By The end of April looks to be a great time for select Android fans. Not only will some of us be getting the HTC Droid Incredible on April 29th over in the US, but Vodafone users (UK) can expect to purchase a brand new Nexus One, as well. Something which surprises me, though, is that Vodafone will be offering this thing fully subsidized on a 24-month contract (which you can expect to pay at least £25 per month for). You can also opt for the lesser 18-month deal, but you’ll be looking at £35 per month minimum.
While I’ve learned that free smartphones on contract is a trend over the pond, I didn’t expect Google to follow the trend with the Nexus One, as well. We’ve seen the ridiculous conditions that you need to meet to be eligible to get a Nexus One subsidized on T-Mobile, it isn’t even free, and most other carriers that now support the phone didn’t even bother setting up a subsidy deal with Google. Unfortunately, you’re capped at 1gigs of data per month, but I imagine you can get bumped up to some sort of unlimited plan.
You can begin preordering today, and expect the Nexus One available this Friday online and in stores. Get your full press details ahead.
· Nexus One™ available to Vodafone customers in the UK on April 30
· Pre-order from today on the UK’s best network
· Great value – free on £35 price plan
· Available through Vodafone retail, online and telesalesFrom today, Vodafone UK customers can order the Nexus One, the new superphone from Google™, at vodafone.co.uk/nexusone.
Vodafone is the first European mobile operator to offer Nexus One. Customers who pre-order online will be the first to get a Nexus One for free on a £35 monthly price plan (24 month), on April 30. The Nexus One will also be available via Vodafone stores and telesales, with Vodafone providing direct support to customers with the superphone when they need it.
Nexus One will be available on a range of great value Vodafone price plans, on both 18 and 24 month contracts. Price plans start from £25 a month on a 24 month contract.
Vodafone UK customers with the Nexus One can use up to 1GB of mobile data as part of their price plan as well as take advantage of unlimited access to Wi-Fi in the home and free, publicly available services throughout the country. Customers using Wi-Fi can also use an additional 1GB of data at premium BT Openzone hotspots throughout the UK.
Nexus One features the latest in Google innovation including Google Maps™ Navigation (Beta), which offers satnav-style turn-by-turn driving directions with voice output and Street View. Also included are other favourites like Google Mail, YouTube and access to Android Market™ with more than 40,000 applications.
Google Maps Navigation is an Internet-connected GPS navigation system that provides turn-by-turn voice guidance as a free feature of Google Maps for Android™. Key features include Google Search and Search by voice to find your destination, the most recent maps, businesses and live traffic from Google Maps, and street and satellite views.
Vodafone UK customers now have a wide choice of Android phones, truly establishing Vodafone as the home of the Smartphone.
Nexus One Hardware Features
* Display: 3.7″ AMOLED 480×800 WVGA display
* Thinness: 11.5mm; Weight: 130g
* Processor/Speed: Qualcomm Snapdragon™ 3G QSD8250 chipset, delivering speeds up to 1GHz
* Camera: 5 megapixel auto focus with flash and geo tagging
* Onboard memory: 512MB Flash, 512MB RAM
* Expandable memory: 4GB removable SD Card (expandable to 32GB)
* Noise Suppression: Dynamic noise suppression from Audience, Inc.
* Ports: 3.5mm stereo headphone jack with four contacts for inline voice and remote control
* Battery: Removable 1400 mAh
* Personalized laser engraving: Up to 50 characters on the back of the phone
* Trackball: Tri-colour notification LED, alerts when new emails, chats, text messages arrive
Anyone notice they mention a TRI-COLOUR notification led on the trackball?
Waiting for that update… :)
Why can’t Americans seem to understand that you can get almost ANY HANDSET AT ALL free on a contract in the UK. The cost of the handset just gets absorbed into a higher cost per month contract.
So yes, you can get pretty much any handset for free, just you probably have to be pay at least £30/month for a decent phone with reasonable minutes/text/data if the handset is free.
Are unlimited data plans in the US really unlimited? In that there is no limit at all? In the UK they say unlimited but they mean like a gigabyte or so. It’s hard to imagine using more than that on a phone anyway.
You missed that they have the Desire for £5 a month less than the Nexus one, which is arguably a better phone.
Rick, I already acknowledged that in the article. Continue reading after the image.
To answer my own question the spring unlimited plan is 5gb:
3G coverage nationwide: 5GB/mo. in total or 300 MB/mo. while off-network roaming. Additional monthly usage over 5GB costs 5¢/MB. You may not use more than 300 MB/mo. while off-network roaming. You can check your usage online anytime. Log into http://www.sprint.com/mysprint and click on usage details.
That is pretty good for a phone.
Canadians would be overjoyed to get a deal like this one. Merely a 1.5 year contract, for merely CAD$53/month? The subsidized phones here go on three-year contracts (yikes), and the $50/month plans are just bare enough with all the major providers that everyone needs to add $7-20 worth of options to make it worthwhile.
Sorry, didnt mean to seem confrontational! I did however read the whole article. I just mean that its not really a surprise to anyone in the UK, even in the case of the nexus one. Theres hardly a single popular handset that doesnt come offered free with a contract.
Appreciate that you guys keep up well with UK news :)
Rick,
There’s a difference between a subsidized contract and pro-rating the cost of the phone over 2 years.