my-mobile-nov-eng-2011 by Aman Saxena

nov 15 to dec 14 2011  Rs 75

www.mymobile.co.in

for a connected lifestyle

OS Update A Guide for Dummies P 28

Abhay loves to tab The 'Hatke' actor spills his gadget secrets P 20

æShowdown Samsung Galaxy Note takes on HTC Flyer P 74

NTP revealed! The draft telecom policy explained P 78

æReviewed

Samsung Galaxy Note, LG Optimus Pro, BlackBerry Curve 9360, Sony Ericsson Xperia Ray and more P 51

æPhone of the month HTC Radar

P 70

first call

here are two drivers of industrial growth - innovation in products and services and evolution in policy and regulations. These are the two pillars of growth of any industry and for a segment like telecommunication, where there is intense competition and growth, they play a particularly crucial role. The past few days have seen developments on both fronts. While new operating systems like Windows Phone 7.5 and iOS 5 have added new dimensions to the user experience of a handset, the release of the draft National Telecom Policy reiterates the fact that today we are on the brink of another telecom revolution that will not only change our lives, but could also affect the growth of the global telecom sector. But what do these developments mean to a consumer who is looking, as always, for better services at an affordable price? What are these product innovations and how can these be put to use? These are the questions that we are trying to answer in the November issue of My Mobile. Our lead story for the month delves into the world of operating system upgrades - and almost EVERY mobile OS out there has either launched an upgrade or is on the verge of doing so-and gives you a complete hands-on guide on how to upgrade you smartphones to the new operating systems. It also tries to find answer one of the most crucial question that a cellphone user has in their mind: Should I even upgrade to a new OS or not? Believe me, the answer is not always "yes" - not too many people like to fiddle with what already works just fine for them. On the other hand, release of the draft National Telecom Policy has jolted the whole telecommunication Industry into a frenzy. There's the usual mix of hope, appreciation, disapproval and criticism, and just as usually, we have analysed the NTP in our 'Spot Light' feature, taking in its pros and cons, and working out whether it can actually be a game-changer or just has the potential to be one. Of course, evolution is not the preserve of products, services and policies (we would still have been apes in tress if it was). We as consumers have also evolved in the way we use technology, be it for essential functions, for greater productivity, or for just plain fun. We are not quite sure into which of these categories Silent Parties fall, but there can be no doubting that they are becoming popular in the country's party circuit, thanks to their innovative use of Bluetooth. Our 'In Focus' feature takes a closer look at these parties, which put music in the place it belongs - in our ears. Along with all of these is our usual collection of reviews of the latest phones in celltown - we get up and close with the likes of the HTC Radar, the first Windows Phone 7.5 device to hit the market, the BlackBerry Curve, the next genration affordable smartphone from RIM; the is-it-a-tablet-or-a-phone device from Samsung, the Galaxy Note, and a number of other devices. The year may be drawing to a close but if rumour is to be believed, the concluding days of 2011 could see much more activity on the mobile tech front than the days preceding it. Needless to say, we will be keeping a close eye on things. And keeping you informed. Stay tuned for much more from us. And yes, we mean MUCH more. In the meantime, happy reading!

Pankaj Mohindroo editor-in-chief

04 MYMOBILE NOv 15 to DEC 14 2011

EDITORIAL Pankaj Mohindroo |

Editor-in-Chief

DESIGN Ajit | Consultant Art Director Ajit Kumar Parashar | Graphic Designer Cover Photo Courtesy | HCL Infosystems

CIRCULATION Amit Prakash | Circulation Manager

A D V I S O R Y BO A R D 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). 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 X, November 15 To December 14, 2011

content

Headon

lead Story Are you waiting for an OS upgrade for your mobile phone?

cell-ebrity

Bollywood actor Abhay Deol gets smitten by HCL tablet

Samsung Note takes on HTC Flyer

Face To Face Peter Bolesza, VP Sales, Eastern Europe & Emerging Markets, NNG Kft talks about scope of navigation solutions in India

Letters

Chief Speak

Mobile Doctor

Consumer Forum

News

P.Balaji, managing director, Sony Ericsson India, talks about companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s plans to reclaim its lost territory in the Indian market

06 MYMOBILE nov 15 to dec 14 2011

Sandeep Parasrampuria, director, iBall reveals his mantra for companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sound future

Amarjit Batra, country head, OLX.in, talks about the portal's aim to provide best online classified experience

Anil Kaushik, CEO, SICT Mobile Communication discusses the success strategy for India

111

content my guide

et-cetera

just in

Innovative multimedia tablets, to stylish phone skins, we bring you everything

LG P690 Optimus Net, Sony Ericsson NEO V and Nokia 500 are the new trend setters in the market

sneak peek

Nokia 800 Lumia and Motorola Droid RAZR are soon going to hit the market with a bang

spotlight

In Focus

Will NTP 2011 really change the face of the countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s telecom market? Fingers crossed!

Silent but rocking Bluetooth party is the new revelry trend in town

76 BURN TESTS Phillips x-513 fly E321 lg a350 sony ericsson txt lava s12 lg optimus pro c660 samsung wave 3 S8600 sony ericsson xperia ray blackberry curve 9360 nokia 701 blackberry torch 9860 htc radar samsung note

51 52 53 54 56 58 60 62 64 66 68 70 72

smart apps

08 MYMOBILE nov 15 to dec 14 2011

Prepare for the best holiday experience and have fun with your photos

Boredom Busters

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

Finish Zombies & pesky invaders or give a bathe to your favourite crocodile.

42 86 vantage point

Annie Mathew, Head of Alliances and Developer Relations, Research In Motion (RIM), India talks about the evolution and scope of Instant Messaging

112

letters I have been using Airtel connection for years now, but recently wrong deductions, wrong activation and useless customer care is getting out of hands. However, the reason  EXCLUSIVE I am writing to you is that, a week PREVIEWS back I visited Airtel’s website and  REVIEWED found something strange with two of their roaming plans. In these so STEVE JOBS 1955 - 2011 called Turbo 45 and Turbo 46 plans, customers are supposed to save up to 40 per cent during roaming. But, from what I have understood by reading these conditions is that lifetime validity will get reduced to six months. The customer care agent also said the same thing. Please look into this and it would be great if you can raise the issue of shoddy customer care meted out by operators. -Rajat Bhanushali OCT 15 to NOV 14 2011  Rs 75

www.mymobile.co.in

FOR A CONNECTED LIFESTYLE

P 28

Apple iPhone 4S, Windows Phone 7.5 Mango and Bada 2.0 P 64

HTC EVO 3D, Motorola Fire, Vodafone Blue 555 and many more... P 51

Phone of the month MOTOROLA FIRE XT530

P 60

I have always been a huge fan of my mobile magazine. I simply love the in depth reviews and the vast and thorough information you share in every article while keeping simplicity in mind. I have always been curious to learn more and keep myself as updated as possible with the latest information of newly invented technology or innovations LEAD STORY in existing world of THE 100 SMS mobiles, computers TYRANNY! and operating systems. My Mobile really helps me in getting latest A information from the gadget world. -Clive Thorpe, Dehradun WWW.MYMOBILE.CO.IN

user has to suffer for the excesses of telemarketers? The irony of the situation is that it was the consumer who got harassed by these SMSes and now it is the consumer who is on the receiving end again.

THE RATIONALE BEHIND THE RULE

Is stopping everyone from sending more than a hundred text messages a day the best way to stop mobile spam? Or is it a violation of the rights of a consumer who is willing to pay for a service? We take a look at TRAI’s latest move to restrict consumers from sending more than 100 SMSes a day Heena Jatav

nuj, a Delhi University student loves both reading and sending jokes from his mobile. He has a big group of about twenty friends with whom he shares these jokes. He was in for a rude shock on September 27. “I got a huge shock when I was told that I had reached the limit of sending SMSes for the day and would not be able to send any more messages. I had to borrow a phone from my sister to send an important message to my friends,” he remembers.

Something similar happened to Divya, a management student at Delhi who uses SMS to coordinate schedules with her classmates. “I am a representative of my class and have to inform my classmates every now and then about lectures, projects and assignments. And I usually use SMS for this purpose as it is more convenient and less intrusive. But this 100 SMS cap in a day has made my work difficult and expensive. Now I am contemplating leaving this responsibility because obviously the college is not going to pay me for this,” she

28 MYMOBILE OCT 15 to NOV 14 2011

says. And it is not just the college crowd that is feeling the brunt of this cap. Rahul, a marketing professional in Mumbai says this law has been wreaking havoc with his social life. “I generally chat with my girlfriend through SMS and my messages exceed more than 100 in a day very easily. But due to this law, me and my girlfriend are suppose to suffer. This is totally unjust. If the government wants to curb telemarketers then they should make some strict law for them not for users like me,” he points out. As can be seen, none of these consumers are in the least happiness with the new directive from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), the regulatory body for the telecommunications sector, which has limited the number of SMSes, that one can send to 100 per day. This move comes in order to curb the menace of SMS spamming, when the National Do not Call initiative failed to be effective enough. Although this move might succeed in curbing unwanted and unsolicited text messages, it does raise the question as to why a mobile

A person who is not very conversant with how the telecommunication industry works and grows would not find any flaw in the law– after all, most people do tend to send fewer than a hundred texts a day. But a regulator thinking on these lines is flabbergasting. Unfortunately, that is exactly what has happened and ironically, the regulator even has taken feedback from operators while making this rule– very intriguing considering that SMS is still a revenue generator for service providers. However, when we contacted operators to confirm whether they had indeed recommended the figure of 100 texts to the regulator, most of them refused to comment point blank. The TRAI is of the view that a normal user generally does not send more than 40 to 50 SMS in a day. But it is also true that a significant number of mobile phone users do send send more than 100 text messages per day. A number of college students fall into this category, as most of them prefer using text messages on their handsets, rather than making calls which make deep inroads in their limited pocket money. Now, according to the Statistics of Higher & Technical Education 2008-09 report by the Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development, there were almost two crore enrollments in the higher education colleges and universities in the country in one year. Three years since, it is an open fact that the number of colleges as well as enrolments in the higher education institutions is increasing significantly. So, the number of people affected by this draconian law is more than the population of many countries across the world. The 100 SMS per day rule has also been formulated

OCT 15 to NOV 14 2011 MYMOBILE 29

I am regular reader of My Mobile from last 3 to 4 months. I would like to suggest that your "My Guide" section is very helpful for likely purchasers of mobile phones. I suggest you that kindly include mobile battery mAmp-Hr rating also. Secondly, I would suggest that do something that when a perspective purchaser goes into some good mobile shop, he or she should be able to see My Mobile magazine at the spot for comparisons. Please do the needful and thanks for all the serious pain you people take every month to process and compile such a huge data and make a sweet presentation out of it. -Manoj

helpful for a retailer like me. I am very thankful to My Mobile team for delivering readers like me such an informative content through your magazine. So, I wish to purchase old issues if available. Please let me know about further details. -Natraj k Hi, I am a frequent visitor of your site. I also read every issue of your magazine. Moreover, I am a mobile maniac and tech savvy person. I am here to give my review about your website as well as magazine. First PREVIEW WINDOWS PHONE of all I would like to GETS A MANGO BYTE appreciate the My Mobile team for such a venture in India, understanding the potential for this. You are the pioneers in this and you have to be more careful in certain things to hold your position among increasing competition. Also please keep your website updated. -Sandeep Nair, Kerala

WWW.MYMOBILE.CO.IN

Pros

 Limited multitasking  Live tiles support for third party apps too  Contact groups, Twitter and LinkedIn integration  Camera settings preserved  Windows Marketplace access in India

Microsoft is betting big on its latest Mango update for Windows Phone 7, which adds a number of features to its highly-acclaimed interface. But does it live up to expectations? Sonia Sharma

A slice of Mango

Microsoft’s Windows Mobile was once a force to reckon with but ultimately lost out to the likes of Symbian, iOS and Android. But with Symbian seemingly in its death throes and Microsoft tying up with Nokia, the latest avatar of Windows Mobile, now rechristened as Windows Phone,has rejoined battle against iOS and Android OS. After the first version of the OS won rave reviews for its interface, expectations from its upgrade (called “Mango”) were high, with come even touting it as the saviour of both Microsoft and Nokia in the mobile business. Even as Mango makes its way into the Indian market, we got an exclusive copy on a Dell Venue Pro. Were we impressed? Read on.

Copy and paste, live tiles...

The interface remains largely the one we had seen earlier – those beautiful tiles that give you access to your favourite features are still there and swiping left still brings up the alphabetically listed menu. Just as before, the whole menu is based on the side swipe concept. So if you are in contacts you can easily swipe sideways to see various segments such as all, recent, etc. However, now third party apps can be pinned to the start screen and you can have live dynamic tiles to give you updates on the homescreen itself. You can also pin contacts and

66 MYMOBILE OCT 15 to NOV 14 2011

see their activity from the homescreen. The muchmissed copy-paste feature has also been added to the device, as has multi-tasking. Truth be told, we were not too impressed by the multi-tasking feature, which is actually just a task switcher that you can access by long pressing the back key. What’s more, it works only with apps that support multitasking and are compatible with Windows Phone 7.5.

...Connecting people

Social network integration too has received a boost. Twitter and LinkedIn contacts can now also be integrated, in addition to Facebook ones. You can also divide contacts into groups and pin groups on the homescreen. Facebook events have been integrated with the phone’s calendar, you can share photos through Facebook, and the Messaging tab integrates Facebook chat into it. You need to authorise your Windows Live Messenger app to access Twitter, although you cannot access your direct messages through it (you need a dedicated Twitter app for that). On the subject of messaging, while the previous version supported popular mail clients including Microsoft Exchange, the new one goes a step further and allows you to create a linked inbox, enabling you to see all your mails in one window. It

also comes with a threaded view bringing it on par with the other OSes in the arena. However, there is still no Bluetooth file transfer. You can also now create Wi-Fi hotspots, but only if you have a new Mango device – upgraded devices will not support it, which we think is not really fair on early adopters of the OS.

Managing multimedia

On the multimedia front, we love the fact that the camera now retains your custom settings when you exit it - there is a Save settings option that allows you to keep your preferred settings. There is also support for an onscreen touch shutter release key. The OS still uses Zune to sync music and videos with the phone and we could not see any options for sound enhancements. You can now create customised ringtones, but here too you need to use Zune and the process is long and cumbersome. Whatever happened to the simple “save as ringtone” option? The phone supports voice commands so you can call or text a contact easily just by dictating it. It also supports voice over to read out communications that you get. Once you have a Windows Live ID you can actually ring, lock or erase your phone’s content through Windowsphone.com. As far as search, goes Bing comes with both voice

Cons

 No Bluetooth file transfer  No Flash support for browser  No mass storage mode for USB connectivity  No file manager

and visual search which is similar to Google Goggles.

Mango’s tasty, but not a complete meal While Mango represents a significant step forward for Windows Phone, it still needs a few more touches to become a formidable operating system. You still need Zune software to sync your music and other content on to your phone, there is no Mass Storage mode available when it comes to USB connectivity, and no sign of Internet tethering yet. The browser has multitouch but still lacks flash support. And while you can now access Windows Marketplace in India, the apps themselves have a long way to go before they can compete with Android or iOS apps. Even Bluetooth file transfer is not possible as of now. We expect future updates like Apollo to tackle such issues, but the fact is that with other OSes evolving at such a rapid pace, Windows Phone has to speed up to stay in the race. A start has been made, it is now up to Microsoft to maintain the momentum.  sonia@mymobile.co.in

OCT 15 to NOV 14 2011 MYMOBILE 67

I would like to congratulate My Mobile team for their hard work and dedication towards the magazine. I have been reading your magazine from two and a half year. Well giving suggestions to such an informative magazine would be like teaching swimming to a fish. So I wish all the luck for the magazine and would always pray for its success.. -Prasunn Singh, Varanasi Hi, this is my first experience with My Mobile magazine and I must say that it truly changed my perspective towards mobile phones. Until now I use to consider a mobile phone only as tool to connect with people. After reading your September 15- October 14 edition, I came to know about a lot of other apps and services that can be used on mobile phones. Now I am more aware of what is happening in telecom world. I am looking forward for the next edition of My Mobile. -Anonymous, via e-mail

Hi, I read your article about second hand smartphones in the last issue of your magazine. I really liked the e the nd hav article as it was a very informative and interesta s e m n a drea ellpho n ing piece. So, I wanted to know which are the c i t y u e o k also azy ab atest ines? places in Mumbai from where I can make a good you cr pen a few l ews and can ds on the l you have it e r A second hand smartphone deal. I am looking forfor n think ur han tial to ward to have your reply as it will really help me in poten have a nose ve to lay yo em? If you dia’s to th u ra buying a good second hand phone. I want to thank Do yo ? Do you c orld about sh your CV y Mobile, In w u ne My Mobile team for delivering us good work. headli and tell the g for you. R r name in M n -Apoorv Khandelwal, Mumbai ee you looki izmos I am an avid reader of your magazine and want to purchase your magazines' previous issues, as it’s very

10 MYMOBILE nov 15 to dec 14 2011

s g re o.in to , we a in you mymobile.c e. n team@ bile magazi o m best

TAKING OVER THE VIRTUAL WORLD MY MOBILE GOES ONLINE!

LOG ON TO: www.mymobile.co.in

mobile doctor Alas, there is no way of integrating or upgrading Bada to Android – you will have to stick with what you get on the phone.

I am looking for a feature rich touch screen Android based mobile phone. I have shortlisted LG Optimus One, Samsung Galaxy Fit, Samsung Galaxy POP, Samsung Galaxy Y and Samsung Galaxy 3. Should I buy one from these or would it be a better option going for Blackberry Curve 3G? Please suggest. -B.Karthik Going for a BlackBerry makes sense if you need to do lots of typing. However, in terms of interface and applications, Android holds an edge, while providing you excellent push mail, social networking connectivity, and a richer browsing experience. Among the phones you have mentioned, the Samsung Galaxy Fit seems the best option, as it has a decent processor and good display. If you still consider typing to be important, I would also ask you consider the Motorola Fire, which combines a full QWERTY keyboard with a touchscreen and also runs Android 2.3. I want to buy a good smartphone and since I am not a very technology savvy, I am looking for a user friendly handset. Please suggest, which is the best phone among Motorola Defy, Samsung Galaxy Ace and Samsung Wave II (S8530). Also, Is there any chance to upgrade or integrate Bada to Android OS. -Raj Of the three handsets you have selected, the Motorola Defy gets our vote, because of its very sturdy build (it is water proof), good processor and decent battery life. The Wave II is a good option if you are not too keen on Android.

I have a HTC Desire Z but there is some problem in it as I am not able to view images in the gallery or music that I recently added. These items are visible only after I un-mount and mount the SD card again. How can this problem be solved? Is this a virus issue? -Shefali Vasave It could simply be an issue of there being some problem with the SD card. We could suggest your reformatting the card and

then trying again (of course, do back up your images and music before you do so). Also, see if you are encountering the same problem with other memory cards too – if that does happen, a virus might be at work and the whole phone might have to be reset. I want to buy a smartphone, my budget is Rs 7,000-10,000. I have short listed Samsung Galaxy Y, Samsung Galaxy Pop and Samsung Galaxy Fit. I will be using an Android phone for the first time and I would like to that know if I buy Samsung Galaxy Pop or Samsung Galaxy Fit, can I update my OS to 2.3 later? My priorities are looks, Android, good and reliable phone, which I

12 MYMOBILE nov 15 to dec 14 2011

can use for a couple of years! -Nelson Hijam We would vote for the Samsung Galaxy Fit as it gives you better value for money, thanks to its better display and camera. Samsung’s TouchWiz interface will also help you get used to Android without too many hassles. As regards the upgrade to Android 2.3, that really depends on Samsung. Both devices can run Android 2.3, but you will have to wait for Samsung to release an update. I want to buy a smartphone with good touchscreen, 3G connectivity, good browser, camera with or without flash, good RAM, audio and video quality, Wi-Fi, etc. My budget is up to Rs.10,000 approx. I have short listed Nokia C5-03, Nokia C6-01, Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini, Sony Ericsson W8 and HTC Explorer. Please suggest which of these is good and if there are any other phones that I should consider. -Shive Prakash Patro, Of the devices you have listed, we would go with the Sony Ericsson W8. Yes, it does not run the latest version of Android but it delivers a very decent multimedia experience and has the features you are looking for, and when we last checked, even came with a set of portable speakers. However, if you are looking for a device running a newer version of Android, we would suggest HTC Explorer. Recently I bought the HTC Wildfire S handset and am finding difficulty in using a few of its features. Please tell me a little about video calling facilities on this mobile. -Mohamed Althaf The HTC Wildfire S is an excellent Android 2.3 handset with a very compact form factor and which runs the HTC Sense interface. However, while it packs in some very decent specifications, one thing it cannot do is let users make video calls. This is because

it has only one camera – 5.0megapixel one at the back. Video calling would have been possible if a front facing camera had been present on the handset. I want to buy a dual SIM mobile phone in which both SIMs work at the same time. It should have a music player but its OK if my phone does not have a camera. My budget is Rs. 3000 only. -Yuvi Getting a dual SIM phone in which both SIMs stay active at the same time in this budget is a bit of a challenge. However, we suggest you try the LG GX200, which at Rs 3,700 is just outside your budget but has the features you are looking for, and also has an FM radio and a camera. I am seeking a nice and affordable mobile phone within Rs 5,000. I want it to be able to give 3G speeds of up to 3.1 Mbps. It should have an option for connectivity through Wi-Fi. I have selected Samsung Chat 3G 527 and Samsung Champ 3.5G S3770. Please suggest which amongst the two is better. Can you also suggest any other phones that I can consider? -Renjith Both the phones chosen by you are good. You can choose either one depending on your interface preference. If you wish to use a touchscreen then go Samsung Champ and if QWERTY is your choice then go ahead with Sansung Chat 3G.

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.

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consumer forum Complaint 1 I have had some problem with my Micromax C2i handset and thus, submitted it to the local Micromax service centre at Tammana Infotech (MumbaiSantacruz) on 3rd August 2011 with the Job sheet no. W0302420811-116555. I also registered a complaint with the Micromax call centre at New Delhi and the complaint number that they gave me was 0509113710. But still after almost 2 months, I have not got any reply from the company. Kindly look in to the matter and help me to get my handset back. I have no clue what I should do next and am completely stuck without a phone. -Jayesh M Micromax's Reply We are looking in to the matter.

gency. It remains in my bag or on my desk at work most of the times. Despite such a limited usage, I noticed the polish started coming off the set within six months time. Suddenly, one day the steel panel plate in the front panel of the phone came off, I think it is a manufacturing defect as I earlier used another Nokia set

services and satisfaction. They put the whole responsibility of the bad condition of the mobile set on me. Hope you will help me, awaiting a reply from your end. -Seema Uberoi Nokia's Reply We have spoken to the customer and asked her to revisit the customer care centre. However, during follow up it was found that the customer has not visited the Nokia customer care.

Complaint 4 I have a Nokia 2690 with IMEI number 353777040542918. I got Internet services activated on it last year. It was working perfectly fine till some time back. I showed it to the Nokia service

Complaint 5

Complaint 2 I am an old customer of Vodafone and really like subscribing to various services offered by them. It was going all fine, but suddenly on 26th October 2011 my Vodafone account got suspended without any reason or rhyme. Since then, I have been receiving messages from the customer care centre saying that I need to get my phone recharged with some amount to reactivate it. The amount that the company told me was different in every message. Sometime, I would receive a message saying that the validity of my SIM had expired but when I dialed ' *141# ' then it showed that the validity would expire on 22.03.2024. I recharged my number with Rs 100 on the 26th Oct 2011 and got my account credited with the amount but the problem still remains. Kindly help me get this problem resolved and reactivate my SIM. -Nirmal Pal Vodafone's Reply Awaited.

Complaint 3 I had bought Nokia C5 about a year back. I use my phone only to make or receive calls in emer-

they cooked another story that the handset has got some problem because of which it required to be sent to the company. On 9/9/11, I called them up to know the status and they told me to collect the handset from the store. The handset was not repaired and I was again asked to pay Rs 550 to get it repaired. When I called on the customer care no. 30303838 they told me that they could not do anything about it. I am highly disappointed with Nokia. My complaint number is 1-11840738978, please help. -Mukesh Agarwal Nokia's Reply Looking in to the matter Consumer's Reply Not resolved.

for 6 years and had no problems. When I approached the Nokia Priority Shop from where I had purchased the set, they further directed me to the customer care center in Sector 10, Noida. At the customer care centre, the executive Monoo Khan, said that the panel/key pad is not covered under warranty and would cost me about Rs 650. They refused to give anything in writing and the whole exchange was verbal. It was said that the new panel/key pad would also not be under warranty. (No documents to substantiate the stand that panel not covered under warranty). The customer care was unfriendly and a total failure in terms of customer care

14 MYMOBILE nov 15 to dec 14 2011

centre at Vardhman Electronics at Firozabad (U.P. West). After waiting for about 3 hours I was told to visit them the next day, and the next day they told me to come a day after as the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s engineer was not present at the store. On 3/9/11, I was handed over my handset only after I waited for two hours. Also, they made me sign the customer satisfactory form even though I was reluctant to sign it. I was charged Rs 140 for the repair. The handset stopped functioning the same day and I went to the centre again the next day. After waiting for 4 hours, I was asked for an amount of some money to get it replaced with Nokia C2-00. When I refused

I bought a Maxx 128 handset about this time last year. It started malfunctioning after some time of its purchase. I showed it to the customer care centre several times but got no help from them. In fact it was really annoying for me to talk to them because they were really rude and not at all responsive to their services. My efforts went in vain every time I tried calling the customer care centre then after. I am utterly disappointed and feel cheated now, please help. -Hussain Ansari Maxx's Reply Could not contact the customer

Are you being harassed by a celco that doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;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.

Mobile

M351

NEWS bits OPERATORS & TARIFFS Tata kicks off Indicom

Tata Teleservices Limited (TTL), an Indian telecommunication service provider, will now provide its range of products and services to customers under a common brand- Tata DoCoMo. Now Tata DoCoMo, will go in to the CDMA space and its existing customers of Indicom shall be migrated in to DoCoMo. The company has consolidated all organisational assets i.e. spectrum, retail touch-points, digital footprint and consumer franchise across technology platforms under a single-point brand interface for a better user experience. The company also plans to have just one unified experience zones under the Tata DoCoMo brand. However, in Delhi the brand of Tata Indicom will be changed later, when TTL will be in a position to start GSM venture.

HCL inaugurates flagship store in Delhi’s IT heart HCL Infosystems Ltd. launched their first flagship store in Nehru Place, situated in the heart of Delhi. The store would showcase the entire range of HCL’s products. The exclusive HCL store number has reached to 32 across India including 8 stores in Delhi NCR. The store is spread over 1000 square feet area and would also include new products like the X1 Tablet and special edition Ra.One laptops. HCL also inaugurated an exclusive store at Vikas Marg, New Delhi. Both the stores will also have the current special offers and new products launched by HCL.

Policy& Regulations Telecom subscription witnesses growth: TRAI The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) recently released the telecom subscription data which witnessed a good growth in the sector. The report showed 0.81 per cent growth in the number of telephone (wireless & wireline) subscribers which rose to 899.78 million in August 2011 from 892.55 million in July 2011. The wireless subscriber base in India in August 2011 stands at 865.71 registering a growth of 0.86 per cent. The Subscription in urban areas grew from 591.49 million in July 2011 to 596.27 million at the end of August 2011 whereas rural subscription increased from 301.06 million to 303.51 million, marking an increase of 0.81 per cent. Report also showed that private operators hold 88.34% of the wireless market share where as BSNL and MTNL, two PSU operators hold only 11.66% market share. Idea topped the list of service provider’s share in net additions during the month of August 2011. The Mobile Number Portability requests stood at 25.12 lakh in August 2011. Broadband subscription also reached 12.69 million in August 2011 from 12.50 million in July-2011, there by showing a growth of 1.46%.

Ernst & Young with FICCI releases a report on Mobile Handset Sector

It’s time to get your business online Google India announced the launch of a nationwide initiative to help small medium businesses in India to get online with a free website, personalised domain and hosting. The initiative called ‘India get your business online’ aims to break down the barrier that stops small businesses from getting online. With an aim to help 500,000 small medium businesses in India in the next three years, Google is providing a tool to get a free, easy to build website and web hosting for one year. The process includes three simple steps. Step 1- Register domain, Step 2- Fill up a form, Step 3- Customize and Publish. Welcome to the online business world!

