DiGi and Celcom to work on network infra-sharing
BERNAMA reports that DiGi and Celcom today signed an MoU “on plans to explore long-term network and infrastructure collaboration”.
The report states that the MoU will focus on three collaborative areas (namely operations and maintenance), transmission and site sharing, and radio access network.
Basically what this means is that DiGi and Celcom are looking at opportunities in which they can share transmission towers and sites to deliver a more comprehensive network to the consumer.
Done properly, infra-sharing can yield extensive cost savings towards a service operator’s capital expenditure, which for mobile companies, can run into the billions. Here’s hoping that those savings will translate to cheaper services for us, especially data services.
Could this also lead to both parties will be doing domestic roaming in each other’s network? For DiGi, it makes perfect sense as it will boost the telco’s availability in rural areas especially in Sabah and Sarawak where they are exceptionally weak.
Though, we would like to point out that nothing is firm yet as both parties have just signed an understanding to explore the possibility of infra-sharing together.
Looking at the announcement we see DiGi being the one with a lot to gain as they have very limited 3G coverage areas. Celcom on the other hand, is the undisputed coverage king in Malaysia with close to 98% of the country covered. Though its unknown how much of that 98% is serving 3G and HSDPA, but it’s safe to say that Celcom has one of the largest 3G networks in Malaysia as well. So, we’re not sure how Celcom can leverage from this collaboration.
At the end of the day, what remains to be seen is how will this get together benefit subscribers.
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Happy Prepaid Kelantan & Terengganu edition, pays to receive calls
We visited Happy Prepaid’s website recently and we got a surprise on their splash screen. It looks like Happy Prepaid has segregated into Happy for the rest of us and a Bahasa Malaysia only version of Happy Prepaid for Kelantan & Terengganu.
So what’s with Happy Prepaid for Kelantan & Terengganu?
Moto FlipOut brings fresh form factor to the Android stable
Say what you want about the slew of Android devices available in the market today, a huge majority of them are rather staid and monotonous.
Be it HTC, Samsung, Sony Ericsson or LG, all of the Android devices from these and many other players out there look and feel roughly the same their elongated form factor and dark colours. It’s quiet sad really considering the open source nature of Android would lend itself to so many possibilities and permutations.
That’s why we like what we’re seeing with the new social media phone by Motorola. The Motorola FlipOut is a real standout among Android devices with its square-shaped, flip out QWERTY form factor that comes with a selection of fresh colours.
Its the only Android 2.1 device we can recall that’s sporting such a unique look, in fact it’s the only square phone running on Android we could remember.
Head on over the jump to read more and to see the full collection of promo videos of the Motorola FlipOut.
Samsung Wave S8500 comes to Malaysia
UPDATE:: Read up our Samsung Wave S8500 Review.
Samsung’s first smartphone running its proprietary OS, the Wave S8500 will hit Malaysian stores this week. There’s nothing new to report about the Samsung Wave running the bada mobile OS accept for the retail price, which is around RM1700.
That’s pretty good value for money considering the fact that you get a 3.3in Super AMOLED screen (800 x 480), a 1GHz processor that runs the same ARM Cortex A8 core as Apple’s A4 processor and a 5MP camera with LED flash that has face and smile detection along with blink activation. The Wave also packs aGPS, WiFi n along with an accelerometer and a proximity sensor all wrapped in a thin unibody chassis. There’s 2GB of on board memory with support for up to 32GB storage in MicroSD.
On top of that, the Wave records HD video in 720p and plays back DivX, Xvid, MP4 and WMV in virtual 5.1 surround sound but we’re not a fan of it’s edgy design. On the software side, the bada OS sports a unified contacts list, an integrated inbox and a social networking hub that combines some of the major social networking sites into one screen.
As the natural optimists that we are, we can’t seem to find the need for another mobile OS in the smartphone marketplace but Samsung seems convinced that they’ve got something different compared to the rest. The makers of bada claim that the OS will make smartphones more accessible.
We are certainly looking for to that.
Video of the bada OS UI in action avter the jump.
Google Maps navigation now for Canada and Europe
Google Maps Navigation that gives you turn-by-turn navigation is now available in Canada & European countries! This comes right after its availability in the US and UK.
More specifically, the new countries supported in this Google Maps 4.2 release are:
- Austria
- Belgium
- Canada
- Denmark
- France
- Germany
- Italy
- Netherlands
- Portugal
- Spain
- Switzerland
The Google Mobile team even put it to the test by going on a road trip across Europe and looks like they had great fun on the famed Autobahn. If you’re heading to Europe for a road trip, this is a must have upgrade for your Android 1.6 and above device.
If you can’t wait to get a feel of Google Maps Navigation, check out this alternative solution.
[ Source ]