may-jun-english-2012-all-file by Aman Saxena

may 15 to jun 14 2012  Rs 75

www.mymobile.co.in

for a connected lifestyle

kat gets

curvy! RIM launches a Masala Mobile, the BlackBerry Curve 9220 P 52

LTE is here! Airtel brings high speed data to Kolkata and Bengaluru. Will the experience be better than 3G? P 30

æ Accessorise!

Look around, there are tonnes of accessories to make your phone hotter! P 22

æ Reviewed!

Motorola Atrix 2, The New iPad, Sony Xperia S, Xolo X900 and many more! P 48

æ Clash of the hybrids! A battle of supremacy between the Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet and the Asus Transformer Prime P 42

first call

hey say that change is the only constant in the world of technology. And when I look at the mobile phone accessory market, I realise how correct that is. Barely half a decade ago, buying an accessory for your handset was limited to just improving its appearance or carrying it – people bought cases, different colour skins and tags and charms for their phones but the rationale remained aesthetic and protective, rather than functional. Cut to today, and almost every major cellphone manufacturer, be it Apple, Samsung, Nokia or BlackBerry is coming out with accessories for their devices. Giving them stiff competition are brands like Capdase who specialise in mobile accessories. Accessories too have moved beyond their relatively superficial nature and many are now designed to improve productivity – portable chargers, camera connectors, keyboards, etc. As accessories gain prominence in our lives and the whole mobile ecosystem, we take a closer look at the evolving mobile accessory market in our cover story in this issue and also bring some ‘edgy’ devices that will truly amaze you. On the subject of evolution, India today stands on the threshold of moving to the next level of connectivity with the arrival of LTE. While there is no doubting the technology’s potential in terms of connectivity, whether it will achieve it is another story. It would be sad if LTE were to suffer the same fate as 3G and become a technology whose true potential will never be reached. It is now up to the operators to come up with viable plans, manufacturers to introduce devices that make the most of LTE and the regulator to ensure that this happens in a fair and equitable manner. We take a closer look at the technology and its implications. Wi-Fi on the other hand is a technology that has been around for a while and continues to go from strength to strength, as more of us opt for wireless connectivity to the Internet and indeed, other devices. We have taken a closer look at the technology and where it is headed in the coming years. And of course, no issue of My Mobile would be complete without our usual set of reviews of the latest devices in the markets. In this issue we test the mettle of devices like the Lava Xolo X900, the first smartphone to sport the legendary Intel Inside logo; the Xperia S, the first smartphone to come under Sony branding; and the BlackBerry Curve 9220, an attempt to make BB mainstream and many more. This issue also sees us add four new features to our magazine – quotes, gossip, persona and trivia – all designed to highlight different facets of both mobile devices as well as the mobile ecosystem. Needless to say, we would love to hear what you have to say about them. Happy reading.

EDITORIAL Pankaj Mohindroo |

Editor-in-Chief

DESIGN Ajit | Consultant Art Director Ajit Kumar Parashar | Graphic Designer

CIRCULATION Amit Prakash | Circulation Manager

ADVISORY BOARD Prithipal Singh S.C. Khanna S.D. Saxena Rajan Mathews T.R. Dua T.V. Ramachandran Shiv K. Bakhshi Sonu Halan Bhasin Bejon Misra

Edited, published, printed and owned by Pankaj Mohindroo, Published from Flat No. 25, First Floor Shankar Market Connaught Place, New Delhi – 110001. Printed at HT Media Ltd. B-2, Sector 63, Noida. Distributed by Central News Agency Pvt Ltd and India Book House (Maharashtra & Gujarat).

Pankaj Mohindroo editor-in-chief

Copyright 2005. My Mobile is a registered trademark of My Mobile Infomedia Pvt Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form– electronic, mechanical, or otherwise, without prior permission.

The publishers regret that they cannot accept liability for errors and omissions contained in this publication, however caused. The opinions and the views contained in this publication are not necessarily those of the publishers. Readers are advised to seek specialist advice before acting on information contained in this publication, which is provided for general use and may not be appropriate for the reader’s particular circumstances. The ownership of trademarks is acknowledged.

Volume VIII Issue IV, May 15, To June 14, 2012

04 MYMOBILE may 15 to jun 14 2012

content

lead Story Accessories that can make your mobile phones rock!

spotlight LTE has finally come to India!

30 cell-ebrity Bollywood actor, Minissha Lamba reveals her techy side

Face To Face Kevin D’souza, country growth manager (India), Facebook, discloses more about The Social Network and its plans for India

Pushkar Chitale, DGM- Developer Community and Products, Mobango, discusses where the Indian mobile gaming market is heading

Balaji Kulothunga, CEO, PointRed Telecom, a global telecommunications service provider, reveals the challenges companies face in deploying LTE networks

Kirk Mitchell, VP, APAC Sales and Business Development, Nokia Location and Commerce talks about navigation and its potential in India

G D Singh, executive director, DigiVive services (the app’s developers) talks about nexGTv and the company’s plans for further innovations in the Indian VAS space

event ADELANTO- A Corporate Odyssey

Letters

Mobile Doctor

Consumer Forum

News

Chief Speak

06 MYMOBILE MAY15 to jun 14 2012

Rajiv Rajgopal, CEO – Broadband/Data, Bharti Airtel, met us and explained why LTE will bring in a new era of services in India

content

cell clues Get connected with WiFi

Infocus head-on

Beware of the bill shock!

my guide

The Transformer takes on the Thinkpad

Nostalgia We remember the good old days of mobility

Just in

LG E400 and Samsung Galaxy S Advance hit the Indian market

BURN TESTS

Micromax A50

Burge 12 Watch Phone

Blackberry curve 9220

intex tab itab

zync z-990

spice mi350n

xolo 900

Motorola Atrix 2

Sony Xperia S

the new iPad Total number of pages= 116 (112 + 4 cover)

44 46

sneak peek

et-cetera

A glimpse at the much awaited Nokia PureView 808 and Samsung Galaxy SIII

iBall glam3

From Bluetooth visor mounts to wireless hard drives to stylish ultrabooks, we have it all!

Telco Trivia

109 110

Brushing up your telecom knowledge

They Said it

Quotable quotes from the industry leaders

persona

111

Rumour Mill

112

Something beyond Airtel about Sunil Bharti Mittal

The buzz of the buzz town

Boredom Busters

smart apps

Defend the dragon and play with the bones, life cant get any more exciting!

Visit the Taj or get on the cloud with Google, there is something for eveyone

08 MYMOBILE may 15 to jun 14 2012

letters FOR A CONNECTED LIFESTYLE



TABS HAVE ARRIVED!

The affordable tablets of today are all set to change your world P 22

 HTC ONE X

Challenges the Competition The One X takes on the bestselling Samsung Galaxy SII and iconic Apple iPhone 4S P 36

HTC ONE X

 Is SMS dying?

Are messenger apps and services killing the most popular VAS service in the world? P 28

 Money Money!

Here are the services that will turn you mobile phone into a money machine P 86

Most of the technology magazines today write only about the new innovations that are happening in this segment. But today, there is a need to focus on the enviromental issues related to technology and how we can use it in an eco friendly manner. I would like to read more about green technology in your magazine. -Venkatesh Iyer, Chennai

 Reviewed!

operating system a series of features that will help the readers in understanding it in a better way - Nikhil Singh, New Delhi I really liked Smartphones below Rs 10,000 feature published in March 2012 issue of your magazine. The article helped me in making an informed decision at B U R N T E S T the time when I was planning to buy a new smartphone. I bought Samsung Galaxy Y S5360 and really happy with the handset. Keep up the good work. - Shantanu, via email NOKIA 603 The

TECH SPECS

Size | 113.3 x 57.1 x 12.7 mm Weight | 109.6 grams

Memory | 2GB, microSD

Screen | 16million colours

Talktime/Standby | Upto 8.7 hours/ Upto 540 hours

GPRS/3G | Yes/Yes

Bluetooth/ WiFi | Yes/Yes

Phonebook Capacity | Shared Camera | 5.0 megapixel

Cons

Pros

Frequency | GSM 850/900/1800/1900

 Scratch resistant ClearBlack

 Fixed focus camera

 NFC, 3G and Wi-Fi connectivity

 No flash with the camera

display

Asus Transformer Prime, Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet, Samsung Galaxy Y Pro Duos, Nokia 603, HCL Me U1, Micromax Funbook and many more! P 42

 Needs a micro-SIM

Others |Angry Birds pre-loaded

Price: Rs 13,299

 1 GHz processor

I did not know about My Mobile till a couple of months ago. But I am really liked the way you had created the cover of the April issue. Gadget magazines usually have either bikini babes on the cover or the phones are potrayed in a boring manner. I liked the way you depicted the new HTC phone. The cover story of the April issue was also very informative as I always thought that tablets ae only an expensive affair. - CA Arun Kumar I am an avid reader of your magazine and found that in the last issue you introduced a new segment called Nostalgia. I liked the idea of old phones getting compared to the existing ones but I think after a certain N O S TA LG I A level people would This Month, Five be more interested Years Ago in knowing about the future rather than the past. So I A would suggest that you should also write about the technologies of the future. - Rajat, via email WWW.MYMOBILE.CO.IN

Touchscreens were a rarity and were restricted to high end phones. The keypad remained the main medium of input. And as for apps, well, they were around, but hardly a rage. Phone display sizes were considered large if they spanned 2.4 inch and not too many were concerned about processors or RAMs.

User Experience: Standard Symbian, blues and all

Battery | Li-Ion 1300 mAh

57.1 mm

Symbian Belle interface in an improvement over previous versions

Looks: Straight up sturdy

Hardware: Bring on the gigs!

Over the years, Nokia has built a reputation for coming out with solid, sturdy devices, rather than flashy glitzy ones. The Nokia 603 lives up to this legacy - it is a well-built candy bar touchscreen phone that exudes quality. The front panel has a 3.5 inch ClearBlack touchscreen display which serves up a very good visual experience. The rubberised back panel is great for grip. There is just one bar on the front panel, housing the calling keys and the Home-cum-Menu key. The ports and buttons like the lock key, volume keys, etc., are placed on the sides. The microSD card can be hot swapped. No, it is not the thinnest phone we have seen, but is very comfortable to use.

The relatively plain looks, however, conceal some great hardware. The 603 runs on a 1 GHz processor coupled with a 2D/3D graphics hardware accelerator. This along with 512 MB RAM and 1 GB ROM ensure brisk performance. On the connectivity front, the device is capable of 3G speeds of up to 14.4 Mbps (HSDPA) and 5.76 Mbps (HSUPA), and comes with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity along with NFC capabilities which can primarily be used for content transfer. There is USB On the Go support on the phone too.

Software: Belle boy! The 603 runs on the latest flavour of Symbian,

Fixed focus 5.0megapixel camera lacks flash

The touch response of the phone is good

Symbian Belle. While OS improvement has been slow, the changes made are commendable. There are up to six homescreens and each one of which can be customised by using a different wallpaper, widgets and shortcuts. In the menu, you can arrange the shortcuts as per your need or alphabetically. Thankfully, the whole folder in folder hierarchy has been given up but if you liked it, fear not, you can create folders in the menu. Another welcome change is the abolishing of the text edit box, which made entering text cumbersome. Now the keypad pops up right below the text box. One also has the option of a QWERTY keypad in the portrait mode and you can also shift to an alphanumeric key-

The phone comes with lifetime free navigation

The Nokia 603 offers a standard Symbian experience. While Belle does simplify a number of things, a number of perplexing niggles remain. Grouping apps remains troublesome - you cannot just drag and drop them but have to long press on the app and select the ‘move to folder’ option in the sub menu that opens up. There is no direct folder creation option on the homescreen - you will have to create the folder in the menu first and then place it on the homescreen. However, there is still no direct Send button. After writing, you need to tap on the right button, after which the Send option becomes visible. We were also depressed by the fixed focus camera, as we do tend to expect a lot more from Nokia in the imaging department. That said, we had no complaints about the performance of the device

Conclusion

The hard keys on the front panel simplify the usage

The Nokia 603 is priced at Rs 13,290 and the other option that you can consider is Samsung Galaxy Ace, an Android phone costing Rs 13,500. 

board. In landscape, only the QWERTY option is available. The keys are a bit too small for comfort in the portrait mode, but work fine in landscape mode. The whole improved functionality along with easier usability makes the 603 comfortable to use, although a few things need to evolve further. Pressing the menu key shows all the running tasks, and gives you the option to shut them. The Social app from Nokia has been integrated in the device and you can set up Facebook and Twitter accounts in it. There is also an Angry Birds app whose levels can be unlocked using NFC. The 603 comes with the usual set of features like e-mail support for POP, IMAP and Exchange accounts along with

WWW.MYMOBILE.CO.IN

face detection and self-timer functions along with usual features like white balance, exposure, light sensitivity, contrast, sharpness, etc. You can geo-tag pictures too. The camera can capture 720p videos at 30 frames per second and the quality is again acceptable. There are features like shake control, white balance, exposure and geo-tagging. As far as playback is concerned, the phone is capable of playing 1080p videos with ease. There is a music player and FM radio and the sound quality of the phone is really good. There are five equaliser presets apart from the default ones. You can also activate loudness and stereo widening features.

New Belle in Town

HIGHLIGHTS

113.3 mm

APR 15 to MAY 14 2012  Rs 75

www.mymobile.co.in

pre-loaded settings for many Indian clients like Sify, Net4india, etc. On the other hand, only a QuickOffice viewer version is available and to be able to create MS Office files you need to buy an upgrade. The browser comes with Flash Lite support but there is no full Flash support. The interface of the browser is comparatively more intuitive. Of course, Ovi Store also comes pre-loaded.

Multimedia: Sound Senses The phone comes with a 5.0-megapixel camera, which like many recent Nokia smartphones has fixed focus. The picture quality of the camera is acceptable and it comes with

team@mymobile.co.in

VERDICT 8

LOOKS

FEATURES

EASE OF USE

PERFORMANCE

VALUE FOR MONEY

OVERALL

80%

The Burn Tests and My Guide sections in your publication are really an interesitng read every month. I am a mobile technology enthusiast and now I think its time that the magazine should move to covering more advanced technology. There are so many possibilities that mobile technology has today and there is also a strong need to educate the customer about it. Please try to create a separate section for such articles. - A K Vashishth, Via- email

APR 15 to MAY 14 2012 MYMOBILE 57

56 MYMOBILE APR 15 to MAY 14 2012

Corrigendum:- The headline of the Chief Speak section in the Apr15-May14 issue was misprinted. Inconvenience is deeply regretted.

My Mobile - April-May 2007

The mobile industry has evolved in an interesting way and we have witnessed its glory and success. We take you down the memory lane to the times when the term smartphone was yet to become a reality and music was all every one cared about Mukesh Kumar Singh

Year- 2007, April 15-May14 Phone Tested- Motorola ROKR E6, Sony Ericsson W880i, Nokia 5300, Samsung C300 and the Nokia N93i. Year- 2012, April 15-May14 Phone Tested- HTC One X, Nokia 603, Micromax A85 and Samsung Galaxy Y Pro

year is a long time in technology. Five years can virtually be said to be a lifetime – it is a period in which products can sink out of sight and new ones carve a niche for themselves. In fact, if we had a time machine and could travel back in time, it is a fair chance that we would see not even a hint of the products that grace the market today. If that sounds a bit difficult to believe or an exaggeration, just see what the mobile scene was in the milestone year of 2007.

Remember the time..

In 2007, feature phones still ruled the roost as far as the market went, with smartphones being restricted to a relatively small niche. Rich multimedia features were the demand of the hour and customers were more concerned about whether a phone has FM and music player or not, which formats the music player supported, whether one would have to use proprietary headsets or use any pair (3.5 mm audio jacks were not the rule yet), and of course, just how good the camera on the device was. Infrared remained a popular connectivity option, even though Bluetooth was making its way onto mid-segment devices. 3G was a distant dream and GPRS was the best one could do in terms of mobile Internet – even EDGE support was limited to a few handsets.

Of course, My Mobile was covering the Indian mobile scene even at that time. A look at 2007 April-May issue shows a mobile market \ visibly dominated by companies like Nokia, Sony Ericsson, and Motorola, with the likes of Samsung and LG making their way in. Our burn tests in that issue covered worthy handsets like the Motorola ROKR E6, Sony Ericsson W880i, Nokia 5300, Samsung C300 and the Nokia N93i. And the winner in a very close finish was the Motorola ROKR E6. Interestingly, the ROKR E6 was a harbinger of the times that were to come – it was an all-touchscreen device. Yes, the screen was resistive and needed a stylus, but it proved that a phone did not need a keyboard to succeed. It delivered stunning music and came with a shortcut key for accessing music player on the front and shortcut keys for controlling music on the side. The phone was equipped with what now seems an almost unbelievable 8 MB internal expandable memory, and had a 2.0 megapixel camera and web browser that was just about basic. It also came with support for iTunes and Real Player, and a 3.5 mm audio jack, which allowed external speakers to be connected to the device. The camera of the device could also be used as a Web camera for video chatting. It came in black colour and was priced at Rs 17,990. Its multimedia muscle combined with its compact design and what was for us at that time a very innovative interface, won it the Phone of the Month title.

Fast forward to...today

By today’s standard, the ROKR E6 would have been considered to be nothing more than a run of the mill device capable of delivering some very good music. And while a touchscreen in a music phone had surprised us at that time, today we would be surprised to see a keyboard in a high-end device. Note that we did not use the term “music phone” - the genre has been more or less submerged today, with smartphones of different configurations ruling the roost. Today, we have quad core phones that are very powerful devices in their own right, with music being just one of their many features. The 2.4 inch display of the ROKR E6 would also seem tiny by modern standards, where most touchscreens sport at least a 3.5

38 MYMOBILE APR 15 to MAY 14 2012

inch display and some go all the way up to 5.3 inch. And of course, very few touchscreen device manufacturers today would be caught selling a product with a stylus. Features like FM, audio player, and 3.5 mm jack are common these days and the megapixelage of cameras is rapidly near double digit territory. On the connectivity front, Infra-red is almost history and Bluetooth and USB On the Go are becoming the rule at the higher end, while 3G and Wi-Fi are almost expected even in mid-segment devices. Looming on the horizon is Near Field Communication (NFC) which let users share data simply by tapping NFC enabled phone with other NFC enabled device. And of course, today a person looks at a phone just like a computer – factors like processor speed, RAM, storage, operating system, software availability...all come into play. Some might say that it was a simpler world in 2007. But then they are unlikely to have experienced the thrill that we felt when we touched the ROKR E6. This was uber cool, we thought. And it was. Today, you will struggle to find it in an electronics store. Five years is a long time in technology...We know it at My Mobile. 

mukesh@mymobile.co.in

APR 15 to MAY 14 2012 MYMOBILE 39

In the last issue you did a story on mobile money in India. Frankly speaking I was not aware about the concept but when I got to know about it through your magazine: I really wanted to expreince it myself. To start with I have registered for mobile banking and am exploring the servicce. Looking forward to some more interesting stories in the next issue. - Akshay Ranga, Via email LEAD STORY

T8B L < T S Get PocketFriendly...At Last!

22 MYMOBILE APR 15 to MAY 14 2012

WWW.MYMOBILE.CO.IN

CHIEF SPEAK

“We are Bringing the Best of Intel to Phones” HCL has been quite active in the tablet market since last year, how has been the growth of this segment and how do you expect it to grow? Till last year it was a very niche market with a market size of about 3,50,000 units. In 2012, though we expect the tablet- market in India to be a million plus. It’s really growing very fast and at this pace, we expect that by 2013, it will be at least 2 million plus. So, that is the trajectory, the tablet market is taking and is expected to witness an explosive growth in the coming days. What according to you are the drivers for the tablet market in India? If we compare ourselves with the worldwide adoption of tablet technology, you will find that we are a bit late. So we can say that since it is a very strong global trend, it is bound to be adopted in India. Apart from that, another important aspect is that the youth of today are very Internet savvy. They understand the technology and use it extensively. As a result they are looking for ways and means to fit this into their lives. Here a tablet plays a crucial role and this is resulting in the growth of this segment. What challenges is the tablet facing in India? Though the demand for tablets has been picking up and people are using tablets for reading playing, games, movies, etc., broadband penetration in the country is one very crucial challenge that we need to overcome to enable the tablet market to grow even faster. Apart from that there is a need to highlight the use of cases for the tablet. Examples need to be communicated clearly and creatively to the consumers as people are still not aware of the usage and benefits of the device. Which price category of tablets will see the highest growth, in your opinion? I was reading a research the other day which said that for tablets 60 per cent of the market will be in the low end/affordable category. Obviously, you cannot negate the presence of high-end brands but when it comes to numbers and growth, it will come from the adoption in the affordable category. Thus, that is

32 MYMOBILE APR 15 to MAY 14 2012

Tablets are finally going mainstream in India. And leading the charge is HCL with its low cost range of tablets that combine entertainment and education. We caught up with Gautam Advani, EVP and Head of mobility, HCL Infosystems, to discuss the future of tablets in India and what role HCL plans to play in it. Sonia Sharma something that we are catering to and want to get a strong market share in. So will HCL play only in the affordable category or...? While the affordable tablet category is very important for us, there is no doubt that we are also looking at the high-end tablet segment. We are working on a few more tablets and very soon, we will be bringing them to the market. Can we say that the tablet is eating into laptop and PC market? Tablet is primarily a consumption device. Here you use it to consume content, be it browsing the net, reading a book or watching a movie. A laptop or a PC is a creation device. So, they have a very different usage and functionality. We feel that tablets will not cannibalise the laptop or the PC segment and will emerge as a strong independent vertical. What about the smartphones that are getting bigger by the day? We need to understand that there is a demand for a larger screen and there is a consumption pattern. So, whether a phone becomes a tab or a PC becomes small, it doesn’t matter. So, if you ask me that whether I’ll launch a phone tablet. I will say may be. But doesn’t that clash with your commitment to Nokia? There is a certain screen size that we will never come into as that will then become a direct competition with Nokia. But if you say that we might launch a bigger screen phone tablet, it is obviously very much possible. However, we will never get to the 4.5-5.0 inch screen size category. HCL has a very strong presence in the education segment. So why is there not a tablet from HCL at the Aakash price point? If we could why would we not? We believe that to provide a good tablet under Rs 5,000 is not possible today. So, what is the mass market price for tablets? Currently the market was working between the price range of Rs 9,999 to Rs 13,000. But now we are seeing that the price point has changed

and is settling at 7,999. However, what will happen in the future is difficult to predict with technology. How do you see the competition in the Sub 10,000 price category? What makes you different from other players? For us it’s a very logical extension from our PC lineage. We were earlier doing PCs and now we are doing tablet PCs. So we are not a fly-by-night player who sees a big market and enters to make a quick buck. We are there for growth, we support it with our service network and provide value to the customer. The HCL brand is well known brand in the technology which itself makes us stand apart from the competition. Any strategy to push the growth of Indiarelated apps in both B2B and B2C segment? We are very open to innovation. So, if there is a spark of an idea in the VC community or an app developer comes up with the next big App, we will incubate and support them. The second thing is that we also have a strong App road map. So you will see a lot of activity in the Apps segment in the coming days as we are dedicated to it.. There has been some significant verticalisation of the tablet market. How are you catering to it? Have you been able to establish some tie-ups? HCL has a very strong B2B lineage and we are very powerful in this segment with our network of people and the kind of business that we do. I see us having a clear advantage owning to the sheer number of “feet on the street” available to leverage the table and business. We are working on SFA, field, force automation, medical apps, etc. Tie-ups are still a bit away but they will happen in the coming days. Any figures to measure the success of your first tablet? Our first run has been great and we have garnered 15 per cent of the tablet market in the country. If we keep the 15 per cent share in this growing market in the coming days, we will be more than happy.  sonia@mymobile.co.in

APR 15 to MAY 14 2012 MYMOBILE 33

I am a loyal Nokia customer and always use Nokia handsets. But now a days e the nd hav Android phones a s e m n a drea ellpho n are becoming c i t y u e o k also azy ab atest ines? really popular you cr pen a few l ews and can ds on the l you have it e r A especially because for n think ur han tial to of the availability poten have a nose ve to lay yo em? If you dia’s to th u ra of so many applicaDo yo ? Do you c orld about sh your CV y Mobile, In w u ne tions and a wide headli and tell the g for you. R r name in M n s ou i variety of devices gizmo e are look .in to see y w that are available. It o , in you mymobile.c e. will be great if you can n i @ z team bile maga shed more light on this o

10 MYMOBILE may 15 to jun 14 2012

best m

mobile doctor India itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s primarily being used for content transfer and device connectivity. Nokia 701, Nokia 603 and Nokia 700, Sony Xperia S and BlackBerry Bold 9900 and BlackBerry 9930 also come with NFC capability. Nokia also has a few NFC accessories like Bluetooth headsets that can be connected to phones using NFC and just by tapping the two together while Sony has launched smart tags for the Xperia S NFC function, which can be used for a variety of functions. I want to purchase a mobile phone between the price range of Rs 10,000 to Rs 13,000. Please suggest some good option within this budget -Shailendra You can opt for HTC Explorer or HTC Wild Fire. Both are Android phones within this price range. You can also consider Nokia 500 in case you want choice beyond Android as it runs on Symbian OS. If you are looking for a dual SIM phone then Karbonn K9 is a good option.

Is there a good smartphone below Rs 7,000? I would like to use an Android phone which comes within this price range. -Loino Zhimo

I want to buy a mobile phone and my budget is Rs 25,000 to Rs 30,000. I have shortlisted LG Optimus 3D. Please suggest. -Nasir There are some good phones to choose from in this budget. You can consider HTC Sensation XE and Samsung Galaxy SII. Buying a 3D phone is not advisable as the screen is small for an optimum 3D experience. Can you please describe Near Field Communication technology? Which NFC enabled phones are available in India currently? Are there any NFC services in India where we can use the phones? -Ankit Nainum Near Field Communication (NFC) is the technology by which you can transfer data between devices with a very slight contact between the two. This is mainly useful for monetary transactions like smart cards as you see in the Delhi Metro card. Globally it is used for a number of transactions processes like toll tax payment, bus services, etc. In phones in

You can choose between Karbonn A7 or Micromax Superphone Ninja A50. The phones are dual SIM while the A7 is an Android with 800 MHz processor, 512 MB RAM, 512 MB ROM and a 5.0-megapixel camera, Micromax A50 runs on 650 MHz processor has 512 MB RAM, 512 MB ROM and a 2.0- megapixel camera. I want to buy a new phone and am considering using an

12 MYMOBILE may 15 to jun 14 2012

Android device. Please suggest, which among HTC Explorer and Samsung Galaxy Y Duos is the best Android Phone? -Saurabh Mishra Both the phones are good. Samsung Galaxy Y Duos has dual SIM capability while the HTC Explorer has a good touch interface. You can make you choice based on whether you want a Dual SIM or a single SIM phone. Which operating system is better between Windows and Android? What are the benefits of Windows operating system? -Rayyan Kasim In the current smartphone scenario, Windows operating system is a relatively new entrant. The market is currently dominated by iOS and Android operating system phones. Both of these have strong application support ecosystem which has still not evolved for Windows. Windows is being developed by Microsoft and will be available in most of the Nokia phones in the future. I want to buy an affordable smartphone running on Android operating system. I have shortlisted Samsung Galaxy Y and Micromax A 75. Kindly advise which one is better. -Ananta Das Samsung Galaxy Y is a better option among the two as its interface is smoother. I am a Nokia user but nowwant to shift to Android. I had shortlisted Micromax A75 but have not got a good feedback about its battery backup. Please suggest which will be a good Android phone for me. I can spend at least Rs 15,000. -N.Mohan Kumar In this price range I would suggest that you go for Samsung Galaxy Plus. If you are looking for a Dual SIM Andriod device then you can choose between KArbonn A75 and A9. I want to buy a smart phone that has a 5.0-megapixel auto focus

camera along with a front facing camera. Its battery life should be good and it should have a Gorilla glass screen with good touch response. My budget is up to Rs 18,000. -Philip Achumi HTC One V is the best choice for you in this budget. It is a smartphone running on Android 4.0 operating system. It has a 5.0-megapixel camera and a very good touchscreen. I want to buy a smartphone that should have a very good battery life, prefrably 5.0-megapixel camera, good sound quality, 3G connectivity and good processing power. My budget is around Rs 12,000 to Rs 13,000. -Swayam Mishra In this budget you can opt for Nokia 603 which is phone running on Symbian Belle operating system. If you want an Android phone then you can go for Samsung Galaxy Ace or LG E510 I want to buy an Android phone within Rs 15,000. It should have a good camera, good browsing capabilities, good touch experience and strong battery backup. I have shortlisted HTC Wild Fire and Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini. Please suggest which is better. -Shekhar Raigarh Sony Ericsson Xperia Active is a better option. Apart from that you can also opt for HTC One V which comes with latest specifications but costs around Rs 18,000.

Is your mobile phone acting strange? Email your queries at team@mymobile.co.in and our mobile doctor Arshdeep Singh will suggest remedies for your ailing device. Disclaimer: The views expressed by Arshdeep Singh are his own and do not necessarily coincide with those of My Mobile.

consumer forum Complaint 1 I am an Airtel mobile customer for the past four years. In the months of March and April 2012 my main balance was deducted by AD 54321 in lieu of Airtel TV service. However, I had never subscribed to these services and all the deductions have been done without my consent. I contacted customer care many times asking them to stop this service but the deductions kept happening. All my compalints have been ineffective. I want this service to be stopped and my money to be returned or else I will have to shift to another network. -L. V. Thang Airtel’s Reply Awaited.

number has been allotted to USB MODEM to someone else in Hyderabad. All my efforts to get my number back have failed. Now the customer care executive says that all the information of my usage has been deleted and there is no trace that I ever used this number. Please help me in getting my number back. - Krishna Praneeth

worse. They took my phone after I had waited for an hour and just formatted it and gave it back. However the probem is still there. I request you to please help me in gettting my phone repaired. -Dinesh kumar Spice’s Reply Problem resolved. Consumer’s reply Problem resolved.

Complaint 5 I bought a Nokia X3-02 Touch & Type phone on July 23, 2011. After two days itself it started giving problems. Whenever I tried to delete a number, call used to get connected, or the phone used to shutdown by in the middle of an active call.

Complaint 2 I belong to Lalbagh, Murshidabad, West Bengal and have been using Tata Photon for many years. I recharged my dongle with Rs 199 on March 14th, 2012 through flexi recharge (Pay World) but the recharge was not successful. I have complained several times to the operator but my issue has not been resolved. Please help me in either gettting my account recharged or getting my money back. -Nirmalya Pal Tata’s Reply Awaited.

Complaint 3 I have been using Airtel for the past three years. On March 13, 2012 when I tried making a call from my phone I got an error message saying "SIM PROVISIONING REQUEST FAILED". I went to nearest Airtel customer relationship center in Visakhapatnam and was told that there is some problem with the SIM card. I tried to explain to them that if the SIM card is a problem then why the people who are calling me are getting the number does not exist message? After a few days when I called the customer care, I was shocked to hear that my

Airtel’s Reply Please be informed that the highlighted concern has been addressed and resolved. We have confirmed the same with our customer. Consumer’s Reply Problem resolved.

