15 days Left to Win a Laptop Daily with wi-tribe

wi-tribe, the most reliable wireless broadband provider in Pakistan, continues an exciting opportunity, enabling both existing and new customers to win a laptop daily for 30 days across Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi, and Islamabad.  The “Win big with wi-tribe” campaign has been successfully engaging broadband consumers nationwide, and the enthusiasm and passion of the participants for the promotion is evident from the tremendous response received.

At the completion of the first half of the campaign, wi-tribe is excited to announce 10 lucky winners who are now the proud owners of brand new, state-of-the-art laptops. The names of the winners are:

Islamabad:      Iffat Agha Ahmed

Lahore:           Shahzeb Khan, Shafia Ahmed

Rawalpindi:    Raja Zafar Iqbal, Ayaz Tariq

Karachi:          Ali Husain Mirza, Syed Shahbuddin, Muhammad Hassan, Shah Imran,

Haris Safdar

Ali Fahd, wi-tribe Pakistan’s Marketing Director, commented, “I'd like to take this chance and congratulate the winners of the campaign so far, and encourage others to participate in this opportunity. I strongly believe that our customers will continue to enjoy the best of wi-tribe’s wireless broadband services with their vibrant new laptops."

wi-tribe launched its latest campaign on 15^th April in all four cities of wi-tribe’s operations; Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, and Rawalpindi. There are three ways customers are automatically eligible to enter the raffle draw; connect, deposit, or activate.

"The response has been overwhelming and we are very confident that the remaining part of the campaign will give more of our valuable participants a chance to win their own laptops.” Fahd added.

It’s still not too late to be a part of this exciting campaign. Potential wi-tribers can ‘connect’ to the most reliable wireless broadband connection. Existing customers can ‘deposit’ their outstanding bills or simply ‘activate’ their existing accounts by visiting the nearest wi-tribe outlet, contacting the Call Centre, or by visiting the wi-tribe Pakistan website. By completing one of those three steps, each customer will be entitled to a lucky draw ticket, giving them a great opportunity to win a laptop.

A raffle draw is held daily where many lucky winners get the chance to take home a brand new, state-of-the-art laptop over the next 15 days of the campaign.

For further details on the campaign, interested customers can call UAN 111 187 423, connect to www.wi-tribe.pk, or simply visit the nearest wi-tribe outlet.

Nokia X2 Annaunced in India

GLOBAL - Announced in India today, the Nokia X2 is the latest device to join the Xseries line-up and is due out before the end of June. We’re still in a spin after the Nokia N8 but if you’re ready for more join us after the jump to find out what the Nokia X2 has to offer.

Taking more than a little inspiration from its bigger brothers the Nokia X3 and the Nokia X6, the candybar X2 offers a 2.2-inch QVGA screen and measures in at just 13mm thin and 81g light.

The Nokia X2 also packs dual speakers, dedicated music keys, FM stereo and support for up to 16GB of storage via microSD card make for a nifty mobile music device.

Bluetooth 2.1 is supported for wireless music enjoyment whilst hardcore music fans can opt for the 3.5mm headphone jack. Full speed USB 2.0 makes music transfer quick and easy and music can be managed via the Ovi Player PC client or Windows Media Player 11.

It’s not just a musical maestro, the X2 also offers direct access to Facebook from the homescreen and comes with Nokia Messaging goodness for email and Instant Messaging. Other notable feature include instant access to apps from Ovi Store, a five-megapixel camera and a video recorder.

The Nokia X2 will be available for an estimated retail price of €85 before taxes and subsidies.

Nokia N8. Connect. Create. Entertain.

The Nokia N8, Nokia's latest smartphone, intuitively connects to the people, places and services that matter most. With the Nokia N8, people can create compelling content, connect to their favorite social networks and enjoy on-demand Web TV programs and Ovi Store apps. Available in select markets during the third quarter of 2010, the estimated retail price of the Nokia N8 is EUR 370, before applicable taxes or subsidies.

The Nokia N8 introduces a 12 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics, Xenon flash and a large sensor that rivals those found in compact digital cameras. Additionally, the Nokia N8 offers the ability to make HD-quality videos and edit them with an intuitive built-in editing suite. Doubling as a portable entertainment center, people can enjoy HD-quality video with Dolby Digital Plus surround sound by plugging into their home theatre system. The Nokia N8 enables access to Web TV services that deliver programs, news and entertainment from channels like CNN, E! Entertainment, Paramount and National Geographic. Additional local Web TV content is also available from the Ovi Store.

Social networking is second nature to the Nokia N8. People can update their status, share location and photos, and view live feeds from Facebook and Twitter in a single app directly on the home screen. Calendar events from social networks can also be transferred to the device calendar.

The Nokia N8 comes with free global Ovi Maps walk and drive navigation, guiding people to places and points of interest in more than 70 countries worldwide.

Symbian^3 in action

Powering the Nokia N8 is Symbian ^3, the latest edition of the world's most used smartphone software, which introduces several major advances, including support for gestures such as multi touch, flick scrolling and pinch-zoom. The Nokia N8 also offers multiple, personalizable homescreens which can be loaded with apps and widgets. The new 2D and 3D graphics architecture in the platform takes full advantage of the Nokia N8's hardware acceleration to deliver a faster and more responsive user interface.  Symbian^3 also raises the bar in performance by delivering greater memory management allowing more applications to run in parallel for a faster multi-tasking experience.

Getting Qt for Developers
The Nokia N8 is Nokia's first device to be integrated with Qt, a software development environment that simplifies the development and makes it possible to build applications once and deploy across Symbian and other software platforms.  Nokia has also made the powerful and simple to use Nokia Qt SDK available, in its initial beta, to enable developers to start realizing the potential of Qt.

