BlackBerry has hit the American market with the second wave of its “Storm“.  As expected, no signs of this gale are to be seen here. Hence, us poor Indians will probably have to make do with a preview, rather than a full review. The Storm2 9550 has few upgrades over its predecessor, the Storm 9500. Don’t remember that phone? Well, does the name Lewis Hamilton ring a bell? Some popular Storm users are Formula One race driver Lewis Hamilton, as well as web celebrity and amateur comedian Barack Obama.

Anyway, we were talking about the Storm2. Unfortunately, this device hardly has anything new or exciting over its predecessor. That explains my rambling in this paragraph — I’m paid by the word, you see. And oh, if you still haven’t remembered the Storm ad with Hamilton in it, here it is for your viewing pleasure:
Read the rest of this entry »

HTC is soon to be ready with its follow-up to the recently launched Google Nexus One. The device, currently under wraps, is called Incredible (talk about lofty aspirations). HTC, which has in recent years grown to be recognized as one of the leading manufacturers of smartphones, will soon be launching the Incredible some time later this year.

This fact has apparently been confirmed by anonymous sources within the company, who also added that the phone would be lauched in partnership with Verizon, an American telecommunications giant. The turf war for the high-end segment will heat up once the Incredible hits the market. It’s also been reported that the Incredible will be powered by a 1 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, which has been described as being “extremely fast” (for a mobile, that is).
Read the rest of this entry »

Sony Ericsson has announced the Elm, the latest in its GreenHeart series of mobile phones. ”GreenHeart” is indeed a funny name for any mobile company’s lineup, considering phones don’t really have hearts. According to Sony Ericsson, GreenHeart phones are the result of a “longstanding commitment” to eliminate the use of environmentally-hazardous substances from the product, and using recycled plastics during the manufacturing process. What a great initiative! They’re saving the world from the carbon footprint of a mobile… Wait, isn’t the carbon footprint of a mobile negligible? “Greener” cars do make sense, but greener mobiles are just a marketing gimmick.
Read the rest of this entry »

Unfortunately, it’s not what you think. Reliance mobile subscribers can now browse through comic strips on their cellphones while on the move. Reliance Communications has tied up with Cartoon Network to launch Archies, Charlie Chaplin, Laurel & Hardy, Ben 10, Johny Bravo, Dexter’s Laboratory, and Powerpuff Girls for its subscribers at Rs 1 per day.

“With this, subscribers can now be transported to the imaginary world of comics at the mere press of a button, especially [sic] when they are on the move”, Krishna Durba, Head, Value Added Services, Reliance Communications, said. It was not immediately clear whether moving while reading a comic strip on your mobile would elicit more laughs as compared to standing still while doing so. Perhaps Reliance has been inspired by the recent Idea! campaign.
Read the rest of this entry »

In what will come as a relief to lakhs of subscribers across Jammu & Kashmir, the central government has lifted the ban on prepaid mobile phones, a home ministry official said today. The ban was imposed last year after the government cited security reasons in the terror-riven state.

“We have asked for stringent identity checks of prepaid mobile subscribers, after which telecom operators can issue prepaid SIM cards”, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Source: IANS

Nokia India workers, on strike after 55 employees were suspended earlier this week, refused to end their agitation today despite being asked by the labour commissioner’s office to resume duty. “The strike started on Tuesday after the management suspended 35 employees. On Wednesday, another 20 employees were suspended”, an official of the Nokia India Employees Progressive Union told IANS.

Workers were expected to resume work today following a conciliatory meeting at the labour commissioner’s office the previous day. The labour commissioner had issued an advisory to the union to resume work and also directed the management to sort out the row by 25th Jan. M Shanmugam, general secretary of the Labour Progressive Front (LPF) — of which the Nokia union is an affiliate — had earlier told IANS that the issue had been sorted out. “Production will resume immediately”, he had said. LPF is the labour wing of the ruling DMK party.
Read the rest of this entry »

In a sign of increased hardening of its stance against Chinese censorship, Google has indefinitely postponed the planned launch of its Nexus One mobile phone in China amid a dispute with the government over internet censorship and e-mail hacking that the search giant says may force it to leave the country.

