Over the weekend, I successfully updated the firmware on my Samsung Galaxy Tab to the latest version. No, it’s not Android version 2.3 (Gingerbread). I know that’s what most Galaxy Tab owners are looking for. Unfortunately that’s not what I got.

It has to be said, though, that the update is a very welcomed one. As a matter of habit, every now and then I plug my Tablet to the computer and launch Samsung Kies just to see if an update was available for the Tab. On Sunday night, after connecting the Tab to my computer, I got a prompt notifying me that there was a firmware update available for my Tab. The prompt showed my firmware version before the update as PDA: JJ1/PHONE: JI4/CSC: JK3(ECT) and the latest version to update to as PDA: JMS/PHONE: JM2/CSC: JM5(ECT).

I clicked the update button and got the Tab updated to the latest version. After the tablet did a reboot, the first thing I noticed was that the general display of the Tab was cleaner and smoother. Colours used in the different built-in applications’ menu interface were made lighter which made it feel like I was interacting with a different device. Another aspect of the visual improvement that came with the update is seen in the on-screen QWERTY keyboard.

Beyond cosmetics, the update brought additional functionality to the Tab. I immediately noticed that a calculator application came with the update. You see, the Tab didn’t originally come with a calculator (an omission that didn’t make sense). Also, Social Hub was added to the feature list of the Galaxy Tab, but I am not sure anyone will use it much. It’s a pointless addition, in my opinion. The contact application got both a facelift and added functionality that reduces the number of steps it takes to make a call.

It would have been great though if this was implemented in all the applications. It takes too many steps to get anything done in Android, and that is what irritates me the most about the Android UI.

As I notice other changes brought by the update, I will definitely let you know. In the meantime, the Galaxy Tab feels different, though I would have loved to see Gingerbread right now instead.

An email we received yesterday:

I am known as awikonko on MobilityNigeria. Have you noticed lately that Glo have increased the data allowance on Glo Always Micro plan? I checked my balance today and I saw that I had 193mb of data left. Please confirm.

The standard data allowance on Always Micro has been 150MB. Is there anyone who has subscribed to Glo Always Micro recently? Can you confirm if there has been an increase in the bundled data from 150MB?

Update: The increase in data allowance from 150MB to 200MB on Always Micro has been confirmed.

While geeks may hype the top-end devices all they like, the battle is often fought and won in the budget sector. I decided to do a brief examination of the available budget smartphones at this time.

I ran into an advert in which Samsung touts the i5500 as the most affordable smartphone in Africa. But at N37,000, the i5500 is far much more expensive than a number of competing products that I can almost rattle off my head. Nokia’s 5230 XM at N26,000 is an example.

There are also the following cheaper alternatives –

1. Nokia C5 at N25,000
2. Nokia 5530 at N35,000
3. Nokia E63 at N35,000
4. Sony Ericsson X10 Mini at N34,000
5. Samsung Galaxy Mini at N33,000

Price competitors to the Samsung i5500 include –

1. LG GW525
2. Nokia E5
3. Nokia 5800 XM

Here is a table of the cheapest smartphones from each OS/platform:

• Symbian: Nokia 5250 – N20,000
• BlackBerry: BlackBerry Curve 8520 – N30,000
• Android: Samsung i5503 (a variant of the i5500) – N30,000

Top Budget Smartphone: Nokia 5250

The undisputed budget smartphone of the moment is the Nokia 5250, and won’t cost you more than N20,000 depending on where you go shopping.

Top Budget QWERTY Smartphone: BlackBerry Curve 8520

I’m giving the top budget QWERTY smartphone spot to the Blackberry Curve 8520. This will set you back N30,000. Also in the range is the Nokia E63, if a BlackBerry is not your thing.

If you are looking for a budget smartphone to get your mobile groove on, the above are the range of devices to look at.
As a rule, Symbian gives you the most options at the bedget level, followed by Android devices from Samung. Still, you have options, depending on how much you have available to splash.

Airtel Nigeria has launched a new product that allows two linked Airtel subscribers to enjoy the following:

• 10k/sec between paired SIMs all day
• 1k/sec between paired SIMs from 12am – 4.30 am
• 120 free SMS/month between paired SIMs

While an existing subscriber can enjoy this service by registering the Airtel line that they want as a partner by dialing *448*1*airtelno#, Airtel also offers a special 2SIM pack of two matching numbers that also brings the following extra benefits:

• Free Ring Back Tone for the first 30 days
• Free news and ringtone from Airtel Live for the first 30 days

There is no subscription fee for this product/service. Existing Airtel lines must be on either the 2good or Big Family plans to be able to activate this service.

Airtel 2SIM packs cost N300/pack.

Nokia are rolling out Ovi Store updates for their smartphone lineups. Symbian S60v3/S60v5 are getting Ovi Store v1.10(9), while Symbian^3 are getting the recently announced v2.08.

