Motorola Motoming A1600 GPS enabled Touchscreen Phone unveiled in India

Motorola has recently announced launching of its state-of-the-art GenNext GPS enabled mobile phone with touchscreen in India. The new sleek model of Motorola, named MOTOMING A 1600, is not the first of its kind in the Indian high-end mobile phone market. The model has to face a stiff competition to make its way from the existing players such as Apple’s iPhone, BlackBerry Bold and Samsung Omnia, etc. However, customized multimedia features vis-à-vis its cost effectiveness will give the MOTOMING A 1600 an upper hand in wooing fashion conscious Indian consumers.

Motorola’s new MOTOMING bears a price tag of Rs. 15,847 only, which is just half of the price of Apple’s iPhone. A 16GB Apple’s iPhone will cost you around Rs. 36,100 and you have to pay around Rs. 31,000 for its 8GB model. A huge difference in pricing indeed! BlackBerry Bold and Samsung Omnia too demand similar prices. Motorola, the American mobile phone maker, has truly established a potential business challenge in the fields of touchscreen mobile phones in India by keeping price of MOTOMING A 1600 well within reach of middle-class Indians without compromising with any of the high-end features.

The high-memory capacity Motorola model MOTOMING A 1600 is laced with bundle of attractive user-friendly features, which include high precision GPS service (pre-loaded with navigational data of 30 major cities), dazzling multimedia features, Linux-based 3.2 mega pixel camera with 8X zoom supporting multiple capture modes, transparent flip cover, highly sensitive and instantaneous responsive touchscreen, integration with some features of MapmyIndia, 1GB MicroSD card with expandable memory of up to 4GB and voice-guided navigation in select areas etc.

Talking about the necessity of offering one more mobile phone in the Indian market, Lloyd Mathias of Motorola Mobile Devices India and South West Asia said, “MOTOMING A 1600, is the first GPS-enabled mobile phone. The navigation service is free with no activation charges, independent of mobile networks and can be used even without inserting the SIM card”. The satellite based GPS of MOTOMING A 1600 will offer you a rare opportunity of enjoying free GPS navigation for lifetime.

More About Motoming A1600 …
The MOTOMING A1600 is powerful business devices armed with Linux, GPS, touchscreen and a bunch of other goodies.The Motorola MING A1600 should support English as well as Chinese, so you can expect to see a small number coming into Europe and the US as special imports.
The Motorola MING A1600 flaunts a 2.4-inch 262K color TFT display with a QVGA resolution. It’s touchscreen and there is also a stylus to help you get around.

Technical Specifications:
* 2.4″ 262K color TFT display
* touchscreen and stylus
* Linux OS
* quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support
* 3MP camera with continuous autofocus
* microSD card slot (up to 4GB)
* Bluetooth (A2DP)
* microUSB port
* FM radio
* built-in GPS receiver

Apple MacBooks with Nvidia chips put a threat to Intel inside

Apple has recently unleashed its superior notebooks in the MacBook range; but the most dramatic and challenging issue on the new release is that they have used high-efficiency Nvidia graphic chips to take on the Intel chips. Apple has adopted this revolutionary new GPU for its incredible new Apple MacBook, MacBook Pro, and MacBook Air. Apple and NVIDIA have worked together to harness the massive parallel processing power of NVIDIA GPUs to deliver a rich visual experience for consumers on the go.

"The NVIDIA GeForce 9400M architecture delivers an ideal combination of visual computing horsepower and energy efficiency in a single, highly-integrated package that we're using to bring a whole new level of graphics performance to our MacBook users," said David Moody, Apple's vice president of Worldwide Mac Product Marketing.

With the great success and huge market response to the new MacBooks released by Apple, it seems that the long monopoly of Intel graphic cards is likely to face a real threat in the coming days. At least, now people will have better option in front of them deciding true value for their money.

A market survey has predicted that the newly introduced Nvidia GeForce 9400M 3D graphic chipsets have the potential to grab at least 20% market share in the Intel CPU-based notebook arena. Apple is not the only one, first one of course, to use Nvidia’s GeForce 9400M chipset in their notebooks, several other global notebook makers such as Acer, Asustek Computer, Dell, and Hewlett-Packard (HP), etc. are also planning seriously to include the dazzling chipset in their products to enhance their graphics capability. MCP79-based notebooks of these celebrated vendors are the immediate products that will use Nvidia GeForce 9400M after the Apple’s MacBook series.

About the NVIDIA GeForce 9400M GPU:-

The NVIDIA GeForce 9400M is a single chip, high performance, highly integrated design that is ideal for notebooks and smaller computing devices. It features 16 parallel processing cores that deliver a whopping 54 GFLOPs of processing power, making it the most powerful integrated GPU on the market today. It also delivers up to 5x faster graphics performance than Intel Centrino 2, and long-lasting battery power, allowing consumers to watch a complete, full-length HD movie on a single charge.

AMD unleashes ATI Radeon HD 4830 Graphics Card

AMD has recently unleashed a high performance less expensive ATI Radeon HD 4830 graphics card, raising the performance bar for graphics cards priced at less than $150 (USD) and presenting gamers with even more affordable access to award-winning ATI Radeon HD 4800 series performance. Like all ATI Radeon HD 4800 series products, the new offering delivers class-leading game performance and superior HD multimedia capabilities, as well support for the latest DirectX 10.1 games soon to be released for the holiday season.

