2G and 3G speed the same for 48% of India users

India is increasing in the numbers of Smartphone users. Today, India has a huge Smartphone user base and it is one of the biggest markets as well. However, according to Ericsson there isn’t any difference between the speeds that the consumers expect to be.

Ericsson ConsumerLab has come with some figures in their study. According to the report revealed by them, around 48 per cent of Indian consumers of mobile internet hardly find any difference between the 2G and 3G speeds.

When a Smartphone user is using a 3G connection on his device, he is expecting to have a superior speed as compared to the 2G user. A 3G mobile plan is costly that puts more financial worries on the pockets of the users. And if they find 2G and 3G of the same speed, why would they go for the 3G plans.

Around 88% people – users – find that the mobile broadband is more expensive. That makes consumers run away from adapting this service. When on one hand the report stated some figures, it stayed away from a possible argument over the number game. And for this reason, the report didn’t divulge the genuine speed a 3G consumer ought to get.

However, in general, the load time of a web page is considered to be around 3 seconds. But, in India, it is three times slower. To add to the woes, the 3G connectivity isn’t consistent either.

There should be flexible data plans so that people of various needs can buy them accordingly. Moreover, there need to be more consistency in the connectivity as well.

Who in Bollywood is Supporting Net Neutrality?

Net neutrality is a hot topic these days. And why not, after all it is question of a fraction of a people dominating the majority of the people. Even the common man has stepped into the battle to save the internet.

Yes, that’s the tag word these days – “Save the internet”. There is literally a campaign to save the internet. All have equal right over the use of internet and that too without anyone’s interference and doing partiality.

We take a look at some Bollywood personalities who have also joined the fight for saving the internet and keeping it equal for all.

Parineeti Chopra

The Chopra girl was one of the first actresses to raise her voice. She appreciated the steps taken by AIB through the video they brought out. She also mentioned that net neutrality is crucial.

Arjun Kapoor

One of the key members of the controversial AIB, Arjun Kapoor came out in support of saving the internet. He posted a video link in support of net neutrality and asked people to support the drive.

Richa Chadda

Another beautiful actress, Richa Chadda came into the picture supporting net neutrality. According to her, the government should take steps in favoring net neutrality if it is elected by the citizens of India.

She further added that, if it’s a government brought in by the telecom operators, the common man should get ready to get looted.

The fact of the matter remains that internet is and should be for everyone and there shouldn’t be a favor for a certain company – whoever are involved in whichever way.

Internet has not only become a source of communication, but is also responsible for information explosion. Moreover, it is a utility and not a luxury – no matter the financial status of an individual.

There used to be tax on radio and television in the recent past in India after independence. However, that tax was later abolished. Internet is a parallel example. The net is also used for studying purposes for students as well as for gaining information from sites like Wikipedia.

We all need net neutrality. Stand by it, common!

Pay Less Up To 25% for Roaming

We had talked about net neutrality in one of our articles in the Gadget Garrio blog. One of the issues facing net neutrality was regarding the telecom or service providers who were crying foul. The reason was that these service providers were losing a lot of revenue due to mobile messaging apps making SMS and calling services literally free of cost.

Moreover, their complaint was that the free data that was being transmitted was bringing loads on their servers. Let’s suppose, some of their ‘complaints’ are true. But, to add to their woes there’s one more issue that will be like adding insult to injury.

From the start of the next month, the charges on roaming have been brought down. Mobile calls for roaming will become economical by 23%. A local SMS will carry a cost of only 25 paise. Earlier, the cost of sending such a SMS was Re. 1. This means the charges have been brought down by 75%.

The orders have been placed in place the by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). However, this order also means that subscribers won’t have the option of availing the schemes, which permitted them calling and SMSing when they were roaming at the home circle rates.

A statement regarding these orders was issued by TRAI. TRAI had cut the max rate, which an operator is able to charge for STD calls. The previous rate was Rs. 1.50 and has been brought down to Rs. 1.15. National SMS charges have also been brought down from the previous charges of Rs. 1.50 to Rs. 1.12 – a cut of 38 paise.

According to the revised tariffs, a service provider can charge 80 paise at the most, instead of the earlier charge of Re. 1.

WhatsApp Calling is Now Active for Android Users

It looks like Whatsapp calling for Android phones is finally active for the entire community irrespective of physical boundaries. The popular messaging app’s new service, however, is only for Android users right now.

