AKTEL Postpaid Signature New Promotion

Welcome to AKTEL Postpaid! - Signature

As one of the most demanding persons of society, you need a full fledged communication solution. You not only need excellent network coverage and instant connectivity but many other features to complement your lifestyle needs. In short, you need AKTEL Postpaid. Just some of the features that you will be enjoying from your AKTEL Postpaid (Signature or Signature JOY) include:


Extended FnF service with the option of 1 BTCL number!
Postpaid to Prepaid balance transfer – only AKTEL offers this unique service.
No line rent for airtime usage above TK 500!* and unlimited GPRS users!
Free AKTEL PA (Missed Call Alert Service) until further notice.
Free Internet browsing:
Free browsing (12AM-6AM) till October 31 for all customers
International Roaming – the widest range of roaming partners as well as SMS roaming ensures greater freedom.
Unlimited GPRS subscription –internet, email, and much more.
Accidental death insurance for 1 lac Taka at absolutely no cost. (For conditions, call 123)
Exceptional Customer Care service



* VAT, BTCL charges, line rent and other subscription fees are not included in airtime



In the coming months, AKTEL will be adding new features that address your needs and will constantly strive to ensure that AKTEL Postpaid remains the best cellular connection choice in the market for you. In our efforts to serve you better we depend on your feedback and comments regarding AKTEL services. Please contact us by emailing at 123@aktel.com or calling 123 (from any AKTEL number) or 01819400400 (from any phone)



Where to find AKTEL Post-Paid and Bill Payment



A. Where to find AKTEL Post-Paid



Visit your nearest Customer Care Center to pick up your AKTEL Postpaid connection. Click here for a full list of Customer Care Centers



B. Bill Info


As Post-Paid general class customer, you can check their Postpaid bill information by any of the following way:
SMS to 8PST (8778)


C. Bill Payment Paying Bills Couldn’t Be Easier! AKTEL Postpaid offers a wide variety of bill payment mechanisms to ensure you always stay connected.
EasyLoad
Customer Care Centers
Banks



Scratch cards – keep widely available scratch cards close by to pay your postpaid bill anytime, anywhere! You can even pay the bill of another AKTEL postpaid subscriber!



Note: For greater credit limit you can add a security deposit (100% refundable), or make an advance payment as well.






Tariff Tables:

Signature Package
Local (Standard NWD)
International (Standard IDD)

Package Price (Govt. duty & VAT inclusive)
TK. 1,000
TK. 1,200

Security Deposit
TK. 0
TK. 0

Credit Limit
TK. 1,000
TK. 1,000

Line Rent
TK. 100*
TK.100*






*Waived if monthly usage exceeds TK 500 (excluding monthly subscription fee e.g. Goon Goon subscription fee, AKTEL PA etc) or if customer subscribes unlimited GPRS








AKTEL SIGNATURE and SIGNATURE JOY Tariff plan

All tariff are excluding VAT
24 HOURS

Particulars


Outgoing (Tk./min)
To Joy Partner Number (if partner SIM activated)
0.25*

Any Calls
1*

To BTCL
1*+BTCL

FnF (To AKTEL number)
0.68*

FnF (To other operator number)
0.68*

FnF (BTCL)
0.68*+BTCL

Incoming (Tk./min)
From Mobile
FREE

From BTCL
FREE

Pulse (in Sec.)
To any AKTEL
30

To other Operator
30

SMS (Tk.)
To any AKTEL
1

To other Operator
1




Note(*):


-
For each FnF call, TK 0.68/call setup charge will apply.


-
For partner call, TK 0.25/call setup charge will apply.


-
For any other On-net /Off-net /BTCL call, TK 1/call setup charge will apply.

- Customers will be able to block or unblock a particular facility such as BTCL outgoing or IDD connectivity by sending a message to a short code*. To avail the service right now, please visit any AKTEL Customer Care Centers.

- Customers will be able to migrate from Domestic to International for a cost of TK 200 (VAT included)

- Reduced flat tariff; no roaming and inter-zonal charge


-
Conditions apply

Banglalink Have Biggest Customer Care

Customer Care Introduction

banglalink care line offers a dedicated 24 / 7 service to answer all your queries. 24 hours a day. 7 days a week. Any queries you may have about:
subscribing for a new connection
any form of account information
coverage details
product information
value added services
billing information
Care Center - Open on Fridays

Ever felt disappointed that you couldn't visit customer care on Friday? Well, now you can!!

Problems and questions don't present themselves depending on the day of the week. They can appear any time! Keeping this in mind, we will be open from 3pm to 9pm on Fridays. Just hop in at your own convenience and we'll answer all your queries regarding our products, promotions and services.

At banglalink, your convenience is our first priority!

Please call the following numbers:

banglalink Customer Care is devoted to make certain that all your queries are answered without delay, serving for your convenience.

banglalink sales & care centres:

Location Contact Number Working Hour
Dhaka CCC (LG- Gulshan)
Rangs Arcade
Ground Floor, South Side 153/A,
Gulshan North Avenue
Gulshan Circle - 2 Fax: 02-9862607 9 a.m. - 8 p.m.
Sunday -Thursday

9 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Saturday

3 p.m. - 8 p.m.
Friday
Dhaka CCC (Motijheel)
Humayun Court
Ground Floor
21 Motijheel C/A
Dhaka - 1000 Fax: 02-9563638
Chittagong CCC
Forum Central, Ground Floor 787/863,
M.M. Ali Road,
Golpahar Circle,
Chittagong-4000. Fax: 031- 638864
Sylhet CCC
Liakot Bhaban (2nd floor)
Jallar Par
Zindabazar
Sylhet -3100 Fax: 0821-812090 9 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Saturday -Thursday

Friday Closed
Rajshahi CCC
House # 19A,Cantonment Road
Uttara Clinic More,
Uposhahar,
Rajshahi Fax: 0721-861322
Khulna CCC 69, K.D.A. Avenue
Khulna
Bogra CCC
Plot # 8118, Holding # 173
Ward # 07, Jaleswaritola,
Kalibari More,
Bogra-5800 Fax: 051-51545
Zia International Airport CCC
Arrival Lounge
Zia International Airport,
Kurmitola Dhaka 24 hours / 7 days a week


banglalink care lines

Contact Number Working Hour
121, 212 - All Prepaid Customers
122 - All Postpaid and Call & Control
120 - For SMS call back
(From Banglalink mobile only)
2727 for yellow page service
175 for E-Voucher retailer service
9126 for BP/BSP Support

Telephone:
+(88)02 9888370-1,
+(88)02 9862325-6

Mobile:
For all Operator ,T& T and PSTN except BL Call & Control.
01911-310900
01912-999000 (SME Hotline)
01911-304122

Fax: 8820594

E-mail: info@banglalinkgsm.com
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year.


banglalink point: List of banglalink points

Nokia Introduces N78 Price 27,500tk In Bangladesh

Nokia introduces N78

Nokia has introduced Nokia N78, new member of the Nseries family. It's especially designed for sharing music and images. Nokia N78 was actually introduced at Mobile World Congress 2008 in Barcelona, Spain. The product is available in Bangladesh from June this year.

Keeping music a core feature of the device, it also has expandable memory of up to 8GB, internal speakers and support for 3.5mm headphones. The N78 also has Internet Radio. Users can instantly access to thousands of internet radio stations. It has 24 hours of music playback time.

The Nokia N78 has wide range technologies, including integrated A-GPS with free Nokia Maps (digital maps of cities), WLAN and high-speed HSPDA 3G connectivity, 3.2 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics and support for microSD memory card, currently available at up to 8GB.

Its interesting feature is the FM transmitter that allows music to be played on any FM radio, in car or home.

Jonas Geust, supervisor of the Nokia's Nseries devices said, “The Nokia N78 truly lives up to the Nseries promise of delivering unparalleled mobile multimedia experiences with the very latest technologies and services.

The sleek design Nokia N78 costs Tk 27,500. Nokia lovers will certainly enjoy using the new member of Nseries

Warid signs corporate agreement with LG Butterfly

Warid Telecom, the fourth largest mobile phone operator in Bangladesh, signed an agreement with LG Butterfly Marketing Limited to provide complete telecommunication services under its corporate package.
Chairman and Managing Director of Butterfly Marketing Limited Mr M A Mannan and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Warid Telecom Mr. Amyn Merchant signed the agreement on behalf of their respective organisations at the Corporate Head Office of Warid Telecom in the city.
General Managers of Warid Telecom Mumtaz Ahmad Khan, Ashraful H. Chowdhury and Mahboob Hossain and Director (Sales and Marketing) of Butterfly Mustafizur Rahman Shazid and DGM (admin) M M Ferdous were, among others, present during the signing ceremony.
Under the agreement, LG Butterfly Marketing Limited will enjoy customised tariff and value added services of the Warid Telecom which would keep the marketing company one step ahead of others in receiving telecommunication services and also reduce its telecommunication costs significantly.
Mr. Amyn Merchant thanked the LG Butterfly for choosing Warid telecom’s services to meet its telecommunication needs. “We hope users in LG Butterfly would enjoy our high-quality services in a competitive price,’ he said.
Since its commercial operation in Bangladesh in May 10, 2007, Warid Telecom, which invested about Tk 3500 crore to establish the state-of-art Next Generation Network (NGN), has acquired over 3.0 million subscribers through spreading its network to 64 districts. It also planned to invest over Tk 1700 crore within a year to improve its network and quality of services.