“It is postponed”, Google Inc spokeswoman Marsha Wang said about the much-awaited launch. She said a launch ceremony planned for Wednesday was cancelled, but declined to give a reason for the decision, or to say when the launch might be rescheduled.
Read the rest of this entry »

The world’s largest manufacturer of mobile phones has recently been losing some of its market share in the high-end segment. In my not-so-humble opinion, there were three reasons behind it. 1. Samsung dropped its prices insanely; 2. People actually bought the iPhone; 3. Blackberry started making phones that weren’t fugly. Now, the Market Leader (Nokia) had cause to worry. It needed to come up with something extraordinary, a feat that’s not unknown to it. True to expectations, it has brought out its ”silver bullet” in time — the N900.
Read the rest of this entry »

When 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley and his crew went to China to record the black market dismantling of electronic waste, or “e-waste,” the experience was almost as hazardous for the 60 Minutes team as working with the toxic material is for poor Chinese workers. More Info and a video after the jump.
Source: 60 Minutes
Read the rest of this entry »

In a report published on techon.nikkeibp.co.jp Ericsson AB of Sweden revealed its efforts in the mobile broadband market at a press conference. In the area of mobile communications, innovative technologies such as “HSPA evolution,” which is the successor to HSPA, and “LTE (long term evolution),” which features high-speed communications of more than 100Mbps, are drawing interest.
Source: TechOn
Read the rest of this entry »

Google sealed the loophole that let users unlock their phones with the help of an online site. The bug was a telnet trick that allowed for easy root access to the operating system and was akin to finding the administrative password on a desktop Linux system. So those who want to get the G1 here in India might have to wait till a more solid crack comes through. More info after the jump.
Source: Gizmodo
Read the rest of this entry »

Drivers in the San Francisco Bay Area with GPS-enabled mobile phones can soon tap into new technology that promises to transform traffic monitoring. Researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, and Nokia Research Center, Palo Alto publicly released a pilot software that turns cellular devices into mobile traffic probes providing real-time information on traffic flow and travel times.
Web link: www.berkeley.edu
Read the rest of this entry »

Pantech Wireless one of largest mobile phone manufacturers in Korea, has announced the arrival of its Pantech Slate, touted to be the world’s thinnest messaging device. The Pantech Slate, at a depth of less than one centimeter, offers a sleek design with full QWERTY keypad and a bevy of other features. The bouquet is complete with full text, multimedia, email, and instant messaging, all on a 2.2″ LCD screen. Slate also packs a digital camera, video recorder, Media player and Bluetooth capability.
Web link: AT&T
Read the rest of this entry »

Softbank and Sharp have announced the Aquos Fulltouch 931SH slider, which sports a super 3.8-inch touchscreen of 1024×480 resolution. The resolution could even put the simple netbooks to shame. The phone also has some decent features including a 3G browser, Bluetooth connectivity with A2DP support, 5.2 Megapixel camera with image stabilisers, accelerometer, TV Tuner, Media Player and MicroSD expansion slot. Check out the Web link for more details and some video demos. Jump for more pictures.
Web link: Softbank
Read the rest of this entry »

Yep, you can now run any sim card with your T-Mobile G1 Google Phone just in case you are one of the few people who actually has one. The crack was developed by unlock-tmobileg1.com and is distributed worldwide as long as you are willing to pay their asking price of $24 (Rs 1,200 approx). Check the Web link for further details.
Web link: www.unlock-tmobileg1.com

Android, Google’s open source software is based on outdated open-source components which had know vulnerabilities and were fixed. Google admitted that they did not incorporate the security fixes into Android.For Google´s G1 phone to become infected, a malicious developer would need to know what the flaw is and then needs to place this malicious code on a website.
Source: physorg
Read the rest of this entry »

Google has introduced Google Earth for iPhone and iPod touch. It may be small, but it brings all the power of Google Earth to the palm of your hand, including all of the same global imagery and 3D terrain. You can even browse any of our 8 million Panoramio photos or read Wikipedia articles. Video after jump.
Source:googleblog.blogspot
Read the rest of this entry »

Plans are in motion for the much anticipated launch of an Android device for China between February and March 2009, but unlike the US launch of the T-Mobile G1 handset, China Mobile has decided not to work with Taiwanese PDA manufacturer HTC and has instead opted for working with Lenovo Mobile to release it’s first Google powered phone.
Weblink:Shanghaiist
Read the rest of this entry »

Motorola Krave ZN4 features two layers of touch – one on the interactive clear flip outside and the other a full touch-screen on the inside. Without opening the phone, the clear flip provides users with one-touch access to popular features and services – such as watching videos, accessing photos, playing music and viewing incoming messages. The flip design also makes it easy to place clear and reliable phone calls while preventing touch-screen wear, and a side lock key prevents accidental usage. More info, pictures and specs after the jump.
Read the rest of this entry »

HP has announced the launch of two WinMo 6.1-powered handsets- iPAQ Data Messenger and Voice Messenger. The HP Voice Messenger will sell for €399 (Rs 26,000 approximately) on November 5th and the Data Messenger will be selling for €499 (Rs 32,000 approximately) on November 22nd. The two models will be available either SIM-free through HP resellers, or with a wireless contract across the Europe.
Source:Source: HP
Read the rest of this entry »