AOL a media & entertainment division of Time Warner and India’s MTNL a leading broadband provider in Delhi and Mumbai have forged a strategic alliance. The alliance has lead to the launch of a co-branded portal http://mtnl.aol.in. The portal will offer a combination of AOL services like e-mail, IM, with content on entertainment, news, sports etc. along with MTNL services like games, tariff plans, etc. This way MTNL’s Triband users will have a default destination to immense content and as Mr. J.Gopal (Executive Director MTNL) put it “World Class Internet Experience for MTNL users”. The tie-up at the moment is only content based but let’s hope that it be more than just that. The company representatives didn’t disclose of any future plans.

Well we all know that the iPhone has made it in and out of the shelves of Apple stores in the US. But the question we Indians, on the other side of the globe are asking is; when will it be available here? Many of us thought that it would be available in the grey market within a month after its release, unfortunately not happening. Grey market dealers who were thinking of making big bucks from the iPhone mania have lost hope.

Couple of weeks before the release of the iPhone in the US, Wipro / HCL were to sign a distribution deal with Apple. There has been no further update on that. Even before them, it was Reliance who approached Apple but in vain. If at all any company manages to strike a deal they will be the exclusive distributors for iPhone in India. Whosoever be the distributor for the iPhone in India will have struck gold because companies generally get 2-3 percent on the sale of a handset.

As for those who thought they could buy the handset from the US through a relative or friend. Just for your info. handsets sold in the US are network locked i.e. they won’t work on any other network. The iPhone is locked to the AT&T network. So if you wish to use the iPhone here you’ll have to unlock it which is possible only by request or by hacking. As for requesting AT&T to unlock the handset, they are bound by Apple and when it comes to hacking the iPhone you can use the internet to be your guide.

For now it’s best to drop the idea and wait for a company to strike a distribution deal with Apple. Hopefully this should happen by the time the next generation of iPhone is released. With most bugs taken care off and the iPhone rumored to turn 3G, it’ll be a much better phone.

Well some of you maybe facing problem logging into Skype. Do not worry it is nothing to do with your cable operators. Skype is facing a software issue since yesterday. Yesterday in the Skype news segment it was posted that engineers at Skype will fix the problem in the next 12-24 hours. Well work is still in progress and they will have it working as soon as possible. Villu Arak from Skype reported “We’re on the road to recovery. Skype is stabilizing, but this process may continue throughout the day”. Click here to keep yourself updated with the happenings at Skype. So let’s keep our fingers crossed and hope that the issue is resolved and we can continue to use the service Skype offers us.

Posted by Frazier.

Yes, fring now supports your P1i! With fring supporting the P990i, it seemed only a matter of time that the newly launched P1i would join the list of supported handsets. Well it has; I’m sure you will be happy to fring from your newly purchased Sony Ericsson P1i handset.

There are 2 ways to see for yourself:
1. Go to www.fring.com, click on ‘download’, select Sony Ericsson P1i and we’ll send you an SMS so you can start fringing in less than a minute!
2. Click here for pictures and screenshots.

fring on the P1i works just like it does on any supported Symbian or Windows Mobile device. You will be able to chat with your buddies in fring, Skype, MSN, ICQ, Google Talk, and Twitter. Also make regular phone calls using Skype or the many other SIP providers. Get fringing on your P1i!!!

Nokia has recalled for their batteries; model no. BL-5C. Over 46 million of these battries have overheating issues caused after a short circuit while charging. The batteries have been manufactured by Matsushita Electrical Industrial Co. Ltd. Between December 2005 and November 2006. TOI link

In a statement Nokia said, “(The batteries) could potentially experience overheating initiated by a short circuit while charging, causing the battery to dislodge”.

Here are a list of Nokia handsets fitted with the “BL-5C” battery :-
Nokia 1100, Nokia 1100c, Nokia 1101, Nokia 1108, Nokia 1110, Nokia 1112, Nokia 1255, Nokia 1315, Nokia 1600, Nokia 2112, Nokia 2118, Nokia 2255, Nokia 2272, Nokia 2275, Nokia 2300, Nokia 2300c, Nokia 2310, Nokia 2355, Nokia 2600, Nokia 2610, Nokia 2610b, Nokia 2626, Nokia 3100, Nokia 3105, Nokia 3120, Nokia 3125, Nokia 6030, Nokia 6085, Nokia 6086, Nokia 6108, Nokia 6175i, Nokia 6178i, Nokia 6230, Nokia 6230i, Nokia 6270, Nokia 6600, Nokia 6620, Nokia 6630, Nokia 6631, Nokia 6670, Nokia 6680, Nokia 6681, Nokia 6682, Nokia 6820, Nokia 6822, Nokia 7610, Nokia N70, Nokia N71, Nokia N72, Nokia N91, Nokia E50, Nokia E60

Next head over to this link and submit the code outlined in the picture. Batteries will be replaced free of cost.

