Philippine Cell Phones

Over at GearLog, a post indicates that Nokia still leads in worldwide shipments.

According to iSuppli, Nokia is still outselling its competitors in the mobile-phone handset market by more than two to one, and the company’s market share increased from the second quarter.

Well, the figures show that Nokia leads all others. Second placer is Samsung and Motorola is third.

This seems to be true in the Philippines where it appears everyone has a Nokia Cell phone.

The Nokia N95 is among the first mobiles to have a built-in camera with a 5 megapixel resolution. It also has an integrated GPS module, HSDPA support, two-way sliding construction, and a very handy 3.5 mm jack connector for earphones. The phone runs on Symbian 9.2 OS.

Apparently, a fake version bearing the name NOKLA N95 is now available here in the Philippines. There is a way to distinguish a fake from the real one. People should be aware of this and not be duped into buying the fakes.

Here’s how the Nokla looks like:

Last week’s Glorietta 4 bombing had everyone questioning. Was it a terrorist attack or simply some faulty wiring/structuring by some restaurants in the mall? A cellphone text message, supposedly from a Muslim extremist group, the Rajah Solaiman Movement was sent to ABSCBN claiming responsibility for the bombing. Another cell phone message went around this past few days saying:

MGANDANG GABI S INYONG LAHT ISA AKO NA MUSLIM TAGA LANAO GSTO KU PO MALMN NG LAHT PRA UMABOT 2 SA MNILA KTATPOS NOW LNG ANG PLAN NI SHEIK ANG UTAK S GLORYETA PLAN NLA PASBUGIN ANG ISA S TRAYNOMA SM MEGA 168 MRT UNION BANK QUIAPO RCBC HSBC AT MARMI PA WAG IPSA S KAKILALA NNYO NA MUSLIM BKA MLMN NLA N MAY NAGKALAT BE4 NOV 1 ANG PAGSABOG GAMIT VAN NA SSKYAN

Rough Translation:

Good Evening, I’m a Muslim from Lanao. I wan’t everyone to know so that this reaches Manila. Just now we have executed the plan by Sheik, the brains behind the Glorietta plan. They plan to bomb Trinoma Mall, SM Megamall, 168 Mall, MRT, Unionbank, Quiapo, RCBC, HSBCand mny more. Don’t tell any muslims because they might find out. Before November 1 and they will use a Van.

Whether the Cell Phone message is true or not, it just goes to show how a simple SMS message about a hot news item spreads around quickly.

John is selling unlocked iPhones. He posts:

Hello

I have Brand new and Unlocked ready to use Apple iPhone 8GB Phones.
PRICE: $300 USD per unit
SPECIAL OFFER ” BUY 5 UNITS AND GET 2 UNITS FREE” + FREE SHIPPING.

In the box:

• iPhone
• Stereo Headset
• Dock
• Dock Connector to USB Cable
• USB Power Adapter
• Documentation
• Cleaning/polishing cloth

To purchase the iPhones ,pls get back to me with these details below :

• How many units do you want to buy ?
• Where are you located ?
• How soon do you want it ?

Feel free to contact me via e-mail at : datadltd (at) gmail.com

Apparently Pinoys are making money out of unlocking iPhones. Please be advised, however that if you buy unlocked iPhones, you loose Apple Tech Support.

Nearly six million Filipinos now use mobile telephones to move electronic cash, a leader among developing countries in the brave new world of e-wallets. - AHN

There are more cellphones  here than bank accounts and Filipinos do not need a bank account in mobile banking. Money transfer is as simple as an SMS message.

The problem with this technology, however, is that there is no verification process. If users accidentally send cash to a unintended cellphone recipient, there is no way to get the money back. There isn’t even any fraud mediation.

Wow six million. Now we just have to figure out a way to truly and easily integrate mobile and online cash technology and with more security features.

True dual sim phones are now available in the Philippines:

With the recent introduction of MyPhone T22 Duo, the first dual active SIM mobile phone in the Philippines, one can move seamlessly from one line to another without a hitch.

What’s great about this phones is that it can access two cell phone networks. Why is this important? Many Filipinos now usually carry either a Smart/Globe cellphone and then a Sun Cell phone.   They Sun cell phones typically allow unlimited calls and SMS messages. Families now have Sun phones to regularly communicate with each other. Yet, people still keep their old Smart/Globe lines for business or personal use.

I’ve seen one of the dual phones around and it shows two active bars for the two sim networks. They also have two different address books for the sims. Expect a lot of Pinoys to begin using these gadgets.

You know MMORPG, right? Like Ragnarok? You remember, playing online with friends, chatting with them, defeating monsters and generally trying to reach level 99 or whatever..

Well, Smart and Level UP games are taking MMORPGs to the next level.  It’s called Level Up! Mobile. No, you don’t get to play using your cellphone.  You just get to control your account. From  m-ph.com:

JC Medina, Level Up! New Media Director explains this latest serviceIt provides the avid Level Up! gamer with the necessary tools to be in complete control over his/her Level Up! account regardless of whether he/she is in front of the computer or on the road. In just a matter of a few steps, one can easily download the Level Up! menu to your Smart SIM and link it to a Level Up! account so that one can manage it while on the go and lock it for peace of mind against potential hackers. No need to memorize keywords because all the service options will be available in the downloaded menu that’ll be saved on your SIM.

Hurray for all Level Up! gamers. Just hope no one steals your cell phone just to hack your account, okey?

Some exciting news! Smart Communications has finally launched the first commercially available Mobile TV service in the Philippines. This  new service is called MyTV.

So how is Mobile TV different from the existing mobile video services?  The technologies used totally different from one another in the sense that one makes use of 3G to stream the broadcast while the other uses DVB-H to broadcast the video. According to wikipedia:

DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcasting - Handheld) is a technical specification for bringing broadcast services to handheld receivers. DVB-H was formally adopted as ETSI standard EN 302 304 in November 2004. DVB-H is officially endorsed by the European Union.The major competitor of this technology is Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (DMB).

3G streamed media is low in quality and allots a lot of buffering so it isn’t exactly smooth. DVB-H broadcasts, on the other hand, are crisp and clear and almost no buffering is done since it’s a live feed. Think of it as watching a movie through the Internet (3G streamed) and on TV (DVB-H).

You need, however, a DVB-H enabled phone like  the Nokia 92 for this.