If I were a retailer of cellphones in the UK right now, I'd be worried. Tesco, the best-performing supermarket in the country, are set to sell the tovo t450g - no, not a small dog ideal for accompanying you on twister-fuelled journeys, but a combination GSM/WiFi phone. Compare this to the Philips cordless VOIP phones I wrote about earlier today; yes, those two are around half the price of the £169.99 ($323.29) t450g, but the latter adds in cellular capacity meaning you can use the phone anywhere, proper WiFi rather than base-station dependent DECT, automatic switching between WiFi and cellular networks and a built-in camera. Read on for more details on price and features…

It might not be the prettiest of handsets, but you can’t argue with the price!

Call Costs

• Calls between tovo Mobiles are unlimited and free for all tovo customers.
• Calls to other UK landlines from anywhere in the world are free for monthly subscription customers.
• 60 minutes of free calls to most international destinations are included in the initial monthly subscription package and are as little as 1.5p a minute thereafter.
• When abroad on a WiFi connection there are no roaming charges. People can call you for the cost of a normal UK call; you don’t pay to receive calls.
• With our dual mode WiFi/Mobile phone (t450g) tovo Mobile calls can be also be made on the normal mobile network. All you’ll have to do is pay normal mobile charges.

Full details of tovo calling plans can be found here

Handset Costs

• Handsets cost as little as £39.95 on a yearly contract or £79.95 on a pay-as-you go basis.
• If you take out a new mobile contract via tovo Mobile the t450g is free otherwise it costs just £169.95 with a 12 month tovo only contract.

Full details of tovo Mobile handset costs can be found here.

Features:

• Calendar, Currency Converter, Alarm Clock, Calculator,
• Stop Watch, Reminder, Countdown Timer, World Time
• 32 polyphonic ringtones
• 500 name phone book
• Built in camera
• Great battery life
• Tri-band (900/1800/1900 plus WiFi), works in UK,
• Europe & USA
• Multi Language

Specification:

• Dimensions 106 x 46 x 18mm (HxWxD)
• Weight 96g
• Battery 3.7V / 1050mAh
• Talk time 240 mins (GSM) / 160 mins (WiFi)
• Standby 150 hours
• Charging time 2.5 hours
• Interface 1.5 inch, 128×128 pixel, 64k colours
• Camera 300k pixel VGA
• Data SMS, MMS, WAP, Email

tovo t450g [via The Red Ferret Journal]