Couple of weeks back I saw the Ad of airtel on TV saying "Now you can watch live tv on your mobile." I was wondering how can this happen with out 3G?

This is what you have to do to watch live TV on your mobile(And yes, they are using the crappy GPRS for Live TV):

ACTIVATION PROCEDURE

• SMS ‘TV’ to 54321 to download the Mobile TV application on your GPRS enabled handset OR

• Goto AIRTEL LIVE on your phone and download the “Mobile TV” application directly OR

• Visit AIRTEL LIVE WAP portal (live.airtelworld.com) – click on the MOBILE TV banner on the homepage & download

SUBSCRIPTION CHARGES

you can choose from any of the following three packages 

The service is powered by MIMOBI.TV

50 channels for 40Rs is OK but the catch is you can view only 80 minutes that is 1 hour 20 minutes per week... wierd ha????

These are the supported handsets: Supported handsets:
• Nokia S60– 3230, 3250, 5200, 5300, 5320(Xpress Edition), 5500(Sport), 5700(Xpress), 6086, 6110(Navigator), 6120(Classic), 6121(Classic), 6124(Classic), 6210(Navigator), 6220(Classic), 6300, 6260, 6290, 6600, 6620, 6630, 6650,6670, 6680, 6681, 6682, 7373, 7610, N70, N71, N72, N73, N75, N76, N77, N78, N79, N80, N81, N82, N85, N90, N91, N92, N93, N93i, N95, N96, E50, E51, E60, E61, E61i, E62, E65, E66, E70, E71, E90.

• Sony Ericsson J2ME
– K310i, K320i, K510i, K600i, K750i,V600i, W200i, W300i, W550i, W600i, W700i, W800i, W810i, W900i,Z310i, Z520i, Z525i, Z530i, Z550i, Z558i.

Also any phone with symbian OS will do.. I am not sure about other platforms.

Anyway just to get a feel of how they were providing this , I took a 50 channels pack of Airtel Mobile Tv which contains the following channels

Star News, NDTV India, CNN, BBC World, NDTV Profit, Aaj Tak, Live India, India TV, Inida News, Mini Movies, Bolly Theatre, Bindaas, Imagine TV, Star One, Pogo,Zoom, Shemarro, MobileJockey, Mobile Special, Cartoon Network, HollyWood Movies, Times Now, NDTV 24x7, Headlines Today, Kairali TV, manorama News, IndiaVision, Jaihind TV, almost all Tamil, teugu anfother regional channels, ESPN, FTV,CNBCTV18 etc. and many more...

Airtel Mobile TV Viewing experience:

Most of the channels I tried to watch, gave me an error "File received is corrupted" error!! Cant a company like Airtel cannot send video files without being corrupted or do a retry without telling the user to retry for a paid subscription ?. And there is no use in retrying also, the file is always corrupted.

I could watch only few channels that too after waiting for almost couple of minutes(for buffering). Once the buffered video is played, the video just stops to buffer again and the video clarity is just crappy.. You cannot even makeout the face of a news reader!!! 

The funny part is that whenever we open the Airtel Mobile TV app, they say "Happy Viewing" and to be frank the viewing experience is not that happy!!!

I am a big fan of Airtel customer service and QOS, but Mobile TV indeed failed me... No wonder Airtel is not advertising Mobile TV on their website yet...

Verdict: Its a waste of money to subscribe for Airtel Mobile TV now as it runs on GPRS which is worse than a dialup connection and if you would like to watch TV on mobile, wait till 3G arrives!!!

Recently I bought a new Nokia E71 after contemplating whether to buy E72.In the end I decided to go for E71 as in my opinion E72 was not worth the money! Here you can see the full feature list of Nokia E71, E72 and E63 , all excellent querty phones. Make sure that you buy the phone for its features that you use, not for the latest model !

Nokia Nokia E72, E71 and E63 complete feature comparison list:

