my-mobile-english-sep-2012-all-low-res by My Mobile

sep 15 to oct 14 2012  Rs 75

www.mymobile.co.in

for a connected lifestyle

It's Raining Cells Nokia, Motorola and Samsung show their hand for the future P 20

æ Swipe Telecom Launches 3D Tablet P 50

æ All you can

get for Rs 50

Who said prices are going up? P 44

æ Handset missing

The art of tracking a lost cell P 82

WIN

htc desire vc

æ Tested

Sony Xperia ion, Nokia Lumia 610, HTC Desire VC, Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 and many more P 47

Enter the

Snapdragon contest P 32

nokia lumia 610

FIND EVERYTHING. GO ANYWHERE.

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For Customer Support, Bulk Order & Corporate Enquiries Call:011-4600-9999,+91-9999333223/4

first call

or many of us, the period between the months of September and October is associated with the moving out of the monsoons and the gentle arrival of the first indications of winter. For us in tech territory, however, this is that part of the year when new devices and applications hit the market, in an attempt to attract customers as the holiday season sets in. And 2012 has certainly proved to be no exception to this rule. The rains might be receding, but it is certainly raining gadgets. Be it Samsung with its innovative Galaxy Camera, Nokia with its revolutionary range of next generation Windows Phone devices, or Amazon with the latest iteration of Kindle devices. We take a look at all of these and some others in our cover story, outlining what makes them rock. Interestingly, even as we go into print, there is news that Apple is coming out with some more devices - more of that in our next issue. Speaking of Apple and Samsung, these two tech titans have been involved in one of the most bitter legal wrangles in corporate tech history. Apple seems to have drawn first blood in this regard with a US Court awarding it damages of more than a billion dollars. But we doubt this is the last we have heard of the matter, as Samsung is set to appeal against this decision and is winning in other countries. We take a closer look at the battle between these two behemoths and the repercussions it could have for our industry. Also in the spotlight is the viability of plans like that of the Indian Government to provide free handsets to every citizen, as well as an update on the 2G spectrum auction process, which has been postponed yet again. That apart, we also take a look at ways to track your phone in case you lose it and for those on a tight budget, there's our shoot-out between six smartphones that cost less than Rs 6,000, as well as a host of accessories that cost less than - believe it or not - Rs 50. Yes, technological is indeed becoming more accessible, notwithstanding the increasingly inflationary times we live in. As usual, these are accompanied by the burn tests of some of the newest devices in the market including the Sony Xperia ion, the HTC Desire VC, and the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1. And all this is topped off with regular features like trivia, persona and of course, the rumour mill. It has been a busy month for us indeed. And the coming months are set to get even more busy as we see a plethora of devices and indeed computing platforms arrive in the market. But no, you won't hear us complaining one bit, as we go about our task of bringing you the latest and best from all that affects you in the world of mobile technology. That's our job and we love it. Happy reading, and do keep us informed of what you think of our endeavours. Nothing helps us improve as much as the suggestions of those we write for.

EDITORIAL Pankaj Mohindroo |

Editor-in-Chief

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

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.

Pankaj Mohindroo editor-in-chief

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 VIII, September 15, To october 14, 2012

04 MYMOBILE sep 15 to oct 14 2012

Go Byond, Go 3D!!

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BY099 61 mm (2.4) QVGA Display I Dual SIM (GSM+GSM)Dual Standby Single Active I 1.3 MP Camera I Battery -2400 mAh I MP3 & MP4 Player I Video Recording & Playback I FM Radio I Bluetooth I Hindi Language support I Expandable Memory up to 4 GB I 4GB Loaded MMC free

ONE YEAR WARRANTY | VALID IMEI NUMBER | INDIAN CELLULAR ASSOCIATION & MSAI CERTIFIED Corporate Office - BYOND TECH - Pune - 020-41029633, Maharashtra: Pune, Vidharbha & Marathawada - 09372555512, Mumbai - 09324005004, Goa: 9326177377, Madhya Pradesh & Chattisgarh - 09893407287/09229207287, Rajasthan - 09983336991, Karnataka - 09886045500, Andhra Pradesh & Tamil Nadu - 09657703559, Kerala - 09657703559, North East – 09435117690, West Bengal –09051515599, Uttar Pradesh/Bihar /Jharkhand –09654940936, Uttarakhand-09719411667, Punjab, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh & Jammu and Kashmir and Haryana : 09988777722

Super Stockiest Enquiry Solicited. For Trade Enquiry Contact - SOUTH & WEST - 09657703567, NORTH & EAST - 08800455166 E-mail - sales@byondtech.com Specifications are subject to change without prior notice | The colour of the actual product may differ from that shown in advertisement | Availability of Handset colours are according to stock availability | Battery Life varies as per network conditions

content

lead Story

Contest

Play and win a Snapdragon Phone!

We take a look at some awesome new devices that have just been unveiled

in focus Apple Vs Samsung: And the battle still continues

Face To Face Grant Kuo, managing director, MediaTek India, talks about his company’s plan for India

cell clues

Amit Baid, CEO and founder, People Tech Ventures, tells us about their application and the challenges they face in India

Who says you cannot get anything for Rs 50? Check this list

Shripal Gandhi, CEO, Swipe Telecom, shares their plans to be among the top players in the Indian market

Ankit Khanna, head – Products, Snapdeal, speaks about their mobile services

Spotlight 2G spectrum: What lies ahead for the industry as well as consumers

In Focus

40 Is ‘har hath main phone’ a pipe dream?

Letters

Consumer Forum

Mobile Doctor

News

Gear Guide

My Guide

s below Rs

Versus

06 MYMOBILE sep 15 to oct 14 2012

one Six smartph 6,000

26 30 43 81

content cell-ebrity

just in

The Asha 311 and Samsung Galaxy Pocket Duos have landed in India

Kalki Koechlin speaks about her addiction to TV and more

sneak peek

The LG Optimus L9 and HTC One X+ : Phones worth waiting for

spotlight Track Your Device: Lost your device? Find it with these apps!

Dying wirelines: Why the landline is dying in India?

etc Laptops, portable hard drives, televisions, portable power sources we have them all, and more

BURN TESTS Mtech A15 Spice steller Mi 425 swipe tab x74

48 50

micromax funbook pro

nokia 610

hcl me tab y2

htc desire vc

sony xperia ion

samsung note 10.1

109 110

they said it

Who said what in the world of telecom

rumour mill Whispers and leaks from the industry

112

Telco Trivia A look at Window's mobile avatar

persona Anil Ambani: What you might not know about the tycoon

Vantage Point

Ashim Mathur, marketing head, Dolby India, on the sound of music

Boredom Busters

smart apps

Racing for the US presidency, battling away as Death himself, there is action aplenty

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

08 MYMOBILE sep 15 to oct 14 2012

73 Apps that add a twist to your Twitter experience, and add features to your camera

113 114

letters These days I have been noticing that news channels are running news programmes of long hours which talk about the effect of  Keep it real! radiation of telecom towers on mankind. The issue has got me WIN  DO THEY CARE? worried, as I did not earlier believe that mobile phones or  Tablet Wars telecom towers posed any threat to  Parineeti's my health. But with all the ishq with technology attention being given to radiation  Tested has made me curious to get into the nitty gritties of the subject. It is in this regard, I would like to request My Mobile to do some feature on the subject so that I can know about the truth behind mobile phones and their towers and their radiation. -Radhika Sharma, Chandigarh AUG 15 to SEP 14 2012  Rs 75

www.mymobile.co.in

FOR A CONNECTED LIFESTYLE

Get cracking on Augumented Reality

P 44

SONY XPERIA NEO L

We test the customer care prowess of the bigwigs of the mobile industry P 22

Enter the

Snapdragon contest P 32

The best tablets under Rs 8,000 P 36

The beautiful actor reveals her techy side

P 82

LG Optimus 4X HD, Sony Xperia Neo L, HTC Desire C, Sony Xperia Go and many more P 48

SAMSUNG GALAXY BEAM

My Mobile is a one stop guide for all questions related to mobile world. The best thing about My Mobile is the detailed reviews of new handsets that hit the market. Also, the magazine provides information not only about the handsets but also all other information related to it. Even the My Guide section is amazing which really helps user decide which particular handset to buy on the basis of price, features, etc. The articles provided by the team are also very interesting. -Dhruv, New Delhi

A few months ago you did FA C E T O FA C E a face to face with Ranjit “We have been constantly Yadav, Country Head, innovating with retail formats” It is not enough to have great products. You have to sell them effectively as well. And no one knows this better than Ranjit Yadav, Samsung India in which country head, Mobile Business at Samsung India. We caught up with him to talk about the company’s aggressive retail strategy in India he talked about the afterHeena Jatav sales service the company provides. My main reason for writing is to tell him through My Mobile that I am a big time sufferer of Samsung’s poor after-sales service. In fact, there is no authorised customer service centre in my area from where I can get my phone repaired. I was wondering what if these people really mean what they say in interviews? I am utterly disappointed with Samsung’s service and really want them to do something about it. -Ramesh, via email WWW.MYMOBILE.CO.IN

Samsung has recently opened its mobile brand store in Delhi. How many such new exclusive brand stores is the company planning to open in other parts of the country and by when? In April, we opened the first ever Samsung Mobile Brand Store in Delhi and are looking at opening 8-10 Brand Stores in leading Indian metro cities within this year itself. Samsung has aggressive plans to reach out to as many consumers as possible across India.

in FY 12. In addition to that, Samsung also has a presence in over 100,000 multi-brand retail outlets in the country. We have seen immense growth in India and have a leadership position, thanks to the consumers who have faith in our products. We have an aggressive plan on strengthening our retail footprint. Samsung’s growth strategy continues to hinge on addressing consumer requirements with a robust and rich portfolio of devices that rank high on innovation, user experience and functionality. Dedicated retail formats no doubt have helped our consumers to get a first hand feel of our vast range of mobile devices.

How do exclusive brand stores provide a different experience to customers as compared to Samsung’s Smartphone Cafes? While on the subject, how many Samsung Smartphone Cafes are there in India and how many does the company intend to open? The Samsung Mobile Brand Store is a significant step in the direction of creating new, unique and holistic product experiences for consumers at the retail level. The Samsung Mobile Brand Store allows consumers to engage and interact with Samsung Smartphones and tablets through convenient table top displays, multiple product demonstrations and dedicated areas for interacting with Samsung Product Consultants. Now if we talk about Smartphone Cafes, we currently have 300 Smartphone Cafes in India and are looking at doubling this figure

LOGITECH TABLET

SPEAKER Serving sound on the tab

e may have arrived in the era of mobility with tablets and smartphones dominating, but one area in which these devices tend to lag is in sound. Unless you have a good pair of headphones, these devices are not actually equipped to deliver sound in an open area or to be played out loud. Which is why the speaker accessory market has been doing brisk business and the latest entrant to this is Logitech‘s compact speaker specially designed for tablets. It might be called Tablet Speaker but it works equally well with notebooks, smartphones and media players, and any device that can connect to a 3.5mm jack. This rectangular speaker has rounded corners with speaker grills on both sides with a silver strip all around it. It comes with a rubberised flexible clip that lets users attach it to the top of the tablet - a good option, although it does end up making the tablet look strange and unbalanced. The back panel of the speaker contains a USB port and two rubberized stands have also been place on the bottom panel to place the speaker easily anywhere. Battery life stands at eight hours as claimed by the company, which makes it good enough for long trips. Available in Black colour, the product is priced at Rs 4,499 by the company, which makes it a decent deal if you are looking for a speaker set for your tablet or other devices that occupies very little space while delivering decent enough sound. 

Pros | Wide range of

options for any level of shooter, Well-stabilized 20X zoom lens

Cons | Poor battery life, Price is on the higher side

here has been a boom of 20x-plus optical zoom compact cameras of late. And the all new Canon PowerShot SX260 HS joins the growing super zoom market with impressive specifications. And it looks good too. The SX260 HS has a svelte matte finish body which gives it a brushed metal feel. It comes with 20x optical zoom and a 12.0-megapixel camera, in a pocket-friendly frame, that will fit comfortably into most hands. Mind you, it IS a bit heavy compared to other Canon’s releases. The back of the camera has a jog dial that functions as a controller for various options, below which is a 3.0-inch LCD screen. The top of the camera includes the pop-up flash, with the shutter button ringed by the zoom control. The camera has a number of creative shooting modes and also features a choice of artistic filters such as fisheye, sepia, and other effects which are applied in the camera. As in most cameras, we got better results outdoors than indoors. The 20x zoom works fine, although we would have liked the battery to have lasted longer. All of which makes the SX260 HS a treat for snappers and an an excellent companion for travellers. It is available for Rs 22,995 in the Indian market, with a 4 GB memory card being part of the package. Some might find the price to be a bit on the higher side when you consider offerings from competing brands, but we think this camera offers enough bang for the bucks it costs. 

team@mymobile.co.in

Pros | Good audio quality, Smart design

Cons | Looks awkward when attached to tablet, Non-replaceable battery

80 MYMOBILE AUG 15 to SEP 14 2012

SPOTLIGHT

CONTEST

Play and win a Snapdragon Phone!

CELL-EBRITY

Actor Parineeti Chopra talks about her love for gadgets

Augmented Reality: experience the reality through your phone's camera

JUST IN

Find out what Nokia Lumia 610 and HTC Desire VC have in store for you

SNEAK PEEK

A look at soon to be launched Sony Xperia Ion and Blackberry Playbook 4G

PREVIEW

An exclusive preview of the BlackBerry 10 operating system

RUMOUR MILL

Do the global brands have a truly global customer care?

The spicy tit-bits from the telecom world, you heard it here first!

TELCO TRIVIA

All you need to know about BlackBerry

FACE TO FACE

CHIEF SPEAK

Victor Shanxin, president, Huawei Devices – India, discusses company’s strong focus on Indian enterprise as well as consumer market

Vishwadeep Bajaj, chairman and MD, ValueFirst, sheds light on the stagnating position of Indian VAS market Kall Ramanathan, executive VP and country head – India operations, Port Indigo talks about their upcoming mobile solutions and plans for India

Karry Morrison, CEO, Endloop, talks about their innovative applications and the future of mobile apps and their growing relevance

Consumer Forum

14 16

News

Gear Guide

My Guide

Ways to have back up of your mobile data

08 MYMOBILE AUG 15 to SEP 14 2012

BYOND X-1

49 50

ZYNC TAB 999 +

LG OPTIMUS L5

VERSUS

HTC DESIRE C

Hottest budget tabs fight for the best tab title

SONY XPERIA GO

SONY XPERIA NEO L

SAMSUNG GALAXY BEAM

CELL CLUES

A few handy tips and tricks to save that draining battery

LG OPTIMUS 4X HD

66 110 112

THEY SAID IT

113

PERSONA

114

Quatable quotes from the industry behemoths

ZEN ULTRATAB A100

Which brand should I buy?

Mobile Doctor

BURN TESTS CELKON A95

Rajesh Razdan, co-founder and director, mCarbon, discusses the challenges they face as a VAS player

INFOCUS

WWW.MYMOBILE.CO.IN

heena@mymobile.co.in

CONTENT My heartiest good wishes CONTENT 44 32 46 to My Mobile team. I like 82 your magazine a lot but LEAD STORY 22 every time I feel that it 30 contains more advertise41 42 84 109 77 ments and less content. 34 Although, the content of your magazine always 36 38 40 remains very interesting, 67 I find that I finish reading it very quickly. I request you to kindly increase the content as readers like me are more interested in enriched content than in advertisements. -Vatsal, Delhi A matter of choice between the Indian and global brands

CANON POWERSHOT SX260 HS A top-notch Canon treat

What new innovations in retail can we expect from Samsung in the coming days? At Samsung, we believe in providing our consumers the best retail experience and we have been constantly innovating with our retail formats. Our latest initiative is the Samsung Brand Store which promises to provide our consumers with a unique experience to engage with our range of products and help them make an informed buying decision. We also pioneered the concept of Smartphone Cafes and we currently have more than 300 such cafes all over the country. 

20 MYMOBILE JUN 15 to JUL 14 2012

Letters

For me, My Mobile is my monthly dose of all tech and gadget-related happenings around the globe. Every month, I feel enlightened ET CETERA after reading the T magazine's content, W especially the cover stories and gadget reviews. I change my handsets very regularly and My Mobile magazine helps me a lot in choosing the latest and unique offering in the market. I really like the way My Mobile team handles the Consumer Forum section and helps people resolve their grievances. I wish luck to the My Mobile team for their future endeavors. -Sanchit Sharma, Agra

What are your investment plans for strengthening your retail network in India? In terms of our retailing strategy, we are aggressively looking at increasing our retail network across Tier 1 and 2 towns and cities. We are looking at opening 8-10 brand stores in every Indian metro within this year itself. We currently have 300 Smartphone Cafes in India and are aiming to double the figure in FY12.

The other side of the Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg

ET-CETERA

Be it cameras or portable speakers, we have it all for you

SMART APPS

It's time to get all musical with these apps

BOREDOM BUSTERS

Fight the alience or drift with the continents, life can't get any more exciting!

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

10 MYMOBILE AUG 15 to SEP 14 2012

corrigendum The heading Pros in the Pros/Cons section in Zen Tablet review was mistakenly printed as Cons. And the designation of Ranjan Moses, RIM, was misprinted as Courier Product Management instead of Carrier Product Management. The errors were unintentional and are deeply regretted.

AUG 15 to SEP 14 2012 MYMOBILE 81

Nowadays, I think most of people crib about the battery backup provided by their smartphones. Be it any brand, I think all give almost the same battery performance. In last month’s issue you did a story on how to increase the battery life of your smartphone. I just love the article as it was really consumer-oriented and focused on the issues a smartphone user faces. The ways you suggested in your story were really helpful as I was not aware about many of the points you made in it. Keep writing good stuff like this. -Shanu Ansari, Lucknow

10 MYMOBILE Sep 15 to oct 14 2012

e the nd hav a s e m n a drea ellpho n c i t y u e o k so st y ab es? can al u craz e it he late ew lin Are yo l to pen a f or news and hands on t ink you hav f th ur tia poten have a nose ve to lay yo em? If you h a dia’s to t u r Do yo ? Do you c orld about sh your CV y Mobile, In w u ne headli and tell the g for you. R r name in M n s ou i gizmo e are look .in to see y w o , in you mymobile.c e. n i @ z team bile maga o m best

consumer forum Complaint 1 I have purchased a Samsung Champ Deluxe Duos handset on February 27 this year. It started giving problems immediately like rebooting automatically whenever any call used to come, apart from some other problems. I have taken it once to Samsung Care. It took about a week or two for them to repair it. But after a while, I am again experiencing the same problems with it. Please help me and get my handset repaired. -Badriprasad Dandekar Samsung’s reply We will revert soon.

lem persists and when I went to Nokia Care, they told me it was because of a virus in the memory card. If Nokia Care does not repair the phone, I will go to con-

Complaint 5 I have submitted my Micromax Q5c mobile to the Micromax service centre called Cell Q in Mumbai in October 2011. Cell Q closed down in July 2012 and issued me a copy of the phone's job sheet, confirming that it had been sent to Micromax's head office in Delhi. But I have not received it to this day - when I sent Micromax a mail, I received a reply that Micromax's escalation team is looking into my complaint. I am fed up. Please help me in getting my handset back.

Complaint 2 I am a customer of Reliance Smart. My SIM number is +91 7679899281. I received a massage from RM-58787on 17.08.2012 at 05:30 pm to inform me that Stock News service has been activated on my SIM and Rs 20 was deducted from my account balance. I then sent a message to unsubscribe to the said service and it was unsubscribed on the same day at 06:28 P.M. However, there had been no request from me to activate this service. I have tried to contact with customer care(*333) but have received no solution to my problem. I will be highly obliged if you will take the necessary action to solve my problem and get my balance refunded. -Nirmalya Pal, Murshidabad. Reliance’s reply Looking into the matter

Complaint 3 I am a Nokia C5 user since January 2011. The phone works but sometimes loses both sound and vibration, and I am unable to find out about calls and messages. Switching the handset off and on fixes things. I have visited Nokia Care many times and they have tried to fix the handset. They have once replaced the handset and I even extended the warranty for the device. However, the prob-

with this service and I did not even subscribe to it. I have tried contacting customer care but I could not get through to them. I seriously need some help. -Sourav Chowdhury, Kurseong Vodafone’s reply Awaited.

sumer court because I am fed up. -Jay Chandran Nokia’s reply We have been trying to contact Jay but couldnot get in touch with him. His number is switched off.

Complaint 4 I am a Vodafone customer and for the last few days I have been facing a problem with my balance deduction. The service provider has been billing me Rs 11 for quite some time for a service by the name 444 USSD. I am unfamiliar

12 MYMOBILE sep 15 to oct 14 2012

-Rajesh Punwani Micromax’s reply Issue is being processed.

Complaint 6 I am in possession of a Motorola VZR phone. It seems to have a battery problem as it gets discharged in mere five minutes. As a result, it is virtually nonusable. I have contacted Motorola Centres but to no avail. Please help. -B G Wadje, Nashik Motorola’s reply Awaited.

Complaint 7 I am an ardent fan of Sony devices, and recently purchased a Sony Xperia Mini handset. After some days of the purchase, we started having some problems using the phone. We ignored them initially but when they persisted, we took it to the service centre but as there is no service centre in Firozabad, I took the handset to Agra on my next trip there. The service centre told me that this problem existed in all the the handsets of this particular batch. Needless to say, I am feeling cheated by the company. I want either my money to be refunded or be given a new handset in exchange of this one. -Amit Gupta, Firozabad Sony’s reply Awaited.

Complaint 8 I have been an Airtel customer for four years, and although I have faced problems from their side, I have rarely complained because of the coverage of their services. But now Rs 30 have been deducted from my phone for downloading an Android game that I never downloaded. My number seems to have been barred from calling the customer care executive as well, so I am feeling completely helpless. Please do the needful. -Aamir Airtel’s reply Awaited.

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

www.mymobile.co.in

mobile doctor requirements. I think you should go with the Samsung Galaxy Ace Duos S6802. This phone comes with Android v2.3 (Gingerbread) OS, 5.0-megapixel primary camera, dual active SIM support (GSM+GSM), a 3.5-inch capacitive touchscreen, 832 MHz processor, FM radio, and Wi-Fi.

I am planning to buy a phone in the budget of Rs 15,000-20,000. Which is a good mobile in this range? I like listening to music so I am keen on the Sony Xperia U. -Vikas Dear Vikas, if you are looking for music then it’s a good choice. You can go with this or you can consider HTC One V, which has Beats Audio Enhancement system, HD recording, Wi-Fi Direct, and a bigger display than the Xperia U. Most importantly, it also comes with Android Ice Cream Sandwich. I have a BlackBerry 3G 9300 phone - can the OS be upgraded to 7.1? My friend has the Samsung Galaxy Note, but if I go for it, I may have to spend an additional 15,000 to 20,000 rupees. I want to know if it is worthwhile. Also inform me whether Android OS is better than BlackBerry OS. Kindly guide me. -Muthukrishnan Dear Krishnan, you can’t upgrade your phone to 7.1 but if you wish to take an Android phone, yes, it is much better than Blackberry OS. In BlackBerry, the main point is you have BBM and multiple mail accounts. But in Android, although you don’t have the BB Messenger, you can get lots of applications and games along with multiple email accounts. Please suggest an Android smartphone under Rs 15,000 with features like 3G, Wi-Fi, video calling support, very fine primary camera and nice touch response. -Gautam Dear Gautam, there are lot of phones which match your

Please tell me sir what is the difference between android 2.3 Gingerbread and 2.2 Froyo? And which one is good? -Hiren Dear Hiren, the main difference between both OS is that Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) includes new UI themes, redesigned keyboards, new copy and paste functionality, improved power management, better application management, new download manager, NFC (Near Field Communication), support for VoIP/SIP calls, new camera application for accessing multiple cameras, and also supports extra large screens, among

other things. Android 2.3 is better because it's an upgrade of 2.2 and fixes many of the bugs found in the latter. I am looking to buy a new handset. My budget is around Rs 20,000. I wanted to know which phone was good among the LG Optimus Black, Sony Xperia Neo and Sony Xperia Pro. Or any other phone that you would like to suggest in this range. -Aravind Ajith

14 MYMOBILE sep 15 to oct 14 2012

Dear Aravind, if I compare Xperia Neo and Xperia Pro the main difference is that the Xperia Pro comes with a QWERTY keyboard and its internal memory is 1GB, as compared to 320MB in Xperia Neo. There are a few phones in your budget but you won’t get the sort of cameras in them that you are likely to get with these phones. So I think that if you do not mind the keyboard, then you can go with the Xperia Pro. I have a Samsung Galaxy Y in very good working condition. I have tried to update the software on the phone. The update has been downloaded but when I tried to install the update, I get a message of "connection failed" every time I click "confirm." I tried it on Wi-Fi too but it did not work. Now my Google Play store also starts to give trouble and I cannot download any apps. I am very troubled. So advise me as to what to do. -Parth Gandhi Dear Parth, you might be getting this problem due to some application conflict. Please factory reset the phone. This should resolve the problem. If not, then please ask the service center to upgrade the software once again. I have an LG Optimus Net P690 running on Android 2.3. My cellphone takes a long time to start up - almost two minutes. What can I do to make it boot faster? Also I want to know how I can zoom in to a subject while shooting a video? -Akshay Dear Akshay, when phones get switched on, there are lot of applications running in the background, which takes time. When you turn on the camera you can zoom by scrolling along the line which appears on the viewfinder of the camera or through the camera settings too. I want to buy a Sony phone which costs around Rs 9,000, if possible with Android. Please send me some suggestions. -sorinchankeishing@gmail.com There are a number of Sony phones that come with Android.

But when it comes to your budget, then there is only one phone - the Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini ST15i. You can get lots of options if you choose to consider Samsung. Advise me as to which is better - Nokia C6, Sony Live with Walkman, or Samsung Galaxy Ace 5830. -Jonney Sagar Dear Jonney, in my opinion, you should go with the Samsung Galaxy Ace 5830. It will give you a bigger screen, Wi-Fi, face and smile detection in camera, Corning Gorilla Glass which will save your screen from scratches, Android 2.3, Qualcomm MSM7227 chipset and an 800 MHz ARM 11 CPU. I am looking to buy a tablet around Rs 10,000. Can you suggest some tablets with these features: Android (upgradeable), good battery backup, phone calling, SMS, 3G, Wi-Fi, HD, Camera, Seven inch display. -Dhanu Satheesan Dear Dhanu, there is no tablet which comes with phone calling facilities in your budget - those tablets will cost you approximately Rs 15,000. If you can leave calling out of the equation, then you can go with the Karbonn Smart ST-2. You will get a 7.0 inch capacitive touch screen with scratch-resistant glass, 1.2 GHz Xburst Processor, Android ICS, external 3G connectivity, full HD and much more. n

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.

NEWS bits operators & tariffs

Value Added Services/Applications/ Games

Aircel offers full talk time starting at Rs 30

Affle launches its integrated advertisement network for all smart-screens

Now Aircel’s prepaid customers will get full talk time every time they recharge their number. The company has announced a Full Talk Time offer for its prepaid customers across the country. The recharge starts at Rs 30 and goes up to Rs 100. This is the only offer in the country by any operator that gives its users full talk time. Aircel prepaid customers do not need to pay service tax and processing fees while recharging their number.

Affle, a digital media company, has unveiled Ripple – its rich media and video advertising network recently. Ripple is an integrated advertising network based solution which works across all smart-screen devices including mobiles, tablets, laptops, PCs and Smart TVs. As per the company, Ripple has been developed considering the needs of the consumers in terms of better experience, advertisers in terms of more contextuality and publishers in terms of advertising opportunities. On partner traction, the company officials confirmed partnerships with brands like Samsung, P&G, Star, Business Standard, Dainik Bhaskar, Beoscope, Bolanews, and Sambawa as of now. They also said that they are hoping to grab a big share of the digital advertising market through Ripple.

Home delivery of MTNL telecom connections soon

Now you can get an MTNL landline, broadband or mobile connection by just sending an SMS. Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL), the state owned telecom provider has come up with a service in which subscribers of any operator can send an SMS to 9868552121 and can get a new MTNL landline, broadband or mobile connection. The subscribers will be charged according to the standard SMS rate of the operator. The company has also started a similar service for online applicants. For its Mumbai circle, MTNL has started booking of broadband connections through a toll free number as well.

