Reliance 3G Tariffs and Plans

[Courtesy fonearena team]

As we reported earlier Reliance launched its 3G services in India. Here we bring you the latest 3G plans and pricing from Reliance.

Reliance offers PAYG aka Pay As You Go plans which offers 3G on the go for the price of 10p/10kB upto 50MB and above 50MB you will be charged at 1p/10kB.
Reliance also offers data cards which have two variants 7.2Mbps data card costs Rs.2599  whereas the 21Mbps card costs Rs.4499
Reliance Mobile Broadband Charges:

Tariff	Data Offered
Rs. 100	100 MB
Rs. 399	500 MB
Rs. 649	1 GB
Rs. 899	3 GB
Rs. 1,499	10 GB
Rs. 2,100	21 GB

Reliance Mobile TV:
Reliance also offers Mobile TV as a part of its 3G services.

Reliance also introduced combo pack which comes bundled with Free Mins, SMS and Data usage.

Sadly there are no unlimited data usage plans. What you think of the Reliance 3G tariffs? do let us know in the comments.

LG Optimus 2X with NVIDIA Tegra 2 dual-core processor - Supports 1080p recording and playback!!!!!

An awesome top spec phone from LG. Checkout the details below. Courtesy Fonearena team.

One might think LG is out of the smartphone market but the company has managed to sell 2 million units of its affordable Optimus One smartphone.  Now LG has managed to surprise everyone by launching the world’s first dual-core smartphone- OPTIMUS 2x which is capable of recording and playing 1080p HD video.The LG Optimus 2X is powered by the dual-core Tegra 2 system-on-a-chip from NVIDIA  runs at a clock speed of 1GHz and offers low power consumption and high performance for playing video and audio.Users will experience faster experience compared to single-core processors running at the same speed.One can also expect instantaneous touch response and seamless multitasking between applications.

LG Optimus 2X Features

• 1Ghz Dual-core Processor (NVIDIA Tegra 2)
• 4-inch WVGA screen
• 8GB memory (up to 32GB via microSD)
• 1,500 mAh battery
• 8 megapixel rear camera and 1.3 megapixel front camera
• HDMI mirroring
• 1080p MPEG-4/H.264 playback and recording
• Micro-USB port

The LG Optimus 2X will be available in Korea next month, followed by Europe and other Asia in the coming weeks. The phone will initially be released with Android 2.2 (Froyo) and will be upgradeable to Android 2.3 (Gingerbread).

LG Optimus 2X  Price

The price of the phone has not yet been revealed but considering it is an LG device , we are sure it will be competitively priced.

An affordable touch screen Android phone from Motorola - Quench XT5

Motorola launched their new slim touchscreen Android Handset QUENCH XT5 in India. QUENCH XT5 runs on Android 2.1 and comes with a high-resolution 3.2inch capacitive touch screen and a trackball . The QUENCH XT5 is packed with various Google services and Android Market.

Motorola QUENCH XT5 Features

• 12.5mm thin
• 114grams
• Android 2.1
• 5MP camera with digital zoom and LED flash
• 3.5G
• Wi-Fi
• GPS
• Accelerometer
• Full HTML browser with Web kit
• MP3 player
• 2GB SD card in-box Memory is expandable up to 32GB
• 3.5mm  headset jack

Motorola QUENCH XT5 Price and Availability

The QUENCH XT5 is available with bundled Aircel Offer for Rs 13,990 . It comes with free 2GB SD card in-box and an Aircel Offer. The offer is available both in prepaid and postpaid.

• With Aircel prepaid connection you get up to 9GB download for three months PLUS 150 Aircel to Aircel local minutes. To activate this offer, please SMS ‘SMART PI’ to 54343 from your Aircel number
• With Aircel Postpaid connection you get up to 1GB per month download for six months. To activate this offer visit the nearest Aircel Store

Tata Docomo offers 10hrs of Free Live Cricket on MobileTV till Dec 10th

Tata Docomo has launched a new offer wherein users can watch Live Cricket through MobileTV on their 3G Enabled handset. The offer is applicable in circles where Tata Docomo has launched 3G services. You can watch up to 10 hrs of live cricket during the India – New Zealand one day series

Users will be moved to the Rs30 Weekly plan only after the completion of Free 10 Hours or on 11th Dec (whichever is earlier).The customer can unsubscribe from this Free offer before the completion of 10 Free hours or 11th Dec, and in this scenario, customer will not be charged for the weekly subscription.To download the Mobile TV app and avail the offer, users have send TV to 53333 (Toll Free).

