Mobile Phone Blog:

As a little Christmas treat, Orange is giving Pay As You Go customers a pair of premium headphones when they buy a phone.

From today until 24 December, every phone bought costing £30 or more comes with the added bonus of a Christmas gift box packed with some nice mobile phone goodies.

In the box customers will find a pair of Angle & Curve headphones worth £60, along with other goodies including an Orange piggy bank, headphone splitter and screen cloth.

Pippa Dunn, from Orange UK, said: “This year’s Christmas gift box is our best yet – offering Orange Pay As You Go customers a top quality pair of Angle & Curve headphones, as well as some other brilliant added extras, all of which will no doubt add to the excitement of the festive season”.

The Christmas box is available to all PAYG phones priced £30 or more including the Orange Rio, Orange San Francisco, Orange Stockholm and Samsung Galaxy Mini.

To find out more, pop into your Orange store or look online.

Switch mobile phone networks and your PAC code should now be available within two hours!

It’s a known fact that switching networks and trying to keep your existing number can be a nightmare and the whole process can end up taking days. Well now, communications watchdog, OfCom, has ruled that mobile phone operators must be speedier in transferring PAC (Port Authorisation Code) numbers.

Now, instead of taking several days, networks must have the process completed within a maximum of two hours – great news for all those looking to move networks to a better mobile phone deal… but is it a good move for the mobile phone industry?

The Nokia N8 is available on pre-order and the deals look extremely competitive – the flagship phone is available for free unlocked and unbranded for just £25-a-month on two-year contracts.

The Vodafone deals, offered through Mobiles, also includes 300 minutes, unlimited texts and 500MB of data. (more…)

MobileShop is starting to get deals for the iPhone 4 on site so we can compare the best iPhone 4 contracts.

At the moment the deals are restricted to Orange and Vodafone contracts via Phones4u but we’ll be hoping to bring you more over the coming weeks and months. (more…)

Vodafone has extended some of its partnerships with its high street retailers, which it claimed will give more choice to consumers.

The network announced this week that it will continue to work with both the Carphonewarehouse and Phones4U in providing the best available tariffs and handset offers it can.

It noted that from July 7th, visitors to outlets in the latter chain of stores will be able to take advantage of new pay monthly contracts and mobile broadband packages.

This is in addition to the pay-as-you-go mobiles and upgrade facilities currently available from the retailer.

Ian Shepherd, consumer director at Vodafone UK, said the carrier was keen to take advantage of the high street presence the Carphonewarehouse has built over the years and was also looking forward to extending its deal with Phones4U.

The former – which currently owns TalkTalk – is in the process of acquiring Tiscali UK as part of its growing portfolio.

Ever used a Carphonewarehouse store?

The acquisition of Tiscali UK by the Carphonewarehouse has taken one step closer to completion as it emerged the European Commission has approved the move.

It was noted European Union merger regulations show that by purchasing the broadband services provider, the group – which already owns TalkTalk – would not threaten to monopolise the sector.

Currently, Tiscali provides consumers across the nation with fixed-line telephone, internet and digital TV services to both business and domestic users, whereas the Carphonewarehouse is primarily involved in the retail sector.

It was found the firm would become a much bigger player in the industry as a result of the acquisition but "would not significantly impede effective competition in the European economic area or any substantial part of it".

The commission also suggested the merged company could become "one of the main competitors to the incumbent operator BT".

Earlier this year, TalkTalk assured its users that the acquisition would not have a negative impact on their subscriptions.

Are you a TalkTalk or Tiscali customer?

Tesco’s decision to increase its number of in-store mobile phone shops does not represent a big threat to Carephonewarehouse, an expert suggests.

Shaun Collins is an analyst for telecoms company CCS Insight and told MarketWatch that although the move is strategically significant, it should not put the retailer at risk as long as Tesco sells pre-paid deals.

Carphonewarehouse’s worry, he explained, would be that the supermarket group "takes its mobile experiment more seriously".

Mr Collins added: "They have the reach, the brand, the customer loyalty and more importantly the club card, which means they know their customers better than any other retailer in Europe."

Stores operated by Carphonewarehouse currently number more than 2,400 in nine countries.

For the 13 weeks ending December 27th 2008, the group’s revenues increased by 13 per cent to £1,010 million.

The same period saw its connections go up three per cent to 3.7 million, while subscription connections also rose by three per cent to 1.3 million.

Where did you buy your mobile phone?

A mobile phone charger aimed at cutting the use of electricity has been unveiled by Carphonewarehouse.

The Eco Charger is designed to minimise power wastage by shutting off when the handset is fully charged, or when it is disconnected from the phone.

The retailer said it is the only gadget on the market to do this at the moment.

Priced £22.99, it could end up saving users money in the long-run and also reducing their carbon footprint.

Its launch follows an announcement made last week at the GSMA event in Barcelona, Spain, which said 17 companies in the sector had agreed to collaborate on the creation of a cross-industry universal charger.

Together with the GSMA, the industry said it wants to introduce this charging solution by 2012 and that the majority of handsets should support the format.

Rob Conway, chief executive officer and member of the board, remarked: "The mobile industry has a pivotal role to play in tackling environmental issues and this programme is an important step that could lead to huge savings in resources, not to mention convenience for consumers."

Would you welcome an eco-friendly charger?

Mobile phones just got even cheaper, thanks to a number of deals available now from the Carphonewarehouse.

It is reported the retailer has made significant price cuts on a number of tariffs and handsets which include offering the Motorola W180 for £2.88 when purchased with £10 worth of talktime.

With pay-as-you-go phones being a better option for some in times of economic uncertainty, the Carphonewarehouse has also attempted to address this with handsets such as the Nokia 1650 Blue.

The phone features an FM radio, strong battery life and noise cancellation technology. It has been made available for free when £30 is purchased as an initial credit payment.

Andrew Harrison, a spokesman for the retailer, said the move followed the unprecedented success seen on the Samsung phone recently put on sale for under £5.

"There was an incredible response to the phone for under a fiver … Customers want the best value products in this difficult economic climate," he added.

The Carphonewarehouse has announced that it will make available the latest handset from Research in Motion (RIM).

It has emerged that the retailer will be offering the new BlackBerry Curve 8900 smartphone to its customers in the UK from December 20th, which will feature a titanium-coloured finish described as "striking".

Commenting on the decision to stock the mobile phones, the Carphonewarehouse’s head of new propositions Ross Yealland said the latest BlackBerry was likely to be popular.

"The new BlackBerry Curve 8900 is destined to become a stylish must have phone. We predict both new and existing customers will be fighting to get their hands on one from launch," he added.

RIM’s new BlackBerry is equipped with Wi-Fi, GPS, integrated multi-format media player and a 3.2-megapixel camera – and O2 also announced its support of the latest model earlier this week.

The network said it would offer the mobile phones to its UK users from December 22nd on pre-order.