Monthly Archives: October 2009

Get a detailed look of HTC HD2 or Leo in official catalog of O2 UK

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As expected, HD2 from HTC makes its full fledged appearance in O2′s in-store catalog with full detailing. Earlier, the handset was slated to be released in UK on October 12th but now it looks that it’s launching date has further been extended till 26th.

In catalog, we can see numbers of HD2 pictures in a bid to better explain its working and specifications to users. But, on a closer look at the catalog, icons of Windows Mobile 6.5 UI can easily be seen which is interesting as being a full fledged touchscreen cum PDA device, the pictures shown in the catalog did not feature TouchFlo 3D UI!

Anyways, we have been able to get some “credible” information about this phone from HTC’s own website htcpedia.com. And, as mentioned earlier, the handset is a competent smart phone with numbers of Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.5 Professional Applications. These include Microsoft Outlook Mobile, Microsoft Internet Explorer Mobile, Microsoft Active Sync, Microsoft Windows Live, Microsoft Smart dial, Internet sharing, games etc. The handset sports 4.3 inch touchscreen (capacitive) which is set to deliver 480×800 WVGA resolution with the richness of 65K colors. Showcasing powerful 5MP built in camera with auto focus, this gadget covers nearly all the latest connectivity features including Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and microUSB port. Apart from this, the handset presents a large array of value added applications also such as Windows Mobile Enhancements, FM radio, web browser, GPS, Google Maps, YouTube client, push Internet, MP3 Trimmer, Social networking and others.

Leading business analysts from UK mobile industry are seeing this deal of O2 with HTC, as O2′s to Apple’s recent patch up with Orange for selling its iPhones (3G and 3Gs).

Now, keep stress at bay with unique ‘stress busting’ laptops from Fujitsu!

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After a thorough research on most common stress factors for laptop users such as long travelling hours, multi-tasking nature of job and finally the need of remaining connected to modern life, Fujitsu has launched a series of “stress dissipating” notebooks.

But laptop users need to be realistic here as keeping one’s hands on its 12.1 inch frame does not remove all the stress.

Fujitsu has said, “The stress of constant travelling, multi-tasking and connection on-the-go will be dissipated with the performance and design of this machine”.

Something which looks referring to absence of any USB-powered fragrant oil burner or integrated joss stick holder?

Fujitsu has named these laptops as P8110. These unique machines are backed by the powers of 1.6 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor and 4GB DDR 3 memory. Apart from this, for people who require large storage, the notebook could be the best choice as Fujitsu has fitted in mammoth 320GB HD drive in these laptops and in order to insure their protection from accidental drops, an added specification of sensor technology is given.

As per the official information which has come out so far from Fujitsu, these state of art laptops are packed with cutting edge SSD-technology and are embedded with Intel’s integrated 4500 MHD Graphics Media Accelerator for offering awe inspiring display via its HDMI port.

Entertainment lovers will also find these machines handy as with its built in dual-layer DVD drive, they can just unplug themselves by watching their favourite movie or by dancing on the tunes of their rock music collection. Getting connected with web is just a cake walk with these laptops and users can either connect to web via an Ethernet connection or can enjoy web browsing with its built in Wi-Fi (802.11) and 3G features. For easy transfer of data from mobile phone to notebook, Bluetooth (2.1) is also given.

With the help of built in 2MP webcam, users can enjoy video chat and can also hold video conferences with much ease and sophistication.

The upper surface of these computing machines is studded with a cluster of “quick buttons”. With the help of these quick buttons, users can quickly get started with their day to day work including opening up of firefox and email packages etc. And, in the cluster of quick buttons, the eco mode button takes the machine into power-saving mode.

As per the fujitsu, the notebook is designed to offer power back up to 7 hours under normal usage conditions with eco mode (the power saving mode) extending it to further 3 hours, totalling to 10 hours.

The complaints of UK Broadband ISP customers remain unsolved

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A recent research unveiled that around 54% of complaints that are made by the UK broadband ISP customers are not listened seriously by them. They do not try to find solution for their problems. This is the reason that around 36% of dissatisfied users do not even bother to complain about the Broadband ISP’s. There is also a group of people who do not complain because of lack of information regarding the process of complaining. They are actually not aware of the steps that are needed to be followed.

A latest survey by the Broadband Choices which included around 4000 broadband users concluded that around half (47%) of the respondents were not familiar that their ISP maintains a “Complaints Code of Practice”. It is mainly meant for the purpose of solving complaints. Around 77% were unaware that a complaint can be easily filed through an Ofcom approved Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) scheme 8 weeks. For doing so, they should contact their ISP first.