Nokia 5800 Tube Leaked Wth XpressMusic Branding

Nokia 5800 Tube live photos





It seems that Nokia 5800 Tube is really close to an official announcement, as more quality images and detailed information has leaked online. An important discovery is the Nokia 5800 will not spawn a new series of its own called XpressMedia, but will use the already existing XpressMusic.

According to the leaked information, the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic has a 3.2-inch 16M touchscreen TFT display with 640x360 pixels resolution (16:9 display ratio) and some vibrating touch feedback. The device will run on the latest S60 5th edition with accelerometer for auto screen rotation.



As a mid-range phone, the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic will feature only a 3 megapixel autofocus camera, but it will have a Carl Zeiss lens, dual LED flash and geo-tagging support, thanks to the built-in GPS with A-GPS function.


Nokia 5800 Tube live photos




Despite its mid-range status, the Nokia 5800 is an expert in communications, sporting quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support plus UMTS/HSDPA on top of it. The other connectivity options include Wi-Fi b/g, stereo Bluetooth (A2DP) and USB 2.0. Finally, this department is completed by a 3.5mm AV jack and TV output.


The Nokia 5800 XpressMusic will also have 140 MB of built-in memory and a microSD card slot (up to 8GB supported). Another obvious fact from the images is the new Nokia BL-5J battery with a capacity of 1320 mAh that will power the Nokia 5800.

Nokia 5800 XpressMusic measures 115 x 52 x 14.5mm and weighs 104 g. It's rumored to be officially announced within the next month.

Telephone Shilpa Sangstha revival plan in trouble

Telephone Shilpa Sangstha revival plan in trouble
Only one firm wants to be partner; state-run telephone equipment maker to go for re-tender

The government's plan to breathe a new life into the Telephone Shilpa Sangstha Limited (TSS) has jolted, as a single company has so far showed interest to become a strategic partner of the lone state-run telephone equipment manufacturer.

The company management said they are a bit surprised over the poor response, both from local and foreign buyers, because many a companies expressed their interest after the publication of an advertisement 'Expression of Interest' in early May.

According to the TSS sources, UK based Orange Telecom, a Russian based company and some local giant groups showed their interest and verbally made commitment to submit their bid. "Surprisingly, nobody has stepped into the final race," said a TSS high official.

To get official response from these companies, the TSS also extended the deadline for submitting of proposals from June 15 to July 20.

The official sees this single proposal to become the strategic partner of a company that valued its asset at over Tk200crore as 'unfortunate.'

The TSS Board has chosen to have a partnership, which, it thinks, might revive the obsolete technology-based company that incurred an accumulated loss of Tk 35crore since 1998.

The company basically supplies land phone sets and analog system equipment to the land phone operator Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Limited (BTCL), formerly Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board (BTTB).

On the poor response, TSS Managing Director Shamsul Kibria said, "We will go for re-advertisement."

"TSS is our national asset. We have no right to handover this to a foreign company without going for a competitive bid," he added.

Telephone Shilpa Sangstha was established in 1967 as Telephone Industries Corporation under a joint venture agreement between the then the government of Pakistan and Siemens AG, West Germany, now Nokia Siemens Networks GmbH Co & KG, Germany.

After the independence, Telephone Industries Corporation was made a limited company with its present name Telephone Shilpa Sangstha Ltd.

At present, the government holds 92 percent shares in the company, while Nokia Siemens Network owns the rest 8 percent.

Before going for a new strategic partner the Nokia Siemens will handover its stake to the government.

TSS officials said the government introduced digital telephony in late 1980s but it did not enhance the company's capacity to make digital equipment.

Kibria said, "We will call a board meeting this week to decide on any re-advertisement".

Warid Zem Bundle Offer with Nokia 1208

Zem Bundle Offer with Nokia 1208




Warid is offering handset bundle offer for prepaid subscribers, where they can get a FREE Nokia 1208 by purchasing a prepaid zem connection with BDT 3,500 worth of airtime.

Bundle
price
Bundle details

Handset
Airtime
Connection
Airtime validity

BDT 3,599
Nokia 1208 FREE
BDT 3,500
Zem Start up
270 days


Note:
Airtime can be used for any type of voice and non-voice usage
Voice call can be made on both on-net and off-net destination including BTTB local, NWD, IDD & EISD
This airtime will be placed in Main Account and can be checked by *778#
Unused airtime will still be available after the validity period with any amount of recharge or reload
Free handset is only available with the bundle offer.
Subscribers must not use this SIM and handset separately
If any SIM is used separately from the allocated handset, the whole airtime amount will be removed from the account

Samsung i8510 INNOV8 - Full Specification

General 2G Network GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
3G Network HSDPA 2100 / 900
Announced 2008, July
Status Coming soon. Exp. release 2008, August
Size Dimensions 106.5 x 53.9 x 17.2 mm
Weight
Display Type TFT, 16M colors
Size 240 x 320 pixels, 2.8 inches
- Accelerometer sensor for auto-rotate
- Optical Mouse
Ringtones Type Polyphonic, MP3
Customization Download
Vibration Yes
Memory Phonebook Practically unlimited entries and fields
Call records Practically unlimited
Card slot microSD (TransFlash), up to 8GB
- 8/16 GB internal memory
- 128 MB RAM
Data GPRS Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 - 48 kbps
HSCSD No
EDGE Class 10, 236.8 kbps
3G HSDPA, 7.2 Mbps
WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, DLNA
Bluetooth Yes, v2.0 with A2DP
Infrared port No
USB Yes, v2.0
Features OS Symbian OS v9.3, Series 60 rel. 3.2
Messaging SMS, MMS, Email, Push Email, IM
Browser WAP 2.0/xHTML, HTML
Games FIFA 2008, Asphalt + downloadable
Colors Black
Camera 8 MP, 3264x2448 pixels, autofocus, image stabiliser, video(VGA@30fps, QVGA@120fps), flash; secondary videocall camera
- Built-in GPS receiver
- A-GPS function
- Camera images geo-tagging
- Smart reader, auto-panorama shot, smile shot, blink shot
- DivX/H.263/H.264/WMV/MP4 player
- Video editing
- MP3/eAAC+/WMA/AMR/RealAudio player
- 3.5 mm audio output jack
- Java MIDP 2.0
- FM radio with RDS
- Organizer
- Built-in handsfree
- Voice memo/dial
Battery Standard battery, Li-Ion 1200 mAh
Stand-by Up to 310 h
Talk time Up to 8 h 30 min

8 Megapixel Samsung i8510 Primera Coming

Samsung officially announced the Samsung i8510 INNOV8 today - a multimedia monster, which packs top-of-the-range cameraphone capabilities along with Symbian S60 smartphone functionality. And probably the best thing about it is that it will be available in Europe in a few weeks (read August 2008).

The Samsung i8510 INNOV8 (previously rumored as Samsung Primera) has a name that seems really hard to pronounce, but in fact it's the word INNOVATE with some untraditional spelling. We've already reported of a live preview of the device, you can check it out here, but here's the official scoop.

Probably the biggest asset of the i8510 INNOV8 is its 8 megapixel auto focus camera, which has some advanced features such as face recognition, smile and blink recognition, auto panorama mode and geotagging. Unfortunately, there is no xenon flash, but only a dual power LED setup. The camera will be able to record video in VGA resolution at 30fps along with slow-mo QVGA video, which will be captured at 120fps.

The Samsung i8510 INNOV8 is a smartphone based on Symbian OS 9.3 with S60 3rd edition Feature Pack 2 and features quad-band GSM and dual-band HSDPA 7.2Mbps (900/2100 MHz) support. It also has a large 2.8-inch 16M color QVGA display - it serves the Nokia N95 8GB excellently, so we don't think it would have benefitted by a higher resolution. Screen auto rotation is also available thanks to the built-in accelerometer.

The amount of RAM is 128 MB and there will be a dedicated 3D graphics accelerator. Unfortunately there is no information regarding the CPU used in this multimedia monster.