The ATI Radeon HD 4830 graphics card delivers outstanding value to gamers. With the launch of this card, even the most intimidating games that were previously unplayable on a graphics card selling for less than $150 can now be enjoyed at playable frame rates, even when using image enhancements such as anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering. For those gamers looking to get even more performance out of their gaming rigs, ATI Radeon HD 4830 cards support ATI CrossFireX technology allowing gamers to combine as many as four cards in one PC.

More than just a gaming card, the ATI Radeon HD 4830 offers up exceptional HD multimedia performance as well. All ATI Radeon HD 4800 series cards allow users to enjoy HD digital content with uncompromising visual fidelity while helping to enhance the definition and clarity of lower resolution visual media. AMD’s second generation Unified Video Decoder (UVD 2.0) ensures users experience smooth HD video playback, and sharp, crisp images and vibrant colors through ATI Avivo HD technology. Combined with capabilities like picture-in-picture, and support for the latest HD audio technologies like 7.1 surround sound, the ATI Radeon HD 4830 graphics card serves up an impressive cinema-quality home entertainment experience.

The ATI Radeon HD 4830 graphics card is supported by a dozen add-in-board companies offering custom designs of the products. Partners include ASUS, Club 3D, Diamond Multimedia, Force3D, GECUBE, GIGABYTE, HIS (Hightech Information Systems), Jetway, MSI, Palit Multimedia, PowerColor, SAPPHIRE Technology and VisionTek.

“The $100-$150 graphics card price band represents the ‘sweet spot’ of the desktop PC graphics market where the consumer gets the most graphics performance per dollar spent,” said Dean McCarron, founder and principal, Mercury Research. “This is where the latest graphics technologies reach the mainstream PC audience, and this is the level that most PC games target.”

Expressing sheer joy and happiness on the new product launch, Rick Bergman, senior VP and general manager of AMD’s Graphics Products Group said, “The ATI Radeon HD 4830 graphics card is another example of how AMD’s scalable design strategy is paying off. With a single chip, we have been able to quickly and efficiently bring to market graphics card designs ranging from below $150 through $549 SEP, with leading performance in every segment. The ATI Radeon HD 4830 continues that great trend, providing tremendous value to gamers for less than $150.”

MOTOROKR EM30 Arrives to India

Motorola has recently announced launching of it’s trendy mobile handset MOTOROKR EM30. The device is a wonderful blend of mobile phone and music player. The highly customized tech gadget will certainly add colors to the festival of light in the Indian sub-continent.

The Motorola ROKR EM30 is Motorola’s latest addition to its ROKR series. Being focused towards music, with a morphing ModeShift keypad that changes from numbers to music playback keys when the music player is activated makes it a perfect choice for music lovers who prefer music on the go.

Equipped with state-of-the-art ModeShift technology, the candy bar MOTOROKR EM30 provides an excellent mobile interface to switch between sensuous talking and enjoying aesthetic music. By simply touching a button, you will be able to quickly move from talk to text1. Whether you are in music mode or phone mode, that will be indicated by appropriate colorful illumination of your conspicuous keypad i.e. red and brilliant blue keypad appearances for music mode and phone mode respectively.

With the availability of in-built 3D stereo sound compatible advanced audio equalizers, the new Motorola mobile phone becomes a splendid option for enjoying music on move in most vivacious way. An optional microSD card will allow you to enhance the phone’s 27 MB on-board memory up to 8 GB. Few momentous features of the new MOTOROKR mobile phone include a 2MP camera with 8X zoom for recording vibrant videos along with high-quality images, integration with Windows Media Player 11 to allow seamless transfer of music from computer to the ROKR EM30, FM radio with Radio Data System technology, text to speech recognition, 3.5mm stereo headset jack, and support for crystal talk technology, etc. among others.

At one moment ROKR EM30 is a mobile phone; the next, it transforms into your favorite music player. It uses Motorola’s innovative ModeShift technology to illuminate the keyboard- red keys illuminate in music mode and a brilliant blue keypad appears in phone mode—taking users from talk to text1 to complete music immersion with a touch of a button.

With colorful cues that let users know exactly which mode they are in, the ROKR EM30 connects the sounds that matter most: family, friends and favorite artists. In addition to the basics in talking and texting, ROKR EM30 is loaded with other great features for music lovers too, including high-fidelity audio and seconds-fast MP3 downloads1-3 for listening to their favorite tunes. Consumers will know the artist and song playing on the FM radio with Radio Data System (RDS)4 technology. The 3.5mm stereo headset jack provides consumers the flexibility to use the headset of their choice with ROKR EM30. Compatibility with Windows Media® Player 11 provides the freedom to download music from more than 200 online music stores worldwide.

The MOTOROKR EM30 comes in two elegant colors: cherry red and silver. The handset is priced at Rs 8,959.

Nokia announces CDMA phone Nokia 2228

Nokia has recently announced launching a CDMA mobile phone, Nokia 2228. The stylish Nokia CDMA phone offering several messaging modes is expected to hit the market before Q4 of 2008. The 12 mm unique monoblock device will be an ultra-lightweight compact device giving an innovative sagacity to its style-conscious users.

The 1.3 mega pixel camera-phone Nokia 2228 supports all most all types of common digital file formats in order to make your phoning, gaming, imaging, and messaging experiences absolutely enjoyable and seamless. An advanced media player coupled with a built-in hands free speaker and a speaker dependent voice-recognition trait will make your Nokia 2228 a true entertainment companion.

A MicroUSB will allow the new Nokia CDMA slim phone to be connected with your PC and the phone will act as a modem for a fast Internet access. With around 20-25 MB of functional storage memory, you will be able to use the phone for all your practical purposes. An arresting flash will notify you for all your incoming calls, while all your waiting messaging will be indicated by LED flashes in interval. Other attractive features of Nokia 2228 include a 2.5 mm headset jack, FM radio, and a powerful battery with 3.5 hours talk-time and up to ten days of stand-by time. Price of the phone is not yet disclosed.

