It is now official. Indian school children use the mobile phone far more than they are formally allowed to. If that surprises no one, some of the facts from the research carried out by ASSOCHAM (The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry in India)are nevertheless interesting.
For instance, the mobile carrying phenomenon begins earlier than is generally assumed. By 12 years, one in two school students is carrying a mobile; by the age of 14, three of four children have them; and by 18 years, nine of ten have a phone on them.
ASSOCHAM’s secretary general, DS Rawat, points out that in spite of schools frowning on students carrying the gizmo, more than two thirds of the teens interviewed confessed to using a phone on school premises. ASSOCHAM’s press release disapprovingly describes the children’s behaviour as bizarre instead of seeing it as a widespread social issue.
The survey says that students who use the mobile excessively are more likely to suffer from disrupted sleep, restlessness, stress and fatigue. It adds that there ‘seems to be’ a connection between heavy mobile usage and smoking, snuffing and the use of alcohol, but does not elaborate on this correlation.
The research has been carried out by ASSOCHAM’s Social Development Foundation in Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Chennai, Cochin, Dehradun, Goa, Hyderabad, Indore, Patna and Pune during September-November this year. A total of 2,000 parents and 2,500 students were interviewed.
Why do parents get mobiles for their children? The main reason is that it keeps children busy and leaves parents free to get on with their lives. Besides, parents feel that if children entertain themselves with the mobile, they are less likely to keep bad company. And, of course, more than half the parents would like their wards to keep the mobile at all times because they feel reassured that their kids are only a call away.
Apart from talking, 83 per cent of students use their phones to take pictures and 64 per cent share pictures with others. Sixty per cent listen to music on their phones and 46 per cent play mobile games. One third of the students surveyed use their mobiles to exchange videos, as also for instant messaging.
Going by gender, 69 per cent of girls text several times a day just to say hi and to chat; in comparison, only 42 per cent of boys do likewise. Most girls are clearly addicted to SMS: 56 per cent of the girls surveyed send almost 50 text messages per day.
Mobile use in schools
Google eBookstore launched
Google has created another milestone with the launch of world’s largest eBook store with 3 million titles to begin with — many of them free — to any device with a web Browser in the United States.
The Google eBook store is based on an open platform. As a result one doesn’t need Android platform to read their favourite book as most of the devices are compatible with Google eBooks including smartphones.
With the new Google eBooks web browser, one can buy, store and read Google eBooks in the cloud. Which means you can access your eBooks like you would access messages in Gmail or photos in Picasa–using a free, password-protected Google account with unlimited ebooks storage.
Current collection includes the latest bestsellers like James Patterson’s Cross Fire and Jonathan Franzen’s Freedom, and the classics like Great Expectations, A Tale of Two Cities and Gulliver’s Travels.
Apart from that, Google has also launched free applications for Android and Apple devices, which will make it possible to shop and read on the go.
These applications will allow users to select which font, font size, day/night reading mode and line spacing suits according to their taste. Application will also allow you to pick up on the page where you left off when switching devices.
Currently available only in United States, these eBooks can be bought either from Google eBook store or from Google’s independent bookseller partners like Powell’s, Alibris and participating members of the American Booksellers Association.
Google e Books was first launched in 2004. Since then, it has digitized more than 15 million books from more than 35,000 publishers, more than 40 libraries, and more than 100 countries in more than 400 languages. This repository of knowledge and culture will continue to be searchable through Google Books search in the research section alongside the eBook store.
Google Nexus S on Gingerbread launched
Google had launched Nexus One in January with much fanfare but the device failed to get many takers. Now it has launched another Nexus device which is running on Android v2.3 Gingerbread.
Gingerbread is the latest Android version to be announced, first one being Android Donut followed by Eclair and Froyo. It has been in the lime light ever since Google started working on this version of Android.
The Google blog confirmed that Nexus S will be the first device to sport the Gingerbread. Unlike the first Nexus which was developed by HTC, Nexus S has been developed in coordination with Samsung.
Nexus S comes equipped with 1GHz Hummingbird processor, both back and front facing cameras, 16 GB Internal Memory and near field communication (NFC) hardware. NFC enables users to use the phone as access card, credit card etc provided service providers enable these services.