The Samsung i8510 also packs with some massive storage memory - a 8GB and a 16GB version will be available - much like the Samsung Omnia (you didn't hear us say Apple iPhone, did you?). That storage is further expandable via a microSD card slot.


Samsung i8510 INNOV8

GPS receiver with A-GPS support and Wi-Fi with DLNA certification are also on board. DLNA is basically a wireless media sharing protocol that runs on top of Wi-Fi. Sony Ericsson C905 and Nokia N96 have it too by the way.

For music playback, the i8510 packs stereo speakers, 3D surround sound effect and DNSe 2.0, which is Samsung's DSP technology. There's no word however of the rumored 5.1 surround support. A standard 3.5mm audio jack will be present on board.

Users will also enjoy playback of DivX videos, which is a nice add-on. USB 2.0, stereo Bluetooth, FM radio with RDS complete the feature list.


Samsung i8510 INNOV8 lifestyle shots

Samsung i8510 is powered by a 1200 mAh battery and measures 106.5 x 53.9 x 16.9mm, which is close to Samsung's previous Symbian-powered flagship - the G810, meaning it's a bulky fella.

The Samsung i8510 INNOV8 will be first available in Europe next month and its rumored price is 780 euro.

Here is a bunch of live photos, curtesy of MobileBurn.

57% drop in GP's operating profit in six months

The country's largest mobile phone operator Grameenphone's (GP) operating profit dropped by 57 percent in the first half of the year 2008 compared to the same period of the last year, mainly due to a significant amount of money it had been fined by the telecom regulator.

Grameenphone added 2.5million customers during the April -June period in 2008, but a 36 percent downfall of monthly average revenue per user (ARPU) also helped the company's operating profit to reach 329million Norwegian Krone (NOK) from NOK758milion a year earlier.

In the second quarter ended on June 30, 2008, Grameenphone's operating profit stood at NOK40million, which was NOK335million by the end of June 2007.

The half yearly performance in terms of revenue earnings also saw a negative trend. The company's revenue dropped by 2 percent in June 2008 to NOK 2247million compared to NOK2307million in June last year. (NOK 1= BDT 13.20).

With having 20.31 million customers by the end of June 2008, the company is still the No 1 among the 6 mobile operators in the market.

According to its Q2 financial report (April -June ) posted by Telenor, Grameen's majority stakeholders, Grameen's market share also came down to 47 percent by the end of June 2008 from around 50 percent a year earlier.

In the three months to June 30, Grameen's EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) margins had decreased by 43 percent to NOK 304million from NOK540million a year earlier.

"EBITDA margin decreased primarily due to one-time effects related to accrual of approximately NOK 150 (Tk200crore) million for a potential compensation for Grameenphone's involvement in international call termination through VoIP before February 2007 and a contribution of approximately NOK 18 million to Lawful Interception Compliance initiated by BTRC, compulsorily to be ?nanced by all operators," the Telenor report said.

Norway's Telenor owns 62 percent of the company, which launched operation in 1997, with the balance 38 percent being held by local Grameen Telecom.

The company officials said it put NOK150million (Tk200crore) as compensation, likely to be paid to the telecom regulator, which ultimately showed the poor operating profit.

Grameenphone may pay Tk250crore to Bangladesh Telecommunication and Regulatory Commission (BTRC) for the company's involvement in illegal international call termination through VoIP. The BTRC earlier imposed Tk168crore fine to the company for the same reason.

GP to raise $300m from IPO, pre-IPO

Print Friendly Version
Published On: 2008-07-24
Front Page
GP to raise $300m from IPO, pre-IPO
Md Hasan

Grameenphone, the country's largest mobile phone operator, has finalised its plan to raise $300 million (Tk 2,058 crore) -- $150 million from the stock market and the rest through private placement or pre-IPO.

Grameenphone yesterday said a formal application for the IPO with expected gross proceeds of up to $150 million is expected to be filed with the SEC and other authorities by the end of this month.

The company also said it intends to conduct a pre-public offer of its shares with expected gross proceeds of up to $150 million prior to the IPO.

Sony Ericsson W902, W595 and W302 Official

Celebrating the Walkman-seriеs third birthday, Sony Ericsson revealed three new Walkman phones today, along with a new set of music accessories. The Sony Ericsson W902, W595 and W302 weren't really the best kept secret, as their live photos leaked a week ago but still we enjoy finally meeting them officially. Along with these new Walkmans Sony Ericsson introduced three sets of headphones, three new wireless stereo speakers and a phone case.
Sony Ericsson W902

Sony Ericsson W902 is the most feature-packed among the new devices, coming with a 5 megapixel autofocus camera with a LED flash and hardware music keys. It has a 262K color 2.2" QVGA TFT display and 25MB of built-in memory. Quite as expected, Sony Ericsson W902 will also feature an 8GB M2 memory card in its retail package to extend the available storage.


Sony Ericsson W902

The 3G and HSDPA-enabled W902 measures 110 x 49 x 11.7mm and weighs 99.8 grams. The FM radio with RDS and stereo Bluetooth (A2DP) come to compliment the music capabilities of the quad-band W902.


The Sony Ericsson W902 will also offer auto screen rotation thanks to the built-in accelerometer and image geotagging. Since it doesn't have a GPS receiver, the geotagging feature will rely on cell towers to approximate your location.

The Sony Ericsson W902 will be available in Volcanic Black, Wine Red and Earth Green versions from Q4 of 2008.
Sony Ericsson W595

Sony Ericsson W595 comes next in line sporting quad-band GSM support and 3G with HSDPA. The slider also boasts a 3 megapixel camera that unfortunately has no autofocus. The display will be a 2.2" one of QVGA resolution, capable of showing up to 262K colors.


Sony Ericsson W595

The usual suspects - Bluetooth (with A2DP), USB (through Sony Ericsson's proprietary port) and FM radio with RDS are all on board Sony Ericsson W595. A 2GB M2 memory card will come in the retail package to extend the 40MB of built-in memory.



The color versions of the Sony Ericsson W595 are Active Blue, Cosmopolitan White, Jungle Grey and Lava Black. The handset will be released in Q4 of 2008.
Sony Ericsson W302

The Sony Ericsson W302 is the final phone of the announcement. Coming in the bar form factor the W302 will be the most affordable among the new Walkmans and will sport the most modest feature pack. Itsports a 176 x 220 pixel 262K color TFT display and a 2 megapixel snapper.


Sony Ericsson W302

There is also no 3G on the W302 but luckily the sweet quad-band GSM with EDGE support is left intact. FM radio with RDS, USB and stereo Bluetooth are some of the other features included. The built-in memory will be 20MB and there will be a M2 slot for expanding it.


Sony Ericsson W302 will be as compact as 100 x 46 x 10.5 mm and will weigh merely 78g. It will be available in n Midnight Black and Sparkling White and will hit the shelves in Q4 2008.
Accessories

Along with the phones a couple of nice accessories were also unveiled today. MBS-400 and MPS-100 are portable wireless stereo speakers which look rather nice. The MBS-200 sports the same design as the MBS-400 but is only a single speaker.


The newly announced MBS-200, MBS-400 and MPS-100 wireless speakers
The final bit of Sony Ericsson craftsmanship revealed today is the IPC-40 phone case.


The HBH-IS800, HPM-66 and HPM-88 handsfree sets introduced today













The three pairs of headphones announced include the wireless HBH-IS800, the noise-cancelling HPM-88 and the designed for a more active lifestyle HPM-66.

Sony Ericsson W302 - Full Specification

Sony Ericsson W302 - Full Specification
General 2G Network GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
Announced 2008, July
Status Coming soon. Exp. release 2008, Q4
Size
Dimensions 100 x 46 x 10.5 mm
Weight 78 g
Display Type TFT, 256K colors
Size 176 x 220 pixels, 2.0 inches
- Wallpapers, screensavers

Ringtones Type Polyphonic, MP3, AAC
Customization Download
Vibration Yes
Memory Phonebook Yes
Call records 30 received, dialed and missed calls
Card slot Memory Stick Micro (M2), 512 MB card included
- 20 MB shared memory
Data GPRS Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 - 48 kbps
HSCSD Yes
EDGE Class 10, 236.8 kbps
3G No
WLAN No
Bluetooth Yes, v2.0 with A2DP
Infrared port No
USB Yes
Features Messaging SMS, EMS, MMS, Email

Browser WAP 2.0/xHTML
Games Yes + downloadable
Colors Midnight Black, Sparkling White
Camera 2 MP, 1600x1200 pixels, video (QCIF 15fps)
- Java MIDP 2.0

- Walkman player
- FM radio with RDS
- TrackID music recognition
- Organiser
- Built-in handsfree
- Voice memo
- T9
Battery Standard battery, Li-Ion
Stand-by Up to 300 h
Talk time Up to 7 h