Apple MacBooks unveiled in India

One of the most celebrated digital leaders of the world, Apple has recently landed in Mumbai, India with their superior MacBook models initiating new effervescent waves in the fields of high-end digital world. The new notebooks from Apple are believed to be of thinnest and lightest, and of course not with the least price tags.

MacBooks were unveiled in India just after a week they were launched in US. The product, made out of aluminum frames, is available in 7 models under 3 different product categories, which include MacBook, MacBookPro and MacBook Air categories. Most exciting feature of these new models of MacBook notebooks is that they are highly customized for seamless video editing works. Thrilling gaming experience coupled with awesome entertainment options forms integral part of these high-end costly notebooks.

Powered with Intel’s Core 2 Duo processor chips, Apple’s MacBooks become first users of latest GeForce 9400M 3-D processor. Speeds of these classic notebooks vary from 2 GHz to 2.5 GHz. NVIDIA’s innovative graphics-centric integrated chips inside the ‘unibody’ ultra-light aluminum chassis make these machines unique and creditable.

You will find these varying-cost smart MacBooks in different sizes, such as 13.3 inches, 15.4 inches, and 17 inches under the price tags from Rs. 79,700 to Rs. 1.62 lakh. Touch pad and light-adjusting keyboards made available with these next-generation notebooks represent Apple’s innovative efforts towards bringing user-friendly machines. Expressing happiness on the new launch, Angeline Tan, Apple’s Product Marketing Manager for Portables and Wireless (Asia Pac), said, “they are designed to be as beautiful inside as they are outside.” She also endorsed, “It is specifically for the professionals working in the area of graphics, gaming, designing software and programs.”

Spice Mobiles launches Spice S-580

Spice Mobiles has announced a new handset Spice S-580. Apparently, the unique feature of this handset is the Dazzle Ring-tone that plays a fresh ring tone with every incoming call. Actually,the phone shuffles and picks a ring tone for every call from its list of 10 user-selected ring tones.

The Spice S-580 phone integrates an MP3 player, FM recording, playback, expandable memory up to 2 GB, one-touch torch light, mobile tracker and GPRS and WAP functions. With this musical handset SMS can be scheduled by typing the message with the date and time of delivery and the message reaches its destination accordingly.

Besides, the call blacklist facility on the handset allows users to bar unwanted calls. The candy bar phone comes with a chess design keypad and is priced at MRP of Rs. 2249.

Nokia launches super sleek N85

Nokia has recently launched super sleek mobile model N85 in the Indian market is highly customized to offer complete entertainment experience. Especially, the model offers unique gaming experience against a price tag of Rs. 27299. Nokia N85 slider phone is an upgrade to Nokia N81 and the Nokia N79, which is a minor update to the Nokia N78.

Feature-rich Nokia N85 offers seamless gaming option in addition to other striking specialties such as 3D stereo speakers, 20x digital zoom, 2x digital video zoom, VGA video capturing capabilities, and dedicated camera key, etc. In order to ensure enhanced gaming experience, the specially designed exotic Nokia handset N85 supports all most all multimedia file formats such as AAC, AVC/H.264, eAAC, eAAC+, Flash Video, H.263/3GPP, MP3, MPEG4, RV, WMA, and WMV etc.

The Dual-slider Mobile Phone Nokia N85 will present you with 15 pre-downloaded N-Gage games that are popularly known as try-and-buy made-for-mobile games. Besides, you will also receive a voucher offering a full-game license. The new Nokia mobile model comes with various user-friendly external attachments, such as 3.5 mm AV connector, Bluetooth, high-speed USB 2.0, and micro-USB, etc. Nokia XpressShare and Nokia XpressTransfer that form integral parts of N85 will just mesmerize your mobile experience.

Expressing happiness on the new launch, Nokia India’s Marketing Director Devinder Kishore said, “The Nokia N85 was created to be more than the sum of its parts, offering a complete mobile entertainment package. Combined with landscape gaming and dedicated gaming keys for additional comfort, the Nokia N85 breaks the boundaries of mobile gameplay.”

Elegant N85 has a flamboyant 2.6 inch OLED screen, is just 128 gms in weight. It offers super 16.7 million colours amidst QVGA resolution of 320×240 pixels. Carl Zeiss optics of the 5 mega pixel in-built phone-camera will ensure highly defined mobile images. Few other vital characteristics of N85 include 30 hours of active battery life, location tagging capabilities, great finish, Wi-Fi connectivity, 74 MB internal memory extendable upto 8 GB with 8 GB microSD, in-built FM transmitter, and 3.5G HSDPA, etc.

India launches Chandrayaan-1 successfully

PSLV-C11 carrying India's first unmanned moon spacecraft Chandrayaan-1 lifted off successfully from ISRO's Satish Dhawan Space Centre today.

At the end of the 49-hour countdown, the 44.4 meter tall four-stage PSLV-C11 blasted off from the second launch pad catapulting the country into the select club that have sent missions to the moon, after the US, former Soviet Union, European Space Agency, China and Japan.

Carrying aloft the lunar orbiter Chandrayaan, the rocket, Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV C11) lifted off from the second launchpad of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre here and broke through the scudding cloud cover at 6.22 a.m., exactly on schedule.

Trailing its characteristic orange plume, the 44-metre-tall 316-tonne PSLV started to move into its designated orbit within minutes, to sling Chandrayaan into geostationary transfer orbit (GTO), as scientists of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) cheered at this spaceport off the Andhra Pradesh coast, 80 km north of Chennai.

