3G war continues

It seems that though Bharti Airtel didn’t kick off 3G campaign very well if compared with TATA DOCOMO at present but not to forget that Bharti Airtel being the king of telecom with over 130 million subscribers.

With huge media presence and also which acquired cricketing media rights recently can turn the tables at any time.

Also, adding to the fact that TATA DOCOMO which failed to acquire 3G wireless spectrum in a key metro circle like Mumbai and also it’s still not clear when it’s going to enter the Airwaves of Delhi.

It’s more important to enter key circles like Mumbai and Delhi as the ability to spend on new technology like 3G is very high compared to other circles as 3G access requires high end handsets where TATA has to work hard to build customers and also its network as it’s a new entrant.

So, i would say that it’s a double blow to the new entrant like TATA DOCOMO as it needs to add more subscribers plus also it needs to improve coverage which would at least set a platform for a road to recovery of huge money spent on 3G spectrum.

Let’s have a look what Airtel and TATA DoCoMo have loaded their websites with?

Where Airtel targets to empower consumers on what’s all about 3G, TATA DOCOMO chooses to publicize its “3G LIFE” brand .But for now TATA DOCOMO seems to be rolling as it has created a 3G social hype.

Where TATA DOCOMO claims to offer “Best 3G network, 3G service with most attractive 3G tariffs and the fastest 3G” by itself even before launching its 3G services then you yourself is wise enough to catch such social marketing gimmicks. Let’s have a look at what TATA DOCOMO chooses to say?

On other hand Airtel looks to be wise and chooses to empower subscribers with 3G knowledge. Let’s also have a look at what Airtel is spreading the word via its 3G web portal, as Airtel says “Discover a world of possibilities with 3G on your mobile” which i think is quite a realistic than what TATA DOCOMO’s trying to spread.

Time will only tell whether TATA DOCOMO’s Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh (West), Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh circles will b manages to RACE or Airtel’s presence in Delhi, Mumbai, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh (West), Rajasthan, West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Assam, North East, Jammu & Kashmir

With mere less than a fortnight for smelling the Diwali smoke, it can be still anybody’s game in this Great Indian Telecom Bazaar as most of the telcos are planning to commence 3G from Shubh Diwali.

Last, but not the least it will be better if Operators increase large amount of money in building their network rather than wasting time in pursuading people to try their networks.

Dell Streak – Android 3G Tablets Now in India

Dell today announced the launch of the Dell Streak, a carbon black Android1.6 based tablet with a 5-inch display in Indian market at Rs. 35000.

The Dell Streak is a full-function 3G phone with IM and SMS/text capabilities, plus you can take photos for sharing using the rear-facing camera with dual-LED flash. It is also integrated with real-time Facebook and Flickr upload abilities  which will help one to put your photo or video online in no time.

Dell Streak has a spacious 5-inch screen with a resolution of 480×800 and 16M color output which is ideal for experiencing thousands of Android Market widgets, games and applications, all without squinting or compromising portability. It comes with front-and-back cameras capture photos and videos on the fly with 5 mega pixel resolution.

The company claims using Dell Streak one can multitask and play without delay (including music and games), the Android tablet is equipped with 1GHz Qualcomm SnapdragonTM processor speeding things along using Google’s Android-based OS with multi-touch Dell user experience.

Dell Streak has 2G and 3G mobile broadband, WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity  and also comes with a  swappable microSD memory cards mean virtually limitless storage for movies, music and pictures — up to 42 movies, 32,000 photos or 16,000 songs on each of your individual 32GB memory cards.

DELL STREAK SPECIFICATIONS:

• Android platform complete with Android Market and Dell user interface enhancements.
• Powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon solution with integrated 1GHz processor 3G + Wi-Fi + Bluetooth.
• UMTS / GPRS / EDGE class 12 GSM radio with link speeds of up to 7.2 Mbps.
• 5 MP Autofocus camera with dual LED flash. Easily point, shoot, and upload to YouTube, Flickr, Facebook and more.
• User accessible Micro SD expandable memory available up to 32GB. Store up to 42 movies or 32,000 photos, or 16,000 songs with a 32GB Micro SD upgrade

Tata Docomo 3g Is Coming

Tata Docomo, the joint venture of TTSL and Japan’s telecom major NTT Docomo has announced launch of next gen 3G mobile services by diwali.

 

 

TTSL is one of those companies who operate both on CDMA and GSM technologies to offer telecom services throughout the country. The company has reached the mark of 80 million subscribers on GSM and CDMA platform at the end of September, 2010.

