Not Another Mobile Phone Blog

Mobile Phone Retailers Protest Against High Tax Rates in Maharashtra

Vikramdeo@nampblog.com (Vikram) — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 07:52:00 PDT

You have to shell out more cash if you are planning to buy a mobile phone in Maharashtra , all thanks to the government's decision to hike the sales tax rate from 4% to whooping 12.5%. This has certainly impacted the sales of many retailers who deal into mobile phones and now they have started protecting against the government in order to get these rates down. Maharashtra Mobile Trade Association has gone and met the guys ate sales tax office so that they can come up to a solution which will be beneficial for the government, retailers as well as consumers. Apart from the retailers, big mobile OEM players like Nokia are also of the opinion that higher tax rates would bring the sales down and government would eventually loose out on the money. Let see how this turns out to be but in troubled times like these, higher tax rates on mobile phones is like assault to injury.

Google Mobile Product Search Available For All Mobile Phones

Vikramdeo@nampblog.com (Vikram) — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 01:23:00 PDT

Now the google Mobile product search is available for all the mobile phones. google made it available initially for iPhone and Android based phones but today Google has made this search feature available for all mobile phone models. All you have to do is enter your product search query on google and click on the shopping results or you can create a bookmark to www.google.com/m/products on your mobile phone. Read more about Google Mobile Product Search.

Tata DoCoMo Comes to Karnataka with GSM Network

Vikramdeo@nampblog.com (Vikram) — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 19:11:00 PDT

After launching its GSM services in the markets of Tamil Nadu, Orissa and Kerala, Tata-DoCoMo, the Indo-Japanese venture, has launched its GSM services from today in Karnataka. Unlike any other player, Tata-DoCoMo charges based on seconds i.e. 1 paise per second so you pay for exactly for the time you spoke on your phone. The company is very ambitious about its GSM network plans and would be rolling out its network across India by the end of 2009. Tata DoCoMo network will be covering 427 towns and 2,642 villages in Karnataka as a part of its launch. Karnataka is also one of the highly competitive markets in the Southern region with big players like AirTel and Vodafone commanding most of the share. Lets see how things turn up for Tata-DoCoMo, who will be covering the entire Southern region of India by the end of next week.

Nokia 3720 Classic is Now Official

Vikramdeo@nampblog.com (Vikram) — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 07:38:00 PDT

Nokia 3720, which leaked sometime back and then went viral with some videos that showed that the phone is made for the rugged environment is now officially announced by Nokia. As told earlier the phone is IP54 certified that makes it resistant to shock, water and dust. This is not the first time Nokia has launched a rugged mobile handset. The Finnish giant earlier came up with the Nokia 5500 Sports which was dust and splash proof with accelerometer and a pedometer. Nokia 3120 is made of material that makes it rugged and protects it from water and dust. The battery covered is locked with the help of a screw to protect the inner components and the battery. The phone is based on Series 40, has 2.2 inches large screen, Nokia Maps, 3.2 meg snapper, Bluetooth support and 3.5mm standard headphone jack. Nokia has priced the phone at $175.

Samsung Ultra Touch Phones To Have Gorilla Glass

Vikramdeo@nampblog.com (Vikram) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 19:19:00 PDT

Soon Samsung's Ultra Touch phones will come with toughened glass surfaces. Conrning Incorporated, which makes specialty glass surfaces for display devices, has tied up with Samsung and will be providing its Gorilla Glass surfaces that will go into Samsung's Ultra Touch Phones. As the name suggests, the glass is better than the rest of the glasses which you fins and is being used my many consumer electronic devices. The Gorilla glass is a specially toughened glass and has many features, which you won't find in a normal glass. This glass will allow the touch screen to handle more pressure as compared to any other glass. Gorilla glass has a layer of chemical strengthning, which makes the glass strong and damage resistant. Check out the video below.

