Vodafone 553 QWERTY MOBILE!!!

Vodafone 945 Android smartphone and Vodafone 553 touch QWERTY feature phone unveiled:

Vodafone seem pretty keen on continuously expanding their portfolio of own-brand phones and smartphones. The previous global announcement regarding the Vodafone handset line took place in April and unveiled the first Android-powered Vodafone device, the 845.

Vodafone’s second Android smartphone, the 945, was just announced today. This one is clearly a step up in features and specifications from the 845, though it’s not meant to be a replacement, as they’ll both be selling side by side.

The Vodafone 945 features:

• Android 2.1
• a 3.2-inch WQVGA (240×400) capacitive touchscreen
• HSDPA, GPS, WiFi, Bluetooth
• 5 megapixel camera with flash
• 300 MB internal memory, microSD card slot
• Colors: black or silver

If priced accordingly, this could sell very well thanks to its good spec sheet and prove to be a worthy competitor toOrange’s San Francisco (which has a bigger and higher-res screen but a lower megapixel count). The San Francisco’s price, however, is rather tough to beat.

Alongside the 945, Vodafone also introduced the 553. This is a budget touch+QWERTY device. As such, it features a 2.8-inch touchscreen and a side-sliding full QWERTY keyboard. There’s no fancy smartphone OS here, as this is a featurephone. It comes with Opera Mini 5 preinstalled and Vodafone’s 360 People address book.

Other notable features of the Vodafone 553 include a 2 megapixel camera, Bluetooth, FM radio and a microSD card slot.

Both phones will be available in time for the holiday season. The 553 will be aimed more at the pre-pay/pay as you go market.

Pricing is not available yet, but these are (or should be) budget devices after all, so don’t expect anything that will break the bank.