Idea launches 3G dongle with cloud services Idea Cellular recently launched its latest 3G dongle with cloud based services. Apart from Internet access, the dongle comes with 2 GB cloud storage. The new cloud dongle also allows users to share pictures, music, videos and documents through the ‘Cloud Share’ option, syncing all attached devices. According to the company, the device is capable of giving download speeds of up to 7.2 Mbps and upload speeds of up to 5.76 Mbps. The free storage of upto 2 GB comes for a period of one year. The new dongle is priced at Rs. 1,799 and will be available through all Idea outlets, across 22 circles.

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Disney UTV brings Gameloft’s mobile games to Indian audiences The Digital business of DisneyUTV has joined Gameloft, an international publisher and developer of games to distribute their mobile games in India via operator channels and UTV Indiagames destination sites. Gamers in India will now have access to titles like Asphalt 6: Adrenaline and Prince of Persia: Forgotten Sands as well as new releases like The Dark Knight Rises. The tie-up will also bring the Indian audiences blockbuster MARVEL titles like Ironman, The Avengers and Spiderman. These games will be available on Java phones with select titles available on Android as well and will be available in the price range of Rs. 30/50/99.

Nokia Lumia and Windows Phone devices to come with free Nimbuzz messaging services Nimbuzz, a mobile instant messaging application, has recently announced a partnership with Nokia to bring its messenger app to all Nokia Lumia and Windows Phone smartphones. The new Nimbuzz Messenger features free SMS messaging, group instant messaging, picture sharing and more. The messenger service will now be made available to all Nokia Lumia users, via Windows Phone Marketplace. This will allow users to chat with their friends on Facebook, Gtalk, Yahoo! Messenger and Live messenger (MSN).

µTorrent brings beta Android client BitTorrent, a creator of distributed technologies, has introduced the official beta version of µTorrent for Android phones and tablets. The company claims that the µTorrent Android beta client is the most lightweight version of the popular software client yet. BitTorrent already offers several mobile apps, including BitTorrent Android, BitTorrent and µTorrent Remote. These apps enable users to manage torrents directly from Android or iOS devices. µTorrent Android is a native Android client that enables fast and easy on-the-go downloading of media. Furthermore, there are no speed or size caps on downloads in this new app. µTorrent Android is available in beta for free download via Google Play.

NEWS bits Policy & Regulations HANDSETS & MORE Samsung unveils first Windows Phone 8 smartphone Samsung showcased the first Windows Phone 8 smartphone at the IFA trade show in Berlin. The Korean brand beat Nokia at being the first company to bring out a phone on the new Windows platform. The device sports a wide 4.8 inch Super AMOLED screen and is powered by a 1.5 GHz dual-core processor. It includes an 8.0 megapixel rear camera and a 1.9 megapixel front camera. The company has included Wi-Fi, NFC and Bluetooth options for connectivity. The price and launch date of the device are however, not known yet.

iBall launches dual SIM ‘phablet’ Andi 5c iBall, an Indian handset maker has introduced a new member in its Andi family with the launch of the new Andi 5c. The device comes with a 5.0 inch IPS display, which places it in the “phablet” (phone+tablet) category. The device runs on Android 4.0.3 (Ice Cream Sandwich) and is powered by a 1 GHz Cortex A9 processor. Other features include GPS, G-sensor, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. It comes with a 2,300 mAh capacity battery. It also sports a 5.0 megapixel auto focus rear camera with built-in flash and a 0.3 megapixel front camera. The Andi 5c has been priced at Rs. 12,999 and is available at mobile retail stores.

Sony to enter dual SIM market Sony is soon going to join the horde of companies making dual SIM phones. The company is soon going to unveil two smartphones named Sony Xperia Tipo SS and DS. While the SS is believed to stand for ‘single SIM’, the DS would mean dual SIM phone. The devices will run on Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) and have an 800MHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor to keep them ticking smoothly. As far as the screen size goes, both will come with a 3.2-inch scratch-resistant TFT touchscreen. The phones are expected to come with a 3.2-megapixel rear camera and will support storage of up to 32 GB of data. Both the phones will be priced in the sub Rs 10,000 category.

Phone radiation guidelines issued The Department of Telecom has recently issued guidelines for the telecom companies regarding the level of radiations emitting from telecom towers as well as from mobile devices. The step has been taken by the Government following fears about the effect radiation might have on people’s health. The EMF exposure limit (Base Station Emissions) is lowered to 1/10th of the existing ICNIRP exposure level. All telecom companies should adhere to the new rules and the authority has made it clear that for non-compliance of EMF standards, a penalty of Rs. 5 lakhs will be levied per BTS per Service Provider. The stringent rules are not limited to service providers but also include mobile manufacturers, who now have one year’s time to come out with handsets that are compliant with the new SAR guidelines. All new handsets will have to comply with SAR values of 1.6 W/kg averaged over 1 gram of human tissue - only then will they be allowed to be manufactured or imported into the country. And that is not all the amount of radiation a particular handset emits will also be made available to consumers by the manufacturer at the time of purchase of the handset.

International visitors to have a mobile connection for three months only The Indian Government has asked telecom service providers not to issue a mobile connection for more than three months to international visitors. The move is being seen as a way to keep a check on the misuse of SIM cards in the country. DoT has come out with fresh guidelines for issuing new SIM cards after the North-East Indian exodus case.

Karbonn launches ICS phone at Rs 12,990 Karbonn, an Indian mobile brand has launched an Android 4.0 (ICS) based smartphone with dual SIM capabilities, the Karbonn Smart A18. Priced at Rs. 12,990, the phone supports both 3G and 2G connections and boasts a wide 4.3 inch IPS screen. It is powered by a 1 GHz processor and comes with a 5.0 megapixel camera with features like burst mode and face detection. It also features a 1.3-megapixel camera in front for video chat and video calling. You can store up to 32GB of data on it using a memory expansion slot.

Techiewood Malaika Arora Khan reveals Swipe Tablets

Two new entry level phones from Micromax Micromax has released two new handsets, the Ninja A57 and X292 in the Indian market. The Ninja A57 is an Android phone with a 3.5 inch capacitive screen. It runs on Android 2.3 and is powered by a 1 GHz processor. It comes with a 3.0 megapixel camera and Bluetooth, 3G and Wi-Fi connectivity. It is available for Rs 4,999 in the market. The Micromax X292 on the other hand has been launched in the multimedia segment, and comes with a conventional alphanumeric keypad. The phone comes preloaded with 15 films, 10 music videos and five mp3 songs. On the connectivity front it has GPRS, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. Though the company has not revealed the price of the phone, it is expected to be available at Rs 2,500 in the market.

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Renowned actress and celebrity Malaika Arora Khan launched the new range of tablets introduced by Swipe Telecom, a California-based organisation. Unveiling the 3D Life Tab along with the Float and Halo tablets, she said, “I am privileged to be Swipe’s first global customer. It is good to be at the helm and see the heralding of a phenomena. I wish Swipe Telecom a grand success and look forward to watching 3D movies on my own 3D Life tablet. What I liked most is that the Swipe range of Tablets is as versatile as my personality.” The Swipe 3D tablet is available in the market for Rs 5,999.

lead story A new Galaxy Note, an Android camera, new Kindle fires, new Razrs, Windows Phone 8 devices - the past few days have seen them all and more appear on the tech horizon. We take a look at ten of these that rocked our world Sulabh Puri & Nimish Dubey

A Perfect

Ten 20 MYMOBILE sep 15 to oct 14 2012

s the monsoons made their way out, it started raining phones, tablets and a host of mobile devices. Or certainly it felt that way to us as almost every day brought forth new and more innovative devices. Be it Nokia, Samsung or Amazon - it seemed every manufacturer in town was out to wow us with new offerings. We managed to extract ourselves from the deluge long enough to cherry pick ten of the best mobile products that were unveiled. They might not have hit the market yet, but we can assure you that you will be hearing a lot about them in times to come.

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Fabulous Phablet

Samsung Galaxy Note 2 The Galaxy Note has been one of Samsungâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s bestselling devices over the past year. It did a marvellous job of integrating a large-screen phone with a stylus. We were a little skeptical about its prospects when it was initially launched but with a slight cut in price, its sales zoomed. Small wonder then that Samsung has given us its successor, the Galaxy Note 2. The Galaxy Note 2 will also come with a stylus, which will work in tandem with the larger 5.5 inch SUPER AMOLED capacitive touch screen. This large screen supports HD 720 resolution and would be able to play DivX, MP4 and WMV video formats. Under the hood, it will carry a quad core 1.6 GHz Cortex A9 processor and whopping 2 GB RAM. It will be available in three storage variations - 16 GB, 32 GB and 64 GB, although the last might not make it to our shores. The Note 2 will

have an 8.0-megapixel camera with autofocus, and an LED flash. And running on it will be the latest version of Android, Jelly Bean (4.1). A 3,100 mAh battery will keep it ticking. We have no official word on its price, but whispers say it will be in the vicinity of Rs 35,000.

sep 15 to oct 14 2012 MYMOBILE 21

lead story

Point and shoot, Droid!

Samsung Galaxy Android Camera We have been saying time and again that Samsung is working on an Android digital camera. And now the Koreans have come out with it. We had seen this kind of integration between Android and another device in a car audio unit by Parrot back in 2010. And now Samsung has brought it to cameras. They have used the Jelly Bean (4.1) version of Android on the Galaxy Camera. One thing that is common in most digital cameras is the plethora of buttons on the back, which control everything from ISO levels to menus to navigation. But in the Galaxy Camera, Samsung has gone and

Hi, Windows Phone 8

Samsung ATIV S Here comes the first mobile phone with Windows Phone 8. And no, contrary to what everyone was thinking, it does not come from Nokia. Samsung beat Nokia when it came to showcasing the first phone with the next avatar of Windows Phone which is expected to be released later. And the ATIV S does the forthcoming OS with a brilliant 4.8 inch SUPER AMOLED touch display made of Corning Gorilla Glass, and with a 1,280x720 pixel resolution. It is super slim and comes with a classy brushed metal back. It will be available in 16 GB and 32 GB storage variations, whic can be expanded by up to 32 GB using a microSD

card. It will have an 8.0-megapixel rear camera with autofocus, LED flash and Geo-tagging features. The camera can also take 1080P full HD videos. For video chats and calls, Samsung has put a secondary 1.9 MP camera on the front of the device as well. And making sure that all this runs well, there is a 1.5 GHz dual-core processor on board and 1 GB RAM. Other features include Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and NFC, with 2300 mAh battery as well to power it all. A spec beast this, is expected in India and worldwide later this year.

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parked a large 4.8 inch LCD touchscreen for controlling the camera. And yes, the traditional, home, options and back Android buttons are present too. The brain behind this camera is a quick 1.4 GHz quad-core processor, which is accompanied by Wi-Fi and 3G connectivity. You do have the option to insert a 3G SIM in this camera, although you cannot make calls with it. It is a pure picture machine with an operating system primarily built for phones. It has a 16.0-megapixel sensor with 21x optical zoom. Other features include Google Play store access, 10 preset picture modes and, according to what we have heard, 8 GB onboard memory.

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Nokia’s New Flagship

Nokia Lumia 920 Boy oh boy! By the looks of it, Nokia has managed to get hold of a winner. The Lumia 920 comes loaded with Windows Phone 8, and judging by what we have seen has everything that it might take to restore Nokia to its former glory. The Lumia 920 comes with a brilliant 4.5-inch display which supports 720 HD resolution. It is 10.7mm slim, weighs 185 gms and comes with some colourful shell options. On the technology front it has a 9 MP PureView camera which it claims will not only take great images in normal conditions, but also in low light ones.

The Other Lumia

Nokia Lumia 820 The Lumia 920 might have grabbed most of the headlines but there are many who believe that it would be unwise to rule out the second Lumia phone Nokia unveiled this month. Termed “the more affordable Lumia,” which is targeted at youth (it comes with plethora of cover options including a new Purple one), the Lumia 820 is no pushover in the spec department. It too runs on Windows Phone 8, and comes with a 4.3 inch Nokia Clear Black AMOLED capacitive touchscreen that works at a relatively modest 480x800 resolution but is great to look at nevertheless. And while it might have only 8 GB of storage space onboard, this is expandable using a microSD card. The presence of a dual core 1.5 GHz Krait processor along with an Adreno 225 graphics chip and 1 GB RAM should make this phone a dab hand at gaming and at handling multimedia functions. Speaking of multimedia, the Lumia 820 also comes with an 8.0-megapixel camera with twin LED flash, capable of shooting full HD video. This could well turn out to be the mainstream Windows Phone 8 device Nokia is looking for. Alas, we know not when it will arrive. And at what price.

It can also record video in full HD 1080P resolution. And this phone also sees Nokia finally enter dual core processor territory - the Lumia 920 runs on the dual core 1.5 GHz Snapdragon S4 processor that further gets a boost with 1 GB RAM. Users can download or transfer content on to the large 32 GB internal memory in this phone, which however, is not expandable (for design reasons, we are told). A 2,000 mAh battery gives life to this phone, which comes with just about every connectivity option you could ask for, as well as those two Nokia trump cards - Nokia Music and Nokia Maps with voice navigation.

sep 15 to oct 14 2012 MYMOBILE 23

lead story Amazon takes on the iPad

Kindle Fire HD Although the first Kindle Fire had grabbed more than a fifth of the US tablet market, many observers did not consider it to be a challenger to Apple’s iPad, as it was a smaller, less powerful device. Well, that argument cannot be extended to the Kindle Fire HD range unveiled by Amazon as we went to print. These are available in two screen sizes a conventional 7 inches and a bigger

8.9-inch affair. Of these, it is the latter that is grabbing more attention, not least because of a staggering 1920x1020 resolution which is among the highest seen on a mobile device this side of the new iPad (the seven-inch Kindle HD sports a 1280x800 resolution). That apart, the HD Kindles are supposed to be blazingly fast with speedy processors tailormade for HD gaming and dual band, dual antenna Wi-Fi for much faster downloads and browsing, all topped off with double figure battery life! Of course, all of this is tightly integrated with Amazon’s store, be it for books, films, music or apps. There is also a 4G avatar of the 8.9-inch Kindle Fire HD, which will be available for $499. However, we think that the lower priced 7-inch Kindle ($199) and 8.9-inch Kindle Fire HD ($299) are the ones that will grab the imagination of the public. And a hefty part of the iPad’s market share.

The Second Fire

Kindle Fire Last year, the Kindle Fire occupied centerstage at the Amazon event. This year it spent relatively more time in the shadows with the Kindle HD editions hogging the spotlight. While some would say that the era of the original Kindle Fire is over and that the future belongs to the HD editions of the tablet, the very fact that Amazon refreshed it shows that its day is far from over. The new Kindle Fire comes with an improved 1.2 GHz processor, 1 GB RAM and improved battery life that Amazon claims will see it easily last upto nine hours. It is still Wi-Fi only and comes with 8 GB onboard storage

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The Bookworm’s Tablet

Kindle Paperwhite Given all the attention paid to the Kindle Fire and its successors over the past year, it is easy to forget that the Kindle started out as a classic e-ink book reader, whose main function was to let users purchase, download and read books on it. Amazon has however clearly not lost sight of the bookish segment of its market, which is why it has made it a point to keep updating the e-book reader. And the latest version finally brings a form of lighting to the device which will allow users to read in the dark without having to use a lamp accessory. Called Paperwhite, this lighting system will keep the Kindle readable in sunlight as well as in the dark - and all this without compromising on battery life, which Amazon says will last a staggering two months on a single charge. The Kindle’s design too has been given a flip with a nobutton look, the interface has been spruced up with better touch support and more fonts and the screen’s resolution has been upped for a near paper-like reading experience. And at $119 for the Wi-Fi edition ($179 for the 3G one), we can see bookworms lining up for this one.

but on the flip side, is tightly integrated with Amazon’s online offerings. And then there is the little - or should we make it, very large - matter of the price. If the $199 price tag was what made the original Kindle Fire a rage last year, then its successor comes with better specifications and at an even lower price. Yes, the second generation Kindle Fire starts at a mere $159. It is unlike to grab as much media space as its HD cousins, but we wager it will give them a run for their money among the more price sensitive segments of the market.

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Edge-to-Edge RAZR

Motorola RAZR M It does not have a display that’s as large as that of the RAZR HD, but it has been that very display that has been keeping the RAZR M in the headlines for a while now. And that is because it literally has no edges whatsoever - what the media is terming an edge-to-edge display. The result is perhaps the most compact 4.3 inch display we have ever seen on a handset - it fits easily into most palms, giving users the benefit of a large display without any of the accompanying bulk. It houses a blazingly fast 1.5 GHz dual core processor, 1 GB RAM, 8 GB storage and comes with a 8.0-megapixel

High-Def RAZR

Motorola RAZR HD The original Droid RAZR won a lot of rave reviews for the use of innovative materials like Kevlar in its build and its incredibly slim looks, but it failed to ignite the market the way in true RAZR tradition. Motorola has however thrown its hat into the RAZR ring again, this time with the RAZR HD, which sports a gorgeous 4.7-inch 720p HD AMOLED display, comes with 1 GB RAM and 16 GB on-board storage, and is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon S4 dual core processor. Some things have not changed - the back still has Kevlar on it to make it tougher without adding to its weight, while the shooter remains an 8.0-megapixel affair capable of shooting full HD video. And yes, it still remains almost impossibly thin - at 8.4mm, it qualifies for smartphone anorexia - and in a welcome surprise, promises very good battery life as well (although it also has a MAXX variant that will go on for even longer). What we fail to understand is why it is running Android Ice Cream Sandwich - surely something as classy as this qualified for the buttery smooth Jelly Bean? More so, when you consider that Google has acquired Motorola Mobility. An update has been promised, though. n sulabh@mymobile.co.in nimish@mymobile.co.in

camera, which is capable of shooting high resolution video. It comes stacked with Android goodness and lots of sensors and is perhaps the most pocket-friendly large-screen phone we have seen for a while. And in best Moto RAZR tradition, it too is very slim, lightweight and has got Kevlar on the back. It may not be as heavy duty in the specs department as the RAZR HD, but this is the RAZR that has got the looks. And a display that could redefine mobile display design. Again, it runs on Ice Cream Sandwich rather than Jelly Bean. Ah, well, no one’s perfect !

sep 15 to oct 14 2012 MYMOBILE 25

fa c e t o fa c e

“India presents a huge opportunity” Grant Kuo, managing director, MediaTek India is bullish on the Indian market. We caught up with him to find out how he and his company plan to make it big in the coming days in the country Heena Jatav

Among its portfolio of different products, what is MediaTek’s primary area of focus? For MediaTek India, the focus is mainly on the mobile phone segment. We are working to build better and faster solutions to cater to the ever increasing cellphone market in the country. The market is growing at a tremendous pace and there is a constant need to innovate and provide more competitive products to the customers. So we invest heavily in both research and development, and quality testing. Almost 90 per cent of our workforce is committed to these units. What are the current plans of MediaTek for the Indian market? Various researches show that mobile handset market continues to grow in the country. Considering this development, we have a two-way action plan for India. On one hand are the feature phones that have been the biggest contributor to our growth story so far and are still going strong as a segment. We shall be looking to make this segment even stronger by enabling a feature phone with smarter features, so it offers richer multimedia experience to end users – a smartfeature phone. We also aim to enable the democratisation of smartphones by introducing new solutions to add to the MediaTek smartphone family, delivering enhanced user interactivity, mobile connectivity and rich multimedia experience previously only available on high-end devices. Consumers everywhere will be able to benefit from the affordable, highperformance devices enabled by the MediaTek smartphone solutions. What are MediaTek’s expectations from the Indian market? Amid a slowing global economy,

India is still managing to keep its future outlook positive. Despite a nine-yearlow growth figure in 2011, today, India’s economy is still expanding, with growth projected between 6 per cent and 7 per cent for the year. And analysts say India’s long-term strengths remain significant. Despite the current economic slowdown, the subscriber base in India is increasing. So, we believe that the demand for mobile phones may not fall. Rather end users will now start to gravitate towards cost effective handsets providing better entertainment, more information and improved communication through advanced solutions offering smarter, richer multi-media features. What can Indian consumers expect next from MediaTek? India presents a huge opportunity and is considered to be one of the fastest growing cellular markets. Every handset maker is trying to offer the full suite of products ranging from basic phones to high-end feature loaded smartphones. From this kind of growth, it is easy to predict the future of mobile and mobile Internet is going to be very big, thus, presenting a challenge and a greater opportunity for MediaTek to deliver better products, newer solutions and technology. Aiming at the fast-increasing demand for smartphones in the emerging countries, MediaTek is forging ahead with the development of new product lines by extending mobile communications technology offerings from 3G to 4G smartphones. MediaTek will continue to launch handset and other peripheral chipsets integrating multimedia and internet connection features in different market segments. On the feature phone side, MediaTek will integrate more features into products to achieve a higher level of differentiation for customers. For smartphone products, MediaTek will establish partnership with worldwide operators and channels to aggressively develop 3G/3.5G/3.75G/TD-SCDMA/4G to expand the global market with clients. n heena@mymobile.co.in

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spotlight

2G Spectrum: The final...final countdown? With the Government yet again requesting for and getting an extension to the deadline for 2G spectrum auction, what does the future have in store for the telecom sector? We take a closer look Heena Jatav

ot too many people were surprised when the Government requested for an extension to the deadline of the 2G spectrum auction process. The deadline which was first set for 2 June was postponed to 31 August, but as many had predicted, the Government filed an appeal in the Supreme Court for extending the deadline which has now been granted. The new deadline for finishing the auction process is 11 January 2013. But will the Government be able to meet it this time? And what does this delay

28 MYMOBILE sep 15 to oct 14 2012

mean to operators, especially the new ones who are already in a deep mess due to their cancelled licenses and high reserve prices? And indeed the consumer?

Why this delay?

According to the Government, the additional time has been sought to complete the auction in a proper manner, and also to give enough time to both auctioneers and bidders to participate effectively in the auction. But this seeming indecisiveness on the part of the Government has led to some parties

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having doubts about the entire process. As per a report released by Fitch Ratings, the agency expects that many telecom companies whose licences were cancelled by India’s Supreme Court in February 2012 will not participate in the re-auction. “The three smaller operators - Etisalat, Videocon and Swan Telecom have already exited the industry. The Indian subsidiaries of Telenor and Sistema are most likely to pull out either completely or in part. The fifth and sixth largest private operators (subsidiaries of Tata and Maxis) may also look to consolidate to strengthen their position, as both operators have been unable to register an operating profit so far,” the report states. New telecom operators in particular have been hard hit as they have not only lost their licenses but have also been unable to start their operations again due to the high reserve price. Sistema Shyam TeleServices (SSTL) told us in response to an e-mail query: “SSTL is losing approximately Rs 7 crores per day. With the auction timelines getting further delayed, it is

bound to add to the losses of the company.”

The new timeline According to analysts, the new timeline given by SC for the completion of auction looks promising. The auction will now begin on 12 November, which will give bidders more time to work out their strategies, and work out financing options. “The timeframe makes sense because bidders now have approximately two months time for planning and preparation. And like telecom secretary also said, the auction may finish even before 11 January as well,” feels Mohammad T. Chowdhury, executive director, Telecoms Industry Leader, PricewaterhouseCoopers. Mahesh Uppal, telecom market analyst and director at Comfirst believes that there are now no factors that will restrain the Government from completing the auction on time. “I think the previous deadline was unrealistic, most people also felt so,” he points out. “I think the middle of January can work because the real barriers for the government have now been resolved so there is nothing that should actually delay this auction further.”

Industry and consumer impact

The past year has however created a great deal of uncertainity in the industry. The high base price will not only affect industry players but also the consumers, as operators who bid at the higher price for spectrum acquisition are likely to try to recover their investment by charging the consumers more for their services. “There is a strong possibility tariffs will go up because the high cost of spectrum will make it unable for operators to deliver the service at the same cost, as their margins are already quite low. There are only a few operators who are in the position to absorb a costly

The past year has however created a great deal of uncertainty in the industry. The high base price will not only affect industry players but also the consumers, as operators who bid at the higher price for spectrum acquisition are likely to try to recover their investment by charging the consumers more for their services

spectrum,” reasons Chowdhury. “Based on the analysis done by PWC, we believe that tariffs could go up by 40 paisa/minute.” Deepak Kumar, founder analyst at Businessandmarket.net agrees that consumers will be the most affected by the auction, adding that it is completely unrealistic on the Government’s part to set the base price for 2G spectrum on the 3G scale. “The Government needs to understand that 2G service is entirely different from what 3G offers. So there is no point in setting up a base price for 2G spectrum auctioning on 3G’s benchmark. 3G is used by very few users, but 2G caters to mass consumers. A high reserve price for 2G spectrum will ultimately lead to operators raising tariffs,” he points out. An interesting aspect of the process is rural India where mobile penetration level is only 6 to 7 per cent even today. “The danger is that if the cost of the service in rural areas goes up, the appeal to rural people will go down because of few spenders and higher cost,” Chowdhury acknowledges. From an industry perspective, the main impact could be a financing crunch. Chowdhury points out that the industry has already a dead log of Rs 185 thousand crores as per PWC’s analysis. “We believe the additional financing will be needed for this spectrum acquisition which will be around Rs 3,00,000 crores. That amount will push the debt level of the industry to above 10 per cent, which is currently 4.87 per cent, which is untenable,” said Chowdhury.

And so we wait...

All said and done, the industry is cautiously optimistic about the auction process which will get underway from 12 November. Given the past, it would be a huge step in the right direction if the process this time gets underway on time. We are keeping our fingers crossed that this indeed is the final countdown for the 2G spectrum auction. On the other hand Deepak Kumar feels that consumers will be affected the most as they are already dealing with hampering networks. “It will impact the companies whose licenses were cancelled such as Uninor and MTS the most because their uncertainties are extending further. I don’t think the impact of the delay is very severe for other players other than the resultant uncertainty for everyone. “Foreign players like Telenor and MTS have been adversely affected, they certainly have not been happy. But I don’t think other major investors are unaware of the political and other realities of India. I don’t expect this to cause a major shift in the perception of foreign players.” n heena@mymobile.co.in

sep 15 to oct 14 2012 MYMOBILE 29

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fa c e t o fa c e

“traditional marketing is basically over” A number of app developers are coming out with solutions that allow people to find out what’s around them. One of these is Delight Circle, an app that helps you find great shopping deals in your vicinity. We caught up with Amit Baid, CEO and founder, Pipal Tech Ventures, to talk about it Ketan Pratap Tell us something about Delight Circle? Delight Circle is a location based marketing and commerce platform that we launched back in 2011. We believe that today smartphones may be less in number, but in two years there would be a huge number of smartphones. And once that happens, soon an inflection point will come in terms of how people market. And then, location marketing will be the change. Today, the money spent on traditional advertisements by retailers and brands going forward would be spent on location based marketing. We have seen this in the US already. So as a point of fact, traditional marketing is basically over. Our app once downloaded onto a device gives consumers the retail offers, coupons and all other essential information for the consumer to make a more well-versed choice. This free app allows consumers to see all the stores in the range of 500 metres to 1 kilometre. It’s actually a tool that can enhance consumers’ shopping experience. Delight Circle is relative a newcomer in India. How has the journey been so far? And what are your expectations from the Indian market? The journey has been very exciting so far. We are getting excellent traction on both the retailer/brand side and on the consumer side. We were recently selected by NASSCOM as one of the top apps in the country. Since our launch eight weeks ago, we have already had requests from more than fifty retailers who

30 MYMOBILE sep 15 to oct 14 2012

want to be on our platform. Our expectation is that by end of next year we will have more than one million consumers using our app. What are the factors boosting the usage of LBS (location based services) in India and what growth rate do you see for these services? There are two reasons that are boosting growth of targeted marketing with location being one of the ways of targeting- Firstly, consumers are tired of being bombarded by push based advertising mechanisms like SMS, email, newspaper and TV ads. The consumer should be able to get the right offer at the right time and at the right place - this is what location based targeted marketing enables. Secondly, the cost of advertising for retailers and brands is high. Targeted mobile based marketing is one of the best ways to reduce cost. What are the challenges that you are facing in India? The Indian smartphone growth is in nascent stage, which is both a challenge and an opportunity. The challenge is that on contrary to a country like the US where good apps can gain traction rapidly, in India it takes time to gain traction. The opportunity is that in the next two years we will have 10 crore plus smartphone users and those of us who start early are going to tremendously benefit from the growth of smartphones. How many downloads or installations have you seen? What can we expect in the future? We have 11,000 consumers using our platform. You should definitely expect some very cool features in the app in next few months. And we are constantly trying to increase partnerships and bring in more brands onto our platform. n ketan@mymobile.co.in

contest

A Snapdragon Phone = Your PC

“S

martphones today are more powerful than computers were a few years ago” is a quote that is often heard in tech circles. But given the rate at which processors are developing, it would not be incorrect to say that with the right infusion of apps and a powerful processor like the Snapdragon series from Qualcomm, a smartphone can easily go toe to toe with a computer on many major functions – infact, if you look at it purely from a price point perspective, a smartphone at 25-30,000 rupees can often match a PC/laptop costing the same amount. – even when you consider gaming and heavy duty multimedia tasks such as HD video play-

back and editing. And ofcourse, despite all that performance, a smartphone’s battery also lasts all day – something a laptop just cannot offer. If that sounds difficult to believe, check out the following:

Web browsing and e-mail Surfing the Web and handling e-mail are among the most common uses of a computer and thanks to the Snapdragon’s excellent processing muscle that powers the larger displays seen in many phones today, one can browse the Web and send and receive mail just as efficiently (and far more conveniently) on a handset as on a computer. Be it Flash pages, online videos, or even online office suites, a phone

32 MYMOBILE sep 15 to oct 14 2012

driven by a Snapdragon processor can handle most all online tasks with aplomb.