Complaint 4 I purchased a Spice M700 mobile phone after I was told that it is a GPRS enabled phones that will support online video streaming. But after few days YouTube stopped working on my phone, so I took it to a Spice sevice centre. I was shocked to see the pathetic condition of the service centre and the staff was even

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Since then I have been to the Nokia care six or seven times but everytime the problem aggravated even more. Calling the customer care has not helped either as they kept asking me to call later. Even now my phone is lying in Nokia's Raj Naga, Ghaziabad's care centre and no one is ready to take the responsibility to get my problem resolved. Please help me in getting back my phone. -Deepshikha Nokia’s Reply Problem Resolved Consumer’s reply Problem resolved

Complaint 6 I am an Airtel subscriber and my

Rs400 balance has simply vanished from my account. I am not getting any clue as to where did my money go? Please help me by highlighting my problem to the concerned officials. -Suleman Airtel’s Reply Awaited

Complaint 7 I am an Airtel subscriber from Jharkhand. Recently I got an SMS from the operator that I had been charged Rs 70 for activating a service called Games Club on April 12, 2012 at 6:26 AM. However I did not activate this services as I am never interested in such offers. I called the customer care number of the operator to get my balance refunded but in vain. The executive was extremely uncooperative and the situation became such that I could not even talk to an Airtel customer care agent through my number. So I called them up from another number but when they heard that it was me, they just disconnected the phone and refused to listen to what I had to say. Please help me in getting my money back as I have lost all hope of any resolution from the operator's end. -Mukesh Keshri Airtel’s Reply Awaited Consumer’s reply Awaited

Are you being harassed by a celco that doesn’t hear your plea? Email your issues to consumer-forum@my mobile.co.in and we will take up your cause with the concerned company. Kindly mention your contact number at the end of the Email so that we can get in touch with you. Whenever possible, also provide us complete details of the correspondence with the celco.

NEWS bits Policy& Regulations HANDSETS & MORE There’s a new iPad in town! Apple’s new iPad has made its way to the Indian market within weeks of its international release. The third edition of the tablet comes with a 9.7 inch retina display and runs on iOS 5.1, is powered by a dual-core Apple A5X microprocessor, and has a 5.0 megapixel camera. The 16 GB Wi-Fi only model is available for Rs 30,500 whereas the 32 GB and 64 GB models will cost Rs 36,500 and 42,500 respectively. The iPad 4G models with Wi-Fi are available for Rs.38, 900 for 16GB, Rs.44, 900 for 32 GB and Rs.50,900 for 64 GB.

Samsung launches two new Galaxy smartphones Samsung has introduced two new Galaxy series smartphones, the Galaxy S Advance (GT-I9070) and the Galaxy Pocket (GT-S5300). The Galaxy S Advance is a high-end device has 4.0 inches super AMOLED display, runs on a 1 GHz dual core processor and comes with Android 2.3. it comes with a price tag of Rs 26,990. The Samsung Galaxy Pocket on the other hand comes at a more affordable price of Rs 8,150, and is equipped with a 832 MHz processor and runs on Android 2.3 as well. The Samsung GALAXY Pocket comes pre-loaded with features such as Social Hub, ChatON messenger and Facebook. With the launch of these two new Smartphones, Samsung has a range of 19 smartphone models priced in the range between Rs.7,350 to Rs 38,250.

iBall launches iBall Slide for best-buy price of Rs 11,999 iBall has come up with another tablet in the market - the iBall Slide i7218. The device is said to be an advanced and improved version of the previous Slide tablet, runs on Android 2.3 OS and has an ARM Cortex A8 1 Ghz processor. It comes with a 7-inch display with 800X480 resolution. and has a 2.0-megapixel rear camera and front VGA camera for video calling. It has 8 GB of internal storage that can be expanded up to 32 GB with the help of a microSd card. The new iBall Slide comes with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and 3G support on dongle and also an HDMI out port. It comes loaded with applications for both fun and business such as Money Control, Facebook, Gmail, Skype, News and Weather, Android Market and Nimbuzz.

Adobe unveils Creative Suite 6 in India With the digitalization of almost all mediums today, there is a plethora of options available for you to create magic out of raw imagery. Adobe has already made a name for itself in the world of creativity thanks to applications like PhotoShop, and it has now announced its new toolkit for design, Web and video professionals. The company has unveiled its Adobe Creative Suite 6 product line in India, which has new releases of 14 CS6 applications and four Creative Suites – Adobe Creative Suite 6 Design and Web Premium, Adobe Creative Suite 6 Design Standard, Adobe Creative Suite 6 Production Premium; and Adobe Creative Suite 6 Master Collection.

DataWind launches its commercial Ubislate series tabs After the Aakash fiasco, DataWind has launched its commercial Ubislate series of tablet products in India. The series has two tablets Ubislate 7+ which is priced at the same level as the Aakash tablet, Rs 2,999, and Ubislate 7C which comes for Rs 3,999. The difference between the two models is the screen - the Ubislate 7+ has a resistive touchscreen whereas Ubislate 7C features a capacitive touchscreen. Both tablets run on Android 2.3 Gingerbread OS, have 7 inch displays and are powered by 800 MHz Cortex A8 processor. Datawind has collaborated with many companies like Getjar, The Indian Express, InMobi and Yahoo! for content and applications on the tablet and partnered with Aircel to provide unlimited Internet access for Rs 100 per month for those who purchase the tablet.

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TRAI recommendations surprise telecom industry The Indian telecom regulatory body, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI)’s recommendation for the auction of 2G licenses has been criticised by telecom operators of the country. The base price suggested by TRAI is 13-fold higher than the price on which licenses were auctioned in the year 2008 by then telecom minister A.Raja. The Regulators have suggested a reserve price of Rs 3,622 cr/ MHz for 1800 MHz band, Rs 7,244 cr/MHz for 800/900 MHz band, Rs 14,488 cr/Mhz for 700 MHz band and Rs 3,773 cr/ MHz for 2100 MHz band. GSM telecom operators of the country portrayed a united front while criticising TRAI’s move and offering their suggestions on the 2G spectrum allocation issue. Highlighting the effect such a decision would have on consumers, operators warned that the suggestions if accepted would lead to steep tariff hikes. Meanwhile, the Telecom Commission has said that it will seek clarity from TRAI on its recommendations.

Wireless subscription witnesses 8 million net addition: TRAI As per the latest telecom subscription data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), wireless subscription has witnessed a growth of 8 million new subscribers added as of March 31, 2012. Wireless subscribers have reached a figure of 919.17 million. The total number of telecom subscribers in the country now stands at 951.34 million. The overall teledensity in the country has reached the figure of 78.66 per cent. Mobile Number Portability requests on the other hand increased from 37.11 million subscribers at the end of February 2012 to 41.88 million. Broadband subscriptions reached 13.79 million in March 2012 from 13.54 Million in February 2012.

Techiewood Chaze mobile appoints Sunny Leone as its brand ambassador Chaze, a new mobile brand handset in the Indian market has signed international celebrity and upcoming Bollywood actress Sunny Leone as its brand ambassador. As a part of the association, Sunny Leone has recently completed her first ever TVC for the company, which is ready to hit the screen soon. Chaze Mobiles offers handsets that are priced between Rs. 1500 and Rs. 3500.

Katrina smitten by the BBM service BlackBerry has announced Bollywood actress Katrina Kaif as its brand ambassador at a recent event in Delhi. Speaking about the brand, Katrina admitted that she is totally hooked up to the BBM service, and went on to add that the service is so addictive that one can see BlackBerry users using it even when they are engaged in other work, as their BBM keeps running in the back of their minds. She recalled that when networks were barred for security reasons, it was BBM that many people missed the most.

NEWS bits operators & tariffs

Value Added Services/Applications/ Games

Airtel launches LTE services in Bangalore

Nokia introduces indoor navigation powered by Navteq Destination Maps for India

After launching the country’s first LTE services in Kolkata, Airtel has now rolled out LTE services for its customers in Bangalore. 4G which is much faster than the 3G networks, allows users to enjoy data service at speeds of 30-40 mbps. The company has invested Rs 10,000 crore for its LTE operation in Karnataka. As part of an introductory offerl, customers subscribing to Airtel’s 4G services will now be given a cash back option for the CPE dongle, thus bringing device cost to customers to zero and making the service more accessible. Airtel is also offering a new 30GB pack priced at Rs. 2999. After its launches in two circles, the operator is working towards the launch of its 4G services in two more circles i.e. in Maharashtra and Punjab.

Nokia has unveiled its indoor navigation service powered by Navteq Destination Maps for its Indian customers. The product features interior maps to enable users to navigate and explore indoor spaces. Initially the service is designed to be used in shopping malls and currently is available for 150 malls across 17 cities. The service would help users obtain information about the mall like existence and location of escalators and elevators and locations of stores in the mall. Mall crawlers are sure to fall in love with this navigation offering from Nokia.

Vodafone Foundation promotes learning in 1000 schools across India As part of its ‘Mobile for Good’ programme and its focus on education in India, the Vodafone Foundation in collaboration with Pratham Education Foundation, announced its commitment to provide learning solutions for over 50,000 underprivileged children across India. The Vodafone Foundation has committed INR 140 million to provide the ‘Learning with Vodafone Solution’ across 1000 schools in India over the next three years. A successful pilot project has been conducted in schools across Karnataka and the Foundation is looking towards building on this and replicating the same model in Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Delhi.

Bharti Airtel’s net profit declines by 29 percent

MakeMyTrip launches social travel app ‘Tripalong’ Online travel company MakeMyTrip has launched a free social travel application ‘Tripalong’ for avid travelers. The application which integrates with social networks allows users to share their travel itinerary to connect with friends while travelling. Users can enter their flight details on Tripalong and can find out if any friends from their social network, who are also Tripalong members, are also travelling on the same flight, or are at the airport, or in the city that they are visiting. Users can also make new friends on the application. All one needs to do to use the application is register for free with Tripalong by logging in at www.Tripalong.in.

RIM opens its first BlackBerry store in the heart of Delhi Research In Motion opened its BlackBerry Premium Store in Delhi. Located at, Connaught Place in the heart of New Delhi, the store features the entire BlackBerry product portfolio and is intended to act as a gateway into the world of BlackBerry. The store aims to offer a holistic BlackBerry experience to visitors, be it on the consumer side or the enterprise one. The BlackBerry Premium store works seven days a week and the company plan to open similar stores in key metro cities in India in phased manner.

Zenith Infotech launches TigerCloud powered by Intel Xeon processor Zenth Infotech, an Indian IT product company has launched its new product TigerCloud aimed at mid-size organizations. TigerCloud is a highperformance private cloud product that combines server, storage and network virtualization technology and allows customers to build and have their own private clouds at costs lower than public clouds. Based on Intel Xeon E3 processor family, TigerCloud is a three-in-one product, combining private cloud, business continuity and backup as well as scale out iSCSI storage.

Karma Kingdom now on ibibo.com India’s leading telecom operator Bharti Airtel’s net profit has shown a decline.. The company’s fourth quarter result showed that its consolidated net income has witnessed a steep fall. The company said that the net income was affected by higher costs on account of 3G license fee amortisation ( Rs 106 crore), 3G interest costs (Rs 84 crore), forex fluctuation losses (Rs 132 crore) and tax provisions (Rs 198 crore). The operator’s total revenue was up by 15 per cent, while profits declined by 29.6 per cent.

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Karma Kingdom, a Facebook game from Singapore based Asvathaa Pte. Ltd is now available in India on the ibibo.com platform. Karma Kingdom is a meditation on positive living, as players build a thriving, healthy island-community. The game encourages players to establish “Personal Social Responsibility” in the real-world, with all proceeds from charity-related in-game purchases going directly to some of the important charities around the world, such as Sankara Eye Foundation which initiates and drives community eye care activities amongst poor patients in India. Asvathaa and ibibo also have a promotional contest running till June 7, 2012 wherein participants can win an HCL Tablet.

fa c e t o fa c e

“Internet in India will primarily be accessed through mobile” It might be synonymous with social networking for many people, but Facebook is in no mood to rest on its laurels, and is looking at expanding its already formidable user base. We caught up with Kevin D’souza, country growth manager (India), Facebook, to find out more about The Social Network and its plans for India. Sonia Sharma How is Facebook doing in India? We have 50 million Facebook users in India which is really great. India is a huge country and our ambitions are big. The mobile will be a huge focus for us because Internet in India will primarily be accessed through mobile. You had lauched an app called Facebook

for Every Phone last year. How has been its uptake? Facebook for Every Phone is one of our intitiatives which is primarily around feature phones. The challenge with this segment is that it is very diverse in terms of features like screen sizes, software layer, input options, etc. We have been taking steps towards making Facebook available across all those devices. For now we have an app that works wonderfully across 2,500 phones. We have also devised partnerships with operators to distribute the app. Apart from that we also have tie ups with device players both at global as well as local level. We want to make sure that the application is available across a variety of devices through various channels and our growth journey has just started. What are the challenges that you are facing in India? Challenge is in terms of connectivity, as in India, the mobile Internet penetration is not at the desired level so the experience can be a bit frustrating. But the next big roadblock is bandwidth and native support for Indian fonts in the phones. We believe that there is a demand for Indian language support and the industry has not yet catered to it properly. This will hinder the uptake of mobile Internet in the country, so we have to develop a strong Indian language support. How are you working towards improving the language support for the app? There is support for 14 global languages along with Hindi and we are working towards support for eight more Indian languages for the app. These languages have been available for our browser version and we are bringing that to the app as it is the next logical step. With smartphones getting cheaper by the day, do you think there is a need for a fea-

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ture phone app? How do you harmonise the experience between the two devices? The smartphone segment is growing but it is still not at the scale of feature phones in terms of the number of devices shipped. So the feature phone volumes are still large at least for the next two to three years and thus remain our focus area. As far as harmonisation of experience is concerned, even on a feature phone, if you do it the right way you can get the right experience. In the Facebook for Every Phone app, all the processing happens at the server end and the device only gets the end result. So it’s built for low bandwidth connectivity and that is where one can get a smartphonelike response on a feature phone. Are you working with Indian developers to create India centric apps for Facebook? We believe that our platform can drive innovation and we have seen a lot of innovative apps coming from India. For now we are focused on building a strong platform and bringing innovative apps with Facebook integration for a true all-pervasive social experience. How many users in India are using Facebook for Every Phone? What growth path have you charted for the future? We don’t separate the figures according to region or app but currently we have 845 million active users on Facebook globally out of which 425 million use it through mobile phone. The same trends are seen in India too. We don’t outline specific numbers for growth but broadly given where we are right now, we are already seeing a large number of users signing in from their mobile phones and not even using a computer. So mobile as a medium will be a strong focus for us and Facebook for Every Phone will be at its core. n sonia@mymobile.co.in

lead story

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Welcome to the Accessory Revolution Once considered a luxury, mobile accessories are rapidly moving into the necessity category. If you carry the latest handset or tablet in hand, it is a fair chance that you would also be carrying an accessory complementing it, whether in terms of appearance or productivity. We take a closer look at the mobile accessory market in India Harshita Rastogi

obile devices, be they handsets or tablets, have become an indispensable part of our lives. For many of us, they represent our closest link to our personal and professional worlds. For some, they are even an extension of their personalities. No matter which scenario suits you best, it is a fair chance that you are using an accessory or peripheral of some sort with your device. It could be a screen protector to keep its display safe, a case that goes with your suit, a keyboard that helps you type more easily, or just an extra power pack for those low-battery moments. Mobile accessories have been around for a while now, but then so have handsets. But just as the latter have traversed the path from being luxuries to necessities, so have the former.

In the beginning... A few years ago, the most important accessory for any user of a mobile device was the headphone, which was needed not just for calls and music but in many cases, also for FM radio. As music became a more popular feature, flash memory cards came into the picture, allowing people to store more on their handsets. And as phones

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lead story themselves began to be used more frequently, battery lives dipped, resulting in an increase in the demand for batteries and power packs. Of course, style was also a factor. As a shop owner told us, “There were headphones in all colours, styles and brands available for the consumers. Also, with the introduction of the iPhone and the iPod in the Indian market, white colour became the rage in headphones.” The portable charger market on the other hand was driven by purely functional factors, while that of phone and tablet cases managed to combine style with functionality, with most people wanting cases that protected their devices while still looking good. And with the touchscreen revolution arrived screen protectors to ensure that the surface of one’s device remained free of dust and scratches. As per a research report released by ABI research in 2007, the market for mobile phone accessories was speculated to generate over $32 billion in revenues in 2007, more than the $28 billion expected from the smartphone market. It also suggested that, “around 77 per cent of these revenues would come from the sales of “after-market” mobile phone accessories and the remaining from “in-box” accessories shipments.” It further stated that the market for mobile phone accessories would “grow steadily in the next five years and generate over $80 billion in revenues in 2012.”

The accessory boom! Midway through 2012, the prediction made in the report seems to be coming true. The mobile accessory market has expanded exponentially in India. The popularity of smartphones has led to the introduction of new accessories, and even handset manufacturers

have now started to invest in accessories for their devices, while players like Belkin, Jabra and Plantronics keep churning out innovative accessories. According to Amit Mathur, manager – sales, RIM, “Accessories have always added a new dimension to utility or usability of the product. In an ever

All of which points to the fact that the Indian consumer is also beginning to appreciate the value of accessories and what they can do to a product. The Indian mobile accessory market is set to boom. If you check out the electronics stores today, it is a fair chance that you will find as many accessories as there are mobile phones and tablets changing and dynamic smartphone market, accessories do play an important role. Consumers are looking at customisation options to personalise their smartphones’ experience and in many cases to create newer experiences. For example, the increasing use of multimedia on smartphones has given rise to accessories that allow multimedia streaming and management accessories which can be connected to TVs and computers.” Speaking of RIM’s involvement in accessories, he says, “ While accessories are not our primary business we do have a focus on

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creating relevant, high-utility and cost effective branded accessories that can further enhance a user’s BlackBerry experience. The changing consumer needs also demand endless connectivity and hence accessories such as the BlackBerry Visor Mount speakerphone VM-605 come in with some exceptional features that will help one stay connected while driving. The pod charger and battery charger by BlackBerry has got great feedback from heavy smartphone users as they never face a battery drain out issue. Skins, holsters, covers, Bluetooth headsets and headsets are our regular course of accessories and are available in good variety.”

The rise of accessory specialists Consumers are also no longer content with the accessories that come bundled with their devices, be they headsets, cables, cases or speakers. As Mohit Anand, MD, Belkin, points out, “The products we offer are designed keeping the comfort and utility factor in mind. We have several innovative accessories that you won’t find with a phone brand. While phone brands have this as a secondary area, this is our core area and thus we specialise in it. We have our own very strong market which can be segregated in terms of features, quality and innovations. We have our team working hard on creating an accessory for a product

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before it comes to the market.” Mobile accessory specialist Plantronics, however, has no illusions about its position in the market. “We understand very clearly that we are never the first buy,” said Bobby Joseph, country manager, Plantronics India. “And that largely comes with the presumptions about Bluetooth technology. A consumer with a Nokia or BlackBerry handset would presume that the Bluetooth device of the same brand would work the best with the handset. Very few peo-

Grey markets are flooded with accessories and offer a wider range as compared to the branded ones – yes, they may not last as much as their branded counterparts but in a price conscious market like India, they are grabbing a major slice of the booming accessory market ple understand that Bluetooth is a universal technology that goes with multiple handsets.” RIM’s Mathur take on the emergence of specialist accessory players is diplomatic. “Dedicated accessories players help in offering a good variety of accessories and like any market, the success of any product/accessories depends on how much investment and focus it receives,” he says. And promptly adds, “We always urge customers to purchase genuine accessories to ensure a good product experience.” Even established manufacturers are not averse to offering third party accessories with their products. As we go to print, Samsung has offered to bundled a pair of Sennheiser head-

sets with its Galaxy Note. It is not as if the Note does not come with its own set of headphones, it is just that the company realises that consumers now know the importance of a good accessory and the value a good accessory brand can add to a product.

The grey vs branded argument Talk about mobile accessories in India, and the grey market where imitations of branded accessories are sold at a fraction of the cost of the original inevitably comes up. Grey markets are flooded with accessories and offer a wider range as compared to the branded ones – yes, they may not last as much as their branded counterparts but in a price conscious market like India, they are grabbing a major slice of the booming accessory market. The branded players defend their price tags, which many consumers see as unrealistically high “When it comes to brands like us, you cannot negotiate in terms of quality of the product. But at the same time you have to keep the prices such that it comes

feasible to most of the targeted consumers”, Joseph said. “We try to provide the best quality at a reasonable price. Also, our devices come with innovative features that have some R&D costs as well.” Anand points out another reason why branded accessories tend to be more expensive. “The tax and the import duty levied on the accessories is much higher than that on handsets which is why the cost of the products get affected,” he says. “Today we have to pay 25.97 per cent Import Duty applied by the government which is a big concern.” It is

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lead story a matter on which Plantronics agrees. “The government needs to do something on that front and give some relaxations. While we think about the consumers and provide the best without compromising on quality, we wonder why is the Government not doing anything much in this regards. It will ultimately help consumer get the best deal at a lower price point,” Joseph said. A dip in prices would certainly boost the sales of branded accessories. “When a Belkin case is available for as low as Rs 200 why would a consumer opt for any local brand? We spend so much on our phones and by spending a little more we are ensured of quality. So I would prefer to go for a branded case even it requires me to shell out more” said a consumer we talked to. All of which points to the fact that the Indian consumer is also beginning to appreciate the value of accessories and what they can do to a product. The Indian mobile accessory market is set to boom. If you don’t believe us, walk into an electronic store and check out the displays – it is a fair chance that you will find as many accessories as there are mobile phones and tablets. In fact, we would go a step further and say that in most major stores, you will find more accessories than mobile phones.

Categorising Accessories There are several accessories available in the market. To avoid confusion, we have categorised them in terms of the role they play. Protection and personalisation: A handset is a very personal product. While protection of the device is one aspect, personalising it using several types of accessories available is another. There are products like shells, cases, pouches, screenguards, stick-ons, headphones, lanyards etc that not just protect your device but add some style too. Brands like Belkin and Capdase have a variety of cases and covers along with other accessories to protect your handsets. There are screen guards available to not just guard the screen from scratches but have interesting features that allow you to have a better experience - there are mirrorcovers for screen that act like a mirror when the phone is not in use, and others that are designed to prevent other people from peering into your device’s screen. Enhancement: This category mainly comprises the accessories that further enhance the usage of the product. It has been seen that accessorising the device has gained

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momentum with the features that come in the device. A device with HDMI port would need an HDMI cable, similarly a stylus compatible phone would need a stylus. Car chargers, phone-holders, GPS, speakers, wirelesses, stylus, Bluetooth keypad etc fall under this category. You don’t necessarily need them but use them to make a better use of the gadgets and several of their functions. Lifestyle: The main purpose of these accessories is to up the style quotient of a gadget. Diamond studded shells, pure leather cases, and accessories with metal chassis, are a few examples of these. These obviously require you to shell out more for the same features that the other products also provide and that too at some pocket friendly prices.

Accessory Purchase Primer

There are several points that should be kept in mind before you invest in an accessory for your device: Add-on features: Be clear whether you wish in a basic accessory or one that comes with a number of features added on to it. Remember

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that these will come at an extra cost. A basic headset might cost you Rs 299 but will not come with anything beyond basic calling features. Another might come with a whole bunch of add-ons like support for voice commands, LED displays and the like. Material: Make sure that the accessory you purchase is made of sturdy material. Being goodlooking is one thing, but it should last the course too. Brand: We would always recommend you go for genuine products even if they cost a little higher than the cheap imitations. Branded accessories might require you to spend more but ensure quality and guarantee and do not damage your product. Guarantee period: Do not hesitate to ask if the product you are buying has got some guarantee period or not. A guarantee period of at least six months comes with most of branded products. Connectivity: There are many products that are designed for a particular handset or a particular operating system or a particular brand. Make sure that the accessory you are purchasing will work with the device you have. In some cases, accessories built for certain products will have functionalities especially designed for them â&#x20AC;&#x201C; an iPad keyboard for instance, may have an iTunes shortcut â&#x20AC;&#x201C; which might not work with other products. It may sound like common sense, but as the wise man said, common sense is often not that common to find. Price: The price at which you are buying a particular accessory might vary at different outlets. Do check several stores and options before you spend some money on a peripheral. And make sure you are purchasing an original. n harshita@mymobile.co.in

may 15 to jun 14 2012 MYMOBILE 27

fa c e t o fa c e

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Most downloads are on the Java Platformâ&#x20AC;? ed to rise to double digits with the launch of several low cost Android devices. How remunerative is gaming for operators? Gaming is still relatively a small segment for operators as music still remain the major revenue stream. The overall VAS revenues for operators is estimated at approximately US$ 3 billion in India, of which mobile gaming is just about US$ 100 million. What determines the success or failure of a game? Gaming like any other content genre is hit driven. The top 10 per cent of games will continue to garner 70 per cent of all downloads. Hence for game developers, it is not just about creating great gameplay, but also about creating brands around their titles which drive success. Another challenge is the handset compatibility with a wide array of mobile devices varying from extremely lowend devices to the latest models. Designing a game to cater to all of them simultaneously is a challenging task. Large gaming studios invest significantly in ensuring compatibility.

Mobile gaming now is rapidly becoming a rage in India. And one of the leading providers of mobile games and apps in the country is the online app store Mobango. We met Pushkar Chitale, DGMDeveloper Community and Products, Mobango, to discuss where the Indian mobile gaming market is heading Mukesh Kumar Singh

What is the size of the Indian mobile gaming market? How is it different from the global one? The Indian mobile gaming industry is worth approximately US$ 100 million and is expected to grow at about 40 per cent annually. This is just the paid downloads market through the telecom operator channels. Ad revenues based distribution of games is very popular in India, driven by very large number of free downloads of apps and games in India. Approximate apps and games downloads are 3-4 million per day in India. This is through the prominent app stores including Mobango. India has close to 12-13 million social media gamers which is growing at 14 per cent CAGR. Sports games like cricket are in vogue as well as games in the action, arcade and Bollywood genre. The key difference between India and rest of the world is that most of the downloads are still on the Java platform with limited penetration of smartphone platforms like Android or iOS. This we expect to change over the next 18 months. Current smartphone penetration is still 3-4 per cent of devices and this is expect-

28 MYMOBILE may 15 to jun 14 2012

How are the gaming companies monetising the mobile gaming segment? Premium downloads are the predominant revenue stream for gaming companies and VAS companies who are their distribution partners. In- app advertisement models are at an early stage and are currently characterised by aggressive tactics in the market to promote the games and drive high eCPMs. However, the overall revenue from in-app advertising models is still miniscule. Branded games which are given away for free with good ad integrations, such as Angry Birds, make more money for the developers than paid ones. What kind of expectations do you have from the gaming industry over the next five years? In the next five years, we expect that the industry will provide more localised and youth targeted content. 3D games are also expected to take flight along with multiplayer and cross platform games. Further, many mobile games would be launched which are already available on personal computers (PC) and gaming consoles. n mukesh@mymobile.co.in

India's largest B2B marketplace

Kapil Pal, Marketing Manager : Mob: +91 9711433161 B-171, Ground Floor, East of Kailash, New Delhi-110065, India Tel: +91-11-46577363 Fax: +91-11-26928611

spotlight

With LTE hitting India, can we now finally expect the true mobile broadband experience? Sonia Sharma

High Speed Adventure

all it destiny, but till date, India has somehow ended up following the world when it comes to technology adoption, especially in communications networks. Mobile services came to India only in 1995 and as far as 3G services go, we got it years after the world was done with it and already moving on to more advanced technologies. But things seem to be changing now and it seems that after becoming the second largest telecom market in the world, we are all set to lead the world into a new technological evolution and that is called LTE. Long Term Evolution which is roughly known as 4G (Fourth Generation) service has finally seen the light of the day after two years of spectrum auction in June 2010. And it promises nothing less than a zipping Internet experience.

India ahead

LTE has two variants FDD-LTE (Frequency division Duplexing-Long term Evolution) and TDD- LTE (Time Division Duplexing- Long

Term Evolution). While most of the western world has opted for FDD-LTE, China and India, which are definitely the largest markets in the world, have opted for TDD-LTE technology for 4G services. According to GSA (Global Mobile Suppliers Association) as on April 18, 2012, 64

Data Speeds DECODED a) GPRS: Data service on the 2G that can offer data speeds of up to 56 kbps b) EDGE: Offers speeds of up to 144 Kbps and is considered to be a 2.5 G technology c) 3G: 3G technology can offer high speed data packet access of up to 21 Mbps d) 4G: Running on the LTE platform, 4G services can theoretically offer data downlink speeds of up to 100 Mbps

commercial LTE networks have been launched globally. Out of these only 5 are pure TDD-LTE systems. Thus India has become one of the early adopters of this technology and will be leading the world in the development and evo-

30 MYMOBILE may 15 to jun 14 2012

lution of the ecosystem around it. LTE services in India will work in 2.3 GHz spectrum band where the government auctioned off 20 Mhz unpaired blocks.

4G IS HERE!

The first 4G service in India was launched by Airtel, the country’s biggest telecom operator in Kolkata in April 2012. It had won Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) auction in four circles Karnataka, Kolkata, Maharashtra (excluding Mumbai) and Punjab. After Kolkata the operator has launched the services in Bangaluru too. These services are currently available through data dongles or indoor wireless gateways both on post-paid as well as pre-paid basis. According to the operator, the 4G users in the circle can experience speeds of up to 40 Mbps.

IT’S NOT A CAKE WALK

While one can say that it’s great for Indian consumers to be able to use new technology as soon as the rest of the world gets it, but with the rest of the ecosystem still in the doldrums, things might not be that smooth for

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the operator and not that great as an experience for the consumers. For starters, while there is a 4G network, where are the devices? Currently, there are a total of 347 LTE devices across the world (source GSA) but how many are in India? Just two and that too the dongle and the router provided by the operator. Devices like HTC One X and the new Apple iPad which can support this feature do not come with LTE support in India. One can say that this might be because of the different spectrum bands used for LTE in countries like the US. So does that mean India will have to wait till such devices are made according to Indian requirements? In that case, what is the rationale of having LTE services in the country? Dr. Avneesh Agrawal, president,

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Qualcomm India and South Asia disagrees: “Being one of the biggest telecom markets in the world, India will drive the demand for development of an ecosystem around Oprator TDD-LTE. Even 3G took time to proliferate in Infotel Qualcomm countries which adopted Infotel Qualcomm it early and as the ecosystem developed, 3G picked Bharti Infotel up. Same will happen Infotel Tikona with TDD-LTE in India.” Even the devices Infotel Aircel that are available today Bharti Infotel are priced exorbitantly. Consider this a 4G Infotel Aircel dongle offered by Airtel costs Rs 7,999; this is over Bharti Infotel and above the monthly Infotel Qualcomm rental that you will have to pay for the services. Bharti Infotel The indoor Wireless Infotel Qualcomm gateway also costs Rs 7550. Rajiv Rajgopal, CEO Infotel Tikona – Broadband/Data, Bharti Infotel Tikona Airtel is not concerned about the prices being a Infotel Tikona hindrance. According to Infotel Augere him, “India is a very large nation and by the time Infotel Aircel the ecosystem builds Infotel Tikona and the service become mass-market the prices Infotel Aircel will come down. India Infotel Aircel and China are at the helm of this technology and Infotel Aircel we are sure as this techInfotel Aircel nology become popular in these countries the Infotel Aircel volumes will scale up and

Operators with LTE SPECTRUM Circle

Break Free max Break Free Ultra

therefore, prices and affordability will actually happen.” Then come the services. While Airtel has kept the tariffs relatively realistic, what bothers us is that after the free usage limit of your plan the speed drops from 40 Mbps to straight 128 Kbps. India defines broadband as speeds above 256 kbps. In such a scenario, is going from LTE to even less than EDGE speeds justified? Or is the operator trying to create a demand for its smart bytes packages (as seen in broadband services) in LTE too? Last but not the least comes the connectivity. The biggest reason for 3G falling in the country was the fact that people suffered huge gaps in connectivity. As far as LTE goes, with nowhere to go except Kolkata and Bengaluru which are miles apart, it might really not be that big a value proposition for consumers.

