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.

Spice Beats Out Rest of Mobiledom; Launches First 3D Handset, View-D

Spice has been surprising the Indian market this year with launches of all kinds of mobile to compete with the best out there. Long before the N8 saw the light of day from a fresh new box packed package, Spice had already launched and sold their 12MP camera phone the S-1200. They’ve got another very interesting surprise for us now, remember Samsung and then Motorola made announcements that they were going to launch a touchscreen mobile with 3D capabilities; well Spice has beaten them to it.




Their ‘View D’ mobile may not be much on looks but it is the first 3D mobile phone. Spice has incorporated 3D capabilities into the device that - will allow the mobile phone users to experience images, videos and even the interface in 3D. The auto-stereoscopic 2.4-inch display will provide the user a 3D experience without the 3D glasses, making it very convenient for a common user.

The View D’s screen is designed in such a way that the user can toggle between a normal 2D or 3D user interface as per their choice. The mobile phone has a unique feature known as ‘remote wipe’ that deletes the phone data remotely. This is done by sending a unique SMS to the phone. This works even after the phone is lost and this way the user can prevent sharing its private and confidential data. The phone also features a 2MP Camera, FM Radio, MP3 player, memory card upto 16GB, and GPRS and WAP support.



The View D is priced at Rs 4,299. The Spice M-67 3D mobile phone is available across India through more than 50,000 retail points including the 750+ Spice HotSpot retail network.



How they’re able to incorporate this technology at such a low price is beyond me. I have to see this to believe it, so stay tuned for the review

Get that finger INTO your ear: The NTT DOCOMO Wearable Terminal

How do you use a cellphone you wear on your wrist that has no speaker? Why, you stick your finger in your ear! Yes, really. Docomo’s Wearable Terminal phone is worn like a wristwatch, and transmits the sound waves of incoming calls through your bones, right out of your pinky. To use, you just put your pinky into your ear while speaking into the device itself, snapping your fingers to end the call. It’s very cool, albeit slightly creepy.

Dell Streak Launches in India Today

Today, Dell announced the launch of the much-awaited Dell Streak in India, in association with Qualcomm and Tata DOCOMO. The Dell Streak is a 5-inch Android-based tablet.

Key Features:


A full screen browsing experience with a 5-inch capacitive multi-touch WVGA display,

Gorilla GlassTM display resists damage and scratches resulting from regular use or accidents.

At less than 10mm thickness, the Streak is more portable than any other tablet, it easily slips in a pocket or purse

Easily integrated social media apps: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Google Maps

High resolution 5 MP camera with flash, VGA front facing camera for easy point and shoot and enabling video calls, removable battery, built-in Wi-Fi, 3G HSUPA and Bluetooth connectivity options

The powerful Snapdragon™ mobile processor makes multitasking easy,
allowing users to talk on the phone and browse the web at the same time, or listen to music while using the Google Navigation app.

The Android open source O/S offers more opportunities for growth, to access and download Google Android Market’s many applications

Packaged with cushions made from 100 percent sustainable, compostable bamboo

Specifications:


Qualcomm’s powerful and efficient Snapdragon QSD8250 chipset with integrated 1GHz processor

Android platform complete with Android Market and Dell user interface enhancements

3G + WiFi + Bluetooth

HSUPA with up to 7.2 Mbps downlink and 5.76Mbps uplink speeds

5 MP autofocus camera with dual LED flash. Easy point, shoot, and uploads to YouTube, Flickr, Facebook and more

User accessible Micro SD expandable memory available up to 32 GB. Store up to 42 movies* or 32,000 photos, or 16,000 songs with 32GB Micro SD
Compatible with all GSM/3G connections, Dell Streak was designed with the future in mind and will support updates including platform upgrades, Adobe Flash 10.1 on Android 2.2 later this year, video chat applications and other software innovations.


Priced at Rs. 34,990, Dell Streak can be experienced and will be available for pre-booking at all Dell Exclusive stores, Tata DOCOMO ‘Dive In’ centers and authorized retailers. Dell Streak users will also be able to avail of an enticing data plan through Tata DOCOMO—subscribers will get 500 MB of data usage free every month for a period of six months on Tata DOCOMO Postpay connections.