Sony Ericsson W595 - Full Specification

Sony Ericsson W595 - Full Specification

- W595 UMTS/HSDPA/850/900/1800/1900 MHz
- W595c 850/900/1800/1900 MHz for China Mainland
- W595a 850/900/1800/1900 MHz for AmericaGeneral 2G Network GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
3G Network HSDPA 2100 - W595 only
Announced 2008, July
Status Coming soon. Exp. release 2008, Q4
Size Dimensions 100 x 47 x 14 mm
Weight 104 g
Display Type TFT, 256K colors
Size 240 x 320 pixels, 2.2 inches
- Wallpapers, screensavers
- Accelerometer sensor for auto-rotate
Ringtones Type Polyphonic, MP3, AAC
Customization Download
Vibration Yes
- Stereo speakers
Memory Phonebook 1000 x 20 fields, Photo call
Call records 30 received, dialed and missed calls
Card slot Memory Stick Micro (M2), 2 GB card included
- 40 MB shared memory
Data GPRS Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 - 48 kbps
HSCSD Yes
EDGE Class 10, 236.8 kbps
3G HSDPA 3.6 Mbps
WLAN No
Bluetooth Yes, v2.0 with A2DP
Infrared port No
USB Yes, v2.0
Features Messaging SMS, EMS, MMS, Email
Browser WAP 2.0/xHTML, HTML (NetFront )
Games Yes + downloadable
Colors Jungle Grey, Lava Black, Cosmopolitan White, Active Blue
Camera 3.15 MP, 2048x1536 pixels, video (QVGA 15fps); secondary videocall camera
- Java MIDP 2.0
- Walkman player
- FM radio with RDS
- TrackID music recognition
- Shake control
- SensMe
- T9
- Image viewer
- Picture editor
- Organiser
- Built-in handsfree
- Voice memo
Battery Standard battery, Li-Ion
Stand-by Up to 385 h
Talk time Up to 9 h.

Sony Ericsson W902 - Full Specification

Sony Ericsson W902 - Full Specification



General 2G Network GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
3G Network HSDPA 2100
Announced 2008, July
Status Coming soon. Exp. release 2008, Q4
Size Dimensions 110 x 49 x 11.7 mm
Weight 99.8 g
Display Type TFT, 256K colors
Size 240 x 320 pixels, 2.2 inches
- Accelerometer sensor for auto-rotate
- Wallpapers, screensavers
Ringtones Type Polyphonic, MP3, AAC
Customization Download
Vibration Yes
Memory Phonebook 1000 x 20 fields, Photo call
Call records 30 received, dialed and missed calls
Card slot Memory Stick Micro (M2), 8 GB card included
- 25 MB shared memory
Data GPRS Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 - 48 kbps
HSCSD Yes
EDGE Class 10, 236.8 kbps
3G HSDPA 3.6 Mbps
WLAN No
Bluetooth Yes, v2.0 with A2DP
Infrared port No
USB Yes, v2.0
Features Messaging SMS, EMS, MMS, Email, Push Email
Browser WAP 2.0/xHTML, HTML (NetFront)
Games Yes + downloadable
Colors Volcanic Black, Wine Red, Earth Green
Camera 5 MP, 2592 x 1944 pixels, autofocus, flash, video (QVGA 30fps), secondary videocall camera
- Java MIDP 2.0
- Walkman player
- FM radio with RDS
- Camera images geo-tagging (cell ID)
- TrackID music recognition
- Shake control
- SensMe
- T9
- Image viewer
- Picture editor
- Organiser
- Built-in handsfree
- Voice memo
Battery Standard battery, Li-Ion
Stand-by Up to 380 h
Talk time Up to 9 h

27.7 Million LG Phones Sold In the Second Quarter Of 2008

LG Electronics announced today its financial results for the second quarter of 2008, unveiling an excellent period for its mobile division.

In Q2 2008, LG has shipped a total of 27.7 million handsets worldwide, surpassing Sony Ericsson (which only sold 24.4 handsets and registered considerable profit drops). The 27.7 million phones sold represent a record for LG and brought an income of $3.695 billion to the company.

North America bought 33% of all LG's handsets in the second quarter of 2008, while there were also good sales in the Middle East, Latin America and Eastern Europe.



LG's great results are massively helped by its touchscreen phones. The South Korean company has sold more than 7 million touch-enabled handsets since the first such device hit the market (LG Prada, released last year). The touchscreen handsets sold by LG have an average selling price of $530 (about 334 Euros), hence they have a big contribution to the company's overall profits.

The most popular touchscreen phone from LG is nevertheless the Viewty, which was sold until now in more than 2 million units. Other high-selling LG phones are Venus (more than 1.6 million units), Voyager (more than 1.3 million units) and the "old" Prada.

Talking about the touchscreen industry, Dr. Skott Ahn, President & CEO of LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company, stated: "We were a true pioneer in touchscreen phones, applying for a total of 49 patents while developing the Prada Phone by LG. From the beginning, we have worked to create phones that are extremely easy to use despite their myriad features. This is why our touchscreen phones have been so well received around the world. As the market for touchscreen phones continues to grow we will also continue our research in this area to create even more innovative products."

LG says that, according to Strategy Analytics, in 2010 only, there will be about 125 million touchscreen phones sold worldwide. That's why the South Korean company will continue to develop this segment of its mobile products, making it highly competitive for the other major touchscreen players (like Apple with its iPhone 3G).

iPhone 2.0 Unlocked, iPhone 3G Hopefully Will Follow Soon

Last weekend saw the introduction of an unlock solution for the latest iPhone firmware. The first-gen iPhone users will now be able to enjoy 2.0 firmware with any SIM card. The iPhone 3G is not there yet, but there's some progress and we hope it would get unlocked some time soon too.

The popular iPhone Dev Team has come up with the latest version of their all-in-one Pwnage tool for setting your iPhones free via customized firmwares - much like the Windows Mobile community does it. However with the Pwnage Tool you can cook your own firmwares customized to your liking.

For those of you that are new to Pwning here's a brief and simplified explanation. You take an original iPhone firmware file (freely downloadable), you run it through the Pwnage tool customizing stuff on the way (such as pre-installed applications, setups, even custom graphics) and finally you apply it to the iPhone the regular iTunes way. It's that simple.



The new Pwnage 2.0 tool now allows you to (h)activate, jailbreak and unlock the first-gen iPhone running the latest 2.0 software. It's a major upgrade to the iPhone functionality and actually makes the original iPhone software identical to the iPhone 3G.

The Pwnage tool 2.0 also works with iPhone 3G but unlocking is not possible yet. The only available options are (h)activation and jailbreak so you won't be taking advantage of the 3G or any other phone function unless you are using the legit SIM card provided with the iPhone 3G.

The Pwnage tool is immensely popular and it's being downloaded feverishly all weekend. Thanks to your feedback an upgraded version of the tool has spawned - it's ver. 2.0.1.

Unfortunately, for now the Pwnage tool 2.0 is available only to Mac, so to take advantage of it Windows users will need a workaround which requires even more hackery. In case you are interested, you can check the Windows solution here.

The official Dev Team blog is to be found here. A step-by-step guide for jailbreaking the iPhone 3G can be found here.

We should remind you that there are three countries that you can get the iPhone 3G fully unlocked - it's Italy, Belgium and Hong Kong. In Italy the iPhone 3G 8GB would set you back 399 euro (around 630 US dollars) but you will get the device with a pre-paid SIM and fully operational with other carriers.

In Belgium the same thing will cost you 599 euro (950 US dollars) for the 8GB version.



In Hong Kong the only way to buy the iPhone 3G is with a local ID and local credit card. Ingenious sellers there however have already started an iPhone 3G reselling service, but it's costly and the price for a single unlocked unit usually goes over 1000 US dollars.

Additionally, several carriers in other first-wave countries offer official unlocking of their iPhone 3G handsets, but it's usually costly - about 100 euro per device (160 US dollars). For a full list of the iPhone availability and SIM lock status per country, we suggest you visit this list.

Mobile Operator Internet Speed In Bangladesh

i've been using grameenphone unlimited edge service for last 1 year using
two sets motorola v3i(gprs class 1o)and nokia 5700(edge class 32).location
eskaton garden,near holy family hospital.the highest downloading speed i ever
got with motorola is 5.2 KBps and with nokia 14 KBps using opera browser as the
download manager.as now i use the nokia set most of the time,the average speed i
get this days is between 3-5KBps.i've used flashget too and the speed does not
differ much.it takes almost exact same time to download a thing by opera or
flashget
this speed seems too low as i pay a thousand excluding vat to
grameenphone every month and some people from different locations get even a lot
better speed.is there anything that can be done to increase the downloading
speed NOT changing my location?



