PocketSurfer2: World's fastest handheld Internet device

If simplicity is what you’re looking for when doing internet on the go, then PocketSurfer2 from DataWind could be your solution. The bonus is that the product, launched by DataWind — a company set up by Indo-Canadian entrepreneur Suneet Singh Tuli — comes at a competitive cost and is bundled with free net usage of 35 hours per month for a whole year.
Dubbed as the world’s fastest handheld Internet device offering free mobile Internet access, the product addresses the common problems of slow bandwidth, small screens, insufficient memory and low processing power. The screen size is comfortable. The gadget is somewhat low on looks, but the functional advantages to some extent make up for the lack of it.
The 640-pixel full-colour wide screen is definitely better than most mobile phones when it comes to surfing on the move. There’s full HTML, graphics, Java-Script, Ajax, Frames and other web functional support. Moreover, the keyboard is bigger than most other handhelds that are used for surfing.
Besides the 35 hours of free usage per month for a full year that is bundled into the product, an unlimited usage plan is also available at just Rs 99 extra. The second year of service comes for Rs 999 with 35 hours per month for the year. While the free high speed Internet access is valid anywhere in India, the company can also upgrade the device with an international service at extra global roaming costs.
Priced at Rs 11,990 including taxes, the product definitely comes at a competitive cost. And while the device does not have multifunctionality, it’s simplicity could become an advantage for people who need to use the internet often on the move. It offers freedom from complex multifunctional mobile phones, which are very expensive and come with lots of bells and whistles.
And even for people who travel with their laptops, the PocketSurfer2 could come in handy in small spaces such as restaurants and counters. The fact that the connectivity is through a GPRS network also makes the device ubiquitous since WiFi networks are still very limited in India. The backend technology of the device is robust and the web experience is fast.
In fact, one of the features that it offers is location-based information on graphics rich maps with directions through its GPS support. The battery life of this gadget is four hours on active usage and four days on standby. It takes three hours to recharge completely. At 174 gm, the weight is just about manageable in a coat or jacket pocket.

Samsung debuts Omnia touch phone in Middle East

Samsung Electronics has launched its top selling Omnia touch phone in the Middle East.
“The Samsung Omnia is everything you could ever wish for in a mobile phone. Whether its surfing the net at high speeds, listening to your favourite radio station whilst navigating to your destination or sending high quality photos to your friends, whatever it is this phone does more,” said Sandeep Saihgal, general manager of Mobile Phones Division at Samsung Gulf Electronics.
“We are pleased to be able to offer the Omnia touch phone in both English and Arabic and hope that this feature will further solidify Samsung’s prominence in the full-touch market.”
Samsung’s cutting-edge smart phone Omnia is emerging as the hottest-selling model in major European smart phone markets, he added.
'We’re seeing a major shift towards smartphones, like the Omnia, in the Middle East and research findings show that more than one in four handsets will be a smartphone with more than 1.5 billion being sold in year 2010.'
'This growth will be driven by applications that enable the consumer to enjoy accessible and relevant mobile phone and internet browsing.” Saihgal said.
With Samsung’s patented TouchWiz the user interface makes entering data and text simple.
The phone's high resolution touch-sensitive screen uses intuitive tap, sweep, drag and drop operations as well as an on-screen keyboard.
The wide 3.2-inch WQVGA LCD screen makes the Omnia great for viewing videos and slide shows in high-resolution and advanced audio capabilities, he explained.
The phone also comes equipped with a five-megapixel CMOS camera with the latest value-added features and the handset’s generous internal memory (available in 8GB or 16 GB capacity options and extendable slot for additions) ensures ample storage space for digital assets like music.
Samsung Omnia also offers GPS, including navigation and geo-tagging capabilities.
Based on the most up to date Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional operating system, the Omnia offers access to MS Office documents such as PowerPoint, Excel and Word. Users can also send and receive email and manage their appointments in Outlook while on the go.

Why we need 3G ?

At times, we as a nation tend to get ahead of ourselves. Or at least many of us do. Look at 3G, the new mobile phone technology that has transformed the lives of people in many other nations, starting with Japan nearly a decade ago. For about six months now, many of us have been buying 3G handsets including the iconic iPhone — the latter at prices exceeding Rs 31,000 — for a feature that is not even available, and may not be available very soon. Think of it as buying a car before a road has been built. Without the new technology and zippy downloads that allow even television to be watched on a mobile phone, such gadgets remain mere toys.

