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Saturday, 14 April 2012
Friday, 3 February 2012
Your mobile bills to go up 30% in 2012
Mobile phone bills of consumers will rise 20-30% this year.
NEW DELHI: Mobile phone bills of consumers will rise 20-30% this year, top executives of all leading operators said, as the country's debt-ridden telcos raise call tariffs to revive revenue growth and cut losses in the fiercely competitive sector.
The move follows the 20% increase last July, the first hike after operators slashed tariffs in 2008 as they chased new customers, but ended up eroding profits. It comes at a time telcos are staring at penalties and fines running into thousands of crores of rupees for a range of alleged violations.
Vodafone quietly raised tariffs of postpaid users in January by about 20% in Delhi and plans to extend this to other regions, with rivals set to follow suit this month. Telcos say tariffs for prepaid customers, who form 96% of users, will be raised after March.
An executive close to Bharti Airtel said a 20-30% rise in the next 12 months was the "minimum requirement for the industry to keep its head above water".
Even state-run BSNL, which did not raise rates last time, plans to increase tariffs, a top executive said.
An executive close to Reliance Communications said the industry needed higher charges to service itsRs 275,000-crore debt. "Except the top three, all operators are losing Rs 800-1,000 crore per quarter," the executive said. Uninor Managing Director Sigve Brekke told ET recently if 'incumbents increase tariffs, he would be the first to follow', adding that customers could afford higher tariffs.
India added 400 million users in the last two years, but revenues crawled 10%, and average minutes of usage per customer fell from 465 in 2007 to 350.
"Inflation has been around 9% in the last two years. The industry paid Rs 70,000 crore for 3G spectrum. These services failed to take off and costs will eventually have to be passed on," said the executive of a leading GSM operator. He said earnings from every minute of traffic had plummeted to 40-45 paise from Rs 1 in 2007.
Samaresh Parida, director, Vodafone, said government levies had raised costs. "If the government keeps on trying to extract more from us, we are left with no alternative."
The move follows the 20% increase last July, the first hike after operators slashed tariffs in 2008 as they chased new customers, but ended up eroding profits. It comes at a time telcos are staring at penalties and fines running into thousands of crores of rupees for a range of alleged violations.
Vodafone quietly raised tariffs of postpaid users in January by about 20% in Delhi and plans to extend this to other regions, with rivals set to follow suit this month. Telcos say tariffs for prepaid customers, who form 96% of users, will be raised after March.
An executive close to Bharti Airtel said a 20-30% rise in the next 12 months was the "minimum requirement for the industry to keep its head above water".
Even state-run BSNL, which did not raise rates last time, plans to increase tariffs, a top executive said.
An executive close to Reliance Communications said the industry needed higher charges to service itsRs 275,000-crore debt. "Except the top three, all operators are losing Rs 800-1,000 crore per quarter," the executive said. Uninor Managing Director Sigve Brekke told ET recently if 'incumbents increase tariffs, he would be the first to follow', adding that customers could afford higher tariffs.
India added 400 million users in the last two years, but revenues crawled 10%, and average minutes of usage per customer fell from 465 in 2007 to 350.
"Inflation has been around 9% in the last two years. The industry paid Rs 70,000 crore for 3G spectrum. These services failed to take off and costs will eventually have to be passed on," said the executive of a leading GSM operator. He said earnings from every minute of traffic had plummeted to 40-45 paise from Rs 1 in 2007.
Samaresh Parida, director, Vodafone, said government levies had raised costs. "If the government keeps on trying to extract more from us, we are left with no alternative."
3 more IITs join in to bring Aakash 2 cost down
The government plans to involve three more IITs in the world's cheapest Aakash tablet PC project
NEW DELHI: The government plans to involve three more IITs in the world's cheapest Aakash tablet PC project to make it more indigenousand further lower its price.
Apart from IIT Rajasthan, which is spearheading the project, IIT Mumbai, IIT Madras and IIT Kanpur would also be roped in for the project, sources in the HRD Ministrysaid.
The development follows after a meeting chaired by HRD Minister Kapil Sibal yesterday where senior officials from the Ministry as well as from Department of IT were present.