There are already hundreds of millions of WhatsApp users in the world to go with hundreds of thousands of groups. Messages become viral in no time on the app. The same is likely to be experienced this time too.

Activating WhatsApp Voice Call

There is a simple process to get your WhatsApp voice calling activated. First, you will have to update to the latest version of the app. You can find that through Play Store or by directly visiting WhatsApp official web site.

You will get a new version competent for voice calling. However, you cannot make or receive calls until you first get a call from someone. Yes, that’s the catch in this. You should get a call a WhatsApp user through this app only. Only then you can really use this service.

There was news regarding the WhatsApp voice calling that it is likely to infect your Smartphone with malicious software. So, you should be very careful with this feature.

You can see new tabs added to your user interface. One of the tabs is especially dedicated to voice calling.

The Nokia Glam Me app – the Nokia Lumia app

One of the best apps to use with any Nokia Lumia is the Nokia Glam Me app. With this app, you can give yourself a special look with only some minor adjustments. The app is designed to work with the front-facing cameras that come with the Lumia. Lighten up your face, remove the blemishes, or make any modifications manually, the Nokia Glam Me app will do all the things for you.

Image: wrightitdown.com

With the help of this app, you can get a cool portrait of yourself. You will hardly have to make any changes as most of the times the portraits are great and enhanced. Still you can make any changes if you wish to. Once done, you are ready to share it with your friends and family on social networking sites.

The great thing about the Nokia Glam Me is that it is extremely easy to use and master. With a few tries you can easily get going and apply a range of special effects to your pictures.

If you are using Nokia Lumia 820, you will need to upgrade the software to the 1232.5951.1249.0000 version. When done, with this or any other version above this one, you will be able to use the app seamlessly.

Now pre-order Nokia Lumia 720 for Rs. 18,999

You can now own the Nokia Lumia 720 for just Rs. 18,999 thanks to a pre-order cost. The device is available on Flipkart – the online shopping mart. Nokia had already released the phone in India. However, all were waiting for the official prices to be out of the device that is available in five colors.

And now that they are known, you can go ahead to order one piece for yourself. The Nokia Lumia 720 will be accessible towards the end of this month. However, still the exact date is not known. But it is very likely that the customers will not have to wait until May.

Features of Nokia Lumia 720

Image: http://cdn2.sbnation.com

Processor

1.0 GHz Dual-core Snapdragon S4

Screen

The screen of the Nokia Lumia is 4.3” WVGA LCD screen that comes with Gorilla Glass 2.0 and Super Sensitive Touch.

Camera

6.7MP with F1.9 aperture and a Carl Zeiss lens

The camera comes with LED flash and can record videos in HD at 720 pixels with the capacity of 30 FPS (frames per second).

Front Camera

1.3MP Skype HD wide angle

RAM

512 MB of RAM

Memory

8GB (with MicroSD card can be expanded up to 64 GB)

SkyDrive Storage

7GB free

Apps

Glam Me, Cinemagraph and Smart Shoot

Karbonn launches 3G compatible Smartphone A12

Karbonn has come up with their first Smartphone A12 that is compatible for the 3G platform. The chip of this Smartphone has been designed by Broadcom, the chip makers from the United States. The Smartphone has been priced at Rs. 8,000 for the Indian market. The young consumers have been targeted with the Karbon A12.

Image: mobilephone.co.in

This Smartphone runs on 1GHz ARM processor and also comes with a modem that lends it support to fast downloading. According to the company stats, the download speed can be as high as 7.2 magabit/second. Apart from the 3G, this device also supports the 2G network as well.

Some of the other supports the phone extends are Wi-Fi and GPS. There is also the power management unit implanted in the gadget.

Nokia 105 is the cheapest entry level mobile from Nokia

Are you a first time mobile handset buyer or are you looking for a cheaper handset? Will an entry level mobile be fine for you? Whatever be your question, the Nokia 105 is your answer. It is the cheapest entry level mobile from the house of Nokia and is priced at only Rs. 1,249.

Image: http://ibnlive.in.com

It is the cheapest phone in its category. As a matter of fact, the buyers will be able to own a phone with a color screen. The Nokia 105 happens to be the descendant of Nokia 1280, which proved to be one of the most sold handsets for the company.

Even when it is just the entry level phone, it has rich features like the flashlight, a speaking clock and a FM radio as well.

T S Sridhar, who is the Regional General Manager (South), Nokia India, said that the introduction of Nokia 105 translates to the end of the age of black and white screens for the Indian markets.