Samsung Jet: The Non Smart Phone That's As Powerful As the Smart Phone

Vikramdeo@nampblog.com (Vikram) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 19:02:00 PDT

Video Vault: Nokia 3720 Stress Tests

Vikramdeo@nampblog.com (Vikram) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 07:54:00 PDT

Nokia 3720 is rugged phone from Nokia that leaked sometime back and then it again surfaced in the form of viral videos where a bunch of guys are testing this new rugged phone against many such things that you might not want your phone to encounter with. These videos below convey only one message about the Nokia 3720, that it is a certified rugged phone that will take your beating. Nokia 3720 will be based on the Series 40 platform, come with a torch light, 3.2 meg snapper, Bluetooth FM radio and 2.5 weeks stand-by time.

Nokia Will Loose Smart Phone Market to Apple By 2013

Vikramdeo@nampblog.com (Vikram) — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 19:05:00 PDT

Analysts from the Generator Research think that Nokia, which is the biggest and strongest smart phone market player would see the ground in 2013. According to these analysts, NOkia which enjoys around 40% market share today will have to be happy with 20% by 2013. On the other hand, the research highlights that Apple will gain 33% share of the smart phone market and will leave Nokia behind soon. So come 2013 and you might see the rules of the smart phone market completely changed. Now, the most important question is, Will such thing happen by 2013? Answer is, these things will happen only if, Nokia sits on their asses and does not do anything about their smart phones, which is really hard because every time Nokia is coming up with something new and they play on volumes and have strong hold in European as well as emerging markets. The research analysts must have taken too optimistic projections for Apple and too pessimistic projections for Nokia. [Via] One thing is sure, this report from Generator will certainly do well sales wise, all players would be eager to know what all they have considered to arrive at this conclusion!

Samsung's Jet Lands in India

Vikramdeo@nampblog.com (Vikram) — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 07:52:00 PDT

Jet is the newest smart phone from Samsung that has hit the Indian shores. Like its name, the Jet is a combination of a phone with smart phone like features and easy to use intuitive user interface. Samsung Jet was supposed to be launched in the last week of June but then it has been launched in the first week of July. After Omnia and Omnia HD, Jet is one more flagship smart phone from Samsung. The Jet will be priced around INR. 24,000 in India and some of its striking features include, TouchWiz 2.0 interface, motion sensing UI, customizable home screen widgets just like the Nokia N97 (Jet is much cheaper though). Jet features a 3D user interface with 3.1 inch WVGA, AMOLED touch screen, 800 MHz processor, GPS, A-GPS, 5 meg snapper with Face detection, smile detection, Geo tagging, blink detection, 3G HSDPA, EDGE/GPRS, Wi-Fi. Even on the audio front the phone scores over most of its competitors in India with Samsung's DNSe sound engine, SRS WOW effects and 3.5mm standard headphone jack. Feature wise the phone sounds to be a winner lets see how it does in the retail market. By the way 7 more Samsung phones were supposed to come to India in July, one has come so 6 more to go.

Rugged Nokia Phone Gets Hammerred by a Golf Club

Vikramdeo@nampblog.com (Vikram) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 19:04:00 PDT

An unannounced and unnamed phone from Nokia gets its ass kicked by a golf club on lush green lawns. The phone made its way to the hands of the Nokia conversation guys and as it was branded as a tough phone, they wanted to test whether its a really tough phone or not, so what batter way than slamming the phone with a golf club. By the way, if you closely look at the phone in the picture above and also in the video, it resembles the Nokia 3720, which surfaced sometime back. Nokia 3720 is a certified water proof and dust proof phone that will soon be coming from Nokia. But the phone shown in the video seems more than being a water and dust proof phone but I still have a feeling that the phone in the video and Nokia 3720 are one and the same. When the guy hits the phone with the Golf club his mate gets hold of it and the phone is still working and the call quality seems good, only the screen is broken. If the phone is not Nokia 3720, then it must belong to the Nokia 5500 Sports range, which had pedometer, accelerometer, water and dust proof casing, which does not work at all ;-) Anyway,Check out the video below.

