Vodafone has today unveiled its first Vodafone-only branded 3G consumer handset, the Vodafone 710, which will see the mobile network operator become a brand name in its own right in the consumer handset market.

The Vodafone 710's features, design and functionality were specified by Vodafone to maximize customers' use of its services. It is the first handset manufactured for Vodafone by China's Huawei Technologies as a result of a strategic handset alliance signed by the two companies in February 2006. The device is supported by the leading, industry standard, Qualcomm chipset.

The Vodafone 710 incorporates easy access to core Vodafone services including Vodafone Radio DJ, Mobile TV, music downloads, video telephony and Vodafone live! with 3G. In addition, the handset includes an MP3 music player, a 1.3 megapixel camera and Bluetooth. The Vodafone 710 will be launched in the UK, Germany, Spain, Italy, Ireland, Greece, Netherlands, Romania and Portugal from early October 2006.

Jens Schulte-Bockum, Global Director of Terminals at Vodafone said: "The Vodafone 710 is Vodafone's first own-branded 3G consumer handset, and we are delighted that it represents everything that customers have come to expect from Vodafone – high level technologies and exceptional value for money. We're proud that this phone carries only the Vodafone name."

features:

• 1.3 megapixel CMOS digital camera with a resolution of up to 1280x 960 pixels and
• TFT colour display (176x220 pixels) with 262,144 colours
• Approx. 16 MB internal memory, extendable by miniSD cards
• MP3 player, e-mail client
• Interfaces: USB and Bluetooth
• Dimensions: 91 x 46 x 24 mm
• Weight: 99 g
• Colour: Black
• Network frequencies: Tri-Band (900/1800/1900 MHz)
• Stand-by: 300 hours
• Talktime: Up to 3.3 hours