UK: O2 and Huawei signed up for managed services.

WorldWide Tech & Science. Francisco De Jesùs.

UK: O2 and Huawei signed up for managed services.

Chinese kit vendor Huawei has hailed its first major managed services win in the UK, signing-up O2 parent Telefonica UK on a five-year deal.

Under the agreement Huawei will be responsible for "planning and managing the core transmission, mobile access and core network build in the multi-vendor core network."

The deal also sees 56 permanent roles transfer from Telefonica UK to Huawei’s managed services arm.

“Huawei works with Telefonica in a number of markets around the world and today’s agreement means we are extending our relationship to the UK,” said Huawei UK CEO Victor Zhang. “Today’s announcement is an important first step in building a world-class managed services capability in the UK.”

Huawei claims to be the fastest growing managed services provider in the world, with more than 240 contracts in place with operators in more than 60 countries.

UK: Phones4u pricing details, O2, Vodafone and Three will offer the Galaxy Nexus. Video review.

WorldWide Tech & Science. Francisco De Jesús.

Phones4u has announced it will be offering the Galaxy Nexus when it goes on sale in next month.

Contract deals offering the handset completely free will start from £46 a month on a two-year plan, or from £41 if you pay a £29.99 upfront cost for the handset. The former adds up to £1,104 over the course of the term, while the latter will cost £1,014 in total, saving you £90.

O2, Vodafone and Three have already confirmed they will be on board for the handset’s launch on day one, which we’re expecting to be sometime in mid-November.

The Galaxy Nexus features a 4.65” Contour Display with true high definition (720p) resolution and a lightning-fast dual core 1.2ghz processor combined with 4G LTE or HSPA+ technology. Galaxy Nexus also features the latest in software.

Ice Cream Sandwich works on both phones and tablets, and to make the power of Android enticing and intuitive.

Galaxy Nexus sports a high-end camera with zero shutter lag, automatic focus, top notch low-light performance and a simple way to capture panoramic pictures. Shoot amazing photos or 1080p video, and then edit and share them directly from your phone.

Android Beam, which uses near field communication (NFC) to instantly share webpages, YouTube videos, maps, directions and apps by simply tapping two phones together. 

Face Unlock uses state-of-the-art facial recognition technology to unlock your phone with nothing more than a smile.

Galaxy Nexus is the next generation of Nexus devices co-developed by Samsung and Google. Nexus combines innovative hardware with the newest version of Android, 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich, and the latest Google mobile services.

Check the Phones4u video review:

and details of it here

Video Promo:

Sources: Phones4u and uswitch

Related post: 

Google unveils Ice Cream Sandwich on the Galaxy Nexus. Video.

UK: O2 names mobile-wallet partners.

WorldWice Tech & Science. Francisco De Jesús.

O2 UK announced some of the financial services partners confirmed for a mobile wallet service set for launch during the second half of 2011.

It will work with Crest, FIS, Intelligent Environments and Visa Europe to deliver the payment and processing systems on which its products will be based.

UK: HP webOS Pre3 running on O2 networks at the Gadget Show 2011.

WorldWide Tech & Science. Francisco De Jesús.

On the video demo here below made at the Gadget Show 2011 in the UK this week, the presenter is making a HP webOS TouchPad demo and confrims once more what we said before that Touch to Share is expanding its applications with Maps to interact between the TouchPad and the Pre3.

The interesting thing is that when the presenter demos the Touch to Share feature shows the Pre3 which is actually running on the UK O2 carrier networks.

This summer  are planned by HP to launch both devices and we see now O2 will probably launch the Pre3 sure with the TouchPad in the UK and the HP webOS Veer in Germany . 

We took a pic of the Pre3 O2 UK on the video. See the left top corner on the Pre3:

Video:





Besides we noticed the HP webOS TouchPad is running smoother and faster than it was previously  on Feb 9th at HP webOS event announcement.

UK: O2 is preparing to launch near-field communication (NFC) mobile services

WorldWideTech & Science. Francisco De Jesús.

O2 is preparing to launch near-field communication (NFC) mobile services in the UK. Among the planned services are a wallet application and direct-to-bill and peer-to-peer payment facilities.

 

According to Matthew Key, CEO of O2's parent company, Telefónica, O2 will soon offer NFC-based mobile commerce services similar to those already available in countries such as Germany and Kenya. He said: "Near-field communication will allow people to carry their credit card in their phone and scan transactions."

The NFC services will complement the location-based advertising services that O2 has introduced in the UK. Key stated that O2 would serve as an aggregator of NFC services and payments.

The company expects location-based advertising to become a major product line as the use of smartphones increases. He said: "The business model will change significantly in the digital world. There will be a convergence of many different models, including access, advertising and search models."

However, he cautioned that there were still barriers to making the technology available on a wide scale since countries such as the UK are falling behind Germany in the deployment of spectrum. 

The mobile industry would also have to overcome obstacles such as privacy concerns, geographical issues and the development of platforms.

UK : O2 details Wi-Fi rollout plans. Changing notspots to hotspots.

WorldWideTech & Science. Francisco De Jesús.

O2 UK announced 'O2 Wifi,' which it describes as “a market-changing public Wi-Fi platform in the UK.”

The intention is to “at least double” the number of premium hotspots currently offered by existing partners BT 

Openzone and The Cloud combined, with the company starting out by replacing 450

The Cloud hotspots in its retail and office estate. Access will be free to both O2 and non-O2 customers.

O2 Wifi – changing notspots to hotspots

O2’s UK Chief Executive Ronan Dunne explains why the launch of O2 Wifi will change the way public Wi-Fi works forever.

Today we’re announcing O2 Wifi, a service that will provide premium Wi-Fi hotpots through partnerships with key venue owners and will be open to anyone for free, regardless of what mobile or broadband network a person may be on.

At O2 we’ve led the way in the use of mobile data and, in particular, public Wi-Fi. Our customers have had free hotspot access at The Cloud and BT Openzone included in their tariffs from the launch of the iPhone in 2007 and we’ve seen new and exciting uses for mobile data appear ever since. Instead of sending a text to some friends to say where we are, we now check-in on services like Facebook and Foursquare. A night out can now be planned on the go using Google Maps on your smartphone. And getting home is easy – find your last train home or book a cab over the web without making a single phone call.

O2 Wifi will address the many shortcomings in the way most Wi-Fi hotspots work – you won’t need to buy a coffee to use it and it won’t matter what sim card is in your phone. You’ll only ever need to sign in once and then our network will remember you, wherever you go. Even better, our hotspots will be powered by our own broadband network which delivers speeds up to three times as fast as other hotspots may get.

Our hotspots will start to appear over the next few months, first at our offices and our shops. But, by 2013, O2 Wifi will have double the amount of premium hotspots currently offered by BT Openzone and The Cloud combined. We’ll also work with the venues that host O2 Wifi to integrate O2 Media and O2 Money too, meaning you could use O2 Wifi at your favourite restaurant and get a discount on the meal you love.

We’re really excited to be starting work on O2 Wifi and think it’ll change the way public Wi-Fi works in the UK for the better, forever. I’d like to hear your thoughts on how you currently use Wi-Fi when you’re out and about – do you use a hotspot at the moment or do you find they’re more of a ‘notspot’? Let me know in the comments below.

Update: Which? has described our announcement as opening up 'a new way of getting online on the go for many smartphone, tablet and laptop users.'

Source: O2 UK