Nokia E72   Nokia E63   Nokia E71    Product        Brand  Nokia  Nokia  Nokia  Model Name  E72  E63  E71  Released Year  2009  2008  2008  Phone Memory  4 GB MicroSD memory card  110 MB internal memory  110 MB internal memory  External Memory  microSD (TransFlash), up to 16GB  microSD (TransFlash), up to 8GB, hotswap  microSD (TransFlash), up to 8GB  Colours  Zodium Black, Metal Grey, Topaz Brown  Ultramarine Blue, Ruby Red  White Steel, Grey Steel  Form  Bar  Bar  Bar  Camera        Photo  Yes  Yes  Yes  Camera Pixels  5 MP  2 MP  3 MP  Video Playback  Yes  QVGA (320x240), 15fps  Yes  Video Recording  Yes  Yes  Yes  TV Output  No  No  No(2.5 AV audio connector)  Zoom  10x digital video zoom  Digital zoom, White balance, CMOS image sensor, Self-timer  4*Digital zoom  Messaging        SMS  Yes-Basic  Yes-Basic  Yes-Basic  MMS  Yes  Yes  Yes  IM  IM-GSM  IM-GSM  IM-GSM  E-Mail  Yes,PushMail  PushMail  Yes,Pull Mail  Push Mail  MS Exchange Server  MS Exchange Server  MS Exchange Server  Music        Mp3 Player  Yes  Yes  Yes  FM  Yes-RDS  Yes-Mono  Yes-Mono  Ringtones  Polyphonic, MP3  Polyphonic, MP3  Polyphonic, Monophonic, MP3, True Tones  Track id  No  No  Yes  Key Features        3G  HSDPA, 10.2 Mbps; HSUPA 2 Mbps  Yes, 384 kbps  HSDPA, 3.6 Mbps  Bluetooth  v2.0 with A2DP  v2.0 with A2DP  v2.0 with A2DP  Wi-Fi  Wi-Fi  Wi-Fi  Wi-Fi  OS  Symbian  Symbian  Symbian  Streaming  3rd Party App  3rd Party App  Browser Compatible  Technology        3G  HSDPA, 10.2 Mbps; HSUPA 2 Mbps  Yes, 384 kbps  HSDPA, 3.6 Mbps  Sensors  No  No  No  Interface  Icon Grid  Icon Grid  Icon Grid  GPS  GPS  No  GPS  Orientation  Potrait & Landscape  Potrait  Potrait  Network        GSM  GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900  GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900  GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 3G Network HSDPA 2100 / 900  CDMA  No  No  No  Talk time  Up to 480 h (2G) / 576 h (3G)  Up to 11 h   Up to 10 h 30 min  Stand by-time  Up to 12 h 30 min (2G) / 6 h (3G)  Up to 432 h  Up to 410 h  Flight Mode  Yes - Profile Based  Yes - Profile Based  Yes - Profile Based  Software        Games  Downloadable  Downloadable  Yes  Java  Midp 2.0  Midp 2.0  Midp 2.0  OS  Symbian  Symbian  Symbian  Blog  No  No  No  Browser  WAP 2.0/xHTML, HTML  WAP 2.0/xHTML, HTML  WAP 2.0/xHTML  Voice        Recording  Yes  Yes  Yes  Speaker  Yes-Mono  Yes-Mono  Yes-Mono  Push-to-talk  Yes-Operator Based  Yes-Operator Based  Yes-Operator Based  Voice Messaging  Yes-Operator Based  Yes-Operator Based  Yes-Operator Based  Data        Internet  HSDPA  3G  3G  Wi-Fi  Wi-Fi  Wi-Fi  Wi-Fi  Security  3rd Party App  3rd Party App  3rd Party App  Streaming  3rd Party App  Browser Compatible  Browser Compatible  Connectivity        Infrared  No  No  Yes  Bluetooth  v2.0 with A2DP  v2.0 with A2DP  v2.0 with A2DP  Usb  Yes, v2.0 microUSB  Yes, v2.0 microUSB  Yes, v2.0 microUSB  Pc Sync  PC Suite Managed  PC Suite Managed  PC Suite Managed  Remote sync  Yes  Yes  Yes  Size        Product Size  114 x 58 x 10 mm, 65 cc  113 x 59 x 13 mm, 87 cc  114 x 57 x 10 mm, 66 cc  Product Weight  128 g  126 g  127 g  Display Size  320 x 240 pixels  320 x 240 pixels  320 x 240 pixels  Display Type  TFT, 16M colors  TFT, 16M colors  TFT, 16M colors  Keypad  QWERTY  QWERTY  QWERTY  Productivity        Office  Document editor (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF)  Document editor (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF)  Document editor (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF)  Tools  File Manager  Organizer  PIM including calendar, to-do list and printing  Flash  LED flash  Yes  LED flash  Feeds  No  No  No  Input        Side keys  Right - Volume keys, Mute key  No  Right-Volume keys and Mute key  Music keys  No  No  No  Dial  No  Voice Dial  Yes  Touch  No  No  No  Box        Battery  Included  Included  Included  Headset  Included  Included  Included  Memory Card  microSD (TransFlash), up to 16GB  microSD (TransFlash), up to 8GB, hotswap  microSD (TransFlash), up to 8GB  Manual  Included  Included  Included  CD  Included  Included  Included  Extra  Nokia High Efficiency Charger,Nokia MicroUSB data cable,Carrying case and strap,Cleaning cloth,  Nokia Charger,microSD  Charger,Connectivity Cable, pouch

3G(3^rd Generation) is going to be the next revolution in the communication arena in India. So it’s important that non techie mobile users in India must understand the advantages and features of 3G.

