In March, I decided to finally shut down my Telenor’s Persona Postpaid connection as I found no use of having 2 postpaid lines. So I went and paid all the dues in March 2008. According to the extremely “polite but inefficient” staff at Islamabad Telenor’s Office I was told that after paying all dues my next Bill Invoice will be generated with negative balance in it and that’s when the Refundable Security will be returned. Unfortunately, that was not the case.

After the Bill Invoice was generated, I went back to Telenor to collect the Security on Friday, and they answered “Sorry, the day for clearing is Thursday. Come back again”. I was pretty angry for not being informed earlier for this, but I said to myself, oh well alright, waiting another week won’t kill anyone.

So I went again the next week on a Thursday, only to be told that “Your case has been sent to the Finance Department for clearing. Come back next Thursday.”

Anyway, long story short, it took me 45 days & three visits to get Telenor to return the Refundable Security after all the dues were paid.

So anyone who’s going to shut down their Telenor Postpaid connections, remember to not expect the money back till atleast 40-45 days.

After my experience using Warid’s Postpaid connection which has been good, Telenor has left a bad impression on me for their lack of regard for postpaid customers.

I don’t know why I always hoped or was under the illusion that Telenor would in some way be better than the rest, I guess I was influenced by some of their first Advertisments in which they said “Telenor: Expect More“. Now I finally understand why they changed the slogan of “Expect More” to “Smart Call“. No more expectations from Telenor!

No wonder most people opt for Mobilink or Warid when they have to go for postpaid, it’s rightly so. Even though their customer services are just as bad as Telenor’s, but atleast their packages are better! Getting something is better than nothing.

I really hope they improve the way they treat their customers. Teaching the Customer Representatives to be polite and courteous does not count when they are totally like zombies who smile but can provide no help.

These are the prices of mobile phones available in Metro Cash & Carry Islamabad, Pakistan. The following mobile price list is up-to-date and quoted as valid on 5th May 2008.

*Please note that the prices are subject to change after this date.

Nokia 1200 - PKR. 1,950
Nokia 1208 - PKR. 2,300
Nokia 1110i - PKR. 2,650
Nokia 1650 - PKR. 3,300
Nokia 2310 - PKR. 3,425
Nokia 2630 - PKR. 5,400
Nokia 3500 - PKR. 8,200
Nokia 5200 - PKR. 8,700
Nokia 5310 - PKR. 14,100
Nokia 5610 - PKR. 19,000
Nokia 6120 - PKR. 13,800
Nokia 6300 - PKR. 11,700
Nokia 6500 - PKR. 18,700 or PKR. 20,500
Prism 7500 - PKR. 12,500
Nokia N70 ME - PKR. 14,800
Nokia N72 Gold- PKR. 12,200
Nokia N73 ME - PKR. 19,900
Nokia N82 - PKR. 31,000
Nokia N95 - PKR. 34,000

Samsung B100 - PKR. 2,650
Samsung C160 - PKR. 2,350
Samsung C450 - PKR. 3,350
Samsung E250 - PKR. 6,100
Samsung J700 - PKR. 7,800

Sony Ericsson T250 - PKR. 4,250
Sony Ericsson K320i - PKR. 4,275
Sony Ericsson K510i - PKR. 5,100
Sony Ericsson W200i - PKR. 5,550
Sony Ericsson K550i - PKR. 9,500
Sony Ericsson W660i - PKR. 11,300
Sony Ericsson S500i - PKR. 12,500
Sony Ericsson K790i - PKR. 12,800
Sony Ericsson K770i - PKR. 14,500
Sony Ericsson K810i - PKR. 17,200
Sony Ericsson P1i - PKR. 27,000

HTC P3400 - PKR. 24,000
HTC S710 - PKR. 28,000
HTC Touch - PKR. 33,000
HTC P4350 - PKR. 36,500

O2 Stealth - PKR. 17,766

Accessories:
Sony Ericsson GPRS/Wireless LAN PC Data Card GC79 - PKR. 3,800
Sony Ericsson Stereo Bluetooth™ Headset HBH-DS970 - PKR. 4,250

This Saturday I went to Metro in Islamabad, and checked out the Cell Phone section. I loved the way they displayed all the cell phones and let people check them out without any worries.

Phones of Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Motorola, HTC were available and the prices were extremely reasonable. Most of them had Mobilezone, United Mobile and Advance Warranties.