Social networking Want to keep tabs on your social networks even while you work? No, you do not need to do so on your computer. With a Snapdragon processor inside, your handset will keep your social networks ticking - be it Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn - and send you timely notifications and updates even as you tackle other tasks. Just one of the joys of having Snapdragon under your device’s hood.

Office suites If there is one task that many people love to

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Thanks to Snapdragon™ processors, many smartphons today can perform as well as PCs

on smartphones, thanks in no small measure to Snapdragon’s processing prowess. You can now actually edit HD video and tweak images right on your Snapdragon powered handset or tablet, with just a swish of your fingers. You can move frames back and forth in a film, rearrange soundtracks, add filters to stills, crop and edit stills and videos - all without having to head to your computer. Now that is mobile processing power.

Multimedia Want to watch an HD film, or just connect your headphones to your phone and tune in to some great sound? Well, you can now do both with a modicum of ease, and especially so if your device has a Snapdragon processor lodged inside it to allow videos to flow with buttery smoothness and sound to come out with sparkling clarity. What’s more, thanks to this extra processing power, you can

even carry on doing other tasks with the music playing with nary a hitch in the background.

Gaming Four years ago if you had said that you wanted to play games on the move, you would have been directed to either a portable gaming notebook or a portable game console. Not any more. With the emergence of powerful processors like the Snapdragon family, mobile phones now have the wherewithal to play games that are rich in graphics and sound. Be it relatively casual games like Angry Birds and Cut The Rope or more heavy duty titles like Need for speed, Modern Warfare and Batman Arkham Lockdown, your Snapdragon powered device has the ability to serve up a healthy dose of gaming manna, whenever and wherever you wish. n contest@mymobile.co.in

QUALCOMM-MY MOBILE SNAPDRAGON CONTEST 4 Do you think you know everything about processors? Well your knowledge can actually help you win a latest high performance Snapdragon smartphone! Just answer the following poll and question, send them to contest@mymobile.co.in

IN W

Would you give up your pc for a smartphone ? A. Yes B. No C. Not sure

do on their computers, it is composing and editing documents, spreadsheets and presentations, using office suites like MS Office and OpenOffice. And with the kind of processing power that comes with a Snapdragon processor, a smartphone user can easily do the same on a handset. Be it number crunching on a spreadsheet or tweaking multimedia in a presentation, a Snapdragon device user will be able to do it in most cases without needing to boot up a PC.

Video and image editing Yes, you read that right - what was once considered strictly high-end PC territory is now considered by many to be a whole lot easier

Which mobile processor exclusively powers the Windows Phone 8 devices A. Qualcomm Snapdragon Processor B. OMAP C. Marvell D. Tegra E. Atom

wINNERs OF cONTEST 2 1. Subhajyoti Golui 2. Vipul Jikadra

HTC Desire vc *Terms and Conditions 1. Lucky draw will be conducted to declare the winners of the contest 2. The contest can also be participated through www.mymobile.co.in/snapdragoncontest 3. Members of Qualcomm and My Mobile and their immediate family members are not eligible to participate in the contest. 4. Last date of sending the entries is October 10, 2012 5. One lucky winner get a HTC Desire VC.

sep 15 to oct 14 2012 MYMOBILE 33

infocus

Apple Vs Samsung:

Clash of the Titans Apple and Samsung are not just slugging it out in the smartphone and tablet market but also in a number of courts, over a host of issues. A US Court has awarded damages of over $ 1 billion to Apple, but this by no means signals the end of one of the most engrossing battles in tech history Heena Jatav

The Story so far

34 MYMOBILE sep 15 to oct 14 2012

April, 2011- Apple filed a lawsuit against giant Samsung for copying iPhone and iPad. It alleges that at least seventeen of Samsung’s products violated its patents.

August 24, 2012- A US court awarded Apple $1.05 billion in damages, finding Samsung guilty of copying the design and interface of Apple’s products

August 24, 2012- Samsung declared that it will contest the US court judgement.

August 24, 2012- A South Korean court found both the parties guilty of copying each other’s products.

August 31, 2012- Apple filed a fresh case in US court and accused Samsung’s Flagship phone SIII along with Galaxy Note and Tab 10.1 as infringed by Samsung. This brings the number of Samsung gadgets that Apple has trained its sights on to 21.

August 31, 2012- Samsung bags victory in a Tokyo court, which dismissed Apple’s claims against Samsung.

....and the story is set to go on with decisions and appeals pending in many courts all over the world.

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he legal battle between US giant Apple and South Korean behemoth Samsung has been dominating tech headlines for a while now. And Apple could claim to have got first blood when a US jury found that Samsung had copied Apple’s iPhone and iPad’s design and features. The court upheld Apple’s claims on features like pinch to zoom, tap to zoom, bounce back scrolling functionality and phone’s physical design, and instructed Samsung to pay Apple $1.05 billion in damages, more than a year after Apple had alleged that Samsung had infringed its patents for at least 17 products. “Instead of pursuing independent product development, Samsung slavishly copied Apple’s innovative technology, with its elegant and distinctive user interfaces product design, in violation of Apple’s valuable intellectual property rights,” Apple had claimed. It was not all roses for the Cupertino company, however, as in Japan, a Tokyo judge ruled that Samsung did not infringe on Apple’s patents for its products as claimed by the latter. And a number of courts in other nations have not yet made up their minds on the matter.

Even as these judgements came out, the battle between these two companies seemed set to escalate. Samsung is in no mood to concede defeat and has announced that it will appeal against the US court Supporters of both sides have been accusing the other of unfair practices - Apple fans have accused Samsung of being nothing but a copycat while Samsung supporters say that Apple is doing nothing but trying to restrict consumer choice with its slew of lawsuits.

The plot thickens

Even as these judgements came out, the battle between these two companies seemed set to escalate. Samsung is in no mood to concede defeat and has announced that it will appeal against the US court decision. Meanwhile, Apple has filed a fresh case in the US court and added four more devices - the Galaxy S3, the Verizon Galaxy S3, the Galaxy Note and Galaxy Note 10.1 to the list of infringed products, bringing the total of devices it has complained against to a massive 21. In short, Apple has laid siege to most of Samsung’s Android portfolio of devices, which has helped the Korean company shoot to the top of the global smartphone market. There are many who are seeing this as being just a part of the bigger battle between Apple and Android - after all, Apple founder and CEO had famously said that he would declared “thermonuclear” war on Android, which he considered to be a copied product. The fact that some of Samsung’s Galaxy models did seem to ape the iconic iPhone did not help matters. The two companies have been locked in a bitter battle with each other, trading accusations in a number of courts across the court. This is not just a battle for pride, but one for business. For instance, if Apple is able to place restrictions on the sale of the Galaxy range of smartphones and tablets in the US following the judgement, it will manage to blow a massive hole in the finances of its rival.

Impact on the Indian market

While some analysts believe that the US court verdict will not have much impact on Samsung’s business in the Indian market, others say that if the fight affects Samsung’s global business, then certainly the Indian market will be affected too. “I don’t think the verdict will have any

adverse impact on the Indian market. The iPhone users are very few in India in comparison to Samsung’s users. For people iPhone is a luxurious product so for them I think it does not really matter whether some of its features are copied from others. Also because it’s a patent fight and patents rights vary from country to country, it is very difficult to say whether the US verdict will impact Samsung’s India business,” said Katyayan Gupta, Analyst at Forrester Research. Kunal Bajaj, partner, Director India, Analysys Mason feels if Samsung would increase its product’s price following a revamping then it will certainly affect its global as well as Indian market. “It would be too early to say anything because in one verdict Samsung lost but in other it has won too,” he says. “Further the verdict for banning the products is pending. But if Samsung has to redesign its products, the chances are high that it will increase its products’ prices, which will impact its India business.” Mohammad T. Chowdhury, Telecom Industry Leader, PricewaterhouseCoopers agrees with Bajaj that patent infringement is a highly sensitive matter and will definitely impact the business model of Samsung. To yet others, the judgements are a matter of credibility and could have an adverse effect on the reputations of the two companies.

...and the saga continues

All of which indicates that the court judgements in the US and Japan just mark a phase rather than the end of the tussle between Apple and Samsung. As different nations hand out different judgements, we might come to the stage when certain products are available in some countries and restricted in others. Apple of course has its hands full with a number of legal cases and there is a feeling in the industry that this could be distracting the company from being as innovative as it has been in the recent past. In fact small wonder that a lot of speculation surrounded an alleged meeting between Apple CEO Tim Cook and Google’s CEO Larry Page, with many feeling that the two companies were trying to settle their patent issues peacefully and without legal intrusion. Millions of consumers will breathe a sigh of relief if that happens. After all, battles between companies are supposed to be fought out in the marketplace, not in courtrooms. And both Apple and Samsung have played key roles in the smartphone revolution - the former with its UI and app innovations, the latter with its sheer variety of hardware options. That said, we don’t expect a truce in this battle. Not yet. n heena@mymobile.co.in

sep 15 to oct 14 2012 MYMOBILE 35

Versus

s e n o h p t r a m S x Si 0 0 0 , 6 < Rs N

ot too long ago, smartphones were supposed to be devices that mimicked most of the functionalities seen on computers. And in many cases, their price tags too. A few years ago, getting a good smartphone for

less than Rs 15,000 was unimaginable. And low end phones were associated with the most basic functionalities like calling and sending text messages. However, with the arrival of new operating systems and technological improvements over the past few years,

Samsung Star 3 Duos (Rs 5,650)

he Samsung Star 3 Duos is the third version of the Star series and is actually a great add to their existing Star lineup. The device gives you the option of keeping two phone connections in a single handset. Keep your entertainment options wide open with the 3 inch display which is decent enough for watching videos and images, a bit cramped for typing. It has a 3.0 megapixel camera. But it misses out on 3G connectivity and comes with Samsungâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s proprietory OS, rather than Android.

Pros: Wi-Fi enabled, 3 megapixel camera Cons: No Android, No 3G

36 MYMOBILE sep 15 to oct 14 2012

Pros: Pre-loaded 40 EA games, Good battery life Cons: No Wi-Fi and 3G, Fixed focus camera

Idea iD-918 (Rs 5,750)

dea is one of those operators that is not content to bet on its services but is also trying to attract consumers with budget smartphone offerings. After launching two low cost Android devices, it has now launched the iD-918 which comes packed

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The days of smartphones costing a bomb are well and truly over. Witness these six smartphones that deliver all the smartphone bang you would want - for less than six thousand rupees a piece. We take a look at this awesome value-for-money half dozen. And let you work out which oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s best Ketan Pratap

the prices of smartphones have dipped. So much so that today you can go to a store with as little as Rs 6,000 in your pocket and still come out with a decent handset- one which is capable of not only handling basic phone functionalities, but also of enabling you to browse the Web, check mail and social networks and even play the

odd casual game and more. And if that sounds difficult to believe, just cast a glance at these six handsets which you can get for less than Rs 6,000 in the market today. They may not possess the hype or classy looks of their more pricey counterparts, but they deliver is solid smartphone value for your money.

Nokia Asha 305 (Rs 4,650)

Micromax A50 Ninja (Rs 4,700)

hen it comes to affordability, Nokia is a name that still rules the roost in India. The latest in this tradition of affordability is the Asha series which combines stacks of functionality with a relatively low price tag. The Nokia Asha 305 sports a 3 inch touch screen and has a 2.0-megapixel camera with 4X zoom. The device comes with 1,110 mAh battery, which gives it a standby time of 528 hours. And forty free EA games to boot. As they say, Nokia is always value for money. We missed Wi-Fi, though.

with decent specs and features for its price tag. The handset comes packed in plain black plastic chassis with a white alternative given in the box. It sports a 3.2 inch touch screen and boasts a 3.2 megapixel camera. It also comes with a number of preinstalled apps. It runs on Android 2.3 operating system, which is not the latest but is more than sufficient for most tasks. The phone does stutter sometimes, though. Pros: Decent screen size, Pre-loaded apps Cons: Touch is not the best, phone hangs sometimes

icromax seems to be betting heavily on low priced Android handsets and has been on a launch spree. One of the most notable of their offerings is the dual SIM A50 Ninja which has a 3.1 inch touchscreen, a 2.0 megapixel camera, and is powered by a 650 MHz processor. The device runs on Android 2.3 and in addition to the usual Android services and apps. Micromax has also thrown in AISHA (Artificial Intelligence Speech Handset Assistant) for voice based commands, giving this device a different dimension. Pros: AISHA speech assistant , 3G connectivity Cons: Average fixed focus camera, No Flash support in the browser

sep 15 to oct 14 2012 MYMOBILE 37

Versus Karbonn A5 (Rs 5,700)

arbonn has been known for having some very good value for money phones in the low price segment. We picked the A5 which is a dual SIM phone that runs on Android 2.3. The device is powered by an 800 MHz processor and comes with a 3.5 inch touchscreen, making it a very decent gaming device - a rarity in this segment.

MTS M-Tag (Rs 4,999)

TS may be a relatively new player in the market but seems to have set its sights on bigger things. It has been coming out with low cost smartphones and one of our favourites among them is the MTS M-Tag. It comes with a 2.8 inch touch screen and runs Android 2.2, which is old, but still very usable. It boasts a 3.0 megapixel camera and comes with the MTS TV application that allows its users on the go access to Live TV and video playback on demand. Not bad at all for a low cost handset.

Pros: Smooth touch experience, Pre-loaded apps Pros: 800 MHz processor, 3.5 inch wide screen

Cons: No 3G, Poor camera quality

Cons: Average camera quality, Inconsistent touch experience

ketan@mymobile.co.in

The Rs 6K SIX: SPEC Comparison

parameters

Samsung Star 3 Duos

Nokia Asha 305

Idea iD-918

Micromax A50 Ninja

Karbonn A5

MTS M-Tag

Proprietary OS

S40

Android v 2.3

Android v 2.2

Screen Size

3.0 inch

3.2 inch

3.1 inch

3.5 inch

2.8 inch

Camera

3.0 MP

2.0 MP

3.2 MP

2.0 MP

3.0 MP

Expandable Memory

Yes

Wi-Fi

Yes

Bluetooth

Yes

Music Player

Yes

38 MYMOBILE sep 15 to oct 14 2012

1987-2012

25 AR

UP RO

EXH IB

ONS INDIA G IT I

L SO F EXCE

in focus

Free mobiles to BPL families: Would it work? The news of the distribution of free mobile phones to people living below poverty line in the country made headlines before fizzling out for the moment. But if the scheme does get introduced, would it work? Heena Jatav

all it a political gimmick or a sincere effort, what cannot be doubted is that the Governmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s planned initiative to provide free handsets to all citizens living the poverty line (BPL) made headlines all over the country. It inspired much heated debate and many diverse opinions, not just in the media and public but in the Government itself. The Finance Ministry opposed the scheme saying that the Center was not in a position to effectively finance it, as the scheme would have cost the Government Rs 7,000 crore - yes that would have been the cost for doling out cell phones to 70 million BPL households of the country. But it would be incorrect to say that the scheme is dead. It might be revived albeit in a different. The big question is: would it work?

The effect on BPL households

On the surface families living below the poverty line would certainly be able to avail of a number of benefits if they were given access to a handset. They would not only be able to communicate using calls and text messages but would also be able to avail of services like m-governance, m-banking and m-health, if provided with adequate awareness. Which brings us to the importance of generating awareness in the BPL segment, not just about handsets but about the utility they can provide. The Government of India is providing a number of services for the upliftment of people living below the poverty line like MNREGA, Old Age Pension Scheme, Aanganwadi etc that can be accessed by people belonging to this section on their mobile phones, provided it is placed there and is accessible in their regional language. A number of

40 MYMOBILE sep 15 to oct 14 2012

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companies also have come out with solution to benefit the underprivileged. One such company is naukriSMS.in which provides information to their users about daily wages work available in their area. The company provides its service in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and in some parts of Maharashtra and the best part is that one does not requires to be educated to avail of this service, which is available free of cost. According to Sharad Vajpayee, founder and CEO, naukriSMS.in, it is these below poverty line people who need a mobile phone most to get to know about daily wage opportunities but cannot afford to have one. “It is the best scheme that can come in India. Through such schemes, the Government will be able to reach them and they will be able to reach others. People like us can provide help to them-

The “Har Haath mein Phone” initiative, if implemented, will not only benefit the poor but in fact will benefit the entire telecom industry as well. Service providers will be able to leverage this opportunity by extending their subscriber base which will add to their revenues via mobile phones because they need the job more than you and I need,” he asserted. Vajpayee also feels that distributing free mobile phones to poor people will bring down the prices of mobile phones. Another interesting initiative which uses mobile phones for the upliftment of the financially backward sections of society is underway in the holy city of Varanasi. A number of women are receiving education using a mobile phone’s number keys. The mere thought of using a mobile phone not only encourages them to learn but also helps in boosting their self-esteem. “Currently we are providing free education to 1,024 women of BPL families by using the mobile phone as a tool. Most of them do not own a mobile phone but if the Government will provide them, then it is a very positive approach in empowering them,” feels Dr. Rajnikant, general secretary, Human Welfare Assciation, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg - there are many other such projects running in the country for the empowerment of underprivileged that can be accessed via a mobile phone.

The industry angle

The “Har Haath mein Phone” initiative, if implemented, will not only benefit the poor of this country but in fact will benefit the entire telecom industry as well. Service providers will be able to leverage this opportunity by extending their subscriber base which will add to their revenues. If the government selects BSNL and MTNL for the project, then the move will help boost the bottom lines of these companies. The scheme will also benefit VAS players as they will be able to expand their market share by providing utility-based services to BPL families. Not only the service

providers but handset manufacturers too can increase their sales by providing affordable handset to the customers, or by partnering with the Government, resulting in growth in sales in tier-2 and tier-3 cities, generating in better brand awareness.

But can the Government pull it off?

But for all the benefits that a scheme like this would offer to the underprivileged and the telecom industry, the one question that is in everyone’s minds is whether the Government will be able to implement such an ambitious plan successfully. Some of the Government’s previous digital empowerment projects like distribution of Aakash tablets to school and college students have attracted very strong criticism and have been less than successful. The telecom regulator’s National Broadband Plan that aims to develop telecom infrastructure in rural areas is still in the doldrums. On the regional front, Uttar Pardesh’s Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav too promised to give away laptops and tablets to school students but not too much has happened on that front. Such incidents have undermined the credibility of the Government and local administration when it comes to implementing the very schemes that they announce with a lot of fanfare. There are also those who feel that just giving a handset to BPL families will not empower them. Deepak Kumar, founder of BusinessandMarket.net, is one of them.“Just as learning to form a signature doesn’t make a person literate, possessing a phone can’t make a BPL family telecom-empowered too,” he points out. “It is the ability to make and receive calls on that phone that brings empowerment. And some start-up free talk time is not going to serve the purpose in the long run. However, if the higher cost of future 2G spectrum leads to higher telecom tariffs too, as is being argued and acknowledged, wouldn’t that significantly raise the entry barrier for a BPL family? Of what good would the devices be to the families in that case?”

Many challenges remain

Just like most Government initiatives, the “Har Haath me Phone” scheme too, if and when implemented, will have to face its own share of challenges. For the implementation of any scheme, funds are the top concern. For this scheme, the Government is expected to avail of the Universal Service Obligation Fund, but analysts believe that there are better ways of utilising this fund. Instead of using USOF for giving away mobile phones, which is a temporary measure, they feel that it should be used

sep 15 to oct 14 2012 MYMOBILE 41

in focus the Government is expected to avail usof, but analysts believe that there are better ways of utilising this fund. Instead of using it for giving away mobile phones, they feel that it should be used to develop telecom infrastructure in the rural areas

to develop telecom infrastructure in the rural areas. “The difference between building telecom infrastructure in villages and giving away phones to people in the areas would be akin to building roads across villages and giving bicycles to people. Infrastructure would help build access and strengthen local economies that would be far more empowering and be of a lasting nature,” Kumar acknowledges. A number of critics also point to the stark

fact that for people living below the poverty line, the biggest challenge is survival and earning enough to eat two square meals a day. Many of them go so far as to sell their blood or body organs to make ends meet. In such a situation, there is a high chance of them selling rather than using the free handset that the Government gives them. Perhaps this could be countered by developing a software application that would lock a device to a particular user or household (maybe a fingerprint scan-

42 MYMOBILE sep 15 to oct 14 2012

ner or something on those lines), but in any case, that too would need to be developed and a massive exercise undertaken to collect and collate data. Another big challenge is education, or rather literacy. If a person does not even recognize the numbers printed on a phone then a mobile phone is going to be of little use to them. “The Government should start a parallel education programme in which mobile phone should be used as a tool for education. They must go for major literacy programme in the country so that a poor person could link himself with the society,” points out Dr. Rajnikant, whose organisation uses handsets for educating women in Varanasi. He has a very valid point because even as we head towards an era in which a person can access almost every sort of information on their handset - from e-mail to profile information to details of Government schemes - lack of literacy could be a massive stumbling block in implementing any scheme involving digital devices. Talk time is another issue - without it, the handset will be useless, but how much free time can the Government give to each household, and what rates will be charged once this is exhausted? Then there is the matter of power - a mobile phone needs to be charged regularly to function properly. Many BPL families do not even have access to proper shelter, food and water, so electricity might well be a luxury for them. One could give them handsets, but how will they charge them. Last but not the least, what after some years? A mobile phone is a perishable item and a low-end one will be lucky to last a few years at the most. What after that? Another set of free handsets? The challenges are many, but at the end of the day, what should not be forgotten are the benefits that a mobile handset can provide to the underprivileged of the country. And if that does not make them worth surmounting (hopefully without scams and delays), nothing will. n heena@mymobile.co.in

fa c e t o fa c e

“Technology and Innovation set us apart” The tablet market in India is growing by leaps and bounds with a number of players making their presence and even taking on well-established brands. One of these is Swipe, which recently debuted its 3D tablet in India. We met Shripal Gandhi, CEO – Swipe Tablets, to talk about the Indian tablet market and his company’s strategy in this regard Harshita Rastogi Tell us something about Swipe. We are a California-based organisation with operations in US as well as in India. We launched our operation in India about two months ago. We see a huge potential in Indian market and apart from India we see South Africa and Middle East as other growing markets. We did a lot of research before launching our products here - we interviewed about 3000 odd customers to know about their requirements in term of features and pricing. We designed our product with a disruptive design to be able to cater to a variety of audience from business and professional segments to youth and students. The tablet market is growing very fast in India. What have been the key drivers behind this growth? I feel there are three key drivers behind the growth of this market. It is firstly due to the support of the Government that has made it possible for product manufacturers like us to reach to the masses and develop products within the graph of an average Indian consumer. Secondly, I would say, a very attractive price

point. We have the innovation and technology so as to provide a feature rich product to the masses at a very affordable price point. Thirdly, the nature of the tablet is such that it can serve the purpose of multiple products. So, a consumer would need to buy just one product - a tablet - for calling, doing professional work, accessing the Internet, using value added services, staying connected via social networks and playing games and making use of other entertainment features. What kind of market share are you aiming to acquire in India? The tablet market is seeing more than 100 per cent growth year on year. India is fast approaching the 2 million per annum tablet sales with current size estimated at $ 400 million. And by the end of the fiscal year we are planning to acquire a 10 per cent of the total market share in India. The Indian tablet market has a number of players offering good product deals. How do you propose to take them on? I would say it is technology and innovation that set

us apart from them. We own the mould, we own the IT, we are providing a premium quality product with features like 3D, SIM support and calling feature, seamless browsing and other such interesting features. Our products are backed by features like 1.5 MHz processor, latest Android operating system versions like ICS and Jelly Bean, classy designs with stylish panels and good quality build. So, we have products with disruptive concept, design and price to give the best of user experience at the best price. Given the kind of team, support, system, knowledge, experience and background that we have, we are leaps and bounds ahead of others. Being a new player in India, what challenges do you see in the market here? The only challenge and opportunity we see here is to ensure that we are available everywhere. We also keep in mind that our products have to be up to the mark in every way possible. Our concern is to reach every pocket, every city and town, for which we are very active, both online and offline. n harshita@mymobile.co.in

sep 15 to oct 14 2012 MYMOBILE 43

cell clues

What You can get for 50 We keep complaining of living in inflationary times, but the stark fact is that even today a small amount of money can go a long way if you know where to invest it. Harshita Rastogi and Ketan Pratap dig out what you can get for a mere Rs 50, even in this era of rising prices

ot too many believe that a mere Rs 50 in this day and age can get you anything from the tech world, which is after all, awash with high-priced gadgets and equally extravagantly priced accessories. Well, they are wrong. With Rs 50 today, you can end up getting a whole lot of accessories for your devices. They might not come with swish brand names or come with cutting edge design, but what they do possess are extraordinarily low price tags. No, we would not recommend buying them if you have money to spare, but if the budget is tight, these are very handy options. So hang on and discover what a trip to the local market revealed to us - the power of fifty!

Lanyards

ell we do not see a lot of them now, but we still remember the days when people would not dream of having a handset without a lanyard. They might not be the rage, but they are still handy for those who believe in adding a dash of colour and style to their handsets.

44 MYMOBILE sep 15 to oct 14 2012

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Cleansing Kit

or the cleanliness freaks and the ones who want to keep their devices clean, there are cleansing kits available in the market. One of these we saw had a cleansing solution, brush and cotton. Not a bad deal for Rs 50! Perfect for gadget hygiene freaks with light wallets.

or rph s on m mo os ome t b ea ile wid reas es ten rpho acce ely on, t ing ing ne. B ssor used he ho wit to so e it y is to ld yo hout ngs for li the ev your ur d hav or ta sse eryo ear, evice ing t lkso t use ne w alm clo o for me h s the ith a ost se of Rs 5 andy m. han av colo 0 w ear We g di ke ailab urs l th a phon ot so ts. A le in ike p n arr es be und note loca urpl ay gre qua of l m e at. lity ca arwi utio ll n n: ot

Stickers

f you want to jazz up your handset but do not have the budget to splurge on a case, better go sticky and get some attractive stickers for your phone’s back panel. We checked out some really cool stickers in the market, which added a touch of everything from Man U to Angry Birds to the WWE, to our phones. For Rs 50 or less!

Card Reader Card readers and connectors are a must for all those who use their phones in conjunction with their computers and other devices. A card reader can help you transfer songs, videos or important files from your phone’s memory card to another device. It can also facilitate data back up as you can transfer your phone data to your memory card and then transfer it to a PC using the card reader. Neat, and if you bargain well, you will get for less than Rs 50.

Mobile Cover/ Pouch/ Screen Guard

here are those who believe that these cost the earth, but if one is willing to relax one’s quality control sensitivities a trifle and get one’s hands dirty in the local markets, there are some very colourful options out there. From electric red to fluorescent pink or plain black, from textured ones to smooth plastic ones - you can find them all. All you need is some bargaining skills to get their price below the Rs 50 mark.

sep 15 to oct 14 2012 MYMOBILE 45

just in Samsung Galaxy Pocket Duos Walletfriendly smartphone

lthough the dual SIM phone market has been growing by leaps and bounds, the number of smartphone options in it has remained limited. However, that could change with the likes of Samsung launching dual SIM devices across different price segments. And one of the latest to hit the market is the Samsung Galaxy Pocket Duos, which offers support for two GSM SIMs. Some critics may frown at its less than uber sleek 12.98 inch thick frame, but it delivers a fair bang for your buck when you consider that this is a dual SIM smartphone that is in the subfive figure territory. The device is powered by a 832 MHz ARM 11 processor, has a 2.8-inch TFT capacitive touchscreen of 240 x 320 resolution, 2 GB internal memory (expandable to 32 GB), a 2.0 megapixel fixed focus camera and runs on Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) with Samsungâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s TouchWiz interface. In terms of connectivity, it comes with 3G, GPS, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. It is now available at stores for Rs 8,500 - a great option for those looking for an affordable dual SIM smartphone. n

Nokia Asha 311 New Asha on the horizon

ts Lumia and PureView devices might have garnered more media space, but it is widely acknowledged that Nokiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Asha series has been the one that has been making cash registers ring at sales counters all over India. And the company is in no mood to rest on the laurels earned by this series, and is launching new devices in it to expand its presence. The latest of these is the Nokia Asha 311 which comes with a 3.0-inch TFT capacitive touchscreen with a resolution of 240x400 pixels and made of scratchproof Corning Gorilla Glass. The device also comes with a 3.15-megapixel camera and an internal memory 120 MB which can be expanded up to 32 GB using a memory card. In terms of connectivity, the phone comes with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and micro USB with USB-on-the-go support. It also comes with a 1110 mAh battery - do not worry about the number, the Asha series has a record of great battery life. The device is available in the market at a price of Rs 6,500. n

team@mymobile.co.in

46 MYMOBILE sep 15 to oct 14 2012

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burn test M-tech M15 Simple

decent. The phone has a 2200 mAh battery which delivers very good back up.

looks, decent features

Conclusion

-tech has launched a number of affordable feature phones in the market. And the latest among them is the M-tech M15, which offers dual SIM support at a very decent price. But how does it shape up in this extremely volatile segment?

