Vodafone truck can recharge 2,000 devices at once, is coming to an Isle of Wight near you

Nothing like a dead battery to kill your Foursquare buzz at a British summer concert, eh? Vodafone feels your pain and so, in an act of brilliant PR, is rolling out a 40-foot truck capable of charging up to 2,000 devices simultaneously. Peeking inside the 44-ton station, it's hard (for us, anyway) not to think of a bowling alley with cubbies, except they aren't filled with rental clown shoes, but outlets ready to revive iPhones, BlackBerrys, Nokia handsets, and a host of Android phones. The free service is made exclusive to Vodafone UK customers, and the carrier expects to charge roughly 72,000 handsets this summer alone. All told, our friends across the pond will get 11 chances this year to try it out, with the first public outing coming at the Isle of Wight festival next month. If, like us, you'll be stuck elsewhere watching repeats of Lady Gaga's concert special on HBO, have a peek at the Union Jack-blanketed press shots below.

Vodafone charging truck

TheNextWeb

Vodafone (Facebook)

Xperia Play shipment to New Zealand stolen, Vodafone launch delayed (update: fake)

As if Sony Ericsson hasn't already had enough headaches with the Xperia Play. here comes Vodafone New Zealand with the announcement that its launch shipment of the gamer-friendly smartphone has been... stolen! We don't know how many Xperia Plays were in those crates, but it must take a pretty sophisticated operation to snatch up all of Voda's supply for an entire country. This slight hitch in transportation blatant lie follows an unexplained delay in shipments reaching the UK last month, and will compound shortages already caused by limited production capacity in Japan. Man, imagine how terrible this news might have been if the Play actually had any games worth playing.

Update: It's all fake. Vodafone recently released some "security footage" of the "theft" in action, which only served to immediately incite outrage in viewers of the clip, and a Vodafone New Zealand spokesperson admitted to The Australian that the company made up the whole thing. For shame.

@vodafoneNZ (Twitter)

Xperia Play shipment to New Zealand stolen, Vodafone launch delayed

As if Sony Ericsson hasn't already had enough headaches with the Xperia Play, here comes Vodafone New Zealand with the announcement that its launch shipment of the gamer-friendly smartphone has been... stolen! We don't know how many Xperia Plays were in those crates, but it must take a pretty sophisticated operation to snatch up all of Voda's supply for an entire country. This slight hitch in transportation follows an unexplained delay in shipments reaching the UK last month, and will compound shortages already caused by limited production capacity in Japan. Man, imagine how terrible this news might have been if the Play actually had any games worth playing.

@vodafoneNZ (Twitter)