The research disclosed that many people do not make a complaint even if their service went wrong. The research put forward many reasons behind this. Around 33% of the respondents believe that this is a very complicated process. 23% did not file any complaint thinking that it would not get resolved by their ISP’s while another 18% are unaware of the procedure meant for filing any complaint.

New billing system for E.ON customers

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E.ON has introduced few payment modifications for all its new customers. All the new subscribers opting for paying through cash or cheque will be expected to make monthly payments.

E.ON is making it mandatory for all new customers having non direct debit payment to pay their bills monthly. Earlier, these payments were made monthly.

E.ON which is a German-owned energy supplier is trying to make this new system extremely effective in managing energy bills. Customers will be the real beneficiary of this enhanced system.

A spokesman for E.ON said: “This is basically a move for new customers who pay by cash or cheque only, with the aim to help them to budget more easily with smaller, more regular bills.”

The whole strategy is designed to attract greater number of customers making direct debit payments for the energy they buy from E.ON.

The changed billing technology will not include the existing customers of E.ON. This was confirmed by the spokesman of the company. Moreover, all those customers of E.ON who are registered with their StayWarm social tariff will continue to receive their bills quarterly, as before.

It has been estimated that approximately 40% of customers with E.ON avoid direct debit payments and pay for the energy through cash or cheque.

Chris Eagle, commercial manager at Energychoices.co.uk, said: “This is may help households looking to budget for their gas and electricity this coming winter. But it does represent a narrowing in choice for the consumer. Rather than deal with the hassle of a monthly paper bill, this will force a huge amount of E.ON’s customers into paying by direct debit if they are in a position to do so. This has the upside of meaning they will get a direct debit discount. But for those without bank accounts, they will have to be ultra careful to ensure they pay 12 bills a year on time, rather than the previous four.”

In another development, E.ON has enlarged the discounts on their FixOnline V3. But this particular discount is only valid for customers having services in two energy distribution areas which are the East Midlands and the Yorkshire.

Until December 2010, FixOnline V3 is expected to be the cheapest dual fuel energy tariff, fixes customers’ gas and electricity prices which are offered by the E.ON.

The discount mentioned here depends upon the household’s usage. These are flexible according to different requirement of customers. 24 September 2009 was its starting date and it is applicable in the mentioned regions for both the new and existing customers.

Mobile broadband users dissatisfied with the broadband speeds

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A latest research has revealed that more than three quarters of mobile broadband users are not satisfied with the broadband speeds they receive.

Around 60 per cent of the population believed that coverage was “poor”. There were only three per cent of mobile broadband users who rated their service as “excellent”. There was also a section of people who considered the mobile broadband coverage as “adequate”. The survey conducted by broadband analysis, also tried to find out where customers used their mobile broadband service. It was found that around 78 per cent of Virgin Media and 60 percent of Orange mobile broadband users used their mobile broadband at home. The T-Mobile and Vodafone broadband were found to be most mobile with more than half of customers connecting on the go. It was stated by the product director of the Broadbandchoices.co.uk, Michael Phillips that the mobile broadband provides flexible contracts and is a great way for getting online for less. Although, one just needs to make sure about his or her requirements before signing up for any of the service.

It has been disclosed by a recent research that the average mobile broadband speeds are topping 1Mb, many consumers feel that they will be receiving more like 3.6Mb or even 7.2Mb.”

Recently, Vodafone began upgrading its network parts to a top, theoretical, speed of 14.4Mb. It admitted that customers could “expect speeds between 1Mb and 4Mb with a practical maximum speed of 10.8Mb”.

Phillips further added that anyone who is thinking to sign up for a mobile broadband provider should make sure to do a postcode search first for checking coverage in their area. He or she should remain in contact with ISP in case they are not happy with the with the broadband speeds they receive. He also advised that a ‘grace period’ is offered by all the broadband providers for allowing customers to call off their contract if case they are not happy with the connection speeds.

Amazon finally decides to launch Kindle (a wireless reading device) in UK as well!

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Amazon which primarily was an online book store has now been known as a full fledged online market place offering numbers of products ranging from books, toys & gift items to cutting edge electronic gadgets also.

Following the same trend, there are coming reports that Amazon is soon going to launch of its wireless reading device: Kindle, in UK as well.

