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
PlayStation phone to be released on December 9
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.
Tata Indicom offers free talktime up to Rs one lakh
Tata Indicom, the CDMA brand of Tata Teleservices, has introduced a handset upgrade offer for its prepaid subscribers in Andhra Pradesh.
Under the offer, a subscriber can avail a free Talk time up to Rs one lakh on the purchase of any CDMA handset by SMSing OFFER to 12524 from the new handset, within seven days of purchase.
The assured talk time is Rs 50 and the customer can get talk time up to Rs 1 lakh, which will be credited to the user’s account within a period of seven days.
The spokesperson for the company said, “The value of talktime received will depend on the kind of usage of existing subscribers.”
He further said, “We will be calculating average spend by the subscribers over the last three months and then fix slabs according to which our subscribers will be getting free talktime. Anyone who has a usage of more than the average will get a talktime of Rs one lakh.”
The offer is available to all Tata Indicom prepaid subscribers till December 19, 2010, and will be applicable on all new CDMA handsets purchased in the state irrespective of the place from where it is brought by subscriber.
Tata Indicom launched mobile operations in January 2005 and now it is present in all of India’s 22 telecom circles. Its network has been rated as the least congested in India for six consecutive quarters by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.
Micromax A60 hits the Indian market
Micromax is the latest handset manufacturer to join the Android handset bandwagon with the launch of A 60.
The device, A 60, runs on Android 2.1 (Eclair) and is powered by a 600Mhz processor. Although an update to the Android 2.1 is now available, the company can be excused for not using the same, given the price of the device. On the other hand, we think the device should perform well with the 600Mhz processor.
With a price tag Rs 6,999, the Micromax A 60 is one of the most affordable Android handsets available in the market.
The phone sports a 7.1 cm touch display with a resolution of 240 x 320 pixels and 65K color display. The touchscreen is a resistive one hence it senses input from contact with nearly any object (finger, stylus/pen etc.). We would have welcomed a higher resolution display.
As far as multimedia features are concerned, A 60 comes with a 3.2 megapixel camera and the music player supports almost all popular file formats namely AMR-WB, WAV, MP3.
Other features include Bluetooth, GPS, Wi-Fi, Proximity Sensor, Accelerometer and expandable memory up to 32 GB.
Proximity sensor is a welcome feature and a must of every touchscreen device. It is able to detect the presence of nearby objects without any physical contact and switches off the display of the phone as soon as you get it near your ear during a call. Hence, saving you from pressing any in-call option unintentionally.
On the other hand, an accelerometer measures motion of the phone and changes the screen orientation from portrait to landscape according.
The company plans to launch another handset running on the Android platform by January.
Techcom India forays into mobile handset market
Consumer electronics manufacturer Techcom India has launched seven new mobile phones for Indian consumers.
The company’s handsets launched are in the price range of Rs 1,500-4,000.
“Techcom will sell phones in the range of Rs 1,500-4,000 currently. With pan-India presence of our offices and distributors, we hope to penetrate the Indian mobile market extensively in the next six months,” Techcom Director-Mobile Phone Division Sandeep Kedia told reporters here.
All the seven handsets launched are dual SIM (GSM+GSM) models.
Tata Docomo 3G Life
Tata Docomo, the GSM brand of Tata Teleservices, started rolling out 3G early last month and is the first private operator in the country to do so.
The circles in which it offers 3G services include Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh-Chattisgarh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, UP (West), Punjab, Haryana and Maharashtra.
Here is a look at the 3G services that Tata Docomo currently offers:
Mobile TV – It is live TV on mobile screen that can be recorded and paused. Video from here can also be posted to social networks, and it’s possible to browse the program guide and set reminders.
Let’s Play – A portal for online and downloadable, single and multiplayer games. It’s like a social network for gamers so users can share their scores with their friends.
Catch Up– One interface for accessing multiple email accounts, social networks and instant messengers.
Video Calling – This service allows subscribers to do video conferencing while making voice calls.
Video SMS and mail – Allows users to add 30 second videos to text SMSs, and send video emails.
The picture or video SMS is delivered instantly, unlike traditional MMS messages; while video mail is like voice messaging, but with video instead of voice.
On Demand Services – This service lets users watch and download videos on the phone along with news, weather and mobile premiers and movies made exclusively for mobiles. It also has music for download.
Market – an App store that contains thousands of applications across categories such as music, books, movies, travel and business.
Docomics – a comic viewer application that has popular comics such as Spiderman, X-Men, Japanese Manga etc.
Prayer – Live darshan videos from famous shrines. One can also watch live aarti and sing along with karaoke aartis.
