Windows Phone 7 Connector Allows WP7 Syncing on Macs

Windows 7 connector is not a software that many people would be typically interested in. However, if you're someone who uses a Windows phone or who likes everything portable and accessible, you might find this interesting. Windows 7 connector is a package for your phone and Mac desktop. The application is a free 2.6 MB file and can be downloaded here. It helps you to backup your data, manage users as well as view alerts and also helps you to sync your Windows phone and Zune media player to your Mac. Windows Phone 7 syncing now on the Mac OS X Windows phone 7 connector has also been made available in the iTunes app store, however, only for computers running on Mac OS X 10.6.6, or higher. With this application you can retrieve pictures and videos from your mobile phone and import it to your iPhoto or iTunes.  Although, you cannot copy files from your PC to your phone, you can import them onto your computer wirelessly. This software can be downloaded on your Windows phone at the market place app on your handset.

BSNL Launches Voice & Video over Broadband (VVOBB)

After the launch of IPTV and 3G services in the recent past, BSNL have now tied up with IT solutions provider, Sai Infosystems India to introduce voice-and-video facility on BSNL's broadband service. This voice-and-video service will cover a wide spectrum of telecom services like video telephony, conferencing and integrated mobile advertising. 

Another sector where this technology could be of use is security. Video telephony also offers video surveillance, which could help substitute analog CCTV systems with security systems using IP cameras.

VVOBB Tariff Plans

A range of phone equipment from simple to high-end models will be launched for enabling this service. A PC is not required for making calls. The connectivity for the service will be provided by BSNL. 

Although video telephony has been widely available in other parts of the world, till now it has been mostly restricted for business purposes. BSNLs foray into voice-and-video over broadband (VVOBB) for homes seems like a fresh initiative to provide its users with additional facilities for audio-visual communication.

TATA Docomo Introduces Facebook, Twitter Access via USSD

Social networking access seems to be that one important feature that would complete a mobile service. Taking a cue from this, one of India’s rapidly growing mobile service providers, Tata Docomo have announced their USSD (Unstructured Supplementary Service Data) based access to popular social networking services like Facebook and Twitter. According to a report in TELECOM TALK, the catch here is that users will not have to subscribe to any data plans to avail these services.

Now, USSD-based access

By dialing *325# and *515#, users will be able to access Facebook and Twitter – can see and post status updates, post comments, poke, like, among others. In order to subscribe to Twitter, the user can dial *515#. On reaching a landing page, hereafter, customers can punch in their Twitter details, and begin tweeting. Facebook services, on the other hand can be accessed by dialing *325#, and like mentioned before, users can enter their details on the landing page that follows.

Ford Drives the All-New Fiesta Range to India

Popular car manufacturer, Ford, has brought the All-New Ford Fiesta to India. Ford claims that this is perhaps one of the most stylish and aesthetically designed cars in the country. The first among the range of 8 cars has arrived and the rest are expected to follow later.

Among the features that Ford believes has caught the imagination of scores of Indians is the fuel efficiency that the sedan offers, in addition to the other features like cruise control, EPAS, or electric power assisted steering and Advanced Bluetooth Voice Control. Manufactured in Ford’s Chennai plant at Miramalai Nagar, the sedan boasts of having both petrol (1.5 L Ti-VCT) and diesel (1.5 L Duratorq TDCi) fuelled engines.

Ready to roll.. (For more images, click here)

The All-New Ford Fiesta has been enabled with the Anti – Lock Brake System (ABS), electronic brakeforce distribution (EBD), airbags and steering wheel audio controls. Available in Style, Trend, Titanium and Titanium Plus – the styles have been spread across the 8 variants.

The 1.5 L Ti-VCT Style variant comes with a price tag of Rs. 8,31,397, whereas the 1.5 L Duratorq TDCi Titanium Plus variant comes with a price tag of Rs. 10,50,847. We did manage some quality time with the Ford Fiesta, click here  to catch not a glimpse but a meaty video of the Fiesta's voice recognition feature. Also, watch the video below to catch us try the All-New Ford Fiesta:

Ford Fiesta Test Drive

Is BlackBerry Working on a Media Box?

