Htc And Reliance Communications Join To Promote Windows Mobile In India

[Arun 795]

The Unwired

Thursday, 20.03.08

HTC Corporation and Reliance Communications, India's largest integrated telecom service provider, today announced a strategic alliance to promote next generation CDMA devices in India. The announcement marks HTC's foray into the fast growing CDMA market in India, and reiterates the strategic focus of Reliance Communications to offer a wider range of world-class PDA devices on the CDMA platform for its high-end data usage customers.

In line with this, HTC and Reliance Communications also announced two new Windows Mobile phones - the HTC P3000 Windows Mobile Professional smartphone and the HTC S720 Windows Mobile Standard smartphone.

"The alliance with HTC is in line with our strategic intent to provide the latest, top-of-the-line, data enabled high end devices to Reliance customers", said Mr. S.P.Shukla - President, Reliance Communications. "Our partnership with HTC is an important part of our data strategy to empower the customer with email, internet and data applications on the move as well as consolidate our range of PDA devices with entertainment enabled options of HTC devices for the fast growing top end Individual and Business customer segments", he added.

Under the alliance, HTC's world-class CDMA handsets will be exclusively provided on Reliance Communication's state-of-the-art wireless network providing high quality voice, data and video communication across 15,000 towns and 6 lakh Indian villages, seamless data connectivity with 100 % data enabled base stations and high speed mobile internet access on CDMA 1X technology. With over a decade of experience designing innovating smart phone solutions, the HTC CMDA product-line in India, starting with the HTC P3000 and HTC S720, will offer a robust line-up of services and applications for high-end mobile users.

"The partnership with Reliance Communications further strengthens HTC's commitment to serve the growing demands of Indian consumers. With the introduction of the HTC P3000 and HTC S720, customers will soon have access to these innovative CMDA devices," said Mr. Peter Chou, CEO & President, HTC. "Merging HTC's innovative devices with Reliance's network will enable customers to experience cutting-edge mobile Internet connectivity on the go."

Mr. Amajit Gupta Director Communication and Media segment, Microsoft India commented, "HTC has the largest portfolio of Window's Mobile enabled smartphones in India and we are excited about the two new additions to the family - the HTC P3000 and HTC S720. Already, smartphones are being viewed as both mobile consumer Internet devices as well as imperative business productivity tools. We are confident that with the added line up of business applications, the inherent power delivered by Windows Mobile, and the value proposition of the Reliance CDMA network, the devices will bring further maturity into the rapidly growing Smartphone market in India."

To promote this first-of-a-kind data-capable CDMA handset devices, Reliance Communications will provide to it customers a choice of two internationally successful HTC handset models - the HTC P3000 and the HTC S720 which will be available by end March, 2008, at all Reliance Mobile World and leading HTC Authorized Resellers across the country at a market-operating price of Rs. 16,500 and Rs. 19,500 respectively.

[coolrajiv 1]

Great news .. finally some cool handsets in Reliance CDMA segment

[ani_meher 42]

HTC s720 @19500? damn, i was very happy to read the news until i came to the prices. HTC S710 is for 14k, 5k additional just to have it locked on CDMA is not worth for me.

[vishalkumar 0]

^^^

Yes, the price does look little high, but I think after a couple of months after launch, the prices can go down.

[HetalDP 947]

We have found Unlocking all Latest CDMA Device into Reliance Just search it

[kesav 127]

HTC s720 @19500? damn, i was very happy to read the news until i came to the prices. HTC S710 is for 14k, 5k additional just to have it locked on CDMA is not worth for me.

HTC S710 is Edge based while HTC S720 is EVDO Rev A.

You cannot compare Tortoise and Leopard.

[Parth 10]

still no wi-fi in these

[n_iceman 97]

check this link for complete specs of S720

http://tech-faq.phonedog.com/cell-phone-re...ifications.aspx

[petar 15]

i think s720 is 16500 & p3000 is 19500. maybe i m worng..

