However, as from today a new firmware has become available which will allow support for the O2 App Store to be accessed from the O2 Joggler.  Normally this wouldn’t be so exciting, with the ability to access a few games, but O2 are also releasing 3 useful apps for the device..

• YouTube support; very useful I guess if you are an avid fan of YouTube
• Google Maps; now this is useful; the ability to look and find information on the map whilst using the device
• Google Calendar; when I first talked about this device, this was a key area I said they should support; having Google Calendar support suddenly means you can access the same data as on your mobile phone, your computer, and now your O2 Joggler too.

Although I’m still waiting to hear exactly how this works, and what is and isn’t accessible, at £50, it’s a much more interesting proposition!

I hope you find these stories interesting, and UK Gadgeteer will be back next week; Happy Easter!

Both Orange and Vodafone have made a lot of noise about now selling the iPhone on their networks, but equally, if you already have an iPhone on O2, and want to move to Vodafone, but don’t want to buy a whole new device, there really wasn’t a good option; until now!

Vodafone have now announced their iPhone SIM Only deal, whereby you pay £25 per month, and for that you get:

• 600 voice minutes
• “Unlimited” 3000 texts
• 1GB of data (it’s worth noting this is often only 500MB with most Vodafone contracts)
• Flexible 30 day agreement
• 1GB of data via BT Premium OpenZone hotspots too

This is an interesting deal, and brings together the WiFi component of many iPhone contracts without the need to buy a new device.  Although this probably won’t be the first such tariff, it’s nice to see a network saying “hey, bring your existing phone to our network, and we both benefit”.

For more details, head to the Vodafone website to see the details about the iPhone SIM Only deal for yourself.