January 15, 2014, 4:09 pm
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The Moto G has been expected to launch in India sometime in the first quarter of 2014 but now thanks to a report published by the Times of India, we can get a more specific time frame. The report states that the Moto G launch in India has been scheduled for the last week of January. India is slated to get the dual SIM variant of budget Android device alongside Brazil. Expected to be priced very competitively, the phone brings modest specifications in the form of a 1.2Ghz Snapdragon 400 processor, 1GB RAM and a 720p 4.5 inch display.
The device is expected to have a phased roll out starting from key markets. It'll be interesting to see how Motorola markets the product given that they have withdrawn from India. The report suggests that Motorola is partnering with an unknown distributor to launch the device in India. The after sales support will also be outsourced giving us potential cause for concern. That said, there's significant interest in the device considering that Motorola has been bought over by Google. The device retails in both 8GB and 16GB configurations at a price point that starts at $179. It remains to be seen how competitive ...
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January 15, 2014, 8:00 pm
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Spice has been at the forefront of India's budget Android market almost since its inception. With some compelling releases over the past few years and months, it has been able to carve a niche for itself while facing stiff competition from Micromax, Karbonn and competition at large. Throwing its latest device into the budget Android device ring with the Spice Smart Flo Mettle 5x, the company aims to gain a foothold amongst the first time smartphone buyers. Will it succeed? We find out in our review.
Hardware
There's really nothing special about the looks of the Spice Smart Flo Mettle 5x other than the fact that it exudes quality. The front of the phone is the same as your typical entry level Android phone with a 5 inch screen taking up most of the real estate. Below it are three capacitive buttons that correspond to multitasking, menu and back. These are buttons are backlit and are fairly responsive. There's a notification light built into the lower half of the phone, right below the capacitive buttons that lights up when there's a missed call, email or a message. Depending on ambient lighting conditions, this light may or may not be visible.
Up above the ...
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January 15, 2014, 11:08 pm
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Oppo has announced Oppo Neo, the company's latest mid-range smartphone in Indonesia.The phone has a 4.5-inch (854 x 480 pixels) FWVGA IPS sensitive touch screen with glove mode, powered by a 1.3 GHz dual core processor and runs on Android 4.2-based Color ROM. It has a 5-megapixel rear camera without flash and a 2-megapixel front-facing camera. It also has 3G connectivity and Smart Dual SIM feature.
It has high-end materials for the casing that feels more comfortable in your hands, says Oppo. It also has Quick Reach mode that lets you draw a pattern on the screen and double tap on the display to launch apps easily. The Gesture panel lets you customize your patterns.
Oppo Neo (R831) specifications
4.5-inch (854 ×480 pixels) FWVGA capacitive touch sceen display
Android 4.2 (ColorOS)
Dual SIM
1.3 GHz dual-core processor
5MP Auto Focus rear Camera
2MP front-facing camera
9.2mm thick and weighs 130g
3G HSPA+, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1, GPS
512MB RAM, 4GB of internal memory, Expandable memory up to 32GB with micro SD
1900 mAh battery
The Oppo Neo comes in Black and White colors and is priced at 2,599,000 Indonesian Rupiah (~Rs. 13,215). It would go on sale in Indonesia soon. No word on global roll out yet.
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January 15, 2014, 11:38 pm
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Google has updated its Chrome browser for Android and iOS devices that brings data compression and bandwidth management. This lets you help you reduce data usage, which can reduce data usage by up to 50% while browsing on-the-go. This uses Chrome’s Safe Browsing technology that helps protect you from malicious webpages, says Google. Opera Mobile for Android already has this feature called Off-Road mode with built-in Opera Mini compression.
You can enable this from Settings > Bandwidth management > Reduce data usage and then toggle to ON. You can also track your bandwidth you save each month.The update also brings app shortcuts on Android that lets you create shortcuts of your favorite web pages on your homescreen. This can be created directly from the toolbar when you are visiting a web page.
Google Chrome for Android already has Translate feature that lets you translate webpages easily, just like you do on Chrome for desktop. Google has announced that this feature would be available for Google Chrome for iPhone and iPad soon.
These updates for Android and iOS would be rolling out over the next few days.