GOING AHEAD

There are mixed feelings in the market regarding LTE in India. On one hand, the fact that the country is taking a lead in this segment is being applauded. On the other the customers are dreading if they will have the same experience as they had when 3G was launched. Who can forget the patchy networks and blank pockets that 3G subscribers faced after the rollout? Nonetheless, Airtel has gone ahead and launched its services in Bangaluru too and the initiative to bring India to the fore of network evolution, while most of the other stakeholders are just sitting on their stash of spectrum is commendable. As for the consumers, those who can’t miss out the high speed adventure as soon as it begins, its time to shift to Kolkata and Bengaluru and shell out some serious money. For the rest, patience is a virtue that will be tested. n sonia@mymobile.co.in

may 15 to jun 14 2012 MYMOBILE 31

fa c e t o fa c e

“Business Models Which are not Capex-oriented will not Last” As LTE starts making its presence felt in the country, we catch up with Balaji KulothungaCEO, PointRed Telecom, a global telecommunications service provider, to find out more about the challenges companies face in deploying LTE networks Harshita Rastogi and Mukesh Kumar Singh Tell us something about PointRed. PointRed was started in the year 2000 in Santa Clara, US. It started focusing more on the broadband wireless access systems which was actually unknown at that time. It is also a founding member of the Wi-Fi alliance. During the year 2006, PointRed was acquired by Gemini Communications. Then we shifted the headquarters to Bangalore. We believed that BWA, IP-based networks are going to be the future, so after acquiring PointRed, we decided that we will invest more in the mobile Wi-Max that time. We started off with Wi-Max and launched our first product in 2007 and subsequently went on to win contracts in India, Africa, Europe and the Middle East. In fact in India, we are the largest in terms of Wi-Max system deployment, with about 38 per cent of market share. Mobile Wi-Max never really picked up in

India because of various reasons and LTE is just about in the starting stage, so what is your engagement with the operators who have BWA licenses? LTE will get into an acceleration mode when the 700 MHz is opened. That is when the game plan will change for everybody. Also, except BSNL and Infotel, most of the operators today don’t have a pan India BWA license and the technology is also in its evolution stage. We think by the end of this year we will have a complete solution for full voice over LTE. What challenges are you facing in deploying networks? The major challenge is that most of the operators are looking for options as they don’t want to go capex heavy. We believe that business models which are not capex oriented will not last for long. When you deploy a particular network and expect a certain number of subscribers to be using it,

32 MYMOBILE may 15 to jun 14 2012

and this does not happen, then the next roll out becomes slower and ultimately this lands up in a fall out. Another challenge would be that for 4G the ecosystem is still not mature. There are not many 4G enabled handsets or equipment available today. Even if you have it, then there is the battery issue, which can be seen as another challenge. As a vendor, won’t it be a challenge if the business model is opex side as companies like ZTE and Huawei will score more there? ZTE and Huawei have too many exports all over the world but I feel it is coming down because wherever I have met operators, they say that they don’t want to get into a Huawei or ZTE. Also, the number of players in this space is consolidated to 5-6 players including us. And LTE will be the bigger thing for us, as it is data centric, and we know data better than others, who are from voice side. n harshita@mymobile.co.in

c e l l- e b r i t y

“I have always been into photography” She wanted to become a journalist and ended up as one of Bollywood’s most notable stars in recent times. We catch up with Minissha Lamba, a lady who wears many hats, and make her put on her tech one Harshita Rastogi How does it feel to be connected to a camera brand like Fujifilm? It feels great, especially when you have always been into photography since your childhood days. At that time, Fujifilm’s camera was what I had strived to buy but could not. Now that it is readily available all over India, I am more than glad to have the honour to representing the brand I love. How important do you think are connectivity features in a camera like an option to share the pictures on SNS? I feel it is very important and think that it is really revolutionary for a camera company to integrate social networking sites on the camera as it is a huge technology leap. An endeavour to make your camera an all purpose device is an example of revolutionised tech. Talking about social networking sites, how active are you on such sites? I do have a Twitter and Facebook account but I am very inactive on these right now because it just take up so much of energy to be really active on these social networking sites. Which phone and tablet do you use? I use a BlackBerry Bold and an iPad. Which applications do you use on these? I am very active on BBM. Other than that, I rigorously use news applications because these keep me informed and updated about the latest happening around the world, and sometimes use it to play games as well. Are you a gadget freak? I have always been a gadget freak. I cannot simply take up a gadget and explore it by my own. It has to be set up for me and everything has to be explained about it. Once I am familiar with it, I get hooked to it. Which gadget would do wish to have if you were alone on an island? It would surely and only be my Macbook and that too with an Internet connection. n harshita@mymobile.co.in

may 15 to jun 14 2012 MYMOBILE 33

event

ADELANTO- A Corporate Odyssey Where Technology met Business and HOW!

t a time when the education system in the country is based on rote-learning, university students are doing their bit to create campus-wide reality checks when it comes to life beyond the sheltering cocoons of their colleges. Adelanto, Delhi’s first ever corporate simulation, presented by Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies and Huawei, was a four week long pan NCR corporate extravaganza aimed at pitting the brightest minds of the city against one another in challenging organisational and entrepreneurial scenarios. The industry being simulated was one which practically everyone has an opinion about the mobile handset industry. The concept behind the event was to tackle the single biggest challenge students face when they cross over from college to the corporate realm: corporate culture comfort. What set this initiative apart was that the event was an uncommon yet effective combination of corporate skill building and skill testing. The event kicked off in September 2011 with Round One involving online applications which were combined with offground marketing. After an exciting group

interactive Round Two, the final 60 students were chosen from all over the university and were divided into six teams for the finale to don the roles of renowned bigwigs of the handset industry- Nokia, Samsung, Apple, Blackberry, Motorola and HTC. The first day involved skill building on corporate communication skills, conflict resolution and crisis management amongst others. These sessions were followed by an interactive MBTI session which helped the participants understand and develop their corporate personalities. The highlight of the next day were the ‘Boardroom’ simulations. Each company was given an internal crisis situation and an external one. The aim was to give the participants a real-time picture of dayto-day situations that might crop up in this fast paced competitive industry and to develop their crisis handling skills. Situations delved into current issues in the mobile handset industry spanning over lost patent wars for Samsung or the iCloud crashing for Apple as well as general HR issues of senior executives being accused of sexual harassment amongst others. This exhaustive session was followed by a light, fun filled activity wherein creative ads

34 MYMOBILE may 15 to jun 14 2012

were created around and enacted for quirky brand ambassadors given to each company. On the third day came the highlight of the event- the Product Launch, wherein students had to conceptualize and sell a brand new phone. The session saw the chosen students’ creative potential emerge through brilliant products including a” Blackberry Knight” and an “HTC Girlfriend” armed with distinctive marketing strategies. Each team was subjected to grilling questions revolving around the technological and executional feasibility of their proposals by a distinguished panel of judges, including ex-Unilever Global Innovation Head, Mehmood Khan as well as Saurabh Prasad, a Telecom Program Manager at Apple. The winning team at the end of the event was APPLE, which won Huawei smartphones, Live Projects with Religare and a Business Trip. Apart from having strong content and professional organizing and marketing, the event received overwhelming response from companies such as Samsung, Panasonic, Aircel, Peter England and Making India Employable, who agreed to come onboard as partners, as well as students who applied in large numbers.

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fa c e t o fa c e

“Navigation is one of the most successful applications” After getting off to a relatively slow start, digital navigation is gaining popularity in India. One of the key players in the latter is Nokia, which is why when we caught up with Kirk Mitchell, VP, APAC Sales and Business Development, Nokia Location and Commerce, we quizzed him about both navigation and its potential in India Heena Jatav How important a factor is navigation for a consumer who is considering buying a smart phone? Navigation is one of the most successful applications for high-end smartphones, which either comes bundled with navigation applications or are provided by carriers as a service. We work with many carriers worldwide. For example, we power the maps in Nokia devices and work with Tata DoCoMo to launch navigation apps in India. In addition, high-end smartphones come with multiple sensors – GPS to show your position, compass to show your orientation and Gyro to show your speed. Together they give a complete navigation experience to users. What are the challenges you face in providing a street-wise view of the cities that you cover? To provide superior navigation experience, we provide services where you can search for a city, and make use of turnby-turn voice based guidance. At Nokia L&C, we believe it is important for us to provide an intuitive navigation experience, so that you can focus on your driving. Our products give stylised views, such as enhanced junction views, which give focused instructions for the precision you need on the road. Our competitive advantage lies in leveraging the right balance of people and technology in providing the highest quality maps with the freshest data. Equipped with the most extensive network of digital map operations in India, we have hundreds of highly trained geographic analysts in multiple cities whose primary goal is to capture the data and use it to process the map data accurately. When will India become a mass market for

navigation? People use navigation in different ways. One is through the in-vehicle navigation device when you purchase a car. In India, the next three to four years will be crucial for targeting this segment. As of now, we see a high level of interest amongst leading automotive manufacturers in launching in-vehicle navigation. The other is through portable navigation devices (PND). New or existing vehicle owners can purchase a PND as an added car accessory. This after-market segment is growing very rapidly with consumers recognising the need for stepby-step directions while driving. And then, through smartphones. Every smartphone has a GPS and the mass market will soon start using navigation. The adoption of smartphone devices will bring in an opportunity for its increase in usage. Our Global Tracking Report shows that from 2010 to 2011, the awareness of navigation on smartphones has increased by 26 percentage points (from 61 per cent in 2010 to 87 per cent in 2011). And the usage of navigation on smartphones has grown by 9 per cent (from 26 per cent in 2010 to 35 per cent in 2011). What are your offerings on social networking front? Nokia’s Location and Commerce business has been established to enable unique location experiences for great mobile products, the navigation industry and the automotive market through focus on content (location data), social location services (Social Location Platform and Apps), and local commerce offerings. We enable many social networks, which use our content to provide location-related information. Location is a very important part of social media.

Any plans to integrate the information about traffic as well – this can be so critical, especially in countries like India? In some countries we do. The traffic signal frequency can provide you traffic information. Currently in India, we do utilise traffic signals. In future, we might integrate this in our services. Navigation can work even better on 3G networks. Since 3G uptake is not that great in India, what is your take on this? Navigation can come pre-bundled into your device, or you can have a connected device, or a hybrid. Therefore, while 3G connectivity will surely enhance the navigation experience for a connected device, the lack of it does not mean that consumers cannot use navigation. For example, Nokia Maps can be downloaded on your Nokia phones prior to your trip and you can navigate seamlessly even without being connected to the 3G network. n heena@mymobile.co.in

may 15 to jun 14 2012 MYMOBILE 35

in focus

Bill Shock and Awwww !

Are you a data junkie? If you are, its time for you to check your data usage as it might be burning a big hole in your next month’s budget! Sonia Sharma

ivya, a management professional in Delhi loved to chat with her friends, watch videos, stream music and upload and download content from her phone. For better speeds she took a 3G data plan thinking as she wanted to experience the high speed data connectivity. Come the end of her billing cycle and she gets a shock of her life when the bill is more than double her monthly rental for the unlimited plan! Hassled she calls up the customer care only to know that she had been billed fairly for her usage.

Her fault: she forgot to read the fine print and thus Divya, got a bill shock! This happened because Divya, like many of us, was data savvy but not data sensible. Increasing speeds of Internet and better connectivity, be it on your PC or mobile also leads to high usage and more consumption simply because it becomes

easier and less time consuming to browse, stream and download. High usage means high bills and this further results in sky rocketing bills that can leave us flabbergasted and in a state of shock... bill shock.

Law of Consumption

While browsing the web be it on your mobile or on your PC one basic law has to be kept in mind-the richer or bigger the content, the more Kbs (Kilobytes) you download and the more Kilobytes you download, the more you have to pay. That means that downloading a mail with just text will cost you less, one with a document attachment a little more, one with a high resolution photograph even more and one with a video as an attachment a lot more. This law works across all the platforms (mobile, tablet or a PC) but might vary because of different tariffs. The second law of consumption that one needs to remember while using data especially on smartphones is that- when roaming, use data as sparcely as possible. Whenever you go outside your home circle you tend to pay more for your data usage. This is relatively lower when you are on national roaming but can build up to large proportions if you are using data on international roaming. Imagine this usually on a 2G plan, the download cost on any operator is Rs 0.10/10 KB but if you use the same 2G connection for data while on International roaming it can cost you any where between Rs 4 to Rs 6/10 KB and even more depending on the tie-up done by your home operator and the operator that you choose in the visiting country. The third thing to keep in mind is that while your data plan might let you browse for free and even download content for free, not

36 MYMOBILE may 15 to jun 14 2012

all the content available on the Web is free for download. That means that you might not have to pay for using the network for downloading a particular song or a video but you might still be charged the price of that song that might come added in your next month’s bill. Another law is: all you can eat might be more than you can digest. Yes, the plans that the operators offer have a data limit linked to it especially when it comes to high speed networks like 3G or LTE. Most of the times it means that the data plan has a particular download limit which is usually comfortably high (like 8GB, 16 GB, etc) to ensure that the consumer gets sufficient value and they almost become like unlimited data usage plans. However, if you exhaust this limit you will be charged for the excess data usage that you do. For instance, consider the Vodafone’s post paid Mobile Broadband plan. It is a 3G plan where, for a monthly rental of Rs 1,250, you get 5 GB data usage free, but once the data limit gets exhausted you will have to pay Rs 0.02/10 KB till the billing cycle ends. At times you might see a few plans being marketed as unlimited data plans but don’t forget the “*” that comes at the bottom of every offer thrown at you as there might be a condition you might be missing. Remember a video call is much more than a voice call as it requires transmission of images (videos) apart from voice. Thus it will cost more than the latter. In the current scenario voice call tariffs have dipped to as low as Rs 0.30/minute but video calls on 3G networks will cost you at least Rs 3.0/minute in home networks and a bit more while roaming. And the costs of a video call while roaming internationally can be exorbitant. If you are a smartphone user you need to remember that

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in operating systems like Andorid, apps keep running in the background and might access data even when they are not active. So in a way, you are incurring data costs even when you are not using a particular app. The consumption increases more when you authorise an app to download updates automatically .

GETTING DATA SMART

If you have money to burn and don’t mind paying thousands of rupees to your operator, keep doing what you are doing and you will succeed. However, for those who wish to use data effectively and efficiently, there are a few simple steps that can enable you to cut down your data costs significantly. Firstly, if your phone doesn’t already have it, download a task manager for your smartphone so that you can kill the apps running in the background. Whenever possible or if not required, avoid authorizing apps to send you notifications or automatically download updates as that requires data connectivity. The second thing to download is a data usage counter which again is easily available in many forms on the app stores and can help

Remember a video call is much more than a voice call as it requires transmission of images (videos) apart from voice. Thus it will cost more than the latter. In the current scenario voice call tariffs have dipped to as low as Rs 0.30/minute but video calls on 3G networks will cost you at least Rs 3.0/minute you in keeping a tab on your usage. You can also set alerts through these apps to avoid overconsumption. Check with your operator, most of them should be able to send you alerts in case you are reaching your data usage limit. Their websites too have data claculators and counters for checking as well as estimating your usage. Whenever possible use WiFi connections especially for data heavy apps

like downloading videos, multiplayer gaming, etc. This will cost you nothing unless you are using a WiFi Hotspot created out of your 3G connection. While browsing from your smartphone whenever possible visit the mobile version of a particular site as the desktop versions are usually heavier and consume more data while opening a page. BlackBerry users need to remember that even with an unlimited data plan you will have to pay if you browse using the operator’s WAP site. So you need to ensure that the settings are done properly.

HAPPY BROWSING

With 4G services already spreading its wings in the country one can be sure that the data days ahead are going to be nothing less than exciting. While it’s great to ride the high speed information highway, it’s also important to be aware of the cost that we are incurring while zipping through the virtual world. Data connectivity is all about getting the best entertainment and communication experience on the go. Its not necessary that you have to pay a bomb for it. n sonia@mymobile.co.in

may 15 to jun 14 2012 MYMOBILE 37

chief speak

“4G Will Provide True Broadband Wireless Internet”

38 MYMOBILE may 15 to jun 14 2012

www.mymobile.co.in

With LTE taking its first tentative steps in India, all eyes are on the operators to see how they package and offer this service to the consumer. Rajiv Rajgopal, CEO â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Broadband/Data, Bharti Airtel, met us and explained why LTE will bring in a new era of services in India Sonia Sharma The LTE ecosystem is still almost nonexistent in the country. Would you say that the devices offered by you are going to be enough to give the right impetus to the service? 4G LTE with its lightening fast speeds is ideal for rich content access and applications for HD video streaming, superfast downloads and uploads, multi user chats, and video applications. These are best viewed on a large screen - laptop/PC or a tablet. One can use a 4G LTE Indoor CPE or USB dongles to access the 4G network. These are already launched by Airtel. All Wi-Fi compatible phones can also access 4G LTE enabled by a CPE. Airtel has been working very closely with all leading device manufacturers to build a device ecosystem comprising phones, tablets, mi-fi devices around 4G LTE. This is quickly building up as more and more players and operators across the globe are coming together on TD LTE. Going forward, we will see proliferation of devices in this space. Would high prices of the dongles and routers not be a hindrance in the adoption of the LTE service? India is a very large nation and by the time the ecosystem builds and the service becomes mass-market, the prices will come down. As always, we are committed to offering value as well as affordability to our customers and that will not go away from our strategy and DNA as we go forward. India and China are at the helm of this technology and we are sure as this technology becomes popular in these countries, the volumes will scale up and therefore, lower prices and affordability will actually occur. You have spectrum in four circles. By when will you be able to cover all of them? Airtel is the first and only service provider to launch

4G in India and you will be happy to know that Kolkata is the first city where 4G is launched. Besides Kolkata, we have plans to launch 4G in Karnataka, Maharashtra (excluding Mumbai) and Punjab. (As we go to print, we have news that 4G has been launched in Bengaluru as well) What is your strategy to register a pan-India presence in the country in LTE services segment? This is dependent upon Government rules and regulations. We at Airtel will continue to comply with all norms laid down for the entire market environment. Despite all the hype, 3G has not really picked up in India as per the countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s expectations. What steps have you taken to ensure this doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t happen with LTE?

As per estimates, India will have more than 1 billion networked devices in four years from now, compared to 570 million in 2010. Airtel 4G LTE, a high speed, wireless data network that provides advanced broadband capabilities will play a significant role in this revolution. by 2016, 6 per cent of all mobile connections will have 4G connection.

Post 3G, mobile broadband in India has picked up momentum. Currently, there are more than 10 million HSPA connections alone across the country, and this is expected to grow exponentially, by 900 per cent, to more than 100 million connections in 2014. This will make India the largest HSPA market worldwide within the next two years, surpassing China, Japan and the US in the process. As per estimates, India will have more than 1 billion networked devices in four years from now, compared to 570 million in 2010. Airtel 4G LTE, a high speed, wireless data network that provides advanced broadband capabilities will play a significant role in this revolution. According to industry estimates, by 2016, 6 per cent of all mobile connections will have 4G connection, which would create 36 per cent of the total mobile data traffic. India is making great strides towards the uptake of data and already has the third largest Internet subscriber base in the world with more than 100 million users, and the second largest Facebook subscriber base in the world with 43 million users. How do you see the growth path of LTE in India? What are the challenges and opportunities for it in the coming days? In a market like India, there is a huge need for a fast broadband Internet connection, which is limited owing to high costs of deployment of wired internet in a geography like ours. We believe 4G is the technology which will help in providing a true broadband Internet experience on wireless medium. With 2G and 3G networks in place, 4G will compliment the overall experience for customers and India will be at the forefront of cutting-edge mobile broadband provision globally. n sonia@mymobile.co.in

may 15 to jun 14 2012 MYMOBILE 39

cell clues

Wi-Fi demystified Considered geek territory at one time, WiFi has now gone mainstream and is being seen in a number of gadgets and devices. We give you a simple primer on this technology and where it is heading Heena Jatav

here was a time when the word WiFi was nothing less than Sci-Fi! The fact that you would not need wires to access the Internet was considered as a figment of oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s imagination and if you would tell anyone that you could connect a TV to a Laptop the same way, they would probably say you have lost it completely. Yes, WiFi was a technology of possible impossibilities. It was one of those features that came with high-end devices and were not used simply because of the relative absence of supporting infrastructure for a mass market adoption. Those were the times when Wi-Fi connectivity was the preserve of high-profile corporate offices and hotels. Fast forward to today and it is a fair chance that your local cafe and even your house has Wi-Fi connectivity not just to the Internet but with other gadgets. The technology has gone mainstream and its absence from a gadget raises as many eyebrows today as its presence did about a decade ago.

The Wi-Fi effect

Wi-Fi in simple words is a technology that allows user access Internet services and share data wirelessly among multiple devices like mobile phones, computers, cameras, printers etc. The technology works using radio frequency to transfer data to a desired destination through an access point

40 MYMOBILE may 15 to jun 14 2012

or a Wi-Fi gateway (router or access point). For instance, a Wi-Fi router gets a signal from a broadband modem placed by an Internet service provider and allow multiple users to wirelessly access the Internet connection. The most common and prevalent kind of network is â&#x20AC;&#x153;infrastructure modeâ&#x20AC;? which is generally preferred for personal use like home broadband internet connection. The growing popularity of Wi-Fi can be said to stem from a growing need to stay online on mobile devices, which in turn have become much more affordable than in the past. Today, one can get a smartphone for less than Rs 5,000 and a tablet for less than Rs 10,000. With most people accessing the Internet on portable devices the incoveniece of wires had to be dealth with. And as it is said that necessity is the mother of all inventions, enter Wi-Fi, and people could share an Internet connection and data wirelessly even while moving around, albeit in a restricted area. Today, you not only find Wi-Fi networks in offices but also in schools and colleges where they enable students to browse the Web and communicate online from anywhere in the school premises. And while Wi-Fi hotspots in airports have been a round for a while, you can now find Wi-Fi enabled railway stations and trains too. The Mumbai-Ahmedabad Shatabdi Express and Chennai- Bangalore-Chennai Shatabdi Express

www.mymobile.co.in

the ever growing popularity of WiFi has given an impetus to its development and evolution and now the idea of using this technology to create connected homes is taking a final shape. These homes will have all their devices connected and interacting with each other using WiFi

have Wi-Fi and the Howrah Rajdhani is also set to join the WiFied group by September this year. Be it cafe’s, exhibitions or media centres, it is a fair chance that if you sit down somewhere today and switch on your Wi-Fi enabled device (phone, tablet or notebook) you will see a number of Wi-Fi networks available. Such an ubiquitous availability along with the added convenience of mobility (even though a bit limited) has boosted the adoption of Wi-Fi in the country immensely. According to a report by the Wi-Fi Alliance, the overall Indian Wi-Fi market (including WLAN hardware, systems integration and software services, not including embedded devices, laptops) is predicted to grow from the current $41.57 million to exceed $744 million by the end of 2012 (CAGR of 61.4 per cent). Innovative products built around Wi-Fi have also played their role in the popularising this technology. Not only have regular Wi-Fi devices got more pocket-friendly (you can get a router for less than Rs 5,000 these days), but users these days also have devices that come in cheaper Wi-Fi only variants – the Apple iPad, the Motorola Xoom are perfect examples of such offerings in the market.

used 2.4 GHz radio frequency, which caused it to get into conflict with electrical appliances using the same range. IEEE then created an extension of the original 802.11 standard named 802.11a. It supports bandwidths of up to 54 Mbps and signals in a regulated frequency spectrum around 5 GHz. Due to high bandwidth support, 802.11a standard was relatively costlier than 802.11b. Then came 802.11g in 2003, which was an attempt to create a combination of both 802.11a and 802.11b, and came with support for up to 54 Mbps in the 2.4 GHz frequency. The latest standard in the Wi-Fi family is 802.11n standard which supports speed of up to 600 Mbps. It works using the 2.4 Ghz and 5Ghz channel and

A matter of standard(s)

is meant to deliver faster speed and greater range with minimum interference from external elements. And that is not all. Yet another standard is under development. 802.11ac is expected to deliver transfer speed of up to 3.6 Gbps and will redefine the future of wireless connectivity. We would advise you not to get too confused with all the alphanumerics and just remember to check if the Wi-Fi device is com-

Talk of Wi-Fi and it is fair chance that the matter of Wi-Fi standards will come up. In the year 1997, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) created the first WLAN standard, 802.11 that support the maximum network bandwidth of 2 Mbps. Then in the year 1999, the next version of the technology 802.11b was created with support for up to 11 Mbps. Standard 802.11b, however,

patible with the network that you plan to use.

Be alert...for a wireless future

While Wi-Fi is indeed very convenient, it is getting very affordable too. In fact the ever growing popularity of WiFi has given an impetus to its development and evolution and now the idea of using this technology to create connected homes is taking a final shape. These homes will have all their devices connected and interacting with each other using WiFi. So you actually will be able to switch channels on your TV using your phone, and use your computer to defrost the refrigerator and the implications of this concept are limitless. However, it still does have certain drawbacks. For instance, it is effective within a certain area and can at times its perfromance and connectivity can be affected by physical structures likes closed doors and walls. And then there is the problem of security. An open Wi-Fi connection (one which can be accessed without entering a security password) can be abused, not just to hijack bandwidth but also to access systems and devices that are using it. Therefore, it is advisable to make your Wi-Fi network password protected and firewall enabled. Before using free public Wi-Fi networks, ensure that you are connected to reliable connection - use of VPN (virtual private network) is advisable. And do ensure that your devices do not automatically connect to open networks – in fact, switch off Wi-Fi if you are not using it. The future is Wi-Fi. And we would advise you to stay connected. Wirelessly. n heena@mymobile.co.in

may 15 to jun 14 2012 MYMOBILE 41

headon

Hybrid Hustle

Two hybrid devices out to prove that a tablet with a keyboard can match a notebook. Which is better? We compare the Asus Transformer Prime and the Lenovo ThinkPad tablet

hen the iPad was launched, the first complaint many people had against it was that typing on the display was not easy. Within no time accessory manufacturers were lining up keyboard accessories that could be used with different tablets, allowing users to have a notebook-like experience on these devices. It was only a matter of time before the tablet manufacturers decided to come out with hybrid devices – gadgets that were a combination of tablet and keyboard, saving the user the need to buy each separately. And the two most prominent devices in this regard have been Lenovo’s iconic ThinkPad tablet and the powerpacked Asus Transformer Prime. We got both devices in our office and threw them against each other to find out which was the best tabletkeyboard combo of them all!

Appearance | One can see a very clear and stark contrast in both the devices when it comes to looks. The ThinkPad tablet is an all black tablet with a serious business look. And slim it ain’t - in fact with the keyboard it is almost as thick as a standard laptop. The exoskeleton of the tablet is made of plastic and the keyboard add-on comes with a black leather like material cover for the tablet, making it appear bulky. Still, it manages to give off a look of efficiency and smartness that we have not seen bettered. The Asus Transformer Prime on the other hand is a lean mean computing machine even with the keypad on – we thought it was an Ultrabook when we first saw it. The shiny all metallic body combined with extremely thin form factor make it stand out. We would not be ashamed of being seen with either, but if push comes to shove, will go with the Transformer Prime’s shiny metal looks. Winner | Asus Transformer Prime

The keyboard |

The fact that both the tabs are hybrids and yet have two very innovative keyboard mechanisms shows the level of differentiation and innovation that brands are putting into their products. The ThinkPad tablet’s keyboard gets connected through a USB port to the tablet and it comes with three slots to give you different viewing angles. There is no additional battery on it and neither are there any ports for additional connectivity options – it is just a hardware keyboard for convenient

typing. The keyboard of the transformer docks the tab in such a way that it turns into a complete laptop, allowing you to choose any viewing angle you want. The keyboard here comes with an additional battery (extending battery life significantly), a SD card slot and a USB port all of which are pretty handy. However, when it comes to the basic purpose of the keyboard – typing – we found the smooth rubberized keys of the Thinkpad tablet to be much more comfortable to use than the metallic keys of the Transformer Prime. We also found the ThinkPad’s pointer (red, in ThinkPad tradition) a lot easier to use than the trackpad on the Transformer Prime’s keyboard. We are calling this one a tie – the Prime’s keyboard does more but the ThinkPad’s keyboard is better for typing, which is why we wanted a keyboard in the first place!

Winner | Tie

has a battery of 3250mAh and is capable of giving up to eight hours of run time, while the Transformer Prime can last up to 18 hours on a single charge, thanks to the supplementary battery back up from its keyboard. Honestly, in pure spec terms, the Transformer Prime wins this one easily.

Winner | Asus Transformer Prime

Hardware | Both the tablets boast of

Software | Operating system is another

10.1 inch displays made of corning Gorilla Glass. While the ThinkPad tablet has hardware keys on the front panel, the Transformer Prime is devoid of any. On the processing front, the Prime boasts of a quad core processor making it the fastest tablet in the market today, while the ThinkPad has to make do with 1 GHz NVIDIA Tegra dual core processor. The Transformer Prime comes in 32 GB and 64 GB storage options while the ThinkPad tab also has a 16 GB option. The ThinkPad

significant aspect that separates the performers from the mediocre. While the latest OS is always preferred, it might not be really required for an optimized performance of the tablet. Asus has put in the latest Android Ice cream sandwich operating system on the Transformer Prime, which boasts of an intuitive button-less interface. The ThinkPad tablet on the other hand runs on a slightly dated Android 3.1 (Honeycomb) OS, which runs well but comes with a few innovations – Asus has left ICS rela-

42 MYMOBILE may 15 to jun 14 2012

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tively untampered in comparison. We will, however, go with the newer Android version.

Winner | Asus Transformer Prime

Connectivity | The Thinkpad tablet offers 3G, WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth and HDMI connectivity along with the USB on the go feature. However, once you plug it to the keyboard, the USB port gets occupied and there is no other option in the keyboard for the same. There is an SD card slot in the tab too but this also gets locked in the frame as soon as you connect the tab to the keyboard. The Transformer Prime comes with only Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity options and there is no 3G connectivity. The keyboard comes with a USB port and a SD card slot. The tab also supports a microSD card. We are going to call this one a tie too, as the ThinkPad’s inbuilt 3G connectivity cancels out the edge it loses on USB.

Other stuff | Both the Thinkpad tab as well as the Transformer Prime come with certain unique features not seen in other tablets. For instance the ThinkPad has a pen shaped stylus tucked into its spine that can be used for handwriting through a notes application. On the other hand the Transformer Prime has a touchpad with basic multitouch support and while cameras are usually not considered as a

very strong tablet feature the Transformer P rime has an 8.0-megapixel camera with a good performance. Once again, we would call this a tie – the Transformer’s trackpad is a neat feature but we found the ThinkPad’s stylus to be very handy for those note-worthy moments.

Winner | Tie team@mymobile.co.in

Conclusion | The fact that the two devices tied in three of the six paramaters we compared them on tells you how closely matched they are. We did not use Value for Money as a parameter because they both cost around the same (in the vicinity of Rs 50,000). The fact that the Transformer Prime won on the three paramaters which were not tied might seem significant to some but we would hasten to point out that these mainly stemmed from its hardware. In terms of performance, not much separates the two. The business minded will love the efficiency of the ThinkPad tablet and its variety of interfaces (touch, keyboard, stylus) while those looking for a more notebook like experience and great hardware will flock to the Transformer Prime. As we always say, it depends on what you need.