More press materials are available at www.nokia.com/press
Broadcast materials are available at http://digitalnewsroom.nokia.com

Nokia Announcing two new sleek and stylish devices: Nokia C5 and Nokia X5

Nokia today strengthens its TD-SCDMA portfolio announcing two new devices: the Nokia X5 and the Nokia C5 for TD-SCDMA. Customized for China Mobile - the world's leading operator - these two new TD-SCDMA devices which include the first joint mobile application store, the Mobile Market-Ovi Store, are another demonstration of Nokia's continued commitment to TD-SCDMA as a major standard in China. The Nokia X5 and C5 will debut at the World Expo Shanghai 2010, where consumers can test the Nokia TD-SCDMA devices powerful entertainment features and rich internet experience in the China Mobile Expo area.

With these devices, users can connect to the internet through China Mobiles high-speed 3G (TD-SCDMA) network as well as enjoy preloaded applications such as CMCC Music, Mobile Video, Fetion IM, and the Mobile Market-Ovi Store.

"Nokia is boosting its leadership in the TD-SCDMA market by strengthening its TD-SCDMA portfolio with products that appeal to a wide range of customers at a range of price points. After the milestone collaboration with China Mobile on the Mobile Market-Ovi Store, we also continue to offer new and stylish devices to satisfy our consumers," said Chris Leong, Senior Vice President, Greater China, Korea & Japan.

"We are also very excited to become a board member of TD Forum after being involved in the forum's activities for years. We have a long-term commitment to TD-SCDMA and we take our leadership role very seriously. We will continue to drive for TD-SCDMA technology and market development as well as evolution towards TD-LTE. And thus will contribute the prosperity of TD-SCDMA in China, with both high quality TD-SCDMA devices and rich applications and services." Leong added.

Nokia X5: an exciting music experience and iconic design make users stand out from the crowd

Designed for music lovers and young trendsetters, the new Nokia X5 is the first Nokia TD-SCDMA Symbian based entertainment device. Taking the lead on music experience in the TD-SCDMA market, the Nokia X5 includes a dedicated music key and easy access to CMCC music. With an iconic design in three bright colors - black, white, and red, the Nokia X5 is certain to make younger Chinese consumers stand out from the crowd.

With its 5.0-megapixel camera, dual LED flash and video recording functions, the Nokia X5 ensures users will never miss an opportunity to record life's important moments. The device makes it easy to recall those special moments for viewing pictures and videos on a 2.4'' QVGA 16M color TFT display. Direct access to MM-Ovi Store, mobile video, Fetion IM, and Mobile Map/Navigation bring consumers an exceptional mobile internet experience, while pre-loaded rich contents also contribute to an impressive entertainment experience.

The Nokia X5 will become available in China during the second quarter of 2010.

Nokia C5: an exciting mobile internet experience in a stylish, compact design

The Nokia C5 is a stylish, powerful TD-SCDMA device at a new affordability level in Nokia's TD-SCDMA portfolio and is guaranteed to turn heads. The Nokia C5 has a stylish stainless-steel keypad in a compact design. Rich in features and applications, the Nokia C5 is pre-loaded with Fetion and 139 mailbox, and offers easy access to all services and applications on MM-Ovi Store.

Offering a 5.0 megapixel camera and a 2.4'' QVGA 16M color TFT display to allow consumers to take, view great pictures and videos in great detail and share with family and friends. There are two colors schemes available - silver and black.

The Nokia C5 will become available in China during the third quarter of 2010.

iPhone 4G Prototype Tear Down

Before returning back the next generation iPhone prototype to Apple which is bought in $5000 by Gizmodo they have performed iPhone 4G tear down and unveil some facts about the device.

 

By removing the back plate of iPhone 4G prototype they found a larger battery which is 19% bigger in size as compare to previous iPhone battery and takes 50% of space to fix in the area, it means the battery life for iPhone 4G is improved.

Whereas the other components are shrunk, the most importantly they could not get any clue about iPhone 4G processor either its Apple A4 chip or not because the logic board is completely sealed by irremovable material.

 

You may read out the detail iPhone 4G tear down by clicking on integrated link and the readers who don’t know about the stolen/lost iPhone 4G story can also read it, as Apple’s legendary security fails on the point when its own employee lost the prototype of its next generation device in a bar.

Fast App Switching Animation on iPhone OS 4.0

Apple has released iPhone OS 4.0 beta 2 and the most important feature of smooth app switching for multitasking is included in this beta release.

As you all know Apple announced iPhone OS 4.0 in the beginning of April and released iPhone OS 4.0 SDK beta 1 to developers and now beta 2 is also outed whereas the final iPhone OS 4.0 is expected in summer for iPhone and iPod Touch users, and in fall for iPad users.

Watch out the app switching video on iPhone OS 4.0 and enjoy;

Apple’s next-generation stunning iPhone model leaked

Apple’s future generation iPhone model, which was leaked after being mistakenly left at a bar in California, has been put on display by a technology news portal.

The secret version of the next generation iPhone was not expected to be formally unveiled for a couple of months.

