Samsung launched first 4G smartphones

Samsung Electronics launched its first smartphones based on fourth-generation (4G) communication technology in a bid to meet growing demand for high-speed wireless services. Galaxy S2 LTE and Galaxy S2 HD LTE compatible with long-term evolution (LTE) technology were rolled out at a media event held in central Seoul on Monday. 

The two new smartphones support LTE with data transmission five times faster than the existing third-generation (3G) mobile phones, featuring functions offered by Galaxy S2 smartphones, the company said.

                                      

Samsung mobiles Galaxy S2 LTE is equipped with an Android 2.3, or the latest version of the Android platform, a 4.5-inch wide Super AMOLED display and a 1.5 gigahertz dual core processor, while the Galaxy S2 HD LTE is featuring a 4.65-inch high-definition (HD) AMOLED display with 110 per cent natural colour reproduction and 180-degree viewing angle.

                           

“The 4G LTE technology became the base for enjoying high-speed and high- resolution wireless services. The new products will meet rising demand for such services in an environment where global wireless operators are transitioning to 4G networks,” Shin Jong-kyun, President and Head of Samsung's mobile communications business, told reporters. Mr. Shin forecast sales of the new LTE smartphones would approach the ones of the existing Galaxy S series, adding that it might take time to reach the goal as the LTE networks have yet to be covered nationwide. 

Global sales of the Galaxy S2 smartphones reached more than 10 million units since its debut in April, according Samsung. The nation's top wireless carrier SK Telecom plans to offer LTE service nationwide by 2013, with the country's No. 3 mobile operator LG Uplus aiming to cover the service across the country next year.

Vodafone introduces mobile handset

On the back of rolling out their 3G services, Vodafone Essar has launched an exclusively developed phone in collaboration with Facebook.

Meant for the youth as well as the digitally connected generation, Vodafone Blue is globally the first such phone which is fully integrated with facebook, said COO, UP East, Vodafone Essar, Ravi Santhanam.

Mobile usage patterns are changing fast and professionals as well as youth even from smaller towns are increasingly demanding such features in their cellphone.

The handset introduced by Vodafone would make social networking on mobile phones easier and user friendly which would appeal to all segments from small towns to the professionals in the metros, he said.

Ravi Santhanam pointed out that the telecom operator provides 3G services in 11 cities of the UP east circle, right now. With 3G services being expanded to include large number of towns and cities users are also graduating to the host of new features and that their mobile phone can now offer, he said.

Watch Ramlila live on phone at home

Centuries old Ramlila is going to don a new look this season. Come September 27 and the stage theatre based on Hindu mythology is all set to hit the web platform with live webcast. The audio of the grand show will also be available on mobile phones through podcasts. What’s more?

This year, the organisers are also looking at making the event more larger- than-life by coming up with new themes and bigger stages. One Ramlila committee in Delhi is planning to set up Birmingham palace in the backdrop. The times have changed and in order to attract young audience, we have to innovate. We’ll be going live this year on our website. We have a large Indian diaspora living in the UK, the US, Canada and other European countries. We have to cater them as well as they are more into their culture,” said Rahul Sharma of Shri Dharmik Lila committee which organises the show at the Red Fort ground.

Fever 104 FM programmes on demand on 5050104

Love Picture Pandey? Missed your favorite cricketer’s interview? Now you can access all your favorite content anytime. At any time subscribers can browse through and listen to their favorite Fever 104 FM shows by dialing 5050104 from their mobile phones. Fever 104 FM presents some of their signature on-air shows now on mobile. This innovative service will be available pan-India across all major operators. 

The programmes that will be available through a voice portal where mobile subscribers can hear content by Fever 104 FM such as Bollywood Baba, Picture Pandey, Kabeer ke Dohe, Jokes, Sports update/news and many more fun Fever properties. The content is available from all Fever stations including Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Kolkata. 

According to S.Keerthivasan, Business Head, HT Media, said, “We are committed to bringing the best and the most innovative audio content to our listeners through a variety of mediums including radio and mobile phones. It’s a mutually beneficial relationship with the operators where offer their subscribers some exciting content.”

Android mobiles to run on Intel processors

The two companies will work together to optimize future versions of Google's Android mobile software for Intel's "Atom" processors, hoping to speed the development and time-to-market of future Intel-powered smartphones.

The move could jump-start Intel's efforts to expand into the market for mobile phones and touchscreen tablet devices at a time when sales of PCs are slowing.