The Canadian mobile phone manufacturer known the world over for their business smartphones is rumored to be releasing a media box similar to that of an Apple TV. According to a report by NERDBERRY, this media player is said to be codenamed ‘BlackBerry Cyclone.’

BlackBerry Cyclone coming later this year? (Image credit: N4BB)

According to the report, the BlackBerry Cyclone will connect to a TV via an HDMI cable and will be Wi-Fi enabled. Other features of the media player are said to include YouTube and the ability to access media devices through Wi-Fi. No other information about the Cyclone is available as of now. The Cyclone is said to look like a larger version of the BlackBerry Presenter and the expected release date of this product will be later this year. 

Do let us know what you think about this rumoured offering from BlackBerry in the comments section below.

LG Optimus PRO C660 Surfaces in Italy

Mobile manufacturers these days seem to concentrating on touchscreen plus QWERTY keypad based devices. LG has joined the likes of Nokia, Huawei and Motorola. The LG Optimus Pro C660 is available now in Italy according to Italian website androidworld.it.

According to the website the Optimus pro sports a 2.8-inch screen, EDGE connectivity, 1500mAh battery, Android 2.3 Gingerbread, 3Megapixel camera, WiFi, Bluetooth and GPS. There are no details of the processor yet.

Some of the pictures available on the website show that the phone has a regular candybar design and is another phone in the plethora of smartphones available in the market today.

Pictures courtesy: Androidworld.it

Nokia 700 (ZETA) Pictures Leaked Online

Nokia seems to be manufacturing phones on a whim these days. After a slew of smartphones running on the Symbian (E6, X7) and Meego(N9) platforms were announced recently, there are leaked images of a new touchscreen phone Nokia Beta 700 doing the rounds in the online space.

According to some details found along with the pictures, the phone may come with a 1GHz processor and a 3.2-inch AMOLED display, will support memory cards up to 32GB and will be available in white. It will feature a 5MP camera and is expected to run on Symbian’s new Belle platform, successor to Symbian Anna.

It also packs in Wi-Fi and has fast HSPA speeds (10.2Mbps or 14.4Mbps downlink and 5.76Mbps uplink). The battery was a 1080mAh unit. The report claimed the phone weighs 80 grams and might measure 110 x 51 x 10mm.

Keep reading this space for more updates.

Picture Courtesy: GSMarena

Hands-on With the Nokia E6 Smartphone

Like its predecessors, the E71 and E72, Nokia’s new E6 business smartphone has some big shoes to fill and our first impressions of it say that it’s on the right track. This is Nokia’s first QWERTY Touch-and type handset and it comes with the latest version of Symbian Anna. While it hasn't deviated too much from the original design, it does pack in some nifty improvements. At Nokia's event, I managed to grab some private time with the device and here's what I thought.

Design

The form factor is what made the E71 and E72 very popular and the same is carried forward in the E6. This makes it fit snugly in your hand without being too small or too big, therefore it's comfortable to hold. It’s not too heavy, either at 133g and the stainless steel panels gives the appearance of a premium handset, a big tick mark for any business handset. The edges are curved, more so at the bottom which breaks the slightly blockier shape of the E72.

Two very professional looking colors

The keyboard is like the Holy Grail for any business phone, screw this up and you might as well wave the white flag. That’s not the case here, though, the keyboard is very comfortable to use (dare I say slightly better than the E72) and even though we didn’t use it for very long, it shouldn’t be a problem even for those lengthy mails. Nokia have increased the size of the Spacebar so it’s easier to type. The feedback of the keys was good just like its elder siblings.

E-Series style comfortable looking keypad

The power button is located on the top along with the 3.5mm headphone jack and the micro-SD card slot. The three circles you see upfront are the ambient light sensor, proximity sensor and the front facing VGA camera. The volume rocker and lock screen slider is placed on the right which makes it easy to operate with your thumb if you're a righty. The other side hosts the micro-USB port which we've seen on all their recent phones.

