Nokia C3-00: Facebook, chat on the move for hip-hop class

Emails and messaging services, once widely used by the business class, is now being thrown open to the ‘cattle class’ as well towards what is now famously called the ‘democratisation of chat’. Nokia, for one, is taking social networking and interactivity to the next level by allowing users customise up to 10 email accounts on their Nokia C3-00s, due for launch at the end of next week. This means that customers can access their Gmails and Hotmails simultaneouly at any given time. 

Opening up the social interactivity platform further, the new series will also offer Facebook and Twitter on the C3-00s. “There is also a provision to configure up to 10 instant messaging platforms (chats) on the C3-00,” explains Viral Oza, head (activation), media and online marketing, Nokia India. With a single login, the user can access his email and messaging platforms while on the move. 

The sub-Rs 7,000 price range aims at 18-25-year hip-hop youngsters who wish to stay connected with friends. 

There is a single-click access to social networking, and users can view alerts and news on their home screens, almost simulating a PC-like experience. This also enables quick navigation through their friends’ latest posts. 

The C3-00 has a full QWERTY keypad, which makes messaging and accessing emails easy on the 2.4-inch screen. The phone has a 2-megapixel camera, media player, FM stereo radio, 3.5 AV connector, support for up to 8GB memory card and a built-in handsfree speaker. 

Even as excitement is building over the Nokia 8 series, designed on their latest Symbian 3 operating system, expected to be announced at the Nokia World, London, on Tuesday, the company is readying a different strategy for India. “The N8 series is targeted at a different audience, but as far as India is concerned, we are opening the social interactivity platform to youths, who form 45% of the population,” says Oza. Having tasted success on this series in Indonesia and Vietnam, the phone-maker is optimistic of user response in India as well.

Spice Mobiles Launches Two New Phones

Spice Mobiles has announced the introduction of two new handsets into its line-up with the launch of the M5161 and the M6363.

Both the handsets are Dual SIM enabled and are priced around the 2500 and Rs. 4300 mark. Lets see what these phones have in store for you.

We start with the M-5161. The M5161 boasts of a 2-inch display with a resolution of 176*220. The internal phone book can take up to 1200 contacts and can store pto 500 SMS'. The phone is let down by a rather low internal memory of 1 MB. Thankfully, it has a memory card slot which can take memory cards of up to 4GB in size.  There is a basic camera at the back which can also record videos.  The phone is Internet enabled and supports GPRS and WAP as well.  The phone has a 1200 mAH battery that can give up to 4.5 hours of talk time. Other features include a Torch, FM Radio, Scheduled FM Recording and Wireless FM. The M5161 will set you back by Rs. 2799.

As for the N6363, the phone is slightly more premium compared to the M5161. The M6363 boasts of a 2 mega pixel camera again, with support for video recording. The front is dominated by the 2 inch TFT color display.  Other features include dual expandable memory of 4GB+4GB. Other features include   WAP 2.0, GPRS and Bluetooth 1.2. The M6363 costs Rs.4799

Both the phones are now available and are on sale.

Nokia X2's Official Price Increased to Rs. 6,579

Nokia's low-end X Series phone, the X2, was first heard of back in April 2010. The phone has now made its official entry to India - five months after its existence was revealed.

The X2 which was supposed to be officially here by June has seen its launch delayed by almost three months. Now that the phone is here, let's take a look at its specs again.

The X2, as evident from the naming scheme, will be positioned below the X3 and is a mid-range handset. It boasts of a 2.2 inch QVGA display, dedicated music keys, dual speakers, Bluetooth 2.1, 3.5mm headset jack, FM radio, Nokia Messaging, Facebook integration and microSD card support. The phone, unlike most other X-Series handsets, runs Nokia's proprietary S40 OS. 

The highlight of the phone is its impressive 5 megapixel camera at the rear. This is a rather surprising because the X3, which is positioned above the X2, has a 3.2 megapixel camera. 

The X2 was supposed to be priced at around the Rs. 5,000 mark when we first heard of it. However, it's a tad more expansive and has been priced at Rs. 5,999 in India. The phone is officially on sale now.

Nokia 5250 Music Phone to be Launched Soon

Nokia has finally announced new 5250, a music-centric handset about which we had reported earlier this month. The all new Nokia 5250 is said to be music-centric and is a step higher version of the existing 5230/5235 handset. This handset will come with Ovi Music Unlimited in select regions. 

Nokia 5250 has 2.8-inch TFT touchscreen with 16:9 aspect ratio and will support 640x360 pixel resolution. Loaded with Symbian^1 (S60v5 Touch), this multimedia centric phone will come with Guitar Hero 5 Mobile for free. Though its internal memory is mere 51MB, one can add up to 16GB via microSD memory cards. Also, Nokia has added FM radio for the avid radio listeners.