The sources said much emphasis was laid on indigenisation of the tablet. At present, several components including the processor are procured from outside.
The aim is to give shape to the indigenisation plan within the next two years and make the product 90 per cent Indian. At the same time, emphasis will be laid on further lowering the prices of the device, they said. At present, the device is available to students at Rs 1,100 after government subsidy.
Earlier, the HRD Ministry had decided that the tendering process for rolling out the improved version of Aakash, will be handled by the Department of Information Technology.
This followed after differences cropped up between IIT Rajasthan and Datawind, the manufacturer of the tablet, over the issue of enhanced specification demands.
The HRD Ministry has already said that it will require an additional 22 crore units of Aakash and for this fresh tenders will be issued enabling other companies along with Datawind to also get a chance.
Several PSUs and Centre for Development of Advanced Computing are also expected to chip in to roll out the second phase of the Aakash. The speed of the device will come at 800 MHz instead of 300 MHz at present.
Apart from IIT Rajasthan, which is spearheading the project, IIT Mumbai, IIT Madras and IIT Kanpur would also be roped in for the project, sources in the HRD Ministrysaid.
The development follows after a meeting chaired by HRD Minister Kapil Sibal yesterday where senior officials from the Ministry as well as from Department of IT were present.
The sources said much emphasis was laid on indigenisation of the tablet. At present, several components including the processor are procured from outside.
The aim is to give shape to the indigenisation plan within the next two years and make the product 90 per cent Indian. At the same time, emphasis will be laid on further lowering the prices of the device, they said. At present, the device is available to students at Rs 1,100 after government subsidy.
Earlier, the HRD Ministry had decided that the tendering process for rolling out the improved version of Aakash, will be handled by the Department of Information Technology.
This followed after differences cropped up between IIT Rajasthan and Datawind, the manufacturer of the tablet, over the issue of enhanced specification demands.
The HRD Ministry has already said that it will require an additional 22 crore units of Aakash and for this fresh tenders will be issued enabling other companies along with Datawind to also get a chance.
Several PSUs and Centre for Development of Advanced Computing are also expected to chip in to roll out the second phase of the Aakash. The speed of the device will come at 800 MHz instead of 300 MHz at present.
LG Quad Core smartphone LG X3 leaked
A new Quad Core Tegra 3 powered Android smartphone has been leaked on the web this time and it is from the South Korean mobile maker LG. Dubbed as LG X3 this smartphone is expected to run on Android 4.0 IceCream Sandwich.
Apparently, the LG X3 will have large 4.7 inch display which delivers resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels, 8 MP camera with HD video recording capabilities, 1.3 MP camera, 16 GB of internal storage, additional storage through microSD card slot, HSPA+ network, NFC chip and 2000 mAh battery.
Apparently, the LG X3 will have large 4.7 inch display which delivers resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels, 8 MP camera with HD video recording capabilities, 1.3 MP camera, 16 GB of internal storage, additional storage through microSD card slot, HSPA+ network, NFC chip and 2000 mAh battery.
LG X3 is expected to launch on MWC next month.
Saturday, 21 January 2012
Huawei Sonic : World's First Cloud SmartPhone
What do you expect from a low price smart phone? Huawei Sonic is that low price smart phone which is much smarter than a smart phone could be. It is world’s first phone based on cloud services and Android 2.3v Gingerbread and is offering a 20GB storage (4GB bundled micro SD card and 16GB cloud net drive).
Design
It has contemporary looks as a high class smart phone has, with an entirely plastic body a chrome stripe is adding little touch of elegance to it and the round corners are making the phone enough comfortable to hold.
Click on the Images to Enlarge
Display
Even at such a reasonable price Huawei hasn’t compromised with its screen. It is 3.5-inch capacitive screen, large enough for one to type comfortably. The resolution is quite acceptable 320X480 display where one can enjoy videos, movies, games etc. Considering the price of the phone one cannot argue with the resolution it is providing us.
Performance
Sonic has a decent performance for users which do not prefer many apps running on the background. It has a 600 MHz ARM11 processor (the Qualcomm MSM7227), and 256Mb of RAM. The RAM might not look handsome but it is ample for normal phone users further the built-in memory management in Android very neatly keeps the RAM free for use. It smoothly supports the multi touch zoom, comes with a GPS receiver, 3.2 megapixel camera which also works as a VGA recorder, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity. The phone in all is true worth of money.Let us explore some of the Cloud Services it is providing us.