MicroSD card slot on top

Overll, the E6 makes a very good first impression when it comes to build and finish and is quite visually appealing in the two color options it comes in.

Features The touch screen is Nokia’s latest addition to this form factor and it’s not too bad, actually. There’s not much room to work with obviously on the 2.46-inch screen, but it’s fairly responsive. Even with fat fingers like mine, I was easily able to navigate through the menus without accidently hitting something else. Also, since this screen has a higher than usual resolution of 640x480, everything looks really crisp and sharp. No more pixelated icons and wallpapers, everything looks modern and fresh. While opening folders or the menu, there is a very minor lag, but it’s a lot less pronounced compared to, say, the X7. I think this is because it’s easier for Symbian to render a 2.46-inch screen instead of a 4-inch where the lag is more pronounced. Anna's menu on the Touch and Type Nokia has packed in plenty of productivity applications, like for instance you get the full version of Quick Office, which lets you create documents, as well. We’ll get into the full details once we get the unit for review. All metal, all business The 8MP camera is a bit of a step backwards, though. Although the mega-pixel count has been bumped up from 5MP on the E72, it's now a fixed-focus camera instead of an auto-focus. This means capturing proper, in-focus shots will be a challenge. Nokia have added another LED for the flash and the new E6 can record 720p videos with Geo-tagging. This is made possible thanks to the 680MHz ARM 11 CPU in side with a graphics hardware accellerator. The phone also support more video formats out-of-the-box like H.264 and H.263. Storing all this HD content is not a problem either as the E6 has 8GB in-built memory that's expandable to 32GB via micro-SD card. Verdict Like the previous two phones, the E6 also launched at Rs.22,000 (approx), but unlike the E72, the E6 has already seen a price drop in this short span of time. You can find it on Flipkart for as little as Rs.17,499. Slim looks with easy access buttons on the side Nokia has stuck with their winning formula with E6, and if you loved the E71 and E72, then you'll no doubt love this one. After my brief stint with the device, I liked the overall build and feel of the device. The keyboard is very comfortable to use and the high resolution screen is simply gorgeous. The only downsides that I can see for now is the fixed focus camera and perhaps the Symbian Anna, which is still not as fluid as you'd want it to be. Also, Nokia will face some stiff competition from the Samsung Galaxy Pro and the upcoming BlackBerry Bold Touch 9900 and even though they fall under different price brackets, they still fall under the new touch-and-type QWERTY family. Stay tuned for our full review on the E6.

Intex Launches the Tri.Do, a Triple SIM Mobile Phone

If a Dual SIM phone is not keeping you happy beacuse it's just not enough for those with 'active' or 'multiple' lifestyles, Intex launching a triple SIM mobile phone called Tri.Do is sure to put a smile on your face. The mobile phone has three SIM slots, two for GSM cards and one for a CDMA card. The rest of the specifications are the pretty standard ones that you’ll find in most entry-level Java mobile phones.

Three SIMs for 3 different lifestyles

The Tri.Do boasts of a 1800 mAh battery, which the company claims can deliver up to 7 hours of talk time and 300 hours of stand-by. The handset supports formats like MP3, WAV and AMR for audio and MP4 along with 3GP for video. The rest of the specifications are as follows:

• 2.2-inch TFT screen with 65K colours
• Bluetooth
• 1.3 Megapixel camera
• Memory expandable to 32GB
• Wireless FM
• 3.5 mm audio jack

Tri.Do also has some pre-loaded applications for social networking like Facebook, MSN and Yahoo, and there’s Google, as well. It has other mundane features like an answering machine and there’s a mobile tracker application also.

The Intex Tri.Do can be yours for Rs. 3,750 and is available at your nearest mobile phone retail store.