Well, I should include few more general test reports here. You will get your answer from test3. Thanks for your question :-)

Test1:
Area: Rampura
Device: Sony Ericsson GC89
Connection: GP EDGE unlimited

I am now using Grameen phone unlimited internet. I use Sony Ericsson GC89 EDGE modem. And i live in Rampura. I get average 15-17 KBPS (kilobyte). It varies with time. Because in the day time I get 13-15 KBPS (kilobyte).


Test2:
Area: Rampura
Device: Nokia 3110 classic Made in Hungary
Connection: GP EDGE unlimited

We've used Nokia 3110 classic Made in Hungary at my home to test the internet speed. And it was as good as I usually get using GC89 (average ~17KBPS)

Test3:
Area: Boxibazar, Old Dhaka
Device: Nokia 3110 classic Made in Hungary
Connection: GP EDGE unlimited and Warid unlimited

I went to Boxibazaar (Behind Dhaka university and BUET area) and used Same Nokia 3110 classic made in Hungary. There both the download and upload speed using GP was terrible and shocking!!! I didn't believe my friend who told me that he didn't get more than 4 KBPS anytime.And the line was not stable. My friend contacted GP and they told him that they have huge number of GP internet user in that area. So, they can do nothing to increase the speed. It seems the total bandwidth for a tower or area is fixed. So, where internet users are more there you will get less speed.

This number of users are data service users, not the voice user. You know data service means GPRS or EDGE which no connection with the voice service (calling). So, we should calculate users based on who are using data service.

Warid:
And there Warid internet was same as ~5.5 KBPS and stable. It seems Warid internet is stable everywhere. Of course constant ~5.5 KBPS is not bad (at least for those among us who has very bad experience with dial up or ISP provided internet)

Test4:
Area: Uttara
Device: Nokia 3110 classic Made by Nokia
Connection: GP EDGE unlimited

My another friend is using unlimited internet by 3110 classic (Made by Nokia) in Uttara. He gets more than 15 KBPS. So, now it seems "Made by Nokia" and "Made in Finland" doesn't differ in quality. Only it differes in our brain :-)

Test5:
Area: Banani
Device: Nokia 3110 classic Made by Nokia
Connection: GP EDGE unlimited

We have used Nokia 3110 classic (Made by Nokia) in Banani area. There we also got more than ~15KBPS on average.


Now, I have told you before, my tests are from general users point of view. I didn't test in any professional lab using highly efficient equipments. And the data transfer over wireless depends on many many variables that I didn't have considered during my tests. If anyone did then please share your reports with us.

Have a nice day.

Another Full Test By My Friend

Burn in test 001: Mobile internet
We three friends (teen_goenda) were frustrated with so called Deshi broadband services. We thought to use unlimited internet provided by Mobile operators in our country. So, we were determined to compare the internet browsing speed and download speed and choose the perfect connection fo us. We have used Grameen phone and Warid Telecom unlimited connection to test and compare their internet speed.


Grameen vs. Warid:
At the very beginning we must say Warid never tried to convince us that they had EDGE in all over Dhaka city. Rather when we contacted Warid help desk, they told us that they had only testing version of EDGE in Gulshan and Bonani. One the other hand Grameen phone help desk told us that they had EDGE tower all over the Dhaka city.



GPRS vs. EDGE:
Now theoretically GPRS class 10 has download speed of 36-48 kbps (kilo bit per second) or 4-6 KBPS (kilo byte per second).

On the other hand EDGE class 10 has download speed of 236-247 kbps or (29.5 KBPS- 30.9 KBPS)


Tools:
We have used the following tools for this test-
Nokia 6230i (original Made in Finland) - EDGE class 10 supported

Sony ericsson GC89 EDGE modem -EDGE class 10 supported (price ~6,500 tk)

Warid post paid sim with unlimited internet connection. (1000/= monthly)

Grameen post paid sim with unlimited internet connection (1000/= monthly)

Downloader: Flashget 1.71 . We tried to download a 240MB file with resume support.

Browser: Firefox and Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) to measure the browsing speed.

Location:Rampura.

Measurement unit:
For simplicity we have used kbps or kilobit per second as standard unit of measurement. We know that 8 kilo bit = 1 Kilo byte.



Test reports from others:
We took it our friends tests and opinions under consideration who had experience using mobile internet of all the mobile companies.

Friend1:
Mobile phone: Nokia N73 "Made by Nokia"

Operator: Grameen phone unlimited internet connection.
Location: Bonani

Data rate: Maximum 88 kbps , minimum 24kbps and average 56-60 kbps.


Friend2:

Mobile phone: Chinese GPRS USB modem bought from IDB by 6,000 tk one and half years ago.
Operator: Grameen phone Unlimited conneciton.
Location: Mohammodpur
Data rate: Maximum 24kbps , minimum 500bit per second and average 12 kbps.


Friend3:


Mobile phone: Chinese USB EDGE modem. Bought from IDB by 11,000 tk one years ago.
Operator: Grameen phone EDGE connection.
Location: Bashabo
Data rate: Maximum 227 kbps, minimum 120 kbps and average 160 kbps.


Report & calculation:
Form the experiment we observe that-
Grameen phone download speed is faster than Warid telecom .

Grameen phone Browsing is same or sometimes a bit poorer than Warid telecom.

Nokia original Made in Finland provides the best performance among all the mobile phones.

"Made by Nokia" (India and China made and sold by Nokia center) phones shows poorer internet performance in the same test.

Nokia (Made in Finland) also shows better performance in download (download speed almost double) than dedicated PCMCIA DGE modem Sony Ericsson GC89.

Conclusion:
Nokia (Made in Finland) is the best for internet:
If you want to buy a cell phone for internet and want to browse smoothly and download Gigabytes of data, then try your best to get a Nokia "made in Finland" EDGE class 10 or higher supported phone. We know from our market survey that "Made in Finland sets" are very rare in the market. If you fail to get a Finland set then go for the Hungary set. We can tell you for sure that Hungary sets shows better performance than "Made by Nokia" India or China made sets.



Dedicated modem only for your laptop:
Better not to go for Sony Ericsson GC89 or other Chinese modems if you seek highest download speed. However you may not like to carry a phone connected to a laptop for internet. Also if you are on move then The phones power will go down very quickly. So, in that case you can use GC89 or Sony ericsson PC300 (if available in the market). Let me remind you, GC89 has no voice. So, you can't call or receive call using that modem. But you can send and receive sms though.


Avoid Chinese modems:
Chinese modems have very unstable and poorer performance of all. Only exceptional one Chinese USB modem that one of our friends bought from IDB shows the top performance equivalent to the original finland Nokia mobiles. But we can't tell you for sure exactly which one that modem is. Because we didn't get that modem in the market few months later. However we never recommend those fancy modems. Also you can buy an EDGE class 10 Hungary made Nokia in the same price of those Chinese EDGE modems.


DANGER:NEVER EVER BUY A GPRS MODEM OF ANY BRAND OR NON BRAND. BECAUSE GPRS MODEMS ARE CAPABLE OF PROVIDING HIGHEST 48 KILOBIT PER SECOND. PRCATICALLY WE GOT 24-32 KBPS.


Finally, we say in this way- if you are download freak and/or need 10GB or more data per month and use internet in a fixed place (at home or office etc) then always better to buy a Nokia Made in Finland or Hungary sets with EDGE class 10 support. If you have a laptop and want to use internet on move then go for the PCMCIA sony ericsson GC89 EDGE modem. Avoid buying "Made by Nokia" sets for hardcore internet use. No to any GPRS modem or Chinese EDGE modem.

Disclaimer:
Our research was not influenced by anyone or any company. We did these tests for choosing the best setup to use internet. We thought the test result may help others, so we publish this result in the net. Our test was very limited, because we had only used 4/5 types of mobiles phones and only two mobile phone companies. But people use lots of different mobile phones from different companies. Also there are 5 mobile operators in our country. More over the internet speed varies time to time and place to place. We alone can not test all those setups since we are not any commercial survey company.

So we hope and encourage you all to test your internet speed in different places in different times and using different mobile phones. Publish your own test results in here in this blog comment. Your feedback and sharing experiences will help others to choose the right stuff for themselves.

TeleTalk Tk 573cr Expansion Project Starts

State-run mobile operator TeleTalk finally gave the go-ahead for its much-talked-about Tk 573 crore network expansion project as the company last week awarded two of its existing vendors the first phase of the scheme.

According to the decision of the company's board meeting, the Tk273crore first phase work went to European Nokia-Seimens Network and Chinese Huawei.

The board in principle also decided to go for open tender process for awarding the second phase of the project, which is aimed to reach 1.8 million new customers by 2009.

"After a long verifying process of checking whether the claimed price for the work is rational or not, we have approved the project at our last board meeting," said Iqbal Mahmud, chairman of the TeleTalk board yesterday.

Plans to strengthen TeleTalk were first discussed more than two years ago with the operator finally approving the Tk573 crore network expansion project in February this year.

Soon after this, the company's board changed and several members of the new board expressed concerns over the budget allocated for the expansion project.

In February, the company's board decided that the company's existing vendors -- Huawei and Nokia-Seimens should do the initial network expansion works of Tk273 crore. The rest of the work was to be awarded through an open bidding process.

However, the board's decision to let company's existing vendors do the work soon ran into controversy as telecom industry experts began to question the allegedly high cost estimates by the TeleTalk board. Some rival vendors also alleged that the mobile operator bypassed the Purchase and Procurement Regulation (PPR) by awarding the mega project to these vendors.

A scrutiny committee has already examined the network expansion project.

The TeleTalk board chairman said, "We have maintained all legal procedures as far as the network expansion project goes. Whatever we do we do for TeleTalk's development and also for welfare of the nation."

He said TeleTalk is not bound to follow PPR, adding that the company does not use government fund and has its own purchase policy, under which it maintains all purchase as per the company law.

TeleTalk is the country's smallest operator in terms of subscribers with around 2.31 per cent market share. It started operations in 2005 with high hopes, but failed to compete with the five other multinational operators due to lack of quality services and poor marketing strategy.

Till June 2008, the company has been able to add only 1.07million customers in two years since its entry into the market.

The five-year long TeleTalk's mega project styled Strategic Expansion Plan was initially discuss in 2006. The Nokia-Seimens and Huawei will go for core network expansion works of the project.

According to the company's final approval Nokia-Seimens and Huawei will engage to expand its earlier network sites. Under this initial phase, Nokia-Seimens and Huawei will undertake work worth Tk184crore and Tk90crore, respectively.

Opera Ships Mobile Beta

Opera has released the first public version of Opera Mobile 9.5 beta, its web browser for Windows Mobile, Symbian and Linux-based smartphones.

The new release gives the browser a facelift, with Opera Mobile 9.5 beta defaulting to 'page overview' mode, in which users see the entire web page. Like Opera Mini, Opera Mobile 9.5 allows users to pan and zoom to focus on specific page content.

"Our fans have been eager for the release of Opera Mobile 9.5 since it first appeared at the Mobile World Congress this year," said Opera CEO Jon von Tetzchner. "We are now answering the call of the people and delivering what we proudly proclaim to be our best Opera Mobile browser to date. It is a totally new user experience."

Opera Mobile was first launched in 2000, and Opera claims it has been downloaded over 100 million installations since 2004.

Opera's Web site offers further details on Opera Mobile 9.5's features and the option to download the new browser.

Offline access soon for Gmail, Google Calendar

Google doesn't deny that it's working on bringing offline access to two major Web applications, Gmail and Calendar, but a sign emerged Thursday that the feature--which would be a major expansion of the applications' utility and competitive threat--is due soon.

"Gears on Gmail and Calendar in approximately 6 weeks. Just had a preview at Google offices. Not sure if it is Google Enterprise only," said Andrew Fogg, chief marketing and strategy officer for Web 2.0 consultancy Kusiri, in a Twitter post Thursday.

Gears, formerly called Google Gears, is an open-source extension for Firefox and Internet Explorer now and Safari and Opera later that, among other things, lets Web browsers store and use data even while offline. That can make Web applications vastly more useful and a more viable replacement for PC-based software such as Microsoft Outlook. With Gears, Google today offers offline editing for its word processing service and offline viewing of its spreadsheet and presentation service.



A view from 2007 that indicated Google work on offline access to Google Calendar.
(Credit: Shared under Creative Commons by Noticias-TIC)


Google Apps competes with Microsoft's Outlook-Exchange combination as well as with many other online and offline applications, including Yahoo's online e-mail application, Zimbra, which already offers offline access to e-mail.

Gmail has won plaudits from some users--I like it myself--but today they can't use it directly unless they're connected to a network, and I spend a lot of time working where there's no access. Of course, with Google's free use of IMAP (Internet Mail Access Protocol), software such as Mozilla's Thunderbird also can be used to handle e-mail while offline, so it's not as if Gmail users are helpless without a network connection.

Customers who pay $50 per year per user for Google Apps Premier Edition get more storage space, better technical support, and other features. Personally, I'd be surprised if Google restricted offline access only to those customers, in particular because offline access imposes a burden on the local PC, not Google's data centers, and makes the service and Google's cloud computing argument stronger. But it could be an opportunity to sell more subscriptions.

Just yesterday I asked Google about offline access for Gmail and Calendar and they gave me their usual noncommittal reply that more or less indicates it's in the works.

Two tricky things about Gears is deciding what data to cache locally on a computer and how to synchronize data when a network connection is restored, especially with group-edited content such as documents or calendars. There are hints how Google might go about getting around one challenge, though; according to the Google Operating System blog, some users saw a "Use Google Calendar Offline" note last year that said Gears would let a user view and edit the next three months of a calendar.

Fogg also twittered another potentially useful extension of the Google Apps service is under way, support for technology called SyncML that would make it easier to synchronize Gmail contacts with the address books of mobile devices. Newer versions of SyncML also support "push e-mail," which means a mobile device automatically gets new e-mail without having to be commanded to check.

"SyncML for Google contacts next month. Soocial (sic) watchout. My guess: its related to the sync that they worked on with Apple for 3G iPhone," Fogg said in the Twitter post.

Update 11:02 a.m. PDT: Google offered an official but vague comment on the Gears work in Calendar and Gmail: "We're working on Gears-enabling a number of our products, but we don't have a specific timeline to announce."

Microsoft Tops $60 Billion in Annual Revenue

Microsoft Thursday announced it has topped US$60 billion in yearly revenue for the first time in its history and posted a 25% year-over-year gain in net income for its fiscal year 2008.

The company also provided financial details of its offer to buy Yahoo's search business including a lump payment of $1 billion, a stock investment and on-going revenue sharing. (Read Editor Julie Bort's take on the revenue report.)

The fiscal 2008 revenue gain was an 18% increase over fiscal 2007, but it was with net income where the software giant showed a big increase from $14 billion in 2007 to $17.6 billion in 2008.

Microsoft also reported fiscal fourth quarter revenue of $15.84 billion, which was an 18% increase over the fourth quarter of 2007.

Microsoft's fiscal year runs July 1 to June 30.

Chris Liddel, Microsoft's CFO, also took time to make a statement on Microsoft's proposal to acquire Yahoo's search business. He said he would not take questions, but he did lay out some of the particulars of the offer, including paying Yahoo $1 billion for its search business, and making an equity investment in Yahoo by purchasing 3.9 billion shares of Yahoo stock at $19.50 per share.

He said the proposal also included a 10-year revenue guarantee totaling $19.5 billion to $26.5 billion. Liddel said the guarantees were not conditional on search queries but tied to Yahoo's home page performance. He said the deal did not include changes to Yahoo's governance.

"We continue to believe our proposal is a compelling one," he said.

The company attributed 2008 financial gains to increased demand for Office, server software, Xbox games and consoles, and even Vista, which has been drubbed by the media and found rough sailing on the corporate adoption front.

Microsoft said it has now sold 180 million Vista licenses. It did not report how many of those licenses may have been "downgraded" to XP by corporate users.

Fiscal 2008 was highlighted by shipment of Windows Server 2008 and Visual Studio 2008, two of the infrastructure foundation pieces for its services strategy. SQL Server 2008, the third leg of the strategy, is expected to ship by the end of September (the first quarter of fiscal 2009).

The earnings report showed that the Client, Server and Tools and the Microsoft Business divisions were the only segments that did not show operating income losses for the quarter. For the year, those three divisions and the Entertainment and Devices division were the only ones to post positive operating income results, an indication that Microsoft continues to struggle in its newest businesses while relying on its historical cash cows and a Server and Tools business that has posted 24 straight quarters of double-digit growth.

"It was an outstanding year for the company," Liddel said during an earnings call with financial analysts and media. But he said he was not happy the results were not reflected in the company's stock price.

"Clearly we are disappointed that our strong financial results are not reflected in our share price because of general market turbulence combined with Microsoft specific issues including the uncertainty over the outcome of the Yahoo discussions," he said. Microsoft shares closed at $27.52 at the end of the day Thursday.

The report, however, was not all rosy. Microsoft continued to suffer in its Online Services Business, which is battling Google and others in online advertising and search. The division saw its operating income losses grow 100% for the fiscal year and 132% for the fourth quarter.

