Author: Varun Krish

Varun Krish is a Mobile Technology Enthusiast and has been blogging about mobile phones since 2005. His current phones include the Apple iPhone 13 Pro and Google Pixel 6. You can follow him on Twitter @varunkrish and on Google+ You can also mail Varun Krish

What will Vodafone do with Hutch ?

Hutch has changed colors since it started operations in India.

I remember seeing Hutch first in the Orange. They then changed to pink and blue.

Now after Vodafone has taken over Hutch , will Hutch move to Red synonymous with India’s other largest telecom provider Airtel.

It would be interesting to see what Vodafone does with Hutch.

hutch_dog_vodafone.jpg

Hutch India now Vodafone’s Baby

The battle’s finally over ? Atleast IBN Live says so.

The long battle amongst the Telecom biggies for the aquisition of Hutch India might be over.

Vodafone has won the bid for $19 Billion.Essar is happy about the deal and the price. Vodafone is said to have even offered Essar to become a partner firm.

Hutch is expected to announce an official statement tomorrow

via [ibnlive]

Microsoft announces Windows Mobile 6.0

The new version of Windows Mobile – 6.0 is coming and devices using the new operating system are expected to be available in the second quarter of 2007.

Whats in

  • Vista Look
  • Improved Office and Outlook 2007 integration
  • Windows Live platform
  • File Transfer possibility in Live Messenger
  • Improved HTML Email support

The OS  will be unveiled at the 3GSM in Barcelona next week.

Bangalore based Motvik readying WWIGO

M.Thiyagarajan of Bangalore,India is the person behind Motvik – a startup in the mobile media space, its flagship product WWIGO (pronounced as ‘vigo’) stands for ‘Webcam Wherever I Go’.

It allows a user to transform a bluetooth enabled camera phone into a wireless webcam to be used along with a PC/Laptop. Currently in private alpha testing it would be soon made available for wider public use.”

I m going to test this app soon and post my impressions on the same here.

Wow !! Its so great to see some activity happenning in the Indian Mobile Space.

Motvik site 

Spice Mobile S1000 Windows Mobile Phone

Spice Mobile Phones which is being promoted by the Spice Telecom Group has come up with a rather interesting phone the S1000

s1000.jpg

Features

  • Windows Mobile OS
  • Touchscreen
  • 2.0 Megapixel Camera
  • Wi-fi , Bluetooth, Infrared
  • miniSD Memory Expansion

Specifications

Network GSM 850/900/1800/1900
Connectivity Wi-fi, Bluetooth ,IrDA
Memory RAM 128 MBROM 64 MB

Expansion : Mini SD (512 MB in package)

Up to 2GB
Display 240×320 pixels ,65k TFT Touch screen with Handwriting Recognition
Camera 1600×1200 pixels, flash,zoom,video recording
Tones Polyphonic,MP3
Battery Talk time : upto 5 Hours Standby : 6 Days
Messaging SMS,MMS, Email
Operating System Microsoft® Windows Mobile™ 5.0 Pocket PC Edition
Software Word, Excel, PowerPoint Viewer, Java Enabled

PriceThe handset is Priced at Rs.34999

Sony Ericsson K810 Cyber-shot Cameraphone launched

The K810 is an upgraded version of the K790,K800 . Its  a true cyber-shot phone with a 3.2 Megapixel image stabilized Camera, Auto-focus,Xenon Flash. It also sports a secondary video-call camera in the front.Network is Tri-band with 3G.

Interestingly there’s no EDGE but there’s Bluetooth and USB .

No pricing information is out yet. But the phone must be available for purchase in by Q2 this year.

Memory Expansion is the form of Memory Stick Micro – it comes with a 128MB card in addition to the 64MB onboard.

sony_ericsson_k810.jpg

Highlights

  • Cam
  • Slim Form Factor
  • Looks
  • Lack of EDGE support
  • Pricing ( This phone might be expensive)

Zune phone is coming

Apple’s iPod was a winner. Microsoft Zune entered the market after iPod Nano and is still struggling hard for market share. Now after the official launch of Apple’s iPhone, who knows , Microsoft might be putting together the Zune Phone.

some info

  • might not run windows mobile
  • mostly sport zune/ xbox interface
  • might not be available until early next year

Folks !! iPhone is coming in June

via [crunchgear]

China leapfrogs to 4G

When India is still not ready to implement 3G Telephony, reports suggest that China has launched a 4G standard in Shanghai which might be the first fourth generation mobile network in the world. This network as developed as a part of the FuTURE project costing about 19.3 Million USD

3G is not available in mainland China even today and the country is expected to issue 3G licences later this year.

Should India dump 3G and go straight for 4G ?

Some  questions remain unanswered.

via zdnet

Sony Ericsson completes UIQ acquisition

uiqSony Ericsson completed the acquisition of the Swedish software company UIQ Technology AB from Symbian Ltd. UIQ Technology, which uses Symbian OS, licenses the UIQ user interface and application development platform to mobile phone vendors worldwide.

Sony Ericsson has already used UIQ 3.0 in the P990 smartphone, M600 messaging phone and W950 Walkman phone.

UIQ Technology will operate as a separate business subsidiary of Sony Ericsson.

via [UIQ]

Fring : Make free mobile VOIP Calls

Fring™ is a 3G mobile application that allows you to make free mobile calls and send instant messages (chat) to other fring users and PC based VoIP services such as Skype and Google Talk at no extra cost.
fring™ calls cost nothing extra because they utilize the 3G mobile internet connections and VoIP technologies that are already embedded in your mobile handset.

I was surprised to find that this Software works in India.The voice quality was really great for a normal GPRS connection.

Will post a video or images of our test soon.

fring™ works transparently over 3G networks while bypassing traditional mobile voice and sms text messaging services. This means that fring™ enables mobile-to-mobile calls, mobile-to-landline calls, and mobile-to-PC calls including integration into Skype and Google Talk services wherever you are.

Download

Symbian opens office in China

Symbian committed to long-term investment in China

Beijing, China – January 16 2007 – At an official ceremony in Beijing, Symbian Limited today announced an office opening in China to support the growing business development and market operations of its licensees and ecosystem partners in the region. Symbian develops and licenses Symbian OS™, the market-leading open operating system for advanced, data-enabled mobile phones known as smartphones to the world’s leading handset manufacturers.