How to unlock a blackberry phone in 10 simple steps

We got a blackberry from US and didn’t feel the need to unlock the phone till my E51 refused to power up after a total battery drain. I was left with no cell phone situation – which trust me is a very bad condition in the era of smartphones and 3G on almost all carriers (even if I was going to be in home all day long). So the blackberry was taken out from its 6 month long hibernation and I was initially doubtful if it would even charge up for use. Thankfully, the blackberry didn’t let me down! Next step was to unlock the phone. There are several guys in India in every gully who claim to unlock US phones of any make/model/carrier. Few of them might just do it right but in most cases, they end up removing the basic software and corrupting the phone along with all those dear apps or return the phone to you saying it can’t be done with this model – after holding your phone for at least a couple of weeks. We had a bad experience with two such guys with our iPhone – it still yearns to be unlocked!

So this time I decided that I was going to give it a try myself with the help of Google and YouTube. I took the bold step because, I had two blackberry of the same make but with a single battery (so in any case I could just use one blackberry at a time), therefore even if I screwed one up, there was a backup anyway! I was amazed to find that there were so many vendors who could help me unlock the blackberry and I must say I was mistrusting initially but nevertheless took the chance and I am really happy that I took the chance! Here is the steps that I followed to unlock the blackberry.

How I unlocked the blackberry

Step #1: Find the IMEI number of your mobile phone. This can be done by typing *#06# on the key pad

Step #2: Go to the below website:  www.unlockcellphonecode.com. The best part about using unlockcellphonecode.com is that they are the cheapest amongst all others on the internet. The cost for my blackberry was just $9.99 which is pretty cheap compared to what the local unlock-wallas ask for. Here you will see a form where you have to enter the following details:

 

 

 

* Select the country and carrier database  from the drop down list

* Select the right carrier/provider of your mobile

* Select the right blackberry model

* Enter the IMEI number – I was a little apprehensive about giving out the IMEI number- but now I know it was completely safe to do so.

Step #3: Click on Add to Cart

Step #4: You can pay through PayPal or through Google checkout

You will get a confirmation upon payment along with an invoice number and you will also get an email confirmation. You will also receive a user name and password along with the link where you can check the code. Follow the instructions in the email. This e-mail will be where you will also get the unlock code.

Then comes the waiting part.  Since this was an online transaction and as there was no contact number available on the website, the waiting part was a bit scary I must admit. They say that codes are available in 2-4 hours time, but it took 8 hours in my case. So don’t panic if you don’t see the code in you inbox within 4 or 6 hours.

Once you get the code, you will have to do 2 simple steps to unlock the phone:

Step #5: Remove the old SIM card from the blackberry and power it on (You can either have the new SIM card inserted or you can do this with no SIM in the phone – that makes no difference)

Step #6: Go to Options –> Advanced Options –> SIM Card. Now enter the following in the keypad: meppd

You will see that the Network option shows “Active”. This means that the phone is locked to the network of the provider

Step #7: Now enter the following on your keypad: mepp alt2 without any space between them. 

Step #8: You will see “Enter Network MEP Code (256 left)” This number 256 is the number of attempts for you to enter the MEP Code. You are lucky if you have these many attempts left. But if you exhaust all of those attempts, the phone gets hard locked to the carrier and there will the nothing you can do to unlock the phone.

Step #9: Enter the unlock code that you received in the email. This will unlock the phone and you will now see that the Network also shows “Disabled”. This is perfectly alright, it just means your phone is no longer tied to the carrier

Step#10: If you had not inserted the new SIM card earlier, do it now. Usually the right carrier gets selected automatically. If it does not go to Options—> Mobile Network and search for available network and choose the right carrier from among the list.

Now you will have an unlocked Blackberry!!

Did this help you? Have you unlocked through any other better way? Do share your thoughts!

Introducing the world of 3G to Indian mobile consumers–A review of 3G service providers and their tariffs

After mobile number portability it is now time for the telecom industry to woo the customers to the latest in the industry. Yes indeed, 3G is the talk of the town. With 3G available from all the major service providers both for their pre-paid and post-paid consumers, everyone can now experience ‘on the go’ internet experience from their smart phones. What remains to be seen is how the Indian consumers are going to embrace this technological advance. And this to a great extend will depend on the data plans and tariffs that the service providers will offer. I have compiled a list of major 3G service providers along with the details of their post paid charges (wherever available).

