O2 launches My O2 iPhone Application

O2 has today announced My O2 for iPhone, an app designed to help make viewing the amount customers spend their phones even easier. The app is now available as a free download on the Apple App Store.

The My O2 section of O2’s website gives comprehensive information on every part of a customer’s account and could already be accessed via SMS and online, however the new My O2 app takes this information and makes it available in a way specifically tailored for the iPhone.

Using the My O2 app, both O2 Pay & Go and Pay Monthly iPhone customers will be able to securely see their tariff details, a summary of their inclusive allowance and how much remains, their latest bill and any Bolt Ons on their account.

“Our customers want to stay in control of how much they spend whenever they like. The My O2 iPhone app allows them to do this with the minimum of fuss,” said Sally Cowdry, Marketing Director for O2. “We wanted to make this information as easy to view as possible. This is all part of our commitment to a great customer experience and we’ll be looking at rolling this out to other phones in the near future.”

[via SlashPhone]

O2 Xda Orbit 2 (aka HTC’s Touch Cruise) available in UK

UK business customers with an eye for new smartphones will now be able to pick up O2’s Xda Orbit 2 from the carrier’s business store. Based on the HTC Touch Cruise, the handset runs Windows Mobile 6 and has a 3-megapixel camera, GPS, quadband GSM including 3G and HSDPA, WiFi and Bluetooth.

HTC’s TouchFLO UI augmentation is also preinstalled, and the Orbit 2 uses a 400MHz Qualcomm processor, has 128MB of RAM and 256MB of ROM.

It’s available now priced from free with a new contract.

[via coolsmartphone]

O2 Announces O2 Wallet Mobile Payment Solution with Nokia 6131 NFC Handset

The mobile wallet dream is becoming closer. NFC, or Near Field Communications technology, on mobile phones is the way of the future that allows your mobile phone to be used as a payment method for making purchases, access events or even use public transportation by touching the phone to a reader. Provider O2 announced the UK's first large-scale pilot with NFC with over 500 O2 customers participating across selected sites in London.

The trial begins on 28 November 2007 and will run for six months till the end of May 2008. Participants will be given the Nokia 6131 NFC handset bundled with O2 Wallet, which will hold virtual cards (including Oyster and Barclaycard) with NFC functionality. They can then use it to make purchases in retail outlets or use London's public transportation. An incoming phone call or text message will not interfere with the NFC transaction.

During the initial phase, Barclaycard will also credit each phone with GBP 200 worth of funds for use by the participants. The Nokia 6131 NFC can not only be used for making purchases but also to check available funds. Stay tuned for more news on this one.

Via press release

O2 germany picks up the HTC Touch Dual as O2 Xda Star

If there’s one thing we love more than the quirky codenames coming out of HTC’s labs, it’s O2’s practice of renaming all of HTC’s best handsets. O2 Germany’s done it again with the HTC Touch Dual that was recently launched. It didn’t take long at all for the German carrier to pick up the HTC Touch Dual as the O2 Xda Star - complete with an O2-branded makeover.

For the incredibly low carrier-subsidized price of €30 ($43), you too (the German you, that is) can get your hands on the O2 Xda Star with that slightly revised nav-pad layout (the buttons below the screen). Aside from the minor facelift (which looks like a pretty nice improvement over HTC’s reference design), the O2 Xda Star rocks the same feature-set as the HTC Touch Dual. Check out this video of the HTC Touch Dual in action.

The price of this German HTC Touch Dual is enough to make us seriously consider a move to the land of sauerkraut. You lucky Germans, you.
[Via: Unwired View]

O2 UK releases Windows Mobile 6 upgrades for XDA Orbit, Trion

Following its German division, O2 UK also made available Windows Mobile 6 Professional upgrades for its popular XDA Orbit and XDA Trion smartphones. But wait, it’s not just the new Windows you’ll get with the upgrade — O2’s update service will also install the latest Office Mobile suite to your phone, enabling you to work with XML-based Office 2007 files.

Want to upgrade? Sure you do! Jump over at Orbit or Trion pages on O2 UK’s site and get started. You’ll need to know your device’s serial number which you can find under the battery (something like S/N HTxxxxxxxxxxxxxx or S/N: SZxxxxxxxxxxxxxx). And don’t forget to backup your data first!

[Via: the::unwired]

O2 Cocoon emerges as a beautiful handset

One of O2’s most unique handsets, the O2 Cocoon, has finally emerged from it’s, uh, cocoon, as a beautifully crafted piece of kit. The pictures we showed you before just don’t do this thing justice, so we’ve got some in-hand pics for you to drool over.

The O2 Cocoon’s incredibly sleek, white exterior, packs a 2-megapixel camera, A2DP Bluetooth, FM radio, and sports that trick external LED display that illuminates from under that seemingly opaque white-shell. And, the 2GB of on-board storage, microSD slot, and rubberized external music controls make the Cocoon one sexy musicphone.

Head over to FosFor Gadgets for more pics. Seriously, this things got some nice curves.
[Via: Slashphone]

O2 confirmed for UK iPhone launch, coming soon - again

In the latest round of “deal, or no deal” uncertainty surrounding the UK release of Apple’s iPhone, we’re hearing reports (again) of confirmation that Telefonica-owned O2 has clinched the iPhone exclusivity contract for Great Britain.

Forbes says that Telefonica will pony up 178 million stg for the right to launch the iPhone in the United Kingdom - which is slated for launch sometime “soon.” But, Apple is keeping their European iPhones close to the vest - with France, Germany, and the UK being the only countries fortunate enough to have Apple grace then with an iPhone this Autumn.

The rest of Europe and Asian will get their chance at the iPhone in 2008.

We can’t say we’re all that surprised that O2 is getting the iPhone hat-tip from Apple - what, with Vodafone reportedly unwilling to bend to Apple’s demands. We’re starting to think O2 was indeed playing coy when they officially denied the initial iPhone-contract rumors. Oh, O2. Why must you play these games with our hearts? You know we’re fragile.

[Via: Forbes]