Nokia 5730 Pics

Vikramdeo@nampblog.com (Vikram) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 08:13:00 PDT

It is the first XpressMusic handset with a QWERTY keyboard. The phones has this keyboard as the slide-out function and it looks really cool. Nokia 5730 blows two trumpets, one that of social sharing and the other of entertainment on the go. 5730 comes loaded with Facebook, Ovi contacts, maps and messaging applications, Flickr, MySpace and YouTube utilities. As a music oriented handset, you can use the handset to download tunes from the Nokia Music Store on the go and surprisingly the handset has dedicated gaming keys though it focuses on enhancing a user's music experience. The phone also has support for N-Gage gaming titles and the new home screen utility seems to be interesting. Other functions include a 3.2 mega pixel snapper, 3.5mm standard headphone jack, 100MB of internal memory and 8GB of external memory support. You will never get lost due to the in-built Nokia Maps and A-GPS application and it also has mail for exchange. So in all, Nokia 5730 XpressMusic is a music oriented handset, that connects with your social scene, lets you play games and its email client will make sure that you are touch with the people you know.

Two faces of the Nokia 5730 one with the keyboard inside and the other with the keyboard out. The E75 also features a similar keyboard but the keyboard of 5730 seems to be easy to use with prominent markings. Remember it is the first XpressMusic phone with a QWERTY keyboard.

The phone comes in three colors, Red (above), Blue (the first picture) and Black (coming up next). The main keypad design is similar to that of the Nokia 5320 XpressMusic, the music playback key come handy for the user.

Of the three, 5730 in Black color looks classy. Rather, Black color in any of the mobile phone looks pretty awesome than any other color.

Nokia 5730 XpressMusic, features a 3.2 meg snapper with Auto Focus, Carl Zeiss Lens and dual LED flash.

[Image Via]

Widgets For Indian N97 Users

Vikramdeo@nampblog.com (Vikram) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 03:03:00 PDT

Nokia India now gives you different widgets, which you can use to personalize your Nokia N97. Nokia N97 is the latest N Series touch screen multimedia computer/mobile phone launched by Nokia known for its strong social applications and widgets integration. Now you can have the above widgets installed on your Nokia N97. You can also check out how the widgets look on your Nokia N97 in a simulated environment. With these widgets you can easily personalize your home screen and have your favorite topics/news at your fingertips.

False Rumor: Nokia to Unveil Android Based Touch Screen Phone @ Nokia World '09

Vikramdeo@nampblog.com (Vikram) — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 22:46:00 PDT

According to the Guardian UK [Nokia Blog], Nokia will soon be unveiling a new phone with completely new OS (new OS that is not being used in Nokia phones) at the Nokia World 2009, that is going to be held in the month of September. So whats so exciting about this new OS, well its not Windows Mobile, it will be the Android OS from Google. This news has come from industry insiders so you have to take it with pinch of salt. The new device will be a touch screen one and I guess it will be called as the Nokia N98 (what it will be called is not confirmed yet, this is just my guess). Nokia had already specified that they will be open in the future and the company started investing in its Maemo platform and also tied up with Intel, where both the companies will develop each other's Linus based offering. Nokia is the leader in the mobile phone market with smart phones as its competitive advantage over other companies offering such phones. Android has been gaining a lot of traction since last year and if this rumor comes out to be true then the Android community would be happy to have their footprint on the worlds leading brand of mobile phones.

UPDATE: Nokia has told TechRadar that there is no truth in the rumours it is set to join with the Open Handset Alliance and launch an Android phone.

Mobile Phones Costlier in Maharashtra

Vikramdeo@nampblog.com (Vikram) — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 21:31:00 PDT

If you are in the state of Maharashtra then you have to shell out extra money for buying mobile handsets. Mobile phones in Maharashtra have become costly as a result of government's decision to hike the VAT that is implemented on mobile phones. Anyway, people have put brakes on their spending spree, thanks to recession and now this ruling as left many people especially the retailers and authorized mobile phone sellers unhappy. As a result of this ruling by the government, the retailers have called for a small bandh, wherein they will shut their shops for three hours and the Indian Cellular Association is also taking steps so that the government restores the VAT to 4% from 8.5% (new rate). If the government does not listen to their plea then I guess it will make sense for buyers to get their mobile phones from neighboring states like Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh.