The first Android phones featuring Google chips should be available in the first half of 2012, Intel executives said at the company's annual developer conference in San Francisco.

Intel is allying itself with one of the biggest players in the mobile industry. In August, Google announced plans to acquire mobile phone maker Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion.

And Android software, which Google licenses free to manufacturers, is currently the most popular smartphone software, ahead of Apple's iOS as well as software by Microsoft and Research in Motion.

While Intel is the world's No. 1 maker of PC microprocessors, it has struggled to gain a foothold in the new class of mobile gadgets such as smartphones and tablets.

Today's crop of smartphones, from the iPhone to devices based on Android software, use chips from companies like Texas Instruments and Samsung which in turn license technology from ARM Holdings.

Those chips are considered more power efficient than Intel's -- a key factor for handheld, battery-powered devices.

Still early days
But Intel Chief Executive Paul Otellini, speaking at the conference, said the smartphone market is still in its early stages.

"The smartphone business is not established in terms of the ultimate shake-out of who's going to win and who is going to lose," Otellini said during a chat with reporters following his keynote speech.

"You saw what happened in terms of how fast Android took share from Apple," he said. "So good products on good platforms can really still make a big difference in this industry."

While Android technically already could support Intel chips, the new partnership will make it much easier for a manufacturer to bring an Intel-based Android phone to market.

Until now, it has been up to phone manufacturers to make their Android phones compatible with Intel chips, whereas future versions of the Android software will work with Intel chips right out of the gate, and will be optimized to take advantage of Intel's technology.

Micromax released Andro A60 and A70 mobile phones

Micromax is secretly working on SuperPhone A85, a smartphone that will feature a gesture control-based user interface and will be targeted at the high-end smartphone category.

"Micromax A85 will most likely feature an 8 megapixel camera and will be launched by year end at a price ranging between Rs 15,000 to Rs 18,000 in India," sources familiar with the development told The Mobile Indian.

Micromax earlier released Andro A60 and A70 mobile phones running Android 2.2 Froyo in India. These handsets created a lot of buzz and hence the company plans to make a mark in the Android space with a high end phone.
Micromax SuperPhone A85 may house a 3.7 to 4 inch capacitive (480 x 800 pixel) display with decent real estate for an improved mobile internet experience.

                   
Under the hood, the A85 will carry an overclocked dual-core Nvidia Tegra T20 processor coupled with 512 MB RAM to power the Android 2.3 Gingerbread operating system. This will be Micromax's first Gingerbread smartphone in India.

Micromax is said to be working on a gesture control supported user interface that makes use of the front facing VGA camera to navigate and scroll through the user interface. At the back will rest a 5 megapixel camera with auto-focus to capture high quality images and hopefully 720p HD video.

SuperPhone A85 will come with 8 GB onboard storage which can be expanded up to 32 GB. To power this phone, Micromax has used a 1650 mAh battery pack.

To compete with the best Android smartphones available in India, Micromax SuperPhone A85 will be priced around Rs 15,000 to Rs 18,000.

Vodafone Facebook phone

The Vodafone 555 Blue features a dedicated Facebook button and integrates the social network with the handset's messages and phonebook. It comes with a proprietary operating system and users reportedly are directly logged in to their Facebook accounts, the moment they turn on their devices. 

On specs front, the phone has a 2.4-inch QVGA display, 2 megapixel camera with flash, optical trackpad and a QWERTY keypad. Reports suggest that the phone lacks 3G & Wi-Fi support and instead, works on 2.5 G and Edge networks.  It has a homescreen widget which brings users the latest Facebook updates from their friends. The handset Vodafone 555 Blue, also known as the Facebook phone has been originally manufactured by TCL.

Ferrari Liquid Mini phone by Acer

The Liquid Mini Ferrari edition will come with an exclusive Bluetooth headset. The phone packs Android 2.3 Gingerbread and will come preinstalled with Ferrari engine sound, Ferrari-themed wallpapers and pictures. The phone's user interface (UI) has also been Ferrari themed. 

Features of this phone, a 3.2-inch HVGA multi-touch capacitive screen, the phone sports a red Ferrari body and weighs mere 105 grams.  It is Powered by 600MHz processor, the phone will come with 5 megapixel camera which is capable of recording at a resolution of 480p, 512MB RAM, and 8GB microSD card. 
                          mobile phone

At the ongoing IFA trade show in Berlin, Acer and Ferrari have teamed up to unveil an Android-powered phone, Acer Liquid Mini Ferrari edition.  

