To offset somewhat slippery sales in the Western market, Research in Motion is set to launch a flagship store in the Middle East, starting with Dubai.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Sandeep Saihgal MD of RIM’s Middle East Business said that the company was in the final stages of negotiating on a flagship store that covered around 1,500 square feet. “We’re getting the first one up and running and then we’ll be looking at other cities across the Middle East — Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar,” said Saihgal.

Axiom, which is one of the largest mobile phone distributors is also coming on board to help customize the look and feel of the store (please no more orange?).

Traditionally sales of the Blackberry devices have done quite well in the Middle East, with telecom operators offering competitive packages for both consumer and business models. The allure of Blackberry Messaging (or ‘BBM’) has also seen a surge in Blackberry usage amongst youngsters, some as young as seven years old.

The Huawei Honor U8860 Smartphone landed in our offices a few weeks back. For those who are wondering what a Huawei is and how do you pronounce it, I can try and answer the first one as the debate on the pronunciation is still on in our office. Although not very well known in the Middle East consumer space, Huawei is a huge company with offices in more than 140 countries and deals mostly on the Government/Corporate side providing high-end information and communications technology (ICT) solutions. Recently, they decided to enter the consumer space and that they made some notice at the MWC show in Barcelona last month by showcasing the fastest quad core smartphone based on their own chip. Sadly, that is not what we have with us today for reviewing but fear not as the U8860 does have a few tricks up its sleeve.

Packaging and Design

Packaged in a grey box that is slightly bigger than your standard Smartphone packages from HTC and Apple, the U8860 comes with the usual suspects- a USB cable, a plug and a headset. A quick start guide is also included to get the novice user up and running.

The Huawei Honor U8860 gets no points in the design department and let me show you why before we talk about it.

As you can see, the design of the unit is heavily inspired by a small unknown device from a not-so-well-known company based in Cupertino. It is so much alike that my aunt who already owns a white iPhone got confused when she saw it sitting on a table a few feet from her. So although Huawei will not win any awards for design, at least the construction quality of the U8860 is fairly decent. Although there is a bit of a creak on the back cover- common amongst devices with removable back covers, overall the device feels pretty solid in your hand and should be able to survive a small fall or two.

Specs and Performance

The Huawei Honor U8860 has specs that can be found on a mid to high-end Android based Smartphone of today. Based on a single core Qualcomm 1.4GHz SnapDragon CPU and Adreno 205 GPU, the U8860 should be able to handle everyday tasks without much issues. The following table compares the U8860 to some of the recent Android devices we have reviewed along with how well it did on the SunSpider benchmark (remember, lower scores are better as this is a time based benchmark)

UI and Apps

Like Samsung and HTC, Huawei has also chosen to implement a custom UI on their Android based U8860 and it’s pretty good actually. If you have ever used a custom ROM based on MiUi on your Android device, then the U8860 will be somewhat familiar to you. You can define four icons on your dock and also create folders and place widgets on your screens. Huawei adds colorful icons and adds a custom keyboard that supports Arabic- something that is not a part of stock Android pre 4.0. The following video shows you the user interface for the device.

As you can see from the video, the device is fairly quick at launching and moving between applications and home screens. I found the keyboard to be not as good as the stock one found on the latest version of Android (Ice Cream Sandwich) but nevertheless, it supports Arabic.

Camera

The Huawei Honor U8860 features two cameras like most modern Smartphones. The front one is a 2MP shooter while the back one is 8MP with autofocus and an LED flash. Sadly video recording is restricted to 720p @ 30fps. The following shot is a sample taken from the back camera of the U8860. The image has been resized but quality is kept at 100%

As you can see, the shots are decent in quality. The camera captures a good amount of detail but the colors appear a bit dull. You can go to digital zoom upto 4x but the quality of pictures degrades quite a bit.

Overall Usage & Conclusion

For everyday usage the Huawei U8860 works well. The call quality is just fine and so are the volume levels. I didn’t have anyone complaining on the other side of the line and I could hear everyone as clear as any other phone. The unit operates at a fairly cool temperature most of the times as well- although I did notice it getting a bit on the hotter side while charging and using- but that is true for many phones.