Now no need to key in your passwords

We require to key in our passwords for various sites when we have accounts on various sites. The work gets tedious if one is using a shared computer at a place like cyber café. The task gets easier if one has his own computer at home. You can save your password and the site will log you in automatically when you open it.

However, this task has also been addressed to by the researchers. With the new invention, all you need is to just think about the password and you are done.

Image: sync-blog.com

But then how does this system work after all? And what does it need?

Here is the answer. All you will ever need to use this invention is a wireless headset device that has been specially designed for this purpose. Research done at the University of California Berkeley School of Information have invented this new gadget. It cashes in on the practicability of the computer authentication that is based on the brainwave.

With it help, your passwords will not be passwords, but in fact passthoughts. The brain waves are measured the help of the bio-sensor technology.

More about this technology

The wireless headset that costs around $100 is used to connect to your computer for which Bluetooth is a must. The sensor is rested against the forehead of the user that provides the electroencephalogram signals from the brain.

The safety about this technology is almost foolproof. The reason is the brainwaves. They are unique to each and every individual. So in case anyone knows your passthought the electroencephalogram signals will be distinct.

Samsung comes up with a range of LED TVs and Smart TVs

Samsung Electronics will be launching as many as 20 new TV models in the LED TVs and Smart TVs category. It has been the range of the year so far as the company is looking forward to strengthening their leadership in the category of Panel TV, especially in the Indian market.

Image: http://ibnlive.in.com/

The Smart TVs are already contributing to at least 20% of the sales the company is achieving in Panel TVs. The F7500 and F8000 are amongst the first two Samsung TVs that are built with quad-core processors. Both these televisions have lively pictures as well as are brighter enough.

The colors are rich and the black colors run deep at the right spot with high contrasts to accompany. The F8000 gives the impression that it is floating in the air due to its thin design as well as the arc style. It is designed with Intelligent Viewing, which the F8000 happens to be the first in Samsung’s line of Smart TVs.

HTC One available in India for Rs 42,900

The latest gadget from the house of HTC – the HTC One is now available for the Indian market. There is no exception and as any other flagship Smartphone, it has been priced above Rs. 40,000 mark. For India, the HTC One is priced at Rs. 42,900. The phone will be in stores towards the end of this month.

Image: http://www.firstpost.com

HTC is also in contract with Reliance Communications Limited (RCL). There will be 1GB of 3G free data for the Reliance users for a period of three months. Well, that’ not all. There will also be free sharing of music, videos or text. The users will be able to use Whatsapp as well as Facebook.

Firstlook at HTC First – a Smartphone with Facebook Home

The HTC One comes with 4 MP camera, which according to HTC has Ultrapixels. In simple words, it means the normal size of the pixels is bigger than the size of the regular Smartphones. The reason for this is that the camera is built with a sensors.

Let us now have a look at some of the major features of HTC One:

• The HTC One is bundled with 1.7GHz quad-core Snapdragon 600 processor which comes with 2 GB RAM.
• There is storage space of 32 GB to 64 GB.
• The device is packaged with 2300mAh battery.
• The gadget has 4.7” screen and has a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels.
• The Smartphone is loaded Android 4.1.2 OS.
• For the connectivity purpose there is the Bluetooth 4.0.

Ericsson will buy Mediaroom TV software by Microsoft

Ericsson is all set to buy Microsoft’s Mediaroom TV software. However, the details of the agreement have not been made public. That is why it is not known exactly how much the Swedish company will be paying Microsoft. Microsoft’s Mediaroom TV software supports the AT&T’s U-Verse TV service.

Microsoft’s software allows the phone services to provide TV services over the phone exactly like the ones one gets through cable-TV. There is a widespread use of this software which is used in the set top boxes. As many as 22 million users are currently availing of the services from the software.

The reason for Ericsson to have a go at the Microsoft’s software is because it corresponds with the TV products the company has. The business is currently located at California.

There are more than 11 million households that use the set top boxes and the Mediaroom software. Out of these slightly less than half of these are handled by U-Verse. A couple of prominent organizations that use this software are Telus Communications and Deutsche Telekom.

Google may purchase Whatsapp for $1 billion

Google is on the verge of buying mobile messaging service Whatsapp. There are reports making speculations that the cost of the app might touch $1 billion. The source of the reports happens to be the Digital Trends that speak of Google acquiring the app for the said amount.

However, there are efforts being made by Whatsapp to get a higher price. But as of now, the price is hanging around the $1 billion mark. It is difficult to predict right now what the final price tag of the app might be.