Charge your mobile phone wirelessly soon

You will soon be able to recharge your mobile wirelessly. Japanese technology company Fujitsu has developed a system that is capable of charging multiple portable electronic devices like mobile phones and laptop computers without the need for cable connections.

The company unveiled a prototype system at an Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers conference at Osaka Prefecture University and it claimed that it was first of its kind in the world. It works on the transmission of electricity using magnetic fields between the charger and the electronic device. The technology allows wireless charging at distances of up to several metres.
Scientists at Fujitsu Laboratories plan to commercially sell products having wireless charging system by 2012.

"This technology paves the way to integrating compact wireless charging functions into mobile phones and enabling multiple portable devices to be charged simultaneously without any restrictions on their position with respect to the charger," the company was quoted as saying in a statement.

The company added: "We are also looking at applying the results of this work to fields other than portable electronics, including power transmission between circuit boards or computer chips, and providing mobile charging systems for electric cars."

Tata Sky Announces Price of Rs 999 for Hardware

Tata Sky Ltd., the joint venture between the TATA Group and STAR today announced the launch of a price of Rs. 999, 'No Conditions Apply' of its set-top-box.

The Tata Sky set-top-box would be made available across the country in all leading consumer electronic outlets.

Tata Sky currently offers subscribers over 191 channels ranging news & entertainment, kid’s entertainment, music and sports for every member of the family. Moreover, Tata Sky has made TV viewing a two-way experience with a host of unique innovative customer centric interactive services under the brand name, ACTVE. Education services for the young, English speaking lessons for housewives, cooking recipes-on-demand and 24x7 Darshan of leading temples on TV have been firsts in the Indian market and appeals widely among our subscribers. Today, over one million Tata Sky homes are using the Education services such as Actve English, Actve Learning and Actve Wizkids.

Spice Mobiles Launches M-5161 & M-6363

Spice Mobiles has expanded its portfolio of handsets with the launch of Multi-SIM phones M-6363 & M-5161. These Multi-SIM phones have wide screens and their batteries ensure a full length movie can be viewed without the need of charging.

With a 2 inch screen M-6363 has a 2 Mega Pixel camera. The phone has multi-media entertainment options such as Video player with multiple format support, MP3 Player, FM recording with Wireless FM, Dual Expandable Memory Slots & Bluetooth. It also features Motion sensor which allows songs to be changed with a flick of the hand. With a strong battery back up of 1500 mah the phone supports talk time of 7 hrs. With the dual expandable memory the phone also has in built applications like JAVA & GPRS. The phone is priced at Rs. 2,499.

With a Digital camera which supports unlimited video recording M-5161 and has a screen of 2 inches. The phone has strong battery back up of 1200 mah and is a complete entertainment with MP3 Player, FM recording & Wireless FM, Expandable memory and connectivity options of Bluetooth to send & receive files and GPRS support. The phone is priced at Rs. 2,999.

Lephone offers triple SIM mobile @Rs. 4,990

Bangalore: Lately the Indian consumer is spoilt for choice in the case of mobile phones. It is as if the ever increasing number of dual SIM mobiles, lined up by several phone makers -national and international- were not enough that now makers are coming up with triple SIM phones.

And the phone maker in question is Lephone. A new triple SIM (2GSM + 1CDMA) mobile phone, A10, has been launched in Indian market. The bar form mobile runs on Symbian operating system and is available at a price of Rs. 4,990.

The phone comes with a 2.2 inch display screen and a 3MP camera with flash light. The A10 is registered with genuine IMEI. Its 850mAh battery gives a talk time of 300 minutes and a stand by time of 150 hours.

Its multimedia features include MP3 playback, FM radio, and video recorder. Connectivity options of the phone comprise of Bluetooth, GPRS, WAP and USB connector. The 140 x 42 X 15.3mm sized phone has a quad frequency of GSM850, GSM900, DCS1800 and PCS1900.

