Samsung S3 finally catches up with the Palm Pre - if modified
Hackthusiast brings plugless juicing to the pottery 'bone
Posted in Mobile, 19th June 2012 08:56 GMT
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Wireless charging was a key feature of Samsung's flagship Android blower when it was announced, but the replacement back plate it needs isn't on the shelves yet, so one brave soul has hacked a Palm Touchstone charger into the S3 case.
Not that the hack uses the Samsung/Qualcomm-backed "Alliance for Wireless Power" standard, that's not even been published yet, but it does enable a Samsung S3 to be placed on the magnetically aligned Touchstone wireless charger to pick up some power:
The Touchstone was designed for use with the Palm Pre, and hacking it onto a S3 requires dismantling the receiving coil from the back of a 'Pre and jamming it into the S3 case, so not making use of the S3's capabilities beyond the two connectors which stand ready for the official wireless charging kit.
That kit won't use magnets to align the coils, as the standard being pushed by the Alliance for Wireless Power doesn't require devices to be aligned. It also allows devices to be charged from several centimetres away, allowing a new charging paradigm of "power sipping" where the phone picks up energy from the car door, or the office chair, without the user ever proactively "charging" their phone.
When we covered the launch of the 'Alliance we suggested it was just Qualcomm's WiPower standard with broader backing, but that resulted in hurt messages from Samsung saying it had had wireless power for at least five years (in 3D specs as well as elsewhere) and that the new standard would incorporate aspects of WiPower and its proprietary technology.
We asked about Samsung's membership of the rival Wireless Power Consortium, and were told it was "under review", but more than a month later Samsung is still listed as a member of both consortia and the S3 still doesn’t have wireless charging of any kind, other than after being bodged together with the Touchstone as above. ®
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Vodafone slashes 3G tariffs up to 80% - Times of India
Vodafone 3G plans now start from Rs 25 for 25 MB data usage and go up to Rs 1,599 for 12 GB data usage. Under the pay-as-you-go for pre-paid customers, the rate has been cut by 80 per cent to 2 paise per 10kb.
With reduction in tariffs, Vodafone also announced there will be no additional charges for roaming on data usage. "Additionally, Vodafone will now allow its customers to use data from their bundle package while on-net roaming across any location in India without any additional charge," a company statement said.
Last month, Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular and Reliance Communications had reduced tariffs for its third generation (3G) high speed internet services.
"With the introduction of these plans, we aim at establishing a foundation for providing a 3G data plan for everyone, making it affordable to the masses in the country," Vodafone India Chief Commercial Officer Sanjoy Mukerji said in a statement.
The 3G tariff war is happening at a time when most of the operators are up in arms against the high reserve price of spectrum proposed by sectoral regulators Trai. The government is likely to take a decision on spectrum price in the Empowered group of Ministers meeting on July 21.
The operators have warned that mobile bills could increase by up to 100 per cent in certain circles if the proposals are accepted. According to industry experts, the price war in 3G tariffs may be an effort to cash huge investments made by telecom operators.
The government had received over Rs 67,000 crore from the 3G auctions held in 2010. With operators taking huge loans to pay for the 3G licences, experts say operators are under pressure to recover the investment.
China Mobile OS built to rival iPhone falls into obscurity - Computerworld
IDG News Service - China Mobile's effort to support its own mobile operating system to compete with the likes of Apple's iPhone appears to be falling by the wayside, mired by its failure to attract developers and enough backing from handset manufacturers.
The operating system, originally called the Open Mobile System, but better known as the OPhone OS, began appearing on China Mobile smartphones in 2009. The operating system is based on Google's Android, but was localized for the Chinese market, and incorporated features to connect to the carrier's services.
China Mobile, which now has 672 million customers, had wanted to offer a wide-range of OPhone devices at a time when the country was just beginning to offer 3G services. But development of new smartphones using the OS has stalled, according to Teck Zhung Wong, an analyst with research firm IDC.
"Our understanding is that OPhone is in a zombie state," he said. "It looks to me that the most likely path for OPhone is a silent retirement, with any updates likely to be incremental."
Many of the handsets using the OPhone OS came out in 2010, and included smartphones from Motorola, Samsung, Sony Ericsson and Huawei. But since then, fewer OPhone smartphones have been released to the market.
However, there is still some activity: The newest smartphone using the OPhone OS was released by Huawei last month. Called the Ascend G305T, the phone comes with OPhone 2.6, which is based on Android 2.3. The device is priced at $190.
What plans China Mobile has for the OPhone is unclear. A China Mobile spokeswoman and directors belonging to its research arm declined to talk or did not respond to requests for comment. The OPhone's developer, a Beijing-based company called Borqs, also could not be reached for comment.
While China Mobile had grand ambitions for the OPhone, the operating system often fell behind upgrading to the latest version of Android, Wong said. This made it difficult for the OPhone to be compatible with the latest Android apps. At the same time, China Mobile struggled to attract developers to build apps for the OPhone, with many instead wanting to develop apps for Android.
"The other thing that tripped it up was the selection of devices. They couldn't attract enough handsets," he said. "Frankly, I think its an embarrassment for China Mobile."
While China Mobile is the country's largest mobile carrier, the company has in the past struggled to offer the hottest handsets for use on its 3G network. Analysts have said part of the problem lies with how China Mobile's 3G network uses a homegrown technology called TD-SCDMA (Time Division Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access), which is not widely deployed outside of China. As a result, devices including Apple's iPhone have to be redesigned for use on the carrier's 3G network.
Vodafone cuts 3G rates by up to 80% - rediff.com
Vodafone on Tuesday slashed 3G tariffs by up to 80 per cent, becoming the fourth telecom service provider to reduce rates after Bharti Airtel [ Get Quote ], Idea Celluar and Reliance communication.
