Samsung Unveils the 2ON Phone

Samsung Telecommunications India (STI) today announced the launch of Samsung 2ON, described as the first Dual Standby CDMA cum GSM handset. What's different about the phone, Samsung claims, is its 2 SIM slots -- one for GSM and the other for CDMA. The 2ON is capable of operating on almost all telecom services (GSM and CDMA) in the country. Samsung also claims it is the first CDMA phone to support both Tata Indicom and Reliance Communications (RCom) value-added services (VAS) on the same handset.


Housed in a stylish metallic design, the 2ON comes with a 2.3-inches TFT touch-screen, a 2 mega pixels camera, micro SD card slot up to 1GB, and MP3/AAC+ player. The handset packs a slew of software including Handwriting Recognition, File Viewer, Sketch Memo, Advanced Organiser Capability with Functional Screen, plus India-specific Hinglish, Mobile Prayer, and Panchang. The phone comes with a 1200mAh battery for extra power for switching between two networks. It doubles as modem to access Internet at speeds of 153kbps on CDMA network.
Sunil Dutt, country head of Samsung Telecommunications India, said the phone caters to the growing Dual Stand By market where discerning customers want the convenience of a single feature-rich handset with two connections operating simultaneously. Dutt said the handset would give Indian consumers freedom to select service operators of their choice on both GSM and CDMA networks. He added it's a must-have for CDMA customers who use international roaming cards of CDMA operators for roaming on GSM networks in countries that support only GSM services.
The Samsung 2ON is immediately available for Rs 16,500. Source

Four New Cheap Handsets from Nokia

At the "Growing Together 2008" conference held in Johannesburg, Nokia unveiled four low-priced handsets targeted at replacement buyers (consumers seeking to replace their current mobile phones with newer models) in emerging markets.The four new handsets, expected to be priced between Euro 50 and Euro 90 include: the Nokia 5000 with a 1.3 mega pixels camera, which is claimed to be Nokia's first camera phone at this price point; Nokia 2680 Slide; Nokia 7070 Prism; and Nokia 1680 Classic.

The Nokia 5000 sports a 1.3 mega pixels camera, high-resolution QVGA display, and FM radio with recording functionality and MP3 ring tones. For professionals and others who're always on the go, the handset supports email and other benefits including Nokia Xpress Audio Messaging, Bluetooth, and GPRS connectivity. It is expected to begin shipping in the second quarter of 2008 for around Euro 90.

The Nokia 2680 is an entry-level slim slider camera phone that promises ease of use and entertainment. Which includes an FM radio with recording capability and MP3 ring tones and an expanded phone book among others. Expected to be priced at Euro 75, this phone will begin shipping in the third quarter of 2008.

Next up is a low-priced handset from the Prism series. The Nokia 7070 Prism features a new folding design with the geometric patterns and external light effects that are the staples of the series. The new Prism offers personalized content including themes and wallpapers, and MP3-grade ring tones. It packs a voice recorder and hands-free speaker. Nokia 7070 Prism is expected to begin shipping in the third quarter of 2008 for a price of Euro 50.

The last of the newbies, the Nokia 1680 Classic is touted as Nokia's most affordable camera phone till date. Expected to be priced at Euro 50, the Nokia 1680 Classic offers essential mobile phone functionality along with the added benefit of a basic digital VGA camera. It features video recording and one-touch access for photos and videos. Being a basic phone, it offers phone-sharing functionality and easy access to email. The phone is expected to begin shipping in the second quarter of 2008.Source

Fly Launches The 'Hummer'

Fly, the flagship brand of Meridian Mobile, today launched its most awaited phone, the Hummer. For this purpose, French handset maker ModeLabs has carried over GM's (General Motors) Hummer license to the mobile phone. This design has been styled after the Hummer car and comes in three colors — Yellow, Military camouflage and Black.

Also present for the occasion was Malaika Arora Khan, who is the brand ambassador of Fly Phones. "When I came to know about the phone first, my first impression was that the phone is obviously for the males. Having used it, however, I feel quite differently now," she said.

The Hummer comes with a 262K color LCD with touch screen, a 2MP camera, 256MB MicroSD card bundled, FM radio and MP3 player. The phone is just one amongst 15 more to be launched in the next quarter itself, as informed by CEO, Rajiv Khanna. "We have plans to get really aggressive in the market, but as of now the strategy calls for streamlining the business channels before we can start work on branding," he said.The phone will cost Rs. 10,000 in the market and is customized with Hummer paint color.Source

LG Brings The Interactive KF600 to India

LG Electronics India has announced the launch of its 2008 iF product design award winning mobile phone LG KF600.The handset boasts of a sleek design and dynamic graphic interface themes. It has eight integrated graphic themes that give the phone a different character that can act as an extension of its owner's personality. The InteractPad replaces physical navigation keys with context-specific virtual keys that change to fit the task at hand. The handset also has a scratch resistant screen.