Nokia’s Ovi Suite Gets an Upgrade

Those of you who're loyal to your Nokia handsets definitely know about Ovi Suite – the software that lets you sync all your data from your device to your PC. Nokia has finally released an update for it, bringing it to version 3.1.1.75. This actually was in a Beta stage version 3.1.1.40, and had quite a few features. With some added features and bug fixes... Users with Symbian-based mobile phones can download and install apps, games and more directly from the Ovi Store. The Ovi Maps has got a simplified view and Nokia had also worked on quite a few crash errors being fixed. You can download the updated version of Ovi Suite directly from this link, and if you do find it to be better (or worse) than the previous sync suite, you can always mention it in our comments section. Thanks to Nokia Blog for the heads up.

Idea Cellular Fined For Acquiring Spice Mobile Discreetly

Fairly popular mobile service provider in the country, Idea Cellular, recently acquired Spice Mobile, another popular player in the Indian mobile service provider market. However, a report in The Times of India stated that Idea Cellular apparently did not disclose all of the details of their deal to acquire Spice and hence the Delhi High Court has slapped a fine of whopping Rs. 1 crore on Idea.

Bad IDEA..!

Furthermore, the Delhi High Court has also asked Idea Cellular to seek prior permissions from the Telecommunications Ministry, before it proceeds with the transfer of six telecom licenses, which it gained as an outcome of its deal with Spice. Idea, however denies accepting that there was any glaring error in its actions, and that it would appeal against the HC order. In a statement, Idea stated that, “Idea stands upright, has not suppressed anything at all, let alone willfully, and will appeal for what it believes is right.”

