Ritu | Fone Arena

By 2010 India to have 500 million mobile phone users

Nokia’s Indian arm has predicted that India’s rising mobile phone using population will touch the 500 million mark by 2010.

In what is clearly sunny news for the Telecom sector, out of 500 million, 60 million users will have mobile video capability and 100 million will prefer mobile music services.

D Shivakumar, vice president and managing director of Nokia India, while speaking at the Goafest Conclave predicted that half the subscribers will be accessing the Internet through mobile phones. Continue reading “By 2010 India to have 500 million mobile phone users”

Nokia launches much awaited N-Gage

Nokia finally launched the much awaited N-Gage mobile games service on April 7th 2008.

If you are a Nokia user, now can find, try and buy high-quality made-for-mobile games directly from your Nokia handset. Isn’t that awesome!!!

If you are an avid player, you can connect with other players through the N-Gage Arena community, meet friends, find others to play multiplayer games, discuss topics on the message boards and via live chat, and participate in tournaments and hosted events. WOW!

“With N-Gage we’re offering a seamless experience for people around the world to try and buy games that are engaging, accessible and have wide appeal,” said Jaakko Kaidesoja, vice president of games, Nokia. “We’re very excited to get this into the hands of our customers, because with them we will shape the future of mobile gaming.” Continue reading “Nokia launches much awaited N-Gage”

Nokia 5000, 2680 slide 7070 Prism and 1680 classic 4 new Economy handsets

Nokia released 4 new economy handsets at the “Growing Together 2008” conference held in Johannesburg.

The four new handsets include: the Nokia 5000 with a 1.3 mega pixels camera, which is claimed to be Nokia’s first camera phone at this price point (between Rs 3000 – Rs 5500); Nokia 2680 Slide; Nokia 7070 Prism; and Nokia 1680 Classic.

Continue reading “Nokia 5000, 2680 slide 7070 Prism and 1680 classic 4 new Economy handsets”

Windows Mobile 6.1 is here!

Microsoft launched the newest version of the Windows Mobile 6.1 Operating System for mobiles.
A new version of the Internet Explorer Mobile was also launched, which adds desktop-grade Web browsing to Windows Mobile phones.

Features of the new software: New timesaving features, easier phone navigation and management, and increased security safeguards.

“People want a single phone that’s flexible enough to meet their needs throughout their day, whether it’s connecting to work or your everyday life,” said Robbie Bach, president of the Entertainment and Devices Division at Microsoft. “The innovations we’ve added to our Windows Mobile software ultimately make it easier to manage your world.” Continue reading “Windows Mobile 6.1 is here!”

Videocon to bid for Motorala’s Mobile business

So screamed the headlines in almost all Business dailies.

The Videocon group is interested in buying Motorola’s handset business.

Motorola’s handset wing is struggling for survival, as was evident from their poor showing at all world events such as CES 2008 and MWC 2008.

“We have hired one of the world’s top three investment bankers who will convey our interest to buy out the mobile handset business of the US company,” Group Chairman Venugopal Dhoot told Business Standard.
According to Dhoot, Videocon is ready to launch its pan Indian GSM mobile operations at an investment of Rs 6000 crores.

“The Indian market for mobile phones is around 120 million units a year and we have our own retail chain stories (Next) that we can leverage. Also, we can transfer the manufacturing plant to India to leverage cheap labour in the country,” added Dhoot. Continue reading “Videocon to bid for Motorala’s Mobile business”

Bad news for BlackBerry users

The DoT (Department of Telecommunications) Government of India has issued a stern warning to telecom companies to put the required security system in place within 15 days or stop the services.

Officials in DoT said a directive had been issued to service providers to work with officials of Blackberry licensor Research in Motion (RIM) of Canada to provide fool-proof security system.

Continue reading “Bad news for BlackBerry users”

HTC TyTN II launched in India

HTC TyTN II A new launch..and a hi-fi handset by a pioneering company.

