Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., a market leader and award-winning innovator in consumer electronics,has today introduced their latest convenience for their customers, the Samsung“Smart View” application. This new application enables users to view images from a Samsung Smart TV or other input device right on their mobile devices.
Availablenow for the Samsung Galaxy S2 Android smart phone, the free Smart Viewapplication displays Smart TV images right onto mobile devices via wireless Ethernet—whether consumers are enjoying cable broadcast programs or contentfrom a Blu-ray player, camcorder, set-top box or other input device.
Inaddition, users can browse any currently installed Smart TV applications fromtheir mobile devices, bringing even more functionality and convenience to theSamsung Apps experience. The company has once again strengthened convergencebetween Smart TV and mobile devices through this latest Smart View appoffering.
“SamsungSmart TV is leading the “smart revolution” not only with the features of SmartTV itself—such as rich content, 2D and 3D picture quality, smart functions anddesign—but also with input devices using our Qwerty smart remote control, theSamsung Remote app, and now with Smart View,” said Hee Chang Yee, MD SamsungElectronics Pakistan. “The distinctive functionality of Samsung Smart TVs willcontinue to deliver the most convenient TV watching experience toconsumers—enabling them to truly enjoy a smarter life.”
TheSamsung Smart View is now available in the Android Market for Samsung Smart TVD7000, D8000, and D9500 series, as well as the Galaxy S2 smart phone, and willbe available for the Galaxy player (YP-GB70) in July, along with the Galaxy Sand Galaxy Tab later this year.
Samsungwill continue to update the Samsung Smart View application with various remotecontrol functions, optimally designed for Smart TV, to ensure customers use theunique features of Smart TV in increasingly convenient ways. A “Channel List”option, which lets users search program information and change channels ontheir mobile devices, will be added going forward.
The ban on Blackberry Internet service has completed its one year in May with no hope of restoration by the cellular operators in the country.
The corporate and high end users have been facing black out for more than one year of blackberry internet services on different network as cellular operators and telecom authority are not keen to lift the restriction on it.
The users at large have customized different setting on their Blackberry sets for accessing internet services. The Blackberry users have been growing in large number in the country and they are the committed and revenue-generating subscribers for operators.
BIS black out
On yesteryear May 17, the cellular operators asked their network partner, Research in Motion (RIM), on to block the Facebook on their networks abiding by judicial verdict on the proliferation of blasphemous content in social networking sites.
On the request of all cellular operators, RIM blocked the overall Blackberry Internet Services (BIS) because it is lacking of any mechanism that restricts specific website. Though the Blackberry Enterprises Services (BES), a service it provides for email and messenger chatting, was restored after suspension of few hours of overall services.
The ban on Facebook was lifted on May 31 throughout the country but BIS could not be restored so far.
Cellular operators’ stance:
Cellular operators said that they did not receive any sort of permission by the authority, therefore, they are bound to keep the block out on the BIS.
Some of them have indicated at technical constraints on the part of RIM that delayed the service restoration.
Issues could be raised:
The Blackberry Internet Service (BIS) is operated by RIM, which is unable to block the URLS, WebPages and links declared restricted by PTA. The RIM needs to develop a separate system for Pakistan in order to continue internet service on Blackberry, otherwise, the blockade will keep maintaining. In this regard, the cellular operators should effort jointly, which will be workable in future.
Why Censorship:
The Blackberry internet services are beyond the access of authorities and intelligence agencies of the country, which poses threats to national security as being a secret communication tool for enemy.
It faces ban in several different states because its data is immediately exported off-shore, where it is managed by a foreign, commercial organizations.
Nokia leads six companies into Pakistan’s first large scale campaign for Mobile Phone recycling- Recycleyour phone and get a chance to win a brand new Nokia N8
Nokia recently kicked-off a two month long Mobile Phone Take Back and Recycling Campaign in collaboration with Ufone, Unilever, Radio FM 91, ARY Music, Orient Advertising and United Media. All the companies involved in the campaign joined hands to improve the environmental awareness in Pakistan and to provide an easily accessible solution for responsible recycling of mobile phones, accessories, chargers and mobile batteries of all brands. Recycling is processing old materials into something new in order to prevent wasting useful material, to cut down on energy consumption and to reduce the need for waste land filling that can spoil Pakistan’s environment.
People all across Pakistan are contributing to the campaign by recycling old and redundant or even broken mobiles that are no longer of use. Taking part in this campaign is easy: simply bring your old mobile devices, chargers, batteries and accessories of all brands to one of the 33 Nokia Care Centres or Ufone Sales and Service Centres across the country. The campaign will give a free gift hamper from Unilever and a chance to win a brand new Nokia N8 device only if person will drop off a mobile phone for recycling (all brands accepted).