On the balance sheet for Microsoft, Client division revenue was $16.8 billion, up 13% over $14.9 billion in fiscal 2007. For the quarter, revenue growth was 15%, from $3.8 billion in fiscal fourth quarter 2007 to $4.3 billion in the fourth quarter of 2008. Microsoft attributed the increase to a 22% growth in revenue from commercial and retail licensing of Windows primarily from Enterprise Agreements.

The Server and Tools business revenue was $13 billion for fiscal 2008, an increase over $11.1 billion in fiscal 2007. For the quarter, revenue was up to $3.7 billion compared to $3 billion in the same quarter in 2007. The company said growth was primarily driven by volume licensing of Windows Server and SQL Server.

Microsoft Business revenue was $18.9 billion for fiscal 2008, a 15% increase over the $16.4 billion in fiscal 2007. For the quarter, revenue was $5.2 billion, a 14% increase over $4.6 billion in the fiscal fourth quarter 2007.

The $60 billion revenue figure for 2008 is but a stepping stone as Microsoft told financial analysts that the company is projecting revenue to hit between $67 and $68 billion in fiscal 2009.

Moves into areas such as online advertising, search, online services -- such as Online Exchange and Online SharePoint -- and virtualization are big initiatives for Microsoft in the coming year.

Sharp trumpets 108-inch LCD TV

Sharp's just gone and announced the biggest LCD TV that the world has ever seen. Yes, this even beats out that 103-inch plasma we spotted about a year ago. Why anyone even cares about this horse race, we're not really sure -- but you can bet that one of these will probably end up on a future episode of "Pimp My Ride." Nevertheless, we'll post more pictures as soon as we get 'em.

Update: Ok, we got the official word from Sharp, and this 108-incher is a real monster. It's 93.9 inches high, 52.9 inches wide and 107.8 inches on the diagonal, and shines with 2.07 million pixels (1,920 x 1,080). So to recap, this thing is 7.8 feet high. We feel very, very small now. (Yes, we realize that that dimension doesn't make much sense, but we're going off Sharp's official press release.)

Luxury Sony Ericsson Concept – An Eiffel Tower in Miniature

We've recently spotted a Sony Ericsson concept that can surely be categorized as one of the most extravagant potential mobile phones ever designed. This new virtual handset is named Sony Ericsson French Luxury, or Sony Ericsson FL, and is made to celebrate the July 14 French National Day, also known as Bastille Day.


Since the best known symbol of France is the Eiffel Tower, you might think that the new Sony Ericsson would come with a design that resembles the famous 324 meter structure situated in the heart of Paris. Well, you'd be right, because the FL does indeed look like the Eiffel Tower.

Imagined by MobiFrance, the "Sony Ericsson Eiffel Tower" should measure 115 millimeters in height and 45 millimeters in width. Due to the unusual form factor, the thickness of the handset varies, from only 7 millimeters at the top to 19 millimeters at the bottom.

The luxury phone should bring a wide 4 inch OLED touchscreen display, a 7.2 Megapixel camera, dual speakers and a full set of other high-end features.


Enlarge picture
Unfortunately, despite the fact that I've seen lots of websites talking about a future availability of FL, Sony Ericsson currently has nothing to do with the Eiffel luxury handset. The FL is only a concept, made independently of the Swedish-Japanese company. Of course, MobiFrance would want SE to actually create the handset, but there are little chances for this to happen.

Still, in case the luxurious Sony Ericsson FL is transformed into a real device, there will surely be lots of users to buy it – even if, with such a look and features, the handset can only have a highly expensive retail price.

We should wait for the next July 14, the one in 2009 – maybe Sony Ericsson will actually surprise everyone with the Eiffel phone.

Sony Ericsson Is with 95.5% Less Profitable Than in Q1 2008

Not long after unveiling the upcoming release of the new Walkman handsets (July 22 is the awaited date), Sony Ericsson has announced its financial results for the second quarter of 2008, which are far from being great. The Swedish-Japanese joint venture reports a net profit of only 6 million Euros for Q2 2008, with 95.5% less than the net profit reported for the first quarter of the year (133 million Euros).

The almost disastrous profit drop occurred even despite the total number of Sony Ericsson handsets sold worldwide in 2008's second quarter - 24.4 million units, with 1.1 million more than the number of phones sold in the first quarter. The handset's average selling price (ASP) for the second quarter was of 116 Euros, slightly less than the ASP reported for Q1 – 121 Euros.

Because of the low profits registered, Sony Ericsson is apparently considering cutting 2,000 jobs (out of the ~8,000 total number of current employees).


"We are aligning our operations and resources worldwide to meet an increasingly competitive business environment and to help restore our capability for profitable growth," declared Dick Komiyama, President of Sony Ericsson. "The measures we are taking are aimed at becoming a faster, more agile and more cost efficient organization that can continue to create innovative products that excite consumers. Our target is to achieve a reduction in operating expenses of Euro 300 million annually, with the full effect expected to appear within a year. We estimate that our restructuring charges will be of the same magnitude as our reduction in operating expenses, and we will incur such charges as our measures are implemented."

Sony Ericsson's financial results for the second quarter of 2008 come one day after Nokia also announced its stats. By comparison, Nokia's net profit was of 1.1 billion (1,103 million) Euros. Furthermore, the Finnish company shipped more handsets in Europe alone than SE has worldwide. The total number of Nokia phones sold around the globe is of 122 million – "only" with almost 100 million more than the SE handsets.

Although the third and the fourth quarter of 2008 should bring a whole batch of new Sony Ericsson handsets on the market (some of them being really "hot," like the Xperia X1 or the 8.1 Megapixel C905 Cyber-shot slider), the Swedish-Japanese company expects its future financial results to be similar to the ones from the second quarter.

Well, we can only hope that Sony Ericsson will soon report better results. But, for this to happen, SE should release all the newly announced handsets faster, and not in a 7-month timeframe, such as is the case with Xperia X1.

Nokia Market Share Up In Q2

Nokia, the world's leading mobile phone maker, reported on Thursday an 8.0-percent rise in underlying second-quarter net profit and its shares soared 9.0-percent despite a heavy hit for closing its Bochum plant in Germany.

Nokia also announced that its market share had risen to 40 percent.

Net profit for the April-June period, excluding one-off items, rose 8.0 percent to 1.37 billion euros (2.17 billion dollars) from the same quarter a year ago, while sales grew four percent to 13.15 billion euros, the company said in a statement.

Including one-off items net profit was down by 61 percent to 1.1 billion euros from 2.8 billion a year earlier. The non-recurring items included 259 million euros linked to the closure of the Bochum plant.

Operating profit in the second quarter, excluding one-offs, rose meanwhile by 39 percent to 1.93 billion euros.

In April-June the Finnish company sold 122 million mobile phones and its market share rose to 40 percent, compared to 38 percent a year ago, and up from 39 percent in the first quarter of 2008.

The group's biggest market is now the Asia-Pacific region, where it sold 36.4 million phones, a rise of 42.2 percent from a year ago and ahead of Europe where it sold 27.1 million handsets.

"Looking at the rest of the year, we are optimistic and have had good feedback about the broad range of new products we expect to sell in our device business," Nokia's chief executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo said in the earnings statement

Aktel To Offer Lower Call Tariff For Pre-Paid Customers

Aktel, country's third largest mobile phone operator, yesterday announced to launch a reduced call tariff of Tk 1 per minute for its pre-paid customers, an evidence of the company's intention to enter into the price war.

Under the new tariff structure, which is likely to come into effect very soon, Aktel's prepaid customers from 7:00 am to 12:00 midnight will enjoy a reduced call tariff of Tk 1 per minute from Tk 1.50.

Other tariff structures, however, will remain unchanged.

The new tariff structure was announced at a press conference in Dhaka.

The company, which has lost its market position from second to third at the end of last year in terms of subscriber acquisition, now paling to fight back by reducing call charges.

The Egypt based Orascom Telecom's subsidiary Banglalink exceeded Aktel with serving 9.46 million customers in the local market, whereas Aktel holds 7.85 million subscribers.

The total mobile subscriber in Bangladesh reached at 43.7million as of June this year, mainly dominated by Norway's Telenor majority Grameenphone with having 20.30 million customers.

500 Illegal ISPs In Business In Bangladesh

Around 500 unauthorised Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are in business in the city and eating up the market share of the legal service providers, degenerating the quality of internet services for the home users.

So far the Bangladesh Telecommunication and Regulatory Commission (BTRC) has not taken any measure to bring these unauthorised ISPs into the legal framework.

The BTRC officials said they are aware of the problem, adding that it may not be rational to stop all illegal ISPs right away. “It's a matter of thinking a way out of the problem,” they said.

Industry insiders said the non-licensed service providers are mainly young entrepreneurs who use very poor infrastructure, creating a bad impression of the overall industry.

