Mobilink & Ufone Sign Agreement for Tower Sharing: ProPakistani

Mobilink & Ufone Sign Agreement for Tower Sharing
Nokia Announces E6 and X7 Phones
Android to Rule the Smartphone Roost
ZONG launches ‘Top Shops’
Babar Awan Visits PTA
Experts Demand Deployment of Eco-sustainable Mobile Technologies
IT Minister Visits USF Office
How to Backup / Restore your Android Phone

Mobilink & Ufone Sign Agreement for Tower Sharing

Posted: 12 Apr 2011 08:16 AM PDT

Mobilink & Ufone Sign Agreement for Tower Sharing is a post from: ProPakistani

Mobilink and Ufone signed an accord to enter into an agreement for tower sharing.

The agreement was signed between Rashid Khan, President and CEO of Mobilink, and Abdul Aziz, President and CEO of Ufone at the Mobilink House.

This collaborative effort is in line with the initiatives taken by the Pakistan Telecom Authority and the Federal Government to encourage cellular providers to drive greater efficiencies while reducing the carbon foot print.

Sharing his views, Rashid Khan said,

"This alliance is mutually beneficial and will also facilitate us to better align ourselves with our strategic initiatives and become greener. This will further enhance Mobilink's coverage footprint, already the widest, hence, bringing more value to the customer which is our top priority."

Commenting on the accord, Abdul Aziz, CEO Ufone, said,

"Ufone has had a keen interest in exploring newer avenues for our "Go Green" initiative and this tower sharing alliance is another step forward to further enhance our initiative. With this alliance Ufone has moved ahead to ensure customers have seamless connectivity no matter where they are in the country. This follows similar alliances with other operators hence allows us to create a positive network layout most beneficial to the customer"

Through sharing of their network infrastructures the two cellular providers will be able to enhance the customer experience by offering a wider coverage footprint, driving synergies and reducing their respective carbon foot prints.

Nokia Announces E6 and X7 Phones

Posted: 12 Apr 2011 08:05 AM PDT

Nokia Announces E6 and X7 Phones is a post from: ProPakistani

Nokia today announced its two handsets: Nokia E6, said to be aiming the business community; X7 comes with rich entertainment features.

Both phones are equipped with enhanced version of symbian called Symbian Anna aka PR2.

Nokia E6

Nokia E6 is a QWERTY and touch device aimed at business and general users who need to get things done while they're on the move. Busy emailers rejoice – there's now a new Symbian business device that you can operate single-handed.

Nokia E6 boosts a 2.46-inch LCD capacitive touch display offering 16mn colors and a resolution of 640 by 480 pixels. It's made of Corning Gorilla Glass for great durability.

The device comes with 8GB of internal memory and support for MicroSD cards up to 32GB.

The battery is a removable Nokia BP-4L 1500mAH – rated for up to a month on standby and 7h30m talk-time over 3G – longer over GSM connections. It offers support for WiFi connectivity through 802.11 b/g/n. There's also Bluetooth 3.0 with support for stereo headphones.

The 8-megapixel full focus (EDOF) camera has a dual-LED flash, 2X digital zoom (3X in video mode) and offers HD 720p video recording at 25fps.

The Nokia E6 is expected to ship in Q3 2011. It's price is going to be around or over Rs. 35,000.

Nokia X7

Nokia X7 is company's first 4-inch entertainment smartphone. Made from toughened glass and seamless stainless steel, it offers a unique and durable design that will stand out from the crowd.

The 4-inch, capacitive AMOLED display offers 16 million colors and a resolution of 640 x 360 pixels. Just like E6, it's made of Corning Gorilla Glass, so it won't shatter if you lose control during a drive around Asphalt 5 HD.

The 8-megapixel full focus camera also offers 720p video recording and comes with a dual LED flash. The Nokia X7 comes with 8GB memory card pre-installed, with up to 350MB built-in operating memory. It can support MicroSD cards up to 32GB.

The device measures 119.7 x 62.8 x 11.9mm (thinner at the edges) and weighs 146g. It offers 802.11 b/g/n WiFi support. It offers a 3.5mm audio connector for headphones.

The 1200mAH battery is rated for up to 450 hours standby and 4.5 hours talktime on a 3G network – longer over GSM.

The Nokia X7 will be available in Q2 2011 and its price is expected to be around or over Rs. 40,000.