Winner | Tie

may 15 to jun 14 2012 MYMOBILE 43

n o s ta lg i a

e v i F , h t n This Mo o g A s r a Ye our hands on a t o g e w t a th 7 0 0 2 time in We take you for r. e It was at this very v re fo s e n o h tp ar ange sm to our archives in device that would ch ip d e w as n e ev e ory lan a trip down our mem gh 14 issue Mukesh Kumar Sin Year 2007- May 15-June D840,

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a 5.0ention specifications like h display, inc megapixel camera, a 2.6 tivity nec GPS, Wi-Fi, and 3G con and they ay to a cellphone user tod g to a run of the mill will think you are referrin ething in the vicinsom ts cos t tha ne smartpho 00. A decent device ity of Rs 10,000 – Rs 15,0 olutionary. Which rev too perhaps but nothing world has changed the ch mu how ves pro just , five years ago, in For rs. yea five of in a matter h these very speciwit ne pho a s May 2007, it wa world upside bile mo the fications that turned be the same er nev uld down. Smartphones wo again.

07? Rememberre20 just about making their

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44 MYMOBILE may 15 to jun 14 2012

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the market. And GPS was something that one had heard about rather than experienced. All that would change in this month, that year.

My Mobile – May 2007

It was raining innovative phones in our office in May 2007. Along with established brands like Nokia, Samsung, LG and Sony Ericsson, there were some new brands like Intex and Dopod which were knocking at the doors of Indian mobile market. Among the devices that descended on our reviewer squad were the Sony Ericsson K550i, Palm Treo 680, O2 XDA Zing, Dopod C80, Intex Infi, Spice S1000, LG KE 820, Dopod C800 and Sony Ericsson W610i. Of these the Treo and the O2 Zing were notable for its combination of touchscreen and QWERTY, which was a rarity in those days, although both did it differently. While the Treo combined both in a standard candybar format, the Zing came with a touchscreen and a slider keyboard. Both form factors would become popular in the days to come but at that time, raised eyebrows in the office. But the handset that stood tall even in this illustrious company was the Nokia N95. It was the first phone to come with a dual slider functionality – the screen could slide up as well as down. But if the form factor of the device grabbed our eyeballs, what the phone did popped them right out of our sockets. It came with a powerful 5.0-megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics that took pictures that were of printable quality and shot DVD quality video – something that was unheard of in cameraphones. Sliding the phone downwards revealed shortcut keys for music, and the quality of the music was excellent as well. Then there were the connectivity options – the phone supported everything from Wi-Fi to 3G to Bluetooth to TV connectivity. Top that off with a 2.6 inch display, which was rather large for a non-touchscreen phone (it still is!) and a refreshed version of Symbian that made configuring e-mails and web browsing much easier than before and you could understand why Nokia was claiming that the N95 was what computers could become in a very highprofile ad campaign. No prizes for guessing which was our phone of the month!

The forerunner of the future The Nokia N95 was launched for Rs 35,000 in the Indian market which was not a small price then and even now is very much high-end. But it did set a precedent for high-end devices and most importantly, pulled smartphones out of the enterprise segment and made them relatively mainstream. When we look at the devices that we reviewed this month, it is not difficult to see the influence the N95 had on them. In 2007, a smartphone was supposed to mainly be able to handle mail and document handling, with multimedia being hardly necessary. The N95 turned that concept on its head, showing that it was possible for a phone to do everything from handling enterprise functions to multimedia ones. Today, devices like the Xperia S, the Xolo, and the Motorola Atrix 2 show similar versatility, blending enterprise, entertainment and connectivity with almost seamless ease. And they are all smartphones. Processing power has gone up – we now have multi-core processors – screens have grown larger (a 4.0-inch display is almost par for the course in a high-end device), and a high-end phone sporting anything less than a 8.0-megapixel camera is considered sub-standard. And cameraphones which could only dream of challenging their digital camera counterparts now stand on the verge of overtaking them, if the speculation around the amazing Nokia PureView 808 is to be believed. Computers still show no sign of becoming like the Nokia N95. But smartphones all over the world certainly have become just that. And more. And it all started in May-June, 2007. n mukesh@mymobile.co.in

may 15 to jun 14 2012 MYMOBILE 45

just in Samsung Galaxy S advance Getting advanced with galaxy

xpanding its Galaxy smartphones series is something Samsung is particularly good at. Not that its consumers mind. The latest star to join the range is the Galaxy S Advance, a high-end phone that runs on Android 2.3 Gingerbread OS. The device is powered by a 1 GHz dual core Cortex-A9 processor, sports a 4.0-inch Super AMOLED display, is 9.7mm thick and weighs 120 grams. The display also has Corning Gorilla Glass protection. It comes with a 5.0 megapixel camera capable of recording videos of 720 pixels at 30 frames per second and also packed with features like autofocus, LED flash, geo-tagging, touch focus, face and smile detection. It also has secondary camera of 1.3 megapixel for video calling. The audio and video players of the device support all popular formats. On the connectivity front, the phone comes with Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, DLNA, Wi-Fi hotspot, Bluetooth v3.0 with A2DP, optional NFC, GPRS and EDGE network and micro USB v2.0. It has an internal memory of 8/16 GB that is expandable up to 32 GB, 768 MB RAM and 2 GB ROM. The device comes loaded with applications like SNS integration, Google Search, Maps, Gmail, and YouTube. One interesting feature included in the phone is Find My Mobile, a lost phone management system that enables users to trace their lost phone via Web browser and allows remote deletion of data. The phone is priced at Rs 26,900.

LG Optimus L3 E400 - An affordable Android

G has come up with another E series phone, the LG Optimus L3 E400 for mid-range smartphone lovers. The phone runs on Android 2.3 Gingerbread OS powered by a 800 MHz processor. It cuts a smart figure with its sharp edges and dimensions of 102.6 x 61.6 x 11.9 mm, and at 110 grammes, is relatively light too. It sports a 3.2 inch TFT LCD capacitive touchscreen, and a 3.0 megapixel camera which is capable of shooting videos at 24 frames per second, and comes with features like auto focus and geo tagging. It has 384 MB RAM and internal storage of 1 GB that can be expanded to 32 GB via a micro SD card. For connectivity options, the device supports Wi-Fi (802.11b/g/n) and Wi-Fi hotspot, Bluetooth v3.0 with A2DP, GPRS and EDGE network, A-GPS navigation and USB 2.0. The phone comes with preloaded applications like Google Search, Maps, Gmail, YouTube, Google Talk, Latitude, Messenger, News and Weather Phone, Yahoo! and Hotmail, as well as SNS integration to stay connected with your social networks. The phone has a battery of 1540 mAh that gives talk time of 12.5 hours on 2G and up to 10 hours on 3G networks. The LG Optimus L3 E400 is priced at Rs 8,000 and is available in Black and White colours. A value for money Droid, this. team@mymobile.co.in

46 MYMOBILE may 15 to jun 14 2012

sneak peek Nokia PureView 808 A

view of purity

okia as a brand has been known to have introduced a number of innovations through their mobile phones especially in the field of imaging. Who can forget the launch of the iconic Nokia N95 with the first 5.0-megapixel camera? And now Nokia is again promising a new world of innovation with the launch of a 41-megapixel camera in the Pureview 808. Touted as the phone with the most advanced imaging capabilities ever, the PureView 808 boasts of a 41 megapixel sensor, Carl Zeiss lense and PureView technology, it is also capable of capturing full HD videos. Weighing 169 grams, the phone exudes standard Nokia quality in hardware and runs on the latest Symbian Belle operating system. It has 16 GB internal memory that can be expanded up to 48 GB. As far as the connectivity goes, the phone is loaded with every possible capability you can think of from HDMI, DLNA to 3G, WiFi and USB-on-the-go, it has it all. The PureView 808 is a touchscreen phone with a 4.0-inch Clearblack AMOLED Gorilla glass display. Apart from the camera, which is the highlight of the phone, other mulitmedia options include the music player and FM radio. It also comes packed with the usual Nokia functionalities like Email, navigation, social networking etc. The Nokia PureView 808 is expected to hit the Indian market by the end of May and is expected to bepriced around Rs 35,000.

Samsung Galaxy SIII There is a new star in the rising

he Galaxy series from Samsung has many stars in its kitty and the new one that is about to shine the brightest in the Galaxy of mobile universe is the recently showcased Samsung Galaxy SIII. To start with the new Galaxy SIII boasts of a 4.8 inch Super AMOLED HD display screen, 1.4 GHz Cortex A9 quad core processor, 1 GB RAM, 8.0-megapixel primary and 1.9-megapixel secondary camera. Running on the latest Android Ice Cream Sandwich operating system the phone has some really interesting applications that promise a very different experience. There is a voice command based feature named S Voice, which is pretty similar to the iPhoneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Siri and certainly holds similarity to the Siri. Smart Alert is a new way of letting you know about missed calls and messages and even more interesting is Smart Stay which keeps the phone active till the time you are looking at it. Samsung also upped the ante for the competition with the new Direct Call feature that lets you make a call by simply taking the phone to your ear. The Samsung Galaxy SIII is expected to come to India in the end of May or early June this year and is expected to be priced at Rs 38,000.

team@mymobile.co.in

may 15 to jun 14 2012 MYMOBILE 47

burn test iBall Glam 3

Re-enters, the clamshell Not too long ago, a clamshell phone was the epitome of tech style (remember the Moto Razr?). iBall attempts to rekindle the clamshell magic with its Glam 3.

Looks: Flip for it

Pros

106 mm

The Glam 3 is easy on the eye, even though it is a bit on the longer side. The phone has a 2.6 inch TFT display, with an alphanumeric keypad on the lower panel of the phone with dedicated keys for Bluetooth, camera, SMS access and music player. The front and back panel of the device have been given a smooth finish with a design printed on it. A silver metal strip is placed on the front and back panel and also a round iBall icon is placed on the front panel on which a white light blinks whenever you open or close the flip or receive a call or SMS. The side panel has crisscrossed silver metal which adds to phone’s beauty, but honestly we did not find the build quality very impressive.

51 mm

Weight | 100 grams

Price: Rs 4,495

 Below

par audio

User experience: Sad smiley

Size | 106 x 51 x 16 mm

Screen | 262,144 colours

 Good

build quality

a smartphone.

tech specs

Battery | Lithium 1100 mAh

 Sub-standard

looks and display

The display of the device is good for a feature phone. The dual SIM slot and microSD slot are given behind the battery under the back panel – it would have been great to have a hot

Memory | 2.98 MB, microSD

 Dual

SIM support

Hardware: Not too impressive

Cons

Our experience with the phone falls under the “very average” category, keeping the price of the device in mind. No feature really impressed us, and even the form factor was undermined by the build quality.

Conclusion swappable secondary SIM. Two hardware keys have been given for each SIM. The back panel contains a 2.0-megapixel camera and a speaker. The memory of the phone can be expandable up to 16 GB with the help of micro SD card. For connectivity the phone comes with Bluetooth and GPRS.

Multimedia: Nothing unusual The audio quality of the handset is nothing to rave about, both on loudspeaker and on headphones. The images taken by 2.0 megapixel camera are just about acceptable. Rather surprisingly, the phone was not able to play videos stored in memory card. The FM reception of the phone is good.

Software: Java-centric The iBall Glam 3 is a basic phone that runs on generic Java OS, and comes with apps like Facebook, Twitter, Nimbuzz, King Movie, currency converter, world clock, and an ebook reader. No surprises here, as this is not

48 MYMOBILE may 15 to jun 14 2012

The iBall Glam 3 is priced at Rs 4,495. You can also consider the Nokia C2-03 which is a slider phone available for Rs 4,600 and offers more in terms of substance, if not style. n team@mymobile.co.in

verdict 8

Looks Features

ease of use

perfoRmance

value for money overall

70%

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Micromax Superphone Ninja A50 Its time to

meet AISHA

Looks: Mr. White Although Micromax has generally used white for phones targeted at women, the similarly coloured A50 looks pretty much unisex. Its all-plastic body is shiny and could have been made more classy. The front panel has a 3.1 inch touchscreen with three hardware keys and some significant empty real estate. The bottom of the phone tapers to the end reminding us of certain brand’s (read HTC) phones. There is a metallic strip around the sides to break the white monotony.

113 mm

Micromax’s attempts in the smartphone category have got a lukewarm result. But will the new Ninja Superphone with its Aisha capabilities be able to turn the tide?

Pros  AISHA

works fairly well

 3G

connectivity in SIM 1

Price: Rs 4,999

 No

Flash support in the browser

 Average

fixed focus camera

You can also capture videos using the camera which again are average. The sound quality of the default player is all right through the loudspeaker and comes with sound effect enhancements. There is a FM radio too. The video player played 720p videos with ease.

Hardware: Ice cool The A50 has a 3.1 inch capacitive touchscreen in the front and a 2.0-megapixel camera at the back, and feels sturdy to hold. As far as the insides go, there is a 650 MHz processor in the phone, which is par for the course for

Cons

61 mm such a low-priced device. It has dual SIM functionality with a SIM manager which lets you choose to keep either or both the SIMs active. SIM 1 comes with 3G connectivity and apart from that there is Wi-Fi (with Wi-Fi Direct), and Bluetooth as well. The memory can be expanded to 32 GB with a microSD card. One full charged battery will easily last you a day.

Software: Get hot The highlight of the phone is AISHA (Artificial Intelligence Speech Handset Assistant) which is basically a voice command software designed roughly on the lines of Siri. You can chat with it or ask it to call, SMS, e-mail, etc. Its accuracy for English was good, although we had a really tough time with Hindi words and names. Apart from that, the A50 runs on Android 2.3.6 and the usual Android functionality has been enhanced with a simple interface. It supports all popular e-mail services and has MS Exchange support. The browser has multitouch support but lacks Flash. There is a special wireless keyboard app that lets you connect to one via Bluetooth.

Multimedia: Sing and snap The A50 comes with a 2.0-megapixel fixed focus camera with feature highlights of panorama mode and smile shot along with face detection. The picture quality remains average.

User Experience: Good Value The overall experience with the phone was decent. While AISHA stood out in terms of innovation, the rest of the interface as well as functionality remains standard.

Conclusion The Micromax A50 is available for Rs 4,999. An alternative could be the Karbonn A1, which comes for Rs 4,500 and sports a 3.2 MP camera but runs on Android 2.2. n team@mymobile.co.in

verdict Looks

Features

ease of use

performance

value for money

overall

82%

may 15 to jun 14 20121 MYMOBILE 49

burn test 2 1

Burg 12 Watch Phone

Watch out for the watch phone!

59 mm

23 mm

here have been many times when phone brands have tried to mix the time machines to the talking machines. We are talking about the watches and phones and while some of them really stood out in terms of innovation but they never became very popular. But now there is a Danish company which is trying its hand at this form factor with a range of watch phones. Will the Indian customer be adventurous enough to try them?

Looks: itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a watch A watch is a watch and the watch phone looks

like a watch, a bulky colourful sports watch that would have a teenager jumping with joy to get one. It has an oval dial which doubles up as a digital watch and phone with a camera at the top. The strap has the loudspeaker and mouth piece. There has been a significant effort to put in all the phone facets into a watch form factor but it still gives a very kiddish feeling. It may be because of the brightly coloured strap and the fact that the dial is thicker than the usual. However for those who want a watch phone they can understand that in order to put in the hardware the looks have

50 MYMOBILE may 15 to jun 14 2012

to be sacrificed a bit. That said the phone is a decent looking watch.

Hardware: A watchfull As far as the quality of the phone goes we can say that it is made of standards hardware. The finish of the dial is smooth and is made up of metal screwed on tightly to the strap. The rubberised plastic used for the straps are also sturdy and of good quality. The phoneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s dial is actually a resistive screen that turns into a watch in the idle mode. The SIM card and miscroSD card slot are under the battery cover which has the battery infused

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Pros

screen is too small to use it for regular browsing the camera on the watch phone can be used as a webcam. There is a file manager to access the mass storage along with the usual utility apps like the calendar, calculator, alarms, et all.

 Cool watch design  Expandable memory  Internet connectivity

Cons

Multimedia: Simpleton There is a 1.3-megapixel front camera on the watch phone that comes with all the features of a basic phone like cont shot, self timer, EV, white balance etc. You can also set up image resolution and quality but we would really not suggest it for imaging purposes. Firstly it’s a front facing camera and it will be a bit difficult to shoot other’s pictures. Secondly, its not really that great a resolution for taking pictures and videos. Yes there is a very basic video recorder too. There is a music player on the phone and we were a bit surprised to not see an FM radio as that would have been pretty cool. For the music player the interface is plain vanilla and the sound quality is a bit high pitched through the loudspeaker.

 Small screen for touch interface  No 3.5 mm jack for headphones  No charging adapter in the sales

pack

highlights 1

Resistive touchscreen is a bit small in size

tech specs Size | 59 x 23 x 16 mm Weight | 100 grams

2 The microphone and the speaker are placed on the straps

Memory | 1MB, MicroSD Battery | Li-Ion 450 mAh

User experience: Not really timeless

Screen | Not Available

Bluetooth/ WiFi | Yes/No

Apart from the novelty of the fact that it’s a watch phone, we really didn’t find much difference in the way we use other phones and this one. Yes there were some hinderances like the small screen and the bulky watch which might not suit everyone but it still remains a pretty basic device.

Phonebook Capacity | 500

Conclusion

Talktime/Standby | Upto 2 houes/

The phone’s screen turns into a watch in idle mode

The call end key is placed on the spine

Upto 48 hours GPRS/3G | Yes/No

The MRP of the Burg 12 watch phone is Rs 21,900. It is a unique proposition as there is no such phone in the market yet. However if you are looking for a normal touchscreen device then you can opt for Motorola Atrix2 for Rs 22,500, HTC One V for Rs 18,000 and Nokia Lumia 800 costing Rs 24,500. n

Camera | 2.0 Megapixel Frequency | GSM 900/1800

Others | Stylus Burg 12 is available in multiple colours

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Price: Rs 21,900 into it. There is a USB 2.0 port on the side with to watch like buttons for power/ call end and calling. There is no 3.5 mm jack so you cannot use any headphones for talking but you can use a Bluetooth headset for the same and also to hear music. Another thing is that the sales pack doesn’t come with a charger there is just a USB cable which you can connect to the PC to charge and if you want to plug it in a socket you will have to buy it separately. The internal memory of the phone is just 0.99 MB so you will have to use a microSD if you wish to add content to the phone.

verdict

Software: Basically Speaking While there is some interesting hardware features on the phone, the software is pretty basic. It doesn’t run on any of the smartphone OSes and the platform is porpeitary. The resistive touchscreen gets limited by the small screen of the size. However the stylus has been cleverly tucked into the wristband making it easier to use the touchscreen. However the comfort level is still not that great. It’s a little uncomfortable to use your finger nails on such a small screen even for dialing numbers. The phone comes with a built in browser but here too the

Looks

Features ease of use

6 7

perfoRmance value for money

overall

68%

may 15 to jun 14 2012 MYMOBILE 51

burn test

BlackBerry Curve 9220

This berry is bitten by the budget bug 3

109 mm

Pros

Cons

 Relatively affordable

 Fixed focus camera

 BlackBerry 7.1

 All features of OS 7.1 don’t

 Finally FM radio added

work

60 mm

The Curve series from BlackBerry has helped the brand penetrate the mass market mobile phone category owing to its affordable price. In fact, it played a pivotal role in making BBM the craze it is today. However it could never break the Rs 15,000 launch price to bring real value for money for the customers. But now there is a Curve that fits your budget and also offers a standard BlackBerry experience.

Looks: Playing safe BlackBerry might have tried to tread a risky path when it comes to the price of the phone, but in the area of looks and design, it has played safe. The Curve 9220 looks very much

highlights

 No 3G

The convenience key on the left side has been set for BBM by deault

like the Curve 8520 with a few variations in the control key cluster. It’s a bit slimmer and lighter than the 8520 but the body has the smooth curved finish as seen in the earlier device. The body is compact and easy to use.

Hardware: Ups and downs Some significant hardware upgradation has been done in the new Curve as compared to the last one in the affordable category, the 8520. It now has an 800 MHZ processor, which is needed to run the new operating system along with 512 MB RAM and the same ROM. While the body does have a smooth finish it feels a bit plasticky. The 2.4-inch horizontal

52 MYMOBILE may 15 to jun 14 2012

The QWERTY keypad offers trademark BlackBerry comfort

screen has 320X240 resolution which could have been made a bit better. Moreover the screen area above the control key cluster is very prone to smudging and fingerprints. The phone is capable of supporting memory up to 32 GB and the microSD card is hotswappable. The BBM key on the left panel is actually a convenience key seen on other phones too and while it gives access to BBM by default you can always change it. On the connectivity front while it does have Wi-Fi but there is no support for 3G which is a bummer.

Software: The new OS The best part about the Curve is that it runs

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less interface to the phone and a few more functionalities but still not everything. The browser comes with full Flash support.

Multimedia: Fixed in a Fix The highlight of this section is that RIM has added FM radio to the 9220. The interface has been kept simple and you can add channels in the list. The radio reception is good and you can play the FM radio through the speaker too. Simple and fun- itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a welcome addition to the BlackBerry world. Then there is the music player which comes with headset music equalisers and the volume keys act as play, pause and skip. The sound quality through loudspeaker is acceptable but the headphone sound quality pleased us a lot. Another good thing is that the phone can easily play full HD 1080p videos the only downside to the experience being that the screen is a bit small. The phone has a 2.0-megapixel fixed focus camera which is just about average - we did expect a bit more. There are two scene modes (auto and night) and that is just about it. There is not flash in the phone. The videos can be captured in 640X480 resolution and that is all that can be said be said about it.

User Experience: Basic Instinct

Phonebook Capacity | Shared

Others | Wi-Fi hotspot, FM Radio

The Blackberry Curve 9220 is great for those who wish to use BlackBerry services on the go. The e-mail, Internet connectivity and BBM work great on the phone. However we were really not impressed by the camera but do welcome the inclusion of FM Radio.

Price: Rs 10,600

Conclusion

Camera | 2.0 megapixel Frequency | 850/900/1800/1900

The 2.0megapixel camera is fixed focus

FM radio has been added in a BlackBerry for the first time

on the latest version of the BlackBerry OS (7.1) and while it does make the phone future proof, the fact that only few of the new features of the OS work on the phone left a sour taste in our mouths. The OS supports Wi-Fi Hotspot functionality but the phone does not. Also the Wi-Fi calling function is not supported. The phone has voice search which is powered by Bing. The voice accuracy for English words was great but it took some effort to make the phone understand Hindi names. The overall interface of the phone is standard BlackBerry as we have seen in earlier OS7 devices. The app tray has five sections all, favourites, frequent, media and downloads.

The Curve 9220 is available for Rs 10,600 in the market and is the most affordable BlackBerry on the latest OS till date. If you are not looking for BlackBerry functionalities then you can also opt for Nokia C6 costing Rs 11,200. n

An optical trackpad has been given for navigation

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verdict And it can be minimized too. The notification bar, profile manager, search and connectivity manager, all can be accessed from the homescreen itself. You can configure all kinds of e-mails on the phone but you need to subscribe to BlackBerry Services. The new BBM 6.1 comes with a few more emoticons, longer word count for status messages, option of customizing the bubble colour for a contact, ability to put gif animations as profile pictures and integrate contact display pictures with BBM pictures. The standard DocumentsToGo app has been included which allows editing and creation of MS Office documents. One can safely say that the upgraded OS brings a seam-

Looks

Features

ease of use

perfoRmance

value for money

overall

80%

may 15 to jun 14 2012 MYMOBILE 53

burn test Intex iTab A surprise packet!

160 mm

203 mm

ntex is the latest to have thrown its hat into the budget tablet ring. But is its iTab any different from other offerings in the segment?

Pros

tech specs Size | 203 x 160 x 13 mm

 8.0 inch capacitive screen

Weight | 350 grams

Looks: Decent enough

 USB and LAN support

Memory | 8 GB, microSD

On first glance, you would be forgiven for mistaking the Intex iTab for Milagrow’s TabTop – it has the same digital frame like look and silver lining around the display. The build quality of the tablet is solid and a brushed front panel gives it a classy look. The back panel contains the loudspeaker and has a shiny glossy finish, which easily attracts fingerprints. The top of the tablet contains the volume rocker, menu and back key whereas the power button and ports and slots are placed on the right. The tablet has a front facing camera which is placed on the right side. It comes with a cover in the sales pack which can be used as a stand.

 Preloaded devotional and

Battery | Li-Ion 5000 mAh

Hardware: Impressive indeed The display is the heart of the tablet and the

educational apps

Cons  No Bluetooth  Old Android OS 2.3  No SIM support iTab comes with an unusually large 8.0-inch screen – most devices in this segment sport 7.0-inch ones. The display quality is good and touch is also impressive. The device has a 1 GHz processor, which ensures a smooth

54 MYMOBILE may 15 to jun 14 2012

Price: Rs 11,900

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highlights 1

8.0 inch capacitive screen is easy to operate

performance and gives smooth processing experience. However, it is in connectivity that the iTab really scored. No, it does not have support for a SIM card but it comes with USB and HDMI connectivity, allowing you to not just connect a USB modem and thumb drive to it, but also portable hard drives – we were actually able to connect a 1 TB hard drive to it and use it. A pleasant surprise is support for LAN connectivity, which can be accessed using an adaptor bundled along with the tablet, making it usable in wired network environments. The device has internal memory of 8 GB that can be expandable up to 32 GB with microSD card. Surprisingly, there is no sign of Bluetooth.

Software: No, it’s not ICS

The iTab runs Android 2.3 rather than 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich). But you would not realise it initially as the interface has been cunningly designed to look like the

ICS one. It has five home screen panel options on which you can place shortcuts, widgets and folder as per your need. The lower part of the screen contain icons for Home, Menu, Back and recently opened apps whereas the top of the screen has dedicated icons for Main menu and Tab key. The tablet also comes with a PDF reader and Office suite in which one can make and edit MS Office documents. The tablet also comes with Skype for video calling. There is an Intex Zone which features interesting apps like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Apart from that, it comes preloaded with devotional content, M-books. For mailing, it has POP3, IMAP and MS Exchange support. As far as browsing is concerned, the tablet offered a decent experience.

Multimedia: Nothing extra to offer In multimedia department, the tab has a camera, audio and video player. The tablet lacks FM radio. It has a

Home and back buttons are placed on the top panel

USB and HDMI support along with LAN support

5 4 Android 2.3 has been presented with interesting UI

4 VGA camera which is best used for video calls. The device is capable of handling HD video.

verdict Looks

User Experience: A treat!

7 9

Features

5 Interesting apps like Book library, educational and devotional content

ease of use

perfoRmance

value for money overall

82%

We must confess to being delighted with our experience with the iTab. The large display makes the viewing experience pleasant and we hardly experienced any lags in its performance in general. We found its USB connectivity to be particularly impressive, giving us almost infinite storage. Battery back up, however, is on the lower side – you will need to recharge it after 5-6 hours of use.

Conclusion The Intex iTab is priced at Rs 11,990. As an alternative, one can consider the similar looking Milagrow Tabtop which also has 8.0 inches display and costs the same. n team@mymobile.co.in

may 15 to jun 14 2012 MYMOBILE 55

burn test

Zync Z-990 A

tab for everyone

Pros  Android Ice Cream

Sandwich

 1.2 Ghz processor  Relatively low price

Cons  No SIM support  No volume keys

197 mm

 No primary camera

Price: Rs 8,200

56 MYMOBILE may 15 to jun 14 2012

120 mm

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5 Micromax and HCL might have grabbed more headlines, but Zync was first off the mark when it came to budget tablets running the latest version of Android. Its Z-990 runs Ice Cream Sandwich and was available for well under Rs 10,000.

Looks: Nothing to boast about The Zync Z-990 has relatively standard looks. It has a matte finish plastic black body, which tends to pick up fingerprints. The device has three hard buttons placed on the top panel for power, menu and escape, as well as a microphone. The right side has a memory card slot, HDMI port, 3.5 mm audio jack, charging and USB slots. However there are no volume rocker keys provided in the tablet, which is a bit of a surprise and forces one to go to the settings to adjust volume. The camera is placed on the right side, while the speaker is on the back. All in all, the Z-990 looks average and will not turn heads, but then one would not really expect that in a device that comes at such a bargain price.

Hardware: Good for the price

highlights 1

The three touch keys of Andorid 4.0 negate the need of many hard keys

2 A VGA resolution camera has been added to the front panel

The Z-990 comes with a 7.0 inch capacitive touchscreen with 16 million colour support. Our experience with the touch was quite satisfactory – something for which we think the 1.2 GHz processor and 1 GB RAM (which is unusual in a tablet in this price segment) should take credit, although some apps took a long time to start. The tablet has a single camera – a VGA in front. It has 4 GB storage, which is expandable up to 32 GB with the help of a microSD card. There device comes with built in Wi-Fi and support for a 3G USB dongle, although you cannot use a SIM card with it. The tablet comes with a 3600 mAh battery which gives about five to six hours of usage. All in all, a decent spec sheet for the price.

Software: ICS delight! The visual experience on the screen is good

4 The touch response of the tab is smooth

5 The browser comes with multi-touch support

The tablet runs on Android 4.0 or Ice Cream Sandwich, which remains a rarity even on high-end Android devices. The interface is user friendly, with the locked screen coming with options to both launch the camera as well as unlock the screen. Three touch icons are given in the lower left side of the screen – for back, home and for recently opened applications. A touch menu icon is also placed on the top right side of the display. Unfortunately, the tablet does not come with exciting apps installed on it – we found just basic apps like the Astro file manager, an e-mail client, browser, calculator etc. When we compare it with tablets coming with loads of pre-loaded apps, especially those targeted at education, the Zync Z-990 is a bit of a disappointment. Still, there is enough here if all

that you want to do is mainly browse the Net, play multimedia and mess around with mail and social networks.

Multimedia: Predictable, not exceptional The Zync Z-990’s multimedia side is very much par for the course for a low cost tablet. The absence of a powerful camera robs it of any photographic prowess, but the front facing camera is good enough for video calls. The device supports all popular audio and video formats, and the sound quality of the tablet is decent enough in both loudspeaker and headphone mode. The music player comes with options like party shuffle and shuffle all and also has equalizer settings with bass boost and 3D effects. We would have liked an FM radio, though. When it comes to video playback, the tablet is capable of playing 1080p HD video with ease and also supports HD output.

User Experience: Pretty good, really Our experience of using Zync Z-990 was good, the odd lag in launching applications notwithstanding. Browsing the Web was good and ICS for the most part worked very smoothly. Yes, we would have preferred a sleeker looking device, especially when compared with some of the other budget tablets out there, but all said and done, if it is solid online and multimedia performance you are looking for, then the Z-990 seldom disappoints.

Conclusion Though Zync Z 990 comes with an MRP of Rs 8,990, its MOP is Rs 8,200. One can also look for HCL U1 tab that too run on Android Ice Cream Sandwich and cost Rs 7,999 or the Micromax Funbook priced at Rs 6,499, which have largely similar specs but come preloaded with loads of educational content. n team@mymobile.co.in

verdict Looks

Features

ease of use

perfoRmance

value for money

overall

76%

may 15 to jun 14 2012 MYMOBILE 57

burn test

Pros  3.5 inch large display

Spice Mi 350n Gingerbread delight

 Supports two GSM networks  Secondary camera

4 2

highlights

pice was one of the first companies in the country to have come out with an affordable Android phone. The company has since been churning out Android tablets and phones and the latest is the Mi 350n, which sports an unusually large touchscreen and in best Spice tradition, does not cost a bomb.