Nokia 1208 was for PKR.2300 in Metro, while in the open market it is available for PKR.2250. Only a Rs.50 difference.

There were laptops, CPU’s, UPS, printers, scanners, LCD screens, Playstation 2, Playstation 3, PSP, televisions, speakers, digital cameras, memory cards, cordless phones, bluetooth headphones, DVD players, music systems, and loads of other products. I really enjoyed shopping there.

So if you have Metro’s membership or know someone who has one, then do go and check out Metro’s electronic sections, as it’s definitely worth a visit.

Metro’s location in Islamabad:
Sector I-11/4, Near Railway Carriage Factory

Official Website of Metro Cash & Carry Pakistan
www.metro.pk

Mobilink’s monopoly on BlackBerry services in Pakistan is finally broken! Ufone has introduced Ufone BlackBerry for it’s Postpay customers.

Ufone BES Plus
Monthly fee Rs.1500 + tax
Ufone BES
Monthly fee Rs.1350 + tax
Ufone BIS
Monthly fee Rs.900 + tax

Compared to Mobilink’s BlackBerry tariffs, Ufone seems to be cheaper.

Mobilink BES Plus
Monthly fee Rs.1650 + tax
Mobilink BES
Monthly fee Rs.1500 + tax
Mobilink BIS
Monthly fee Rs.1000 + tax

Read all about Ufone’s BlackBerry® service on it’s Official Website:
http://www.ufone.com

Read about Mobilink’s BlackBerry® service on it’s Official Website:
http://www.mobilinkworld.com/

In this post, I’ll write about my personal experience of the Nokia E61i. The reason why I don’t call this a review is because it’s not. I’m not going to review it, but I’m just writing about how I decided to buy it and how I find it in my day to day use.

The Nokia E61i does everything I want it to do, and the wow factor is there too. Although in the recent years Blackberry phones are becoming popular and quite common in Pakistan, Qwerty phones still manage to stand out in the crowd.

Picture of Nokia E61i

When people see the E61i in my hand, the first question I hear is “Is that a Blackberry?” I shake my head telling them it’s not and show them the phone, only to hear “Ah this is a Nokia Blackberry! I didn’t know Nokia made blackberry phones too?” These comments always bring a smile to my face. I reply, “Kind of. Yes, the E61i can be used for Blackberry services too, but it’s basically a Symbian smartphone made by Nokia. The Blackberry phones like Curve etc. are not Symbian-based & those sets are made by RIM“.

Picture of Blackberry Curve 8310

The only Qwerty phones people have seen commonly in Pakistan are either the Blackberry’s, I-Mates and HTC (infact HTC is also not that common yet) Nokia’s Communicator series is pretty well known for it’s full keyboard and the expensive price-tag, so people usually cannot imagine that Nokia can bring out a qwerty phone which is actually cheaper than a Communicator!

The E61i is still something unusual to people. As long as people think it’s a Blackberry, no one bothers to ask me about it, but as soon as they find out it’s a Nokia phone, a conversation and a series of questions start. It’s definitely one of those Nokia phones which everyone is curious about.

When I had first ventured out into the market to buy a portable device to carry around, buying a phone was not in the list at all. I had wanted to buy a portable laptop with a small screen which could easily fit into my bag. The reason for wanting a portable device was to check emails and chat on the go, but after looking at the sizes of the portable laptops, and also their insane prices (smaller, slimmer, portable laptops are most expensive), I decided that it would be better to get a PDA or a smartphone.

Picture of Nokia E90

My first thoughts was to get a Blackberry, but after seeing that I’d be stuck for life with Mobilink wasn’t something I wanted to do. Then I looked at Sony Ericsson’s P-Series and I found out that none of them had EDGE, so I ticked that off the list too. The old Nokia Communicator’s were just TOO bulky for my taste, and the new E90 Communicator was too expensive! so those were out as well. By this time the I-Mate and HTC phones were looking like an extremely attractive option, but after talking to shopkeepers in Islamabad, I got the idea that if I ever needed to sell, then first thing would be that I would have absolutely no buyer, and if I did, then I’d have to sell it in peanuts.

So, there I was checking and browsing through a hundred websites & reviews when I came across the Nokia E62 for Rs.12,500, which led me to the fantastic E61i. I bought the Nokia E61i in December 2007 for Rs.26,000 (United Mobile Warrenty) and haven’t looked back since. I love every minute with it.

