G a z i n k a

Switching to a Samsung Galaxy

2011-12-16T21:12:00.001-08:00

This is a historic day for me: I switched from an iPhone to a Samsung Galaxy Nexus running “Ice Cream Sandwich.” (Love the Google practice of naming versions of the operating system after desserts; M should be “malasadas.”) My Google buddy, sent me one to try, and it’s a lovely phone.
1) The operating system is smokin’ fast—and intuitive. So this phone represents the geek’s trifecta: fast, good, and cheap (free).
2) I love the little haptic “jolts” that happen when you press buttons on the screen because you really know that you pressed the button.
3) Email setup was trivially easy. And then my contacts and calendar get added to the phone. Sure, this is how Exchange is supposed to work, but I’ve never had to not do battle with a phone to make this happen.
4) There’s a G+ app on the phone, and it works just great. And you all know that G+ is just about the center of my life these days, so this is big deal for me.
5) I notice the strip of thumbnails (see picture) when I wrote a G+ message. What’s this I wonder? It’s the pictures that I took with the phone. Does this mean that phone pictures are available for me to post on Google + without any manual syncing, downloading, emailing?
Holy kaw!
I know that I can post pictures using the G+ iPhone app but composing the text that goes with the picture is too much trouble on any phone, so I was either downloading pictures from my iPhone to my Macbook or emailing the pictures to myself to post.
6) The Galaxy can use the 4G network, and the iPhone cannot. That’s kind of a big deal.
7) The Galaxy is rated at 400 hours of standby battery life. My iPhone 4S is rated at 200 hours of standby, but I get about six hours of standby time. We’ll see what happens in real use.
8) The Galaxy runs Flash. The pissing match between Apple and Adobe is not my problem anyway.
9) Maybe I’m paranoid, but I’m thinking that the Android version of a Google app will be better and earlier than the iOS version. Love Google Currents by the way—mdash;you should check it out.
All this happened before I made one call with the phone. I couldn’t make a call because the iPhone uses a micro sim, and the Galaxy uses a sim. So I went to the AT&T store across the street from the Apple store and got a new sim with the old phone number.
Things that I don’t like:
1) I wish there was a dedicated hardware button to go “home” like the iPhone has.
2) Dragging down a window to refresh it is a much better way to do this than the way Galaxy forces you to find the refresh menu item.
One thing I will miss: Nobody’s tech support can be as good as the Apple stores in Palo Alto on University Avenue and in the Stanford Shopping Center. But there are still three other iPhones, three iPads, and five Macintoshes in my family.
I’ll let you know if the honeymoon ends…

BSNL launches Bharat Berry push e-mail service

2011-11-14T21:54:00.001-08:00

New Delhi: State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) Monday tied up with Bharat Berry Technologies to provide push e-mail services to all its mobile subscribers of all circles in India. "After the successful launch of its Bharat Berry services with MTNL Delhi and MTNL Mumbai a couple of months back, now Bharat Berry services will be available for all BSNL GSM mobile subscribers across India," BSNL said.
Push e-mail provides an always on capability by which new e-mails are actively transferred. The mobile communication service Bharat Berry works with most of the mobile phones and provides an advanced push mail with over the air backup of the user's contacts, tasks, calendar and notes. BSNL in alliance with Bharat Berry is targeting this service for all range of handsets carrying BlackBerry, Symbian, Android, Windows Mobile and J2ME which will cover all major mobile handsets.
"As the mobile data connectivity is improving and data usage is growing, more and more customers are looking for push e-mail solution on their mobile handsets as a productivity tool and as a means to remain connected," said R.K. Upadhyay, chairman and managing director, BSNL. "This BSNL and Bharat Berry partnership will provide its customers with an easy to use, cost effective solution for their mobile push e-mail requirements," he added.

To subscribe to this service, any existing BSNL GSM mobile subscriber can send an SMS with "SUB BB" on 51123 and follow basic steps to activate this service. For enabling access to all services, including e-mails and PIM (personal information manager), sync users will be charged Rs.80 a month for the combo pack while the individual services will be available for Rs.50 each per month for both pre-paid and post-paid GSM customers.
"Majority of the population is still in villages and lots of Indians do not have access to a laptop and PC and it is impossible for them today to secure their mobile contacts. Now with Bharat Berry, they need not worry and without having a PC or laptop they can still be assured that their data is in a secure place in less than Rs.2 per day," said Ajay Data, founder and chief executive officer, Bharat Berry. The service is available for 2G as well as 3G customers.

Nokia to launch Windows Phone 7.5 smartphones in India tomorrow

2011-11-14T02:21:00.001-08:00

Nokia is all set to launch its Lumia series of Windows Phone 7.5 smartphones in India tomorrow. This will probably one of those rare instances when India will be part of a half-a-dozen countries that will get a high-profile smartphone while others will have to wait for at least a couple of months. We are not sure whether Nokia will launch both the Lumia 800 and 710 right now. Both Microsoft and Nokia are expected to launch a massive marketing campaign to ensure its success. Nokia has bet the company on the table for Windows Phone and its performance in India will be a key indicator whether the company is headed in the right direction. Nokia’s success will define whether Microsoft still has a role to play in the smartphone space.
According to Nokia’s global announcement last month, the Lumia 710 should be priced slightly below Rs 20,000 and the Lumia 800 at slightly under Rs 30,000. The Lumia 800, in particular, has received pretty good reviews globally. However, with the momentum Android has at the moment in India, it is yet to be seen if consumers get excited by Windows Phone 7.5. (Related: Windows Phone 7.5 review.)

What iPhones really cost: We reveal, piece by piece, what it actually cost Apple to make the 4S

2011-11-12T22:05:00.001-08:00

Just saved up for a new £499 iPhone 4S? Then look away now...

The touchscreen and display unit of Apple's iPhone 4S cost £23
It might have underwhelmed the devotees, but sales of Apple’s iPhone 4S topped four million in just three days following last month’s launch, and it’s still the must-have smartphone this winter. Of course, those sleek looks don’t come cheap. Or do they..?
Out of contract, the iPhone 4S will cost you £499, but we can reveal that the nuts, bolts and high-end circuitry inside cost far less – see below for the total.
Expert analysts from technology firm iSuppli have prised open the pristine casing and totted up the cost of each component.
Some are reassuringly expensive – the touchscreen and display unit cost £23 – but others are less confidence-inspiring.
Next time you’re cursing the battery life, remember it’s only worth £3.68.

Moto RAZR Vs Water

2011-11-07T23:36:00.001-08:00

Motorola is marketing its latest RAZR Android smartphone as splash proof with even the internals being protected by liquid damage. Whenever any company makes a claim this tall, you will always find some blokes who’d take the bait and try it out. Heck, I remember stomping on the MOTOFONE and kicked it around when Moto reps told me it is unbreakable. So here we have one fellow (probably a Verizon employee) who shows off the water resistance of the RAZR by casually pouring a glass of water on it. Will the RAZR survive? Will it live up to the claims its maker has been making? Watch all that in the video after the break.

Samsung launches Galaxy Note in India at Rs 34,990

2011-11-03T22:02:00.001-07:00

Samsung launched the newest member of its Galaxy lineup of smartphones and tablets in India - Galaxy Note at Rs 34,990.

Nokia unveils Windows smartphone Lumia

2011-10-26T22:09:00.000-07:00

A screenshot of the Nokia website displaying Lumia, the firm's first Windows phone.

Nokia Corp. on Wednesday launched its long-awaited first Windows cell phones, hoping to claw back market share it has lost in the tough, top-end smartphone race to chief rivals, Apple Inc.’s iPhone, Samsung and Google’s Android software.

But some analysts say it may be too little, too late, for the world’s top mobile phone maker.

With price tags of 420 ($580) and 270, the Lumia 800 and 710 are based on Microsoft Corp.’s Windows 7 software and come eight months after Nokia and the computing giant said they were hitching up.

“Lumia is reasonably good ... but it’s not an iPhone killer or a Samsung killer,” Neil Mawston from Strategy Analytics said. “But where Nokia does stand out is on their price it looks like they are going to be very competitive.”

Lumia 800, with Carl Zeiss optics and 16GB of internal memory, will be available in selected European countries in November, including France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain and Britain. It will be sold in Hong Kong, India, Russia, Singapore and Taiwan before the year-end.

Lumia 710, with a 1.4 GHz processor, navigational applications and Nokia Music, mobile music-streaming app will first be available in Hong Kong, India, Russia, Singapore and Taiwan toward the end of the year.

The company’s share price jumped almost 3 per cent to 4.96 ($6.90) in otherwise depressed market in Helsinki.

Nokia also unveiled four cheaper smartphones aimed at emerging markets, the Asha handsets priced 60 to 115 with cameras, navigation applications and fast downloads, in a bid to help “the next billion” users connect to the Internet, Nokia CEO Stephen Elop said at the Nokia presentation in London.

Equipped with QWERTY keyboards and some with the popular dual SIM cards, the Asha handsets will be shipped globally in the fourth quarter or early 2012.

Nokia, which claims 1.3 billion daily users, has steadily been losing ground in smartphones, squeezed in the low end by Asian manufacturers like ZTE and in the high end by the iPhone, Research in Motion’s Blackberry, Korea’s Samsung Electronics and Taiwan—based HTC Corp.

The iPhone has set the standard for smartphones among many design-conscious consumers. The Blackberry has been the favourite of the corporate set and increasingly Google Inc.’s Android software has emerged as the choice for phone makers that want to challenge the iPhone.

Samsung and HTC snapping at Nokia’s heels for third place in top-end smartphones behind the iPhone and Samsung are the biggest users of the Android platform.

Nokia is still operating Symbian software, older than Apple’s software and considered clumsy by many, although it has been upgraded. Nokia also introduced the MeeGo platform in its flagship N9 model launched last month.

Mr. Elop has said Windows software will become the cell phone maker’s main platform but that Nokia won’t stop developing Symbian or MeeGo.

Hands-on with camera from the future – Lytro

2011-10-20T01:32:00.001-07:00

Today I had a brush with the future of amateur photography. A future where photos are alive and anyone can tweak it to see it from their point of view, just like how we see things in real life. A future where no picture is out of focus but where people can change what they want to be in focus. A future where every photo can be in 3D and where megapixels don’t matter. And that future is called Lytro. It is the most unconventional camera you will ever see. In fact it looks more like a kaleidoscope than a camera. While conventional cameras record light in just one dimension, Lytro records light exactly like it passes through the lens from every angle in multiple dimensions, Eric Cheng, director of photography at Lytro tried to explain. Lytro stores more information about a photograph than any other camera. So much more information that popular photo-editing software like Photoshop cannot read the extra points of data. Continue reading for my first impressions…
Lytro is about two things – the camera hardware and the photo-editing software. The odd-shaped camera lens is fixed at f/2 aperture and can do 8X optical zoom. The company doesn’t talk about the number of megapixels (they deem that useless) and the camera shoots in RAW format. It will come in two variants – 8GB and 16GB for $399 and $499, respectively. The interesting part about the camera is the lack of buttons. There is just the single-stage (no auto-focus) shutter button and the edge above the viewfinder display is touch sensitive and used for zooming in and out. The tiny view-finder display is multi-touch and reminds me of the iPod nano. Having said that, my friend Nikhil Pahwa rightly points out that it will be next to impossible to carry this thing in our pocket, owing to its form-factor.
Clicking pics with the Lytro is super simple as it does not have any concept of focusing on to the subject and there are no settings whatsoever to tweak. There is no noticeable lag between when the shutter is pressed and the image stored to allow another picture to be clicked. The 8GB variant can store up to 350 photos and the 16GB variant up to 750. However, the real magic happens when the pictures are transferred to a Mac and opened with Lytro’s editing software (a Windows version is coming soon). Users can open any pic and select which part of the photo should be in focus. One can even have subjects both in the background as well as the foreground in focus. Heck, one can even convert any photo clicked from the Lytro into 3D. What’s more, photos shared on Facebook or Twitter can be tweaked by anyone by simply clicking on any part of the photo.
Will the Lytro replace DSLRs? Not at all. But what I can predict is lot of cellphone companies would be looking at the Lytro to figure out how this technology can be implemented into smartphone cameras and have a mobile version of the Lytro app on the phone itself to edit pictures on the fly and share them on Facebook. This, my friends, would be the next big thing. And I won’t be surprised if some major smartphone players are already thinking of ways to incorporate it into their superphone of 2012. This changes everything, really!

Buy a PlayBook this festive season and get a free BlackBerry Curve 8520

2011-10-19T04:35:00.001-07:00

Makers of the BlackBerry, Research In Motion, has become too generous this festive season. The handset vendor is giving away a free BlackBerry Curve 8520 and an accessory with every purchase of the PlayBook tablet. This offer is available across all variants of the PlayBook at all BlackBerry retail outlets across the country. Starting today, this offer is valid till 30th November. The current prices of the tablet are – Rs 27,990 for 16GB variant, Rs 32,990 for the 32GB model and Rs 37,990 for the 64GB version.

Live from Hong Kong: Samsung launches Galaxy Nexus running Android Ice Cream Sandwich

2011-10-19T04:34:00.001-07:00

Samsung has launched the Galaxy Nexus running on Android Ice Cream Sandwich. Like reported earlier, the Nexus features a 4.65-inch 1280×720 pixels Super AMOLED display, NFC, HSPA+ 21 Mbps (LTE in select regions) and a 1.2GHz dual-core processor. It has a 5.0 MP rear camera that can record videos in 1080p with zero shutter lag, 1GB RAM with 16GB/32GB internal storage options. Google will be talking about a new People app in Ice Cream Sandwich and virtual on-screen menu buttons. Hit the break for the complete press release.
Samsung and Google introduce GALAXY Nexus
World’s First Smartphone to feature Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and a HD Super AMOLED display
Hong Kong – October 19, 2011 – Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd, a leading mobile device provider, and Google, today announced GALAXY Nexus™, the world’s first smartphone running Android™ 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich, the latest release of the Android platform. GALAXY Nexus features a 4.65” HD Super AMOLED display technology at 720p resolution and a 1.2GHz dual core processor.
“Samsung and Google have closely collaborated to push the mobile experience forward. We are pleased to deliver the best Android smartphone experience for customers with GALAXY Nexus. We will continue to move forward with Android to provide the compelling consumer experience in mobile world,” said JK Shin, President and Head of Samsung’s Mobile Communications Business.
“Ice Cream Sandwich demonstrates the Android platform’s continued innovation with one release that works on phones and tablets and everything in between. Features like Android Beam and Face Unlock show the innovative work our team is doing, and GALAXY Nexus showcases the power behind Ice Cream Sandwich,” said Andy Rubin, Senior Vice President of Mobile for Google.
The first smartphone to feature Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich
Ice Cream Sandwich brings an entirely new look and feel to Android. It has a redesigned user interface with improved multi-tasking, notifications, Wi-Fi hotspot, NFC support and a full web browsing experience. GALAXY Nexus features software navigation buttons, a first for Android smartphones. The lock screen, home screen, phone app, and everything in between has been rethought and redesigned to make Android simple, beautiful, and useful.
Ice Cream Sandwich also features a new People app, which lets you, browse friends, family, and coworkers, see their photos in high-resolution, and check their latest status updates from Google＋ and other social networks. GALAXY Nexus features a redesigned camera which introduces panorama mode, 1080p video capture, zero-shutter lag, and effects like silly faces and background replacement.
GALAXY Nexus is also connected to the cloud, keeping your email, contacts, and all other data synced across your devices. You have access to more than 300,000 apps and games from Android Market™, or, in certain countries, you can buy and read books, or rent movies and stream them instantly from your phone. In the U.S., you can also upload your music to the cloud with Music Beta by Google and listen anywhere, even when offline.
Ice Cream Sandwich introduces innovations such as Face Unlock which uses facial recognition to unlock your phone. Using NFC technology, Android Beam allows you to quickly share web pages, apps, and YouTube™ videos with your friends by simply tapping your phones together. You can even use fun effects while shooting video or video chatting with Google Talk™.
Google Experience
GALAXY Nexus is designed to provide a “pure Google,” experience, and with it, you will be the first to receive software upgrades and new applications as they become available.
It also features a number of Google Mobile services, including: Android Market, Gmail™, Google Maps™ 5.0 with 3D maps and turn-by-turn navigation, Google Earth™, Movie Studio, YouTube™, syncing with Google Calendar™, and a redesigned Google＋ app.
Best-in-class hardware meets the most advanced software
GALAXY Nexus is the first smartphone to feature a 4.65’’ display with a market-leading resolution of 720p (1280×720), ensuring you can enjoy GALAXY Nexus’ immersive entertainment capabilities and fast web browsing in superior clarity.
Succeeding the original Contour Display of Nexus S, GALAXY Nexus comes with a rounded shape that fits perfectly within your palm or to your face for phone calling. Hyper-skin backing on the battery cover improves the ergonomic feel of the device and makes the phone slip-resistant. At just 8.94mm thick, with a minimal 4.29mm bezel, GALAXY Nexus provides superb portability alongside an expansive screen.
GALAXY Nexus also features an ultra-fast 1.2GHz dual core processor, providing superior power and speed, ensuring you can take full advantage of GALAXY Nexus’ enhanced multitasking capabilities with ease, or enjoy the large, vivid display to its full capacity with high-definition gaming or video streaming. LTE or HSPA＋ connectivity combined with a dual core processor delivers high-speed web browsing which ensures you always have the web at your fingertips, wherever you are.
GALAXY Nexus will be available in the U.S., Europe, and Asia beginning in November and gradually rolled out to other global markets.
For multimedia content and more detailed information, please visit www.samsungmobilepress.com/
Note to Editors:
GALAXY Nexus Product Specifications

Network	HSPA＋ 21Mbps/HSUPA 5.76Mbps 850/900/1900/1700/2100 EDGE/GPRS 850/900/1800/1900 ＊LTE version will be available depending on the region.
Processor	1.2 GHz Dual Core Processor
Display	4.65” 1280X720 HD Super AMOLED
OS	Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich
Camera	Main(Rear) : 5 MP AF with LED Flash with zero shutter lag and fast shot2shot Sub (Front) : 1.3MP for Video Call
Video	Codec : MPEG4/H.263/H.264 Playback : 1080p@ 30fps Recording : 1080p Full HD Video@ 30fps
Audio	Codec : MP3/AAC/AAC＋/eAAC＋ 3.5mm Ear Jack
Google™Mobile Services	Android Market™, Gmail™, Google Earth™, YouTube™, Movie Studio Google Maps™ 5.0 with 3D maps and turn-by-turn navigation Syncing with Google Calendar™, Google＋ app
Connectivity	Bluetooth® technology v 3.0 USB 2.0 Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n (2.4GHz/ 5GHz) NFC
Sensor	Accelerometer, Compass, Gyro, Light, Proximity, Barometer
Memory	1GB(RAM) ＋ 16GB/ 32GB Internal memory
Size	135.5 x 67.94 x 8.94mm, 135g
Battery	Standard battery, Li-on 1,750 mAh

Nokia 603 Symbian Belle smartphone announced

2011-10-13T03:50:00.001-07:00

Nokia has just announced the 603 smartphone based on the Symbian Belle OS at an event in Turkey. The phone has a 3.5-inch (640 x 360 pixels) ClearBlack display, offers six home screens and comes with six swappable rear covers in a variety of colors. It is powered by a 1GHz processor, has 5.0MP shooter at the back which can shoot 720p HD videos at 30fps and offers connectivity features like Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. The Nokia 603 is the seventh Nokia handset to have incorporated an NFC chip. The phone comes preloaded with some entertainment apps like Angry Birds, Fruit Ninja, Shazam, YouTube and a host of office apps such as Microsoft Office Communicator, Quick Office, Adobe PDF reader and Vlingo. Nokia claims a talk-time of 7 hours. It will start shipping in Q4 and is expected to cost around Rs 13,500 before taxes and subsidies.

