O2 unveils 3G handsets

At a not especially glitzy bash O2 this morning confirmed its 3G launch for consumers, announcing a February 1st roll out date for the handsets and services.

The company seemed keen to stress that 3G was an evolution rather than a revolution and this was reflected in its choice of handsets. Some we have seen before, notably the Nokia 6630 (available through Orange and Vodafone and without a video calling facility, the Samsung Z107 (another Voda handset) and the Sony Ericsson SE V800 (Voda’s lead 3G handset). Others, like the Nokia 6680, are new.

Yet O2 has chosen to launch 3G to its consumers with an own-branded handset that bizarrely doesn’t feature video calling facilities. Available from February 1st and retailing for either £30 or nothing, depending on which contract you choose, is the X4. A deadringer for the O2 X3, although it is a little bulkier, the X4 features a 262K colour screen, a 1.3 mega pixel camera with 8x digital zoom, an MP3 player and video downloading and streaming facilities via O2’s newly launched 3G O2 Active site.

The handset which like the X3 is made by Taiwanese manufacturer BenQ has 10MB of storage, though this can be upgraded via a memory card.