Nokia Symbian users- pay attention, your fring has just become even easier to use!

Finding your friends is made lot easier now, thanks to fring’s automatic friend-finder. fring can now add all your phone book friends, who are already fringsters, into your fring buddy list so you can video-call, call and chat for free with more friends around the globe from your mobile phone. Cool eh?

From now on, you can also create your full profile right at the registration process, so your real-time status and avatar will show the 1st time you log into fring.

This new version also contains many bug fixes, quite a few resolved thanks to our users’ ongoing feedback and support, keep it coming guys

Symbian users- Go get your new fring version (4.3) today!

The fringTEAM

Break News:

Twitter just went wild with news that MTN is going to launch “uncapped 3G broadband” come 1 June 2010, so I decided to digg deaper and bring you the facts.

MTN South Africa has just announced that they will be introducing “uncapped 3G broadband” from 1 June 2010. This may sound like brilliant news but lets look a little closer before getting excited. The “uncapped” 3G will come with strict fair-usage restrictions and at the end of the day is this new “uncapped 3G” service really as “uncapped” as it sounds?

MTN will launch two packages come 1 June 2010:

1. R 749.00/ month - You get 3GB of 3G data, throttled down to 128kbit/s after using 3GB.
2. R1999.00/month - You get 10GB of 3G data, throttled down to 128kbit/s after using 10GB.

Clearly real “uncapped” data at an affordable rate is still along way off in South Africa.

You can already purchase mobile 3G data from 0.19c/MB when purchasing a 2GB bundle, so 3GB of data is already R583.68 at the standard rate and you are then paying R165.32 for the remaining 128kb uncapped connection after you reach the 3GB cap. So looks like they should be announcing ‘uncapped 128kb connections’ with the purchase of our over priced bundles. You can btw already get 128kb wireless internet connections in South Africa for R299.00 per month which means the MTN offering is R133.68 cheaper per month so lets give them credit where it’s due, the new rate is cheaper than current market prices but they are forcing you to purchase and expensive 3GB bundle, which makes the deal less appealing to the poorer mass market.

The 10GB account also looks much better, however why would you want to pay for 10GB of expensive data. Why don’t they just launch a 128kb connection to market and drop the whole 3GB and 10GB bundle idea. On the 10GB account you are in theory only paying R53.40/month for the 128kb uncapped connection.

I sure hope MTN looks at bringing a ‘uncapped 128kb connection’ to market for under R60.00/month without the end user needing to purchase a 3GB or 10Gb bundle, now that would be revolutionary

It’s going to be interesting to see how Vodacom responds to the new MTN rates. Lets hope Vodacom reads this blog and takes the hint and brings a lower speed cheap connection for the mass market.

fringsters listen up, fring now supports the ever popular Apple iPad. What you waiting for get it now!

Did you know: Aki Anastasiou of 702 Talk radio in South Africa was the very first person on earth to take fring for the iPad for a test run. Yes even before Steve Jobs or our own fringing technicians had tested this on a real device Aki was fringing away on his iPad. He also took the very first screenshots shortly before jetting off to the USA and sent them to us to share with the world.

Thanks for testing Aki, you fringing rock dude!

Guys why not download fring for the iPad today and let us know what you think of it.

The fring Team

Great news for fringsters on the Cell C network:

Earlier this year Cell C announced that it “has signed a R2.9bn deal with the Chinese telecom equipment provider ZTE Corporation” this came shortly after announcing that the firm would be spending R5bn to upgrade it’s network to 4G in 2010.

Cell C has now also revealed that the “Nokia Siemens Networks was appointed as the second vendor in its network expansion and upgrade plans.” The network rollout has started, and will be launch as soon as Cell C feels it has enough high quality coverage nationwide.

With the recent MTN, Vodacom and now Cell C network upgrade in South Africa, the bandwidth war is heating up nicely and Mobile internet is slowly starting to become cheaper. Things are shaping up nicely for internet users and fringsters in this land and I can’t wait for the day when mobile broadband rates can compare with landline rates.

fringsters listen up, I have great news for you!

Vodacom has just finished upgrading a huge section of their network (more than 3300 towers across South Africa) to support 14.4 Mbps Internet speeds. As for the rest of the network you guys will have to make due with the speeds of up to 7.2 Mbps on 3G. The great news is that with speeds of between 7.2 and 14.4 Mbps fring calling and video stream quality on the Vodacom network will be vastly better than on other local networks

A little birdy tells me that Vodacom is also testing 21.1 Mbps HSPA services on their network but this will only go live laters. So it looks like there are only good things to come. Watch this space for progress.

Vodacom 14.4 Mbps internet goes live on 1 May 2010

Crowdfunding, the first crowd funded Angel investment agency of it’s kind in South Africa made history last week by raising just over R1 million in Angle VC within only a few days, Proving yet again that South Africa is alive with possibilities.

The money pledged by 229 investors will be used to fund 10-20 small techno startups in South Africa. This is the chance of a lifetime for many local startups wishing to prove to the world that their idea is The Next BIG Thing!

The fund which continues to grow is currently standing on R1,035,000 from 315 investors. Apparently the first 1000 investors to pledge will be accepted. So if you havn’t jumped on the bandwagon yet there is still chance of getting in before it’s to late.

Your local fring blogger, yeah thats still me, has already submitted 4 idea’s for funding and I will keep you guys posted on developments on this front. I am happy to say that the Crowdfund has once again brought hope to many small garage startups in South Africa who have been suffering to scrape together funds to keep their dreams alive.

I am excited to announce that very shortly a few of these startups will have the priviledge, no the honour, to take their dreams to new hights. May the best fringing team be granted funding and guys when you make it to the big time, never forget to help those dreamers still trying in a garage or backroom near you.

fringsters, every wonder what lives below the shiny surface of your latest tech gadget? You have?

Well wonder no more, thanx to the hard working boys and girls over at iFixit.com you can now virtually dive below the surface of the latest gadgets without voiding the gaurantee of your techno gear.

This weeks ‘teardown’ as they call it over @iFixit is non other than Apples latest little toy the iPad.

On a more serious note: Teardowns provide a look inside a device and should not be used as disassembly instructions.