BlackBerry maker says email services restored

2011-10-11T05:46:00.001-07:00

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London: The maker of BlackBerry said Monday that email services have been restored on many of its smartphones, after an unexplained glitch cut off Internet and messaging services for large numbers of users across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. However, Research in Motion Ltd. said that some customers may continue to experience delays with instant messaging and browsing services. "Our technical teams are working to return services to normal operation as quickly as possible," the company said in a statement. "We apologise to our customers for any inconvenience, and we will continue to provide updates as new information becomes available."
The problems first appeared to crop up at about 1000 GMT (6 a.m. EDT). RIM did not give an explanation for the glitch, but some telecommunications companies in the Middle East and Europe laid the blame at the Canadian company's door. Khaled Hegazy, Vodafone Egypt's spokesman, said "there is a problem with the servers in Canada which is affecting service" in the region.
The extent of the outage wasn't clear. Vodafone UK said that customers across Britain appeared to be unable to access BlackBerry Messenger, a free-to-use instant messaging program which has helped make the handset popular with young people.

Across the affected regions, BlackBerry Internet access appeared to be sporadic. Some users were able to send and receive messages, while others using the same service provider couldn't. Among the companies reporting problems were Qtel Qatar, Etisalat in the United Arab Emirates, Dubai-based Du, Zain Kuwait, and the Bahrain Telecommunications Co.
The outage occurred as RIM's co-CEO Jim Balsillie and other executives were in Dubai for the annual GITEX electronics show. Balsillie earlier in the day unveiled a new service at the show that will soon let users of some of its latest BlackBerry phones share documents, web links and other information with others by tapping their smartphones together.

Online retailer reveals Sony Ericsson XPERIA Neo V, Walkman Mix price

2011-10-10T00:45:00.001-07:00

Online retailer Flipkart is now taking pre-orders for the Sony Ericsson XPERIA Neo V for Rs 17,500 and Walkman Mix for Rs 6,750. Both the phones are expected to be available in the third week of October, according to the retailer. Sony Ericsson could launch the two phones along with the XPERIA Pro at an event scheduled for Tuesday. The Neo V features a 3.7-inch display, 1GHz Qualcomm processor, 512MB of RAM and runs on Android 2.3.4 (Gingerbread). The Neo V includes a new feature called 3D panorama sweep that lets users create 3D images with a single camera rather than two. (You can watch the demo here.) The Walkman Mix, which does not run a smartphone OS, features a 3.15MP camera, a 3-inch display and comes with Sony Ericsson’s ‘four corner’ UI.

Sony Ericsson Xperia™ neo V at a glance.
*Please note that all services mentioned below may not be available in every market.
Colours

White
Blue Gradient
Silver

Facts

Size: 116 x 57 x 13mm
Weight: 126g
Operating system: Google™ Android 2.3 (Gingerbread version 2.3.4)
Processor: 1 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8255

Camera

3D sweep panorama
5 megapixel camera
16x digital zoom
Auto focus
Face detection
Flash/LED
Front facing camera (VGA)
Geo tagging
HD video recording (720p)
Image stabiliser
Red-eye reduction
Scene detection
Self-timer
Send to web
Smile detection
Sweep panorama
Touch capture
Touch focus
Video light
Video recording
Video stabiliser

Music

Album art
Bluetooth™ stereo (A2DP)
Media player
Music tones (MP3/AAC)
PlayNow™ service
Sony Ericsson Music player
TrackID™ music recognition
xLOUD™

Internet

Android Market™
Bookmarks
Google™ search
Google Voice™ Search
Pan & zoom
Web browser (WebKit)

Communication

Call list
Conference calls
Facebook™ application
Facebook inside Xperia™ V2
Google Talk™ video chat*
Noise Shield
Polyphonic ringtones
Sony Ericsson Timescape™
Speakerphone
Twitter™ (Timescape™ integration)
Vibrating alert
Video chat ready

Messaging

Conversations
Email
Google Mail™
Instant messaging
Multimedia messaging (MMS)
Predictive text input
Sound recorder
Text messaging (SMS)

Design

Auto rotation
Keyboard (on-screen, QWERTY)
Live wallpaper
Picture wallpaper
Reality Display with Mobile BRAVIA® Engine
Swipe to write
Touch screen

Entertainment

3D games
Media browser
Motion gaming
Radio (FM radio with RDS)
Video streaming
YouTube™

Organiser

Alarm clock
Calculator
Calendar
Document readers
E-Manual
Flight mode
Google Calendar™
Google Gallery 3D
Infinite button
Phonebook
Setup guide
Widget manager

Connectivity
All services mentioned in this leaflet may not be available in every market.

3.5 mm audio jack
aGPS
Bluetooth™ technology
DLNA Certified™
Google Latitude™
Google Maps™ for Mobile
Google Maps™ with Street View
HDMI™ support
Media Transfer Protocol support
Micro USB support
Modem
Native USB tethering
Synchronisation via Facebook™
Synchronisation via Google Sync™
Synchronisation via Sony Ericsson Sync
Synchronisation via Microsoft® Exchange ActiveSync®
TV Out
USB mass storage
USB High speed 2.0 support
Wi-Fi®
Wi-Fi® Hotspot functionality
Wisepilot™ turn-by-turn navigation

Display

Reality Display with Mobile BRAVIA® Engine
16,777,216 colour TFT
Capacitive touchscreen (multi-touch)
3.7 inches
480 x 854 pixels (FWVGA)
Scratch-resistant

Memory

Phone memory: Up to 320MB
Memory card support: microSD™, up to 32GB
Memory card included: 2GB microSD™

Battery life

Talk time GSM/GPRS: Up to 6 hrs 55 min*
Standby time GSM/GPRS: Up to 430 hrs*

Talk time UMTS: Up to 7 hrs*
Standby time UMTS: Up to 400 hrs*

Music listening time: Up to 31 hrs*
Video playback time: Up to 7 hrs 25 min*

*According to GSM Association Battery Life Measurement Technique. Battery performance may vary depending on network conditions and configurations, and phone usage.

Networks

UMTS HSPA 900, 2100
GSM GPRS/EDGE 850, 900, 1800, 1900

UMTS HSPA 850, 1900, 2100
GSM GPRS/EDGE 850, 900, 1800, 1900

In the kit

Xperia™ neo V
1500 mAh battery
Stereo portable handsfree
2GB microSD™ memory card
Charger
Micro USB cable for charging
Synchronisation and file transfer
User documentation

Samsung and Google postpone Galaxy Nexus, Android ICS launch

2011-10-08T01:07:00.001-07:00

Barely hours after the Samsung Galaxy Nexus with Android Ice Cream Sandwich got its moments of fame in an unofficial hands-on video, Stuff has received word that Samsung and Google have scrubbed the announcement. The short statement from Samsung goes like this:

Samsung and Google decide to postpone the new product announcement at CTIA Fall. We agree that it is just not the right time to announce a new product. New date and venue will be shortly announced.

The statement seems to indicate it has to do with the passing away of Steve Jobs than anything else. Notice, we agree that it is just not the right time to announce a new product. If not anything else, this fact alone should indicate what a big loss it has been not just for Apple but the entire industry. Steve, we are sure you are busy making heaven a better place to live, already.
Read

Nuance acquires Swype for $100+ million

2011-10-07T02:08:00.001-07:00

Predictive text input software maker Nuance has reportedly acquired Swype for over $100 million according to a report on Uncrunched. Nuance makes the popular T9 predictive text software that has been on phones since the 90′s. Swype, which has been around for a couple of years, makes virtual keyboards for Android smartphones where users don’t have to lift their finger while typing and instead just swipe from one character to another. It is considered to be a rival to Nuance’s T9 and it needs to be seen how Nuance will incorporate the software with its current offering. While Swype used some sort of predictive text software, it is most likely that Nuance will now integrate it with its own T9 software.
Read

Samsung Galaxy S Plus and Galaxy R launched in India

2011-10-03T22:04:00.000-07:00

Samsung might have showcased only the Galaxy Y, Omnia W and Wave 3 at its launch event in Delhi yesterday, but it is also launching at least two more smartphones that it chose not to feature at the event. We can confirm that the Galaxy S Plus and Galaxy R are also been launched. The Galaxy S Plus features a faster 1.4GHz processor, a beefier 1650 mAh battery and the latest version of Android Gingerbread. It will be priced at approximately Rs 22,500. The Galaxy R, on the other hand, will be a slightly stripped down version of the Galaxy S2, with a 5.0 MP camera and a 4.19-inch S-LCD display rather than a 8.0 MP camera and Super AMOLED display found on the Galaxy S2. It is expected to be priced around Rs 27,000. Both the smartphones are expected to be available in the coming days.

Samsung launches Galaxy Y for Rs 7,830

2011-10-03T09:03:00.001-07:00

Samsung has launched the Galaxy y for Rs 7,830 and not the Wave Y as we had earlier reported (that post has been taken down to prevent any confusion). The Galaxy Y runs Android 2.3 Gingerbread on a 3.0-inch QVGA (240×320 pixels) with a 832 MHz processor. We are on our way to get a hands-on of the device, so stay tuned in for our hands-on and first impressions. In the meanwhile, read on for the technical specifications of the Wave Y.
Hat tip to @gauravh1, @nikhilpai

Network	HSDPA 7.2 900/2100 EDGE/GPRS 850/900/1800/1900
Processor	832MHz Processor
Display	3.0″ QVGA(320×240) TFT LCD
OS	Android 2.3(Gingerbread)
Camera	Main(Rear): 2 MP Panorama Shot, Smile Shot
Video	Codec : MPEG4/H.263/H.264 Format: 3GPP, MPEG4, MKV Playback : VGA@30fps Recording : QVGA @ 15fps
Audio	Codec : MP3,AMR-NB, AMR-WB, AAC, AAC＋, e-AAC＋, i-Melody, Midi(SMF)/ WAV/ OGG Music Player with SoundAlive 3.5mm Ear Jack, Stereo FM Radio with RDS
Value-added Features	Samsung Apps
	Samsung Kies 2.0
	Samsung TouchWiz
	Social Hub - Integrated Messaging(Email, IM, SNS), Contacts/ Calendar Sync - Basic: POP3/IMAP Email & IM
	GoogleTM Mobile Services - GmailTM, Google TalkTM, Google SearchTM, YouTubeTM, Android Market TM, - Google MapsTM with Google Latitude
	A-GPS
	Swype
	Document Viewer
Connectivity	Bluetooth® technology v 3.0 ＋ HS USB 2.0 Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n
Sensor	Accelerometer, Digital compass, Proximity
Memory	160MB Internal memory ＋ 2GB inbox ＋ microSD (up to 32GB)
Size	104 x 58 x 11.5mm, 97.5 g
Battery	Standard battery, Li-on 1,200 mAh Talk Time : 300 min(3G) Standby Time : 350 hours(3G)

Micromax A85 official press shots appear

2011-09-26T23:25:00.001-07:00

Some two weeks ago, we had spotted the 1GHz nVIDIA Tegra 2 based Micromax A85 in the wild. But today, it seems that KnowYourMobile have accessed its official press shots. While we had given you the spec-sheet earlier only but here’s a small gist of it in case you have missed out on the details earlier. It sports a 3.8-inch WVGA display, a front facing VGA camera, a 5.0MP camera at the rear and 8GB of internal memory. Well the two major downers about this phone are the absence of a flash and the software its based on which is Android 2.2 aka Froyo. However, we’re hoping that there should be scope for upgrading it to Android 2.3 OS and also that Micromax releases the update soon after the phone’s launch. Hit the source link for more pics.
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Solar-powered 'water ATMs' provide clean drinking water in India

2011-09-24T22:10:00.001-07:00

Waterborne illnesses affect 40 million Indian people every year. But Piramal Water Private Limited, an organization in rural India, has a plan to solve this problem. Their idea is to meet the need for clean water with solar-powered, h2O-dispensing ATMs. These machines are franchised around villages, and a liter of water costs the people just $.006 or less. (The average Indian's income is $.60 a day.) Great idea!
Full story at Gizmodo.

HTC Runnymede press shot surfaces

2011-09-13T01:10:00.000-07:00

So here we have it, the first press shot of the Android equivalent of the HTC Titan. Say hello to the HTC Runnymede. Expected to be the first HTC smartphone with Beats acoustics technology, the Runnymede sports a gigantic 4.7-inch WVGA display and runs on Gingerbread flavor of Android. Other specs include a single-core 1.5GHz processor, 768MB RAM and 16GB/32GB ROM. By the way, HTC is hosting a press conference in the US on September 20, where we could probably hear about it officially.

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Former Nokia exec acquires Fossil’s smart watch biz

2011-09-13T01:08:00.001-07:00

A team of investors led by Juha Pinomaa, a former Nokia executive, acquired the Meta Watch branded connected watch business and related IPR assets from Fossil Inc. Joining Pinomaa as investors and key managers are Bill Geiser and David Rosales, who previously led Fossil’s Watch Technology Division. Meta Watch is the most renowned developer-friendly watch platform, which let’s developers create apps for watches connected to a user’s smartphone. The company will be headquartered in Dallas and will open a R&D center in Espoo, Finland.

HTC may buy its own smartphone OS

2011-09-13T01:06:00.000-07:00

HTC has seen tremendous success with its Android smartphones, reporting record revenue month after month thanks to ballooning handset shipments. HTC’s Android smartphones are also the target of numerous patent attacks, however, and despite new-found support from Google, the Taiwan-based vendor is reportedly investigating alternative paths. After all, Google’s free operating system is getting expensive. Perhaps as a result, a report from Focus Taiwan states that HTC chairwoman Cher Wang has confirmed that the vendor is considering a purchase of a new smartphone operating system. Read on for more.
“We have given it thought and we have discussed it internally, but we will not do it on impulse,” Wang said in an interview with the Economic Observer of China, noting that HTC’s Sense UI would allow the company to offer distinctive products using any operating system. HP’s webOS is an obvious candidate, and although Wang did not refer to the platform specifically, the report notes that HTC and Samsung have both been in talks with HP. ”We can use any OS we want. We are able to make things different from our rivals on the second or third layer of a platform,” Wang said. “Our strength lies in understanding an OS, but it does not mean that we have to produce an OS.”
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LG to launch Optimus Pro C660 in India for Rs 9,990

2011-09-11T23:39:00.001-07:00

LG is set to launch its answer to the Motorola Fire with the Optimus Pro C660, a candy bar Android smartphone with a QWERTY keypad. Expected to be priced at Rs 9,990, the Optimus Pro has a 2.8-inch QVGA display, runs on Android 2.3 and features a 3.15 MP camera. Most of its specs match those of the Motorola Fire, but for the 800MHz processor, which is faster than the Fire’s 600MHz. Hit the break for the complete list of specs.