The Kindle features revolutionary electronic paper display on a high-resolution screen which offers users the feel of reading on a real paper. And, as the device is a full-fledged wireless device, it does not require any computer, cable or any kind of syncing. Power packed with wireless connectivity, the device enables the users to shop from online Kindle store from anywhere such as while moving in taxi, waiting at airport and hey! how we can we miss to mention the joy of reading on the bed using your Kindle. Top U.S newspapers & magazines such as The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, TIME, Atlantic monthly and Forbes are all get auto-delivered to your kindle wirelessly. Apart from this, top international newspapers from France, Germany and Ireland including Le Monde, Frankfurter, Allgemeine and The Irish Times similarly get delivered wirelessly. For bloggers the device could be indispensable as more than 5000 top blogs from different categories like business, technology, sports, entertainment, politics are also available on your kindle and the same get regularly updated wirelessly. The device is ligher and thinner with weight of just 10.3 ounces and can hold up to 200 titles. The Kindle has a long battery life and with wireless turned off, books on this Kindle can be read for up to a week. Besides this, this cutting edge device uses latest high speed data network (EVDO) as we found in advanced cell phones so it does not require any hotspot location to be used in. Though it is a wireless communication device, there is no hassle of wireless bills, service plans or other similar commitments. One of the prime feature of this device is its offering free wireless access to wikipedia.org, which is regarded as planet’s most exhaustive and up to date encyclopedia. Users can email their word documents and pictures (.JPG, .GIF, .BMP, .PNG) to Kindle and can access them on-the-go. The Kindle package consists Kindle wireless reader, Book cover, Power adapter and USB 2.0 cable.

With the announcement of Kindle’s launch in UK, rumors about Qualcomn’s coming up with a device which is packed with both wireless technologies 3G and Wi-Fi, using network services of mobile network service provider from UK, have come true. However, things will further be cleared only after official announcement and we will also get information on whether Kindle DX (the most sophisticated version of Kindle) will also be the part of this launch, sharing the stage with Kindle 2. We are expecting answers of all these questions in upcoming Frankfurt Book Fair, going to commence from October 14th.

60% of the mobile phone users in UK store sensitive data on their mobile phones

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Study reveals that data of nine in ten phones in UK is unprotected According to a research conducted by Carphone Warehouse, more than 60% of the Britons keep their vulnerable personal data over their smart phones.

The recent research conducted by the mobile phone retailer’s with the security firm Trend Micro has revealed that almost 93 percent of the smart phones that keep the sensitive data of the users are unprotected against online crime and ID theft.

Carphone warehouse also divulged in its research that around 54 percent of the mobile phone users in UK conduct online shopping transactions using credit cards over their mobile phones. Also around 12 percent of the mobile phone users frequently access websites using URLs stored on their phone.

It also disclosed that around 68 percent of the mobile phone users in UK are not really bothered about the possible threat of a phishing scam by navigating an infected website from their mobile handset.

Rather, most of them, i.e around 56 percent of these mobile phone users acceded to the fact that they are more concerned about the possible theft that may lead them to lose their mobile handset. Losing contacts stored in the mobile phone is relatively a bigger issue for them.

Rik Ferguson, the senior security advisor at Trend Micro said “These results, whilst alarming, are not really surprising”, says “People are simply not aware of the kinds of risks they are exposed to through their mobile devices or the amount of personal information stored there. While more and more companies are encrypting their computers, the same cannot be said of protecting personal data that resides on consumer smartphone devices.”

Andrew Harrison, UK CEO, The Carphone Warehouse added, “We have seen an increase in customers using smartphones to carry, share and manage confidential, personal information”.

“The fact that consumers are using their mobile devices to shop or bank online without any protection is alarming and we would urge all smartphone users to take relevant security measures to ensure personal, sensitive and financial data is protected from online crime.”

Mobile Retailers are offering Trend Micro’s Mobile Security software to the customers who are willing to protect the data on their mobile handsets. It is believed that the security software “offers advanced encryption technology to prevent data theft, block viruses and SMS spam, as well as fighting malware designed to extract sensitive data from a smartphone”.

Many UK Broadband ISPs unable to deliver correct information about their Products

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As unveiled by a latest research, more than 73% of the adults have made a claim that their UK broadband provider fails to provide an accurate information regarding their products in a better way. Despite of the support provided by Ofcom in explaining the broadband speeds properly to the consumers at the point of sale, it has been claimed by more then 17% of the adults that their ISP’s fail to explain various points regarding the technical aspects of the products such as speed and many more.