Android to Rule the Smartphone Roost

Posted: 12 Apr 2011 08:00 AM PDT

Android to Rule the Smartphone Roost is a post from: ProPakistani

Long gone are the times when it would be 3 to 6 months before a new mobile handset was given birth to the consumer market by its manufacturers. The cellular industry was growing, but at a snail pace compared to the madness of the present age.

Due to the high cost of service, handset manufacturers had fewer factors to appease in order to ensure sales to remain steady.

But with the rapid evolution of the information age, mobile handsets have become the hottest item on the wish list, with launch dates and events. Week after week, a manufacturer begins sales of the latest model, or announces the plans of a new prototype device. The iPhone's cult following, with people lining up for the launch, has taken the simple communication device to a new standing. And it is still hard for many to explain the need to stand all those hours for a mobile device.

The smartphone arena has become the latest and hottest battleground for all device manufacturers. With more knowledge-able consumers gracing the market, the demand for devices that do it all has resulted in the numerous variants being produced to please every type of customer.

Apart from the hardware, the fight has come down to the software that powers the handset. Ease of use, interaction, applications, connectivity; all form key factors considered by the customer before making a decision.

Nokia has for long remained the numero uno in handset manufacturing, but it was Research In Motion's (RIM) Blackberry line that brought smartness to the phone, supplying mobility to your work resources. Then came a new century and Apple revolutionized the touch factor for mobile phones.

The madness that has ensued since has created manufacturing big-wigs out of Asian companies like HTC and Samsung. The benchmark set by the iPhone is consistently probed by other creators, in an effort to match and surpass the functionalities and market-draw held by the device.

A recent report by Gartner showed that Symbian (Nokia's proprietary OS) retained its majority on phone sales in 2010. That majority has been decreasing over time, with the research firm predicting that 2011 will see the top spot going to Android. However, the key factor that has already given fire to debate in the international circle is Microsoft taking second-spot by 2015, ahead of Apple, and Symbian dying out.

One of the assumptions which may have led Gartner's analysts to come up with these numbers is the link-up between Microsoft and Nokia, with the latter deciding to push the former's Windows Phone 7 OS on all devices. Windows has developed the OS from scratch, with smartphones in mind, and has won rave reviews for having a good foundation, but needing work to make it a worth competitor. So, with all Nokia devices being Windows-powered, Gartner believes a fifth of the market to be with this dual powerhouse in the next 5 years. worldwide mobile os Market Share thumb Android to Rule the Smartphone Roost

The dominance of Android is hard to negate. Google's OS has seen its popularity shoot up with each period, and with an open-source approach, most handset manufacturers have adopted it with open arms. With Android powering phones at all price levels and a growing application market with lesser conditions, it has been a relatively easy push for retailers and manufacturers alike to sell their ware to the consumer.

RIM's continued drop in the ranks is often attributed to its lack of innovation, after being one of the pick of the enterprise crowd. While the company has made attempts in recent years to revamp its portfolio and improve its branding, especially the younger crowd, the delay in realizing the market needs and trends could prove to effect the drop.

While the above numbers provide food for thought, another displays an astounding turn for the communication industry in general; Gartner predicting a 57.7 percent increase in 2011 of smartphone sales to 468 million units.

What does this mean for the Pakistani market? Well, if the recent smartphone launches are anything to go by, the cellular operators are beginning to step up on the device front. The next question is if their networks will also step up?

ZONG launches ‘Top Shops’

Posted: 12 Apr 2011 07:59 AM PDT

ZONG launches ‘Top Shops’ is a post from: ProPakistani

Zong has come up with a new concept of offering before and after sale support through the launch of retail shops across the country that offer customers an enhanced level of convenience.

The exclusive ZONG branded retail shops, each named 'TOP SHOP', has been developed to address the growing business trends of channel specialization at Zong, which would further develop & strengthen its channel penetration.

In addition to routine services for customers the 'TOP SHOP' will be providing specialized services to customers thus further enhancing their experience.

Expressing his views at the opening ceremony, Usman Ishaq, Director Sales, ZONG stated that ZONG is constantly assessing the evolving needs of its customers and understanding these needs, it proactively develops solutions. Now, consistent with ZONG's core objective of continuously adding value to its customers through innovative means, we have launched this convenience retailing initiative as 'TOP SHOP' as a one-stop solution.