If you don’t want to be charged, make sure you cancel the subscription before Dec 11th.

Finally, Android 2.2 Update for Samsung Galaxy S now available in India

After a long wait, Indian users of Samsung Galaxy S can finally rejoice as Samsung has finally released the Android 2.2 Froyo update. The update was announced in mid October & had begun rolling out since then in stages across the world & has finally reached Indian shores.

Samsung had earlier announced that Samsung Galaxy S would get the Android 2.2 Froyo update in September 2010. The update was delayed several times & just when everyone thought that Samsung will miss the November deadline as well for India, it was made available through Kies. Many users on the famous xda-developer forums noticed the Froyo update available for their phones & it was only later in the day that Samsung Mobiles (India) confirmed the same through their official twitter account. 

The Android 2.2 upgrade offers voice-controlled GPS through Google Maps with Navigation, faster performance by JIT(Just in Time) compiler. Additionally, further functionalities including Search in-browser, Adobe Flash Player 10.1, improved customization options will be provided with OS upgrade. 

A more detailed changelog for the Android 2.2 update reads as follows:

• Android 2.2 JIT compiler
• Adobe Flash Player 10.1 compatibility
• New Android Market with auto-updating
• Speed improvements
• Pinch-to-zoom homescreen flyover
• Improved default keyboard
• Quick links to "GPS" and "Auto rotation" toggles on notification bar added
• Slightly different graphics and transitions with app drawer and default icon dock
• Colored icons in settings
• GPS Fix
• Colored settings icons
• Media Hub
• Darker menu theme, navy blue color
• Better Exchange support
• Video records in MP4 format
• New Search widget
• New Gmail application

The Froyo version which is released for India includes the following components: PDA:JP6;  PHONE:JP2;  CSC:JP5. Apparently newer versions of Froyo have been subsequently released by Samsung for other regions. However India will have to be currently satisfied with the JP6 update instead of the more newer JPA update that was widely expected to be made available for India.

The Android 2.2 update will be available via Kies, Samsung’s in-house software upgrade programme. If Kies is unable to detect your Samsung Galaxy S then you can download the official update from SamFirmware (a third party unofficial website) & install it using Odin.

MNP (Mobile Number Portability) offers from Tata Docomo - Awesome!!!!!

You all must be knowing that MNP was launched today in Haryana. A lot of operators are putting up their ads of shifting to their networks for goodies. One sucg goody offered by Tata Docomo is very very competitive. Check this out. The info is from teleguru.in. Enjoy.


Telecom operators have another challenge to tackle from today i.e. retaining the existing customers from switching to other operators as MNP goes live. There can be two ways to tackle this,  either you retain existing customers with better service and offers or lure other operators customers with attractive offers & promises. Stick to anyone of above two won’t suffice , so operators will have strategies for  both as customer defection is inevitable.

The knee-jerk reaction of operators is to bring in attractive offers to entice other operators customers. BSNL has been the first to announce its MNP  special offer. Now Tata Docomo follows.
Tata Docomo , the brand known for bringing in turbulence in competition  by introducing difficult to match propositions, has introduced special offers keeping MNP in mind. On Tata Docomo  website, it has created a seperate MNP  webpage. The content on the page educates customers about what it is and why one should choose Tata  Docomo to switch to .
Customers switching from any other operator to Tata Docomo ,through number portability mode get the given benefits till 31st December,2010. The offers have validity period of 6 months.
Special MNP offers for prepay customers:

1. Default benefit for swtiching to Tata Docomo-  Local On Net calls (own network)- 1 Paise per 6 seconds.
2. More Than Full Talktime Recharges-

3.    3G offers
A. Packs:
B.  100 MB free data per month for 6 months- credited every month
Special MNP offers For postpay Customers:

• On-net calls @1p/6sec
• 100 MB data/month for 3G network for 6 months for all customers.
• Free Itemized Bill for six months.

