Nexus 7 Takes on Its Competitors in Comparison Table

The new Nexus 7 Tablet has got some killer hardware coupled with a respectable software, i.e. Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, which is already receiving positive reviews.

While its main competitors will be either Amazon Kindle Fire or Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0, we think that it has enough skills to take on even the best in tablet business.

Does it succeed? let’s find out:

	Google Nexus 7	Kindle Fire	iPad 3	Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0*	Asus Transformer Prime
Weight	340g	413g	652g	344g	586g
Thickness	10.5mm	11.4mm	9.4mm	10.5mm	8.3mm
Operating System	Android 4.1 Jelly Bean	Android 2.3 Gingerbread customized	iOS 5.1	Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich	Android 3.2, upgradeable to 4.0
Display size	7 inch	7 inch	10.1 inch	7 inch	10.1 inch
Resolution	800 x 1280	600 x 1024	1536 x 2048	600 x 1024	1280 x 800
Memory	8/16Gb	8Gb	16/32/64Gb	8/16/32Gb	32/64Gb
Card slot	No	No	No	Yes upto 64Gb	Yes upto 32Gb
Processor	1.3Ghz quad-core	1Ghz dual-core	1Ghz dual-core	1Ghz dual-core	1.3Ghz quad-core
RAM	1Gb	512Mb	1Gb	1Gb	1Gb
Sensors	Accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass	Accelerometer	Accelerometer, gyro, compass	Accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass	Accelerometer,gyro, compass
Camera	No	No	5mp, 1080p Full HD video	3mp, 720p HD video	8mp, 1080p Full HD video
Front-facing camera	1.2 mp, 720p HD	No	VGA	VGA	1.2mp
Price in PKR	25-30K	25-30K	49,990	31,990	57,990

*some versions of this tablet support voice and video calls as well

I’ll mention it again that Ipad 3 and Transformer Prime aren’t Google Nexus 7’s main competitors, but still thanks to its great hardware, it can compete with those too in some, if not all categories.

PTCL Brings Free Double Balance for Vfone Customers

Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) has launched double balance package for its Vfone customers, giving absolutely free additional balance equal to the loaded amount.

PTCL’s Vfone customers can avail this double balance offer if their Vfone account has not been recharged after January 1, 2012. The validity of free balance will be 30 days.

Vfone has the country’s largest WLL coverage and is available with both prepaid and postpaid options. Its customers have the liberty of unlimited free calls from Vfone to Vfone and Vfone to PSTN in ‘Family & Unlimited packages’ against a nominal daily line rent. Customers can also avail extremely low unbeatable rates of Rs.1.30/min only for any network through Vfone’s ‘Exciting Smart package’.

Supported by high-speed Internet with CDMA 1x technology, Vfone also offers SMS facility to and from all networks at a nominal rate of 30 paisas per SMS only.

“PTCL continues to offer most affordable telecommunications packages and special offers to its customers,” said PTCL Senior Executive Vice President Commercial, Naveed Saeed. “Our aim is to exceed customer expectations by offering affordable rates and quality service.”

“Keeping in mind the needs of the customers, we will keep upgrading PTCL’s services,” said PTCL Executive Vice President Wireless, Omar Khalid. “PTCL Vfone offers unmatched voice quality and SMS service with access to high-speed Internet and mobility.”

Qubee Brings Triple Dynamite in July

It should be noted here, the broadband service providers traditionally offer double volumes to their customers, however, this is the first time that a service provider has changed the practice and offered triple volume

.

Qubee has launched this promotion in July 2012, named as the Triple Dynamite offer. The campaign provides all new & existing customers with three times the volume of their chosen package.

On the occasion, the Chief Executive Officer of Qubee, Mr. Jamal Nasir Khan said “Qubee is a customer-centric organization with a focus on rewarding users for their loyalty. Therefore, this summer, we have offered all new sign-ups to Qubee with triple volume in July & August, whereas for our loyal customer base we have already given them triple volume on their current package free-of-cost”

As per the rules of the campaign, the promotion is valid from 1^st to 31^st July 2012, where triple volume is awarded to customers irrespective the package they sign-up on.

wi-tribe Offers Summer Hungama

Wi-tribe Pakistan has launched this new offer called the ‘Summer Hangama’, which will allow its customers to use two days of endless internet (fair usage policy applies), every weekend on Saturday and Sundays!