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January 16, 2014, 12:46 am
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Apple introduced the iPhone 5S in Gold last year. We have already seen gold variants of the Samsung Galaxy S4, Note 3, HTC One and BlackBerry Q10. LG introduced the LG G2 in Black and White colors back in August last year. Now the company has introduced Gold and Red colored variants of the LG G2 for Singapore market. The Gold variant would also be available in Taiwan. As you can see, these phones have Gold and Red colored back, but a small strip around camera module and hardware buttons on the back are in Black. LG has introduced these new color variants just in time for Lunar New Year that is celebrated in some Asian countries on January 31st.
The LG G2 packs a 5.2-inch (1920×1080 pixels) Full HD IPS display at 423 ppi, powered by a 2.26 GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 (MSM8974) processor with Adreno 330 GPU and runs on Android 4.2.2 (Jelly Bean). It has a 13-megapixel rear camera with LED Flash, Optical ImageStabilisation (OIS), 1080p video recording and a 2.1-megapixel front-facing camera. It also comes with a lot of unique features such as rear-mounted power button and volume keys, double tap to wake up feature called Knock On and more.
The new LG G2 color variants are priced at ...
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January 16, 2014, 12:59 am
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Back in October we reported that Huawei would launch four new Android smartphones, G700, G610, Y511 and Y320 in India soon. These phones went on sale online at the end of October. Now, Huawei has launched these phones officially. The Ascend G700 packs a 5-inch (1280 x 720 pixels) HD IPS display, has a 8-megapixel rear camera with LED Flash and a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera. The G610 has a 5-inch (960 x 540 pixels) IPS display, 5-megapixel rear camera with LED flash and a 0.3-megapixel front-facing camera. Both these phones are powered by a 1.2 GHz quad-core processors, pack a 2150 mAh battery.
The Huawei Y511 has a 4.5-inch (854 x 480 pixels) display, 3-megapixel fixed focus rear camera and a 0.3-megapixel front-facing camera. The Y320 comes with a a 4.0-inch (800 x 480 pixels) display, 2-megapixel fixed focus rear camera. These smartphones are powered by a 1.3 GHz dual-core processors. All these smartphones run on Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean) with Huawei’s own Emotion UI on top. These phones also have dual SIM support with dual standby.
Commenting on the launch, Victor Shanxin, President, Huawei Devices India, said,
At Huawei, we are building a broad portfolio of products catering to the varied taste of consumers. We understand that India is a unique market ...
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January 16, 2014, 2:58 am
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Samsung has announced that they have sold (supply channel) 10 million units for Galaxy Note series smartphones in their home ground Korea. Since the launch of Galaxy Note back in 2011, it took 2 years and 1 month to achieve the 10 million mark in its domestic market.
Global sales of Galaxy Note crossed 10 million mark in nine months and the Galaxy Note 2 took just four months to cross 10 million sales mark globally. Last month Samsung announced that the Note 3 global sales crossed 10 million mark in just 2 months after the launch. Samsung Galaxy S4 that was introduced last year crossed the 10 million mark in less than one month.
Large screen, new features and the S Pen attracted more customers, says Samsung. The Samsung Galaxy Note series got new color variants after its initial launch to attract new set of customers. Samsung introduced new Note 3 color variants - Rose Gold White, Rose Gold Black and Merlot Red colors apart from Jet Black, Classic White and Blush Pink colors.
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January 16, 2014, 4:17 am
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Micromax has launched Canvas XL A119, the company's first phablet with a 6-inch display. It has a 6-inch (960 x 540 pixels), powered by a 1.3 GHz quad-core processor and runs on Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean). It has a 8-megapixel rear camera and a 5-megapixel front-facing camera. It comes with dual SIM support with dual standby, similar to other Micromax smartphones.
The company had already launched the Canvas Doodle 2 A240 with a 5.7-inch HD screen and aluminium body. We felt it huge in our review, but the display was impressive. Since the Canvas XL has a 6-inch qHD screen with a pixel density of 183 ppi, it might not be as impressive as Doodle 2. Even though this has just 1GB RAM, it packs a memory card slot and a 2450 mAh battery.
