Virgin Mobile bequeath with the ‘Most Innovative Mobile Services’ award

Virgin Mobile, India’s first youth mobile products and services brand has been awarded the coveted Infocom award for the ‘Most Innovative Mobile Services’ for the year 2009. This award is yet another acknowledgment to Virgin Mobile’s commitment of ushering in pioneering industry defining propositions for its target audience.

The Hon’ble Minister of State Communications & IT, Mr. Gurudas Kamat presented the award to M. A. Madhusudan, Chief Executive Officer, Virgin Mobile India at the Annual Infocom National Telecom awards function held in New Delhi. The Infocom National Telecom Awards 2009 were announced by INFOCOM along with CMAI (Communications and Manufacturing Association of India). The awards are held annually with the objective of recognizing and providing greater impetus to the telecom players for their contribution in building a robust National Telecom Network and providing an effective means of communications.

On receiving the award, M. A. Madhusudan, Chief Executive Officer, Virgin Mobile, India said “It is indeed an honor to receive this award and be recognized as the best amongst our peers in the industry. This award reaffirms Virgin Mobile’s dedicated efforts to set industry benchmarks in innovation and service excellence. Our ability to leverage the youth connect to offer innovative mobile products and services will play a key role in differentiating the brand from the rest. I am grateful to CMAI INFOCOM and the honored jury members for acknowledging our efforts in this category and providing recognition to our spirit of leading innovation and change in the mobile space.”

Through its Hatke brand DNA, and a unique tone of voice, Virgin Mobile has established an incredible brand connect with the youth of the country. Launched in March 2008 in India, Virgin Mobile in an incredibly short span of time has evolved into a brand that the Indian youth relate to as a buddy. In a recent brand survey conducted by A C Neilson, Virgin Mobile witnessed 92% awareness amongst the surveyed target audience with 95% brand advocacy levels. All the products and services as well as the communication is targeted and customized for the youth segment.

Since its launch in India, Virgin Mobile has taken a number of innovative initiatives to offer customized and relevant offerings for its youth audience to meet their style, budget and aspirational quotient.

- ‘Virgin Mobile 2 Virgin Mobile’, free after 3: Another unique tariff offer from Virgin Mobile where customers only have to pay for the first 3 minutes of the day at Re. 1/minute for local calls post which calls are free between Virgin Mobile to Virgin Mobile (daily cap at 200 minutes per day) without any extra pack.

- ‘New 50 paise STD local’ - The first of its kind, this offer made geography history and made making STD calls as easy as Local. Virgin Mobile customers can make STD and Local calls @50paise/minute without any extra charges or a pack.

o STD: After the first 3 minutes @Rs. 1.5/minute each day, customers can enjoy outgoing calls through the day at just 50paise/minute for up to 60 minutes daily. Beyond this, the initial rate is applicable.

o LOCAL - After the first 3 minutes @Re.1/minute each day, customers can enjoy outgoing calls for rest of the day at just 50paise/minute.

- SMS 123 - A unique proposition which allows Virgin Mobile customers to send as many as 200 messages per day free to their friends etc. by just paying for the first three messages.

o STD Messages: After the first three messages of the day at Rs. 1.5/- per message, customers can enjoy 100 free messages, beyond which the regular rates apply.

o Local Messages: After the first three messages of the day at Re. 1/- per message in all circles except Tamil Nadu and Karnataka where it is 50 paise, customers can enjoy 100 free messages, beyond which the regular rates apply. This offer from Virgin Mobile was aimed at ushering in genuine freedom of sending SMSs for youth by providing it without any extra pack or upfront commitment.

In addition, Virgin Mobile offers innovative schemes such as ‘Thank God its Weekend’ that let youth enjoy 100 free local SMSs and all local mobile calls at 30 paise between Friday and Sunday on payment of just Rs. 18.

Virgin Mobile offers a range of six handsets with a blend of style, features, differentiation and affordability. The handsets are priced between Rs. 1,199 and Rs. 4,250 and meet the lifestyle, budget and aspirations of the youth. The current handset portfolio includes – vJazz, vBeat, vStyle, vBond, vDesire and vGlide. These handsets are RUIM enabled, come with a colour screen, stereo FM Radio, include one touch access for Vbytes - Virgin Mobile’s VAS portal and much more. Recently Virgin Mobile also made its entry into the data devices segment with the launch of vLink – a sleek USB modem with wireless internet access and 1GB data storage space at Rs. 2,100/- only.