Size: 119.5 x 59.7 x 12.9 mm
Weight: 129 grams
Display: 2.8-inches 240×320 pixels
Memory: 256MB RAM, microSD card slot
Connectivity: Tri-band GSM, 3G HSDPA 3.6 Mbps, Wi-Fi, A-GPS
Camera: 3.15 MP, video recording @24fps, geo-tagging
Processor: Qualcomm MSM7227 @800MHz
Battery: Li-ion 1500mAh

Motorola Fire XT launched in India for Rs 12,990

2011-09-10T03:53:00.001-07:00

Barely days after the launch of the Motorola Fire in India, online retailer Flipkart is now retailing the Motorola Fire XT aka Motorola XT531 aka Motorola Spice XT, which is usually the sign of an official announcement very soon. Priced at Rs 12,990, the Fire XT has a 3.5-inch HVGA (320×480 pixels) display, a 5.0 MP rear and VGA front cameras, 512 MB of RAM and equivalent ROM. Running on an 800MHz processor, it runs on Android 2.3 Gingerbread. Check out the detailed specs after the break.

Motorola XT531, Motorola FIRE™ XT, Motorola SPICE™ XT Features
Talk/Standby Time	Up to 8 hours talk time and up to 28 days in standby in 3G mode
Bands/Modes	Dual-band HSDPA/Quad-band EDGE; WCDMA; W+G; 2G: 850/900/1800/1900; 3G: 900/2100, 850/1900, 850/2100
Dimensions	114 x 62 x 11.95 mm thick
Display	Extra bright 3.5” HVGA Capacitive Multi-Touch Screen
Weight	114 g
Battery	1540mAh
OS	Android 2.3 Gingerbread
Connectivity	3.5 mm audio jack
Network	EDGE class 12; HSDPA; DL 7.2; Mbps/UL384Kbps
WLAN	Wi-Fi b/g/n
Camera	5MP auto focus camera with flash and front-facing VGA camera with Qik for video call, chat and sharing
Audio	FM Radio RDS; MP3 Player: MP3, AMR NB, WMA v9
Video	Capture/Playback/Streaming, H.263, H.264, MPEG4
Memory	512MB ROM/512MB RAM; Micro-SD slot up to 32G external
Processor	800MHz CPU
Location Services	Google Maps^™, Google Navigation^™, ECOMPASS/AGPS

Philips launches Xenium range of mobile phones in India

2011-09-07T04:29:00.001-07:00

Philips has launched its XENIUM range of dual-SIM phones that claim of standby time of up to two months. The range starts from Rs 1,776 and go up to Rs 8,280. Hit the break for detailed specs.
Xenium X806: A 3-inch 262K color display, 5.0 MP autofocus camera with flash, expandable external memory up to 8GB (microSD card), besides up to a month of standby time and 8 hours of talk time. Price: Rs 8,280.
Xenium X518: A2.8-inch TFT touch screen, preset widgets for the home screen, 2.0 MP camera with flash and an expandable external memory up to 16 GB, up to 40 days standby time and 12 hours of talk time. Price: Rs 5,976.
Xenium X523: A 3.2 MP camera with flash, expandable external memory as high as 32GB, up to 50 days of standby time and 16 hours of talk time. Price: Rs 4,992
Xenium X513: A 2000 mAh battery with standby time of 60 days, 16 hours of talk time, up to 80 hours of music playback, 1000 phonebook entries, 1000 SMS storage capacity and expandable external memory up to 16GB. Price: Rs 4,776
Xenium X116 and Xenium X121: The economy range from Philips includes the Xenium X116 and Xenium X121 models available for Rs 2,760 and Rs 1,776 respectively. The X116 features a digital camera and offers up to 1 month of standby time and 8 hours of talk time besides expandable external memory up to 4GB. While the X121 offers a standby time of 1 month, talk time of 7.5 hours and expandable external memory up to 2GB.

HTC Titan, Radar Windows Phone smartphones announced

2011-09-02T01:17:00.001-07:00

As expected, HTC today announced its first two Windows Phone 7.5 (Mango) smartphones – Titan and Radar. The Titan holds the dubious record of sporting the largest display on a Windows Phone smartphone – 4.7-inches – and is only 9.9 mm thin. It sports an 8.0 MP rear and a 1.3 MP front camera, 16GB of internal memory, 1.5GHz processor and 5.1 surround sound for videos. The Radar has a 3.8-inch display, 8GB of internal memory, an 8.0 MP rear and VGA front camera, 1GHz processor and 5.1 surround sound for videos. Both the smartphones will be available in October globally starting with Europe and Asia. Jump the break for the complete press release.

HTC Unveils HTC TITAN And HTC Radar Smartphones
Smartphones unveiled at consumer meet-ups across Europe
LONDON, PARIS, MADRID and BERLIN – September 1, 2011 – HTC Corporation, a global leader in mobile innovation and design, today hosted a series of consumer meet-ups in London, Paris, Madrid and Berlin to unveil its new HTC TITAN™ and HTC Radar™ with Windows® Phone smartphones. The HTC TITAN brings your favorite content and multimedia experiences closer than ever with a large 4.7 inch display, HTC’s largest phone screen ever wrapped in an ultra-thin 9.9mm aluminum case. The HTC Radar is designed to keep you close to the people, news and entertainment that matters to you most. Consumers enjoyed exclusive hands-on demos of the new devices and got to try out Microsoft’s next release of Windows Phone, code-named Mango..
“The new HTC TITAN and HTC Radar smartphones raise the bar with new advanced photography, multimedia and social capabilities that enable you to take full advantage of the latest Windows Phone innovations,” said Jason Mackenzie, President of Global Sales and Marketing, HTC Corporation. “With its large, cinematic display, the HTC TITAN packs an amazing amount of power and innovation into a device that is unlike anything you’ve ever held before and the HTC Radar’s aluminum uni-body, compact size and finish will capture people’s attention.”
Picture Perfect
Both HTC TITAN and HTC Radar include a dedicated hardware camera button which enables you to capture vivid images without unlocking the phone while the f/2.2 aperture lens and back-illuminated sensor provide improved low-light performance – making sure you never miss that perfect shot. With 28mm wide-angle lenses you can capture more of the scene in front of you while the new panoramic feature lets you create dramatic pictures of skylines and landscapes. Both devices can shoot bright and vibrant HD (720p) videos, making them perfect companions for family functions or a night out with friends. And with the HTC Photo Enhancer, you can quickly touch up pictures and upload them to Facebook, tagging your friends as you go using automatic face detection built in to Windows Phones.
“Phones were originally designed for communication, but they haven’t kept up with the way consumers are actually communicating today. That’s why we built Windows Phone to put people first, building in all the key types of communication people are already using right out of the box,” said Andy Lees, President of Windows Phone Division. “Both HTC TITAN and HTC Radar bring a sleek, modern design that perfectly complements this people first experience, making sure it’s easy to connect & share with the people you care about most so the message always gets through.”
HTC TITAN
With its large and bright 4.7 inch super LCD screen, an 8 megapixel rear-facing camera and 1.3 megapixel front facing camera for live video calling, HTC TITAN
combines high performance innovation with a super-slim 9.9mm curved body made from a brushed aluminium shell that fits comfortably in your hand and exudes style and quality.
HTC TITAN is also the perfect portable office that enables efficient multitasking like viewing a presentation while you’re on a conference call or listening to music while compiling an email. With its expansive screen with built in Microsoft® Office Mobile, this super smartphone enables you to create, edit and collaborate quickly and easily. Advanced email features like Linked inboxes makes it easy to manage multiple email accounts, synchronize your to-do list and calendars in one place, group contacts to make communication simpler and faster, and even store your latest ideas and notes in the cloud with Microsoft® OneNote®. Typing on the HTC TITAN is quick and easy with the huge virtual keyboard on the responsive 4.7 inch screen.
HTC Radar
Elegantly crafted with an aluminium unibody, HTC Radar brings you closer to the important things in life, with the new People Hub from Windows Phone. The People Hub keeps you up to date with your friends’ latest news showing all of your communication history with each person, as well as their recent social network updates and photos. You can also stay in touch using SMS, Facebook chat and Windows Live® Messenger in one conversation, without having to switch applications or disrupt the conversation flow. Alternatively, speak “face-to-face” with new video calling that lets you see your friends’ faces on the bright and sharp 3.8 inch screen.
Entertainment on the move
With HTC TITAN and HTC Radar, mobile multimedia is greatly improved. Both phones include HTC Watch™ – an application and service that puts an entire library of the latest, premium movies and TV shows right at your fingertips, letting people discover the latest video content in an easy and visually engaging way. Utilizing Virtual 5.1 surround sound for a rich audio experience, these phones are perfect for enjoying the Zune® music service. Internet browsing is fast and smooth with HTML5 support. You also get an amazing mobile gaming with Xbox LIVE®, giving you access to a great selection of games for Windows Phone, which include features like Leaderboards and Achievement that connect you with your friends and the Xbox LIVE community around the world.
Availability
HTC TITAN and HTC Radar will be broadly available from October 2011 globally, beginning in Europe and Asia.

HTC Omega press shot surfaces, likely to be announced on September 1

2011-08-26T00:28:00.001-07:00

Say hello to HTC’s first Windows Phone 7.5 (Mango) smartphone, the Omega. PocketNow, which has snapped this press shot, claims it will be launched as the Radar during HTC’s September 1 event in London. It follows the same design cue as the HTC Flyer and is likely to sport the same 1.5GHz single-core Snapdragon processor. Other speculated specs include 512 MB of RAM, 8.0 MP rear camera, a front camera of unknown resolution and a 3.8-inch SLCD display. HTC is also likely to announce another Windows Phone smartphone codenamed Eternity.
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HTC to host an event in London on September 1 and you are invited!

2011-08-20T00:02:00.000-07:00

HTC is hosting an event in London on September 1 and is inviting EVERYBODY to attend it by posting it as a public event on its Facebook page.

HTC is using a Twitter hashtag #HTCQB (Cube?) to promote the event. No word on what HTC plans to unveil there but we are almost certain it will be something significant.

Beetel's new tablet to cost Rs 9,999

2011-08-17T21:01:00.000-07:00

Beetel will come preloaded with Android Market

NEW DELHI: Beetel Teletech, a Bharti Enterprises group company, on Wednesday announced the launch of Beetel Magiq, a low-cost Android tablet in India. The seven-inch tablet, which runs on Android 2.2 (Froyo), has been priced at Rs 9,999.

According to the company, the tablet will be available in shops from next week.

"Magiq has been designed looking at the technology needs of the extremely demanding Indian customers," said Vinod Sawhny, CEO of Beetel. He added that it's first of the several tablets that the company plans to introduce in India.

Magiq's screen has a resolution of 480 x 800 pixels. The tablet has two 2MP cameras and supports phone calls through a compatible Bluetooth headset. It is powered by a 1Ghz processor. It has 8GB internal storage, expandable up to 24GB through a 16GB SD card. A quick look at the product showed that it is a re-branded Huawei S7 tablet.

Beetel said that the tablet has the blessings of Google and hence will come preloaded with Android Market, allowing users to download and install relevant apps. "At Beetel we remain committed to introduce affordable and feature-rich mobile devices which offer great value preposition and suit the customer's requirements and style," added Sawhny.

HTC launches 3D smartphone in Taiwan

2011-08-17T20:58:00.000-07:00

Models display the latest smart phone by Taiwan's leading smartphone maker HTC, the HTC Evo 3D, during a press conference in Taipei - AFP
Taiwan's leading smartphone maker HTC on Wednesday launched its first 3D cellphone onto the local market, picking what a local telecom operator said was an opportune time ahead of the iPhone 5.
The HTC Evo 3D, which is already on sale in the US, carries a 4.3-inch touch screen and allows users to capture and play images that come across as being in three dimensions without the need for specially designed glasses.
"This is very good timing and puts the product on the market before Apple launches its iPhone 5," said Cliff Lai, co-president of Taiwan Mobile, a local cell operator which joined forces with HTC in launching the gadget.
The cellphone, which costs Tw$21,900 ($760), uses Google's Andriod 2.3 platform and enables users to browse 3D images or play games in 3D.
South Korea's LG Electronics launched a 3D mobile phone, LG Optimus 3D, earlier this year.

HTC seeks to halt US imports of iPad, iPhone

2011-08-17T03:10:00.000-07:00

HTC sued Apple Inc, seeking to halt US imports and sales of Macintosh computers, iPads, iPods and iPhones

NEW YORK: Smartphone maker HTC Corp sued Apple Inc, seeking to halt US imports and sales of Macintosh computers, iPads, iPods, iPhones and other devices because of alleged patent infringements.
HTC said it filed complaints with the US International Trade Commission and the US District Court in Delaware.
The latter alleged infringements of three patents obtained in 2008 and 2010, and which relate to Wi-Fi capability and other functions. It seeks compensatory damages as well as triple damages for willful infringement.
Tuesday's complaints escalate the legal battle between the companies. Apple has accused HTC of patent infringement through its smartphones, and filed several patent lawsuits against the Taiwan-based company in Delaware in the last two years.
Apple spokeswoman Kristin Huguet repeated a statement that Chief Executive Steve Jobs used on March 2, 2010 when Apple sued HTC for allegedly infringing 20 patents: "Competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours."
HTC, meanwhile, said it has now brought three cases against Apple before the ITC. "We are taking this action against Apple to protect our intellectual property, our industry partners, and most importantly our customers that use HTC phones," HTC General Counsel Grace Lei said in a statement.
HTC filed its complaints one day after Google Inc agreed to pay $12.5 billion in cash for Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc to gain access to thousands of patents and help protect its fast-growing Android mobile operating system.
That merger, if completed, could put pressure on HTC and other Android licensees, which face the risk of promoting a direct rival. Google last year developed the Nexus phone with HTC, but sales proved disappointing.
HTC is based in Taoyuan City, Taiwan, and Apple in Cupertino, California.
The Delaware case is HTC Corp v. Apple Inc, US District Court, District of Delaware, No. 11-00715.

HTC Pico caught on cam, has no special powers

2011-08-16T22:40:00.000-07:00

HTC seems to be suffering from a series of leaky faucets with its unannounced smartphones developing a habit of showing up on the Internet. This time we have the HTC Pico, which appears to be an entry-level Android smartphone. Rumored specs include a 320×480 HVGA 3.2-inch display, a Qualcomm S1 processor clocked at 600 MHz, 512MB ROM/384MB RAM, 3G connectivity and a 5.0 MP camera. It also seems to have a feature that lets users control data consumption. We believe it to become HTC’s lowest-end Android smartphone priced around Rs 10,000 if and when it gets launched. Hit the break below for complete specs.
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RCom launches Android 3G tablet

2011-08-16T03:16:00.001-07:00

RCom today launched its own branded Android tablet priced at Rs 12,999. The 7-inch tablet runs on Android 2.3 (Gingerbread), has 512 MB RAM and a 2.0 MP rear camera. We have no word on the processor, but we cannot really complain if it is a sub-1GHz processor for a tablet at this price. RCom is bundling a 4GB microSD card and is offering a few data plans bundled with the device. Hit the break for a complete press release and data plans…

Reliance Communications introduces 3G Tablet
First Telco to enter the Android tablet space in the country
· The first branded 3G + WiFi Android Tablet from an Indian Telco
· Works on Reliance’s Superior IP based 3G network across 333 towns including Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata
· Supports up to 32 GB of content storage
· Will be available in Reliance World, Reliance Mobile stores and select outlets across the 13 3G circles
Mumbai, August 9, 2011: Reliance Communications, India’s fully integrated telecommunications service provider, today became the first 3G operator in India to enter the tablet space by unveiling its ‘Reliance 3G Tab’, a fully loaded Android tablet.
The stylish Reliance 3G tablet comes with a 7-inch capacitive touch screen with Android 2.3 OS. Loaded with 512 MB RAM and a micro SD external storage, the tablet is sure to find a wide appeal among Indian consumers. Aimed at all age groups, the light weight (389g) Reliance 3G Tab with a 2.0MP rear camera and a front camera will certainly make this tablet the most unique and compelling offer in the Indian tablet market. The Reliance 3G Tab is supported by Reliance’s superior 3G network across 333 Towns in 13 3G Circles to ensure an amazing customer experience. The device is priced attractively at Rs. 12,999 and further bundled with discounts on the monthly and annual data plans to enhance the value proposition.
With push email becoming more popular on the mobile phones, the Reliance 3G Tab provides a user-friendly email experience on it’s 7-inch screen for Business users. Moreover, bundled with ‘Documents To Go’, the Business users can now conveniently view and work with Microsoft Excel, Word, PowerPoint and PDF attachments.
Set to appeal to the younger generation as well, the Reliance 3G Tab is an amazing device with the 7-inch form factor for Internet email on the go, social networking, video streaming, gaming etc. supported by Reliance Communications’ superior 3G network. Other features include Mobile TV, voice calling, GPS and video recording. Reliance 3G Tab is pre-loaded with 15 most popular applications to provide information services (browsing, navigation maps and search), communication services (email, blog, SMS, and MMS), entertainment services (music, video, and games), and social networking services (Facebook, Twitter, and Orkut) and access to thousands of applications provided through the Android Market.
Announcing the launch of Reliance 3G Tab, Mr. Mahesh Prasad, President, Reliance Communications Limited said, “Reliance Communications has always been a pioneer in taking bold steps to innovate and re-invent the telecom ecosystem in the country, and has always believed in bringing products to Indian customers that fulfill their needs and desires with incredible affordability. The launch of Reliance 3G Tab is in line with this principle. We believe the unmet demand of a fully loaded tablet at an aggressive price point will now fuel the aspirations of the evolved customers.”
Reliance 3G Tab is being launched today in Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata and will be available in Reliance World and Reliance Mobile stores across the 13 3G circles in the next few days. Supporting the launch, a 24X7 customer care will be made available to the customers for all technical assistance. Reliance 3G Tab is attractively priced at Rs. 12,999 and can be used with any of the 3G voice and/or data plans available from Reliance. Reliance Communications is also offering a free 4GB SD card, but, customers can upgrade the memory up to 32 GB. He further added “Equipped with the best 3G network in India, customers can now enjoy superior 3G broadband speeds for Internet access and uninterrupted data experience without buffering on their Reliance 3G Tab along with a host of other features.”
Reliance 3G Tab also comes with exclusive bundled data service plans and discounts of up to 50 percent.