"A reduction in the internet tariff is certainly a significant step to connect the mass. But the quality of service is also very important to reap the benefits of internet," said MA Salam, president of Internet Service Providers Association Bangladesh (ISPAB).

He said it is true that these unauthorised ISPs are taking the connections to the user's doorsteps. “But when the question of quality arises, customers put blame on overall industry for not having satisfactory speed or services,” he added.

A total of 70 authorised ISPs, out of 200 licensees, are operating mainly in Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhet. The country's total internet home use subscription level is around 7.5 lakh, of which around 6 lakh connections are provided by unauthorised ISPs.

Industry insiders said authorised ISPs usually provide internet connection through fiber optic cable, modem cable or digital subscriber line by which subscribers can get good quality services. On the other hand, unauthorised ISPs usually connect their customers by low quality ethernet cables.

The unauthorised ISPs provide excessive connections from a single hub which slows the speed, said Azhar H Chowdhury, director of Grameen CyberNet Ltd.

He said, "We are not against the unauthorised ISPs. But the regulator should formulate a policy for them so that they are able to provide quality services to the customers."

Low quality internet service is not a new issue for the city's home users. In most cases customers get themselves connected from the nearest service providers without knowing their service quality.

"I have taken a connection from the nearest IT shop. But it takes at lest 10 minutes to open a website. Downloading something takes more than an hour,” said Al Mahmud, a service holder in Mohammadpur.

Like Mahmud, many home users in the city are now experiencing low quality internet services.

"No one, not even the regulators, takes responsibility for the low quality internet services," said ISPAB president. He said, "We repeatedly informed BTRC, pleading them to solve the issue. But they remained silent."

Russian Firm Want To Enter Bangladesh Mobile Market

AFK Sistema, the owning company of Russia's largest mobile phone operator OAO Mobile TeleSystems, has said it is in talks to buy a cellphone firm in Bangladesh.

"We are interested in the Bangladeshi market, especially in its mobile phone sector. The mode of entry is under discussion as well. We will continue to work for entering Bangladesh," said Kirill Semenov, head of international press office of AFK Sistema.

"There is a negotiating process going on and Sistema has signed a memorandum of understanding with Bangladesh's authorities," he said.

However, the Moscow-based Sistema did not mention which company it is interested in. But said Sistema is interested to buy one operator, either a GSM or a CDMA operator.

Semenov said Sistema is yet to take any decision whether it would buy a CDMA (code division multiple access) or GSM (global system for mobile communications) operator. "It's too early to give any timeframe also," he said.

Sistema's mobile unit OAO Mobile TeleSystems also operates in Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). Together with its subsidiaries, the company serves over 83.88 million subscribers.

Earlier in April at a meeting with the telecom regulator of the country, UAE-based telecom operator Etisalat expressed interest to buy stakes in the state-run mobile operator TeleTalk.

Industry insiders predict two names on the selling list -- the poor performing TeleTalk and the country's oldest and sole CDMA operator Citycell -- as these two are struggling for a significant market share.

According to Bangladesh Telecommunication and Regulatory Commission (BTRC), CityCell and TeleTalk have 1.70 million and 1.07 million subscribers respectively as of June 2008.

When contacted, Iqbal Mahmud, chairman of TeleTalk's board, admitted that the Russian company met TeleTalk officials recently and showed interest to invest in Bangladesh's mobile phone sector.

"There is decision by the company's board to sell at least 25 percent share in TeleTalk," he said adding, "If the government approves the decision, we will go for further steps."

Mahmud said he has also asked the Russian company to send its proposal about how it would like to invest in Bangladesh's telecom sector. TeleTalk needs a strategic partner to sustain in the highly competitive market, he said.

"Some officials of Sistema visited BTRC last month," said BTRC Chairman Maj Gen (retd ) Manzurul Islam. Echoing the TeleTalk chairman, he said BTRC also asked them to come with clear investment proposal.

However, CityCell officials refused to comment on the sale issue.

Sistema said it has signed telecommunication agreements with the governments of China and Bangladesh to execute its investment plan.

Bangladesh is a six-operator mobile market. Norway's Telenor majority Grameenphone is the marker leader with having 20.30 million subscriber followed by Egypt based Banglalink's 9.46 million and Telekom Malaysia's Aktel 7.85 million as of the end of June 2008. The total number of mobile phone subscribers reached 43.7 million by the end of June, according to telecom regulator.

Regarding the mobile phone market size in Bangladesh, Anders Jensen, chief executive officer of Grameenphone, said, "Six or seven players are far too many, this is a four to five, maybe even three operators' market."

Canon MP 180 Now Reduced Price

Canon Direct All-in-One Printer Pixma MP 180 Photo-printer


The one and only distributor for Canon System Products in Bangladesh, J.A.N Associates has reduced their price for Canon Direct All-in-One Printer Pixma MP 180 Photo-printer.
Earlier this printer’s cost was BDT 7,000 but from now on, MP 180 printer will be available at only BDT 6,000.

Key Features:
• Print Resolution: 4800X1200 dpi
• Print Speed: 17 ppm in black, 22 in color
• Copy Speed: 22 cpm
• It can work as a printer, photocopier and a scanner.
• This device has the ability to print or copy documents without any help of any PC.
This reduced price offer will continue till the stock exists.

For further details, contact:
J.A.N. Associates
13/1, Fatema Arcade (2nd floor)
Road # 5, Dhanmondi, Dhaka.
Phone: 9660601, 8124941, 01711635904

New ASUS Graphics Card by GBPL In Bangladesh

Global Brand Pvt. Ltd. brings New ASUS Graphics Card EN6200LE TC1G/TD in the local ICT Market.
Key Features:
• Comes with Turbo Cache Technology to share memory from system up to 1 GB.
• Powered by NVDIA Geforce 6200 LE Chipset
• Onboard Video Memory 512 MB DDR2
• Quite Heat sink Technology to make the card cool in spite of keeping the environment quite and noise free.
• Highest Resolution in CRT 2048X1536 pixel
• D-Sub Output, DVI Output, TV Output facility
• DirectX 9.0, Shredder Model 3.0 and Open GL 1.5 supported

Price:
BDT 5,800 only

For further information, contact:
Global Brand Pvt Ltd.
Phone: 01713257910, 8123281

Warid To Launch 24-hour Healthcare Service Soon..

Warid Telecom is going to launch shortly electronic healthcare services known as Tele Health Services (THS) for all Warid subscribers in cooperation with Japan Bangladesh Friendship Medical Service (JBFMS).
The Tele Health Services is a 24-hour Medical Call Centre managed by the JBFMS and accessible to all Warid subscribers. It can be reached by dialling 10600 & 10601 from all Warid mobile phones.
To this effect, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Warid Telecom Mr. Muneer Farooqui and Chairman of JBFMS Dr. Md. Jonaid Shafiq signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) today (Tuesday) on behalf of their respective sides at the Corporate Head Office of Warid Telecom at Banani. Senior officials of Warid Telecom and JBFMS were also present during the signing ceremony.
Commenting on this occasion, Warid Telecom CEO Mr. Muneer Farooqui said, “As we are committed to offering more and more value-added services, we are going to introduce the Tele Health Services to benefit our valued subscribers in the form of healthcare information and registered physicians advice.”
He also hoped that the service would contribute significantly to reaching primary healthcare services to the common people of Bangladesh.
Besides the THS, the country’s fourth largest mobile phone operator also signed a corporate subscribers’ agreement with the JBFMS to provide complete communication services.
Warid CEO Mr. Muneer Farooqui thanked the leading healthcare service provider for choosing Warid telecom’s service to meet its communication needs.
JBFMS Chairman lauded the role of Warid and appreciated for extending support through providing innovative services to the people of Bangladesh. He further stated that both companies will work together as partners in providing services under mutual business understanding.
Among others, Mr. Ashraful H. Chowdhury, General Manager (Government & Operators Relations), Mr. Mahboob Hossain, General Manager (Sales), Mr. Azmat M. Khan, DGM of Warid Telecom and Dr. Sarder A. Nayeem, Managing Director, Mr. Mahbubul Alam, Director, and Mr. Zohair Shafiq, Director of JBFMS attended on the occasion.

Sony Ericsson W902 Live Picture

Sony Ericsson W902

Sony Ericsson W902 (codenamed Patti) is a high-end Walkman phone with a 5 megapixel autofocus camera with a LED flash and some hardware music keys on its right side. The Sony Ericsson W902 will have 2.2" QVGA TFT display and 160MB built-in memory. Surprisingly, W902 will also feature a 8GB M2 memory card in the standard retail package. From what we see on these images, it seems that the handset is pretty chubby, but we'll have to wait to see it ourselves before ruling a final verdict.