FICCI recently released a report ‘Mobile handsets: providing mobility to every Indian which recommends key measures in overcoming the various challenges faced by the sector and outlines a roadmap for future growth. The report is a comprehensive and detailed manifestation of inputs concerning the mobile handset sector in the formulation of the National Telecom Policy 2011. India is the world’s second-largest telecom market after China, with the total wireless subscriber base crossing 850 million at the end of June 2011. By 2020, the handset demand is projected to reach 350 million a year by 2020, with 505 million handsets estimated to be manufactured in India, during the same year. The average selling price of handsets in the country is estimated to increase to Rs 2,950 by 2020, as compared to INR 2,300 in 2010. In addition to feature phones, smart phones are expected to lead the handset growth story in India. The untapped rural market is expected to provide handset players the next phase of growth. The number of 3G subscribers expected to cross 300 million by 2020, fueling the growth of 3G-enabled handsets. A favourable policy and regulatory initiative conducive for handset manufacturing in India is expected to drive sustainable growth in this segment. The report made recommendations for key areas like manufacturing ecosystem, research and development, export, taxation, security, VAS and customer interest.

16 MYMOBILE NOV 15 to DEC 14 2011

NEWS bits HANDSETS & MORE HCL tablets at Rs 10,490 HCL introduced its new ME tablet to the market, HCL ME X1, the tablet runs on Android 2.3 and comes pre-loaded with a handful of applications. Priced comfortaby at Rs 10,490, the tablet is been designed considering the need of the Indian audience and thus, comes packed with some local ready to use applications which will not only serve the needs of common man but would help business associates as well. The tablet enable users to get access to ME app store which has over 10,000 applications including many of the android apps as well.

Value Added Services/ Applications/Games Mahanagar Telephone Mauritius Limited and Bharat Berry offer services in Mauritius One of the leading telecom service providers in Mauritius, Mahanagar Telephone Mauritius Limited (MTML) has signed up the MOU to offer Push Email and PIM Sync Bharat Berry services for all its mobile subscribers in Mauritius. These services are being offered in association with Bharat Berry Technologies Pvt. Ltd. India, which had made these services available in India through MTNL.

Karbonn launches four new handsets Karbonn Mobiles has come out with a range of feature rich touchphones. These handsets include K 1616, which has a high resolution HVGA capacitive touchscreen with Tornado based 3D UI, G-Sensor, Proximity Sensor, 3.2-megapixel camera with digital zoom for sharp images and videos, Live Motion Wallpapers, EGDE for better browsing and Email Support, K Zone to access Karbonn’s World of Java Based Applications. K 1616 is priced at Rs 4,599. Further the company has also launched K 1818, which is a touchscreen 3D UI phone. It too has a 3.2-megapixel camera, image editor, multi format video player and recorder. The handset will be available in the Indian market at a price tag of Rs 3,699. The next in the range is K 1515, which offers a 2.0-megapixel camera, FM radio with recording, expandable memory and is priced at Rs 3,799. the fourth device is the K 1010 which has a 1.3-megapixel camera, expandable memory and schedule FM recording. It will be available in the Indian markets for a price tag of Rs 2,899.

Sony Ericsson increases its smartness quotient Sony Ericsson launched its two new Android smartphones and also announced its strategic partnership with Bharti Airtel with offers comprising of free data and Mobile TV experience. The company is expanding its Xperia range in the Indian market. With better social media integration, advanced features and access to over 250,000 apps on the Android platform, new comers in the market Xperia Neo V and Xperia Pro is specially designed for those who love to express through text. Both the phones are equipped with some interesting features like camera enabled by the Mobile Bravia engine, the xLOUD for better sound experience, Noise Shield for noise cancellation. Xperia neo V which has 1 GHz processor is equipped with front facing camera and features like Google Talk with Video Chat, 3D sweep panorama and enhanced Facebook inside Xperia functionality. Sony Ericsson Xperia Pro is a slider phone.

MTML in alliance with Bharat Berry is targeting this service for all range of handsets carrying Blackberry, Symbian, Android, Windows Mobile and J2ME devices. Bharat Berry works through a mix of its very advanced e-mail server known as XGeNPlus, and open source technologies. With this MTML and Bharat Berry partnership it is expected that the customers will get an easy to use, cost effective solution for their mobile push e-mail requirements. BharatBerry has announced that it will invest to the tune of Rs.10 crores in India and has also drawn plan to partner with multiple telecom companies in the country.

Techiewood Farhan bids adieu to his BlackBerry

Lenovo tablets to hit India soon Lenovo, the world’s reputed PC maker launched its first two of tablets, the IdeaPad Tablet K1 and the ThinkPad Tablet to cater to variety of customers needs in India. The IdeaPad features 2.0-megapixel front-facing camera and a 5.0-megapixel camera for high definition recording. It supports Wi-Fi, 3G and mini HDMI port for high definition viewing experience. The device has more than 40 pre-loaded applications and priced at Rs 29,500 for 32 GB (Wi-Fi) model and Rs 33, 950 for 32 GB (3G) model. The 10.0-inch ThinkPad Tablet comes packed with 2.0-megapixel front facing camera for video calls and Social Touch that pulls all social networking activity together. It has an accurate pressure sensitive ThinkPad Tablet Pen. ThinkPad starts from Rs 29,500 (16GB, WiFi), Rs 41,900 (32GB, 3G) and Rs 46,900

18 MYMOBILE NOV 15 to DEC 14 2011

Actor and Director, Farhan Aktar recently tweeted on social networking site Twitter that “I have made the not so important decision to move on from the BB to the iPhone... it’s nice to have days like this too...”. Though he may have termed this decision to switch sides an ‘insignificant one’ but tweeted a few minutes later that his insignificant smartphone transition seems to have significantly stirred emotions amongst people who are following him on Twitter, which ranged from calling it a ‘wise decision’ to naming him a ‘Traitor!’

c e l l- e b r i t y

“I am not Hooked to Gadgets” Known for his completely different approach to Bollywood, Abhay Deol finds Indian brands more user friendly over others when it comes to technology. We caught up with him at the launch of the HCL Me X1 tablet Harshita Rastogi

How well versed are you with technology? I will not say that I am a gadget freak but yes I have always believed that technology can help a lot in many more ways than it is doing right now. I use gadgets as per my requirement but am not hooked to them. Why did you choose to endorse the HCL Tablet? HCL is an Indian brand. The applications installed in the HCL Me X1 have been developed keeping in mind the needs of the Indian audience and it is very consumer-friendly. You don’t necessarily need to be a tech enthusiast to use this tablet which is the whole idea as not every one in the country is technology educated. So what do you use the tablet for? There are a host of things that I use it for. Browsing the Internet is one of them. Maybe I will visit Shaadi. com to find a match for myself! (Laughs) Which handset are you using currently apart from the HCL tablet? I use the iPhone 4. In fact, I also have an iPad. However, I would love to use Android driven HCL ME Tablet. While Apple requires a lot of skills to use it and is a little difficult to understand to operate without much technical knowledge, I think HCL would be more user friendly that ways. What all new projects are you working on? I am currently busy with the soon to be released movie, Shanghai. Are you going to promote the movie on any of the social networking sites? I am not really active on social networking. I once made an account on Twitter but did not tweet after just one tweet. As far as the promotion is concerned, it would be the production team’s task to decide on these strategies. I will simply follow them. How do you see the virtual world working for the benefit of Bollywood? I believe technology can be really helpful for us. For instance, I am associated with Mela.com which is a US-based entertainment provider. It offers Bollywood movies to Indian users there. This helps in curbing piracy and promote movies as well. n harshita@mymobile.co.in

20 MYMOBILE NOV 15 to DEC 14 2011

ADVT

King Movie:

The king of entertainment MStar brings King Movie, a power compression technology for videos to the mobile handset players.

ith the growing competition in the mobile handset market, success comes only when a brand is able to deliver real value for the money that a customer is spending. While every brand has matching features, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the content that helps them in differentiating their mobile phone from the rest. One very popular form of content is video. With mobile phones becoming effective entertainment devices, video on mobile phones has evolved into being the most important aspect for any mass market entertainment phone.One of the biggest challenges for incorporating videos into mobile phones, especially in the affordable category is the required storage capacity. The very fact that a full length movie could occupy anywhere between 700 MB to 1 GB makes it a difficult task to incorporate too many of them in one device and keep the cost of the device low at the same time. To cater to this need of a high compression video technology, MStar, one of the biggest chipset manufacturers in the world has brought King Movie, a high compression ratio video format, that allows handset brands to optimize their storage space. It also allows the end customer to keep more movies in limited storage capacity

information related to the movie and are able to view subtitles very distinctively on their mobile phones.

Better than the rest

The basics King Movie has been developed by Shenzhen Digital Co and MStar has been authorized to use this technology for its customers. King Movie offers features like high video compression ration technology, subtitle distinctive processing technology along with embedded information about the film like classification, film length, year, cast, etc. This does not only enable proper use of the phoneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s memory but also imporves the overall experience of the consumer as they get all the

The efficiency of King Movie can be realized from the fact that if you take a standard 90 minute movie, then in the KMV-mid format you can store up to 94 movies. And in KMV-low, the number can go up to 105 in a 4GB card. These figures are pretty impressive considering the fact that in the same storage capacity, you can store only 27 90 minute MP4 movies and just 45 movies in the 3GP format. Thus for the same film, a KMV file is only a third the size of MP4 and half the size of 3GP, which is a huge advantage especially if you have limited storage in your phone.

Moving ahead All in all, King Movie promises superior quality and constant innovation making the video viewing experience more evolved and entertaining for the consumer. It gives an instant edge to brands enabling them to offer a better proposition to the customer, who is looking for a good entertainment phone.

fa c e t o fa c e

“Without Addresses, Navigation’s Nothing!!” NNG is looking to show us the right way - literally- with its iGo My Way navigation solution. Peter Bolesza, VP Sales, Eastern Europe & Emerging Markets, NNG Kft, talks about it Harshita Rastogi

What is iGo My Way all about? We provide different navigation solutions for mobile phones, automotive industry and personal navigation devices. We do the navigation software and the content and other things come from NAVTEQ , our partners in India. We have a product solution called the iGo Primo apps solution for personal navigation devices, especially in India. This is the most advanced solution we have. While on one side it is very easy to use and learn, on the other, it has got features that you need to make navigation reliable. Other than providing mapping solutions in India, we do map updates regularly, revising landmarks, accommodations, restaurants, etc. Also, we provide different routing options, like you can take the shortest route, passes, and the economic route that takes you on the petrol saving route. You can personlise the kind of information you want and can access it in different languages as well. What excites you the most about the Indian market? We already have the global navigation system, and the Indian market is the most interesting because it is growing too fast in all respects and has so much potential for everyone involved, from hardware manufacture to software, content, solutions...everywhere. It will be really interesting to see how the first time navigation device users in India pick the technology up, and what device they choose i.e. between mobile or automobile or personal device. While some of the navigation functions are very easy to use, some are very complex, so how can we make it perfect for them to use? These would be some interesting challenges to look forward to. But we can definitely say that our application is very content rich and user-friendly and this makes the whole orientation better.

22 MYMOBILE NOV 15 to DEC 14 2011

There are a number of players in the navigation market now. What makes you stand out from them? We provide very simple navigation solutions which can manage tasks on very basic hardware which is also an important aspect for many manufacturers. Also, we do a highly advanced and feature rich navigation solution for content systems, and this is going to be our main strength that would suit our profile. We can offer customised solutions and also offer lifetime maintenance for them. We can serve different partners in the industry and that makes us more acceptable here. What challenges did you face in creating a navigation system for India? The most crucial is to work on the Indian addressing system, because without addresses the navigation is nothing. For that we have got the content done, and have been testing the application for the last six months. We are improving the application and also the way we can further simplify the map because it’s not that the user interface that has to be ready according to the needs here but the way how we compile the map data itself is very important. I think this is a more challenging part, but the feedback so far has been really very positive. By when can we see your products in the Indian market? The product is in the market already. We are going to introduce PNDs for the market with our distribution partner soon. We are already available through the iTunes App Store for iPhone/ iPad users. We also have an Android app but it is not available in India. We offer our application to network providers and manufacturers, and thus get our product launched together with the phone. Like in Europe if you go to buy an iPhone, you automatically get the iGo navigation on it. We have the same approach towards Android phones in Europe. We are in negotiations with manufacturers and service providers in India to develop the same business model here too. n harshita@mymobile.co.in

chief speak

“We are coming back”

P. Balaji, managing director, Sony Ericsson India, talks about the importance of the Indian market in the company’s global strategy, good and bad times. And of course, the company’s plans to reclaim its lost territory in the coming days. Sonia Sharma and Heena Jatav

26 MYMOBILE NOV 15 to DEC 14 2011

www.mymobile.co.in

At Ericsson your scope of business was pure enterprise, and now you have transitioned to Sony Ericsson, which is completely consumer centric. What has your experience been like through this transition? What according to you are the challenges ahead of you? I came into this role with an objective to learn before I start to do anything and I found that Sony Ericsson is a very dynamic and innovative company and there is a lot of similarity in the basic thread of their existence. Both Sony and Ericsson are built around innovation in their respective areas. The other thing is that they put consumer at the core of the business. In one case, it may be thousands of operators and in other, it may be millions of consumers. For me, moving from a complete Business to Business setup to hard core Business to Consumer one was in fact very easy because of the experience that I have garnered over the years before I joined Ericsson. So, some of the basics that I have learnt in my career helped me to be humble enough to look at things in the right perspective. I also kept my mind open to change, feedback that helps us improve and new ideas. This involved a lot of interaction with the consumers and the trade and it gave me a lot of insight to settle into my new role. The good news is that the response in the last four months has been very encouraging and there is a lot of enthusiasm in the company as well as the trade. We keep hearing about how fast the Indian mobile market is growing. How important is the Indian market in Sony Ericsson’s global strategy? India is a very important market for us and we consider it as a growth market along with China and the US. So to succeed in India we need to get a few things right. We need the right focus on the company, right leadership and the right team to actually carry out our strategy in the right manner. The good news is, as a company that started focusing on smartphones six quarters before, we are making investments in the Indian market in terms of doing the right things and that is very important to us. This is the right time because we are investing in the smartphone segment when there are just five million smartphones as compared to 150 million handsets that are sold in India. There is immense scope of growth in this segment and we are very serious about India. Sony Ericsson has consciously stayed out of the ultra low cost segment. But, with so many players in the market, are you still going to stick to that strategy? Yes, this is a conscious decision the company has made. You will see us definitely over time in the affordable smartphones segment, which is low cost, but ultra low cost surely not because we

believe that we cannot showcase our value proposition as good as someone else’s would be. Because when we say that we want to bring our Sony-ism into play and focus on things like App Extra, which is our own set of customized apps for the customer, it needs investment in research and development, innovation, long term relationship with trade and operators, and all this comes at a cost at which we will not be able to cater to the ultra low cost market successfully. You mentioned App Extra. What is the company doing on the application and content front? App Extra as I mentioned is our contribution to the whole application scenario where people can find relevant local applications for their smartphones. The second is Play Now which still persists. Sony as a company is talking about “Quroisity”, which will be a further add on to the Play Now repository in terms of video as well as audio content. It will be available to all our consumers and will be more like a cloud based service. Therefore by doing multiple things at various levels, we will have a compelling app and content store which will make it a great value for our consumers. Is India a smartphone market on a mass level, or do you think the smartphone wave in the country is more of an urban phenomenon? That is a good point but the fact is that any technology takes a little time to permeate and it is the hockey stick phenomenon that occurs every time a new technology comes in. The same thing goes for the smartphones in the Indian context. Feature phones will continue to be there for some time to come and there is no doubt about it. But the elements of a perfect storm of smartphones is growing. Globally it is expected that next year the market for smartphones will grow to 600 million devices and this will be among the 1.4 billion phones that will be sold globally next year. That is almost touching the fifty per cent mark. The beauty of that is that the economies of scale will start to come into the smartphones business which earlier was the domain of feature phones. It would be good news for us in the context that economies of scales start to build up and add to the other elements which are adding to the smartphone storm. About the rural urban divide, I feel that eventually smartphones will get into the rural market as there are people who can afford them, but will there be a bigger market than urban regions for them there? I don’t think so. However, there are going to be adaptations and innovations that will make smartphones a relevant product for the masses. How are you strengthening your distribu-

India is a very important market for us and we consider it as a growth market along with China and the US. So to succeed in India we need to get a few things right. We need the right focus on the company, right leadership and the right team to actually carry out our strategy in the right manner tion and after sales service? We believe that we have strong presence in certain markets and we don’t have an equally strong presence consistently in others. So we are already in the process of strengthening it and that process has started. We believe that we’ll have definitely a double digit growth in our retail presence in the coming months. We are making quantum changes in our reach as well in the coming months because we believe we have a portfolio which is affordable going up from mid- to high-end, so we need to have our presence in retail accordingly as well. Sony Ericsson was one of the five stars of Indian telecom. Then it lost a significant share in the Indian market and now the scenario has been completely changed. How do you perceive the market and competition for Sony Ericsson? I welcome competition because it makes us more nimble footed. It made this company focus on smartphones six quarters back and we decided to become one of the leading brands in this space. We had good times, we had some bad times also but we are coming back fast. And coming back is always good. n sonia@mymobile.co.in heena@mymobile.co.in

(This interview was taken before Sony bought Ericsson’s share)

NOV 15 to DEC 14 2011 MYMOBILE 27

lead story A few years ago, upgrading the operating system (OS) was strictly super geek territory. But as smartphones get more popular, and platforms spar against each other to add more features, upgrading your deviceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s OS is rapidly becoming part and parcel of routine mobile tech culture. Nimish Dubey and Sonia Sharma take a closer look at the pros and cons of upgrading your mobileâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s OS. And whether you even need to do so.

28 MYMOBILE nov 15 to dec 14 2011

www.mymobile.co.in

The Mobile OS Upgrade

Era Cometh! T

here was a time when operating systems were most popularly associated with personal computers and laptops. Mobile phones on the other hand were just a means of communication on the go. Most of them were running on proprietary platforms and did just a little more than calling and messaging. However, things (as usual) have changed and mobile phones have become formidable computing devices that run on some of the most advanced operating systems in the world. This was made possible by constant innovation both on the hardware and software side. While the hardware evolution is more evident and grabs more attention, the operating systems too have kept evolving silently, coming out with new versions that added new functionalities and features to devices that ran them. The era of the mobile OS upgrade has well and truly arrived, and it is one that power smartphone users can ignore at their peril.

In the beginning... One of the oldest smartphones can be dated back to 1993 when IBM released Simon, their attempt to combine voice and data functions into one device, something that seems to be the lowest common denominator in today’s mobile world. The Simon was huge. And expensive, making it a very niche device affordable only to a few. Nevertheless, the seeds for smartphones, and by proxy those of mobile OS, had been sown. Who can forget the PDAs of that era? The Palm Pilot with 16MHz processing power and 128 KB memory was considered to be cutting edge technology in the mid 90s. Then came the Communicator running on the GEO V 3.0 OS from Nokia which really started the trend of the smartphones that we see today (the cutting-edge E7 is a descendant of this device). In the year 2002, one of today’s leading smartphone brands, BlackBerry entered the market with BlackBerry 5810 but it ran not on the Blackberry OS but on the proprietary J2ME platform. Two years before that, Microsoft had forayed into the smartphone

segment, launching the first version of what later became known as Windows Mobile – it was called Pocket PC 2000 and codenamed ‘Rapier’. In 2003, Palm brought out the Treo 600 which was running on the Palm OS and had 32 MB RAM along with a 144 MHz processor. Symbian had been present in a rudimentary form since 1991 as Psion OS for palm tops and in 1997 it was christened EPOC332 from Psion. It was only in 1998 that Symbian was established as a company. And in November 2000, the first Symbian smartphone, the Ericsson R380 was launched and soon after that Nokia announced its first Communicator on Symbian OS. For a considerable period of time, Windows Mobile and Symbian were the leading operating systems in the mobile world. These were the power-packed devices of those times which ate away the PDA market and established themselves as the mobile device of choice for a serious enterprise user. During these times, BlackBerry and Palm operating systems were also present but remained in relatively small niches. The two most prominent OS players in the world today, i.e. Apple (iOS) and Google (Android) were significantly late entrants in the smartphone segment. The process of bringing operating systems to the mass market was basically started by Nokia which started using the Symbian OS on multimedia rich phones too, even while making them more affordable. However, it was only after Apple launched its iPhone in

In a layperson’s terms, upgrade or update is a software based enhancement in the oS that enables it to do more than what the last version was capable of doing. For instance things like iMessenger, Siri, etc were not available in iOS version 4

January 2007 and Google came out with an Android phone called HTC Dream in October 2008, that smartphones came out of their enterprise corner and went mainstream. It also signalled the arrival of the era of mobile operating systems. And consequently, their upgrades!

evolutionary But while every mobile operating system had a start, it was only through various upgrades that it evolved in terms of features and capabilities. In a layperson’s terms, upgrades or update is a software based enhancement in the operating system that enables it to do more than what the last version was capable of doing. For instance things like iMessenger, Siri, etc were not available in the iOS version 4. However, its new update, i.e. iOS version 5 offers all these features to its users. In order to get these new features, one has to get the iPhone updated to iOS 5. After the initial launch of an operating system, its developers keep launching newer versions with better capabilities and these can either be revolutionary in nature or evolutionary. A revolutionary update means that there is a considerable change in the way the operating system works and the kind of hardware support that it requires also gets significantly advanced. For instance, if we compare the Windows Mobile 6.5 to Windows Phone 7, the change is revolutionary. The boring unidimensional interface that was usually cloaked by another interesting UI was replaced by a finger-friendly tiled interface. The honeycomb grid-like menu was turned into a more fluid swipe and scroll menu. But along with these software changes came significantly higher hardware requirements. The minimum hardware requirement for Windows Mobile 6.5 was a Windows Mobile 6.1 phone, 128 MB RAM and a 400 MHz processor. A device running a version of Windows Mobile earlier than 6.1 could not be upgraded to 6.5. But the minimum hardware requirement for Windows Phone 7 is a capacitive touchscreen with 4 or more contact points and WVGA (800×480) or HVGA (480×320) resolution screen, A-GPS,

nov 15 to dec 14 2011 MYMOBILE 29

lead story Accelerometer, Compass, Light, Proximity sensors, minimum 5.0-megapixel camera, with flash and a camera button, 256 MB RAM or more, 8 GB Flash memory or more, DirectX 9 acceleration graphics processor and ARMv7 Cortex/Scorpion or better (read minimum 1GHz) processor. The stark difference in the hardware specs shows that there was a drastic change in the way Windows Phone 7 worked and this upgrade was more or less like launching a new operating system. On the other hand, the upgrade from Windows Phone 7 to Windows Phone 7.5 i.e. Mango, is more evolutionary. The hardware spec sheet remains the same, the interface remains identical, only a few more capabilities have been added like elementary multitasking, Wi-Fi hotspot capability, Facebook integration along with Twitter and LinkedIn support. Once upgraded, most of the features would be available on the phones that were originally running on Windows Phone 7, thus making it more evolutionary in nature.

single party controls both the device and OS functionality. These are usually DIY (Do-ItYourself) processes that can be easily carried out from anywhere. But if one operating system is being used by multiple device brands like Android, updating the phone gets a bit tricky as then each of the brands provides OS updates according to its own convenience (and some times does not do so at all, preferring to force the consumer to buy yet another device). These updates are usually done OTA (Over The Air) where the notification is sent to your device and it automatically starts the upgrading process upon your acceptance. Then obviously there are upgrades where you need to buy a new phone itself. The latest being the BlackBerry

5.6

Android OS

13.4%

3.9

Of course, there are ways to upgrade your device’s OS even if the official upgrade is not available for it. This involves hacking into your device and forcing it, in a way of speaking, to accept the upgraded version of the OS. However, this is not a path to be followed by the faint of heart

a few precautions before you start upgrading your device. For starters, before upgrading the

Mobile OS Market share

DIY or OTA or hack! Once the upgrade for a particular operating system gets available, the next thing that one needs to do is to upgrade their phones on to the new version. There are various ways of doing it. You can go through the phone’s PC software and do the upgrade. Like in the iPhone, once you plug in your phone and access iTunes, it automatically detects the new upgrade and asks you to download the new one to update the phone. You can also go to the brand’s website to download the latest software update as in the case of Nokia N8 where its Symbian Anna update is available on the Nokia website. However, this is possible only if both the device as well as the operating system are under a single roof and a

if one operating system is being used by multiple device brands like Android, updating the phone gets a bit tricky as then each of the brands provides OS updates according to its own convenience (and some times forces the consumer to buy yet another device)

38.5%

19.4%

IOS OS Symbian OS

19.2%

BlackBerry OS Windows OS Others OS *Source: Gartner report, May 2011

OS 7 which is not backward compatible with Blackberry OS 6 devices. Thus if you wish to use the new Blackberry OS, you will have to go for the latest Bold, Torch or Curve. Of course, there are ways to upgrade your device’s OS even if the official upgrade is not available for it. This involves hacking into your device and forcing it, in a way of speaking, to accept the upgraded version of the OS. However, this is not a path to be followed by the faint of heart– it voids the warranty (if any) of the device, often forces you to rely on a less-than-hundred-per-cent reliable version of software, and in a worst case scenario, can even ‘brick’ you device, rendering it totally useless.

Proceed with caution Upgrading a mobile phone can often be a tricky process– phones can freeze, data can be lost in the process. So, it is wise to follow

30 MYMOBILE nov 15 to dec 14 2011

phone, it is always advisable to make sure that your phone has the minimum hardware specifications required to support the new upgrade. Then, always take backups of all the data on the phone– contacts, photographs, mails, texts and anything else that you deem important. This helps in protecting your data and makes it possible to restore it in case things go badly wrong during the upgradation process. Make sure that data connectivity while the upgrade is continuous and the signal is strong, or else you will end up downloading the update multiple times leading to significant data consumption. Avoid using your phone while it is getting updates for a smoother and risk free updation. Finally, make sure that the device has a continuous power supply so that it doesn’t switch off during the upgradation process. That done, go right ahead and upgrade your OS. n sonia@mymobile.co.in nimish@mymobile.co.in

www.mymobile.co.in

1996

1997

1998

2000

evolution of mobile operating systems

RIM applications Address, Date Book, Memo Pad and To Do List

Palm OS launched

EPOC 332 launched by Psion. Later to become Symbian Palm OS 3.0 launched in Sept, 1998 HotSync, Web Clipping support, native 8-bit colour support

Pocket PC 2000

The first Symbian smartphone, Ericsson R380 launched Pocket PC 2002 MSN messenger 2001

Palm OS 4.0 launched in June, 2001

External file systems, 16-bit colours screen

2002

Palm Palm OS 5.0 launched in June 2002

Pace Emulator, Bluetooth Emulator

2003

Windows mobile 2003

Bluetooth integration, Pocket Internet Explorer Windows Media Player 9.0

2004

Windows mobile 2003 SE, June 2004

SE Portrait and Landscape switching for pocket PCs and WPA

2005

2007

2008

Windows Mobile 5 launched in May, 2005- Windows Media Player 10 Mobile, GPS, Office Mobile

First iPhone was introduced on Jan 9, 2007

iPhone OS 2.0 June, 2008- Third-party application support, Sync Google contacts

Mobile operating systems have been evolving at the rate of knots over the past decade and a half. Here’s our look at the mobile OS family tree

Media Player Enhanced UI

BlackBerry OS 4.1 in Oct, 2005

Google acquired Android Inc

BlackBerry OS 4.2 April 2007- Voice Notes option, E-mail and SMS in separate folders

Windows Mobile 6 Feb 2007- NET Compact Framework v2 SP2 Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Compact Edition Windows Live

BlackBerry OS 4.5 Sep 2008- HTML E-mails, faster performance and improved multi-tasking, Microsoft Office Documents ToGo

*Source: [x]cube Labs

Windows Mobile 6.1 April, 2008- Threaded SMS, full page zooming in Internet Explorer and ‘Domain Enroll’

Android 1.0 released

Symbian OSDesktops interactive widgets, FB, IM Chats

2009

Android 1.1 Feb 2009- support for saving attachments from MMS, marquee in layouts, API changes

Blackberry OS 5 Oct 2009Wireless Sync, BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5, almost revamped Web Browser

Android 1.5 (Cupcake) April, 2009- Bluetooth A2DP and AVRCP support, uploading videos to YouTube and pictures to Picasa

2010

iPhone OS 4.0 June, 2010Multi-tasking, folder 2011

Blackberry OS 6 Aug 2010 New media interface, stronger social media integration, Multiple contact lists, trackpad support for swipe gestures

Windows Mobile 6.5 May, 2009- IE Mobile 6 and Multi touch support

Samsung Bada 1.0 10th Nov, 2009Samsung announced the Bada platform

Android 1.6 (Donut) Sept, 2009WVGA screen resolution support, Google free turn-by-turn navigation

Windows Phone 7 Oct 2010 Tiled UI, loud based service support, Multitasking

Feb 2011 Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) specifically for Android, new UI, improved text selection, more features for standard apps May 2011 Android 3.1 UI refinement, Connectivity to USB accessories, performance optimisation July 2011 Android 3.2 Optimisationfor wider range of tablets, Media Sync from SD card October 2011 Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) Face recognition, NFC, New browser functionality, New social networking and contact features, New camera capabilites

iPhone OS 3.0 June, 2009Push notifications, Cut, Copy, Paste, turn by turn notifications, voice memos

HP Web OSSynergy app, multitouch gestures and multi-tasking

Android 2.0/2.1 (Éclair) Oct, 2009- HTML 5 Support, MS Exchange server, Bluetooth 2.1

Aug 2010 Samsung launched their second Bada phone on version 1.2 better Application Compatibility

April 2011 Symbian Anna New UI, better web browsing, VPN support, NFC support August 2011 Symbian Belle better personalization, more homescreens, Improved Status bar, Visual Multi-tasking August 2011 Bada 2.0 multi tasking, WiFi Direct, UI enhancements, NFC support

Symbian ^2 Royalty free version Symbian^3 Native Webkit based browser, 2D and 3D graphic architecture, UI improvements, and support for external displays through HDMI

Android 2.2 (Froyo) May, 2010 USB Tethering and Wi-Fi hotspot functionality Adobe Flash 10.1 support Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) Dec 2010 Multi-touch software keyboard, Support for extralarge screen sizes and resolutions

October 2011 Apple iOS 5.0 Notifications, iMessage, Built-in Photo improvements, iCloud, Siri

lead story T h e O S Up g r ad e G u id e Bada OS 2

Samsung’s own OS might not be grabbing as much attention as the likes of Android and iOS but is still making Waves. Literally. And its recent upgrade shows that Samsung is not giving up on it.