Anil Arora, Business Group Head, GSM, LGEIL said, "The LG KF600 and the InteractPad reflect LG's commitment in making its handsets easier to use through improved user interface technology. Usability is truly at the centre of this handset's design and it represents LG's latest achievement in making phones that connect with their users. This handset offers a mere glimpse into a newly emerging trend in the mobile market. LG is researching and developing new ways to improve usability and will continue focus on features that add practical benefits for users."
The LG KF600's InteractPad and its virtual menu keys show the exact keys a user needs to complete the task at hand eliminating distractions. This is more flexible than standard hardware keys and eliminates the need to memorize exactly which key performs what function. These virtual keys are also larger and better spaced than physical keys, improving accuracy. The phone includes multimedia features like a 3 mega-pixel camera, MP3 player, video recording, FM radio, Bluetooth and more. Its ergonomic trapezoidal shape complements the phone's sleek, glossy finish perfectly. The LG KF600 is available at a price tag of Rs. 14,990.Source

Sony Launches Miniature Handycam

Sony has launched a new pocket-sized Handycam camcorder - the HDR-TG1.Weighing in at ten ounces the camcorder has an ultra-portable body measuring 1.3-inches wide by 4.7-inches tall by 2.5-inches deep. Its titanium body and premium hard coating make it highly resistant to scratches.The full-featured camcorder can record 1920 x 1080 HD video and 4-megapixel digital photos directly to Sony Memory Stick PRO Duo or PRO Duo Mark2 media cards. Its size and full recording capability makes it the world's smallest full HD camcorder.It ships with a supplied 4GB PRO Duo Mark2 media card.
"Sony was the first to introduce a travel-sized camcorder with 8 mm technology in the 1980's, and it revolutionized the travel and electronics industries," said Kelly Davis, director of camcorder marketing at Sony Electronics. "This new model is a great example of our expertise in miniaturization, as well as advanced imaging technologies with features like face detection."

This new model incorporates face detection technology for both video and still images, a technology also shared with select Sony Cyber-shot digital cameras. It can identify up to eight faces in the camcorder's 2.7-inch touch panel LCD screen, and automatically adjust focus, exposure, color control for natural-looking skin tones, and when photos are taken, flash control.
The model also allocates more encoding bits to a detected face during the encoding process for the best possible picture when people are the subjects.The camcorder is equipped with a Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar 10x optical zoom lens and 2-megapixel ClearVid CMOS sensor with Exmor-derived technology, engineered to minimize picture noise.The camera's BIONZ processing engine also features noise reduction capabilities in addition to fast processing speeds. This engine powers the model's range optimization feature, which automatically adjusts under- or over-exposed areas in a picture.Audio is recorded in Dolby Digital 5.1-channel surround sound and features a built-in zoom microphone, delivering clear recordings of subjects along with the video.The HDR-TG1 camcorder will ship with supplied accessories in May for about $900. There is also an optional travel kit (Sony ACC-TCH5) that includes a battery, travel charger and pouch for about $100. Plus, there is a custom-fit case (Sony LCM-TGA) with brushed metal accents available as an accessory for about $50.
These can be purchased, along with other accessory options, direct at sonystyle.com, at Sony Style retail stores and at authorized dealers. Pre-orders begin on April 4.Source

Intel Unveils New Classmate PCs

Intel Corp. unveiled new features for its line of low-cost laptops for schools Wednesday, adding bigger screens and more data storage capacity as the chip maker ratchets up its rivalry with the One Laptop per Child organization, which sells a competing machine.Intel's new Classmate PCs - slated to go on sale in April for between $300 and $500 - reflect the company's growing efforts to sell computers equipped with its own chips to schools in developing countries, a battleground for technology companies because of the millions of people there just coming online.But the target market has expanded to include kids in the U.S. as potential users of cheaper, stripped-down machines.Classmate PCs also are part of Intel's push to generate interest in a new class of mobile devices the company is calling "netbooks," which are smaller and have fewer functions than standard laptops but also use far less power and are easier to carry around.

Other tweaks to the Classmate that Intel announced Wednesday from its developer forum in Shanghai include the availability of both 7-inch and 9-inch screens, a 30 gigabyte hard disk drive and an integrated Web camera.At the developer forum, Intel executives also rolled out five new processors under the "Atom" brand name. The chips are designed for pocket-size Internet devices. The chips come in speeds up to 1.86 gigahertz while using less than 3 watts of power.Intel said its Classmate PCs will eventually use Atom processors.Classmates are based on Intel's design and include its processors, but they are built by other manufacturers and sold under a variety of brand names. The first generation went on sale in March 2007 with the 7-inch screen and fewer functions. Intel said it has sold "tens of thousands" of the machines but declined to provide more specific data.Intel and OLPC have feuded furiously over their competing products.The Cambridge, Mass.-based nonprofit OLPC says it has sold hundreds of thousands of its $188 machines.The Massachusetts Institute of Technology spinoff's low-cost XO laptop includes a microprocessor from Advanced Micro Devices Inc., the world's No. 2 microprocessor maker behind Intel.A short-lived truce between Intel and OLPC ended earlier this year when Intel suddenly pulled out from OLPC's board of directors.Intel claimed it couldn't continue cooperating with OLPC when founder Nicholas Negroponte demanded Intel stop selling Classmates overseas. Negroponte said the dispute stemmed from Intel sales reps disparaging OLPC products while pushing Intel's own machines.Source