Not falling behind in time, when all services and makers are announcing smart-phones, Vodafone has announced the launch of its 360 service and named the first phones which can be expected in the series. The service was launched in Europe today and aims at offering the operations of a smartphone combined with store for downloading applications all at one platform.

At its core, the 360 service is a way of staying in touch with friends, family and colleagues and creating a circle of them at one place. It merges a user's contact book with the range of social networking services that are being used nowadays, including Facebook, Live Messenger and Gtalk, Twitter and many other are soon to follow, according to Vodafone.

For customers who buy the Vodafone's much anticipated and eagerly awaited pound 35 a month Samsung H1 cellphone, which will be offered with a two year contract, the 360 service will be pre-installed. Initial trials of the same have mostly received very positive reviews and critics have found the phone and combined system to be much user friendly and responsive.

Vodafone's Samsung H1 is all set to go on sale coming Friday. The company's cheaper offering, the N1, on the other hand, will be released right before Christmas. In addition to the H1 and 360 service, Vodafone is also ready to launch its Symbian S60 handsets service. The entire Nokia ecosystem is covered by this.