"With our branded retail shops, we believe that we would be in a position to maximize convenience in this category, We would be working aggressively to come out with more innovative consumer offers to create maximum value for our customers," said Mr. Ishaq, further added.

The company has planned to open 'TOP SHOP' retail outlets spread across the length and breadth of the country.

Babar Awan Visits PTA

Posted: 12 Apr 2011 07:53 AM PDT

Babar Awan Visits PTA is a post from: ProPakistani

As we mentioned in our post, earlier today, Dr. Babar Awan is visiting various Telecom and IT organizations (as part of ministerial round), and for this he today visited PTA head office.

We are expecting him to visit NTC, R&D and other places in coming days.

A statement issued by PTA said that during his visit Dr. Awan emphasized on the need of pro-consumer telecom policies, which should be revised every year.

Just for the records, it merits mentioning here that most of our telecom policies (IT Policy, Broadband Policy, Telecom policy) have got expired and are bound to be revised, since 2009. This means government needs to renew policies now (with 5 years expirations date), let alone their yearly renewal.

PTA's Statement said that Chairman PTA Dr. Muhammed Yaseen, Secretary Law, Mr. Muhammad Masood Chishti, Member Finance, Syed Nasrul Karim Ghaznavi, and Member Technical, Dr. Khawar Siddique Khokhar and senior officers of the Authority were also present during the visit.

Mr. Awan was quoted as saying:

Complaint handling system should be made effective and all service providers should make arrangements to remove grievances of the consumers.

The minister stressed that awareness campaigns should be launched in Urdu and regional languages. "Grey trafficking is a serious issue and it needs to be dealt effectively, in this context laws may also be thoroughly checked and applied", the Minister emphasized.

He said that telecom sector in Pakistan has made decisive contribution towards the national economy therefore challenges faced by the telecom sector are being addressed in an appropriate manner.

The Minister said that for the prompt disposal of telecom related cases, Telecom Tribunals would be set up soon. He also stressed the need for coming up with out of box ideas for implementation of ongoing activities regarding the development of telecom sector.

The Federal Minister offered PTA, his full support, for smooth access of telecom services to the people of Pakistan residing in the far-flung areas. He appreciated the role of PTA in the uplift of telecom sector.

During the visit, Chairman PTA briefed the Minister about the latest developments taking place in the telecom industry.

Chairman said that Pakistan telecom industry was growing at an astounding pace after the deregulation of the sector. The broadband sector growth has been extraordinary and this sector has become a model for other countries across the world. He said that number of factors have played role in it, including investor friendly government policies and healthy competition introduced by PTA which has encouraged operators to an extra mile for making a strong subscriber base. On this occasion Chairman PTA Dr. Muhammad Yaseen presented souvenir to honorable Minister.

Experts Demand Deployment of Eco-sustainable Mobile Technologies

Posted: 12 Apr 2011 03:06 AM PDT

Experts Demand Deployment of Eco-sustainable Mobile Technologies is a post from: ProPakistani

Pakistan's annual telecom and IT event, the 4^TH Pakistan Telecommunication Conference (TeleCON 2011) concluded today at the Islamabad Club.

Organized in collaboration with the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and the Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@SHA), the conference recommended that it was time for Pakistan to deploy eco-sustainable technologies to enhance communication and usher robust economic growth.

Muhammad Yaseen, Chairman PTA in his keynote address before the start of the day-long meeting stressed,

"Broadband is considered as the next big thing to offer a unifying services platform for three converging industrial sectors: computing, communications and broadcasting.

Encouraging developments are happening in this sector since mid-2007, Pakistan has emerged as a lucrative market for broadband service providers owing to the huge potential it offers especially in the wireless broadband market. We observed a profound evolution of broadband technologies over the years with the present subscription base reaching 1.2 million from 0.1 million in 2007."

According to United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) latest report on Information Economy Report, Pakistan is among the five dynamic economies of developing Asia in terms of increased penetration of mobile phones, Internet and broadband.

He added,

"I strongly believe that this is not the end; it is a new beginning of reaping the associated business, entrepreneurship and social benefits of this exponential ICT infrastructure.

As today we are going to deliberate on potential new technologies and economic challenges, I certainly feel quite contended that this promising regime in Pakistan's economy will continue bringing in substantial revenues and creating remarkable job opportunities."

Earlier, Menin Rodrigues, Chairman of TeleCON 2011 and President & CEO, Shamrock Communications (Pvt) Limited in his welcoming address said,

"A powerful telecommunications infrastructure has proved to be the key for robust growth in many countries during recent times.