Looks: Smart, sober The Spice Mi350n is a rather nice-looking candybar smartphone. It has a 3.5 inch wide display screen which is large for this price segment and has good touch sensitivity. The only keys you see in front are the usual three hard keys for Android run handsets that come

The screen of the phone is delightfully big

below the screen, the back panel has a 3.2megapixel camera along with the speaker grill. On top is the power key and a 3.5 mm jack. There is a mini USB port and a shortcut key to camera on the right panel and the volume rocker in the left. The handset is partly rubbery and metallic in look and feel. The colour combination of subtle black and grey is used in the framing of the device which sets it apart from other devices. The rounded corners and smooth edges help you hold it easily, even though it does seem a bit heavy for its size.

Hardware: Regular dose In terms of hardware, the Spice Mi 350n delivers pretty much what most people would

58 MYMOBILE may 15 to jun 14 2012

The phone has dual SIM functionality with 3G support in one SIM

expect. The dual SIM phone comes with a 3.5 inch TFT LCD capacitive touchcsreen, and is powered by a 650 MHz processor. The phone has support for dual SIMs, which would run on 2G and 3G networks on auto mode. However, only one SIM can support 3G at a time. The handset comes with two cameras, a 3.2-megapixel primary one and a front facing VGA one. The SIM card slots as well as the micro SD card slot is placed below the battery and are therefore not hot swappable – a bit of a pain, as changing any of the three would involve pulling out the battery.

Software: Apps galore The device runs on Android version 2.3.4, or

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Cons SD card in the phone. Actually, you will need a micro SD card if you intend to use any multimedia on the device at all – perhaps a consequence of all the onboard storage being taken up by all those preinstalled apps. The camera comes with a few shooting modes, but lacks a flash which restricts its use in low light conditions. You can make videos in low, mid and high modes. The device comes with FM radio but you will need to plug in your headsets to listen to it. You can record programs from FM directly, though, and also use AGPS for navigation based applications. The sound quality is good in terms of volume but a bit iffy when it comes to quality – we would not recommend listening to high-pitched numbers on it.

 Average camera quality  Android 2.3 seems old now

tech specs Size | 116 x 61 x12.75 mm Weight | 136 grams Memory | 170 MB, MicroSD

116 mm

Battery | Li-Ion 1400 mAh

User Experience: We are satisfied

Price: Rs 8,500

Conclusion

61 mm

3.2megapixel camera lack flash support

A secondary camera has been added in the front for video calling

While the phone scores in terms of its looks and preinstalled applications, the fact that you need an expansion card to make use of any of the multimedia features on it can be an irritant. The voice quality is fairly good on calls, the touch experience is quite smooth and the user interface gave us nothing to complain about. The 3.5 inch screen helps – we normally see 3.0 or 3.2 inch screens at these price points. All said and done, we must confess that when it comes to browsing the Web or watching video, this was one of the better devices we have used in the sub-Rs 10,000 smartphone category. Purists might scoff at the absence of Ice Cream Sandwich, but then that is available to a very limited number of handsets.

The Spice Mi 350n is available for Rs 8,500. If you are looking for alternatives, you can consider the LG E400 and Samsung Galaxy Y Colour as alternatives, which cost Rs 8,5,00 and Rs 8,100 respectively. However, none of them come with as large touchscreens or the array of apps that come with the Mi 350n. n

Hardware keys at thr bottom add to the phone’s functionality

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Gingerbread, which is not bad for a device in this price segment (after all, not too many handsets have got Ice Cream Sandwich). You may add, delete, move and do a lot more with the icons, widgets, shortcuts on its homescreens. The strip on the top when scrolled down will notify you about the Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, data connectivity and Airplane Mode, along with any other update on call, mail and messages. The phone also comes with an impressive number of applications preloaded on it, clearly selected to meet the needs of diverse users. There are applications for the Delhi Metro, for job seekers, for BSE/NSE stock, just dial, weather, etc. For news, there

are a stackful of apps like ET, HT, TOI, and Yahoo! News; while on the social front, one gets apps like WhatsApp, Nimbuzz, Mig33, Gtalk, Gmail, Yahoo Mail, and Spice Gang. Round that off with a YouTube app and games like ibibo Farms, Gold Rush, Teen Patti, Rolar Rev9, MGolf Park, as well as an ibibo iBrowser (in addition to the default browser), and you can see why we consider this device to be an app treasure trove. Most apps performed smoothly and looked good, thanks to the big display and the responsive touchscreen.

Multimedia: Nothing unusual The device has a 3.2-megapixel auto-focus camera, which does not work without a micro

verdict Looks

Features

ease of use

perfoRmance

value for money

overall

80%

may 15 to jun 14 2012 MYMOBILE 59

burn test Xolo X900 The Intel Inside Phone

Pros  Excellent performance in

processor-hungry tasks

123 mm

 Very good display  Decent price for the specs

Cons  Android 2.3  Ordinary camera  Not all Android apps

highlights

supported

63 mm

Looks: Intel Inside, a bit dull outside It might be the first smartphone ever to sport the “Intel Inside’’ label that is legendary on PCs, but in terms of appearance, the Lava Xolo X900 does not spring too many surprises. The phone has shades of the Motorola Droid in it with its straight lined front and a slight boxish appearance. The front is dominated by a 4.03 inch LCD display (made of scratch proof Gorilla Glass) that boasts of a 1024 x 600 resolution, which is higher than those seen on most Android handsets. There are four touch keys beneath it, for Back, Menu, Home and Search and also front facing camera. The sides are relatively plain

First phone to come with Intel inside branding

and have a silver metallic appearance, with an HDMI port on the left, and the micro-SIM card tray (yes, it uses a micro SIM and even comes with an extraction tool, like THAT phone does), volume rocker and dedicated camera button on the side. The USB-cum-charging port is on the lower part of the phone, while the top houses a 3.5mm jack and a power/display on-off button. The back has a rubberised plastic feel with the 8.0-megapixel camera with LED flash, and the Intel Inside logo. Surprisingly we could find no mention of Lava on the external part of the phone. At 10.9 mm, the Xolo 900 is not the slimmest phone we have seen and at 127 grammes, it is not feather light either. But all

60 MYMOBILE may 15 to jun 14 2012

The 8.0megapixel camera is accompanied with a LED flash

in all, it looks smart and compact, without being a head turner.

Hardware: Beast! What truly makes the Xolo compelling is the hardware it packs inside that relatively routine exterior. To start, there is the Intel Atom 1.6 GHz processor with hyper threading. Then there is 16 GB of internal memory, 1 GB RAM, just about every connectivity option you can think of (yes, including HSPA+, HDMI and even NFC), and an 8.0 megapixel camera capable of recording full HD video and taking up to ten pictures in a second in burst mode. We have not seen a device come this loaded with hardware muscle for a while.

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multimedia department. Yes, it plays videos flawlessly and takes pictures very well indeed – the 10-pictures-in-a-second thing actually works. However, the camera falters terribly in low light conditions, with murky and greyish results, and the sound (while loud enough) tends to distort a trifle at the highest volume point. The camera’s poor performance is a bit of a disappointment considering the speed at which it works and the amount of processing power the device packs. Videos can be shot in full HD but again, do not really compare well with those we have seen from the likes of the Xperia S, the iPhone 4S and the Galaxy S2. A multimedia star this ain’t, alas.

tech specs Size | 123 x 63 x 10.99 mm Weight | 127 grams Memory | 16 GB

User Experience: We are impressed!

Conclusion

Others | Media Link HD, Sense 4.0

The camera performance and the odd tendency to restart (an Android foible, we suspect) aside, we must confess to being very impressed by the Xolo 900. It has been a long while since we have seen a phone a lesser-known brand match that of its counterparts. And at Rs 22,000, it is priced well below some of its more hyped rivals. If it is just a performer you want, the Xolo 900 is the smartphone for you. Intel Inside DOES make a difference. n

Price: Rs 22,000 The capacitive touch function keys are at the bottom of the screen

A 1.3megapixel secondary camera has been added in the front

Software: Gingerbread? Why? Why on earth did Lava opt to park Android 2.3, which is now showing its age in the era of Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich), on such powerful hardware is something that we cannot fathom. An update to Ice Cream Sandwich is supposed to be released in the coming weeks, but we really would have preferred to see it on the handset from the word go. That apart, the Xolo offers the standard Android experience with customisable homescreen, widgets and apps and all. There are some preinstalled apps such as QuickOffice Lite (which lets you view but not edit or create MS Office documents), DoubleTwist and Angry Birds Rio. There

If you thought that processor cores were what mattered most in a smartphone’s performance, then we really suggest you try out the Xolo. The phone handled everything we threw at it from HD games to video editing with utter aplomb and with a speed that was frankly amazing. We also loved the fact that there were virtually no lags in performance, be it in browsing the Web, playing games or checking Facebook. The phone ran brilliantly and surprised us by lasting for more than a day of calling, browsing and push mail (with lots of Angry Birds thrown in) on a single charge.

5 The corning Gorilla Glass display is scratchproof

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is support for different types of Web mail services, as well as for MS Exchange. The browser is the stock Android browser but comes with support for Flash. In a neat touch, the Xolo also comes with Swype input preinstalled, making typing a much-easier task. And while it has been said that not all Android applications would be able to run on the Xolo, we were able to run most of our SNS apps, games and mail without any hassle, although we could not find Temple Run for the device.

Multimedia: A few rough spots Where the Xolo comes a little undone is in the

verdict Looks

8 9

Features ease of use

8 9

perfoRmance value for money

overall

84%

may 15 to jun 14 2012 MYMOBILE 61

burn test

Motorola Atrix 2 Dual Core and deadly

design

125.9 mm

highlights

66 mm

anufacturing good quality phones is a quality that not many of the brands have. And one brand that has been doing that for decades is Motorola. While it might be down for now, the products by the brand still exude the possibility of a better future and the Atrix 2 is one of them.

Looks: Sharp Moto When it comes to design and styling of a phone, one can really vouch for Motorola’s evolved sense of style. The same reflects in the looks of the Atrix2. It is a candybar phone with a decently sleek form factor that will make you stop and admire the device. The highlight is the crisp display that stands out in terms of clarity of picture and brightness. The all grey front panel stands in stark contrast to the white background and adds a new dimen-

The interface of the phone is smooth and easy to use

sion to the phone’s looks. While there is nothing out of the box in terms of design as seen in the earlier RAZR, the overall looks of the phone are impressive and worth flaunting.

Hardware: Ware it up! The Motorola Artix 2 boasts of some really impressive hardware. Lets start with the screen which is a 4.3-inch delight made of Corning Gorilla Glass display. There are no hardware keys on the phone except the camera key, power button and the volume keys and the detachable back cover has a pimpled finish for easier grip. The insides of the phone are as impressive as the outsides, in fact better. The phone runs on a 1GHz dual core processor and has 1 GB RAM that makes its functioning really smooth and snappy. The dedicated graphics processor makes playing high definition content a breeze. It has an internal memory of 8

62 MYMOBILE may 15 to jun 14 2012

Hardware camera key has been given for added convenience

GB which can be expanded with a SD card. A 2 GB card is bundled with the sales pack. Then comes connectivity. The phone has a mini HDMI port but the cable is not included in the sales pack. Apart from that it has support for 3G, Wi-Fi-including Wi-Fi Hotspot and DLNA and Bluetooth.

Software: Soft Gingerbread One might say that with Ice Cream Sandwich being released in recent phones the fact that the Atrix 2 runs on Android Gingerbread might be a letdown. However, considering the price difference between the two, we really don’t mind a smoothly running Gingerbread phone. The interface has been jazzed up and now you have a different lock where the whole screen moves in the unlocking motion. You can also access the sound profiles from the lockscreen itself. There are

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the Audio scene option that lets you capture sound in three different effects everyday, outdoors and concert. The video quality of the phone is good. The phone comes with a connected music player and FM radio and a lot of related community applications. For instance the TuneWiki Community lets you find songs according to artists or phrases. Another app is Music Maps, which gives you information abouts songs being played across the world according to location, either near you or in regions like New York, France, etc. Hot playlists options gives you the blips that people leave through Facebook or Twitter. Blips are information on which song a user is listening to and whether he likes it or hates it. You can also send blips through e-mail or SMS. The song identification feature lets you recognise a song and get information about it just by making your phone hear it. There are no sound enhancement features in the player. The sound quality is okay through loudspeakers and good through the headphones. Apart from FM radio the phone also comes with SHOUTcast Radio which is basically an Internet radio.

tech specs Size | 125.9 x 66 x 10.4 mm

Weight | 147 grams Memory | 8 GB, microSD Battery | Li-Ion 1785 mAh Screen | 16 million colours

Pros

Talktime/Standby | Upto 8.9 hours/ Upto 382 hours

 1 GHZ dual core Cortex A-9

processor

GPRS/3G | Yes/Yes

 A good 8.0-megapixel camera with

a 4.3-inch qHD display

 Pre-loaded productivity apps

Bluetooth/ WiFi | Yes/Yes Phonebook Capacity | Shared Camera | 8.0 megapixel

Cons

Frequency | GSM 850/900/1800/1900

User experience: Smooth silk

 No built in video calling

Others | Secondary camera,

 No Ice Cream Sandwich

Moto cast

The screen, interface, processing power and the touch response of the phone make the user experience convenient and hassle free. We didn’t have to think while using the phone and it came quite naturally to us. We would have loved to see an HDMI cable in the sales pack. The battery performance is okay but you will have to charge it once a day if you are using it extensively.

 Screen is a fingerprint magnet

8.0-megapixel camera takes good pictures

A secondary camera has been added in the front for video calling

five homescreen panels and you can tap on the home key to see all of them together. You cannot add more panels but these can be customised easily. The menu too is spread across panels and these can be sorted as All Apps, Recent and Downloaded. You can also create groups and then view apps group wise. The social networking application combines a number of SNS services, bringing all social networking activity to one screen. It can also combine your e-mail accounts in to one screen. MotoCast is an app that allows you to stream content wirelessly from your PC to your phone. Contacts have strong SNS and e-mail integration and you can send e-mail, see profiles, send messages on social sites, etc. from the Contacts tab itself. Completing the online experience is the browser, which comes with full Flash support. On the productivity front, you can open and edit MS Office documents using QuickOffice, and can type

Price: Rs 22,500 5

The display of the phone offers a great visual experience

Conclusion

away using the onscreen QWERTY keypad. A MOTOPRINT app lets you access printers wirelessly and take printouts directly from the phone. The phone comes with support for just about every sort of e-mail and there is an app called the WebTop where you can connect the phone to a PC using a dock and an HDMI cable. But the dock and the cable will have to be bought separately.

Multimedia: The fun side

The Motorola Atrix2 is priced at Rs 22,500. If you are looking at an Android device with similar specifications, you can also opt for the Samsung Galaxy S2, which comes with a 4.3 inch Super AMOLED display, dual core processor and 8.0-megapixel camera for Rs 28,500. n team@mymobile.co.in

verdict 9

Looks Features

8 9

ease of use

The Atrix2 comes with a 8.0-megapixel autofocus camera and unlike the RAZR, this one has a hardware key for taking pictures. There are various scene modes like macro and portrait and you can shoot in single shot mode, panorama and multi-shot mode. The picture quality of the camera is good. Geo-tagging is possible both for stills as well as videos (the camera can capture full HD videos, incidentally). A neat addition in the video mode is

perfoRmance value for money

8 9

overall

86%

may 15 to jun 14 2012 MYMOBILE 63

burn test 1

Sony Xperia S There is a new Xperia

tech specs

in town

Price: Rs 32,000 Pros  12.0-megapixel camera  1.5 GHz dual core

Snapdragon processor



Large, bright display

Cons  Outdated Android  No integrated video calling  No expandable memory or

detachable battery

highlights The secondary camera helps in making video calls through third party apps

The familarity of interface makes it is easier to use

64 MYMOBILE may 15 to jun 14 2012

The 12.0-megapixel camera takes good pictures

The capacitive keys for Back, Home and Menu are above the transparent strip

The battery of the phone is not detachable

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128 mm

The new Xperia S boasts of some impressive features. For starters, it runs on a 1.5 GHz dual core Snapdragon processor accompanied by a Adreno220 GPU and 1 GB RAM. The 16 million colours backlit LCD capacitive touchscreen offers good real estate to work with and the capacitive touch works fine. The internal memory of the phone stands at 32 GB and while it’s enough we wouldn’t have complained at if we had microSD support for the phone. On the connectivity front the phone is capable of 3G speeds and also has Wi-Fi support. The back panel is detachable but it only comes in handy for accessing the microSIM slot. The phone also offers HDMI connectivity and has a port for the same placed on its side along with a USB connectivity port and a 3.5 mm jack.

Software: Wish it could be new

64 mm

ony Xperia S is the first device by the brand, after its divorce, of sorts, from its long time partner, Ericsson. Powered by Sony’s excellence in the sound and imaging, will this phone be able to help Sony regain its position in the Indian market?

Looks: Carved to curve Unlike the Arc S, it has a convex curve at the back which makes it rather stout in the middle. While the looks of the phone are smart its not one of the sleekest devices in the market. The front and back panel have a smooth finish but are prone to fingerprints. There is a transparent strip at the bottom which hosts symbols for back, home and menu but the fact is that these symbols cannot be pressed to access these features, the actual buttons are above them marked by tiny dots. Most of us got confused in the beginning but after a few minutes of frantic punching we figured out the capacitive keys above it. While we will not rate the phone’s looks as out of the world, it is a good looking device with a convenient design.

Hardware: Picking up pace

The Sony XPERIA S runs on Android 2.3.7 OS which has become a bit dated considering the fact that phones in direct competition with it are already running on ICS or getting an update for it. The interface is more or less the same as seen in earlier Xperia devices in this range. The Timescape combines your Facebook and Twitter activity into one and you can also download more plugins from Google Play for Foursuqare, Gmail, etc. Smart dialing has been integrated in the dialer. You can easily integrate your SNS contacts with the phonebook and view details from a single tab itself. The phone has a secondary camera but video calling has not been integrated. It comes with support for all popular e-mail clients including POP and IMAP and also supports Microsoft Exchange. The browser comes with full Flash support and you can open multiple windows and use multi-touch to zoom in and out. There is an OfficeSuite document viewer on the phone.

Multimedia: Imaging overdrive For music lovers, the phone comes with a music player and FM radio. There are equaliser pre-sets to improve the sound quality where you can choose the presets or set it as per your requirements. The sound of the music player is good through loudspeaker and even better through the headphones. Then comes the camera and the Xperia S boasts of a 12.0-megapixel camera which takes really nice pictures but we have seen better. The sharpness of the pictures was great but at times the colurs either seemed washed out or had a bit orange tint to them.

Scene modes include scene recognition, panorama and 3D sweep panorama and 3D multiangle. However, 3D sweep panorama’s execution and results have been improved since we saw it in the Arc S. 3D multiangle on the other hand uses the same mechanism as the 3D sweep panorama but the results did not impress us. There is a dedicated 3D camera and 3D album app too. You can connect the phone to a 3D television to see the true effect. The smile detection has various degrees like big smile, average smile and small smile. For videos, the camera can capture full HD videos and comes with face detection and infinity modes. The video quality from the camera is good. As far as the playback goes, the phone is capable of playing 1080p HD videos with ease, although there is no dedicated video player on the phone. You can edit videos too.

User experience: Xperia experience The Xperia S is a snappy performer and we didn’t face lags or hanging issues, which made us wish it had the Ice Cream Sandwich operating system, video calling and expandable memory. If you use the phone prolifically for imaging and Internet along with calling, it will need to be charged up again before the day gets over.

Conclusion The Sony Xperia S costs Rs 32,000. If you want a 12.0-megapixel camera phone then you can opt for the Nokia N8 that costs Rs 19,000. An Android option could be the Motorola Atrix 2 running on Android 2.3.6 and costing Rs 22,000. It comes with a 8.0megapixel camera. n team@mymobile.co.in

verdict Looks

Features

ease of use

perfoRmance

value for money

overall

80%

may 15 to jun 14 2012 MYMOBILE 65

burn test The New iPad

High-res Third Wave

241.2 mm

tech specs Size | 241.2 x 185.7 x 9.4 mm Weight | 652 grams

Frequency | GSM 850/900/1800/1900 Others | iTunes App Store

Price: Rs 50,900

uriously enough, unlike its predecessors, the third generation iPad has been named as The New iPad. And while it has some significant improvements over the older one, will it be enough to excite the users to part with more money to change from iPad 2 to the New iPad?

Looks: Old, gold Those who were expecting the third edition of the iPad to look markedly different from its predecessors will be disappointed. Apple has clearly decided that it won’t fiddle with what works and therefore from the front, the new iPad looks very similar to the original iPad and the iPad 2. The front is dominated by the 9.7 inch display, with a single home button

185.7 mm

highlights

Camera | 5.0 megapixel

The high resolution display makes viewing a delight

beneath it. The right side houses the micro SIM slot while the left has the volume rocker and the silent on/off button. The back has the same metallic feel as its predecessors with the Apple logo in the middle, but now has a 5.0megapixel camera. And while it is still very sleek, the new iPad is actually a tad thicker and heavier than the iPad 2. That said, it still stands apart from anything the competition can offer. Familiarity has so far bred comfort rather than contempt.

Hardware: Resolutionary indeed Apple has termed the new iPad “resolutionary’’ and you realise when you switch on the tablet. With a staggering resolution of 2048

66 MYMOBILE may 15 to jun 14 2012

The intrface of the new iPad remains simple and intuitive

x 1536 (Apple terms it a “retina” display), the new iPad packs in more pixels than a HD television, rendering pictures, videos and text with a clarity that we have never seen before in a mobile device (any device, to be honest). Making sure that the display gives off its best are a dual core processor and quad core graphics, which deliver zippy performance. Many will be disappointed to learn that there is still no sign of “open” Bluetooth (no file transfer out of the box), NFC or expandable memory, but those used to the iPad would not be surprised at their exclusion. The new iPad also comes with LTE connectivity (not in India).

Software: Siri-less, yet appy The real strength of the iPad has, however,

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4 1 3

understand why it still has only a mono speaker?

User experience: Better than ever We have seen tablets with better technical specifications than the new iPad but none of them make as much of what it has as the new iPad. Unlike other tablets that have specs but not apps that make the most of them, the new iPad has apps to make the most of its new display and improved processing power. The result – you actually feel the difference between using the new iPad and the iPad 2. The one thing that has remained unchanged, surprisingly, is the battery life, which is still 10-11 hours over Wi-Fi, and much better than most other tablets.

Pros

Cons

 Stunning display, improved

 No radical overhaul in

 Excellent camera

 Still no expandable memory or

appearance

processor

 Interface and apps

The 5.0megapixel camera can capture some really good pictures

Conclusion

support for Flash

The new iPad remains the best tablet in the market by a mile. But if you are looking for a competitive tablet experience, the closest any tablet comes to the new iPad is ironically, the iPad 2. The new iPad is available in two versions, WiFi and 3G+WiFi and in three memory options 16 GB, 32 GB and 64GB. WiFi 16, 32 and 64 GB cost Rs 30,500, Rs 36,500, Rs 42,500 respectively and 3G+ WiFi 16 GB, 32 GB, 64 GB costs Rs 38,900 Rs 44,900 Rs 50,900 respectively. n

 Handling the camera is not easy

A secondary camera has been added in the front for video chatting or calling

The new iPad is a bit thicker and heavier than its predecessors

team@mymobile.co.in

never been its hardware but the user experience it delivers and the new iPad delivers here as well. The iOS interface remains as intuitive to use as ever and while the device itself comes with very few apps preinstalled, you can download hundreds of them from the iTunes App Store. Safari still does not support Flash, but delivers the best Web browsing experience when it comes to tablets, e-mail accounts are a snap to set up and the onscreen keyboard remains a joy to use. Those who were expecting to see Apple’s digital assistant, Siri in it, will have to be content with a dictation facility that lets you dictate content into any app that uses a keyboard. Software wise, the new iPad remains streets ahead of the competition considering the app support.

verdict

Multimedia: View...and click too! The awesome display and quad core graphics make the new iPad a terrific device for viewing videos and films. Yes, you still need to convert them and transfer them using iTunes, but seeing films in stunning detail on that display more than make up for the hassle. The 5.0-megapixel camera pulls the iPad into serious mobile photography territory and in terms of results, does a very good job indeed in terms of videos and stills, making it easily the best camera we have seen on a large screen tablet. However owing to its size – we do not see it giving other cameraphones a run for its money. The sound is pretty good in terms of volume and clarity but we cannot

Looks Features

ease of use

perfoRmance

value for money

overall

84%

may 15 to jun 14 2012 MYMOBILE 67

boredom buster

Trainspotting! Action stations...well,

railway stations

f you are into trains, Rail Maze is the game for you. For some reason, there are very few games that have been built around trains and the railways - we have more than ample numbers of on road and air transportation. The objective of the game is dead simple: a train has to reach its destination safely without crashing or de-railing. To ensure that this does happen, you have to lay down the tracks in a way that the train has a hassle free journey. You get rotatable tracks, and rusty tiles that enable you to change the direction of the track in order to reach the finish line. The game starts with some simple twists and turns but as you go further things do get a bit complicated. Further twisting the plot are factors like a Pirate Train, that you have to avoid crashing into and tunnels that will require some level of colour and matching technique to figure them out. There are various levels like Labyrinth, Labyrith Pro, Build Railroad, Snake and Longest Railroad. Each of these then have sub levels that you have to clear and earn stars. You can control the speed of the train and replay a level even in the middle of the puzzle. The game can be downloaded for free but while the Labyrinth and Build Railroad levels come free, the rest you have to pay to unlock. You can either chose to unlock one level at a time or unlock everything for $ 4.99 (Rs 250 approx). If you buy the paid version you also get solutions to the puzzle in case you get stuck. You can buy three, 10 or 25 solution separately too. The gameplay is simple and the puzzles keep you engaged. The graphics are sharp and cute, adding an olde world charm to the game. We are tooting our horns for this one! n sonia@mymobile.co.in

We tested it on the Sony Xperia S

68 MYMOBILE may 15 to jun 14 2012

Rating

83%

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Off with their heads!

Skullduggery gets redefined...and fun

he best part about a game like Where’s My Head is that there is no frenzy of finishing the level, while grappling with complicated controls spread all over the screen. It’s a game that you can sit back and play with ease, letting your little grey cells work out how

up the levels, additional obstacles to clear a level. The principle is simple - there is a skeletal head Rating like barbed fences make it trickier to get the head back to its body but that is hung by three ropes. You can be tackled with a little comhave to cut these ropes in such mon sense. Currently there are four a way that the head falls to the modes, prison, ship, desert and jungle. rest of the body lying below on a Each of them has 30 levels and only when platform. There is of course, a twist - in you clear one you can get to the next the process of joining the head with its body, you have to collect gold coins spread story mode. The game has some in app purchase options too. For instance you around, which can be done only if you cut can unlock the kids mode for $9.99 or the ropes in the right way to ensure that get the gravity mode where you can use the head swings just the right way to grab the phone’s accelerometer to swing the the coins. The controls are very simple, skull for $ 12.99 (too expensive, we think). you simply have to swipe your finger Shades of Cut The Rope? You bet. And across the rope to cut it. The graphics are still as much fun, which is why we like it. great, especially the single eye that keeps Download it for free from the iTunes App rolling inside the skull as it moves from Store. n one side to other. The difficulty of levels keeps increassonia@mymobile.co.in ing as you go higher and then you also get to use other props like air blowers, We tested it on the Apple iPad2 ghost balloons, cannons, etc. As you go

83%

may 15 to jun 14 2012 MYMOBILE 69

boredom buster

Dragon Defender Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s eggtastic

n most medieval stories, dragons play the role of villains - destroying and dismembering humans. However, in Lair Defense: Dungeon, a tower defense game, we actually had to protect a dragon from less than friendly humans. These gents are mercenaries sent by an evil king who thinks that eating Dragon eggs will make him immortal and accordingly wants to make the most life-giving omelette ever. The eggs are kept in a lair which has to be protected by strategically placing three types of dragons on the trail to the lair to finish off the greedy bounty hunters. These dragons start as babies and can be upgraded to giant dragons with extreme damage power. Each dragon has a unique power - one can breathe fire, other spits poison and the third uses ice as a weapon. The attackers come in various sizes and types too - farmers, archers, Shamans, thieves, etc. You have to defend the lair and protect the eggs - if more than one egg goes, you fail. You can save up to three separate games and depending on your ability and inclination, can play in normal or nightmare mode. The nightmare mode however gets unlocked only after you have cleared all the normal levels. There are six stages in Rating the game and each stage has six levels. Apart from upgrading the dragons you

83%

70 MYMOBILE may 15 to jun 14 2012

can also buy Mana and attack upgrades with the coins you collect during your human killing spree. The killed humans are used as dragon food with which you can deploy more dragons to your defense strategy. Lair Defense: Dungeon is available for free on Google Play Store. It too comes with in-app purchases options. Definitely worth playing, we say, and not just because of the role reversal - there is actually a fair bit of thinking involved. n sonia@mymobile.co.in

We tested it on the Sony Xperia S

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Do you Have calibur Fight your way ahead

oulCalibur is one of those games that will take you on a nostalgic trip to the days when games like Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat were the ultimate entertainers in the gaming category. The game principle is simple. You are a warrior of the medival times Mitsurugi, who has to fight the other warriors to win the game. The main menu comprises of several options like Play and Honors. Here the Honors segment guides you to achieve various titles by competing some tasks and objectives like winning a tournament or using an attack mode many

times, and others. As you choose to Play, you can select between different modes like Story, Tower of Lost Souls which has some sub levels, arcade, survival and training. You can choose the warriorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s appearance, armour and buy a better sword when you have earned enough money by winning matches. You can also change the character but those get unlocked only after you have reached a certain level. As you move on in the game, you will be allowed to choose the opponent you want to fight with. There are a number of attack moves that you can use like bullet cutter, wind

Rating

70%

stitch, wheel slash, mist pursuit, splitting gold, heaven cannon, forward kick, hidden kick and Zen blade. There are keys alloted for these moves on one side and the direction keys are on the other side of the screen. As far as the whole gaming interface is concerned, we found that the control keys for movements were not that comfortable to use. The graphics of the game are very old schooled which has its own charm. The game costs Rs 15 and can be downloaded from Nokia store. n harshita@mymobile.co.in

We tested it on the Nokia N8

may 15 to jun 14 2012 MYMOBILE 71

boredom buster Safari on ice Chilling out in the snow

kiing in the snow can be loads of fun. And if you get to ride on a Yetiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s back or have penguins ski you faster, well, that adds a whole new dimension to the experience. And that is exactly what you get in Ski Safari, a game in which you step into the shoes (and skis) of a skier. A cabin as been destroyed by an avalanche and now it is up to you to save yourself from being buried under tonnes of snow. Of course, it is not plain sailing, or in this case skiing, as

you get buried under the snow, the game you come across a number of rocks and starts again. Your job is to cover as much cabins that you have to jump over or pass through. Rating distance as possible while fulfilling task along the way, which earn you some And if you end up stumbling over very entertaining titles. The game picks too many of them, the avalanche up pace as you progress adding to the difcatches up with you and promptly ficulty of manouvering through the blockades buries you in a snowy grave. But if there and the fact that its simple to control features are obstacles in your path, so are a few helpmakes it an entertaining play both on the ing hands - aiding you in keeping ahead of the iPhone and the iPad. It can be downloaded advancing snow are penguins, jetpacks and from the Apple App Store for Yetis (well, the game certainly believes that $0.99 (approx Rs 50). Grab it, the Abominable Snowman exists). race and chill out. Literally. n You can also get more points by fulfilling certain tasks like making back flips and colsonia@mymobile.co.in lecting penguins. And before you ask what We tested it on the happens at the end, do note that this is an Apple iPad 2 endless skiing game with no levels. Once