But, the technology news site Gizmodo said the gadget was left by an iPhone software engineer at Gourmet Haus Staudt, a German specialty store and beer garden in Redwood City.
‘The person who found the phone peddled it to Gizmodo, which bought it for $5,000,’ Nick Denton, chief executive of Gawker Media, which owns Gizmodo, said in a blog Monday.
Leaks are rare in Apple which is known as the most secretive in Silicon Valley. But after the phone prototype was left in the bar, photos of the device began appearing in technology blogs, sparking a frenzy of hype among the Apple-obsessed, the New York Times reported.
The phone’s authenticity was debated. However, a person with knowledge of Apple’s hardware plans, who was not authorised to speak on behalf of the company, confirmed to the New York Times that it was real.
Though, Apple declined to comment.
‘It is very stunning,’ said Tim Bajarin, president of Creative Strategies, who has been following Apple for nearly three decades.
‘Apple has such tight control on new products, and they are kept under wraps diligently and religiously until the day of their release. If it is true, it is really a first.’
Apple’s chief executive Steven P. Jobs had reportedly called Gizmodo to get the device back. Denton declined to comment, saying any conversation between Jobs and Gizmodo would most likely have been off the record.
‘We haven’t had any formal communication with Apple,’ he said. Brian Lam, the editor in chief of Gizmodo, said his publication would ‘probably’ return the device to Apple.
Late Monday, Gizmodo said that it received a letter from Bruce Sewell, Apple’s senior vice president and general counsel, requesting the phone back.
‘It has come to our attention that Gizmodo is currently in possession of a device that belongs to Apple,’ Sewell wrote in a letter that Gizmodo published.

Google cyberattack hit password system

A December cyberattack on Google Inc computers hit the company’s password system that millions of people worldwide use to access almost all of the company’s Web services, The New York Times reported, citing a person with direct knowledge of the investigation.

The closely-guarded program is considered a crown jewel at Google, enabling users and employees to sign in with their password only once to operate various services including e-mail and business applications, the newspaper said in its April 20 edition.

Google did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

Code-named Gaia for the Greek goddess of the earth, and still in use under the name Single Sign-On, the program was described publicly only once at a technical conference four years ago, the newspaper said.

The intruders do not appear to have stolen passwords of Gmail users, and Google quickly started to bolster security, the newspaper said.

But the theft leaves open a possibility, perhaps faint, that the intruders may find weaknesses that Google might not know about, the newspaper said, citing independent computer experts.

Google disclosed the hacking on January 12, reporting a detection of “a highly sophisticated and targeted attack on our corporate infrastructure originating from China that resulted in the theft of intellectual property from Google.”

The Mountain View, California-based company said the attack appeared to target Chinese human rights activists, and that only two Gmail accounts appeared to have been accessed.

Google at the time said it would stop censoring search results on Google.cn. In March, it closed its China-based Web search service and began redirecting users to an uncensored portal in Hong Kong. That decision came amid heightened tensions between China and Washington, D.C.

Google helps online searchers with spelling

Google on April 16 said it has enhanced its search engine to make it easier for people to find what they seek online despite spelling slips. Google expanded automatic correction of misspelled search words to include 31 

languages and improved software crafted to figure out correct spellings of people’s names.

“Did you make a typo while looking for ‘chocolate strawberries and cream’ in Italian?” Google technical staff member Pandu Nayak asked rhetorically while showing an example in a blog post.

“The right word is so close you can taste it.” The Mountain View, California-based Internet search giant also fine-tuned a feature that suggests search terms based on where searchers are located.

Google last year launched a “Suggest” feature that recommends queries based on which country people are in. Search suggestions are now more localised if queries are made in US cities. “Just as people in the United Kingdom often look for different things than people in United States, we’ve found that people in Seattle tend to look for different things than people in Dallas,” Nayak said.

Jailbreak Tool Redsn0w 0.9.5 Beta 2 for iPhone 4.0

iPhone Dev Team has released Redsn0w 0.9.5 beta 2 for iPhone OS 4.0 as it released OS 4.0 jailbreak tool redsn0w 0.9.5 beta 1 a day before.

The new redsn0w 0.9.5 beta version resolves the SMS or data issues which the users have observed with redsn0w 0.9.5 beta 1 while they try to jailbreak iPhone OS 4.0.

So, you can grab redsn0w 0.9.5 beta 2 from the following link, as right now redsn0w 0.9.5 beta 2 just supports iPhone 3G, Mac OS X and iPhone OS 4.0 beta 1 firmware.

Download Redsn0w 0.9.5 Beta 2 for iPhone OS 4

Apple, Google are “most innovative companies”

Apple and Google are the “most innovative companies in the world”, but firms based in Asia are increasingly setting the pace in this area, according to a new study.

Business Week, the magazine, and the Boston Consulting Group, the consultancy, surveyed 1,590 senior executives worldwide to identify which brand owners they thought were the most successful in this area.

These findings were then combined with the financial results of the most widely-mentioned corporations, such as their sales for the last three years, stock returns and margins.

Apple took first place, as was the case in the same study in 2009, having launched products like the iPad and iPhone while simultaneously posting upticks of around 30% on the financial metrics assessed.

Google was in second, with its constantly-evolving search advertising operations – the main driver of its revenues – now supplemented by sites like YouTube and a growing presence in the mobile sector.

Microsoft, IBM and Toyota completed the top five, with each member of this group as a whole having also performed strongly in the rankings in 2009.

By contrast, Nintendo, the Japanese gaming giant, plummeted from fifth to twentieth in this period, after the momentum gained from devices like the Wii and DS started to slow.

However, this situation was not reflected among its Asian counterparts more broadly, with 15 of the 50 most innovative companies now drawn from this region, compared with just five in 2006.

LG Electronics, based in Korea, and BYD, in China, came in seventh and eighth respectively, with Sony, from Japan, in tenth position.

Elsewhere, Haier, Lenovo and China Mobile were the other entrants from China, along with HTC from Taiwan, Hyundai and Samsung from Korea, and Honda and Fast Retailing from Japan.