Spice Mi-410 Android Smartphone

Although Spice has been in the mobile game a long time now, and has only recently entered the Smartphone market, they haven't really outshined the competition. Their Mi-310 was not too bad though, but it's their upgrade i.e. the Mi-410 that's got the industry going ga-ga. So, I give you the Spice Mi-410 that sports a high power processor and large screen, but just so you know, technically, Spice had nothing to do with manufacturing the phone other than fixing their name on it. Beneath the Spice branding, its actually Huawei’s i9000 IDEOS X6, that’s sold in the West and Far East. But, is this enough to lure prospective buyers away from other seasoned brands? Let's find out. Form Factor The Mi-410 feels like a slab of metal in your hand. The design is very monolithic and is devoid of any curves or other design elements which does not make it very ergonomic. The 4.1-inch capacitive touch screen somewhat makes up for it though with a very decent resolution of 480 x 800 pixels. The screen is not fitted with Gorilla Glass, but isn’t very prone to scratches either. Android-centric touch sensitive buttons for Return, Options, Home and Search are located under the display. The Mi-410 is equipped with a pair of speakers located at the bottom on either sides of the device. By doing this, the sound is not muted when you place the phone on the table, but unfortunately it could be hampered if you hold it in your hand, as the tendency is to obviously hold a phone from the bottom when you're on speakerphone. There’s also a front-facing VGA camera, proximity sensor and ambient light sensor beside the earpiece. Slim design and sturdy build The power button is placed on the left and the volume rocker is on the right. While it's easy to control the volume with your thumb, it's a real pain when you have to lock/unlock the phone. The problem is that the power button does not have a groove nor is it raised and sits flush with the bezel so it’s hard to tell exactly where it is without looking. It should have been placed on the top beside the 3.5mm headphone jack. At the bottom we have a mini-HDMI and micro-USB port. The HDMI-out is a great addition, especially when you consider the price. Screen is decently bright but only indoors The 5.0MP camera is slightly raised above the body of the phone and without a lens protector it's prone to scratches. The Mi-410 is also capable of capturing 720p videos at 30fps, another first for a sub-15K phone. While most of the body is made of plastic, the battery cover is metal. Along with the battery, the phone feels a bit heavy in your pocket at 143g, and a bit slippery as well due to the metal back. Overall, the Mi-410 has a pretty good build quality and by no means feels like a cheap phone that you would be ashamed to flaunt in public.  Features and Performance Interface The Spice Mi-410 runs stock Android Froyo (2.2.2) with a few customizations here and there. At first, it feels a bit laggy, but a quick install of Launcher Pro fixes everything. Whether you're swiping through the home screen or scrolling through the menu, the motion feels fluid and snappy. Even the animations are butter smooth, and why not! After all, there’s a 1GHz Snapdragon CPU with an Adreno 205 GPU beating inside. Spice (or Huawei to be precise) has taken some cues from HTC and included an LED indicator in the earpiece. It blinks green when you get an alert and red when the battery is low. Navigation is quick and fluid The Mi-410 also has three scene modes which are preset themes with different widgets like Travel, Work, etc just like in Sense UI. The lock screen also gives you the option for accessing the Phonebook, Contacts or Messages directly without having to unlock the phone first, another feature seen in the latest version of Sense UI. The screen has decent brightness and colors for indoor use, but outdoors everything goes for a toss. Even at maximum brightness, you can barely make out what's on the screen. Also, when the screen gets too greasy (which happens very quickly), it's not very responsive. Many times I found myself struggling to unlock the screen. The touch sensitive buttons work fine without much problem. Boot up time may appear to be quick, but it still takes some time for all the widgets to load.   Media The default video player will only playback AVI, MP4 and 3GP files. It won’t even detect any other file formats. There are two applications, Videos and Video Portal. While, Videos simply lists the available videos without any options to group them, Video Portal does a better job in presenting your videos and also gives you access to YouTube. The default player is quite strict when it comes to playing back AVI, as I noticed some SD videos would not get detected. Videos look good, but the colors aren't very vibrant Moboplayer (which is free to download) helps you read more file formats like MOV, FLV and MKV, but for some reason we couldn’t get 720p MKV files to play smoothly or AVI (encoded with Xvid) for that matter. You’d think a phone with a 1GHz CPU would just breeze through this test, but sadly it doesn't. I also encountered a very strange bug with the media player. If you try to play a full HD AVI file in any player, the audio starts playing, but there's no way to stop it. I tried shutting the player by killing the process via the settings as well but the audio continued to play. If you own this phone, do not attempt to do this, you have been warned. Audio playback is decent and the speakers are loud enough to be heard even when travelling. Although the Huawei X6 packs a Dolby sound enhancement feature, the Mi-410 does not have this. The audio quality with the stock earphones is average but it gets better if you use good IEMs like the EP-630s. The stock music player doesn't have any equalizer presets either for enhancing the sound.  Other multimedia apps include FM Radio which worked well even when travelling and MuVee video editor for editing MP4 and 3gp files. Here, you have options to trim, fade in/out, join a video or add text to it, all of which are very basic but simple to use. Connectivity The Mi-410 is 3G ready and supports HSDPA up to 14.4 Mbps. Wi-Fi ‘n’ with tethering and Hot Spot support is also included. There's also Bluetooth v2.1 with A2DP support and Flash 10.3. The stock browser does a good job of rendering web pages and just like every Android device, you have options for Gmail, Microsoft Exchange and any other mail service you wish to configure. Internet related apps include GTalk, YouTube, RSS Reader, News and Weather, Places, Maps, Navigation, Google Search and Latitude. There is no Twitter app or Facebook app, simply a link to the Facebook page, which is odd since the app is free and could have been... sorry, should have been preloaded. Keyboard is responsive and works well I didn’t face any problem with the call quality. The earpiece volume is sufficiently loud and the person on the other end could easily hear my voice even in noisy, crowded trains. I didn’t experience any dropped calls, either, so we can say the Mi-410 does well in this category. Misc Features Spice has pre-installed the Documents-to-Go app, which allows you to read spreadsheets, word files, power point and PDF files. Other standard apps include Voice Dialer, Voice search, File browser, Clock, Calendar and Calculator.   Camera The 5MP camera snaps decent outdoor pictures. There is a slight bloom effect in the whites, but other than that, the quality is not bad. If you zoom in a bit though, you’ll notice it doesn't capture a lot of detail. The camera interface is really nice with plenty of options to play around with. On the left you have brightness settings, white balance and flash settings. Good camera interface, but very average sensor On the right you have capture modes that include Tap capture (which is more like touch focus), smile capture (which is a little slow in detecting a smile), face capture, timer and panorama. In panorama mode, the program manages to stitch the picture well, but you have to be very steady as it doesn't compensate for shaky hands. The LED flash is weak and can only illuminate nearby objects properly. Outdoor shots are decent, but lack detail The Spice Mi-410 can also capture HD (1280 x 720) video in MP4 format. The result is not great, though. The captured video is very jerky and is by no means 30fps. Even if you’re shooting indoors in a well lit room, the colors are all washed out and faded and it certainly does not look like it’s been shot with a 5MP camera. The problem lies with the sensor. It may have high mega-pixel count, but the sensor used doesn't seem to be of very poor quality. Battery Life The Mi-410 comes with a 1400mAh battery which gives you about a day's worth of use. This is with a little bit of everything, phone calls, Wi-Fi, EDGE, some music playback and Auto-Sync for GMail on all the time. By disabling Auto-Sync, I managed to get a little more like a day and half, but nothing more. Hopefully, if Spice officially releases the Gingerbread update for this soon, we may see a slight improvement.  Verdict Of all the companies, Spice happened to be the first to break the sub-15K price barrier with a 1GHz processor on an Android phone, and I can see why this phone has such huge hype around it. While the MRP may say Rs.17,999, you can buy this phone from the market for as little as Rs. 13,999, and if you check online with the right coupons, even lower. There’s no denying that the Mi-410 offers tremendous value and has made other companies stand up and take notice. The Samsung Galaxy Ace was not too long ago the crowd favourite at this price point, but the Mi-410 renders it moot now. For a lesser price, you’re getting a larger screen, faster processor and HDMI-out (for those who care). But, would I recommend everyone to run out and buy one? Not really. Could have been a lot better If you’re simply looking for large touchscreen phone that can run Android “the way it was meant to run” then by all means get the Spice Mi-410. But for those who care about camera quality, sunlight legibility of the screen, battery life and video and music playback, I’d recommend getting the Motorola Defy . It may have a smaller screen and slower processor, but with its recent price drop, it’s hard to ignore. The Mi-410 has all the right ingredients for a very successful phone -  great pricing and good specs and in theory it should have blown away the competition. But sadly, there are many little problems that take away from what should have been an outstanding product.

