LG launches 84-inch Ultra HD TV in Pakistan

LG has launched the world’s first 84-inch Ultra HD TV, equipped with 3D technology in Pakistan on May 16, with aspiring strategy to increase the reach, widen its product range and compete with fellow multinational Samsung in the market by investing billions in Pakistan.

The 84-inch Ultra HD TV is priced at Rs. 2 million which is strictly in reach of wealthy only.

President of Electronics Gulf DY Kim said that LG had decided to expand its operations by enhancing production capacities to capture growing consumer demand in Pakistan. Currently LG only had LCDs and TVs assembling facility in the Pakistan market but it was planning on starting to produce other household items like microwaves and washing machines as well. He said that the company wanted to give the consumer some other options as well and hopefully that would not take much time.

FBR may consider to revise taxes on mobile phones in the upcoming budget

Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has decided to review its decision of imposing Rs. 1000 tax on smartphones which itenforced in the first week of April 2013.

According to latest reports, a meeting between FBR officials and representatives of mobile phone industry on Wednesday resulted in a little success as the revenue authority assured them of reviewing the recently imposed tax rate on mobile phones in Pakistan.

According to SRO 280, dated April 4, all smartphones that land in Pakistan are subject to Rs. 1000 additional tax whereas Rs. 500 was imposed on all other mobile phones which do not come under the umbrella of smartphones.

The measure badly hit the mobile phone import in Pakistan which rely mostly on lower end or ultra-low cost mobile phones as a major contributor to the total monthly import. Not only the import figure came down but smuggling of mobile phones surged during the reported period.

Mobile phone sellers have been staging protest all over the country over this harsh tax structure.

FBR officials have hinted that the authority will consider reducing Rs. 1000 tax to Rs. 700 on smartphones and Rs. 500 would be brought down to Rs. 350 – 400 in the upcoming budget.

The revenue authority is already facing severe challenges owing to bulk reshuffling of FBR officials on the basis of personal liking and disliking.

It if feared that a targeted revenue of Rs. 2.05 trillion for the year 2012-13 will not be achieved due to internal rifts and uncertain situation. In first 15 days of May, the authority fell short of revenue as it collected Rs. 42.3 billion in taxes, a 19.4% less recovery over the same period in May last year.

Tax on mobile phone industry was a measure to make the situation a little favorable and now, only the upcoming budget will confirm that how newly elected government of PML-N will tackle the issue.

Android & iOS Lead, While Windows Phone Follows

It’s been three years since Microsoft launched Windows Phone as a successor to Windows Mobile. Unlike Windows Mobile, Windows Phone is more consumer focused but does not leave business users behind. After one year of launch, in 2011, Microsoft and Nokia announced their partnership. Nokia also disclosed that how they plan to shift from Symbian to Windows Phone as the primary OS.

Windows Phone has been trying to gain the lost market since its launch. Nokia & HTC have been the two main producers of the Windows Phone devices, while Samsung & Huawei also do produce Windows Phone devices. Nokia partnership has been the best thing that happened to Windows Phone. Nokia Lumia lineup attracted a lot of consumers to Windows Phone due to the distinctive design & experience they provided.

Now, three years later IDC have released there data according to which Windows Phone has officially overthrown Blackberry and is the world’s third most used smartphone OS. Android & iOS combined make 92.3% of the smartphone shipments, which is just remarkable. Here is what the Research Manager with the IDC mobile team, Ramon Llamas had to say:

Windows Phone claiming the third spot is a first and helps validate the direction taken by Microsoft and key partner Nokia,” said Kevin Restivo, senior research analyst with IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker. “Given the relatively low volume generated, the Windows Phone camp will need to show further gains to solidify its status as an alternative to Android or iOS.

Here is a table that compares the 2013 Q1 shipments of different smartphone OS.

Google to Launch Galaxy S 4 with Stock Android

At its famed I/O Conference, Google, instead of announcing a new Nexus smartphone, Google has announced that it will be selling the Galaxy S 4 instead with stock Android OS. The phone will come with the same specs as the original Galaxy S 4 with the only difference being the original, skin-free Android UI instead of Samsung’s own Touchwiz with Nature UI.

The phone will also lose the exclusive Samsung apps but will come with an unlocked bootloader so there won’t be any end of possibilities. And of course, the updates will be coming to this phone before any other existing Android device on the market, thanks to Google’s trusty, uncompromised support.

The phone will come with 16 GBs of expandable storage and will be available for $649 or Rs. 70K at launch. The version of Android running is unknown though as Google might announce a new version of Android in the very conference this phone was announced it but we can’t say that for sure.

The phone will be available at Google’s own Google Play Store initially.

In case you’ve forgotten, these are the specs of the Samsung Galaxy S 4:

• Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean customized with Samsung’s Nature UI
• 5 inch display with Full HD resolution of 1080 x 1920 pixels
• Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection and super sensitive screen
• 7.9mm thick
• Weight: 130 grams
• Octa-core Exynos processor with 8 cores and PowerVR SGX 544MP3 GPU
• 2 GB RAM with 16/32/64 GB expandable storage
• 13 megapixel rear-camera with HDR and 1080p Full HD video recording
• Optical Image Stabilization
• 2 megapixel 1080p Full HD front-camera
• Bluetooth 4.0, microUSB 2.0, USB-OTG, IR Blaster, Wifi Hotspot, GPS
• 2600 mAh battery
• Available in White Frost and Black mist colors

YouTube Ban Challenged in Peshawar High Court

A lawyer from Peshawar has challenged the ban on YouTube in Peshawar High Court, by maintaining that the ban on the video sharing website should be un-blocked.

Petitioner,Mian Mohibullah Kakakhel, said that its in the larger interest of general public to access the YouTube.

He mentioned that authorities concerned, i.e. PTA and MoIT have failed to block the specific URLs that contain blasphemous content – unlike they claimed at various occasions – and that blocking whole website is not a solution.

Petitioner is of the view that YouTube contains countless useful videos that can not be found on any other resource. He said that nature of videos available on YouTube includes topics such as history, culture and religious importance besides music, sports, movies, news, animal planets, cartoons for kids and sermons of Islamic scholars.

He claimed that YouTube was the only website containing education contents, which encouraged students and citizens to learn technical things like making new software, robots, mechanical engineering, software engineering, how to install a hardware, advance cell phone usage and installation of software. He said that most of the software might not be provided here, or if available, a hefty amount of fee was demanded.

Petitioner said that YouTube ban is violation of basic human rights and their right to access to information that is available Publicly.

PTA through its Chairman and Minister for MoIT were made respondents to the case.

It maybe recalled that YouTube was banned in Pakistan on September 17th, 2012 when blasphemous videos on the website had triggered worldwide protests from Muslims. Pakistani authorities – during the while – tried several time to contact Google and get the access of these videos blocked in Pakistan, but they failed.