3G on Vodafone now availiable

TCP/IP

Hello Everybody,

Just looking on the vodafone.ie site and there 3G mobile connect card is now in use and anybody can get it. They say 3G coverage is up to all major areas which is good start. Hopefully 3G phones will be very soon. Personally I can not wait

Cheers,
TCP/IP

subway_ie

Aren't 3G handsets a bit of a let down though? Tiny battery life, bulky and expensive? I don't think they're going to be made mainstream untill at least Q1, 2005.

jesus_thats_gre

They do still suffer the problems you mention but they are improving incredibly quickly. I reckon Vodafone will be releasing 3G handset in September or October at the latest. I have used 3 or 4 different 3G handsets and they have progressively got better.

Nokia 6650 - The main problem was the bugs, it wasn't overly big.

Samsung z100 - A massive improvement, offered video calls, was not overly big with the slim battery and the batter life was only slightly worse than my 7610

Samsung Z105 - The replacement for the Z100, I only used this for a short while but it seemed to be an improvement

Nokia 7600 - Its tiny, its an experiment but does show what is possible.

I must admit that I only used the first 2 handset for long periods however.

The new Symbian 3G handset recently previewed by Nokia shows what progression they have made however. Hopefully it all works out


By the way, the 3G data card is the business, the usage costs are bit much but I hope this will change!!

TCP/IP

I reckon the Z105 will be the one that Vodafone will release over here first. Me for one will be the first in the queue for one. I want video calls and high speed net access on or through my phone. Would really like some firm release dates for here. Wonder when they will offer the retail 3G service in the UK

flywheel

was wondering how pricing was going to compare to our Voda UK neighbours, works out a bit more expensive the higher the data package, also we only get the double data promo for 6 months here whereas the UK got it the promo for 12 months [ref: Vodafone UK Launch]...

they don't seem to mention the pricing of the card on the site though, well not that i could see, from reports at the launch last week it will depend on what data package you go for...

also notice like the UK they didn't offer a time/duration based option like Voda Germany did, would have been handy for some applications

looking forward to the handsets arriving (especially one with bluetooth although what they do to them and how they customise (hijack) them will be of interest, the Samsung Z105 and SonyEricsson Z1010 being the two handsets released so far on other Vodafone 3G Networks

p.s. read last month that Voda UK were having [url=http://www.3gnewsroom.com/3g_news/jun_04/news_4629.shtml
]problems with the 3G card and some laptops[/url] although they later got their marketing people to make a statement about the problems

BrianG

jesus_thats_gre

There are loads of rumours on the net about a potential GX40 being released in late Q3/early Q4. Some of the rumoured specs include it being a 3G phone modelled on some of the Foma handsets in Japan with a 2 megapixel camera. Sharp have quite a number of handsets already with similar specs so its sounding very possible.

BigMoose

There will also be a motorola 3G handset available around October. Sadly there are no test handsets available so have no idea what it is like.

P.S. I find the battery life of the thin battery on the Z100 very poor. You have to charge it at least once a day if you are getting any serious use out of it. Those using the Z105 regularly say it is no better which is a shame. The UI has improved though, with the OK button actually doing OK some of the time :cool: