Eten had recently announced a new addition to their glofiish line of Pocket PC products, the new Eten glofiish M700, which is the first device by the company to feature a sliding QWERTY keyboard. The first product on the glofiish line was the Eten glofiish X500.

Eten glofiish M700

The Eten glofiish M700 has a wide range of connectivity options like Wi-Fi, GSM/GPRS/EDGE support, Bluetooth 2.0, miniUSB port, as well as a GPS receiver. In addition, it also boasts of a FM radio.

The M700 boasted of a 2 Megapixel camera, large 2.8” 65K touchscreen display with a QVGA resolution. The device is powered by a 400MHZ Samsung processor with Windows Mobile 5.0 OS. Eten glofiish M700 comes with 128MB ROM and 64 MB SDRAM, which is expandable with MicroSD memory cards.

The Eten glofiish M700 is a Pocket PC that will surely win the hearts of many PPC lovers. Judging from the success of previous PPC products of Eten, this is another device that offers so much for the techno-savvy individuals. The Eten glofiish M700 will be commercially available from November 2006.

Eten glofiish M700

“Is Glo going bankrupt?” This was the rhetorical question posed to me by a frustrated young man at the Glo’s service centre at Adeniran Ogunsaya Street, Surulere in Lagos. The young man came to replace the lost SIM card of his Glo’s prepaid line. His number happened to be among the 08056… series, which are presently not available for replacement. According to him, he has been trying to replace his lost SIM card for the past one month without success.

Well, this writer happened to be at Glo’s centre for the same purpose. That is, to replace a lost prepaid Globacom’s SIM card, which belongs to the 08055… series. For the past three weeks, I have been trying to replace the SIM card at the Glo’s centre at Opebi, Lagos, only to be told every time that the 08055… series of SIM packs are not available.

A Premium Line For a Prepaid One
In one instance at Opebi, I was asked to buy a Premium line pack for N4,500 to be used as a replacement for the lost prepaid SIM card, which normally costs N500 to be replaced. A new Globacom SIM card costs between N200 to N300 in the streets. Now, at Glo’s Centre located at Adeniran Ogunsanya Street, Surulere, prepaid SIM cards for 0805… series are not available, but there are many Post Paid SIM cards available. The deal is for the customer to pick up a Post Paid SIM pack for N2,500 which will programmed to replace the lost number. The Post Paid SIM pack is preloaded with N2,000 credits while the Premium line SIM Pack is preloaded with N4,000 credits.

The real issue here is that Globacom is trying to force its customers to buy a more expensive SIM packs as a replacement for a prepaid line which should not cost more than N500 to replace. Not everybody can afford to replace a lost SIM pack for N2,500 or N4,500. Globacom should look into this issue if they are to live up to their claim as the ‘People’s Network’. SIM cards replacement with MTN or Celtel is simple and direct and not such arm-twisting measures that Globacom has resorted to.

I bought another Globacom’s line a few days after the loss of my old line when I discovered that Globacom is not serious about supporting its old lines. Then, since I have been using the old line for more that 2 years, I need to get it back since many people already knows the number. Last Friday, at Glo’s centre, I did not replace my SIM card for N2,500 because I did not budget for such. At the time I was in the Glo’s centre, I have some Glo’s recharge cards in my locker at home, and some extra recharge cards in my wallet. Buying a line with N2,000 credits same month is like spending beyond budgets.

Customer satisfaction is a very important factor in the service industry, especially in a very competitive market such as telecommunication. I was already blaming myself for picking up another Glo’s SIM card instead of resuscitating my old and abandoned MTN SIM card, which has been waiting for me all these days. Globacom should wake up and support her old numbers. If other networks are doing it, it should not be difficult for Glo to do likewise.

Is your network bankrupt? Mine is not.

At first glance, you will think that the Eten glofiish X500 is spelt as Eten goldfish X500. Maybe that would have been a better name for the new Pocket PC that was recently announced by the manufacturer.

But then, nomenclature asides, the Eten glofiish promises to be a gold among Pocket PCs. It is a combination of a Pocket PC, phone, GPS, Wi-Fi, 2 Megapixel camera and FM Stereo receiver. Above all, it is powered by a Samsung SC32440 400 MHZ processor. The Eten glofiish X500 is among the world thinnest Pocket PCs.

The Windows Mobile 5.0 Pocket PC is quad-band device with GSM/GPRS/EDGE connectivity, 2.8” 65K colour touchscreen and a resolution of 240 x 320 pixels. It supports USB 2.0 and has 128MB Flash ROM and 64MB SDRAM Memory. The MicroSD memory card slot allows for the expansion of the existing memory.

Weighing about 146g with a dimension of 113 x 59.5 x 15.5 mm, the Eten glofiish X500 is a sure device that will definitely capture the market. It is expected to be commercially available in November, 2006.

Eten glofiish X500 Pocket PC