All in all, the M-tech M15 can be seen as a good dual SIM offering for anyone who is on a tight budget and wants a phone with decent multimedia and dual SIM support. The M-tech M15 is available for Rs 1,749 in the market . One can also look for Chaze Jewel as a good alternative, which is available in the market for Rs 1,850. n

Looks: Simple and basic

team@mymobile.co.in

tech specs

125 mm

The M-tech M15 looks decent enough with solid build quality. Though we found the phone a bit heavy and on the thicker side but the reason behind phone’s thickness is the 2200 mAh battery inside it - now that is a compromise that we think a lot of users in this segment will be happy to accept. The phone comes in black and red colour combination with the screen and speaker grill at the back. There is a black strip around the phone and rest of the body is in red colour. Speaking for ourselves, we found the red colour a bit gaudy but the device is available in other colours as well. The body of the phone is glossy and very sensitive to fingerprints but is comfortable to hold.

Hardware: Impressive indeed The M-tech M15 comes with a 2.4 inch display which is a rarity in this price range. We are highly impressed with the quality of the display. For connectivity the phone has Bluetooth and auto GPRS configuration, which is an added advantage as one does have to much around finding Internet settings or call up the operator for getting them. The phone memory can be expanded by 16 GB with the help of microSD card. When it comes to Internet browsing, the phone provides a decent experience.

Software: A bit appy Although the M-tech M15 is an entry-level phone, it comes with some good applications preloaded on it, including Yahoo!, Facebook, Twitter and MSN, as well as two games Pacman and Tetris. Apart from that, the device also has some basic applications like alarm, world clock, currency converter, and e-book reader. The phone also has a link for King Movie from where one can download interesting material. The user interface of M-tech M15 is simple, making it an uncomplicated phone to use.

Multimedia: Delightful The multimedia section of the phone had a bucketful of surprises for us. The audio of the

Bluetooth/WiFi | Yes/No

52 mm

Phonebook Capacity | 500

Pros

Cons

Camera | 1.3 megapixel

 Limited internal GPRS memory configuration

 Auto

 Good

display

 Ordinary

appearance

phone is loud enough to wake up your neighbours, thanks to the fact that it comes with a Boom Box Bazooka speaker, which delivers a really loud sound. The music player also contains some basic features like equalizer settings. The FM reception of the phone is good and one can store up to 20 channels on it. The phone was capable of playing videos with ease. On the imaging side, the phone comes with a 1.3 megapixel camera which is again a treat in this price range. The camera takes decent pictures and can also record videos.

User Experience- Very good Our experience with the phone was good. We like the multimedia features of the phone and the Internet browsing experience was also

Frequency | GSM 900/1800 Others | FM Radio, Video player

Price: Rs 1,749 verdict Looks

Features

ease of use

performance

value for money

overall

80%

sep 15 to oct 14 20121 MYMOBILE 47

highlights

burn test Spice Stellar Mi-425

Affordable big screen delight

1 The screen of the phone is delightfully big

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

tech specs

Size | 125 x 63.5 x 12.5 mm Weight | 110 grams

Memory | 149MB, microSD Battery | Li-ion 2000 mAh Screen | 16million colours

125 mm

Price: Rs 9,999

63.5 mm

hen it comes to affordable Android devices, Spice is a name that comes to the mind right away. It was one of the first companies in the country to come out with a budget Android phone, and has since been coming out with a number of Android powered devices with very affordable price tags. The latest of which is the Stellar Mi-425 which is a dual SIM smartphone, and combines a large display with a price tag that in best Spice tradition, is very much on the lower side.

Looks: Not bad at all The latest Spice Stellar is a nice-looking candy smartphone. In fact, the front design of the

Mi-425 seems to be right out of the HTC book of design, which is not a bad thing. The device sports a 4.0 inch wide display screen which is definitely large for this price range and has good touch sensitivity. Below this display are four backlit capacitive buttons, which are the usual for handsets running Android (home, menu, back and search), and above it is a secondary VGA camera. On top is the power/ sleep key and a 3.5mm jack. There is a mini USB port on the right side but there is no camera shortcut key so one will have to go to the camera option in the menu to access the shooter, and on the left is the volume rocker key. On the back you can find the 5.0 megapixel auto focus camera accompanied

48 MYMOBILE sep 15 to oct 14 2012

by a LED flash and a red tinted speaker grill. Although the back panel is made of plastic, it does not feel cheap. Overall, the looks of the Mi-425 are definitely on the decent side, although it is a bit heavy.

Hardware: Smooth performer For the price it charges, the Mi-425 comes loaded with a decent amount of hardware ammunition under its hood. To speed up things, the phone has a 1GHz Snapdragon S1 processor along with a 245 MHz GPU and 512 MB RAM. The phone supports dual SIMs (GSM+CDMA/GSM), which can run on 2G and 3G networks on auto mode. However, only

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3 A secondary VGA camera is present

5.0megapixel camera is accompanied by a flash

Pros

The phone is powered by 1GHz Snapdragon S1 processor

 A bit heavy

 Big display

 Not the greatest keyboard

 Decent specifications

 Screen a bit on the dull side

Multimedia: A decent package Keeping in mind that this is a sub Rs 10,000 device you will still find the Mi-425’s performance decent in multimedia department. The 5.0 megapixel camera takes good pictures outdoors in well-lit conditions but the video quality is just average. In audio section, we found the sound quality of the phone is acceptable in both loudspeaker and headphone mode. As far as video playback is concerned the device is capable of playing 1080p videos with ease. The screen is of 480x800 resolution, which is good enough for games, videos and image previews.

Cons

 Compelling price

good because of the big display and the responsive touchscreen.

User Experience: We are satisfied The phone serves up a standard Android experience and scores well in terms of looks and pre-installed apps. The touch experience is quite smooth while the interface is quite user friendly and the voice quality is fairly good on calls. The big display also makes this device a very good option when it comes to browsing the Web or watching videos in this price range. The company has used the TouchPal keyboard instead of the default Android keyboard. However, the typing experience was lacklustre as we countered some problems while typing texts. The 2,000mAh battery kicks in the right amount of power giving around a day’s back up, when we used the device extensively - pretty much par for the course for Android users.

Conclusion The Spice Mi-425 is a dual SIM phone and is available at Rs 9,999. If you are looking for alternatives you can consider the Karbonn A9 with very similar features which cost Rs 9,500. n team@mymobile.co.in

one SIM can support 3G at a time. The SIM card slots as well as the microSD card slot are placed with the battery and are therefore not hot swappable - you have to pull out the battery every time you want to change them. The internal memory of the Mi-425 which is 149 MB is definitely way too less for a smartphone. The screen also seems to be a bit on the dull side, especially under the sun.

Software: Old but upgradable! The device runs on Android 2.3 or Gingerbread, which is very much on the older side, when you consider that Android 4.1 or Jelly Bean is all set to enter the market.

But thankfully, it is upgradable to Ice Cream Sandwich. The notification bar will notify you about the Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, data connectivity and airplane mode, along with any other update on call, mail and messages. The app panel is spread across three panes (can be more if you download more apps) and you can simply swipe sideways to navigate through them. The device comes with the usual fixes of e-mail support and the Google suite of apps. There are also a plethora of apps preloaded like BSE/NSE stock, Rail Yatra, Spice Gang, Max Bupa, and apps for news and weather. For news it has apps like TOI, Yahoo! and HT. Most apps performed smoothly and looked

verdict Looks

Features

ease of use

perfoRmance

value for money

overall

78%

sep 15 to oct 14 2012 MYMOBILE 49

burn test Swipe Tab x74 3D Budget tablet with 3D

192 mm

124 mm

he budget segment of the Indian tablet market has seen a slew of new releases of late, with a number of new players coming into the tab territory with their affordable devices. Swipe Telecom is the latest to have thrown its hat into the budget tablet ring, with its Swipe Tab x74, which claims to deliver a 3D experience for less than Rs 6,000. But how well does it fare?

Looks: Nothing new The Swipe Tab x74 has relatively standard budget tablet looks. It has a matte finish plastic body which tends to pick up fingerprints, and has keys placed on the top for power and volume control. The back has the names of the slot and buttons printed for userâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s convenience. The front has a 7.0 inch display with 800 x 40 x 480 resolution with a 2.0 megapixel camera and three touch keys for options, home and back. The right side has ports that include audio jack, charging and USB slots while the speakers are on the back. All in all, the Swipe Tab x74 looks average and will not turn heads, but then one would not really expect that in an entry level tablet.

Hardware: Budget stuff The 3D tab runs on a 1.5 GHz Boxchip

50 MYMOBILE sep 15 to oct 14 2012

2 5

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Pros 

1.5 GHz processor



Compelling price



User friendly interface

Cons 

3D performance not the greatest



Tends to heat up



Average battery life

highlights 1

The tab has a 2.0 megapixel front facing camera

A13 processor. The touch experience of the device is good, allowing us to navigate apps and browse the Web easily. The device has an internal memory of 4 GB that can be expanded up to 32 GB through microSD card. The back panel is non-detachable. Users can also use a USB 2G/3G dongle for Internet connectivity with the help of a USB cord available with the box. Overall, it has a decent set of specs for its price range. Sadly, there is no Bluetooth in the device.

Software: We have ICS The tab runs on Android 4.0.3 or Ice Cream Sandwich. The interface is user friendly, with the locked screen offering options to both launch the camera as well as unlock the screen. You will get five home screens, which can be customised with shortcuts and widgets. There are soft buttons for back, home, recent apps, volume control and the system bar on the bottom left of the screen. On the right side are day, date and time, Wi-Fi connectivity, battery status and settings. You can close any app with a single swipe by the recent app function. An easy swipe in the menu takes you to both application and widgets. The tab comes with plethora of apps and games pre loaded like the Angry Birds and Fruit Ninja. Apart from usual applications such as Facebook, YouTube and Gmail users get some Indian applications as well. You can of course also download more apps and games from the Android market, Google Play. We downloaded couple of our favourite games on the Swipe tab and while the games

tech specs Size | 192X124X10.5 mm

2 4

Weight | 325 grams Memory | 4GB, MicroSD

The tab runs on Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich)

Battery | Li-ion 3400, mAh Screen | 16million colours

USB support allows using USB peripherals and 3G dongles

Talktime/Standby (hours) | 5/ NA GPRS/3G | No/No Bluetooth/ WiFi | No/Yes Phonebook Capacity | Shared

The tab is offering 3D

Camera | 2.0 megapixel (Front)

Frequency | NA Others | Flash support, Olive Office

There are apps like E-book reader, Olive Office premium

Premium, E-book reader

Price: Rs 5,999

loaded fast, the screen response was not that great for graphic-rich games. The good thing about the tab was the browser comes with full Flash support.

Multimedia: Just about fine On the multimedia front, the tablet does not have a FM radio but has a decent music player, although with no exceptional features. The sound quality of the tablet is good but breaks a bit on higher volumes. The video player in the device supports almost all popular formats. On the 3D front, the tab comes with many options like 3D pictures, videos, apps and even games. The 3D experience is not that great if you are a hardcore 3D fan, but can be counted as a huge bonus for those on a tight budget.

User Experience: Good value for money The Swipe Tab x74 is the first 3D tablet available in the Indian market. But we are not impressed with its 3D offerings, which were on the ordinary side. We also encountered problems like the tablet hanging while playing games and heating up. But that apart, we had no major complaints. The 3,400 mAh battery gave us about three to four hours of usage which was a tad on the low side, but usual in this segment.

Conclusion With a price tag of Rs 5,999 the Swipe Tab x74 is one of the lowest-priced tablets running Ice Cream Sandwich. It is indeed one of its kind, if you factor in its 3D performance, although we need to stress that the 3D factor is less than impressive in terms of performance. But in any case it is the first tablet to offer 3D view. If you are looking for a normal tablet in a similar price range, then the Zen Ultratab A100 is perhaps your best option.n team@mymobile.co.in

verdict Looks

Features

ease of use

perfoRmance

value for money

overall

78%

sep 15 to oct 14 2012 MYMOBILE 51

burn test Pros

Micromax Funbook Pro P500 The Funbook



10.1 inch large screen



HD video playback support



Battery life is good

gets bigger

Cons

ne of the most remarkable trends in the mobile industry over the past year has been the rise of the budget segment of tablets. Micromax is one of the major players in this segment with its Funbook tablet, which claimed to blend entertainment with education. And now it has come out with its successor, the Funbook Pro, which comes with a larger, 10.1 inch display and a slightly stiffer price tag. Will it be able to follow in the footsteps of its predecessor?



Screen resolution could have been better



No Bluetooth support



No USB port 122 mm

Looks: Plain Jane The Funbook Pro looks like a stretched out or bigger version of the Funbook. Micromax plays it plain in this department without making many changes to the overall look of the device, although it does feel better to hold than the previous model. While the Funbook had 7.0-inch screen size, the Pro version comes in a 16:9 size ratio with a 10.1-inch screen. The tablet has a black front panel and silver metallic finished plastic back panel. The plasticky, glossy front attracts fingerprints and thus needs frequent cleaning. The right side of the tablet has power on/off key, 3.5mm jack, HDMI port, mini pin charging port and memory card slot, apart from two mini USB ports. The top has a volume rocker and there also are two speaker grills given at the back of the device. We can say that Micromax has carried forward the Funbook look but has tried for a better feel and grip.

192 mm

Hardware: Bigger and better than before The main attraction of the device is the 10.1 inch capacitive touchscreen which comes with multi-touch support, pinch to zoom and responds well to the touch. There is a 1.2 GHz Cortex processor with Dual Mali 400 2D/3D GPU to power the device. The screen resolution and the picture quality of the device are decent for a product falling in this price range. As far as the connectivity goes, there is support

52 MYMOBILE sep 15 to oct 14 2012

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tech specs

Multimedia: Decent enough

Size | 192 x 122 x 10.5 mm

As far as the camera is concerned, the VGA camera of the tablet clicks decent pictures and is capable of making neat videos at this resolution as well. There are various setting options given to be used for taking pictures as well as shooting videos, and you can share content on social networks or save it to Google drive. You can play and watch HD videos, although we were not too impressed with the results. Internet browsing on the tablet was pretty smooth, but got sluggish if there were other apps open in the background. Music quality on both the headphones as well as loudspeaker is decent.

User Experience: still has scope for better

Phonebook Capacity | Shared Camera | VGA Frequency | NA Others | ZengaTV, BigFlix, Smart Courses

Price: Rs 9,999

highlights 1

10.1 inch screen is good for viewing and offers multi touch

Entertainment and educational content available to download

3 Two mini USB port given in the side

Offer options to buy the bundled unit with Tata photon dongle

For video calling has VGA camera on front panel

for Wi-Fi and the device comes with two mini USB ports, but no full-fledged one like most tablets in this category. There is no support for a SIM card or calling, but there is support for a 3G dongle. The tablet comes with 8 GB internal storage (expandable up to 32 GB) given and 1 GB RAM. There is a VGA camera given on the top right corner of the screen which we feel could have been more convenient to use if been placed at the centre. A 5600 mAh battery ensures that the tablet does not run out of juice too soon.

Software: Content aplenty Like its predecessor, the Funbook Pro also runs on Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich). A few tweaks have been made to the standard ICS interface - the lock screen comes with icons of all the apps that are running in the background, allowing the user to go to any of these apps by just dragging the key to them, which is a whole lot more convenient than choosing between unlocking the screen or opting for the camera. Also like the previous Funbook, this one too comes with a number of education and entertainment related applications. Smart Courses has content by players like Tata McGraw-Hill, Pearson, and McMillan, although you will have to download a lot of it. For entertainment, there are apps like ZengaTV, BigFlix and a number of games.

The Funbook Pro is a mix of the good and not so good. The big screen is great for watching videos, but the touch can be a tad erratic, and the tablet has a tendency to slow down more apps which you run in the background. We also found it bit on the heavy side. Viewing angles could also have been better, and content on the screen is barely visible in sunlight. Battery life was decent without being exceptional. All in all, we found the device to be a steady rather than spectacular performer - and that is by no means a bad thing when you consider the price category it is placed in.

Conclusion The Funbook Pro is not perfect but when you consider its price tag of Rs 9,999, it is not a bad performer at all. In fact, if you are looking for a 10.1 inch tablet under Rs 10,000, the Funbook Pro is one of the few decent options around. If you are willing to shell out some more cash you could opt for the the HCL ME Y2, costing Rs 14,999 which also comes with a 10-inch screen, and can pack a SIM card. n team@mymobile.co.in

verdict Looks

Features

ease of use

perfoRmance

value for money

overall

80%

sep 15 to oct 14 2012 MYMOBILE 53

burn test 1

Nokia Lumia 610 The latest addition to the Lumia series is easy on both the eye and the wallet

119.24 mm

Pros 

Bright screen



GPS navigation works well



Reasonable price

Cons

Looks: Simple yet suave Nokia has gone with a minimalistic design for Lumia 610. There is nothing unusual about the form factor, yet it appeals. This phone is available in an array of colours including Blue and Pink. We got out hands on the black one with silver trims, which has very subtle classy looks. The front of the phone has a decentsized 3.7 inch touchscreen, under which, users

The slowest processor in the Lumia range



256 MB RAM is on the lesser side



No front camera

highlights

62.18 mm

okia has recently launched the most affordable of its Windows Phone devices - the Lumia 610. But has the lower price tag come at the cost of performance? We take a closer look.



1 Has Windows OS 7.5

will find the search, homescreen and back buttons - standard Windows Phone fare. Nokia has placed the power, volume and camera buttons on the right side of the device, although with no clear marking on these buttons. The audio and power ports are placed on the top. Turn the device around and you will see the 5.0-megapixel camera with LED flash on top and a loudspeaker at the bottom.

Hardware: Basic necessities When it comes to hardware, the Lumia 610 is the most underpowered of the entire Lumia range. It has an 800 MHz ARM Cortex A5 processor, as compared to the 1 GHz processors

54 MYMOBILE sep 15 to oct 14 2012

One can download more games from Xbox Live

seen on other Lumia phones, and the RAM is a little low, just 256 MB, which is really not sufficient for gaming and running heavy programs. The phone supports QUAD band GSM. On the connectivity front this phone supports 3G, Wi-Fi, USB 2.0, Bluetooth, EDGE and GPRS. Graphics are powered by an Adreno 200 chip. To store your data this phone comes with 8 GB internal memory that cannot be expanded, as there is no memory card slot. Not too awesome by Windows Phone standards, but that said, there are not too many phones that offer better specs at this price segment (some devices from Micromax and Spice have slightly better hardware). And when it comes

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phone is great, both through the loudspeaker at the back and with the supplied headphones. The 3.7 inch screen is nice enough to watch movies and play games on. Yes, it takes its own sweet time to load games but once they are up, they run fairly well. However, one does face a bit of lag when graphic hungry games are played. On the camera front the Lumia 610 can take good pictures both indoors and outdoors. Our recommendation is to keep the ISO level to a bare minimum to get the best results. Otherwise the pictures will be dotted with a lot of grains. Video capture on the other hand is not that great. Even though you can record at 30 fps, you do see slight jerks in the final capture.

GPS navigation is a boon

At 134 grams the phone is on the heavier side, but not too much to deter people from purchasing it. The interface is quick and smooth - typical Windows Phone - and the capacitive touch screen responds nicely to every touch. The application load time is slightly high which can be blamed on the slow processor and lower RAM. A faster processor or more RAM would have been better. The 1,300 mAh Li-ion battery provides talk time of over 10 hours and music playback of 35 hours. One can quickly connect to the Internet with Wi-Fi and you need not be a rocket scientist to manage Bluetooth connections either, limited though they are (no file transfer).

Conclusion

Price: Rs 11,800 Phone has 5.0 MP camera which takes good pictures

User Experience: Not too bad

All said and done, the Nokia Lumia 610 has some really bright points and some not so bright ones. We must confess that there was never a time when we didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t feel that this is a phone we did not want to use. If you can put up with the odd lag in loading apps, the Lumia 610 is good buy, and is easy on both the eye and the wallet. n

5 Battery life is not bad either

team@mymobile.co.in

verdict to performance, the Lumia 610 is certainly no slouch.

Software: The usual The Lumia 610 runs on the Windows Phone OS 7.5 with all the usual pre-loaded applications like MS Office, XBOX Live game store, Zune music and videos. This being a Lumia, Nokia has put Nokia Drive for GPS navigation and Nokia Music with one year of unlimited music downloads for those who love their music. Users also get a special Sports Tracker application, which keeps a tab on your daily workout regimen, thanks to a distance travel

meter and energy counter. Another interesting application on this phone is Creative Studio, which allows users to edit and add styles to saved pictures on the phone. Users also have the option to click a picture and quickly add effects through this application. One can download various games through the Xbox Live application, but the game selection is not as big as that found on Appleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s iOS App Store, even though there are many popular and interesting titles to be played here.

Multimedia: Decent options For the price bracket, the Lumia 610 has good amount of multimedia features. Music on this

Looks

Features

ease of use

perfoRmance

value for money

overall

84%

sep 15 to oct 14 2012 MYMOBILE 55

burn test

HCL Me Tab Y2

The new Me avatar

Pros 

1 GHz Processor



Variety of Slots



SIM support



Camera could have been better



No Google Play store support



highlights

Cons

A bit on the expensive side

fter launching the affordable tablet Me U1, HCL has come out with another Me series tablet, the Me Y2. And this time the tab comes with SIM support, a feature that we missed in the U1 tab. But does this enable it to get an edge over its competitors that include Intex, iBall, Zync and Reliance?

Looks: Familiar… HCL’s latest seven inch tablet comes with an all plastic body that covers the entire back panel. The front panel is quiet the same as most of the other tablets in this category. You can find three keys on the front panel for set-

1 The touch screen experience is good

tings, home and back options which have now become a very familiar phenomenon for tablets running Android ICS. However, we don’t consider them very useful as one can access the same functions from on-screen buttons as well, which stay visible all the time. The tablet felt a bit heavy to hold and well, felt rather plasticky. That said, it felt solid enough and we did not even mind the glossy finish.

Hardware: Smooth operator Considering that the tab is in the relatively high-end category of the affordable tablet market, it packs in some very decent hardware. It

56 MYMOBILE sep 15 to oct 14 2012

The seven inch display is good for watching videos and movies

comes with a 7.0 inch capacitive screen which gives a good touch experience and is definitely good for multimedia. It is powered by 1 GHz Cortex A9 processor which is accompanied by Mali 400 for graphics. The tab performs at a brisk rate while handling multitasking as well. The placement of the power and volume rocker keys was a bit confusing as they are placed almost on the back panel - something we pointed out in the previous Me tablet as well. It has an internal memory of 8 GB which can be expended further using a microSD card. In terms of connectivity, it comes with an inbuilt 3G HSDPA SIM slot, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi

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Office files, the tablet comes with Thinkfree Office for creating and editing MS Office files.

Multimedia: Keep watching Multimedia is a department where the Y2 comes into its own and provides a stirring experience. The screen is bright and vivid and does justice to movies and games. The sound quality didn’t impress us much through the twin loudspeakers, though it was better on the headphones provided in the box. When it comes to video playback, the tablet is a delight as it played 1080p videos with ease with the default video player. There is no FM radio in the tablet. On the camera front, it boasts a 2.0 megapixel on the back and a 0.3 megapixel camera on the front panel. Picture quality, though, is nothing to write home about.

tech specs 3

Size | 120X200X13 mm Weight | 370 grams

Memory | 8 GB, MicroSD Battery | Li-ion 4000 mAh

Screen | 16million colours Talktime/Standby (hours) | NA

User Experience: Not bad! While the HCL Me Y2 delivers a good experience, we must confess we had expected a bit more given its price tag. After all, as we go to print, there are manufacturers who are coming out with tablets with larger screen sizes in this price segment. That said, we had nothing to complain about. The touch experience was smooth and the tablet ran without a hitch. The 4,000 mAh battery lasts for over a day of standard use, with some browsing and video playback thrown in. Top that off with the plethora of apps that come on the device (even minus the Google Play access) and HCL’s renowned support, and we can see many budget tablet users being attracted to this device.

Price: Rs 14,999

It supports mini-HDMI

It comes with a secondary camera of 0.3 megapixel

Conclusion

The HCL Me Y2 is a good performer and is priced at Rs 14,999. As an alternative one can consider the Intex iTab that costs Rs 11,900; the Zync 999+ that costs Rs 11,999 and the iBall Slide available at Rs 12,000. team@mymobile.co.in

Tablet has SIM support

verdict and even supports mini-HDMI. We inserted a SIM into the tab and it worked fine. Overall, it has a solid set of specs for its price range.

Software: ICS, but no Google Play! The tab runs on Android 4.0 or Ice Cream Sandwich and comes with a number of apps preloaded. The long list of preloaded apps includes LinkedIn, Twitter, Ninja Rush, Panzer Panic, BIGFlix, Zomato, Hungama, and Sweet ‘N’ Spicy. A smart addition that we really like was tagging the home screen - one can tag the five swap panels as home, utilities, entertain-

ment, social and smart India. Like if you want a swappable screen to be your social hub, you can place apps like LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook on it. The touch buttons of back, home and recent apps stay on the bottom left and the system bar is on the right with a number of functions including the date and time, Wi-Fi connectivity and settings. However, we were amazed that HCL has again kept Google Play off the tab. As a substitute, the company is offering HCL Me Apps that lets you download applications, which is handy enough but is not really in the same league as the official Android market. For those wanting to play around with MS

Looks Features

7 9

ease of use

perfoRmance value for money

overall

78%

sep 15 to oct 14 2012 MYMOBILE 57

burn test HTC Desire VC

Desirable GSM+CDMA delight

Pros 

Dual SIM support



Large 4.0 inch display



Interesting design

Cons 

No front camera



Slow connectivity



No dedicated camera key

119.5 mm

62.3 mm

58 MYMOBILE sep 15 to oct 14 2012

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hen it comes to smartphones, dual SIM users have generally had very limited options. Which is why we are sure that many of them will welcome the HTC Desire VC. But does the phone deliver on both smartphone and dual SIM fronts?

tech specs Size | 119.5 x 62.3 x 9.5 mm Weight | 118 grams

Looks: Impressive enough

Price: Rs 21,999

The HTC Desire VC is easy on the eye with rounded corners and a slim body. The rubberized back panel has diagonal lines running across it, which add to its beauty. The front of the phone is dominated by the 4.0-inch touchscreen display, below which are three touch keys. One the left is a charging slot and the right houses the volume rocker, while the top of the device contains the power/screen on/off button and a 3.5 mm audio jack. The phone looks even smarter with the dark grey piping on the sides and on the top of the display. The rubberized back panel however impressed us the most in terms of phone looks because it distinguishes the phones from other similar looking phones available in the market. The phone was comfortable to hold and the rubberized back panel allowed us to grip it firmly.

Hardware: Not hard-hitting

highlights 1 CDMA and GSM functionality works well

2 Android 4.0.3 Ice Cream Sandwich with HTC Sense is convenient

The HTC Desire VC runs on 1 GHz single core processor with 512 MB RAM, which is about par for the course at this price point, but nothing to rave about. We would have been more happy if the processor could have been better. The phone has 4.0 inch capacitive touch display and has an internal memory of 4 GB that can be extended further with the help of microSD card. For connectivity, the device has Bluetooth 3.0, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n and 3G support. It also comes with a Li-ion 1650 mAh battery that gives decent backup.

