Apple iPad to Officially Release in India on January 28

Surprise, surprise… Apple has done it again. While the rest of the world is busy waiting for the official iPad 2 specs and launch date, the Cupertino giant is planning on releasing its predecessor in the Indian market a few days from now on January 28.

According to a Telegraph Kolkata report, the 9.7-inch tablet will be making it to our shores in its full glory, with all its versions available. The 3G-enabled versions will cost between Rs. 33,000 to Rs. 44,000 for the 16GB, 32GB and 64GB versions. The Wi-fi versions will cost a more reasonable Rs. 26,000 to Rs. 37,000 for the 16GB, 32GB and 64GB versions.

The iPad can finally say hello to India officially

The trend of dumping predecessors in India seems to be the topic for the day. Motorola announced the Indian launch of their XT800 Glam earlier today, even though China has already gotten its hands on an upgraded XT800+. Now Apple has joined in on the fray by releasing the iPad, even though an official announcement is expected in the next couple of weeks.

You’ve got to hand it to them though. If the release does happen as predicted, a lot of people will be in two minds – whether to pick up the readily available version, or wait for one that has had no official announcement yet, leave alone the fact that it might not make it here for another year. It’s an underhanded move, but it’s a smart one.

Either way, you don’t need to plan overseas trips just to get your hands on this tablet, or trawl through online retailers for some good deals. You can just walk into your nearest Apple store in a couple of days to pick it up – and that certainly isn’t a bad thing.

Now where's that iPhone 4 release?

Prime Minister Launches Mobile Number Portability

Finally! Looks like the Indian Government and the people have played enough of the waiting game. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is supposed to roll out number portability for mobile phones today at the Vigyan Bhavan official convention centre in New Delhi. So what’s in it for the average mobile phone user?

Ah, now that's a buffet service

If you’re really fried with your current service provider due to coverage issues or tariff plans, you can change to another service provider. Your number stays the same, so you won’t have to notify all your buddies about your “change of number”. All it takes is a mere Rs. 19 and about seven days (fifteen days for people in Jammu & Kashmir and the Northeast) while your switch over to the new service provider is happening. You don’t have to worry when your number goes offline for a couple of hours between 12 pm and 5 am, because it's just a routine procedure. What if your new provider is as bad as or even worse than the previous one? Well, you still have to stick to the current plan for three months after which you can switch again.

The portability is pretty flexible, which means you can switch from a current prepaid connection to a postpaid one with the new service provider. There’s also compatibility between CDMA and GSM phones so that won’t be any kind of an issue whatsoever. The slight mess up is that you can switch only within your current service area. Which means, your number in Mumbai cannot be ported to a service in Delhi or vice versa. Here’s all you’ll have to do to change to a new number:

1. To begin with, you need to generate UPC (Unique Porting Code) by sending SMS to 1900.
• SMS to be sent : PORT to 1900. Operator SMS charges will be applicable.
• Eg. SMS PORT 98XXXXXXXX to 1900

2. After sending SMS to 1900, you will receive UPC (Unique Porting Code) as a SMS from 1901 giving 8 digit alpha-numeric Unique Porting Code (UPC) and UPC expiry date in MM/DD/YYYY format

3. Visit your nearest new service provider outlet / showroom

4. Fill Mobile Number Porting (MNP) form providing details like
• Current Mobile Number
• Current Operator name
• UPC code

5. Submit Address & Id proof documents, self-attested photo and last bill copy of postpaid connection (if applicable) along-with filled MNP form and Customer Agreement Form.

6. Buy the new service provider MNP SIM card from new service provider outlet / showroom. SIM charges, talktime value and porting charge are non-refundable in the event of cancellation / rejection of port-in request.

7. Your new service provider will send an SMS on your old/existing operator’s SIM (existing connection) intimating about the porting date and time, i.e. the date and approximate time till when you can continue to use your existing operator’s SIM card.

8. There will be a 2-hour ‘no service period’ which will begin after the porting time as given above. The ‘no service period’ will be between 12 midnight to 5 am during which your mobile service will not be active on any SIM. All efforts will be made to ensure that this ‘no service period’ causes minimum inconvenience to you.

So there you go, freedom to choose what’s best for you. Go ahead, change your number and let us know about your experiences.