What it has | Support for HTML 5 and Flash 11 for better browsing and Web apps, full multi-tasking, better push notifications, and support for NFC and text to speech We wish it had | Not its fault really, but more apps would help Available on | Samsung Wave 3, Samsung Wave M, Samsung Wave Y How to upgrade | If you

have an older Bada OS device, like the original Wave, we would suggest you stay tuned – Samsung has tweeted that it will upgrade all Bada devices to the new version of the OS by the end of the year. Whether this will be over the air or via a PC, we know not

Windows Phone 7.5

The initial edition of Windows Phone won rave reviews for its buttery smooth interface. Microsoft has just got and improved it with Windows Phone 7.5, also called Mango.

What it has | Better multi-tasking, live tiles, improved search and Web browser, copy and paste, copy and paste, Wi-Fi hotspot creation We wish it had | Support for Flash browsing, cut and paste, more interface tweaking options Available on | HTC Radar, Samsung Omina 7

How to upgrade | Microsoft will be offering the Mango update to All Windows Phone 7 devices. If you have a Windows Phone 7 device, you will receive a notification that an update is available, after which you will need to connect your phone to a computer to download the update

Symbian Anna

Nokia might have bet its smartphone future on Windows Phone, but it has not given up on Symbian. The Anna update to Symbian ^3 makes it more touch-friendly than ever.

iOS 5.0

Even as the competition struggles to catch up with it, Apple continues to improve the OS that runs the iPhone and iPad. And iOS 5 is one of the most significant upgrades to the iOS in recent times

How to upgrade | The iPad, iPad 2, the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4 can be updated to iOS 5. Just connect your device to your computer and launch iTunes. You will be informed if your OS can be upgraded and the download will commence, if needed.

What it has | An improved browser, portrait QWERTY keyboard, better icons We wish it had | As intuitive an interface as Android or iOS, better social networking apps Available on | Nokia E6, Nokia X7 How to upgrade | If you are using a Nokia Symbian ^3 device (N8, E7, C7, etc.), you will be able to upgrade your device to Anna. Check for software updates on your phone – you will be able to download the update directly over the air (OTA) on your device.

What it has | A notification bar, homescreen notifications, camera improvements, cloud syncing via iCloud, News stand, browser improvements, iMessage messenger application

Symbian Belle

We wish it had | Support for Flash, more Facebook integration

What it has | resizeable widgets, more homescreens, better support for NFC, imrpoved status bar

Available on | iPhone 4S

Coming hot on the heels of the Symbian Anna update is the next one, called Belle. Proof, if any were needed, that Nokia is not giving up on Symbian.

We wish it had | (sigh!) The same as before - as intuitive an interface as Android or iOS, Better social networking apps. Available on | Nokia 701 How to upgrade | Just as in the case of Anna,

all devices running Symbian ^3 will be able to upgrade to Belle. All you need to do is check for software upgrades on your phone and download the upgrade over the air

32 MYMOBILE nov 15 to dec 14 2011

www.mymobile.co.in

Android Ice Cream Sandwich

The most popular smartphone OS in the world has been plagued by fragmentation but its latest version is an attempt to bring the best of both smart and tab worlds.

What it has | New font system, new UI, better support for NFC, improved browser, better voice commands, and resizeable widgets We wish it had | The ability to run on a device that had the hardware to run it, without depending on the manufacturer

BlackBerry OS7

Available on | Samsung

It may have been seen as a laggard in the past, but RIM has come to the smartphone OS shootout with a vengeance with the latest version of BlackBerry OS, which is very different from anything the BlackBerry Boys have seen in the past!

How to upgrade | In best

What it has | More colourful icons, better graphics, a highly improved browser, a much more touch friendly experience

Galaxy Nexus

Android tradition, you are in most cases going to be left at the mercy of the manufacturer to provide you an upgrade. If you have a high-end Android device, we would advise you to keep checking if they are upgrades available. The upgrade process could happen over the air or via PC, again depending on the manufacturer.

We wish it had | A whole lot more apps. And some fun ones too, apart from the uber productive ones. Available on | BlackBerry 9900, BlackBerry Torch 9860, BlackBerry

Curve 9360

How to upgrade |There is no way of saying this gently – if your device did not come with BlackBerry OS 7 preinstalled on it, there is no way in which you can upgrade it. It has to do with hardware specifications, which are found only on new BlackBerry devices. The more’s the pity, really, because this is clearly the best BlackBerry OS ever.

To Upgrade or not to Upgrade?

o the geeks, there is no question of not upgrading their devices once a mobile OS upgrade becomes available for them. But for the more mainstream user, this is a decision that merits some thought. The world is full of contented smartphone users who are still working on older versions of their device’s OS simply because they did not really want any of the new features offered by their upgraded versions. For instance, many Nokia Symbian ^3 users did not feel the need to get the Anna update – they were more than content with what their existing mobile OS and were not too keen on new icons and a portrait QWERTY keyboard (they were already used to the existing keyboard and did not want to get adjusted to a new one). Another point to be kept in mind is that while OS upgrades generally smoothen operations on high-end devices, they can take a very heavy toll of lower end ones. The Motorola Milestone lost a lot in terms of performance and speed when it was upgraded to Android 2.2 – a process that actually resulted in better performance from the more heavily specced

Motorola Defy and the Samsung Galaxy S. Similarly, many iPhone 4 users who found their batteries draining a lot faster after they upgraded to iOS 5. In the end, as in almost everything in tech, it really boils down to the user. If you feel contented with what your smartphone is offering you and do not yearn for some new features, you would perhaps be better off adopting a “if it ain’t broken, don’t fix it” approach and letting your mobile OS remain in its older avatar. However, if you like being at the cutting edge of technology and like to have nothing but the latest on your device, upgrading is not an option but a necessity. If Hamlet had a handset, he probably would have said:

To upgrade an OS or not, that is the question, Whether it is nobler for my smartphone to suffer, The slings and arrows of an outdated(if trusted) OS, Or to set sail on a sea of new features, And by upgrading, adopt them...

nov 15 to dec 14 2011 MYMOBILE 33

fa c e t o fa c e

“Tablets are “India is a perhaps the content hungry Big Thing” Next nation” iBall has managed to carve a niche for itself in just a decade. So, we caught up with Sandeep Parasrampuria, director, iBall, to know his mantra for success and strategy for the future Surbhi Chawla

How has the 10-year journey for iBall been so far? Very encouraging, satisfying though challenging. It could also be called a “Journey of Innovation.” The growth witnessed from the year 2001 till date has been remarkable even with the ups and downs of every company’s career. The fruits of our efforts - over 23 million products sold in the 25 product categories presently, over 300 SKUs, 25 branch offices and 125 service centers across India. How is the desktop accessory market in the country performing, and how is iBall performing in this segment? The sector is in for a revolution - the market demand for these goods is increasing day by day and the industry for these goods is said to be growing at the rate of 20 per cent every year. The factors which will help the industry to boost further, are a redefinition of strategy, innovation, and strong competition. This is positive for us, since we offer consumers an exciting range of peripherals for various needs. Our growth for these basic products is very encouraging. In almost every market across the country we are amongst the top 3 brands. How do you distinguish yourself from others in such a comeptitive market? Appealing design and looks are very important to any consumer. But ultimately it is the experience of using the product which drives the consumer. You had ventured into the handset arena not too long ago, but of late we have not seen much action on that front... Yes, of course, iBall is in mobile phones and will continue to be in mobile phone business. After the launch of mobile phones, we took a little time to understand and get organised for this product. We are launching series of mobile phones and lot of action will be seen from iBall with innovative and new offerings. We have launched three models during October and another 3-4 models are planned by the end of November.. What was the reason for getting on to the tablet bandwagon? Tablets are perhaps the next big thing to happen in the digital world after PCs and mobile phones. The yearly market for tablets worldwide is expected to be over 175 million units by 2014. This indicates high growth and volume for this product category. iBall has always been in and around the digital and computing world and our channels includes computer/IT channels as well as retail channels with our foray into mobile phones, not to forget large format retailers. With all these, tablets were the right product for us. There are a number of tablets in the market right now. How is the iBall slide different from them? iBall Slide wants to bring an experience and performance which is world-class and differentiates from others. iBall Slide’s first offering has been able to do this very well. It is a strong contender in the highly competitive tablet market. We shall do all we can to ensure that when users need performance they will consider the iBall Slide as their first option. Can we expect any more tablets from iBall in the near future? What are the sales numbers that you are targeting for the coming year for the Slide? iBall will have a range of tablets in the coming months targeted at different user segments. iBall targets to sell about 50,000-75,000 units of the iBall Slide in this financial year. n surbhi@mymobile.co.in

34 MYMOBILE NOV 15 to DEC 14 2011

fa c e t o fa c e

“Demand for Free Classifieds OLX.in is India’s first in India is Huge.” online free local classified site that has more than 155 million unique users spread across 96 countries in 44 different languages. Amarjit Singh Batra, country manager, OLX.in talks about the site and where it is headed next Heena Jatav

OLX.in is an online classified site. How do you ensure the quality and after sale service of product like mobile phones? Because all the transactions take place offline, there is less risk of frauds or one getting conned. If a person likes some ad and wants to buy the product/service, he/ she can directly contact the seller as the ads contain contact information of sellers. A buyer can himself/herself meet the seller, check out the product and then buy it. We at OLX provide a platform to buyers and sellers for deals but transactions are not allowed online. India is a country where people do lot of research before buying even a pin, so how challenging was it for you to establish your identity? What changes have you seen in consumer behavior since 2006? The challenge for us was to make every Indian aware of this great opportunity and also educate them on how they can benefit from this platform. The job is very challenging because for classifieds, both the users (buyers and sellers) have to be online on their own. In last two-three years, I have seen some very interesting trends in terms of increasing mobile internet penetration, social networks, e-commerce picking up and better broadband connectivity. So, the combination of these factors has brought more and more people online and they have started spending more time online. They are finally reaching a stage where they prefer sites that solve their daily problems make it convenient to do tasks that can be best done online like the free classifieds model. What is the percentage of mobile phone sales to the overall sales on OLX.in? Mobile and accessories are among the top two selling products on the site. In terms of overall business transactions, it is about 5 per cent of the overall transactions, and in terms of ‘For Sale’ product categories, mobiles contribute up to 15 per cent of the total transactions. I believe mobile phones have become a favourite and most

36 MYMOBILE NOV 15 to DEC 14 2011

desired consumer owned devices for the young and tech savvy people. More than 60 per cent of consumers tend to possess or own a newly launched mobile handset. They are also willing to switch to a new handset after 10 months to a year. OLX has been a valuable platform for such consumers, making their purchase process more economical by selling the old phones through OLX and making an instant purchase of new ones. With mobile phones being so important for OLX, do you have any mobile-based applications for your consumers? India has a huge mobile subscriber base and smartphones numbers are rising because they are getting cheaper. We realised that in India smartphones will eventually become big. That’s why we did not focus on SMS-based applications and instead concentrated on developing mobile apps for all smartphones. OLX wants to make sure that everybody will have access to mobile classifieds so we launched an iPhone app in July last year and recently have launched a new version of it. We have also launched Android based app in September 2010 in India and in other countries. We also have an app for Nokia devices and the latest one is the Blackberry app. How have you found the response from the Indian market so far? India is among the top three markets for OLX globally. It is an emerging market and the demand for free classifieds in India is huge. Just as mobiles became more popular than landlines, desktops were replaced by laptops and laptops are making way for tablets, similarly print classifieds have been replaced by online classifieds worldwide and it is bound to happen in India too. Before print classifieds could reach small cities, online classifieds have been able to offer a free and convenient platform that Indian consumers are fast adapting to. Therefore we see OLX free classifieds becoming more popular in the years to come. n heena@mymobile.co.in

etcetera

Seamless connectivity The

wireless router to help you stay connected all through

etgear, one of the best known brands in the Wi-Fi field, has moved to cash in on the Wi-Fi craze that has gripped the nation. With a large number of connected devices being launched, the need for wireless routers too is increasing not just in offices but even in homes. And Netgear is attempting to address this with devices like the Wireless-G Router WGR614. It has a pleasing design - no need to hide this router. Also as it is all white in colour it will easily match the colour decor of any room. Moreover, we found that this router was quite easy to set up as well. In terms of performance, the two most notable things to look out for in a wireless router are speed and range. Netgear Wireless-G Router WGR614

38 MYMOBILE NOV 15 to DEC 14 2011

promises to offer a speed of 54 Mbps and we found that the Internet speeds that we got were quite consistent and satisfactory. In terms of range too, this wireless router did not let us down. This wireless router also has four Ethernet ports at the back, which makes it ideal even for small businesses which may be looking at getting a couple of desktops attached through a LAN cable and perhaps, a printer along with a handful of laptops connected via Wi-Fi. In terms of security, Netgear Wireless-G Router WGR614 comes with double firewall protection to safeguard it from external hacker attacks. Priced at Rs. 2,225, this wireless network product not just looks good but scores high in the performance department as well. n

etcetera

The Happy Netbook... Literally! A netbook with a drop of fun

ust when people have been yakking about the demise of the netbook, Acer has decided to add a new spin to the segment by launching the Acer ASPIRE One Happy 2, the second generation of the Aspire Happy series. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a 10.1 inch tablet that runs on Intel Atom processor and well, here comes the spin, gives the user the best of both Windows 7 (Starter) and Android. While most of the functionality is available in the Windows section, the Android one gives you a taste of the operating system that is gaining

a lot of popularity in the smartphone and tablet segment. We, however must confess that we preferred using the Windows version simply because there was so much more we could do on it. Android remains less than notebook-friendly, alas - we kept trying to move across homescreens by swiping the touchscreen! It looks good too - it is light, compact and comes with an innovative liquid droplet design on the top panel, with fruity colour options like Banana Cream, Blueberry Shake,

40 MYMOBILE NOV 15 to DEC 14 2011

Papaya Milk, and Strawberry Yogurt. The interiors are white except for the trackpad which is the same colour as the outer panel. The island-type keys make typing a breeze, and video calling and chatting types will love the camera above the display. Acer claims the Aspire Happy 2 is energy efficient and can give up to eight hours of battery backup. Top that off with Wi-Fi connectivity, proper ports and an SD card reader, and we think this netbook is pretty good value for its Rs 16, 636 price tag. n

et cetera

Pure Pen Magic!

The write way to work on your PC

acom is known for tablet and pen products for creative types into image editing, sketching, creating digital designs, and the like. The companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s latest is the Bamboo CTH670, which is a slim,

extremely portable tab, but is targeted at the mass market. With its black and lime green body, the tab looks really stylish and comes with a rather bulky pen. Once you install the software that comes in the CD in the salespack, you get a number of software options that you can use for making drawings and the like. There are three keys on the tablet and one on the pen. The center key on the tab is divided into two, similar to the left and right click of the mouse and the same is for the key on the pen. It has a handwriting rec-

42 MYMOBILE NOV 15 to DEC 14 2011

ognition feature that lets you write content on a word file and converts it into text. The handwriting recognition works well and becomes very convenient once you get the hang of it. To navigate, you can hold the stylus a little above the tablet, as the tablet then represents the screen area and needs you to tap accordingly. Overall, its an interesting concept for those who wish to interact differently with their laptops or desktops, or are tired of the mouse. The Bamboo CTH 670 is available for Rs13, 500. n

For Samsung Galaxy S II

et cetera Change On Mix style and work with the new Dell Inspiron R Range

ell has always tried to bring in some excitement in the laptop segment and its latest offering in its Inspiron R Range relfects this. The highlights of this range are its interchangeable covers and large storage capacity. Currently, there are two models available â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 14R (N4110), which has a 35.6 cm display and 15R (N5110) which has a 39.6 cm display. We reviewed the Dell Inspiron 15R N 5110, which came with four interchangeable lids. Consumers buying these laptops can log on to the Dell website and choose the lids that they would want as per their preference. However, there is more to this laptop than good looks. For starters, it packs in a full keyboard including the numeric keypad, giving it almost a desktop-ish feel and making gaming so much easier. The notebook comes with second generation Intel Core i5 processoral, though users can also opt for the same model with a Core i3 processor. In terms of memory, customers can choose between 2GB, 3GB, 4GB and 6GB models while the hard disk is available in 320GB, 500 GB and 640 GB capacities. Our unit had a 4GB memory and 500 GB hard disk. And performed very snappily indeed. The notebook also has four USB ports, a multi-format card reader, HDMI and VGA outputs, an Ethernet jack, a 1.0 - megapixel Web camera, a DVD rewritable drive and two 3.5 mm sockets for headphones and a mic. Where the laptop came up short was in its battery life, which worked out to be around three hours. Overall, we found it to be a solid device with a good build, cool customisation options and very solid performance. The Inspirion R range starts from Rs 35,300. n

44 MYMOBILE NOV 15 to DEC 14 2011

et cetera Skin-deep Beauty! Changing

your phone’s looks just got very easy

ne of the hardest things to change in a phone is its appearance. In fact, it’s the first thing that we get bored of even when we haven’t tried and tested all the features of a device. But now there is way to add a zing to your phone’s design. This can be done through the My Skin My Style removable adhesive-based vinyl covers that not only make phones look better but also protect them from normal wear and tear. Offered by Poojara Telecom, Rajkot, Gujarat, these mobile skins have been developed for various models and can be stuck to the front as well as the back panel. The skins come with gaps for features like camera, volume keys, etc., without any rough edges. All you need to do is stick it to the phone, and you are ready to go. These skins are repositionable, so you if you don’t get it right the first time, you can reposition them again. These stick-on skins are easily removable and don’t leave any residue, making them easier to peel off and remove. These covers are available in various designs and the prices vary from model to model (starting from Rs 499). n

46 MYMOBILE NOV 15 to DEC 14 2011

www.mymobile.co.in

Solid Storage

More data, faster access

f you are still using the conventional HDD in your PC, the time has come to move on to faster and more reliable storage. You can get far more speed, excellent compatibility with both notebook and desktop systems, as well as faster system startup and application loading times by moving to SSD. Transcend’s 2.5” 32GB Solid State Drive (SSD) come with faster OS boot-up and ultra-fast sequential read speeds of up to 250MB/s. The 32GB Solid State Drive uses less power and is fully SATA II compatible. It comes with dimensions of 100.3 x 69.85 x 9.5mm and is ultra-lightweight at 66 grams, 50 per cent lighter than stan-

dard hard drives. The 32 GB SSD is RoHS compliant and fully IDE compatible, with built in ECC functionality and wear leveling. Non-volatile flash memory means outstanding data retention, and it also ensures highly reliable data transfer. It supports ultra DMA Mode 6, has lower power consumption and provides a shock-proof alternatives to traditional hard disk drives. The drive is very easy to install in PCs and notebooks, amd works a treat in either device, although some might frown at its limited capacity. The drive is available for Rs 5,500 with a three-year limited warranty. n team@mymobile.co.in

PNY_MyMobile_Nov2011.pdf 2011/10/19 下午 06:20:11

NOV 15 to DEC 14 2011 MYMOBILE 47

just in LG P690 Optimus Net Life’s Good with

Gingerbread

nother phone joins the LG Optimus smartphone series with the LG P690 Optimus Net. The alltouch handset comes with a 3.2 inch HVGA LCD touchscreen, and runs Android 2.3.4 (Gingerbread), with a Qualcomm MSM7227T 800MHz processor which ensures that lags are kept to a minimum. And of course, as this is an Android phone, e-mail and social network connectivity are a snap – the phone comes pre-loaded with Gmail, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and other apps. For snappers, there is a 3.0 megapixel camera with auto-focus and geotagging, as well as a host of shooting modes. There is also a front facing VGA camera for video call junkies. The phone comes with 512 MB ROM and 512 MB RAM, with storage that can be expanded up to 32 GB, and connectivity options that include Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and A-GPS. There is also an accelerometer for those motion-sensing times and an FM radio. And in keeping with the tradition of the Optimus One, the Optimus Net is priced at Rs 10,200. n

Nokia 500 Anna with Colour and Muscles

ymbian Anna gets another ambassador in the Nokia 500. This TFT capacitive full touchscreen phone comes with a 3.2-inch 640 x 360 resolution display that gives you enough room to maneuver, changeable back covers, a 5.0-megapixel camera, and 3G connectivity. It supports Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and comes with free maps and navigation to let you know where you are and also show where you wish to go. Social networking services and e-mail is also smoothly integrated. Its 2 GB internal memory can be expanded up to 32 GB with a microSD card. Music lovers are given options of stereo FM, internet Radio and Nokia music player for entertainment. There are lots of games too. And have no fear, the device will be able to handle all this without too many problems – it is powered by a 1GHz processor. Although we have no indications about its price, most people are anticipating that it will cost significantly lesser than most high-end smartphones. Could this be the mainstream smartphone winner that Nokia has been seeking for a while? We would not bet against it. The Nokia 500 is available in the Indian market for Rs 9,500. n

48 MYMOBILE NOV 15 to DEC 14 2011

www.mymobile.co.in

Sony Ericsson Neo V Let Your Fingers Do the Talking

ot everyone uses phones solely for talking. There is the tribe that believes that the typed word is better than the spoken one. And it is for these people that Sony Ericsson has come out with Xperia Neo V - a touchscreen phone that comes with a full QWERTY keypad. Like most new Sony Ericsson devices, it too runs Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) and packs in a 5.0 megapixel camera with auto focus, 3D sweep panorama and a host of effects. There is a front-facing VGA camera for video chats and self-portraits. There are some games onboard too, and making sure that they (and everything else) works smoothly is a powerful 1GHz processor under the hood. In best Sony Ericsson tradition, the phone comes with superb music playing capabilities, coming as it does with Sony xLoud engine audio filter technology. It supports Bluetooth, has FM radio, connects with Wi-Fi, helps in navigation with Google maps, and does a whole lot more, including features designed especially for typing addicts. Will it make us abandon the call function and move to pounding away at the keypad? We are waiting to find out. It is available at the price of Rs 17,500. n team@mymobile.co.in

NOV 15 to DEc 14 2011 MYMOBILE 49

sneak peak Nokia 800 Lumia The Nokia Windows Phone Cometh

ver since Microsoft and Nokia announced their alliance earlier this year, the world has been waiting with bated breath for the first Nokia handset running Windows Phone. And it has now been revealed. Called the Nokia Lumia 800, the phone is a spec monster and thanks to looks borrowed from the N9, is very easy on the eye too. The phone boasts a 3.7 inch clear black AMOLED capacitive touchscreen display of 800x480 pixel resolution, and also packs in a 8.0 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss lens, LED flash, and auto focus, along with a host of other shooting options. You can also shoot 720p video with the shooter, and thanks to Windows Phone’s seamless connectivity with social networks, share not just video but just about everything online. We are a bit surprised to see it come without NFC and a front-facing camera, but that buttery smooth Windows Phone is going to make a lot of users forgive the phone a multitude of sins. We have no doubts that this is a superb phone, but is it good enough to get Nokia back into the big league, alongside Android and iOS? We will see... . n

Motorola Droid Razr The

Razr says Hello to Android

he Moto Razr was one of the most popular devices of all time, and gained iconic status with its amazing clamshell build. Well, there is a new Razr in Mototown, the Droid Razr, and it comes with Android, but minus the clamshell form factor. Mind you, that does not subtract from its eye-candy factor – it is said to be the thinnest 4G LTE smartphone so far and comes with a 4.3 inch Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen with Gorilla Glass display, multi touch input, and accelerometer. And unlike previous Razrs, this one packs in a very powerful camera – a 8.0-megapixel affair with auto focus, LED flash, touch-focus, geo-tagging, face detection, image stabilization, et al. There is a secondary 2.0 megapixel camera for video calling and vanity snaps too. It is made of tough Kevlar fiber so is unlikely to get rattled by falls, and is powered by a dual core 1.2 GHz processor, so will handle most tasks effortlessly. Beauty and the beast? You bet! n team@mymobile.co.in

50 MYMOBILE Nov 15 to dec 14 2011

burn test

The hotswap− pable SIM card lets you shift

Philips X513 Simple

between multiple SIMs easily

looks meet great battery backup

One of the most popular brands in consumer electronics, Philips has jumped into mobiles phone arena, launching a number of touch, multimedia and basic mobile phones. One of these is the Xenium X513 dual SIM multimedia mobile handset. The first thing which comes to mind when you hold the handset in your hand is its weight, which at 131.2 grammes is a bit on the heavy side for this form factor. The front of the phone has sleek metallic look with a metallic ring running around the entire spine of the handset. The right spine carries the volume rocker, which also doubles up as the scroll key. The left spine has the 3.5mm audio jack and USB cum charging port served at the bottom. The device’s back is plain, with a 2.0-megapixel camera with flash and the loudspeaker grill mounted on the upper, and a smooth metal finish on the battery cover. The phone comes with 2.2 inch TFT screen with resolution of 240x320 pixels. Just below the screen is a circular D-pad with an OK button. The phone is comfortable to hold and all the buttons

Pros  Decent

camera

 Good

life

battery

Cons  Expensive  No

bundled earphones

are easy to use, making it easy to operate the phone with one hand.

Entertainment zone On the multimedia front, the phone comes with a 2.0 megapixel camera with flash, and support for video recording. The image quality of the camera was decent, rather than exceptional, with a maximum picture resolution of 1600x1200. You can take continuous shots with it and can also use it as a Webcam by just connecting it with the PC. The phone also features an audio player and FM radio. The audio quality through the headphones is good and through loudspeakers is aaceptable. FM reception is fine. You can play FM on background and store up to thirty radio stations. The sound quality of FM was also decent through the headphones and loud-

112 mm

Philips comes calling

speakers. But in what struck us as being a tad unfair, you will have to spend extra for the headphones -it does not come bundled with the sales pack. Internet buffs however will be in for a treat as instead of a vanilla browser, the handset comes with Opera Mini, which serves up a much better browsing experience. You may also install Java apps on the device. The phone supports Bluetooth, micro USB, GPRS, and WAP connectivity. You can save 1000 contacts in phone book memory, and the phone’s internal memory is 5 MB, which can be boosted to up to 16 GB by using a microSD card. The 2000 mAh battery provided a great power back up to us, comfortably lasting a couple of days. Other features on the handset include torch, voice recorder and text reader.