Dual SIM mobiles Wynncom W702 and W100 released in India

The company last made news with the release of the O77 Konnect and O78 Touch handsets. Naveen Kapoor AVP, Wynn Telecom, stated, “The feature packed W100 and magic touch W702 are designed to be best sellers. Though these are priced as entry level phones, they are packed with features such as 2 mega pixel cameras, Dual SIM and MP4 video players, making them excellent phones.”

The W100 GSM+GSM boasts of a 1200mAh battery which is expected to run the phone for a considerably long time. To connect with consumers in India, it also supports Hindi language text. The entertainment factor is taken care of by features like FM radio with recording and video playback supporting MP4 and 3GP content.

                             
The phone supports dual T-Flash card of 8GB + 2GB capacity. For the convenience of users, it is also loaded with facilities like mobile tracker and auto call recording. It happens to sport a dual LED torch as well.

The W702 is a full touch handset powered by a 1000mAh battery. The dual SIM (GSM+GSM) device can be categorized as a youth friendly phone mostly because of its social networking features. It allows chat support for various social networking sites like Facebook or Skype and also provides access to MSN, Yahoo. The phone is Bluetooth and Java enabled and even allows connectivity to a PC. The external memory is expandable up to 16GB and it is available in colors like orange or fluorescent yellow combined with black.

Expected to be available all over India, the Wynncom W702 and W100 are priced at Rs. 2,995 and Rs. 1,495, respectively.

List of top 10 dual SIM mobile phones in India

If you are deciding on your next phone, check out list of the best dual SIM phones:

1. Nokia X1-01: This handset is especially manufactured for the music lovers so it has a speaker vent at its back. It runs on series 30 mobile OS. Besides, the phone is equipped with 1.8-inch 16-colour screen, dedicated music keys and supports upto 16GB micro SD cards. The cost of this handset is Rs. 2,200.

2. Nokia C2-00: After C1-00, Nokia has launched C2-00 dual SIM handset. You can easily swap the multiple SIM cards using the external SIM slot. External SIM slot is not given in every dual SIM handset. Besides, it is equipped with 1.8-inch display, microSD card slot up-to 32 GB expandable memory. It supports GPRS/EDGE, and it has a VGA camera. The price of this handset is Rs. 2,967.

3. Spice Mi-270: This is one of the cheapest Android handsets. Running on Android 2.2 Froyo OS, Spice Mi-270 is a dual SIM handset which comes packed with a 7-inch touchscreen, 2-megapixel camera, Wi-Fi, GPRS/EDGE and GPS connectivity. The handset is priced at Rs. 5,700.

4. Samsung Corby II S3850: Samsung Corby II is the successor of the original Samsung Corby. This dual SIM handset is equipped with a capacitive touchscreen, 2-megapixel camera, FM Radio, and social networking integration. This handset supports Wi-Fi, GPRS and EDGE connectivity.
The price of this handset is Rs. 5,600.

5. Videocon V1855: This dual SIM mobiles has 8-megapixel camera which is supported by flash, face detection and smile detection. It doesn’t support Wi-Fi connectivity, but it supports the GPRS/EDGE capabilities. This phone comes pre-loaded with social networking and message clients.
The price of this handset is Rs. 6,000.

6. Samsung Chat 332: This dual SIM handset has a 2.2- inch display and QWERTY four-row keypad. It also has 1.3-megapixel camera with video recording feature. This handset supports up-to 8GB microSD card.
The cost of this handset is Rs. 3949.

7. Micromax X222: This handset has a 2.4-inch display with 240 x 320 pixels resolution. It supports GPRS facility. It is equipped with Bluetooth, expandable memory up-to 8GB with MicroSD card, FM Radio, video player, and VGA camera. The price of this handset is Rs. 2,700.

8. Micromax Q80: Micromax Q80 is a dual SIM phone with 2.4 inch TFT touchscreen display. It is equipped with 3.5mm jack, Yamaha amplifier, great sound quality, 68MB internal memory that is expandable up-to 8GB. This handset supports 3G-connectivity. The price of this handset is Rs. 4600.

9. LG KS660: LG KS660 runs on tri-band network. It has 3-inch TFT touchscreen display, 5-megapixel camera with autofocus, video recording, flash, 50MB internal memory with microSDHC memory slot, integrated accelerometer. The price of this handset is Rs. 7769.