Super Value Combo Offer
Reliance 3G Tab Price in Rs.	12,999	12,999	12,999
Data in GB per month	1GB	2GB	5GB
Regular Price for Data for 12 months in Rs.	7,788	8,988	14,388
Discounted Advance Rental for Data for 1 year in Rs.	4,500	5,500	7,000
Customer Saves on Data plan in Rs.	3,288	3,488	7,388
Discount on Regular Price for Data in %	42%	39%	51%
Combo Price for Tab + Data Plan in Rs.	17,499	18,499	19,999


Monthly Value Plans
Reliance 3G Tab Price in Rs.	12,999	12,999
Data in GB per month	2GB	5GB
Discounted Price for Data per month in Rs.	598	798
Regular Price for Data per month in Rs.	749	1,199
Discount on Regular Price for Data in %	20%	33%
Customer Saves on Data plan in Rs.	1,812	4,812
Validity of the offer is 12 months

New Nokia WP7 smartphones leaked

2011-08-11T00:47:00.001-07:00

A new video has emerged on My Nokia Blog that shows at least three new Windows Phone 7 smartphones from Nokia and none of them is the Sea Ray, which was leaked by Nokia itself a couple of months ago. Bits of the footage seem to be picked up from some already existing Nokia and Microsoft promotional footage, so we cannot confirm if what we are show is the real deal of not. Hopefully, Nokia will save us the trouble and engineer another leak in coming weeks. Hit the break below for the alleged video…

HTC to make ‘major news announcement’ tomorrow morning

2011-08-11T00:46:00.001-07:00

HTC announced on Wednesday that it will be making a “major news announcement” on Thursday at 11:30 a.m. Eastern Time. HTC’s chief executive officer Peter Chou will make the announcement during a live teleconference from Los Angeles. We’re not sure what the company has brewing but we’ll be on the call tomorrow morning so be sure to tune in to see what HTC has in store.

Now, a flying camera that can be fired with a grenade launcher

2011-08-09T21:41:00.001-07:00

Two inventors attending the Defcon Hacking Convention here have announced plans to introduce into the civilian market a piece of military technology that potentially can save hundreds of soldiers' lives across the globe, especially during dangerous missions.
Known as The Firefly, it is fired from a grenade launcher and can provide intelligence to soldiers on the ground. It provides eight seconds of coverage to those on the battlefield, tipping them off to enemy positions before falling to the ground.
The Daily Mail quoted Vlad Gostrom and Joshua Marpet as saying that police teams can use The Firefly as part of search and rescue operations.
The inspiration for the grenade-launcher camera came from Gostrom’s time as a search and rescue specialist in New Jersey.
“Everyone likes to report 100 per cent coverage,’ he told the Techworld website. This would allow someone to actually achieve close to 100 per cent coverage without going into a hazardous environment,” Gostrom said.
They also think that it could aid operations during natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina by flying over areas people cannot reach.
However, the first test of the product was not particularly successful.
Last week the pair used a flare gun to launch a camera on a farm, but it flew only about 30 feet into the air and could not provide any pictures, apparently because it was travelling too fast.
The team, however, seemed happy with the first test.

Reliance Communications launches Rs 13K tablet

2011-08-09T21:36:00.001-07:00

New Delhi Reliance Communications, India's second-biggest mobile phone carrier by subscribers, on Tuesday said it has launched a tablet computer priced at Rs 12,999. "We believe the unmet demand of a fully-loaded tablet at an aggressive price point will now fuel the aspirations of the evolved customers," Mahesh Prasad, President, RCom said in a statement.
The Reliance 3G tablet runs on Android 2.3 OS. The device has 512 MB RAM and a micro SD external storage which can support up to 32 GB data storage card, the statement said.
The 7-inch tablet is manufactured by China's ZTE Corp, but will be sold under Reliance's brand name, said Mahesh Prasad, president of Reliance Communications. The tablet works on both 3G and Wi-fi networks.

Rcom has 3G network across 333 Towns in 13 Circles. The company's statement mentioned that the tablet will come with discounts of up to 50 per cent on the monthly and annual data plans.
Reliance 3G Tab is being launched on Tuesday in Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata and will be available in Reliance World and Reliance Mobile stores across the 13 circles where company has 3G network in the next few days, RCom said.

Motorola to launch EX212, EX109 and EX119 Dual-SIM phones in India

2011-08-08T06:30:00.001-07:00

Motorola is all set to launch at least three Dual-SIM phones in India, which would include two phones with a QWERTY keypad and a clamshell, according to information on Motorola’s India site and online retailer, Flipkart. Motorola has a RAZR-like clamshell phone, the Gleam EX212, which features a 2.0 MP camera, FM recording and a microSD card slot. It will be priced at Rs 4,599. Then there are the two QWERTY keypad phones – the EX109 and the EX119. The EX109 has a 2.0 MP camera, FM radio and a 2-inch 176×220 pixel display. The EX119 (pictured above), on the other hand, has a 3.0 MP camera, Wi-Fi connectivity, a 2.4-inch QVGA touchscreen and FM radio. The EX119 will be priced at Rs 5,599.

Nokia S40 handsets spotted on Ovi Publish along with Symbian Belle devices

2011-08-08T06:27:00.001-07:00

Three new Nokia S40 handsets – the Nokia 200, the 300 and the 303 – have been spotted on the Ovi Publish Page along with three other unannounced Symbian Belle devices- the Nokia 600, the 700 and the 701. The devices conform to the Finnish vendor’s new naming scheme which is strictly numbers oriented and doesn’t includes alphabets. As seen in the image above, Nokia 200′s landscape display (320×240 pixels) marks that it will most likely be a QWERTY handset. The other two in the line-up the Nokia 300 and the 303 will feature a portrait display of 240×320 pixels. MyNokiaBlog reports that the Belle-based Nokia 700 might see a UK launch in September. So far nothing else is known about these Nokia babies apart from their respective Operating Systems and the display size. However, we’ll be updating you guys as soon as get our hands on the official images or tech-specs.
Read via ZOMGitsCJ

Huawei ‘Vision’ Android smartphone with aluminum uni-body frame announced

2011-08-04T07:56:00.001-07:00

Huawei has announced its Gingerbread-based Vision smartphone that features a super-sexy aluminum uni-body frame. The smartphone is powered by Qualcomm’s 1Ghz Snapdragon processor, weighs 121 grams and measures 9.9mm at its thinnest. It packs a 3.7″ capacitive display, a 5.0 MP camera with a LED flash and can shoot videos at 720p HD resolution. It has 2GB of internal memory expandable up to 32GB, Bluetooth, GPS, Wi-Fi and FM radio. The Vision will also debut Huawei’s proprietary 3D user interface which will have ‘multiple 3D panels on the homescreen.’ Victor Xu, chief strategy and marketing officer has told Reuters the company is expecting to ship a million units of this device. Well, no words on the pricing yet but we’ve learnt that this stud will make a debut in selected markets this September.

HTC to provide official bootloader unlocking tool that might void your warranty

2011-08-04T07:55:00.001-07:00

HTC is delivering on its promise of providing unlocked bootloaders for some of its Android smartphones but it comes with a big caveat – the official process too, could result in the warranty getting void! In essence, what HTC is saying is its bootloaders will come locked by default but it will provide a web tool to users later this month that would enable them to unlock it. However, the process carries the same risks as unlocking it on your own and could result in the warranty or parts of it getting void. We can understand from HTC’s point of view that once the bootloader is unlocked then it cannot control what a user does with it (and it could lead to a bricked device) but if that’s the case, it should not have promised ‘unlocked bootloaders’ in the first place. Hit the break to read what HTC has to say.

Since our last update, many of you have asked how the bootloader unlocking process will actually work, and in particular why HTC’s most recently released devices still have a locked bootloader. Rest assured we’re making progress toward our goal to roll out the first software updates in August to support unlocking for the global HTC Sensation, followed soon by the HTC Sensation 4G on T-Mobile and the HTC EVO 3D on Sprint. Because unlocking the bootloader provides extensive control over the device and modifications may cause operation, security and experience issues, new devices will continue to ship locked but will support user-initiated unlocking using a new Web-based tool.
So how will this work? The Web tool, which will launch this month, requires that you register an account with a valid e-mail address and accept legal disclaimers that unlocking may void all or parts of your warranty. Then plug in your phone to a computer with the Android SDK loaded to retrieve a device identifier token, which you can then enter into the Web tool to receive a unique unlock key via e-mail. Finally, apply the key to your device and unlocking will be initiated on your phone.
We’re excited to bring bootloader unlocking to developers and enthusiasts, and we feel this new Web tool will meet your needs and continue to provide customers with the best experience. Thanks to the community for supporting these efforts!

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Sony Ericsson Txt Pro now available in India for Rs 7.5k

2011-08-03T02:21:00.001-07:00

Sony Ericsson has quietly introduced the Txt Pro in India.

A feature phone with a slide-out QWERTY keypad, the Txt Pro has a UI that is similar to one found on its XPERIA mini series.

Online retailer Flipkart is retailing the phone for Rs 7,468. Specs include a 3-inch 400×240 pixel display, Wi-Fi and a 3.2 MP camera that shoots videos at a lousy 15 frames per second.

We are not sure why anyone would go for it, unless having a QWERTY+touchscreen overrides common sense.

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Symbian Belle captured on video, seems highly inspired by Android

2011-08-02T04:09:00.001-07:00

At a time when Nokia is busy pushing Symbian Anna updates to its older smartphones, screenshots and a video of Symbian’s next update, Anna, have surfaced on the blogosphere. We cannot help but notice the uncanny resemblance with Android, especially with the drop-down notification bar and some of the menu icons. The multi-touch zoom bit is something it is yet to perfect but overall it seems to be pretty polished for users of current Symbian S60 fifth edition devices. Seems the day isn’t far when every smartphone OS will look more or less the same, with minute UI differences. Hit the break for some Belle action.

Image courtesy: ZOMGitsCJ
Video courtesy: The Handheld Blog

Symbian Anna based Nokia 500 announced, will hit markets in Q3 [Video]

2011-08-01T04:06:00.001-07:00

Nokia has just announced its Symbian Anna based smartphone – the Nokia 500. The handset is 3G ready, runs on a 1Ghz processor, features a 3.2-inch capacitive display with a screen resolution of 640×360 pixels, a 5.0 megapixel camera at the back with video recording (no secondary or front-facing camera), in-built storage of 2 GB expandable up to 32 GB, promises a talk-time of 5-7 hours on 3G and 2G networks respectively and music playback time of up to 35 hours. The Nokia 500 will be available in Black and White colors, the Black version will be available in Q3 and the White version will only hit by the end of Q4. The handset will also bundle three different colored back covers and will be priced around Rs 9,500 before taxes and subsidies. Check out the video after the break.

Google unveils new search UI for tablets

2011-08-01T04:04:00.001-07:00

Google announced on Friday that it has improved the search experience for users accessing www.google.com from a tablet. Search results are now simplified and text, buttons and other areas are now larger and easier to tap. In addition, Google has created larger image previews, faster loading thumbnails and has a new continuous scroll feature. The new search page will begin to roll out in the “coming days” and can be viewed on devices running Android 3.1+ (Honeycomb) and on the iPad in 36 different languages.
[Via Gizmodo]
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Apple, Samsung push Nokia to No. 3

2011-07-29T05:31:00.001-07:00

Nokia N8 smartphone

HELSINKI: Apple and Samsung Electronics ended struggling Nokia's 15-year reign at the top of the smartphone sales rankings in the second quarter, researchers said.

Nokia has dominated the smartphone market ever since its 1996 launch of the Communicator model, but competition from its two nearest rivals and a slump in its own sales sent it straight from first to third place in the three months to June as growth in the sector starts to slow.

Apple sold a record 20.3 million iPhones in the quarter despite the fact that its iPhone 4 model is now more than a year old. Usually success of smartphone models does not last so long.

Apple unveiled its sales last week, but on Friday analysts also estimated Samsung sold 19 million smartphones in the quarter, well ahead of Nokia's 16.7 million as it was able to benefit from booming demand with smartphones using Google's Android software.

"Samsung's Galaxy portfolio has proven popular, especially the high-tier S2 Android model," said Neil Mawston, analyst at Strategy Analytics."

Strategy Analytics estimated smartphone market volume grew 76 per cent from a year ago in the second quarter. ABI Research was somewhat more cautious estimating market grew 62 per cent.
Slowdown worries

Growth on the overall cellphone market slowed too in the April-June period, as sales of basic phone models dropped for the first time in seven quarters due to consumers reining in spending, research firm IDC said.

IDC said strong smartphone demand boosted the market to still grow 11.3 per cent from a year ago to 365.4 million phones, but this was a clear slowdown from the 16.8 per cent growth seen in the previous quarter.

Strategy Analytics estimated the total market at 361 million cellphones in the quarter.

In a Reuters poll, 29 analysts' average forecast for the total market stood at 374 million phones.

IDC said sales of simpler so-called feature phones fell 4 per cent from a year ago due to conservative spending and continued shift to smartphones, most visible in developed markets, such as the United States, Japan and Western Europe.

"The shrinking feature phone market is having the greatest impact on some of the world's largest suppliers of mobile phones," analyst Kevin Restivo said in a statement.

"Stalwarts such as Nokia are losing share in the feature phone category to low-cost suppliers such as Micromax, TCL-Alcatel and Huawei."

Struggling Nokia, still the world's largest phone maker by volume, saw its phone sales shrinking 20 per cent from a year ago. This helped Samsung to close the gap to the Finnish firm in the overall cellphone market to the lowest level ever.

Some analysts already forecast for Samsung to become the world's largest cellphone vendor next year.

Samsung to launch Galaxy Tab 10.1 in India on August 10

2011-07-28T23:45:00.000-07:00

After multiple delays (it was originally planned for a mid-June launch), Samsung will finally take the wraps off its Galaxy Tab 10.1 in India on August 10, multiple sources have confirmed. Boasting a 10.1-inch display, the new Tab runs on Android Honeycomb (we’d like to believe it to be Android 3.1), an nVIDIA Tegra 2 processor clocked at 1GHz, 1GB of RAM with 16/32/64 GB variants for internal storage and dual cameras (3.0MP on the rear and 2.0 MP on the front). The Tab 10.1 is marginally slimmer than the iPad 2 (8.6 mm) and has a 7,000 mAh battery that Samsung claims is good enough for playing nine hours of video or 72 hours of music. We haven’t heard about the pricing, yet, but we won’t be surprised if it is priced similar to that of the iPad 2.

Alibaba launches K-Touch Cloud Smartphone

2011-07-28T02:38:00.000-07:00

Alibaba Group launched its first self-developed mobile operating system and smartphone.

BEIJING: Alibaba Group launched its first self-developed mobile operating system and smartphone in a bid to capture a slice of China's rapidly growing mobile Internet market.

The smartphone, K-Touch Cloud Smartphone, will be launched at the end of July and will use Alibaba's Aliyun operating system, the firm said in a statement. Handset manufacturer Tianyu will produce K-Touch.

"Mobile users want a more open and convenient mobile OS, one that allows them to truly enjoy all that the Internet has to offer right in the palm of their hand, and the cloud OS, with its use of cloud-based applications, will provide that," said Wang Jian, president of Alibaba Cloud Computing, a unit of Alibaba Group.

Alibaba Cloud plans to integrate the operating system with other devices including mobile phones with larger screens and tablet computers in the coming months.

The Aliyun operating system will feature cloud services such as email, Internet search and support for web-based applications. Users will not be required to download or install applications onto their mobile devices, Alibaba Cloud said.

China, the world's largest mobile phone market, has 906.8 million mobile subscribers, according to statistics provided by the three leading telcos in June.

Alibaba Group, which is 60 per cent owned by Yahoo Inc, operates China's largest B2B online marketplace, Alibaba.com and China's largest online consumer shopping site, Taobao.

The firm has been busy diversifying away from its core business of e-commerce into search, logistics and now, mobile computing. Baidu , Alibaba's rival in the China Internet space, has also been diversifying away from its core business of search, into e-commerce and it has hinted that it is developing a mobile operating system as well.

Alibaba.com shares were trading 3.06 per cent lower on the Hong Kong stock exchange in early afternoon trade.

iPhone 5 'leaked' cases show larger screen, buttonless design

2011-07-28T02:30:00.001-07:00

A CAD mockup of an iPhone 5 case as shown by a UK-based blog (Pic courtesy: Mobile Fun)
Internet rumour mill is flowing overtime with speculations on what are claimed to be leaked cases of Apple iPhone 5.

The source of the alleged case design is a UK-based blog, Mobile Fun, which claims to have got the designs from a Chinese case manufacturer. Some reports point it to Foxconn intelligence.

The case design points to a major redesign of the iPhone with a curved back and a larger screen. Rumours of similar design changes have been doing rounds for past several months. Reports also suggest that home button will go larger amd may support gesture-based controls. Earlier this year, a Chinese publication claimed that iPhone 5 will sport an improved antenna, 4 inch screen and NFC e-wallet.

Another report in AppleInsider says that that Apple intends to release its next-generation iPhone between September 6 to 15 with an initial shipment of 4 million units.