* Topping Options: 200 local mins or 150 STD mins or 500 SMS or 100 MB data

Benchmarking results of Samsung Galaxy S with Android 2.2

Finally, the benchmarking results of the super powered Samsung Galaxy S is out after the Android 2.2 release has hit Asia. The update is as of now available in Singapore and will later be available in other countries in Asia as well. Check out the CNET report below... Thanks to John Chan for the report.


The long-awaited Android 2.2 (Froyo) update for the Samsung Galaxy S has finally hit Asia. This latest version is a significant upgrade over Android 2.1 (Eclair) as Google has added features such as improved Microsoft Outlook integration, support for Adobe Flash in the browser and a native tethering function. The latter turns your phone into a Wi-Fi access point so a notebook can share your cellular data connection.

Aside from those features, Froyo also boasts improved performance. We got hold of a Galaxy S running the latest firmware and ran some benchmarks. In the following tables, we compared these latest results with those gotten from our earlier tests of the Galaxy S running Eclair (before update) and the HTC Desire after a Froyo update).

Linpack for Android
(Longer bars indicate better performance)

Samsung Galaxy S (Android 2.2)

14.154 

Samsung Galaxy S (Android 2.1)

8.419 

HTC Desire (Android 2.2)

35.269 

Benchmark by Softweg CPU performance
(Longer bars indicate better performance)

Samsung Galaxy S (Android 2.2)

1814 

Samsung Galaxy S (Android 2.1)

783 

HTC Desire (Android 2.2)

2319 

Benchmark by Softweg 2D graphics performance
(Longer bars indicate better performance)

Samsung Galaxy S (Android 2.2)

31.13 

Samsung Galaxy S (Android 2.1)

31.68 

HTC Desire (Android 2.2)

28.73 

Neocore 3D graphics in fps
(Longer bars indicate better performance)

Samsung Galaxy S (Android 2.2)

55.7 

Samsung Galaxy S (Android 2.1)

55.7 

HTC Desire (Android 2.2)

28.4 

We saw marked improvement in the CPU benchmarks using the Linpack and Benchmark by Softweg tests. In both graphics tests, the difference compared with the Android 2.1 Galaxy S wasn't significant.

What surprised us was that the HTC Desire did better than the Galaxy S in all the CPU tests. In our earlier comparison of the Galaxy S and Desire, the Samsung performed better than the HTC in every benchmark. However, the 2.2 upgrade for the Desire increased its CPU benchmark results by as much as five times. On the other hand, 2.2 for the Galaxy S gave only a twofold improvement. While significant, it wasn't as dramatic as the Desire's jump in results.

Numbers aside, in our short time with the upgraded Galaxy S, we found it to be faster and more responsive. This can be felt from the time you start typing or when swiping through the menu.

The Android 2.2 update for the Samsung Galaxy S is now available for users in Singapore and will roll out gradually to other Southeast Asian countries before year-end. The upgrade can be performed by the end-user through Samsung's desktop software called Kies or at any service center.

A monster 4.8" Android phone from Acer!!!!

We have all seen phones with 3.5" and 3.7" screen size. When we saw some phones with 4" and 4.3", we actually got confused as to how will people carry it. But now wait. Check this new phone from Acer which is 4.8" screen size. A bit less than Dell Streak's 5" but still it is huge. Check out the pic and specs below.



Acer recently announced a new smartphone with a tablet-like format. It features a huge 4.8 inch widescreen display with a 21:9 aspect ratio, full metal body, multi-touch, 8 megapixel camera with LED flash and so on. The high resolution 4.8 inch screen comes with 4 keys – Home, Search, Back, and Menu. Sadly, the company have not yet decided the name of this powerful device.
This handset comes with a 4.8 inch touchscreen display with 1024 x 480 pixels resolution, Android Operating System, 1GHz Snapdragon processor, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 3.0, 3G Connectivity, 8 megapixel camera with LED flash, 2 megapixel front-facing camera, multi-touch, Java script optimization, Adobe Flash Player 10.1 support, MicroSD card slot, 32GB expandable memory, Dolby Mobile, 3.5mm audio jack, 6-axis motion sensing (Gyroscope + accelerometer) and more.

According to the rumors, this handset will be powered by the Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) OS. If this is true then we can expect Gingerbread updates for the existing 1Ghz phones also. The price and availability of this handset is not announced yet, but it is expected to hit the stores on Q1 2011. Stay tuned for further updates!