[Saurav 22]

PDA comparison for HTC

[Honest 836]

^^^

HTC and Reliance together. Thats a great news my dear friends. Although the prices seems to be higher. But at last we have some quality handsets in CDMA too.

Cheers !

[@ksh@T 20]

HTC to launch sub-Rs 10,000 smartphones, ties up with RCom

MUMBAI: HTC Corporation, the leading makers of Windows-enabled smartphones, will launch a mobile device in the sub-Rs 10,000 range to address the lower end of the smartphone segment.

"We are developing a product, a smartphone, to hit below the Rs 10,000 mark. We hope to launch it in the next six months," HTC India Country Manager Ajay Sharma told reporters on the sidelines of a news conference.

The HTC smartphones are now available at price points of Rs 11,500 to Rs 34,000, which is competitive to those manufactured by firms like Blackberry and Nokia.

Last year, the company sold about 10 million devices worldover.

"India remains to be our fastest growing market and the sales in second half of 2007 grew by as much as 300 per cent over the first half," Sharma said.

We have set ourselves an ambitious target of one million smartphones in India by 2009," he added.

Earlier, HTC announced its foray into CDMA technology in a tie-up with Reliance Communications. HTC launched two new devices - HTC P3000 and HTC S720 - exclusively for Reliance customers.

RCom President S P Shukla said the alliance was in line with our intent to offer high-end devices to customers to help them access email, internet and data applications on the move.

HTC President Peter Chou said India was an important market for the company and it will launch many more products shortly.

[Saurav 22]

HTC WAVE (P 3000) for Rs 16500

HTC LIBRA ( S 720) for Rs 19500

[Saurav 22]

PICS

CONFUSED which one should I go for??

They are saying 7 hrs talktime.......... Is is reality

[ssr 10]

No Wifi, EVDO

Edited March 21, 2008 by ss_rakesh

[Saurav 22]

HTC LIBRA ( S 720) has EVDO SOURCE: Net Search

http://www.mobiletor.com/2008/03/20/htc-p3...communications/

Edited March 22, 2008 by Saurav

[HetalDP 947]

P3000 look better but no WiFi

No exact Status as they support EVDO (3G) or not

No Processor Speed information

Chipset used is 6050 Quiet old to save cost for Anil Ambani, Why they dont go for Mogul and Touch then this Stupid Device

I hate Reliance

[Saurav 22]

P3000 is without any keyboard, using as mobile will be a difficult option. so i think s720 will be better.

[ssr 10]

P3000 look better but no WiFi

No exact Status as they support EVDO (3G) or not

No Processor Speed information

Chipset used is 6050 Quiet old to save cost for Anil Ambani, Why they dont go for Mogul and Touch then this Stupid Device

I hate Reliance

They may be just dumping old handsets/chips here

Edited March 22, 2008 by ss_rakesh

[Saurav 22]

HTC 720 has a processor of 400 Mhz.

CDMA offers better speed so WIFI is not present.

DAPO will again enjoy Data on Mobile...........

Edited March 23, 2008 by Saurav

[innersky 0]

Is data free on DAPO ?

HTC 720 has a processor of 400 Mhz.

CDMA offers better speed so WIFI is not present.

DAPO will again enjoy Data on Mobile...........

[supernova 47]

check www.htc.com after 25 mar for full details

[Anupe 14]

Hope to see detailed reviews on both the phones in the next couple of weeks. Its pretty hard for a guy like me to jump to a conclusion on which one to buy, so I'm looking forward to seeing user opinions on both models before I take the dive!!

