This Monday, German no-frills provider Fonic will launch a call-through service called “Fonic Call Home”. This new call-through service offers Fonic customers to make phone calls from 15 selected countries to Germany for rates of € 0.09 (to home phones in Germany) or € 0.29 (to mobile phones) per minute. However, the Fonic customers cannot make these call-through phone by mobile phone – “Fonic Call Home” is only available at landline connections.

Today, Vodafone has launched the first Blackberry on a prepaid plan in Germany. Vodafone customers can now combine the prepaid plan “CallYa OpenEnd Smartphone”, which costs € 2.49 per month, with the new tariff option called “CallYa Smartphone Blackberry”, which costs additional € 9.99 per month. The new Blackberry prepaid plan offers unlimited mobile Internet access, email and Blackberry Messenger over the German Vodafone network.

At home you are used to having access to email, apps and the web and when traveling you want to have it, too. Depending on the destination country and on how often and how long the user wants to connect to the web, it might also be ok to keep the SIM card of the German provider in the smart-phone during the trip. Here is a short overview of what users of a prepaid SIM card of a German provider pay for mobile Internet access on their smart-phone when being in another country.

For the brand’s first birthday, Telefónica Germany (O2) has relaunched the mobile advertising tariff called Netzclub. Instead of having the choice between three different tariff versions, customers can now choose between two versions, both with a mobile data flat rate tariff option for mobile Internet access over the network of Telefónica Germany. “Sponsored Surf Basic” offers monthly mobile Internet access for free with up to 100 MB data volume for transfers with HSPA speeds of up to 7.2 mbps (download). Alternatively, smart-phone users can surf the web with 300 MB data volume for transfers with HSPA speed with the “Sponsored Surf Pro” tariff which costs € 5.00 per month.

German operator E-Plus is expected to launch its branded Android tablet Base Tab within a few days. The device will be available with a mobile data flat rate tariff for € 19.00 per month over a two-year period. Taking into account the monthly fee of € 10.00 for the mobile data flat rate tariff over a period of 24 months, the costs for the Base Tab itself will amount to € 216.00. Here is a short review of the Base Tab.

The LG P990 Optimus Speed (aka 2X) has been the first smart-phone in the market being powered by a dual core processor. In more specific terms, the LG Optimus Speed is powered by the Nvidia dual core processor Tegra 2 with 1 GHz and with a separate graphics unit that should arrange for smoothly running programs and applications even when these require a lot of processing power. Here is a short review of the LG Optimus Speed.

German operator E-Plus (Base) will launch its own tablet Base Tab in mid-June. The device will be available with a mobile data flat rate tariff for € 19.00 per month over a two-year period. In terms of figures, the Base Tab will cost € 216.00 because the regular monthly fee for the “Base Internet Flat” for accessing the Internet via GPRS or UMTS/HSDPA over the mobile network of E-Plus amounts to € 10.00 per month.

There are differences between the two tablets: While the Vodafone version Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1v is 10.9 millimeters thick and features a 8.1-megapixel camera, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 is slimmer (8.6 millimeter) and comes with a 3-megapixel camera. Vodafone is offering the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1v for a purchase price of € 659.90 without plan. Here is a short review on the Samsung tablet being available at Vodafone shops.

Consumers get an LTE connection with 10 GB of data volume per month for data transfer with the maximum speed of up to 7.2 mbps (download) for a monthly fee of € 29.90 over the first six months. After the first half year, Telefónica Germany raises the monthly for the LTE connection for private customers to € 39.90. Freelancers, self-employed and small businesses pay the same amount of money for their LTE connection, but get 12 GB of data volume per month for data transfers with maximum speed.

The Sony Ericsson Xperia Play is the first smart-phone in the market that complies with the requirements of the Playstation Suite Initiative to play Playstation certified games. Even though it does not serve as a substitute of one of the more powerful games consoles Playstation and Playstation Portable, it sports all features of an adequate gaming console and addresses smart-phone users who want to have a game pad rather than just a touch-screen for gaming with their mobile or who are not satisfied with the range of games in the Android market.

On June 18th, Vodafone will launch a specific pay as you go tariff for users of a Blackberry smart-phone. The new Blackberry prepaid tariff will be called “CallYa Blackberry Smartphone” and come with a fee of € 9.99 over 30 days. This tariff includes 200 MB of data volume per month for surfing the web, instant messaging, e-mail and the use of social networks. Customers with the “CallYa Blackberry Smartphone” will be able to use web and WAP services as well as the Blackberry Internet Service (BIS).

Telefónica Germany is one of the first telecommunication providers to introduce a rating system in Germany that assesses the environmental and social compatibility of mobile phones. The system is called Eco Index. As a result, and effective immediately, customers can find information on-line about the sustainability aspects of their preferred mobile phone. Starting in autumn, that information will also be available in shops.