Over the past two decades, Pakistan has been very proactive in deploying modern technology in this arena; however the quest of delivering the next-generation of cellular services has become a complex debate for the industry.

In the opening session on "Regulatory – Technology and Economic Challenges", Adil Rauf, CEO, Alcatel-Lucent Technologies, mapping the future of mobile technology said,

"A radical and sustainable approach was needed to meet the eco-sustainability challenges, and announced the company's ground-breaking mobile technology called 'Light-Radio' a simpler, greener, lighter network that saves in infrastructure and energy."

In his presentation on 'Technologies and Economic Challenges', Arif Hussain, Chief Operating officer of Multinet Pakistan, said

"Considerations for technology, economics and opportunities must be the key element in drawing a clearer roadmap for the future of mobile technologies in Pakistan. While technologies were getting bigger, better, cheaper and faster; the investment and ROI, and stability of platform were an equally important factor."

Dr. Tanveer ul Haq, Chief Technical Officer of Wi-Tribe and Saad Muzaffar Waraich, Country Manager, Nokia-Siemens Network while presenting in the session on "Deployment of 3-G or 4-G Technology" revealed that the real need today was to have access to faster and reliable broadband as consumers were more inclined to video-downloading rather than data sourcing. Both were of the opinion that deployment of 3-G technology in Pakistan was long overdue and should be a priority on the government's agenda. This session was chaired by Dr. Khawar Siddique Khokhar, Member Technical, PTA who endorsed the view of his chairman citing the need to be cautious in its deployment.

In the session on "Information Technology, Mobile Applications" Usman Tariq of Systems Limited, the country's oldest and one of the largest IT and ITES companies, with revenues of approx Rs.1.5 billion during 2010, said, "The key areas of mobile applications which included customized packages, mobile games, mobile websites and web-applications, business and marketing applications, were some of the development areas which need to focused on." Citing the example of the success of mobile banking in Pakistan, Usman said that companies with the best breed of software technologies and business process outsourcing solutions were in a better position to progress in the mobile applications arena.

The conference ended on a high note in the Panel Discussion chaired by Mr. Irfan Nadeem, Federal Secretary, Ministry of Science & Technology which centered on "Global Telecom and IT Trends – the Pakistan Model". Prof. Dr. Arshad Ali, Director-General, NUST School of Engineering & Computer Sciences and Shehryar Hyderi, Chief Operating Officer of Trango Interactive, with the active participation of delegates in the audience dilated on the need for providing R&D support to developers and small companies enabling them to compete particularly in the local gaming markets where there was scope and talent. Shehryar's viewpoints on the potential of the gaming industry in Pakistan drew wide acclaim and opened new doors of opportunities for the developer-community.

IT Minister Visits USF Office

Posted: 12 Apr 2011 02:28 AM PDT

IT Minister Visits USF Office is a post from: ProPakistani

Federal Minister for Information Technology and Telecom, Dr. Babar Awan visited Universal Service Fund Company (USF Co.) office yesterday, said a statement issued by USF.

Mr. Awan's this visit, as seen by the outsiders, is a ministerial ritual. This is how every new minister visits its ministry offices/organizations.

Company statement said that the minister took interest in the working and projects of USF and asked several questions.

Statement said:

"He laid a lot of emphasis on running 'People Oriented" programmes while remaining within the rules and structure of USF. He also stressed the need for coming up with out-of-box ideas for implementation of such projects. The Federal Minister offered USF and the Telecom Operators his full support, through parliamentarians or otherwise, in areas where difficulties are being faced in rolling out telecom networks."

Earlier, the Minister was given a detailed briefing on USF and its programmes for proliferation of telecom services in the unserved and under-served, remote and rural parts of the country.

Giving a presentation on the topic, the Chief Executive Officer, Parvez Iftikhar, apprised the Minister IT regarding programs of USF and the progress that USF projects have been making. He informed that the number of previously un-served Mauzas where service has been provided has reached 3,500 and almost 3,000 kms of Fiber Cables have been laid to connect remote Tehsils so far not served with Optical Fiber, mainly in Sindh and Balochistan. At the same time number of small towns and cities with broadband internet has touched 238 and all higher secondary schools, colleges and libraries falling in those areas are being provided free Broadband connections with five PCs and training for two teachers each.