Micromax Canvas XL A119 specifications
6-inch (960 ×540 pixels) touchscreen IPS display
1.3 GHz quad-core processor
Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean) OS
Dual SIM with dual standby
Dimensions – 165 x 84.2 x 10.4mm; weight: 180 grams
8MP rear camera with LED Flash
5MP front-facing camera
3.5mm audio jack, FM Radio with recording
1GB RAM, 4GB of internal memory (1.7 GB user memory), expandable memory up to 32GB with microSD
3G, WiFi, Bluetooth with A2DP, GPS / aGPS
2450mAh battery with up to 9.5 hours talk ...
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January 16, 2014, 4:29 am
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The Xolo Q3000 is the first device from the company to incorporate a full HD 1080p screen. Yes, it took a while for Xolo to do that, as we saw the 5.5 inch Q2000 sporting a 720p screen even when it had the MT6589 Turbo inside. But with the Q3000, Xolo has its first 5.7" device as well as its first 1080p phone, so we felt it would be pretty interesting to check this phone out. So, here you go, the unboxing video of the Q3000 where we will show you the box contents and a quick overview of the phone itself -
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5c0iLnit1k
Here are the box contents of the Q3000, which surprised us with a few interesting additions -
Box Contents -
Xolo Q3000 in black
Flip Cover(Unconventional)
Extra scratch guard
USB Travel Charger plug
micro USB cable
micro USB OTG cable
Xolo branded headset with mic(not in-ear)
Information booklet and warranty/safety guide
Out of all these box contents, we found that the USB OTG is one of those rare additions that we usually don't see on other phones, let alone tablets. The other interesting addition was the kickstand-cum-flip cover, which uses sticky yet not icky adhesive to stick to the phone's back rather than completely replacing the back panel, ...
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January 16, 2014, 5:31 am
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Samsung has announced the Galaxy Tab 3 Lite, a cheaper version of last year's Tab 3. This has a 7-inch (1024×600) TFT LCD display, powered by a 1.2 GHz dual-core processor and runs on Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean) with Samsung's own TouchWiz UI on top. It has a 2-megapixel rear camera and 2-megapixel front-facing camera. It would come in Wi-Fi only and 3G variants similar to the Tab 3.
It has Samsung Link, Samsung Voice and comes pre-loaded with Samsung ChatON, Dropbox, Polaris Office and Flipboard apps. It is not clear if the 3G version has voice calling since the images doesn't reveal an earpiece. According to the recently leaked manual the tablet packs a dual-core Marvell PXA986 processor with Vivante GC1000 GPU.
Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 Lite specifications
7-inch (1024×600) TFT capacitive touch screen display
1.2 GHz dual-core processor
Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean)
2MP rear camera
2MP front-facing camera
9.7mm thick and weighs 310g (Wi-Fi)
1GB RAM, 8 GB internal memory and microSD card slot up to 32GB
3G HSPA+,WiFi b/g/n (2.4GHz), WiFi Direct, Bluetooth 4.0 and GPS + GLONASS
3,600 mAh battery.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 comes in Black and White colors and would go on sale globally. No word on availability or pricing yet. Last month's leak revealed that this would be Samsung's cheapest Galaxy tablet. Hope ...
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January 16, 2014, 5:45 am
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Long rumoured voice assistant, codenamed "Cortana", is all set to make its beta appearance on Windows Phone, starting April 2014, according to a very credible source - @msftnerd. The Siri-like feature is reportedly voiced by Jen Taylor, who actually did the voice acting for Cortana, an AI character in the hit game-series "Halo". The voice assistant, which might carry the name "Bing Tell me", will launch for developers, in beta, in April, which coincides with the Build 2014 Developer event by Microsoft. "Build" is where Microsoft plans to unveil information about the next release of Windows, codenamed Threshold.
"Bing Tell Me .."
“.. will it rain today?”
“.. when’s my next meeting?”
“.. how do I get to the American Airlines Arena?”
..is supposedly the way one can talk to Cortana. This kind of conversational assistance has been in Apple's Siri since 2011, which was then usurped by the conversational and predictive situational assistance from Google Now. All the services are constantly improving and, as always, Microsoft is years late to the game with Cortana. According to sources quoted earlier, the service is being delayed mainly because apparently they want the experience to be much better than what others are currently offering. But the main ...
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January 16, 2014, 7:30 am
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Micromax started teasing about their upcoming smartphone related to Ads last month. Earlier rumors revealed that the phone would be called Micromax Canvas Mad A94. Now Manish Khatri from Mahesh Telecom reports that the phone would be priced at Rs. 8,100.