Fortune – This lets subscribers get live advice from astrologers on the basis of sun sign.
Tata Docomo 3G users can also watch 10 hours of live cricket during the India-New Zealand one-day series free of cost. To continue viewing matches after the ten free hours are up, or on December 11 (whichever is earlier), users will have to be subscribe to a weekly plan for Rs 30.
This offer can be availed on any one-day game on December 1, 4, 7 and 10. It is invalid after December 10.
Navteq launches MobileNavigator for India
Navteq and Navigon have extended their services into India by incorporating the Navteq map of India into Navigon’s MobileNavigator India App for the iPhone.
Navteq is a leading global provider of maps, traffic and location data, and enables navigation, location-based services and mobile advertising. Navigon, on the other hand, is a leading provider of premium navigation technology.
The MobileNavigator India app is a service that gives turn-by-turn directions. Also, since the map it uses is stored in the device, after MobileNavigator is downloaded it needs only a GPS satellite signal; there are no monthly fees or hidden data Roaming charges attached to this service. Users need to buy the app from Apple’s App Store for $70, or about Rs 3,200 and then get future updates free of charge.
MobileNavigator comes with a host of functionality including the ability to remember the driver’s habits to provide customised route recommendations and up to two route alternatives clearly displayed within the map along with the estimated time of arrival (ETA), distance, and driving times for each. The map can also be integrated with social networks, and it is possible to get live weather updates, best available parking options, as well as route planning and location sharing services.
Angry Birds Seasons launched for iOS and Android
Angry Birds is one of the most popular games on the Apple App Store and Android Market. Rovio
Mobile Ltd, the developer and publisher of the game, today announced a special edition of the game named Angry Birds Seasons.
Rovio announced, “Today, we bring you Angry Birds Seasons, a special edition spin-off of Angry Birds.”.
The company further explained, “Season’s Greedings consists of 25 daily surprises for fans of Angry Birds to enjoy while counting down the days until Christmas”.
Interestingly, Android users also get to try the 45 levels of Halloween special edition. These levels have been packaged as a separate episode called Trick or Treat.
Earlier the Halloween special edition was available only for iOS.
Game Review: Angry Birds Seasons
If you like playing games on your mobile, chances are you have already played the popular Angry Birds game.
Angry Birds Seasons, the latest edition of the game, is similar. However, it has been tweaked a bit keeping in mind the upcoming Christmas season.
The changes are limited to the graphics and the background while the game play remains the same.
In case you have missed out on the game up till now, we bring you a synopsis of what you need to do.
Each level has a certain number of evil piggies which you need to destroy. These pigs are usually placed in a structure at which you need to slingshot birds. There are several breeds of birds with different abilities which includes blowing itself up, dropping exploding egg etc.
You can either crash birds into them or cause structure of the building to crash on to them. You have limited number of birds per level to experiment your moves with.
The twist that Rovio has added is in the way the game is delivered. Even when you clear a Christmas level, next level, although unlocked now, will not be available to you for play. When you do try to open it, you will be greeted by a timer message displaying time remaining for the level to be available for play. In all there are 25 levels and it seems Rovio wants you to enjoy a level a day till Christmas.
The graphics of the game are very refreshing. You have a snow filled winter landscapes with birds wearing Santa caps. The game is available on both Apple App store as well as the Android Market.
Motorola launches Charm in India
Motorola has announced the launch of its Charm smartphone in India. The device is powered by Android 2.1 and has a 2.8 inch TFT touchscreen along with a Qwerty keypad.
“Motorola strives to excite the Indian consumer with three way navigation capability – touch screen, Qwerty keyboard and the backtrack, which make messaging, browsing and social networking fast and easy,” said Faisal Siddiqui, country head of India, Motorola Mobility.
The backtrack navigation pad, located directly behind the home screen on the smartphone’s back is similar to a laptop touch panel and enables an unobstructed view of the screen by allowing the device to be controlled from the back of the phone.
Other features of the Motorola Charm include a 3 Megapixel camera, WiFi, Bluetooth, A-GPS, FM radio etc.
The device is bundled with an Aircel SIM card. It comes with a 2 GB microSD card at a best buy price of nearly Rs 14,000.
Aircel pre paid users also get up to 9 GB worth of downloads over 3 months, along with 150 Aircel to Aircel local call minutes. To activate the offer, they are required to SMS ‘SMART PI’ to 54343 from their Aircel number.
On the other hand, Aircel post paid users can get up to 1 GB of data usage free every month for six months. Post paid users need to visit the Aircel store for activation.