The report quoting Chinese-language China Times also claims that the rumored release of a next-generation iPad (popularly being called iPad 3) later this year is facing delays due to component issues. Several rumors have suggested that Apple may release another iPad later this year.

How to get Facebook’s iPad app NOW

2011-07-26T05:37:00.001-07:00

A few hours ago, TechCrunch‘s MG Siegler revealed Facebook’s iPad app that was hidden within the iPhone app. This is big news, especially after Mark Zuckerberg once remarked the iPad is not a mobile device and the only way to ‘officially’ access Facebook on the iPad was via Safari browser. Now it seems that Zuckerberg has had a change of heart and Facebook is about to launch an iPad-specific app. But how does one get the app before Facebook releases it on the App Store? Hit the jump to find out…
Before we proceed, here are some disclaimers. One, the steps mentioned below can brick your iPad. Do it at your own risk. Second, we have not tried it out ourselves but have been told by multiple people who are using it on their iPad. With that out of the way, here’s how to do it.
You will need to Jailbreak your iPad and install OpenSSH from Cydia store. Now find the folder for the Facebook app (iPhone version) and find a file called info.plist. Now use a ‘plist’ file editor to open the file and find the string called UIDeviceFamily. Change the integer from ’1′ to ’2′. Save the file and replace the original file in the applications folder. And that’s it! Say hello to Facebook for iPad.
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A software that teaches you how to read

2011-07-25T04:27:00.001-07:00

The software computerises a proven method of learning tuition, dubbed “repeated reading” using computer-generated voices and speech recognition.
Computer science students have come up with an innovative way to help children learn to read - a software that acts as a virtual reading coach.
Ashley Steel, Luke Bjerring and Andreister of Waikato University worked with a curriculum coordinator in Switzerland and primary teachers in New Zealand to develop software, called BookieMonster, which acts as a reading coach.
The software computerises a proven method of learning tuition, dubbed “repeated reading” using computer-generated voices and speech recognition.
Children using the software listen to a text being read aloud by the computer, following the words as they are progressively highlighted on-screen in time with the voice, similar to karaoke, according to a Waikato statement.
After hearing a text read to them a few times, they then read it back to the computer via a microphone. The software recognises their speech and provides the same progressive text highlighting what they received while being read to.
The students now have a working prototype and are setting up trials in local schools. Ultimately they hope to see their software distributed via existing initiatives in developing nations where literacy in some places is as low as 50 percent.

LG’s 2011 lineup leaked, includes Fantasy, Victor, Gelato, more

2011-07-25T03:29:00.002-07:00

LG has struggled to grab consumer interest the way Samsung has with its Galaxy S and Galaxy S II smartphones, and it doesn’t look like the manufacturer has a worthy competitor in the pipeline just yet. PocketNow purportedly leaked LG’s entire 2011 portfolio and while there are several attractive devices that run Android and Windows Phone, there is nothing that really blows us away. The lineup includes the following devices:

LG Prada K2 - An Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) smartphone with a 4.3-inch NOVA display, 16GB of storage, and support for 21Mbps+ networks.
LG Univa – An Android 2.3 device that is equipped with an 800MHz processor and a 3.5-inch HVGA display.
LG Fantasy - A Windows Phone Mango-powered device that could make its debut in the fourth quarter of this year. Renders of the phone suggest that it will offer a large display, but other hardware specs are currently not available.
LG Victor – A mid-range Android Gingerbread device with a 3.8-inch OLED WVGA display, a 5-megapixel camera and a 1GHz processor.
LG Gelato - A device that may land on Sprint with the model number LS685, a version of the Gelato will reportedly offers support for near-field communications (NFC). It’s equipped with a 3.2-inch HVGA display, a 3-megapixel camera and an 800MHz processor.

PocketNow also revealed two more devices, the LG K and the E2, but little is currently known about them. We’re assuming that LG also has some more high-end handsets up its sleeves that it’s currently keeping closer to the vest — after all, the LG Thrill 4G (Optimus 3D), offers a high-end dual-core processor. Why would the manufacturer take a step backwards and just release a half-dozen mid-range handsets?

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India’s first MeeGo netbook – the Samsung N100

2011-07-25T03:29:00.000-07:00

All right, the press release runs the headline “Smasung Launches the Super Light N100 Netbook,” but for us, the line that really counted came much lower down. It read: “The device includes Intel’s innovative MeeGo™ operating system…”. No reference to Nokia there, but the stark fact is that India has got its first MeeGo netbook, although the release hastens to point out that DOS and Windows versions are also available. In terms of hardware, the netbook tips the scales at a very light 1.03 kg, has a 10.1 inch LED display, a dual core Intel Atom processor (N435, 1.33 GHz), Intel GMA 3150 graphics, 1GB RAM and 250 GB storage. Of course, we know not much about how MeeGo will work on the netbook, although the release talks of a fast boot-up and “easy access to online and offline contents,…social networks can be viewed at a glance,” but we must confess to being impressed by the price – Rs 12, 290, which makes it one of the most affordable netbooks out there from a major brand. Needless to say, we are curious as hell to see how MeeGo works on a netbook meant to run it (we ran an earlier version on our Asus eeePC, with mixed results).

LG’s 2011 lineup leaked, includes Fantasy, Victor, Gelato, more

2011-07-24T01:34:00.001-07:00

LG Prada K2 - An Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) smartphone with a 4.3-inch NOVA display, 16GB of storage, and support for 21Mbps+ networks.
LG Univa – An Android 2.3 device that is equipped with an 800MHz processor and a 3.5-inch HVGA display.
LG Fantasy - A Windows Phone Mango-powered device that could make its debut in the fourth quarter of this year. Renders of the phone suggest that it will offer a large display, but other hardware specs are currently not available.
LG Victor – A mid-range Android Gingerbread device with a 3.8-inch OLED WVGA display, a 5-megapixel camera and a 1GHz processor.
LG Gelato - A device that may land on Sprint with the model number LS685, a version of the Gelato will reportedly offers support for near-field communications (NFC). It’s equipped with a 3.2-inch HVGA display, a 3-megapixel camera and an 800MHz processor.

No sneak attacks in the Pro Thumb Wrestling Arena

2011-07-22T06:17:00.001-07:00

Tired of innocent games of thumb wrestling taking a turn for the worse thanks to a cheaterpants who refuses to play by the rules? The Pro Thumb Wrestling Arena from Neatoshop guarantees only the best thumb wins by keeping those pesky pointer fingers safely outside the ring. Let the games begin!
Full story at Neatorama.

Samsung delivers India’s first MeeGo netbook – the N100

2011-07-22T01:55:00.001-07:00

Wireless heart pump cuts the cord

2011-07-21T06:19:00.000-07:00

New technology could untether cardiac patients as mechanical heart pumps join the next generation of wireless technology. Researchers envision new technology that could mean a future where patients with implanted heart pumps could install transmission coils in their homes and workplaces to create zones where the device would receive uninterrupted power.
Joshua Smith, associate professor of computer science and electrical engineering at the University of Washington, devised an inductive system that adjusts the frequency and other parameters as the distance or orientation between the transmitter and receiver coils changes, allowing for flexible yet efficient wireless power over medium distances.

“Most people’s intuition about wireless power is that as the receiver gets further away, you get less power,” says Smith, “But with this technique there’s a regime where the efficiency actually doesn’t change with distance.”

Full story at Futurity.

The New Nokia E6: A MensXP Review

2011-07-21T01:36:00.001-07:00

Nokia's E-series phones have done two things to BlackBerry: first, they've given the latter a run for its money and second, they've proved to it that business phones need not be ugly. Nokia E71 had takers from not only the corporate areas but even the college-goers started loving it. Its successor E72 also enjoyed considerable success. And then came the E5 which is often touted as the “BlackBerry Killer”.
Nokia's latest offering, almost after a year of E5's launch, is the E6. The phone arrives in the time of iPhones and Android devices which are unmistakably loosening the Finnish giant's grip on the upper segment market. Nokia understands that Symbian is now a thing of “medieval ages” and it needs to offer a revamped OS and a revved-up interface and may be some extra goodies as well. The E6 doesn't disappoint. It is all spiced-up, the user interface is more appealing and there also some treats you would normally not find in a business phone. But the biggest surprise is the new, hotly-awaited Symbian Anna OS on which the phone runs.

Appearance, Build and Display

The handset is quite sleek, a trademark of the E-series. Ruggedly built, the phone is composed of stainless steel, matte plastic and Gorilla Glass, thereby confirming that it has been built to withstand a lot of wear and tear (and even a few nasty drops!). Measuring 115.5 x 59 x 10.5 mm and weighing about 133 gm, which is quiet okay for a phone like this, the handset can be comfortably held in the hand. The QWERTY keypad is sturdy, even though the keys are a bit softer as compared to the E71.

The 2.46-inch capacitive touch-screen takes up almost half the space, and yes, the phone does feel a bit cramped. Pegged at 640 x 480 pixels (almost twice of what E5 offered), the screen resolution is fairly good. And here's a wee bit of surprise, the phone boasts of a pixel density of 328 ppi, which is 2 ppi more than the iPhone's Retina display.

Camera and Other Media

The new Nokia E6 comes with an 8 MP fixed-focus camera with dual-LED flash. The quality of still images, to be honest, is average - decently detailed and moderately sharpened. Some images might appear under-contrasted. You can record up to 720p HD videos running at 25 fps (frames per second). But again, the video quality, too, is average.

The music application hasn't changed much in Symbian Anna. Supported audio formats include MP3, AAC, WMA, and WAVE. The video player on the device can support DivX, XviD, MP4, WMV, and most MKV videos. Under the garb of a YouTube app, all you get is a web shortcut, a disappointment, indeed. The phone has 350 MB of internal memory and an external card slot which can support memory cards up to 32 GB.

Interface and Applications

The phone offers a great deal of customization. It lets you add and rearrange widgets and shortcuts easily. There's also a small notification area but not as good as the ones found in Android devices. Pressing and holding the home key opens Task Manager which allows you to view the open tabs, switch between them, and close them. In spite of just 256 MB of RAM, E6 can easily handle about 12 apps simultaneously. The new Symbian Anna is a welcome addition by Nokia. But iOS or Android can easily dwarf it in terms of appearance and appeal. That apart, the new OS runs smoothly and promises that we can finally bid goodbye to the sluggish ancient version of Symbian.

There's a bettered, touch-optimised version of Ovi maps. The E6 gets locked with the satellites faster than Samsung Galaxy S2! The Lonely Planet city guide is a great addition. But the flash games are disappointing. The new 7.3 version of the browser is fast but does not stand a chance when compared to Androids. Word, Excel and Powerpoint files can be easily edited and there's Adobe Reader as well. The Ovi Store's UI looks overhauled. It doesn't crash anymore and offers a good number of apps. But again, this remains a petty achievement in front of Andriod and iOS.

Performance

Thought the new Symbian Anna aids tremendously in improving the phone's overall performance, Nokia could have definitely done something better than a 680MHz CPU and 256MB of RAM memory. Still, the overall performance of the phone doesn't disappoint, especially when you compare it with E71 and E5.
Call quality is extremely satisfying and so is the signal reception. Running on Symbian Anna, the phone comes with the fastest, most powerful web browser for a Nokia phone. It loads websites faster than the N8. The phone is fitted with 3.7V 1500 mAh battery which offers 14.8 hours of talktime, more than double of what BlackBerry offers. The E6 promises 28 days of standby time and three days music playback time.

The Last Word

The new E6 from Nokia promises to heal the Finnish company's injuries to an extent. It presents a robust built, an innovative touch-and-type UI and good multimedia offerings. As CNET says, “The E6 is most definitely an improvement over the E5, offering a touch-screen interface, improved Symbian^3 'Anna' OS and a more robust and aesthetically-pleasing design”. Overall, a capable business phone with plenty of apps to suit business users (and can also appeal to other users). Those who have used either (or more) of E71, E72 and E5 will love this one.
The phone is let down a bit by the lack of an auto-focus camera and a not-so-powerful processor but its reasonable price of Rs 17,500 more than makes up for all this. Its closest rival, the ageing BlackBerry Bold 9780, costs around Rs 22k.
The device may not be a next-generation smartphone but it certainly promises to be a wonderful purchase at Rs 17.5 k, provided you have nothing against the “old man called Symbian”.
Price in India: To acquire this, you need to spend Rs 17,500.
: Touch and keypad combo, the new Symbian Anna, sturdy and pleasing built, superb battery life, revamped Ovi store
: Camera doesn't have autofocus, not-so-powerful processor, can be easily dwarfed by Android devices on many aspects
MensXP Rating: 3.5/5

Key Specifications

GENERAL
2G Network GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
3G Network HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1700 / 1900 / 2100
SIZE
Dimensions 115.5 x 59 x 10.5 mm, 66 cc
Weight 133 g
DISPLAY
Type TFT capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
Size 640 x 480 pixels, 2.46 inches
- Gorilla glass display
- QWERTY keyboard
- Multi-touch input method
- Accelerometer sensor for auto-rotate
- Proximity sensor for auto turn-off
SOUND
Alert types Vibration, MP3, WAV ringtones
Loudspeaker Yes
3.5mm jack Yes
MEMORY
Phonebook Practically unlimited entries and fields, Photocall
Call records Detailed, max 30 days
Internal 8 GB storage, 256 MB RAM, 1 GB ROM
Card slot microSD, up to 32GB, buy memory
DATA
GPRS Class 33
EDGE Class 33
3G HSDPA 10.2Mbps, HSUPA 2.0Mbps
WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth Yes, v3.0 with A2DP
Infrared port No
USB Yes, v2.0 microUSB, USB On-the-go support
CAMERA
Primary 8 MP, 3264x2448 pixels, fixed focus, dual-LED flash,check quality
Features Geo-tagging, face detection
Video Yes, 720p@25fps, check quality
Secondary Yes, VGA
FEATURES
OS Symbian Anna OS
CPU 680 MHz ARM 11 processor, 2D/3D Graphics HW Accelerator with OpenVG1.1 and OpenGL ES 2.0
Messaging SMS, MMS, Email, Push Email, IM
Browser WAP 2.0/xHTML, HTML
Radio Stereo FM radio with RDS
Games Yes + downloadable
Colors Black, White, Silver
GPS Yes, with A-GPS support
Java Yes, MIDP 2.1
- Stainless steel panels
- Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic
- Digital compass
- TV-out
- MP4/H.264/H.263/RV player
- MP3/WMA/WAV/RA/eAAC+ player
- QuickOffice document editor (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF)
- Organizer
- Flash Lite 4.0
- Voice command/dial/commands
- Predictive text input
BATTERY
Standard battery, Li-Ion 1500 mAh (BP-4L)
Stand-by Up to 681 h (2G) / Up to 744 h (3G)
Talk time Up to 14 h 48 min (2G) / Up to 7 h 30 min (3G) (MensXP.com)

Tata DoCoMo and HTC launch the ChaCha smartphone in India for Rs 15,990

2011-07-20T10:10:00.000-07:00

HTC has launched its ChaCha smartphone in India for Rs 15,990 in association with Tata DoCoMo. This social networking phone features a dedicated Facebook key, runs on a 800MHz processor, has an internal memory of 512 MB (expandable up to 32 GB) and is based on Android 2.3 aka Gingerbread. As expected, Tata DoCoMo has also bundled 3 GB of free data usage for three months and three hours of free mobile TV service for all its 3G subscribers (prepaid & postpaid). Tata DoCoMo 2G pre-paid users will get 3 GB of free data usage and 300 minutes of free local calling (Tata to Tata) valid for a period of three months whereas 2G post-paid users will get 1 GB of free data usage and 100 minutes of free local calling (Tata to Tata) each month for a period of 3 months. Hit the break for the press release.