Nokia Mobile Phone Take Back and Recycling Program rolled out in Pakistan during 2010. At this point in time, Nokia aims to increase awareness about why it is important to recycle your old phone and how easy it can be done.
Talking about Nokia’s contribution to environment in Pakistan, Adeel Hashmi, Communications Manager, Nokia Pakistan & Afghanistan, said, “Nokia has a comprehensive sustainability and environmental strategy and recycling is one of the key aspects covered. We understand that leadership means responsibility, that’s why at Nokia we consider the environment in everything we do and even go beyond our own operations and products: we want to give that chance to our consumers as well because we understand that a power of a billion people can do a lot of good to our environment. If the 4.6 billion people using mobile phones recycled just one unused phone at the end of its life, together we would save nearly 370,000 tons of raw materials and reduce greenhouse gases to the same effect as taking 6 million cars off the road.”
According to Nokia’s global consumer survey on recycling, only 3% of people said they had recycled their old phone – whereas 44% of old mobile phones are lying at home for no use and not being recycled. The survey revealed that one of the main reasons why so few people recycle their mobile phones is because they simply don’t know that it is possible to do so. Mobile devices and accessories contain raw materials which – if recycled in a responsible high standard process – can be reused in many ways to make new things, such as musical instruments or even dental fillings. 100 percent of the materials in Nokia devices can be recovered and used to make new products or generate energy.
Commenting on the campaign kick-off, Reza Burney, Country Care Manager Nokia Pakistan & Afghanistan said, “It is an exciting moment for Nokia to bring an opportunity for Pakistani consumers to make a positive contribution to the environment. Nokia has more than 5,000 recycling points globally in almost 100 countries. In Pakistan, we initiated an awareness drive to help people understand recycling and its benefits, and in addition we facilitate that all collected devices, chargers, accessories and batteries are recycled in a responsible way according to high environmental standards. By working together, small individual actions can add up to make a big difference and we have made recycling old mobile phones very simple for people. All they need to do is drop in the old mobile phone, charger, battery or accessories of any brand at one of our collection points and we’ll take care of the rest.”
Nokia does neither resell the phones nor carry out refurbishment business as there is no control over the quality or safety of the phones after restoration. Instead, Nokia works with carefully selected, approved recyclers who reclaim materials according to highest environmental and international standards.
Complementing its green initiative, Nokia has also introduced a number of green apps on its Ovi Store that help people contribute to a better environment through fun activities. A complete list of environment friendly apps is available on www.ovi.com/dogood website.
Forum Nokia and P@SHA recently organized a workshop to help local developers understand the specifications for Ovi store content development. The event instructor, Teemu Kiijarvi, Developer Relations Manager for Nokia Middle East and Africa and Eemeli Kantola, Software Developer gave hands-on training to the participants on Java ME and Qt programming.
Selected enthusiastic developers attended the exclusive workshop in Lahore. At the workshop, a new contest for developers titled ‘MakeMyApp’ was also announced. App Challenge from Nokia is a new contest which is now open for participation. Creative minds in Pakistan can submit their innovation in the form of App for Nokia S40, S60 and S^3 Platfroms. There are four categories and winner of each category will win PKR 400,000. The deadline for submission is June 30th 2011. For more information, please visit http://mea.nokia.com/makemyapp
Speaking about Forum Nokia’s role, Teemu said, “Forum Nokia will be organizing many more trainings in future that will be geared towards user experience. How the end user will react to a mobile app should be an important point to consider for any developer. At the end of the day, a mobile app would have a good selling value only if the end consumer finds it meaningful and is attracted to it. Through our training programs, we want to work together with the developers to expand the ecosystem. Forum Nokia is a growing online community of 2 million active users. Forum Nokia members get access to e-learning/ tutorials and online support to hone their skills.”
Commenting on P@SHA’s collaboration with Forum Nokia, Ms. Jehan Ara, President, P@SHA said, “I’m delighted that Nokia has organized this free of charge workshop in Lahore. It was a very useful session for developers to learn about the latest technology tools – JavaME and Qt, framework as well as user interface for the development of mobile products. These kinds of trainings are important as developer community is increasingly focused on mobile app development. P@SHA feels honored to partner with Nokia to host yet another Developers’ Workshop. We applaud Nokia’s efforts towards mobile application development because a personalised user experience is the future when it comes to mobile communications.”
Expressing her views on the second Forum Nokia Developers’ Workshop 2011, Rabia Azfar, Solutions Manager, Near East said, “I appreciate the interest level of Lahore’s developer community to learn and excel in their chosen field. Forum Nokia workshop is a part of the chain that Nokia has initiated in Pakistan to provide new opportunities to the local developers. The workshop was geared towards channelizing the strengths of local developers and providing them a rich bundle of resources to develop more locally relevant mobile apps.”