[dil_1964 0]

First brief specs:

* 1X-EVDO (Rev A capable*) dual band, all-digital phone

* Handsfree speakerphone with voice activated dialling

* 65k TFT High resolution display

* Silent vibrating alert and MP3 or Polyphonic or WAV ringtones

* Microsoft Windows Mobile 6 (Standard Edition)

* Laptop Internet access through your smartphone - use the S720 as a wireless modem for your laptop via USB modem

* Supports Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents

* MP3 and Video player with Windows Mobile Media Player

* Expandable memory (microSD)

* 2 megapixel camera with 2x digital zoom and video capture

* Built in Bluetooth™ Wireless Technology for hand-free headset, stereo headset, car kit, and data transfer

* Qualcomm MSM7500, 400 MHz

* 64MB non-volatile memory (128 MB ROM)

It has a decent size as well:

* 103.5 (L) x 51 (W) x 19.2 (T) mm

* 120 grams

You can see how it looks beside some other Pocket PC and Smartphones:

And here is the thickness comparison:

The unit, as being a Smartphone, has no touchscreen. However, with the unit being small, you can easily operate it with a single hand. The T9 input at the front comes very handy, for example to type a quick email, or run an app. But when you need a full keyboard, slide it out, and voila:

It comes loaded with Windows Mobile 6 Standard Edition and its goodies, such as Windows Live, Exchange 2007 features supported in Pocket Outlook, such as HTML emails and server search (very handy). Also Word, Excel and Powerpoint are there, with Word and Excel having capability to edit documents (to create a new doc, use a simple trick of creating an empty word and excel document on your desktop and copy them to your S720). Windows Media Player is also standart fare and works nicely.

My first impression of the unit was that it felt so small. It made me think like, was S621 a better choice. Well, they have their pros and cons, but here is what made S720 a keeper, compared to S621.

1. More available memory - After startup, you have around 25Mb, compared to 18Mb, to run your apps. After a while, the S621 tends to slow down, as the memory hog apps don't release it properly. A quick solution is to run Oxios CloseApps regularly, but it becomes a chore after a while.

2. High speed - S720 supports EVDO, whereas S621 is EDGE only. While you can live with EDGE speeds, the EVDO speeds make it so much better. I installed the VOIP cab files from WM6 Professional Edition (ie. the Pocket PC version) and you can make VOIP calls over EVDO fine. On S621, you'd have to use Wi-fi.

3. I experienced more lockups on S621 then S720. Of course, many of you won't be running as many different apps as I am running for different purposes, but still it is worth to note it.

4. CPU speed - The cpu speed is much better on S720. (Their clock speed is 400 vs 200, but they are not using the same chip manufacturer, so you can't say it is twice the speed, but in day to day use, you feel the speed difference, like when you are listening to music and reading emails at the same time)

Also, I measured the screen sizes of both units and they are actually same, just different orientation:

image not available

Two cons for S720 for me are lacking wifi (not a biggie, but some might prefer it) and unable to run Blackberry Connect (I wonder if Telus will start to support it). Moving on...

The both keyboards illuminate nicely, so it works well in the dark:

image not available

image not available

If you are planning to get you a S720, or any Windows Mobile Smartphone for that matter, I'd highly recommend two apps:

1. Right Menu - http://www.mycnknow.com/rightmenuen.htm

This customizes your right soft key on home screen, allowing you to quickly run many apps, or reset device, copy/paste, etc.

2. Automatic Keylock - http://maniac.fschreiner.de/

This nice utility keylocks the unit automatically after a certain time out. Very handy, if you forget to lock the keys when you place the unit in its case, preventing accidental calls, etc.

While the S720 comes with a horizontal case, it is a tight fit. Eventually, it relaxes a bit, but still for the first couple of days, make sure your keypad is locked (keep pressing End key will lock it, or use Automatic Keylock). I found the Blackberry 71xx cases works nicely with the unit as well.

So, before I finish this mini review, here is some more pics for your pleasure.

Cheers,

[HetalDP 947]

S720 is latest on Technology with EVDO Rev A

P3000 os Quite older 6050 Chipset (Older than legacy 6700 Device) But still OK as EVDO is not available for at least 1 year.