New Delhi, India – July 20, 2011 – HTC Corporation, a global leader in mobile innovation and design, and Tata DOCOMO, the GSM arm of Tata Teleservices Limited, today announced the launch of the HTC ChaCha in India. The HTC ChaCha features a dedicated Facebook button that allows you to share just about anything at a single touch. The one-touch access to Facebook service has been integrated throughout the HTC Sense experience. The sleek, affordable yet feature-packed smartphone combines a 2.6-inch touch screen with a full QWERTY keypad.
Under the bundle offer, Tata DOCOMO 3G prepaid customers can avail 3GB free data valid for a period of 90 days whereas 1GB free data is offered free each month to postpaid customers across all 3G circles valid for 90 days. All 3G customers will also get 3 hour of free Mobile TV that includes data access charges valid for 90 days.
While Tata DOCOMO 2G prepaid customers can avail 3GB free data and 300 Tata to Tata local calling valid for a period of 90 days whereas 1GB free data and 100 minutes Tata to Tata calling is offered free each month for 3 months to postpaid customers across all 2G circles.
“At HTC, we have always strived to take mobility experience to newer levels and add multi dimensions to our devices. Featuring a dedicated Facebook button and one-touch Facebook access, the HTC ChaCha aims to make it simpler and convenient for its users to share and connect through their favourite social networking site,” said Faisal Siddiqui, Country Manager, HTC India. “We are extremely pleased to launch the HTC ChaCha in India with Tata DOCOMO, and are positive that this social smartphone will garner a favorable response from Indian mobile phone users,” he added.
Introducing new smart device for Tata DOCOCMO customers, Mr Sunil Tandon, Head – Mobility Services & Devices Management, Tata Teleservices Limited, said “Devices are an important element of the entire 3G ecosystem to drive penetration and increase the adoption of 3G services. Tata DOCOMO partners with various smart phone handset makers and is taking a conscious leap in co-promotion that is not only affordable but in-built with rich features and capabilities. In the recent past we launched HTC Desire & HTC Mozart for Tata DOCOMO customers across our circles of operation and going forward will continue to work together to bring innovative valued based products and services on GSM platform.”
Stay connected with the smartphone for the Facebook generation – HTC ChaCha
The HTC ChaCha smartphone is designed to provide a seamless, social experience by enabling you to stay in touch with your friends anytime, anywhere. The unique tilt design shapes the display and physical QWERTY keyboard so it is easy to view and comfortable to type. The uniquely-styled spacious keyboard on the HTC ChaCha has been designed to make typing a breeze. Capture special moments in crisp details, using the 5-megapixel color camera with auto focus and LED flash. The phone is also equipped with a VGA front-facing camera. The ChaCha smartphone brings the Internet to your fingertips with a 2.6-inch, 480 x 320 resolution landscape touch screen.
The Facebook button on HTC ChaCha is context-aware, with options to share content or updates through Facebook with a single press of the button. You can update your status, upload a photo, share a Website, post what song you are listening to, ‘check in’ to a location and more through the dedicated Facebook button. For example, you can take a photograph of friends on your phone and upload it instantly to Facebook by simply pressing the button. Or let your friends know what song you’re listening to by pressing the button while listening to music on the phone. The track is automatically identified and shared on Facebook.
The HTC ChaCha makes it simple to stay in touch with your friends using Facebook Chat on your phone and you can even chat with multiple friends on Facebook. Your Facebook messages and conversations appear as text messages, making it simpler for you to read and browse through them.
The new HTC ChaCha is powered by the latest Android operating system, and features HTC Sense to integrate Facebook throughout the HTC Sense experience. The latest updates from your Facebook account are displayed right on your home screen. The dialer screen on the phone tells you whether your Facebook friend’s birthday is approaching. You can also use your phone’s existing contacts to help you connect with them on Facebook or personalize your handset further.
Pricing & Availability
The new HTC ChaCha will be available at a Market Operating Price of Rs. 15,990 at all authorized HTC resellers across the country.
* Prices may vary according to the local applicable taxes

Apple adds more muscle to the MacBook Air, cuts prices again!

2011-07-20T10:09:00.001-07:00

According to a release that has just landed in our inboxes, Apple has officially launched the latest edition of the MacBook Air. And while it retains its svelte looks, beneath the hood lurketh some serious processing power. The aluminum unibody enclosure remains an incredible 0.11 inches at its thinnest point and 0.68 inches at its thickest, and you still have two flavours – the 11 inch and the 13 inch ones. What has changed however is the processing power in these beauties – users can now opt for the muscle of Intel Core i5 and Core i7 dual core processors. The Air also now has backlit keyboards and a glass multi-touch touchpad. The graphics are handled by Intel HD Graphics 3000, which is a bit of a let-down for those of us who were expecting NVIDIA graphics-card goodness, but which should still be good enough for most graphics tasks that fall short of high-end gaming. Also present is Thunderbolt, the new I/O technology introduced by Apple, and of course, there is the little matter of Mac OS X Lion which introduces several new features to the already stunning interface. However, what has really grabbed our attention is the fact that the price of the range has been slashed again – it now starts at Rs 56,900 for the 1.6 GHZ, 2 GB RAM and 64 GB Flash storage model and goes up to Rs 89,900. You can get details of the new models here. We will be posting a review when we get our mitts on a model. As of now, we are busy being catching our breaths.

Lenovo leaks images of its upcoming ThinkPad tablet [Gallery]

2011-07-20T02:11:00.000-07:00

Lenovo’s comms team today accidentally published images of its upcoming Android tablet, the ThinkPad. Little details are currently available in terms of specs but we can see a customized UI on top of Honeycomb, a pen input (a la HTC Flyer) and a docking station. In some of the pics we can see a USB port and probably an HDMI port too. We are expecting an official launch announcement in the coming days and weeks. In the meanwhile, feast your eyes on our gallery of the Lenovo ThinkPad tablet, which we were able to snap before Lenovo took them down.

TouchType launches SwiftKey X for Android smartphones and tabs

2011-07-19T03:46:00.001-07:00

TouchType, the company that launched SwiftKey keyboard app for Android last year, has announced two new keyboard apps – SwiftKey X for Android smartphones and SwiftKey Tablet X for Android tablets. The new versions offer a couple of intuitive features, provides you an option to choose from more than 20 languages, supports all Android 2.1 devices or higher, offers three themes (dark, light or neon) and are available for a download via the Android Market for $3.99 and $4.99 respectively. The Fluency 2.0 language inference feature learns and observes how a user composes and phrases sentences and then predicts what the user is likely to type next. TouchType’s cloud-based personalization service keeps a track on user’s message history of his accounts on multiple social networks like Google, Facebook, Twitter and many others to offer a customized prediction and correction experience. And finally, the Touch-Interaction modeling feature conducts real-time analysis of user’s touchscreen typing precision to improve word accuracy. The SwiftKey Tablet X app has also incorporated a split-key layout for thumb-typing specifically designed for tablet form factors. FYI: If you already have the SwiftKey app, you’ll be upgraded to this latest version SwiftKey X for free.

Unannounced Nokia C3-01.5 spotted, runs Symbian S40 on a 1GHz processor

2011-07-19T03:45:00.001-07:00

An unannounced Nokia Symbian S40 handset with a 1GHz processor and 512MB RAM has been spotted in the wild. The folks at GSM Arena have reported that the handset in question is Nokia C3-01.5, which is apparently the first S40 phone based on the new specs.

While the specs have been upgraded, there are no significant changes in the looks department. The handset (refer to the image above) still looks like its previous version- the Nokia C3-01 Touch and Type.

Nokia is also rumored to be working on a few other phones – the C2-01.5 (RM-772), X3-02.5 (RM-775 or RM-776), X2-01/X2-03 (RM-709), X2-01.1 (RM-717) – that will have similar specs. We certainly are no big fans of Nokia’s naming schemes, but yeah, if the alleged specs are anything to go by, we are already drooling.
Read

Go-anywhere gadget holder looks lethal as its name

2011-07-18T07:21:00.000-07:00

If carrying that lightsaber is drawing more guffaws than gasps, it’s time to take a different tack when it comes toughening up your techie image.
Zoll’s Lethal Pro weighs a mere eight ounces but can hold up to twenty-two pounds of gear wherever you need it with its six adjustable legs. When not securing your stuff, it makes a convincing claw hand when walking down dark alleys late at night.

Make Your iPhone Do Magic Tricks

2011-07-18T03:51:00.001-07:00

New apps use technology for prestidigitation

iForce is one of the most popular smartphone apps for magic tricks. (http://www.rostamimagic.com/iforce/)
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic, as Arthur C. Clarke famously theorized. But now, some creative young nerds, er, entertainers are adding smartphones to their magic acts, dazzling audiences with some high-tech prestidigitation, reports the Washington Post. Now a guessed number can appear on screen, a digital pic of a coin turns into the real thing—the variations are morphing by the day.

Not all magicians approve of adding tech to their acts. “If we use a smartphone, people will give it all the credit," said one magician. "Chances are people would say, ‘There’s an app for that.’ ” Indeed, the iForce is one of the most popular magic apps on the market today.

“There have been questions in the magical community since the very first hint of technology: Will we seem less magical because of technology X?” asked one magic publisher. “No.”

Asus Lamborghini VX-7 laptop

2011-07-17T01:21:00.001-07:00

Get more Lamborghini power at your fingertips

If the Asus Lamborghini External Hard Drive that we showed you last week is already lit up on your desk and is feeling lonely and out of place with your run-of-the-mill machine, then here’s a laptop that promises to be good company – for that particular hard drive and for the auto fanatic in you. Called the Asus Lamborghini VX7, it is a gaming laptop filled to the brim with latest tech like the cars of the brand it endorses.

To begin with, it boasts of the exotic styling inspired by the Lamborghini lines, flashy colour schemes and party-piece Lambo taillights! Then there is the illuminated Chiclet keyboard, leather-trim palm rests and an ‘Engine Start’ button to power on the laptop. Pressing the start button boots up the laptop with a Lamborghini roar!

There is a lot of firepower under the laptop’s hood and can be customised like a true Lamborghini. Options for the Core i7 Quad Core processor powered VX7 include up to 16GB of system RAM, 3GB of graphics memory, Full HD or HD-ready 3D display and up to 1.5 TB of storage space.

The exact specifications are as follows:

Processor- Intel® Core™ i7 2630QM

Chipset- Intel® HM65 Express Chipset

Memory- DDR3 1333 MHz SDRAM, 4 x SO-DIMM socket for expansion up to 16 G SDRAM

Display- 15.6" 16:9 Full HD (1920x1080) LED backlit

Graphics- NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 460QM with 3GB GDDR5 VRAM

Camera- 2.0 Mega Pixel web camera

USB- 3.0

Audio- Built-in 2 Speakers And Digital Array Microphone,Built-in Azalia compliant audio chip, with 3D effect

Battery - 8Cells: 5200 mAh 75 Whrs

Dimensions - 40.2 x 30.9 x 5.00 ~5.79 cm (WxDxH)

Optical Drive - Super-Multi DVD, Blu-ray Writer, Blue-ray reader

Storage Options - 2.5" 9.5mm SATA, 750GB 5400rpm/7200rpm, 640GB 5400rpm, 500GB 7200rpm, 500GB 7200rpm With 4 G SSD

Price: Rs. 1.3-lakh (approx.)

WSJ: Apple to launch new MacBook Air next week, not today

2011-07-15T01:07:00.001-07:00

Many were expecting Apple to launch its third generation of MacBook Air today, only to be left high and dry. Digits‘ All Things D‘s John Paczkowski now tells us it was never meant to be today. And it won’t happen tomorrow, either. Instead, Apple will launch it next week along with OS X Lion. The new MacBook Air is expected to sport Intel’s new Sandy Bridge processors, Apple’s Thunderbolt port, backlit keyboard and 128 GB and 256 GB of flash storage. My second gen MacBook Air just got a week’s worth of extension before retirement.
Read

Amazon to Launch iPad Rival by This Fall

2011-07-14T01:32:00.001-07:00

It also plans a touch-screen Kindle: Wall Street Journal

The Apple iPad 2 is going to have competition from Amazon soon. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Amazon will have a tablet computer of its own out by October to compete with the iPad, reports the Wall Street Journal. Insiders say the Android device will have a 9-inch screen but no camera. Amazon also plans two Kindle updates: One version will have a touch-screen and the other will be an improved (and cheaper) version of the current model.
Some quick reaction:

Sam Biddle, Gizmodo: Not a huge surprise, but the 9-inch screen "says a lot," he writes. "It's not looking to simply be a better Nook Color, but a real tablet fighting the iPad and every other major slate thing out there." Click for the full column.

New Phone Is The First Of Its Kind

2011-07-13T05:40:00.001-07:00

New HTC Status With 'Facebook Share' Button Out Now In U.S. (VIDEO, PHOTOS)

The HTC Status--the first U.S. smartphone with a physical "Share to Facebook" button on the device--is now available for pre-sale in the United States. The phone will be released on July 17.
"Later this month, the connection between mobile phones and social networking is going to the next level," reads the press release from Best Buy, where you can reserve your Status for $49.99 with a two-year commitment on AT&T. This "next level" is the Facebook button toward the bottom of the phone, underneath the QWERTY keyboard. Pressing it either enables you to share whatever webpage you are browsing on to your wall, or pops up a text box for you to update your status.
This is not the world's first phone with a Facebook button: the HTC ChaCha and Salsa, the UK versions of the Facebook phone, have been available to Brits for about half a month now. The Status is essentially the American edition of the ChaCha after undergoing a U.S. friendly name change (the ChaCha also changed names to travel to Spain, where it is known as the ChaChaCha).
If you're wondering how the Status works, HTC posted a helpful promotional video (for the identical ChaCha) a week ago:
The HTC Status also features a touch-screen, the Android 2.3 OS, and a rear-facing 5 megapixel camera (equal to the iPhone 4 camera) with flash. But the real innovation is, of course, the 'Facebook share' button.
LOOK:

Leaked: Symbian Bella-powered Nokia Zeta

2011-07-11T06:46:00.000-07:00

Nokia Zeta (Image credit: Know your mobile)

NEW DELHI: Internet is abuzz with reports on a new Nokia smartphone based on its overhauled Symbian OS.

'Know your mobile' site has published what it claims are the leaked images of Symbian Belle-powered Zeta aka Nokia 700 phone.

Expected to be a low-budget smartphone, the device seems rich in features. Nokia Zeta is likely to sport a 3.2-inch AMOLED display with an HD resolution of 640x360 pixels. The phone will have two cameras one 5-megapixel camera, and the second front-facing VGA camera for video calling.

The device reported to be powered by a 1GHz processor is also being touted as one of the thinnest smartphone in the world. As for memory, Zeta will have a storage capacity of 32GB via micro SD card.

Zeta is also rumoured to come integrated with NFC capabilities. Reports also suggest that the 3G smartphone's connectivity options include Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

Indian customers still love Nokia: Survey

2011-07-11T06:44:00.000-07:00

Even as Nokia is facing tough competition, it is still the most trusted and popular brand among Indian customers, according to a survey.

NEW DELHI: Even as the Finnish handset maker Nokia is facing tough competition, it is still the most trusted and popular brand among Indian customers as it topped 'The Handset Hotlist' for July 2011, according to a survey.

As many as 12 handsets of Nokia made it to the list of 25 most exciting mobile phones, that were searched and viewed the most by consumers online, the survey by 'The Mobile Indian' website said.

Samsung was second with six of its models, including one CDMA phone, making it to the list.

While Micromax and Sony Ericsson stood at the third position with two of their models figuring in the list, a model each from Dell, HTC and iPhone completed the list of 25 most exciting handsets, the survey added.

"The Handset Hotlist' will give marketers a monthly insight into changing consumer preferences," The Mobile Indian Director Sreekant Khandekar said.

Nokia C5-03, priced at Rs 8,600, was the most searched for and viewed handset, followed by Nokia C6 (Rs 12,200) at the second spot, the survey revealed. It was followed by another stablemate Nokia X7 priced at Rs 18,000.

Samsung Galaxy Ace S5830 priced at Rs 14,700 was at number four, followed by Nokia X3-02 (Rs 7,500).

Interestingly, the list is dominated by international brands and barring Micromax none of the popular Indian brands features in the top 25, the survey revealed.

Apart from Nokia and Samsung, the only other brand to feature in the top 10 is Micromax whose models A70 and X560 figure at eighth position and tenth positions respectively, the survey added.

"Presumably, buyers of handsets marketed by Indian players, who usually make low-cost mobile phones, tend to seek information from the dealer rather than surf for information online," Khandekar said.

Interestingly, consumer interest is not dictated by price, though Nokia Oro and iPhone priced at Rs 50,000 and Rs 34,000 respectively, they rub shoulders with Nokia X2-01 which costs a mere Rs 3,500, As many as 17 of the handsets are priced below Rs 10,000, the survey said.

"Blackberry is a notable absentee too, probably because the models are few and potential buyers of the brand know what they want. Also, many get a Blackberry on office account and have a lower need to check for it online," Khandekar added.

Why Plasma is losing out to LCD & LED TVs

2011-07-11T06:40:00.001-07:00

Plasma television, the first flat TV system, may soon go blank as sales go flat and leading electronics makers Samsung and LG shift focus to fast-growing LCD and LED televisions.

KOLKATA/NEW DELHI: Plasma television, the first flat TV system, may soon go blank as sales go flat and leading electronics makers Samsung and LG shift focus to fast-growing LCD and LED televisions. Sales of the once-popular plasma televisions have been flat for the last 6-9 months even though the overall flat panel TV segment is growing at a rate of 119%.

"Over the past few years, most flat panel manufacturers have moved their investment towards LCD and LED televisions, as these technologies are witnessing rapid technological developments," LG Electronics India business head (home entertainment ) Rohit Pandit says.

Analysts feel Plasma TV may well be on the way out in India, as top flat-panel television players bet on LCD and LED while wooing consumers with technologies like smart TV and 3D TV, and consumer promotions. While Sony stopped manufacturing Plasma TV in 2006, Samsung and LG have reduced the pace of launch of plasma TV models.

"The contribution of plasma TV to over-all flat panel TV sales is declining year on year," says Samsung Electronics India VP (AV business) Raj Kumar Rishi. "The sheer range availability of LCD and LED TV, the technological innovation and performance improvement is ensuring stronger growth," he says.

Plasma TV now accounts for just 2% of the overall flat-panel television market, with LCD holding 85% and LED TV 13%. The largest reason for Plasma's dwindling market share could be that the products are available only in large-screen sizes of 40-inches and above, while LCD and LED TVs are available right from 14-inches onwards.

Also, the 20-30 % price premium that LCD TVs used to command over plasma in like-to-like screen sizes has narrowed down to 10% as higher volumes help LCD TV makers cut production costs and work on smaller margins. Even at Panasonic India, which is a major champion of plasma TV, LCD and LED TVs account for almost 85% of the total flat panel TV sales.

Why plasma is losing out
As per electronics market research firm DisplaySearch, the 22 to 24-inch TV segment accounts for more than 40% of TV sales, followed by the 32-inch segment that contributes 35% of the total share. The firm estimates that the Indian market accounts for 41.5% of the total Asia-Pacific TV market.

The fact that small screen plasma TV is not available in the market became its nemesis. LG India couple of years back had launched a 32-inch plasma set, but the company never really promoted as it became a loss-making proposition to sell such a small-screen model which was subsequently pulled out.