Vodafone 3G plans now start from Rs 25 for 25 MB data usage and go up to Rs 1,599 for 12 GB data usage.
Under the pay-as-you-go for pre-paid customers, the rate has been cut by 80 per cent to 2 paise per 10kb.
With reduction in tariffs, Vodafone also announced there will be no additional charges for roaming on data usage.
"Additionally, Vodafone will now allow its customers to use data from their bundle package while on-net roaming across any location in India [ Images ] without any additional charge," a company statement said.
Last month, Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular [ Get Quote ] and Reliance Communications [ Get Quote ] had reduced tariffs for its third generation high speed Internet services.
"With the introduction of these plans, we aim at establishing a foundation for providing a 3G data plan for everyone, making it affordable to the masses in the country,"Vodafone India Chief Commercial Officer Sanjoy Mukerji said.
The 3G tariff war is happening at a time when most of the operators are up in arms against the high reserve price of spectrum proposed by sectoral regulators Trai.
The government is likely to take a decision on spectrum price in the Empowered group of Ministers meeting on July 21.
The operators have warned that mobile bills could increase by up to 100 per cent in certain circles if the proposals are accepted.
According to industry experts, the price war in 3G tariffs may be an effort to cash huge investments made by telecom operators.
The government had received over Rs 67,000 crore (Rs 670 billion) from the 3G auctions held in 2010.
With operators taking huge loans to pay for the 3G licences, experts say operators are under pressure to recover the investment.
3G war rages on, Vodafone cuts rates again in less than a month - Economic Times
The Indian arm of the British telco also claimed its new `pay as you go' (PAYG) price plan for prepaid users is the cheapest in the industry. At 2 paise/10 KB, it is an 80 per cent reduction from the existing rate of 10 paise/10 KB, making it a plan tailor-made for everyone".
"Our new PAYG price plan at 2 paise/10 KB is now the lowest in the industry, below the existing base rate of 3 paise/10 KB data plan," claimed a Vodafone India spokesman.
Last month, Vodafone had announced a mix of increased benefits and reduced rentals on data plans to remove imbalances between its 3G packs and its PAYG pricing. For instance, subscribers using the Rs 100 plan got a higher 300 MB data benefit instead of the earlier 200 MB. While heavy data users on the 1 GB and 2 GB plans saw their monthly rentals drop to Rs 250 and Rs 450 from Rs 375 and Rs 650 respectively.
But for usage levels beyond the stipulated data download quota on each plan, Vodafone India users will now pay Rs 2 paise/10 KB while there will be no additional charges for roaming.
"The new price plans, we believe, will induce people who shied away from 3G to experience the service without fear of a bill shock," said Vodafone India's chief commercial officer, Sanjoy Mukerji.
Over the past month, all leading telcos slashed 3G price plans to crank up market penetration and shore up revenue streams. Especially, since the actual number of 3G customers across the country remains at a shade over 20 million, effectively below 2% of the 900 million-plus pan-India GSM subscriber base.
Bharti Airtel had set the ball rolling by cutting 3G tariffs by upto 70 % for prepaid subscribers. Soon after, Idea, Vodafone, Rcom, Aircel and Tata Teleservices followed suit to bring in the volumes.
The continuing 3G price war comes even as telcos are up in arms over sector regulator Trai's recent recommendations on the airwaves auction and have warned that tariffs could surge by 100% if the government accepts its proposals. The industry move also counters joint efforts by all operators to raise voice tariffs over the last 12 months.
All mobile phone companies have raised voice call rates by 20-40% over the past year and further hikes are scheduled over the next couple of months.
Movie @ Rs 30: New offering from RCOM-BigFlix for Reliance 3G subscribers - VC Circle
Reliance Communications (RCOM) has partnered with BigFlix, the digital media arm of the Reliance Group, to offer movies to all Reliance 3G subscribers. And the cost is just Rs 30 per movie. The company claims to be the first Telco to offer full-length movie streaming service in the country and further mentions that there will be no data charges or hidden costs.
For using this service, Reliance subscribers have to log on to http://vod.rcom.co.in, using their mobile phones or Tablets. Once there, you can access the movie catalogue (powered by BigFlix) and choose the movie you want to watch. The company claims that the user is paying only for the content and not for the data (which means the streaming will be free of cost).
Kunal Ramtekke, senior VP and head of VAS at RCOM, said, “The service is powered by BigFlix and requires an exceptional 3G quality of service (QOS) for supporting an uninterrupted movie experience.”
The last we checked, six movies were available in the comedy genre, two in drama, three in romantic, five in thriller and six in the action category, taking the total to 22 movies. Eighteen video songs were also available, as well as a number of trailers and short clips – all of them free of cost. Some of the movies which are currently available include Dabbang, Bodyguard, Jab We Met, Force, Hate Story, Aarakshan, Bumboo and Race, among others.
This is an interesting service from Reliance and there could be many takers at this price (after all, it’s the same price for which you get those poor quality pirated CDs/DVDs). Also, there will be no additional data charges for the streaming; so subscribers need not worry about inflated 3G bills (the service is not very affordable, as of now).
But whether people will be interested in watching full-length movies on their smartphones is another story. Of course, smartphones with large screens (like Samsung Galaxy Note, SIII and HTC One X) will ensure good quality viewing, but what about the less-than-four-inch displays? We personally feel that to make the most of this service, large-screen Tablets will be the best bet. Moreover, RCOM will have to scale up the catalogue as well (which should not be difficult because of BigFlix) to woo repeat customers.
Other key players in this space include ZengaTV, DigiVive’s Live TV app NexGTv, Geodesic’s live Internet television service Mundu TV and Vuclip’s Starlight Cinema.
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