Comparison of the tariffs and service

Of all these, Vodafone’s deal is currently the best as one gets to try the 3G experience ‘at no extra cost’. But when Vodafone will start charging for the service, I guess BNL will get back to be he best again. Not only are the charges vey nominal, the service is also good. I find Airtel to be the costliest amongst the lot (They even charge you at 50paise per minute on Customer service calls – that’s pathetic!). I have personally tried Airtel and BSNL and from my experience, I find BSNL beat Airtel hands down I terms of cost, browsing speed and issueless connectivity. Airtel has intermittent breaks in connection and is relatively slow in comparison. Vodafone, I heard lives up to the ‘Super man’ zoo-zoo levels of expectation. (Again Vodafone did come up with the best series of Ads for 3G – they seem to have on hell of a creative team)

State wise list of service providers:

Here is the details of 3G service provides in different states:

State	Service provider
Andhra Pradesh	Bharati Airtel, Idea, Aircel
Assam	Reliance Telecom, Bharati Airtel, Aircel
Bihar	Bharati Airtel, STel, Aircel, Reliance Telecom
Delhi	Bharati Airtel, Reliance Telecom, Vodafone
Gujarat	Idea, Vodafone, Docomo
Haryana	Idea, Vodafone, Docomo
Himachal Pradesh	R C0m, Idea, STel, Bharati Airtel
Jammu & Kashmir	Aircel, Reliance Telecom, Bharati Airtel, Idea
Karnataka	Bharati Airtel, Docomo, Aircel
Kerala	Idea, Docomo, Aircel
Kolkata	Reliance Telecom, Vodafone, Aircel
Madhya Pradesh	Idea, Docomo, Reliance Telecom
Maharashtra	Idea, Docomo, Vodafone
Mumbai	Bharati Airtel, Reliance telecom, Vodafone
North East	R com, Bharati Airtel, Aircel
Orissa	STel, Aircel, R com
Punjab	Docomo, Idea, Reliance Telecom, Aircel
Rajasthan	Docomo, Reliance Telecom, Bharti Airtel
Tamil Nadu	Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Aircel
Uttar Pradesh (East)	Aircel, Idea, Vodafone
Uttar Pradesh (west)	Docomo, Bharti Airtel, Idea
West Bengal	Bharti Airtel, Reliance Telecom, Vodafone, Aircel

 

Even though 3G is  the hot cake now, the usage will greatly depend on competitive pricing. Also as a smart phone (like iPhone, android models or Nokia smart phones) is a basic necessity for this service, that will also act as a dampening factor. Nevertheless, I believe that this revolutionary technology will reach the masses very soon even if the service is priced quite on the higher side now. I am sure the charges will settle down to customer friendly rates within a short time – remember when cellphones came to India, incoming calls were charged at Rs.65 per min and today we are paying homage to 1 paise/min!

What do you think? Do you have 3G enabled handsets? What 3G service do you use and how do you like it – Please share your views!

Verizon unleashes 4G with HTC Thunderbolt - A review of features and deals on Thunderbolt

The wait for 4G is finally over - Verizon has launched the 4G service with HTC Thunderbolt today! The 4.3 inch Thunderbolt is priced at $250 at Verizon wireless with a 2 year contract. The phone looks very cool and hopefully experiencing 4G on it would be cool as well. The only thing that bring a frown is the Android version in the mobile. With android already working on Ice cream Sandwich, this mobile only sports the Android 2.2 version (the version most widely in use today).

Features:

Android 2.2 (Froyo) with HTC Sense 2.0 OS

4.3” TFT Touch screen, 8MP rear cam with LED Flash and 1.3MP front cam

MicroSD expandable up to 32 GB

802.11 b/g/n wireless, 2.1 Bluetooth, 4G network

Qualcomm® MSM8655, 1GHz, Qualcomm MDM9600 chipset

 

 

The best deal on this phone is available at Amazon.com – $180.00

Ordered your HTC Thunderbird already? What is your expectations? Do share your comments here!

Froyo (Android 2.2) is the most popularly used Android version!

Just after 9 months of its release, Froyo (Android 2.2) is the most widely used Android version in all of the Android devices. This version of the Android OS is popularly used in both mobile devices and in tablets.

When  combined with the Android version 2.1, the overall popularity of the 2.x version swells to 90% on all the active Google devices.

The disappointing part of this statistic is that the most recent version for mobile phones – Gingerbread has not even reached 2% in terms of usage. Also the honeycomb version which was exclusively developed for tablets is just 0.2% in use.

Android Version	Usage
1.5	3 %
1.6	4.8 %
2.1	29 %
2.2	61.3 %
2.3	0.7 %
2.3.3	1.0 %
3.0	0.2 %

 

 

Though the popularity of Android is steadily climbing up in the market, the users would love to see that the most recent versions are also the most widely used versions in market.

 

Do you own an android? What version are you running?

iPod 4 screen glitches following iOS 4.3 update - What to do about it?

 

Just when the users with iOS 4.3 update in their iPhones / iPods are still to come out of the DST bug problem (well there has been no fix from Apple – restarting the device fixed the issue in most cases), the next issue has cropped up. Many iPod touch users are reporting weird glitches in their screen graphics following the iOS 4.3 update in their iPod. The glitches are more apparent in the lock screen and many users have also reported icon overlapping and other problems with pixel alignment. Hope Apple fixes the issues with the OS update soon – before the droid lovers have a field day with this!