47.6 mm

tech specs Size | 112 x 47.6 x 15.6 mm

Alternatively

Weight | 131.2 grams

The Philips X513 is available in the market for approximately Rs.4,776. Alternatively, you can also go for the Samsung Champ Duos which costs Rs 4,300 or the Motorola EX115, which retails for for Rs 4,800 n

Memory | 5 MB, microSD Battery | Li-Ion 2000 mAh

team@mymobile.co.in

Screen | 262,144 colours Talktime/Standby | Up to 20 hours/ Up to 1440 hours

Looks

Price: Rs 4,776

verdict 7

Features

ease of use

performance

value for money

overall

76%

nov 15 to dec 14 20111 MYMOBILE 51

burn test Fly E321 Big Features

at a small Price

The Fly E321 is a touchscreen device packed with multimedia features and available at an affordable price. The main panel has a 3.2 inch screen which is quite clear. Right above the screen is the loudspeaker grill and below it are three hardware buttons, which can be used to make calls, access the menu and power on the device. This handset is good to look at and comfortable to hold and could have been made even better with a friendly user interface. The phone comes with a screensaver of fishes swimming in the pond and one can do a lot of customization on it. The phone menu has been divided into three panels and one can change the position of icons in these panels as per convenience. The breaking mirror and dropping icon effects add a fun element to the interface. However, one cannot place the shortcuts and widgets on the home screen. And the resistive touchscreen handset is not very convenient to use.

114 mm

Great looks

2.0-megapixel camera comes with flash

The phone has a 3.2

inch resistive touchscreen

Weight | 100 grams

that are available in the camera of this handset like effect setting, mode setting, white balance, timer, etc. Video quality was, however, average. The phone has a music player and the quality of audio output through earplugs was good while that through the loudspeaker was average. The reception of FM radio on the handset is good. Despite being an entry-level handset, it comes loaded with popular games like Angry Birds and Fruit Ninja. The internal memory on the handset is 66MB, which can be increased to 32GB. Battery back up was good - a charge saw us through quite a while.

Memory | 45KB, microSD

Alternatively

Battery | Lithium 1800 mAh

The Fly 321 is available for Rs. 3,490 and one can alternatively look at the Spice M5700 Flo which costs Rs 3,299 n

Adding connections

46 mm

The E321 comes with GPRS and Bluetooth connectivity. Thanks to the large screen of

Pros  2.0

megapixel camera

Cons  Average

touch experience

 No Flash like support Angry Birds and Fruit Ninja

 Games

tech specs Size | 114 X 46 X 16.5 mm

Screen | 65,536 colours the handset, the experience of using Internet on it was good. This handset supports two SIMs and one could connect to Internet using either of them. Talking about the calling functionality, in the dialer itself, one gets SIM 1 and SIM 2 calling options. Additionally, when trying to dial by pressing numbers, the numbers appear in a large font size making it easy to dial. Although both the SIMs are simultaneously active, while talking on the first one, the other SIM appears to be switched off.

Snap and groove The Fly E321 comes with a 2.0 megapixel camera. The quality of the images captured is good. Having a flash helps but its range is limited. There are quite a few more features

Talktime/Standby | Up to 6 hours/Up to 500 hours

team@mymobile.co.in

verdict

GPRS/3G | Yes/No

Looks

Bluetooth/WiFi | Yes/No

Features

Phonebook Capacity | 300

ease of use

Camera | VGA

perfoRmance

Frequency | GSM 900/1800

value for money

Others | MP3 player, FM radio, Loudspeaker

Price: Rs 3,490

52 MYMOBILE nov 15 to dec 14 2011

overall

82%

www.mymobile.co.in

LG A350 Affordable

Pros

mobility

LG has recently launched its new dual SIM multimedia handset, the LG A 350. The phone has round corners, a good screen for this price segment and a decent keypad. The back panel of the phone has slightly curved lines, which provide an easy grip and also looks stylish. All in all, the bar phone is average in its looks and there is nothing new as far as appearance goes. In fact, on the first look you would say it is simple, normal, average looking phone but as soon as you encounter its various features, your might be tempted to use adjectives like “cool,” “amazing,” and “exciting.” The main reason for being impressed is simple - the LG A350 is the only dual SIM 3G phone available at its price segment in the market. The phone is available in black color.

 3G

enabled

 Dual

SIM 116 mm

53.3 mm

Judge not by looks alone!

Packing a punch LG’s A350 is a 3G phone with dual SIM capabilities. Along with dual SIM support, the phone also packs in an impressive set of features. The phone is equipped with a 1.3 -megapixel camera with features like white balance, colour effects, night mode, video recording, and also has a front-facing VGA camera for video calling. Talking about the audio section, the sound quality of the phone is pretty acceptable in both earplug and loudspeaker mode. The MP3 player has an option of shuffle but there are no equaliser presets. The FM radio has good FM reception and can store up to 13 radio channels. As far as video recording quality is concerned, we found it to be very impressive, in spite of being low resolution. The UI of the phone is also very impressive as the main menu and other features open up with a zoom in and zoom out effect, which is fun to use. The phone has 256 MB ROM and RAM of 128 MB RAM. One can use a miscroSD card to expand the storage of the phone to up to 32 GB. As far as 3G goes, it supports HSDPA and can give decent Internet speeds. The phone has a Li-ion battery which delivers a decent battery backup.

Add-ons The A350 has lot to offer in terms of preloaded applications that can cater to most of your needs on the go. Amon the applications that come installed on the phone are the likes of Windows Live Messenger, Opera Mini, Google Maps, News Hunt, AccuWeather, Yahoo! Finance and Yahoo! News. For online

Cons  Average

camera quality

 Average

looks

Weight | 91.45 grams

video lovers, there is a YouTube app. The phone also has some preloaded games and has a separate SNS icon which gives users direct access to Facebook and Twitter. It also has a separate icon for e-mail access.

Memory | 256 MB, microSD

Alternatively

tech specs Size | 116 x 53.3 x 12.85 mm

LG A350 is priced at Rs 4,100. Another option could be samsung Hero 3213 which is a single SIM phone which is available for Rs 3,300. n

Battery | Li-ion 950 mAh

team@mymobile.co.in

Screen | 262,144 colours Talktime/Standby | up to 12.5 hour / up to 328 hours

Looks

GPRS/3G | Yes/Yes

ease of use

Phonebook Capacity | 1000 Camera | 1.3 Megapixel Frequency | GSM 850/900/1800/1900

Price: Rs 4,100

7 9

Features

Bluetooth/WiFi | Yes/No

Others | YouTube, HSDPA

verdict

performance

value for money

overall

84%

nov 15 to dec 14 20111 MYMOBILE 53

burn test Sony Ericsson txt (CK13i) Colourful QWERTY Fun for All

Simple yet smart Mobile phones have become an integral part of human lives, and have turned into digital Swiss knives that can do almost anything. However, there are many who wish to keep it simple when it comes to mobile phones and Sony Ericsson txt fits comfortably in that criterion of choice. The CK13i can be considered a simple phone in terms of looks and easy to use in terms of its functionality and user interface. But despite its uncomplicated functionality, the phone does have some really good features to boast about.

106 mm

Qwertyised fun

60 mm

Pros  Integrated social networking sites  Smart looks  Wi-Fi Connectivity

Cons

At first glance, we were extremely impressed with the way phone has been designed. Mind it, with the txt, Sony Ericsson is offering a phone that exudes smartphone style with its sturdy body and QWERTY keyboard, which is easy to use like in any other phone. Apart from the QWERTY keypad, the phone has five keys right below the 2.55-inches screen and above the QWERTY keypad. The leftmost key is a call receiving key whereas the rightmost key works as a call ending key. The D-pad in the centre takes you to phone’s menu. The key on the right of the D-pad gives access to two functions. Pressing at the top will allow you to access the contacts whereas the bottom key gives access to the silent profile and clear option. We found the key very useful as it let us set the phone on silent or loud mode very easily. One needs not to change profile settings for that. The key located on the left of the central key also holds two features. The top button gives you access to the Friends app in which you can add five of your friends and access all their communication from there. The lower button takes you to different shortcuts like e-mail, Bluetooth, Alarms, Main Menu and one can also add new shortcuts to the list. The phone gives easy access to volume adjustments as the volume keys are comfortably placed on the right side panel. The left panel contains the charging slot whereas the 3.5 mm audio jack is placed on the top panel and camera and speaker at the back panel. Overall the looks of the device are smart and the silver colour strip running around the spine adds to the overall appeal of the phone.

 No 3G

Play on the go

 No additional themes for

As far as the phone’s multimedia capabilities go, the phone comes with a 3.2-megapixel camera which frankly speaking does not capture very great pictures. However one can enhance the picture quality by adding effects or by adjusting white balance. The video qual-

personalisation

 No flash with the camera

54 MYMOBILE NOV 15 to DEC 14 2011

www.mymobile.co.in The 3.15-megapixel lacks

flash which comes handy in low light conditions

ity of the phone is also acceptable. Now moving towards the audio section of the phone, it supports almost all popular audio formats. Though we did not find the maximum volume of the phone impressive as per Sony Ericsson’s standard but it is still acceptable. The audio quality is clear on both loudspeaker and earplug mode. The phone also has inbuilt FM radio which comes with recording feature but does not work without connecting earphones to the device. The FM reception of the phone is good and we didn’t face many problems even in underground areas. It also has TrackID™ music recognition feature which can display the track, artist and album information of a song playing on the device. Apart from audio and video, the phone comes bundled with some exciting features. The phone has an integrated Facebook experience where a user can share photos, comments, messages directly from the phone. The magic of social networking does not stop here. One can also add five friends in Friends application and can stay connected with them on Facebook and Twitter. It also comes with an e-mail client which lets you access to your inbox anytime anywhere. Preloaded Gtalk comes in handy for staying connected with your friends through Instant Messaging. The phone supports multimedia messaging. However, the absence of interface customising options makes it appears a bit boring.

Staying Connected

For connectivity purposes, phone supports Bluetooth and Wi-Fi and also has a micro USB port. User can utilise high speed internet at Wi-Fi hotspots. There is no 3G connectivity so users will have to depend on Wi-Fi hotspots for high speed internet connectivity.

Memory Check The phone has inbuilt memory of 120 MB (up to 100 MB free) and has RAM of 64 MB. The sales pack includes 2 GB microSD and memory of the phone can be further extended up to 32 GB with microSD card. However we did not find battery backup of the phone very impressive. The phone is available in four striking colours i.e. Blue, Pink, White and Black.

Alternatively Sony Ericsson txt Pro lies in the category of affordable QWERTY keypad devices. It is available at the price of Rs 6,300 in the Indian market. Other options that you can consider are the Nokia C3 costing Rs 5,950 or the Motorola EX 119 priced at Rs 5,250. If you are looking for a 3G alternative, you can also consider the Samsung Chat 3G costing Rs 5,700 in the market. n team@mymobile.co.in

Price: Rs 6,300 verdict Looks

Features

8 9

ease of use perfoRmance

value for money

overall

80%

NOV 15 to DEC 14 2011 MYMOBILE 55

burn test Lava S12 Going the Android way

Pros  Pleasantly good looking  Smart sensors are a neat

addition

 Good audio/video playback

Cons  Screen gets smudged easily  Android 2.2 seems dated now  Could have been priced more

affordably

Design ‘n’ Style While most Indian brands have got into the rat race of offering the cheapest Android device, Lava has decided to steer clear of this segment with the Lava S12. It is the comapny’s first Android offering and it comes with a very sophisticated design. There is a slight curve on the back panel of the device, which makes this handset easy to hold. The use of leather and metal finish adds to its visual appeal and also makes it comfortable to hold for a long period of time. Most of the front panel is taken up by the 3.2 inch capacitive touch display. The touch response of the screen was good and the display was sharp and clear. The only issue with the screen was that it did get smudged easily and one had to rub off the fingerprints quite frequently. Just below the screen are four hardware buttons. These four keys are for Back, Menu, Home and Search. Just above the hard keys, there are five touch keys on the lower panel of the screen for Dialer, Message, 3D interface, Explorer and Menu. The 3D user Interface looks cool and was good to play around with but does not add to the utility of the handset. One does have an option to include 3D in application list and 3D in edit mode and even the home panel in

56 MYMOBILE NOV 15 to DEC 14 2011

www.mymobile.co.in

follows the same rule of thumb. The camera on the Lava S12 has full focus (no, no auto focus) and the pictures clicked through it were quite crisp. There was some lag between clicking the image and saving the images, which was a bit irritating, though. The maximum resolution for an image that one could get was 2592 x 1944 pixels. Another disappointment was that there is no flash on this handset, which made photography in dim light a little lackluster. Literally. In terms of settings, there is only white balance and exposure, which are surprisingly few, given the plethora of options on other devices. There is also no secondary camera on this handset for video calling. An interesting feature of the device is that it comes with a feature that Lava terms Smart Sensors. There are two sensors - pocket mode and quiet ringer on gesture mode. The pocket mode is much like the one on HTC handsets, which makes the phone vibrate and increases the volume ringer in case the handset is in a pocket. The second one is the swipe gesture that puts the phone on silent. These are not path breaking features but are handy additions in the phone. The internal memory on this handset was 120 MB, which could be expanded to 32GB. There was also a 2GB card that comes complementary with the handset. The Li-ion 1300 mAh battery did offer a good battery backup as the handset was able to easily last an entire day with some active social networking, lots of calls and e-mails.

3D mode looked nice. Eye candy!

This handset runs on Android 2.2 (Froyo) operating system, which is a bit of a turnoff for a few people as they are already handsets such as Motorola Fire, which are coming with Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) in this price category. There are three home panels, which can be customised with widgets and shortcuts to oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s liking and one can create up to 16 panels. Running on a 600 MHz processor the handset works well for the most part but gets a little slow especially when one tries to open multiple apps. In terms of connectivity the S12 offers GPRS, Wi-Fi, 3G and Bluetooth. The phone supports up to 7.2 Mbps of HSDPA speeds, and HSUPA speeds of 384 Kbps. On the application front, one needs to make special mention of the SlideiT keyboard, which is the default input method for this handset. The SlideiT keyboard works much like SWYPE, letting you type by swiping your fingers across the onscreeen keyboard, and comes in handy when one wants to some quick texting. There are also

117 mm

The Android effect

tech specs Size | 117 x 57.5 x 13.4 mm

57.5 mm

Price: Rs 8,200

plenty of music applications such as- Saavn, Hungama MyPlay and TuneWiki that come pre-installed on the device. You also get one yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s free subscription of Zenga Mobile T, although the two most popular television channels Star Plus and Sony Entertainment Television are missing from their list. Also, rendering was a little slow on both 3G and Wi-Fi, which affected picture quality. For social networking, the handset comes with Facebook, Twitter and Nimbuzz apps preinstalled. There is also a Lava Service application that helps one in finding the nearest service center - a very neat touch, in our opinion.

Multimedia magic In terms of multimedia features, this handset is quite packed. There is an audio player, which plays MP3, MIDI, AMR, WAV, AAC formats. The sound quality through both loudspeaker and earplugs is also quite good. The same can also be said about the video playback on the handset. The phone also has a FM radio but FM reception is average. Moving on to the camera, it does seems that 5.0-megapixel is now becoming a new standard for value for money smartphones and this camera too

Alternatively The Lava S12 is priced at Rs. 9,800. A good alternative for it could be Motorola Fire which is Rs. 9,700 and runs Android 2.3 (Gingerbread). Other options can be the Samsung Pop for Rs. 7,700 and LG Optimus Me for Rs. 7,100, both of which run on Android 2.2 Froyo. n team@mymobile.co.in

verdict Looks

8 9

Features ease of use

perfoRmance

value for money

overall

82%

NOV 15 to DEC 14 2011 MYMOBILE 57

burn test Touch..and type

LG Optimus Pro C660 LG’s

119.5 mm

Mainstream Droid

59.7 mm

Pros  Comfortable QWERTY keypad  Android 2.3.4 OS  Lots of connectivity options

Cons  No call management keys  No navigation keys or

trackpad

 No flash for the camera

58 MYMOBILE nov 15 to dec 14 2011

LG has been betting heavily on Android of late, via its Optimus series, and the latest in this line up is the LG-C660 a.k.a, the Optimus Pro. It is a touch plus QWERTY device that has a 2.8 inch touchscreen and a full QWERTY keypad that is very comfortable to use, thanks to its chiclet-type key placement. The C660 is a simple-looking device and rather stocky, a departure from the usual LG design as LG devices are known for their slim form factor. The overall black plastic body might make the phone look like a Plain Jane but it feels sturdy enough and is comfortable to hold. Between the screen and the keypad are four keys for Menu, Home, Back and Search. There are no call management keys, which makes usage a little uncomfortable. Since there are no navigation

keys either, you will have to use the touch interface to get from one screen to another. The last row of the keypad holds shortcuts for Calendar and E-mail. Honestly, we would have swapped them for keys to take and cut calls below the display.

Yummy Gingerbread The Optimus Pro runs on Android 2.3.4, also known as Gingerbread. There are five homescreen panels and you can pinch to see all of these on a single pane. Needless to say, these panels can be customised like all Android devices, giving you total control over what you want and where. There are four default touch buttons at the bottom of the screen for phone for Calling, Contacts, Messaging and Menu. Speaking of contacts, you can inte-

www.mymobile.co.in

grate your Facebook, Twitter, Google and MS Exchange accounts but view only the Facebook profile from the Contacts tab. The Optimus Pro is capable of providing HSDPA speeds of up to 3.6 Mbps and also comes with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity options. The browser comes with multitouch capability but lacks Flash support. The interface is standard minimalist but one really misses the navigation keys especially due to a relatively smaller screen. Facebook and Twitter apps come preloaded but there is no integrated SNS app to combine all the activity into one. The Polaris Office suite lets you open office files but you cannot create any new ones. The phone has GPS with A-GPS support and you can use it with Google Maps which can offer basic directions and location search. Apart from Android Market, a link to LG World comes pre-configured from where one can download the LG SmartWorld app on to the phone, which is another repository of applications for the device.

Pictures and sound The Optimus Pro comes with a 3.15-megapixel fixed focus camera and does not have any

Price: Rs 9,600

flash, restricting its use in darker conditions. The picture quality is acceptable and the highest image size that you can choose is 2048 x 1536 pixels. You can also choose the image quality as normal, fine or super fine and geo-tag still images. On the video front, it can shoot videos in 640 x 480 resolution at 24 frames per second. The video quality is just about passable. You can add colour effects to the videos and adjust the video quality but these cannot be geo-tagged. You can also share stills through Bluetooth, E-mail, Facebook, Picasa, Twitter and MMS, while videos can be shared via YouTube, Facebook, MMS, Bluetooth and E-mail. For music enthusiasts , the Optimus Pro comes with a music player that is pretty plain vanilla with no equaliser presets or sound effects. The sound levels are good but the treble was a bit high. The songs get sorted on the basis of artistes and albums and you can choose to shuffle or repeat them. The FM radio comes with a nice scrolling mechanism for channel search. You can switch it off and on from the homescreen itself and also play it through the loudspeaker. The internal memory of the Optimus Pro is pretty low at 150 MB but it can be expanded using a microSD card which is under the back cover but is thankfully hot swappable. The battery backup of the phone is good. One full charge lasts more than a day with extensive usage â&#x20AC;&#x201C; not bad for an Android

The QWERTY keypad brings comâ&#x2C6;&#x2019;

fort to those who text extensively

verdict Looks

Features

ease of use

perfoRmance

value for money

overall

Alternatively The LG Optimus Pro Costs Rs 9,600. Other options that you can consider are the Motorola Fire for Rs 9,700. n team@mymobile.co.in

82%

NOV 15 to DEC 14 2011 MYMOBILE 59

burn test Samsung Wave III GT-S8600 Another

wave from Bada Pros  Bada 2.0  NFC  ChatOn messaging

Cons  Similar design as earlier Wave

Bigger Bada Wave The USP of the Samsung Wave III is that it runs on the Bada 2.0 version of the OS, which has been significantly enhanced in terms of features and capabilities. However, as far as looks go, it still seems similar to the earlier Wave phones, just bigger. The Super AMOLED screen is crisp and bright - of course, display has almost never been a problem with Samsung phones. The same curved tops as seen in earlier Waves are also incorporated in this one. There is a hardware menu key between two capacitive calling keys on the either side on the front panel. The phone is sleek and comes with quite an interesting backpanel which doesn’t come off but slides up

taking a part of the front chassis with it. The memory card is not hotswappable.

Bada boost The new Wave III is running on the latest Bada OS that has been revved up significantly with the aim of becoming a prominent contender in the OS race. The overall experience with the OS’s interface is easy and intuitive and very similar to our Android experience. There are now 11 homescreen panels, with the first just to host six live widgets. The remaining ten are marked as dots and can be increased or decreased. The live widgets currently include Calendar, News, Search, Weather, Stocks and Contacts. You can pinch to get all the panels

phones

 Non-hotswappable memory

card

 Complicated back panel

Multiple homescreens can be easilyt customised

60 MYMOBILE NOV 15 to DEC 14 2011

The 5.0-megapixel camera is supported by a LED flash

on one pane to edit them. Another addition to the OS is the option to create folders which can be renamed and also posted on the homescreen. We would also have loved better graphics to show the content of the folder (spoiled by Apple, are we?). Once you log into your Google, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter accounts on the phone through the Social Hub app, you get to choose whether you want to sync the contacts from these accounts with your contact tab or not. Then you can see the latest activity and the photos of the contact in one go itself. However, viewing photos on these networks has to be done through the browser, despite the Social Hub app. The menu too is distributed on various panes and you can take the number up to 10 here as well. A simple drag and drop function works well for the editing process. Task managing capabilities also include task ending and there is also support for push notifications for e-mails as well as app updates. As far as connectivity goes, the device comes with Wi-Fi along with Wi-Fi Direct, which allows you to share content over Wi-Fi.

125.9 mm

www.mymobile.co.in

tech specs Size | 125.9 x 64.2 x 9.9 mm

64.2 mm

Price: Rs 19,600

It also comes with voice recognition support along with NFC, although the latter has not been put to use as yet. For e-mail the phone comes with Exchange ActiveSync support along with pre-loaded settings for Hotmail, Google and Yahoo! Mail. You can set up other POP and IMAP accounts too. To compete with the popular chat apps like BBM, Samsung has introduced its own ChatOn application. Once you register with you mobile number, the app scans your contacts and detects other people using this app and allows you to connect to them. The browser comes with full Flash support and multi-touch capabilities. You can open multiple windows and easily toggle between them. Kinetic scrolling works well.

Media pleasure The Samsung Wave III comes with a 5.0-megapixel camera supported by a LED flash. The pictures taken in all the conditions are acceptable and the flash works in low light. The camera comes with macro focus mode, blink detection, panorama and smile shot along with the usual colour effects, ISO, exposure metering, etc. The pictures can be geo-tagged too. The interface is simple and you can toggle

between video and still, flash, front and back camera from the viewfinder itself. The tab on the right can be hidden or pulled out with a tap. There is no hardware shutter release key which is a disappointment as it would have made taking pictures easier. The phone is capable of capturing 1280x720 resolution videos and the video quality is good too. Videos cannot be geo-tagged, though. On the music front, the player sorts music on the basis or artistes and albums. There are equaliser presets and effect settings. The 5.1 channel works only in the headphones and while the sound didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t make us jump with joy, it was acceptable. The FM radio comes with a simple dial like interface and you can add your favourites on the homescreen itself. As far as video playback goes, the phone easily played 1080p videos. Needless to say that WiFi Direct and AllShare not only let you play content through other devices but also share it with your fiends online. The phone comes with internal user memory of 1 GB and you can expand it further with a microSD card. The battery life of the phone is impressive - a single charge goes on for more than a day with extensive calling, continuous Wi-Fi for up to 5 hours, e-mail and the usual music and gaming.

Alternatively The Samsung Wave III is priced at Rd 19,600. Other phones that you can consider are the Samsung Galaxy SL at Rs 18,500 and the Nokia 701 at Rs 18,999. n team@mymobile.co.in

verdict Looks

7 9

Features ease of use

perfoRmance

value for money

overall

80%

NOV 15 to DEC 14 2011 MYMOBILE 61

burn test Sony Ericsson Xperia Ray The God of Small Droids

The 3.3 inch

display might seem small,

but packs in a We were surprised to see no dedicated

lot of pixels

camera button in a device with such a good camera

Price: Rs 19,000

Pocket sized.. At a time when most cellphone manufacturers have been trying to come out with large touchscreen displays, Sony Ericsson has gone in the opposite direction and come out with the sleek and relatively small Xperia Ray. Sporting a 3.3 inch display, the Ray is mere 9.4 mm thin, and weighs just around 100 grammes, making it one of the lightest touchscreen smartphones around. And it looks very nice indeed. The front is dominated by the 3.3 inch, 854 x 480, display and below it are two soft keys for Back and Menu, and one semicircular hard key between them for Home, which also glows to show notifications (cool!). The sides are relatively plain with just the volume rocker on one side, and a micro USB port on the other. The top houses a 3.5mm audio jack and the power and screen on/off button, while the back houses the 8.0-megapixel camera and LED flash. All in all, the Xperia Ray looks like a compact, classy device, which is likely to appeal more to the fairer sex for its sheer lightness and relatively small factor, but is smart and sleek enough to be liked by men who are not too attached to large touchscreens as well.

...and a performer too Beneath that rather small form, however, lurks a good deal of power. The Xperia Ray runs on Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) and packs in all the connectivity options you can think of ranging

62 MYMOBILE NOV 15 to DEC 14 2011

from Wi-Fi to Bluetooth to GPS and 3G. A 1 Ghz processor and 512 MB RAM ensure that all apps keep running smoothly on the device. And those who smirk at the relatively small display will be taken aback at just how bright and brilliant it can – it is no super AMOLED – but at 297 ppi, packs in a lot of pixels into a small space, making it excellent for watching videos and browsing the Web (yes, there is support for Flash), although you might find yourself straining your eyes to read some of the smaller fonts. The Ray is relatively lightweight in terms of internal storage – you barely get 300 MB free when you start out – but that is rectified to an extent by a 4 GB microSD card which is part of the package.

Very good multimedia...of course! One of the star performers of the device is the camera, which is also capable of capturing 720p video. It comes with the Exmor R for Mobile CMOS sensor (which we had also seen in the Xperia Arc) and with a host of shooting options including smile and face detection and image stabilisation. And when the colours were right, it pulled off some staggering shots and excellent videos. You can even take 3D shots using the 3D Sweep Panorama feature (you will need a 3D TV to see them, though). However, the LED flash proved unequal to delivering similarly brilliant performance in low life and night conditions. Given how

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Pros  Very compact form factor  Excellent camera  Decent processor and

111 mm

battery life

53 mm good the camera was, we must confess to being a bit bewildered as to why Sony Ericsson did not place a dedicated camera button on the device – touching the screen to take pictures was not always convenient. And this being a Sony Ericsson, the quality of both music and video were as good as ever. We have not been fans on Sony Ericsson’s interface over Android and the Ray does nothing to make us change our views. The Timescape widget where all your messages and social network updates appear as flippable cards is neat but not very practical if you get lots of them every day. The widgets too have some way to go before they can match the ones from HTC and Samsung. A big surprise was the battery life. With such a high resolution and bright display and a camera that begs to be used, we would have been happy to get through a day with a single charge. Imagine our surprise when we did so very easily and even carried on halfway into a second day, with push mail and social networks running merrily and a few hours of calling.

Alternatively The Sony Ericsson Xperia Ray is priced at Rs 19,000. Those looking for a similar specced Android device could think of the Samsung Galaxy S LCD which retails for Rs 18,500 and comes with a larger display, albeit with a 5.0-megapixel camera. Those in love with the small form factor can think of the smaller, but much more modestly configured HTC Wildfire S, which costs only Rs 13,500 but has a lower resolution display and a 5.0-megapixel camera. n team@mymobile.co.in

Cons  Relatively small

display could cramp some users

 No dedicated

camera button

 The UI is not the

greatest

verdict 9

Looks

Features ease of use

perfoRmance

value for money

overall

80%

NOV 15 to DEC 14 2011 MYMOBILE 63

burn test BlackBerry Curve 9360 Curving up for success

Pros

Cons

 Blackberry OS 7

 Battery needs a recharge a day

 Slim and sleek body

 Browser without Flash support

 Relatively affordable

 No video calling

Slim Curves

Phone’s sleek profile makes it stand out in the BlackBerry line-up

The optical trackpad

assists in navigating through the phone

64 MYMOBILE Nov 15 to DEC 14 2011

It will not be an exaggeration to say that Research In Motion, breathed life into its presence with India with the launch of the Curve series. The Blackberry Curve phones were affordable and helped RIM to grow from being a niche enterprise brand to a mass market phenomenon. And now to further reap benefits from this series it has launched the new BlackBerry Curve 9360, which is priced a bit higher than the expected price (blame it on the Dollar, RIM says) but is nonetheless relatively much affordable than the other phones running on the new BlackBerry 7.0 OS. For starters the new Curve has standard BlackBerry looks. A horizontal screen followed by the control keys and the usual QWERTY keypad. But it is one hell of a sleek device that will definitely amaze you considering its predecessors. Its sleek, sharp looks combined with the all black

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Have fun

body have the capability of making it anyone’s object of desire.

