The Vodafone 360 H1 is the main handset Vodafone will promote to lead the charge with their new Vodafone 360 web service. This service is designed to allow you to integrate all your social networks and main contacts from services like Twitter, Facebook, Google Chat, MSN and others into one centrally located point, and all backed up online so losing your phone won’t mean losing your address book. This revolutionary new approach to social network, internet and handset integration offered by Vodafone is a unique first from a UK mobile operator, and a strong strike against the competition.
To carry the weight of such high expectations, the flagship model in this package needs to be able to offer the very best available, to ensure end user satisfaction; nothing would be worse than supplying a quality online centralised hub that is let down by the device supposed to show it off at its best, but which fails to do so. We’re going to take a deeper look at the 360 H1, to see if it has what it takes to make it in a very competitive market.
The Vodafone 360 H1 measures in at 116 x 58 x 13mm, and weighs 134g. These dimensions are similar to the BlackBerry Storm, to give a guideline, but the H1 weighs in at a good 20g less. The most impressive thing about the 360 H1 visually is the screen, which dominates the front of the handset. With a beautifully laid out AMOLED display, supporting up to 16 million colours, the screen measures in at an amazing 3.5 inches, and has a resolution of 800 x 480 pixels.
The H1 offers the same 3D user interface that is found on the Vodafone 360 M1, which looks really great, and is simple to navigate. Based on the LiMo operating system, the 360 H1 offers a simple, open source OS, which runs on a kind of module setup. So, attached to the main features, plug-in options can be included to further enhance the functionality of the device, either by adding applications or via software upgrades. The LiMo setup itself is specifically designed to have different UI’s laid over the top of the basic OS, and we can expect future LiMo products to differ significantly in the future in terms of look and style.
The Vodafone 360 H1 comes with a high powered 5.0 Megapixel camera, complete with autofocus, and an LED flash. Video recording is enabled on the phone, and there is a secondary camera for video calls. The H1 has a built in GPS receiver, as well as supporting aGPS, and as well as enabling the device to be used as a portable SatNav device, the GPS receiver will be beneficial for geotagging, and other location based services. Other media options on the handset include a full music and video player, and there is an FM stereo radio with RDS support. RDS is a neat little feature that shows information of the current song being played on the radio station, plus other snippets of information as distributed via the FM radio station.
As expected from a device that will spend much time connected to the internet, all the popular connection options are included on the H1. This includes HSDPA Mobile Broadband, along with WiFi 802.11 b/g, allowing you to connect simply to your own home WLAN setup. For those moments when you happen to find yourself outside 3G coverage, the H1 offers both EDGE and GPRS support. Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP is included, and for connecting to a PC, the H1 has USB 2.0 support for a higher data transfer rate. There is a huge amount of memory available on the H1, with internal capacity set at a huge 16GB, which can be expanded with MicroSD memory cards, which can offer up to a further 16GB of data storage.
The Vodafone 360 H1, then, does indeed measure up as a worthy flagship handset. In all areas the features are top notch, and the phone looks great, topped off with the glorious AMOLED display, which is sure to present the Vodafone 360 services in absolute clarity. As with the 360 M1, the 360 H1 is expected to launch during Q4 2009, in time for Christmas. The advice is to get your order in early, as the H1 is expected to be very popular at launch.
Related Vodafone 360 H1 Links
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11:14 am
I hate this phone, it wont let me sign up for vodafone live, all it says is try again later not avalible but i have tried hundreds of times to get it working and i have only had it about 1 month and all i wanted it for was facebook and msn please try and descover why and help me in my situation
plz
1:15 pm
how do i set a picture as my screen saver ? this phone came with no instuctions on how to do anyfin it wont even conect to the internet
6:45 pm
I have had this phone for about 9 months and I cannot say anything good about it. It is the most useless phone I have ever had - it does nothing. Even changing the ringtone is a pain. Time to give up - it's had its cahnce. Do yourself a favour - if anyone tries to sell you this phone say no !!!
2:07 pm
I recently got two of these phones on a contract that my mother added me and my sister too. So far both have broken and one has been fixed. I have only had both for about a month or two and they break after they get turned off then turned back on. It wont save much to the memory card or phone numbers to the SIM. This is the worst excuse for a phone ever.
12:50 pm
My H1 is now back in it's box and will be heading back to a Vodafone store very soon. This is quite probably one of the worst new handset/package combinations I have ever seen...not only in the mobile phone market, but possible in any new tech item released in the last 10 years. After periods of overheating and SIM incompatibility, I have gone back to my trusy W595.
7:34 pm
hate this phone so much x