Software: Sense-ible ICS treat Big 4.0 inch capacitive display gives good video experience

4 5.0 megapixel camera with flash takes decent pictures

5 Multiple pre-loaded apps

The device runs on the Android 4.0.3 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system, surmounted by HTC’s Sense interface. There are shortcuts for dialer, mail, messages, camera and main menu on the home screen. There are five customizable home screen panels and one can also see the recently opened apps by pressing the third soft key. There is no hardware key, only three soft touch keys for back, home and for recently opened windows. The phone has some interesting pre-loaded apps like 7 digital, Dropbox, MX video player, SoundHound, and YouTube. The device also contains some location based apps like HTC Car, Navigation, Google maps, Latitude and Locations.

Multimedia: Nothing extraordinary The device comes with a 5.0 megapixel camera

that captures decent pictures and videos. One can tweak various settings like ISO, White Balance, auto-focus, face detection, and selftimer. However, there’s no secondary camera in the device, which rules out video calling - a bit of a surprise at this price point. When it comes to music, the audio player has HTC’s Beats Audio technology, which works well only with headphones and not on loudspeaker mode. FM radio reception is good. Volume levels, however, are on the low side - even the ringtones do not sound enough, with the volume maxed out. The 4.0 inch display makes watching videos a pleasure but the device troubled us while playing full HD videos.

User Experience: We expected more Our experience with the HTC Desire VC falls in the average category. The single core processor is decent enough for most tasks but was a disappointment when it came to playing games that had rich graphics content. After a few times, we were able to get the Internet up using Wi-Fi and then it run well. Even the touch sensitivity of the of the device is nothing exceptional. Yes, we have no doubt that this is perhaps on of the best options for a user looking for a smartphone with dual SIM capability but truth be told, we had expected a lot more.

Conclusion The HTC Desire VC is available for Rs 21, 999 and is a decent device for those looking for dual SIM functionality in a smartphone. It comes in partnership with Tata DOCOMO, and the company has some interesting voice and data offers to its new postpaid and prepaid customers who invest in the device. Those looking for an alternative can also consider the Samsung Galaxy Ace Duos which comes with both GSM and CDMA support, and has a much lower price tag of Rs 15,650. n team@mymobile.co.in

verdict Looks

Features

ease of use

perfoRmance

value for money

overall

76%

sep 15 to oct 14 2012 MYMOBILE 59

burn test Sony Xperia ion Looks good, performs brilliantly

Pros 

The screen is breath taking



The design is neat



The camera takes fabulous shots

133.0 mm

Cons 

A non-removable battery



Definitely priced on the higher side



Not too many applications out of the box

68.0 mm

his seems like the season for big screen phones, and the latest to arrive on our shores (and our office) is the 4.55-inchdisplay toting Sony Xperia ion. Verily, a device meant to captivate people, albeit those with deep pockets.

Looks: Drool worthy The Xperia ion is a stunner. Sony has used rich plastics for ion that give this device a classy look. It comes with a large glossy black front that runs from top to bottom, within which is lodged the 4.55 inch HD touchscreen. On top of the screen is a 1.3 MP HD 30 FPS camera, while below it are the usual feather

touch navigation keys that you see in most Xperia phones, along with a fourth “search” button. All physical keys such as power, volume rocker and a dedicated camera button are placed on the right, while the charging point and mini-HDMI port are placed on the left. Turn the phone around and you will see a dual tone burgundy back - and if red (or any shade of it) is not your favourite colour, there are other options as well. The rear also has a 12.0-megapixel camera with LED flash. The top part of the back panel can be removed to reveal the micro-SIM and microSD card slots, but you cannot remove the

60 MYMOBILE sep 15 to oct 14 2012

battery (just like in the Xperia S).

Hardware: Turbo charged The Xperia ion comes with a dual core 1.5 GHz processor, backed up by 1 GB RAM for zippy performance. The 4.55 inch touchscreen provides great response. For storage, the phone comes with 16 GB memory with an option to add a further 32 GB via a microSD card. There is an HDMI port for connecting the device to an HD TV, but you would need to purchase a separate cable to be able to use it. On the connectivity front this phone supports EDGE, GPRS, 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and USB 2.0. Voice quality is excellent. And to

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grew on us with every video that we played. Games did not disappoint us either. We installed some of our favourite games and found the graphics to be the best in its class. Not only did we discover some new animations in these games but the games also loaded quickly. The ion delivers a very good music experience - but with the supplied headsets, rather the rear single loudspeaker which is best suited for gaming. The 12.0-megapixel camera which gave us great results both indoors and outdoors, with least noise. You can check out the images we shot with this phone by logging on to www.mymobile.co.in and going to the Gallery section. Panorama mode works well too. Users can also video chat in HD using the front camera.

highlights 1 12 MP rear camera can take exquisite shots

tech specs Size | 133.0 x 68.0 x 10.6 mm

User Experience: A good one

Weight | 144 grams

Front 1.3 MP camera allows user to video chat in HD

Bluetooth/ WiFi | Yes/Yes

The Xperia ion is an entertainer. The user interface is easy to work with - a few days with the phone and you will know your way through. The voice quality is good and does not crack. We would have appreciated a louder loudspeaker, but that does not trouble us too much. One would need to install their choice of applications and games on this device as Sony does not give too many options out of the box. But then, one can always head to Google Play for that. And while we are not unhappy with ICS, we wonder when this phone will move up to Jelly Bean.

Phonebook Capacity | Unlimited

Conclusion

Memory | 16 GB Storage Battery | Li-ion 1900, mAh Screen | 4.55 inch, colours

The device runs Android ICS on a very responsive touchscreen

Talktime/Standby | Upto 10 hours/ Upto 400 hours GPRS/3G | Yes/Yes

4 The 4.55 inch screen is big and good for multimedia use

Sony has managed to get a winner by its side with the Xperia ion in terms of performance. Where it does come up short is in price. At Rs 35,999, it is right alongside quad core driven devices like the HTC One X and the Samsung Galaxy SIII and is actually more expensive than LG’s Optimus 4X HD. Those seeking a good looking performer will love it, though. n

Camera | 12.0 megapixel rear, 1.3 megapixel front

5 The 1.5 GHz dual core processor speeds up performance

Frequency | GSM 850/900/1800/1900 Others | HDMI, EA Games

Price: Rs 35,999

team@mymobile.co.in

verdict make sure the phone stays ticking, there’s a 1,900 mAh Li-ion battery.

Software: Nothing unusual We are beginning to get used to the fact that when it comes to Android, most high-end handsets sport almost similar operating systems and apps. The Xperia ion unfortunately does not do anything to change this perception - like its counterparts in this price segment, it runs on Android ICS (4.0.4). The home screen consists of five customisable panels, that take care of social, multimedia and application needs. It does have some good applications

installed like Timescape (which takes care of your social networking needs,) TrackID, Office suite and an EA Games app, as well as two new additions: the new Album application that sorts your pictures in an album form, and the Films app, via which you can run HD movies you have recorded. However, there was nothing that really surprised us in software terms on the device.

Multimedia: Best screen in class

Looks Features

ease of use

8 9

perfoRmance value for money

overall

Thanks to Sony’s Bravia Engine this phone can display exquisite colours on its large screen. The colours of HD movies are very vivid and

82%

sep 15 to oct 14 2012 MYMOBILE 61

burn test

Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 N800 A bigger Note

Pros 

SIM card and calling support



S pen stylus



Multi-screen functionality



Screen resolution could have been higher



Missing full HD video recording



Not the latest Android OS

he first Samsung Galaxy Note was a resounding success and proved that there was room in the market for a hybrid device, which combined the best of both phones and tablets. However, the Galaxy Note 10.1 is more tablet than phone, as it comes with a 10.1-inch display. The stylus, however, is still there. Will the 10.1-inch avatar of the Note repeat the success of its predecessor?

Looks: Impressive The overall look of the tablet is impressive. The 10.1 inch display is surrounded by white panels on the sides and there is no hardware key on the front of the device at all, giving it a

highlights

Cons

SIM calling feature, an added advantage

minimalistic look. Two speaker grills are smartly placed on the front panel. The proximity sensor and camera are placed above the display, right in the middle. The tablet is designed to be held in landscape mode with the power/lock button, volume rocker, microSD card slot, 3.5 mm audio jack, infrared port and SIM card slot, all placed on the top, while the charging slot is on the lower portion. The back panel is plain white with the camera and flash on a silver lining. The S Pen, as Samsung terms the stylus, slots into the bottom right corner of the tablet. The tablet is comfortable to hold, is not bulky, and is solidly built.

62 MYMOBILE sep 15 to oct 14 2012

S Pen works pretty well on the tablet

Hardware: Solid for the price As its name suggests, the tablet comes with a 10.1-inch display with a resolution of 1280x800 pixels, which is the same as was found in the smaller screened Note (a bit disappointing). Powering the tablet is a 1.4 GHz quad-core Cortex A-9 processor, backed up by 2 GB RAM and a Mali 400 MP GPU. Our review model came with 16 GB storage, which can be expanded using a memory card. The tablet comes with support for SIM cards allowing you to make calls from it. The tablet supports quad band 3G, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, infrared (yes, you can use it as a remote control), and also has support for HDMI TV-out and USB host, although the last two need adapters, which

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GPRS/3G | Yes/Yes

the multimedia department. The music player shows different options like playlists, albums, artists and genres. Sound settings lets you set different sound effects like pop, rock, and classic. The video player of the device supports DivX/XviD/MKV formats and is capable of playing HD videos with ease and with impressive clarity. We found the audio quality impressive in both earphone and loudspeaker mode. The Galaxy Note 10.1 features a 5.0-megapixel main camera that takes decent pictures, but is not exceptional. It comes with a number of shooting modes such as Smile shot, Panorama, and Cartoon, as well as photo effects like negative, black and white and sepia. The device also has 1.9 megapixel secondary camera for video calling. As far as video recording is concerned, the tablet captures videos at 720p at 30 fps - again a bit of a let down, as we had expected full HD video at this price.

Bluetooth/ WiFi | Yes/Yes

User Experience: Delightful

3 1

Our experience with Note 10.1 was very good. However, we took some time to get the grip of the interface. The S Pen functionality and multi-screen feature work very well and the device works at a decent clip, thanks to the powerful processor within. The tablet has 7000 mAh battery whose performance was good too.

Phonebook Capacity | Shared Camera | 5.0 megapixel Frequency | GSM 850/900/1800/1900/ 2100 Others | S pen, HDMI

Price: Rs 38,000

2 Multiscreen functionality allows to access two different apps at one time

Conclusion

Big 10.1 inch screen for better viewing experience

have to be purchased separately.

Software: Hand-some The Galaxy Note 10.1 runs on Android 4.0.3 Ice Cream Sandwich and comes with Samsung TouchWiz UI. The navigation keys are placed in the bottom left corner of the screen and the app drawer is on the top right of the screen and notification settings menu is on the bottom right of the display. A task bar is also given on the lower part of the screen which lets you access mini apps that can be set as per the userâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s need and choice. The S Pen in Note 10.1 comes in a redesigned avatar with a longer shape with rounded edges. It also has a button to perform vari-

The Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 is priced at Rs 38,000 for 16 GB version, which we think is definitely on the higher side, especially when you consider that one can get the new iPad (3G, Wi-Fi, 16 GB memory) for Rs 36,500. If you are looking for a 10.1-inch display tablet with a stylus, you can also consider the Lenovo ThinkPad tablet which will cost you Rs 35,000. n

5.0 megapixel camera takes decent pictures

team@mymobile.co.in

ous functions like taking screenshots, enabling gestures, and drawing. Multiple nibs for S Pen have also been provided in the sales pack. We were highly impressed with the multi-screen feature as it let users access two different apps at the same time. There are five apps that support the multi-screen feature - Video Player, Polaris Office, Gallery, S Memo and e-mail, and any one of them can be selected while using any other feature on the tablet. The tablet also comes with some interesting pre-loaded apps like Dropbox and Photoshop Touch.

Multimedia: Hitting the right notes The Galaxy Note 10.1 does very well in

verdict Looks

Features

ease of use

8 9

perfoRmance value for money

overall

80%

sep 15 to oct 14 2012 MYMOBILE 63

sneak peek HTC One X+Adding to the X factor

he HTC One X was one of the most powerful phones of its kind when it was launched earlier this year, boasting a quad core processor and a brilliant camera. It was considered one of the most powerful devices of its type when it was launched and it is a testament to just how fast technology has progressed that HTC is already readying an enhanced version of the device, appropriately titled the HTC One X+. The plus here suggests a boost to the already powerful features the phone possesses. On

LG Optimus L9 More screen

space, more features

arge displays seem to be the craze among handset manufacturers these days. LG has played a prominent part in the large phone display race and is all primed to release another contender in it with its soon-to-be-released Optimus L9. The handset will come with a 4.7-inch high definition IPS display, with support for multi-touch. The L9 runs on the Ice Cream Sandwich version of Android (v4.0.3), is powered by a 1 GHz dual-core processor, and comes with 1 GB RAM and 4 GB storage (expandable). It comes with only a 5.0-megapixel camera (we would have expected something more powerful) as well as a VGA front camera. And donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be fooled by its anorexic 9.1 mm thin frame - lodged inside it is a hefty 2,150 mAh SiO+ battery, which is going to redefine smartphone battery life. On the app front, the phone will come with the highly anticipated QTranslator that it is capable of translating sentences and content from nearly 44 foreign languages to 64 user languages. It is expected to be launched for around Rs 20,000, which we think will be quite a bargain for anyone looking for a large screen device with decent processing power. n

the processing side, it will feature a quad-core 1.7 GHz Tegra 3 processor and it is also expected to run on the latest version of Android, Jelly Bean (4.1), which remains a bit of a rarity in spite of being announced a few months ago. For those who insist that a phone is a phone, this handset is also expected to come with ClearVoice technology for low disruptive call quality. And relax, it is expected to be totally compatible with previously released HTC One X accessories. In appearance too, it is expected to look only slightly different from its predecessor, with perhaps more colour options. n team@mymobile.co.in

* Disclaimer: The image of HTC One X+ may differ from the above image.

64 MYMOBILE sep 15 to oct 14 2012

spot light

R.I.P

Fixed Lines?

A couple of decades ago, they were synonymous with telephony. Today, they have been pushed to the backstage by mobile handsets. We take a look at the humble landline and where it is headed Sulabh Puri

lexander Graham Bell did all of us a favour when he created the world’s best communication device of the time, the telephone. Had he not created this communication apparatus, people would still be using “orthodox” methods of communications like pigeons or ravens carrying your message across the lands. His advancement sparked many young minds and a hundred years after he created the telephone, manufacturers like Motorola managed to take it a step further and created the wireless phone. Take a stroll down the memory lane - do you remember the time in early eighties, when your landline had a circular dial on it and whirred every time you dialled a number? You had to rotate the numbered dial to call another number. This process of dialling was quite time consuming, but that did not stop this phone from being immensely popular. It continued to be a rage for almost another decade when it was replaced by a better and lighter phone with a numeric keypad. These phones came in various designs and sizes. We remember there was small transparent one as well, whose small lights lit up as soon as soon as the phone rang. These were soon followed by new-age cordless phones that could be picked up from their charging docks and

66 MYMOBILE sep 15 to oct 14 2012

be spoken to, even while strolling around the house. And of course, who can forget the fact that one had to wait for months to get a fixed land line connection - something which now can be procured in a matter of days if not hours. And if one wanted to speak with one’s relatives or friends staying in other parts of the country, one would have to wait until nightfall (when the call rates were cheaper) and then dial a STD or ISD number. There were so many procedures to be followed and using the landline was a premium experience that everyone in the house cherished. Children would run to the phone whenever it rang to know who is at the other end and it occupied a prominent place on most executives’ desks. Today with the introduction of cellphones and other online/web forms of communication, the usage of landlines has gone down considerably. Once the most common form of communication, it is now a near-obsolete device that just lies in your house, often unused.

The downfall of wired lines

Evolution can be blamed for the downfall of fixed lines. The stronger replaces those who are weaker. But here a small, and yet much more powerful

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sep 15 to oct 14 2012 MYMOBILE 67

spot light

device has knocked the fixed lines out of circulation. In the latter part of the nineties, our country saw a new, smaller and smarter device emerge â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the mobile phone. These handy devices could fit in your pockets with ease and provide mobile connectivity. Today the mobile phone is not just a calling device but has become a complete entertainment and work tool, which can be carried around. Like clothes, the mobile phone has become attire that you wear daily and in many cases is even considered to reflect your attitude. The landline cannot compete with this form of communications device. Moreover the calling rates and tariffs given by mobile service providers are much cheaper than the ones you have to pay for your MTNL or BSNL landline. Mobile operators provide users cheaper call rates with added services like SMS and instant messengers, not to mention Internet access. The wired subscriber base is also falling because users today are more comfortable using their mobile phones even if a landline is available to them. A mobile phone is more personal than a landline which more than one person would be using. Value added services and mobile gaming provided by mobile operators is another big reason why people do not favour a landline. The numbers also speak for themselves. In May 2012, the total number of fixed lines in India was recorded at 31.53 million, whereas mobile phone connections will touch 1 billion in a few monthsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; time. In sum, mobile phone connections outnumber landlines by 100 to 3. By the time MTNL or BSNL sell three fixed line connections, companies like Airtel or Vodafone have already sold 100 new connections.

What about the global trend? While India sees troubled times for wired phones, there are a few European and African

landlines are still favoured when it comes to Internet access. Unlike the wireless Internet which is dependent upon a strong signal, landlines give users at both home and office a strong and stable connection countries where this form of telephony is actually growing. However in Asia there is a strong decline. Even broadband penetration cannot push the fixed line usage too much. With the availability of mobile Internet devices and dongles, users around the globe prefer a wireless connection. Earlier users only had the option of optical fibre-driven Internet connectivity which was bundled with a fixed line that helped fixed line numbers grow. Now, manufacturers like Huawei and ZTE are supplying the world with mobile internet dongles that eliminate the need for a fixed line. This trend can be seen in India as well, where more and more people (especially working professionals) are opting for mobile Internet and 3G USB modems that can be carried anywhere. Mind you, getting strong signals still remains a challenge in many parts of our country.

Do you still need a landline?

In a country like India, however, a landline is still needed to do many things. The reason why you still require this form of telephony is not for its own sake, but for what it stands for. It can be used as a proof of residence when you apply for a passport, a new bank account, a Visa, a drivers licence, a new phone number

68 MYMOBILE sep 15 to oct 14 2012

(both mobile and landline), PAN card and other government services. Not just that, landlines are still favoured when it comes to Internet access. Unlike the wireless Internet, which is dependent upon a strong signal, landlines give users at both home and office a strong and stable connection. Both Airtel and MTNL/BSNL are strong in this segment. While MTNL and BSNL Internet with landline is cheaper than Airtel, people in cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai and Kolkata favour Airtel. Other features for which one still needs a landline are video calling, IPTV and voice conferencing. Voice conferencing is still very strong on a landline as multiple people can easily talk together without any digital disturbance or noise. This is specially favoured in large organisations and multi-national companies.

The future?

We donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t see anything emerging to arrest the decline of landlines. As mobile phones get better, more people will continue to opt for them over landlines for the sheer convenience they offer. However there will be growth in the fixed line Internet segment - people will buy a landline because they want to have uninterrupted internet service at their homes or the office. When it comes to numbers, at the moment BSNL has more than 60 per cent share of the market, with MTNL in second place with more than 15 per cent share, and the remainder split between the likes of Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications and others. The share of these companies is likely to stay more or less the same. However, the money pie will get smaller. The landline is not dead yet. But it is unlikely to regain its eminence of yore, thanks to the mobile phone. n sulabh@mymobile.co.in

boredom buster A taste of Death! You play

Death. With God-like abilities. Need we say more?

t might have many games in its library, but we have a warm regard for hack and slash action adventure games. And the latest one to arrive in this favoured genre is Darksiders 2 — a game where you play a dark Horseman called Death. You start off with a training level in icy terrains with superb animation. And then find out that another Horseman, War, is imprisoned and (this might sound familiar) the battle between the forces of Heaven and Hell is brewing. And it is up to the Horsemen to preserve the balance of the universe. Death has received immense powers from the Charred council in exchange for mowing down the bad folk from Nephilm. Death has two sidekicks in the game, a horse called Despair and a raven known as Dust, who always points Death in the right direction (although we did find his directing skills to be a bit warped at times). Death, in keeping with his name and stature, gets to perform some great moves - and they look even better thanks to the excellent animation. And as you progress, you get more powers and gear. The bosses are not too tough - you can often slay them in one go with a series of attacks. The graphics of the game are good and

the camera does not give you any problem, even when you are stuck between tight spaces. You can jump from wall to wall and even sprint on them, a la the Prince of Persia. Sound quality is good and the storyline is intriguing. We found no major flaws in it and would recommend it without hesitation to all PS3 owners. n sulabh@mymobile.co.in

Name: Darksiders 2 Price: Rs 2,699 Tested on: PlayStation 3

RATING

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sep 15 to oct 14 2012 MYMOBILE 69

boredom buster

Running to the White House

Get into the Presidential race!

residents Run is a different sort of running game. Here you can step into the shoes (literally) of some of America’s top politicians as they run around the land collecting votes. You can choose from various leaders such as Barack Obama, Hilary Clinton and Mitt Romney. You can also opt for undead presidents like Zombie Washington and Franken Lincoln. More undead presidents will be introduced soon. At the beginning of your run you pop out of a Presidential limo and start to sprint. Votes are in the form of circular discs and your candidate needs to jump and grab them while sprinting. A light tap on the

screen will make the politician jump slightly. If you keep holding the screen he will jump higher and for a longer duration. The catch? The run speeds up after every thousand miles, making it difficult for you to get votes. You do have shoe aids which range from Magic Slippers, which double the votes you collect while wearing them, to Electroboots that attract all the votes that come in range of your President. There are plenty of ditches, paparazzi, and even nuclear missiles along the way that try to stop you. If you hit them twice your run is over. With votes you can buy hats and extend the time duration of shoe aids. There are plenty of objectives in the game

70 MYMOBILE sep 15 to oct 14 2012

to be unlocked—when achieved will fetch you extra votes. Overall Presidents run is a fun game with good graphics and sound, which will keep you engrossed for hours. n sulabh@mymobile.co.in

Name: Presidents Run Price: Free Tested on: iPad2

RATING



www.mymobile.co.in

Up, up and away A flying

bug to kill your free time

ention the word “bug” and most people will think you are referring to an irritating insect, but the tiny bug flying in the FlyBugFly game is a rather cute one. FlyBugFly is a motion sensor based game that might catch your attention for its colourful animations and backgrounds. It plays quite smoothly and is all about making quick moves to help make the bug ascend the tree. The game is easy to play and requires you to help the bug gather coins while flying further. These coins actually come as a fuel essential for the bug to fly ahead. Running short of these would make the bug fall back and it might even die, if you do not manage to feed it enough coins. There are coins in various colours and each colour gives a different kind of acceleration to the bug. Apart from these, there are a few icons that give the bug special powers - a heart gives it an additional life

and a shield would protect it from being killed as long as it is active. Why does it need protection? Well, because on its way are skeletons, hitting any of which would end the game right there. As if this were not enough, when you reach a certain point level, there comes another fly to kill your bug. The good news: you can kill this fly with a tap on the screen. Flying, dodging, killing - a simple but potent mix of these make FlyBugFly an addictive game. It is available for free download from the Windows Marketplace. n harshita@mymobile.co.in

Name: FlyBugFly Price: Free Tested on: Nokia Lumia 800

RATING



sep 15 to oct 14 2012 MYMOBILE 71

boredom buster

Cop under cover! If you loved games like Mafia and Grand Theft Auto, you will love Sleeping Dogs

e have played our share of “open world” action games, but nothing quite as exciting as Sleeping Dogs, which we played on the PS3. The game takes you to the streets of Hong Kong - no not exactly like the city we know, but you can sense the Asian essence on the streets. You play Wei Shen, an undercover cop, who is assigned the task of taking down the bad guys in the drug mafia. To do so, you need to infiltrate the triad of Sun On Yee and break the organisation from within. And that puts Shen in quite a quandary at times, as he

gets caught between doing the right thing and committing a crime - after all, being a policeman, he has to walk the path of righteousness, but at the same time he has to prove his worth as a gangster to the Sun On Yee mafia. The game is fairly easy to adapt to. If you have played games like Mafia or GTA 3, then you will feel right at home. The game mechanics are similar to Batman Arkham Asylum, but there is much more bloodshed in this game. You can use your fists to take down your foes, use world objects as well, and you can ride bikes and cars too. Oh, and

72 MYMOBILE sep 15 to oct 14 2012

did we mention that while driving, you can jump from vehicle to vehicle and smash into others to put them out of action? Dirty Harry would be so proud! The graphics of the game are not the most detailed we have seen but are decent enough to keep the fun flowing. Overall Sleeping Dogs provides a compelling experience, thanks to its open world gameplay and very well thought out plot. Mind you, the price tag does pinch a bit! n sulabh@mymobile.co.in

Name: Sleeping Dogs Price: Rs 2,699 Tested on: PlayStation 3

RATING

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www.mymobile.co.in

Smart apps Twitter with a Twist Feel

On! converts your Tweets into a comic stream

here are stacks of Twitter apps in app stores all over the world, ranging from the routine to the innovative, but perhaps there is none quite so crazy as Feel On! for Twitter. The app not only shows you your own tweets or those of the ones you are following, but does so in comic format. Yes, you heard that right. Once you have downloaded Feel On! (1.6 MB) from Google Play and given it permission to access your Twitter account, the app scans your Tweets and based on key terms in them, presents them in the form of Zoozoo -like cartoon characters. So a tweet with the word "news" might show a cartoon character reading a newspaper, one with "tears" might show a character bursting into tears, and so on. No, it

Name: Feel On! Price: Free Tested on: Sony Xperia S

RATING



is not always accurate, but it is quite entertaining. And if you do not feel up to watching Twitter in cartoon mode, just shake your device to see it in "normal" text mode. All of which can make a user forget that beneath all those illustrations, Feel On! is actually a full-fledged Twitter client as well. You can compose tweets (complete with a cartoon of your choice), view profiles, retweet and favourite tweets, view links and do just about whatever you can on other Twitter clients on it as well. And yes, did we mention that it was totally free of cost and can run on most Android devices (it just requires Android 2.1 or higher)? All of which makes it one of the most awesome and entertaining apps we have seen. Who says Twitter can't be fun? Just make sure you use it on a fast connection - those images gobble bandwidth! n

nimish@mymobile.co.in

sep 15 to oct 14 2012 MYMOBILE 73

Smart apps

Name: Camera Extra Price: Free Tested on: Nokia Lumia 800

RATING



Lumia pic boost Adding an extra

dimension to your Lumia's camera

ith almost every handset in the market today sporting a camera of some sort, photography-related apps have become a rage. And one of the latest is Camera Extra, which as the name suggests, is a camera related app that adds on a few extra features to the camera on Nokia Lumia devices. The app is yet another product of the Nokia App Labs, and after downloading integrates itself smoothly with the camera application of the phone - you do not need to open a separate app, giving it a native feel. The four features it offers are Smart Group Shot, Action Shot, Panorama and Self Timer. The Smart Group Shot takes a series

of five rapid shots, chooses the best facial expression from each one and then stitches them in one shot. The result is fairly good as you get the best expression on each face out of the five shots it takes. And if you are not too happy with the expression chosen by the app as the best one then just press on the face of the person to see their expression on all the shots taken and then select the one you like best - yes, you can actually manually compose a picture of the "worst" expressions people have if you wish. The Action Shot feature takes a picture with better shutter speed to capture the objects in motion, and the Panorama shooting mode allows you to

