It's All About Updates

The second 4G phone by carrier Sprint, the Samsung Epic, is all set to release in U.S. on August 31. The Android run phone will be available at $250 after a rebate of $100.

Let us have a quick look at the phone specs. The Samsung Epic comes with a 4 inch AMOLED touchscreen and a slide-out keyboard. It has two cameras- a 5MP with auto focus and LED flash and a front facing VGA camera. Running on Android 2.1 OS, the phone packs in a 1GHz Hummingbird processor.

In addition to that, the Epic has the latest version of Samsung's TouchWiz skin and is preloaded with Swype and Qik apps. The phone can act as 3G/4G hotspot and incorporates Samsung's AllShare and Social Hub features. It has a six-axis motion sensor and a 16 GB microSD card is included.
The Epic weighs 155 grams and is 124.8 X 64.6 X 14.2 mm in size. It has a standard removable 1500 mAh Lithium battery and a memory of 1GB ROM and 512MB RAM. The connectivity options include Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, microUSB, and a 3.5 mm jack.

Sprint earlier released the world's first 4G phone, the HTC EVO 4G. Sprint now has two 4G phones under its belt. However, competitors Verizon and AT&T are also gearing up and likely to roll out 4G services from next year.

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Technology giant Apple Inc. is reportedly planning to release a mini iPad this December, a media report said Wednesday.

Details of a smaller version of the iPad were leaked in a Chinese newspaper that had also correctly predicted the specifications of the iPad months before its release.

Apple intends to launch the smaller iPad this December in time for the Christmas shopping season, Sky News reported citing sources.

The rumoured version is predicted to be 200 grams lighter than the standard iPad, which was released in April this year.

A report in the Economic Daily News said Taiwanese companies have won contracts to make components smaller than those used on the current iPads.

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Sony Ericsson has spread a delectable offering of six new phones for the Indian markets, which comprise of the Xperia X8, Cedar, Aspen and Walkman phones- Yendo, Spiro and Zylo.

Speaking on the launch, Anurag Kontu, Marketing Head-India, Sony Ericsson said, "With the launch of the new portfolio, we continue to offer an amalgamation of communication and entertainment by fusing together best quality touchscreen experience, premium imaging and music features, and great connectivity options across price segments."

Yendo is the first full touch walkman phone with four corner touch UI and is capable of beating the music pulse of its users. The device comes in a range of vibrant colors like, black, blue, green, orange, pink, purple, red, silver, yellow and white. In order to help users access their favorite songs quickly, the phone comes with touch walkman player, touch TrackID and PlayNow features. The Cedar is an attempt from Sony to propagate the GreenHeart commitment. Keeping in line with it, the handset features various green credentials such as recycled plastics, a low power consumption charger, an e-manual, waterborne paint and compact packaging.

The Xperia X8 is the latest addition to Sony's 2010 Xperia line-up, which takes the best from the Xperia X10 and the mini version. The phone has a display screen size of 3 inch and 3.2MP camera. It comes with an internal memory of 128 MB and can be extended up to 16GB using a microSD card.

Connectivity options of the Xperia X8 include Bluetooth 2.1, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, USB port and a 3.5mm audio jack. The phone runs on Android 1.6 (Donut) and is soon expected to be updated to Android 2.2. Other features include FM radio, VGA video recording at 30fps, music player, TrackID music recognition, and Google Search, Maps, Gmail, YouTube, Calendar, Google Talk, and Facebook app. It packs in a standard Li-Po 1200 mAh battery.

The new range of the phones will be available in the markets in few weeks time. However, there has been no announcement about the pricing of the phones.

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Lemon Mobile has unveiled its latest touchscreen phone, the iT717, for the Indian market. The iT717 is a dual SIM (GSM+GSM) phone and is available at a price of Rs. 4,499.

The iT717 has dimensions of 101.4 x 49.5 x 15.5mm and weighs 100 gram. It comes with an internal memory of 20MB which can be expanded up to 8GB. The phone is loaded with a 3.2 MP camera and has integrated music player and FM Radio.