One of the best things about the U8860 is the battery life. With a massive 1930mAh battery, expect the U8860 to provide you with the best battery life on an Android device. It certainly proved to be one of the longest lasting Android device that I have tested on late by giving me almost two full days with my usual usage of having push email enabled, listening to some music, taking a few pictures.

Oveall, the U8860 is a pretty decent Smartphone. It is well constructed, has a nice display, performs quite well and lasts you quite a long time between charges. Its priced at AED 1,500 making it extremely well worth for what you’re getting and thus earns our recommended product award.

Times sure have changed. Last year around this time when the iPad 2 was released, retailers were having a blast selling the tablet for about twice as much as it costs in the US. And I’m not just talking about those small booths at shopping malls that like to rip tourists off- some of the bigger power retailers were also as shameless about making a quick buck as these small time stores. This morning, I got an email from souq.com that is selling the base 16GB unit for AED 2,049 while the unit I purchased from US- 32GB with 4G is selling for AED 2,949. My credit card statement shows that I paid AED 3,032 for that same unit in the US.

Taking the example of the base 16GB unit I mentioned above for AED 2,049, that same 16GB iPad 2 was selling for as high as AED 5,300 last year. I can only imagine the rage that Steve Jobs would have exhibited when he would have found that out these resellers were making a bigger profit than Apple on each iPad that was sold. Apple needed to fix this problem as I’m sure many official distributors in regions such as ours must have raised their concerns and frustration. I remember iStyle had announced last year that it  will not be providing service to grey-imported units of the iPad 2.

So what was causing the iPad 2 to fetch such a premium over it’s base price? Yes, it is a wonderful device but that was not the reason for it. It’s all about economics- supply and demand. While Apple must have estimated demand for the iPad for every official market that it was released into, it probably did not take into consideration the demand that would be created due to grey imports. The iPad is, after all, a very sought after item and in many parts of the world, people don’t want to wait to get one.

So Apple made sure it produced enough units of the new iPad to not only cater to all the official markets the new iPad was released into, but also enough so that the grey-importers don’t make a killing on it. As per Apple, they sold three million units of the new iPad in the first three days and while Apple didn’t release the sales figures for the iPad 2′s first few days of sales, it is estimated that it took Apple three weeks to reach that figure.

Thus, it’s no surprise that the new iPad is not fetching the premiums it’s predecessor commanded because Apple has nipped the problem that created the scenario for such premiums. Great news for consumers but not so much for retailers that forecast the hike of their profits around the launch of Apple products.

The new iPad has landed in the UAE for potential buyers and surprisingly, the deals are much better for the end consumer compared to iPad 2.

You can pick one up from online sites like souq.com or jadopado.com where the units start from AED 2200 onwards. I personally picked my unit up from Jadopado.com and it was delivered on the same day I ordered. The following are the prices from their website:

16GB- Wifi- AED 2349, Wi-Fi + 3G: AED 3,199
32GB- Wifi- AED 2749, Wi-Fi + 3G: AED 3,649
64GB- Wifi- AED 3149, Wi-Fi + 3G: AED 3,999

If you compare these prices to the prices in the US, you are paying a premium between AED 400 to AED 600 which is pretty decent considering that you were paying more than AED 1000 premium for iPad 2 when that was launched a year back. Comparing the prices to UK, we actually find a couple of models cheaper in the UAE.

All version are available in Black and White colors. The 4G version of the new iPad works under 3G/HSPA in the UAE. I personally tested my Etisalat micro-SIM card and it works without any issues- expect our full review soon.

1) Keynote by industry leaders from Nokia, Qualcomm and RIM

The Tbreak Developer’s Conference kicks off with a keynote from Industry leaders such as Mike Al-Mefleh, Director of Product Management – Middle East at Research In Motion and Praveen Prabhakaran, Head of EDX – Middle-East at Nokia who will discuss the opportunities that exist in the Smartphone world for upcoming developers.

