The HTC Wildfire is finally available from mobile network operator Vodafone UK. According to the most recent announcements, the device is available for free on several contract offers by the network operator.

Our recommended pick would be the 20 Pound monthly tariff for two years which gives the user unlimited text messages, 300 minutes of talk time and about 500 MB of data allowance each month. The offer takes full advantage of the device’s social networking capabilities, which is much recommended for anyone who wants to have the full value of owning this impressive Android handset.

In terms of specs, it is hard not to be impressed with what the HTC Wildfire has to offer. First off, the device comes with a nice big 3.2 inch TFT capacitive touch screen. A typical display for a mid range handset, it handles video playback and web browsing quite easily. The screen will support multi touch gestures, has an accelerometer, a proximity sensor that will automatically shut off the screen when used for a voice call and the HTC Sense user interface. Aside from the touch screen, there is an optical trackpad on the bottom of the device as well as support for movement gestures which will allow users to instantly switch the device to mute or to “dim out” an incoming call.

With the Qualcomm MSM7225 528MHz CPU, apps run fairly fast on this Android OS. Just do not expect to get super smooth performance when running resource intensive games. But for most phone functions, the CPU is able to provide a stable and fast experience.

The Wildfire’s main features focus heavily on social networking. It has several integrated apps that would allow users to easily access accounts on Facebook and Twitter as well as file hosting sites such as Flicker and YouTube for uploading media content to be shared.

The UK is no stranger to policy debates and discussions regarding the need to extend and expand mobile network coverage. Even in the busy streets of London, there are locations where signal is slow, bad or in some cases, completely absent and there is a need to address this concern.

With technology now pushing for the use of 4G/WiMax networks and faster data transfer speeds, there is also a humanitarian and social call for operators to seek and find the places that are not covered by their services. After all, having faster connections is not as important as bringing the connection to everyone.

However, seeking out the places, regions and area that have weak or no mobile coverage is difficult and even if Vodafone places all of its resources to finding these places, they would need plenty of time. In order to make the task easier, Vodafone has sent out a call to all of its users and subscribers to give the network a quick and instant feedback of network signal strength and availability in the various areas of the UK.

In order to participate, Vodafone users simply need to make a quick Tweet about where they are, what connection they are using and how strong the connection is. This will give Vodafone a clearer and more defined idea of which places are not getting good signals (as these locations would not be present in the tweets). For anyone who does not use Twitter, Vodafone will also allow you to post the information directly on their website.

While there are no incentives or rewards for anyone participating in the program, this is actually something that people should do when they can. The effort spent here is not just going to be beneficial to Vodafone, but for everyone as well as it will help Vodafone UK determine how they will improve and expand their network to provide coverage for more people.

Getting iPhone users to switch over to Vodafone seems to be the next big plan for the UK mobile network provider. They just launched a SIM only plan for new users who already own an Apple iPhone.

This January, Vodafone began offering the Apple iPhone to its clients. They sold plenty on the first week alone. With 100,000 units sold in the first week alone, Vodafone already had one of the fastest growing iPhone customer bases. The number continued to grow slowly over the past few days as former clients of O2 whose contracts were ending started switching over to Vodafone for the better 3G service.

Now that is a fact. Vodafone’s better 3G service is not a product of simply having much fewer iPhone users (O2 has over 2 million over the past two years that the iPhone was exclusive to them). The strength of O2’s network is also the fruit of their extensive preparations for the iPhone launch. For one whole year, Vodafone has taken steps to extend the network and increase the strength of the signal.

Of course, there is simply no way to cover everything, so they also re-launched the Femtocell sure signal technology so that people who live in locations with weak or no signal can also enjoy 3G access.

In other interesting Vodafone related news; it has been confirmed that the company will be releasing the Nexus One later this year as well as the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 when it launches. Vodafone has also expressed interest in the tablet, the Apple iPad.

Last Friday was pretty exciting for Vodafone employees as they had to fix the mess caused by a colleague whose practical joke went too far.

Go to Mobile Today UK for the rest of the news and the details about Vodafone’s SIM only plans.

Twitter is not the first place you should go to for child-friendly conversations. Not that everyone is vulgar, but the concept of free speech on the internet is very well practiced by its millions of online denizens. Still, when you are browsing through the official Twitter page of a corporation, the last thing you would expect is a disparaging remark regarding homosexuals and women.

Last weekend, an employee from within Vodafone posted a tweet that “breached several rules” of the company.

While some might say that the remark was made to elicit humor from the readers, it was downright offensive. The individual who posted the Tweet has already been identified and Vodafone is internally handling the matter. So far, it has been known that the person has been suspended though it is possible that a harsher reprimand will be given after the investigation.