Features
Huawei is presenting Cloud + services to its users. This service is integrated into Sonic’s platform. It is offering features like Message+, Phone Finder, Cloud+ Drive, Phone Finder, SNS contacts Integration and you can access them anywhere.
Huawei is presenting Cloud + services to its users. This service is integrated into Sonic’s platform. It is offering features like Message+, Phone Finder, Cloud+ Drive, Phone Finder, SNS contacts Integration and you can access them anywhere.
Message+ is your own way to social networking where you can share texts, photos, music, videos, and documents with your friends. You can see who all are typing and who are not, get read and received receipts, plus you never have to worry about the size of file you are sending. Huawei automatically detects your message+ friends and adds them to your contact list; you can also add your friend easily by just entering his account name.
Group Chat
You have a feature of group chat where groups can easily be created and friends can be connected to it with message +
Huawei Streams provide your favorite social networks in one package. Experience Facebook, twitter and LinkedIn with photo sharing, automatic updates etc. with minimal clicks
4. SNS Contacts integration With SNS contact integration you can easily synchronize your Facebook, twitter and LinkedIn contacts with your phonebook. Your contact’s updates, albums and your interaction history with the contact are closely integrated with your contact’s information.
5. Cloud+ Synchronization and Backup
Cloud+ Contacts
You have to leave all your worries behind of losing your contacts, all you have to do is turn on the synchronize option in phone settings and you can synchronize contacts from your phone to the Cloud+ server in real time. Contact information updates or additions on your phone will be automatically synchronized to the Cloud+ server which you can use in your other Huawei phones or tablets.All Backup
All Backup is an intelligent way to backup all your phone data if in case you lost your phone then also your data could be easily retrieved
6. Phone Finder
Find my Phone.If you have lost your phone you don’t have to sweat on the benches of a police station waiting for your turn to lodge a report, you just have to log on to www.hicloud.com, use the Phone finder feature to locate your phone on the Google maps as well as perform other useful functions to protect your data.
Phone finder is an awesome feature using which you can easily locate your phone even if it is in silent mode. If you have left your phone in cafeteria, or in office or it is slid under the blanket, with phone finder you can play a sound to get someone’s attention.
Lock your phoneYou can keep your private information on phone, passwords or anything and it can be easily protected as you can lock and unlock your phone from an internet account until your phone is back in your hands.
Erase all your data from the phone
This feature can easily erase all your data from your phone message or emails or contacts in case you lose it or you give it to someone else to use and thus your data is not misused by another person.
Verdict
Huawei with its rich look, Android platform, Cloud services and performance is surely the best phone you can get at such a price. In short Huawei Sonic is surely a must buy!
The Best of CES 2012
The most awaiting tech show was conducted on Monday January 9 which, though it was a week later than usual but it has left its impressions behind.
Covering more than 1.8 million square feet and, it has made Las Vegas the city of techies with more than 140,000 attendees fall across the globe until Thursday, where the biggest and renowned names are there to talk about their technology plans for 2012
Lytro Cameras (https://www.lytro.com/camera)
Lytro cameras have already made big news in 2011 as the biggest innovation in cameras seen in decades. It is a focus free camera which means that you can shoot the scene and focus later. Unlike the conventional cameras which captures single plane of light Lytro captures the entire light field which enables to focus or refocus anywhere in the picture after the photo is taken.
This is available on pre order and cost you from $399 (8GB) to $499/- (16GB). Lytro camera is selected as the best Gadget by visitors of CES 2012.
Swivl
(http://www.swivl.com/)
Swivl is a mobile accessory which helps you to video shoot yourself using a smart phone like iPhone. This may look really trivial to most of you but needs a second look since this won as the best gadget showed in CES2012 in online polls. The reason is simple. This is an elegant solution to satisfy the need to shoot yourself in a video using your smart phone which you come across very often.It has a sensor enabled and motorized base for your iPhone (or any other mobile video) with a paired marker. You can hold the marker like a remote control or wear it and forget it. The sensor connection allows the base to “follow you” and keeps you in the camera field of view. The photo reproduced above shows the marker which is clipped into his shirt pocket. This technology combination is ideal for capturing video of yourself for vlogging, making education videos etc. Currently it works with all iOS devices and support for Android is promised.