From the GTO the satellite's onboard liquid apogee motor (LAM) will be fired to take it to the lunar orbit - 387,000 km from earth - around Nov 8.

Once the 1,380-kg Chandrayaan gets near the moon its speed will be reduced to enable the gravity of the moon to capture it into an elliptical orbit.

At the earliest possible opportunity Chandrayaan will drop its Moon Impact Probe (MIP) which will land on the moon's soil carrying India's flag, among many scientific instruments. After that, the spacecraft will also activate its cameras and other instruments on board.

Chandrayaan will orbit the moon for two years. It carries 11 experimental payloads, five Indian and six from the European Space Agency (3), the US (2) and Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (1).

At liftoff, PSLV C11 weighed 22 tonnes more than earlier PSLV models, as its six strap-on motors were 3.5 metres bigger at 13.5 metre and the rocket carried 12 tonnes of solid propellant as against the usual 9 tonnes.

India to build Astronaut Training Centre

India plans to build a new satellite launch pad and a major training facility for astronauts as it proposed to undertake a manned space mission by 2015. The cost for setting up the launch pad will be around Rs 600 crore.

A major national facility for training astronauts will be established at Bangalore, Indian Space research Organisation Chairman G Madhavan Nair told. It would be the third launch pad in the Sriharikota spaceport on the east-coast in Andhra Pradesh, some 100 kms north of Chennai. Nair said the manned mission has been approved by the Space Commission, and a formal government nod is expected in the next few months.

The Technologically-challenging manned mission (human space flight) envisages development of a fully autonomous manned space vehicle to carry crew (two members) to low earth orbit and their safe return to earth, development of critical/new technologies for crew module, service module, launch escape system, establishment of long-term facilities and identifying detailed elements required for undertaking the venture. "Basically, technology elements required for development of habitable module is the top-most priority", Nair, also Secretary in the Department of Space, said.

"Technology elements required for improving the reliability of launch systems have been identified.Crew escape and mission management system has to be in place," he said.

In 2006, ISRO said the preliminary estimated cost for the manned space mission was Rs 10,000 crore spread over a period of eight years.

Chandrayaan-1 to be launched tomorrow

If things go as planned, India's unmanned moon spacecraft - Chandrayaan-1 - embarks on a two-year mission tomorrow seeking to throw more light on earth's only natural satellite. Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) spokesman S Satish said the sky is overcast and there are heavy rains, but it is not a cause for worry.

A delay will happen only in case of a cyclone or lightning. Rains will not hamper the spacecraft's lift off, ISRO sources said.

"Only cyclone-related incidents and lightning could force a delay," the sources said. The lift-off is slated around 0620 hours on board indigenously-built rocket, PSLV-C11, from the spaceport of Sriharikota on the east coast in Andhra Pradesh, some 100 kms north of Chennai.

The event would mark India's entry into select band of lunar explorers - the European Space Agency (ESA), Japan, China, the US and Russia which have undertaken moon missions.

"Basically, this (Chandrayaan-1) is meant for a comprehensive mapping of the lunar surface," ISRO Chairman G Madhavan Nair said. "Earlier missions (by others) focused on specific regions or looked at one aspect or other only.

It's for the first time (in the world) that we will have the entire lunar surface mapped up." Chandrayaan-1 is seen by some analysis as a move by India to catch up with Asian rivals China and Japan, and not lag behind in the race for moon.

Coupled with the "pride factor", Chandrayaan-1 would signal India's rising international stature, seen as a reflection of its space prowess as well as build on its technological capability to undertake inter-planetary missions in the coming years.

Epson launches Ultra Portable Projectors

Epson has launched two Ultra Portable Multimedia Projectors in the Indian market.

The projectors weigh 1.8 kg and have 3,000 lumens of brightness. They can achieve a contrast ratio up to 2000:1. They have a special wireless USB connection that can be used to connect the laptop to projector. After setting up the connection once the settings are detected automatically.

The projector has many high end facilities. Now you can use one notebook to connect to four different projectors at the same time. The power point shows can be run from the projector itself. The Epson Twin Optimized Reflection Lamp (E-TORL) technology eliminates light leakage and enables clear images. It also assists in a longer lamp life of almost 4,000 hours, which is a key issue in projectors and reduces energy costs.

The EB-1725 and EB-1735W projectors have been priced at around Rs. 92 thousands and Rs. 1 Lakh respectively.

Airtel partners with Infosys

Bharti Airtel has recently launched DTH service and this seem to be moving towards becoming a big success. Bharti has announced a partnership with Infosys Technologies Limited to bring value added services to the customers.

Airtel’s digital TV technology will combine with the Convergence Platform developed by Infosys to bring interactive content to the homes. This will include a host of services like iCity that will include local city information, iNet to include internet access, Astrology, booking of movie tickets and many more services. While some services have already commenced operations others are likely to be launched very soon.

A commerce application called tPortal has also been developed by Infosys. Mr. Atul Bindal, President - Telemedia Services, Bharti Airtel said, “Airtel is delighted to partner with Infosys to offer cutting-edge interactive applications on Airtel digital TV - its DTH TV service. This is in line with Airtel’s partnership approach to innovation and its commitment to deliver the best in world technology to its customers. With this partnership, Airtel aims to revolutionize the TV-viewing experience and usher in the future of television in the country.”

Dell to open retail stores in India

Dell will open its first ever stores in New Delhi and Coimbatore in India shortly. The aim is to sell the company’s consumer range of products like Inspiron, Studio and XPS.This move was taken following a tie-up with Tata Croma to expand its retail opportunities throughout India.