India has squandered several years of tearaway growth of its mobile market and now finds itself a laggard in the rollout of 3G, or third generation, technology. It might seem like poor consolation, but India is not the only major nation that has stood still while the rest of the world marched along. China, too. This, ironically, means the world’s two largest cellphone markets don’t have access to the newest technology. China is paying the price for a critical mis-step — choosing a home-grown technology. India rolled out 3G in Delhi at the turn of this year but it is only symbolic. Only small pockets of the Indian capital enjoy the ser-vice, minus the bells and whistles that would accompany a total rollout. Meanwhile, it is not just the advanced economies that lead India. Several smaller countries, and emerging markets, have. In fact, the shining star in the Asian region is Indonesia, which has eclipsed front-runners such as Korea. Why do we really need 3G? We need it not only to satisfy our craving for instant gratification, whether to download the latest music, watch videos or live cricket, or Internet surfing. “There is a pent-up demand for richer (mobile) experience, even for voice, spectrum is choc-a-block” resulting in poor quality services, says Nareshchandra Singh, an analyst at IT research group Gartner.

We need the new technology also to fulfil, and create new, business. A remarkable finding in recent years is the positive correlation between GDP growth and penetration of mobile phones. According to research by the consulting firm McKinsey, developing countries can raise their gross domestic product by 0.5% if they can increase mobile use by 10 percentage points. The gains each year for India, already a trillion-dollar economy, could be as high as $50 billion — the equivalent of creating two Infosys.

The benefits to India have been demonstrated in recent years. Rapid use of the mobile phone helped India overcome decades of negligible telecom growth. As Singh points out, “India took 50 years to achieve two per cent teledensity” with landline phones, but in only five years, cellular growth pushed teledensity to 20 per cent.

“Cellphone technology is cost-effective and can make things happen faster,” Singh says, whereas “wiring the country takes a long time”.

The rapid adoption of 3G can make up for reverses India has suffered in its bid to expand wired broadband and in its historical inability to quickly raise PC penetration. India has miserably failed in meeting its broadband targets, notably because of the so-called last-mile problem — stretching that cable into homes and offices. India has about 4.1 million broadband lines, compared with China’s 75 million. Similarly, PC penetration has been slow. Consequently, we have only three PCs and one broadband line for every 200 people. Compare this with a cellphone in the hands of every fourth person in the country. New 3G technology has the potential to put a virtual PC with a broadband connection in the hands of over 300 million, the current mobile user base, at one stroke resolving the inadequacies of PC and broadband penetration. Aman Kapoor, who heads a US-based telecom think tank Packetology and has studied the markets in India and other emerging nations, believes it is still not too late for India to seize the opportunity. “I believe if 3G service is priced at Rs. 400 per month — India could have 50 million 3G subscribers,” he says. Most providers have 3G plans in place and could roll out services in six months, Kapoor adds.

For years, progress on 3G has been stalled by political machinations and policy para­lysis, not to mention controversy over the way spectrum was given away to 2G, or second generation, service providers. Unless the spectrum auction takes place, it is hard to tell when 3G will become reality in India. With Lok Sabha elections around the corner, things don't look good and delays may be inevitable. The bottom line: many of us might be left twiddling with that expensive 3G phone we may have bought and might even need to upgrade before 3G rolls out.

Next gen mobiles to identify faces of people you click

The next time you click a picture using your mobile phone, your gadget may identify the faces of all those you clicked. The new face-recognition application which Nokia is working on in collaboration with Korean developers is the latest innovative feature Genext phones are likely to have.

“The modus operandi is simple. You have to identify the face in your album just once. The gadget does a search and identifies all similar looking faces,” explains Kenny Mathers, head, Developers and Channels, Forum Nokia, Asia Pacific.

This is in addition to the time and the location details (tracked on GPS-enabled devcies) that the mobile will throw up. “All you need is a simply S60 Nokia phone with a 3 megapixel camera,” he adds.

