While Nokia is busy with its preparations to announce the new X and C-Series handsets, here is a gentle reminder from them saying that they have not forgotten their already launched handsets. How, you might ask? Well, by launching expensive, gold plated variants of older devices!
So, what we have here is the Nokia N97 Mini Gold Edition. As made obvious by the naming scheme, the N97 Mini is just the standard N97 Mini - in a gold plated shell! Dressed in 18 carat gold and packed with apps like "ELLE 360Fashion", an application that helps the owner follow the latest fashion trends, it also tries to be a "fashion phone".
On the inside, however, it's the same old hardware. We're talking about the same 3.2 inch 360 x 640 pixels touchscreen display, full QWERTY keyboard, Wi-Fi, HSPA, GPS, Nokia Maps, 3.5mm headset jack, 8GB of internal memory, and a 5MP camera with auto focus and LED flash.
The Nokia N97 mini Gold Edition will be available across Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Africa. As expected, it would not be modestly priced. Be prepared to shell out just over $850 (Rs. 40,000) for this "beauty", if we may call it.
D-Link has launched an all-in-one home network router that combines 802.11n Wi-Fi connectivity with network attached storage (NAS) and USB device-sharing. Besides being a router, D-Link Xtreme N DIR-685 can also operate like a digital photo frame, Internet content player and FTP server.
This router packs a 3.2-inch LCD screen with up to 1.6 million colors support. It can also be used as a digital photo frame to show photos, stream video, check weather forecasts and other live streaming Internet content. The Network Attached Storage (NAS) feature supports both UPnP (Universal Plug-n-Play) server functions and BitTorrent downloads. No need to worry about space since it can store up to 1TB of data on a 2.5-inch SATA drive that mounts into the side panel. A built-in FTP server allows users to access documents, photos, music and other media locally through the home network or remotely across the Internet.
The DIR-685 includes two USB ports and features Gigabit ports for fast wire transfers. With the Wi-Fi Scheduler, you can program to turn off the router's Wi-Fi module at a pre-set time. D-Link's Green technology helps conserve energy by consolidating all functions to a single device instead of many separate products by using the idle mode that automatically turns off power to the LCD screen when not in use.
D-Link DIR-685 is backed by a one-year warranty and will be available throughout the country at an estimated street price of Rs. 15,000.
A recent International Telecommunication Union (ITU) report suggests that the continuing upsurge in the number of people using mobile phones will continue through 2010. In fact, the number of mobile subscriptions will surpass the 5 billion mark sometime this year if the current rate of growth continues!
This means that by the end of 2010, there will be 400 million more mobile subscriptions than in 2009. Last year, the ITU had reported the number of subscriptions to top 4.6 billion. Most of this growth is fueled by the developing and emerging markets - the biggest chunk probably from China and India. In developed countries, the rate of penetration of mobile phones is already well over 100 percent. The developing countries, on the other hand, have, on an average, just 57 percent of its people hooked to mobile phones.
Along with mobile phones, Internet usage is also on the rise with just over 1.7 billion people (26 percent of the world's population) having access to the Web. Landlines, however, continue to die a slow, steady death. The ITU adds that the most advanced countries in telecoms and the Internet terms in 2008 were Sweden, Luxembourg, Denmark, Netherlands, Iceland, Switzerland, Norway and the UK (in Europe), and South Korea and Japan in Asia.
Mi-Fone, Africa's fastest growing mobile phone manufacturer, has entered the Indian market with the launch of a plethora of new phones. Currently available in 15 countries across Africa, Mi-Fone is just into its second year of operations - and already a popular player in the continent. The phones are being launched in India after a yearlong process of setting up a distribution channel across the country.
The newly launched handsets include three from the Mi Q range [Mi-Q (voice/SMS), Mi-Q1 GPRS with camera, Dual SIM card and the Mi-Q5S]. The other phones to be launched are the Mi 323, Mi 338, Mi 2010 and the Mi 350a.
Mi-Q
The Mi-323 is a low-end handset that boats of a 1.8-inch, TFT display with a decent resolution of 128*160. It weighs just 88 grams and is a dual SIM phone well. It supports Bluetooth and GPRS for data transfer. The device also has a full-fledged music player. Music and multimedia files can be stored on the external memory card that this phone supports. There is a "just usable" VGA camera at the rear of the device. The MiFone 323 is priced at Rs. 3,990.Mi338
Next, we have the Mi-338. This phone is a dual SIM, touchscreen device that boats of features like a 2.4-inch, TFT screen capable of QVGA resolutions. The phone weighs in at 100grams and packs in an 800Mah battery, which offers a 3-hour talktime and a 200-hour standby time. For data, there is Bluetooth, USB and GPRS. It has a VGA camera at the rear and also gives the users an option to add an analogue TV receiver. The Mi338 has been priced at Rs. 6,990.Mi-2010
Next in line is the Mi-2010, which is a low-end device from the company. Even this is a dual SIM handset and is a symbol celebrating African sports. It comes with a basic camera at the rear of the device. The Mi-2010 will cost just Rs. 2,999.
Mi350a
Lastly, it's the turn of the Mi-350a - which comes with an external antenna that increases signal reception - a highlight of the phone. Another unique aspect of the phone is the presence of not one, but TWO batteries on the phone with both working separately and thereby ending up giving you a continuous source of power. The two batteries give it a phenomenal 200Mah rating and thereby, the device has a talkltime of 10 hours and 720 hours of standby time. The Mi350a will set you back by Rs. 3,999.
With the Indian mobile phone industry witnessing increasing number of entrants recently, we wonder if these new companies will be able to grab a bite of the huge handset industry pie.
With the great divide between the television and the Internet narrowing over the years, loads of things like cricket matches and the union budget are going online.
