MWC: Brits denied Orange Android tablet, ripped off on roaming tariffs

DON'T BOTHER looking at the specs of Orange's own tablet because you can't buy it and don't even think about going abroad if you're an Orange customer.

This is because new tablet and tariff announcements made by Orange at Mobile World Congress have excluded Brits. Orange announced a budget 7-inch Android 2.1 tablet, but decided to release it only four markets - Spain, Poland, Slovakia and Romania.

We can hazard a guess why - Orange may be just testing the tablet waters, to see what demand is like. It would also be a risk putting out an Android 2.1 tablet against a market that will see the release of some Android 3.0 big hitters, even if the price was low.

But Orange customers will probably be a lot more frustrated over data roaming tariffs. Smartphone Internet usage can be notoriously expensive in other countries, with Vodafone an exception in doing fairly cheap roaming with a £2 for 25MB deal.

Orange currently has a safeguard that says you will not pay more than 2 euros for 2MB, and new deal announced at MWC where you can get 50MB for 15 euros. Nice sounding deals you might say, but if you're a UK customer, you're not getting it. Instead you can buy 50MB for about £40.

When we pressed Orange for an answer as to why, it only had this to say, "Across all of our markets we aim to offer the right products and tariffs for the consumer base. In the four markets mentioned - Spain, Romania, Poland and Slovakia - there is a space in our portfolio for an entry-level tablet device to bring mobile computing to all. In other more developed markets we feel we currently have the right level of device and pricing."

So there isn't enough space in the UK with a population of over 60 million people for a tablet when the company already sells the Ipad? Or is that, Orange knows a good thing when it sees one, it can sell an overpriced Apple branded shiny drinks tray but dares not upset the applecart with a cheaper product that is just as good. Hello rip off Britain µ