As Tata Docomo, the pioneer of per second tariff is going to be first private operator to start 3G services there are immense speculations and expectations from them. TTSL bagged 3G spectrum for nine circles in the auction held in May this year.

As of now only BSNL and MTNL – state owned operator duo together have been offering 3G services through out the nation.

Coverage & Roaming:

Tata Docomo will launch 3G services in 9 circles out of total 22 telecom circles of India. Tata Docomo gives its 3G services a miss in all of 4 metros – Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata & Mumbai and another two lucrative Category ‘A’ circles – Tamilnadu and Andra Pradesh.

As it is missing out high revenue circles, there is a chance of fewer takers of 3G. But as BSNL with its sick marketing strategy can not grab a huge 3G subscribers in these circles there are high chances of Tata Docomo as fast mover.

Circles (Tata Docomo 3G will be live by Diwali)
Category

Kerala
B

Karnataka
A

Maharastra
A

Madhya Pradesh  & Chattisgarh
B

Guajrat
A

Rajasthan
B

UP West (incl. Uttarakhand)
B

Punjab
B

Haryana
B

Total A category circles: 3

Total B category circles: 6

It is for sure Tata Docomo is going to enter in roaming agreement with other operators to offer 3G services on roaming. We guess it could be BSNL & MTNL. 3G Roaming is going to be another attractive source of revenue for these two PSUs. BSNL 3G has presence over 500 cities over the country.

Offering roaming in Delhi and Mumbai is going to be a must for Tata Docomo as they are offering 3G services in surrounding UP West and Maharastra circles.

Ultra Fast Launch:

While most of the operators who bagged 3G licences have planned to roll out 3G services at the end of this year, Tata Docomo is going to roll out same in next month. It is certain with this head-start they like to tap the market taking advantages of MNP (Mobile Number Portability) which is scheduled on 31st October.

Without NTT Docomo’s expertise on 3G Tata Docomo can not launch 3G services so quickly. “The service quality will be world class, with the network being provided by Nokia Siemens Networks and Huawei,” as Tata Docomo spokesman said.

Product Portfolio:

I am not sure about which series of HSDPA is to be employed on Tata Docomo’s network (FYI Airtel plans to deploy 14.0Mbps HSDPA category 10). BSNL & MTNL is offering 3G services on HSDPA category 6 (3.6 Mbps) and category 8 (7.2 Mbps).

India is a market which is price-driven not by quality of services; hope to see change of scenario as TTSL partners NTT Docomo, a global leader of 3G technologies.

Powered by 3G, Tata Docomo may bring bundled netbook, tablet, handsets and data cards also. Among handsets, it is expected to roll out Android powered devices mostly.

India needs data and more data, at an affordable price. So data plans from them are going to be crucial point. We can also check what the private players think about our data requirement. I do not think they are coming with any true unlimited plan – may be 10 GB data cap and then speed will be downgraded to 2G – GPRS/EDGE.

VAS portfolio could be exciting ones, courtesy NTT Docomo. mCommerce may hit up.

Competition
It is for sure, that 3G will not affect voice tariff of 2G, video calls also will not be too costly. Main differentiator of 3G market will be data plans, high speed coverage and VAS in some point. The shift in demand from voice to data has revolutionized the very nature of the market.

Voice plans will bit help them much to grab new customers, but high speed data plans will do. Let’s see who are currently offering high speed wireless internet services .

Notes

BSNL EVDO
Cheapest high speed wireless internet plan- unlimited at Rs 750 p.m. Has awesome coverage over Kerala.

BSNL 3G
Unlimited data plans @1499 p.m. around Rs 500 you can get 2GB data. Largest coverage.

Tata Photon+/Virgin vFlash
TTSL’s EVDO services.

Reliance Netconnect Broadband+
Reliance communications’ EVDO services. Industry rumors they are coming with a revised tariff plan.

MTS MBlaze
Powerful coverage in Rajasthan, but other circles only main cities are covered, for example only Nagpur & Pune of Maharastra

To keep away Photon+ from this competition TTSL may bring some dual mode (HSPA+EVDO) modems.

Tata Teleservices (TTSL) is trying to be telecom superpower of India over years, it has been trying a lot to get there – first to come up with CDMA (following Reliance’s success on CDMA), then move to popular GSM platform and prioritize it , made franchise agreements with Virgin Mobile and later with Future Group, launching the pay per second and pay per call plan for calls, and pay per character for SMS and pay per kb or pay per site for GPRS and now they are ready to boom by Diwali with 3G services. Let’s wait for what is coming.

