New Zealand, April 23, 2012: Huawei and Vodafone have joined forces to launch the Huawei Ascend G 300, delivering the high specifications previously reserved for phones with equally high price tags.

The Huawei Ascend G 300 launches with the Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) operating system and is powered by a 1GHz CPU, 512MB RAM and a powerful 3D graphics engine. It features a bright, vivid 4.0-inch screen and five-megapixel camera.

Yes that is a Telecom HTC One X in the above picture, and yes the HTC One X is now available through Vodafone. Instead of waiting for the seemingly official launch on Thursday, Vodafone has jumped the gun, preferring agility over value. You can grab the HTC One X through Vodafone's online store (I'm not sure about retail stores and Digital Mobile) for $999, and if you are one of the first 50 orders you will get a set of urBeats earphones free of charge.

On the very first day of the month, I revealed that Vodafone was due to launch the Samsung Galaxy Note sometime this month. This day seems to have arrived. It is reportedly now available through Vodafone stores and online in the coming days. Vodafone's website has not been updated to reflect this just yet. This also means exact launch pricing is still unknown but expect it to be either $1,099 or $1,199.

We will also be getting our hands on the Note in the coming weeks so expect a full-on review!

One of the most popular threads over in Vodafone's official forums is one where many users are left wondering where the Android 2.3.6 update is for their Vodafone Galaxy S II. Well John Reader (johnr) is essentially the spokesman of Vodafone New Zealand on the mobile front and has passed on this quote from Samsung in the aforementioned thread.

Not to be mistaken for the recently announced dual core Sony Xperia S, the Xperia Arc S is finally available through Vodafone as of today. I have been watching Vodafone's "Coming soon" page for many months now and the Arc S has been the highlight for that whole duration. I am not sure what has caused the delay (apparently advertising has been seen in some Vodafone stores) but the Xperia Arc successor is now here.

This is something I have known for over a week now but I have been trying to find out a few more details around the launch. Samsung's unique device will launch on Vodafone later this month for around $1,099. The 5.3 inch Note has been labelled as a "phablet" and judging by screen size alone this is obviously the case. Smartphone screens are currently hovering at around 4.3 to 4.65 inches while even small tablets are 7 inches or more.

Way back near the end of September I personally added an extra piece of information to a widely reported ZTE T98 tablet. This piece of information was that it appeared to be a Vodafone bound tablet. Now we jump forward to an hour just past midnight local time where I find myself casually browsing through Vodafone's coming soon section and I see something that looks familiar to that same tablet I posted about those months ago.

Further digging showed that perhaps the original leak may have been incorrect or this is a slightly different tablet. The original T98 tablet had a Tegra 3 chipset while the Smart Tab will have a Qualcomm Snapdragon S3 series chipset (as proposed by the Qualcomm image on the Vodafone international website.) In addition to that there is now a 10 inch version that is identical in every way except for the screen size.

The New Zealand mobile carrier landscape. Is it good? Is it not so good? Is it heading in the right direction? Or is it not? Call it cliche but that’s what I’ll be delving into right now.

As we reported last week Vodafone launched the massive HTC Sensation XL with a 4.7 inch screen. As of today you can now purchase the Sensation XL complete with the Beats Audio solution from Vodafone.

Other specifications include a 1.5 GHz Qualcomm S3 Chipset, 768 MB RAM, 16 GB built-in storage (no MicroSD slot) and a 8 MP rear camera. Sadly the 4.7 inch S-LCD screen is not HD or even qHD like the standard Sensation, instead there it is your typical 800x480 resolution. It will run HTC's Sense 3.5 UI and run Gingerbread with an expected Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade in future.

HTC UNLEASH THE HTC SENSATION XL™ AND HTC EXPLORER™ EXCLUSIVELY WITH VODAFONE NEW ZEALAND

Sydney, Australia – November 3, 2011 – HTC Corporation, a global designer of mobile devices, today unveiled the latest additions to its growing portfolio of devices –  the HTC Sensation™ XL with Beats Audio™ integration, and the HTC Explorer™ its most affordable smartphone, both available exclusively on the Vodafone New Zealand network.