2) Discussion Panel

Following the keynote, you will get a chance to listen in on a discussion about the industry with some hard hitting questions about what is being done by platform providers to grow the developer’s community in the region as well as the effeccts of piracy and whether casual gaming is becoming the future of gaming

3) Free Classes from Nokia, RIM and Qualcomm

If you are interested in learning about developing apps and games for Smartphones, then you have a great oppportunity to listen in on free sessions from the likes of RIM, Nokia, Qualcomm and Microsoft. Think of it as a 101 class on development straight from the platform providers.

4) Opportunity to show off your app if you are an upcoming developer

If you’re a developer who is just starting out and have an app that you think could make it big, then TDC is the event to showcase your app to a panel of judges and walk away with prizes such as the latest Smartphones from Nokia and RIM.

5) Honoring the best

Part of TDC is recognizing the best from the indusrty within the Middle East. The nominations for best apps, websites and games were publicly voted upon on TDC’s website and the panel of judges has decided upon the winners. Come and find out who won from categories like best App, best website and best social media personality

Now that Apple has announced the press event for iPad 3 scheduled for 7th of March, lets put whatever peices of puzzle are available on the upcoming tablet to predict what it will be like. Lets start with the design by looking at the leaked back cover for the new iPad. This is what it looks like compared to the current iPad 2

You can see from the picture above that the iPad 3 is a tad bit thicker than the iPad 2 and has a more curvy design around the edges. I would guess that the length and width of the new iPad will probably be identical to the current one but exactly how much thicker is the new iPad? The picture below answers that question for us

Using a digital caliper, the above photo shows the iPad 2 at 8.69mm and the iPad 3 at 9.5mm. According to official specs by Apple, the original iPad is measured at 8.8mm so the new iPad should be less than 1mm thicker. To put things in perspective, your average credit card is about 1mm.

Now lets move on to the specifications. The biggest addition to the new iPad is what Apple calls Retina display or an ultra high resolution screen currently found on the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S. If you have used these Smartphones from Apple, you know how good the display is. The iPad 3 is supposed to introduce that to the tablet space with a resolution of 2048×1536 which is exactly double of the current iPad. The invite picture sent by Apple pretty much confirms the Retina display with the clarity of the screen in the picture below.

There will obviously also be a CPU/GPU upgrade on the iPad 3 as it would be pretty hard for the current A5 CPU to run things at a smooth frame rate on that high resolution display. Until a few weeks back, we assumed that the new iPad will be powered by the A6 but then the following picture leaked:

We don’t really know much about the specs of the A5X pictured above- but then again, we don’t really know much about the A6 either. I would assume that the A5X is a faster version of the current SoC but still dual core and the A6 is a quad core. Maybe Apple will introduce more than one model of the iPad or maybe Apple TV will be upgraded to A5X and the iPad to A6. We’ll only know which way Apple goes with this next Wednesday.

Apple is also expected to update the radio on the new iPad moving to LTE instead of the current 3G/HSDPA. LTE is also known as 4G and offers much faster data speeds. Rumors suggest that the new iPad will fall back to 3G/HSDPA when LTE is not available giving it both speed and compatibility with the network.

Other than the above mentioned changes, Apple might introduce us to iOS 5.1 on the day of launch along with some new apps to showcase the power of iPad 3. As far as the price is concerned, one leak suggested that prices for the new iPad will be slightly higher, starting at US$579 instead of $499 which translates to AED 2125.  Here is a screenshot of that but again, we can’t say how valid this is.

All will be revealed next Wednesday when Tim Cook takes the stage and introduces us to the new iPad but it’s always fun to play the guessing game. Do share your thoughts with us in the comments section below over what you expect in the next iPad and if you are planning on getting one. But be careful- like the previous verions, expect to pay a super-premium price on the iPad 3 in the UAE during the first couple of weeks.

I would honestly advise on waiting for the official version if you can. Hopefully we will find out when the launch date for the iPad 3 in the UAE is next week.

Google’s annual Zeitgeist report shows the search trends of the millions of users who use Google everyday. Today Google released the search results for UAE, Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

While social networking sites are still up there, local interests are still some of the most obvious queries. Of course, there are a few odd one’s in there, like Saudi children being fascinated by Sponge Bob, or Egyptians looking for Forbidden Love Stories, or UAE’s subcontinental population wanting to catch up on the Cricket World Cup.

