Micromax Launches Canvas 2 A110 and Superfone PIXEL A90S

Micromax has been launching a plethora of devices in the past couple of months, and it doesn’t look like the manufacturer is going to stop until the festive season ends in the country. Micromax has today officially unveiled two more devices - the Superfone A110 Canvas 2, and the A90S Superfone PIXEL.

The Micromax A110 Canvas 2 is a successor to the company’s first attempt at the phablet segment, the A100 Canvas. Boasting a 5inch FWVGA display (480x854; 196ppi), the Canvas 2 is powered by a faster 1Ghz dual-core processor, 512mb RAM, features an 8mp camera with dual-LED flash and a 0.3mp front-facing camera, comes with 2GB internal storage expandable upto 32GB via an MicroSD Card, and runs on Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich. The phablet houses a 2000mAh battery pack, and is dual-sim capable.

As we earlier reported, the Superfone A110 Canvas 2 is priced at Rs. 9,990 and is available in two colour options - White and Black.

The A90S Superfone PIXEL however, is a successor to the Superfone A90. The A90S has a 4.3inch Super AMOLED display (480x800; 217ppi), 1.2Ghz dual-core processor, 512mb RAM, 8mp CMOS camera with LED flash and a 0.3mp front facing camera, and runs on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. The smartphone is backed by a 1600mAh battery pack, and is a dual-sim device.

The Micromax A90S Superfone PIXEL will cost you Rs. 12,990 and is available in both black and white. Both the devices come pre-loaded with Micromax apps, and feature connectivity options like GPS, WiFi, 3G, and Bluetooth 3.0. The devices are now available at all major retail outlets throughout India.

Karbonn unveils Smart A9+, A21 with dual-core CPU, ICS and dual-SIM

Karbonn Mobiles has unveiled two new Android-based smartphones, called the Smart A9+ and Smart A21. Part of the Karbonn's Duple series, the new devices come with similar set of specifications with both powered by dual-core 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processors and have dual-SIM (GSM+GSM) support.

A21 sports a 4.5-inch display with a qHD resolution of 480 x 800 pixels, while the A9+ has a smaller 4-inch display with a resolution of 800×480 pixels. The A21 has a 1,800-mAh battery, and the A9+ has a 1,420-mAh battery.

The Karbonn Smart A9+ is priced at Rs. 9,990, while the Smart A21 comes for Rs. 11,990.

The common specifications include Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich OS, 5MP rear camera and 1.3MP front facing camera, 4GB built-in storage, 3G support, 512MB of RAM, and microSD card support. For connectivity, the Karbonn A21 and A9+ support Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth with A2DP and GPS.

Karbonn A9+

“Understanding the evolving consumer needs and to enhance their mobile experience, Karbonn Mobiles brings to them the Duple Series smartphones with dual core processor which leads to a better gaming experience, faster browsing & lesser power consumption,” says Shashin Devsare, Executive Director, Karbonn Mobiles on launch of the devices.

Why 900 Mhz partial refarming is not workable for GSM players

New Delhi: The Empowered Group of Ministers’ (EGoM’s) decision on partial refarming of 900 Mhz spectrum has come in for immediate criticism from GSM operators who say the serious technical implications of such a move have been ignored.

The EGoM tallowed telcos to retain 2.5 Mhz of 900 Mhz spectrum band as long as they are willing to pay an auction-determined price for this. This is a departure from the Telecom Commission’s earlier recommendation that all 900 Mhz spectrum held by telcos be taken back.

The GSM lobby, the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), says there are two immediate concerns which have arisen with this partial refarming decision:

1) It will be next to impossible to service 450-500 million subscribers in the existing 900 Mhz band with the same quality of service with a limited 2.5 Mhz of spectrum in the 900 Mhz band and the remaining on 1,800 Mhz band without any disruption of wide-scale services.

2) An operator with 2.5 Mhz in the 900 Mhz band and the remaining spectrum in 1,800 Mhz band is worse off than an operator with his complete network in the 1,800 Mhz band as this network will give a false delusion of coverage. The difference in spectrum propagation/network design in the two bands will lead to coverage constraints.

The EGoM has left it to the telcos to decide if they want to retain this 2.5 Mhz of 900 Mhz spectrum or return it but from what COAI is saying, perhaps some telcos may prefer to return all of the 900 Mhz spectrum. The COAI has urged the EGoM to set up a high-powered Technical Committee, including representatives from global companies and technical experts, to study the feasibility of the option to retain 2.5 Mhz.