Most of the flat panel display manufacturers like Sony, Samsung, Sharp, AOU and CMO have been investing heavily on LCD panel manufacturing which found greater in mobile phone, laptop and desktop monitor, and electronic signage. "Since plasma TV entered first, consumers started perceiving it as an old hat due to greater innovation in newer technologies like LCD and LED," says Global Brands Enterprise Solutions managing director Pranay Dhabhai, who owns the rights for the Akai brand in India.

As a result, even the newer entrants in the flat screen TV space like Akai, Videocon, Godrej and Onida have stayed away from the plasma TV segment. "Our extensive pre-launch market research showed that the market did not accept the plasma TV product line, hence we focused only on LCD and LED TV," says Godrej Appliances senior general manager Mayank Gupta. Godrej has further innovated by launching LCD TVs with motion-sense gaming.

Prices of flat panel television are dropping at around 20-30 % annually. But the bigger price erosion is happening in LCD and LED TV segment due to far higher sales volume, which is bringing down panel prices globally. Currently, LED TVs cost about 20-30 % more than an LCD TV, which in turn, cost 10-15 % higher than Plasma TV.

But Panasonic India's director (marketing) Manish Sharma says that price is not the only deciding factor. "With rising consumerism, people have started to look for more durable and advanced technology," he says.

Future of flat panel TV
Samsung India's Rishi says that a lot of the first time buyers are now buying LCD and LED TV without batting their eyelids. Even in non-metros and rural areas, consumers are moving to flat panel TVs.
"There are clear indications that LED TV will rule in metros, whereas in smaller towns LCD TV will become the product of choice," says Rishi. Durable retailers too are accordingly rejigging their merchandise plans. New Delhi's Neha Electronics proprietor SK Talwar says that almost 95% of the flat panel television stock in his shop is LCD and LED TV as demand for plasma has drastically fallen in the last one year.

"Plasma TV will only play a small role in the 85-inch and 105-inch screen sizes since the cost difference with LCD is still very high. But the market will gradually shift to LCD and LED, and plasma TV may completely vanish in another couple of years," says KS Raman, director at Next Retail, India's largest durable retailer with 600-plus stores.

Even plasma TV makers like LG, Samsung and Panasonic are all betting on LED TV as their future growth driver. For instance, Samsung has recently launched 26 models of LCD TVs, 18 LED TV models and just 7 plasma TV models. However, Panasonic's Sharma feels the market for plasma will continue to exist with LCD and LED as it will continue to cater specifically to long-screen enthusiasts.

LG's Pandit also thinks technology enthusiasts will still not write off plasma due to its ability to reproduce natural life-like images and fast response time, which tends to improve picture quality in sports or action movies. But opinions differ.

"The plasma TV makers always claimed their picture quality is a superior than LCD. But with the emergence of LED TV and the latest line-up of LCD TV, picture quality is almost comparable to the eyes," says Dhabhai of Akai. Videocon Industries' vice president (sales) CM Singh feels that plasma TV will eventually edge out its current dominance in the large-screen segment.

"Manufacturers are clearly differentiating their product line. In the 32-inch and below screen, LCD will become mainstream and in the 40-inch plus sizes, LED is being promoted as the technology of choice. And as that happens, the price difference between LED and plasma will further drop," Singh says.

Plasma going flat
LG and Samsung reduce pace of launch of plasma TV models; to focus on LED and LCD TV segment LG India launched a 32-inch plasma model a few years back, but never promoted it Samsung recently launched 26 models of LCD TVs, 18 LED TV models and just 7 plasma TV models Sony, a dominant player in the flat panel TV segment, was the first to exit the plasma TV segment around 2006 Newer entrants in flat screen TV space such as Akai, Videocon, Godrej and Onida have stayed away from plasma TV.

(Contributed by Writankar Mukherjee & Pramugdha Mamgain)

HTC Flyer review

2011-07-11T04:04:00.001-07:00

HTC, despite being Google’s largest Android partner, has been unusually slow to catch up with this tablet bug that has caught every hardware vendor. The first Android tablets were launched almost a year ago but it is only now that we are seeing the Flyer on store shelves. The Flyer does not have the latest buzzwords in tablet-land – dual-core processors, Honeycomb or a 10-inch display – yet it has a trick or two hidden up its sleeve that could potentially be its trump cards. Hit the jump for the complete review.

2011-07-07T23:22:00.000-07:00

Notebook Italia recently posted a hands-on video showing off several features of Sony’s S1 Android Honeycomb tablet. The S1 was announced in April — alongside the S2 — and is set for a fall release, but Sony hasn’t provided many chances for press to check out the device first-hand. As the video shows, the S1 will be the first tablet to run Sony’s PlayStation Suite software, an application that provides access to Sony PlayStaton certified games and content, such as the Green Hornet trailer spotted in the video. The S1 is powered by a 1GHz dual-core NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor, which means you’ll get a top notch gaming experience out of the box. It remains to be seen if Sony will offer NVIDIA’s Tegra Zone gaming portal, too, but it will directly compete with the PlayStation Suite, so we doubt it. Hit the jump for the video.

Jabra’s STONE2 Bluetooth headset ‘talks to you’

2011-07-06T03:25:00.003-07:00

Jabra has launched its STONE2 Bluetooth headset in India which is designed to listen to your instructions when you speak function-related words like ‘call mom’ or ‘answer’ or ‘ignore.’ It also speaks the names of your contacts whenever they’re calling you or to simply read out an unsaved number in digits. It comes with a wireless portable charger, guarantees a talk-time of 10 hours and will also automatically ask you to charge it saying “low battery”. Users can also download voice-enabled applications from Jabra’s app portal that will let you send/read text messages or emails and update your status on various social networks though your Bluetooth headset (by giving voice commands). Now all that stands between you and this Bluetooth headset are Rs 7,999, which, of course, are worth spending considering all that reputation it has earned lately at the CES Innovation Awards (won the Best Wireless Handset Accessory Award). It will be available in two colors – Black (with leather finish or discrete finish as per user preference) and White (gloss finish). Jump the break to check out how it looks when removed from the wireless portable charger.

Snapshot: Micromax MMX400R Pocket Wireless Router

2011-07-04T05:59:00.001-07:00

By Nimish Dubey

With almost tablet in the Indian market having a (less expensive) Wi-Fi only version – and some tablets can go online only on Wi-Fi t00 – ’tis truly the season for Wi-Fi to go portable, allowing you to go online, irrespective of your location. A number of manufacturers like Olive and Cisco have already come out with devices that let you literally carry Wi-Fi connectivity in your pocket, and now Micromax has joined the race with its MMX400R Pocket Wireless Router. Pocketable it certainly is, being smaller and much lighter than most handsets we have seen. And it comes with support for 3G and HSUPA. But just how convenient is it to use? Hit the jump to find out. At less than 10 cm in length and barely 60 grammes in weight, the MMX400R has got to be the most portable wireless router we have seen – you can carry this baby in your pocket without noticing its presence. The build is totally plastic but very solid indeed. In the looks department, it won’t turn heads with its its mix of straight lines and rounded sides, but when did we ever want to show off a Wireless Router? Where the MMX400R really comes into its own is in terms of function. You just need to slide off the back panel, insert your 3G/EDGE sim card into the empty slot and switch on the device, and well, that really is it. You are ready to go with your own Wi-Fi hotspot to which you can connect up to five devices within a 10 meter radius. We did not go the whole hog with five devices but yes, we were able to surf the Net quite comfortably on our MacBook Pro, our iPod touch, our iPad and the Motorola Xoom tab simultaneously, with no problems whatsoever. Unlike other portable routers (most notably, Olive) we did not need to go online and enter all sorts of details to get the connection humming – it just picked up everything on its own. Now, that IS coolness.
You can of course go online (a URL is provided in the flyer accompanying the product) and tweak security settings (add password access, for instance) but if you are looking for a router that starts working with minimum fuss, this clearly is it. The MMX400R also has an inbuilt battery, which gave us close to three and a half hours of connectivity – very decent, we think. What we did miss, and miss big time, was the option to simply connect a data card to it, as we could on the Olive Nexus VR-9 – getting high speed Internet on data cards is a lot more affordable than 3G mobile connections in India at the moment. Another stumbling block was the price – at Rs 4,900, the MMX400R is not cheap, especially when you consider that the Olive Nexus VR-9 comes for Rs 2,990 at the moment. Yes, it is more bulky and difficult to configure, and lacks the ability to work with a SIM card inserted inside it (it can connect with a wire to a 3G handset, though, and use its connection to create a Wi-Fi hotspot), but it supports both data cards and Ethernet connections, and has better battery life (almost four hours).
All of which makes us place the Micromax MMX400R into the category of brilliant, but overpriced, gadgets – a bit of a surprise when one considers that Micromax is known for its value for money products. We love its portability and the fact that using it is simpler than configuring the Internet on some of its own handsets. But the price is a stumbling block. Still if money is not an issue and you want a really portable router to make the most of your 3G connection, we would not hesitate in recommending this.

Hello, Moto tablet – Xoom arrives in India, starting Rs 32,990

2011-06-29T04:08:00.001-07:00

As promised, Motorola has released its Xoom tablet in the Indian market. The tablet, which was officially the first to run Android 3.0 (Honeycomb, the flavour of Android Google had specially brewed for tablets), arrives in two variants – a Wi-Fi one for Rs 32,990 (MRP: Rs 34,490) and a 3G one for Rs 39,990 (MRP: Rs 41,490). Both have 32 GB storage (no other storage variants, as of now), pack in a powerful 1 GHz dual core processor, 1 GB RAM, 10.1 inch displays, and battery lives that are expected to range in the vicinity of 10 hours over Wi-Fi. Yes, it is not the first Honeycomb tablet to appear in the Indian market (the Acer Iconia A500 stole a march there), but on paper, it certainly is one of the most powerful. The price might appear to be a bit on the stiff side to some, but is actually, pretty much in the vicinity of that of the 32GB iPad 2 Wi-Fi and 3G models. Interestingly, the Xoom has hit the Indian market exactly a day after the HTC Flyer did, and within a week of the PlayBook. Indian tablet poppers have never quite had it so good. Yes, yes, we are working on a review. Stay tuned.

Phone War! Apple, Android Ready To Rumble

2011-06-29T03:49:00.001-07:00

Another year, another iPhone? Make that another two iPhones / AP

Apple may launch two iPhones
Google preps Ice Cream Sandwich rival

Apple may have two new iPhones up its sleeve for a September release, but for once, an Android rival might steal the show.
Tech sites are reporting that Google is working hard to release the first smartphone to run on its new "Ice Cream Sandwich" operating system.
Technology blog BGR reports that "the world's most anticipated Android phone" will be manufactured by Samsung and may be launched as the "Google Nexus Prime".
Ice Cream Sandwich is Google's next-generation Android 4.0 OS, launched less than a year after its Gingerbread OS hit the smartphone market. It also combines elements of its Honeycomb system, released last year specifically for tablet devices.
Like Nokia's recently announced N9 - also likely to launch in September - the Nexus Prime will be devoid of physical menu keys in favor of a clean, button-free design so users can take advantage of its "monster 720p-resolution (Super AMOLED HD) display".
"Our source indicated that Google could be working with multiple carriers and multiple OEMs on their own 'exclusive' Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) halo devices, and that they may all launch around the same time," added BGR.
BGR noted that Google's Nexus S successor (the Nexus Prime) will most likely be released in the US autumn.
On the other side of the pond, analysts and some bloggers believe that Apple is working on not one, but two next generation iPhones.
In an article on CNN's Fortune website, editor Philip Elmer-DeWitt wrote that Apple may be working on both a completely redesigned iPhone (dubbed, not entirely surprisingly, the iPhone 5) plus a "speeded-up iPhone 4" (possibly called the iPhone 4S).
The iPhone 4S may be launched as a lower cost, pre-paid iPhone, destined to entice the millions of potential customers who prefer to have their phone linked to a pre-paid plan, Mr Elmer-DeWitt wrote.
Fortune reports that Deutsche Bank anaylst Chris Whitmore told clients: "With Nokia and RIMM struggling...the time is right for Apple to aggressively penetrate the mid range smart-phone market (i.e. $300-500 category) to dramatically expand its (total addressable market) and market share."
TechCrunch's MG Siegler writes that "a few of the reports about the cheaper iPhone (including ours) noted that a cheaper iPhone may come with a completely new, smaller (or thinner) body.
"Think: less 'iPhone nano' and more 'iPhone lite'," rather than an iPhone 4 with slightly cheaper parts."
Regardless of the name or the form factor, the majority of iPhone 5 and iPhone 4S/lite rumors point to an unveiling that would take place sometime in the US autumn.

LG launches Optimus Black in India

2011-06-29T02:45:00.001-07:00

LG Optimus Black
LG has announced the launch of LG Optimus Black in India. The device is available at a price of Rs 19,990. Apparently this is the lightest high-end Android smartphone, weighing just 109 grams.

The Optimus Black runs Android 2.2 FroYo and an Android 2.3 Gingerbread update is expected sometime later in the next month. It has a 4-inch NOVA display, 5 megapixel rear camera and a secondary 2 megapixel front facing camera. It is powered by a 1GHz Cortex A8 processor and includes 2 GB of internal storage.

While the device has decent hardware, it is going to face a lot of heat from the iPhone 3GS now that Apple has brought down the price of the 8GB Rs 19,990.

HTC unveils ‘Flyer’ in India at Rs 39,890

2011-06-28T07:06:00.001-07:00

AP The HTC Flyer

Taiwanese handset maker HTC has entered the “tablet” war in India with the launch of its “Flyer” in the country, priced at Rs 39,890.

A tablet PC, though smaller in size, has PC—like functionalities.

“We saw an opportunity to create a tablet experience that is different, more personal and productive and are extremely excited to introduce the HTC Flyer in the Indian market,” HTC India Country Manager Faisal Siddiqui said in a statement.

Flyer’s competitors in India include the Apple iPad, Samsung’s Galaxy Tab, Blackberry Playbook and the soon—to—be launched Motorola Xoom and Huawei’s MediaPad.

The seven—inch touch screen tablet has a 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor. It has 1GB of RAM and an in—built memory of 16GB and a 5—megapixel camera.

The device also has features like HTC Sense, HTC Scribe and HTC Watch, which provide a better visual, touch and movie—viewing experience to users.

Blackberry launched its Playbook last week priced at Rs 27,990 (16 GB), Rs 32,990 (32 GB) and Rs 37,990 (64 GB). The Apple iPad (priced at about Rs 29,500) and Samung Galaxy Tab (about Rs 26,000) are already available here.

Since the launch of Apple’s iPad, the tablet market is witnessing huge competition, with new contenders launching their devices. Apple’s rival in the computing space, Dell had launched the “Streak” in India last year, while homegrown telecom handset makers like Spice and Olive have also launched similar devices at much lower price points.

According to analysts, sales in the tablet PC segment in India are expected to touch one million units over the next 12 months. 3G (high—speed internet services) roll out has also helped in expanding the opportunity, they said.

Smartphone app to help locate friend in crowd

2011-06-24T20:48:00.001-07:00

Representative image - Agencies
Can a smartphone app enable meaningful, face-to-face conversation? Engineers are trying to figure it out with a software that helps people locate their friends in a crowd - and make new friends sharing similar interests.
For instance, at a business meeting, the software could remind a user of a forgotten acquaintance's name, or help him make new professional contacts in the same area of research.
Dong Xuan, associate professor of computer science and engineering at Ohio State University, said: "Today, online social networking has advanced dramatically, but our ability to meet people face-to-face hasn't gotten any easier."
Called eShadow, the software uses nearby wireless networks and smartphones' wireless communication technologies to alert users that a friend who also uses the software is in the area and gives directions to that friend's location, according to a Ohio statement.
"We want eShadow to close social gaps and connect people in meaningful ways while keeping the technology non-intrusive and protecting privacy," said Xuan, who led the project.
As to users' safety, Xuan feels that, at least for some situations, meeting someone in person is safer than meeting them online.
"Online, people can steal others' identity, or lie easily without detection. It's much harder to pull off a masquerade in person," he said.
The name eShadow comes from the idea that users input their interests into the software, and their smartphone broadcasts those interests to certain other users of the software - but only within 50 yards of the phone. So as users move, the broadcast follows them around like a shadow.
In outdoor tests, they measured how fast the software could detect users who were 20, 30, and 50 yards apart. They tested different numbers of users, from two to seven.
In all cases, the software was able to connect people within about half a minute - an average of 25 seconds for two users, and 35 seconds for seven.
Xuan noted that eShadow's algorithms could be useful beyond socialising. Soldiers could use something akin to eShadow to locate each other on the battlefield.
These findings were presented at the IEEE International Conference on Distributed Computing Systems (ICDCS) Thursday in Minneapolis.

iPhone 3GS price cut to Rs 19,990

2011-06-24T10:40:00.000-07:00

Aplle iPhone 3GS
NEW DELHI: Yes, you read that right. According to cellphone dealers, Apple is "re-launching" its two-year-old iPhone at a price of Rs 19,990 in India. The move is likely to counter cheap Android smartphones that have flooded the market recently. This particular version of iPhone will come with 8GB internal storage.
Manish Khatri, a mobile dealer in Mumbai, tweeted on Friday evening that shops had already received stock and the phone will be available from Saturday at the said price with one year official warranty. In Delhi too, several dealers said they had received stock of iPhone 3GS (8GB) on Thursday evening.
iPhone 3GS was originally released in June 2009. It has a 3.5-inch capacitive touchscreen (320 x 480 pixels) and is powered by a 600Mhz processor. However, as it happens in the case of Apple products, the hardware specifications can be misleading when it comes to performance and usability.
Apple's latest iOS version 4.3 supports iPhone 3GS and that makes the phone a worthy opponent to similarly-priced Android devices that have better hardware. Apple has also said that iOS 5 will work on iPhone 3GS though it is likely that not all features will be supported.
At the price of Rs 19,990, iPhone 3GS will directly compete with Samsung Nexus S, a phone that saw its price fall by over Rs 6,000 to touch Rs 19,999 a few weeks ago. Nexus S, which runs on Android 2.3 aka Gingerbread, has a 4-inch capacitive screen. It is powered by a 1Ghz processor, packs 512MB RAM and comes with 16GB internal storage.