Indeed, the majority of Business Week’s top 25 were based outside the US for the first time, while firms from Europe claimed 11 spots in the top 50, led by Volkswagen, the German car maker in fifteenth.

Tata Group and Reliance Industries were the only representatives from India, with Brazil’s Petrobas the sole organisation from South America to feature.

Amazon, General Electric, Intel and Ford were some of the other US operators which made the top 20, with Coca-Cola, Procter & Gamble and Nike all on the longer list.

“We’re starting to see the beginning of a new world order,” James P. Andrew, the head of Boston Consulting Group’s innovation practice said.

 “Increasingly, rapidly developing economies (and their companies), led by China, India, and Brazil, are beginning to seize the leadership reins from more-mature countries.”

“This is not a new story, but innovation will likely be the best, and perhaps only, lever for staying ahead of this new wave of advantaged, motivated competitors.”

Overall, 83% of participants to the Business Week and BCG poll said innovation would play a key role in their attempts to take advantage of the economic recovery.

A further 72% of respondents argued research and development was one of their three main objectives for this year, with 61% planning to heighten their investment in this aspect of their operations.

“If every company says it’s working very, very hard to become more innovative, that means all of its competitors are, too.”

Somewhat surprisingly, a minority of 41% of the panel intended to adopt this strategy in Brazil, China and India, a decline from 45% who said the same last year.

Samsung India launches Corby TV, Metro TV CDMA handsets

Samsung Electronics has launched Corby TV and Metro TV EVDO handsets with integrated broadband Mobile TV on the CDMA platform.

To promote the new products, Samsung will roll out a multimedia campaign created by Samsung’s agency, Chail.

While the print campaign will be launched next week, the television campaign will follow within the next ten days of the television campaign.

The integrated customised TV solution for Corby TV has been developed by Samsung in collaboration with Apalya Technologies Private Limited (Apalaya).

MimobiTV Mobile TV (Mobile TV) service is the streaming of live TV/recorded content where each handset gets a unique direct one-on-one TV content streaming on the mobile network through Unicast technology.

Samsung says that EVDO handsets like Corby TV and Metro TV support high speed data and the possibility of a good quality video streaming is immense, thus contributing to the growth of mobile TV.

Drift Innovation X170 Extreme-Extreme-Extreme Action-Action-Action Camera

This camera is a rugged device that comes with mounting options that will allow the user to attach it to a helmet, goggle strap, handlebars, and other locations. The X170 Action Camera($200) can record 30 fps video in 720 x 480 solution, 5 mega still shots, a 1.5″ colour LCD screen for playback, a 170° wide angle lens, which can be rotated through 300°. It includes a waterproof 5m wireless RF remote control that can be strapped to your wrist. Storage is 32MB and the camera gets power from a pair of AA batteries. A SD card slot is built-in for memory expansion.

Nokia launches cheaper Smart Phones

Nokia Corp has launched three less-expensive smart phones, including its first model expected to sell for less than ¤100 ($135). The world’s largest mobile phone maker says it wants to put better messaging and social networking tools in the hands of more people around the world at affordable prices.”

 

The new Nokia C3, Nokia E5 and Nokia C6 handsets have full QWERTY keyboards, enable instant messaging and give access to e-mails. Their expected selling prices are 90, 180 and 220 dollars before taxes and subsidies. The new phones will be available during the second and third quarters of this year.

Apple’s iPad now in Pakistan

The new iPad is currently on sale in the United States; however some tech fanatics from Pakistan are already planning and finding ways to get the sleek iPad in the their hands, locally.

Apple’s authorized distributors in Pakistan are not confirming and giving out any estimated date for iPad’s sale.  Contrasting to their earlier claims, Media Center PK is not very confident for iPad’s arrival on their stores. iRaffles, Pakmac – no signs of iPad there too.
Online stores, belisctity.com and homeshopping.pk are left the only options for masses to get an iPad.
Homeshopping.PK is already delivering iPads, that’s quite amazing actually. When inquired they said they have iPads now and are delivering to those who had pre-ordered the devices.
Those who have ordered iPads recently will get their deliveries by 20^th of April, 2010.
They have all three variants of iPad, as following

• iPad 16 GB – Rs. 64,990
• iPad 32 GB – Rs. 72,990
• iPad 64 GB – Rs. 84,990

Just go to Homeshopping.PK if you want to order this device online.
Other online stores are saying they won’t get iPad before July 2010.

What is Blu-ray Disc?

Blu-ray sometimes called as Blue-ray or simply BD is an optical disc storage media format. Some of the main uses of this blu-ray disc are storage of High definition video and huge amount of data storage. The dimensions are the same as of the standard DVD or CD. It is derived from the blue laser that is used to read or write discs.


The 405mm shorter wave length allows it to store more data than DVD format that used 650 mm red laser. The capacity of a 50GB dual blue-ray is six times greater than DVD dual layer.

The association that represents the consumer electronics, computer hardware and motion picture production developed the blue-ray disc. In USA since July 2, 2008, More than 650 commercial films have been released and some 410 titles have been released in Japan.

There was a competition of HD DVD and Blu-ray disc during the high definition optical disc format war but eventually Toshiba announced to no longer manufacture the HD DVD, and the decision was followed by all those who supported HD DVD.



HDTV began to appear in the consumer market but there was no commonly accepted and rather cheap way to play or record the HD content except JV’s digital VHS and Sony’s HDCAM but it was considered that a higher storage density will be enabled by a laser with a shorter length when the blue-ray diodes were invented by Shuji Nakamura, but the commercial introduction was delayed due to some legal reasons.