If this is not all, there is the new snapdragon format brought out by Qualcomm which combines all the features of a laptop and mobile phone. “While you can watch high definition video, play games and even browse the net, it also has all the voice-features of a mobile phone,” explains Parag Kar, senior director, government affairs, Qualcomm India and South Asia.

“This is almost like the latest notebooks, just that you have additional voice features here,” he says. With the sales of handsets dropping, mobile set-makers are trying to keep their bottomlines intact with exciting features and innovative adaptations. They are penetrating rural markets, customising many applications to suit the semi-literate crowds as well.

Here’s what Santosh Hiralal Ostwal, CEO, Osian Agro Automation, Pune, has developed to help farmers in the parched border areas of Karnataka and Maharashtra.

“Farmers often have their pump sets situated quite far from their houses. We connect a modem and mobile phone to the electrical starter of the water pump. A farmer sitting at home can activate the application. If he dials a number, the pumps start working. You can even know whether water is actually pumped up or not or whether the power supply is on,” explains Santosh. “This can be done with any low-end mobile phone,” says Santosh.

Srinivasan R, CEO, OneViewSystems, Trivandrum, who discovered that the calendar features of mobile phones was what was extensively used, innovated a technology whereby users can record their messages in their own voice.

“At present, we have to key in the text message. Instead of this, you can record the message in your own voice, in whichever language you choose. The recorded voice message comes up at the prescribed time,” says Srinivasan. “Since this is language independent, this application can be of great help to the visually-challenged and the illiterate,” he says. “In US and UK, service-providers extend this facility on the payment of $10. In India this will be around $6,” he says.

Applications like these, which once used to be limited to smart phones which can store enormous amounts of data, is now available even in ordinary phones like the S40 Nokia phones.

Motorola Phones: Mobile Phones With A Difference

In today's time, the youths quite surprisingly, outnumber the other age groups, specially in regard to the usage of mobile phones. Teens and youngsters can be rarely seen without a mobile phone these days. Mobiles phones have become a necessity for them. But they don't select any handset for them at random. Their taste demands, cool and attractive in looks along with funky features such as a good camera, music player qualities and great storage capacity. However, among the youngsters, the Motorola is the favourite brand without any second thoughts.

The Motorola handsets appeal a huge number of youngsters because of their smart and trendy looks and equally smart features. It's not that only youngsters who are attracted towards the Motorola mobile phones, even the adults drool over them. Of late, the latest Motorola handsets, which have become the eye candies for the mobile phone lovers are the Motorola Jewel and Motorola Rokr E8. Both these handsets come enhanced with unique styling and plethora of features.

The Motorola Jewel mobile phone, has been provided with superb styling. This handset is rightly named jewel because of its stupendous and glittering looks. The fine and clear finishing, further makes the appearance of this gadget very similar to a precious jewel. This device comes in a flip design with 90 x 48 x 16 mm dimensions. This gadget is also pretty easy to carry as it is light weight i.e., of 95 grams. The users are privileged with a smart external screen displays time, caller name, new message etc. This device also has some wonderful imaging features. The gadget is provided with 2 mega pixels camera supported by outstanding features like 8x digital zoom, multi shot, landscape mode and quality video recording. Quite interestingly, this widget is also capable of providing musical entertainment.

This handset has been powered with music related features such as music player, music library,
auto pause control and touch sensitive music keys. For network availability, this handset has quad band technology which enables it to access four different 2G network spectrum. This device can also connect you to high speed internet with the help of GPRS and EDGE technologies. The Motorola Jewel also has some other fantastic utility features which makes it a pretty useful device.

On the other hand, the Motorola Rokr E8 model is a state of the art music phone. This gadget has the potential to deliver crystal clear audio quality to the music lovers. This device even has the FM radio option along with music player and high end music management softwares. The gadget can also store large number of tracks with the help of external memory. The external memory can be expanded up to 4 giga bytes with the help of a microSD card. The mobile phone also has an embedded 2 mega pixels camera. The embedded camera comes complimented with extra features such as 8x digital zoom, camera setting and camera modes to capture best shots. For transferring music files, picture etc., this phone is provided with Bluetooth and USB port. The Motorola Rokr E8 handset is has been designed with perfection. This device has touch sensitive keypads and a navigation scroll wheel which would definitely add spice to your connectivity options. The widget has dimensions of 115 x 53 x 10.6mm and weighs 100 grams.