Samsung Phone With QWERTY Wings

Vikramdeo@nampblog.com (Vikram) — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 22:00:00 PDT

What you see above is a patent filed by Samsung for a phone with a QWERTY keypad that comes out like wings from behind the phone. Samsung has filed this patent with the US Patent office. The front screen of the phone is fully touch enabled and the keypads will come out from behind to give a winged look to the phone and you might also look like an idiot using a keypad like that. People might mis-understand you of using some kind of laser gun in the public and they will freak out. So what made Samsung file for such invention, well, there are many phones out there who do not have a physical keyboard and have a large touch screen, which is good to go with your daily use of the phone but according to Samsung there are many needs and applications, which need key input like characters message writing or some gaming applications that might need a lot of keys to be pressed. Samsung's winged creature comes into picture here, as it has a full scale touch screen as well as a QWERTY keypad, which is not cramped up and looks stylish. I still don't like it though!!

Video: Camparing the Nokia N97 and the iPhone 3GS

Vikramdeo@nampblog.com (Vikram) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 20:16:00 PDT

So you are still confused about, which phone to buy, the iPhone 3GS or the Nokia N97, then this video below will be very helpful for you, where the reviewer has compared both the phone in detail. By the way though many of the experts out there say that the Nokia N97 is the iPhone killer, I do not agree. N97 falls into a completely different domain, its more of a social phone and it cannot be compared with iPhone. Yeah, it has lot of good features that are not present in the iPhone but then even some of the iPhone's features are way beyond the scope of the N97, the two phones never competed against each other, at least for me.

Application: Babbler Facebook Application for Android

Vikramdeo@nampblog.com (Vikram) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 19:31:00 PDT

Babbler is the first native Facebook application for Android based phones. The application can be used to check out your news feed, comments on your friend;s wall, write on the walls of your friends, change the status, views events, view profiles. Sharing and uploading of multimedia content can also be easily done using this application. The application is a native application and directly takes you to your Facebook account. It also gives you an easy to us tabbed view to handle your Facebook account. It uses the official Facebook API.

The tabbed view of the application makes it easy for you to handle your Facebook account. By default, the application gives you feeds as the first tab, where you can change your status, check out whats happening in your Facebook network and other stuff.

The application gives you options to choose from and fondle around with your Facebook page. From your feeds page you can choose for Liking anybody status messages, check their profiles, go to thridparty service providers sites and other third party links.

The Friends tabe lists all your friends on Facebook, where you can check out their Wall, their profiles, Albums, photos, send them pokes etc.

Uploading Multimedia content. On the negative side though the application does not have the feature of Facebook chat. Even though Facebook has opened up their API, they have not provided any external interface for their chat system as of now. But i guess thats fine as there are host of other Facebook features that the application is giving you. I guess all the Android guys need to check the application out and let em know in comments how it was. Read more about the Application on their Facebook Page. The application is available at Android Market, just open Android market on your phone, search for babbler and you are good to go.

Mobile-Review Reviews Nokia 5530 XpressMusic

Vikramdeo@nampblog.com (Vikram) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 19:09:00 PDT

Nokia 5530 XpressMusic is the newest and cheapest touch screen on the block. The phone came after the popular Nokia 5800 but is a heavily toned down version of Nokia 5800. Though it has some additional functions like the scrolling contacts bar etc. Eldar Murtazin of Mobile Review, who is the god of all mobile bloggers, got his hands on the phone (like always) and in true Eldar style has given us a review that is very detail. He says that the phone is for those who do not own a Nokia 5800 XpressMusic and people who are looking for cheap touch screen phone with good music features should go for it. So if you are into reading lengthy reviews and are seriously planning to buy this phone then head-over to Mobile-Review and satisfy the geek in you.