This 5230 phone successor will sport a 2 megapixel camera and has Ovi Share pre-installed to share photos directly to the web. With support for quad-band GSM/EDGE networks and GPRS for data, users can obviously access Ovi Store to install different apps and games. 

Nokia promises to ship the new 5250 music-centric handset in the fourth quarter of this year for 115 EURO (Rs. 6,800 approx), albeit without taxes. Expect this music phone to cost around Rs. 7,500 when it reaches India. You can expect to see this phone in Black, White, Purple and Blue colors. 

Samsung launches Android-based smartphones Galaxy 3 and Galaxy 5 in the Indian market

Samsung Eletronics launched affordable smart phones Galaxy 3 and Galaxy 5 in the indian market. Both the phones are based on Android platforms.

Announcing the launch Ranjit Yadav, Director, Mobile & IT, Samsung Electronics said, “The smart phone era has begun and is here to stay. We, at Samsung, are committed to making smartphonesavailable for everyone. We have been focusing on Open OS mobiles recently since many key characteristics of smartphones are becoming more and more relevant - especially mobile internet, messaging features, strong third party applications and flexibility for customization. 

In the open OS area, our strategy is to offer consumers with whatever they want. As a result we are offering mobiles based on the Android, Windows and our own proprietary OS bada in the Indian market.” Thus, while Samsung WAVE is based on the bada platform, the Galaxy S is based on the Android platform.

The Samsung Galaxy 3 is priced at Rs.12,300 while the Samsung Galaxy 5 is priced at Rs.10,200.

“With the launch of these two smartphones, Samsung’s smartphone portfolio now boasts of 4 feature-rich models at a price range of Rs.10,200 – Rs.31,500.“By the end of 2010, we plan to a have a portfolio of 8-9 smartphone models and expect to notch up a 20% market share in the smartphone market” stated Mr. Yadav.

The company also launched two new entry level mobile handsets namely Samsung Guru Power with a long battery life of 2000 mAh priced at Rs.3,150 and Samsung Champ priced at Rs.4,500.

Nokia dials India with dual-SIM phones

Nokia is ready with its dual SIM phones for India. The Finnish giant is preparing to launch its C1 and C2 models of entry-level dual SIM phones in two-three months. Both models would be launched simultaneously in India, following its global launch in the third quarter of the current fiscal year.The phones would sport features like FM radio, a 1,000 entries-address books, LED torch, VGA camera.

Although the company is yet to divulge price details, it is expected to be within the tag of R2,500. Both models would be integrated with Nokia Life Tools service (for information on healthcare, education and entertainment) as well as Ovi Mail.

V. Ramnath, director, operator channel, Nokia India, said the company was yet to decide whether the new phones would be manufactured at Nokia's Chennai facility now or at a later stage when the numbers pick up.

Samsung had launched its dual SIM phones in the country about two years ago. It currently has five dual SIM models in India with price tags ranging from R3,200 to R9,600.

Dell Blaze spotted

There was spotted Dell’s upcoming Android offering Blaze with the device running over Android 1.5. Painted in pink, the device appears a mid level android phone, the work on which is currently underway by Dell. And, Well with the recent leak of Dell’s thunder along with release of Dell Streak over AT&T in US, it appears that Dell is up in the arms to give a tough fight to other handset makers.

New Multimedia Fly Mobile MC 170 for Rs. 4,500

Fly Mobile has announced the launch of its latest multimedia handset in the country. Known as the MC 170, the phone is a decently spec-ed multimedia capable device.

The MC 170 is a candybar phone featuring a 2.4-inch display capable of 240*320 pixel resolution while displaying 262k colors. The MC 170 has a decent spec sheet that we will describe below.

To start with, it features a 3 megapixel camera with support for video recording. The phone supports FM Radio and recording and comes with 87MB of internal memory and the memory can be extended using microSD cards of up to 8GB. It has a 1000mAH battery that offers a 10 hour talktime and a 250 hour standby time.

The phone comes preloaded with applications like Fly Raashi for Astrology, Nimbuzz , Snaptu, Call Reject SMS and Mobile Tracker with Remote Control. It also supports Motion Sensor Games, thanks to a built in accelerometer.

The MC 170 happens to be a single SIM phone and will set you back by Rs. 4,500.

Nokia Launches Nokia Listings

Nokia has launched Nokia Listings in India. Nokia Listings is a local marketplace on mobile where users can discover and transact with other users using a simple mobile client interface. The client is intended for the average emerging market user on a mid-end (Series 40) phone. So it works via SMS if GPRS is not enabled on the device.

This beta version of the service is available for India with India content. The client will work in other geographies over HTTP but not all features may be functional.

