Vodafone present five new 3G UMTS phones

March 13, 2005

Vodafone is presenting three brand new mobile phones and two new UMTS PDAs at CeBIT 2005. These products underline the company's important role in the field of UMTS. Vodafone customers have the choice of a comprehensive range of mobile phones - from inexpensive starter models, through versatile camphone models to PDAs for the mobile office. Best of all: four of the five new products are due to arrive at the Vodafone Shops in spring 2005.

The new Motorola V1050 has a very distinctive, elegant design and a large 2.2-inch colour display. It is a triband phone featuring a 1.2 megapixel digital camera and a second camera for videotelephony. MP3 and MPEG4 players are integrated for music and video playback, and the phone also has an e-mail client (POP3, IMAP4).

The next new product, the Nokia 6680, is distinguished by its comprehensive array of imaging functions. Firstly, the UMTS phone has two cameras, one for taking photographs (1.3 megapixels) and the other for videotelephony. This is possible if both parties have a videotelephony-capable phone and UMTS network coverage. The display with up to 262,144 colours delivers image files in an extremely high quality. One special feature is the slide cover for the camera on the back of the phone, which enables seamless camera switchover during video calls.

The new TS921, Toshiba's first UMTS phone for the European market, has an especially impressive operating concept. The triband phone is exclusively distributed by Vodafone and has a 1.92 megapixel camera, plus a second camera for videotelephony. A flexible clamshell design with swivel action enables the transformation of the phone as required into a digital camera, a camcorder, an MP3 player or an image and video display device. Another special feature is the extra-large 2.4-inch display. In camera mode, the TS921 offers numerous extras, such as integrated flash, auto focus function and 20x digital zoom.

The new Motorola A1000 is a UMTS PDA with a 208 x 230 pixel touchscreen and it is also on show at Vodafone's CeBIT stand. Numerous office functions make this smart phone particularly attractive for business users. E-mails can be written conveniently using touchscreen and electronic pen, either via OCR or a virtual keyboard. Appropriate software enables the user to display E-mail attachments in Word, Excel, PowerPoint or PDF format. The integrated 1.2 megapixel camera with up to 8x digital zoom can be used to take excellent photos and short videos.

The Vodafone VPA product family has also been extended to include a UMTS-capable model. The new VPA IV incorporates an impressive, novel operating concept. To write or browse the Web, the display is opened up, notebook-style, behind the QWERTY keyboard. The VPA IV can also assume the form of a 'normal' PDA. Not only is it UMTS-capable, the VPA IV is also designed as a triband phone for GSM/GPRS and for operation in W-LAN networks. It incorporates bluetooth, infrared and mini USB interfaces for communication with other devices. The VPA IV is due to hit the markets in summer 2005.

These new phone models confirm Vodafone's commitment for the UMTS market. Even during the Christmas trading period of 2004, Vodafone's range included seven different UMTS models: the Motorola V980 and E1000, the Nokia 6630, the Samsung Z107 and Z110, as well as the Sharp V902 and the SonyEricsson V800.