Two new projects were started by Sony applying UDO and BVR. This was format of rewritable disc which would eventually become the Blu-ray disc. For the protection the earlier discs were packaged in the plastic cartridges because they were very endangered by the contamination and the scratches.

It was in February 2003 when the project was finally announced the Blu-ray disc association founded by nine initial members. April 10 2003 was the first day for consumer’s devices to be brought to stores. It was named the Sony BDZ-S77 and the first recorder BD_RE was a Japanese made device and was only available in Japan.

The price recommended was the US $ 3800 but then there was a lack of the more secure DRM system which was much needed by the pre-recorded videos and the movies and was only available in Japan.

Sony Ericsson X10 Review

It’s been a long time coming, but at last the Sony Ericsson X10 has made it to our shores. The first Sony Ericsson smartphone running Google’s Android OS, the manufacturer is a little late to the Android party – so how will it stack up to the hefty competition out there?
What we like
The first thing that strikes you about the X10 is its huge 4-inch screen; the display is nice and bright, while the capacitive touchscreen is beautifully responsive.
The X10’s 8.1-megapixel camera is also a winner. On-screen camera controls of the camera include zoom, white balance and focus controls are easily accessed, and the dedicated camera button mounted on the side of the handset presses easily. There’s nothing more annoying than an arthritic camera key which requires so much force to take the photo that it shakes the phone and ruins the shot.
For a phone with a 4-inch screen the X10 is not as wide as you may think – although the handset is a little larger than we’d like. You’d be forgiven for thinking the handset would be verging on brickish, but its surprisingly slim and lightweight, fitting quite comfortably into the hand.
The Sony Ericsson X10 also features an all-in-one media app called Mediascape. Mediascape is basically a souped up folder which brings all of your photos, videos and music together – but not really, as you still have separate galleries for each within the app. The image gallery incorporates both the photos you take with the handset and those uploaded to Facebook, and there’s an easy-uploader within the gallery so you can share your photos and videos to social networks or via email quickly and easily.

The sound quality of music tracks was pretty good using the Bass Reflex headphones which come with the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10, we did find them to be quite leaky – luckily the 3.5mm jack at the top of the handset means that we could swap them for whatever headphones we liked instead.
Although the internal storage is a paltry 1GB, the X10 comes bundled with an 8GB microSD card so you should have plenty of space for storing images, videos and the like.
What we don’t like
Along with Mediascape, the Xperia X10 comes with a social networking aggregator called Timescape. We aren’t massive fans – it’s confusing and clunky, and while it’s nice to be able to see all tweets, Facebook status updates and emails at a glance, it’s difficult to search for individual contacts or respond to anyone. We tended to steer clear and use the dedicated apps for each rather than relying on the amalgamated TimeScape.
A major problem facing the X10 is that it slurps battery like nobody’s business and charging it up takes quite some time too. Turning off the 3G helps a little, but it’s not ideal – worse even than other battery guzzlers like the iPhone 3G or HTC Legend.
Despite the size of the touchscreen, typing on the Sony Ericsson X10 is no fun at all. Predictive text takes up half the screen with far too many suggestions that get in the way and, frankly, confuse matters instead of simplifying. Shame, really, because you could do with those suggestions since typing isn’t easy – particularly in portrait mode. There are a number of non-intuitive features, like the software’s insistence in adding a space after every edit to the text, whether you liked it or not.
We like the fact that an attempt has been made to not copy the default Android interface, but the homescreens weren’t as pleasant to customise or user-friendly as most other Android smartphones. The handset is also verging on too big – smaller hands might find it a bit unwieldy.
Sadly, the call quality wasn’t great either, even at full signal and with the volume turned all the way up.
That the Sony Ericsson X10 runs Android 1.6 (aka Donut) is also disappointing. Whilst many of the apps available from the Android Market will work on handsets running 1.6 or higher this means you only
get a maximum of three home screens to play with rather than the five offered by Android 2.0 and higher. Here’s hoping the X10 is graced with an update to 2.0 or 2.1 soon.
Conclusion
We’d rather hoped that Sony Ericsson would have nailed the basics by now, but text messaging and calling on the X10 left a lot to be desired. It’s a bit of a let down, especially after the long wait we’ve had for the handset to make an appearance – it was first announced almost six months ago.
It’s great that Sony Ericsson is experimenting with Android OS though, and it really feels like it’s trying to do something new and exciting – it just doesn’t quite deliver with the X10. The camera and Mediascape functions did a good job, and that lovely large screen was great for media playback – but as a smartphone, the Sony Ericsson X10 just doesn’t meet the benchmark set by other Android handsets available.

Win a Laptop Daily with wi-tribe

wi-tribe Pakistan launched a customer reward campaign themed “Win big with wi-tribe”, enabling its customers to win one laptop daily for 30 days across Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi and Islamabad.

wi-tribe launched its latest campaign on Thursday 15th April in all four wi-tribe operation cities; Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad and Rawalpindi. There are three ways customers, or “wi-tribers” are automatically eligible to enter the draw; connect, deposit or activate.

Potential wi-tribers can ‘connect’ to the most reliable broadband internet connection. Existing customers can ‘deposit’ their outstanding bill or simply ‘activate’ their existing accounts by visiting the nearest wi-tribe outlet, through the Call Centre or by visiting the website (www.wi-tribe.pk). By taking part in the campaign, the customers will be entitled to a lucky draw ticket, giving them a great opportunity to win a laptop.

A raffle draw will be held daily at each of the wi-tribe regions. One lucky winner in each region will get the chance to take home a brand new state of the art Dell Netbook over the 30 day campaign period.