According to Girish Mehta, director of consumer marketing for Dell India, this step marks an important next step in the roll out of the company’s multi-channel model in India, and supports their brand tagline.He further added that Dell’s unique channel model makes it possible for the customers to see the products on the retail shelves and then place an order for the preferred model, with the ability to customise the looks and configuration of the unit.

“The Exclusive Dell Store is a step towards enhancing the overall purchase experience for consumers in India. We have rapidly increased our presence in the consumer market here with new products and by expanding our reach. With the launch of Dell exclusive stores, we offer our customers the touch & feel for Dell branded products within a unique shopping experience,” observed Mr. Mahesh Bhalla, Director – Consumer Sales, Dell India.

Intel launches Atom processor

Intel has launched the Intel Atom Processor N270 which would power an array of small-sized devices, from simple point-of-sale (POS) terminals to in-vehicle infotainment systems, digital signage, digital security systems and miniature medical patient monitoring systems. It is releasing some reference designs for development of local platforms based in Intel architecture.

The embedded hand held appliance reference design was targeted at portable appliances for areas, including sales force automation, financial inclusion, inventory management and general point-of-services applications in restaurants and airports.

The processor measures less than a 25-paisa coin in size and consumes less than 2.5 watt of power. R Ravichandran, Director (Sales), Intel South Asia informed that the single core processor is validated with Mobile Intel 945GSE Express chipset. He further added that there was tremendous opportunity for these smart solutions in the market as the number of Internet-connected devices reaches into billions, performance expectations rise and device size shrink.

LG launches LG Prada II

Following the success of the Prada handset, LG Electronics has launched LG Prada II. The LG Prada II will feature a QWERTY keyboard and the thin, silver keyboard slides out from the left and sports a metallic feel.

The phone comes with 3G compatibility with video calling, 7.2Mbps HSDPA, full HTML browser, 5 megapixel camera with Schneider-Kreuznach certified lens, video calling and WiFi accessibility. There’s microSD card-based storage and the 3in display has a resolution of 400 x 240 pixels. The display is a full touchscreen and it supports MPEG-4, H.263, and H.264 formats, and music formats like AAC, MP3, WMA, and Real Audio.

The new Prada II will reportedly be available at a starting price of 600 Euros, and will be available in UK, France, Italy, Spain, Germany and the Netherlands via major mobile dealership by the end of the year.

It’s said that LG Prada is the first phone to utilize full touch screen interface, not iPhone. The LG Prada II is expected to compete head to head with iPhone II aka 3G iPhone.

Chinese mobiles to be blocked in India

The Department of Telecom decided to block all calls made from grey market Chinese-manufactured handsets. Besides, the Govt. has instructed the mobile operators not to sell phones with fake IMEI (Fake phone ID) numbers. There is an estimated 1.6 crore Chinese handset owners in India.

The MD of Nokia India, Devinder Kishore explained, “The Department of Telecom has made this move after security agencies found that mobile phones used by terrorists in the recent blasts did not have valid IMEI numbers.”

A genuine IMEI number is registered with a GSM service provider and it facilitates blocking, monitoring and tracing. The terrorists use handsets without IMEI number or one with fake IMEI in order to avoid being caught.

Mobile makers ready to launch wide variety of touch phones

Cell phone manufacturers are ready to launch a wide variety of touch phones to popularize them. The high price range of the iphones motivated the manufacturers to introduce more and more models of touch phone.

Nokia is coming up with its first touch phone Nokia 5800 in November this year. Nokia India MD D Shivakumar said, “We do not have any touch phone in the market currently, but we have announced the launch of Nokia 5800 in November this year.”

Meridian Mobiles CEO Rajiv Khanna said, “The market is now consciously moving to full touch-screen phones and small-screen models are fast being replaced by large-screen ones.” Meridian Mobile is reportedly planning to launch six touch phones in the range of Rs 8,000-12,000 range within this year. But HTC mobiles is still unbeatable as 11 out of the 13 HTC mobiles are touch phones.

LG Mobile has four touch phones in the market in the Rs 10,000-20,000 range and it reportedly plans to introduce two more in December this year. Motorola currently has three touch phones in the market which are priced in the Rs 7,900- 30,500 range. It also plans to launch a few more touch phones within this year.

RIM announces BlackBerry Storm

The Canadian manufacturer of BlackBerry, Research In Motion (RIM) has launched BlackBerry Storm and this is the first ever full touch-screen phone from RIM. The smartphone, the Blackberry Storm, will be available later this year through Verizon Wireless in the United States and Vodafone in Australia, Europe, India and New Zealand, the Canadian company said.

The Storm resembles the iPhone but its color touch screen differs in that it is "clickable" - the screen depresses slightly when touched like a typewriter key.

RIM president Mike Lazaridis described the touch screen as a "truly tactile touch interface" which "solves the longstanding problem associated with typing on traditional touch-screens".

Users navigate on the touch-screen by using their finger like a cursor, scrolling, highlighting, panning and zooming and clicking on selections.

It also features a media player, a 3.2-megapixel camera, a video camera and Global Positioning System (GPS) capability along with Blackberry Maps.

Mike Lazaridis, RIM’s president and co-CEO said, “We are proud to introduce the first touch-screen based BlackBerry smartphone together with Verizon Wireless and Vodafone. The BlackBerry Storm is a revolutionary touch-screen smartphone that meets both the communications and multimedia needs of customers and solves the longstanding problem associated with typing on traditional touch-screens. Consumers and business customers alike will appreciate this unique combination of a large and vibrant screen with a truly tactile touch interface.”