The A10 supports multiple languages and comes with a pre-defined internal memory. However you have the option of increasing the memory. The phone comes with a 3D sound stereo speaker.

As these multi SIM mobile phones pack in many features and are available in a reasonable cost, they sure are a good bet for the Indian market. This is because the majority of Indian consumers who use these phones are from middle class and the features offered at these pricing suits their wallets.

Zen Mobile Launches Gen Smart Duo: M40 and M20

Zen Mobile launched dual handsets M40 and M20. The handsets have various multimedia features and are priced at Rs.3599 and Rs. 2599 respectively.

M40 is a smart handset with an MP3/MP4 player with dual speakers powered by SRS and WOLFSON, a 2.4” QVGA Screen, talktime upto 5 hours and a standby time upto 200 hours.

M40 has come up with a feature called Smart Dialing. Smart dialing lets the user find and dial a specific contact in a few easy steps, by filtering out contacts on the device. First the user has to enter the digits that one wishes to dial which automatically filters the contacts with similar digits, thus making the user select the contact and dial the number. This facility saves time as well as makes the handset a user friendly device.

M20, on the other hand, is equipped with the feature of the wireless FM with a telescopic antenna for better reception and audibility. The handset has an MP3/MP4 player, a 2.2” QVGA Screen, 1.3 MP camera, battery power of 1200mAh. Like the M40, the M20 phonebook has a capacity of storing 500 contacts and the call register can keep a track of 60 numbers (Incoming, Outgoing & Missed).

Samsung Galaxy S Is Getting Froyo

After multiple leaked Froyo updates for the Galaxy S, Samsung's finally provided an official one via Samsung KIES desktop software. The company also announced that it's sold a million of the devices in the United States in less than two months.

The Galaxy S has various names in the United States. On AT&T customers it is the Samsung i897 Captivate, on T-Mobile it's the Samsung Vibrant, while Sprint is about to sell it as the QWERTY gifted Samsung Epic 4G. Verizon is launching its Galaxy S version as the Samsung Fascinate in September.

Microsoft Launches 250 GB Xbox 360 console in India

Microsoft today launched its new 250 GB Xbox 360 console. The New 250GB Xbox 360 console will be available at all leading organized retail stores across the country at an estimated retail price of Rs. 21,990.

You can log onto www.microsoftstore.co.in and buy the new 250GB Xbox 360 console online.

EISA Awards

The 2010 EISA Awards happened and here are the winners in each category:



European Smartphone 2010-2011: Samsung I9000 Galaxy S. Last year it was the iPhone 3GS.

European Tablet Award 2010-2011: iPad. It was praised particularly for its email handling.

European Mobile Phone Award 2010-2011: Sony XPERIA X10 Mini.

European Social Media Phone Award 2010-2011: Samsung S8500 Wave. The jury was impressed with the way the first Bada OS functioned.

European Headphones Award 2010-2011: Beyerdynamic T 50 p

European Portable Navigation Device 2010-2011: Garmin Nuvi 3790t

A 'green' award went to the LG GD510 Pop for its efficient packaging, low energy consumption and use of recycled materials. Surprisingly this year there was no camera phone or music phone category.

LG Launches Digital Frame

LG Electronics launched aDigital Photo Frame in the Indian market today. The new LG F8010N allows users to view and share memories on a 8” inch wide screen. It is equipped with multiple options such as storage folder, image browsing, slide/mutli show, image – pause/zoom, digital clock, calendar and alarm.

It allows users changing of images from a distance. A remote control is packed with the frame. With a resolution size of 800X600, pictures can fit in the formats of JPEG, BMP, GIF, PNG and JPEG RAW.

The internal capacity is 2GB and costs Rs. 8,990.

Samsung Galaxy Tablet P1000 Firmware Leaked!

The firmware on the Samsung Galaxy P1000 tablet is leaked and it looks like the device will come with a 1GHz Hummingbird core. The device will be a 7 inch tablet and will have an 800x480 inch screen. It will have a 3.2 MP rear camera as well as a front facing shooter, a Swype keyboard, Flash and the of course, WiFi and GPS.