"wi-tribe is a high performance wireless internet provider that offers independence and freedom to its customers, this initiative has been designed to provide wi-tribers with a perfect opportunity package, “said wi-tribe Pakistan’s Marketing Director, Ali Fahd.

"Now, with wi-tribe’s broadband internet solution, consumers will not only get the best available service in Pakistan but also a chance to win a Dell Netbook which will enrich each wi-triber’s experience in expressing their creative identity online.” He added.

wi-tribe focuses on delivering the best quality wireless broadband internet through its dedicated customer care program. wi-tribe offers convenient packages of their diverse range of products and devices to suit all their customers’ needs. Currently on offer are speeds varying between 256 Kbps and 1 Mbps, as well as a number of VoIP services including prepaid calling cards and international termination.

For further details on the campaign, interested customers can call UAN 111 187 423, or connect to www.wi-tribe.pk or simply visit the nearest wi-tribe outlet.

Intel and Nokia's new mobile operating system revealed

Like the hamster we got when we were ten, we instantly fell in love with Maemo, the Linux-based operating system on the Nokia N900. But like that hamster, Maemo is destined for a life that is brutish and short -- not because of a wayward hoover nozzle (sob), but because it's been subsumed into Nokia and Intel's MeeGo platform, seen for the first time at Intel's Developer Forum in Beijing.

A video from Intel, below, gives an up-close look at its version of MeeGo's user interface, which shows an uncomplicated tab-based look that's focused on media, applications and the inevitable social networking.
We like the idea of a fast-booting, easy to use OS for our simpler computers and gadgets. Alternatives already available include an Android-powered netbook, the Acer Aspire One D250 Android, or the Apple iPad, which runs the iPhone OS. There's even the NIMble Android-powered microwave.
Another video from Intel shows MeeGo running on a netbook, a TV, a mobile phone and a shopping kiosk, demonstrating how MeeGo shares media over the cloud to all your gadgets.
A version of MeeGo for the N900 is in the works for release in the next few months. We're not sure whether the N900 will be tweaked to suit the new OS, and Nokia's version of MeeGo is likely to look pretty different from what Intel has created. Possible screenshots of MeeGo were leaked on meaemo.org forums just this week.

Nokia to publish first quarter 2010 results on April 22, 2010

Nokia will publish its first quarter 2010 results on Thursday, April 22, 2010 at approximately 1 pm Finnish time (CET+1). The press release will be available on the Nokia website immediately after publication.

Nokia's analyst conference call will begin at 3 pm Finnish time. A webcast of the conference call will be available at http://investors.nokia.com.

Skype on Mobile Phones

Today I received an email from Skype which promoted the built-in Skype on mobile phones. This allows users who have Skype on their mobiles to talk with each other without using minutes on their wireless plan. Skype is available in US on Verizon Wireless phones (BlackBerry) , Android phones, iPhone (via an app) and on other handsets as well. Of course, you can also use Skype on your mobile phone to call other phone numbers directly and not incur wireless minutes. The price can be high though. Calls to Pakistan are over $0.156 per minute.

Social networking and messaging brought to life with the Nokia C3, Nokia C6 and Nokia E5

Nokia has announced three new handsets - the Nokia C3, Nokia C6 and Nokia E5 - designed to put better messaging and social networking tools in the hands of more people around the world, at affordable prices. These new handsets feature full QWERTY keyboards, and enable access to a range of different email accounts, IM communities and social networks.

"Our messaging device range is very successful," said Anssi Vanjoki, Nokia's Head of Markets. "Services that provide easy access to the world's consumer and corporate email and instant messaging are really popular on our QWERTY smartphones such as the Nokia E71 and Nokia E63. People want the best messaging and social networking experience on an affordable device, whether it's sending a simple text or instant message, an email, or a direct message from their Twitter account. The Nokia C3, Nokia C6 and Nokia E5 are made for just that." 

The Nokia C3 is the first device to bring a full QWERTY keyboard to the world's most popular mobile phone platform - Series 40 - and is the first in the range to enable access to social networks directly on the homescreen. People can view, comment, update their status and share pictures to their favorite social networks such as Facebook and Twitter.

At an estimated price of EUR 90, before taxes and subsidies, the Nokia C3 also comes with Ovi Mail and Ovi Chat, meaning first time users can set up email and chat accounts straight from the device, without the need for a PC. Other notable features are the Wi-Fi connectivity, a two megapixel camera, rich color 2.4 inch screen and support for up to an 8GB memory card. The Nokia C3 is expected to be available in the second quarter of 2010 in a variety of appealing colors, including golden white, slate grey and hot pink.

The Nokia C6 is a Symbian-based smartphone combining the benefits of a 3.2 inch touch screen with a full slide out keyboard. The large screen provides a great Internet experience, as well as offering access to Facebook feeds directly on the homescreen. A full suite of email and social networking capabilities means the Nokia C6 is perfect for people who want to stay up to date while on the go.

Expected to be available in the second quarter of 2010 at an estimated price of EUR 220, before taxes and subsidies, the Nokia C6 has an impressive feature set including a high quality five megapixel camera with autofocus and flash, and Ovi Maps with free walk and drive navigation. In addition, thousands of apps - from games and videos to news aggregators and web services - are available in the Ovi Store.

Rounding off the trio is the latest addition to the Nokia Eseries range, the Nokia E5. Designed for those that want to be productive in both their professional and personal lives, the Symbian-based Nokia E5 follows the successful blueprint of devices such as the Nokia E72 and Nokia E63. The Nokia E5 combines high quality business features with all of the personal networking and entertainment capabilities that a busy professional expects from a smartphone.

