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.