A survey concluded that if correct information regarding the product is not provided to the consumers then they are unable to make a fair decision regarding the purchase of any product. They can easily choose the cheapest and fastest option when they are informed about the product properly. Thus, they can easily go for the right deal.

Around 22% of consumers give first priority to the cheapest broadband deal. On the other hand, 18% of the consumers mainly prefers broadband connection with a fast speed. Other 32% of the consumers think that their ISP delivered the best deal for them.

O2 to face plummeting i-phone sales

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With other networks – Orange and Vodafone also offering Apple’s i-phone 3G and 3G S deals, O2 faces a threat of losing users.

The trade analysts have claimed that O2 may face severe churn after Orange and Vodafone also acquired the Apple I phone 3G and 3G S deals. Analysts have also suggested that in order to prevent the repercussions of the new deals, O2 now should be extensively careful while setting its pricing strategy for the i-phone devices.

According to analysts, the non allowance of the existing i-phone users to upgrade to the i-phone 3G S version can also cause users to switch the operators and choose the one amongst the other two i-phone providers.

On the launch of Apple i-phone 2G version almost an year back, the users who signed a 24-month contract fort the service were given an option to upgrade to the 3G version at launch 12 months later, with a condition that they re-signed an 18-month contract. However, the service provider O2 did not offer the same deal to the subscribers when i-phone 3G S was launched.

“The timing of the announcements is bad news for O2,” said Ovum principal analyst for mobile strategy Stephen Hartley.

“The device will go on sale later this year, early next year – around the time O2 customers’ i Phone 3G contracts end.

“So, O2 will see a lot of churn. This is partially down to customers spiting O2 for not letting customers upgrade to a 3G S version when it was launched.”

The senior trade analyst of IDC, Jonathan Arber said that O2 may observe decline in I-phone sales in the coming months as the customers find other options to fall back on. If the other two networks offer better pricing deals to the users, there are all the chances of customers switching between the networks

Arber also added : “The decision by Apple to broaden its reach is positive in terms of sales. There will be a lull in sales for two months, while consumers wait to see what the tariffs will be. After that, there will be a sales boost in the UK.

“Pricing structure and tariffs are important factors determining which network will gain the most sales.

“Orange and Vodafone must decide how they will differentiate their offering. It could be on price or the quality of the network.”

Arber also claimed, that the networks – Orange and Vodafone can also derive benefits in terms of data revenue as i-Phone customers use four times more data than consumers of other smart phones.

Orange and Vodafone will also gain from the increased customer numbers who are willing to use i-phone. Hartley said: “Vodafone said they lost 150,000 customers to the iPhone in one quarter, so there’s a major churn affect.

“In America, AT&T said 30 per cent of i Phone customers were new to the network. The benefits are huge for the networks new to the i Phone.”

Hartley also said that Apple decided to distribute its landmark device i-phone through other networks with a view to to increase shipments during Christmas and the first quarter of next year.

He also added: “Apple is finally trying to open up its distribution. When the phone first launched, Apple wanted to sell exclusively through one network because it provided and aura of prestige for both the handset and network.

“The UK market is the first region where Apple has lapsed its exclusive deal with a network. In the USA, it has an exclusive deal with AT&T and in Germany with T-Mobile.

“In France, the competition regulator removed the exclusive deal, not Apple.

“Now, it’s about maximizing the audience.

“It’s not surprising if T-Mobile also gets it. It has the handset in Central Europe and Germany. “

New Website introduced to Celebrate 10 Years of UK Broadband

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Recently a new website has been introduced by the entertainment and Internet solutions provider for the hospitality and meeting industries i.e iBAHN for celebrating the ten years of the UK Broadband. The site is all about the reviews of the Broadband history, broadband evolution as well as future. The Managing Director EMEA, iBAHN, Graeme Powell stated that we have observed a radical change in the Broadband landscape at iBAHN over the past ten years. He further added that it was the perfect chance of taking stock of how the industry has evolved – and where we go from here. 10 years of broadband has been developed for the purpose of offering a focal point for broadband opinions, predictions and facts. He expressed the desire for the involvement of the broadband community and building of a conversation around what has been achieved and also to focus our energies for offering in the future.

The website is actually an online community hub including a timeline of highlights. It also comprises of opinions from various experts along with the comment pieces given by a number of connectivity thinkers from the hospitality industry. This site also provides an opportunity to incorporate a survey and Twitter account through the ‘have your say’ tab.

The website will carry the survey results aiming at identifying the issues over connection speeds, current broadband usage, security and the types of content, such as music and video, online TV and group conferencing which people are accessing.