There is indeed a tough competition going on to acquire Whatsapp. Mega social networking site, Facebook, had made an attempt to buy Whatsapp the previous year. However, Whatsapp still remains unsold. That could have given hope to give it a shot. To add to it, Facebook had released their custom Android interface called Home.

About Whatsapp

Whatsapp is one of the most popular messaging services that provide a cross-platform service. Users who use iOS, Windows Phone gadgets, Blackberry or Android can easily send and receive messages with Whatsapp. Whatsapp is a paid-for app and is promising to be doing extremely well.

Whatsapp users are widespread and is said to be sending at least one billion messages on a daily basis. This figure had reached 18 billion on the New Year Eve.

If Google buys Whatsapp, it could have its own messaging service Babble this year.

Micromax A91 Ninja available for Rs 8,499 online

The latest product of Micromax, the Micromax A91 Ninja is now available for the Indian customers online. The online price of the product is Rs. 8.499. This price has been kept by Saholic, while at ManiacStore the price of the A19 Ninja is Rs 8,990. At Sulekha.com, the A91 is the highest priced at Rs. 9,000.

Micromax had launched the Canvas HD some weeks ago. The phone faced unexpected problems in the sales and was not available for sale for some days. The launch of the A91 Ninja comes close on the heels of the Canvas HD and is the first Smartphone to be launched after the Canvas HD.

Image: http://zeenews.india.com

But now all is well for the Canvas HD. They are back in stock and up for sales. They are ready to be shipped hassle free. The lack of availability in stock was the prime reason for the phone not being available for sales.

As far as the A91 Ninja is concerned, there is still no word on the official launch of the phone or its date. In the meantime, have a look at the specifications of the Micromax phone.

Specifications:

• Display: 4.5-inch TFT LCD; 480 X 854 resolution
• Processor: MediaTek MT6577 1GHz dual-core processor
• Storage: 4 GB of internal storage (expandable up to 32 GB
• OS: Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS)
• Battery: 1,800mAH
• Camera: 5 MP rear, 0.3 MP front
• RAM: 512 MB RAM
• Connectivity: Wi-Fi, 3G, Bluetooth

First look at HTC First – a Smartphone with Facebook Home

HTC and Facebook have jointly announced that they will be bringing out the first Smartphone with Facebook’s “Home” on April 12. Let us have a look at the Smartphone.

Here is a list of the specifications of HTC First –

• Processor: 1.4GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 (MSM8930AA) processor
• Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean)
• Display: 4.3-inch with 720 x 1280 pixels
• Internal memory: 16GB
• RAM: 1GB
• WLAN: 802.11 a / b / g / n and Bluetooth 4.0/ LTE
• Rear Camera: 5MP
• Front Camera: 1.6MP
• Battery: 2,000mAh (Non-removable)

Image: http://gadgets.ndtv.com

The 4.3” display with the touch screen gives you super clear images and video watching experience is one of its kinds. The 1.4GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 (MSM8930AA) processor powers the phone. The phone does come with an internal storage of 16GB. However, there is no room for a memory card and so one cannot expand the memory with a memory card.

HTC One availablein India for Rs 42,900

The phone is built with a 2,000mAh non-removable battery. The 4.1 Jelly Bean Android version powers the phone to work seamlessly. The Smartphone has been made available in white, pale blue, red and black.

HTC has always brought phones in the market with superior and sleek design. The HTC hardware has always been eye-catching. There is no doubt that the HTC First will also sit in the same range as other phones introduced by HTC with rich looks and features. The HTC first will have the pre-installed Instagram, the app that Facebook purchased a few months back.

In France, the phone will be launched in association with Orange and in England, with EE. There is no information about the release dates of the phone in the rest of Europe.

Facebook aiming it high with Android phones

The giant social networking site, Facebook, has high plans to enter the Android phones. It is an endeavor to enter the mobile computing market, however without having a phone of its own. Facebook will be using a latest app, which will replace the home screen itself on some of the Android Smartphones.

Mark Zuckerberg, who is the CEO of Facebook, has announced that their company has come up with “Home”, a new software. “Home” will display the social network on those mobile devices that are run on the Android OS by Google. “Home” will allow the users to make modifications in Android.

These modifications can help the users in displaying the Facebook messages, newsfeed apart from the messages on the home screen itself. These modifications can help the users to have all the contents on the home screen and make it easy for them to access it.