74 MYMOBILE sep 15 to oct 14 2012

take a number of shots and then stitch them together resulting in a panorama view. The best part about it is that while taking the shot as you move the camera rightwards there appears a box on the screen which guides to fit the picture in it. As and when you are done with five such shots, it results in one clear panorama picture - magical. Finally, there is the self-timer option which lets you set the camera to take a picture ten seconds after you press the shutter. Camera Extras is available for free download from the Windows Marketplace. If you have a Lumia, this is a must-have app. n

harshita@mymobile.co.in

www.mymobile.co.in

etcetera Power Bank

Pros | Compact and Light weight Cons | Less mAh battery

Price: Rs 1,499

RATING



(Re) Charge Power in your

pocket

n this connected era, we are all extremely dependant on our smart devices to stay in touch with just about everyone. But even as devices have got smarter and faster, they have also started guzzling more in terms of battery juice. The days when you could get by on recharging your phone a couple of time a week are history - it is a fair chance that you would need to recharge at least once a day if you really are a power user of your mobile device. And the more you are connected, the less you can afford to let your device be drained of battery. Which is why a number of manufacturers have started coming out with portable charging options allowing users to recharge their devices even when there is no power outlet

handy. One of these is Recharge+ which has released the Power Bank, a 2,600 mAh portable charger with a compact form factor that’s a mere 80 grammes light. It comes with a power button, with an LED light and a micro USB input port. On pressing the button, the LED shows the level of power the charger contains. The company claims the charger takes approximately 4 hours to charge and delivers idle discharging for up to 180 days. The device comes with a data cable for charging output which is compatible with all leading smartphone brands. Power Bank is priced at Rs 1,499 and will soon be available in the market at leading stores. A decent deal for those wanting power at their fingertips. Literally. n

sep 15 to oct 14 2012 MYMOBILE 75

etcetera

Ultrabook decency

Packing in power with style

t seems to be raining ultrabooks in the Indian market with all major brands releasing their version of this sleek yet power-packed device. And one of the newest offerings is the Satellite U840, from Toshiba, the Japanese electronic major. The U840 follows the standard ultrabook design template with a brushed aluminium chassis and metallic silver colour. Although it comes with a 14 inch display, the U840 tips the scales at a very lightweight 1.6 kg. It has decent specs too - an Intel Core i5 processor, 4 GB RAM, 500 GB HDD along with a 32 GB solid state drive, all driven by Windows 7 Home Premium. In terms of connectivity, the U840 offers standard HDMI, USB3.0, and Ethernet LAN ports as well as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth wireless capabilities. The U840 performs well but we were not too pleased with the flat keyboard and the touchpad, which were both difficult to use. The display is fairly good but has shallow vertical screen angles that cause colour shift and contrast loss if the screen is not positioned right. The battery lasted around 4 hour 50 minutes in our rundown test which was not bad. We tested Toshiba U840 with PC Mark 7 and it scored 3,851 points which was better than the Dell XPS 13’s score. All of which makes the Satellite U840 a device that would suit home users, students as well as small business owners. Its price of Rs 53,500 puts it squarely in the mainstream segment. n

76 MYMOBILE sep 15 to oct 14 2012

Toshiba Satellite U840 Price: Rs 53,500 Pros | Lightweight for its category, Decent performer Cons | Stiff keyboard, Off-axis viewing is not good

RATING

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www.mymobile.co.in

Sony Bravia 40HX85 3D TV

Pros | Excellent design, 3D works very well Cons | Bottom HDMI might be out of

Price: Rs 93,400

RATING



reach if hung on a wall, Not enough 3D glasses in the box

drop dead gorgeous Sony is back with a stunning new television

ony’s market share might have taken a hit of late, but with the Bravia 40HX85, it could well be on its way back to the top. If we had to describe the design of this picture tube in one word, it would be ‘fabulous.’ For borders around the screen this TV has just has a slim silver strip. The stand also gets an upgrade and looks very modern. At 40 inches with Full HD support, this TV is perfect for your living room. It supports 3D and we enjoyed every bit of it. We ran some of our favourite 3D videos and this TV managed to play them without a hiccup. It can also convert normal 2D signals into 3D, so you can now watch 2D sports and

movie channels in 3D, at the press of a button. However, to enjoy 3D you still have to wear 3D glasses - a pair comes in the box and you shell out extra bucks for more. The TV comes with 3 x 10W RMS speakers with Dolby, which deliver quite a thump. There are plenty of ports and connectors behind as well - you can attach two USB drives to play movies, music and pictures (all the popular file formats are supported). There are also four HDMI ports on the side and rear bottom of the panel. Great package, great performance - yes, Sony is indeed on the way back. n

sep 15 to oct 14 2012 MYMOBILE 77

etcetera

Epson WorkForce DS 30 Price: Rs 10,990 Pros | Small in size and light in weight, Good scanning quality Cons | Can be a bit sluggish at 600 dpi, Short connecting wire

RATING

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78 MYMOBILE sep 15 to oct 14 2012

www.mymobile.co.in

we need back-up A terabyte of

Seagate Backup Plus

storage

Price: Rs 5,992

eagate Backup Plus has replaced the company’s popular Go Flex series and is comparatively more compact. One of the new entrants to this series is the Seagate Backup Plus, which is an external hard drive of 1 TB capacity. Seagate has kept the looks of the drive simple and classy - the front panel is in wooden finish while the back panel is of white colour in matte finish. The drive is rectangular in shape and weighs only 0.44 pounds (200 grams approx.). There is no button on the drive except the USB port on the top panel. Seagate Backup Plus works with both Windows and Mac OS machines and comes preloaded with Seagate Dashboard and NTFS driver for Mac computers. The drive’s minimum transfer rate is 29.6 MB/sec and maximum is 33.3 Mb/sec. During our tests we found that the drive was capable of transferring a 100 MB file in 3 seconds. The drive comes with a white coloured USB 3.0 18 inch cable. According to the company, one can increase the transfer speed by upgrading to a FireWire or Thunderbolt adapter that can be purchased separately. We found the drive smartly designed with good transfer speed and huge storage capacity. The hard drive is priced at Rs 5,992 (which is a tad on the higher side, we think) and is available in Black, Red, Blue and Silver colours. n

Pros | Stylish looks, Compact and light weight Cons | A bit expensive, Short USB

cable

RATING



small wonder A compact, pow-

erful scanner

iniaturisation has always been a rage in electronics - no matter what the device, attempts are always underway to come out with the smallest possible version of it. And now scanners seem to have been placed under this tech shrink ray with Epson coming out with a sleek and small portable scanner called the WorkForce DS 30, designed for those who do not have too much space to spare for scanners - either on their desks or in their luggage. The scanner seems designed to be used with a laptop as the connecting wire is short in length, and comes with its driver CDs which install the scanning software on your computer. The device is

capable of scanning paper of smooth or rough texture without compromising on quality. There are options for image types to choose from. One can also adjust brightness and contrast in the image. The results were good and the scanned copies were clear, readable even on zoom and came out without much distortion in colours. The scanning range starts at 75dpi and goes up to 600dpi. It took about 40 sec to scan and print an image at 600dpi and about 15 sec to do it at 200dpi. Its relatively small form factor makes it a very good option for those who need to scan documents while on the move and are constrained for space. The Epson DS 30 is available at a price of Rs 10,990. n

sep 15 to oct 14 2012 MYMOBILE 79

etcetera Solid Value for Money

Entertainment at a very decent price

Dell Inspiron 14R Price: Rs 43,490 Pros | Good performance, Very reasonable price Cons | Battery life could have been better, Screen viewing angles are not good

RATING



80 MYMOBILE sep 15 to oct 14 2012

ne of the newest Dell computers to arrive on Indian shores is the 2012 edition Inspiron 14R - a notebook built for entertainment needs, which can manage light workloads as well. It comes with a 14 inch WLED screen that supports HD resolutions, but not Full HD ones, and a nice chiclet-type keyboard with keys that are comfortable to type with, and a responsive trackpad. Users will get a set of multimedia keys doubled up as the function keys on top. There are also three separate keys on the top right corner - the first two open Windows Mobility Centre and sound adjustment, while the third can be customised as shortcut button for a program of your choice. Under the hood of this machine lies a third generation Intel Core i5 2.5 GHz processor, 4 GB DDR3 RAM, a 500 GB hard drive and an AMD 7670 HD graphics card. The 14R also sports a web cam with MIC, 4 USB 3.0 ports, HDMI ports to connect to an HDTV and a multi card reader. It runs on Windows 7 Home, but users have the option to upgrade to Windows 8 for 14 USD, once it is launched. Battery lasts for about 3.5 hours under power saver mode, which could have been better, as could have been the screen viewing angle. Parts of display fade out if you look at it from certain angles. That apart, the 14R is an excellent performer and a good option to carry around and be entertained when you feel like it. n

fa c e t o fa c e

“WAP offers more flexibility” The emergence of a number of new players has resulted in a boom in the e-commerce market in India. We met Ankit Khanna, head – Products, Snapdeal, to talk about the company’s mobile services and plans to grow in the mobile space Harshita Rastogi What lead to you becoming so active on providing mobile services? In the last two quarters we have seen an increase in people’s interests in browsing our content through mobiles, especially about the deals in their city or out of their city location. We have also observed that people are consuming a lot of content and have started buying with limited payment options, which is the biggest model that we have seen to date. We also give them other payment options like cash on delivery or a digital voucher. We realise that we are getting a good traction on mobile phones, so we have started working on how to make the user experience on mobile even more relevant. We want to differentiate on how things operate on mobile WAP as compared to our Web portal. Because the user interaction is very limited on a single screen and there is limited navigation, you can push limited content, which has to be more relevant. It is easy to exit on a mobile phone than on the Web, because there is a large canvas available on the Web. We wanted to test the response on apps, so we launched an app which caters to a large set of audience to give us an experience of how people react to an app. This has made us come to the decision of launching an app on Android, because Android has got a bigger set of audience than the others. We launched the Android app about three months ago and since then we have been getting close to 4-5 thousand downloads every day. Which service does better for you, app or WAP? And why? I would say WAP offers more flexibility. The data we push on mobile has to come from the server’s side so the server plays an important role there. And if everything is driven by the server, then it is better to work on WAP as an app has a different interface and thus, requires to be developed to work in all conditions. Also, today more than 50 per cent of the data consumption is hap-

pening on mobile as compared to computers. So WAP makes more sense. The kind of traffic we get on WAP is much higher as compared to an app. People do not download app on a daily basis as that is just one time download while WAP offers a real time interaction. Also, our feature set is very limited on app because every time there is an update required. What kind of traction do you get on mobile service? It is good and growing fast. As I have told you that we have a huge subscriber base, around 17 million subscribers over all. We would say around 15-20 per cent of our entire traffic comes from mobile and that typically counts to 10 per cent of our transactions. What kind of marketing strategies do you have for your mobile services? We are not investing anything on marketing as such because we believe in smart marketing. We have a huge subscriber base. When the user clicks on the link in the email we send to them, they are directly navigated to our WAP site. Repeat purchase on mobile is comparatively high so people who shop once repeatedly come. And whenever we send any communication via SMS we make sure that we send the WAP link also. Our social strategy is very active and we have dedicated teams to work on our social front. All this contributes to large traffic. n harshita@mymobile.co.in

sep 15 to oct 14 2012 MYMOBILE 81

spot light

The Art of Cellphone Tracking These days losing your handset is almost as bad as losing your wallet. It is not just the cost of the device that hurts, but also all the data (passwords, contacts, mails, et al) inside it. Fortunately, there are a number of solutions that can help you recover your handset even when you lose it Harshita Rastogi

ou might survive losing the keys to your house, or maybe even those to your car, but losing your handset is getting increasingly catastrophic these days. After all, a handset is not just a device on which you make and receive calls, texts and mails but is also a repository of a veritable treasure chest of information, ranging from logins and passwords, to saved docu ments and in many cases even sensitive information like credit card details and financial data. While you can afford the damage caused due to loss of the SIM card with the device (one can reissued, the other bought), getting your information back is a much more difficult task, and often, just plain impossible. However, if one is careful enough, there are apps and services that can help you retrieve your data and in some cases even your phone. “I went blank for a moment after I realised that my mobile phone was not with me,” recalls Abhijit Dey. “I had no idea whether it was stolen or had been left by me at some place by mistake. I reached my friend and tried to use an application on his device to figure out the location of my phone - and was amazed to find out that it was lying in my car.” Yes, that’s a true story. There are actually apps and services available that will let you track your handset, and in some cases even wipe the information from it remotely. And you ignore using one at your peril, given the rate at which handsets are being stolen every day. “According to the statistics from Delhi Police, at least 30 mobile phones are stolen every day. Mobile thefts reached an average of 950 per month last year and majority of

82 MYMOBILE sep 15 to oct 14 2012

www.mymobile.co.in

the phones never get located as they did not have a mobile security suite with anti-theft tracking solution”, says Maurizio Grassi, CEO, Defenx, a solution provider. David Freer, vice president of Norton for Asia Pacific & Japan, told us about a survey they did on content security of mobilephones and shared that, “43 percent Indians have had their mobile phone lost or stolen, with the majority (59 percent) losing it. For the victims, over three quarters (77 percent) mentioned losing their contact information was the worst part of the experience, and 50 percent felt their privacy had been invaded”. Further he added that, “17 per cent are not even aware if they can remotely track their phones using GPS navigation softwares installed on their phones.”

There’s an app/solution for that!

There are several applications and solutions

in the market that can help you trace your lost or stolen handset, provided it has not been switched off. No, they do not always succeed in ensuring that you recover your handset and data every time, but they at least give you a decent chance of doing so. And as smartphones proliferate and their importance in our lives grow, so do the numbers of these solutions and apps. What’s more, many manufacturers and service providers too have started providing phone tracking and remote data wiping solutions to their consumers, often at a nominal cost (when you consider what you are in danger of losing).

Some of the better-known solutions in this regard are:

Norton Anti-virus and Security: Norton by Symantec, which is renowned for its desktop solutions, has also an excellent solution available for handheld devices. The solution enables you to remotely lock your lost device so that the information in it remains intact. Further, it gives you the liberty to use any browser to figure out where your device is. The good part about this application is that it can remotely lock the data and wipe the information off the device. The app works on Android, and comes for free. However, Norton has solutions to work on any mobile phone and cost as per the features given in them.

Find My iPhone: As the name implies, the app works for iOS run products only, namely iPad and iPhone. In case of device loss, one has to sign in to the native service of iOS iCloud, which will then enable you to locate your device. The best part is the app will help you locate your missing device and show it on map. Interestingly, it gives the user options like displaying a message on the device, or playing a sound on it to find out if it is close by. One can also remotely lock their device or erase data on it.

BlackBerry Protect: This app is for BlackBerry devices only and has been developed by RIM itself. It can be downloaded for free from the BlackBerry App World and can be used to track your phone’s location. Also, you can use it to track your phone’s location and see it on a map, lock the phone with a password and delete all the data. Other than that, it also backs up your data on the cloud.

Going beyond apps While these apps and solutions will indeed help you recover your phone and data, they are by no means the only measures you need to take when you lose a handset. You need to also do the following to ensure that when you lose your handset, your data loss is minimal:

Always file a First Information Report (FIR) at a nearby police station. The FIR should have a mention of each and every detail of the incident which led to the loss of your device. Following to this, contact your service provider with a copy of the FIR so that they can block access to your connection and also issue you a new SIM card.

Remember to note down and keep your phone’s International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) with yourself in a secure location. The 14 to 16 digit unique number given to your device is a digital number code. It comes built in with the device and is written in it by the manufacturer. This number is authorised by the GSM Association, and is also required by the police when you lodge an FIR for your stolen device. To find out your IMEI number you need to dial *#06# on your phone - it works across all handsets. The IMEI number can be used to identify your handset and even block the device if its gets lost or stolen. The number can also help in tracking the location of the handset, provided the phone is switched on.

You should make it a point to take time out to back up of the content on your handset at regular intervals - if possible even daily, if you store sensitive information on your device. To do so, you can either use third party back up applications or use the ones that come bundled with your handset (these normally come on a disk in the pack). Doing so lets you access your data even after you lose your device and in many cases, even transfer it safely to a new device. Of late a new trend that has emerged is the option of backing up important information on cloud services like Skydrive and Google Drive, which lets you access this information from a Web browser even if you happen to lose your handset. So, the next time you get a smartphone, make sure you install a security and tracking solution on it, well before you install any other app or even transfer any data to it. And even after that is done, do remember to back up data regularly, whether on a PC or cloud. You never know when you might need it! n harshita@mymobile.co.in

sep 15 to oct 14 2012 MYMOBILE 83

c e l l- e b r i t y

“Television tops my chart!” She is not your regular Bollywood heroine, and is in fact better known for her work in relatively non-commercial films like Dev D and the Girl in Yellow Boots. We caught up with Kalki Koechlin at a product launch to find out if her interest in tech is as off-beat as some of her films are Harshita Rastogi Why did you choose to be associated with the brand AOC? For me, the quality in a product is really important and especially when it comes affordable for an average person. My philosophy is not making a film about unreachable dreams but about real people, so in the same way AOC is about real people. It is a pleasure to represent a brand that brings in quality devices at a very affordable price for an average consumer. Your profession involves a lot of travelling so do you really get time to watch TV? Well that I manage. I watch TV during my travels as well. I mean while I am staying in hotels, watching television consumes most of my free time. When I am at home I watch lot of movies. I am a complete movie buff. At home I have got some great stereo and surround sound systems incorporated with my TV. What other gadgets do you use - other than the TV? After television, which tops my chart, is obviously my phone. I can roam around with my phone anywhere, anytime. Which begs the question - which phone do you use? I use the iPhone 4S. What do you like the most about your phone? I discover new things every day. Right now, I have discovered this camera application called Lens Plus in my iPhone. It does really beautiful things to your pictures. But the best thing about my phone is to be able to be in constant contact with my fans on Twitter and facebook and have access to my e-mails instantly, anywhere I like. So you actively use these social networking websites? Not really, really active like many others, but it is an important medium of expressing myself. So when I have something to say to my fans and friends, I use it. What about tablets, cameras and other gadgets? I don’t use other gadgets much. In fact, I am terrible with cameras and my phone camera is the only camera I use. I don’t generally carry any other camera along. Rather, I prefer to be in front of camera. n harshita@mymobile.co.in (We talked about many other things with Kalki Koechlin. You can read the complete interview on your website at....)

84 MYMOBILE sep 15 to oct 14 2012

Gear guide Disclaimer: The prices have been obtained from companies/ respective showrooms

Nokia Fast Micro-USB Charger | AC-10E

Save energy and save the environment. Based on a common energy-rating system for chargers, it has a 5-star rating for energy saving. Rs 950

Nokia Bluetooth Headset | BH-607

This headset enables you to be connected with little charging. It just requires 15 minutes of charging, giving you up to 5 hours of talk time. Rs 4,500

Nokia Bluetooth Headset | BH-105

This headset enables you to answer, end and reject calls with the convenient built in keys. It has an eye catching design. Rs 950

Nokia Monster Earphone | WH920 The in-ear design of the set isolates external noise to ensure enriched music experience. The earphones have volume controller built in to its cord. Rs 5,110

Nokia Bluetooth Headset | BH-213

With Nokia Bluetooth Headset BH-213 talk at length. Keep it ready to use with up to 400 hours of standby time. Rs 3,100

Nokia Bluetooth Stereo Headset | BH-905i

This Stereo headset has an option of active noise cancellation. With this you can hear your music and calls with low noise and great sound. Rs 3,500

Nokia Play | 360°

Enjoy clear 360-degree audio for your music with Nokia Play 360° (MD-50W). The curved design case brings a modern look and feel. Rs 9,400

Nokia Bluetooth Stereo Headset | BH-505

Nokia Bluetooth Headset | BH-108

Nokia Bluetooth Headset BH-108 helps you to stay in control with just one touch. Check your email, browse the web or write a quick note – this wireless headset gives you the freedom to multitask. Rs 950

Bluetooth Headset BH-505 keeps you active and entertained. The headset features a lightweight neckband for all day comfort. Rs 3,910

86 MYMOBILE sep 15 to oct 14 2012

www.mymobile.co.in in Delhi but may vary on account of dealer discretion/company schemes.

Nokia Extra Power | DC-8

If youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re on the road and away from an AC supply, you can get peace of mind with a reliable, pocket-sized source of backup power. Rs 1,540

Nokia Extra Power | DC-11

Power-up your phone and headset while on the go. Charge the power pack, your phone and an accessory at the same time. Rs 2,550

Nokia Retractable Car Charger | DC-10 With Nokia Retractable Car Charger DC-10 charge your phone in the car. Rs 950

Nokia Monster Headset | WH 930

This Nokia headset boasts of some high end features that are not to be seen in any other headsets available in the market. Rs 11,400

Nokia Stereo Headset | WH-701

It helps to control your calls and music in a world of sound. It features three sets of comfortable ear pads and an integrated remote for controlling volume, calls, and music. Rs 1,370

Nokia Mini Speaker | MD-11

Play your music and listen to the radio out loud with this compact, yet powerful mini speaker. You can connect mini speaker for quality stereo surround sound. Rs 1,190

Nokia Extra Power | DC-11K

Charge two devices at the same time. It is extra compact and lightweight and offers a quick boost of power. Rs 2,400

Nokia Bluetooth Headset | BH-104

With Nokia Bluetooth Headset BH-104 you can stay on top of your calls and enables convenient wireless communication throughout the day. Rs 1,050

Nokia Car Charger | DC-4

Simple and compact, this mobile phone charger offers rapid phone charging from a car cigarette lighter socket. Rs 240

sep 15 to oct 14 2012 MYMOBILE 87

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MY GUIDE 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 Sep 3, 2012)

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

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

(Rs 6,000 - Rs 11,999)

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

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

Y MOBILE 89 SEP 15 to OCT 14 2012 MY

myguide MODELS

NOKIA

PARAMETERS Model Dimension (mm) Weight (grams) Talktime/Standby (hours)

1280

100

101

X1-01

C1-01

110

C2-00

107.2 x 45.1 x 15.3

110 x 45.5 x 14.9

112.2 x 47.3 x 16

108 x 45 x 14

110 x 46 x 14.8

108 x 45 x 14.65

81.92

69.6

91.5

78.8

74.1

8.30/528

7.2/840

13/1032

10.4/540

10.5/637

5.75//460

65,536/1.8

Screen (colours)/Size (inch) Monochrome/1.36 Inbuilt/Expandable memory

NA/No

NA/16GB

64MB/32GB

16MB/32GB

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

No/No

Yes/No

No/No/No

VGA/No/Yes

500

1000

1,000

Camera/Flash/Video Phonebook Capacity

500

Frequency/Dual SIM

Dual Band/No

No/No/No

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

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

No/No/No

1,000 Dual Band/No

No/No/No

Yes/No/No

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

Yes/Yes/No

Symbian S30

S30

Symbian S40

S40

Symbian 40

No/Yes

Yes/Yes

Bar/No/No

Price in Rs.

970

1,170

1,440

1,800

2,200

2,350

MODELS

Burn test Rating

NOKIA

PARAMETERS C2-02

X2-02

X2-01

C2-03

C2-01

Asha 200

Dimension (mm)

110.4 x 46.9 x 15.4

102.8 x 51.2 x 17

113 x 50 x 15

119.4 x 59.8 x 14.3

103 x 51.4 x 17

109.6 x 46.9 x 14.6

115.4 x 61.1 x 14

Weight (grams)

110

107.5

115

105

Model

112

NEW

Talktime/Standby (hours)

14/840

5/60x0

9.8/443

4.3/480

5/400

8.4/430

7/888

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

56K/1.8

65,536/2.6

262,144/2.2

262,144/2.4

65,536/2.6

262,144/2.0

65,536/2.4

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

16MB/32GB

10MB/32GB

128MB/8GB

10MB/32GB

75MB/16GB

NA/32GB

Yes/No

Camera/Flash/Video

VGA/No/Yes

2.0MP/No/Yes

VGA/No/Yes

2.0MP/No/Yes

3.15MP/No/Yes

2.0MP/No/Yes

Phonebook Capacity

1,000

Shared

1,000

2,000

Shared

Frequency/Dual SIM

Dual Band/GSM+GSM

Dual Band/No

Quad Band/No

Dual Band/GSM+GSM

Quad Band/No

Dual Band/GSM+GSM

Yes/Yes/No

Yes/Yes/R99

Yes/Yes/No

S40

Symbian S40

S40

Symbian S40

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

Bar/No/No

Slider/Yes/No

Bar/No/No

Bar/No/Yes

Slider/Yes/No

Bar/No/No

Bar/No/Yes

2,600

3,200

3,550

3,850

3,800

3,780

YMOBILE SEP 15 to OCT 14 2012 90 MY

MODELS

NOKIA

PARAMETERS Model Dimension (mm) Weight (grams)

202

Asha 305

300

C5-05

302

114.8 x 49.8 x 13.9

110.3X53.8X12.8

112.8 x 49.5 x 12.7

105.8 x 51 x 13.8

116.5 x 55.7 x 13.9

115.5 x 58.1 x 13.6

Asha311

NEW

106 x 52 x 12.9

114

5/400

14X528

6.9/550

11.5/620

9/707

7/800

14/696

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

262,144/2.4

262,144/3

262,144/2.4

16million/3.2

262,144/2.4

256144/3.0

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

10MB/32GB

64MB/32GB

128MB/32GB

40MB/16GB

128MB/32GB

55MB/8GB

256MB/32GB

Yes/No

Yes/Yes

2.0MP/No/Yes

5.0MP/No/Yes

2.0MP/No/Yes

3.2MP/No/Yes

2.0MP/No/Yes

3.2MP/No/Yes

1,000

Talktime/Standby (hours)

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

Yes/Yes/No

Shared

2000

Quad Band/No

Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA

Yes/Yes/No

Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA

Yes/Yes/No

Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA

S40

Symbian S40

S40

Symbian S40

S40

Yes/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

Bar/No/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

3,850

4,650

5,875

5,900

6,200

6,450

6,500

MODELS

Price in Rs.

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

NOKIA

PARAMETERS Model

X3-02

303

C5-03

500

Dimension (mm)

112 x 46 x 12.3

106.2 x 48.4 x 9.6

116.5 x 55.7 x 13.9

105.8 x 51 x 13.8

115 x 58.9 x 12.8

111.3 x 53.8 x 14.1

113.4 x 53 x 16.8

Weight (grams)

89.3

126

150

Talktime/Standby (hours)

12/630

5/430

8.2/731

11.5/600

7.3/400

7/500

11/400

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

16.7million/2.2

262,144/2.4

262,144/2.6

16million/3.2

262,144/2.36

16million/3.2

16.7million/3.2

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

50MB/16GB

100MB/32GB

40MB/16GB

256MB/32GB

2GB/32GB

200MB/16GB

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

Yes/No

Yes/Yes

Camera/Flash/Video

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

5.0MP/No/Yes

3.2MP/No/Yes

5.0MP/No/Yes

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

5.0MP/No/Yes

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

Phonebook Capacity

Shared

Quad Band/No

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

Price in Rs.

Quad Band/No

Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA

Yes/Yes/HSDPA

Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA

Yes/Yes/HSDPA

Symbian S60

S40

Symbian S60

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

Symbian S60

Symbian Anna

Quad Band/No Yes/Yes/HSDPA Symbian S 60

Yes/Yes

Bar/No/No

Bar/Yes/No

Bar/Yes/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

Bar/No/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

Slider/Yes/Yes

7,180

7,200

7,650

8,170

8,700

9,250

10,500

YMOBILE 91 SEP 15 to OCT 14 2012 MY

MODELS

myguide

NOKIA

PARAMETERS Model

Lumia 610

Dimension (mm) Weight (grams)

603

119.24 x 62.18 x 11.95 113.5 x 57.1 x 12.7

700

Lumia 710

C6-01

701

110 x 50 x 9.7

119 x 62.4 x 12.5

103.8 x 52.5 x 13.9

115.5 x 59 x 10.5

117.2 x 56.8 x 11

131.5

109.6

125.5

131

133

131

10.5/670

8.7/540

7.14/403

7.3/400

12/420

14.4/681

17/504

16million/3.7

16.7mollion/3.5

16million/3.2

16million/3.7

16.7milloin/3.2

16.7million/2.46

16million/3.2

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

8GB/No

NA/32GB

2GB/32GB

8GB/No

340MB/32GB

8GB/32GB

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

Yes/Yes

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

5.0MP/No/Yes

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

8.0MP/Yes/Yes

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

Camera/Flash/Video Phonebook Capacity

Shared

Frequency/Dual SIM

Quad Band/No

GPRS/EDGE/3G

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

Operating System

Windows Phone 7.5

Symbian Belle

Windows Phone 7.5

Symbian^3

Symbian Anna

Symbian Belle

Yes/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

Bar/No/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

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

Price in Rs.

12,550

12,900

13,500

13,800

14,000

15,700

17,750

MODELS

SUB-ENTRY LEVEL

NOKIA

PARAMETERS Model

BYOND

Lumia 800

808

Nano

BY002

Dimension (mm)

113.5 x 59 x 12.9

119.7 x 62.8 x 11.9

123.7 x 62.4 x 13.6

116.5 x 61.2 x 12.1

123.9 x 60.2 x 13.9

106.3X47.8X14.6

108.3 X 45.2 X 14.2

Weight (grams)

135

146

176

142

169

109

Talktime/Standby (hours)

12/390

6/450

9/430

13/265

11/465

NA/NA

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

16.7million/3.5

16.7million/4.0

16million/4.0

16miilion/3.7

16million/4.0

NA/1.8

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

16GB/32GB

8GB/32GB

16GB/No

16GB/32GB

NA/4GB

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

Yes/Yes

Yes/No

Camera/Flash/Video

12.0MP/Yes/Yes

8.0MP/Yes/Yes

41.0MP/Yes/Yes

1.3MP/No/Yes

Phonebook Capacity

Shared

300

Quad Band/No

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

Price in Rs.