10. Maxx MS727: This phone comes with 2.4-inch touchscreen display, 1.3-megapixel camera, audio player (MP3&WAV), video player (MP4&3GPP), FM Radio, Bluetooth, Opera Mini browser, and 2GB Memory card pre-installed. The price of this handset is Rs. 3,395.

Philips to launch six touchscreen phones

Philips quit the mobile phone space more than a decade ago but the brand is now making a comeback on 7 September with the launch of six touchscreen feature phones with extremely long battery life.

Among the features phones are two dual SIM full touchscreen devices, and three bar phones with long battery life. None of the phones comes with 3G, however two of the touchscreen devices support Edge.
X806 Black will be one of the dual SIM phones which will have a 3 inch touchscreen display and a 5 megapixel auto focus camera with Flash. It also offers up to one month of standby support and 70 hours of music play back time through its 1530 mAh battery.


The other phone is the X518 Black. It too is a dual SIM device with a small 2.8 inch touchscreen display, with a 2 megapixel camera. Both the phones support external SD cards for memory.

The company will also launch smartphones that use the same technology in October, but for the time being we will have to wait and see how the phones deliver on the promises.

The phone offers 12 hours of talktime and a month's standby time. The exceptionally long battery life is thanks to a technology called Xenium, which allows the phone to use near zero battery while on standby mode, extending battery life considerably as much of the time even the most prolific users' phones lie unused.

Sony Ericsson will announce a dual core 1.5 GHz smartphone in March 2012

Sony Ericsson are seldom the company with the best specifications on paper. They are good at making camera phones, but often lack the little extra for being best in class when it comes to processor power and display features. The display specification for a phone with the code name Nozomi (all rumored phones have code names) could be what pushes Sony Ericsson mobiles up the wish list for many.
              
Speculations and rumors are always interesting to read. And we can't end the week without giving you a good one. This week, the blog Xperiablog has posted a short specification list of an unannounced Sony Ericsson smartphone. If the specifications are correct, it will be one of Sony Ericsson's most powerful smartphones to date. Having a 1.5 GHz dual core processor in a smartphone available in six month from now does not seem unreasonable.

The recently announced HTC Titan has a 1.5 GHz CPU and Samsung Galaxy S II LTE has a dual core 1.5 GHz processor. A 4.3 inch display is not out of the ordinary either. The interesting part are the resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels. That is a 720p screen! The tablet/smartphone mixture Samsung Galaxy Note announced a couple of days ago has a 1280 x 800 pixel display, but the screen size of 5.3 inch is much larger than a 4.3 inch.

Sony Ericsson Nozomi are also rumored to have a micro-SIM and without expandable memory options. We very much doubt the memory info, and a micro-SIM is a turn off. A powerful 1750 mAh battery should give the phone a decent talk- and standby time.

No words about operating system, but Sony Ericsson is not much into Windows Phone these days, to we are guessing it will be Android for the Nozomi

Now avail faster broadband service by MTS

Sistema Shyam TeleServices Ltd. (SSTL), which operates its telecom services under the MTS brand, has introduced faster broadband service under its CDMA platform offering Internet speed up to 9.8 megabytes per second (Mbps).

MTS is offering two plans. For the free device option, customers need to pay Rs. 4,599 to get an MBlaze Ultra dongle and get 1 GB data usage per month for six months.

Customers can also purchase the MBlaze Ultra device for just Rs.2,499 and opt for monthly rental plans starting at Rs.629. As an introductory offer, all customers purchasing MBlaze Ultra in the first month of launch will get 50 percent extra usage for lifetime.

“MTS India President and Chief Executive Officer Vsevolod Rozanov said We have introduced the world's first CDMA EV-DO Rev.B Phase II network to India. This will redefine the way customers experience mobile broadband as we roll out MBlaze Ultra across India.

Initially, MBlaze Ultra will be available in Jaipur and gradually rolled out in all metros and 25 key cities across India.

“He also said The new technology enhances the mobile tower capacity, spectrum efficiency and peak rate, achieving high speed rate as high as 4.9 Mbps in single frequency carrier and 9.8 Mbps in two frequency carrier bundle, thus greatly enhancing the mobile broadband experience of users".

SSTL, a joint venture between Russia's Sistema and India Shyam Group, has so far invested Rs.13,500 crore in India.