Motorola Defy Could Reach Indian Shores Next Week

Well well well… today seems to be a good day for us. A few hours back, there was news of the Nexus S coming to India and now there is news that Motorola’s Defy will be touching base by next week, in fact January 24th. It seems that someone from AndroidOS has got a tip-off that the Defy will be hitting stores in India next week. So what can you expect from the Defy? Let’s have a look.

It's next Cricket Match saar, we don't follow Rugby here...


Defy is primarily a dust-proof and water-resistant phone, tailor-made to suit Indian conditions. The phone has a gorilla glass display, which means you won’t have to head to the nearest service center after a drop or two. It’s powered by a TI OMAP3610 processor clocking 800 MHz and a 512 MB RAM. Here’s a look under the hood of the Defy:

•3.7-inch Capacitive Touchscreen with 480 x 854 pixel resolution
•Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, DLNA, 3G, A-GPS
•Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP
•5 Megapixel camera with Autofocus and LED Flash
•In-built 2 GB memory, expandable up to 32 GB
•FM Radio
Defy runs on Android 2.1 Eclair but then it’s being said that the phone is in-line for a Froyo update pretty soon. The OS also has a MOTOBLUR UI with Live Widgets on top. Other features include a Proximity Sensor, Accelerometer and integration with Facebook, Twitter and MySpace.

If the phone does indeed hit India, it is said that Defy will be available for Rs. 20,000. We’re keeping our fingers crossed.

Introducing the iSlate; A Solar Powered Tablet for the Children of India

While tablets are certainly the hot technology right now, it seems rural Indian kids are the hottest target demographic right now. It started with the Rs. 1,600 computing device aimed at college students. Now it's an iSlate, a solar powered tablet for younger school kids.






The iSlate being designed for rural Indian kids



The iSlate is being developed at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in collaboration with Rice University in the United States. It is designed to be an electronic notepad, especially useful in areas where schools don't have electricity. The chips that allow the tablet to be solar powered are in development by two associations. One is the Institute of Sustainable and Applied Infodynamics (ISAID) at NTU and Switzerland's Centre for Electronics and Microtechnology. The chips will be similar to those in solar powered calculators.



There's no word on how much this will cost yet or what the specs will be. And like the Rs. 1,600 computing device, questions of availability, repair and practicality arise.

Rumors Whisper iOS 4.2 Is Arriving on Friday

It's entirely possible that your iPad will start multi-tasking soon and you’ll have improved performance on your iPhone 3G, and have features like AirPrint and AirPlay added to all. This big goodie bag aka iOS 4.2 might be delivered this Friday itself.

Coming soon to your iPad: Multitasking!





There’s gossip that an “inside source at AT&T” revealed that the update would be available for download on Friday. Now Apple has this record of preceding an iOS update with an iTunes update. So that makes the iTunes 10.1 slated for tomorrow (11th Nov). Developers had been asked a week ago to submit apps for iOS 4.2.



It must be noted that these are just rumors and there’s no grounded evidence for them, but there’s nothing wrong in keeping our hopes up.

Mobile Number Portability To Be in Effect Nov 1st

Mobile number portability, a service we've been needing for AGES, is finally here. The service is being rolled out in 11 circles across the country, and the first place to have the service is Haryana. The service in the rest of the 11 circles would be implemented by December 20th. On November 1st, however, an announcement will be made to confirm implementation status in these 11 circles.

Mobile number portability is the ability to retain one's phone number despite changing service providers. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has already missed two deadlines for implementing this service.

Microsoft Launches the 4 GB Xbox 360 Just in Time for the Festive Season

Microsoft launches its new 4GB Xbox 360 console for its Indian consumers this Diwali. The new 4GB console is the second new next generation console introduced this year by Microsoft India, and is ready for the soon to be launched controller free experiences of Kinect. The new console will be available at all leading organized retail stores across the country by end October at an estimated retail price of Rs 14,990.








The Xbox 360 4GB console comes with 4GB of internal flash memory, touch-sensitive buttons and a black matte finish. The new console comes with five USB ports with one dedicated Kinect port and an onboard optical digital audio. Further the new console is powered with in-built Wi-Fi, connecting you to the biggest online network of more than 25 million LIVE members, ensuring the best connected gaming experience with the new 4GB Xbox 360.

With the launch of this model, Xbox 360 has 3 different skews to choose from in the market; the Arcade Console at Rs 11,990; 4GB Xbox 360 at Rs 14,990 and the 250GB Xbox 360 at Rs 21,990.