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

Symbian^3 OS

Symbian Anna

Symbian^3 OS

Windows Phone 7.5

Nokia Belle

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

No/NoNo

Yes/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

Slider/Yes/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

Bar/No/No

18,400

20,800

22,900

32,900

1,250

1,299

YMOBILE SEP 15 to OCT 14 2012 92 MY

MODELS

BYOND

PARAMETERS Model Dimension (mm) Weight (grams)

BY011

Torch

X-5

104.6 X 38.8 X 3.7

115.5 X 50.1 X 14.8

119 X 50 X 10.3

CHAZE

Powerhouse

BY015

121.8 X 54.6 X 18.7 118.04 X 52.1 X 15.32

X-1

123

97.6 X 51.9 X 13.8

109 x 47 x 15.6

118

176

150

Talktime/Standby (hours)

NA/NA

9/720

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

NA/2.2

NA/2.4

NA/2.6

NA/2.4

65,536/1.8

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

NA/4GB

NA/8GB

NA/4GB

NA/8GB

85.5KB/4GB

45KB/4GB

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

Yes/No

1.3MP/No/Yes

500

300

500

300

500

250

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

YesNo/No

NA/NoNo

Yes/No/No

NA/No/No

Yes/No/No

Yes/Yes

Bar/No/No

Bar/Yes/No

Bar/No/No

1,799

1,999

2,099

2,199

2,250

1,350

MODELS

Price in Rs.

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

CHAZE

PARAMETERS Model

KARBONN

LAVA

Jewel

C555

C666

C249

ARC21

KKT 34+

Dimension (mm)

118.6 x 51 x 15.6

117 x 53 x 13.7

121 x 56 x 13

116 x 50 x 13

115 X 50 x 15.5

110 x 46 x 14.65

113.5 x 51.2 x 16

Weight (grams)

103

121

123

112

81.4

Talktime/Standby (hours)

9/720

7/600

6/300

3/120

12/720

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

262,144/2.4

262,144/2.6

262,144/2.8

262,144/2.4

65,536/1.8

262,144/2.4

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

187KB/8GB

428KB/8GB

233KB/8GB

45KB/8GB

NA/8GB

250KB/8GB

NA/8GB

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

Yes/No

Camera/Flash/Video

1.3MP/No/Yes

No/NoNo

VGA/No/Yes

Phonebook Capacity

500

1,500

1,000

500

1,000

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/No

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

Yes/No/No

Yes/Yes

Bar/No/No

1,850

1,950

2,100

1,800

2,100

1,820

2,200

YMOBILE 93 SEP 15 to OCT 14 2012 MY

MODELS

myguide

PARAMETERS Model Dimension (mm) Weight (grams)

MTECH

A 230

C105

ALPHA

Beta

M78

M15

M135

108.6 x 46.6 x 13.8

114.5 x 59 x 13

104.2 x 47 x 15.8

106 X 48 X 16

112 x 49 x 16

125 X 52 X15.3

117 x 53 x 15.5

110

115

17/809

16/650

10/960

8/720

10/960

8/720

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

262,144/1.77

262,144/2.2

NA/1.8

NA/2.0

NA/2.4

262,144/2.4

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

25MB/8GB

4.7MB/4GB

NA/8GB

NA/16GB

32MB/8GB

No/No

Yes/No

No/No

Yes/No

1.3MP/No/Yes

Yes/No/Yes

Yes/NA/NA

1.3MP/No/Yes

1.3MP/No/No

Yes/Yes/Yes

500

1,000

500

1,000

Talktime/Standby (hours)

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

1,000

Frequency/Dual SIM

Dual Band/GSM+GSM

Quad band/No

Yes/Yes/No

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

No/No/No

Yes/No/No

Yes/No

Genric

Yes/Yes

Bar/No/No

Bar/No/Yes

Bar/No/No

2,300

2,350

1,149

1,299

1,749

1,799

MODELS

Price in Rs.

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

MTECH

PARAMETERS Model

REDD

M18i

MT279

R1200i

R1670

R6800

R24

Dimension (mm)

118.5 x 55 x 14.7

113 X 54 X 14.3

105.7 x 45.5 x 15.6

107 x 43.6 x 17.3

108 x 44.6 x 17.3

116 x 53 x 12.3

Weight (grams)

110

Talktime/Standby (hours)

8/720

4/240

6/240

12/720

10/620

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

262,144/2.6

NA/2.8

65,536/1.8

262,144/2.0

262,144/2.4

262,144/2.6

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

32MB/8GB

NA/16GB

NA/4GB

NA/8GB

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

Yes/No

No/No

Yes/No

Camera/Flash/Video

Yes/Yes/Yes

1.3MP/NA/NA

VGA/No/Yes

1.3MP/No/Yes

Phonebook Capacity

1,000

500

1,000

500

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 Dual Band/GSM+GSM

Yes/No

YesNo/No

Yes/No/No

Yes/Yes

Bar/No/No

1,849

2,149

999

1,399

1,499

1,649

1,840

YMOBILE SEP 15 to OCT 14 2012 94 MY

MODELS

ENTRY LEVEL

PARAMETERS Model Dimension (mm) Weight (grams)

REDD

SAMSUNG

CHAZE

HD88

1200

1205

Hero Music

E2232

C234

C333

114.5 x 50 x 15.4

109.5 x 45.5 x 12.8

110.6 x 45.35 x 13.9

109.2 x 46.0 x 14.9

118 x 52 x 13

114 x 62 x 13.8

65.1

73.2

121

117

10/620

8.6/800

11.1/580

NA/500

5/NA

6/NA

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

262,144/2.4

65536/1.5

65,536/1.8

65,536/1.77

262,144/2.4

262,144/3.2

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

NA/8GB

32MB/No

64MB/No

4MB/4GB

20MB/8GB

123KB/8GB

233KB/8GB

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

Yes/No

No/No

Yes/No

2.0MP/No/Yes

No/No/No

VGA/No/Yes

1.3MP/No/Yes

3.2MP/Yes/Yes

1,000

2,000

Talktime/Standby (hours)

Camera/Flash/Video Phonebook Capacity

1,000

100

Frequency/Dual SIM

Dual Band/GSM+GSM

Dual Band/No

Yes/No/No

No/No/No

Yes/Yes/No

Yes/No/No

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

Yes/No/No

Proprietary

Yes/Yes

No/Yes

Yes/Yes

Bar/No/No

Bar/Yes/No

1,949

1,130

1,250

1,660

2,040

2,500

2,850

MODELS

Price in Rs.

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

PARAMETERS Model

CHAZE

KARBONN

LAVA

C99

K44

K33

K1818

K1616

KKT39

A10

Dimension (mm)

110 x 55 x 13

95.5 X 46 X 16.8

15.8 x 51.5 x 107

106.6 x 54.3 x 12.7

116 x 61 x 12

116 x 47 x 11.5

Weight (grams)

114

135

80.5

105

Talktime/Standby (hours)

5/480

2.5/190

4/300

4/500

6/312

10/NA

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

262,144/3.2

262,144/2.4

262,144/3.2

262,144/3.5

262,144/2.2

262,144/3.0

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

1.96MB/8GB

64MB/4GB

95KB/8GB

Yes/8GB

NA/16GB

200MB/16GB

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

Yes/No

Camera/Flash/Video

1.3MP/No/Yes

VGA/No/Yes

2.0MP/No/Yes

3.2MP/No/Yes

VGA/No/Yes

3.2MP/Yes/Yes

Phonebook Capacity

2,000

350

1,000

2,000

500

2,000

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

Dual Band/No

Yes/No/No

Yes/Yes/No

Yes/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

Clamshell/No/No

Slider/No/No

Bar/Yes/No

Bar/No/No

Bar/Yes/No

2,850

2,600

3,000

3,700

4,700

2,700

3,800

YMOBILE 95 SEP 15 to OCT 14 2012 MY

MODELS

myguide

LAVA

PARAMETERS Model Dimension (mm)

A16

M70

A200

A350

A290

C375

P520

120 x 47.5 x 13.1

99.8 x 51 x 15.8

116 × 53.3 × 12.85

113.5 x 51 x 13

113 x 61 x 12.9

109.1 x 56.2 x 12.95

100

110

91.45

120

3.1/220

12.5/328

25/NA

16/789

23.8/454

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

262,144/2.6

262,144/3.2

65,536/2.2

262,144/2.2

65,536/2.2

262,144/2.3

256,000/2.8

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

32MB/MicroSD

30MB/32GB

128MB/8GB

256MB/32GB

NA/4GB

78MB/8GB

13MB/4GB

Yes/No

Yes/Yes

Yes/No

3.2MP/No/Yes

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

2.0MP/No/Yes

1.3MP/No/Yes

2.0MP/No/Yes

2,000

1,000

Weight (grams) Talktime/Standby (hours)

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

Yes/Yes/No

NA Quad Band/No Yes/Yes/No

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

Yes/Yes/HSDPA

Yes/Yes/No

Genric

Generic

Yes/Yes

Bar/No/No

Bar/Yes/No

Slider/No/No

Bar/No/No

Bar/No/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

3,900

4,750

3,680

3,900

4,100

4,650

5,050

MODELS

Price in Rs.

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

MICROMAX

PARAMETERS Model

SAMSUNG

X333

X450

X445

EX109

EX212

E2152 Guru 36

118 x 50 x 16

103.65 x 57.2 x 13.35

116.7 x 52 x 20.3

110.3 X 55.2 X 14.1

102 x 59.5 x 12.8

106 x 53 x 13.9

111.6 x 46.3 x 13.5

Weight (grams)

110

105

80.4

Talktime/Standby (hours)

X259

MOTOROLA

Dimension (mm)

NEW

4.5/200

3/200

4/315

4/129

8.3/500

6.25/625

11/660

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

262144/2.4

65,526/2.8

262,144/2.0

NA/3.2

262,144/2.0

262,144/2.4

262,144/2.0

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

5MB/NA

75KB/8GB

Yes/8GB

NA/8GB

59MB/32GB

5MB/16GB

NA/2GB

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

Yes/No

Camera/Flash/Video

VGA/No/Yes

2.0MP/No/Yes

VGA/No/Yes

2.0MP/No/Yes

VGA/No/Yes

Phonebook Capacity

1000

500

250

200

800

1,000

Frequency/Dual SIM

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

Quad Band/No

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

GPRS/EDGE/3G

Yes/No/No

Yes/Yes/No

Yes/No/No

Yes/Yes/No

Operating System

Proprietary

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

Price in Rs.

Yes/Yes

Bar/No/No

Bar/Yes/No

Bar/No/No

Bar/Yes/No

Bar/No/Yes

Clamshell/No/No

Bar/No/No

2,500

2,840

2,880

3,000

3,250

4,500

2,500

YMOBILE SEP 15 to OCT 14 2012 96 MY

MODELS

SAMSUNG

PARAMETERS Model

Metro 2252

Dimension (mm) Weight (grams)

113.0 x 46.0 x 13.9

2222

Metro Duos C3322

109.5 x 61.3 x 11.85 113.97 x 47.9 x 13.99

3520

Ch@t C3222

Champ2

Champ Delux

102 x 52 x 16.78

109.7 x 58.1 x 12.3

96 x 52.6 x 12.15

101.8 x 55.0 x 12.3

88.9

97.5

79.5

89.7

11.9/760

11.4/550

10/500

9.1/610

11/500

10/500

15.8/500

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

65,536/1.8

262,144/2.2

262,144/2.4

262,144/2.2

262,144/2.7

262,144/2.8

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

NA/32GB

45MB/16GB

46MB/16GB

28MB/16GB

54MB/8GB

40MB/16GB

30MB/16GB

No/Yes

Yes/No

VGA/No/Yes

2.0/No/Yes

1.3MP/No/Yes

2.0MP/No/Yes

1.3MP/No/Yes

1,000

Talktime/Standby (hours)

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

1,000

Quad Band/No

Dual Band/GSM+GSM

Quad Band/No

Quad Band/GSM+GSM

Yes/No/No

Yes/Yes/No

Proprietary

Yes/Yes

Bar/No/No

Bar/No/Yes

Bar/No/No

Clamshell/No/No

Bar/No/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

2,540

3,000

2,940

3,350

3,390

4,040

MODELS

Price in Rs.

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

SAMSUNG

PARAMETERS Model

C3530

Chat 3G 527

Metro C3752

Champ 3.5G S3770

Primo S5610

Wave 525

Star 3 Duos

Dimension (mm)

112.2 x 46.7 x 11.9

103 x 55 x 12

97.9 x 19 x 16.4

118.9 x 49.9 x 12.8

109.5 x 55 x 11.9

102 x 58 x 11.51

Weight (grams)

100

95.5

Talktime/Standby (hours)

13/550

3/288

13.3/900

6/350

15.67/960

15/900

14.3/520

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

262,144/2.2

262,144/2.4

65,536/NA

262,144/2.8

262,144/2.4

262,144/3.2

262,144/3.0

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

50MB/16GB

80MB/32GB

40MB/16GB

30MB/16GB

110MB/16GB

100MB/16GB

20MB/16GB

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

Yes/No

Yes/Yes

Yes/No

Yes/Yes

Yes/No

Yes/Yes

Camera/Flash/Video

3.2MP/No/Yes

2.0MP/No/Yes

3.0MP/No/Yes

2.0MP/No/No

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

3.2MP/No/Yes

3.0MP/No/Yes

Phonebook Capacity

1,000

2,000

Shared

1,000

Frequency/Dual SIM

Quad Band/No

Dual Band/GSM+GSM

GPRS/EDGE/3G

Yes/Yes/No

Yes/Yes/HSDPA, HSUPA

Yes/Yes/No

Yes/Yes/HSDPA

Yes/Yes/No

Operating System

Proprietary

Bada

Proprietary

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

Price in Rs.

Yes/Yes

Bar/No/No

Bar/No/Yes

Slider/No/No

Bar/Yes/No

Bar/No/No

Bar/Yes/No

4,200

4,450

4,660

5,000

5,500

5,650

YMOBILE 97 SEP 15 to OCT 14 2012 MY

myguide MODELS

MID LEVEL

SPICE

PARAMETERS Model Dimension (mm) Weight (grams)

SAMSUNG

SONY ERICSSON

M-6700

cappuccino 2

M-6868

M-6900

Wave Y

Mix Walkman

Text Pro

111 x 54 x 13.2

107.6 x 55.6 x 13

114.5 x 63 x 12

116 x 62.5 x 11.6

110.0 x 57.9 x 12.3

95.8 x 52.8 x 14.3

92.0 x 53.0 x 18.0

100

95.5

167

104.8

136

6.2/234

6/288

4.5/450

9.4/218

12.1/610

9.6/465

5.1/400

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

262,144/3.1

65,536/2.8

262,144/3.4

262,144/3.5

262,144/3.2

262,144/3.0

16.7million/3.0

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

45MB/16GB

54.7MB/8GB

39MB/8GB

150MB/32GB

256MB/32GB

100MB/32GB

Yes/Yes

Yes/No

Yes/Yes

3.2MP/No/Yes

1.3MP/No/Yes

3.2MP/No/Yes

2.0MP/No/Yes

3.15MP/No/Yes

3.2MP/No/Yes

1,500

2,000

Talktime/Standby (hours)

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

2,000

Frequency/Dual SIM

Dual Band/GSM+GSM

Dual Band/No

Yes/Yes/No

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

Price in Rs.

Shared

Quad Band/No

Yes/Yes/No

Yes/Yes/HSDPA

Yes/Yes/No

Bada OS v2.0

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

Yes/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

Slider/Yes/Yes

2,800

3,000

5,300

5,500

6,950

6,150

7,400

MODELS

HIGH END

PARAMETERS

SAMSUNG

TAG HEUER

VERTU

Wave 3

Meridiist GMT Stainless Steel/Black PVD

Link

Meridiist Steel & Gold

Ascent

Constellation Ayxta

Ascent Ti

Dimension (mm)

125.9 x 64.2 x 9.9

112 x 46 x 15.5

118 x 67 x 16.6

112 x 46 x 15.5

117 x 46 x 19

100 x 48 x 18

115.5 x 49 x 13.1

Weight (grams)

122

155

200

155

148

174

160

Model

Talktime/Standby (hours)

14.25/535

7/392

6.5/336

7/392

4.8/300

6/300

5/300

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

16million/4.0

262,144/1.9

16million/3.5

262,144/1.9

16million/2.0

16million/2.4

16million/2.0

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

4GB/32GB

NA/NA

256MB/8GB

NA/NA

8GB/32GB

100MB/8GB

4GB/No

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

Yes/Yes

Yes/No

Yes/Yes

Yes/No

Camera/Flash/Video

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

No/No/No

5.0MP/No/Yes

No/No/No

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

3.15MP/Yes/Yes

Phonebook Capacity

Shared

1,000

Shared

1,000

2,000

1,500

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

Price in Rs.

Quad Band/No

Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA

Yes/Yes/No

Yes/Yes/HSDPA

Yes/Yes/No

Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA

Yes/Yes/No

Yes/Yes/R99

Bada OS v2.0

Andriod v2.2

Yes/Yes

Yes/No

Yes/NA

Yes/No

Yes/Yes

Yes/No

Bar/Yes/No

Bar/No/No

Bar/Yes/No

Bar/No/No

Clamshell/No/No

Bar/No/No

14,800

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

Starting 3,25,000+

Starting 5,40,000+

Starting 2,89,000+

Starting 3,47,000+

Starting 3,68,000+

YMOBILE SEP 15 to OCT 14 2012 98 MY

MODELS

ENTERPRISE LEVEL

VERTU

PARAMETERS Model

APPLE

BLACKBERRY

Constellation Quest

Signature

iPhone 4

iPhone 4S

Curve 8520

Curve 9220

Curve 3G 9300

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

109 x 60 x 12.7

109 x 60 x 13.9

Weight (grams)

165 to 185

166

137

140

106

102

104

7.5/349

3.5/300

14/300

14/200

4.5/408

7/432

4.5/461

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

8GB/32GB

16million/2.0

16million/3.5

65,536/2.46

65,536/2.44

65,536/2.46

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

16million/2.46

4GB/No

16GB,32GB/No

16,32,64GB/No

256MB/microSD

512MB/32GB

256MB/32GB

Yes/Yes

Yes/No

Yes/Yes

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

No/No/No

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

8.0MP/Yes/Yes

2.0MP/No/Yes

Talktime/Standby (hours)

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

Shared

2,000

Shared

Frequency/Dual SIM

Quad Band/No

Quad band/No

Quad Band/No

GPRS/EDGE/3G

Yes/Yes/HSDPA

Yes/Yes/R99

Yes/Yes/No

Yes/Yes/HSDPA

BlackBerry OS

BlackBerry OS 7.1

BlackBerry OS

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

iOS4

iOS 5

Yes/Yes

Yes/No

Yes/Yes

Yes/No

Bar/No/Yes

Bar/No/No

Bar/Yes/No

Bar/No/Yes

Starting 3,86,000+

Starting 7,22,000+

34,500/40,900

40,500/47,500/56,500

8,700

10,450

12,900

MODELS

Price in Rs.

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

BLACKBERRY

PARAMETERS Model

Curve 9320

Curve 9380

Bold 9780

9860

Torch 9800

Bold 9790

9810

Dimension (mm)

109 x 60 x 12.7

109 x 60 x 11.2

109 x 60 x 13.9

120 x 62 x 11.5

111 x 62 x 14.6

110 x 60 x 11.4

111 x 62 14.6

Weight (grams)

103

104

135

161.1

107

161

Talktime/Standby (hours)

7/432

5.5/360

4.5/456

4.7/337

5.5/432

5.1/432

6.5/296

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

65,536/2.44

16million/3.2

65,536/2.44

16million/3.7

16million/3.2

16million/2.45

16million/3.2

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

512MB/32GB

256MB/32GB

2.5GB/32GB

512MB/32GB

8GB/32GB

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

Yes/Yes

YesYes

Yes/Yes

Camera/Flash/Video

3.15MP/Yes/Yes

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

Phonebook Capacity

Shared

Dual Band/No

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

BlackBerry OS 7.1

BlackBerry OS 7.0

Quad Band/No Yes/Yes/HSDPA BlackBerry OS

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

BlackBerry OS 7.0

BlackBerry OS

Blackberry OS 7.0

BlackBerry OS 7.0

Yes/Yes

Yes/No

Bar/No/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

Bar/No/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

Slider/Yes/Yes

Bar/Yes/Yes

Slider/Yes/Yes

14,650

16,400

19,850

19,900

20,150

24,700

28,600

YMOBILE 99 SEP 15 to OCT 14 2012 MY

MODELS

myguide

PARAMETERS

BLACKBERRY

HTC

9900

Porche

Explorer

Wildfire S

Desire C

One V

Desire V

Dimension (mm)

115 x 66 x 10.5

115 x 67 x 11.3

102.8 x 57.2 x 12.9

101.3 x 59.4 x 12.4

107 X 60 X 11.9

120.3 x 59.7 x 9.24

118.5 x 62.3 x 9.32

Weight (grams)

130

155

81.3

105

115

114

7.6/485

4/120

NA/NA

6.73/261

NA/NA

Model

Talktime/Standby (hours)

6.3/296

5.5/348

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

16million/2.8

262,144/3.2

16million/3.2

16million/3.5

16million/3.7

16million/4.0

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

8GB/32GB

90MB/32GB

512MB/microSD

4GB/32GB

Yes/Yes

Camera/Flash/Video

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

5.0MP/Yes/No

3.15MP/No/Yes

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

5.0MP/No/Yes

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

Phonebook Capacity

Shared

Quad Band/No

Quad Band/GSM+GSM

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

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

BlackBerry OS 7.0

Android OS v2.3

Android v4.0

Yes/Yes/HSDPA Android v4.0

Yes/No

Yes/Yes

Yes/No

Yes/Yes

Bar/Yes/Yes

Bar/No/No

Bar/Yes/No

30,350

1,36,000

8,450

12,750

14,400

18,000

20,500

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

HTC

PARAMETERS Model

S-510 Desire S

Radar

Rhyme

Sensation XE

One S

Evo 3D

Dimension (mm)

115 x 59.8 x 11.6

120.5 x 61.5 x 10.9

119.5 x 62.3 x 9.5

119 x 60.8 x 10.85

126.1 x 65.4 x 11.3

130.9 x 65 x 7.8

126 x 65 x 12.05

Weight (grams)

130

137

118

130

151

119.5

170

Talktime/Standby (hours)

Desire VC

NEW

4/120

10/480

NA/NA

6.3/265

9.1/310

NA/NA

9.3/358

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

16million/3.7

16million/3.8

16million/4.0

16million/3.7

16million/4.3

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

1.1GB/32GB

8GB/No

4GB/32GB

1GB/microSD

4GB/32GB

16GB/No

1GB/32GB

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

Yes/Yes

Camera/Flash/Video

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

8.0MP/Yes/Yes

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

Phonebook Capacity

Shared

Quad Band/No

Quad Band/CDMA+GSM

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/Rev.A

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

Android v2.3

Windows Phone 7.5

Android v4.0

Android v2.3

Android v4.0

Android v2.3

Yes/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

22,450

22,600

21,999

24,500

32,500

33,200

34,000

YMOBILE SEP 15 to OCT 14 2012 100 MY

MODELS

HTC

PARAMETERS Model

IDEA

KARBONN

OneX

Sensation XL

ID 918

ID 280

Blade

Dimension (mm)

134.36 x 69.9 x 8.9

132.5 x 70.7 x 9.9

111 x 57 x 12

102 x 53 x 13

116 x 56.5 x 11.8

Weight (grams)

130

162.5

126

130

Talktime/Standby (hours)

10/290

11.8/360

4/200

4/288

4/192

4/100

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

16million/4.7

262,144/3.2

262,144/2.8

262,144/3.5

NA/3.5

262,144/3.5

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

32GB/No

16GB/No

512MB/32GB

152MB/32GB

512MB/32GB

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

Yes/Yes

Camera/Flash/Video

8.0MP/Yes/Yes

3.2MP/No/Yes

3.2MP/Yes/Yes

2.0MP/No/Yes

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

Phonebook Capacity

Shared

Quad Band/No

Quad Band/GSM+GSM

Quad Band/No

Yes/Yes/HSDPA

Yes/Yes/No

Yes/Yes/HSDPA

Android v2.3

Android v2.2

Android v2.3

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

Android v4.0

Android v2.3

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

Yes/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

34,500

36,000

5,650

5,750

7,750

5,700

7,500

KARBONN

LAVA

MODELS

Price in Rs.

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

PARAMETERS Model

S12

Optimus Me P350

L3 E400

Dimension (mm)

120 x 60.5 x 11.3

117 x 57.5 x 13.4

108 x 57.5 x 12.2

102.6 x 61.6 x 11.85

Optimus Pro C660 Optimus L3 Dual NEW Optimus Net P690 119.5 x 59.7 x 12.9

102.6x 61.6 x11.85

113 x 59 x 11.7

Weight (grams)

120

110

129

119

121

Talktime/Standby (hours)

4/200

10.8/590

11/626

12/600

13.5/852

17/1044

12/581

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

NA/3.8

262,144/3.2

262,144/2.8

262,144/3.2

262,144/2.8

262144/3.2

262,144/3.2

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

512MB/32GB

120MB/32GB

155MB/32GB

1GB/32GB

170MB/32GB

1GB/32GB

150MB/32GB

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

Yes/Yes

Camera/Flash/Video

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

5.0MP/No/Yes

3.15MP/No/Yes

3.2MP/No/Yes

3.15MP/No/Yes

3.2MP/No/Yes

3.15MP/No/Yes

Phonebook Capacity

Shared

1,000

Shared

Frequency/Dual SIM

Quad Band/GSM+GSM

QuadBand/No

Quad Band/No

Dual Band/GSM+GSM

Quad Band/No

GPRS/EDGE/3G

Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA

Yes/Yes/HSDPA

Android v2.3

Android v2.2

Android v2.3

Yes/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

Bar/Yes/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

9,500

7,300

7,200

7,500

7,800

8,299

8,850

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

Price in Rs.

YMOBILE 101 SEP 15 to OCT 14 2012 MY

MODELS

myguide

PARAMETERS Model Dimension (mm) Weight (grams)

P698

E510

Optimus L5

E730

Optimus L7 P705

Optimus Black P970

Optimus 2X

114 x 59 x 11.7

113.4 x 60.8 x 11.9

118.3 X 66.5 X 9.5

122.5 x 62.5 x 9.8

125.5 x 67 x 8.7

122 x 64 x 9.2

123.9 x 63.2 x 10.9

124

123

125

107

124

109

139

11.5/556

10/900

18.5/496

19/902

6/375

14.5/421

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

262,144/3.2

16million/4.0

16million/3.8

16million/4.3

16 million/4.0

16million/4.0

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

160MB/32GB

Yes/32GB

4GB/32GB

1GB/32GB

2.72GB/32GB

2GB/32GB

8GB/32GB

Yes/Yes

3.2MP/No/Yes

5.0MP/No/Yes

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

5.0MP/No/Yes

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

8.0MP/Yes/Yes

Talktime/Standby (hours)

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

Shared

Frequency/Dual SIM

Quad Band/GSM+GSM

Quad Band/N0

Quad Band/No

GPRS/EDGE/3G

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

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

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

Android v2.3

Android v4.0

Android v2.4

Android v4.0

Android v2.2

Yes/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

10,000

11,750

14,400

17,000

17,800

18,800

20,900

Optimus 3D

LG 3D maxx P725

Optimus 4X HD NEW

A50

A52

A70

128.8 x 68 x 11.9

126.8 x 67.4 x 9.98

132.4 x 68.1 x 8.9

113 x 61 x 13

1112X61X13.2

111 x 58 x 13.5

MODELS

Price in Rs.

Yes/Yes/HSDPA

PARAMETERS Model Dimension (mm) Weight (grams)

MICROMAX A100

NEW

142.2 x 72.6 x 11.9

168

148

133

116

112

13/450

17.5/365

9.3/730

4/240

5/182

4/168

5/180

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

16million/4.3

16M/4.7

262,144/3.1

NA/3.2

262,144/3.2

16M/5.0

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

8GB/32GB

16GB/32GB

132MB/32GB

160MB/32GB

4GB/32GB

Yes/Yes

Camera/Flash/Video

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

8.0MP/Yes/Yes

2.0MP/No/Yes

5.0MP/No/Yes

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

Phonebook Capacity

Shared

Quad Band/No

Dual Band/GSM+GSM

Talktime/Standby (hours)

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

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

Price in Rs.