For any queries, Virgin Mobile champs can be reached at 600 166 66 from any number. Virgin Mobile customers can reach the 24/7 contact centre at 125999.

INQ Chat 3G and Mini 3G announced, iTunes syncable

Cellphone manufacturer INQ has two new phones just around teh corner - the INQ Mini 3G and INQ Chat 3G. They both feature Twitter, Facebook, Skype, Windows Live integration along with iTunes syncing.

The INQ1 won the Best Handset award this February at the MWC outwitting heavyweights such as the LG KS360, T-Mobile G1, BlackBerry Storm 9500 and Nokia E71. For the new handsets, INQ has updated both the hardware and the software platform.

INQ aims to produce phones that compete with smartphones on most counts but cost less. They use a proprietary OS that can multitask between native and installed apps so you can constantly stay logged on your favorite online social communities. Third-party application support includes Java and BREW compatible software.

The INQ Chat 3G was inspired by the fact that 30% of the INQ1 users regularly sent emails despite only having a 12-key keypad to work with. The Chat 3G has a full QWERTY and a landscape 2.4" QVGA display, which sets it up to be a cheaper alternative to the likes of Nokia E71.

INQ Chat 3G

INQ Chat 3G offers a homescreen widget that displays Twitter and Facebook updates as well as push support for Gmail. The INQ Chat 3G has a 3.2 MP camera with autofocus and built-in GPS. The physical dimensions are 114.5mm x 61.0mm x 12.8mm and its 120MB internal memory can be expanded up to 8GB.

The INQ Mini 3G measures at 102.9mm x 45.8mm x 12.8mm and offers a smaller 2.2" QVGA screen and a 2-megapixel camera. The internal memory is again expandable to 8GB.

INQ Mini 3G

Both the Chat 3G and the Mini 3G have HSDPA support and can be used for 3G tethering. The phonebooks on the phones are presence-enabled and keep track of the status of all your contacts letting you choose which way to contact them. As far as multimedia goes, there's support for MP3, AAC, MPEG4, H.263 and H.264.

For better personalization the INQ Mini 3G and Chat 3G will have a range of seven colored backs. The phone's applications will be updateable over the air to keep users up with changes and updates in the services.

Both the INQ Chat 3G and Mini 3G will be available in the forth quarter of 2009.

Samsung I7500 preview - first look

samsung latest show and tell, Samsung's first Android phone is serving Cupcake. The Samsung I7500 a.k.a. Galaxy is the first Google-powered device to come with a 5 megapixel camera and that's just the tip of much improved multimedia skill.

This is just a preview and it should serve to whet your appetite as the I7500 prepares to launch. As soon as we get our hands on a final version, we'll grab our tool bag and make an out-and-out review. For now, we'll just share our first impressions of the device.

Samsung I7500 official photos

Samsung I7500 Galaxy at a glance:

• General: GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, HSDPA 7.2Mbps, HSUPA 5.76Mbps
• OS and CPU: 528MHz CPU with 128MB RAM running latest Android OS v1.5
• Form factor: Touchscreen bar, no keypad
• Dimensions: 115.0 x 56.0 x 11.9 mm, 119 g.
• Display: 3.2" capacitive OLED touchscreen, HVGA resolution (320 x 480 pixels)
• Storage: 8GB, hot-swappable microSD card slot (up to 16GB)
• Camera: 5 megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash and geotagging
• Connectivity: Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP, microUSB v.2.0, 3.5mm audio jack
• Misc: Accelerometer sensor, Gesture lock
• Battery: 1440 mAh battery

The I7500 is Samsung's Google phone

Version 1.5 of the Android OS brings some very welcome refinements. The on-screen keyboard is obviously one of them, now that Android powers a full touch handset with no keyboard at all. Video recording and playback have also been included - both strangely missing in version 1. Stereo Bluetooth is aboard as well.

There's also some UI polish and plenty of work done under the hood. Extensive bug fixes and improved performance should make the OS even more enjoyable.

Before we begin, it would be fair play to note that in this preview we're using quite an early version of the device and it's not all shipshape. The most noticeable absentees are the camera samples, but the obviously undercooked Camera app does the handset no justice. A good 5 megapixel snapper is a valuable feature and we have every reason to believe Samsung will get it right before launch.