Size | 112 x 62 x 14.2 mm

The Curve 9360 comes with a 5.0-megapixel camera and a strong LED flash to provide support for low light photography. In both the cases, we were satisfied with the picture quality though in low light, they did get a bit pixilated. It comes with functions like face detection and image stablisation. You can also capture text using the text focus mode and pictures can be geo-tagged. The highest video resolution that the device can shoot is 640 X 480, which is a bit of a downer considering the fact that most of the smartphones today come with at least 720p recording capabilities. One can use flash for videos but there is no geo-tagging possible. The video recording quality of the device is average. On the upside the phone played 1080p videos with ease. There is a music player which sorts music on the basis of artists, albums and genres. There are equaliser presets and audio boost options for sound enhancement. Speaking of which, the sound quality as well as the loudness through the loudspeaker was great and the same can be said for the headphone experience too. Unfortunately there is no FM radio, which is conspicuous by its absence in BlackBerry devices. Another weak point of the phone was its battery performance. One full charge didn’t clear a day with a couple of hours of games over Wi-Fi, average Web browsing and calling. .

Weight | 130 grams

Alternatively

007 factor

112 mm

Full marks for the fact that the new Curve runs on the latest version of the Blackberry OS (i.e. 7), especially considering the fact that the older phones cannot be upgraded to the new OS. The 800 MHz processor makes it run smoothly, but in some places like the BlackBerry App World, the page loading was a bit slow. The interface has nothing different than what you might have seen or read about in the earlier devices starting from the BlackBerry Torch 9800. The menu tray is stacked at the bottom of the screen with swipable tabs for Favourites, All, Media, Downloads and Frequent. Just swipe the tab up and you can see all the icons listed under every category. The sound profiles can be accessed from the top left and universal search is at the top right and in the centre is the notification bar. The icons are smaller owing to the small screen but with the same colourful streak. However due to the fact that the interface is similar to other touch or touch and type devices of RIM, we at times ended up touching the screen. But no, it’s a pure QWERTY device that has an optical trackpad for navigation and selection. The smallish screen takes away from the browser which does not have Flash support. However, the optical trackpad with virtual cursor makes browsing easier. You can open new tabs and easily switch between them. We tried playing YouTube videos, which played on the native player. Needless to say that extensive E-mail support is BalckBerry’s forte and it doesn’t dissapoint us in this device too. You can either setup an enterprise account or an Internet e-mail account. Documents To Go allows you to create new office documents and open existing ones. Smart Tags and Blackberry Protect come preloaded on the phone. BlackBerry Protect helps a lot especially if you lose your phone as it enables remote data wipe-out. It also helps in backing-up the phone’s data and enables an easier device switch. For connectivity, the device comes with 3G as well as Wi-Fi connectivity options. Although the device also has NFC capability, its use in India is still limited. Despite 3G capability the phone does not have a secondary camera of video calling capability. The Social feeds app combines your SNS activity from Facebook, Twitter along with the subscribed RSS feeds into one window for easier access.

62 mm

tech specs

Memory | 256MB, microSD Battery | Li-Po 1000 mAh Screen | 262,144, colours

The BlackBerry Curve 9360 is available for Rs 19,000 in the market. The Nokia E6 costing Rs 15,800 can be another option. If you wish to stick to BlackBerry then you can also consider the BlackBerry Bold 3, that is priced at Rs 21,000 but runs on the older version (BlackBerry OS 6) and is not upgradable. n team@mymobile.co.in

Talktime/Standby | Upto 5 hours/ Upto 336 hours

verdict

GPRS/3G | Yes/Yes

Looks

Bluetooth/ WiFi | Yes/Yes

Features

Phonebook Capacity | Shared Camera | 5.0 megapixel Frequency | GSM 850/900/1800/1900 Others | Geo-tagging, NFC

Price: Rs 19,000

9 8 9

ease of use perfoRmance

value for money

overall

84%

NOV 15 to DEC 14 2011 MYMOBILE 65

burn test

The interface has been opti− mised for better and more The secondary camera comes in

fluid experience

handy for video calling.

Nokia 701 Feature packed smart Symbian Pros  Symbian Belle OS  1GHz CPU and 512 MB RAM  8GB of inbuilt storage,

microSD expandable

Cons  Browser lacks full Flash

support

 Camera has no auto focus  UI remains tedious to use at

times

Nokia Nokia burning bright “It’s the world’s brightest smartphone,” says Nokia when it describes its new Nokia 701. Well, it’s true when it comes to the technical specs of the screen - 16 million colours nHD ClearBlack TFT LCD display with 1000 nits of brightness. The sunlight legibility is a huge improvement but will it be called a game changer when compared to others in its league? We fear not. It’s good but the awesomeness of the world’s brightest display is missing. That bit apart, we can vouch for the fact that the 701 exudes Nokia strength with a durable glass display and a stainless steel body. But the design will remind you of the previously launched Nokia C7. The 701 has a sleek body, curved edges and the metallic chasis adds to its smooth and sharp looks. It’s a capacitive touchscreen but also has a host of buttons all over its body.

Finger Belle The new OS from Symbian called the Belle is what the 701 runs on. Till now OS improvement has been a slow and steady journey but the changes are commendable and we would say that the evolution is on the right path. There are up to six homescreens and each one of them has a different wallpaper. The

66 MYMOBILE NOV 15 to DEC 14 2011

homescreens can be customized by adding widgets and shortcuts. The moment you tap on an icon, a cross appears at the top right and you can delete one icon at a time. 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, don’t worry, you can create folders in the menu. However for grouping apps, you cannot use the more convenient drag and drop process. You long press on the app, a sub menu opens and then you select the ‘move to folder’ option. The same process is required for moving it to the homescreen too. There is no direct folder creation option on the homescreen. First you will have to create it in the menu and then you can put it on the homescreen. Even if you add the folder to the homescreen, it will still be available in the menu, which is a bit redundant. Another welcome change is the abolishing of the text edit box, which made entering text cumbersome. Now the keypad comes popping up right below the text box. 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 really cannot understand the rationale behind it and it kind of takes away

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Ovi store comes pre-loaded on the phone. The browser comes with Flash Lite support but there is no full Flash support. The interface of the browser is comparatively more intuitive and dynamic. The address bar is at the top and gets hidden once you start browsing. On typing in the address bar, a search for option pops up and you can choose either to use the Google or Bing search engine for the same.

Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fun too

117.2 mm

the full glory of the new interface. Speaking of input, now there is an option of a QWERTY keypad in the portrait mode and you can also shift to an alphanumeric keyboard. In landscape, only the QWERTY option is available. The keys are a bit too slim for comfort in the portrait mode and we kept pressing the wrong keys a lot, but it works fine in the landscape mode. The whole improved functionality along with easier usability makes the 701 comfortable to use but there are still a few things that need to evolve further. For instance, while editing a message for forwarding, one still has to use the side bar scroll and considering that its very thin, the process is very uncomfortable. Input option in the Ovi store is still old school and you have to type in the text box. Pressing the menu key makes all the running tasks get aligned and you can simply end them by pressing the X button. The Social app from Nokia has been integrated in the device and you can set up Facebook and Twitter accounts.

Near you! The 701 is among the first few phones that come with NFC (Near Field Communication) capability. You can tap and exchange content between two NFC phones or pair any other

tech specs Size | 117.2 x 56.8 x 11 mm

56.8 mm

Screen | 16million, colours

NFC enabled device with the phone easily and quickly without having to go through the hassle of switching on Bluetooth, searching devices, etc. There is an Angry Birds preloaded game too, in which after the first five levels the next levels get activated only when you use NFC. There is a NFC tutorial app that shows you how to use NFC through videos.

Talktime/Standby | Upto 17 hours/

Making it work

Weight | 131 grams Memory | 8GB, microSD Battery | Li-Po 1300 mAh

Upto 504 hours GPRS/3G | Yes/Yes Bluetooth/ WiFi | Yes/Yes Phonebook Capacity | Shared

Being a smartphone, the 701 comes with its usual set of features like e-mail support for POP, IMAP accounts along with pre-loaded settings for many Indian clients like Sify, Net4india, etc. Needless to say that there is Exchange support too on the phone. On the other hand, only a QuickOffice viewer version is available and to be able to create MS Office files you will have to buy an upgrade.

The phone has a music player, FM radio and a fixed focus 8.0-megapixel camera. The music player interface is pretty much same as we have seen in earlier Symbian^3 devices. There are the usual equalisers and options for loudness and stereo widening. The loudness of the speakers did not impress us much but the sound quality was good. There is an FM radio with RDS support along with an FM transmitter. The video player on the phone easily played 1080 p videos. The 701 comes with a 8.0-megapixel fixed focus camera and with a dual LED flash for shooting in darker surroundings. The camera interface has been changed a bit and now you get five shortcuts for back, flash mode, focus, more options and menu at the bottom of the view finder. There is a hardware as well as touch shutter release key along with the still and video toggle mode. You also get options like face detection, self timer and other settings. The camera churns out decent images and videos ( 720p videos can be shot at 30 fps). The phoneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 8 GB built-in memory can be expanded further, via microSD (not hot-swappable, alas). The battery performance is good. - we got past a day with no problems at all.

Alternatively The Nokia 701 is priced at Rs 18,999. You can also opt for the Samsung Galaxy SL costing Rs 18,50,0, although that runs on Android. n team@mymobile.co.in

verdict Looks

7 9

Features ease of use

Camera | 8.0 megapixel

perfoRmance

Frequency | GSM 850/900/1800/1900

value for money

Others | NFC connectivity

Price: Rs 18,999

overall

80%

NOV 15 to DEC 14 2011 MYMOBILE 67

burn test BlackBerry Torch 9860 RIM

gets into touch territory again

minimized mode, you can see just the first row of icons and need to pull it up to see the whole app tray. The icons have been given a colourful touch which we have seen before and the interface is pretty smooth and intuitive. This is further assisted with the presence of the track pad. In the Contacts mode, apart from

nectivity. The Browser on the phone comes with multi-touch support but lacks Flash. The mouse cursor that can be easily controlled using the trackpad offers great convenience, and the interface is minimalist and easy to use. The input method consists of a QWERTY keypad both in the portrait and landscape

A new Torch Though BlackBerry is known best for its QWERTY devices, it has also been making its way into the touchscreen segment. Its earlier endeavours on the touch front were literally Stormy and did not hit the jackpot, but the Torch series seems to be getting accepted by the touch and type enthusiasts. The latest in the Torch series is the BalckBerry Torch 9860 which is a complete touch phone with a 3.7-inch capacitive touchscreen. To further enhance the navigation, an optical trackpad has been added along with four hardware keys on each side. Though the microSD card slot is under the battery cover, you can easily hotswap it. The overall build of the phone is sturdy, although the front panel is a finger print magnet making you wipe the screen quite often.

Price: Rs 27,700

The last station The Torch 9860 runs the new BlackBerry OS 7, which is also expected to be the last upgrade before RIM migrates to QNX platform for its smartphones. Since it requires better hardware to run, upgrading the older versions of the OS is out of the question. Despite being a complete touch device, the interface of the phone is the same as seen in other non-touch BalckBerry 7 OS devices. The top of the screen gives access to quick settings and device options, below it is the profile, notification and universal search button, and at the bottom lies the app tray with five classifications namely Frequent, Favourites, Media, Downloads and All. In the

the usual details, you can also choose to view the contactâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s recent activity on BlackBerry Messenger, Facebook, e-mail, etc. Speaking of which, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a no-brainer that the Torch comes with support for all prominent e-mail clients and you can also opt for enterprise services on the device. Needless to say, you need to subscribe to BlackBerry services to be able to use Internet or e-mail on the phone. As far as connectivity is concerned, apart from 3G, the Torch also offers Wi-Fi con-

68 MYMOBILE NOV 15 to DEc 14 2011

mode. Well, it left us wanting for bigger keys because, either way the keys were a bit small. The social feeds apps combines all your activity on Gtalk, Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo! Messenger, BBM, and Windows Live Messenger into one window along with the subscribed RSS feeds. You can choose which one to keep and which to drop. The Documents to Go office suite that comes preloaded on the phone lets you create and edit MS Office documents.

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Cons

Pros

 No video calling support

 Good touch interface

 No NFC support

 Optical trackpad for navigation

 Web browser is sans Flash support

120 mm

 BlackBerry OS7

verdict Looks

Features

ease of use

perfoRmance

value for money

62 mm Capacitive touch of the phone is comfortable to use

overall

80%

The Torch 9860 comes with the standard BlackBerry functionality that caters to our work needs efficiently. We just wish the interface could have been tweaked a little to make things more interesting. There is also no NFC capabilty on the phone, unlike the other new BB7 devices.

Fun wanted The Torch 9860 is not all work. The phone

The optical track− pad gives opti−

mum navigation support

comes with a 5.0-megapixel camera with an LED flash, with features like face detection, geo-tagging, continuous shot, etc. The convenience key is set by default as a shutter release key but you can always use a soft key too. The picture quality of the phone is acceptable though we did find the colour to be a bit pale. The Torch can capture videos at 1280 x 720 resolution and the quality is good. You can opt for image stablisation and video light for

shooting videos. The video player on the device comes with DivX and XviD support along with support for almost all popular video formats. For the music lover, there is just the music player and no FM radio. Songs get sorted on the basis of artistes, albums, and genres. Sound quality is very good - a pleasant surprise. For sound enhancements, the Torch comes with headset music equalisers and audio boost features. The usual suspects like the BlackBerry App world, BlackBerry Messenger are present to offer the trademark BlackBerry experience. The phone is also capable of offering HSDPA speeds of up to 14.4 Mbps and HSUPA speed of up to 5.76 Mbps, and comes with 2.5 GB internal memory, and a 1.2 GHz processor. Battery however barely lasted a day, which was not up to BlackBerry standards.

Alternatively The Torch 9860 is priced at Rs 27,700. You can also opt for Sony Experia Arc costing Rs 27,500. n team@mymobile.co.in

NOV 15 to DEC 14 2011 MYMOBILE 69

burn test HTC RADAR Windows

Phone 7.5 arrives in style

Active tiles

bring a lot of

Pros

functionality

to the homescreen

 Windows Phone 7.5 OS  Camera takes good quality

pictures

 Fast performance due to 1 Ghz

processor

Cons  No expandable memory option  No cut-paste option  Browser does not have Flash

support

Price: Rs 23,990 The physical camera key is a welcome addition

70 MYMOBILE NOV 15 to DEC 14 2011

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5.0-megapixel camera takes

We will be blunt - our HTC Radar unit turned heads, with its white build and trademark metal unibody from HTC. Its 3.8 inch display, along with the white and silver combination make it stand apart. Interestingly, the silver band at the bottom of the screen under the three capacitive touch keys for Back, Menu and Search gives it a feel of a slider, which actually it is not. The phone is sleek and as far as overall looks go, it is definitely among one of the best looking phones in the market.

Mango pickle HTC Radar runs on the newly launched Windows Phone 7.5 OS a.k.a Mango. This is Microsoft’s new endeavour to challenge the Android and iOS supremacy in the market. Unlike in its Android handsets, there is no HTC Sense UI here. The Radar uses Windows Phone 7’s default Metro UI. The tiles interface of the home screen is finger friendly and the introduction of live tiles bring a lot of information on to the homescreen. The interface primarily uses side swipe where swiping on the right of the homescreen brings one to the Menu where apps are listed alphabetically. In the People tab too, swiping sideways reveals new activities by the contacts, recently accessed contacts and all the contacts. The tab comes with Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter integration so you can see all the social activity in one tab. The calendar has Facebook integration that automatically integrates events from your Facebook account. There is multitouch support for the picture gallery as well as the browser, which unfortunately does not come with Flash support. However the video player is able to play videos from sites like YouTube. As far as the e-mails go, the device comes with support for Microsoft Exchange along with other popular POP and IMAP accounts. It comes with pre-loaded settings for Windows Live, Outlook (Exchange and office 365), Yahoo! Mail and Gmail. If you have configured multiple accounts, you can simply link them and create one linked inbox to access all e-mails at one go. Not all is rosy, though. We did not like the unlock screen process, which forced us to unlock the screen first and then accept a call. And while it was nice to see copy and paste come to Windows Phone, we missed cut and paste. Then there was multi-tasking - we could see tasks, but not end them (shades of Android?). For connectivity, the phone has Wi-Fi apart from the usual 3G. You can create

Wi-Fi hotspots and share it with up to five people. There is Bluetooth connectivity for wireless headsets but file transfer is still not supported on the phone. The Microsoft Office suite lets you create and edit office documents and you can also save them in the cloud for anytime, anywhere access. For input there is an onscreen QWERTY keypad that is easy to use be in portrat mode or landscape. The Bing search engine comes with both voice as well as visual search., but let us down frequently while scanning text in visual search mode, often giving us only the ‘translate’ option. It didn’t even recognize the word ‘Microsoft’ as text, which proves it ain’t perfect yet.

good quality pictures

Entertainment menu The Radar has a 5.0-megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash that took good pictures in both light and dark conditions. There are features like face detection, burst shot, panorama shot along with various scenes and effects options. The interface is simple - zoom, front/back toggle and video still toggle buttons are given on the viewfinder itself and rest of the settings are on a slide-out scrollable tray. A dedicated camera key is a great addition as it makes picture taking easier. As far as videos go, the camera is capable of taking 720p videos, which are of reasonably good quality. On the music front, the phone has to be synced with Microsoft’s Zune software to transfer music and videos. Since there is no mass storage mode, you will have to depend on that and that alone for getting your tunes on the device. You can also create ringtones from the music stored in your PC but that is a very lengthy and cumbersome process. There is a connected media option using which you can steam content over Wi-Fi. The sound quality through the loudspeaker is good and the same can be said for the headsets. Thankfully, the device comes with FM radio - a feature that is still conspicuously absent from a number of smartphones. The reception is good and the interface is simple to use. The Radar comes with a built-in memory of 8 GB but it cannot be expanded further. We had our doubts about the battery but despite extensive usage it gave pretty good results, comfortably lasting more than a day with push mail running and a few hours of calls.

Alternatively The HTC Radar costs Rs 23,900 in the market. The other option that you can consider is the Samsung Galaxy S+ priced at Rs 22,787, which however runs on Android n team@mymobile.co.in

120.5 mm

Signal good looks

61.5 mm

verdict 9

Looks Features

ease of use

perfoRmance

value for money

overall

86%

NOV 15 to DEC 14 2011 MYMOBILE 71

burn test Samsung Galaxy Note N7000 Handwriting Returns – Note It!

Super AMOLED screen offers a brilliant visual experience

It’s a Phablet Samsung has just added a new number to display sizes, combining the qualities of both phone and a tablet. Touted as the new product category (we call it the “phablet”), the Galaxy Note comes with a 5.3 inch Super AMOLED 800 x 1280 pixels screen, and a stylus. The design of the Note is sleek and slim but the screen does tend to be a fingerprint magnet. The back panel hosts a 8.0 megapixel camera with a LED flash and has a textured back panel. At the bottom of this lies the stylus, comfortably embedded into the phone’s chassis. Since it has the calling function we would call it a phone, but unlike its 7.0 inch brethren, it also has a built in speaker so you don’t have to use headphones or Bluetooth headsets all the time. However, unless you have large hands, we would suggest avoiding long conversations by holding the device to your ears. All in all, it looks good. And smart, in best Samsung tradition.

Pen-ultimate! One of the Galaxy Note’s touted strengths is the functionality built around the stylus, called the S Pen. Apart from the usual virtual QWERTY keypad, the Note offers handwriting recognition. Once you select it in the Message editor, Polaris Office or even S Memo, you can simply scribble yourself to glory on a special area on the screen, which gets transcribed into text. As far as S Memo goes, you can draw, write, add pictures and voice to the memos that you create. The stylus comes with a button, pressing which and then tapping on the screen lets you take a screen shot. You can also add elements to that picture and import it to S Memo. The pen also has some gesture control for navigation as well as accessing the menu. The memos that you create in the S Memo can also be linked to S Planner but you need to sync your Google calendar to make that happen. In the memo,

72 MYMOBILE nov 15 to dec 14 2011

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Cons

Pros  Android 2.3

 Too big for taking calls

 Handwriting feature using

 Stylus utility limited to a few

stylus

 1.4 GHz dual core processor

apps

 Expensive

Upto 100 hours

Note-able multimedia

there is a convert to text mode where whatever you write gets converted and you can easily copy and paste it on to any other application. The accuracy level however is a bit on the lower side. There is an S Planner that allows you to carry out advanced task planning. Finally, there is the S Choice that is a listing of a number of apps using the S Pen.

Droid doer The Note runs on the latest version of Android, 2.3, with Samsung’s TouchWiz 4.0 UI

Price: Rs 34,500

146.9 mm

Talktime/Standby | Upto 6 hours/

on top of it. There are multiple homescreen panels, which can be customised. There is support for popular e-mail clients, along with Microsoft Exchange. In a neat touch, you get a split-screen view for viewing e-mails, with mails listed on one side of the screen, and a preview of the highlighted mail on the other – a feature generally seen in tablets. The Social Hub combines all the SNS and e-mail activity into one, with support for Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. The browser comes with full Flash support and you can use gesture control to zoom in and out. The S Pen is handy in both the photo and video editor, letting you add elements to both. As far as the connectivity goes, the device comes loaded – 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS are all present. There is also Wi-Fi Direct to share content between two Wi-Fi devices. Polaris Office comes preinstalled on the phone and allows you to create and edit office files. Thanks to its 1.4 GHz dual core processor, the performance of the device is snappy.

83 mm music, it had enough juice to last a day.

Alternatively The Samsung Galaxy Note is available for Rs 34,500. The only worthy alternative we can think of is the HTC Flyer which costs Rs 37,000 and also packs in a stylus, although with a larger screen size (7 inches). n team@mymobile.co.in

The Galaxy Note comes with a 8.0 megapixel autofocus camera with features like blink detection, anti-shake, Smile Shot and Share Shot where the latter uses Wi-Fi Direct. For self portraits, there is a secondary camera. The quality of pictures and videos (you can shoot full HD videos) is impressive. As far as playback goes, the Note can easily play full HD video and comes with TV Out functionality, although that needs a separate adaptor. On the music front, there is a music player as well as FM Radio. Sound quality is good. The Note comes with 16 GB of internal memory which can be expanded further using a micsoSD card. The 2500 mAh battery gives a decent battery backup. After four hours of video streaming over Wi-Fi, one hour of

verdict Looks

Features

8 9

ease of use

perfoRmance value for money

overall

80%

nov 15 to dec 14 2011 MYMOBILE 73

headon

The Stylus The stylus may have been declared dead by some out with devices that use it, showing that there is life Note against each other to see which digital pen-bearer

f you are one of those who likes to wield a stylus while using a touchscreen, you will have two major devices to choose from - the HTC Flyer and the Samsung Galaxy Note. Both of them run Android Gingerbread. While the Flyer is categorised as a tablet, Samsung insists the Note defines a new product segment. Which is the better device for digital pen pushers looking for a constantly-connected device that is portable enough but with a big display? We put them both in the ring to find out.

Winner: Samsung Galaxy Note

Looks, design and usability

Both the devices have a strong battery performance. We streamed four hours of videos over Wi-Fi on both devices and their batteries just drained to half and were still good enough for normal usage for the rest of the day. The HTC Flyer has a larger 4000 mAh battery but it does get drained by a bigger display as compared to the Note’s 2500 mAh one. Winner: Draw

Both the HTC Flyer and the Samsung Galaxy Note are good-looking devices. The Flyer is bigger, thanks to its larger display and at 420 grams is a tad bit too heavy for comfort. On the other hand the Galaxy Note is lighter, smaller and more compact for usage on the go. The stylus of the Flyer has to be kept seperately where as in the Note there is a slot within its body to house it, making it easier to manage. Winner: Samsung Galaxy Note

Processor and OS Both the devices run on the latest Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) operating system. But when it comes to the processor power, the Flyer’s 1.5 GHz single core processor is pitted against the 1.4 GHz dual core processor of the Galaxy Note. This is further enhanced by a 400MP graphics processor. It is obvious, that when it comes to heavy graphic hungry apps, the Note is better equipped to offer a smooth experience. However, in the normal functioning, the difference in the performance is not noticeable. Winner: Samsung Galaxy Note

Display The Flyer has a 7.0-inch LCD capacitive touchscreen with 16 million colours. So yes, it is bigger in size and gives one more real estate to work on but it gets thoroughly outclassed in terms of brilliance by the Note’s Super AMOLED screen which has a 285 ppi pixel density as compared to the Flyer’s about 170 ppi. Even in terms of resolution, the Note beats the Flyer, offering 800 x 1280 against 600 x 1024. While the 600 x 1024 pixels. Yes, it was easier to use the stylus on the Flyer, but it was comfortable enough on the Note as well, which is why we will go with the latter.

74 MYMOBILE nov 15 to dec 14 2011

User Interface While the Note comes with Samsung’s TouchWiz 4.0 UI, the HTC Flyer offers the Sense UI to its users and scores its first win in the contest. For all TouchWiz’s features, the Sense UI has proven itself to be a very fluid, competent, and most importantly, a very easy to use interface. Winner: HTC Flyer

Battery Performance

Connectivity While both devices have support for Wi-Fi, GPS and 3G, the Note steals a massive march over the

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Face-Off tech pundits, but both HTC and Samsung have come yet in it. We pit the HTC Flyer and Samsung Galaxy comes out the stronger Sonia Sharma Flyer by actually letting you make phone calls from it, that too without having to mess around with headphones. Yes, it is a bit wide, but is still very usable for brief phone calls, thanks to its relatively light weight and smaller form factor. Winner: Samsung Galaxy Note

Multimedia features The Samsung Galaxy Note has a 8.0-megapixel camera at the back and a 2.0-megapixel camera in the front. The main camera is capable of capturing 1080p videos. The Flyer has a 5.0-megapixel primary camera and a 1.3-megapixel secondary one, with the main one capable of capturing 720p videos. It also lacks the Note’s FM radio and TV Out functionalities. No competition. Winner: Samsung Galaxy Note

Handwriting features The HTC Flyer uses the Scribe technology. In normal mode, if you touch the stylus to the screen it takes a screenshot immediately, which you can draw upon. Apart from that you can use the Notes app that uses your Evernote account to create multi-

media notes and here too the stylus comes in handy. However, handwritten notes do not get converted into text and if you share them, the receiver gets a picture of your scribble. You cannot use the stylus to edit documents but can use it as a highlighter for your e-book and add notes or write on them. The Samsung Note offers a wider range of handwriting features. If you don’t wish to use the keyboard, you can use the handwriting part for input. In S Notes, the stylus lets you create pictures similar to what HTC does and here too you can add various elements from the browser, maps, etc. The S Notes app also lets you convert handwritten stuff into text although its not very accurate. Apart from that it lets you use third party apps like Skitch. Winner: Samsung Galaxy Note

Stylus Power The Scribe pen with the HTC Flyer is ergonomically designed and has two buttons - one to activate the highlighter mode and the second for an eraser mode. This makes it extremely useful, although it has to be carried separately. On the other hand, the pen of Samsung Note reminds us of the old school styluses and is a bit small for comfort, although there is a button on the stylus that lets you take screenshots and some gesture controls for navigation and accessing menus. Winner: HTC Flyer

Price The HTC Flyer is priced at Rs 37,000 in the market whereas the Samsung Galaxy Note is available for about Rs 34,500. We honestly think both are priced on the expensive side. However, if asked to pick between the two, we would go with the more powerful Galaxy Note. Winner: Samsung Galaxy Note

Conclusion On paper, this seems like a massacre, with the Galaxy Note winning easily. However, that the Flyer wins on both stylus quality and interface, and its larger display also will end up serving as a better ‘pad’ for a stylus than the Note’s relatively smaller affair. Our conclusion therefore is that those looking for the more portable and powerful device should go for the Galaxy Note, but if a larger screen, good interface and solid stylus quality matter, then the HTC Flyer is very much your device. n sonia@mymobile.co.in

nov 15 to dec 14 2011 MYMOBILE 75

in focus

Rocking the Dance Floor Quietly! The noise element of open air or outdoor parties is soon going to be passé as silent parties become the trend, abiding by the laws and rules against loud music late at night. All thanks to Bluetooth Harshita Rastogi

t seemed like a usual Saturday night with another invitation to go clubbing at a famous lounge/nightclub in the capital. Proceeding towards the venue, we noticed an odd silence, rather than the typically loud music that surrounds most clubs. Once there, we saw the disco floor dazzling in shimmering and colourful laser and mercury lights, people around were in their best attires for the night and

still silence”, says Nakul Kapoor, an attendee of one such party.

