Those who want a contract can grab the Smart III for free on plans starting at just 13 GBP per month. That cash (obviously) doesn’t get you a ton of data and you’ll rather have to rely on Wi-Fi hotspots to watch movies while on the go. Still, if this is your first smartphone, you may get just what you need – solid experience without breaking a bank.

We’re not sure who made the Smart III – is it Huawei or ZTE, both of which are known to make carrier-branded products…

Verizon is allegedly in the early stages of any deal and has not made a formal offer. The company supposedly has hired bankers and legal advisers to help them craft a takeover bid. Verizon, in the past, has expressed an interest in buying out Verizon Wireless, but sources tell Reuters the communications company is ready to make an aggressive push to acquire the wireless carrier.

[Via Reuters]

As you may recall from our previous post, this tariff bundles unlimited calls and texts to any network in the country, while also offering a “very generous” mobile data allowance.

Alongside the new plan, the Big Red carrier is also launching a huge multi-country marketing campaign to promote it, with hopes to dissuade subscribers from using services such as Skype, WhatsApp and Viber. Not sure how that will help, but what do I know.

Anyway, aside from the “Red launch,” Voda is also promising other cool initiatives in the months to come, including multi-device packages that enable customers to connect a number of devices under a single plan, and Red family offering. Plus, let’s not forget their idea to sell “nearly new” smartphones (for less), as well as to allow high-end subscribers to pay an additional fee to receive a new device every year. Pretty cool I would say. What do you think?

[Via: MobileWorldLive]

All this will cost 130 GBP (about $200) on PAYG, though there will also be an on-contract option starting at 13 GBP per month (when you’ll get the Ascend G510 for free).

Also worth noting is that the G510 is the first Huawei device to launch in the UK with Huawei’s own Emotion UI that allows users to “put all that their most important applications and content in one place on the home screen, and offers a wide choice of themes to personalize their Ascend G510 further.” In other words, it works just like any other launcher with Huawei’s twist…

On the downside, we’re no longer that much excited about the Padfone 2 now that the Padfone Infinity has been announced. That doesn’t mean it’s a bad device; quite the contrary, the second Padfone is still a rock-solid product, boasting Qualcomm’s Snapdragon S4 Pro quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM, 4.7-inch 720p Super IPS+ HD screen, dual cameras, and a ton of built-in storage.

You can check the mentioned Vodafone offer from this page at The Carphone Warehouse website.

Vodafone had this to say:

“HTC has confirmed there’s a delay to the shipments of the HTC One and, sadly, that means we’ll have to wait a little bit longer than we’d hoped before you can get your hands on your new phone.

We’re contacting anyone who has pre-ordered to let them know about this. We’re aiming to have the phones in people’s hands no later than Wednesday 3 April but we’ll update customers directly once we have more information on individual orders.”

We had heard previously from U.K. retailer Clove that the device would not start shipping until March 29th, but Vodafone’s announcement makes us think HTC might miss the mark on that date.

With the release of the Samsung Galaxy S IV right around the corner, the delays couldn’t come at a worse time for HTC. The HTC One is a premium handset that offers features such as the Zoe camera and HTC’s BlinkFeed, but without units unavailable for sale at this time, by the time they roll out other premium phones may have already grown a foothold.

Who knows when the HTC One will begin shipping, and let’s hope HTC get’s it components in order before customers pass the One by.

[Via: EuroDroid]