Smartphone exhibition fails to meet visitors' demand

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Jamal Uddin Most of the visitors at the smartphone exhibition went back in dejected mood for not getting their favorite products and solutions. Teletalk 3G (third generation) mobile phone service and the announcement of the lower price of latest mobile device and tab attracted the people to visit the event, but limited scale of exhibition and product sale frustrated them. Public curiosity was largely conspicuous centering the stalls of the Teletalk and the Symphony mobile phone at the three-daylong fair of the smartphone ended Sunday at the Bangabandhu International Conference Centre. Interestingly, many people who bought 3G SIM cards for making video calls and enjoying modern facilities as per TV advertisement came to Teletalk stall to solve their problem in feature phone, a hand set that does not work for video calls or browsing internet. "We tried our level best to solve the problem of the people who brought their 3G enable hand sets while some of them were advised to buy capable hand sets for availing the service," said SM Mahbub Taher, a Teletalk executive. He informed the FE that many people do not know how to use 3G and they think that by using normal handsets these facilities will be available easily like 2G SIM. Teletalk offered modem at Tk 2240 in the exhibition, which was Tk 260 lower from regular price while SIM card price was fixed at Tk 770 instead of Tk 900. The visitors, mostly young people, went to the fair to see the exhibition of the smartphones. However, the fair could not satisfy them due to a limited scale of product exhibition. Mainly three brands-Samsung, ZTE and local brand Symphony are exhibiting smart phones while three vendors were found selling or exhibiting non-branding tabs and hand sets. A huge crowd was always seen at the Symphony stall that displayed both tabs and smart phones. However, the visitors were disappointed for not getting latest products of the renowned vendor at its stall. Symphony is exhibiting its recently release, through mobile operator Grameenphone outlet, 8 inch 3G tablet ( Xplorer T8) along with its as usual product . Price of the product is Tk 12850. Visitors were so curious about the 8 inch and 7 inch tab of the vendor, but it hurt them as there were no products for selling in the vent. Kazli Sharin, a private university student, who expected that Symphony will sell their recently released tab at the fair, returned without buying the device. Omar Faruk, representative of the Symphony at the stall, said the products will be released again in line with the channel of the Grameenphone in the beginning of February. So, customers have to wait till then, he added. Samsung was taking booking for the hand sets giving Tk 500 to Tk1000 discount. Gadget Gang and Technoedge exhibited their Chinese products prices ranging from Tk 7,000 to Tk 20,000. A vendor of the Gadget Gang said customers will be able to easily enjoy 3G features using the tab. Besides the vendors, some organisations like e-commerce site ekhoni.com, pryio.com, Google and somoynews.tv set up their stalls at the fair.