Noting that all the progress made was during the tenure of the present government, the Minister IT assured USF Management of complete support. He commended the efforts being made by USF for striving to provide telecom services to all people of the country.

Secretary IT, Mr. Saeed Ahmed Khan and Secretary Law, Mr. Muhammad Masood Chishti, were also present in the briefing.

How to Backup / Restore your Android Phone

Posted: 11 Apr 2011 10:20 PM PDT

How to Backup / Restore your Android Phone is a post from: ProPakistani

clip image0012 How to Backup / Restore your Android Phone You may need to backup your data if you are planning on changing your phone, be able to get back everything in case of a theft/loss or to just get the phone the way it was before (without losing Contacts/SMS).

I did it for the last reason & surprisingly the battery life doubled, exactly what I needed (probably because of lots of background services not running anymore).

Better backup before the world gets upside down on you.

(Note: This guide is for both non-rooted & rooted phones but users having root access should try Titanium Backup)

Things we will Backup

Contacts
System Settings
SMS
Call Logs
- Applications

Software you'll need

Contacts & System Settings

If you have a Gmail account associated with your phone (& definitely it is) than it's a non-issue because all your contacts are automatically backed up with Gmail & in the same way restored automatically on a new/refreshed phone.

But if you still somehow want an offline backup or all you contacts in one file, go to Contacts, Press the Menu soft key, Select Import/Export, Select Export to SD Card, Select OK & all your contacts will be saved to the SD Card.

For system settings make sure in Privacy Settings 'Backup my Data' is checked (in previous versions, before Android 2.2, check 'Backup my Settings').

This will, like contacts, backup your settings online & restore them when needed. Some known settings that will get restored:

WiFi Settings (including saved networks)
Wallpaper
Accessibility Settings
User Dictionary
Privacy Settings
Certain Apps are Re-Installed

But don't just expect you stuff to instantly re-appear after a restore. Give your phone sometime. The User Dictionary restore may only work in Android 2.2+.

Backing Up SMS

SMS Backup & Restore does what its name says and does just that. It exports all you messages to an XML file on your SD Card. You can get it Installed from the Market.

SMS Backup + is another tool that will backup all your SMS/MMS & Call Logs to your Gmail account. It actually sends them as email to your inbox & labels them appropriately. Am not exactly sure about it's restore process though it claims it can restore them.

SMS Backup & Restore has a Preview feature to preview messages in the backup file before restoring it & also allows you to find duplicate messages, plus a delete all messages in memory option too.

Call Logs

Install "Call Logs Backup & Restore" from Android Market. The options are simple, just click Backup & it will save your logs into an XML file. The saved file has no 'styling' information so if you open it in IE, FireFox, Opera, and Chrome etc. it won't look neat but is readable. The time, date & phone number can be read from it easily. Android keeps up to 500 logs, so that's the max it an backup.

The same preview and delete options are here too.

Applications

Start Astro File Manager, press the Menu key & select Tools. Select Application Manager/Backup. Here you have an option to select individual Apps or all of them. Choose the ones that you like & click Backup, Oh you can't click it… no worries just tap it ;)

[OPTIONAL] AVG Anti-Virus Free

AVG Anti-Virus Free is a 'One App' solution to all backup operations. The catch? You cannot backup individual category like say just the messages or just the bookmarks & the restore will delete all the previous info & replace it with the ones in the backup file. If it's a new system that's completely OK. Still it's a powerful tool and largely hassle free. The 'App Backup' will backup your Applications, the same way as Astro. Why it is in the end and not recommended as the only solution? Because it is a Beta feature & may hang during the restore process.

Important Step:

Your call log, SMS, Contacts & Applications are now on your SD Card. Connect your phone to a PC & transfer the files/folders described below or email the smaller files to yourself (I use Gmail) as a fast easy way for online storage/retrieval.

Files: 00001.vcf (or 00002.vcf it that one already exists)

Folders: CallLogBackupRestore, SMSBackupRestore, backups (contains your apps), droidbackupdir (if you used AVG Anti-Virus Free).

Refresh Your Phone

Go to Settings > Privacy > Factory Data Reset.

You phone will restart and it will be like new :)

Copy the above mentioned files back to the SD Card, install the respective apps and hit restore on each one of them, that's all. Besides these there are tons of different apps on the Android Market, you are free to explore them :) Do check Lookout Mobile Security, unlike the other apps it backs them up online.