The S60v3/S60v5 update comes with exclusive gift of premium apps from Ovi Store.

Both updates are currently live and can be downloaded by just opening the Ovi Store client on your mobile or by going to store.ovi.mobi on your mobile device

Via

Airtel Nigeria has launched a new voice package that gives great discounts to subscribers after their first minute. The first minute is billed at 60k per second, and subsequent minutes at highly discounted rates.

Here are the rates after the first minute:

• Airtel to Airtel – 15k/sec
• To other networks – 30k/sec
• International – 20k/sec
• 20 free monthly SMS upon customer’s 1st recharge of N100 every month

To subscribe to Airtel’s Big Family Plan, subscribers need to dial *447#.

Note that any existing Family and Friends benefits will be lost if you migrate to the Big Family plan. There is no migration fee, but will be charged N100 if you migrate more than once a month.

Subscribers on the Big family plan can migrate away from it by dialling *447*1# or the code for the desired plan. The plan is available to all prepaid subscribers on the Airtel Nigeria network.

Nokia CEO, Stephen Elop, in a recent video published on Nokia Conversations, has said that software updates, support and other services for Symbian phones will continue “at least up to” 2016.

You can watch the video below:

CNN and Nokia today announced a multi-level international collaboration where Nokia becomes a key part of CNN’s roster of mapping providers, delivering its rich mapping services to the international news network. The collaboration harnesses the companies’ strengths in global newsgathering, user-generated content, mapping technologies, and location-based services. The collaboration debuted with the use of Nokia’s 3D Maps across CNN’s platforms in its recent coverage of the British royal wedding.

“This collaboration is a great fit for us as both companies share a similar philosophy on connecting people beyond borders through the combination of compelling news content and highly sophisticated technology,” said Tony Maddox, Managing Director, CNN International. “The international scale of each of our businesses makes the scope of the collaboration particularly exciting.”

“Nokia and CNN share the belief that news is now mobile, powerfully democratic, and can immediately be shared by people around the world,” said Jerri DeVard, Chief Marketing Officer, Nokia. “We are pleased that CNN wants to use Nokia’s innovative mapping services for its international news platforms, and we are excited to work with CNN to deliver a compelling news service to users of Nokia phones.”

The collaboration also includes the CNN App for Nokia which provides mobile access to CNN’s world, business, sport, entertainment and technology reporting, as well as live streaming video. The app also allows users to share CNN’s news via their own social channels, and participate in the reporting process with direct access to CNN’s participatory news community, iReport. The CNN App for Nokia is available in Ovi Store.

No; no manufacturer has announced one yet. But do give it some thought – a 7-inch tablet with a hardware QWERTY keyboard would just make for some improved usability. In my opinion, it would move tablets closer to netbook functionality.

Yes; the display size will be reduced a bit, but that compromise won’t be bad. users would still have a large display combined with a tactile keyboard.

Then throw in a full USB port please, and we are good. Which of the manufacturers will make my day and get something like this into the market?

REDMOND, Wash. — May 24, 2011 — Microsoft Corp. today previewed the next major release of Windows Phone, code-named “Mango,” through a series of media events around the world. “Mango” will deliver more than 500 new features to push the boundaries of the smartphone experience around communications, apps and the Internet. The “Mango” release will be available for free to Windows Phone 7 customers and is scheduled to ship on new phones beginning this fall. More details on device update timing will be provided closer to availability. Windows Phone will also add support for additional languages, expand access to apps by launching Windows Phone Marketplace in new countries, and partner with new OEMs to enable expansion to new markets.*

“Seven months ago we started our mission to make smartphones smarter and easier for people to do more,” said Andy Lees, president of the Mobile Communications Business at Microsoft. “With ‘Mango,’ Windows Phone takes a major step forward in redefining how people communicate and use apps and the Internet, giving you better results with less effort.”

Communications: Easier to Connect and Share
The smartphone experience can be complicated by a sea of disconnected apps and accounts as people attempt to keep pace with all the ways they communicate — from calls, texts, email and instant messages (IM) to status updates, Tweets, check-ins, photo posting and tagging. To help people stay on top of that growing complexity, the “Mango” release organizes information around the person or group people want to interact with, not the app they have to use.

• Threads. Switch between text, Facebook chat and Windows Live Messenger within the same conversation.
• Groups. Group contacts into personalized Live Tiles to see the latest status updates right from the Start Screen and quickly send a text, email or IM to the whole group.
• Deeper social network integration. Twitter and LinkedIn feeds are now integrated into contact cards, and “Mango” includes built-in Facebook check-ins and new face detection software that makes it easier to quickly tag photos and post to the Web.
• Linked inbox. See multiple email accounts in one linked inbox. Conversations are organized to make it easy to stay on top of the latest mail.
• Hands-free messaging. Built-in voice-to-text and text-to-voice support enables hands-free texting or chatting.

