In an interesting move, now retailer Orange is getting into the cash for old gadgets game with its Recycle and Reward program. While they don’t have the awesome automated kiosks of other vendors, Orange will give you a quote and a check within a week when you take whatever it is you’d like to get rid of–old mobile phones, laptops, and music players (bigger stuff that the automated kiosks can’t handle) and offers up cash for them.
It IS somewhat limited–no bringing in your old furnace, water heater or what have you; it’s pretty much exclusively a consumer electronics setup–but hey, free cash for stuff you weren’t using anyway? That’s no small treat.
Also, Orange is also launching its Copy and Keep program, where they’ll charge you a whopping twelve bucks or so to transfer all your media, addresses and contacts from your old mobile phone to your new one. Pretty useful if you’ve forgotten how or just plain old can’t be bothered.
So if you’re needing a new phone, and want to get rid of the old one, then it’s a great time to think Orange.
As predicted, Orange officially announced the TG01 today. They’ve managed to score the touchscreen handset with the Snapdragon processor as an exclusive, so if you want some of that weird Tosh UI laid upon Windows Mobile 6.1 you’ll have to sign a two year contract, but at the very least you’ll get it for ‘free’. Don’t believe me, then hit the video below.
Heralded as the “tent of the future”, this concept tent from UK company Orange will have you camping out just to buy one. The Glastonbury Solar Tent is made from a photovoltaic fabric that has special solar threads woven in so you’ll never be without power for your GPS device or cell phone. To monitor power usage and storage the tent comes with a wireless LCD hub that even supports WiFi. In addition, not only will the tent glow for you but it can also transmit SMS text messages to inform you of its whereabouts in case you get lost. Finally, it uses a technology called groundsheet heat which is a heating element embedded in the floor of the tent that activates when the outside tempurature goes down. While all this sounds positively sweet, isn’t sort of the antithesis of going camping? On the other hand this would rock at a place like tent city in Sacramento.
Remember the LG GD910 watch phone that got a shit load of hype at CES? Well, it finally has got a release date, in Europe that is. Expect the phone to arrive sometime in July on the Orange network and sold by Carphone Warehouse. Unfortunately, you’re gonna have to bite your lip a little bit longer when it comes to price, but I’m relatively sure it won ‘t be priced for the average joe. In case you missed it, check below for the walk through video from CES. …Continue reading: LG GD910 Watch Phone Receives EU Launch Date, US Coming Soon (video)
Orange UK has partnered with GotWind to produce a light weight mobile phone charger that is both green and convenient. Crafted from a good old regular air bed pump, the device converts your foot power into electricity by driving a turbine, which subsequently powers your mobile phone. GotWind says that the device can power a standard mobile for up to 5 minutes in the equivalent amount of time it takes to inflate a pillow. No word on if they’ll take the prototype to production, but given its small size and probably low cost I’d gladly toss one of these in my car’s trunk in case of an emergency.
The UK ain’t no stranger to the credit crisis and nor is Orange, one of many cell phone carriers in the country island. So much so in fact that they’re offering an ultra cheap touchscreen, pay as you go phone, the Vegas. Available in bubblegum pink or black, the Vegas is £48.50 ($72 US) and sports a 2.4-inch screen, 1.3 megapixel camera, media player, FM radio, 128MB of built-in memory expandable by microSD card slot. It’s available now.
MobileToday in the UK is reporting that Orange, the European telecom, is close to finalizing a deal with Apple to sell their laptops at a subsidized rate. Without referencing any solid sources, the report states that Orange would discount an Apple laptop if the subscribers signs up for two years of broadband service. The report also says that Orange hopes to utilize this deal as a test bed which will later lead to an Orange SIM card embedded laptop(s) in the future, perhaps something we’ll see with the long rumored Apple netbook. Since the deal is ‘close’ to completion, I’d expect to see some official headlines in the coming weeks, but given the uncertainty of the report (i.e. no credible sources cited), I’m not getting my hopes up.
Of note, I just realized the irony or perhaps better yet the synergy of the deal, two fruits: Orange and Apple.