It is also the first smartphone to feature a 4 inch contour display, claims the company, and is designed to fit comfortably in the palm of your hand and along the side of your face.
According to the Google blog, Gingerbread is the fastest Android version, and the other improvements include internet calling, copy/ paste functionality for text, gyroscope(Orientation) sensor support, and a new keyboard.
Users in United States will be able to buy Nexus S after December 16, both online and in store, with T mobileconnection. India launch has not been announced yet. In the States it will cost $529 (Rs 24,000).
In the earlier version of Nexus, Google had put its bet on online sales, but the experiment failed. This time around they are going with the traditional sales channel. The phone will be available in USA through the retail stores as well as bundled.
Participating in a conference, Andy Rubin, vice president, Google, said Nexus One didn’t shake up the business model because Google ended up biting more than it could handle. This time, the company is selling the phone through traditional channels, such as Best Buy and then there are locked phones as well. While answering the questions, he also flashed a new Motorola tablet, which ran probably on Honeycomb (optimized for tablets) with the latest Google Maps version.
Modu T to launch new Textify and Boostify attachments by Jan
Modu T, worlds lightest 3G full touch handset launched in India by Micromax, plans to launch two new jackets Textify and Boostify by January in India.
The concept of providing jackets, add on attachments, instead of inbuilt features helps basic phone to be a simple and user friendly. It also gives freedom to the user to choose additional features based on how they want to use their phone.
The phone has been made by Israeli company Modu and was introduced in India by Micromax last month. At present Modu T comes with two jackets Sportify and Camerafly which are bundled with the handset.
Perhaps the most interesting jacket is Sportify, which is meant for joggers and displays the calories burnt and distance travelled while running or walking. It has a handsfree and armband, and can also be used to listen to music while exercising.
Another jacket, Camerify, is a 5 mega pixel camera with flash.
Apart from that, Modu T’s soon to be launched jacket Textify is a Qwerty keypad for emailing and messaging; while Boostify is a speaker dock, company claims that it will produce sound loud enough for a party in a small room.
Although their price hasn’t officially been revealed, these jackets could cost around Rs 2,500. The phone Modu T meanwhile is priced at around Rs 12,600.
The two new docks will be available bundled with the device as well as sold as independent attachments.
Micromax Modu T is a 3.5G phone and like the HTC Smart, it runs Qualcomm’s Brew OS. The phone runs on a QSC6270 processor with a custom swipe-controlled user interface and a 2.2 inch touchscreen that is capable of resolutions of up to 240 x 320 pixels.
It has the capacity for a 32 GB memory card while a new device comes with a 2 GB card. Modu T enables web access, instant messaging, and social networking through links on the phone. The phone also has a built in FM radio, GPS and music player.
Modu T has applications for YouTube, Google Search, Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, TuneWiki, eBuddy and Snaptu.
Going forward, Modu will launch its Modu W Android device with touchscreen that can access WiFi networks. In India, however, Modu W won’t arrive for another three months.
Reliance Communications upgrades R World for 3G
Reliance Communications is upgrading R World to deliver mobile internet and data services to its 3G subscribers. R World has been developed by Motricity, a backend provider of mobile internet services.
Motricity has also created web solutions for some of the world’s largest mobile operators including AT&T, Sprint, Verizon Wireless, Celcom and XL Axiata.
R World will provide RCom subscribers with personalised access to high speed mobile internet with download speeds of up to 21 Mbps, high definition mobile TV and other features across a range of mobile devices, thus enabling mobile content discovery, mobile commerce, mobile social networking, and mobile marketing campaigns and programs.
New features on R World will include access to multiple email clients, RSS feeds and social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter from a single App on the mobile device.
Google Doodle now on smartphones
Google has announced that its popular Doodles will soon be available on phones running Android 2.0 and above, and on iPhones with at least iOS 3.0.
Google put up its first Doodle in 1998 when the search company’s founders wanted to show that they were at the Burning Man festival, held in the Nevada desert in celebration of the arts. A few Google Doodles in the past have featured on mobiles and the first such was for the 2008 Olympic Games.
Google also started a Doodle designing contest in India a few years back. The Doodle 4 Google contest invites school children to design the Google logo based on different themes.
