Hopes that an end to O2’s exclusivity with the iPhone might lead to a drop in price have been dashed, with savings offered by Orange, T-Mobile, Vodafone and Tesco amounting to little more than pocket change over the term of a contract. However, there is a way to grab a top-the-range iPhone at a much reduced cost – or even free.

O2 is currently offering a limited number of “reconditioned” iPhones to customers. In this scenario, “reconditioned” means phones returned by customers under their 14-day no quibble arrangement, and so crucially they are not repairs. They are essentially brand new, and come with the standard 12-month warranty. O2 have been offering the 8GB 3G, the 16GB 3GS and the 32GB 3GS, although stock levels fluctuate. (Yesterday, for example, they had no reconditioned 16GB models in stock.)

The reconditioned iPhones are being offered primarily to customers through retention and upgrades. Offers vary by customer (and, apparently, by O2 advisor) according to account status. For example, customers with higher monthly spends who threaten to leave O2 are likely to be offered a better deal. However, some customers on O2’s lowest-value Simplicity tariff have also been offered free iPhones.

The best deals centre around the O2 iPhone 35 tariff, which includes 600 minutes, 500 texts and unlimited internet for £35 per month. Some of the deals offered over the last few days include:

*18-month contract at £35 per month with iPhone 32GB 3GS free.
*18-month contract at discounted £29 per month with iPhone 32GB 3GS costing £179.
*24-month contract at discounted £29 per month with iPhone 32GB 3GS costing £96.

You can check reconditioned iPhone availability and order upgrades online here (select “Upgrade Online”).

The best way to secure a good deal is to call O2’s retention department, although that’s only possible if you’re approaching the end of your O2 contract.

However, it is possible to sign up to O2’s cheapest and shortest contract and get a retention or upgrade deal almost straight away. O2’s one-month Simplicity contract costs from just £10, and because it is renewed every month you can choose to leave or upgrade whenever you like. You can sign up for Simplicity here (select “Sim-only Simplicity”).

A reminder that reconditioned stock levels fluctuate, and that offers will vary. But the above offers were all offered to customers on the lowest Simplicity tariff over the last few days. So be prepared to haggle. Say you’ll leave O2 unless you get a good deal. If you have O2 broadband say you’ll cancel that too. There are great iPhone deals out there if you are prepared to dig for them.

O2 Mobile Phone and Broadband Deals
www.o2.co.uk Mobile phone, tariff, SIM only, broadband and laptop deals from O2.

Technology

Voddler is a much-talked-about video on demand service that launched in beta testing mode in Sweden last year. The service allows registered users to stream movies and TV shows either on a free ad-supported basis, or premium pay-as-you-go or subscription options.

So far Voddler has attracted at least £10 million of investment, and has signed deals with Disney and Paramount. It’s been labelled as a Spotify for movies, but can it live up to the hype?

Voddler beta is currently only (officially) available by invitation in Sweden, but I’ve had the opportunity to try it here in the UK. (It’s possible to register for an invitation at www.voddler.com, and on receipt sign up using a Swedish zip code – thanks Andy.)

The initial impressions of the Voddler client are poor. Navigation is via the keyboard arrow keys, with no mouse or QWERTY use, and username and password entry is incredibly laborious. Setting up the screen resolution size is a similarly annoying process. It seems to have been optimised for wide screens – great for TVs, but not so good when viewing on most computer monitors.

Once logged in, you’re presented with a very underwhelming menu screen – essentially a load of movie poster thumbnails that can be sorted into recommended, free, premium and genre categories. Highlighting a thumbnail brings up (very) brief details, such as director, runtime, and year of release. Again, navigation is annoyingly slow. But what’s available?

The free-to-view movies include the likes of Chinatown, Crash, Chopper, Bridge To Terabithia, The Italian Job, Lucky Number Slevin, and Saws I-IV. So there’s plenty to keep you occupied, although perhaps nothing to really excite.

Premium movies, costing around 24 to 37 Swedish Krona (£2 to £3.25) each, include titles such as Angels and Demons, The Proposal, The Wrestler, Watchmen, Hanna Montana, and Saw V.

The TV show category is home to a forgettable selection of cheap documentaries of the type that play on unwatched Sky channels.

The actual viewing experience is more impressive. After a brief period of buffering, your chosen movie is preceded by a couple of (Swedish) ads, and a trailer. Movie playback is very good, certainly comparable with the BBC iPlayer, although again the clunky controls let Voddler down.

Overall, Voddler seems to have the under-the-hood technology in place, but needs to work on its user interface. One of the real joys of Spotify was how instantly and easily it worked. Voddler, in contrast, is slow and difficult to use. The movie selection isn’t great, but this will no doubt expand as it moves out of beta and into other territories.

For the time being there is enough here to make it worth installing on your laptop for long train journeys, but, unlike Spotify, Voddler is far from essential.

Got an HD Ready TV? Get Sky+HD!
www.sky.com Free Sky box plus free £50 M&S voucher and more online deals.

Film, Technology

This blog is now a year old. Originally it was intended to promote my books and journalism, and as a place for me to bounce some ideas around. A lot has changed over the past 12 months. Most crucially, the freelance journalism market has pretty much collapsed, and as a result I’ve had to change the way I work.

12 months on, most of my writing is for the business market. I’m still writing books, and the occasional newspaper or magazine article, but the focus of this blog needs to change.

I’ll continue to post news about my books and articles as and when there is any, and I’ll probably still post random movie reviews and football rants as and when my creative juices dictate.

But the focus of this blog is going to shift towards music and music technology, and particularly something that featured a lot on this blog in 2009 – Spotify.

One problem I’ve found with Spotify is that having so much music available can be too much, and it can be difficult to decide what to listen to.

This blog will aim to keep you up to date with Spotify and related technology news, and provide reviews and links to new and catalogue music worth listening to.

The blog will head off in its new direction in the first week of January 2010. You will be most welcome to come along.

Music, Technology