[via slashgear]

Available on a first-come-first-serve basis, and one device per customer to those who arrive in person at the store – the handmade 3G+ watchphone will guarantee those fortunate enough to purchase one that they’ll turn heads on the high street. The device’s slick scratch resistant touch-screen interface makes writing text messages easy, while an in-built speaker and MP3/AAC player lets you listen to the Essential James Bond theme album when you’re imprisoned in a fake volcano or battling with Jaws. A limited number of the devices will also be made available from mid-September via the Orange online shop.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Orange is offering the HTC Hero for free to customers who take out a £39.15 per month, 24 month contract. The package includes 1200 any network call minutes, unlimited texts, as well as inclusive anytime internet browsing so users can make the most out of their mobile experience.

Francois Mahieu, Director of Devices, Orange UK said, “We’re really pleased to be launching our first Android handset in conjunction with HTC. The first of several Android devices you can expect from us this year, we believe the Hero is a great all round device which will allow consumers to get to grips with all the things they love about the internet, whilst on the move. We expect it to be extremely popular when it hits shelves this summer.”

[via Android Community]

Speaking on the announcement, Francois Mahieu, Director of Devices for Orange UK, said: “We’re extremely excited about being the exclusive UK operator to offer Comes With Music on the Nokia 5800. We are always looking for ways to remove the barriers that stand between our customers and the things they love and believe that by offering this service, we are able to do just that.”

The handset’s large 2.4 inch high quality touch screen means it’s easy to navigate to your favourite social networking sites to stay in touch with friends. And when you top-up by £10 on Orange pay as you go Dolphin, you get 300 free texts, £10 credit to spend however you want plus free access to Bebo, Facebook and MySpace. Pay as you go Dolphin is the best value package on the market for those who want to access social networks on their mobile and Vegas is the perfect phone – great value with all the functionality and style that you’d expect at a higher price.

The Vegas comes with an in-built memory of 128MB and a microSD card slot that supports a data capacity of up to 4GB. Available immediately for only £48.50 the Vegas is also on offer to pay monthly customers.

Tom Alexander, CEO of Orange UK, said: “Today you pay for things by cash or on your credit card. Tomorrow, you’ll use your mobile to buy the things you want, whether that’s on the high street or the internet. These are the services that will change the way we live and work for the better, and are evolving the way we interact with each other and the way that companies serve us.

“The mobile industry is being looked to more and more by companies wanting to evolve the way they do business with their customers, and a key part of our strategy at Orange is to grow and evolve our business in order to provide people with services beyond talk and text. This new partnership with Barclaycard is at the forefront of that kind of thinking, and our customers will benefit from the leading-edge technology that both Orange and Barclaycard can provide.”

All you need to do is open the mapping application on your phone and request the collar’s location, which will then appear live on the map. What’s more if your phone is GPS enabled you will also be able to plot your location relative to that of your dog – making your beloved pooch that much easier to find.

The collar has an Orange SIM embedded inside it and uses three technologies; GPS, GSM and Radio Frequency to track the dog. The three technologies ensure an overlapping and reinforced system to monitor and track your dog. The collar works with the ICyou, a portable smart base station which sits in the home and doubles as the recharging unit for the collar. The ICyou is an automated monitoring system that will alert you if the dog leaves home unexpectedly. The Retrieva collar also has anti-theft and waterproof features.  

Other functions include a panic alarm, though not for the dog! Recognising that dog walkers are often alone in remote areas, this button is for people who feel uncomfortable or threatened whilst out with their dog. Pressing this button sends an alert message to any numbers programmed into the collar whilst also putting the collar into track mode so that your location can be found.  

The eagerly anticipated system will soon be launched in the UK and costs £9.99 a month to operate, plus a one off charge of £250 for the package of one collar, the ICyou unit and the ViewRanger off-road phone mapping system. For further information on Retrieva, Tracking and Anti-theft collar and product pricing please go to http://www.retrievatracking.com/

The HTC Touch HD is exclusive on the Orange UK network until 2009 from £79.99 on an 18 month, £40 per month contact Package includes inclusive option of anytime mobile internet browsing (subject to 250Mb per month).

Key Touch HD product specifications:

• Size: 115 x 62.8 x 12 mm
• Weight: 146.4 grams/5.164 oz with battery
• Connectivity: Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
• WCDMA / HSPA: 900/2100MHz. HSDPA 7.2 Mbps
• Software/Operating system: HTC TouchFLO 3D with Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional
• Display: 3.8 inch Wide Screen VGA screen (480 x 800 WVGA)
• Camera: 5.0 megapixel with auto focus – Second Camera: VGA
• Internal memory: 512 MB flash; 288 MB RAM
• Memory card: microSD memory card (SDHC capable)
• WLAN: 802.11b/g
• Bluetooth: 2.0 with EDR
• GPS: GPS/AGPS
• Interface: HTC ExtUSB (mini-USB and audio jack in one; USB 2.0 High-Speed)
• Battery: 1350 mAh
• Talk time: WCDMA: Up to 390 minutes / GSM: Up to 310 minutes
• Standby time: WCDMA: Up to 450 hours / GSM: Up to 390 hours
• Chipset: Qualcomm MSM7201a 528 MHz

Here is the leaked internal memo on BlackBerry Bold

Following reports of software issues with the BlackBerry Bold handset across a variety of mobile operators, Orange has decided to act in the interest of its customers by suspending shipments of the device in the UK. We are currently awaiting feed back from RIM as to when an industry wide fix for these issues will be in place, and expect this suspension to be an interim measure.We apologise for any inconvenience this issue may cause you.”next stepsBlackBerry/RIM are doing everything they can to resolve this issue and will be completing full testing and validation to ensure future handsets do not have any quality issues. This may take a couple of weeks so it’s up to us to do what’s best for our customers.

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