India | Fone Arena

Nokia E61i Review

Nokia E61i is an enterprise phone loaded with features. It gives Blackberry handsets some serious competition.

Update : Nokia E71 is out and chk out the review

The handset fits snuggly in the hand (at least for me)

The design is impressive and has luxury touch added to it due to the metallic finish similar to the 8800

The phone is an upgraded version of the E61 which lacked a Camera and had a primitive browser. But the built of the E61i is much better than the E61. The keypad has undergone a transformation for the better.

Continue reading “Nokia E61i Review”

India beats USA to emerge as the second largest market for Nokia

Nokia India is now the second largest market for the Finnish Mobile phone Maker.

China continues to be the no.1 . USA was at no.1 and is now moved to no.2

Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo is in India for meeting some goverment officials .

Nokia Chennai’s Sriperumbudur plant has produced 60 Million handsets so far and about 50 % of them have been exported to over 58 countries

via [nokia press]

Nokia 6555 3G Clamshell

Nokia 6555 is the latest addition to Nokia’s range of phones.

It shares points with the Prism Collection and the 8600 Luna.

The 6555 is a 3G Clamshell .

Features

Analogue timepiece standby display
Quadband / 3G Network Enabled
1.3 Mega Pixel Camera
QVGA Display with 16 Million Colors
Bluetooth, micro USB

Price

It will be available next month for a price of about (200 Euros) Rs.12000

Nokia India brand image under attack

The brand image for Nokia India is under serious threat due to the recent Nokia battery recall which we had covered last week.

nokia-india.battery.jpg

The company even made a status check possible via SMS to 5555 with the BT <26 digit battery no>.

But panic struck people are thronging Nokia service centers and dealers to check the status of their battery.

About 4-5 % of phones in India are affected according to IntoMobile

Airtel, Hutch and other operators are co-operating with Nokia according to HT

Nokia CEO, Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo is going to be in India on Aug 22-24 . May be to have a idea of ground level situation in the country.

But He’s coming for meeting Top government officials.

via [IntoMobile]

Mobile Prices for August Updated

Hello Friends,

We have updated the mobile prices for August to help you purchase the handset of your choice.

The Highlights of this month are

We will be adding some new Brands to the list of phones and update their prices also.

Please post your comments and suggestions so that we can improve the site.

Nokia opens its design studio in India

Nokia has partnered with Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology, Bangalore, India for the first of its kind design studio in India.Nokia has picked India as a starting point for a series of satellite design studios it plans to establish in design hot spots around the world, signaling the increasing impact the country is having on the development of mobile phones. Established via a two year partnership with the Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology in Bangalore, it will give Nokia designers and India’s talented young designers the opportunity to work together on new design ideas for India and the global markets.

Alastair Curtis, Nokia’s Chief Designer and Ms. Geetha Narayanan, Founder & Director, Srishti has issued a joint press release today.

Looks like Nokia wants to do some serious research on designing handsets for the Indian user.

Feel happy the Indian Mobile User is given importance.

http://srishti.ac.in/

Sony Ericsson announces 8 new phones for India

Some great news for Sony Ericsson fans in India. Thanks to a market demands in India – product launch divides between rest of the world and India is getting shorter. Until a year back, new mobile handsets would atleast 2-3 months or even more to surface in India.

Last week Sony Ericsson announced 8 new phones for the Indian market

P1i – the business smartphone

Walkman phones

W580i

W910i

W960i

Cybershot phones

K810i

k850i

and under the general category

S500i and the T650i

All the phones are expected to be available with all mobile retailers across the country immediately.

Nokia N81 looks likely

The Device profile of yet another phone has been spotted on Nokia’s Developer forum. This time its the Nokia N81

Its a 8 GB slider phone and is a sequel to the N91 8 Gb edition.

Specs

8GB Internal Memory
Over 12 Hrs of Music Playback
3G, Video Calling
Dual Camera
Slide form factor

The phone if not a rumor is expected to be launched in Q4 2007

UAProfile

Hutch logo will be replaced by Vodafone soon

We had hinted earlier the Hutch might change colors again in What will Vodafone do with Hutch

Looks like Vodafone wants to spread its brand image in India soon. So its going to be the the Battle of the Reds (Vodafone vs Airtel) as Hutch and Airtel are the largest mobile operators in India. Hutch has always been seen as an elite brand in the country as it is present only in a few circles. Vodafone is known for its Premium services around the world. Vodafone cannot use the same global pricing strategy in India for sure due to the nature of the market here. Lets wait and watch Till then it may may bid good bye to the Hutch Pug

Motorola Z9 spotted

Motorola Z9 is the latest phone rumor . Its looks very similar to the RAZR 2 series

Early Specifications

3G
2 Mega pixel Camera with flash
MicroSD expansion

The unit looks like a early prototype unit and is and has AT&T branding [BGR]

Nokia 7500 Prism

7500 Nokia 7500 Prism is the latest fashion phone from Nokia.It was launched in China earlier this week.

Features

Series 40 platform
16 million colors TFT QVGA-display
2 Megapixel camera with flash
microSD expansion slot
Micro USB port and Bluetooth interface

Apple iPhone might be available in India soon

Reliance Retail is trying hard to launch India’s first Apple store.

No official confirmation from both sides yet but looks like talks are on.

Recently HCL and Wipro have started in their quest to bring the Iphone to India.

HCL is already a nationwide distributor for Nokia.

So its time to start saving for the iPhone

via [Fin Exp] and [TOI]

Sony Ericsson to set R&D unit for mobile phones in Chennai

After Nokia its Sony Ericsson which is going to be making handsets in this city of Chennai. The Indian mobile market is currently on a upward trend and there are so many handset brands available.

The Chennai research and development unit will be headed by Anders Grynge, who was previously based at the Sony Ericsson R&D centre in Sweden. The new facility will become part of Sony Ericsson’s global network of R&D units which currently comprises sites in China, Japan, Sweden, the Netherlands, the US and the UK.

via [Business Standard]

Press Release

New Delhi, India, 19 June 2007 – Sony Ericsson today announced that it is establishing a research and development unit for mobile phones in Chennai, India. The move follows closely on the company’s January announcement of sourcing local manufacture of phones in Chennai with EMS partners Flextronics and Foxconn; with a production target of 10 million units by 2009. Today’s announcement is part of Sony Ericsson’s global strategy to strengthen its capabilities within the world’s fastest growing telecommunications market and generate the growth required to reach a top three position in the global handset market.

Nokia 8600 Luna announced

The successor to the Nokia 8800 has finally arrived. Aimed to target the luxury phone market, the 8600 Luna has been named so after the Roman god of Moonlight. The body is made of glass and stainless steel similar to the Nokia 880 and the 8800 Sirocco.