A Smarter Approach to Apps
Windows Phone will challenge the way people think about apps. Today their usefulness is measured by what can be done within the app, but Microsoft sees the promise of apps in how they can be integrated directly into the core experiences of the phone. In addition to making it easy to get timely notifications and updates from apps right from the Start Screen, the “Mango” release also will surface apps as part of search results and within Windows Phone Hubs. As a result, a useful app is more likely to be right there when needed.

• App Connect. By connecting apps to search results and deepening their integration with Windows Phone Hubs, including Music and Video and Pictures, “Mango” allows apps to be surfaced when and where they make sense.
• Improved Live Tiles. Get real-time information from apps without having to open them. Live Tiles can be more dynamic and hold more information.
• Multitasking. Quickly switch between apps in use and allow apps to run in the background, helping to preserve battery life and performance.

Taking the Internet Beyond the Browser
In addition to including Internet Explorer, the “Mango” release will connect the power of the Web to the unique capabilities of Windows Phones, such as location awareness, camera and access to apps, to present a way of viewing the Web that is more localized, actionable and relevant.

• Internet Explorer 9. A browser based on the powerful Internet Explorer 9 and including support for HTML5 and full hardware acceleration.
• Local Scout. Provides hyperlocal search results and recommends nearby restaurants, shopping and activities in an easy-to-use guide.
• Bing on Windows Phone. More ways to search the Web, including Bing Vision, Music Search and Voice so it’s easy to discover and decide.
• Quick Cards. When searching for a product, movie, event or place, see a quick summary of relevant information, including related apps.

Strengthening the Ecosystem
The Windows Phone ecosystem has grown steadily since Windows Phone 7 first launched in October, with more than 17,000 apps currently available on Windows Phone Marketplace and Windows Phone handsets available from a range of partners worldwide, and Microsoft’s recently announced partnership with Nokia.

“Mango” will further expand and strengthen the Windows Phone ecosystem through new partnerships with Acer Inc., Fujitsu Ltd. and ZTE Corp., which today announced plans to deliver new Windows Phone devices in markets around the world.

Furthermore, Microsoft announced it will support additional languages, including Brazilian Portuguese, Simplified and Traditional Chinese, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Greek, Hungarian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, and Swedish, and will greatly expand the list of countries where consumers have access to apps via Windows Phone Marketplace.

As well, a beta release of the free Windows Phone Developer tools, which will be used to create the next generation of “Mango” apps and games, will be posted for public download to Microsoft’s website within 24 hours of today’s events. More information about what “Mango” means for developers, the tools and a link to the public download page is available at http://windowsteamblog.com/windows_phone/b/wpdev/archive/2011/05/24/developer-news-beta-mango-tools-available-today.aspx.

How many of us remember the days of wacky cameras on phones – producing pictures that could get any camera enthusiast nauseated? Those were the good old days; right? Now, everything’s messed up! We have a new range of mobile phones that produce pictures to die for. The multimedia capabilities (pictures and videos) of our phones have evolved significantly and are still evolving.

The recent addition of HD quality video capture and an increasing number of video editing apps on smartphones is gradually killing the need for a dedicated device for most everyday video needs.

The large storage capacities, geolocation features and wi-fi connectivity, also gives smartphones an edge for video recording.

At the moment, Nokia’s N8 rules the cameraphone world with its 12 Megapixel camera with autofocus, large sensor and Xenon flash. That’s a cameraphone worthy of applause. It WOWs you with its results.

HTC has announced a 16 megapixel camera, but anyone who knows HTC knows that if there is something that the Taiwanese company is absolutely clueless about, it is multimedia (especially audio and cameras). No-one should hold their breath for HTC’s cameras.

When it comes to cameraphones, the guys who have it almost to a fine art are Nokia, Sony Ericson and Samsung.

Other excellent cameraphones include the Sony Ericsson Experia X10 and Xperia Arc, Sony Ericsson Satio, Samsung M8910 Pixon12 (whom the N8 took over from), and Samsung I9100 Galaxy S II. If you really want a stellar cameraphone, you should check these guys out.

So tell me, who really needs a camera (as a single device) besides professional cameramen?

So why pack your bag with a camcorder and an HD quality video phone or with your camera and your high-powered cameraphone? When you can walk into that event with just your phone and record/ capture the beautiful moments you want to see again and again.

In considering buying a Tablet PC, what screen size would you consider just the right size for you and why?

Yomi has said that the 8.9-inch size is his cup of tea. Me? I prefer the 7-inch screen size. My reasons are simple.

1. I am able to conveniently carry it around without a carrying case.

2. It fits well into most of my trouser pockets; and no, they were not bought with the Tab in mind.

3. Typing on the on-screen keyboard in portrait mode is just perfect. Any screen bigger than this will be uncomfortable for me in my opinion.

So there you have it – some of the reasons the 7-inch screen size is just right for me. The floor is now yours. Use the comments segment to tell us what screen size is your cup of tea.