At the very least, Vodafone’s employees have been taking care of the situation and have addressed many of the concerns by those who were able to read the offensive post. While some people were obviously offended by the Tweet, there were more who were concerned that the mobile operator may have been hacked. Employees quickly sent notices and apologies that informed everyone about the nature of the situation along with assurances that Vodafone UK has not been hacked.

The concern about hacking over the initial response of offense to the post is somewhat very assuring. It shows that people in the internet have become more aware about the relevance of events such as these and to focus on the more important things -in this case, a possible hacking situation.

On a side note, indefinite suspension is a pretty lenient consequence of the act. While the Tweet caused no irreparable damage, there is no doubt that the culprit needs to be reprimanded on a more substantial level.

Go to CNET for the rest of the news.

Vodafone’s new internet based Vodafone 360 network service launches with the exclusive Samsung-built Vodafone 360 H1.  Vodafone defines the 360 as bringing “your world together in one place, always available on our phone, PC and Mac.”  What that really means is reinventing what others have done, like integrating your messaging and social networking features that you can easily access from a unified user interface. The service is available on four Nokia smartphone when it launches but there’s a couple of handsets that are custom-made for the 360 service.  The Samsung H1 is one of them and is rebadged as the Vodafone 360 H1.

High End Features

Firstly, the H1 is a Linux-based smartphone using the similarly open-source Android rival LiMo (short for Linux Mobile) platform.  Anyone familiar with the Motorola RAZR V8 and the ROKR E8 as well as NTT’s DoCoMo handsets should know how mature and stable the LiMo OS has been over the years, eclipsed only by a better-hyped Android platform.  Opera browser is integrated with support for WebKit widgets with a remote locking and content-wiping feature if the phone is lost. Vodafone promises 1,000 apps ready for download when the 360 service goes up.

The hardware itself is impressive enough with its 3.5-inch AMLOLED touchscreen with wide-VGA resolution, 5-megapixel autofocus snapper with LED flash, GPS navigation, stereo FM radio and 3.5mm headphone outlet.  It’s basically a quad band GSM and dual-band UMTS on 3G with HSDPA/HSUPA broadband connectivity for high speed internet surfing.  There’s WiFi and Bluetooth with A2DP as well.  It’s has a generous 16 GB internal memory that can expand from its microSD slot.  A 1500 mAh battery gives 7 hours of talk time and 19 days of standby time which should give you a whole day of use without recharging.

Availability

The Vodafone 360 H1 figures in many publicity stills in either black or silver.  You can pre-order now and should ship before Christmas in the UK, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and the Iberian countries while the rest of Europe and the world can start seeing it early next year.  With a great looking high function H1 on the 360 service replacing the older Vodafone Live, Vodafone is gambling tech-savvy socialites would start flocking to the rather staid Vodafone network.  Let’s see if that works.

Vodafone 360 M1 will be the second release to feature the Vodafone 360 services experience. The Samsung-built Vodafone 360 M1 is not expected to show off as illustrious and dazzling features as its older sister H1 does, but M1 has some difference in its dimensions. The M1 is shorter and much lighter than the H1, but shockingly, it is slightly thicker than the H1, which gives the potential users a mixed feeling when they turn to the M1 as a better alternative to the H1 as far as physical features are concerned. There are hardly any differences in the design from what we have seen so far and the set is almost a slightly smaller replica of the H1. However, the fundamental difference that lies in the quality of both the sets is in their screen. Vodafone 360 M1 has a smaller 3.2” inch skin, which is expected, but it is TFT and does not feature the multi touch sensitivity.

Furthermore, the internal memory of the M1 is 1 GB, which is 15 GB short of what the H1 offers. In addition to that, the camera featured in the Vodafone 360 M1 is 3.2 mega pixels with 8 digital zoon, which is also a bit lower in quality to the 5.0 mega pixel camera featured in the H1 handset. However, both the handsets are equipped with the same software, and both feature the Vodafone 360 experience. With these specifications, it clearly shows that the Vodafone 360 M1 will be much lower in price than the first release H1, and will offer the Vodafone 360 fans an opportunity to benefit from the new user experience platform on a budget. However, another feature that they won’t find in the M1 is the Wi-Fi connectivity support, but the 3G and Bluetooth support is there.

Apart from that, the features of the Vodafone 360 M1 include built-in assisted GPS and maps, USB support, 3.5 mm audio jack and speakerphone. Watch this space for all the great Vodafone 360 M1 deals as they pop up.