There will not be the conventional lock screen on those devices that have installed the “Home”. Instead, the users will be able to have a look at the feed that shows status updates, a strip of ticker of photos apart from the ads by Facebook.

The first Smartphone that will have the “Home” built in it will be by HTC. The Smartphone will be known as HTC First. The expected date of the release of the phone is April 12.

Mobile sales grow in India by 20% with Nokia on top

When on one hand Nokia was facing tough competition from companies like Apple in the Smartphone business, the company has managed to retain the top position in the Indian mobile market. The sales have grown by almost 20% and Nokia has a crucial role to play in that.

In 2011, there were 183.4 million mobile units in India. The figure had reached 221.6 million units last year – with a growth of 20%. The market share for Nokia has been the highest – at 21.8%. If the total sales were to be bifurcated, there were 206.4 million units of featurephones, while that of Smartphones, the sales were of 15.2%.

Samsung came in second with a market share of 13.7 per cent. With 6.6% of market share, Micromax finished on the third spot. As far as the market in India is concerned, the featurephones dominate this market. There is one certain indication that India is by and large the market for new phones.

However, the presence of featurephones makes the bulk of the contribution to the shipments as against the upgrades or any replacements.

Nexus manufacturer Asus will sell 32GB variant of Nexus 7

Google had started selling the 16GB variant of the Nexus 7 – their high-end tablet. Asus, the manufacturer of the tablets for Google has announced that they will be selling the 32GB variant of Nexus 7 in India. This announcement has come barely a week after Google began selling their tabs in India.

Image: livemint.com

There had been longer delays, wrong information being circulated and goof-ups. For all these days and weeks only the 16GB variant of the tablet was available, especially in India. Now very soon even the 32GB variant will also be available.

Asus manufactures the Nexus 7 tablets for Google. The device was released all across the world in the month of July last year. Until it saw the Indian shores, November had already dawned. However, the gadget was taken off the market almost immediately.

The reason? The extremely high price. Nexus 7 was priced at Rs. 19,981, which is almost similar to the cost of the iPad Mini. Through the Google Play Store, Google had started the sales of the tablet. The price of a 16GB variant with only Wi-Fi comes at a decent price of Rs. 15,999.

This automatically makes it one of the best tablets on budget in India. The good thing is that it comes close on the heels of Mr. EricSchmidt’s visit to India, who is the chairman of the internet giant.

Is YouTube really shutting down?

Today, YouTube has become one of the most visited web sites. But reports are doing the rounds that YouTube is going to shut down. It is hard to predict if this is an April Fool’s prank played by Google or YouTube is indeed shutting down.

YouTube has been catering to various audiences across the world for almost eight years now. This sudden announcement has taken many YouTube viewers by surprise. Reports are also claiming that the video web site would remain shut for full 10 years. That is too long a period in the world of technology and internet, almost an era.

The announcement from Google had come on Sunday – one day prior to All Fool’s Day. Google said that YouTube was supposed to ‘live’ only for eight years. It was the time to find some of the best videos on the web. Was it the end of the message? Well, no.

There was something more. The message also said that the site would be offline when the day comes to an end. In the 10 years, they will be reviewing all the submissions. After a gap of 10 years, the best videos will be announced in 2023.

YouTube was purchased by Google around seven years back for a price of $1.65 billion, while almost 1 billion people visit the site each month.

It remains to be seen if Google comes out with some sort of announcement claiming that it was just a prank played on the occasion of April Fool’s Day.

Google Play movies in India come at a cost

Google Play movies has made its way to India. It allows you to purchase and stream popular TV shows as well as films. However, it is a costly affair. If you were to buy a movie, it would make you poorer by at least Rs. 500.

And if you go for renting, the price would come down to Rs. 120. However, if you want the movies or the TV shows in HD quality then you will have to shell out some more money still.

Image: firstpost.com

There were some interesting movies available on Google Play, like Premium Rush or The Amazing Spiderman to name a few. However, a couple of films like Zero Dark Thirty and Argo, which are both Oscar award winning films,  were just available for renting or weren’t in the store at all.

However, there were some Bollywood films available. But, the compilation is not quite rousing as yet. Well, the store is just a few hours old and it would be really callous to judge them so upfront.

Let us come zero in on Bollywood films. The Salman Khan blockbuster Ek Tha Tiger was obtainable through sale for a price of RS. 390, while renting would have cost exactly Rs. 100. The collection of Google Play movies is around 40 as of now.