What should I do if I see the glitches in my iPod?

The best thing to do if you see the glitches is to report it to Apple. They are the right people to do something about this. Please report the issue in any one of the two Apple discussion links below:

Apple discussion link 1

Apple discussion link 2

 

iPod 4 Glitch following iOS4.3 update

 

Are you experiencing these glitches too? Share your videos/experiences in comments.

iPhone / iPod DST Bug–How to fix the clock

After Android went through the malware apps last week, its time for Apple to take the beating now. On Sunday March 13, while the clock must have moved an hour forward to adjust for the DST, Apple iPhones / iPads / iPods decided to go back by an hour due to a bug in the iPhone DST adjustments. Almost all iPhone owners relying on their phones to keep up with appointments and even waking up with its alarm, were alarmed to see that they were not on time! iSiC_XXIII, a twitter user vented his frustrations this way in twitter “Thanks iPod Touch and iPhone for making me late to work! DST is not working properly”. Seemingly there were no issues with most of the other phones including Android in adjusting themselves to the DST settings. The same bug is expected to affect the Europeans on March 27.

What’s the Fix?

*  Restarting the phone has solved the issue in 99% of cases.

*  You can otherwise switch the phone briefly to airplane mode and then back to normal mode, This has also worked for some people.

Time to get a good old alarm clock!!

Did the DST bug bite you too?? What did you do to resolve the issue – Do share your experience here!

Apple iPad 2 vs Motorola Xoom vs Samsung Galaxy tab - A comparison of features, hardware and usability

Its Showtime for the tablet competitors Apple, Motorola and Samsung and for tablet lovers, it can’t get better than this. Gone are the days of Apple monopoly in the market. Now, the customer is the king and we have for the first time real competitors to consider when thinking about the latest in electronics market – tab. The release of iPad 2 (read the features and highlights here) had Samsung do some serious re-thinking about its price and features before launching it in the market. Also there were reviews on Motorola Xoom which showed that there were some areas of improvement when compared to the iPad2. However, with Android making its presence felt among users of wide ranges of age group and profession, it is customer oriented market yet again and here is how I compare the tabs (Read a detailed comparison of Android vs iPhone here). Again, in this case too, I am not going to say if one tab beats the other or if Apple wins over Android or Android gets better than apple – just trying to bring out an unbiased review.

Comparison Chart:

	Motorola Xoom	Samsung Galaxy tab 2	Apple iPad 2	Advantage
OS	Honeycomb	Honeycomb (android 3.0)	Apple iOS 4.3	Purely for the brand power and also because Honeycomb is still raw and yet to be experienced – Apple
Display	10.1”	10.1”	9.7”	Though Apple’s display is slightly smaller than the other two, it looks cuter than the other two to me – Apple
Resolution	1280 x 800	1280 x 800	1024 x 768	Definitely Motorola
RAM	1 GB	Not Available	512 MB	Motorola
Processor	1 GHz Terga 2 dual-core	1 GHz Terga 2 dual-core	A5 1GHz dual-core	Again for the tested and extremely satisfying performance – Apple
Camera	5 MegaPix rear camera with LED Flash / 2 MegaPix front camera	8 MegaPix rear camera with Flash and 2 MegaPix front camera	Rear camera pix rating unspecified, front camera VGA	Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 – Apple disappointed everybody big time here
Memory	32 GB – Expandable memory up to 32 GB in microSD	16 or 32 GB – Nothing specified yet about external memory	16, 32, 64 GB but no external expandable memory	Motorola – MicroSD slot was one of the most expected feature in the new version of Tabs
Wi-Fi	802.11 b/g/n along with Personal Hotspot	802.11 b/g/n	802.11 b/g/n	Tied – similar specs
Network	3G (upgradable to 4G – if you don’t mind shipping it back and forth to Verizon to get this done)	4G HSPA / EDGE / GPRS	3G HSDPA / GSM / EDGE / CMDA	Samsung Galaxy Tab for the 4G
Externals	9.8 x 6.6 x 0.5 / 12.7 mm / 1.61 lbs	9.67 x 6.7 x 0.43 / 10.9 mm thick / 1.32 lbs	9.5 x 7.3 x 0.34 / 8.8 mm thick / 1.33 lbs	Apple – truly lives up to its marketing slogan – thinner, lighter and smarter
Ports	HDMI, USB 2.0	USB 2.0	HDMI (with adapter)	Motorola Xoom

 

Apple’s exciting features like Facetime, excellent multitasking still scores overs minor hitches in Motorola (like problems with microSD, confusing buttons in different applications and heftier finish than iPad2). However Motorola Xoom is a serious competitor to Apple in the tablet race and we are in for some exciting market analysis in near future!!

What do you think about the latest tabs in market? Do share your views and reviews on your tab experience