Creative launches low-cost D80 Bluetooth Wireless speakers

2011-06-24T10:16:00.000-07:00

Creative’s award-winning Pure Wireless speaker range just saw another addition today- the launch of D80 Bluetooth Wireless speaker in India. The company claims this baby, at its suggested retail price of Rs 2,699, is the most affordable device in its range of portable speakers. The creative D80 speaker is compatible with all stereo Bluetooth devices including phones, smartphones and tablet computers. It has an integrated AUX-in connection and also offers two three-inch full range drivers for dynamic audio experience. Colours are manifold – it is available in white with a pink, blue or green grille, or black with a black grille (ah, now THAT is simplicity). Mind you, it is not here just yet. It will be available for sale only towards the end of July.

Rotary Mechanical Smartphone

2011-06-22T06:09:00.001-07:00

Designer Richard Clarkson has created a conceptual smartphone with a rotary dial. The Rotary Mechanical Smartphone combines a digital touch-screen on the front with interchangeable mechanical dials on the back. The painted surface of the case will wear away in time to reveal the electroplated copper beneath. Here are some details:

Digital vs. Mechanical – Rotary Mechanical Smartphone is a concept designed by Richard Clarkson that combines and synthesizes digital technologies and physical mechanical systems in order to elicit more value in our everyday objects. via agdmag

Nokia unveils touch & type C2-03 handset

2011-06-21T05:18:00.001-07:00

Nokia has unveiled its C2-03 model, a touch-and-type interface device.
Nokia has unveiled its C2-03 model, a touch-and-type interface device combining a touchscreen and a keyboard, as part of its strategy to reach new users in emerging markets.
Mary McDowell, executive vice president in charge of low- end mobile phones, said the dual-SIM model will be "affordably priced" and feature maps and location-based services. McDowell, speaking at an event in Singapore, said the phone won't require a data plan and that its location will be transmitted through wireless towers.
The handset has a slot on the side of the phone that allowws users to change SIMs without the need for a reboot. The phone can remember the settings of up to five different SIM cards.
The touch screen has 240x320 resolution and supports up to 65K colors. There is a 2 megapixel camera on the back of the phone and 10MB of built in memory, which can be expanded to 32GB via microSD card. The standby time of the phone is claimed to be 400 hours, while the talk time is 5 hours. There is a radio and a music player on board too.
Nokia C2-03 also comes with a new version of Nokia Maps preloaded, which also allows users to search for locations while offline. The latest Nokia Browser for Symbian Series 40 too is a part of the phone's software.

Nokia unveils the N9, its only MeeGo smartphone

2011-06-21T03:06:00.001-07:00

Singapore: Finnish cellphone maker Nokia unveiled its N9 smartphone in Singapore on Tuesday, its only bet on the MeeGo platform.
The commercial launch will be later this year, CEO Stephen Elop said. Nokia dumped plans to use MeeGo in its future smartphones when in February it picked Microsoft's Windows Phone as its future software choice, but it decided to unveil one of the models it was working on before closing the business line.
The N9 model, Nokia's first and last to use MeeGo, comes with a large touch screen and is available in black, cyan and magenta. The MeeGo platform - a newcomer in the market dominated by Google and Apple - was born in February 2010 when Nokia and Intel unveiled a merger of Nokia's Linux Maemo software platform with Intel's Moblin, which is also based on Linux open-source software.

After Nokia pulled back from the project four months ago other vendors have become more interested in the technology as Nokia's dominant role in the project had held back others from adopting it.

Now charge phone over fire

2011-06-20T05:48:00.000-07:00

Japan gadget charges cellphone over campfire

A Japanese company has come up with a new way to charge your mobile phone after a natural disaster or in the great outdoors - by heating a pot of water over a campfire.
The Hatsuden-Nabe thermo-electric cookpot turns heat from boiling water into electricity that feeds via a USB port into digital devices such as smartphones, music players and global positioning systems.
TES NewEnergy, based in the western city of Osaka, started selling the gadget in Japan this month for 24,150 yen ($299), and plans to market it later in developing countries with patchy power grids.
Chief executive Kazuhiro Fujita said the invention was inspired by Japan's March 11 earthquake and tsunami that left 23,000 people dead or missing, devastated the northeast region and left hundreds of thousands homeless.
"When I saw the TV footage of the quake victims making a fire to keep themselves warm, I came up with the idea of helping them to charge their mobile phones at the same time," Fujita said.
The pot features strips of ceramic thermoelectric material that generate electricity through temperature differentials between the 550 degrees Celsius at the bottom of the pot and the water boiling inside at 100 degrees.
The company says the device takes three to five hours to charge an iPhone and can heat up your lunch at the same time.
"Unlike a solar power generator, our pot can be used regardless of time of day and weather while its small size allows people to easily carry it in a bag in case of evacuation," said director and co-developer Ryoji Funahashi.
TES NewEnergy was set up in 2010 to promote products based on technology developed at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Japan's largest public research organisation.
It also makes and markets equipment to transform residual heat from industrial waste furnaces into electricity.
The company says the pot will be used mainly in emergency situations and for outdoor activities, but also has uses in developing countries.
"There are many places around the world that lack the electric power supply for charging mobile phones," Fujita said.
"In some African countries, for example, it's a bother for people to walk to places where they can charge mobile phones. We would like to offer our invention to those people."

ZEHST the world's first hypersonic plane unveiled

2011-06-20T05:42:00.000-07:00

The ZEHST will be the world's first hypersonic passenger jet. Picture: AFP
THE world's first hypersonic passenger jet has been unveiled, promising flights from London to Sydney in just three-and-a-half-hours.
Hailed as the new Concord, rocket engines currently used in missiles will propel the plane to speeds of 5029km/h - more than four times the speed of sound, the Daily Mail reports.
But passengers are going to have to wait 40 years for the first commercial flight, say developers EADS.
Dubbed ZEHST - which stands for Zero Emission Hypersonic Transportation – the jet will be propelled by a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen, meaning its only emission would be water.
It can carrying up to 100 passengers and will use conventional jet engines to launch the aircraft from the airport runway. Once airborne, a pair of rocket engines will be engaged, followed by a final set of engines known as ramjets.
The design was unveiled at the Paris Air Show.
“It is not a Concorde but it looks like a Concorde, showing that aerodynamics of the 1960s were already very smart,” Jean Botti, innovation and technology director at EADS, told the Daily Mail.
“We’ve been working on this project for long enough now to know it is viable.”

A model of the ZEHST was unveiled at the Paris Air Show. Picture: AFP

Strange inventions!

2011-06-18T23:37:00.000-07:00

These bizarre inventions make me laugh, and yet, oddly, I kind of want one. Toxel rounds up some of the most extremely unusual inventions. Here are just a few:
A keyboard silencer to make your typing stealth

Noodle cooler for ramen's biggest fans

The Slip Quit for a quick escape anywhere anytime

Nose Stylus for when two hands just aren't enough

Cat ears that read your brain waves and express your emotions

Full story at Toxel.

Ctrl+O bottle opener

2011-06-18T23:35:00.001-07:00

Your favorite shortcut now makes the opening ceremony a snap, though you still need to bring your own bottle.

Retractable dog snap leash Povodokus

2011-06-18T23:34:00.000-07:00

Povodokus sports a gun-shaped handle, which retracts the leash when you need to control your target dog. It's a sure shot!

Get a charge out of your bikini

2011-06-13T07:44:00.001-07:00

Who cares whether or not you achieved that bikini bod when what everyone will actually be looking at is your green-ness?
New York designer Andrew Schneider’s creation guarantees your gadgets will never run out of juice while you’re catching some rays.

The suit is a standard medium-sized bikini swimsuit retrofitted with 1" x 4" photovoltaic film strips sewn together in series with conductive thread. The cells terminate in a 5 volt regulator into a female USB connection.

A male version is in the works as well, and, hey, it’s not like you were going in the water anyway.
Full story at Andrew JS via Good.is.

Samsung sues Apple to see advance copies of iPhone and iPad in escalating patent war

2011-05-30T08:13:00.000-07:00

By John Mcdonnell
Samsung is suing Apple to see advance copies of the next-generation iPhone and iPad in a tit-for-tat war over patents.
Last month, Apple filed a lawsuit claiming Samsung had copied their 'technology, user interface and innovative style'.
Samsung has claimed it needs the information about the latest Apple products being developed to ensure that future devices will not be subjected to the same infringement claims.

Apple's court filing compares its patents with the products released by Samsung. A judge has ruled in favour of Apple's request for 'unexpedited discovery' regarding prototypes being developed by Samsung
The South Korea-based company has asked that samples be handed over by June 13.
Last week a judge ruled in favour of Apple's request for 'unexpedited discovery' regarding prototypes being developed by Samsung, which they must hand over within 30 days.
This includes the Galaxy Tab 10.1 and 8.9 tablets, and smartphones like the Galaxy S II, Droid Charge, and Infuse 4G.

The lawsuit filed by Apple (makers of the iPhone, pictured left) claimed Samsung (whose Galaxy 5 phone is pictured on the right) had copied their 'technology, user interface and innovative style'
Samsung has asked for 'a sample of the final, commercial version' of the next-generation iPhone that Apple will release, 'whether that product will be known as the iPhone 4S, iPhone 5 or some other name'.
Despite the recent dispute, the companies have been working as close business partners for a number of years - and this doesn't look set to end.
Samsung currently supplies chips to the iPhone maker - which contributed 5.68 billion to the South Korean company's revenue last year.

Meet Nokia's gold-plated Oro phone

2011-05-25T07:50:00.000-07:00

Nokia Oro

NEW DELHI: Finnish cellphone giant Nokia has unveiled a 18-carat gold plated phone Oro.

Sporting a sapphire crystal in the home key and leather from one of Scotland's Caledonian herds, the phone is based on the Symbian operating system.

According to reports, Oro will come with the latest Symbian Anna update.

As for the specs, the phone will come with pentaband radio, 3G and Wi-Fi connectivity.

Featuring a 3.5-inch AMOLED display, Nokia Oro has a 8 megapixel camera with 720p video recording. The phone will pack up to 8GB internal memory and will come with a microSD card slot for memory expansion.

Nokia's General Manager for Russia, Gabriel Speratti, said, "The phone is coated with 18-carat gold which has been made scratch-resistant. The leather is from premium Scottish stock. That's a real sapphire crystal in the home key, which makes it eight times sturdier than glass."

Nokia Oro is expected to go on sale in selected countries across the Europe, Eastern Europe, China and the Middle East in Q3 2011. The phone is likely to be priced above EUR 800.

Now, charge your phone by just talking!

2011-05-10T03:57:00.000-07:00

Korean scientists have devised a gadget that will allow mobile phones to be recharged by using only your voice.

LONDON: In what is being billed as a godsend for those who regularly suffer the frustration of flat batteries, Korean scientists have devised a gadget that will allow mobile phones to be recharged by using only your voice.

The technology turns sound into electricity, allowing a mobile to be powered up while a conversation is in progress - and the greater the volume the greater the charge, reports the Daily Mail.

But there are fears it will simply be an excuse for inconsiderate phone-users to make even more annoyingly noisy calls in public places. The technology could also be used to power up personal music players, raising the possibility of charging an iPod by singing along to your favourite songs.

Sang-Woo Kim, of Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul, South Korea, said that just as speakers transform electric signals into sound, the opposite process of turning sound into a source of electrical power is possible.

Kim's device uses tiny strands of zinc oxide - the main ingredient of calamine lotion - sandwiched between two electrodes. A sound-absorbing pad on top vibrates when sound waves hit it, causing the tiny zinc oxide wires to compress and release.

This generates electrical current that can then be used to charge a battery.

Devices made so far can convert sounds of around 100 decibels, the equivalent of noisy traffic, a passing train or a nearby lawnmower, into a mild electrical current.

While this is not yet enough to charge a phone properly, the engineers are hopeful that altering the material the wires are made from will allow them to produce more energy at lower sound levels.

USB stick-sized PC for just $25

2011-05-10T03:34:00.000-07:00

Raspberry Pi is a computer that's the size of a USB stick and costs just $25.

How about a computer as small as a USB stick?

Yes that's exactly what UK-based game developer David Braben has built. Braben's Raspberry Pi is a computer that's the size of a USB stick and costs just $25.

And if you thought the small size also means that the PC pales on specs front, you got it wrong. The computer has a 700MHz processor and 128 Mb RAM.

It comprises a tiny circuit board with an ARM processor, a USB port and an HDMI connection. Says the company on its site, "Our first product is about the size of a USB key, and is designed to plug into a TV or be combined with a touch screen for a low-cost tablet."

The project is still in its early stages, and more prototypes need to be built before it's finally launched. However, going by the looks of it, here's surely a promising gadget in making.
Raspberry Pi's full specsheet:

* 700MHz ARM11
* 128MB of SDRAM
* OpenGL ES 2.0
* 1080p30 H.264 high-profile decode
* Composite and HDMI video output
* USB 2.0
* SD/MMC/SDIO memory card slot
* General-purpose I/O
* Open software (Ubuntu, Iceweasel, KOffice, Python)

HP Veer 4G Release Date Announced

2011-05-04T10:23:00.000-07:00

Since announcing its 2011 line of devices back in February, HP has been quiet on any actual release dates. Today, AT&T has finally announced HP's Veer 4G will be landing on May 15th for $99.99 (with the stock two year contract).
It might not be the world's smallest, but the Veer is definitely tiny with a size comparable to a credit card. The webOS 2.2-powered device packs a lot into its small body: a 2.6-inch 320x400 touchscreen display, 800MHz Snapdragon processor, 5 megapixel camera, mobile hotspot support and a slide-out QWERTY keyboard. It'll be available in black and white at launch.
Earlier this year, Engadget called it a "multitasking beast," able to quickly swipe between apps and communication tools, and noted that the slide-out keyboard was "fairly usable." PCMag wrote that although the touchscreen and operating system look great, the webOS ecosystem's biggest problems is still its lack of available apps.
LOOK:

WATCH:

Acer launches Iconia series tablets

2011-05-04T10:15:00.000-07:00

Acer launches Iconia series tablets.

MUMBAI: Acer India launched five tablets under the Iconia brand, priced between Rs 27,990-Rs 70,000.

The world's second largest PC vendor launched five tablets -- Iconia Tab A500, Iconia dual screen notebook, Iconia A100, Iconia smart A300 and Iconia W500.

The company brings in the full capacitive Acer Iconia tab A500 on both Android Honeycomb 3.0 and Windows 7 platform.

"With the launch of the Iconia range of tablets in India, we believe this technology will change the dynamics of consuming digital content.

With the growing demand for the tablets in India, we expect tablets to significantly contribute to our overall revenue in the calendar year 2011," Acer India Managing Director W S Mukund told reporters here.

The company has a 10.6 per cent market share in India and has clocked a Rs 2,550 crore revenue (January-December) in 2010.

Acer India plans to double its dealership network to 5,000 from present 2,500 by end-this year. It has a manufacturing facility in Pondicherry, with a capacity of 70,000 units per month.

Apple iPad 2 'If You Asked' Ad Inspires, Pulls Heartstrings

2011-05-04T09:41:00.000-07:00

Break out the tissues. Apple's back with another weepy and inspiring iPad 2 ad guaranteed to put a lump your throat. Building on the "We Believe" spot from earlier this month, the "If You Ask" ad recruits actor Peter Coyote again for the narration. There's nary a swipe, tap or human hand in sight this time; the iPad shows its chops alone in the home, music studio, hospital, office, classroom and bedroom.
Here's Coyote's gravelly voiceover:
If you ask a parent, they might call it intuitive. If you ask a musician, they might call it inspiring. To a doctor, it's groundbreaking. To a CEO, it's powerful. To a teacher, it's the future. If you ask a child, she might call it magic. And if you asked us, we'd say it's just getting started.

Nokia introduces pink N8, powered by Anna

2011-05-02T11:54:00.000-07:00

Nokia N8 smartphone.

NEW DELHI: At Nokia, it seems pink is in.

The Finish giant, which has seen its market share plummet in the face of iOs and Android threat, has decide to rest its hopes on a new version of N8, coloured all pink with option to install a "Little Pink Diva Theme for adding some colour into your menus and a great Pink Neon Clock".

In terms of hardware, the new phone is exactly similar to other N8 devices that were launched last year. The only major change, aside from, ahem, the pink colour, is that the new N8 will run on new version of Symbian called Anna. Nokia says that the phone will be introduced worldwide in a gradual manner.

Anna — the one belonging to Nokia — brings some incremental changes to Symbian S^3. According to Nokia, Anna "comes with a faster browser, improved text input, fresh, new icons and the latest version of Ovi Maps."

Sadly for a company that is standing on a burning platform, a pink handset might not be something doctor ordered. In fact, when Nokia recently asked its users "if you could have any colour of Nokia N8, what would it be", pink turned out to be the least preferred colour in the poll result.