Look, ma – no loud music!

“The relatively new concept of the silent party has caught the attention of many people for its unique style of partying, where everybody dances to listening to songs on wireless headphones instead of a sound system—a dance party sans big buffers and amplifiers!” says Siddharth Suman, the DJ for that night at the club, AI Lounge in Saket. The bug of technology and mobility has

jumping madly and dancing on the dance floor...and there is not a note of music to be heard. Somebody approaches us with a set of headphones – welcome to the era of the silent party, where all the music comes through Bluetooth headsets and not blaring speakers. “This is a night when one of the roof tops of the famous nightclub of the city is buzzing with people tapping their feet on to the dance floor. And there is

eventually bitten the party circuit in India of late—call it the outcome of the restrictions put on the time limit till when one can play music on loud and raised condi-

76 MYMOBILE NOV 15 to DEC 14 2011

tions or the pitch at which music can be played in open spaces or the itchy brain of the DJs that call for a change in style. The Silent party, also known as the headphone or Bluetooth party, is the new in the genre of the concepts for partying in style.

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Dance the night away... in silence As the name suggests, the silent party has all the attendees endorsing a set of customised wireless headsets distributed by the organisers. These headsets are connected to the music system via Bluetooth and thus, pick the music broadcast with FM transmitters through signals. Usually the participants are given an option to choose from the three DJs, competing at the deck, simultaneously playing different kinds of music. The listeners have to select the one they like or can keep on shuffling them. “The attendees are given a set of customized headsets when they enter the venue. The Bluetooth enabled headset gives an option to the user to switch between the two to three channels being played by the DJs playing different kind of music. This gives people the liberty to hitch up to the DJ of their choice without changing the venue,” explains Siddharth. “Also, this offers a comparatively quiet surroundings for those who wish to make a conversation, as there isn’t much sound to interrupt.”

Beat the blues The latest in clubbing trends, the silent party allows party lovers to go into a frenzy without troubling their neighbours or generating noise pollution, even while adhering to legal norms

The latest in clubbing trends, the silent party allows party lovers to go into a frenzy without troubling their neighbours or generating noise pollution, even while adhering to legal norms about the playing of loud music about the playing of loud music. The idea originated in Europe more than a decade ago but has only made its way to Indian shores over the past two years. “It was initially used as fun idea during festivals in Europe. However, it came as a savior in the nation after the reinforcement of the laws regarding the Noise Pollution Act that had become stringent especially after 10 pm,” explains Justin Mason, the creator of the Silent Noise, a famous group that holds such parties at the Neptune’s Point in Goa and now, across the country. One of the initiators of the trend in India, Mason adds:“It became a major issue to cope with the strict laws especially in a place like Goa, where tourists come to have a fun and relaxing time. This is when we brought in the idea of experimenting with

the European concept of silent partying in open spaces. Open air clubbing with Bluetooth enabled headsets has revolutionised outdoor clubbing, especially in a place like Goa, and will continue to grow and evolve in other major cities as well. With the success of it here and rising popularity, we have recently started monthly events in Pune,

Bangalore and Jaipur.”

Not all plain sailing

Silent parties are not easy to organise, though. Organisers have to arrange for a perfect type of headset that remains light on weight and provides best sound quality. Also, this technology does not come cheap. Moreover, people coming in groups feel that if everyone is tuning in to a different DJ, it becomes difficult to connect with each other and limits the fun. Portability is another factor that comes in the

way of arranging these events – one has to carry hundreds of headsets from one place to another. But in spite of all these challenges, silent parties seem to be making their presence felt in the party circuits of major cities. So next time you hear of one such gig happening in your city, do try and make it to experience a new way of clubbing. It puts music where it really belong– in your ears, and not those of the people who do not want to listen to it, or are hassled by it. n harshita@mymobile.co.in

NOV 15 to DEC 14 2011 MYMOBILE 77

spot light

NTP 2011:

A Ray of Hope?

anaging the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s second largest telecommunication market can be quite a task. And in a politically charged country like India, it requires a delicate balance of both commercial and political objectives of the stakeholders. Moreover, with the ongoing

scam storm in the telecom arena, all eyes are glued to what will the new telecom policy put forth with a dual objective of salvaging what is left of the UPA regime and to streamline the growth in the telecommunication sector and give it a new direction. National telecom policies have always

78 MYMOBILE NOV 15 to DEC 14 2011

played a crucial role in deciding the direction of growth for the industry. In 1994, the first National Telecom Policy (NTP) was created to give the required thrust to the weak telecom sector. The policy defined certain important objectives including availability of telephone on demand, provision of world class services

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The latest draft of National Telecom policy 2011 promises a new world of telecommunication by floating ideas like “one nation free roaming.” But will it really change the face of the country’s telecom market? Heena Jatav and Waseem Ansari at reasonable prices, ensuring India’s emergence as a major manufacturing export base of telecom equipment and universal availability of basic telecom services to all villages. Five years down the line, the NTP 1999 focused on the further development of this industry. Availability of affordable and effective communication for the citizens was at the core of its vision. It is also worth mentioning that in this NTP, one of the key objectives was the efficiency and transparency in spectrum management. And while these two policies came within years of each other, it has been more than a decade since the government realised the need of a new telecom policy, especially in the face of the boom that the industry had been experiencing. The incidents and scams in recent times, however, seem to have woken up the authorities. The result - the first draft of the National Telecom Policy 2011.

circle mobile number portability (MNP) facility. If implemented properly, this is a welcome move. On the other hand the current status of support for services like MNP and the kind of problems subscribers face while porting still remains a huge concern. Another area of concern is that if there are no roaming charges and the STD and local differentiation is removed, operators might end up losing a revenue of up to $ 400 million, as per some industry analysts. Which is why it would be premature for consumers to start cheering. The inter circle MNP regime is also expected to add to the woes of the operators,

Potential for consumer cheer!

The draft of new NTP 2011 unveiled by Minister of Human Resources and Development, Communications and Information Technology, Kapil Sibal is expected to help the slowing Indian Telecom sector which has been going through a rough patch of late. The draft seems more consumer-friendly but how much of it will actually be converted to reality is the big question. One of the biggest highlights of the draft NTP is the proposed abolishing of roaming charges and free inter

NOV 15 to DEC 14 2011 MYMOBILE 79

Spot light

who have seen a significant churn in the subscriber base due to the current MNP policy. Apart from doing away with the roaming charges and free inter circle MNP, the policy also talks about providing high speed and quality broadband access to rural India. The objective is to achieve 175 million broadband connections by the year 2017 and 600 million by the year 2020. Taking wireless broadband high speed services like 3G to every nook and cranny of the country will require a lot of effort both on infrastructure as well as the consumer education front. Additionally, high cost of services and lack of quality 3G devices in the affordable category create significant hurdles that need to be addressed to achieve this objective. There is also a proposal to strengthen the grievance consumer redressal mechanism. Again a great thought considering the pathetic condition of the whole customer care and grievance redressal system, but there is still no clarity on how the new norms will be better than their predecessors.

Push to the sector

The NTP draft is not just about consumers. It proposes to encourage manufacturing in India to turn it into a global hub for telecom manufacturing, and aims to have 80 per cent of telecom networks to be domestically manufactured by 2020. “Indian manufacturers may be

There is also a proposal to strengthen the grievance consumer redressal mechanism. Again a great thought considering the pathetic condition of the whole customer care and grievance redressal system, but there is still no clarity on how the new norms will be better than their predecessors happier because the government has proposed potential market access for them. This is something which may not be necessarily welcomed by international players and may create some level of discomfort amongst them,” Mahesh Uppal, director, ComFirst, points out. There are also plans to recognise telecom as an infrastructure sector, which will to a large extent solve the problem of illegal tower erections and provide more facilities and help to operators in order to be able to erect an efficient infrastructure for better services Spectrum, something that can be loosely held responsible for the creation of this draft, is also an important aspect of the NTP. Among the ideas intended to improve transparency

80 MYMOBILE NOV 15 to DEC 14 2011

in spectrum allocation and management are vacating 300 MHz of spectrum for commercial telephony by 2017 and additional 200 MHz by 2020, allowing sharing, pooling, trading of spectrum and the formulation of a ‘Spectrum Act’ to handle the nitty gritties of this segment. Consolidation of the sector with relaxed merger and acquisition norms, promoting green technology and reducing carbon footprint, and regulation of the VAS segment are other important aspects that are being proposed in the NTP 2011 draft.

NTP – the operators speak

Due to the roaming, MNP and One India One Tariff clauses, the NTP draft has left a bitter taste in the mouths of cellular service providers. However, considering the fact that there are a few constructive pro-operator proposals too, the overall response to the draft has been encouraging with a hope that the final policy will be much more tilted towards the stakeholder than the consumer. Bharti Airtel, the leading telecom operator in the country, in its statement in reaction to the NTP said, “The proposals to provide more spectrum, allow sharing of spectrum and allocation of spectrum through transparent market-based processes are progressive policy decisions, which will provide much needed capacity augmentation to this vital sector.” It further stated, “We look forward to constructive deliberations on

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NTP2011: Highlights For consumers n Abolish roaming charges n Free inter circle Mobile Number Portability n Strengthen grievance redressal mechanisms and consumer protection act n Broadband speeds to be revised to 512 kbps & further to 2 Mbps by 2015 & 100 Mbps by 2020 n Protect consumer interest by promoting informed consent, transparency and accountability in quality of service, tariff, usage etc

For devices and manufacturing n To promote R&D & product development in telecom n To make India a global hub for telecom equipment manufacturing and for VAS n Increase rural tele-density from 35% to 60% by 2017 and to 100% by 2020 n 80% of telecom networks to be domestically manufactured by 2020

For spectrum and services n To ensure adequate availability of spectrum and its allocation in a transparent manner n Make available additional 300 MHz spectrum for IMT services by the year 2017 and another 200 MHz by 2020 n To achieve 175 million broadband connections by the year 2017 and 600 million by the year 2020 n To frame an appropriate Exit Policy for the licencees n Delink the licensing of networks from the delivery of service to the end users to facilitate faster roll out of services across the country n Allow sharing of networks n To delink spectrum in respect of all future licences n To allow sharing of networks and delink the licensing of networks from the delivery of service to the end users to facilitate faster roll out of services across the country

For the industry n Address the Right of Way issues in setting up of telecom infrastructure n Relaxed M&A norms to allow consolidation n Recognizing telecom as infrastructure sector n To promote the use of energy efficient equipment and devices in telecom networks n Reduction of carbon footprint in the telecom sector.

the draft policy proposals and hope that the final policy will provide a level playing field, encourage more investment in the sector particularly in rural areas and for broadband and ensure the longterm sustainability and viability of the sector. CDMA player MTS also expressed optimism about the NTP, stating: “The strong focus to make affordable and reliable broadband available on demand by 2015 along with one nation, one license regime is a welcome move. To make all this happen, we look forward to the formulation of supporting policies so that more spectrum can be released. Equally significant would be the release of policy details specific to a range of issues including delinking of spectrum and telecom license, allowing of spectrum trading, pooling and sharing and also new M&A guidelines.” “The draft NTP 2011 released is expected to take the country into the next stage of inclusive growth. Idea Cellular will actively participate in the consultation process as the country formulates its new telecom policy. There are several areas that are included in the proposals and we will need to review each of them with our experts, before reverting to the policy maker, with our comments,” commented, Idea Cellular, another leading player in the GSM sector.

Making it work

There is no doubt that the ideas laid out the draft NTP 2011 are great but like all ideas, ihow they will be implemented and how many of them will make it to the final policy is still a big question on every one’s mind. “Today operators are grappling with more substantive and immediate concerns relating to spectrum. The policy has made some positive but general provisions about spectrum. Now how will this get implemented in the real world? The general principle mentioned in the document is right but what impact will happen is not clear and what will be the energy behind these moves is not clear,” avers Uppal. Implementation is very important considering the fact that even today there are a number of policy provisions but are ineffective due to the lack of proper processes to put them to use. Nonetheless, this is just the first draft of the National Telecom Policy 2011 - the final policy is still far and will only be released after due deliberations with the industry. We just hope that the customers too get a representation in these deliberations and once again their cause is not lost to accommodate the interests of those who rub shoulders with the policy makers of the country. If well-begun is half done, then the NTP 2011 has indeed got off to a flying start, but as we all now, good intentions are seldom enough to spark change. Greater challengers, and more drafts, remain. n heena@mymobile.co.in

NOV 15 to DEC 14 2011 MYMOBILE 81

Smart apps

Tips for your trip Prepare for

the Best Holiday Experience Ever

he biggest problem that one faces while going on a trip is to find the right places to visit and the right hotels to live in. Yes, there are a lot of websites online but what if you get an application that can help you but what if you have an application that can get you live information on the go. This is what TripAdvisor does for you. It is a very popular service, which has been there for long but now it is available across platform on iOS, Android, etc. A number of new features is being added too. For instance now its not just about the best hotels, you can also get real time information about the happenings around you. The feature is called 'Near Me Now', which gives you latest information about the happenings around your location. You can also find the best attractions in the city across various categories like guides, spa, landmarks under the ‘Things To Do’ feature. It tells you about the places to stay, eat and see and even hotel or restaurant has the average price and reviews mentioned with the name. A map stays in the background and you can easily checkout the directions to the place. There are a number of forums that you can search for on the basis of destination and topics. Overall it’s a useful application for those who wish to make all the preparations before leaving or those who want to go with the flow after reaching their dream destination. n

Rating

85% 82 MYMOBILE NOV 15 to DEC 14 2011

sonia@mymobile.co.in

We tested it on the Apple iPad2

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Paint the world

Photography + Painting = Fun

drawn, you can always use the undo button rawing is always fun and for but there is no eraser function in the applithe pros on the go, it might Rating cation. Or in case you undo something not always be the case that accidently, there is a redo button too. Once one grabs a paper and pencil to start you have completed your drawing you can sketching, even if you have a flair for share it to social networking sites, online some serious scribbling. So if you ever photo galleries like Picasa and also through get into the mood to express your creativEmail or SMS. Basic shapes such as a circle, ity, all you need is a smartphone and the Skitch square and lines can be added using a tool. If you application. are using a picture, you can crop the desired area It can be downloaded for free from the and then add elements to it or scribble on it. Android market. Once downloaded, you can The overall interface of the application is simeither take a fresh picture, use one in the gallery ple and apart from the advanced settings all the or start with a blank slate. The colours and the other editing options can be accessed from the width of the brush can be easily adjusted and you homescreen itself. If you wish to add some twist can add various elements like arrows, text, etc to to you picture and make them more the template. fun, this is an app for you. n Drawing can be assisted as you can choose to automatically smoothen the ridges of the sonia@mymobile.co.in lines you sketch. There is a hand tool that allows you to move around the elements that you have We tested it on the Samsung Galaxy Note drawn. In case you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t like what you have

82%

NOV 15 to DEC 14 2011 MYMOBILE 83

Smart apps Smooth OperaTor Its Time for A Better Browser

hen it comes to mobile browsers, one name stands out prominently for its sheer efficiency and cost effectiveness and that is Opera. With its wide range of browsers, it serves everyone from low end feature phones to high end smart-

networks and devices and is faster and phones and tablets. The latest from operaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s stables is the Opera Mini 6.5 Rating efficient. To keep a tab on data consumption, a Data Counter has been which now runs on the BlackBerry added that shows how much savings phones, Android devices as well as have you achieved by using Opera the Apple ones. These can be downMini. The text selection has also been loaded for free and once installed, you improved for a better experience. get a very seamless easy to understand The browser is also available J2ME and use browser page. It has nine big icons for and Symbian devices. n various shortcuts which mean that it is pretty touch optimised. All these nine shortcuts can sonia@mymobile.co.in be editied as per your choice. The browser We tested it on the compresses data to optimise it for mobile Samsung Galaxy Note

84 MYMOBILE NOv 15 to DEC 14 2011

85%

boredom buster

Rating

85%

Killer on the loose More undead

killing, more fun

ombies and guns are a great combination, especially if you are using the later to kill the former. Contract Killer is a hit in the mobile gaming arena and those who liked the original will fall right in love with Contract Killer Zombies as well. Yes, you

play as shooter who is a contract killer on a wheelchair and is stuck in a Zombie infested land. You have a partner called Evelyn, who helps you in getting supplies, saving people, etc., while you covrt her back as she runs around. There is a map on which various missions are listed and more appear when you clear the existing ones. Apart from the dollars, you also earn experience points. Both Evelyn and other survivors can get attacked by the zombies and you need to save them before their life lines end. You can shoot the zombies directly or just blow up the explosive

86 MYMOBILE NOV 15 to DEC 14 2011

barrels lying around but they come in a little later. As you kill, you earn points and dollars which you can use to get more weapons. There are various types of missions like getting supplies, saving other survivors, etc. You can toggle between your guns and use the usual swipe gestures to tweak the direction and angles. The graphics, dialogues, music and effects blend together superbly to get you into undead slaughter mode. As you keep achieving the targets the number and types of zombies increase. The game is available for free on the Android Market and once you get comfortable with the whole swipe to aim thing, it proves to be murderously engaging. n

sonia@mymobile.co.in

We tested it on the Samsung Galaxy Note

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after some time you start getting the idea about how to use the magnets. Once a level starts, the longer you take, the lesser your score gets as it keeps reducing while you try to keep the missle on track. In case you canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t get through, there is always an option of taking some help in the form of a hint but in that case your score es, People on my lawn is an alien goes to zero. As you go up the levels, game. But with a twist. Because the complexity increases and some here, you play as an alien of the levels might not be that easy who is trying to ward off human Rating to cross. If you choose to edit your intruders from its premises. And magnet set-up, the whole level to do that, he uses missiles which starts and you lose the progress that have to be directed properly in order you have made till then. There are a to destroy the trespassers. limited number of missiles but they also get Your aim is just to make sure that the replenished if you edit your set-up. While missiles hit the target and to do that you get you get any number of tries on a level, it is to use a fixed number of magnets. The red irritating to lose out the few outsiders that ones attract the missile while the blue ones you kill before you readjust your magnets repel it so it is all about magnetism in this again. The game can be downgame. loaded from BlackBerry App Once you think you have the angle right, World for free. n you just need to hit the Play button and in case your setup turns out to be wrong, you sonia@mymobile.co.in can just hit the Edit button and re-arrange We tested it on the the magnets. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a hit and trial method but Blackberry Playbook

Keep off the grass Or get

toasted

80%

NOV 15 to DEC 14 2011 MYMOBILE 87

boredom buster Aim it right Friends,

fun and games on your handset

f you miss those crazy college parties, then Pong Shot Reloaded is the game for you. Imagine mixing beer with a ping pong ball on a pool table. Yes, a frat party scenario where you get into a competition of throwing balls into your opponents beer glasses and vice versa. You can set the angle of the throw and the power. Once you hit the opponentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s glass he has to drink it up. As the glasses keep going down the difficulty increases and the one who makes the opponentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s glasses disappear first wins. Currently, this is a single person game and you play against AI (Artificial Intelligence). A number of extra points and add-ons keep popping up as you get your aim right. However, there is a time limit to finish the match or you will have to start all Rating over again. 60 seconds for the first level match seem hard enough to finish. You get a manager called Estella, who keeps bringing new challenges for you and even if you play the same level again, the positioning of the glasses changes, keeping the element of surprise intact. Pong Shot reloaded has been developed by Manthan Studios and is available on the Blackberry App World for Rs 49. The graphics of the game are cool and the whole interface has been given a very hip and happening pub like set-up that gels well with the overall game ambience. Good fun, we think. n

85%

sonia@mymobile.co.in

We tested it on the BlackBerry Torch 9810

88 MYMOBILE NOV 15 to DEC 14 2011

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Watery fun It’s Time to Bathe a Crocodile!

e have seen rabbits, parrots, birds, monkeys and many other animals in their cute animated avatars in the mobile games. But could you ever imagine a cute crocodile? If you could not, then go ahead and play Where’s My Water? It is a game by Disney and would make you fall in love with Swampy, the cute and clean crocodile. The goal is simple: among all the crocs in the sewer lines, Swampy wants to have a nice bath with some clean water. All you have to

antics of Swampy the croc while he waits do is to get that water to him by avoiding for the water keep you entertained and obstacles and making way through the mud and sewer walls. In the process Rating you can even touch him to get a different reaction every time. There’s of doing this, you can try to fill three enough here to keep you hooked for ducks with water and once they fill hours, with some levels being a downthey burst, giving you a bonus, and right pain to cross. Disney have struck helping you unlock later levels in the gaming gold with this croc. The game can game. Water has to be delivered as fast as be downloaded from the Apple App Store for possible. As you clear each level, the compliyour iPhone, iPad or iPod cation of the obstacles increase and you might touch (iOS4 or later) for need a lot of permutations and combinations approx. Rs 49 ($ 0.99). Grab to get the water to its destination. There are it, we say. n various stages and each one has 20 levels. The faster you complete a level and the more sonia@mymobile.co.in ducks you fill, the better you score. It’s a strategy game with very cute graphWe tested it on the Apple iPad 2 ics and some really interesting gameplay. The

90%

NOV 15 to DEC 14 2011 MYMOBILE 89

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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:

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

(Rs 6,000 - 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 September 3, 2011)

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

Y MOBILE 91 NOV 15 to DEC 14 2011 MY

myguide MODELS

SUB-ENTRY LEVEL

BYOND

PARAMETERS

CELKON

BY 809

BY 120+

BY 255

BY009

C 770

C777

C007

Dimension (mm)

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 14

114.4 x 51.4 x15.1

110 x 48.6 x 15.5

Weight (grams)

120

Model

Talktime/Standby (hours)

4/240

10/480

4/192

10/240

7/ 550

8/600

8/750

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

NA/1.5

NA/2.0

NA/2.4

NA/2.2

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

NA/2GB

NA/4GB

1016KB/.4GB

NA/16GB

NA/8GB

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

NA/No

Yes/No

Camera/Flash/Video

VGA/No/Yes

1.3MP/No/Yes

Phonebook Capacity

100

1000

500

1000

500

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

Propriety

NA/Yes

Yes/Yes

Bar/No/No

1,249

1,799

2,099

2,399

1,999

2,299

2,399

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 Quad Band/GSM+GSM

PARAMETERS Model

JOSH JB 89

A180

A190

GS 155

Dimension (mm)

106.5 x 45 x 13.75

103.9 x 44.5 x 13.9

Weight (grams)

65.4

17/882

5/150

15/720

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

65,536/1.5

65,536/1.52

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

NA/No

No/No

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

No/No

Camera/Flash/Video Phonebook Capacity Frequency/Dual SIM

Talktime/Standby (hours)

NOKIA 1280

100

107.2 x 45.1 x 15.3

110 x 45.5 x 14.9

81.92

3/72

5/120

8.30/528

7.2/840

262,144/1.5

65,536/1.8

Monochrome/1.36

65,536/1.8

1MB/2GB

650KB/4GB

NA/2GB

NA/No

No/No

Yes/No

No/No

No/No/No

VGA/No/No

Yes/No/Yes

Yes/No/No

No/No/No

300

500

1000

2000

500

Dual Band/No

Dual Band/GSM+GSM

Dual Band/No

NEW

JB 189

NEW

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

No/No/No

Yes/No/No

No/No/No

Operating System

NA/No

Proprietary

Symbian S30

S30

Music Player/FM Radio

No/Yes

Yes/Yes

No/Yes

Bar/No/No

Yes/Yes

Bar/No/No

1,300

1,650

1,900

1,999

2,499

1,050

1,350

GPRS/EDGE/3G

Form Factor/T.Screen/QWERTY Burn test Rating

Price in Rs.

YMOBILE NOV 15 to DEC 14 2011 92 MY

MODELS

NOKIA

PARAMETERS Model

RAGE

101

C1-02

X1-01

C1-01

Dimension (mm)

110 x 45.5 x 14.9

108 x 45 x 13.8

112.2 x 47.3 x 16

108 x 45 x 14

Weight (grams)

69.6

77.5

91.5

78.8

Talktime/Standby (hours)

Robo V

RD 20V

Smart

104.15 x 43.2 x 15.10 104.15 x 43.20 x 15.10 104.15 x 43.20 x 15.10 75

7.2/840

10.4/504

13/1032

10.4/540

4/250

4/300

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

65,536/1.8

NA/1.8

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

NA/No

64MB/32GB

NA/16GB

64MB/32GB

45K/4GB

45KB/4GB

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

No/No

Yes/No

No/No

Yes/No

No/No

Yes/No

Camera/Flash/Video

No/No/No

VGA/No/Yes

No/No/no

Yes/No/Yes

Phonebook Capacity

500

1,000

500

1,000

300

500

Frequency/Dual SIM

Dual Band/No

Dual Band/GSM+GSM

Dual Band/No

No/No/No

Yes/No/No

No/No/No

Yes/No/No

No/No/No

Yes/No/No

S30

Symbian S40

S30

Symbian S40

N/A

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

No/Yes

Yes/Yes

Bar/No/No

1,650

1,800

1,900

2,200

1,249

1,449

1,499

MODELS

Price in Rs.

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

RAGE

PARAMETERS Model

SAMSUNG

GEM

Desire

Striker

Flame

1081

E 1085

E1175

Dimension (mm)

113 x 46 x 14.3

115 x 46.5 x 16

114 x 46 x 16.5

115 x 48 x 14

107.4 x 45.5 x 13.6

108.7 x 46.1 x 14.1

Weight (grams)

100

64.5

Talktime/Standby (hours)

4/300

4.5/300

6/500

4.5/300

9/560

12/650

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

NA/1.8

NA/2

NA/2.0

65,536/1.43

65,536/1.52

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

&/8GB

45KB/4GB

250KB/8GB

1MB/No

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

No/No

Yes/No

No/No

Camera/Flash/Video

Yes/ No/Yes

1.3MP/ No/Yes

No/No/No

Phonebook Capacity

500

300

1,000

500

1,000

Dual 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.

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

Yes/No/No

No/No/No

N/A

Properitory

Proprietary

Yes/Yes

No/Yes

No/No

No/Yes

Bar/No/No

1,549

1,699

1,799

1,000

1,050

1,275

YMOBILE 93 NOV 15 to DEC 14 2011 MY

MODELS

myguide

SAMSUNG

PARAMETERS Model

SKY

UFX

E2230

E2232

3011

STAR i

LIBRA

PLANET

401

Dimension (mm)

109.2 x 46.0 x 14.9

110 x 45 x 12.2

102 x 43 x 15.5

Weight (grams)

85.5

Talktime/Standby (hours)

14.7/660

NA/500

8/700

5/200

7/300

8/300

3/300

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

65,536/1.8

65,536/1.77

65,536/2.0

NA/1.8

262144/2.0

NA/1.8

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

4MB/8GB

20MB/8GB

150KB/4GB

294KB/4GB

100KB/4GB

128MB/2GB

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

Yes/No

Camera/Flash/Video

VGA/No/Yes

1.3MP/No/Yes

Yes/No/Yes

1.3MP/No/Yes

VGA/No/Yes

Phonebook Capacity

1,000

400

500

1,000

Frequency/Dual SIM

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

Dual Band/No

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

GPRS/EDGE/3G

Yes/No/No

Yes/Yes/No

Yes/No/No

Operating System

Properitory

Propriety

Spread Trum

MTK

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

Yes/Yes

Bar/No/No

1,950

2,250

2,499

1,400

1,660

2,400

1,999

MODELS

Price in Rs.