Know Your Nokia 6208 Classic

Vikramdeo@nampblog.com (Vikram) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 10:20:00 PDT

Nokia announced this unusually styled Nokia 6208 Classic in December 2008 and the phone was available at retail stores in March 2009 and it made its way to the Indian shores in the last week of May 2009. The S40 based Nokia 6208 comes only in Titanium Grey color and has a TFT resistive touch screen. However, does not have fully functional touch screen interface. The touch screen only works when you are typing messages and the phone also has handwriting recognition. No other Nokia phone has a feature like this one. To use the touch screen, Nokia has given a very stylish looking stylus, which fits in the backside of the phone. The shape and styling of the stylus is really cool but the stylus can only be used to type in messages. The phone also comes with a numeric keypad if you are not too much into touch screens. By the way given the phones limited touch feature, numeric keypad has to be there. The phone features a 2.4 inch screen with steel finish keypad, which I have to tell you guys looks very very classy and space age. Other features of the phone include, Bluetooth 2.0, 3.2 mega pixel snapper with 4X digital zoom and dual LED flash, microSD card support up to 8GB, 3.5 mm standard headphone jack (this thing is now becoming a norm in all the cell phones), FM radio, Flash Lite support and integrated multimedia player. One more interesting fact about the phone is that it was specifically designed for the China market and I really don't know ho it even landed up on the Indian shores. Check out some pics of the Nokia 6208 Classic and keep watching this space for a detail review.

The packaging of the phone is very simple and the image on the box highlights its touch enabled messaging feature along with handwriting recognition.

Nokia 6208 Classic inside the box.

Accessories that come along with the phone, the box did not have a CD. The headphones looks decent and the mini USB data cable can be used for data transfer, sadly it cannot charge the phone. Forgot to take picture of the most important thing, the mobile charger.

Before you start using any mobile phone, I advice you to read its manual throughly, you might be a mobile phone expert, but there is no harm in reading a manual, it adds to your knowledge ;-)

Backside of the phone, the camera with dual flash is visible along with a pointed arrow like structure in the middle, more about that mysterious thing later.

One more back side shot, more clear than the first one.

Nokia 6208 Classic sports a 3.2 mega pixel camera with 4X Digital Zoom, which is not that great, dual LED flash. Nokia should have given a lens cover as this kind of cameras are very much prone to dust particles, which are really tough to remove later.

Steel like keypad, which looks very sexy and classy in its own styling. The keys are not elevated so you will take some time to get adjusted to them, but doesn't;t it look nice, just like the key pad of the 8800.

The home screen, which clearly says that you are looking at a Nokia S40 device. The screen is big with 2.4 inches and good for viewing images and also watching videos.

Everything is on top, a 3.5 mm standard headphone jack, charging slot, power button (lets you switch between profiles also)...nothing on the bottom of the phone.

All the buttons and slots are one the right handside of the phone. It has a camera button, volume button, microUSB slot, microSD card slot (8GB supported).

This is the mysterious structure I was talking about earlier. Its a very stylish stylus from Nokia, first time I have seen such stylus in any phone. The stylus is made of stainless steel, feels heavy and good to hold. It also fits in nicely in the slot that is provided on the backside of the phone.

Nokia 6208 Classic with the Stylus.

This is where the stylus goes, on the backside of the phone and blends with the phones structure to an extent. The stylus is also easy to remove with a slide-up action and easy to fit back in. But due to the stylus, the phone does not sit properly if rested on its backside. The speaker on the back is also pretty powerful.

N97 Available Across India

Vikramdeo@nampblog.com (Vikram) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 20:57:00 PDT

Nokia N97, the latest multimedia computer from the Finnish giant is now available across all the Nokia stores and resellers across India. The Nokia N97 is the second phone sporting the S60 Touch after the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic. Now even the Nokia 5530 XpressMusic sports the same mobile OS. Talking about the N97, it is costliest of the lot as of now and will be retailing around INR. 35,000. As a high price tag is attached to this phone, Nokia has made it easy for people to buy it by tying up with HDFC and Citibank for EMI option. I really don't know how many people do buy a costly phone on EMI. The EMI option is available through select Nokia outlets in metro cities and other towns. Nokia priority dealers wouyld be having this option for a N97 buyer. The N97 recently had an upgrade to v11, so if you are one of the owners you can read about what the v11 update has in store. The N97 looks like a promising phone, which focuses more on the social aspect of your mobile life, with complementary features like Facebook, Twitter and many more.