500 GB hard drive in Acer notebooks

Acer will incorporate 5400.6 hard drive with 500 GB storage capacity in its notebook. The hard drive has been launched by seagate and it reportedly has a data transfer rate of 87 Megabytes/second. This 2.5-inch 5400-rpm drive features Perpendicular Magnetic Recording technology, a Serial ATA 3GB/second interface, and capacities of 500GB, 320GB, 250GB, 160GB and 120GB with 8MB of cache.

Campbell Kan, vice president, mobile computing business unit, Acer said, “Acer mobile PC customers want notebooks that deliver state-of-the-art capabilities to meet their needs for capacity, performance and durability. Seagate’s new 500GB Momentus hard drive enables Acer to deliver the richest multimedia experience and on-the-go robustness available for notebook computers.”

BanSeng Teh, vice president and managing director, Seagate Asia Pacific said, “We are pleased that Acer is delivering cutting-edge mobile computers with 500GB notebook hard drives from Seagate, with more personal computer makers to follow.Seagate continues to advance hard drive capacity, speed and durability, and our latest 500GB 2.5-inch drives and 1.5 Terabyte 3.5-inch drives provide the highest capacities on the planet to meet the growing need to create, store, share and protect digital content.”

Nokia signed Priyanka Chopra as Brand Ambassador

After having lent her signature to a million brands worldwide, Priyanka Chopra has now been signed to be the Brand Ambassador for Nokia, world's largest mobile phone maker. Speaking about Priyanka's association with the brand, Nokia's spokesperson said that they selected Priyanka in order to create a deeper connect with its young and style-savvy consumers.

The tagline of the new campaign featuring Priyanka Chopra will be ‘It’s not just a phone, it’s who we are’. The advertising campaign will be on air from next week. Devinder Kishore, Director-Marketing, Nokia India said, “Today’s mobile phones have transcended from their functional use and become style statements. Nokia as a brand has led this movement and it is constantly evaluating new and interesting shapes, styles and material combined with relevant features to create products that specifically meet consumer’s lifestyle needs across price points.”

The advertising campaign will be directed by the well-known fashion photographer and international director, Jonathan Lennard and it will be developed by the creative agency Wieden and Kennedy. Priyanka Chopra is equally excited to endorse this product and she expressed joy over her association with Nokia.

Sony announces 80 GB PS3

Sony has announced the launch of 80 GB PS3 for the festive season. The new PS3 will be launched on 30 October. The new system with a DualShock3 wireless controller will be available in Clear Black, Ceramic White and Satin Silver colors.

A new limited edition of the GRAN TURISMOS 5 Prologue Spec III will also be bundled up with the new PS3. The game is developed by Polyphony Digital and is published by SCE.

LittleBigPlanet for PS3 will also be released on 30 October. The Dream Box will consist of an 80 GB PS3 with the LittleBigPlanet game and DualShock wireless controllers. The system is likely to be priced at Rs 22,000.

Hardcore gamers can look for some good fun in this festive season.

Ajanta to launch Oreva- the cheapest E-Car from India

Ajanta is well known for the clocks and various types of electronic goods. Its products are sold under the brand name Orpat. The company has also been successful in launching its e-bikes manufactured at its facility at Morbi in Rajkot. The company has now come out with a demo E-Car titled Oreva.

The decision to move the Nano project to Gujarat has already created a lot of excitement. The announcement of this car has further increased the expectations of the people of Gujarat. The state will become a leader in automobile industry should both the projects succeed. Gujarat has an excellent track record of corporate success.

Rakesh Nathwani, National Marketing Head of Oreva Group said “We don’t have any competition with ‘Nano‘. This is our future product as we have seen electric bikes as our future products. We see electric cars also as future products for India and we are working on it. The research and development is going on. This car will go on battery and it will be a completely Indian made battery operated car,”.

He did not give out the price of its new car. It is expected that the car is likely to be sold at about Rs 85000. That will be some competition for Nano.

Ajanta to challenge Nano with electric car

Nokia announces touchscreen 5800 XpressMusic

Nokia finally announced their long-awaited Nokia 5800 XpressMusic touchscreen phone. It isn't Nokia's first touchscreen device, but because of the gap between models then it is effectively Nokia's first current-generation touchscreen phone.

The 5800 introduces a lot of new features with the upgraded version of the Symbian S60 operating system, many of which will find their way into other Nokia handsets.

The 5800 XpressMusic is touted to be the counterpart of Apple iphone. The phone will reportedly be released in seven countries before Christmas and the contry list includes Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Russia, Spain, Taiwan and the United Arab Emirates.

The Nokia 5800 will feature a 3.2 Megapixel camera along with Carl Zeiss lens as well as 8GB internal memory, a virtual QWERTY keyboard a graphic equaliser, and built-in surround sound stereo speakers.

Nokia’s touchscreen phone will be launched in India in the third week of November and supposedly will cost around Rs 20,000. Nokia India managing director D Shivakumar said, “What iPhone did was to bring the touch element to a multi-media converged device. Since we are already the leader in converged devices in India, Nokia 5800 will be a revolutionary launch from our stable.”

The Nokia 5800 XpressMusic looks to be a very attractive device, and it's pretty good value too.

Bharti Airtel launches DTH Satellite TV service in India

Bharti Airtel has launched its direct-to-home (DTH) Satellite TV services in India from Thursday. The service is expected to be available to customers through 21,000 retail locations in various cities across India.

The service has MPEG4 standard video with DVB S2 technology and will cover 62 cities in first phase. Airtel also claims to have a 20 percent larger dish antenna for better performance during rains.