Phew! It’s a high-speed HSDPA handset with a built-in GPS for personal navigation and an adjustable screen angle….just what we needed? Surely!

Specs and features at a glance:

• 2.8-inch colour screen
• QWERTY keyboard
• Tri-band UMTS
• Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE
• 3.5G high speed internet
• HSDPA and WiFi 802.11b/g
• Word Mobile
• Excel Mobile
• PowerPoint Mobile
• Contacts, calendar
• Push e-mail, notes, tasks
• PDF viewer
• Business card scanner
• MapKing R12 Continue reading “HTC TyTN II launched in India”

Stylish LG KF300 flip phone launched

A Fashion phone that is bound to make waves in the mobile phone circuit, the new LG KF300 has good looks…although it does look like it is aimed exclusively at the ladies.

Specs and features at a glance:

• 2.2-inch QVGA display
• 1.3-inch TFT screen outside
• 128 x 160 pixels External screen
• 240 x 320 pixel 256K colours internal screen Continue reading “Stylish LG KF300 flip phone launched”

New mobile email solution – email@mobile – launched

email@mobile is the first solution of its kind which allows users to register for a new email ID through a mobile phone.
Adroit Claretdene Infotech announced the launch of a new mobile email solution – email@mobile on Monday with which worldwide mobile users can own a free mobile email ID which shall be accessed over any ordinary mobile phone capable of internet browsing.

Users can now use their existing mobile phone with WAP 1.2 and above browser to wirelessly access their new e-mail box as well as register for new email ID through their basic mobile phone.

Continue reading “New mobile email solution – email@mobile – launched”

The Transformer Concept phone

One look at it and you might be tempted to ask: Is this a phone? An instrument to communicate?

It has been designed by Shkinder Maxim, the phone works mainly as a cell phone but is also capable of taking photos/video and functions as a multimedia player, a projector, and even supports holographic imaging and 3D scanning.

Its called the Transformer Concept Phone Continue reading “The Transformer Concept phone”

Spice Braille phone to the rescue

Spice has launched a handset with a multi touch interface to help Blind consumers.

The handset available for a mere Rs 800 is a basic handset devoid of flashing lights, screens and complex menu systems.

Continue reading “Spice Braille phone to the rescue”

Google says Internet usage by Mobile phone users on the rise

Google claims that the company has noted a rise in Internet activity among mobile phone users in recent months since the company has introduced faster Web services on selected phone models.

Google has noted a sharp increase in Internet usage on phones from services it has begun offering in recent months on Blackberry e-mail phones, Nokia devices for multimedia picture and video creators and business professionals and the Apple iPhone.

“We have very much hit a watershed moment in terms of mobile Internet usage,” Matt Waddell, a product manager for Google Mobile, said in an interview. “We are seeing that mobile Internet use is in fact accelerating.” Continue reading “Google says Internet usage by Mobile phone users on the rise”

Nokia 8800 Sapphire Arte now in India!

Fonearena had covered the launch of Nokia’s premium handset, the 8800 Sapphire Arte. Read the story here.

This exclusive and extremely stylish handset will now be available in India at a neat price tag of Rs 62,829, indeed quite close to the figure we had guessed.

Read the full phone specifications by Fonearena here.

HTC handsets with CDMA technology via Reliance

Finally! Reliance has added two high end handsets to its repertoire making their line-up of handsets a little attractive for high end buyers.

HTC and Reliance Communications (RCom) together announced the launch of two new smart devices, the HTC P3000 and the HTC S720 through Reliance Communications network.

Peter Chou, chief executive officer and president of HTC, said, “The partnership with RCom further strengthens HTC’s commitment to serve the growing demands of Indian consumers. With the introduction of the HTC P3000 and HTC S720, customers will soon have access to these innovative CMDA devices.” Continue reading “HTC handsets with CDMA technology via Reliance”