Features

• The product supports listings for “Jobs”, " Buy and sell” and "Local Services" as described below:
• Jobs: As an employer, you can post jobs and review candidates who have applied for the job. As a job seeker you can search for jobs by category, location and salary, and apply.
• Buy and Sell: You can search and post items (mobile phones, bikes, etc) that you are looking to buy or sell. You can contact seller or buyer by calling or by sending an SMS.
• Local Services: You can search for service providers like plumbers, architects, lawyers, etc in your locality. As a local service provider, you can list on the marketplace and be found by potential customers.
• There are no fees for using the service except SMS and data charges from your operator.+

Availabiity and Compatibility

At present the service is available for India. They currently have listings data for Bangalore (India) in the categories of Jobs, Mobile Phones, Autos and Local Services. However you can create listings in all the available categories. They will add more listings content over the next few months. Their goal is to create a vibrant community of buyers, seller, local businesses, employers, and job seekers on this marketplace.

The client works on recent Series 40 phones. This would include devices such as: Nokia 2700 Classic, 2730 Classic, 3120 Classic, nokia 5130 XpressMusic , 5310 XpressMusic, Nokia 5330 Xpressmusic,Nokia 5610, Nokia 6300i, Nokia 6303, Nokia X3, Nokia C3, etc. The client will work on non-touch S60 phones like E63, E71, E72, etc with but the experience may be sub-optimal on some of these devices. If you encounter problems with your device contact Nokia
Source: Nokia

Samsung India Launches Champ C330, Omnia Lite B7300

Samsung has launched Samsung Champ C330 and Samsung Omnia Lite B7300 phones in India. The Samsung Champ C330 is a touchscreen phone and can function as a music player as well. The Samsung Omnia Lite B7300 is also a touchscreen phone which runs on Windows 6.5 Pro Edge operating system. Let us see the specification of these mobile phones in detail.

Samsung Champ C330

Samsung is portraying music player and low cost as two most important feature in Samsung Champ C330. The music player has a 3.5mm ear jack and dual speakers. The phone also has a wireless FM radio and a function called Sound Alive 3D effects. Samsung Champ C330 has a 2.4-inch QVGA touchscreen, a 3 page menu, Touchwiz Lite 2.0 and the Stylus Pen. In terms of memory, the phone has 30 MB internal memory which can be expandable up to 8GB. It has 1000 phonebook and 500 SMS memory. The Samsung Champ C330 uses 1000 mAh and gives a talktime of 12 hours, Samsung claims.

The phone also let users connect to social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace, Photobucket, Flickr, Friendster, Picassa, and Twitter. The Samsung Champ is available at the price of Rs. 4500.

Samsung Omnia Lite B7300

The Samsung Omnia Lite B7300 is a 3G and GSM ready phone. It has 3-inch full touch TFT display with a resolution of 240 x 400 pixel. The phone has a 3.2 megapixel camera with digital and optical zoom option. User can also do video recording in MPEG4 format, and the video player can play DivX / H.264 / H.263 / MPEG4 / WMV / Real One / Xvid video formats. For music, the Samsung Omnia Lite B7300 can play MP3 / AAC / e-AAC+ / WMA / MIDI / Real Audio.

In terms of connectivity, the Samsung Omnia Lite B7300 can connect to HSDPA (3.6Mbps) and Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g). It has Bluetooth 2.0 and USB 2.0 and Opera 9.5 for internet browsing. For memory, the phone has 128MB of internal memory which can be extended up to 32GB, with the help of external memory card. Samsung claims that the phone gives a talk time of 6 hours on 3G network.

The Samsung Omnia Lite B7300 is available at the price of Rs. 17,560.

Microsoft's Prototype Mobile Phone Showcased

Looks like Microsoft's not-so-pleasurable experience with the Kin hasn't affected the tech giant's ultimate mobile phone plans.

What then would be the reason behind this latest prototype smartphone it has come up with? The phone, known as the "Menlo" internally, is a touchscreen smartphone with a capacitive touch screen (4.1-inch diagonal, 800x480).

The phone and its spec details appeared on a Microsoft Research Paper (PDF) titled "User Experiences with Activity-Based Navigation on Mobile Devices". The phone runs Microsoft Windows Embedded CE 6.0 R2 which incorporates a Bosch BMA150 3-axis accelerometer and Bosch BMP085 digital pressure sensor (barometer). The paper also comes with something known as "Greenfield", which happens to be an activity-based navigation app that helps users find a specific parked car.

While, all this does sound impressive, can we take this development as a hint towards the chance of Microsoft opting to make its own smartphone? True, the Kin experiment proved to be a disaster - but then, that wasn't a smartphone platform.

Nokia retains top spot in smart phone market : IDC

Mobile giant Nokia remained the number one smartphone vendor in the second quarter, while Korea'sSamsung replaced Motorola in the top five smartphone rankings last quarter, according to International Data Corp (IDC).

The worldwide smartphone market grew 50 percent year over year in the second quarter of 2010, boosted by makers of smartphones powered by Google's Android operating system.