After Apple introduced MacBook Air in 2008 and most of the laptop manufacturers tried to copy the design for their own Wintel machines. And Intel came out with Ultrabooks specification where they closely match ultra-light and high performance MacBook Air but running Windows. Samsung deviated from the specified 11”/13” screen to bring out larger 15” screen but still resembles an Ultrabook in every other aspect. It is interesting to know that Samsung wants to be ahead of Apple since it was rumored for longtime that Apple is going to introduce an Ultrathin MacBook Pro (with 15” screen of course) in 2012.Lenovo Idea Pad Yoga
This uses an IPS panel like iPad and the display looks great. This will be running Widows 8 unlike Asus transformer which runs Android. So this is going to be a hit from Lenovo. Read the link http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2012/01/lenovos-ideapad-yoga-can-do-downward-dog.ars for more details
Lumia 800 is one of the popular Windows Mobile phone introduced by Nokia recently which was figured in this column earlier. Last week Nokia introduced a successor to it is 800 series, Lumia 900. It is little bigger phone compared to 800 with LTE support and a bigger 4.3 display and a Quad Core processor CPU. Mostly the rest of the specification is almost same as Lumia 800.
Sony Crystal Line LED TV
You must be knowing that the current set of LED TVs are not exactly use LED display but comes with LCD display with LED backlight. But in CES 2012 Sony showed industry's first 55-inch Full HD self-emitting display using LEDs as the light source. This is different from OLED TVs too and is called the Crystal LED Display; it uses Sony’s "unique methods" to mount ultrafine LEDs in each of the Red-Green-Blue (RGB) colors, equivalent to the number of pixels -- meaning the company uses approximately six-million LEDs to create a Full HD display"The RGB LED light source is mounted directly on the front of the display, dramatically improving the light use efficiency," Sony said. "This results in images with strikingly higher contrast (in both light and dark environments), wider color gamut, superb video image response time, and wider viewing angles when compared to existing LCD and plasma displays, with low power consumption. Furthermore, due to the display’s structure, the “Crystal LED Display” is also ideal for large screens."
This LED TV has best contrast ratio ever (3.5 times) found in a TV with dark scenes are perfect dark. It has a viewing angle of 180 and 10 times faster video response. Hope it will hit the market by next year.
Samsung Super OLED 55” TV
Favi Pico Pocket Projector
(http://www.favientertainment.com/Pico-Pocket-Projector-p/a3-wifi.htm)
Favi Pico Pocket projector is a Wi-Fi enabled projector running Android OS and an integrated touch pad mouse. It has a Chrome browser coupled with integrated Wi-Fi enables to you connect to internet and bring up any video or ppt to project on your wall up to 100” size with a resolution of 800X 600 and a contrast ratio of 1:100. It has a built in media player too to play your videos.
Friday, 20 January 2012
Facebook Invades Your Bedroom!
Concept bed lets you be on FB even when you're not on FB.
Can't have enough of Facebook? This should be right up your galli. Dubbed the FBed, this bed-cum-computer-table will literally allow you to be on FB day and night. It has been fashioned in the shape of the lowercase "f" from the social networking website's logo. The lower half of the letter constitutes the bed, whereas the upper half accommodates a monitor, keyboard, and mouse.
Designed by Tomislav Zvonaric, the concept exists only in the form of a render. This is evident from the fact that the bed is a tad too small for an average person - that is, unless you have had your legs amputated. There's no space for a PC cabinet either. Therefore, one can only assume that Zvoranic prefers VESA-mounted nettops over desktop PCs.
Design oversights aside, the bed takes a subtle dig at FB addicts. If you haven't noticed it yet, the FBed is only meant for a single person. You see, this design insinuates the link between FB obsession and the Forever Alone syndrome. I can't really decide if the designer wants to cash in on the FB fever, or intends this to be a critique on the FB culture.
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