And most importantly this is free. Simply keep your wi-tribe account current to avail endless internet for all weekends in the next 30 days. You will receive a confirmation email within 3 days from the date of bill payment with activation details.

Note:

Endless package policy: Parameters will change and speed will be reduced upon utilizing 30GB on 512Kbps package & 40GB on 2 Mbps package in any given month.

Official Tourism Website Still Displays Adsense

Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation’s official website is again caught displaying adsense ads. This is not the first time when tourism.gov.pk is found displaying adsense ads to make few bucks – in fact they have done this in past too but had removed ads when wefirst reported about it an year ago.

www.tourism.gov.pk is considered to be an official gateway to Pakistan’s tourism corporation and having .gov domain it becomes a government property.

It is likely that the webmaster responsible for managing this website is displaying ads on individual level to make extra money other than the salary he/she gets per month.

But it is amazing that top officials of tourism ministry didn’t notice these ads, probably because they never visit their official web page or they don’t have any clue about adsense advertising.

Just to mention, tourism website is suppose to attract foreign visitors, who will get (God knows what kind of) strange impression after seeing this poorly designed website loaded with adsense.

Telecom Companies Seek Exemption of Sales Tax on Interconnection Charges

Mobile cellular operators in Pakistan have collaborated to collectively seek government’s exemption for collection of sales tax on interconnection charges that CMOs deduct from customers, reportedBusiness Recorder today.

Reportedly Federal Board of Revenue is currently in process of evaluating cellular companies’ request seeking exemption of sales tax on interconnection charges under section 65 of the Sales Tax Act, 1990.

If reports are to be believed then cellular companies have maintained that sales tax is not applicable on interconnection charges. It maybe recalled that interconnection charges of 90 paisas per minute are charged from customers for cross-network calls.

If sales tax is being levied after this request, then it should be adjusted and should be applicable from July 1, 2012.

The FBR is examining the issue and no notification has been issued in this regard. The draft of the notification is based under the provisions of section 65 of the Sales Tax Act, 1990 which proposes that the FED in sales tax mode should not be collected prior to July 1, 2012.

Section 65 of Sales Tax Act, 1990 says:

Section 65: Exemption of tax not levied or short levied as a result of general practice. 

Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, if in respect of any supply the Federal Government is satisfied that inadvertently and as a general practice:-

(a) tax has not been charged in any area on any supply which was otherwise taxable, or according to the said practice the amount charged was less than the amount that should have actually been charged;

(b) the registered person did not recover any tax prior to the date it was discovered that the supply was liable to tax; and

(c) the registered person started paying the tax from the date when it was found that the supply was chargeable to tax;

It may, by a notification in the official Gazette, direct that the tax not levied or short levied as a result of that inadvertent practice, shall not be required to be paid for the period prior to the discovery of such inadvertent practice.

Wateen Upgrades its Digital Cable Services

Wateen Multimedia is now better serving the needs of its customers after the installation of a new head-end for improvement of its digital cable services, claimed a statement issued by the company.

The head-end was built with state of the art equipment from Appear TV and is scalable to the current multimedia and digital entertainment and information of Wateen’s existing customer base as well as any future growth in subscribers.

As a result of this upgrade, Wateen’s customers will receive better quality cable as well as have access to digital channels with improved picture quality and reception, without interruptions.

The latest head-end combines an innovative modular approach that enables it to offer the most flexible portfolio of solutions for cable operators, with support for the delivery of video services most formats and enabling a rapid transition to IP-based networks.

The company’s solutions enable descrambling and multiplexing of content in a compact format allowing high capacity signals to be sent over the network. The streaming solutions support MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 HD and SD services. These solutions will enable Wateen to offer better quality services to the cable operators who carry its feeds to consumers.

The new head-end will go online immediately to allow Wateen customers access to the added benefits of this latest technology. It signed up multiple distributors over the last year to enhance its coverage.

Wateen claims to have 125,000 Cable service customers in Lahore and Multan.