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MTNL Brings 3G to India

Most of us spent on expensive 3G handsets, hoping that some day 3G services would be available in India, but were left disappointed. Well today it seems your wait is over, for the first time in India 3G services are available courtesy MTNL. MTNL is a state owned telecom provider in the cities of Mumbai and Delhi. With 3G, MTNL has ushered a new era of mobile communication in India. 3G is capable of offering advanced services such as video calls, broadband wireless data, faster online video streaming and a better gaming experience due to it fast data transfer rate which can reach up to 2Mbps. MTNL's 3G network is based on the UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) technology one of the popular 3G technology used worldwide. The 3G network infrastructure in Delhi has been built with equipments from Motorola. MTNL will initially offer its 3G services in Delhi, followed by Mumbai. BSNL, another state owned telecom provider is soon expected to launch 3G services all over India starting with Chennai. While MTNL and BSNL were awarded the 3G spectrum by default, the Government has yet to open the bidding process for private players.

Nokia has unveiled N97; a new flagship model with a large touch screen which it hopes will bolster its smartphone offering. The world's largest cell phone maker Nokia is calling the new smartphone `the world's most advanced personal computer.' Incidentally, N97 is the second touchscreen device from the stable of Finnish handset giant; the company unveiled its first touch handset, the 5800 XpressMusic, in early October, more than a year after the iPhone debuted. Nokia 5800 XpressMusic will hit the retail shelves in January 2009. Other than iPhone, N97 is a direct rival to Sony Ericsson's X1 and HTC's Touch Pro -- which both use Microsoft's Windows software. Here's looking into what the new Nokia NSeries entrant brings for the users.

The sleek handset pairs a 3.5 inch touchscreen with a QWERTY keyboard. The slide-out QWERTY keyboard is a full 3-row. The smartphone transforms from a touch slate to a landscape QWERTY device. There's a tilting touchscreen display and a customisable home screen that can be personalised with widgets. The wide touchscreen has a 16:9 aspect ratio and a resolution of 640 x 360 pixels. The smartphone is reportedly 30 per cent thicker than iPhone.

N97 offers a powerful 32GB memory with microSD for adding 16GB more (making it a staggering 48GB), 5 megapixel camera (with Carl Zeiss optics and dual LED flash), support for Nokia's N-Gage gaming system and handwriting recognition. Other features include, a 3.5mm headset jack, microUSB port used for syncing and charging, Haptic feedback and 1500 mAh battery. The smartphone runs on S60, the latest version of Nokia’s Symbian operating system.

Nokia claims that the Nokia N97 will use a browser that supports Flash and Flash video. Making what many term a jab at Apple iPhone (which lacks Flash support), at a pre-launch event in New York, Bill Plummer, vice president, said that N97 enables "real Internet browsing--unlike some phones". According to the company, N97 has up to 37 hours of music playback, 4.5 hours of video and a staggering 16.5 days of standby time.

N97 has 3G wireless network connectivity, a built-in compass and GPS. There are comprehensive connectivity options: WiFi, tri-band HSDPA, Bluetooth and USB. The N97 introduces the concept of social location (So-Lo). Using the GPS receiver and integrated compass, N97 has the capability to always know where it is located and with social networking integrated it can broadcast that position to authorised friends and family.