I just had an interesting phone call with the London Nokia Flagship store.

They have two contracts available for the N900:

T-mobile:

Cost: £35pm (handset free of charge)
Contract duration: 18 months
X-net minutes: 700
Texts: Unlimited
Mobile Web: Unlimited (FUP 1Gb/m)

Vodafone:

Cost: £35pm (handset free of charge)
Contract duration: 24 months
X-net minutes: 600
Texts: Unlimited
Mobile Web: Unlimited (FUP 500Mb/m)

T-mobile seems a clear winner, right? Well, maybe not. The chap I spoke to said that the T-mobile phones will be both locked to the T-mobile network, and operator branded. He confirmed that this meant T-mobile will release their own version of the firmware, and nokia provided firmware will not work. Vodafone will be completely unbranded / unlocked.

I don't mind a network lock so much, but the operator branding just isn't acceptable, especially without knowing how easy it will be to circumvent. Then again, I suspect the employee I talked to gets a better commission on Vodafone sales... What are the chances he doesn't have his facts straight?

Either way, all of you with MPD T-mobile contracts might want to get a bit nervous!