Hi everyone – Sylvia from the Devices team here. I’ve got some news that I wanted to share with you.
I expect most of you will have read through Nigel’s updates on our plans for smartphones this year. If you haven’t take a look here and here.
We’ve come in for a lot of flack in the past (and on this blog!) for our handset range to date, but do believe us when we say we’re working on growing our offering – it just can’t happen overnight.
We’re moving in the right direction with the Desire etc, but I wanted to share some good news with you regarding the Nokia E72.
It’s true that we’ve deliberated long and hard about this phone – about how it fits into our range and how much demand there would be for it – but your comments on our blog have convinced us that bringing it into our range is definitely the right thing to do. We’ll have it on 3 in May.
So… thanks!
Without knowing it, you’ve been a really useful focus group for us. We do value what you say on here and we’re listening all the time. What you say does have an impact on the decisions we make as a business, and us ranging the E72 is a great example.
We’ve been responding to you all individually when it comes to questions you’ve had about phones we’ll be ranging, so I thought it would be helpful to summarise where we are with things:
E72 - As I’ve just said, we’ll be ranging this phone in May this year. I know we’re behind the curve on this one, but because of our late decision to range it we do need some time to configure it for our network. That’s not just making sure Skype and WLM work on it, but there’s lots of fundamental backend activity that needs to happen to make sure it works on our network in the right way. We’ll come back to you with pricing options closer to the time.
HTC Desire – We’ve already said we’re ranging this one. It’s one of the most exciting handsets of the year and we’re over the moon to be ranging it. It’ll launch on 3 mid/late April. We won’t be the first to market but we won’t be as late as we have been with other big phones in the past. Our pricing will be competitive…
Nokia N900 – We took the decision not to range this phone. We need to be selective about the handsets that we plough our efforts into and unfortunately we can’t range absolutely everything. We’re still the smallest network and that means that we have a finite resource for testing and configuring software. We need to optimise that resource to start getting the most in demand handsets to market on time.
iPhone – We really do appreciate how many of you want the iPhone on our network, but we’re still working with Apple to build a commercial relationship. It is true that the iPhone is available on 3 in Australia, Hong Kong, Italy, Sweden and Denmark but we’re all working with Apple on a country-by-country basis. As soon as there is more news, we’ll share it through the blog.
Sony Ericsson X10 – We’re also ranging this phone. This will be one of the main phones from Sony Ericsson – it’s their first Android phone and will come to market with a big fanfare. We’re looking at early April for the launch of this one. Pricing to be announced soon.
HTC HD2 – This is another phone we would have loved to range but have decided against it. We feel that the Hero and Desire are more accessible handsets for our customers
Samsung Galaxy Portal – take a look at Brendan’s video. This is the first Andoid Éclair handset in the world and it’s very exciting. This will be in our stores in time for the weekend! We’ll announce pricing here this week.
273 Responses to Nokia E72 coming to 3.
Moderator: Kaz 18/07/2011
@Ady – Afraid I don’t have any news about the E6. Here is a list of all the Nokia phones we currently range.
Ady 15/07/2011
When will Three be doing the Nokia E6. Have E71 & E72 & just waiting patiently for E6?
adam 23/05/2011
[The nokia n900]
so a mobile finally comes on the market that fully embraces skype and integrates it into its systems and allows video calling and you the company that seems to pride itself on it skype connection …… chose not to support it ???? this makes me sad as i loved being with three and really loved there free skype
Moderator: Johanna 10/03/2011
@gail quilford – Sorry to hear that you’ve not had a good experience with your Nokia. Do you have a faulty phone at the moment?
gail quilford 09/03/2011
why after such a short time have 3 dumped the nokia e72 .
was it all the faults it has even though the stores reps state havent heard of one fault with e72.
maybe they should try and use one .Rather than top range mobiles.
ive had nothing but trouble with both e72 i have and quite frankly they are rubbish.
Customer service a nightmare when it comes to faults.get it repaired and same problems still on phone.
My days with 3 and nokia are over as soon as contract expires. not interested in anything except upgrade or sales.so this garbage about being the best. God help the others i say.
2 nokia e72s for another 14months NOT WORKING FAULTY. thats just a disgrace
Mr_scream 03/12/2010
Are you nice chaps once again going to upgrade our firmware again to 52.xxxxx? on the E72
Moderator 26/10/2010
@Gill – You’ll need to head to Planet Three, check out these instructions.
Gill 20/10/2010
How can I get Email on Three to work on an HTC Hero. I can’t find the link to download this>
mr_scream 17/09/2010
Can confirm v51 firmware working just fine. Remember to do a backup before though. It messed up my destinations but the backup saved me hassle!
mr_scream 09/09/2010
Thanks for getting back to us. It makes a change to see a network that bothers to update branded firmwares. Keep up the hard work!
Moderator 09/09/2010
@mr_scream – We’re currently working on releasing PR3.0 (051.018), an upgrade from the launch software (31.023). Although we do our very best to ensure that you receive software updates that are reliable as quickly as possible, we are dependent on the vendors before we can begin testing updates. We’re currently looking at about six weeks until it is ready for release.
Moderator 08/09/2010
@mr_scream – let me check in with our Nokia product managers on this one
mr_scream 07/09/2010
Can we expect the new firmware to be updated to 51.xxx.xxxx.xx from 31.xxxx.xxx?
Moderator 12/07/2010
@Kieran – I’m afraid Email on Three will only work on phones that have come from us, not generic versions. Our online check is right I’m afraid. Our own E63 is available for a little over £100 at the moment though – click here.
Kieran 11/07/2010
If I buy a generic Nokia E63, do you know if Email on 3 will work on it? Your checker says no, but I wanted to confirm this!
Moderator 08/07/2010
@isau – great that you’re happy with the E72 – it’s a lovely phone. Free Skype calls on Three are only available with our own app, not Skype’s Symbian app. The reason for this is that calls made through our app are routed over our voice network (treated like a normal phonecall) as opposed to our data network. Because our Skype calls are ‘voice’ we can make them free. Skype’s Symbian app sends calls over data, hence the charge. Can I ask why you find that app better to use?
isau 08/07/2010
Just got E72 on 3, and pleased with it too (iPhone 4 desirable but can’t justify expense and prepared to wait for Android to be refined and cheaper…).
My question: the official Skype for Symbian client is far superior to the iSkoot client provided by 3 (eg it includes access to Skype voicemails etc); so can I use the Skype for Symbian client instead and still benefit from the “free calls for ever on 3″?
(if someone from 3 responds, it would be useful all round, if the answer is “no”, to get an explanation as to why not – thanks.)
Moderator 02/07/2010
@Royston – just had a look online. It looks like it’s available from £28 per month. There might be something we can do for you at the point of upgrade, but you’d have to chat to our advisors about that
Roystan 02/07/2010
@Mod, lol very good
One more question….. How come all the tarriffs have gone up in price? Will I still be able to try and get a slightly better deal come upgrade time? Idealy £25 pm.
Thanks in advance.
Moderator 02/07/2010
@Roystan – and as if by magic… Sony Ericsson X10 Mini Pro is here
Moderator 02/07/2010
@Roystan – I believe that’s the plan
Roystan 02/07/2010
@Mod, fantastic. By September?
Moderator 01/07/2010
@Royston – it will indeed