Australia : Hutchison Telecoms today announced the latest 3 video mobile - the Motorola A835 - and a special offer to allow the first customers to get a saving of up to $361 by pre-ordering now.

Awesome photo of the Motorola A835 here. - click link for another photo.

In a first for the Australian market, the pre-delivery offer will provide a benefit not available once mobiles have arrived in 3 Shops, in about a month's time.

The new Motorola A835 has a sharp, compact design and offers a high quality zoom camera and speakerphone that makes video calling - video mobile technology's most unique feature - an easier and better quality experience than ever before. In addition, wireless Bluetooth technology is incorporated for wireless connections.

Hutchison Chief Executive Kevin Russell said the latest offering was sure to spark high consumer interest.

Awesome photo of the Motorola A835 here. - click link for another photo.

"Having achieved sales of more than 50,000, we have sold out of supplies of our first Motorola mobile (the A830) and our biggest seller, the NEC e606. Last month we introduced the A920, a mobile we expect to set the standard for the industry for some time to come," Mr Russell said.

"Now we have the NEC e808 and the Motorola A920 and are soon to have the new Motorola A835. This suite of mobiles provides real consumer choice which we expect to boost consumer interest. In anticipation of this, we are offering customers the chance to be the first to order the new 3 mobile - and get the benefit of a saving of up to $361 of the standard outright price," he said.

"A pre-delivery customer will pay only $384, or $16 a month for 24 months, for this high-quality mobile, when they connect to '3 for All' on a 24 month service plan. That is a terrific price - especially when you also take into account 3's extremely attractive pricing for our unique Videotalk and other video sport, finance and entertainment services, as well as Talk, SMS and MMS."

In addition to rewarding customers who make the decision to buy, the pre-delivery offer will help 3 with the logistical tasks of distribution and provisioning of new services.

An advertising campaign will begin on Sunday in metropolitan newspapers and television, with radio commercials airing from 26 October.

As well as providing greater handset choice, the arrival of the A835 heralds greater choice in pricing plans available to customers and reductions in some charges.

From 1 November, the '3 for All' pricing model will replace the 'First on 3' introductory offer. With '3 for All', connection fees and the price for Videotalk calls within Australia have been cut in half. The connection fee is now $50 and Videotalk calls within Australia are 25 cents per 30 seconds, plus 25c flagfall.

In '3 for All', when the customer connects before the end of the year, they pay for the first $99 of voice call and SMS charges each month and 3 pays for the next $99 of Talk and SMS in that month.

With the new '3 for All' pricing plans, customers can pay as little as 10 cents per SMS to any mobile - one of the lowest price offers for consumer customers in the 'to any mobile' SMS market today.

Another '3 for All' innovation provides customers with a monthly handset credit, equivalent to their monthly handset instalment, when they spend an amount equal to the monthly instalment on 'World of 3' services. 'World of 3' includes Videotalk, MMS, email and news, information and entertainment services.

Customers will continue to be able to buy outright, without committing to a contract. The greater the minimum monthly spend on Talk, SMS and voicemail, the lower the Talk and SMS rates. There are three options:

$15 minimum monthly spend = 25 cents per 30 seconds for talk calls (plus 25c flagfall); 20 cents per SMS.
$30 minimum monthly spend = 20c / 30secs talk (plus 25c flagfall); 15c SMS
$50 minimum monthly spend = 15c / 30secs talk (plus 25c flagfall); 10c SMS

Key specifications for the Motorola A835 include:

4x Zoom video and still camera
High resolution screen capable of video playback at 15 frames per second
Speakerphone for both video calling and voice calling
Large internal memory of 64mb - enough to store over one hour's worth of typical video content from 3
Bluetooth and infrared for wireless connections
Send and receive emails, as well as text, picture and video messages
MP3 player
PC software that allows easy synchronisation with contact, calendar and tasks as well as ability to transfer or upload content such as clips, photos or ringtones from a PC/laptop to the handset.