The pre order page has recently popped up on Vodafone UK website. It says the handsets will be shipped as soon as stock is available which is expected to the Sep 27th.
do you know that's their lunching date, can they actually deliver by that time?
any news about their price plan?
They will be shipping from the 4th. So I guess if you order online or over the phone it should be delivered around 5th/6th. No idea about stock at the actual stores i'm afraid!
Cant offer much advice on the price plans either mate as i'm part of a business contract with 6 people on and we pretty much just upgrade to the handset we want every 12 months without any changes to the contract price.
I'm on T-Mobile Uk and bought one last week. Just inserted the SIM and I was up and running in seconds, email, 3G, and all. It'll be worth the wait if you're due for an upgrade, believe me.