Smart launches ZTE V9 Android Tablet

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SMART Communications Philippines - recently launched the ZTE V9 Tablet. This Tablet is a midrange tablet powered by Android 2.2 Froyo. The display is 7inches at 800x400 pixels resolution. Which you can find in most of the tablet today.

Like other tablet counter part, it has also Bluetooth, WiFi, USB and most of all it has 3G support for SMS and Voice call. Since it is SMART's Tablet, it uses the SmartBro network.

The internal storage is 512MB and expandable up-to 32 GIG via a microSD. I have no details about its processor and its speed but ZTE's V11 another variant of this slate is powered by a 1.2 Ghz processor, so its either this tablet has 1.2Ghz processor or has a processor at around 800Mhz.

Smart ZTE V9 Android Tablet price tag is Php 12,975.00. This is a mid-range tablet and not comparable to XOOM, Galaxy Tab or Apple's iPad. All in all the spec is pretty decent for its price.

With this kind of Tablet hitting the market, more people will likely to invest more on tablets than high-end smartphones. Tablets are the craze gadget today and with this price its worth it.

via: PinoyDROID

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Nokia to Cut 4000 jobs, Symbian development to Accenture

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Espoo Finland  - Nokia announced a new company strategy that will cut 4,000 jobs worldwide by 2012. The most affected is the Symbian division. With workforce coming from Denmark, Finland and the UK.

Nokia has partnered Accenture to transfer all its Symbian development/activities to this outsourcing company.

The company goal is  to reduce its Devices & Services operating expenses by 1 billion euros for the full year 2013 in comparison to the full year 2010. - Tech Crunch.

I think Nokia will  focus on the future development of Microsoft Windows Phone mobile OS. As Android and iOS dominating the market, this is a bold move from the number 1 mobile producer.

Would MS Mobile can compete with Android and iOS? It would take a year or two to see the real impact of Nokia's - Microsoft partnership.

Read the Full Press Release;

 Source: TechCrunch

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Smart LTE vs Globe HSPA+ - the 4G War

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Image courtesy of Newsbyte

The Philippines have 84-million subscribers from 3 carriers namely Smart Telecom, Globe Telecom, and Sun Cellular with population around 93-million. The competition is toughed among this three cellular providers also known as carriers. Last month PLDT owned Smart acquired 51% of Digitel, the company behind Sun Cellular. This means that only two main carriers left, Ayala owned Globe and PLDT-Smart.

Like in the US, the carriers in the Philippines are starting/testing to deploy the 4G (Fourth Generation) Technology in mobile telecommunication. This was started by Globe when they start providing their subscriber with WiMax. Currently no Wimax mobile phone in the Philippines and most of the WiMax service is Mobile Internet.

Currently Smart Philippines is now testing their LTE (Long Term Evolution) in Boracay, Aklan. As Smart goes LTE, Globe will be using HSPA+ (Evolved High-Speed Packet Access) and both considered to be 4G Technology.

LTE theoritical throughput (max) downlink speed  of 80-100Mbps down and HSPA+ is at 21Mbps.

I know Globe was already testing their 4G few months back, they even advertised this to Future Tech, a show in Studio 23. Both Telco are claiming for the first spot in the 4G service in the Philippines. Currently 4G is still in the test stage and maybe by 2012 they will totally deploy it.

But the biggest question is, How much speed they are willing to provide for their subscriber?
Yes they are advertising that 21 to 84Mbps speed but I think they gonna give us  1-2Mbps of bandwidth and 1Gig/day cap. Majority of the subscriber does not know this and the telcos are playing joke. We deserve faster internet connectivity and good coverage.

The demand for the bandwidth is growing as technology like HD Streaming, Video Download, Internet TV, Video conferencing are gaining popularity in this country. We need faster connection, reliable ISP and cheaper bandwidth. Plus LTE Smartphones are getting popular too...



Check out that HTC Thunderbolt 4G powered by Verizon.


In the USA, Verizon is the number one in LTE provider with average speed of 6Mbps
 
[via] Newsbyte

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Globe Telecom caps 1-Gigabyte per day

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Globe DSL Philippines released a press realease enforcing a bandwith cap of 1Gigabyte - per day in all their DSL services. According to the press release they are implementing what they called 'fair-use' policy.

They provided statistic analysis that about:

"5 percent of abusive subscribers use 80 percent of the available broadband Internet bandwidth in the company’s network." and "only 20 percent of the capacity to be shared by 95 percent of the remaining users."

It seems that NTC memo halting the implementation of the bandwidth cap is useless. Back in January NTC started public consultation about the request of various telcos to implement the bandwidth cap. 

I am not a hypocrite if I say that I don't use to much bandwidth. In a day I consume around 3GIG, most of it is downloading movies and music (yes I am pirate and it is powered by GlobeDSL)! This is one of the reason why telcos are trying to implement the capping saying that the abuse  is piracy related. But why do you advertised for unlimited use?

Personally my main source of entertainment is through streaming videos from Youtube, Miro and Revision Internet TV and I pay my bills on time. This only shows that the telcos like Globe cannot handle the demand (bandwidth use) of their customers. We are in the age of Internet TV, HD Videos, HD Photos. It seems that we are stock in the old age of  the internet ey!

In my mind Globe is saying: If you don't like it don't buy it! The next time I move to a new place I will not use GlobeDSL.

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The 100Gbps world in the near future

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With the advent of Smartphones, Tablets and Streaming TV, the demand of bandwidth is growing. Today our 1-Gbps fiber network suffice the current demand but the continue sales of millions of portable devices the demand is increasing that sooner we need 100 Gbps fiber network. The telecom is moving ahead to serve this demand in the future.

Not only Wired takes the demand for faster and higher bandwidth but also the Mobile operators. Mobile operators are now gearing up towards 4G networks and they need faster backhaul...

Further reading...

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Smart Philippines is testing their WiMax

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MANILA, Philippines – Smart Communications Inc. has taken its first steps to massively deploying WiMAX technology across the country.

According to a reliable source, During his test the speed is around 3Mbps at 3km from the base station. I asked him if Smart will going to cap the speed and he said "YES". But the cap is according to the subscriber's plan. After the said test they are going to deploy the new hardware for QoS or Quality of Service. For Luzon subscriber will getting hardware from Motorola and for Visayas-Mindanao from Huawei.

Smart is the only mobile carrier in the Philippines that  uses HSPA "High Speed Packet Access" at 850Mhz and 20 in the whole world.

"With our HSPA, WiMAX, and Canopy networks blanketing the whole country, Smart will have a unique and by far superior combination of wireless broadband networks," Vea said.

"It has been our vision to provide Internet for all Filipinos — no matter where they are or what device they’re using," said Orlando Vea, Smart’s chief wireless advisor.

WiMAX is a wireless digital communications system, also known as IEEE 802.16, that is intended for wireless "metropolitan area networks". WiMAX can provide broadband wireless access (BWA) up to 30 miles (50 km) for fixed stations, and 3 - 10 miles (5 - 15 km) for mobile stations. In contrast, the WiFi/802.11 wireless local area network standard is limited in most cases to only 100 - 300 feet (30 - 100m). So even the last point of cellular signal can have internet access with Smart's 8,700 cell sites across the country, housing various network equipment, including antenna for GSM, HSPA and Canopy. Very soon, these same towers will play host to Smart’s extensive WiMAX network.

For the trial, Smart and Motorola installed the WAP 450 WiMAX Access Points equipment to a number of cell site towers across the country. The WAP 450 utilizes tower top power amplifiers that can be housed in a small cabinet, allowing for a compact cell site configuration.

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