Samsung today announced its first Android-powered phone in India dubbed as the Galaxy (I7500). Measuring just 11.9mm thick, the phone packs a vivid 3.2-inch AMOLED touchscreen display along with full 7.2Mbps HSDPA, Wi-Fi connectivity, Bluetooth, 5 megapixel camera, 8GB internal memory, microSD slot (up to 32GB) and a nice 1500mAh battery. The phone also comes pre-installed with Google services like Search, YouTube, Gmail, Maps and Android Market that will allow users to download new apps on to the phone.

Samsung also announced an exclusive offer for Tata Docomo users. For the first six months, Tata Docomo users will be eligible for a 500MB data access per month (and if you exhaust it before the month, there’s always an unlimited pack to the rescue).

The phone will sell for Rs. 28,990.

Unitech Wireless today announced their new identity and will now be known as Uninor. The revamped brand name is indicative of Telenor’s global telecom expertise which has a major stake in the company and Unitech Ltd. that has presence in the country.

Uninor is expected to launch its services by end of this year and with the new identity in place, they’re emphasizing on putting customers and employees first. Whatever their way will be, they claim to bring in new ideas and new ways of doing business, which I think will be interesting to see.

As for their operation status, Uninor has got a pan-India license with spectrum already allotted for 21 of the 22 circles. The service will be live by December in select markets.

MTNL Mumbai has kicked off a promotional offer for their existing GSM subscribers. Trump and Dolphin users can now have the benefit to try out the 3G service in Mumbai before taking the plunge. Starting from today till Sep 30, a user activating the promotional offer will be offered to try out the 3G service wherein there will be free unlimited video calls within MTNL network but accessing internet will be charged at 50p/100KB.

Users can activate the service by sending an SMS “FREE 3G” to 444 (Trump) or 555 (Dolphin). After the trial period has ended, if a user wishes to continue with the service, he can send the following SMS “ACT 3G” to 444 (Trump) or 555 (Dolphin) and receive a waiver of a one-time activation charge of Rs. 300.

MTNL Mumbai estimates to cover the whole Mumbai with 3G network by the end of November 2009.

With the proliferation of social networking sites and to satisfy user’s urge to remain online 24×7, Tata Docomo has announced unlimited GPRS packs. The packs are similar to Aircel’s Pocket Internet that were launched few months ago. A user can opt for a 3-day pack costing Rs. 15 or go for a full month of unlimited freedom for just Rs. 95. However, there’s one important thing to know. These packs won’t work on roaming. In simple words, you’ll be able to access the internet but will be charged 10p/10kb.

Activating the GPRS pack is simple. Go to a retailer to recharge your account with the GPRS voucher and then SMS INTERNET to 52270 to receive the settings. Likewise, you can also set the settings manually. More on that here.

And yes, you can connect the phone to your laptop or desktop PC to surf the internet but with the speeds hovering up to 48Kbps, this doesn’t sound to be a good option.

Tata Docomo sent some shivers to the ‘established’ GSM operators when they launched 1paisa per second calling and now they’re trying to attempt the same by announcing diet-sms that charges 1paisa per character excluding the spaces. Sounds too good to be true, right? In fact, it is but there are a few things to note before you jump with joy.

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If Tata DoCoMo’s 1paise/sec is a boon for heavy callers, they’ve come out with another offer to please avid texters. Launched in Kerala, the SMS offer will allow users to enjoy 100 local and national SMS everyday for free. The only catch here, which we think is a reasonable one is that the user needs to send a message to a local or national number that will be charged at 60 paise and Rs. 1.20 respectively. The offer is applicable to pre-paid users and will be valid till November 25.

We Say: Tata DoCoMo is trying every ploy to take on the competition and needless to say, such a scheme will enable them to add more connections. Let’s hope they roll this offer in other circles too.

When asked about MNP, one of our commenter once said “I’ll believe it when I see it” and I guess he was right. Once destined to start from September 20, the government has now pushed the Phase I MNP date back to December. Reason? Well, the telecom department wants to give some more time that will allow to upgrade existing networks to be compatible with MNP. Also, they haven’t been able to resolve technical and commercial issues.

In a bid to promote MTNL’s 3G Jadoo service, they have teamed up Micromax to launch H360 3G equipped device. For a price of Rs. 5,499, users will be able to take advantage of 3G services offered by MTNL like watching live television, video conferencing and connect to various websites at improved speeds.

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At the IndiaOn conference held in New Delhi, Bharti Airtel CEO Manoj Kohli said they’re planning to launch their 3G service in October next year provided everything goes as planned.

“If everything goes well on time with regard to spectrum auction, by February or March we will have spectrum allocation. By next Diwali (2010), we will have commercial launch of 3G services in India.”

Government recently fixed the base price of the 3G spectrum at Rs. 3,500 crore and the auction is expected to be completed by November.