72 MYMOBILE may 15 to jun 14 2012

83%

www.mymobile.co.in

Smart apps

Click, filter, share.. Now on

Android

toggle between the front and the back camost iOS loyalists cried “treason” era and go to the gallery, while the standard when Instagram’s Android version camera comes with options like flash mode was released. The fact, however, and scene mode, though they are pretty basic. is that the app is now available to a greater Once you click a picture there is a limited number of people and even to those with set of filters you can use – no live filters, so relatively low-end handsets for free. The you cannot see what your picture is going to Android avatar of the application remains look like before you shoot it. Once the picture very similar to the iOS one. You take a picture is ready you can share it on your social with your mobile phone’s camera, add a networks like Twitter and Facebook filter to it to make it more interesting Rating and also with the Instagram commuand then share it with your friends. nity. While prepping the picture you Apart from the standard camera, you need to crop it to a certain dimension can also use Instagram’s advanced (square like a Polaroid) and most of the camera function that lets you easily

80%

time we had to compromise with what we wanted to include in the picture. Every time you access Instagram you get fresh updates from all those you are connected to. Most hardcore photography fans will pour scorn over the Instagram's basic filters, but we have to concede that they are good enough for most casual image tweakers and it connects smoothly to social networks. n sonia@mymobile.co.in

We tested it on the Sony Xperia S

may 15 to jun 14 2012 MYMOBILE 73

Smart apps

Cloud Bytes from Google Putting all

your stuff online

just about any device. Google Docs has been toring data integrated in the application so you can online is no create and share documents be they text longer uber files, spreadsheets or presentations. While geek territory â&#x20AC;&#x201C; thanks sharing content you can also set the capato the cloud revolution, enterbilities of the people with whom you are prises and individuals alike are storcollaborating and choose to let them edit ing information on the Web. And now the file or simply view it. You can download Google has joined the store-your-stuffand upload files too from your device online battle with Google Drive, and also share them via Bluetooth or taking on the likes of Dropbox and Rating e-mail. Apart from text search you Box.net. The app benefits significan also do voice search and the app cantly (as can be expected) from can also search in scanned docuthe ubiquitous presence of Google ments. You can also convert some on all mediums be it tablets, images and PDFs to text. Initially 5 GB of computers (PC or MAC) or mobile space is given for free and in case you need phones. So you can upload pictures, more you can buy 25 GB space for $2.49 per videos and other content and month (approx Rs 132) or 100 GB of storaccess it from age by paying a monthly subscription of $4.99 (approx Rs 265)

83%

74 MYMOBILE may 15 to jun 14 2012

and 1 TB for about $49.99 a month (approx Rs 2,656). On upgrading to a paid account, the storage capacity of your Gmail account also increases to 25 GB. The app works with Android devices right now and can be downloaded for free from the Google Play store. We would recommend as instead of being a mere "pen drive in the cloud" Google Drive actually adds an entire online office suite to it. While keeping its basic version totally free of cost. n

sonia@mymobile.co.in

We tested it on the Sony Xperia S

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Navigating to your doorstep Phone becomes the guide

highlight of the app is that you can simply e all use navigation applications enter an address and look for the route to one way or the other, whether reach it. The app has the capability to provide its to find our way to a certain turn by turn voice guided navigation. You can place or just to look for an interesting hangopt for the shortest or fastest route to reach out around us. And while Point of Interest your destination. It also includes the pedes(PoI) searches are still easy, finding an trian and the preferred route in the navigation address using these apps has been quite options to choose from. It also has a strong tricky till date. integration with contacts so if you have But now, MapMyIndia has launched an address added to a contact's inforan app called Telenav Navigation, Rating mation you can simply tap on it to which offers a complete GPS mapstart getting the directions. ping solution to guide you from your You can search for an address, look house to any destination address or for maps in 2D and 3D or can find out vice-a-versa without much hassle. The

7.5%

about any place of interest from hotels to ATMs, the application has it all. We tested it in Delhi and were able to find the addresses easily. It requires GPRS connectivity and an direct link to GPS satellites to work properly. The application works on iOS and can be downloaded and subcribed for $3.99 (approx Rs 400) for one month and $ 29.99 (approx Rs 1580) for one year. n harshita@mymobile.co.in

We tested it on the Apple iPhone4

may 15 to jun 14 2012 MYMOBILE 75

Smart apps

Save now, read later Read It Later gets a makeover

of whether you are using a tablet, PC or a ead It Later has been quite a handy smartphone. You will need a Pocket account app for most of us who tend to browse for using the app (your old Read It Later a lot of pages, bookmark them and account will work just fine - once you log then read them at leisure. The app saves Web in all your older links will get synchronized). pages in a seamless, reader-friendly format, The simple interface of the app is its greatest and lets you read them when you have time strength. Apart from the initial setup, where to spare. And now, this application is availyou need to install the bookmarklet, nothable in an all new form with a new ing much needs to be understood. If it’s name, ‘Pocket’ and is available for free from the iTunes App Store. Its Rating a video link, it will get saved under videos, an image link under images basic concept remains as simple as and so on. You can also add a link ever. You come across a Web page via e-mail or through your Twitter that you need to read or watch later account. We used the app on our iPad and Pocket saves it for you irrespective

83%

76 MYMOBILE may 15 to jun 14 2012

and found that thumbnails were optimized for the screen while on the iPhone there was a more compact list view. You can also add sites which require log-in information if you wish to access content from those. All in all, it carries on the tradition of Read It Later, and remains a useful app with a simple interface that lets you access your favourite pages in a hassle-free manner when you have time to read them. n sonia@mymobile.co.in

We tested it on the Apple iPad 2

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phonoguide to THE taj mahal The Wonder lands on

your phone!

building. The app uses an interactive way henever you go to visit a tourist to guide the user around one of the world's place, especially a historical one wonders. The application branches off into like the Taj Mahal, you will be surfour parts namely Interactive Maps, Point of rounded by a mob of guides all claiming to Interest, Keypad and More Information. As have the best knowledge about the monument you open the Interactive Maps option, a map flashing the 'Government ID' card in your model of the complex appears on your screen face. While you can just pray that the guide with several tags. When you choose a tag, a you choose knows something and is not feedpage with information about that particular ing you imaginary tales, there is an app feature opens on the screen. that can actually give you a detailed You can also opt to listen to the description about the monument of Rating information. In the Point of Interest love from your phone. Phonoguide mode the same tags appear as text to the Taj Mahal is one such applilists. We wish there could also have cation that, as the name suggests, been some zooming in and out options offers all you need to know about the

82%

valid for the pictures. Point of interests like the riverside view and exterior decoration could have been more interactive with more pictures. There are several travel tips given in the More Information option, which also have names of several books to refer for further information. The app can be downloaded for approx Rs 69 from the Google Play store and is also available on the iTunes App store. n harshita@mymobile.co.in

We tested it on the Samsung Galaxy S

may 15 to jun 14 2012 MYMOBILE 77

etcetera Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s All About Music Quality with comfort and style!

veryone has a different style of listening to music. While some might like the whole big bang of a disco theque or a party, there are many who want to enjoy a solitary music experience through their headphones. This is where JBLâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Tempo OnAir headphones come handy. These are over the head headphones boasting of a flexible headband and big 40 mm speakers. The size of the speakers ensure that your ears get covered fully offering an all encompassing experience to a music enthusiast. The headband is adjustable and you can easily increase or decrease its size as per your requirement. We found the built quality of headphones impressive. The headphones are foldable making them compact and easier to carry. As far as the sound quality goes, the headphone offers an excellent experience. It has 3.5 mm gold plated audio jack through which you can connect it with computer, laptop, iPod, iPad, iPhone, tablet, MP3 player and all other devices that come with a 3.5 mm audio port. On the downside, the earphone wire is too short and there are no volume controls on the headphone for easier access. However, we did not feel any discomfort despite wearing the headphones for considerable long hours. The product is available in the Indian market at Rs 2,749. n

78 MYMOBILE may 15 to jun 14 2012

www.mymobile.co.in

Gigabytes on the go An innovative stor-

age solution for your Android and iOS devices

ne of the quandaries facing a number of Android and iOS users – especially the latter is the fact that storage on a number of them tends to be fixed. If one needs more storage, one either has to buy space on the cloud or upgrade to a more expensive model. Kingston has attempted to tackle this with the Wi-Drive, a portable flash drive with capacities of 16 GB and 32 GB. However, what marks it out as different from the run-of-mill portable storage options is that it actually connects to your tablet over Wi-Fi. You can drag and drop content like MS Office files, PDFs, and of course music and films on it from your computer and then when you want to play the same on your device, all you need to do is open the Wi-Drive application (available for free from iTunes App Store and Google Play), select the file and get started. You cannot save files and changes from your device on to the Wi-Drive and you cannot save apps on it either. You can actually connect up to three devices on it, each using a different file (do keep in mind that it will disconnect other Wi-Fi connections, though)! We just wish its battery lasted longer – it finished in about five hours. An excellent option for those who use their iOS and Android devices for films and music – and at Rs 3,990 for 16 GB and Rs 6,990 for 32 GB, quite affordable too. n

may 15 to jun 14 2012 MYMOBILE 79

etcetera Drive Blue Hitting the right notes

luetooth headsets are passĂŠ. The time has come to get uber cool with the Bluetooth visor mounts speakerphones that are becoming quite a rage in the market. The latest is the Jabra Drive which has been launched in competition to products being offered by many accessory and handset companies. The Drive comes with a sleek silver black body where the mounting clip is fused with the front panel making it a single unit. However this does require two hands to mount it on to your visor as the clip on is a bit stiff but that is good as it fits snugly on the visor. Apart from the Bluetooth key which allows connection to the phone or other device, there is a small power button on the side too. The top half of the speaker phone doubles up as the Bluetooth as well as call key. Since its big, its easier to use with one touch. We do feel that it could have been made easier to have just one button for power and connectivity. The volume keys above the speakerphone are optimally sized and easily accessible. The drive can be connected to two devices at one time and it can play music, FM radio and GPS directions without any hassle. The voice clarity is good and it also comes with voice status alerts like battery low, device connected, etc. On the downside there is no audio caller ID so everytime you get a call you will have to check your phone to see who is calling. The battery backup of the speakerphone is good with 20 hours of talktime and 30 days standby. The Jabra Drive is available for Rs 3,999, which is a bit on the higher side. n

80 MYMOBILE may 15 to jun 14 2012

www.mymobile.co.in

Smart and Sharp A camera to go clicking

anon is a name to reckon with when it comes to cameras and its point and shoot snappers are considered to be among the best in the market. The latest from the brandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s stables is the new PowerShot A2400. It comes with a 5x optical zoom lens, 16.0-megapixel CCD sensor, 2.7-inch LCD monitor and optical image stabilization. The maximum image dimensions that once can choose is 4,608 x 3,456 pixels, and movies can be recorded at up to 1,280 x 720 pixel resolution. The controls of the camera have been kept simple to make operating the camera easy. The top has a power button

and a shutter release key with the zoom rocker around it. Videos can be shot either at 640x480 at 30 fps or at 1280x720 (720p) at 25 fps. You can use standard modes, such as Portrait, Landscape, Snow and Fireworks, plus creative filters, such as Fish Eye effect, Miniature effect, Toy Camera effect, Monochrome, Super Vivid and Posterized effect while shooting stills. On the downside the camera doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have a storage card in the sales pack so you have to buy it separately. The A2400 is available in silver, pink, blue and black colours and costs Rs 7,995 in the Indian market. n

may 15 to jun 14 2012 MYMOBILE 81

etcetera

MAss Storage Light in weight and heavy on storage

reecom’s Touch 3.0 1 TB hard drive is a stylish and pocket friendly hard drive that is unique in many aspects. It has a massive storage capacity of 1 TB (1000 GB) and owing to its portable and compact design, you can easily carry it around even in your trouser’s pocket. Despite the fact that it offers such large stroage capacity, it weighs only 200 grams, adding to its portability factor. The exterior of the hard drive is made of soft rubber material that not only makes it easier to handle but also shock proof. It can easily sustain a 2 metre fall making it pretty safe for data storage. The drive has USB 2.0 and 3.0 support and is compatible with Windows 2000, Window XP and Window 7 and Mac operating systems. The driver software of the hard drive is stored in the device so there is no need for an external CD for installation. The other good thing of the drive is that its USB connector gets tucked in safely in a slot at the top protecting it against any wear and tear. Depite the big size the hard drive doesn’t require any external power source. As per company’s claims, the drive is capable of transferring data at the speed of 480 Mbits/second. The only flaw that we found was that the USB cable connector wire of the drive was very short. Freecom Touch 3.0 is priced at Rs 15,000 which, according to us is a little expensive. n

82 MYMOBILE may 15 to jun 14 2012

www.mymobile.co.in

Ultra high speed An

innovative storage solution

he benefits of big storage are the most evident to those who are prolific users of entertainment devices like cameras, music players, portable entertainment systems. And today the most common form of storage for these devices are the SDHC cards which come in variety of storage capacity options.

The latest entrant in this category is the Transcend 16 GB SDHC memory card. This Class 10 SDHC Ultra High Speed memory card helps your camera to achieve its full potential. When paired with UHS-I compatible devices, this card can realize transfer speeds of up to 85MB/s, perfect for high-speed consecutive shooting and smooth full HD video recording. Transcend SDHC Class 10 UHS-I is an ideal upgrade for digital cameras, GPS automotive recorders and camcorders. The card supports Ultra High Speed Class 1 specification, is Class 10 compliant and is fully compatible with SD 3.01 standards. It has an easy to use plug-and-play operation and builtin Error Correcting Code (ECC) to detect and

correct transfer errors. Card also Supports Content Protection for Recordable Media (CPRM) and allows In-System Programming (ISP) for updating firmware. The card works smoothly with SDXC/SDHC compatible devices and comes with a mechanical write protection switch. The sales pack includes a free software Recovey app to recover data from it in case it gets lost. The Transcend 16 GB SDHC card costs approx Rs 3,000. n

may 15 to jun 14 2012 MYMOBILE 83

et cetera

It’s Angry Birds Buds Catchy and snappy

ngry Birds game has been a rage whether for PCs, lalptops, mobiles or tablets. It has truly redefined the gaming experience for millions of people across the globe. The craze has also seeped into other categories like apparels and accessories where anything with an angry Bird on it, sells like a hot cake. Gear4, an accessory maker is also gripped by the bird mania and has come out with its smartly designed stereo headphones called Angry Birds Tweeters. The headphones come with 3.5 mm audio

jack. The ear buds of the headphones are designed in different colour combinations which makes them quite interesting. The unit we got for review had the visivous villain ’pig’ printed on each of the buds. But the headphones are available with Angry Bird prints too. The buds are designed to fit comfortably into the listener’s ears and one can easily wear them for hours without feeling uncomfortable. The audio quality of the headphone is impressive and sound experience remains enjoyable

84 MYMOBILE may 15 to jun 14 2012

without any distortions even at high volume levels. The 3.5 mm audio jack makes the headphone compatible with a wide variety of devices. We found the product innovative in terms of looks and high quality in terms of performance and output. It comes in Red Bird, Blue Bird, Black Bird, Yellow Bird and Green Pig designs and you can opt for three sizes of ear-buds small, medium and large. The Angry Birds Tweeters is priced at Rs 1,190 and can be bought from any good accessory store. n

www.mymobile.co.in

Wireless Clicking Its a mouse

without a tail!

ortronics is a known name in the portable digital devices segment and it has added a new product to its lineup. Called imooze, its a wireless mouse that has been designed for comfort and convenient usage. It has a smooth and sleek form factor and a variety of colour options. Imooze has power saving feature that puts it in a standby mode when not used. It comes with four DPI settings ranging from 500 DPI for the artists to 1750 DPI for the gamers. At 500 DPI the scrolling is much slower so it is useful for the designers however, the gamers need speed which is achieved through 1750 DPI. One needs to click the left and right mouse button for three seconds to change the DPI settings. This wireless mouse works well even from a distance of 15 meters and can be connected to a PC or a laptop in a hassle free manner. It is priced at Rs 799 and is available in the market. n

may 15 to jun 14 2012 MYMOBILE 85

et cetera

Dellectable

Ultra smart, ultra fast, ultrabook!

t seems to be ultrabook season with all major brands releasing their versions of these very portable, sleek and yet power-packed devices. Now it is Dell’s turn to come to the ultrabook party and they have come with a device that combines power with class. The XPS 13 is incredibly thin (6mm at its thinnest point) and is built using Corning Gorilla Glass (yes, the display is scratchproof), machined aluminium and carbon fibre. The result is a notebook that is terrific to flaunt, compact enough to slip into a briefcase and at around 1.3 kgs relatively lightweight. There is some decent processing power beneath that sleek hood too – an Intel Core i5 processor, 4 GB RAM and a 128 GB solid state drive, with Windows 7 Premium running on top. The solid state drive, combined with Intel’s Rapid Start technology make this

one of the fastest ultrabooks we have ever used – we had it up and running in about fifteen seconds and it woke up from sleep mode almost instantaneously. Battery life at almost eight hours is very good too. The keyboard is comfortable to use although it did tend to get smudged too often (nothing a wipe could not cure), and the gesture-enabled touchpad ensured that we did not miss a mouse much. We did find it heating a fair bit after use for a while and the fact that it comes with onboard graphics rather than a graphics card does restrict its use for really multimedia intensive activities, but that apart, we have nothing but praise for the XPS 13. The best option for those who want a light notebook to work on the move, this side of the MacBook Air? We really think so. n team@mymobile.co.in

86 MYMOBILE may 15 to jun 14 2012

www.mymobile.co.in

fa c e t o fa c e

“Entertainment as a category is very important for us” The mobile TV app nexGTv has been making waves with its innovative way of compressing and presenting popular Indian content. We met G D Singh, executive director, DigiVive services (the app’s developers) and talked about the app and the company’s plans for further innovations in the Indian VAS space. Heena Jatav and Mukesh Kumar Singh What was the idea behind getting into mobile TV? In India entertainment as a category with content like films and soaps is very popular. So this category is very important for us. This is one area where we thought to establish ourselves. Our idea was to create apps and value added services that can use 3G/ 4G bandwidth. So, our first launch was for entertainment i.e. nexGTv. We did a small research on consumer behaviour of watching TV on mobiles. The outcome of the research was that the average time the consumer spent watching TV and videos on mobile is 3 to 4 minutes. In nexGTV, consumer can watch a 30-minute TV serial in 3-4 minutes. Our focus was to do some kind of innovation in this regard. We have purchased the rights of 1000 to 1500 movies. What we observed is that consumers are not interested in watching the full movie, so we made approximately 100 popular movies of 15-20 minutes length, allowing consumers to watch the whole movie in a short time without missing out on its crux. We also have the ‘Mahabharata’ in 5-minute episodes, and run recorded popular serials of the previous seven days of channels like Star Plus, MTv, and Colours. Is Bollywood content also available in original form along with edited one? Yes, it is. You will get movies in their original forms.

We also have a catalogue for sports which delivers world famous sports events. We will add some more interesting categories like cooking clips. On which all platforms does the app work? The app is available on the iTunes App Store, Nokia Store, Android Market and BlackBerry App World. Almost 60-70 per cent of our total downloads are on Symbian platform alone. Downloads on iTunes and Android are also increasing day by day. According to our statistics, Symbian will be a major platform for the

next two years because Nokia has the largest handset circulation in the market. You have tie ups with MTNL and BSNL. Are you also in talks with other service providers? We have already signed up an agreement with Idea. Our soft launch in four circles with RCom took place recently and RCom will come with a branded app with us in next month or so. We are also in talks with other operators and our talks with Vodafone is in very advanced stage. Does the user need to pay for the app only or for viewing channels as well? Basically, it is a combination of free and paid model. Users need to pay for some premium content but some content is absolutely free for large consumer traction. What other innovations can we expect from DigiVive that are in the pipeline? We are getting into gaming very soon. There will also be some health based apps. We want to adopt the US business model for India in the health sector and want to see how well can it work here. We are also working on some e-commerce apps integrated with popular e-commerce websites. n heena@mymobile.co.in

may 15 to jun 14 2012 MYMOBILE 87

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MY GUIDE Devices featured in the My Guide have been segregated into four categories based on price and colour-coded as:

CDMA Enterprise High-end (Rs 12,000 upwards) Mid-level

(Rs 6,000 - Rs 11,999)

Entry-level (Rs 2,500 - Rs 5,999) Sub-entry level (up to Rs 2,499)

Disclaimer : The prices quoted in My Guide are the Best Buy prices quoted by the respective companies, ex-Delhi. The prices may vary on account of promotional schemes or dealer discretion. M.O.P. mentiond in My Guide are not applicable in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. While My Mobile tries to ensure accuracy in the pricing and features any discrepancies that may emerge are beyond our control. Please check with the retailer about features of the phone before buying. The ratings that have been included are from the burn tests of the phones that we have reviewed. Feel free to update us.

(Last updated on April 3, 2012)

NR stands for not reviewed M.O.P. stands for Market Operating Price

Y MOBILE 89 MAY 15 to JUN 14 2012 MY

myguide MODELS

SUB-ENTRY LEVEL

BYOND

PARAMETERS Model Dimension (mm)

CELKON

BY 809

BY120+

BY 255

BY009

C207

C33

C 66i

107 x 46.3 x 14.7

110 x 46 x 14

110.7 x 47.5 x 12.5

111 x 41.7 x 14.5

108 X 46 X 16

120

Talktime/Standby (hours)

4/240

10/480

4/192

10/240

6/120

15/300

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

NA/1.5

NA/2.0

65,536/1.8

262,144/2.0

262,144/2.4

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

NA/2GB

NA/4GB

1016KB/4GB

468KB/8GB

303KB/4GB

NA/16GB

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

NA/No

Yes/No

No/No

Yes/No

VGA/No/Yes

1.3MP/No/Yes

Yes/No/Yes

1.3MP/No/Yes

100

1000

500

1000

500

Weight (grams)

Camera/Flash/Video Phonebook Capacity Frequency/Dual SIM GPRS/EDGE/3G Operating System Music Player/FM Radio Form Factor/T.Screen/QWERTY Burn test Rating

No/No/No

Yes/No/No

Proprietary

RTOS

NA/Yes

Yes/Yes

Bar/No/No

1,249

1,799

2,099

2,399

1,499

1,599

2,299

MODELS

Price in Rs.

Dual Band/GSM+GSM Dual Band/GSM+GSM Dual Band/GSM+GSM Dual Band/GSM+GSM Dual Band/GSM+GSM Dual Band/GSM+GSM Dual Band/GSM+GSM

CHAZE

PARAMETERS

KARBONN

123

Jewel

C555

C666

C249

K 486

Dimension (mm)

109 x 47 x 15.6

118.6 x 51 x 15.6

117 x 53 x 13.7

121 x 56 x 13

116 x 50 x 13

109 x 47.8 x 14

115 X 50 x 15.5

Weight (grams)

103

121

123

112

Model

9/720

7/600

5/500

6/300

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

65,536/1.8

262,144/2.4

262,144/2.6

262,144/2.8

262,144/2.4

65,536/2.0

262,144/2.4

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

45KB/4GB

187KB/8GB

428KB/8GB

233KB/8GB

45KB/8GB

32MB/8GB

NA/8GB

Talktime/Standby (hours)

Yes/No

Camera/Flash/Video

1.3MP/No/Yes

VGA/No/Yes

1.3MP/No/Yes

Phonebook Capacity

250

500

1,500

300

1,000

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

Frequency/Dual SIM GPRS/EDGE/3G Operating System Music Player/FM Radio Form Factor/T.Screen/QWERTY Burn test Rating

Price in Rs

Dual Band/GSM+GSM Dual Band/GSM+GSM Dual Band/GSM+GSM

Dual Band/No

Dual Band/GSM+GSM Dual Band/GSM+GSM Dual Band/GSM+GSM

Yes/No/No

Yes/Yes

Bat/No/No

Bar/No/No

1,350

1,850

1,950

2,100

2,200

1,800

2,100

YMOBILE MAY 15 to JUN 14 2012 90 MY

MODELS

LAVA

PARAMETERS Model Dimension (mm) Weight (grams)

LECOM

ARC21

KKT 34+

3100

8200

8202

8222

8500

110 x 46 x 14.65

113.5 x 51.2 x 16

106 x 45 x 14.6

112.7 x 49.5 x 14.8

110 x 48 x 13.1

114 x 48 x 13.8

116.5 x 50.5 x 14.9

81.4

100

110

3/120

12/720

3.3/NA

4.3/NA

3.2/NA

5/NA

8.3/NA

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

65,536/1.8

262,144/2.4

NA/1.8

NA/2.2

262,144/2.2

NA/2.4

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

250KB/8GB

NA/8GB

NA/32GB

Yes/No

No/No

Yes/No

No/NoNo

VGA/No/Yes

Yes/No/No

Yes/No/Yes

Yes/No

500

1,000

300

Talktime/Standby (hours)

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi Camera/Flash/Video Phonebook Capacity Frequency/Dual SIM GPRS/EDGE/3G Operating System Music Player/FM Radio Form Factor/T.Screen/QWERTY Burn test Rating

Yes/No/No

Yes/Yes

Bar/No/No

1,820

2,200

999

1,630

1,880

1,930

1,990

MODELS

Price in Rs.

Dual Band/GSM+GSM Dual Band/GSM+GSM Dual Band/GSM+GSM Dual Band/GSM+GSM Dual Band/GSM+GSM Dual Band/GSM+GSM Dual Band/GSM+GSM

LECOM

PARAMETERS Model

M-TECH M135

LG M18i

NOKIA

8585

8555

A 230

1280

100

Dimension (mm)

116.8 x 50 x 14.8

117 x 51.3 x 13.6

117 x 53 x 15.5

118.5 x 55 x 14.7

108.6 x 46.6 x 13.8

107.2 x 45.1 x 15.3

110 x 45.5 x 14.9

Weight (grams)

110

100

81.92

NEW

Talktime/Standby (hours)

8.3/NA

5/NA

8/720

17/809

8.30/528

7.2/840

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

NA/2.4

262,144/2.4

262,144/2.6

262,144/1.77

Monochrome/1.36

65,536/1.8

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

NA/8GB

NA/32GB

32MB/8GB

25MB/8GB

NA/No

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

Yes/No

No/No

Camera/Flash/Video

Yes/NA

Yes/No

Yes/Yes/Yes

1.3MP/No/Yes

No/No/No

Phonebook Capacity

300

1,000

1000

1,000

500

Frequency/Dual SIM GPRS/EDGE/3G Operating System Music Player/FM Radio Form Factor/T.Screen/QWERTY Burn test Rating

Price in Rs.

Dual Band/GSM+GSM Dual Band/GSM+GSM Dual Band/GSM+GSM Dual Band/GSM+GSM Dual Band/GSM+GSM

Dual Band/No

Yes/No/No

Yes/No

Yes/Yes/No

No/No/No

Symbian S30

S30

Yes/Yes

No/Yes

Bar/No/No

2,099

2,399

1,849

1,899

2,450

1,000

1,250

YMOBILE 91 MAY 15 to JUN 14 2012 MY

MODELS

myguide

NOKIA

PARAMETERS Model Dimension (mm) Weight (grams)

RAGE

REDD

101

X1-01

C1-01

Smart 2

Striker 2

R1200i

R1670

110 x 45.5 x 14.9

112.2 x 47.3 x 16

108 x 45 x 14

108 x 42 x 14.25

117 x 50.2 x 15.4

105.7 x 45.5 x 15.6

107 x 43.6 x 17.3

69.6

91.5

78.8

105

7.2/840

13/1032

10.4/540

7/200

11/1000

6/240

12/720

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

65,536/1.8

NA/1.77

NA/2.4

65,536/1.8

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

NA/No

NA/16GB

64MB/32GB

45KB/4GB

NA/4GB

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

No/No

Yes/No

No/No

Yes/No

No/No/No

VGA/No/Yes

Yes/No/Yes

1.3MP/No/Yes

VGA/No/Yes

500

1,000

500

Talktime/Standby (hours)

Camera/Flash/Video Phonebook Capacity Frequency/Dual SIM GPRS/EDGE/3G Operating System Music Player/FM Radio Form Factor/T.Screen/QWERTY Burn test Rating

No/No/No

Dual Band/No

No/No/No

Yes/No/No

Dual Band/GSM+GSM Dual Band/GSM+GSM Dual Band/GSM+GSM Dual Band/GSM+GSM Yes/No/No

Yes/No/No

S30

Symbian S40

MTK

No/Yes

Yes/Yes

Bar/No/No

1,500

1,850

2,100

1,349

1,849

999

1,399

MODELS

Price in Rs.

1,000

Dual Band/GSM+GSM Dual Band/GSM+GSM

REDD

PARAMETERS Model

SAMSUNG

R6800

R24

HD88

1081

E 1085

Dimension (mm)

108 x 44.6 x 17.3

116 x 53 x 12.3

114.5 x 50 x 15.4

107.4 x 45.5 x 13.6

109.5 x 45.5 x 12.8

Weight (grams)

64.5

65.1

Talktime/Standby (hours)

1200

NEW

12/720

10/620

9/560

8.6/800

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

262,144/2.0

262,144K/2.4

262,144K/2.6

262,144/2.4

65,536/1.43

65536/1.5

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

NA/4GB

NA/8GB

1MB/No

32,64MB/No

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

Yes/No

No/No

Camera/Flash/Video

VGA/No/Yes

1.3MP/No/Yes

2.0MP/No/Yes

No/No/No

Phonebook Capacity

500

1,000

500

1,000

500

100

Frequency/Dual SIM GPRS/EDGE/3G Operating System Music Player/FM Radio Form Factor/T.Screen/QWERTY Burn test Rating

Price in Rs.

Dual Band/GSM+GSM Dual Band/GSM+GSM Dual Band/GSM+GSM Dual Band/GSM+GSM

Dual Band/No

Yes/No/No

No/No/No

Proprietary

Yes/Yes

No/No

No/Yes

Bar/No/No

1,499

1,649

1,840

1,949

1,090

1,150

1,200

YMOBILE MAY 15 to JUN 14 2012 92 MY

MODELS

ENTRY LEVEL

SAMSUNG

PARAMETERS Model

1205

Dimension (mm) Weight (grams)

NEW

109.5 x 45.5 x 12.8

SPICE

BYOND

Hero Music

E2232

M-5005

M-5350

M-5455

BY 260

110.6 x 45.35 x 13.9

109.2 x 46.0 x 14.9

110 x 45 x 14.6

104.8 x 56 x 13.2

113 x 51.6 x 13.7

110 x 49 x 11

65.1

73.2

120

8.6/800

11.1/580

NA/500

9.2/276

3.50/300

4/230

4/240

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

65536/1.5

65,536/1.8

65,536/1.77

65,536/1.8

262,144/2.36

2,621,442.40

NA/2.2

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

32,64MB/No

4MB/4GB

20MB/8GB

NA/4GB

NA/8GB

110KB/8GB

NA/16GB

No/No

Yes/No

No/No

Yes/No

No/No/No

VGA/No/Yes

1.3MP/No/Yes

2.0MP/No/Yes

1,000

500

1,000

Talktime/Standby (hours)

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi Camera/Flash/Video Phonebook Capacity

100

Frequency/Dual SIM

Dual Band/No

Dual Band/GSM+GSM Dual Band/GSM+GSM Dual Band/GSM+GSM Dual Band/GSM+GSM Dual Band/GSM+GSM Dual Band/GSM+GSM

GPRS/EDGE/3G

No/No/No

Yes/Yes/No

Yes/No/No

Operating System

Proprietary

Properitory

No/Yes

Yes/Yes

Bar/No/No

Music Player/FM Radio Form Factor/T.Screen/QWERTY Burn test Rating

No/No/No

Yes/No/No

Proprietary

Yes/Yes

YesYes

Yes/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

Bar/No/No

1,300

1,700

2,250

1,300

2,050

2,250

2,899

MODELS

Price in Rs.