New Bada phones from Samsung and also a Win 6.5 phone

We always think why is Samsung releasing this Bada OS phones. A real copy of Android and expecting it to be a hit like Android. Samsung must be crazy right? We would like to think that way but check out the cool apps on Samsung apps store for all these bada phones. Hell ya, Samsung is really trying hard to promote it by all these free apps and awesomely competitive pricing. You cannot phones with these features at these pricing from other brands for sure!!!!! If buying a phone do give a serious thought about these phones and decide.

Check out the recent phones released from Samsung's stable.


The launched devices are as Wave 525 aka Wave 2, Wave 533 aka Wave 2 Pro , Wave 723 and Omnia 6520 aka Omnia Pro 5

Wave 525

• 3.2-inch WQVGA TFT display
• 240 x 400 pixels resolution
• 3 megapixel camera
• TouchWiz 3.0
• Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP
• MicroUSB
• 3G Connectivity
• Wi-Fi
• A-GPS
• Accelerometer
• ActiveSync support
• Social Hub
• Dolfin browser 2.0
• Samsung Apps
• 3.5mm headphone jack
• FM Radio
• FM recording function
• Music player with SoundAlive
• 80MB internal memory
• 16GB expandable memory
• microSD card slot
• 1200mAh battery

The Samsung Wave 525 is priced at Rs.8800/-.

Wave 533

• 3.2-inch WQVGA TFT display
• 240 x 400 pixels resolution
• 3 megapixel camera
• Physical Slide Out QWERTY keyboard
• TouchWiz 3.0
• Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP
• MicroUSB
• 3G Connectivity
• Wi-Fi
• A-GPS
• Accelerometer
• ActiveSync support
• Social Hub
• Dolfin browser 2.0
• Samsung Apps
• 3.5mm headphone jack
• FM Radio
• FM recording function
• Music player with SoundAlive
• 80MB internal memory
• 16GB expandable memory
• microSD card slot
• 1200mAh battery

The Samsung Wave 525 is priced at Rs.9900/-.

Wave 723 :

• Bada 1.1 OS
• 3.2-inch Super AMOLED TFT Display
• TouchWiz UI
• 5 mega pixel camera with LED Flash and Auto Focus
• 90MB internal memory
• 16GB expandable memory
• TouchWiz 3.0
• Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP
• MicroUSB
• 3G Connectivity
• Wi-Fi
• A-GPS
• Accelerometer
• ActiveSync support
• Social Hub
• Dolfin browser 2.0
• Samsung Apps
• 3.5mm headphone jack
• FM Radio
• FM recording function
• Music player with SoundAlive

The Samsung Wave 723 is priced at  Rs. 13500/-.

Samsung Omnia 6520 / Omnia Pro 5 :

• 2.4 inches TFT, 65K colors
• 320 x 240 pixels
• QWERTY keyboard
• 2 MP camera with Geo-tagging
• Windows Mobile 6.5
• Microsoft Office 2010
• Facebook & Twitter client SNS access
• Windows Live, Palringo  (includes GTalk & AOL)  and Yahoo IM
• 3G
• Wi-Fi
• Bluetooth
• GPS with Google Maps support
• Sound Alive
• Internet Explorer 6
• 16GB of expandable memory
• 1500mAH battery

The Samsung Omnia 652 is priced at Rs. 10,600/-
Mr. Ranjit Yadav, Country Head – Mobile & IT, Samsung India stated, “The New smartphones reinforce Samsung’s commitment towards enhancing and democratizing the Smartphone experience in India. The use of different platforms for our Smartphones is primarily designed to give consumers a choice and provide them with a rich, connected mobile experience based on applications, content and entertainment.”





Excited!!!!!! Let us know your views....

Motorola Olympus Tegra 2 first Dual Core Smartphone Spotted

The first Dual core Smartphone from Motorola, Motorola Olympus was leaked by Engadget. The pictures and information are here below.