Yes/Yes Bar/No/No

PARAMETERS Model

VIDEOCON

XAGE

Star

Bizz

V1290

M171

M180

M702

M117

Dimension (mm)

107.6 x 45.6 x 12.6

98.5 x 54 x 13.3

100.4 x 44.8 x 14.4

112.5 x 46 x 14.8

105 x 45 x 14

112 x 48 x 13.8

109 X 47 X 9.5

Weight (grams)

Talktime/Standby (hours)

3/120

3/200

4/140

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

65,536/1.8

268,144/2.0

NA/1.44

262,144/1.8

65,536/1.8

262,144/2.4

262,144/2.2

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

64MB/2GB

28MB/4GB

NA/2GB

NA/8GB

NA/2GB

NA/8GB

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

Yes/No

No/No

Yes/No

No/No

Yes/No

Camera/Flash/Video

Yes/No/Yes

No/No/No

Yes/No/Yes

No/No/No

Yes/No/Yes

Yes/Yes/Yes

Phonebook Capacity

200

500

1,000

500

100

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/GSM+GSM Tri Band/GSM+GSM Yes/No/No

Yes/No/No

No/No/No

Yes/No/No

MTK

Yes/Yes

Bar/No/No

Bar/No/Yes

Bar/No/No

1,523

2,199

1,600

1,599

2,099

2,199

2,499

YMOBILE NOV 15 to DEC 14 2011 94 MY

MODELS

ENTRY LEVEL

ZEN

PARAMETERS Model

BYOND

X381s

X400i

M16

BY 260

BY011

BY007

Gamestar

Dimension (mm)

106 X 43 X 14

108 X 44 X 15

109 X 45 X 13

110 x 49 x 11

116.7 x 50 x 14.8

111 x 47 x 14.5

114.3 x 45.5 x 13.6

Weight (grams)

99.9

120

125

120

100

Talktime/Standby (hours)

2.5/180

10/720

4/220

4/240

13/600

10/480

4/400

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

65,536/1.5

65,536/2.0

NA/2.2

NA/2.4

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

No/2GB

NA/4GB

NA/16GB

1016.5KB/4GB

1016KB/4GB

319.5KB/8GB+8GB

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

No/No

No /No

Yes/No

Camera/Flash/Video

No/No/No

1.3MP/No/Yes

2.0MP/No/Yes

1.3MP/No/Yes

3.2MP/No/Yes

2.0MP/No/Yes

Phonebook Capacity

500

1,000

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

Yes/No/No

Propriety

Yes/Yes

Bar/No/No

1,699

1,999

2,499

2,899

2,999

3,299

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

PARAMETERS Model

CELKON

INQ

Mini

Chat

C105

T 300

GX 200

A200

Dimension (mm)

112 x 60 X 12.6

102.9 x 45.8 x 12.8

114.5 x 61 x 12.8

114.5 x 59 x 13

95.8 x 50.5 x 11.9

104 x 48 x 13

99.8 x 51 x 15.8

Weight (grams)

122

Talktime/Standby (hours)

6/450

3.3/260

3.5/285

16/650

8/500

NA/680

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

NA/2.4

262,144/2.2

262,144/2.4

262,144/2.2

262,144/2.4

262,144/2.0

65,536/2.2

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

NA/16GB

50MB/4GB

100MB/4GB

4.7MB/4GB

20MB/4GB

80MB/8GB

128MB/8GB

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

Yes/No

Camera/Flash/Video

3.2MP/No/Yes

2.0MP/No/No

3.2MP/No/Yes

1.3MP/No/Yes

1.3MP/Yes/Yes

2.0MP/No/Yes

Phonebook Capacity

2,000

1,000

Frequency/Dual SIM

Dual Band/GSM+GSM

Quad Band/No

Tri Band/No

Quad band/No

Quad Band/No

Dual Band/GSM+GSM

Quad Band/No

Yes/Yes/No

Yes/Yes/HSDPA

Yes/Yes/No

Yes/No/No

Yes/Yes/No

Generic

Yes/Yes

Yes/No

Yes/Yes

Bar/No/Yes

Bar/No/No

Bar/No/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

Bar/No/No

Slider/No/No

2,999

3,500

5,100

2,800

3,750

3,800

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

Price in Rs.

YMOBILE 95 NOV 15 to DEC 14 2011 MY

MODELS

myguide

PARAMETERS Model

S310

S365

A350

X330

T500

T515

C375

Dimension (mm)

114 x 48.4 x 10.5

117 x 50.9 x 11.5

116 × 53.3 × 12.85

109 x 61 x 13.8

105 x 57.3 x 12.9

113 x 61 x 12.9

Weight (grams)

91.45

77.5

105

Talktime/Standby (hours)

13.5/800

14.5/559

12.5/328

13.5/975

8/720

NA/NA

16/789

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

262,144/2.2

NA/2.4

262,144/2.2

65,536/2.3

262,144/2.8

262,144/2.3

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

14.5MB/8GB

9.7/16GB

256MB/32GB

80MB/8GB

NA/8GB

NA/4GB

78MB/8GB

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

Yes/No

Yes/Yes

Camera/Flash/Video

3.2MP/No/Yes

2.0MP/No/Yes

1.3MP/No/Yes

2.0MP/No/Yes

Phonebook Capacity

1,000

Frequency/Dual SIM

Quad Band/No

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

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

Quad Band/NA

Dual Band/GSM+GSM

Yes/Yes/No

Yes/Yes/HSDPA

Yes/Yes/No

Generic

Yes/Yes

Bar/No/No

Bar/No/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

Bar/No/Yes

3,900

4,100

4,200

4,999

5,000

MODELS

Price in Rs.

Quad Band/No

Yes/Yes/No

PARAMETERS Model

JOSH

GX 300

T310i

EX109

EX 115

Dimension (mm)

116 x 51 x 12.8

95.8 x 51.0 x 11.9

102 x 59.5 x 12.8

109 x 61 x 12.35

Weight (grams)

86.5

102.2

Talktime/Standby (hours)

JT301

NEW

JM500

MOTOROLA

NEW

JB 325

NEW

NA/NA

14/569

3/120

7/240

May-72

8.3/500

3/240

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

65,536/2.2

262,144/2.8

262,144/2.2

262,144/2.0

65,536/2.3

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

30MB/4GB

18MB/4GB

NA/4GB

No/4GB

36KB/4GB

59MB/32GB

50MB/32GB

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

Yes/No

Yes/Yes

Yes/No

Camera/Flash/Video

2.0MP/No/Yes

1.3MP/No/Yes

Yes/No/No

2.0MP/No/Yes

3.0MP/No/Yes

Phonebook Capacity

1,000

1000

800

500

200

1,000

Frequency/Dual SIM

Dual Band/GSM+GSM

Quad Band/No

GPRS/EDGE/3G

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

Yes/No/No

Yes/Yes/No

Yes/No/No

Yes/Yes/No

Operating System

Generic

Proprietary

Music Player/FM Radio

Yes/Yes

Bar/No/No

Bar/Yes/No

Bar/No/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

Bar/No/Yes

5,300

2.999

3,299

4,899

3,500

4,800

Form Factor/T.Screen/QWERTY Burn test Rating

Price in Rs.

YMOBILE NOV 15 to DEC 14 2011 96 MY

MODELS PARAMETERS Model

MOTOROLA

NOKIA

EX119

C2-00

X2-01

C2-01

C2-02

C2-03

Dimension (mm)

103 x 60 x 9.9

108 x 45 x 14.65

119.4 x 59.8 x 14.3

109.6 x 46.9 x 14.6

102,8x51,2x17

111 x 47 x 13.3

103 x 51.4 x 17

Weight (grams)

74.1

107.5

110

115

Talktime/Standby (hours)

8.3/680

5.75//460

4.3/480

8.4/430

5/600

13.3/540

5/400

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

262,144/2.4

65,536/1.8

262,144/2.4

262,144/2.0

65,536/2.6

262,144/2.2

65,536/2.6

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

50MB/32GB

16MB/32GB

128MB/8GB

75MB/16GB

10MB/32GB

48MB/16GB

10MB/32GB

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

Yes/Yes

Yes/No

Camera/Flash/Video

3.15MP/No/Yes

VGA/No/Yes

3.15MP/No/Yes

2.0MP/No/Yes

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

2.0MP/No/Yes

Phonebook Capacity

1,000

Shared

2,000

1,000

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

QUAD Band/No

Quad Band/No

Dual Band/No

Quad Band/No

Dual Band/GSM+GSM

Yes/Yes/No

Yes/Yes/R99

Yes/Yes/No

Symbian 40

Symbian S40

S40

Symbian S40

S40

Yes/Yes

Yes/Yes/No

Yes/Yes

Yes/Yes/No

Bar/Yes/Yes

Bar/No/No

Bar/No/Yes

Bar/No/No

Slider/Yes/No

Bar/No/No

Slider/Yes/No

5,700

2,600

3,500

3,800

4,000

4,400

4,600

MODELS

Price in Rs.

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

NOKIA

PARAMETERS Model

SAMSUNG

5233

E2152 Guru 36

Hero 3210

2222

3213

3303 Champ

Dimension (mm)

111 x 51.7 x 14.5

115.5 x 58.1 x 13.6

111.6 x 46.3 x 13.5

112.8 x 46.4 x 12.9

109.5 x 61.3 x 11.85

112.8 x 46.4 x 13.2

96.3 x 53.9 x 12.9

Weight (grams)

115

114

80.4

79.3

80.6

Talktime/Standby (hours)

7/438

7/800

11/660

8.3/550

11.4/550

8.2/550

12.3/666

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

16.7million/3.2

262,144/2.4

262,144/2.0

256K/2.0

262,144/2.2

65,536/2.0

262,144/2.4

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

70MB/16GB

55MB/8GB

NA/2GB

36MB/8GB

45MB/16GB

36MB/8GB

30MB/8GB

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

Yes/No

Yes/Yes

Yes/No

Camera/Flash/Video

2.0MP/No/Yes

VGA/No/Yes

Phonebook Capacity

Shared

1,000

Frequency/Dual SIM

Quad Band/No

Dual Band/GSM+GSM

Quad Band /No

Dual Band/GSM+GSM

Quad Band/No

GPRS/EDGE/3G

Yes/Yes/No

Yes/Yes/HSDPA

Yes/Yes/No

Yes/Yes/HSDPA

Yes/Yes/No

Operating System

Symbian S60

Symbian S40

Generic

Proprietary

Yes/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

Bar/No/Yes

Bar/No/No

Bar/No/Yes

Bar/No/No

Bar/Yes/No

5,800

5,950

2,750

3,100

3,300

3,500

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

Price in Rs.

YMOBILE 97 NOV 15 to DEC 14 2011 MY

MODELS

myguide

SAMSUNG

PARAMETERS

C3530

C5212

Champ Duos

Metro C3560

Ch@t C3222

Metro Duos C3322

C3200 Monte Bar

Dimension (mm)

109.7 x 58.1 x 12.3

113.97 x 47.9 x 13.99

111.8 x 46.9 x 13.3

112.2 x 46.7 x 11.9

112.7 x 48.6 x 14.3

99.90 x 54.90 x 12.95

94.8 x 46.7 x 16.59

Weight (grams)

88.9

77.3

98.7

Model

11/500

10/500

8.2/500

13/550

13/281

14.3/476

12610

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

262,144/2.2

262,144/2.0

262,144/2.2

262,144/2.6

262,144/2.2

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

54MB/8GB

46MB/16GB

40MB/8GB

50MB/16GB

60MB/8GB

50MB/16GB

40MB/16GB

Talktime/Standby (hours)

Yes/No

Camera/Flash/Video

1.3MP/No/Yes

2.0/No/Yes

2.0MP/No/Yes

3.2MP/No/Yes

1.3MP/No/Yes

2.0MP/No/Yes

Phonebook Capacity

1,000

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

Quad Band/No

GPRS/EDGE/3G

Yes/Yes/No

Operating System

Proprietary

Frequency/Dual SIM

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

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

Quad Band/No

Yes/Yes

Bar/No/Yes

Bar/No/No

Bar/Yes/No

Clamshell/No/No

3,500

3,600

3,650

3,900

4,000

4,200

4,400

MODELS

Price in Rs.

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

SAMSUNG

PARAMETERS Model

SONYERICSSON

Metro C3752

Champ 3.5G S3770

Ch@t 335

Chat 3G 527

Corby II

Star II

Spiro

Dimension (mm)

97.9 x 19 x 16.4

111.2 x 61.2 x 11.9

103 x 55 x 12

109.9 x 60.6 x 11.7

107.5 x 54.0 x 12.4

92 x 48 x 18

Weight (grams)

100

102

13.3/900

6/350

12/520

3/288

9.3/620

8.2/900

4.3/476

Talktime/Standby (hours) Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

65,536/NA

262,144/2.8

256,000/2.2

262,144/2.4

262,144/3.14

256K/3.0

262,144/2.2

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

40MB/16GB

30MB/16GB

60MB/8GB

80MB/32GB

21MB/16GB

30MB/16GB

5MB/16GB

Yes/No

Yes/Yes

Yes/No

Yes/Yes

Yes/No

Camera/Flash/Video

3.0MP/No/Yes

2.0MP/No/No

2.0MP/No/Yes

3.15MP/No/Yes

2.0MP/No/Yes

Phonebook Capacity

1,000

500

1,000

Shared

1,000

2,000

Frequency/Dual SIM

Quad Band/No

Dual Band/No

GPRS/EDGE/3G

Yes/Yes/No

Yes/Yes/HSDPA

Yes/Yes/No

Yes/Yes/HSDPA, HSUPA

Yes/Yes/No

Operating System

Proprietary

Propriety

Proprietary

Yes/Yes

Slider/No/No

Bar/Yes/No

Bar/No/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

Slider/No/No

4,650

4,900

5,200

5,700

5,800

5,750

4,300

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

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

Price in Rs.

YMOBILE NOV 15 to DEC 14 2011 98 MY

MODELS PARAMETERS Model

SONYERICSSON

SKY

UFX

Cedar

W150i Yendo

PLANET i

101

201

301

501

Dimension (mm)

111 x 49 x 15.5

94.0 × 52.0 × 16.0

103.8 x 57.6 x 11.5

110 x 47.6 x 12.2

111 x 49 x 11.5

116 x 59 x 13.2

Weight (grams)

79.5

Talktime/Standby (hours)

12.5/420

4/400

7/300

3/300

4/360

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

262,144/2.2

262,144/2.6

65,536/3.2

NA/2.2

262,144/2.2

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

280MB/NA

5MB/16GB

71.8MB/8GB

128MB/8GB

128/8GB

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

Yes/No

Yes/Yes

Yes/No

Camera/Flash/Video

2.0MP/Yes/Yes

2.0MP/No/Yes

2.0MP/Yes/Yes

1.3MP/No/Yes

1.3 MP/No/Yes

1.3MP/No/Yes

Phonebook Capacity

2,000

1,000

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

Quad Band/No Yes/Yes/No

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

Yes/No/No

MTK

Yes/Yes

Bar/No/No

Bar/Yes/No

Bar/No/No

Bar/No/Yes

4,500

5,100

4,800

2,699

2,799

2,899

2,999

MODELS

Price in Rs.

Quad Band/No Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSU

PARAMETERS Model

VIDEOCON

Astro

V 1410

V1424

V 1430

V1475

V1425

V 1606

Dimension (mm)

107 x 54 x 12.6

112.2 x 62.4 x 13.2

106.8 x 47 x 15.05

109 X 45.9 X 15.9

114.3 x 46.8 x 14.3

108 x 47.5 x 17.5

112 x 48 x 13.3

Weight (grams)

118

3/200

6/360

5/180

13/600

6/NA

8/250

NA/NA

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

265,144/2.6

65,536/1.8

65,536/2.0

65,536/1.8

65,536/NA

65,536/2.0

65,536/2.4

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

128MB/8GB

NA/4GB

NA/2GB

NA/4GB

250KB/4GB

NA/4GB

Yes/No

Camera/Flash/Video

1.3MP/No/Yes

VGA/No/Yes

2.0MP/No/Yes

Phonebook Capacity

250

1,000

Talktime/Standby (hours)

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

Frequency/Dual SIM GPRS/EDGE/3G

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 Yes/No/No

Yes/No/No

Yes/Yes/No

Yes/No/No

Operating System

Nucleus

Propreitary

Proprietary

Nucleus

Proprietary

Music Player/FM Radio

Yes/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

Bar/No/No

Bar/No/Yes

Bar/No/No

2,700

2,500

2,650

2,945

3,000

4,999

Form Factor/T.Screen/QWERTY Burn test Rating

Price in Rs.

YMOBILE 99 NOV 15 to DEC 14 2011 MY

MODELS

myguide

VIDEOCON

PARAMETERS Model

XAGE

ZEN

V1665

VC 1605

V1755

MT711

M20

Z 77

M40

Dimension (mm)

108.5 x 53 x 14.4

112 x 48 x 13.3

110.48 x 57.28 x 14.65

112 x 60 x 16

111 x 47 x 14

108 x 45.6 x 14.7

114.5 x 48 x 14

Weight (grams)

107

109

100

106

Talktime/Standby (hours)

6/340

NA/NA

6/260

4.5/250

5/200

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

262,144/3.0

65,536/2.4

262,144/3.2

262,144/2.2

262,144/2.4

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

58MB/16GB

NA/4GB

24MB/8GB

NA/16GB

No/microSD

10MB/4GB

No/4GB

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

Yes/No

Camera/Flash/Video

2.0MP/No/Yes

3.0MP/No/Yes

Yes/Yes/Yes

1.3MP/No/Yes

Phonebook Capacity

1,000

2,000

500

1,000

500

Frequency/Dual SIM

Dual Band/Yes

Dual Band/GSM+GSM

Dual Band/Yes

Yes/Yes/No

Yes/No/No

Yes/Yes/No

Yes/No/No

Nucleus

Proprietary

Nucleus

MSTAR

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

Yes/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

Bar/No/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

Bar/No/No

Bar/No/Yes

Bar/No/No

5,250

5,500

5,700

4,699

2,599

3,299

3,599

MODELS

MID LEVEL

ZEN

PARAMETERS Model

NOKIA

Z82

S10

Z90

T325

P520

X3-02

Dimension (mm)

111 x 58 x 12

107 x 47 x 16

68 X 68 X 16

102.4 x 56.4 x 11.9

109.1 x 56.2 x 12.95

112 x 46 x 12.3

106.2 x 48.4 x 9.6

Weight (grams)

106

124

92.5

120

89.3

5/220

2/100

2.5/240

7.9/381

23.8/454

12/630

5/430

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

262,144/2.4

65.536/2.2

262,144/2.4

262,144/2.8

256,000/2.8

16.7million/2.2

262,144/2.4

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

9MB/4GB

NA/4GB

25.9MB/4GB

30MB/16GB

13MB/4GB

50MB/16GB

Yes/No

Yes/Yes

Yes/No

Yes/Yes

Camera/Flash/Video

2.0MP/No/Yes

2.0MP/Yes/Yes

3.0MP/No/Yes

2.0MP/No/Yes

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

5.0MP/No/Yes

Phonebook Capacity

500

2,000

1,000

Shared

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.

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

Yes/No/No

Yes/Yes/HSDPA

Yes/Yes/No

Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA

Yes/Yes/HSDPA

Symbian S60

Yes/Yes

Bar/No/Yes

Slider/No/No

Swivel/Yes/No

Bar/Yes/No

Bar/No/No

Bar/Yes/No

4,799

4,999

5,399

6,600

7,500

7,800

YMOBILE NOV 15 to DEC 14 2011 100 MY

MODELS

NOKIA

PARAMETERS Model

SAMSUNG

C3-01

C5-03

C6112

Star II Duos 6712

Dimension (mm)

111 x 47.5 x 11

105.8 x 51 x 13.8

111.3 x 53.8 x 14.1

109.5 x 55 x 11.7

118.9 x 49.9 x 12.8

105.8 x 50 x 16.5

109.5 x 56 x 12.2

Weight (grams)

100

112

100

Talktime/Standby (hours)

500

NEW

Wave 525

Primo S5610

NEW

5.30/405

11.5/600

7/500

15/900

15.67/960

9.3/385

10/550

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

262,144/2.4

61million/3.2

16million/3.2

262,144/3.2

262,144/2.4

262,144/3.2

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

30MB/32GB

40MB/16GB

2GB/32GB

100MB/16GB

110MB/16GB

30MB/8GB

30MB/16GB

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

Yes/Yes

Yes/No

Yes/Yes

Camera/Flash/Video

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

5.0MP/No/Yes

3.2MP/No/Yes

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

2.0MP/No/Yes

3.15MP/No/Yes

Phonebook Capacity

Shared

2,000

1,000

Shared

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

Quad Band/No

Yes/Yes/HSDPA

Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA

Yes/Yes/No

Yes/Yes/HSDPA

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

Yes/Yes/No

Symbian S40

Symbian S60

Symbian Anna

Bada

Proprietary

Yes/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

Bar/No/No

Slider/No/No

Bar/Yes/No

8,200

8,400

9,500

6,000

6,199

6,200

6,300

MODELS

Price in Rs.

Quad Band/No Yes/Yes/HSDPA+HSUPA

SAMSUNG

PARAMETERS Model

Monte S5620

SONYERICSSON

Star Duos B7722

NEW

TXT

NEW

W20 Zylo

Text Pro

Elim

J20 Hazel

Dimension (mm)

108.8 x 53.7 x 12.4

113.5 x 55.5 x 14.3

106 X 60 X 14.5

103 x 52 x 16

92.0 × 53.0 × 18.0

110 x 45 x 14

102.0 x 49.5 x 16.0

Weight (grams)

112

115

136

120

9.5/769

12.5/420

3.2/416

4/339

5.1/400

10/430

4/430

Talktime/Standby (hours) Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

262,144/3.0

262,144/3.2

262,144/2.55

65,536/2.6

16.7million/3.0

252,144/2.2

16million/2.6

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

200MB/16GB

250MB/16GB

120MB/32GB

260MB/16GB

100MB/32GB

280MB/8GB

280MB/16GB

Yes/Yes

Yes/No

Yes/Yes

Yes/No

Camera/Flash/Video

3.2MP/No/Yes

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

3.15MP/No/Yes

3.2MP/No/Yes

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

Phonebook Capacity

1,000

2,000

Shared

2,000

Shared

2,000

Frequency/Dual SIM

Quad Band/No

Quad Band/GSM+GSM

Quad Band/No

GPRS/EDGE/3G

Yes/Yes/HSDPA

Yes/Yes/No

Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA

Yes/Yes/No

Proprietary

Generic

Yes/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

Bar/Yes/Yes

Bar/No/Yes

Slider/No/No

Slider/Yes/Yes

Bar/No/No

Slider/No/No

7,000

10,000

6,300

6,800

7,400

8,000

9,100

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

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

YMOBILE 101 NOV 15 to DEC 14 2011 MY

myguide MODELS

HIGH END

VIDEOCON

PARAMETERS Model

NOKIA

V1688

V6200

C6-1

700

701

Dimension (mm)

105 x 58 x 16

118 x 53 x 15.3

113.4 x 53 x 16.8

103.8 x 52.5 x 13.9

110 x 50 x 9.7

117.2x56.8x11

119.7 x 62.8 x 11.9

Weight (grams)

120

150

131

146

Talktime/Standby (hours)

6/340

4/400

11/400

12/420

7.14/403

17/504

6/450

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

262,144/3.2

262,144/2.4

16.7million/3.2

16.7milloin/3.2

16million/3.2

16.7million/4.0

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

80MB/4GB

32MB/8GB

200MB/16GB

340MB/32GB

2GB/32GB

8GB/32GB

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

Yes/No

Yes/Yes

Camera/Flash/Video

2.0MP/No/Yes

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

8.0MP/Yes/Yes

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

8.0MP/Yes/Yes

Phonebook Capacity

2,000

Shared

Frequency/Dual SIM

Dual Band/GSM+GSM

Quad Band/No

Yes/Yes/No

Yes/No/No

Yes/Yes/HSDPA

Nucleus

Symbian S 60

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

Symbian 3^

Symbian Belle

Symbian Anna

Yes/Yes

Swivel/Yes/Yes

Bar/No/No

Slider/Yes/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

7,650

9,500

12,000

13,700

18,099

18,999

21,000

MODELS

Price in Rs.

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

PARAMETERS Model

SAMSUNG

TAG HEUER

VERTU

Wave II S8530

Meridiist GMT Stainless Steel/Black PVD

Link

Meridiist Steel & Gold

Dimension (mm)

123.9 x 59.8 x 11.8

112 x 46 x 15.5

118 x 67 x 16.6

112 x 46 x 15.5

Weight (grams)

135

155

200

155

14.1/625

7/392

6.5/336

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

16million/3.7

262,144/1.9

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

2GB/32GB

NA/NA

Yes/Yes

Camera/Flash/Video Phonebook Capacity Frequency/Dual SIM

Talktime/Standby (hours)

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

GPRS/EDGE/3G

Ascent

Constellation Ayxta

Ascent Ti

117 x 46 x 19

100 x 48 x 18

115.5 x 49 x 13.1

148

174

160

7/392

4.8/300

6/300

5/300

16million/3.5

262,144/1.9

16million/2.0

16million/2.4

16million/2.0

256MB/8GB

NA/NA

8GB/32GB

100MB/8GB

4GB/No

Yes/No

Yes/Yes

Yes/No

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

No/No/No

5.0MP/No/Yes

No/No/No

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

3.15MP/Yes/Yes

3.15/Yes/Yes

Shared

1,000

Shared

1,000

2,000

1,500

Quad Band/No

NEW

Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA

Yes/Yes/No

Yes/Yes/HSDPA

Yes/Yes/No

Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA

Yes/Yes/No

Yes/Yes/R99

Operating System

Bada OS

Andriod OS 2.2

Music Player/FM Radio

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/Yes

Bar/No/No

Strating 5,40,000+

Starting 2,89,000

Starting 3,47,000+

Starting 3,68,000+

Form Factor/T.Screen/QWERTY Burn test Rating

Price in Rs.

15,800

Strating 2,80,000+/ Starting 3,25,000+ 3,50,000+

YMOBILE NOV 15 to DEC 14 2011 102 MY

MODELS

ENTERPRISE LEVEL

VERTU

PARAMETERS Model

APPLE

BLACKBERRY

Constellation Quest

Signature

iPhone 4

Curve 8520

Curve 3G 9300

9360

Bold 9780

Dimension (mm)

116 x 60.8 x 12.7

130 x 42 x 13

115.2 x 58.6 x 9.3

109 x 60 x 13.9

112 x 62 x 14.2 mm

109 x 60 x 13.9

Weight (grams)

165 to 185

166

137

106

104

130

104

Talktime/Standby (hours)

7.5/349

3.5/300

14/300

4.5/408

4.5/461

5/336

4.5/456

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

8GB/32GB

16million/2.0

16million/3.5

65,536/2.46

262,144/2.44

65,536/2.44

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

16million/2.46

4GB/No

16GB,32GB/No

256MB/microSD

256MB/32GB

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

Yes/Yes

Yes/No

Yes/Yes

Camera/Flash/Video

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

No/No/No

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

2.0MP/No/Yes

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

Phonebook Capacity

Shared

2,000

Shared

Frequency/Dual SIM

Quad Band/No

GPRS/EDGE/3G

Yes/Yes/HSDPA

Yes/Yes/R99

Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA

Yes/Yes/No

Yes/Yes/HSDPA

Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA

Yes/Yes/HSDPA

iOS4

BlackBerry OS

BlackBerry OS 7.0

BlackBerry OS

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

Yes/No

Bar/No/No

Bar/Yes/No

Bar/No/Yes

Starting 3,86,000

Starting 7,22,000+

34,500/40,900

9,000

13,500

19,000

21,000

MODELS

Price in Rs.

