Red Bull Mobile has arrived and is powered by Cell C’s new generation, superfast network and offers unlimited access to the world of Red Bull on a customized smartphone. Personalities like 5FM’s Poppy Ntshongwana and DJ Euphonik  and big name athletes Ryan Sandes and Khotso Mokoena are already RBM users as well as 5FM’s DJ Fresh.

I have been test trying the new handset for just under two weeks now and it’s time to produce the review I promised. I would just like to say a very special thank you to Cherene Nel and her team at Cell C and Red Bull Mobile.

There are two postpaid contracts to choose from. Each package offers a choice of two phones:

The RBM 100 package costs R149 per month (on a 24-month contract). Users choose either a branded Huawei Android smartphone – the RBM C or the Nokia 5230 – 100 anytime minutes p/m, 50 messages (SMS or MMS) p/m, 250MB of data p/m

The RBM 200 package is priced at R249 per month (on a 24-month contract). This offering gives users the choice of the RBM HD branded Huawei or the Motorola MB525 Android smartphones, 200 anytime minutes p/m, 100 messages (SMSs and MMSs) p/m, 500 MB of data p/m, and a two-year subscription to The Red Bulletin magazine.

Day to Day Use

The menu is very slick and its touch screen function is fast and effective.  Inside the menu you will find all your apps, some of which are pre-loaded and some you will have to get from the Android Marketplace. The market place is amazing, most of the apps I find myself interested in have been free and download very quickly.

As the Red Bull mobile I’ve been testing out is an android driven device which is known for heavy battery usage, I was pleasantly surprised at its battery life. It lasts for a good day or so with heavy usage and it is ridiculously quick to charge up again. Definitely racked up a fair share of points for that ability alone.

Operating System

So this is my first experience with the Android OS and I have to say I am pretty impressed, it’s also the worlds 1st HSPA+ smartphone with Google’s Android 2.2 operating system embedded which means you could hit DL speeds of up to 14Mb/s.

Red Bull now provides a mobile phone service but not own its own network infrastructure. If you become a Red Bull Mobile subscriber, you’ll be using Cell C’s new 4G network.

Special Features

Red Bull TV: Exclusive video streams for football games, extreme videos, music events or interviews.

Mobile Portal: The Red Bull Mobile Portal offers you exclusive content such as news on events from the world of Red Bull, glimpses into the athlete’s daily lives, action videos as well as the aforementioned Red Bull TV. You can also download music, apps and games as well as see constantly updated messages and sport reports. Music: a pool of ± 3,000 shows from the Red Bull Music Academy. This content can be streamed to the Red Bull Mobile handset. There is also an Android radio app that will be available via the mobile portal (pre-installed on the all four smartphones.)

Exclusive apps : The Red Bull Mobile smartphones have a number of applications pre-loaded, including Red Bull Music Academy Radio and Red Bull X-Fighters. Coach which is a personal training and monitoring app like Adidas’s miCoach, Community which brings your social media services like Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and YouTube together, and games like Red Bull Flugtag and Red Bull X-Fighters.

Red Bull Events: With the handsets and rates from Red Bull Mobile you can meet Red Bull athletes in person, experience live music and win adventures, such as a flight in the Red Bull Mobile stunt plane with Glen Dell. You also get special access to the top nightclubs in your city and a chance to receive exclusive concert tickets.

Red Bull Mobile customers are also to receive invites and first right to tickets for Red Bull events such as Red Bull Racing at the Top Gear Live Festival in March, as well as your personal monthly copy of The Red Bulletin.

Verdict

So having said all this, what is the verdict? And if it’s really just Cell C, why would you want to sign up with Red Bull Mobile you may ask? I have been using the phone now for 2 weeks and have never looked back. It’s all to do with the amazing content, event info and applications. There’s nothing the phone doesn’t offer and with the following features it makes the handset a dream.