It also promises to offer exclusive content such as World space Radio, interactive applications such as iMatinee to book cinema tickets, iTravel to browse and book travel packages, iShop for shopping on TV, iCity to get city’s information and Widgets which update the latest stock news. It also features audio gain control to ensure uniform audio levels across all channels and an on-screen account meter and low battery indicator.

According to sources, it has a team of 800 professionally-trained service engineers and 24×7 customer care representatives. Mr. Manoj Kohli, CEO and Jt. MD, Bharti Airtel, remarked, “Today we are starting a new chapter in our journey, one that adds a new dimension to our existing product portfolio and is a major step towards transforming Airtel from just a telecom brand to a lifestyle enabler. The launch of Airtel digital TV is the culmination of our three screens strategy, which is to be present across mobile phone, computer and TV screens.”

Gadget Advisor can be helpful

Every day we come to see new technical products which include hardware, software and other related items. Gadget Advisor is a site which enlists and talks about useful tech products. It basically talks and deals about services like network media player, universal remote control and other services of wider interest. Very specific guidelines can be found about online backup services.

Gadget Advisor is rapidly growing and is very handy while one is looking for latest products especially cool items.

ISRO to launch a manned mission to moon

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is reportedly planning for a manned mission to the moon in 2014. The proposal is in its initial stage and has not been approved yet. The proposed budget for this manned mission is estimated to be around Rs 1,000 crore.

The proposal already got cleared by the Space Commission and subsequently it was submitted to the government. A high-powered committee is perusing the proposal and the ISRO is awaiting the verdict which is likely to be given in next two months. But, the process of selecting the team alreday started. MC Dathan, director, Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC), Sriharikota Range informed, “Our chairman is very keen on the project getting approval. He has asked us to come out with complete proposals internally.”

ISRO is planning to use Geo-Synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) for the manned mission as Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) is not capable of launching a load of over 1,500 kg. The organisation is aiming to develop a full-fledged training facility for the crew in Bangalore even though the Indian Air Force is capable to do so. Besides, there are plans for building a launch pad with facilities for entry into the human lunar space capsule and an escape chute for the crew if anything goes awry. The other two existing launch pads are not deemed fit for this purpose.

Meanwhile, the unmanned mission, named Chandrayaan-I, is expected to be launched between 6.20 am and 6.35 am on October 22 from southern India. The 1.5-ton spacecraft which is devised to document the moon’s surface and chemical characteristics while creating a three-dimensional topographic map, will take approximately eight days to travel about 240,000 miles before reaching its final orbit 60 miles above the surface of the Moon.

Bharti Airtel brings Canada-India closer

In an attempt to bring 1.5 million non resident Indians (NRIs) and students in Canada closer to their friends and families in India, Bharti Airtel Ltd. launched its virtual calling card service “Airtel CallHome” in Canada. Airtel has previously launched this calling card service in the US in the last quarter of 2006 and in UK and Singapore in August and September 2008, respectively.

The calls to India will cost 5.9 cents per minute. With Airtel’s inaugural offer of 50% free talk time the cost per minute will come further down to 3.9 cents. The “Airtel CallHome” service is offered for prepaid charges which will be accepted through a credit card on the Airtel Web portal through a secure payment gateway.

It was revealed that according to industry estimates, the total outgoing traffic to India from Canada is around 18 crore minutes per month, of which 6 crore minutes are utilized through calling cards.

David Nishball, President, Enterprise Services, Bharti Airtel Ltd., said, “We are excited to launch the Airtel CallHome service in Canada after our successful foray in three international markets. With the large NRI population, Canada is a strategic market for us and we see great potential here. With our world-class service standards we hope to increase the share of virtual calling cards here and make Airtel the preferred choice for the Indian community to connect with friends and family back in India.”

Three scientists win 2008 physics nobel prize jointly

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences will award the Nobel Prize in Physics to an American and two Japanese scientists jointly for the year 2008. One-half of the prize will go to Yoichiro Nambu, of the Enrico Fermi Institute at the University of Chicago, for discovering “spontaneous broken symmetry” in subatomic physics.

Yoichiro Nambu, 87, of the University of Chicago, won half the $1.4 million prize for mathematical work he did nearly a half-century ago.

Makoto Kobayashi and Toshihide Maskawa of Japan shared the other half for a 1972 theory that forecast the later discovery of a new family of subatomic particles.

Nambu will receive US $650,000, while the other two Japanese physicists, Makoto Kobayashi from High Energy Accelerator Research Organization and Toshihide Maskawa from the Yukawa Institute for Theoretical Physics (YITP) at Kyoto University, will split that sum, taking about $325,000 each. Yoichiro Nambu, an 87-year-old scientist actually hails from Japan and has been living in the US since the early 50s.

The Japanese-born Nambu moved to the United States in 1952 and is a professor at the Enrico Fermi Institute at the University of Chicago, where he has worked for 40 years. He became a U.S. citizen in 1970.

Kobayashi, 64, works for the High Energy Accelerator Research Organization, or KEK, in Tsukuba, Japan. Maskawa, 68, is a physics professor at Kyoto Sangyo University in Japan's ancient capital of Kyoto. He also teaches at Nagoya University, Japan.

Apple iPods are hot in India

Apple's iPods have stamped its authority among the country's style-conscious music buffs, but many of its other products, including the iconic iPhone have not found too many takers in India, researchers tracking the industry said. According to research firm IDC, iPods dominate the portable music player category with a 62 per cent market share, many times ahead of its nearest competitor Transcend from Taiwan that commands 15 per cent share.