The guys at Engadget recently shared a few pics of the Motorola’s upcoming smartphone. According to the tipster, this handset is NVIDIA Tegra 2 powered Motorola Olympus. The tipster also said that Motorola Olympus is an “iPhone killer”. Tegra 2 platform offers a dual-core CPU and the ability to record and play full HD (1080p) videos.
This handset looks quite similar to Motorola Defy, except the fact that it has a larger screen and a front-facing camera. The complete specs of this powerful smartphone is not available yet, but we already know that Motorola Olympus will come with a dual-band 802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.1 with EDR (Enhanced Data Rate).
According to the rumors, Motorola Olympus is said to be headed to AT&T and Motorola might come up with a second Olympus phone with QWERTY keypad and other powerful features. Let us know your views regarding Tegra 2 platform and Motorola Olympus in the comments below.

Any further information on the phone or the specs will be shared here. Do stay tuned.

Features, Procedure and Rules for application of MNP - Mobile Number Porting

And finally since we see the Mobile Number Portability start off in Haryana, we thought that we need to put the information of the procedure, rules and the Features of the MNP in one place for people to find it easy and informative. Check the same below.

Features of MNP

1. MNP facility shall be available only within a given licensed service area.- You cannot retain the same number if you are moving to another city. Really an inconvenient feature and what about the consumers who switch cities when they change a job?
2. A subscriber holding a mobile number is eligible to make a porting request only after 90 days of the date of activation of his mobile connection. If a number is already ported once, the number can again be ported only after 90 days from the date of the previous porting.- If a consumer is dissatisfied in first month after switching to another provider, he still have to suffer for rest of 2 months. But, it has good take too that it will prevent users from running after freebies and constantly switching.

How to apply for porting?

The subscriber who wishes to port his mobile number should approach the recipient operator (the operator to whom the subscriber wants to port his number) and obtain unique porting code, which is an alphanumeric code allocated upon request. Subscribers will also have to give in writing their request to the operator to which they are switching and fill up a customer acquisition form, which the operator will verify.
The subscriber may be required to pay porting charges, if any, to the recipient operator. The prices are not yet fixed however, it is estimated to be between 20 to 100Rs.

Applying Criteria for MNP

For Prepaid users : The Balance amount of talktime will not be carried over to new provider and it will lapse.
For Postpaid subscribers : The subscriber making the porting request is required to have cleared all the bills issued prior to the date of porting request.

Other Rules of MNP

Change of Mind? A subscriber may withdraw his porting request within 24 hours of its submission to the Recipient Operator. However, the porting charges shall not be refundable.
How long will it take? The porting process will take a maximum time period of 4 days in all licensed service areas except in the case of J&K, Assam and North East where the maximum time allowed is 12 days.
Any downtime? Yes, Disconnecting from current network and activation of new Cellular provider will include No service period of 2 hours.

Mobile Number Portability (MNP) to start in Haryana from Nov 25th, no info yet on other cities

MNP - Mobile number portability is going to be launched in Haryana first followed by other cities from 25th Nov onwards. Idea cellular has already launched ads related to porting to their network. This might be a game changer especially when we hear a lot of people unhappy with the service or the tariff with their current operators but dont wish to change their numbers. This will be a solution to all of those issues. Check out the Times of India article below.

Mobile number portability, the much talked and the much postponed service is finally seeing the light of the day. While the Department of Telecom has already announced November 25 as the launch date, just as it has done earlier, the announcements have started from cellular operators. Idea Cellular has taken the lead with its 'Switch to Idea' commercials debuting on TV channels.

MNP entitles a cellular subscribe to switch from his cellular operator to any other operator, and retain his mobile number. It is being rolled out on 25th November in Haryana circle where subscribers can switch in between any of the operators. Haryana has eight cellular operators Airtel, Idea, BSNL, Aircel, Loop, Vodafone, Etisalat DB, and Videocon . According to figures from Cellular Operators Association of India, the circle has 11.68 million subscribers as on October 31, 2010. India's total cellular subscriber base stands at around 700 million.

There is no clarity yet about what will be next after Haryana. In the discussion between DoT and operators, it is decided that all operators will do it at one go. Even if one operator is not ready with the systems, it will create a problem for other operators. Rajat Mukarji, chief corporate affairs officer at Idea Cellular confirmed that that the company will start MNP on November 25 from Haryana , but was waiting to hear from the DoT about the roll out in other circles.

Offlate, mobile phones or rather the SIM cards, have become an important tool in investigation of crimes, as it helps the police establish the presence of its owner (the criminals, in this case) in a particular area. However, barring Delhi Police, which is in constant touch with the operators, the police in other states does not seem to be clear about MNP.