The Nokia E5 is perfect for managing busy schedules with a variety of productivity applications available in the Ovi Store. And with direct access to over 90 percent of the world's corporate email through Mail for Exchange and IBM Lotus Notes Traveler, it's easy to keep in contact from anywhere.

Estimated price of the Nokia E5 is EUR 180, before taxes and subsidies, with expected availability in the third quarter of 2010.

For more information, visit www.nokia.com/press. 

Sony Launches New Waterproof W250 Walkman

Sony has added another new Walkman to their range with the launch of the Sony W250 Walkman. The Sony W250 Walkman is wearable and is designed for sport and active lifestyles, it is also waterproof.

The Sony  W250 Walkman comes in a choice of different colors which include, pink, green, black and white and in a range of storage sizes which include 2GB and 4GB.

It will support the majority of music file formats including MP3, WMA, AAC an Linear PCM, and comes with a built in rechargeable battery, that can be quickly recharged in just three minutes, from the three minute charge you will get up to 90 minutes of music playback.
The Sony W250 Waterproof Walkman will go on sale in May, there are no details on pricing as yet.

Samsung Provides Healthy Entertainment to Rural Areas

Samsung Electronics Company Limited, a global leader in mobile phones and electronic products, is engaging rural populations in a fun-filled Activity across Sindh and Punjab. This Float activity is supported by the “Samsung-Guru” cell-phones series. The idea is to provide recreation in the entertainment starved rural areas. The theme of this campaign is “Samsung Guru comes to your town with excitement and prizes”.
These colorful floats will feature sound systems for live musical performances of popular local musicians and performers. Samsung products will be displayed on the float including; Guru E 1105 and Guru E 2120 mobile phones. The floats will stay two days in each city, while traveling through Sindh and Punjab provinces.
Smartly dressed promoters will brief visitors about products, while talented Show-Hosts will offer valuable prizes and entertainment. Moreover, the customers will be able to get exciting content, downloaded onto their personal phones through a special counter on the float.
Mr. Zeeshan Qureshi, Head of the Mobile Phones Division, Samsung-Pakistan and Afghanistan said, “The rural populace has always shown complete faith in the high-quality of Samsung products. It is a pleasure for us to create opportunities of entertainment and excitement for these customers, who are generally deprived of fun-filled amusement. Samsung Guru Floats will engage the participating enthusiasts in simple Quizzes and singing competitions where attractive gifts will be presented to the winners.”
The live product demonstrations at the float allow potential customers to experience and purchase the Samsung Guru mobile phones that feature; Dual Speakers, Torchlight, FM radio, Three color variant, etc. The floats will entertain rural areas around Gujranwala, Jehlum, Rawalpindi, Attock, Abbotabad, Muzaffarabad, Faisalabad, Sahiwal, Multan, Hyderabad, Nawabshah, Sukker and Rahim-Yar- Khan etc.

Pakistan to Become Mobile Monday’s 100th Chapter

MobileMonday (MoMo), the global mobile community which serves as a virtual meeting ground for mobile industry visionaries and influential stakeholders of the Information and Communication Technology community plans to launch its Centennial Chapter in Pakistan on April 19th, 2010.
MobileMonday phenomenon began almost by accident in Helsinki, Finland in the autumn of 2000. A couple of well-known Finnish visionaries invited top executives of the Finnish mobile industry to a pub for an informal get-together and incidentally the time that suited everybody was Monday evening.
Today MoMo chapters are spread across the world including Tokyo, Silicon Valley, Rome and Milan, Italy. MoMO works in hand with other NGOs and World Bank.
Global Mobile Monday network works by

• Encouraging innovation within the mobile sector
• Facilitating networking between small and large companies, locally and internationally
• Helping local companies to get introduces and participate in global events and initiatives
• Facilitating partnerships in business, education and development

MoMo’s Pakistani chapter will enable Pakistani Telecom to get synchronized with global telecom players. Expect more coverage on MoMo as event unveils and we get to meet MoMo founder and CEO.

Google Maps 4.0 for BlackBerry Now Available

Google has rolled out Google Maps 4.0 for BlackBerry users and it isn't just any update, it is a major one. Previous versions of Google Maps have been found mediocre to say the least. Wait, till you give this a try and you might have a change of verdict. The feature set as implied is pretty impressive.

The attractive feature set of the Google Maps 4.0 include:

• Search by Voice Put your tired fingers on a rest and let your voice control the Google Maps. Press and hold the green call button to activate the voice based feature and speak your search query.
• Google Buzz layer - No surprises there. Google will do every bit to promote Google Buzz. This feature just like the Android version enables you to see the buzz posted at the map level as well as post images, news and more yourself.
• Search Suggestions - Will suggest search terms based on your previous search history.
• Synchronized Starred items - The items you starred or bookmarked while on your desktop can be accessed from mobile, provided you signed in with your Google account when you did the marking activity.
• Access Labs features - Google Maps Labs experiments will be at your disposal and you can try them whenever you desire.

To get this version just visit m.google.com/maps from your BlackBerry browser and you will be ready to go. More details here.

Official Twitter App for Blackberry now Available

Until now, poor Blackberry users had to rely on third-party Twitter client such as UberTwitter to share their status updates with the rest of the world; but not anymore!