Tag Heuer Announces Lamborghini Ltd Edition MERIDIIST Handset

Inspired by the mythic Lamborghini Murci�lago, TAG Heuer, a world leader in luxury sports watches and Chronographs has teamed up with the famous Italian super sports car manufacturer to create the limited edition MERIDIIST Automobili Lamborghini phone. In tribute to the year Automobili Lamborghini was founded, 1963 pieces of this finely‐tuned device will be sold worldwide. ModeLabs Group who provided its expertise and know how in the development and the manufacturing of exclusive tailor made handsets. “TAG Heuer has revolutionized first timekeeping and now luxury mobile phone industry by finding technological inspiration in professional motor sports and Grand Tourism cars,” said Steve Amstutz, General Manager for TAG Heuer Communication Instruments. Housed in black titanium carbide coated 316L stainless steel, the design of the MERIDIIST Automobili Lamborghini phone references the super sports car down to its famed signature on the battery cover – the same as on the Lamborghini Murci�lago LP 640’s V12 engine block. The back of the device is engraved with its limited edition number while the keyboard is customized with Automobili Lamborghini’s trademark Taurus bull on the steel central button. The MERIDIIST Automobili Lamborghini phone is luxuriously crafted and detailed, combining some the most prestigious materials and advanced components in the watchmaking and automotive worlds. The display is made from 60.5 carats of scratch‐resistant sapphire crystal. According to the company the battery life is capable of offering users at least seven hours talk time or 28 days standby power. "The MERIDIIST Automobili Lamborghini phone epitomizes TAG Heuer consistency in inspiring and framing its diversification, combining technology and design, and partnering with the best sports car brands.. We are very proud of this new partnership with such a great brand as Lamborghini" added Jean‐Christophe Babin, President & CEO of the TAG Heuer Group. The TAG Heuer MERIDIIST Automobili Lamborghini phone will be available in November at selected TAG Heuer and Lamborghini retailers. Click here for the list.