Recently, Alok Kumar joint commissioner (crime) Bangalore said that MNP will create a headache for investigation agencies as offenders will misuse the '60-day' portability period as they can go 'off-network' and would be untraceable till they come 'on-network' .

Mr Mukarji clarified that the portability period was only seven days from the time a customer puts in a porting request . He also said that that the 'off-network' to 'on-network' time, which is the when the customer is switched off by one operator and switched on by the other operator, was only overnight.

An official with another operator said that the companies wanted to avoid any further MNP rollout till the end of January . "The entire system is very complicated at the backend, and dependent on all operators. If any system at any operator fails, the whole system will be jeopardised . MNP rollout needs a lot of work on the backend and in the switches. Every year between 15 December-16 January a large number of employees go on annual holidays. So operators want to avoid making any changes or upgrades to their systems during this time.'' Sources in the telecom industry said that there was a great probability of high-value subscribers from the newer operators shifting over to the established operators.

"In the ongoing furore over the 2G spectrum scam, there is an uncertainty over the new operators. Their network rollout is also not up to the mark. They might not be able to launch 3G services. So, their customers will switch over to the larger operators. Of course, MNP will significantly reduce the subscriber churn we see currently," an official said.

Any more updates regarding mobile number portability will be updated here. Stay tuned to this website.

TATA DOCOMO giving free 3G usage of 250 MB again!!!

Tata Docomo is again giving free 3G usage of 250 MB to all its users in 3G released towns. Hurry and SMS "FLY" to 53333 soon. The validity will be for 10 days and offer applicable till 15th December. So hurry. This information was shared by Tata Docomo through Twitter.

Android 2.2 (Froyo) for Samsung Galaxy S rolls out in Asia with Singapore being first, India still waiting

Update: We have recieved information that Samsung Galaxy S customers in Malaysia are able to recieve Froyo update through KIES. We will find out more information about this and post the complete information. Check this space for more news and views.

Finally, Official Android 2.2 (Froyo) update has been released by Samsung in Singapore, the first country in Asia for now. The update is from the Android 2.1 Eclair to Android 2.2 Froyo. Froyo adds quite a number of user features, including better Microsoft Exchange support, Adobe Flash 10.1 support for the browser and improved CPU performance.

The update can be applied at home using the Samsung Kies desktop software available from the company's Web site. Those who would rather not do it themselves can also head down to the service center to get it done. Users should back up all data before performing the update to prevent data loss. This is a little troublesome when compared with HTC's over-the-air upgrade for its HTC Desire smartphone. But at least, it's still more convenient than Sony Ericsson's Xperia update, which requires the owner to visit a service center with no option for updating at home.

BSNL broadband ULF 900 plan - Problems with it

Hi all,

I had migrated to ULF 900 BSNL broadband plan from ULF 750 unlimited pla. Thie 900 plan has this offer of 4Mbps till 8GB and then the speed reduces to 256 Kbps. I thought of trying this plan and seeing how good the speed is and how well this will work out for me. I migrated to this plan and then my problems started.

I was never getting more than 1Mbps speed which turned out to be a pain in the ***. Whenever I tried contacting and explaining this issue to the customer care they ask me to conduct some tests and see. The irritating thing is the speed test conducted from the BSNL portal itself (dataone.in) says that I am getting 3.3 Mbps speed but when tested on an external website I cant get even 1Mbps. The problem is with some nib connection in the BSNL server as the internal network speed is fine but once it enters the outside world my problem starts.

The customer care was able to understand the issue. But when the complaint gets forwarded to the exchange for addressal, they call up and visit the house. They then start complaining that the problem is with my PC and not the internet. I had more than 4 GB free in the C drive (windows drive) but still they wanted me to free it up. What a bugger he was. Anyways, I lost my cool, I tried contacting the top officials, and finally met this person (SDE) in BSNL who helped me. He tried to get some information and then the SDE said that there exists some issue with this plan (ULF 900 Combo) in BSNL server. He then asked me to migrate to some other plan till the issue gets resolved.

This is to inform all to be careful before migrating to this plan and make sure that you get the promised speed through this plan. I will update this blog once the issue is resolved.