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

Android v2.2

Android v2.3

Android v4.0

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

Yes/Yes/HSDPA Android v2.3

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

Android v2,.3

Android v2.2

Yes/Yes/HSDPA Android v4.0

Yes/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

25,900

28,750

34,990

4,700

6,250

7,700

9,800

YMOBILE SEP 15 to OCT 14 2012 102 MY

MODELS PARAMETERS Model

MICROMAX A90

Dimension (mm) Weight (grams)

NEW

125 x 65 x 10.6

MOTOROLA Fire

Fire XT

Defy mini

Defy XT535

Milestone XT800

Defy+

116.5 x 58 x 13.45

114 x 61.9 x 11.95

109 x 58.5 x 12.5

115 x 58 x 11.9

120 x 61.8 x 11.4

107 x 59 x 13.4

110

84.3

107

115

137

118

5/174

7/504

9.7/720

9.6/420

9/290

5.4/100

7.10/384

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

262,144/4.3

262,144/2.8

262,144/3.5

262,144/3.2

16million/3.7

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

4GB/32GB

512MB/32GB

1GB/32GB

2GB/32GB

Yes/Yes

8.0MP/Yes/Yes

3.15MP/No/Yes

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

3.15/Yes/Yes

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

5.0/Yes/Yes

Talktime/Standby (hours)

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

Shared

1,000

Shared

Frequency/Dual SIM

Dual Band/GSM+GSM

Quad Band/No

Quad Band/GSM+CDMA

Quad Band/No

Yes/Yes/Rev. A

Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA

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

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

Android v4.0

Android v2.3

Android v2.1

Android v2.3

Yes/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

Bar/Yes/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

12,990

8,380

9,430

11,300

14,900

15,400

15,900

MODELS

Price in Rs.

Yes/Yes/HSDPA

MOTOROLA

PARAMETERS Model Dimension (mm) Weight (grams)

SAMSUNG

Atrix 2

RazrXT 910

RazrMaxx

Galaxy Pocket 5300

Galaxy Y

Galaxy Y Colour

Galaxy Y Duos

125.9 x 66.0 x 10.4

130.7 x 68.9 x 7.1

130.7 x 68.9 x 8.99

103.90 x 57.90 x 12.98

104.0 x 58.0 x 11.5

109.8 x 60 x 11.95

147

127

145

97.5

109

8.9/3821

9.4/305

17.6/607

15.8/520

6/120

17.5/630

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

16million/4.3

262,144/4.3

16million/4.3

262,144/2.8

262,144/3.0

262,144/3.1

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

8GB/32GB

16GB/32GB

3GB/32GB

160MB/32GB

Yes/Yes

Camera/Flash/Video

8.0MP/Yes/Yes

2.0MP/No/Yes

3.0MP/No/Yes

Phonebook Capacity

Shared

Quad Band/No

Talktime/Standby (hours)

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

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

Price in Rs.

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

Android v2.3

Android v4.0

Quad Band/No

Quad Band/GSM+GSM

Yes/Yes/HSDPA

Android v2.3

Yes/Yes

Yes/No

Yes/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

Bar/No/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

22,450

29,500

31,100

6,900

7,080

7,450

8,850

YMOBILE 103 SEP 15 to OCT 14 2012 MY

MODELS

myguide

SAMSUNG

PARAMETERS Model Dimension (mm) Weight (grams)

Galaxy Y Duos Pro 5512

5830 Galaxy Ace

Omnia W I8350

110.8 x 63.5 x 11.9

112.4 x 59.9 x 11.5

115.6 x 58.8 x 10.9

Omina M

NEW

121.6 x 64.0 x 10.5

5830 Galaxy Ace Plus

Galaxy Ace Duos

114.7 x 62.5 x 11.2 112.74 x 61.50 x 11.50

Galaxy S Plus I9001 122.4 x 64.2 x 9.9

112.3

113

115.3

120

114

122

119

19.16/740

12/520

7/370

12/530

11.1/660

16.8/570

17.3/480

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

262,144/2.6

16million/3.5

16million/3.7

16million/4.0

262,144/3.7

262,144/3.5

16million/4.0

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

512MB/32GB

158MB/32GB

8GB/No

4GB/NA

2.7GB/32GB

3GB/32GB

16GB/32GB

Yes/Yes

3.15MP/No/Yes

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

5.0MP/No/Yes

Talktime/Standby (hours)

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

Shared

Frequency/Dual SIM

Quad Band/GSM+GSM

Quad Band/No

Quad Band/GSM+GSM

Quad Band/No

GPRS/EDGE/3G

Yes/Yes/HSDPA

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

Yes/Yes/HSDPA

Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA

Operating System

Android OS, v2.3

Android OS, v2.2

Windows Phone 7.5 Windows Phone 7.5

Android OS, v2.3

Yes/Yes

Bar/Yes/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

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

9,500

11,450

15,000

15,400

15,475

15,650

21,000

Model

Galaxy Advance i9070

Galaxy SII i9100

Galaxy Note

Galaxy SIII

Xperia Mini

Xperia Mini Pro

Dimension (mm)

123.20 x 63.00 x 9.79 125.30 x 66.10 x 8.49

123 x 59.8 x 14.9

146.9 x 83 x 9.7

136.6 x 70.6 x 8.6

92 x 53 x 18

145.3

178

133

136

MODELS

Price in Rs.

SAMSUNG

PARAMETERS

Weight (grams) Talktime/Standby (hours)

120

116

Galaxy Beam

NEW

SONY ERICSSON

15.5/690

19.3/710

NA/NA

6/100

22.5/830

5.4/331

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

16million/4.0

16million/4.27

16million/4.0

16million/5.3

16million/4.8

16.7million/3.0

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

8GB/32GB

16GB/32GB

8GB/32GB

16GB/32GB

16GB/64GB

320MB/16GB

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

Yes/Yes

Camera/Flash/Video

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

8.0MP/Yes/Yes

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

8.0MP/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

Android v2.3

Android V2.3

Android v2.3

Quad Band/No Yes/Yes/HSPA+ Android v4.0

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

Android 2.3

Android OS 2.3

Yes/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

Slider/Yes/Yes

22,450

26,800

28,900

30,300

37,500

11,500

12,600

YMOBILE SEP 15 to OCT 14 2012 104 MY

MODELS

SONY ERICSSON

PARAMETERS Model Dimension (mm) Weight (grams)

Live with Walkman

Xperia Active

Xperia Neo V

Xperia Ray

Xperia Pro

Arc S

R800i Xperia Play

106 x 56 x 14.2

106 x 60 x 14.5

116 x 57 x 13

111 x 53 x 9.4

120 x 57 x 13.7

125 x 63 x 8.7

119.0 x 62.0 x 16.0

115

126

100

142

117

175

6.7/350

3.2/416

6.9/430

6.8/430

6.9/430

7.4/460

8.25/625

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

16million/3.2

16million/3.0

16million/3.7

16million/3.3

16million/3.7

16million/4.2

16 million/4.0

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

320MB/32GB

120MB/32GB

1GB/32GB

300MB/32GB

1GB/32GB

512MB/32GB

Yes/Yes

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

8.0MP/Yes/Yes

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

Talktime/Standby (hours)

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

Shared

Frequency/Dual SIM

Quad Band/No

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

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

Android 2.3

Android v2.3

Yes/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

Slider/Yes/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

14,300

15,850

17,550

18,550

19,500

25,000

31,000

Xperia U

Xperia go

Neo L

Xperia Sola

Xperia P

Xperia S

Dimension (mm)

112 x 54 x 12

111 X 60.3 X 9.8

120 X 61 X 12.8

116.0 x 59.0 x 9.9

122 x 59.5 x 10.5

128 x 64 x 10.6

Weight (grams)

110

131.5

107

120

144

MODELS

Price in Rs.

SONY

PARAMETERS Model

Xperia Ion

NEW

133.0 x 68.0 x 10.6

6.6/472

6.3/520

8/575

6/475

7.5/450

10/400

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

16million/3.5

16million/4.0

16million/3.7

16million/4.0

16million/4.3

16M/4.55

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

8GB/No

4GB/32GB

1GB/32GB

8GB/32GB

16GB/No

32GB/No

16GB/32GB

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

Yes/Yes

Camera/Flash/Video

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

12.0MP/Yes/Yes

Phonebook Capacity

Shared

Quad Band/No

Talktime/Standby (hours)

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

Price in Rs.

Quad Band/No

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

Quad Band/No Yes/Yes/HSDPA

Quad Band/No

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

Yes/Yes/HSPA+

Android v2.3

Android v4.0

Android v2.3

Android v4.0

Yes/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

31,000

35,999

16,500

17,800

18,400

18,850

23,650

YMOBILE 105 SEP 15 to OCT 14 2012 MY

myguide MODELS

CDMA

SPICE

PARAMETERS Model

Stellar Craze Mi-355

Dimension (mm)

NEW

118 x 62 x 11.5

MI 350N 116 x 61 x12.75

CDMA Stellar Mi-425

NEW

125 x 63.5 x 12.5

Samsung Hero Plus 159

Samsung B209

Samsung B229

Samsung Hero B189

108.5 x 45.8 x 13.3

108.0 x 44.8 x 14.3

108 x 44.38 x 14.20

105 x 44 x 13

136

110

72.3

Talktime/Standby (hours)

4/192

5/200

5/NA

3/230

4.3/470

6.5/720

3.3/250

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

NA/3.5

262,144/3.5

262,144/4.0

65,536/1.52

65,536/1.5

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

140/32GB

170MB/32GB

149MB/32GB

597KB/No

351KB/No

450KB/No

NA/No

Yes/Yes

No/No

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

3.2MP/No/Yes

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

No/No/No

Shared

Weight (grams)

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

1,000

500

CDMA/No

Yes/Yes/HSDPA

Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA

No/No/No

Android v2.3

Android OS, v2.3

Android v2.3

BREW

Yes/Yes

No/Yes

No/No

Bar/Yes/No

Bar/No/No

6,499

7,520

9,999

1,000

1,130

1,180

1,380

MODELS

Price in Rs.

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

CDMA

PARAMETERS Model

Samsung Superstar Samsung Hero B319

Dimension (mm)

108 x 45.4 x 14.7

Weight (grams)

Samsung B379

Samsung B339

109.5 x 45.4 x 14.2 108.20 x 47.1 x 14.35 75

75.7

Samsung Guru 539 Samsung Guru Muzik 219

Samsung Guru Dual CDMA

109.6 x 44.9 x 14.0

112 x 46.3 x 15.3

114.9 x 47.8 x 14.1

77.5

86.7

3.3/212

3/257

4.3/470

6/720

4/230

6.5/300

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

65,536/1.5

65,536/1.52

65,536/1.5

65,536/1.52

65,536/1.77

65,536/1.7

65,536/2.0

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

NA/No

1MB/No

351KB/No

2.5MB/4+4GB

14MB/2GB

7.41MB/4GB

Talktime/Standby (hours)

No/No

Yes/Yes

No/No

Yes/No

Camera/Flash/Video

No/No/No

1.3MP/No/Yes

No/No/No

Phonebook Capacity

500

1,000

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

Frequency/Dual SIM

CDMA/No

Dual Band/GSM+CDMA

GPRS/EDGE/3G

No/No/No

Yes/Yes/CDMA1X

Yes/No/No

BREW

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

Price in Rs.

No/No

No/Yes

Yes/Yes

Bar/No/No

1,390

1,450

1,500

1,760

2,300

2,680

3,400

YMOBILE SEP 15 to OCT 14 2012 106 MY

MODELS

CDMA

PARAMETERS Model Dimension (mm) Weight (grams)

Samsung Duos 169

Mpower TV 239

MTS Live Wire

MTS M-Tag

115.5 x 48 x 15.9

118.5 x 50 x 12.45

198 x 54 x 13

113 x 54 x 12

Samsung Primo Duos MTS M-Tag 352 118.8 x 49.9 x 14.07

NEW

114.5 x 61 x 11

MTS M-Tag 351

NEW

116x62.2x12.15

110

103

4.5/250

4.4/420

3/200

4.4/200

6.67/160

4/200

5/200

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

65,536/2.2

262,144/2.4

262,144/2.8

262,144/2.4

262,144/3.5

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

42MB/8GB

85MB/16GB

256MB/32GB

170MB/32GB

75MB/-

512MB/32GB

Yes/No

YesNo

Yes/Yes

VGA/No/Yes

1.3MP/No/Yes

3.2MP/No/Yes

2.0MP/No/Yes

3.0MP/No/Yes

Talktime/Standby (hours)

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

1,000

2,000

Shared

Frequency/Dual SIM

Dual Band/CDMA+GSM

CDMA/No

Dual Band/GSM+CDMA

Quad Band/No

Yes/Yes/HSDPA

Yes/Yes/Yes

No/No/Rev.A

No/No/Rev.A Android OS v2.3

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

BREW

Android v2.2

BREW

Android OS v2.3

Yes/No

Yes/Yes

Bar/No/No

Bar/Yes/No

Bar/No/No

Bar/Yes/No

4,430

4,550

4,800

4,999

5,050

6,499

7,499

MODELS

Price in Rs.

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

CDMA

PARAMETERS Samsung Galaxy Y CDMA

MTS M-Tag401

Galaxy Pop CDMA

Blackberry 8530

Galaxy Ace Duos I589

Blackberry Curve CDMA 9350

Blackberry 9670 Style

Dimension (mm)

104.0 x 58.0 x 11.5

127 x 64 x 13

110.9 x 60.6 x 12.1

109 x 60 x 13.9

112.4 x 59.9 x 12.44

109 x 60 x 11

96 x 60 x 18.5

Weight (grams)

97.5

132

106.6

105

125

131

Model

Talktime/Standby (hours)

6/120

4.3/200

5/320

4.5/252

7/300

4.5/252

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

262,144/3.0

262,144/4.0

262,144/3.14

65,536/NA

16million/3.5

NA/2.44

65,536/NA

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

160MB/32GB

512MB/32GB

164MB/microSD

256MB/32GB

512MB/32GB

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

Yes/Yes

YesYes

Yes/Yes

Camera/Flash/Video

2.0MP/No/Yes

3.0MP/No/Yes

3.15MP/No/Yes

2.0MP/NA/Yes

3.15MP/No/Yes

5.0MP/Yes/Yes

Phonebook Capacity

Shared

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

Price in Rs.

CDMA/No

Quad Band/No

CDMA/No

Dual Band/CDMA+GSM

CDMA/No

Yes/Yes/Rev.A

Yes/Yes/EVDO RevA

Yes/Yes/No

Yes/Yes/Rev.A

Yes/Yes/No

Yes/Yes/Rev. A

Android v2.3

Android OS 2.2

BlackBerry OS

Android v2.3

BlackBerry OS7

BlackBerry OS

Yes/Yes

Yes/No

Yes/Yes

Yes/No

Bar/Yes/No

Bar/No/Yes

Bar/Yes/No

Bar/No/Yes

Clamshell/No/Yes

7,480

8,250

8,680

13,100

16,600

20,900

22,400

YMOBILE 107 SEP 15 to OCT 14 2012 MY

myguide MODELS

TABLET

APPLE

PARAMETERS Model

BLACKBERRY

HCL

iPad 2 Wi-Fi

i-Pad 2 Wi-Fi+3G

New i-Pad Wi-Fi

New i-Pad Wi-Fi+3G

Play Book

HCL ME U1

HCL ME Y2

Dimension (mm)

241.2 x 185.7 x 8.8

241.2 x 185.7 x 9.4

194 x 130 x 10

192.8 x 117.28 x 12.53

Weight (grams)

370

NEW

120 X 200 X 13

607

652

425

350

10/720

9/720

10/NA

NA/NA

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

262,144/9.7

16million/9.7

16million/7.0

NA/7.0

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

16,32,64 GB/No

16,32 64GB/No

16,32,64GB/No

4GB/32GB

8GB/32GB

Yes/Yes

Yes/No

Yes/Yes

Camera/Flash/Video

VGA/No/Yes

5.0MP/No/Yes

0.3 MP Front/No/No

2.0MP/No/Yes

Phonebook Capacity

Shared

Frequency/Dual SIM

Quad Band/No

Quad band/No

Quad Band/NA

GPRS/EDGE/3G

Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA

No/No/Yes

Yes/Yes/HSDPA

Talktime/Standby (hours)

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

Operating System

iOS 4.3

IOS 5

iOS 5

BlackBerry OS

Android v4.0

Music Player/FM Radio

Yes/No

Bar/Yes/No

Form Factor/T.Screen/QWERTY Burn test Rating

13,300/16,750

7,999

14,999

MODELS

Price in Rs.

24,500/30,500/36,500 32,900/38,900/44,900 30,500/36,500/42,500 38,900/ 44,900/50,900

MICROMAX

PARAMETERS

SAMSUNG

SONY

Funbook

Funbook Pro

Galaxy Tab2 310

Tab 10.1 1750

Galaxy Note 10.1 N800 NEW

Tablet S Wi-Fi

Tablet S 3G+Wi-Fi

Dimension (mm)

122 x 192 x 10

193.7 x 122.4 x 10.5

256.7 x 175.3 x 8.6

262 x 180 x 8.9

241.2 x 174.3 x 10.1

Weight (grams)

360

600

345

565

600

598

Model

Talktime/Standby (hours)

NA/NA

5/NA

30/NA

9/NA

NA/NA

11/430

Screen (colours)/Size (inch)

NA/7.0

16million/10.1

7.0/16million

16million/10.1

16M/10.1

16million/9.4

Inbuilt/Expandable memory

4GB/32GB

8GB/32GB

16GB/32GB

16GB/No

8GB/32GB

16GB/32GB

Bluetooth/Wi-Fi

No/Yes

Yes/Yes

NA/Yes

Yes/Yes

Camera/Flash/Video

0.3/No/NA

VGA/No/No

3.15MP/No/Yes

3.2MP/No/Yes

5.0MP/No/Yes

Phonebook Capacity

Shared

Frequency/Dual SIM

Quad Band/No

No/No/Yes

Android v4.0

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

Android 4.0

Android v3.1

Quad Band/No

Yes/Yes/HSDPA

Yes/Yes/HSDPA,HSUPA

Android v4.0

Android OS, v3.1

Android v3.1

Yes/No

Yes/Yes

Yes/No

Bar/Yes/No

6,499

9,999

19,350

33,800

39,000

21,000

26,000

YMOBILE SEP 15 to OCT 14 2012 108 MY

www.mymobile.co.in

They said it

Talk Time... “We have realised a dream that was germinated a few years ago. We have been able to tell the world that through our frugal innovation system we can conquer the world and that’s exactly what we need to do for India as a country.” -Kapil Sibal

HRD minister in the Indian Government, on the launch of the Aakash 2 tablet.

“The new logo brings in one of the most significant waves of product launches in Microsoft’s history... It’s been 25 years since we’ve updated the Microsoft logo and now is the perfect time for a change.” -Jeff Hansen

Microsoft’s general manager of brand strategy, in a blog post about Microsoft’s new logo.

“The ruling is a costly lesson for Samsung – but also an opportunity for a true alternative to Apple’s well-known hardware with more innovative thinking and imaginative products ahead. There are more ways to build a touch screen smartphone and thanks to its fast execution capability, Samsung could quickly work around design changes, upgrading models and introducing new technology... differentiate its devices from Apple.” -A note from Morgan Stanley to investors, on the

US Court ruling against Samsung.

“We acted immediately to the government’s orders, but ended up being targeted and criticised wrongly only because we acted first.” -An unnamed official from one of the mobile operator companies on the Government decision to restrict SMS, following disturbances in some parts of the country. (quoted in The Times of India)

“The tablet PC market was about half a million devices last year. This year, it is estimated to be triple.” -Ranjit Yadav

Samsung country head (Mobile and IT), speaking about the tablet market in India.

“This is not the final word in this case or in battles being waged in courts and tribunals around the world, some of which have already rejected many of Apple’s claims.” -samsung

in a statement, after losing a verdict against Apple in a US Court.

sep 15 to oct 14 2012 MYMOBILE 109

rumour mill

Talk HTC working on a Windows Phone

Samsung might have been the first to reveal a Windows Phone 8 device, with Nokia unveiling its own Lumia range a few days later, but they are by no means the only companies with Windows Phone 8 in their sights. If whispers on the Web and the street are to be believed, HTC too is readying a Windows Phone 8 device. Tentatively called HTC Accord (although some are also referring to it as the 8X), the device is believed to sport a 4.3 inch Super LCD, and 8.0-megapixel camera and will be powered by a dual core 1.5 GHz processor. It is expected to come with 8 GB and 16 GB storage capacities, although memory will be expandable using a memory card.

Acer priming six smartphones

It might not have created as big a splash in the handset arena as it has in the PC one, but that has not deterred Acer. News is filtering that the manufacturer is readying no fewer than six smartphones to be launched late this year and in early 2013. Spread across a number of price levels, five of these will run on Android and one on Windows Phone 8. The high-end models will be powered by Qualcomm’s dual core processors, while those

in Tech Corners

at the lower end will depend on Mediatek chips for their processing muscle. And yes, they are expected in India too.

And yet another Lumia pops up

We might have seen the unveiling of the Nokia Lumia 920 and 820 this month, but even as we wait for the prices and availability of this Windows Phone 8 sporting twosome, out comes news that a third Lumia might join them. Tentatively called the Lumia 822, not much seems to be known of the device apart from the fact that it will support 4G networks and will be available in White and Grey colours (a bit insipid, we think). However, our sources say that it will be similar to the Lumia 820 and will also be powered by a dual core processor, but might come with a slightly lower price tag. We are keeping our fingers crossed about that last part.

Motorola’s next RAZR to have Intel Inside?

Motorola stunned the world with its edge to edge display bearing RAZR M, but if rumours are to be believed, the company is already looking at a variation of it that will be powered by an Intel processor. It needs to be remembered that the model the world got to see ran

110 MYMOBILE sep 15 to oct 14 2012

on Qualcomm’s 1.5 GHz dual core Snapdragon processor. Now, if we believe the little birdies whispering tech nothings into our ears, Motorola is also readying a model that will run on Intel’s Medfield Atom processor. Will it cost as much as the Snapdragon variant? Will it also be called the RAZR M?Answers are expected to emerge in the coming days. Watch this space for more.

Another phablet in the wings?

The Samsung Galaxy Note might have garnered all the attention for being a “phablet” (as they call phone and tablet hybrids these days) but not too many remember that HTC too had tried its hand with a large screen device with a stylus, the Flyer, not so long ago. Although that device did not exactly set the market on fire, rumours are flying around that HTC is attempting to repeat the formula with a 5-inch display device, although we cannot confirm whether it has a stylus as yet. Among the specs being talked about are Android Jelly Bean, an HD display and calling capabilities. If the device exists, there is one thing that we can confirm it will possess - another version of HTC Sense on top of Android. More news when we find out more and we are keeping our ears keen for this one. n team@mymobile.co.in

Windows: The Mobile Side In the Beginning

Windows CE.

n The first version of Windows Mobile was released on April 19, 2000 as a Pocket PC2000.

Codenames...

n HTC claims that they made the first Microsoft powered smartphone, the HTC Wallaby which was released in May 2002. n Windows Mobile is based on Windows CE, which is loosely based on Windows 95 code - Windows Phones still uses

n Windows Mobiles have had several major releases and each of it has had an intriguing code name: Pocket PC2000 = Rapier Pocket PC2002 = Merlin Windows Mobile 2003 = Ozone Windows Mobile 5 = Magneto Windows Mobile 6 = Crossbow Windows Phone 7.5 = Mango Windows Phone 8 = Apollo,

The Windows Tile Experience

n The Windows Phone interface use a Live Tile home screen that’s bright and colourful. You can actually add and remove tiles and can have a maximum of 256 tiles.

On to Windows Phone 8: n The software giant Microsoft is pitching Windows 8 as the most radical redesign of its franchise operating system since Windows 95.

n Codenamed “Apollo,” Windows Phone 8 is expected to have deep integration with the similarly named Windows 8, the next version of Microsoft’s PC operating system for tablets and PCs. n Changes from Windows Phone 7.5 will include a new start screen with flexible tiles, multi-core processor and memory card support, a revamped Internet Explorer 10, NFC support, a new Wallet hub, and Nokia Maps.

persona

www.mymobile.co.in

Ten Things You Might Not Know About… Anil Ambani, Chairman of Reliance ADAG

3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

He was born on June 4, 1959 and is a Science graduate from the University of Bombay and has done his MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Being a billionaire doesn’t make you fit! Well this is what we think Anil Ambani believes, because every morning at 5:30 am, six days a week, he goes for jogging for about 18 km wherever in the world he may be. He never misses his run. Clearly, health is wealth for this billionaire.

For years now, Anil has been doing yoga to improve his running. His kids want him to win a marathon!

He is quite a car freak. He drives himself and is fond of his Mercedes and the Range Rover.

He is a vegetarian and his favourite dishes are baigan ka bharta and chhole. For the past 25 years, Anil’s preferred junk food is paav bhaji from Soli’s, Haji Ali.

Interestingly, he can’t sleep for more than five hours and doesn’t smoke or drink.

On working days, he begins a round of phone calls with his key employees at 8:00am sharp every morning.

If he’s in Mumbai on a Sunday, he goes for lunch at Tiffin, The Oberoi’s.

He makes a trip to Tirupati, before every big launch. Anil is a follower of Lord Shiva - he has done the Kailash Mansarovar Parikrama twice.

He loves artefacts, generally those that are associated with horses. n

*Disclaimer: The information has been collected from the public domain and not from an interview with Anil Ambani.

sep 15 to oct 14 2012 MYMOBILE 113

va n ta g e p o i n t

Cinema-Inspired Surround SoundWherever, Whenever I

n today’s connected and technologically advanced age, mobile devices are probably the most personal yet powerful technology used by any individual – be it a businessman, a corporate leader or a college student. Today mobile phones are not merely used for making calls or sending an SMS, but have become a part of our lifestyle. In addition to being used for e-mail, mobile devices have taken on a wide range of entertainment purposes – listening to songs/FM, watching a movie or taking pictures. These devices have become central to the lives of ‘smartphone’ users. The current trend witnesses more and more entertainment available not only in the cinema or at home but also on the go. The problem is that consumers want an immersive entertainment experience from their smartphones and tablets, but their expectations are low. Most new mobile devices don’t feature the high quality audio that delivers a great experience. At Dolby, we consider audio to be 50 per cent of the entertainment experience. Like our sense of smell, sound evokes a direct recollection of memories and moods from any part of one’s life. It induces the realism of the content in the listener, connecting them to the content creator’s original vision. The hardware specifications for these devices including processor architecture and screen size are already maturing. Smartphone OEMs are looking to differentiate on key use cases including multimedia consumption. In order to enable a compelling, high-quality multimedia entertainment experience on a mobile phone, a number of challenges must be overcome. These challenges can be grouped into two key areas: content and hardware. On content, the source and quality of the content is the foundational element in an overall great experience on a mobile device. On the hardware side, mobile phones suffer from the use of small speakers and amplifiers with limited volume capabilities that are placed close together resulting in a narrow, non-immersive sound stage. Dolby helps provide this balance, offering a unique and

efficient way to give consumers high quality audio and video that will meet and even exceed their expectations. At Dolby, we work closely with content creators and service providers to help them deliver incredible and efficient multichannel sound. We also have been working with various OEMs both at the global and national level and have been able to deliver some great partnerships with brands like Nokia. The inclusion of Dolby technologies in these smartphones brings an extra dimension to their performance, transforming them into devices which can deliver high-definition (HD) content with Dolby Digital Plus 5.1-channel surround sound to HDTVs, audio/video receivers, and home theater systems. We soon expect the next generation of our Dolby Digital Plus technology to deliver great audio quality to tablet entertainment experiences. In addition, Dolby Headphone, available exclusively on the Nokia PureView 808, transforms content into a personal surround sound experience over headphones to create a natural,

114 MYMOBILE sep 15 to oct 14 2012

engaging, and authentic listening experience. Whether the content is video or music, Dolby technology unlocks the surround sound experience from Video content and optimizes the playback of music. When consumers see the Dolby logo, whether it’s on a mobile device or content-download portal, they’re assured of a compelling entertainment experience. From content creation to distribution to playback, Dolby improves mobile media every step of the way. Our endeavor going forward is to offer technologies that elevate the entertainment experience—in the cinema, at home, and now on the go. When downloading and playing multimedia processed with Dolby technology, you can trust the quality—and enjoy a new dimension for on-the-go entertainment. n Ashim Mathur, marketing head, Dolby Laboratories 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) - 11/6100/2012-13-14 (Posting Date 19-20 of every month)