Micromax Launches the Van Gogh X450 Mobile Phone

Micromax didn’t really deliver with the Bling 2, but that’s not stopping them from continuing to release budget handsets in the country. Their latest addition is the Van Gogh X450, which they say is India’s first mobile phone to have a built-in Bluetooth Headset dock. An artistic creation? The X450 is a Java-based Dual-SIM mobile phone and has features like a swappable back panel. The specifications aren’t high-end, as you might have guessed by now, but Micromax has priced it pretty low as well. Here’s what the X450 has to offer: 2.6-inch TFT QVGA display screen Bluetooth 2 megapixel camera Memory expandable to 8 GB FM Radio 3.5 mm audio jack The phone has a multi-format audio and video player. It also allows you to access the internet through Opera Mini web browser and have instant messaging services like Facebook, Yahoo, MSN etc. through eBuddy. The battery looks decent for an entry level phone with the X450 having a 1000 mAh battery to juice it up. The X450 is priced at Rs. 3,499, and is available at your nearest mobile phone retail store.

LAVA Announces M30 Music Handset with Yamaha PA speakers

LAVA International Ltd., one of India’s fastest growing brands in the mobile phone industry have recently unveiled the LAVA M30 music handset. LAVA states that this latest offering is designed exclusively to bring a rich and exhilarating sound experience that proves to be a delight for music lovers. This handset features SRS WOW HD Technology and Yamaha PA speakers and can support music formats like MP3, MIDI, AMR, WAV and AAC.

The M30 handset with SRS WOW HD Technology and Yamaha PA Speakers

In addition to this the LAVA M30 also features a 3.5mm audio jack, whereby it can be connected to a variety of headphones, earphones or speakers. The phone also features IPS screen technology that allows users to have viewing angles and real colour pictures at a 178 degree angle.

Speaking on the M30 handset, Mr. Sunil Raina, CMO, LAVA International Ltd., said that they realized that consumers wanted to have improved audio clarity with reduced background noise to effectively maximize speaker output. They are thus thrilled to bring SRS WOW HD to the M Series mobile phones to deliver an unparalleled multimedia experience that is both impressive and natural.

The additional features of the LAVA M30 include:

• 2.2-inch QVGA Hi-brightness IPS Screen (178 degree wide viewing angle)
• 2 mega pixel camera
• Metallic Body
• Earphone sharing hub
• G-Sensor
• Dual Sim (GSM + GSM)
• Bluetooth
• Snaptu Opera Mini Web Browser
• Used as a web cam / PC Sync
• Auto call recording
• Java Enabled
• Micro SD Card support up to 8GB
• Privacy lock
• 1200Mah Battery

LAVA claims that to provide consumers a first-hand experience of superior music quality of M30, the brand has installed 1500 LAVA M30 Experience Zones pan India. The LAVA M30 is available at a maximum retail price of Rs. 4,499.

Fleet Operators in Western India to Benefit from WayPay

Cashless transactions just got a shade better. Paymate, a U.S. based online payments facilitating service financed by  Mayfield Fund, KPCB and Sherpalo has rolled out WayPay, a service that would assist the fleet operators to work more efficiently by negating the need of cash-based transactions. Furthering this initiative is Paymate’s collaboration with Mahaventures, a fleet management company.

The fleet operator's mate!

WayPay, together with the fleet management company have come up with a way to ease out the complexities that fleet operators face on their daily business, with issues pertaining to cash-based transactions. Using the services, at least for now, fleet operators can purchase fuel, tires, batteries and service centre bills. In a seemingly simple process, those with vehicles will have to register their vehicles, and contact numbers of their drivers with WayPay. Then, after fixing a purchase limit, and by subsequently refilling the prepaid account by the way of online transfers or cheques, can the drivers claim access to their WayPay IVR using their registered number. They can then proceed with their transactions by entering their PIN number, for the same. 

Additional services can be expected to be added to the string of the current services. Also for now, the services will only be made available to fleet operators in Western India. However, other regions would be included soon enough, too.