Experts attribute the success of Apple's iPods to affordable price points and widespread distribution. Apple's iPods are priced between Rs 2,300 to Rs 21,000 equipped with different features and user-interfaces.

Easy availability of the gadget that is also found in stationary shops have also boosted sales. "In 2006, only about 15,000 units of iPods were being sold every quarter but Apple cut down prices last September and that has given a boost to its sales in India," said Shiladitya Sarkar, senior analyst, peripherals research, IDC. The company's product, however, staggers behind its Indian and global peers in the personal computers sales.

The response to iPhone has been rather lukewarm, unlike the United States where buyers waited in long queues to get hold of the device, analysts said, although official sales numbers were not known. An Apple spokesperson in Singapore declined to comment on Apple's India specific pricing and distribution strategy.

"Barring iPods, Apple's products are extremely unaffordable," said Rajesh Kurup, research director, eTechnology Group at research firm IMRB. "This does make the brand iconic and aspirational but the high cost and skeletal sales encourage grey market operators to deal in Apple products." Sumanta Mukherjee, analyst, computing products research, IDC India said vendors such as Hewlett-Packard and Dell have a huge product portfolio, with different products at different price points whereas Apple is catering only to high-end users of personal computers.

"Indian buyers are not just price conscious but also demand value, else low cost computers would have grabbed market share," Mukherjee said. "The Apple Macs continue to be limited to a few niche segment - segments that requires high end graphic processing capability," Kurup said.

ZTE announces U990 - world’s first high end HSDPA TD-SCDMA phone

ZTE launched the first high-end HSDPA TD-SCDMA mobile handset which is named as U990. The handset is the third high-end TD-SCDMA mobile handset model to be marketed by the company, the former two being U980 and U981.

“We are proud to be the first company in the industry to offer HSPDA mobile handset with TD-SCDMA intelligence, truly another significant achievement for our handset business. Our technology know-how and excellent product offering reaffirm our leading position in the mobile handset area. We are introducing this home-grown technology to worldwide market to provide end users the best mobile experience,” said Mr. He Shiyou, Executive Vice President of ZTE Corporation.

Based on Windows Mobile 6.0 operating system, the smartphone has a high-speed transmission rate of up to 2.8 Mbps, and the fastest transmission speed among the TD-SCDMA terminals available in the industry. It supports dual mode TD-SCDMA/EDGE allowing seamless transitions between the two networks as claimed by ZTE. Besides, it is 3G and EDGE-enabled and equipped with both GPS/AGPS navigation technologies.

The official release date of the handset is yet to be announced. The pricing of the phone is also not revealed.

IPTV all set to transmit Doordarshan channels

The Information and Broadcasting Ministry has directed the IPTV service providers in India to transmit eight channels of National Broadcaster, Doordarshan. The list of channels include Lok Sabha Television, DD Rajya Sabha, DD-1, DD News, DD Sports, DD Urdu, Gyan Darshan and DD Bharti.

The directive supposedly has been issued in compliance with the section 8 of the Cable TV Network Regulation Act. The Cable TV act reportedly enunciates that cable TV operators are bound to broadcast minimum of two DD terrestrial channels, two Parliament channels and one regional channel.

While DTH and cable service providers have to broadcast only 5 channels on account of bandwidth limitations, the IPTV service providers are not subject to any such bandwidth limitation. Furthermore, it is anticipated that a decision to permit news in private FM radio stations may be taken by the government. It is being speculated that reading of news put out by Doordarshan, All India Radio (AIR) and accredited local and international newswire agencies will be allowed.

Samsung to produce 2 GB DDR3 on mass scale

World’s largest computer memory chipmaker, Samsung Electronics announced its plan to begin mass production of its latest and fastest chip model from next month. The company will start manufacturing the 2 GB DDR3 Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) or chip for personal computers and other electronic devices such as mobile phones from next month.

The device is guaranteed to have 60% higher productivity than DDR2 devices as the 50nm class circuit technology has been used in making this. The 2GB DDR3 chips are claimed to be energy-efficient and supposedly reduces power consumption by at least 40% and therefore are very useful for next generation desktops and notebooks. Besides, the 2GB DDR3 chips reportedly enable use of up to 16GB RIMMs (Registered In-line Memory Modules).

The 2Gb device supports a data rate of up to 1.3Gbps at 1.5v or 1.35V, which is almost 1.6-times faster as compared to 800Mb/sec for a 1Gb dual-die package or DDR2 DRAM model. Samsung reportedly proclaimed that the 50nm-class process, which is used to manufacture the 2Gb DDR3 is expected to become the company’s primary DRAM process technology next year.

Sony Ericsson to launch eco-friendly biodegradable cell phone

Sony Ericsson is venturing in the field of manufacturing environmentally safe biodegradable cell phones. The company seemingly wants to prove that a biodegradable phone is a feasible idea.

This phone was conceived under the the “GreenHeart” concept which encompasses green technologies, using bio-plastic housings, recycled plastic keypads, zero charger with 3.5mW standby power, digital manuals, a game style educational application “Ecomate” and environmentally conscious packaging.

Mats Pellback-Scharp, Head of Corporate Sustainability for Sony Ericsson, was reported to have said, “The global take back scheme and the GreenHeart project bring us closer to our vision of being a leader in sustainability in the mobile phone industry.”

Sony Ericsson reportedly setup collection points for acquiring used cell phones. There are more than 500 collection points in contries like India, Taiwan, China, Thailand, Singapore, USA and Mexico presently. The company expects to expand this project in all the countries where it provides service by the year 2009.