This article is written in the simplest way possible to educate the common man  about 3G . If you have any questions/suggestions, feel free to send me an email.

What is 3G in simple words?

3G is a family of standards for mobile telecommunications which includes Services like wide-area wireless voice telephone, video calls, and wireless data, all in a mobile environment. 3G allows simultaneous use of speech and data services and higher data rates up to 14.0 Mbit/s on the downlink and 5.8 Mbit/s on the uplink (These speeds are not standard and may vary depending on the providers). This means you can watch TV , talk to your buddies via Skype, watch streaming high quality videos, attend a video conference on your mobile phone without experiencing time delay even while you are travelling!

3G Video Conferencing

Is 3G something New?

Not at all! The first commercial release of 3G was by NTT DoCoMo in Japan in October 2001. This technology is very common in developed countries like America, Australia, UK and other European Countries.

3G service was first provided in India by MTNL(Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited) in 2008 and BSL started providing 3G in Feb 2010.India is far behind in the 3G race as the 3G spectrum auction is going to be conducted for private players on April 9^th 2010 by Govt. Of India. So by end of 2010 3G is going to be very common in India.

As of today there are 500million+ 3G users worldwide.

To use 3G services, do I need to buy a new phone?

Yes, if your current phone is not 3G compatible. These are some of the phones which are 3G compatible and now available in India:

Nokia N95,Nokia N96 ,Nokia N82 , E71, E72
If you are looking for cheaper Nokia handsets which can give provide you a 3G experience, then you can have a look at the following handsets:
Nokia N73 ,Nokia 3120 Classic ,Samsung SGH J800 ,Samsung TouchWiz ,Samsung Innov8
Sony Ericsson Xperia ,Sony Ericsson

Other 3G compatible Sony Ericsson handsets are Sony Ericsson G700, G900, K530i, K610i, K660i, M600i and P990i.

Almost all HTC phones support 3G.

To see a complete list of 3G phones available in India, click this link.

How do I know whether my current phone is 3G compatible or not?

Turn on your phone and look at the top when you have service, it should say either: E or 3G. If you cant find these, go to www.Ebay.Inand search for your phone model and check the features list.

I am not a hifi mobile user. Do I need to go for a 3G compatible phone when I change my phone next time ?

I would say yes. The possibilities of 3G is infinite! Wont you use 3G if you can make free/cheap international calls via skype using your mobile phone ? The answer is yes and that could be the best reason for you to go for a 3G phone. Now a days 3G phones are quite cheap too.. Today, you can buy a 3G for as low as 4700Rs! We need to wait and watch if the govt. will allow 2 way VOIP over 3G which might make thousands of BSNL employees jobless!

I want to try 3G Now. Does BSNL provides 3G?

Yes , BSNL started offering 3G from Feb 2010 in selected cities. You can find the Tariff details here: http://www.bsnl.co.in/service/3G/3G_files/3g.htm. The upload rate of BSNL is kept very low to make 2 way Voice telephony not feasible.

Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Em0bvWHyaYw

One of my friends recently asked me this question. "I have a bunch of digital photos with
me. I need to create multiple albums and show the pictures as slideshows in my website. How
can I do this?". My immediate answer was "use picasa"!

He required the steps to do it so I decided to write it down with some screenshots to help a first time user.

Here are the steps to add images to picasa and show it was slide show in yourwebsite. You
dont have to be a techie to do this. A person who can send emails,can use "MS Word" and a
little knowledge in HTML can easily do this.

Step1: Navigate to http://Photos.Google.com and login using your google id. If you dont have
a google account, you can create one here:

Step2: After logging in to Picasa, Click on the Upload Button on top.There is an option to create new Album. Click on the link.

Step3: Give a title to your album and select a date on which the pics are taken. You can give a description to the details of the images inside and even show the place where the photos were taken in google maps.

Step4: Now you can decide whether this album is a public album or a private one.
Public albums can be seen by anyone on the internet and private albums can be seen only by persons you choose to share it. You can even give the option of "SignIn required to View" so that only registered picasa customers can view the album.

Step5: Now you can individually upload pics to the album one by one or install "Picasa desktop client"(Download link circled in red ) on your system and upload all the images at one shot to the album.

Step6:
Now click on  "Link to this album" as circled in the image below.
This will open up a hidden panel which shows multiple options to share your picasa album.

Step7: if you just want to send the link via email or IM, use the link below "Paste link in email or IM". For slideshow, click on the "Embed Slideshow" link. This will open up a popup window.

Step8: Now you can select the image size for your slideshow(circled in blue). There are multiple options 144px, 288px, 400px, 600px and 800px.  Select the appropriate size and then copy the HTML code to embed in the site(circled in red). You need to add the code between the <body> </body> tags of your html page.

Yes, your slide show is now ready !! Google has made it simple, did'nt they?

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