Tips and Tricks for iOS 4.1

Easy SMS searching

A new feature in the iOS 4.1 now allows you to search your text messages right through a search box at the top of the message list. All you need to do is enter the search string contained in the message you are looking for.

Keep a tab on SMS/MMS Character Count

Image courtesy: [@iMuggle]

Unlike the previous version, you can now view the character count in your SMS or MMS before you send it. Go to Settings > Messages, turn ON Character Count. Now as you type the message, the character count will pop up as soon as you exceed 30 characters. Please note that this will not limit your messages to 160 characters, but simply split the message into multiple messages, depending on your carrier.
Passcodes are more secure

Let's face it; an alphanumeric passcode is several times more secure than just a numeric passcode. You are now allowed to create such an alphanumeric passcode and this can be enabled by going to Settings > Passcode Lock, where you can turn OFF Simple Passcode. You can then click Turn Passcode On to set your more secure alphanumeric passcode.

Turn Cellular Data Off

For those not on an unlimited data plan, there is a way to save money. Just go to Settings > General > Network and turn OFF cellular data. 

Time by Voice Command

You can now make the iPhone speak the time at your voice command. All you need to do is to press and hold down the home button on your iPhone or press the center button on your headset and ask "What time is it?" The iPhone will answer and tell you the time in a female robotic voice.
Create a real playlist

While you could create On-the-Go playlists until now, the end result was a lame playlist when you synced your iPhone to iTunes. But this has been addressed in IOS 4. You can now create proper playlists with real names that don't get lost even on syncing with iTunes.
Change keyboard layout

In case you do not like the default QWERTY keyboard layout, you can change it. Go to Settings > General > Keyboard > International Keyboards > English and try out any alternative layout or a hardware keyboard connected to your iPhone.
Lock the Screen Orientation

The iPhone's accelerometer has an uncanny habit of kicking in when you don't want it to, such as while watching a video lying down. Well, iOS 4 has made life easier for you because you can now lock the screen orientation with ease. Just double-tap the home button to bring up the multitask drawer, swipe to the right to reveal the orientation lock icon situated on the extreme left and tap on it to lock the screen orientation (portrait mode for videos).
Choose a Search Engine

Not everyone likes to use Google to search the web, and if you are one of those, you can now change the search engine and use Yahoo! or Bing instead. To do this, go to Settings > Safari > Search Engine and choose the search engine you prefer.
Search The Web and Wikipedia from the Spotlight Screen

Now you do not just have a choice of search engines, you can even choose whether or not to use Safari to search. You can go to the spotlight screen and type anything you want to search and you will be given options to choose The Web or Wikipedia. Only after this will Mobile Safari launch and your search results will be displayed.

New Spell Checker

Now you will not go wrong with spellings in your tweets and messages. There is a new spell checker in iOS 4, which marks a word with a red scribble line under it whenever it is misspelt.

To view various options for the correct spelling, just tap once on the misspelt word and you will get all the possible options for the correct spelling from which you can tap and choose the correct one.

If the misspelt word is indeed what you meant to type, then simply click on the input word and you will see that the word with the wrong spelling is offered for use. This word is now stored in the dictionary for future reference and use.
Zoom Digitally

The iPhone's camera app now supports up to 5x digital zoom, which can be enabled by tapping once on the screen. When you see the zoom slider at the bottom, slide towards the plus sign to zoom in and toward the minus sign to zoom out. As is usual with digital zoom, you will see some jaggies and noise at full zoom.

Focus While Video Shooting

While it was possible earlier to tap to focus before taking a still image, now you can tap to focus even while shooting video.
Save battery by putting your iPod to sleep

If you have the habit of listening to music while you go to sleep, chances are that you usually wake up with an iPod with depleted battery in the morning. But now there is a way to get around this. Launch the Clock application, select timer function and set the amount of time you would like to listen to music before the device goes to sleep. Now tap on "When Timer Ends" and select "Sleep iPod". Your iPod will automatically go to sleep after the timer ends.
Open Safari link in a new page

You can now touch and hold on a link in Safari, and you will be presented with options to open the page, open it in a new page or copy the link.
Zoom and fit an image in Safari onto your screen

If you double tap on an image inside a webpage opened in Safari that is not linked to any URL, it fits to the screen automatically. Double tap again to return it to normal.