At its conclusion, the workshop did not only impart invaluable knowledge to developers so that they can make the most of the application development tools at their disposal but also gave hope to them by announcing “MakeMyApp” contest which invites the local developer community to develop creative apps. Events of this nature are pertinent to take the local IT/Telecom industry to the next level and enable better mobility experience for end consumers.
BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (RIM) made an announcement this Thursday that it has started Internet filtering on its smartphones in Indonesia. The Indonesian government had issued a deadline for RIM to begin blocking porn websites. RIM complied with it. This is the first time that such a move has been made in any country.
“RIM is now in the process of implementing an Internet content-filtering solution that addresses our carrier partners’ regulatory obligations in Indonesia” RIM said.
In response, Indonesian Communication Minister Tifatul Sembiring—who has been at the forefront of the government’s efforts to clamp down on pornography—said on his Twitter account; “Thank God RIM has complied with Indonesian regulations. Pornography has been blocked. Please go ahead with business as usual in compliance with the law.”
In Pakistan since May 2010, BlackBerry users continue to face difficulties in web browsing and connectivity due to the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority’s (PTA) instructions to telecom companies which called for blocking access to blasphemous content following the now-lifted ban on Facebook.
After successful content restriction in Indonesia few questions arise:
Why can’t the same be done for Pakistan? What stops them?
When RIM can block porn, why can’t they block selected blasphemous content for Pakistan?
Is it because of lack of efforts from PTA and Pakistani mobile operators OR RIM intentionally does not wish to do so?
Also to note here is that RIM also has been under pressure in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia to provide access to data on its secure networks. The company averted a ban on key BlackBerry services in both after the countries said regulatory requirements had been satisfied. The encryption is central to the company’s appeal to corporate customers, which say that secure communications are necessary. Across border, in India, the government has sought access to data on RIM’s secure networks, fearing that encryption makes them convenient for terrorists and RIM is in ongoing and positive talks with them.
We will close here and look forward to your opinion/comments on the matter.
Among many of its problems, Research in Motion, maker of Blackberry phones, has been trying to find ways to work with India and Middle East governments. As reported in newspaper, a top executive of Research in Motion said Indian security agencies are making “rather astonishing” demands for increased powers to monitor email and other data traffic, raising serious privacy issues that threaten to harm the country’s reputation with foreign investors.
Robert Crow, vice president of industry and government relations for RIM, said India’s Home Ministry, which oversees domestic security, wants the ability to intercept in real time any communication on any Indian network—including BlackBerry’s highly secure corporate-email service—and get it in readable, plain-text format.
In response to that, Indian official Mr. Sibal said the government will address all “security issues” related to interception of data on secure networks. “The draft amendment of licenses to take care of security issues has been sent to the Ministry of Home Affairs on March 24 for their comments and will be finalized soon after,” he said.
India is making major changes to how it manages telecom operators and security is one of the things it wants to manage tightly. India wants to monitor RIM’s corporate email and messenger services, fearing that the heavy encryption of BlackBerry phones makes it convenient for terrorists to use them without being monitored. However India says that its not after RIM only – its asking other companies for the same thing.
Mr. Sibal said RIM offered a solution in February to monitor its messenger services and that the telecom department is examining the proposal. The department has also given clearance to some companies to offer third-generation telecom services in certain areas, where they have given an undertaking to allow government agencies to monitor data on their networks.
Reliance Communications Ltd., Tata Teleservices Ltd. and Bharti Airtel Ltd. have given such undertakings, he added.
The Blackberry PlayBook has been around for a while now. The tablet hasn’t received the most glowing reviews, but RIM is still plugging away on the device. A rumor surfaced not long ago that the PlayBook would get a 10-inch version in time for the holiday season that would bring a larger screen to the mix. You may have been surprised that the PlayBook didn’t launch with an official keyboard accessory considering that RIM is trying to position the PlayBook as a content creation tool.
Some pics of the official keyboard have surfaced including the one above that was taken by Mr. Blurrycam. The keyboard appears to have nicely spaced keys with the shift key being a bit smallish, but in the right place. The tip that the official keyboard is on the way came directly from RIM’s Bruce Winter, who is head of accessories at the firm. The rendered image of the keyboard with the tablet below came from some training materials.
The full details of the new keyboard are unknown right now. It has been said that the keyboard uses Bluetooth, which would make a lot of sense. The render and the prototype in the blurry pic lack a trackpad, but the product that comes to market will reportedly have a trackpad on the wrist rest right where we expect it. The keyboard is also said to work like a dock allowing the user to fold the works up and go when needed.
Mobilink has announced that it will be exclusively launching RIM’s iPad rival tablet Blackberry Playbook in Pakistan.
We are yet to ascertain the availability of Blackberry Playbook on Mobilink stores, for now we know that Mobilink is accepting pre-orders at its sale and service centers or contact your account manager in case you are club Indigo Member.