If you have been waiting to watch the annual union budget 2009-2010 live, but do not have a television in front of you, do not worry. You can watch the Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee presenting the union budget 2010 in Lok Sabha live on a number of websites that are offering live streaming. These include Moneycontrol MY TV and NDTV Profit.
Other microsites where you can get updates on the budget include BloombergUTV, The Times of India, DNA and so on.
With more and more shows that were limited only to the TV now going online, we now see more people switching over to the Internet. It is a place where you can now watch live IPL (Indian Premier League) cricket matches and also the FM reading out the annual union budget. This is like a boon for people who are on the go and cannot access television during working hours.
It was only last year that the Common Admission Test (CAT), an entrance exam for admission to Post-graduate courses and Fellow Programs in management institutes in India, did away with pen and paper and went online. A lot of hue and cry was made when this decision was first announced. However, now the exam is over and its time for the results.
Results of the CAT exam held in 2009 will be out by the end of this month, which means in the next couple of days. This information comes from the official website. Students can access their results and also check if their name appears in the list of candidates short-listed for interviews at the IIMs for PGP on this same website.
About 2.42 lakh candidates registered for CAT 2009, but in the first administration window, only about 2.16 lakh candidates completed the test. This could be due to technical or other issues faced by candidates as the exam went online for the first time.
We wish all the candidates good luck.
After the announcement of Windows Phone 7 at the Mobile World Congress 2010, we all wanted to know when the first Windows Phone 7 would arrive. Steve Ballmer promised us that it will be out by "Holiday" season - which usually means the November-December period.
This also means that the first phones would be seen only by the last quarter of 2010. However, folks at Engadget had a talk with a few LG Mobile officials who confirmed that a handset named the Apollo might be launched as early as September this year. Some rumors even point towards an August launch. If all goes well, LG might be the first manufacturer amongst the likes of HTC, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Dell, Garmin-Asus, Toshiba and HP to announce the first Windows Phone 7 Series handset.
Vodafone UK has announced the launch of the Sony Ericsson Vivaz in the UK. The phone, based on the S60 platform, was earlier known as the Kurara. After the UK launch, we can expect the Vivaz to be rolled out in other markets too in the near future. Note that the phone is available for pre-order now. The actual sales will begin starting March 9.
The Vivaz boasts a 3.2 inches touchscreen display, 8MP camera with HD(720p) video recording, GPS, Wi-Fi and an 8GB memory card in the box. The Vivaz is the keyboard less version of the Vivaz Pro that was announced at the recently concluded Mobile World Congress 2010. It is smaller than the Satio in terms of the overall size and the screen size -- but has quite a few features that even big brother doesn't have
The Vivaz will be available in four color options -- Moon Silver, Cosmic Black, Galaxy Blue, and Venus Ruby. The phone is expected in India too and might turn out to be a good option should it be priced well under the 30k mark.
LG has announced the launch of its latest clamshell handset, the KF350 in India. Also known as the "Ice Cream" the KF350 is targeted at the fairer sex and has been launched on the eve of International Women's Day early next month.
The KF350 is a clamshell device with a 2.2-inch QVGA, TFT display capable of displaying 262K colors. It also comes with an external LED Matrix display that can display the time and other notifications. The outer shell also has an arrangement of LEDs that can display various lighting effects.
Other features include a 3-megapixel camera, QVGA video recording, FM Radio and a full-fledged music player. The KF350 comes with 25MB of internal memory that can be increased to 2GB using a microSD card. The phone comes with a WAP 2.0/xHTML, HTML browser and offer decent connectivity options with Bluetooth and microUSB. EDGE over GPRS is also supported. The 800 mAH battery is capable of endowing the phone with a 5 hour talk time and a standby time of up to 350 hours.
The LG KF350 is available in White-rosy, Blue and Pistachio colors and has been priced at Rs. 7,949.
If your slow Internet connection has been a cause of great distress to you, BSNL now gives you a reason to stop complaining. The state-owned telecom operator has introduced a new plan that offers broadband speeds of up to 24Mbps.
To avail this service, subscribers will have to pay Rs. 4,999 a month for speeds up to 16 Mbps and Rs 9,999 a month for speeds of up to 24 Mbps. This new high-speed broadband is being made available with Digital Subscriber Loop (VDSL) Technology.
Sounds too good to be true? Well, sadly, there is always some drawback that tags along with such good news. While 24 Mbps broadband will be available only to customers located at a distance of up to 500 metres from the BSNL exchange, 16 Mbps broadband is available to only those residing up to about 1 km away.
The next gen iPad will come with video conferencing and other camera related features. How do we know this? What happened was that Apple had released the third beta of the iPhone OS 3.2 software development kit for the iPad to developers but later pulled it back. However, some developers had already downloaded beta 3 before it was pulled back, reported MacRumors.
Recently, the icons for video chat and other inferences were reported from the iPhone OS 3.2 SDK for iPad. With the third beta of the iPhone OS 3.2 SDK, more references to the camera and tab in the photos.app application discoveredby 9to5 Mac were made. These too indicate that a camera clad iPad is evidential in future. This camera will come with a flash, zoom and will be front facing.
Do check out this photos.app walkthrough from 9to5 Mac.
Apart from that, the iPhone OS 3.2 SDK also revealed that the iPad uses PowerVR SGX graphics hardware which is from the same family as that of iPhone and iPod Touch. The exact snippet from the beta 3 documentation states:
Using OpenGL ES on iPad is identical to using OpenGL ES on other iPhone OS devices. An iPad is a PowerVR SGX device and supports the same basic capabilities as other SGX devices. However, because the processor, memory architecture, and screen dimensions are different for iPad, you should always test your code on an iPad device before shipping to ensure performance meets your requirements.
After knowing all the above mentioned facts, who's going to buy the current generation iPad that would be released in March?