The official Twitter app for the Blackberry is now available and it makes Blackberry users feel at home with the native color-scheme, features and interface of the app. Here is the official announcement from the Twitter blog:

Today we are excited to announce that RIM has launched the official Twitter for BlackBerry app and can be downloaded for free at blackberry.com/twitter

The official Twitter app for Blackberry does everything from real-time Blackberry push of Twitter direct-messages, to notifications about mentions and tweet updates. Also seen in the app is a camera and photo gallery integration, browser integration for Tweeting links and a search option to look for users, content, and trending topics.
The app has been made by RIM in collaboration with Twitter. Head over to blackberry.com/twitter to download the app to your device.

Nexus One Car dock now Available for purchase

Back in January, prior to Nexus One launch, a very cool looking and useful Nexus One accessory was spotted. Yes, I am talking about the Nexus One car dock which has been missing since January. That's no longer the case folks as it is now available and ready to be purchased.

Here are the more notable features of the Android 2.1 phone accessory:

• Dock is equipped with a built-in speaker and volume controls.
• The dock brings with it a Car Home app which loads automatically once the phone is loaded onto the Dock.
• Comes with a 12V charger to ensure that your phone remains charged while you travel.

Nexus One Car dock will cost you $55 and is available for shipping the details of which can be found at google.com/phone. By the way do you plan to purchase this useful add-on?
[via Android Central]

Apple Announces iPhone 4.0 beta firmware.

Only recently Apple announced the availability of iPhone OS 4.0 for developers which brings a lot of new features including Multitasking and the new iAd platform.

While we believe that the firmware is not mature enough to be used by end-users, limiting it to the developers is still a bit unfair. Therefore! we are providing the links to download the iPhone 4.0 beta firmware.

It may be noted; the firmware may only be used by the user for testing-purposes as it is not meant for daily use. Also! Those who would like to keep their devices Jailbroken and Unlocked should stay away from this firmware as there is a good chance that they might not be able to restore to a previous firmware ever. The list of firmware as provided by Apple:

* iPhone1,2_4.0_8A230m_Restore.ipsw (iPhone 3G)
* iPhone2,1_4.0_8A230m_Restore.ipsw (iPhone 3GS)
* iPod2,1_4.0_8A230m_Restore.ipsw (iPod Touch 2G)
* iPod3,1_4.0_8A230m_Restore.ipsw (iPod Touch 3G)

To download the firmware for your device; follow onto this link. Only available for iPhone 3G/3GS and iPod Touch 2G/3G. Only those with iPhone 3GS and iPod Touch 3G would be able to take advantage of multitasking on their device.

Reliability of Devices and After Sales Service Makes Nokia the Most Trusted Solutions Provider in Pakistan

Next billion mobile phone subscribers will come from emerging markets like Pakistan

Expanding the portfolio of its Entry Solutions in Pakistan, Nokia Pakistan today announced the latest additions to its most affordable device range at their launch event: Nokia 2690, Nokia 2220, Nokia 1616, Nokia 1800 and Nokia 1280.

Leading analysts around the world believe that it is emerging markets like Pakistan that will lead the future of mobile communications in coming years. By 2015, 83 percent of the global population will be living in emerging markets. As developing world incomes rise, household spending on mobile phones, and the opportunities they are bringing people, grows faster than spending on energy, water or indeed anything else. So where will the next billion mobile phone subscribers come from? Analysts at Juniper research believe that 80 percent or more of all new mobile phone subscribers per annum will come from emerging markets.

Talking about the significance of Pakistan as an emerging market, Imran Khalid Mahmood, Country General Manger, Nokia Pakistan and Afghanistan said, “Pakistan is a market with a growing telecom sector that provides us with many new avenues to bring more affordable and valuable solutions to this market. Most of us take the convenience of using a mobile phone for granted, but for billions of people, mobile devices and services can transform their lives. Many people in emerging markets are using the mobile in more powerful ways than those in the developed world. Their first ever internet experience will be on their mobile phone and services like mobile email are seeing some of their highest adoption rates in developing countries. Nokia doesn’t apply one size fits all strategy to all emerging markets; rather we study the consumer patterns in each market to bring out the most relevant solutions to the market. Making more possible for Pakistani masses, we are now introducing the most affordable Nokia devices to date that offer a great value for money.”

Sharing the details of new entry mobile phones launched, Haseeb Ihtisham, Marketing Manager, Nokia Pakistan and Afghanistan said, “Nokia offers to Pakistani market the widest product portfolio to choose from at all price points. The launch of these new entry devices today, Nokia 2690, Nokia 2220, Nokia 1616, Nokia 1800 and Nokia 1280 adds to the growing entry mobilephone range offered by Nokia. The relevant features packed in these affordable phones are flashlights, calendars, durable keypads and long battery life. Nokia has combined these standard features and add-ons like pleasant form factor to bring to Pakistani consumers a perfect low-cost package.”

The new Nokia entry phones announced today the Nokia 1280, the Nokia 1616 and Nokia 1800 are priced very competitively; with the Nokia 1280 being the lowest cost mobile phone to date. All of these phones are specifically designed for people in non-urban areas who require an affordable, reliable device with practical features like a flashlight, speaking clock, FM radio, dust-resistant keypads and multiple phonebooks. While at a slightly higher price point, Nokia 2690 has added features such as VGA camera, memory card support, MMS and Bluetooth and Nokia 2220 is a slide phone with GPRS, VGA Camera, Prepaid Tracker, MMS and Nokia Xpress audio messaging.

Mobiles will change the world, more quickly, more deeply and more profoundly than any other innovation. Countries traditionally described as ‘emerging’ now represent half of the world’s economy. Businesses and consumers should look to these markets for insights and inspiration into the opportunities which mobile technology can provide. The chance to make a difference to people’s lives is huge and many of these emerging markets are leading the charge for innovation.