Vodafone Extends Battle With EE to Hardware: Launches New Exclusive Budget 4G Handsets in the United Kingdom

Vodafone, which took on EE last month by extending its 4G service to new cities and towns in the United Kingdom, has now intensified battle with EE by launching two exclusive budget smartphones called Smart 4 power and Smart 4 turbo.

The Vodafone Smart 4 turbo costs £135 on Vodafone 'pay as you go' and is available for £31.50 per month on Vodafone Red 4G tariff plan. As of now, the other Vodafone device, Smart 4 power, is yet to get a price tag.

Both the smartphones are 4G enabled, and are claimed to offer download speeds of up to 150 Mbps, the devices run Android 4.4.KitKat operating system and flaunt a 5MP rear HD camera.

Other technical specifications of the smartphones include:

Vodafone Smart 4 power: 5in multi-touch IPS display, Android 4.4 KitKat operating system, 1.3GHz quad-core processor, 5MP rear HD camera along with a VGA front camera, 4G connectivity that is claimed to attain data download speeds up to 150Mbps, 300 mAh battery.

Vodafone Smart 4 turbo: 4.5in multi-touch capacitive touchscreen display, Android 4.4 KitKat operating system, 1.32 GHz quad-core processor, 1GB RAM, 5MP rear HD camera along with a VGA front snapper, 4G connectivity with claimed data download speeds up to 150 Mbps.

"These two new devices offer great value for people looking at our Red 4G plans, and when we launch 4G on 'pay as you go,' these devices will be ready to bring that ultrafast experience to a new group of customers, too," said Vodafone's Tim Newell.

On paper, the technical specifications of Vodafone's exclusive smartphones make the devices a perfect fit for first-time smartphone buyers preferring to use mobile devices for tasks such as social networking, multimedia upload/download and instant messaging.

Both Vodafone Smart 4 turbo and Smart 4 power directly target EE's low-cost offering Kestrel that went up for sale in May this year. EE Kestrel costs £99 for pay-as-you-go customers in the UK.

With both EE and Vodafone having launched exclusive 4G devices within a relatively short period of time, the value for money gadget segment in the United Kingdom seems to have got the much required impetus, after Moto G sales (last quarter) proved that people still preferred value-for-money devices, over high-end ones.

Both Vodafone Smart 4 turbo and Smart 4 power are slated to be launched all over the United Kingdom this summer.

4G network landscape in the United Kingdom has been dominated by EE, which has set itself a target of 6 million exclusive 4G customers by the end of 2014.

Vodafone, earlier in the year, stated that the company could woo only 637,000 customers to its 4G network from the time its 4G wireless services rolled out in 2013.