Both Motorola Jewel and Motorola Rokr E8 handsets have their own unique features and unique style. The choice is up to the users to select the one which would perfectly suit their requirements. Last but not the least, it would prove to be a tough decision to select anyone as both these motorola phones have qualities which are highly admired.

Number of mobile phones in the market 'set to top 4bn'

The number of mobile phones in the global market could be up to four billion by the end of 2008, according to a new study.

Research from the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) said last week that mobile phone subscriptions across the world are expected to reach this figure due in part to the rising demand in developing economies, the Associated Press reports.

The ITU also noted the growth in the number of mobile phones sold globally was "impressive", but added its figures did take into account the fact many people have multiple contracts – and as such was not based on fur billion individuals.

Previously, the ITU has said mobile phone subscriptions were over 3.3 billion for the end of 2007, but adds that this latest growth owes a large part to markets including Brazil, Russia, India and China.

"These economies alone are expected to account for over 1.3 billion mobile subscribers by the end of 2008," the ITU said in a statement.

When will the iPhone 3G hit the Indian streets?

The much-awaited news about iPhone 3G’s availability in India is out: Bharti Airtel announced that it will launch the iPhone 3G in India on August 22.

iPhone 3G combines all the features of iPhone plus offers 3G networking. It has built-in GPS for expanded location-based mobile services, and iPhone 2.0 software which includes support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync, and runs hundreds of third-party applications.

“iPhone has been the iconic technology revelation of this year," said Sanjay Kapoor, president of Mobile Services at Bharti Airtel. “Airtel has been at the forefront of innovation and customer delight in the Indian telecom sector. Introducing iPhone 3G to India underscores our commitment to enrich the communication experience of all Airtel users.”

Customers will be able to purchase iPhone 3G at Airtel Relationship Centers. Details of pricing will be announced soon; for now, it seems Airtel wants to retain some sense of mystery, and speculation, that's been built up around the iPhone 3G's launch in India. And what better way to do it than by keeping the consumers guessing about the price!

3G services to enhance Indian mobile industry

3G service to provide wide range of applications along with faster communication.

Communications Minister A. Raja Friday announced the much awaited guidelines for the auction of spectrum, or airwaves, to launch third-generation (3G) mobile phone services in the country.

The 3G service will not only allow much faster communications but also a wide range of applications such as high-speed net access, video calls, fast music and video downloads, interactive gaming and global positioning over internet.

"Spectrum in 2.1 GHz band will be allocated for 3G telecom services throughout the country," Raja told a press conference here, adding some 60 MHz of spectrum was available for wireless telephony in the country.

"We may give licenses to up to 10 operators. It depends on the availability of spectrum. Initially, we will have five players. In Delhi and Mumbai, there will be two operators only. The validity of the license will be 20 years."

He said a reserve price of Rs.1.6 billion ($40 million) had been fixed for Delhi, Mumbai and all 'A' category circles, half that for Kolkata and 'B' category circles and Rs.300 million ($7.5 million) for category 'C' circles.

The base price would add up to Rs.28 billion for an all-India licence and the government expects to earn more than Rs.300 billion ($7.5 billion) from the auction of spectrum for 3G services.

State-run Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) that provides telecom services in Delhi and Mumbai, and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL), which caters to the rest of the country, need not bid for spectrum but have to pay the highest price.

Raja said his ministry was also in talks with National Security Advisor M.K. Narayanan, who has been entrusted with the task of finding out how much of the spectrum available with the defense forces can be used for civilian purposes.

"Once the armed forces release spectrum, we may accommodate more operators for 3G services."

Global telecom companies and new entrants in the industry can also bid but they will have to pay an entry fee for the cost of a telecom license over and above their bid price for the spectrum auction.

"We welcome the government's announcement of its 3G policy and believe this will benefit the entire wireless communications ecosystem," said Kanwalinder Singh, president for India operations of Qualcomm - a major player in 3G industry.

"3G will bring efficient voice and rich data services to Indian consumers."

The first 3G networks were rolled out in Japan in 2001 and since then, over 71 countries have adopted some form of the technology. Many mobile phone subscribers in India - who number 286.86 million today - have been keenly awaiting the launch of 3G services.