Google to Wind up its Station Project Globally, RailTel to Continue Services

Google is all set to pull the plug off from the ambitious Google Station project. Google launched this public WiFi offerings in railway stations of India in 2015 by partnering telecom arm of Indian Railways, RailTel and now connects more than 400 stations. 

Later Google Station was expanded to other countries - Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria, the Philippines, South Africa, Thailand, and Vietnam with local ISPs as partner. 

In a blog post by Caesar Sengupta, VP - Payments and Next Billion Users of Google points out that Indians are getting cheapest 4G data and better LTE coverage, hence they will wind up Station services while they will continue to work with 'partners to transition existing sites so they can remain useful resources for the community.' The post also mentions their initial target of reaching 400 stations was completed in June 2018. 

Sundarban Trip (2D/1N) in January 2020

We had a 2D/1N trip to Sundarban via an agency, Sundarban Chalo in end of January 2020.

Sundarban does not need an introduction, but let me put a small intro. In the delta of rivers (Ganga, Meghna and Bramhaputra) Sundarban is a reserved forest, full of mangrove trees and a world heritage site enlisted by UNESCO. The reserved forest area is intersected by multiple tidal streams and channels, and shared between India and Bangladesh. So jungle safari here is completely different from any mainland reserved forest or wildlife sanctuaries. The safari is done over boats, across the rivers, channels and tidal streams, and if your luck favors you can see gorgeous Royal Bengal Tiger in the wild.

Our tour started at 8 am as we were picked up from the front of Indian Museum in a van. We reached Godkhali ferry ghat in 3.5hrs, from there we reached Gosaba by ferry and they dropped us in a hotel at Pakhiralay by auto. Pakhiralay is southern part of Gosaba island, and just opposite to Sajnekhali divided by Datta river.

Xiaomi to Launch Mi 10 in India Soon?

Xiaomi has removed Mi MIX 2 from Mi Store India, resulting in only 2 smartphones under Mi brand - Mi Mix Alpha and Mi A3. Now Mi Mix Alpha is a concept phone, and probably the price will be more than Rs 2 lakh, and not coming to market anytime soon, and on the other hand Mi A3, an Android One smartphone was launched in July 2019.

With resurrected Poco has launched its second device X2 at 16-20K, and that's not a flagship killer, only phone that is flagship from Xiaomi is K20Pro (Snapdragon 855). That K20 Pro is not a truly flagship (priced as Rs 25-28K), rather it's a flagship killer. 

We expect Mi 10 series Xiaomi is focusing on right now. This series will help Xiaomi to bring flagships/premium phones in India, and price war will begin. If Xiaomi does not focus on premium segment right now, that segment will be locked by BBK Electronics promoted OnePlus & Apple iPhone. Their budget segment is safe with Redmi branded phones but next leap is here, and Xiaomi should not miss that opportunity. 

Update: As per latest reports, Xiaomi India CEO Mr Jain hinted about bringing Mi 10 series, that'll be first Mi phone after Mi 5. He also tweeted about 'costly' Mi 10 series as these phones will be made in superior 'state of art' facilities in China. There was a controversy with pricing of K20, probably he wants to avoid that with Mi 10 series. So Xiaomi is rethinking its strategy for India for sure. It's true that realme, a sub brand of Oppo saw massive growth and that slowed down Xiaomi's sales figure here. IQoo, a forked Vivo brand will also be launched with gaming centric audience. I am expecting more gadgets of premiumly priced like Mi Note and Mibook to be launched in India if Mi 10 series sees a good sales.  

Lava Wants A Comeback - Z53 Launches at Rs 4829

LAVA International has launched a new smartphone Z53. 

Well you may forget this company, but Lava was one of the leading smartphone sellers during 2G/3G days in India. Indian smartphone makers were hurt bad by disruptive launch of 4G in the country by Jio as well as by the demonetization. The floodgate was opened, and Chinese brands entered into the market and started capturing the market in fastest manner possible.

LAVA is targeting smartphone market for newbies, who are on feature phones like JioPhone. That market needed smartphone with good battery life at a low cost. Lava Z53 has been launched to fulfill that gap.

 Commenting on the launch, Mr. Tejinder Singh, Head Product, Lava International said, “We are delighted to present this new offering to all feature phone users who are looking to upgrade to a latest smartphone. Lava Z53 comes with a bigger screen and an outstanding battery backup which makes it a perfect choice for the first-time smartphone users. With this smartphone, we aim to serve customers better in Tier II & Tier III cities of the country as we have deep penetration there. We are confident the handset will be well received in the market.”