This picture gives an idea of how portable the Nokia E61i really is as compared to my laptop.

I did a little comparison between the Nokia E61i and my laptop:

1.Fastest device for checking Emails:
Now my day starts with checking about 4 IMAP Gmail Mailboxes which hardly takes about 10 minutes to browse through, which is fantastic, because otherwise I’d have to turn the laptop on, then connect the internet to go online, open the browser, then type Gmails URL, then log into my account. Time, time, time!
WINNER: Nokia E61i

2.Best device for Instant Messaging:
Well, what can be more instant than getting an IM Alert Beep when out hiking in the mountains far away from the office? The E61i’s Qwerty keypad may not be as comfortable to use as a Full Laptop keyboard, but it beats the laptop by Read the rest of this entry »

Three VERY important things for the Nokia E61i:

1). Nokia Type: HS-23 Stereo Headset. (Or any other original Nokia Stereo Headset will do)
2). 2GB MicroSD Memory Card. (Any original card will do. Try to avoid fake cards)
3). A cover for the E61i. (Any kind will do)

1). The first most important, and I cannot stress enough how important this is, is to buy a pair of Original Nokia TYPE: HS-23 Stereo Headphones. I already had a pair of these headphones as it belonged to one of my old Nokia 6080 FM phone. Using the stereo headset while watching movies on the DivX player in the E61i is amazing. Sound quality is good.

The free Mono-headset provided with the Nokia E61i is so bad that it belongs in the trash!! I haven’t touched this rotten Mono-Headset since the day I bought my E61i.

So buy this Nokia TYPE: Hs-23 Stereo Headset asap, or use any other “Stereo” Pop-Port Nokia headphones which you have.

You can read more about the Nokia HS-23 Stereo Headset here http://www.nokia.co.uk/link?cid=EDITORIAL_807881

2). The second thing which I did after buying my E61i was to get a 2GB Kingston MicroSD card. It cost only PK Rs.1,100. According to Official Nokia Website, the Nokia E61i supports upto 2GB memory. I have no idea if anyone is using higher memory or not. But Nokia recommends to use upto 2GB memory only in the E61i.

The 256MB Nokia MicroSD card which was provided free in the package just isn’t enough for all the music, movies and videos I carry around in my phone. You can buy any original company MicroSD memory cards, buying Kingston is not necessary, but avoid fake cards as you might end up losing your data in the long run.

3). The third thing is a cover for the E61i. A cover is good to have as it will protect the large 2.8″ screen of your E61i, and save it from scratches and dust. I got a Black Nokia Soft Pouch for PK Rs.200 only from Jinnah Super Market in Islamabad. The pouch was actually for the N-Series phones, but it fits the E61i too.

I’ve been using the Nokia Audiobook Application which I found on http://www.nokia.com/betalabs/applications to listen to lots of Audiobooks from http://librivox.org/ on my Nokia E61i.

http://librivox.org/ has a gigantic collection of Audiobooks read out by Volunteers from all across the globe, and is providing the Audiobooks free of cost.

Though I like to listen to books being read out to me, but what I like even more is to listen to a book with sounds and drama. It’s a lot like watching a movie, but without any pictures. Your mind creates the pictures. These dramatized Audiobooks are not read out word-to-word as http://librivox.org/ Audiobooks, but the dramatized Audiobooks have people acting out the story with a proper script and add character to the voice.

I have downloaded the Radio Dramatized version of Agatha Christie’s book “Appointment With Death” and converted it to Nokia’s Audiobook Format using the Nokia Audiobook Manager.

Background: Agatha Christie - Appointment With Death

“Among the towering red cliffs and the ancient ruins of Petra sits the corpse of Mrs. Boynton, the cruel and tyrannizing matriarch of the Boynton family. A tiny puncture mark on her wrist is the only sign of the fatal injection that killed her. With only twenty-four hours to solve the mystery, Hercule Poirot recalls a remark he overheard back in Jerusalem: “You do see, don’t you, that she’s got to be killed?” Mrs. Boynton was, indeed, the most detestable woman he had ever met.“

This Audiobook has been converted specially for use with Nokia Audiobook Application. The duration time of this Audiobook is 1 hour and 28 Minutes.

Download Agatha Christie - Appointment With Death Nokia Audiobook