No/No/No

BYOND

PARAMETERS Model

CHAZE

KARBONN

BY011

BY007

Gamestar

C234

C333

C99

K44

Dimension (mm)

116.7 x 50 x 14.8

111 x 47 x 14.5

114.3 x 45.5 x 13.6

118 x 52 x 13

114 x 62 x 13.8

110 x 55 x 13

95.5 X 46 X 16.8

Weight (grams)

125

120

100

121

117

114

Talktime/Standby (hours)

13/600

10/480

4/400

5/NA

6/NA

5/480

2.5/190

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

NA/2.2

NA/2.4

262,144/2.4

262,144/3.2

262,144/2.4

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

1016.5KB/4GB

1016KB/4GB

319.5KB/8GB+8GB

123KB/8GB

233KB/8GB

1.96MB/8GB

64MB/4GB

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

Yes/No

Camera/Flash/Video

1.3MP/No/Yes

3.2MP/No/Yes

2.0MP/No/Yes

1.3MP/No/Yes

3.2MP/Yes/Yes

1.3MP/No/Yes

VGA/No/Yes

Phonebook Capacity

1,000

2,000

350

Frequency/Dual SIM

Dual Band/GSM+GSM Dual Band/GSM+GSM Dual Band/GSM+GSM Dual Band/GSM+GSM Dual Band/GSM+GSM Dual Band/GSM+GSM Dual Band/GSM+GSM

GPRS/EDGE/3G

Yes/No/No

Operating System

Proprietary

Music Player/FM Radio Form Factor/T.Screen/QWERTY Burn test Rating

Price in Rs.

Yes/Yes

Bar/No/No

Bar/Yes/No

Clamshell/No/No

2,899

2,999

3,299

2,500

2,850

2,600

YMOBILE 93 MAY 15 to JUN 14 2012 MY

MODELS

myguide

KARBONN

PARAMETERS Model Dimension (mm) Weight (grams)

LAVA

K33

K1818

K1616

KKT39

A10

A16

M70

15.8 x 51.5 x 107

106.6 x 54.3 x 12.7

116 x 61 x 12

116 x 47 x 11.5

120 x 47.5 x 13.1

135

80.5

105

100

110

4/300

4/500

6/312

10/NA

3.1/220

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

262,144/2.4

262,144/3.2

262,144/3.5

262,144/2.2

262,144/3.0

262,144/2.6

262,144/3.2

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

95KB/8GB

Yes/8GB

NA/16GB

200MB/16GB

32MB/MicroSD

30MB/32GB

Yes/No

2.0MP/No/Yes

3.2MP/No/Yes

VGA/No/Yes

3.2MP/Yes/Yes

3.2MP/No/Yes

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

1,000

2,000

500

2,000

Talktime/Standby (hours)

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi Camera/Flash/Video Phonebook Capacity Frequency/Dual SIM GPRS/EDGE/3G Operating System Music Player/FM Radio Form Factor/T.Screen/QWERTY Burn test Rating

Yes/No/No

2,000 Dual Band/No Yes/Yes/No

Dual Band/GSM+GSM Dual Band/GSM+GSM Yes/Yes/No

Yes/Yes/No

Yes/Yes

Slider/No/No

Bar/Yes/No

Bar/No/No

Bar/Yes/No

Bar/No/No

Bar/Yes/No

3,000

3,700

4,700

2,700

3,800

3,900

4,750

MODELS

Price in Rs.

Dual Band/GSM+GSM Dual Band/GSM+GSM Dual Band/GSM+GSM Dual Band/GSM+GSM

PARAMETERS Model

C105

A200

S365

A350

T500

T515

P520

Dimension (mm)

114.5 x 59 x 13

99.8 x 51 x 15.8

117 x 50.9 x 11.5

116 × 53.3 × 12.85

105 x 57.3 x 12.9

109.1 x 56.2 x 12.95

Weight (grams)

91.45

105

120

Talktime/Standby (hours)

16/650

14.5/559

12.5/328

8/720

NA/NA

23.8/454

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

262,144/2.2

65,536/2.2

NA/2.4

262,144/2.2

262,144/2.8

256,000/2.8

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

4.7MB/4GB

128MB/8GB

9.7MB/16GB

256MB/32GB

NA/8GB

NA/4GB

13MB/4GB

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

Yes/No

Yes/Yes

Yes/No

Camera/Flash/Video

1.3MP/No/Yes

2.0MP/No/Yes

1.3MP/No/Yes

2.0MP/No/Yes

Phonebook Capacity

1,000

Frequency/Dual SIM

Quad band/No

Quad Band/No

Quad Band/NA

Dual Band/GSM+GSM

Yes/Yes/No

Yes/Yes/HSDPA

Yes/Yes/No

Genric

Generic

GPRS/EDGE/3G Operating System Music Player/FM Radio Form Factor/T.Screen/QWERTY Burn test Rating

Price in Rs.

Dual Band/GSM+GSM Dual Band/GSM+GSM

Yes/Yes

Bar/No/Yes

Slider/No/No

Bar/No/No

Bar/Yes/No

2,500

3,800

4,100

4,200

4,900

5,000

YMOBILE MAY 15 to JUN 14 2012 94 MY

MODELS

PARAMETERS Model Dimension (mm) Weight (grams)

MICROMAX

MOTOROLA

C375

T310i

X333

X450

EX109

EX212

EX119

113 x 61 x 12.9

95.8 x 51.0 x 11.9

103.65 x 57.2 x 13.35

116.7 x 52 x 20.3

102 x 59.5 x 12.8

106 x 53 x 13.9

103 x 60 x 9.9

86.5

110

105

16/789

14/569

3/200

4/315

8.3/500

6.25/625

8.3/680

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

262,144/2.3

262,144/2.8

65,526/2.8

262,144/2.0

262,144/2.4

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

78MB/8GB

18MB/4GB

75KB/8GB

Yes/8GB

59MB/32GB

5MB/16GB

50MB/32GB

Yes/Yes

Yes/No

Yes/Yes

2.0MP/No/Yes

VGA/No/Yes

2.0MP/No/Yes

3.15MP/No/Yes

500

250

200

800

1,000

Talktime/Standby (hours)

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi Camera/Flash/Video Phonebook Capacity

1,000

Frequency/Dual SIM

Dual Band/GSM+GSM

Quad Band/No

Yes/Yes/No

GPRS/EDGE/3G

Dual Band/GSM+GSM Dual Band/GSM+GSM Quad Band/GSM+GSM Dual Band/GSM+GSM Dual Band/GSM+GSM Yes/No/No

Yes/No/No

Yes/Yes/No

Yes/No/No

Yes/Yes/No

Operating System

Generic

Music Player/FM Radio

Yes/Yes

Bar/No/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

Bar/No/No

Bar/No/Yes

Clamshell/No/No

Bar/Yes/Yes

Form Factor/T.Screen/QWERTY Burn test Rating

5,200

2,883

3,500

3,300

4,600

5,500

MODELS

Price in Rs.

NR 5,100

NOKIA

PARAMETERS Model

C2-00

X2-02

202

X2-01

C2-02

C2-01

Asha 200

Dimension (mm)

108 x 45 x 14.65

113 x 50 x 15

114.8 x 49.8 x 13.9

119.4 x 59.8 x 14.3

102,8x51,2x17

109.6 x 46.9 x 14.6

115.4 x 61.1 x 14

Weight (grams)

74.1

107.5

110

105

Talktime/Standby (hours)

5.75//460

9.8/443

5/400

4.3/480

5/600

8.4/430

7/888

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

65,536/1.8

262,144/2.2

262,144/2.4

65,536/2.6

262,144/2.0

65,536/2.4

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

16MB/32GB

10MB/32GB

128MB/8GB

10MB/32GB

75MB/16GB

NA/32GB

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

Yes/No

Camera/Flash/Video

VGA/No/Yes

2.0MP/No/Yes

VGA/No/Yes

2.0MP/No/Yes

3.15MP/No/Yes

2.0MP/No/Yes

Phonebook Capacity

1,000

Shared

1,000

Shared

1,000

2,000

Shared

Frequency/Dual SIM

Dual Band/GSM+GSM

Dual Band/No

Dual Band/GSM+GSM

Quad Band/No

Dual Band/No

Quad Band/No

Dual Band/GSM+GSM

GPRS/EDGE/3G

Yes/Yes/No

Yes/Yes/R99

Yes/Yes/No

Operating System

Symbian 40

S40

Symbian S40

S40

Symbian S40

Music Player/FM Radio Form Factor/T.Screen/QWERTY Burn test Rating

Price in Rs.

Yes/Yes

Bar/No/No

Bar/Yes/No

Bar/No/Yes

Slider/Yes/No

Bar/No/No

Bar/No/Yes

2,500

3,400

3,800

3,550

3,600

4,050

4,100

YMOBILE 95 MAY 15 to JUN 14 2012 MY

MODELS

myguide

NOKIA

PARAMETERS Model Dimension (mm)

RAGE

C2-03

Pro

Flair

Pride

Super

Noble 8

103 x 51.4 x 17

111 x 47 x 13.3

120 x 57 x 13.6

114.4 x 58 x 8.8 mm

115.3 x 49 x 8.85

124 x 55 x 14

112 x 57.6 x 13.1

115

120

115

105

5/400

13.3/540

10/1000

5/400

10/1000

5/400

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

65,536/2.6

262,144/2.2

NA/2.8

NA/2.3

NA/2.4

NA/2.6

NA/3.2

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

10MB/32GB

48MB/16GB

125KB/8GB

230KB/8GB

145KB/4GB

NA/4GB

4MB/8GB

Yes/No

Yes/Yes

2.0MP/No/Yes

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

Yes/Yes/Yes

2.0MP/Yes/Yes

Yes/Yes/Yes

1,000

500

300

1,000

Weight (grams) Talktime/Standby (hours)

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi Camera/Flash/Video Phonebook Capacity

1,000

Frequency/Dual SIM

Dual Band/GSM+GSM

Quad Band/No

GPRS/EDGE/3G

Yes/Yes/No

Operating System

Symbian S40

MTK

Yes/Yes

Slider/Yes/No

Bar/No/No

Bar/Yes/No

Bar/No/No

Bar/Yes/No

Music Player/FM Radio Form Factor/T.Screen/QWERTY Burn test Rating

Yes/No/No

Yes/Yes/No

4,100

4,500

2,749

2,999

3,099

3,199

3,999

MODELS

Price in Rs.

Dual Band/GSM+GSM Dual Band/GSM+GSM Dual Band/GSM+GSM Dual Band/GSM+GSM Dual Band/GSM+GSM

SAMSUNG

PARAMETERS Model

E2152 Guru 36

Dimension (mm)

111.6 x 46.3 x 13.5

Weight (grams)

80.4

Talktime/Standby (hours)

2222

Metro Duos C3322

3213

109.5 x 61.3 x 11.85 113.97 x 47.9 x 13.99 112.8 x 46.4 x 13.2 90

88.9

80.6

3520

Champ2

Ch@t C3222

102 x 52 x 16.78

96 x 52.6 x 12.15

109.7 x 58.1 x 12.3

97.5

79.5

11/660

11.4/550

10/500

8.2/550

9.1/610

10/500

11/500

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

262,144/2.0

262,144/2.2

65,536/2.0

262,144/2.4

262,144/2.7

262,144/2.2

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

NA/2GB

45MB/16GB

46MB/16GB

36MB/8GB

28MB/16GB

40MB/16GB

54MB/8GB

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

Yes/No

Camera/Flash/Video

VGA/No/Yes

2.0/No/Yes

VGA/No/Yes

1.3MP/No/Yes

2.0MP/No/Yes

1.3MP/No/Yes

Phonebook Capacity

1,000

Frequency/Dual SIM

Quad Band/No

Dual Band/GSM+GSM

GPRS/EDGE/3G

Yes/Yes/No

Yes/Yes/HSDPA

Yes/Yes/No

Operating System

Proprietary

Music Player/FM Radio Form Factor/T.Screen/QWERTY Burn test Rating

Price in Rs.

Dual Band/GSM+GSM Quad Band/GSM+GSM Quad Band/GSM+GSM

Yes/Yes

Bar/No/No

Bar/No/Yes

Bar/No/No

Clamshell/No/No

Bar/Yes/No

Bar/No/Yes

2,550

3,100

3,200

3,300

3,650

3,800

YMOBILE MAY 15 to JUN 14 2012 96 MY

MODELS

SAMSUNG

PARAMETERS Model

Champ Delux

Dimension (mm) Weight (grams)

101.8 x 55.0 x 12.3

C3530

Champ Duos E2652

Chat 3G 527

Metro C3752

Champ 3.5G S3770

Wave 525

112.2 x 46.7 x 11.9 99.90 x 54.90 x 12.95

103 x 55 x 12

97.9 x 19 x 16.4

109.5 x 55 x 11.9

89.7

100

15.8/500

13/550

14.3/476

3/288

13.3/900

6/350

15/900

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

262,144/2.8

262,144/2.2

262,144/2.6

262,144/2.4

65,536/NA

262,144/2.8

262,144/3.2

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

30MB/16GB

50MB/16GB

80MB/32GB

40MB/16GB

30MB/16GB

100MB/16GB

Yes/No

Yes/Yes

Yes/No

Yes/Yes

1.3MP/No/Yes

3.2MP/No/Yes

1.3MP/No/Yes

2.0MP/No/Yes

3.0MP/No/Yes

2.0MP/No/No

3.2MP/No/Yes

Talktime/Standby (hours)

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi Camera/Flash/Video Phonebook Capacity

1,000

Shared

Frequency/Dual SIM

Quad Band/GSM+GSM

Quad Band/No

Tri Band/GSM+GSM

Quad Band/No

GPRS/EDGE/3G

Yes/Yes/No

Yes/Yes/HSDPA, HSUPA

Yes/Yes/No

Yes/Yes/HSDPA

Yes/Yes/No

Operating System

Proprietary

Bada

Yes/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

Bar/No/No

Bar/Yes/No

Bar/No/Yes

Slider/No/No

Bar/Yes/No

Music Player/FM Radio Form Factor/T.Screen/QWERTY Burn test Rating

4,250

4,500

4,700

4,800

5,259

5,500

MODELS

Price in Rs.

NR 3890

SAMSUNG

PARAMETERS Model

SPICE

SONY ERICSSON

Primo S5610

Star 3 Duos

Corby II

Star II

Mix Walkman

M-5445

M-6460

Dimension (mm)

118.9 x 49.9 x 12.8

102 x 58 x 11.51

109.9 x 60.6 x 11.7

107.5 x 54.0 x 12.4

95.8 × 52.8 × 14.3

118 x 49 x 11.3

114.5 x 51 x 13.65

Weight (grams)

95.5

102

109

Talktime/Standby (hours)

15.67/960

14.3/520

9.3/620

8.2/900

9.6/465

4.5/400

6/450

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

262,144/2.4

262,144/3.0

262,144/3.14

262,144/3.0

262,144/2.4

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

110MB/16GB

20MB/16GB

21MB/16GB

30MB/16GB

256MB/32GB

NA/8GB

500KB/8GB

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

Yes/No

Yes/Yes

Yes/No

Yes/Yes

Yes/No

Camera/Flash/Video

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

3.0MP/No/Yes

2.0MP/No/Yes

3.15MP/No/Yes

VGA/No/Yes

2.0MP/No/Yes

Phonebook Capacity

2,000

1,000

Shared

1,000

Shared

1,000

Frequency/Dual SIM

Quad Band/No

Dual Band/GSM+GSM

Quad Band/No

GPRS/EDGE/3G

Yes/Yes/HSDPA

Yes/Yes/No

Yes/No/No

Proprietary

Android OS, v2.3

Proprietary

Operating System Music Player/FM Radio Form Factor/T.Screen/QWERTY Burn test Rating

Price in Rs.

Dual Band/GSM+GSM Dual Band/GSM+GSM

Yes/Yes

Bar/No/No

Bar/Yes/No

Bar/No/No

5,700

5,760

5,800

2,750

3,050

YMOBILE 97 MAY 15 to JUN 14 2012 MY

myguide MODELS

MID LEVEL

SPICE

PARAMETERS Model Dimension (mm) Weight (grams)

NOKIA

M-6700

M-6868

M-6900

300

111 x 54 x 13.2

114.5 x 63 x 12

116 x 62.5 x 11.6

115.5 x 58.1 x 13.6

112.8 x 49.5 x 12.7

302

NEW

116.5 x 55.7 x 13.9

112 x 46 x 12.3

100

167

114

89.3

6.2/234

4.5/450

9.4/218

7/800

6.9/550

9/707

12/630

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

262,144/3.1

262,144/3.4

262,144/3.5

262,144/2.4

16.7million/2.2

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

45MB/16GB

39MB/8GB

55MB/8GB

128MB/32GB

50MB/16GB

Yes/Yes

Yes/No

Yes/Yes

Yes/No

3.2MP/No/Yes

2.0MP/No/Yes

5.0MP/No/Yes

3.2MP/No/Yes

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

2,000

1,500

2,000

Talktime/Standby (hours)

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi Camera/Flash/Video Phonebook Capacity Frequency/Dual SIM GPRS/EDGE/3G Operating System Music Player/FM Radio Form Factor/T.Screen/QWERTY Burn test Rating

Shared

Quad Band/No

Yes/Yes/No

Symbian S40

Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA Yes/Yes/HSDPA, HSUPA

S40

Symbian S60

Yes/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

Bar/No/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

Bar/No/Yes

Bar/No/No

4,300

5,400

5,900

6,300

6,500

7,800

MODELS

Price in Rs.

Dual Band/GSM+GSM Tri Band/GSM+GSM Dual Band/GSM+GSM

NOKIA

PARAMETERS Model

SAMSUNG

X3-02

303

C5-03

500

Star II Duos 6712

Wave Y

Dimension (mm)

106.2 x 48.4 x 9.6

116.5 x 55.7 x 13.9

105.8 x 51 x 13.8

111.3 x 53.8 x 14.1

113.4 x 53 x 16.8

109.5 x 56 x 12.2

110.0 x 57.9 x 12.3

Weight (grams)

150

100

104.8

Talktime/Standby (hours)

5/430

8.2/731

11.5/600

7/500

11/400

10/550

12.1/610

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

262,144/2.4

262,144/2.6

16million/3.2

16.7million/3.2

262,144/3.2

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

50MB/16GB

100MB/32GB

40MB/16GB

2GB/32GB

200MB/16GB

30MB/16GB

150MB/32GB

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

Yes/Yes

Camera/Flash/Video

5.0MP/No/Yes

3.2MP/No/Yes

5.0MP/No/Yes

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

3.15MP/No/Yes

2.0MP/No/Yes

Phonebook Capacity

Shared

Frequency/Dual SIM

Quad Band/No

Quad Band/GSM+GSM

Quad Band/No

GPRS/EDGE/3G

Yes/Yes/HSDPA

Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA

Yes/Yes/HSDPA

Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA

Yes/Yes/HSDPA

Yes/Yes/No

Yes/Yes/HSDPA

Symbian S60

S40

Symbian S60

Symbian Anna

Symbian S 60

Proprietary

Bada OS v2.0

Operating System Music Player/FM Radio Form Factor/T.Screen/QWERTY Burn test Rating

Price in Rs.

Yes/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

Bar/Yes/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

Slider/Yes/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

7,800

7,900

8,700

9,700

11,200

6,000

7,250

YMOBILE MAY 15 to JUN 14 2012 98 MY

MODELS

HIGH END

PARAMETERS Model Dimension (mm) Weight (grams)

SONY ERICSSON

NOKIA

TXT

Text Pro

C6-01

603

700

701

106 X 60 X 14.5

92.0 × 53.0 × 18.0

103.8 x 52.5 x 13.9

113.5 x 57.1 x 12.7

110 x 50 x 9.7

117.2x56.8x11

119.7 x 62.8 x 11.9

136

131

109.6

131

146

3.2/416

5.1/400

12/420

8.7/540

7.14/403

17/504

6/450

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

262,144/2.55

16.7million/3.0

16.7milloin/3.2

16.7mollion/3.5

16million/3.2

16.7million/4.0

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

120MB/32GB

100MB/32GB

340MB/32GB

NA/32GB

2GB/32GB

8GB/32GB

Yes/Yes

3.15MP/No/Yes

3.2MP/No/Yes

8.0MP/Yes/Yes

5.0MP/No/Yes

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

8.0MP/Yes/Yes

Talktime/Standby (hours)

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi Camera/Flash/Video Phonebook Capacity

Shared

Frequency/Dual SIM

Quad Band/No

GPRS/EDGE/3G

Yes/Yes/No

Operating System

Proprietary

Music Player/FM Radio Form Factor/T.Screen/QWERTY Burn test Rating

Symbian^3

Symbian Belle OS

Symbian Belle

Symbian Anna

Yes/Yes

Bar/No/Yes

Slider/Yes/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

6,000

7,299

14,300

13,299

16,300

17,900

21,000

MODELS

Price in Rs.

Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA

PARAMETERS

SAMSUNG

TAG HEUER

VERTU

Wave 3

Meridiist GMT Stainless Steel/Black PVD

Link

Meridiist Steel & Gold

Ascent

Constellation Ayxta

Ascent Ti

Dimension (mm)

125.9 x 64.2 x 9.9

112 x 46 x 15.5

118 x 67 x 16.6

112 x 46 x 15.5

117 x 46 x 19

100 x 48 x 18

115.5 x 49 x 13.1

Weight (grams)

122

155

200

155

148

174

160

Model

Talktime/Standby (hours)

14.25/535

7/392

6.5/336

7/392

4.8/300

6/300

5/300

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

16million/4.0

262,144/1.9

16million/3.5

262,144/1.9

16million/2.0

16million/2.4

16million/2.0

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

4GB/32GB

NA/NA

256MB/8GB

NA/NA

8GB/32GB

100MB/8GB

4GB/No

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

Yes/Yes

Yes/No

Yes/Yes

Yes/No

Camera/Flash/Video

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

No/No/No

5.0MP/No/Yes

No/No/No

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

3.15MP/Yes/Yes

Phonebook Capacity

Shared

1,000

Shared

1,000

2,000

1,500

Frequency/Dual SIM GPRS/EDGE/3G Operating System Music Player/FM Radio Form Factor/T.Screen/QWERTY Burn test Rating

Price in Rs.

Quad Band/No

Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA

Yes/Yes/No

Yes/Yes/HSDPA

Yes/Yes/No

Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA

Yes/Yes/No

Yes/Yes/R99

Bada OS v2.0

Andriod OS 2.2

Yes/Yes

Yes/No

Yes/NA

Yes/No

Yes/Yes

Yes/No

Bar/Yes/No

Bar/No/No

Bar/Yes/No

Bar/No/No

Clamshell/No/No

Bar/No/No

16,000

Starting 2,80,000+/ 3,50,000+

Starting 3,25,000+

Starting 5,40,000+

Starting 2,89,000+

Starting 3,47,000+

Starting 3,68,000+

YMOBILE 99 MAY 15 to JUN 14 2012 MY

myguide MODELS

ENTERPRISE LEVEL

VERTU

PARAMETERS

APPLE

BLACKBERRY

Constellation Quest

Signature

iPhone 4

iPad 2 Wi-Fi

i-Pad 2 Wi-Fi+3G

iPhone 4S

Curve 8520

Dimension (mm)

116 x 60.8 x 12.7

130 x 42 x 13

115.2 x 58.6 x 9.3

241.2 x 185.7 x 8.8

115.2 x 58.6 x 9.3

109 x 60 x 13.9

Weight (grams)

165 to 185

166

137

607

140

106

14/300

10/720

14/200

4.5/408

Model

Talktime/Standby (hours)

7.5/349

3.5/300

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

8GB/32GB

16million/2.0

16million/3.5

262,144/9.7

16million/3.5

65,536/2.46

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

16million/2.46

4GB/No

16GB,32GB/No

16,32,64 GB/No

16,32,64GB/No

256MB/microSD

Yes/Yes

Yes/No

Yes/Yes

Camera/Flash/Video

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

No/No/No

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

VGA/No/Yes

8.0MP/Yes/Yes

2.0MP/No/Yes

Phonebook Capacity

Shared

2,000

Shared

Frequency/Dual SIM

Quad Band/No

Quad band/No

Quad Band/No

GPRS/EDGE/3G

Yes/Yes/HSDPA

Yes/Yes/R99

Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA

iOS4

iOS 4.3

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

Operating System Music Player/FM Radio Form Factor/T.Screen/QWERTY Burn test Rating

iOS 4.3

IOS 5

Yes/Yes/No BlackBerry OS

Yes/Yes

Yes/No

Bar/No/Yes

Bar/No/No

Bar/Yes/No

Bar/No/Yes

Starting 3,86,000+

Starting 7,22,000+

34,500/40,900

24,500/30.500/36.500 32,900/38,900/44,900 44,600/50,800/57,500

9,600

MODELS

Price in Rs.

Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA

BLACKBERRY

PARAMETERS Model

Curve 3G 9300

Play Book

Curve 9380

Curve 9360

Bold 9780

9860

Dimension (mm)

109 x 60 x 12.7

109 x 60 x 13.9

194 x 130 x 10

109 x 60 x 11.2

112 x 62 x 14.2 mm

109 x 60 x 13.9

120 x 62 x 11.5

Weight (grams)

102

104

425

130

104

135

Talktime/Standby (hours)

Curve 9220

NEW

7/432

4.5/461

10/NA

5.5/360

5/336

4.5/456

4.7/337

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

65,536/2.44

65,536/2.46

16million/7.0

16million/3.2

262,144/2.44

65,536/2.44

16million/3.7

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

512MB/32GB

256MB/32GB

16,32,64GB/No

512MB/32GB

256MB/32GB

2.5GB/32GB

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

Yes/Yes

Camera/Flash/Video

2.0MP/No/Yes

5.0MP/No/Yes

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

Phonebook Capacity

Shared

Frequency/Dual SIM

Quad Band/No

Yes/Yes/No

Yes/Yes/HSDPA

BlackBerry OS 7.1

BlackBerry OS

BlackBerry OS 7.0

Yes/Yes

Yes/No

Bar/No/Yes

10,600

13,500

GPRS/EDGE/3G Operating System Music Player/FM Radio Form Factor/T.Screen/QWERTY Burn test Rating

Price in Rs.

YMOBILE MAY 15 to JUN 14 2012 100 MY

Quad Band/No

Yes/Yes/HSDPA

Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA

BlackBerry OS 7.0

BlackBerry OS

BlackBerry OS 7.0

Yes/No

Bar/Yes/No

Bar/No/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

13,990/19,990

16,000

18,000

20,200

20,650

Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA

MODELS

BLACKBERRY

PARAMETERS Model

CELKON

DELL

Torch 9800

Bold 9790

9810

9900

XCD35

Aero

Dimension (mm)

111 x 62 x 14.6

110 x 60 x 11.4

111 x 62 14.6

115 x 66 x 10.5

108 X 46 X 16

114 x 56 x 12.2

122 x 57.9 x 11.7

Weight (grams)

161.1

107

161

130

120

104

Talktime/Standby (hours)

5.5/432

5.1/432

6.5/296

6.3/296

6/120

4/216

5/400

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

16million/3.2

16million/2.45

16 million/3.2

16 million/2.8

262,144/3.2

262,144/3.5

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

512MB/32GB

8GB/32GB

2GB/32GB

512MB/16GB

Yes/32GB

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

Yes/Yes

YesYes

Yes/Yes

Camera/Flash/Video

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

3.2MP/No/Yes

3.15MP/No/Yes

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

Phonebook Capacity

Shared

2,000

Shared

Quad Band/No

Frequency/Dual SIM GPRS/EDGE/3G Operating System Music Player/FM Radio Form Factor/T.Screen/QWERTY Burn test Rating

BlackBerry OS

Blackberry OS 7.0

BlackBerry OS 7.0

Quad Band/No

Tri Band/No

Quad Band/No

Yes/Yes/HSDPA

Android 2.2

Android OS v2.1

Android OS v2.2

Yes/No

Yes/Yes

Yes/No

Slider/Yes/Yes

Bar/Yes/Yes

Slider/Yes/Yes

Bar/Yes/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

24,800

28,500

31,000

4,999

8,500

10,990

MODELS

Price in Rs.

Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA

DELL

PARAMETERS Model

HTC

Venu

Streak

Venu Pro

Explorer

ChaCha

Wildfire S

One V

Dimension (mm)

121 x 64 x 12.9

152.9 x 79.1 x 10

122 x 63.5 x 15.2

102.8 x 57.2 x 12.9

114 x 64 x 10.7

101.3 x 59.4 x 12.4

120.3 x 59.7 x 9.24

Weight (grams)

164

220

192.8

81.3

124

105

115

Talktime/Standby (hours)

9.8/400

7/NA

7.6/485

4/120

6.73/261

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

16million/4.1

16million/5.0

16million/4.1

262,144/3.2

262,144/2.6

16million/3.2

16million/3.7

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

512MB/32GB

8GB/32GB

90MB/32GB

512MB/32GB

512MB/microSD

4GB/32GB

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

Yes/Yes

Camera/Flash/Video

8.0MP/Yes/Yes

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

3.15MP/No/Yes

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

Phonebook Capacity

Shared

Quad Band/No

Frequency/Dual SIM GPRS/EDGE/3G Operating System Music Player/FM Radio Form Factor/T.Screen/QWERTY Burn test Rating

Price in Rs.

Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA

Android OS v2.2

Windows Phone 7.5

Android OS v2.3

Android v4.0

Yes/No

Yes/Yes

Yes//Yes

Yes/Yes

Yes/No

Bar/Yes/No

Slider/Yes/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

Bar/Yes/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

21,500

22,990

24,990

9,000

11,800

13,400

17,000

YMOBILE 101 MAY 15 to JUN 14 2012 MY

MODELS

myguide

HTC

PARAMETERS Model Dimension (mm) Weight (grams)

S-510 Desire S

Radar

Rhyme

Sensation XE

Evo 3D

Sensation XL

OneX

115 x 59.8 x 11.6

120.5 x 61.5 x 10.9

119 x 60.8 x 10.85

126.1 x 65.4 x 11.3

126 x 65 x 12.05

132.5 x 70.7 x 9.9

134.36 x 69.9 x 8.9

130

137

130

151

170

162.5

130

4/120

10/480

6.3/265

9.1/310

9.3/358

11.8/360

10/290

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

16million/3.7

16million/3.8

16million/3.7

16million/4.3

16million/4.7

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

1.1GB/32GB

8GB/No

1GB/microSD

4GB/32GB

1GB/32GB

16GB/No

32GB/No

Yes/Yes

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

8.0MP/Yes/Yes

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

8.0MP/Yes/Yes

Talktime/Standby (hours)

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi Camera/Flash/Video Phonebook Capacity

Shared

Frequency/Dual SIM

Quad Band/No

GPRS/EDGE/3G Operating System Music Player/FM Radio Form Factor/T.Screen/QWERTY Burn test Rating

Android OS, v2.3

Windows Phone 7.5

Android OS 2.3

Android OS, v2.3

Android OS v2.3

Android OS 4.0

Yes/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

22,500

22,600

24,500

32,500

34,000

36,000

37,990

MODELS

Price in Rs.

Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA

PARAMETERS Model Dimension (mm) Weight (grams)

KARBONN

LAVA

ID 280

IDEA Blade

S12

Optimus Me P350

102 x 53 x 13

116 x 56.5 x 11.8

106.8 x 59.2 x 14

117 x 57.5 x 13.4

108 x 57.5 x 12.2

L3 E400

NEW

102.6 x 61.6 x 11.85

Optimus One P500 113.5 x 59 x 13.3

130

105

120

110

129

4/288

4/192

4.1/250

10.8/590

11/626

12/600

8/550

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

262,144/2.8

262,144/3.5

262,144/2.8

262,144/3.2

262,144/2.8

262,144/3.2

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

152MB/32GB

4GB/32GB

120MB/32GB

155MB/32GB

1GB/32GB

170MB/32GB

Yes/Yes

Yes/NA

Yes/Yes

Camera/Flash/Video

3.2MP/No/Yes

3.2MP/Yes/Yes

3.2MP/No/Yes

5.0MP/No/Yes

3.15MP/No/Yes

3.2MP/No/Yes

3.15MP/No/Yes

Phonebook Capacity

Shared

Talktime/Standby (hours)

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

Frequency/Dual SIM

Quad Band/No

Dual Band/GSM+GSM

QuadBand/No

Quad Band/No

GPRS/EDGE/3G

Yes/Yes/HSDPA

Operating System

Android OS v2.2

Android OS 2.2

Android OS v2.2

Android OS v2.3

Android OS v2.2

Music Player/FM Radio Form Factor/T.Screen/QWERTY Burn test Rating

Price in Rs.

Yes/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

5,850

7,992

4,500

7,300

7,000

8,500

9,600

YMOBILE MAY 15 to JUN 14 2012 102 MY

MODELS

PARAMETERS Model

Optimus Pro C660

Optimus Net P690

P698

E510

E730

Optimus Black P970

Optimus 2X

Dimension (mm)

119.5 x 59.7 x 12.9

113 x 59 x 11.7

114 x 59 x 11.7

113.4 x 60.8 x 11.9

122.5 x 62.5 x 9.8

122 x 64 x 9.2

123.9 x 63.2 x 10.9

Weight (grams)

129

121

124

123

107

109

139

13.5/852

12/581

11.5/556

18.5/496

6/375

14.5/421

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

262,144/2.8

262,144/3.2

16million/3.8

16 million/4.0

16million/4.0

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

170MB/32GB

150MB/32GB

160MB/32GB

Yes/32GB

1GB/32GB

2 GB/32GB

6.4GB/32GB

Yes/Yes

3.15MP/No/Yes

3.2MP/No/Yes

5.0MP/No/Yes

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

8.0MP/Yes/Yes

Talktime/Standby (hours)

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi Camera/Flash/Video Phonebook Capacity

Shared

Frequency/Dual SIM

Quad Band/No

Quad Band/GSM+GSM

Quad Band/N0

Quad Band/No

GPRS/EDGE/3G

Yes/Yes/HSDPA

Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA

Operating System

Android OS v2.3

Android OS v2.4

Android OS v2.2

Yes/Yes

Bar/Yes/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

Music Player/FM Radio Form Factor/T.Screen/QWERTY Burn test Rating

9,600

10,000

10,500

13,000

17,000

19,000

22,000

Optimus 3D

A60

A55

A70

A75

A85

Fire

128.8 x 68 x 11.9

106.8 x 59.2 x 14

107.2 x 58.7 x 13.5

111 x 58 x 13.5

120 x 63.5 x 10.9

118.7 x 60.1 x 13.8

116.5 x 58 x 13.45

MODELS

Price in Rs.

PARAMETERS Model Dimension (mm) Weight (grams)

MICROMAX

MOTOROLA

168

105

111.5

135.4

110

13/450

4/240

4/144

4/168

5/288

3.2/250

7/504

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

16million/4.3

262,144/2.8

262,144/3.2

262,144/3.75

16million/3.8

262,144/2.8

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

8GB/32GB

150MB/32GB

160MB/32GB

NA/32GB

8GB/32GB

512MB/32GB

Yes/Yes

Camera/Flash/Video

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

3.0MP/No/Yes

5.0MP/No/Yes

3.0MP/Yes/Yes

5.0MP/No/Yes

3.15MP/No/Yes

Phonebook Capacity

Shared

Quad Band/No

Quad BandNo

Quad Band/No

Quad Band/GSM+GSM

Quad Band/No

Talktime/Standby (hours)

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

Frequency/Dual SIM GPRS/EDGE/3G Operating System Music Player/FM Radio Form Factor/T.Screen/QWERTY Burn test Rating

Price in Rs.

Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA

Android OS v2.2

Android OS v2.1

Android OS v2.2

Android OS, v2.3

Yes/Yes

Yes/No

Yes/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

Bar/Yes/Yes

27,000

4,600

7,000

7,999

8,999

15,290

8,500

YMOBILE 103 MAY 15 to JUN 14 2012 MY

MODELS

myguide

MOTOROLA

PARAMETERS Model Dimension (mm) Weight (grams)

NOKIA

Fire XT

Milestone XT800

Defy+

Atrix

Xoom 3G/WiFi

RazrXT 910

114 x 61.9 x 11.95

120 x 61.8 x 11.4

107 x 59 x 13.4

125.9 x 66.0 x 10.4

249.1 x 167.8 x 12.9

130.7 x 68.9 x 7.1

115 x 58.9 x 12.8

84.3

137

118

147

730

127

126

9.7/720

5.4/100

7.10/384

8.9/3821

10/336

9.4/305

7.3/400

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

262,144/3.5

16million/3.7

16million/4.3

16million/10.1

262,144/4.3

262,144/2.36

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

512MB/32GB

1GB/32GB

2GB/32GB

8GB/32GB

32GB/MicroSD

16GB/32GB

256MB/32GB

Yes/Yes

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

5.0/Yes/Yes

8.0MP/Yes/Yes

5.0MP/No/Yes

8.0MP/Yes/Yes

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

Talktime/Standby (hours)

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi Camera/Flash/Video Phonebook Capacity

Shared

1,000

Shared

Frequency/Dual SIM

Quad Band/No

Quad Band/GSM+CDMA

Quad Band/No

Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA

Yes/Yes/Rev. A

Android OS, v2.3

Android OS v2.1

Android OS, v2.3

Android OS 3.1

Android OS, v2.3

Symbian S60

Yes/Yes

Yes/No

Yes/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

Bar/No/Yes

GPRS/EDGE/3G Operating System Music Player/FM Radio Form Factor/T.Screen/QWERTY Burn test Rating

Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA

9,500

15,500

16,000

22,500

32,990/39,990

29,500

9,400

Lumia 710

Lumia 800

Galaxy Pocket 5300 NEW

Dimension (mm)

119 x 62.4 x 12.5

115.5 x 59 x 10.5

113.5 x 59 x 12.9

123.7 x 62.4 x 13.6

Weight (grams)

125.5

133

135

176

MODELS

Price in Rs.

NOKIA

PARAMETERS Model

Talktime/Standby (hours)

SAMSUNG Galaxy Y

116.5 x 61.2 x 12.1 103.90 x 57.90 x 12.98 104.0 x 58.0 x 11.5 142

97.5

7.3/400

14.4/681

12/390

9/430

13/265

15.8/520

6/120

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

16million/3.7

16.7million/2.46

16.7million/3.5

16million/4.0

16miilion/3.7

262,144/2.8

262,144/3.0

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

8GB/No

8GB/32GB

16GB/32GB

16GB/No

3GB/32GB

160MB/32GB

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

Yes/Yes

Camera/Flash/Video

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

8.0MP/Yes/Yes

12.0MP/Yes/Yes

8.0MP/Yes/Yes

2.0MP/No/Yes

Phonebook Capacity

Shared

Quad Band/No

Frequency/Dual SIM

Quad Band/No

GPRS/EDGE/3G

Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA

Yes/Yes/HSDPA

Operating System

Windows Phone 7.5

Android OS, v2.3

Music Player/FM Radio Form Factor/T.Screen/QWERTY Burn test Rating

Price in Rs.

Symbian Anna

Symbian^3 OS

Windows Phone 7.5

Yes/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

Bar/No/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

Slider/Yes/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

Bar/No/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

15,500

17,100

19,000

21,500

24,500

7.000

7,500

YMOBILE MAY 15 to JUN 14 2012 104 MY

MODELS

SAMSUNG

PARAMETERS Model Dimension (mm) Weight (grams)

Galaxy Y Colour

Galaxy Pop S5570

Galaxy Y Duos

Galaxy Y Duos Pro 5512

5830 Galaxy Ace

Omnia W I8350

5830 Galaxy Ace Plus

104.0 x 58.0 x 11.5

110.4 x 60.8 x 12.1

109.8 x 60 x 11.95

110.8 x 63.5 x 11.9

112.4 x 59.9 x 11.5

115.6 x 58.8 x 10.9

114.7 x 62.5 x 11.2

97.5

106.6

109

112.3

113

115.3

114

6/120

9.5/570

17.5/630

19.16/740

12/520

7/370

11.1/660

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

262,144/3.0

256,000/3.14

262,144/3.1

262,144/2.6

16million/3.5

16million/3.7

262,144/3.7

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

160MB/32GB

164MB/32GB

160MB/32GB

512MB/32GB

158MB/32GB

8GB/No

2.7GB/32GB

Yes/Yes

2.0MP/No/Yes

3.15MP/No/Yes

3.0MP/No/Yes

3.15MP/No/Yes

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

Shared

Talktime/Standby (hours)

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi Camera/Flash/Video Phonebook Capacity

Shared

Frequency/Dual SIM

Quad Band/No

GPRS/EDGE/3G

Yes/Yes/HSDPA

Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA

Operating System

Android OS, v2.3

Android OS, v2.2

Android OS, v2.3

Android OS, v2.2

Windows Phone 7.5

Android OS, v2.3

Yes/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

Bar/Yes/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

Music Player/FM Radio Form Factor/T.Screen/QWERTY Burn test Rating

Quad Band/GSM+GSM Quad Band/GSM+GSM

Shared

Quad Band/No

7,900

8,400

9,300

10,100

13,200

15,400

16,290

I9003 Galaxy SL

Galaxy S Plus I9001

Galaxy Tab620

Galaxy SII i9100

Galaxy Tab 730

Galaxy Note

Tab 10.1 1750

Dimension (mm)

123.7 x 64.2 x 10.59

122.4 x 64.2 x 9.9

230.9 x 157.8 x 8.6

146.9 x 83 x 9.7

256.7 x 175.3 x 8.6

Weight (grams)

131

119

453

178

565

MODELS

Price in Rs.

SAMSUNG

PARAMETERS Model

193.65 x 122.37 x 9.96 125.30 x 66.10 x 8.49 345

116

12.8/750

17.3/480

40/1000

19.3/710

NA/1750

6/100

9/NA

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

16 million/4.0

16million/4.0

16million/7.0

16million/4.27

16million/8.9

16million/5.3

16million/10.1

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

4GB/32GB

16GB/32GB

16GB/MicroSD

16GB/32GB

16GB/No

16GB/32GB

16GB/No

Yes/Yes

Camera/Flash/Video

5.0MP/No/Yes

3.0MP/No/Yes

8.0MP/Yes/Yes

2.0MP/No/Yes

8.0MP/Yes/Yes

3.2MP/No/Yes

Phonebook Capacity

Shared

Quad Band/No

Talktime/Standby (hours)

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

Frequency/Dual SIM GPRS/EDGE/3G Operating System Music Player/FM Radio Form Factor/T.Screen/QWERTY Burn test Rating

Price in Rs.

Quad Band/No

Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA

Android OS, v2.2

Android OS, v2.3

Android OS, v3.2

Android OS, v2.3

Android OS, v3.1

Android OS, v2.3

Android OS, v3.1

Yes/Yes

Yes/No

Yes/Yes

Yes/No

Yes/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

33,500

34,000

19,000

22,000

26,300

31,700

32,500

YMOBILE 105 MAY 15 to JUN 14 2012 MY

MODELS

myguide

PARAMETERS Model Dimension (mm)

SAMSUNG

SONY ERICSSON

Galaxy Tab 680

Xperia Mini

Live with Walkman

Xperia Mini Pro

Xperia Active

Xperia Neo V

196.7 x 133 x 7.89

99.0 × 54.0 × 15.0

92 x 53 x 18

106 x 56 x 14.2

92 x 53 x 18

106 x 60 x 14.5

116 x 57 x 13

340

104

136

115

136

126

20/1200

4.75/446

5.4/331

6.7/350

5.4/331

3.2/416

6.9/430

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

16million/7.7

16.7million/3.0

16million/3.2

16.7million/3.0

16million/3.0

16million/3.7

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

16GB/32GB

128MB/16GB

320MB/16GB

320MB/32GB

320MB/16GB

120MB/32GB

1GB/32GB

Yes/Yes

3.0MP/Yes/Yes

3.2MP/No/Yes

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

Weight (grams) Talktime/Standby (hours)

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi Camera/Flash/Video Phonebook Capacity

Shared

Frequency/Dual SIM

Quad Band/No

GPRS/EDGE/3G Operating System Music Player/FM Radio Form Factor/T.Screen/QWERTY Burn test Rating

Android OS, v3.2

Android OS v2.1

Android OS 2.3

Yes/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

Slider/Yes/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

36,312

9,400

13,800

14,600

14,700

16,000

17,500

MODELS

Price in Rs.

Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA

SONY ERICSSON

PARAMETERS Model

Xperia Ray

Xperia Pro

Arc S

Dimension (mm)

111 x 53 x 9.4

120 x 57 x 13.7

125 x 63 x 8.7

Weight (grams)

100

142

117

SONY R800i Xperia Play

Tablet S Wi-Fi

Tablet S 3G+Wi-Fi

119.0 x 62.0 x 16.0 241.2 x 174.3 x 10.1-20.6 241.2 x 174.3 x 10.1-20.6 175

598

Tablet P 180 x 79 x 28 372

6.8/430

6.9/430

7.4/460

8.25/625

11/430

NA/120

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

16million/3.3

16million/3.7

16million/4.2

16 million/4.0

16million/9.4

16million/5.5

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

300MB/32GB

1GB/32GB

512MB/32GB

16GB/32GB

4GB/32GB

Talktime/Standby (hours)

Yes/Yes

Camera/Flash/Video

8.0MP/Yes/Yes

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

5.0MP/No/Yes

5.0MP/No/No

Phonebook Capacity

Shared

Quad Band/No

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

Frequency/Dual SIM GPRS/EDGE/3G Operating System Music Player/FM Radio Form Factor/T.Screen/QWERTY Burn test Rating

Price in Rs.

Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA

Android OS, v2.3

NA Android OS, v3.1

Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA

Android OS, v3.1

Android OS, v3.2

Yes/Yes

Yes/No

Bar/Yes/No

Slider/Yes/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

Clamshell/Yes/No

18,699

19,500

25,000

31,000

21,000

26,000

32,000

YMOBILE MAY 15 to JUN 14 2012 106 MY

MODELS

CDMA

PARAMETERS

SONY

Model

Xperia S

Dimension (mm)

128 x 64 x 10.6

Weight (grams)

NEW

SPICE

CDMA

Mi 280

MI 350N

Samsung Hero Plus 159

Samsung B209

Samsung B229

Samsung Hero B189

105.5 x 57 x 12.9

116 x 61 x12.75

108.5 x 45.8 x 13.3

108.0 x 44.8 x 14.3

108 x 44.38 x 14.20

105 x 44 x 13

144

136

72.3

7.5/450

3.3/150

5/200

3/230

4.3/470

6.5/720

3.3/250

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

16million/4.3

262,144/2.8

262,144/3.5

65,536/1.52

65,536/1.5

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

32GB/No

134MB/32GB

170MB/32GB

597KB/No

351KB/No

450KB/No

NA/No

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

Yes/Yes

No/No

12.0MP/Yes/Yes

3.2MP/No/Yes

No/No/No

Talktime/Standby (hours)

Camera/Flash/Video Phonebook Capacity

Shared

1,000

500

Frequency/Dual SIM

Quad Band/No

Dual Band/NO

Dual Band/GSM+GSM

CDMA/No

Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA

Yes/Yes/HSDPA

No/No/No

Android OS, v4.0

Android OS, v2.3

BREW

GPRS/EDGE/3G Operating System Music Player/FM Radio Form Factor/T.Screen/QWERTY Burn test Rating

Yes/Yes

No/Yes

No/No

Bar/Yes/No

Bar/No/No

32,000

5,600

8,500

1,000

1,100

1,200

1,399

Samsung Guru 539

LG 6160

Samsung Guru Muzik 219

109.6 x 44.9 x 14.0

112 x 46.3 x 15.3

77.5

MODELS

Price in Rs.

Yes/Yes Bar/Yes/No

CDMA

PARAMETERS Model

Samsung Superstar Samsung Hero B319

Dimension (mm)

108 x 45.4 x 14.7

Weight (grams)

Talktime/Standby (hours)

Samsung B379

Samsung B339

109.5 x 45.4 x 14.2 108.20 x 47.1 x 14.35 75

75.7

3.3/212

3/257

4.3/470

6/720

3.30/NA

4/230

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

65,536/1.5

65,536/1.52

65,536/1.5

65,536/1.52

65,536/1.77

65,536/1.5

65,536/1.7

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

NA/No

1MB/No

351KB/No

2.5MB/4+4GB

NA/4GB

14MB/2GB

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

No/No

Yes/Yes

No/No

Yes/No

Camera/Flash/Video

No/No/No

1.3MP/No/Yes

Phonebook Capacity

500

1,000

Frequency/Dual SIM

CDMA/No

GPRS/EDGE/3G

No/No/No

Yes/Yes/CDMA1X

Yes/No/No

BREW

Operating System Music Player/FM Radio Form Factor/T.Screen/QWERTY Burn test Rating

Price in Rs.

No/No

No/Yes

Yes/Yes

Yes/NA

Yes/Yes

Bar/No/No

1,399

1,499

1,500

1,800

2,336

2,550

2,700

YMOBILE 107 MAY 15 to JUN 14 2012 MY

MODELS

myguide

CDMA

PARAMETERS Model

LG 6210

Dimension (mm) Weight (grams)

106 x 47 x 14.5

Samsung Guru Dual Samsung Guru Dual Samsung Duos 169 CDMA CDMA 114.9 x 47.8 x 14.1

115.5 x 48 x 15.9

118.5 x 50 x 12.45

MTS Live Wire

MTS M-Tag

Samsung TXT M369

198 x 54 x 13

113 x 54 x 12

112x60.95x11.96

86.7

110

102.3

6/300

6.5/300

4.5/250

4.4/420

3/200

4.4/200

4.5/420

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

262,144/NA

65,536/2.0

65,536/2.2

262,144/2.4

262,144/2.8

262,144/2.2

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

13MB/4GB

7.41MB/4GB

42MB/8GB

85MB/16GB

256MB/32GB

170MB/32GB

104MB/16GB

Yes/No

YesNo

Yes/Yes

Yes/No

VGA/No/Yes

No/No/No

VGA/No/Yes

1.3MP/No/Yes

3.2MP/No/Yes

2.0MP/No/Yes

1,000

Talktime/Standby (hours)

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi Camera/Flash/Video Phonebook Capacity

1,000

Frequency/Dual SIM

CDMA/No

GPRS/EDGE/3G

Yes/No/No

Operating System Music Player/FM Radio Form Factor/T.Screen/QWERTY Burn test Rating

Yes/No/No

2,000

Shared

2,000

CDMA/No

Yes/Yes/HSDPA

Yes/Yes/Yes

Yes/Yes/CDMA 1X Yes/Yes/EVDO Rev.0

BREW

Android OS, v2.2

BREW

Yes/Yes

Bar/No/No

Bar/Yes/No

Bar/No/Yes

2,950

3,500

4,500

4,600

4,999

5,499

6,000

MODELS

Price in Rs.

Dual Band/GSM+CDMA Dual Band/CDMA+GSM

CDMA

PARAMETERS Samsung Duos 259

Galaxy Pop CDMA

Blackberry 8530

Galaxy Ace Duos I589

Blackberry Curve CDMA 9350

Blackberry 9670 Style

Blackberry 9650

Dimension (mm)

115.5 x 48 x 15.9

110.9 x 60.6 x 12.1

109 x 60 x 13.9

112.4 x 59.9 x 12.44

109 x 60 x 11

96 x 60 x 18.5

112 x 62 x 14

Weight (grams)

106.6

105

125

131

136

Model

Talktime/Standby (hours)

4.8/230

5/320

4.5/252

7/300

4.5/252

5/312

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

262,144/2.2

262,144/3.14

65,536/NA

16million/3.5

NA/2.44

65,536/NA

65,536/2.44

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

40MB/8GB

164MB/microSD

256MB/32GB

512MB/32GB

512/32GB

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

Yes/No

Yes/Yes

YesYes

Yes/Yes

Camera/Flash/Video

1.3MP/No/Yes

3.15MP/No/Yes

2.0MP/NA/Yes

3.15MP/No/Yes

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

3.15MP/Yes/Yes

Phonebook Capacity

1,000

Shared

Frequency/Dual SIM

CDMA/CDMA+GSM

CDMA/No

Dual Band/CDMA+GSM

CDMA/No

GPRS/EDGE/3G

Yes/No/No

Yes/Yes/EVDO RevA

Yes/Yes/No

Yes/Yes/Rev.A

Yes/Yes/No

Yes/Yes/Rev. A

Operating System

Proprietary

Android OS 2.2

BlackBerry OS

Android OS, v2.3

BlackBerry OS7

BlackBerry OS

Music Player/FM Radio Form Factor/T.Screen/QWERTY Burn test Rating

Price in Rs.

Yes/Yes

Yes/No

Yes/Yes

Yes/No

Bar/No/No

Bar/Yes/No

Bar/No/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

Bar/No/Yes

Clamshell/No/Yes

Bar/No/Yes

7,100

8,900

12,400

16,900

20,990

22,500

24,000

YMOBILE MAY 15 to JUN 14 2012 108 MY

www.mymobile.co.in

Telco Trivia

Alexander Graham Bell wanted the greeting for the telephone to be

“Ahoy”

but Thomas Edison voted for

“Hello,”

as “Watson hone call w s made on p t rs fi ry The ve !”It wa I want you come here,

76 r,cMahssach1u0se,tts,1b8etweenistant Ma Boston d his ass

The original name of the telephone was the harmonic telegraph

in l an Graham Bel Alexander n o ts a W Thomas A.

phone first smart The world’s d in 1993 at uce was introd rld ireless Wo W ed Florida’s la was unch s It . e c n re fe a Con llular and w s e C th u o S ll by Be ame wa y IBM. Its n designed b Simon

a word he had coined in 1877

The ringtone “N okia tune” is ba 19th century gu sed on a itar work named “Gran Vals” by Spanish music ian Francisco Tárrega. It was originally nam ed “Grande Valse” on Nokia phones but was “Nokia Tune” ar changed to ound 1998 whe n it became popular. The first comm

ercial cellphone

world was sold in

$3,995

in the

1973 for

In Milan the ph one company fin ed the operator for an y wrong numbe r dialled. And bei

ng rude to a te lephone operato r in Prussia was a crime.

The first telephone exchange opened on January 28, 1878, in New Haven, Connecticut

aged to Computer pioneer Steve Wozniak man and 888 888-8 ber num hone telep acquire the of later abandoned it due to the hundreds day. mostly silent calls he was getting each all chilEventually, he realised that they were misdren who had dialed his number by take while playing with a telephone. The worldwide emergency mobile number is 112. If you can’t get coverage in your phone and there is an emergency you can dial 112 and the cell will connect to any existing network to dial the emergency number for you, and interestingly, this number is locked. 112 can be dialed even if the keypad

They said it

Talk Time... “As seen the world over, the total data usage is exploding and is doubling each year to grow to nearly 3.6 hexabytes by 2014. With the launch of 4G, India will move from being a follower in technology to matching the world in this domain.” -Sanjay Kapoor

CEO – India & South Asia, Bharti Airtel, is bullish on the launch of LTE services in Bangalore.

“I’d do it again.” -Mark Zuckerberg

CEO Facebook, on the decision to pay $1 billion for Instagram, in a meeting with investors at Facebook’s IPO roadshow.

“The survey reiterates our belief in ‘mobile first’. Culturally, even beyond the well-educated, mainstream Indians are technology curious and device savvy. We believe that the Internet like telephony did, is making the leap from wired internet to mobile, and hundreds of millions of Indians will go online on their mobile devices. At Google, we are building a powerful, simple, personable mobile ecosystem that helps every user be connected as they want and when they want to.” -Lalitesh Katragadda

Country Head-India, Products for Google, on the Google, IPSOS and the MMA (Mobile Marketing Association) study on internet usage and smartphones

“PureView has completely raised the bar on imaging performance for the whole smartphone industry - and Nokia is not stopping here. We’re going to carry on developing PureView for our future smartphones in ways that will again revolutionize the imaging experience.” - Jo Harlow

Head of Smart Devices, Nokia, introducing the PureView 808.

“BlackBerry 10 builds upon the core values and exceptional user experiences that have attracted more than 77 million BlackBerry customers around the world today. Developers building for BlackBerry 10 will be able to easily create the kind of cutting-edge apps that deliver truly engaging experiences and ‘wow’ customers, whether through integration with native features and other apps like BBM or by leveraging the new signature design elements of this new and powerful mobile computing platform.” -Alec saunders

Vice President, Developer Relations and Ecosystems Development, RIM waxes eloquent about the BlackBerry 10 platform at BlackBerry World

“Anything can be forced to converge, but the problem is that products are about trade-offs, and you begin to make trade-offs to the point where what you have left at the end of the day doesn’t please anyone. You can converge a toaster and a refrigerator, but those things are probably not going to be pleasing to the user.” -Tim Cook

CEO, Apple, presents his view of convergence in a conference call with PCWorld.

110 MYMOBILE may 15 to jun 14 2012

persona

www.mymobile.co.in

Ten Things You Might Not Know About... Sunil Bharti Mittal, CMD, Bharti Group

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

He is the son of Sat Pal Mittal, a member of the Congress Party and a Member of Parliament. He and both his brothers have the middle name “Bharti,” which their father bestowed on them to highlight their Indianness.

He claims that he was the naughtiest of three brothers, but at the age of fourteen decided to mend his ways and used to go with his elder brother Rakesh on his business rounds.

He entered the field of business in 1976 when aged barely 18, with $1,500 that he borrowed from his father. He set up bicycle parts manufacturing, in particular crankshafts.

His company was the first to import India’s first portable generator. Clearly he had a good sense of power even then.

When the Government banned the import of generators in 1983, he got into the telecom business, starting with the assembly of push button phones. So in a way, we have the Government to thank for the rise of Airtel.

He enjoys listening to Hindustani classical music and ghazals and plays the Tanpura for relaxation.

A football fan, he plans to start a world-class football academy and also wants India to qualify for the 2018 football World Cup. Now, THAT would be something!

He is rumoured to be superstitious about the number 23. Perhaps it is because he was born on October 23.

A person renowned to be watchful about what he eats, he is also believed to go vegetarian before the launch of any of his ventures. It certainly works. Incidentally, he also like Italian food and is not afraid of using his fingers to eat – cutlery be damned.

He might dream of seeing India in the football World Cup but when it comes to personal sports preferences, he is supposed to be a golf and yoga enthusiast – perhaps that’s the secret of his legendary patience. *Disclaimer: The information has been collected from the public domain and not from an interview with Mr. Mittal.

may 15 to jun 14 2012 MYMOBILE 111

rumour mill

Talk iPhone 5? Not again!

in Tech Corners

regulation pinch of salt. But hey, it’s Apple. You never know.

And another Facebook phone

If you thought that the announcement of the iPhone 4S late last year would have stopped tongues from wagging about the next iPhone but nope. No sooner had news come out that the next WWDC would be held from June 11-15 than rumours were rife that Apple would announce a new iPhone and THIS time it would be called the iPhone 5 (Apple has been trying to get control of an iPhone 5 domain name) during it. Spec speculation indicates a 4-inch HD display, a 12.0-megapixel camera and a quad core processor. Do we believe it? Honestly, given the fact that the iPhone 4S has been in the market for little over than half a year, we are inclined to take such speculation with more than our

Almost every year sees a manufacturer try their best to build a device around Facebook – we have seen Facebook phones from INQ , HTC and Vodafone over the past few years. However, none of them have been able to hit the spot with their efforts, which is why perhaps the market is buzzing with talk of yet another Facebook phone, and this time with the blessing of the Big Zuck himself. HTC is believed to be the manufacturer involved and although its OS is supposed to be a very modified version of Android, there is some talk of Microsoft trying its best to lobby

112 MYMOBILE may 15 to jun 14 2012

for Windows Phone. We don’t think consumers will complain in either case, especially if the talk about almost every facet of Facebook (all the games, apps, et al) being integrated into the device are true. Mind you, neither Facebook nor HTC have confirmed the existence of such a device, although some people have already claimed that it is codenamed Buffy (after the Vampire Slayer).

Amazon not to Kindle Fire in India? It is the most popular tablet in the world this side of the iconic iPad but it has not yet made its way to the Indian market. And it might never, at least not in its current avatar. We are talking of Amazon’s Kindle Fire Android tablet. If our sources are to be believed, Amazon is not too keen on launching the tablet in India unless

rumour mill

all the features on the device can be used by Indian users – as of now, Indian consumers cannot download videos and music or even paid apps on the tablet. While the issue of apps is not supposed to be a major problem, the matter of being able to download videos and music is a tangled one and is evidently going to result in Amazon never bringing the Fire officially to India. We just hope that is not true – the Lord knows we miss so many great products as it is.

z Phones to get Kinected For all its mastery of the OS space, there can be no doubting that Microsoft’s most talked about innovation over the past two years has been the Kinect, its controller-less motion sensing gaming system for the Xbox 360. So it is not really surprising to hear news filtering through that the Redmond giant is trying

very hard to incorporate features of Kinect in Windows Phone, allowing users to control their phones by just waving their hands in front of the display. Of course, there are hardware challenges – the handsets would need very good front-facing cameras, and one does not know whether the Kinect functionality would be available mainly for games or for general phone functions. Or would MS go the whole hog and introduce a Kinect accessory for handsets? We don’t really know as of now, but we have got our eyes peeled.

phones for flaunting – the question is, will Nokia be flaunting them in its portfolio? We will find out in the coming days.

A budget-friendly Air on the way

Vertu for sale!

As we go to print, rumour is rife that Nokia is planning to sell off Vertu, its luxury phone unit. Cynics will see it as yet another sign of the Finnish giant being in trouble while its supporters will perceive it as a flab-slashing exercise. Evidently, private equity group Permira is likely to pick up Vertu for a price that is rumoured to be in the vicinity of $265 million. For those living on another planet, Vertu is known for its formidable array of luxury phones generally crafted from expensive materials such as sapphires and crystals. These are

114 MYMOBILE may 15 to jun 14 2012

Does any company attract as much rumour and gossip as Apple? We barely have had time to digest all the talk of the iPhone 5 than people start buzzing about a new MacBook Air, which will be more wallet-friendly than its predecessors. As per talk heard in corners, the new MacBook Air will start at a price of around $799, which is well below its existing starting price of $999, and will be available in Q3 this year. For Indian users, that would mean a Mac notebook for less than Rs 50,000. It would be an ultrabook killer for sure. Now this is one rumour we wish is true. n team@mymobile.co.in

RNI REG NO./DELENG/2005/15033 DL (ND) - 11/6100/2012-13-14 (Posting Date 19-20 of every month)