To see the worldwide results, please visit Zeitgeist 2011 after December 15th 12:00 GMT (1600 UAE time).

The Dubai Motor Show 2011 opened its doors to the public yesterday. There’s quite a lot on show this year, especially some very cool concept cars. Obviously there were some very nice car launches for the region, including the VW Scirocco R, and the Hyundai Veloster.

Then there were some oddballs here and there, like the fully remade Armored Personal Carrier version of the Toyota Land Cruiser.  On the other hand there were some insanely power cars like the Brabus CLS Rocket 800 and the Ferrari FF.

So if you want to avoid all the traffic and sea of people that will be on the show floor, you can catch the action right here with some of the highlight cars of the show. Of course, if you’re in the market to buy a new car, there’s nothing better in town than just heading to the World Trade Center convention hall and trying the cars for yourself. The Dubai Motor Show is ongoing from now till Monday 14th November. Doors will be open from 11am to 10 pm, with tickets costing AED 50.

GITEX 2011 starts next week, well the Consumer Shopper expo begins this Saturday, 8th October onwards, but today I’ll be focusing on the Technology Week, which goes on from Sunday, 9th October to Thursday, 13th October. The Technology Week exhibition will be held, as always, at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre, right next to DWTC. The Technology Week exhibition is only open for trade and business, with the regular public being catered to at the GITEX Shopper at the Dubai Airport Expo.

The opening hours for Technology Week as as follows:

- 9 October: 1pm – 7pm
- 10 to 12 October: 11am – 7pm
- 13 October: 11am – 5pm

Tickets for the Technology Week are a bit pricier than the Shopper Expo, going for AED 70 for a daily ticket or AED 130 for a 5 day ticket.

During the Technology Week we’re expecting to see the launch of many new products in the region. While most of them will be unveiled on the first day itself, some may be launching with planned events in the next day. For now though, these are the products we have confirmed launches of:

1. Nokia – Regional Launch of N9
2. Microsoft – Office 365 & System Centre 2012 & Azure
3. ICANN – gLTD
4. Symantec – Endpoint Protection 12 (Cloud Security)
5. Ministry of Foreign Affairs – iphone & ipad apps for services
6. Dubai eGov – mobile apps for services
7. Ministry of Public Works – Launch of new public interaction services on web
8. Cyberoam – NetGenie – sms network security system
9. Forefront – Blu-Ray archieve library solutions
10. Panasonic – Solar Powered IP CCTV
11. Laserfische – Lasherfische Mobile content management system
12. Kodak – i5800 production scanner, IBML Image Trac 5 scanner, Capture Pro (Arabic Interface)
13. BlueCoat – WAN optimisation solutions, Cloud based web security
14. MSI – GT80 gaming laptop
15. RIM (Blackberry) – Bold 9900
16. Monster – Turbine Pro In-Ear Speakers
17. Touchmate – Tablet PC, 3 Sim Mobile Phone
18. Intex – Mobile Phone for visually impared
19. Ford – 2012 Explorer, Inflatable 2nd row seatbelt technology

And now, let’s move onto the events.

As many students enter the final year of their high school, they’re faced with the daunting task of deciding what university or college to attend for higher education. This one decision will shape the rest of your life in more ways than you can imagine. These next three or four years of your life will define your outlook on life, and will influence the way you perceive different situations in life and how you treat different people. And interesting as it to delve deeper into this train of though, I’ll bring us back on track with the topic on hand.

This being a technology website, I’ll mostly be looking at the various educational institutes around UAE that offer anything from a Bachelors in IT to different media branches of graphical design and computer animation. This article is for students who’ll be entering their university, and as such will only focus on undergraduate courses. I won’t go into detail about what each course provides, I’ve hyperlinked everything to the respective course details on the university’s website directly, so you can see what each module provides in detail.

Remember one thing, that no matter how good a university’s website looks, you cannot make a decision as big as choosing which university to go for until you’ve been there, seen their facilities, and ideally talked to the tutors of each module you’re planning to attend. Many universities offer open days, but at the time of writing this article those days are gone, and in fact a few universities have even started their courses. Still, these are early days, so changes can still be made. And with that, let’s go down the list of universities/colleges/institutes that provide IT and related courses here.