Price:
Mobilink retail price of Blackberry Playbook is PKR 62,000/- inclusive of all taxes.
Pre-Order & Delivery:
Currently Mobilink is accepting pre-order requests through Business Centers (Customer Care Centers, excluding franchises). Corporate customers can contact their account managers for pre-booking
Mobilink said that delivery of Blackberry Playbook will be made in 10 days after order confirmation.
Specs:
Size and Weight
Height: 5.1” / 130 mm
Width: 7.6” / 194 mm
Depth: 0.4”/ 10 mm
Weight: 0.9 lbs / 425 g
Display
7” LCD HD 1024×600 pixel color display
Multi Touch Capacitive
Camera & Video Recording
3 MP high definition forward facing camera
5 MP high definition rear facing camera
Video recording
Voice Input & Output
3.5mm stereo headset jack
Built-in speakers
Media Player
Video formats: 1080P HD Video; H.264, MPEG4, WMV
Video Output: HDMI video output Micro USB and Micro HDMI ports
Wi-Fi, Bluetooth & GPS
802.11 b / g
Bluetooth® v2.1
Web without limits
Games, media, apps and everything that real internet offers
As we had anticipated, year 2011 is going to be year of smartphones from cellular companies, and here we go with another official launch of an HTC smartphone, this time from Ufone.
The news is that Ufone has launched HTC Incredible S in Pakistan, in an effort to strengthen its smartphone portfolio. This has happened exactly after the launch of Samsung’s Nexus S by Mobilink Indigo.
Ufone has announced the price tag of HTC Incredible S in Pakistan at Rs. 45,999.
Though we are not sure if Ufone is subsidizing HTC Incredible S or not, but we know, for a fact, that this price of Rs. 45,999 for HTC Incredible S is around 20 % lesser than what other online retailers are offering.
Launch of HTC Incredible S is followed by three other android handsets launched by Ufone just few weeks ago.
Free GPRS Bucket for 12 Months:
Ufone has said that a free GPRS bucket of 30 MB will be given away for 12 months for those who will buy HTC Incredible S from Ufone.
For all the android lovers and especially those who were keenly waiting on the latest Gingerbread android 2.3 edition, the wait is finally over!
Mobilink indigo has exclusively launched the much awaited and the most talked about Samsung Nexus S powered by Google’s latest and fastest Gingerbread software.
The Samsung Nexus S has the latest and fastest Gingerbread software(Android 2.3) and Samsung’s superior curve design rolled into one smooth gadget. It also has a remarkable 4 –inch Super Clear LCD display, a fast 1 GHz processor, 5 MP camera and comes pre-installed with all your favorite Google apps.
To further enhance the experience, all Mobilink indigo customers who buy the Samsung Nexus S now will enjoy 3 months of unlimited GPRS for free along with a premium leather case and car charger for their Nexus S!
Price:
Mobilink indigo is offering Samsung Nexus S at Rs. 43,999/-
Terms and Conditions:
You can buy Samsung Nexus S from Mobilink Service Centers
Limited time offer
This offer is valid for both indigo and JAZZ customers
Handsets will exclusively be available through selected Mobilink Sales & Service centers only for a period of 30 days from launch
Free GPRS offer will remain valid for all handsets sold in the first 30 days only. All purchases during this period will be eligible for 3 months free GPRS (Free GPRS offer valid only in Pakistan)
Subscribers with BlackBerry services are not eligible for 3 months free GPRS
Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., a market leader and award-winning innovator in consumer electronics,has today introduced their latest convenience for their customers, the Samsung“Smart View” application. This new application enables users to view images from a Samsung Smart TV or other input device right on their mobile devices.
Nokia recently kicked-off a two month long Mobile Phone Take Back and Recycling Campaign in collaboration with Ufone, Unilever, Radio FM 91, ARY Music, Orient Advertising and United Media. All the companies involved in the campaign joined hands to improve the environmental awareness in Pakistan and to provide an easily accessible solution for responsible recycling of mobile phones, accessories, chargers and mobile batteries of all brands. Recycling is processing old materials into something new in order to prevent wasting useful material, to cut down on energy consumption and to reduce the need for waste land filling that can spoil Pakistan’s environment.
Forum Nokia and P@SHA recently organized a workshop to help local developers understand the specifications for Ovi store content development. The event instructor, Teemu Kiijarvi, Developer Relations Manager for Nokia Middle East and Africa and Eemeli Kantola, Software Developer gave hands-on training to the participants on Java ME and Qt programming.
BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (RIM) made an announcement this Thursday that it has started Internet filtering on its smartphones in Indonesia. The Indonesian government had issued a deadline for RIM to begin blocking porn websites. RIM complied with it. This is the first time that such a move has been made in any country.
For all the android lovers and especially those who were keenly waiting on the latest Gingerbread android 2.3 edition, the wait is finally over!