Spice Mobile has newly launched a dual-mode handset wherein the handset can be used for both GSM as well as CDMA based mobile connectivity. The dual-mode phone will be available for Tier II and Tier III cities.

Spice Mobile is targeting at all those with two cell numbers. Such people will now enjoy the convenience of carrying just one phone and with no need of switching between SIMs. At the moment an estimated 8 percent of the total number of mobile phone subscribers own two numbers.

The dual-mode phone will be available in two variants; D-88 & D-80. The D-88 will support both GSM and CDMA active connections at the same time, while the D-80 will have two GSM active connections. The D-80 is price at Rs. 9,849 while the D-88 is around Rs.11,500.

Just recently there was a Sony Ericsson conference in Delhi. Sony Ericsson India’s Chairman Sudhin Mathur took center stage and discussed the plans of the company for this year. Several mobiles were announcements catering to three different segments namely Smartphone, Imaging, & the Walkman series. Showcased was the K850i; 5 Megapixel CyberShot camera phone, the W910i with motion sensors and the W580i with shake function all scheduled to be released by Q4 of 2007. Other phone announcements slated to be released in the next month were the S500i phone based on the emotion of ‘color’ & T650i based on the emotion of ‘light’. These two phones covered the style and emotional aspect and are called “Phones With Substance”. Even the P1i has been announced; continuation to Sony Ericsson’s existing range of Smartphones ‘P Series’. It will hit the market in the next month. The show concluded at a high with famous personalities like M&M model Joe Mathews, Channel V VJ Teejay Siddhu and reputed photographer Dabboo Ratnani comment on the phones. The chairman made a promising statement that from now on all phones will be released in India simultaneously as and when they are internationally, so we can expect the phone in Indian markets within a week of release.

Sony Ericsson Model Estimated Cost (Rs.)
P1i 25,000
W580i 14,000
K810i 17,000
S500i 14,000

(From Left to right – Joe Mathews holding a new Emotive series S500i, Mr. Sudhin Mathur, GM, Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications India Pvt Ltd, holding the P1i featuring a GPS application and BlackBerry Connect; Dabboo Ratnani with the 5megapixel K850i and VJ Teejay Siddhu with the new W580i with shake control.)

Wish to read about my experience at the Sony Ericsson Conference click here.

If you have been waiting a long time, don’t worry it has finally arrived!!! All you Sony Ericsson fans can be relieved to know that fring is available for the P990i. Ok now even though fring has touched the Sony Ericsson shores it isn’t compatible with the M600i or the W950i for now. You are always welcome to try but don’t say we didn’t warn ya.

So, head on over to our download section to dig into some of that fringster mobile VoIP goodness.

You can get fring on your Sony Ericsson P990i in 3 steps:

1. Check that you have the latest firmware. (Go to Main Menu / System Information. The latest firmware is R6D23). If you don’t have it, get it from Sony Ericsson. Go grab a cup of coffee – it will take about 15 minutes to install.
2. Get an audio plug-in from fring here (takes about 5 seconds)
3. Get fring via SMS as usual (fring should be up & running within about a minute as usual)

Sony Ericsson fringsters will enjoy the same fring functionality as the rest of us (except no history yet).

…….like you’d use the P990i for anything else…. ;-p

The Sony Ericsson P990i

Hey all you guys using mobile phones running on Symbian v9.0. The latest fring v3.20 provides better support for Series 60 Symbian v9.x phones. The new version will support most of your ‘N Series’ and ‘E Series’ phones from Nokia. This new version fixes the sound issue that you were experiencing. Now you can hear the person at the other end of the call clear.

This new version also has added comfort to you fringsters. Now along with “Search a fring contact” there is an additional option of “Invite a New Friend”. Ease on your side to invite friends who like the service fring provides.

So go ahead and try this new version and give us your valuable feedback. Here’s the download link for your ease .

Hey guys, good news to the all those who love their Windows Mobile handsets. We at fring give you a warm welcome to join the fring network. Windows Mobile handsets that are compatible with fring are all the devices that run on WM version 5 or 6. Use your mobile internet connectivity (GPRS, EDGE, WiFi) and make free calls from you Windows Mobile phone/PDA. Even if you don’t have mobile internet you can still use your Windows Mobile’s WiFi connectivity to make calls when in a WiFi Zone. You can call others fringsters, or contacts from your buddy list on Skype®, Google Talk™, and MSN® Messenger.

I welcome the new fringsters.

Get fring for your Windows handset here (http://www.fring.com/download/)

Click here for a Preview of fring on Windows Mobile handset