Sony Xperia Z pre-orders begin in the UK, free headphones offered

5-inch Sony phone available to pre-order at Three, O2, Phones4U and CPW with free £300 cans; launch slated for Feb. 28

Today sees the start of Sony's launch promotions for the Xperia Z in the UK. The 5-inch handset is can be pre-ordered through mobile networks O2 and Three, as well as retailers Phones4U and Carphone Warehouse. All four could earn you the chance to walk away with a set of £300 Sony MDR-1R Prestige headphones, though the promotion is limited to the first 1000 pre-orders at each retailer or carrier. The pre-order promo runs from now until Feb 28, when the Xperia Z goes on sale in the UK.

Here's a quick breakdown of what each Xperia Z launch partner is offering --

Three --

  • Black and white colors
  • Prices start at £34 per month on a 24-month contract, with a £69 up-front fee
  • That gets you 500 minutes, 5000 texts and unlimited data
  • Also selling on Pay As You Go (PAYG) for £449.99

O2 --

  • Black and purple colors
  • Wide range of tariffs; cheapest plan with a free phone is £47 per month on a 24-month contract
  • That gets you 1200 minutes, unlimited texts and 1GB, as well as a 3-month early upgrade
  • O2 is not yet offering the Xperia Z on PAYG

Carphone Warehouse -- 

  • Black and white colors
  • Selling on four 24-month contracts with O2 and Vodafone between £33 and £38 per month
  • Best value plans are with Vodafone -- £38 p.m. for unlimited texts and minutes, plus 2GB, or £33 p.m. for 600 mins, unlimited texts and 500MB, plus a £29 up-front fee.
  • No details of PAYG or off-contract prices yet.

[Source: AndroidCentral]

Apple Announces Over Two Million iPhone 5 Pre-Orders in First Day of Sales

Following today's announcement by AT&T sharing word that the iPhone 5 has broken pre-order sales records at the carrier, Apple has issued a press release noting that it too saw record-breaking pre-orders of over two million units in the first 24 hours of availability. The performance breaks last year's record of one million iPhone 4S units pre-ordered on the first day of availability.

“iPhone 5 pre-orders have shattered the previous record held by iPhone 4S and the customer response to iPhone 5 has been phenomenal,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “iPhone 5 is the best iPhone yet, the most beautiful product we’ve ever made, and we hope customers love it as much as we do.”

The iPhone 5 will be available beginning this Friday, September 21. The first pre-orders have begun shipping from China, but delivery companies will be coordinating to hold the shipments until Friday. Customers who did not pre-order the device have also begun lining up at a few Apple retail stores ahead of Friday's launch, although most of those seen so far are lining up for promotional purposes.

[Source: MacRumors]

iPhone 5 shipping times slip to 2-3 weeks, Lightning port adapter shipments push to October

Last evening, Apple made the iPhone 5, new iPods and a slew of its accessory products available on its online store. The excitement surrounding the occasion was certainly there. Just an hour after sales began, shipping estimates for the iPhone 5 have already began slipping to 2-3 weeks. Strangely, Verizon, AT&T and Sprint are all still advertising a 9/21 ship date.

Furthermore, Apple’s Lightning-30 pin port adaptor has also sold out, with shipments being pushed back to October. There had been some confusion last evening with some reports of Lightning adapters shipping free with iPhone  5s. Those were apparently glitches with Apple confirming the additional $30 charge.

[Source: 9to5Mac]