This year’s winner was Akshay Raj of St. Aloysius High School in Mangalore.
88 per cent of adolescents own mobile phone in India
Over 65 per cent of high school students in India carry a mobile handset while going schools, attending classes and tuition session, states a survey by industry body ASSOCHAM.
The survey, “Toy to Tool”, further found that 88 per cent of adolescents aged between 15 and 18 year possess mobile phone with ownership basis while 40per cent of teenagers aged 13-15 now also use cell phones.
D S Rawat, secretary general, ASSOCHAM said, “Despite school strictures and policies, the ground reality is that more than two-thirds of teens confess that they are using cell phones in school premises when they shouldn’t.”
The survey was conducted during September-November 2010 with random sample of 2000 parents and 2,500 students in around 25 schools in the country.
Around 71 per cent of teens desires their handsets to be equipped with MP3 players while70 per cent prefer camera phones.
Features most accessed on a device are emailing, reading books, listening to music and surfing the net along with chatting.
Lava launches its first touch screen handset A10
LAVA Mobile has announced the launch of a new device, A 10, which comes with the latest IPS screen. It is also the first touchscreen phone in the company’s portfolio and the second to be launched under its A series, first being the A9.
An IPS screen provides a superior display with clear and sharp images both for still and motion pictures. Besides the superior display, IPS Screen allows pictures and videos to be viewed at wide angle till 178 degree. The wide viewing angle is particularly useful when a group of people are viewing the same screen from different angles.
The A10 is a complete touch screen TFT phone with the dual SIM feature. The 3 inch screen comes with multi touch support.
Multimedia features include 3.2 Megapixel camera with flash and Yamaha PA System for good audio quality. The phone also supports expandable memory support up to 16 GB.
On the applications front, social networking apps like Facebook, Twitter come pre loaded along with other applications like maps by Map My India etc.
A 10 is also equipped with a Gravity Sensor to enhance the gaming experience.
PlayStation phone to be released on December 9
The blogosphere is abuzz with rumours of Sony Ericsson’s PlayStation phone being launched as early as December 9. The device will be a combination of the PlayStation gaming console and a Sony Ericsson phone.
Sony Ericsson will host an event on December 9, which the company calls its ‘most anticipated presentation of the last ten years’. The invitation to this event features images of a phone and the familiar PlayStation buttons, which is likely indication that the company will launch its PlayStation phone at the event.
The device is expected to feature a 4.1 inch touchscreen, 1 GHz processor, an 8 mega Pixel camera, 512 MB of RAM, and 1 GB of ROM. It’s suggested that the phone will run Android 2.3.
Recently, a Greek gadgets blog Techblog.gr featured a blurry video of the PSP phone. According to this blog, the handset is codenamed Zeus and will be called Sony Ericsson Z1 when it arrives.
Leaked pictures of the phone also surfaced on Engadget. The device is expected to be priced at around $500 (or approximately Rs 23,000) and will come with five free games. It’s unclear when the phone will come to India but if history is any indication, it’ll be here pretty soon.
PRESS INVITE
MTS expand services to Gujarat
MTS, the mobile telephony services brand of Sistema Shyam TeleServices Ltd (SSTL), has announced the launch of its mobile telephony services in Gujarat. The launch extends the company footprint to 13 telecom circles.
The voice calls are priced ½ paisa per second, similar to what MTS offers in other operating circles.
Navid Rashid, chief operating officer, Gujarat said, “In-addition to an unmatched tariff, our focus is also to provide a world class customer care service and add more value-for-money for customer through innovative products like Recharge Booster, where we give 25per cent extra Talk time with every subsequent recharge for a year. “
Additionally MTS has introduced a new concept of ‘Timeage’.
Explaing the concept a company statement said, “It is the actual extended value derived from an MTS mobile, expressed as a function of time. For e.g. a recharge of Rs 100 done by an MTS mobile user would last for 67 days as compared to just 32 days being offered by any other operator (under standard talking conditions – 4.1 minutes a day).”
The telecom operator is also planning to invest Rs 100 Crore in Gujarat. The funds will be utilised in building the service network across the circle. MTS aims to build a network of over 150 dealers and 31,000 retail outlets across the state, in the next 3 months.