Yes/Yes Bar/No/Yes

BLACKBERRY

PARAMETERS Model

DELL

Play Book

Torch 9800

9860

9810

9900

Dimension (mm)

194 x 130 x 10

111 x 62 x 14.6

120 x 62 x 11.5

111 x 62 14.6

115 x 66 x 10.5

114 x 56 x 12.2

122 x 57.9 x 11.7

Weight (grams)

425

161.1

135

161

130

120

104

NA/NA

5.5/432

4.7/337

6.5/296

6.3/296

4/216

5/400

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

16million/7.0

16million/3.2

16million/3.7

16 million/3.2

16 million/2.8

262,144/3.5

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

16,32,64GB/No

512MB/32GB

2.5GB/32GB

8GB/32GB

512MB/16GB

Yes/32GB

Yes/Yes

Camera/Flash/Video

5.0MP/No/Yes

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

3.15MP/No/Yes

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

Phonebook Capacity

Shared

Frequency/Dual SIM

Quad Band/No

Tri Band/No

Quad Band/No

Talktime/Standby (hours)

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

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

XCD35

NEW

Aero

NEW

Yes/Yes/HSDPA

BlackBerry OS

BlackBerry OS 7.0

Android OS v2.1

Android OS v1.5

Yes/No

Yes/Yes

Yes/No

Bar/Yes/No

Slider/Yes/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

Slider/Yes/Yes

Bar/Yes/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

26,500, 32,500, 37,500

26,000

27,700

32,000

8,500

12,500

28,500

YMOBILE 103 NOV 15 to DEC 14 2011 MY

My Guide English Nov.qxd

11/11/2011

2:50 PM

Page 14

MODELS

myguide

DELL

PARAMETERS Model

Streak

NEW

HTC

Venu Pro

NEW

Explorer

Wildfire S

ChaCha

Salsa

S-510 Desire S

Dimension (mm)

152.9 x 79.1 x 10

122 x 63.5 x 15.2

102.8 x 57.2 x 12.9

101.3 x 59.4 x 12.4

114 x 64 x 10.7

109.1 x 58.9 x 12.3

115 x 59.8 x 11.6

Weight (grams)

220

192.8

81.3

105

124

120

130

Talktime/Standby (hours)

9.8/400

7/NA

7.6/485

4/120

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

16million/5.0

16million/4.1

262,144/3.2

16million/3.2

262,144/2.6

16million/3.4

16million/3.7

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

512MB/32GB

8GB/32GB

90MB/32GB

512MB/microSD

512MB/32GB

1.1GB/32GB

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

Yes/Yes

Camera/Flash/Video

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

Android OS v1.6

Windows Phone 7.5

Android OS v2.3

Android OS, v2.3

Yes/No

Yes/Yes

Yes//Yes

Yes/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

Slider/Yes/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

Bar/Yes/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

27,000

29,000

10,500

13,600

14,800

15,000

22,500

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

PARAMETERS Model

HTC Sensation

Evo 3D

Flyer

Dimension (mm)

120.5 x 61.5 x 10.9

119 x 60.2 x 11.9

120 x 64 x 11.7

123 x 68 x 11.8

126.1 x 65.4 x 11.3

126 x 65 x 12.05

195.4 x 122 x 13.2

Weight (grams)

137

130

135.5

164

148

170

420

Talktime/Standby (hours)

Radar

NEW

T8698 Mozart

S710-e Incredible S A9191 Desire HD NEW

10/480

4/120

6/120

4/120

9.3/358

8/320

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

16million/3.8

16million/3.7

16million/4.0

16million/4.3

1GB/32GB

16million/4.3

16million/7.0

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

8GB/No

512MB/8GB

1.1GB/32Gb

1.5GB/32GB

16.7million/4.3

1GB/32GB

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

Yes/Yes

Camera/Flash/Video

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

8.0MP/Yes/Yes

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

5.0MP/No/Yes

Phonebook Capacity

Shared

Quad Band/No

Frequency/Dual SIM 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,HSUPA Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA

Operating System

Windows Phone 7.5

Windows Phone 7

Android OS, v2.2

Android OS, v2.3

Android OS v2.3

Android OS, v3.3

Yes/Yes

Yes/No

Bar/Yes/No

23,990

23,800

24,500

25,800

30,000

33,800

37,000

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

Price in Rs.

YMOBILE NOV 15 to DEC 14 2011 104 MY

11/11/2011

2:50 PM

Page 15

MODELS

My Guide English Nov.qxd

HUAWEI

PARAMETERS Model

IDEOS U8500 X2

IDEOS U8800 X5

Optimus Me P350

Optimus Pro C660

Dimension (mm)

12 x 58 x 12.8

120 x 62 x 11.6

108 x 57.5 x 12.2

119.5 x 59.7 x 12.9

113.5 x 59 x 13.3

113 x 59 x 11.7

122 x 64 x 9.2

Weight (grams)

115

130

110

129

121

109

Talktime/Standby (hours)

Optimus One P500 Optimus Net P690 NEW Optimus Black P970

5/300

8.2/380

11/626

NA/NA

8/550

12/581

2 GB/32GB

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

262,144/3.2

16million/3.8

262,144/2.8

262,144/3.2

6/375

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

NA/32GB

2GB/32GB

155MB/32GB

150MB/32GB

170MB/32GB

150MB/32GB

16 million/4.0

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

Yes/Yes

Camera/Flash/Video

3.15MP/No/Yes

8.0MP/Yes/Yes

3.15MP/No/Yes

3.5MP/No/Yes

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

Phonebook Capacity

Shared

Frequency/Dual SIM

Quad Band/No

GPRS/EDGE/3G

Yes/Yes/HSDPA

Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA

Yes/Yes/HSDPA

Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA

Operating System

Android OS v2.2

Android OS v2.3

Android OS v2.2

Android OS v2.3

Android OS v2.2

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

Yes/No

Yes/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

Bar/Yes/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

8,999

14,999

7,100

9,600

10,000

10,200

19,500

MODELS

Price in Rs.

Yes/Yes Bar/Yes/No

PARAMETERS Model

MOTOROLA

Optimus 2X

Optimus 3D

Fire

Fire XT

Quench XT3

Quench XT 5

Defy

Dimension (mm)

123.9 x 63.2 x 10.9

128.8 x 68 x 11.9

116.5 x 58 x 13.45

114 x 61.9 x 11.95

114.9 x 56.8 x 12.6

114.9 x 56.8 x 12.5

107 x 59 x 13.4 mm

Weight (grams)

139

168

110

84.3

114

142.5

118

Talktime/Standby (hours)

14.5/421

13/450

7/504

9.7/720

5.8/134

8.20/560

6.8/237.6

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

16million/4.0

16million/4.3

262,144/2.8

262,144/3.5

262,144/3.1

262,144/3.2

16million/3.7

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

6.4GB/32GB

8GB/32GB

512MB/32GB

100MB/32GB

2GB/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

3.0MP/Yes/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

Quad Band/No

Quad Mand/No

Yes/Yes/HSDPA

Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA

Android OS v2.2

Android OS, v2.3

Android OS v2.1

Android OS, v2.1

Android OS v2.1

Yes/Yes

Yes/No

Yes/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

Bar/No/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

27,000

35,000

9,100

12,700

13,000

13,990

15,500

YMOBILE 105 NOV 15 to DEC 14 2011 MY

My Guide English Nov.qxd

11/11/2011

2:50 PM

Page 16

MODELS

myguide

MOTOROLA

PARAMETERS

NOKIA

Model

Milestone XT800

Xoom 3G/WiFi

Dimension (mm)

120 x 61.8 x 11.4

249.1 x 167.8 x 12.9

115 x 58.9 x 12.8

115.5 x 59 x 10.5

117.3 x 56.8 x 10.5

113.5 x 59 x 12.9

123.7 x 62.4 x 13.6

Weight (grams)

137

730

126

133

130

135

176

Talktime/Standby (hours)

5.4/100

32GB/MicroSD

7.3/400

14.4/681

9.6/555

12/390

9/430

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

16million/3.7

10/336

262,144/2.36

16.7million/2.46

16,7million/3.5

16.7million/3.5

16million/4.0

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

1GB/32GB

16million/10,1

256MB/32GB

8GB/32GB

16GB/32GB

16GB/No

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

Yes/Yes

Camera/Flash/Video

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

5.0MP/No/Yes

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

8.0MP/Yes/Yes

12.0MP/Yes/Yes

8.0MP/Yes/Yes

Phonebook Capacity

1,000

Shared

Frequency/Dual SIM

Quad Band/GSM+CDMA

Quad Band/No

GPRS/EDGE/3G

Yes/Yes/Rev. A

Operating System

Android OS v2.1

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

Android OS 3.1

Symbian S60

Symbian Anna

Symbian^3

Symbian^3 OS

Yes/Yes

Yes/No

Yes/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

Bar/No/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

Slider/Yes/Yes

17,000

32,990/39,990

9,200

15,800

16,800

21,500

25,600

5830 Galaxy Ace

I9003 Galaxy SL

Galaxy S Plus I9001 NEW

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

SAMSUNG

PARAMETERS Model

Galaxy Y 5360

NEW

Galaxy Pop S5570

Dimension (mm)

104.0 x 58.0 x 11.5

110.4 x 60.8 x 12.1

Weight (grams)

97.5

106.6

Talktime/Standby (hours)

Galaxy Fit

B7510 Galaxy Pro

110.2 x 61.2 x 12.6 108.60 x 66.7 x 10.65 108

106

112.4 x 59.9 x 11.5 123.70 x 64.20 x 10.59 113

122.4 x 64.2 x 9.9

131

119

6/120

9.5/570

10.4/642

11/610

12/520

12.8/750

17.3/480

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

262,144/3.0

256,000/3.14

16Million/3.3

262,144/2.8

16million/3.5

16 million/4.0

16million/4.0

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

160MB/32GB

164MB/32GB

160MB/32GB

512MB/32GB

158MB/32GB

4GB/32GB

16GB/32GB

Yes/Yes

Camera/Flash/Video

2.0MP/No/Yes

3.15MP/No/Yes

5MP/No/Yes

3.15MP/No/Yes

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

5.0MP/No/Yes

Phonebook Capacity

Shared

Frequency/Dual SIM

Quad Band/No

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

GPRS/EDGE/3G

Yes/Yes/HSDPA

Operating System

Android OS, v2.3

Android OS, v2.2

Android OS,v2.2

Android OS, v2.2

Android OS, v2.3

Yes/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

Bar/Yes/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

6,800

7,700

9,000

10,500

13,000

17,000

22,787

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

Price in Rs.

YMOBILE NOV 15 to DEC 14 2011 106 MY

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

11/11/2011

2:50 PM

Page 17

MODELS

My Guide English Nov.qxd

SAMSUNG

PARAMETERS Model

Galaxy R

Dimension (mm)

125.70 x 66.70 x 9.55 125.30 x 66.10 x 8.49

Weight (grams) Talktime/Standby (hours)

I9103 NEW

132

Galaxy SII i9100

116

SONY ERICSSON Tab 10.1

Experia Mini

Experia Mini Pro

Active

256.7 x 175.3 x 8.6

99.0 × 54.0 × 15.0

92 x 53 x 18

106 × 60 × 14.5

565

104

136

NEW

22.5/660

19.3/710

16GB/No

4.75/446

5.4/331

3.2/416

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

16million/4.2

16million/4.27

16million/10.1

16.7million/3.0

16million/3.0

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

8GB/32GB

16GB/32GB

9/NA

128MB/16GB

320MB/16GB

120MB/32GB

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

Yes/Yes

Camera/Flash/Video

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

8.0MP/Yes/Yes

3.2MP/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

Android OS, v2.3

Android OS, v3.1

Android OS v2.1

Android OS 2.3

Yes/Yes

Bar/No/No

Bar/Yes/No

Slider/Yes/Yes

Bar/No/No

27,428

27,000

32,700

8,900

13,000

15,500

17,000

MODELS

Price in Rs.

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

SONY ERICSSON

PARAMETERS Model

LT15iXperia Arc

R800i Xperia Play

Zeus V7500

Dimension (mm)

116 × 57 × 13

111 × 53 × 9.4

119.0 x 63.0 x 13.0

125 × 63 × 8.7

125.0 × 63.0 × 8.7

119.0 × 62.0 × 16.0

114.9 x 56.8 X 12.6

Weight (grams)

126

100

135

117

175

114 7/408

Talktime/Standby (hours)

Neo V

NEW

Experia Ray

NEW

Xperia X10

Arc S

VIDEOCON

NEW

6.9/430

6.8/430

10/415

7.4/460

6.55/430

8.25/625

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

16million/3.7

16million/3.3

65,536/4.0

16million/4.2

16.7million/4.2

16 million/4.0

262,144/3.2

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

1GB/32GB

300MB/32GB

1GB/16GB

1GB/32GB

512MB/32GB

156MB/32GB

Yes/Yes

Camera/Flash/Video

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

8.0MP/Yes/Yes

8.1MP/Yes/Yes

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

Phonebook Capacity

Shared

Frequency/Dual SIM

Quad Band/No

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

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/Yes

Android OS 2.3

Android OS 2.1

Android OS, v2.3

Android 1.6

Yes/Yes

Yes/No

Yes/Yes

Bar/Yes/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

V84

17,500

19,000

22,000

26,000

27,500

30,000

12,500

YMOBILE 107 NOV 15 to DEC 14 2011 MY

My Guide English Nov.qxd

11/11/2011

2:51 PM

Page 18

myguide MODELS

CDMA

PARAMETERS V3 Gem

V3 Gem+

Samsung B209

V3 Xing

Samsung Hero B319

Dimension (mm)

106 x 44 x 13.5

106 X 44 X 13.5

108.0 x 44.8 x 14.3

105 x 44 x 13

100 x 43 x 13.1

108 x 45.4 x 14.7

Weight (grams)

72.3

Model

Samsung Hero B189 Samsung Superstar

2/NA

2.5/NA

4.3/470

3.3/250

3.3/212

2.5/NA

3/257

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

NA/1.5

65,536/1.52

65,536/1.5

NA/1.8

65,536/1.52

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

NA/No

N0/N0

351KB/No

NA/No

NA/8GB

1MB/No

Talktime/Standby (hours)

No/No

Camera/Flash/Video

No/No/No

Phonebook Capacity

200

1000

500

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

Frequency/Dual SIM

CDMA/No

GPRS/EDGE/3G

No/No/No

REX

BREW

REX

BREW

Operating System

No/Yes

No/FM

No/No

Yes/Yes

No/Yes

Bar/No/No

Burn test Rating

Price in Rs.

999

1,100

1,399

1,499

Samsung Super Hero

Samsung B339

V3 Ashwa

Music Player/FM Radio

MODELS

Form Factor/T.Screen/QWERTY

CDMA

PARAMETERS Samsung Hero B559

Samsung B379

Samsung Hero Plus 159

Samsung Vstyle

Dimension (mm)

108 x 45.4 x 14.7

109.5 x 45.4 x 14.2

108.5 x 45.8 x 13.3

103 .8 x 43 x 14.7

Weight (grams)

75.7

100

3/257

4.3/470

3/230

3.8/245

3.25/135

4.3/470

8/400

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

65,536/1.52

65,536/1.5

65,536/1.52

65,536/NA

65,536/1.52

65,536/1.8

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

1MB/No

351KB/No

597KB/No

NA/No

351KB/No

64MB/2GB

No/No

NA/No

No/No

Camera/Flash/Video

No/No/No

1.3MP/No/Yes

Phonebook Capacity

500

1000

1,000

500

1000

500

Frequency/Dual SIM

CDMA/No

CDMA

GPRS/EDGE/3G

Model

Talktime/Standby (hours)

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

103.5 X 438 X 15.1 108.20 x 47.10 x 14.35

109 x 46 x 14.5

No/No/No

NA/NA/NA

No/No/No

Operating System

BREW

Music Player/FM Radio

No/Yes

Yes/Yes

Bar/No/No

1,499

1,500

1,550

1,700

1,800

1,999

Form Factor/T.Screen/QWERTY Burn test Rating

Price in Rs.

YMOBILE NOV 15 to DEC 14 2011 108 MY

11/11/2011

2:51 PM

Page 19

MODELS

My Guide English Nov.qxd

CDMA

PARAMETERS Model

V3 V26

Samsung Guru 539

3 Sleek

V3 Dew

V3 Boss

LG 6160

LG 6210

Dimension (mm)

105.2 x 46.5 x 15.2

109.6 x 44.9 x 14.0

110 x 48 x 14.2

102.4 x 56 x 13.45

110 x 58.5 x 13.5

106 x 47 x 14.5

Weight (grams)

77.5

Talktime/Standby (hours)

3/NA

6/720

2.5/NA

4/160

3.5/NA

3.30/NA

6/300

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

NA/1.8

65,536/1.77

NA/2.2

65,513/2.0

NA/2.0

65,536/1.5

262,144/NA

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

NA/2GB

2.5MB/4+4GB

NA/2GB

64MB/4GB

NA/4GB

13MB/4GB

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

No/No

Yes/No

Camera/Flash/Video

1.3MP/No/No

No/No/No

VGA/No/No

1.3MP 176X220 Pixels

1.3MP/No/No

No/No/No

VGA/No/Yes

Phonebook Capacity

500

1000

1,000

500

1,000

Frequency/Dual SIM

CDMA/No

GPRS/EDGE/3G

No/No/No

Yes/Yes/CDMA1X

No/No/No

Yes/No/No

Yes/No/NoJ2

REX

BREW

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

Yes/Yes

YesYes

Yes/Yes

Yes/NA

Yes/Yes

Bar/No/No

Bar/No/Yes

Bar/No/No

1,999

2,336

2,249

2,500

2,599

2,550

2,950

MODELS

Price in Rs.

REX

CDMA

PARAMETERS Model

Samsung B519

Samsung Guru Dual CDMA

V3 Quick

Samsung Guru Muzik 219

V3 Pearl

LG 6400

Duos 169

Dimension (mm)

108 x 45.7 x 15.5

114.9 x 47.8 x 14.1

107 x 59 x 12.9

112 x 46.3 x 15.3

119 x 50 x 15

109 x 47 x 13.7

115.5 x 48 x 15.9

Weight (grams)

86.7

110

85.5

110

4/285

6.5/300

3.5/NA

4/230

3/NA

3.30/410

4.5/250

Talktime/Standby (hours) Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

65536/NA

65,536/2.0

NA/2.4

65,536/1.7

NA/2.4

262,144/2.0

65,536/2.2

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

NA/2GB

7.41MB4GB

NA/32GB

14MB/2GB

NA/8GB

15MB/4GB

42MB/8GB

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

Yes/No

Camera/Flash/Video

No/No/No

2.0MP/No/Yes

1.3MP/No/Yes

2.0MP/No/No

1.3MP/No/Yes

VGA/No/Yes

Phonebook Capacity

500

1000

500

1,000

500

1,000

1000

Frequency/Dual SIM

CDMA/No

Dual Band/GSM+CDMA

CDMA/No

Dual Band/CDMA+GSM

GPRS/EDGE/3G

Yes/No/No

No/No/No

Yes/No/No

No/No/3G

Yes/No/No

Yes/Yes/CDMA 1X

BREW

REX

BREW

REX

BREW

Yes/Yes

Bar/No/No

Bar/No/Qwerty

Bar/No/No

3,400

3,458

3,499

3,799

3,999

4,500

4,651

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

Price in Rs.

YMOBILE 109 NOV 15 to DEC 14 2011 MY

My Guide English Nov.qxd

11/11/2011

2:51 PM

Page 20

MODELS

myguide

CDMA

PARAMETERS Model

Mpower TV 239

LG 6300

Samsung M309

Samsung M 699

Samsung Mpower 379 Muzik

Samsung TXT M369

Samsung Duos 259

Dimension (mm)

118.5 x 50 x 12.45

106 x 48 x 14.7

113.1 x 46 x 10.9

98 x 48.5 x 16

112x60.95x11.96

115.5 x 48 x 15.9

Weight (grams)

100

102

102.3

Talktime/Standby (hours)

4.4/420

10/NA

3.8/227

3.6/280

3.8/30

4.5/420

4.8/230

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

262,144/2.4

262,144/2.0

65,536/1.9

262,144/2.2

62,144/1.9

262,144/2.2

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

85MB/16GB

21MB/4GB

NA/microSD

NA/2GB

15MB/2GB

104MB/16GB

40MB/8GB

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

YesNo

Yes/No

Camera/Flash/Video

1.3MP/No/Yes

2.0MP/No/Yes

1.3MP/No/Yes

2.0MP/No/Yes

1.3MP/No/Yes

Phonebook Capacity

2000

1,000

500

2,000

1,000

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

CDMA/No

CDMA/CDMA+GSM

Yes/No/No

Yes/NA/NA

Yes/NA/No

Yes/No/No

Yes/Yes/Yes

Yes/No/No

BREW

Proprietary

Yes/Yes

Bar/No/No

Slider/No/No

Bar/No/No

Bar/No/Yes

Bar/No/No

4,743

4,750

5,600

5,950

6,499

6,500

7,100

MODELS

Price in Rs.

CDMA/No Yes/Yes/EVDO Rev.0

CDMA

PARAMETERS Model

Samsung M569

LG Zip CDMA

Samsung Corby TV F339

Galaxy Pop CDMA

Blackberry 8530

Blackberry 9670 Style

Blackberry 9650

Dimension (mm)

101.9 x 49.9 x 15.3

107 x 55.4 x 11.9

103 x 56.5 x 12.2

110.9 x 60.6 x 12.1

109 x 60 x 13.9

96 x 60 x 18.5

112 x 62 x 14

Weight (grams)

100

106.6

105

131

136

2.5/165

5/150

5/200

5/320

4.5/252

5/312

Talktime/Standby (hours) Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

262,144/2.1

262,144/

262,144/2.8

262,144/3.14

65,536/NA

65,536/2.44

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

NA/4GB

72MB, 4GB

80MB/8GB

164MB/microSD

256MB/32GB

512MB/32GB

512/32GB

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

Yes/No

Yes/Yes

Camera/Flash/Video

2.0MP/No/Yes

3.15MP/No/Yes

2.0MP/NA/Yes

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

3.15MP/Yes/Yes

Phonebook Capacity

2,000

1,000

2,000

Shared

1,000

Shared

Frequency/Dual SIM

CDMA/No

GPRS/EDGE/3G

Yes/NA/NA

Yes/Yes/No

Yes/No/No

Yes/Yes/EVDO RevA

Yes/Yes/No

Yes/Yes/Rev. A

BREW

Android OS 2.2

BlackBerry OS

Yes/Yes

Yes/No

Slider/No/No

Bar/Yes/No

Bar/No/No

Clamshell/No/Yes

Bar/No/Yes

7,500

8,000

8,500

9,850

14,000

22,500

24,000

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

Price in Rs.

YMOBILE NOV 15 to DEC 14 2011 110 MY

fa c e t o fa c e

“We don’t want to rush in to the market” What brings SICT Mobile Communication to the Indian market at this stage? SICT Mobile Communication has operations across the globe. It has been manufacturing 3 million mobile phones and 30 million batteries per month. For India, we have launched operations under IVK Mobile. We have started operations since only September 2011 and the response so far from the market has been very good. Our idea is to offer handsets that are customised according to Indian tastes and hence we are offering products which have big battery, big speakers, wireless FM, big display and good video playback. These are some of the basic requirements that the customers have from products in recent times and we are focused on offering them good quality products with these features at a competitive price. We closely study price trends and try to offer the best possible without compromising on the quality. What products are you are currently offering and which would you call your star offering? We currently have five products in the market of which IV171 is doing very well for us. It is a 2.4 inch display handset with 3,000 mAh battery, wireless FM and has been aggressively priced at Rs. 2,299. We also have another handset IV118 that has features like Bluetooth with A2DP and wireless FM for Rs. 1,399. Even that is doing well. We have already sold 10,000 units of IV 128. What kind of support do you provide in terms of repair and warranty? We usually repair the product when it is in the guarantee period. However, if there is a long delay in case of repairing a product then in certain special circumstances we also consider giving a replacement to consumers. My experience is that consumers don’t like after sales services because when they go with a problem, most of the times the components are in short supply. That is not the case with us as we have a full backward integration and do all our components in house.

It has been a busy time for Anil Kaushik, CEO, SICT Mobile Communication as he attempts to carve a niche for his brand in the very competitive Indian market. He talks about is success strategy for India Surbhi Chawla

charger and speaker phones very soon in the Indian market. I am very serious about the battery business as I remember reading about a month back that a young boy lost his eyes because of a fake battery. I felt bad that the boy lost his eyes for just Rs. 50. Consumers should know the difference between the right price and high price. How do you plan to expand your product portfolio in the coming year? We plan to launch a high-end 3G Android device in the middle of next year. Apart from that, we have plans to launch three new products in the coming days. We are also planning to enter the tablet market by early next year. We are ready with the units but as these are expensive products we wanted to make sure that they are priced competitively so that they are affordable to the common man. What is your distribution strategy and how many retailers are you having currently and plans to scale up? As a strategy we have decided to launch our handsets in a controlled manner. In the current phase we are present in Delhi, Haryana, UP, Uttrakhand and Bihar. We plan to add a state every month. What marketing strategy do you plan to follow? We are planning to spend $200 million over the next couple of years to make our brand known to the consumers. We have signed up with one of the most popular Hollywood actors to promote our brand and we plan to extend that brand partnership for India as well. We understand that 90 per cent of the consumers in India live in rural areas and are focusing more on the B&C class consumers. What are your plans for the coming year? By March 2012 we plan to sell 200,000 units. We don’t want to rush into the market. WE want to cautious as well as grow steadily. By December 2012, we plan to sell a million units. n surbhi@mymobile.co.in

You mentioned that you manufacture batteries as well... Currently we are focusing only on handsets for the Indian market but we will be launching accessories including batteries,

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va n ta g e p o i n t

I’m IM, I said! T he news is already on the tech grapevine -- the IM is becoming the centre of the Universe. Ask any C-level type and they will tell you they hate being tied to their desks. They want to be on the move. They want to stay connected on the go -- just as if they were behind their desk. They want their IM solution to turn better tricks than display “Need a skinny latte” as their status message. And when C-level demands, the world gets cracking. We like to think of it as Technological Darwinism. But, first, it is worth examining the fact that IMs are both friends and foes of the mobile business. For telecom providers, IMs are disruptive. They take away from

SMS revenues. Neither telecom providers nor handset makers have their own branded IMs. That provides us a valuable insight: telecom providers must continue to play to their strengths and provide Value Added Services that enhance the use of IMs. Mobile device manufacturers, on the other hand, must build platforms that integrate IMs and leverage convergence to make them more powerful. We are going to see where IMs and mobile technology are headed.

Interoperability In the late 90s, Odigo, an Israeli company, took the first few steps to cut through the competing IM architecture and make them interoperable. Presence awareness is the “killer app” of IMs. However the lack of interoperability is forcing the planet to live in messaging silos. In a world where barriers are coming down, this doesn’t appear to be a sustainable practice. IMs will slowly but surely evolve and become interoperable. Emerging standards such as the open Session Initiation Protocol for Instant Messaging and Presence Leveraging Extensions (SIMPLE) based on Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) are making IMs interoperable. Not only does this give collaboration a wider scope and definition, but the IM as a personal badge begins to move into pole position. Big players will help unlock the value of IMs through interoperability and one of the major winners will be individuals who can extend their mobile networks over the IM.

Convergence Imagine being able to share voice, video and data on the same network, without the need for separate devices, cables and boxes. Then imagine being able to switch from an IM to a voice call in the middle of a message, or integrating presence data with video and e-mail. All of it on the move, anywhere, anytime. With 3G networks able to make room for the additional bandwidth requirements, it is goodbye to latency issues, jumps and jitters in sharing rich real-time content. The implications of convergence over IMs with a mobile device as the platform are remarkable. The mobile is a personal device. It has

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vast amounts of data by way of contact lists, phone numbers, e-mails, messages, etc. Once this “social” data on the phone is combined with Location Based Services (LBS) over IM, it opens up fresh ways to look at things like social networking; internet search where the results are made more relevant by harnessing the power of social intelligence and LBS; and the integration of services like SMS alerts that can target your IM, based on your presence rather than be sent as a message to your phone’s native SMS app, turning SMSes more `instant’ than they currently are. In the case of an enterprise, mobile convergence and UC will allow users to exploit corporate directory services, conferencing capabilities and extend enterprise telephony beyond any boundary. But the most visible impact of convergence is in the area of personal use: you will be able to create and showcase your personality to a vast always-on network using rich media and the power of personal data residing in your phone.

Do It Yourself Apps Imagine no longer needing a seasoned code junkie to create mash ups on your IM. As an example, the BlackBerry Messenger Social Platform allows developers to start adding social Super App features to their applications. The BBM Social Platform can access and update fields in the user’s profile such as status, avatar and personal message; create custom areas within the user’s profile for promoting recent application activity or storing trophies and achievements; initiate application-to-application background communication through BBM for sending and receiving application instructions, such as moves in a game or any other application state changes; and the ability to share applications virally with friends in the contact list. There are other options too in the market. Developers can use Adobe’s Flash Builder 4.5 to create applications that, for example, bring job search results automatically to your IM, based on your user profile. In other words, the IM will be the face of who you are – to your friends, to services you use and to applications that you work with. n By Annie Mathew, Head of Alliances and Developer Relations, Research In Motion (RIM), India. (Disclaimer: the views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the stance of the magazine)

RNI REG NO./DELENG/2005/15033 DL (ND) - 11/6100/09-10-11 (Posting Date 19-20 of every month)