Application: Motion Launcher for Accelerometer Based Smart Phones

Vikramdeo@nampblog.com (Vikram) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 04:24:00 PDT

Motion launcher for accelerometer based mobile phones is a cool application that lets you assign commands and actions to the way you shake the phone. Generally most of the accelerometer based phones come with specific features attached to the shake or flip over action but with Motion Launcher you can customize these features to suit your need. Motion Launcher lets you assign commands in two ways, firstly you can either set it up to switch between different programs that might be running in the background or you can also use to to start any other application. So once you assign an action, the application will complete that once you shake it, same happens with applications (if you have used it to open any application or switch between applications). Download Motion Launcher.

What Will Nokia N97 v11 Update Have?

Vikramdeo@nampblog.com (Vikram) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 19:13:00 PDT

N97 is getting a firmware update and this is what you gonna see in the new firmware v11 of the N97. Nokia has fixed most of the issues that are being faced by the users of the N97, where the UI freezes or the phone crashes. Following are the improvements/fixes, which you are going to see in N9v11 [Via]:

Widgets Stability & UI Fixes

Home Screen Widgets fixed so that they do not crash
Improvement in the UI of the widgets
Fix for slow UI transition from landscape to portrait
Fix for slowness of the UI
Slow Touch UI Fix
Fix for the Browser to improve the stability of widgets

USB Fixes

Fix for USB detection error by PC especially during charging the phone through a USB

Messaging Fixes

Exchange and Calendar synchronization fix
Fix for lost message and calendar entries

Photos and Stability of the Device

Fix for device becoming slow due to lots of photos
Improved Accuweather version
Fix for device reset that happens when internet is browsed at high speeds
Ovi Store client embeded
Java Fixes

The Nokia N97, Nokia second touch screen after the Nokia 5800, has not been a hit like the Nokia 5800. Agreed, it has it own advantages, but more than a smart phone, I feel its more like a smart social networking phone. Hope all these fixes above are worth the effort.

Mobile Phone Wars: BlackBerry Storm vs. Apple iPhone

Vikramdeo@nampblog.com (Vikram) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 08:01:00 PDT

You must have seen many advertisements that are being done by cola companies like Pepsi and Coca Cola to take a piss at each other. Such this seldom happens in the mobile phone industry where two mobile OEM, directly or indirectly show each other's products down. Recently Blackberry came up with an ad for its first touch screen phone the Blackberry Storm, where a bullet made of Blackberry pierces an Apple and the ad ends with the bullet slowing down with a tag line that says, " Worlds First Touch Screen Blackberry..Nothing Can Touch It!". The as basically places Storm as the new iPhone killer. Watch the ad below.

Now watch the ad below, which might or might not be made by Apple. The only thing that is related to Apple in the ad below is the Apple which is shown. No name or branding, but the message is very strong. Anyway, the ad starts with a Blackberry bullet racing toward an Apple, the only difference in this ad is that, the moment the Blackberry meets the Apple, it breaks into small pieces and Apple stands as it is. The ad ends with the message, "Simple Facts". The message is very clear, Apple is so big and well rooted, a Blackberry cannot break it. Watch the Apple's answer below.

Video: HTC Hero Unveiling Event London

Vikramdeo@nampblog.com (Vikram) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 22:00:00 PDT

10 minute long video from the HTC Hero unveiling event in London by PhoneDog.

Nokia Messaging IM Application for E75

Vikramdeo@nampblog.com (Vikram) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 19:13:00 PDT

Nokia Beta Labs today has launched an upgraded version of the Nokia messaging Application with IM capability. The release is only available for Nokia E75 as of now. This new IM application gives desktop like instant messaging experience backed by other features of Nokia Messaging application. The client lets you chat with people, switch communities and you can also sign in using an invisible mode.

Nokia Messaging Key IM Features

* Chat with your friends on the Yahoo! Messenger and Ovi communities

* Quickly navigate through multiple conversations across different communities

* Background notifications of new IMs for true multitasking on your phone

* Familiar and integrated community experience - Yahoo-specific emoticons, graphics, and sounds

* Rapidly set status and availability, and login invisibly - choose who you want to talk to

* See your Ovi friends' avatars and set your own

* Save conversations to remember your chat sessions

Download the latest client release.

[Via]