The connectivity options of the phone include Bluetooth, USB, and WAP and GPRS for internet. Packed with an 1100 mAh battery, the phone offers a talk time of up to 5 hours and standby time of up to 8 days. It comes with a few integrated softwares like Opera Mini, and Nimbuzz Instant messenger.

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The latest phone from the brand of Nokia, X3 Touch and Type (X3-02), is a unique launch which incorporates in it both a number pad and a touchscreen. The X3-02 is actually a refurbished version of the original X3. It integrates a touch interface for browsing, media and simply navigating the OS but a hardware shortcut for dialing and text.

The device is only 0.38 inches in thickness with a 2.4 inch QVGA resistive touchscreen display and a 5MP camera. Its connectivity options include Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1, 3.5mm headphone jack, and microUSB port. The phone is available in five colors including White Silver, Petrol Blue, Lilac, Pink and Dark Metal. It runs on S40 operating system and loads communication applications integrating social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook. It has dedicated keys for things like Mail and Media as well as support for services such as Ovi Mail, Ovi Music and the Ovi Store.

The memory of the phone can be expanded to 16GB using a microSD card. It uses a Li-Ion (BL-4S) battery that gives a talk time of up to 5 hours and 20 minutes.

The X3-02 will be sold unlocked for $160 and is expected to ship in Q3 2010.

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The Government of India told Research In Motion (RIM) the makers of BlackBerry to install its server in India for tracking its messenger (BBM) and BlackeBerry Enterprise mail service (BES) or close its messenger and mail services.

The Govt of India has given August 31st, 2010 deadline to RIM to come up with a solution to address India’s security concerns. Earlier RIM had offered to provide information on a deferred basis, but that was not acceptable to the security agencies and Home Ministry.The security agencies said that they needed real time information, not the deferred one.

The Indian security agencies cannot gain access to heavily encrypted corporate email sent on a Black-Berry handset as a result the Home Ministry rejected the RIM’s proposal, saying it was detrimental to country’s security. ###

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Vodafone Essar, India’s leading GSM operator today announced the launch of the most attractive special tariff voucher for its subscribers in Orissa telecom circle.

With Vodafone’s new Special Tariff plan (Bonus Card) priced at Rs40 all new and existing prepaid subscribers can enjoy cheapest flat call rate of 40p/min anywhere in India, be it local or STD for a period of 30 days.

Mr. Asit Shekhar, Chief Operating Officer, Vodafone Essar, Orissa said “We are delighted to introduce this offer for our customers in Orissa. This initiative is in line with our core focus on customer convenience. Bonus Card-40 is available at all Vodafone Stores, Mini stores and retailers across Orissa.

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The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has reject the proposal to move the mobile number from 10 digits to 11 digits and proposed that the existing 10-digit numbering scheme should be continued to avoid inconvenience to the customers that would accompany any move to shift to an 11 digit numbering scheme.

Giving a two pronged strategy, TRAI has recommended that India should migrate to an “Integrated Numbering Scheme” for Fixed (land line) and Mobile services by 31st December, 2011.

In other words both fixed line and mobile phones will have a 10-digit number. This would make available enough numbers to cater to expansion of existing services and introduction of new services for the next 30-40 years. This integrated numbering will also facilitate extension of number portability to fixed lines.Till the integrated scheme is implemented the dialling of intra-circle calls from fixed lines to mobile will be with ‘0’ prefixed.

This would enable exploitation of spare capacity available in the sublevels of existing Short Distance Charging Area (SDCA) codes, to the extent of about one billion numbers without affecting any telephone number or STD code.

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Tata Docomo, India’s fastest growing mobile operator continues to do the new! After bringing down the STD tariff to 45p/min as well local tariff as they are giving 15 seconds free airtime with every minute calling, they picks the local tariff to reduce.

Now with Tata Docomo enjoy unbelievable per second tariff for local calls in Kolkata and West Bengal. Recharge with RC26 and get 30 seconds free while talking to any local numbers for 1 minutes, pushing down effective local call rate at just 30p/minute.

When you recharge with RC26 (of Rs. 26) you will pay for 1st 30 seconds for every 60 seconds you call for. This is a limited period offer, valid upto 30th Sep ‘10. This STV is not valid for users availing STV 7 & STV 61. ###

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