Worldwide smartphone shipments surged to 63 million units in the quarter from 41.9 million units last year.

Nokia- Number 1 smartphone vendor worldwide

Finland-based Nokia, with shipments of 24 million units and a 38.1 percent market share, retained its top spot in the smartphone sales, despite stiff competition from Apple's iPhone and Android-powered devices.

Nokia, which maintains strong presence within the entry-level and mid-range segments, is banking its hopes on the upcoming launch of the Symbian3-powered N8 and its new MeeGo operating systems to retain its high end market share.

RIM- Retains second spot, But losing market share in U.S.

Meanwhile, BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (RIM) maintained its second place global smartphone position for the seventh consecutive quarter, due in part to the BlackBerry Pearl 3Gand the BlackBerry Tour 9650 product launches across multiple markets.

However, RIM lost its market share in the North America for the fifth straight quarter and the Canadian company hopes its new Bold 9800 device, featuring BlackBerry OS 6.0, will help it regain lost share to Android partners and Apple in quarters to come.

Apple- Still Sweet Despite "Antennagate"

Apple maintained its global number 3 smartphone supplier position thanks to record shipments, despite the furor over iPhone 4 reception problems. Apple is set to introduce the iPhone 4 to users in 17 countries in the third quarter.

HTC- top supplier of Android devices in Q2

HTC more than doubled its shipment volumes from last year, and recorded healthy double-digit profit margins, driven by the launch several key devices, including the Desire, Droid Incredible, EVO 4G, and the HD2.

According to IDC, HTC was the top supplier of Android devices in the second quarter on a unit shipment basis.

"Emerging smartphone suppliers, such as HTC, that are allied closely with Google gained share at the expense of the historic top smartphone players last quarter," Kevin Restivo, senior research analyst with IDC's Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker program said in a statement.

Samsung- Replaced Motorola in Top 5 rankings

Samsung, the world's second largest mobile phone supplier, replaced Motorola in the Top 5 smartphone rankings last quarter, with record number of shipments due to a strong performance in the Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) region where it launched Galaxy S series devices in markets such asSouth Korea.

Samsung hopes to outperform the market again in the third quarter when it introduces the Galaxy S series of phones to North America.

Following is a table that shows each of the top five smartphone vendors' shipments and market share in the second quarter.

(Units in Millions)

Vendor	2Q10 Shipment Volumes	2Q10 Market Share	2Q09 Shipment Volumes	2Q09 Market Share	2Q10/2Q09 Change
1. Nokia	24.0	38.1%	16.9	40.3%	42.0%
2. Research In Motion	11.2	17.8%	8.0	19.1%	40.0%
3. Apple	8.4	13.3%	5.2	12.4%	61.5%
4. HTC	4.8	7.6%	2.1	5.0%	128.6%
5. Samsung	3.0	4.8%	1.1	2.6%	172.7%

Source: IDC

Market Outlook for 2010

The second half of the year will see the launch of new BlackBerry and Symbian 3 platforms and Windows Phone 7 and the their response among the end-users will determine their future in this fast-growing segment of the market for 2011 and beyond.

"The worldwide smartphone market will continue this explosive growth in the second half of 2010, setting up a critical starting point for 2011," says Ramon Llamas, senior research analyst with IDC's Mobile Devices Technology and Trends team.

HTC Evo 4G to Get Android 2.2 This Week

Things are now official. Froyo is now a part of the HTC EVO 4G and by this week, we will get Android 2.2 Upgrade!

Back on August 3, Sprint started to roll out the upgrade for all the EVO users for Froyo. Of course, who wouldn’t want to upgrade to Android 2.2? Last July, they also announced it at Sprint’s website as well. But in order to prevent glitches. Sprint will be sending the upgrade to their users gradually. Hopefully, all of them would be upgraded to Android 2.2 by mid-August.

You will know that your EVO 4G is already available for your phone by the time that you receive the notification. And just like an SMS, the software upgrade will be sent to your phone which will be installed automatically.

However, if you can’t wait for the notification, you can manually do the upgrading as well. Look for the option that says HTC Software Update then choose the System Updates to start the process.

Meanwhile, late July, there were leaked memos that were published by the Engadget regarding EVO’s upgrade to Froyo. Although that time the memo wasn’t verified yet, it was clear that the official plans of Sprint were already on the list.

From the information gathered by Engadget, the carrier will be giving changes to the EVO aside from the upgrade. There will be new widgets for the home screen, a flashlight feature so you can use the flash of the camera in a different way, and enhancements to the capabilities of the video recording feature.

All of these new features and upgrades were for the sake of being part of the competitive market. And to prove that they are ready to contest, they boldly said that they are the first ever carrier that has the Android 2.2 for their customers even though the EVO isn’t the first to have the Froyo upgrade.