Nokia Launches E6 and X7 with Symbian Anna in India

We knew Nokia would be launching the E6 and X7 sometime in June, but didn’t have any details on the Indian pricing at the time. Well, today in New Delhi, Viral Oza, Marketing Director for Nokia India Pvt. Ltd. launched the E6 for a MRP of Rs.18,679 and the X7 for an MRP of Rs. 22,829.

Best of both worlds

The pricing for the E6 seems pretty justified given the MOP should settle at around Rs. 17,000. This is also the first ‘touch & type’ QWERTY handset from Nokia, although Samsung's Galaxy Pro could claim to be the first of this kind. I think Nokia should not have too much trouble moving this off the shelves given how well its predecessors, the E71 and E72 did. Thier E-Series of business class devices have always enjoyed a rather large sum of the market share but the big question is whether or not Symbian is on it's way out?

Here’s a quick look at the specs of the phone:

• 2.4-inch TFT touchscreen with a resolution of 640 x 480 pixels

• 3G, Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi hotspot, GPS with A-GPS

• Bluetooth 3.0 with A2DP

• 8 Megapixel camera with fixed focus and Dual LED flash

• Secondary camera

• 3.5 mm audio jack

• Memory expandable up to 32 GB

Stylish looking

The X7, on the other hand, is more of a multimedia handset focusing on gaming and photography. However, its launch price puts it in competition with Nokia’s very own N8 which I’m sure will get the Anna update, sooner or later. What happens then? You can buy the N8 today for a street price of Rs. 21,700, which is cheaper than the X7 and also packs in a better 12MP camera with Xenon flash and HDMI-out functionality. Nokia will have to drop the price of the X7 quickly if it has to sell. And its not like we don’t have other options in this price range, in fact we are spoilt for choice. Let’s hope Symbian Anna brings more than a cosmetic change, else Android is just going to eat ‘em up.

A little glance at the X7's specifications:

• 4-inch touchscreen with 16M colours and 360 x 640 pixels resolution
• 3G, Wi-Fi, GPS with A-GPS
• Bluetooth 3.0 with A2DP
• 8 Megapixel camera with fixed focus and Dual LED flash
• 3.5 mm audio jack
• Stereo FM with RDS
• Memory expandable up to 32 GB

Nokia Announces Updates to Symbian 5 and Symbian 3.2 Mobile Phones

We started our morning yet again with some Nokia news. Earlier they were launching smartphones like N9 and some of their handsets were also being leaked. Now, Nokia has turned their attention to the older generation mobile phones. What can definitely be called as a good move by the Finnish company is the fact that they’ve announced firmware updates for their Symbian 3.2 and Symbian 5 platforms. There are also quite a few refreshing changes being brought to a slew of handsets.

You are not forgotten!

The changes include Nokia browser v7.3, which is the same browser available for the latest Symbian Anna running smartphones. In their blog, Nokia claims that this will translate to a better, faster browsing experience, along with support for International Domain Names (IDN). Ovi Maps will also be updated and, while Symbian 3.2 handsets will have Ovi Maps 3 SR4, Symbian 5 mobile phones will get an update to Ovi Maps 3 SR6. For the former, there’s indoor positioning through Wi-Fi, as well as travel and recommendation services. SR6 will add public transport lines and check-in services to social networking sites. Last but not the least, Nokia’s also bringing some fun to MMSes by adding a set of emoticons.

The updates will be available for the Nokia C6-00 and Nokia 5230 for now, and will be rolled out in progression for the rest of the handsets slowly and steadily. Here’s a list of the handsets that can be upgraded:

Symbian 3.2

• Nokia E72
• Nokia E52
• Nokia E5
• Nokia C5-00
• Nokia 6700 slide

Symbian 5

• Nokia C6-00
• Nokia C5-03
• Nokia 5230
• Nokia 5235
• Nokia 5250
• Nokia X6
• Nokia N97 mini
• Nokia 5800 XpressMusic
• Nokia 5530 XpressMusic

So, if you own any of these handsets and have upgraded your firmware, do let us know about your experience through the comments.