According to earlier reports, the phone would pay you in terms of mobile phone recharge coupons for watching video ads on your smartphone before customers make a call. MTS introduced a similar feature back in 2012, but didn't get popular with the customers.
We still don't have the complete specifications of the phone yet, but a eBay and Saholic listings reveal that the phone would come with a 4.5-inch screen, quad-core processor, Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean), 5MP rear camera, Dual SIM support, 512MB RAM, 4GB internal storage with expansion slot and a 1800 mAh battery.
The stocks are expected in a couple of days. So we can expect the launch later this week. We will bring you more details about the phone once it goes on sale.
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January 16, 2014, 8:52 pm
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Huawei CEO, Richard Yu, took to Chinese micro-blogging site, Weibo, to announce the company's new offerings in the mobile processor segment. The new chipsets includes two octa core chips and a quad core SoC.
The quad core chipset is manufactured using a 28nm process and will include ARM A9 cores. We expect this chipset to be aimed towards the upper mid range handsets.
Moving on to the octa core chipsets, we find that they will be using the big.LITTLE architecture and have a combination of Cortex A15, Cortex A7 cores. The A15 cores will predominantly be used for heavy lifting work with the handset switching over to the A7 cores in a low power state or when performing low level activities.
The chipset that really stands amongst Huawei's new offerings however is its 64bit octa core chipset. The SoC has a combination of A57 and A53 cores with the handset switching between the former and latter depending on the intensity of work load. The 64 bit architecture ensures that once there is low level 64 bit support, we should begin to see better performance and battery life gains. Both the octa core chipsets on offer include LTE support. The complete network related support ...
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January 16, 2014, 9:08 pm
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As sensor technology becomes ever more sophisticated, wearables and health related use cases are becoming ever more prevalent for smartphones. With Android 4.4 KitKat, Google introduced support for persistent pedometer data capture to the operating system thereby enabling application that can track the distance that you walk daily. However this isn't sufficient for avid fitness buffs and it seems that Google might be working on a more robust offering.
Spotted in a code leak, it seems that Google might be working on a full fledged Fitness API that would pull in activity data from built in sensors on Android devices. It is still ambiguous as to whether the new API is tied in with a new flavor of Android or if it will be bundled with a future Google Play Services update. The API will allow applications to view and edit fitness data, health and activities will be available to these apps in raw form allowing them to use it in any way they deem fit.
While some users will raise concerns around privacy and Google having even more data on our personal life, it could lead to some very interesting and useful applications. We remain cautiously optimistic about the new ...
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January 16, 2014, 9:46 pm
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Amidst a flurry of Android and Windows tablets and laptops, Asus unveiled a new series of Android smartphones at CES 2014. The new series of smartphones, Asus ZenFone series, comprises of three smartphones - ZenFone 4, ZenFone 5 and ZenFone 6. Each of the smartphones is named based on their screen size and all these offerings fall in the entry and mid-range category. Despite being different in terms of internals and sizing, the three smartphones share almost a similar design language and you can check out the comparison between the three devices in the video right below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyn2JLbQcpQ
The Asus ZenFone 4 is the smallest among the three smartphones and is the company's new entry range Android offering. It comes with a 4inch WVGA display, dual core Intel Atom Z2520 processor, 1GB RAM and 4GB internal storage along with microSD card slot. There is a 5MP snapper at the back along with a VGA secondary camera on the front.
The Asus ZenFone 5 is the middle member of the three smartphone series and is a mid-range offering. It has a 5inch HD display, comes with a dual-core Intel Atom Z2580 processor, 1GB RAM and 4GB internal storage along with a microSD card slot. ...
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January 16, 2014, 10:00 pm
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Micromax launched the Canvas Viva A72, the company's first budget phone in the Canvas series last April. Now the Micromax A71 has appeared on Flipkart with similar screen, but has more RAM and has 3G support. It has a 5-inch (480 x 800 Pixels) capacitive touch screen display, powered by a 1 GHz processor and runs on Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean). It has a 2-megapixel rear camera with LED Flash and a 0.3-megapixel front-facing camera. It also comes with dual SIM support as usual.
Micromax A71 specifications
5-inch (480 x 800 Pixels) capacitive touch screen display
1 GHz single-core ARM Cortex A5 processor
Dual SIM (GSM + GSM) with Dual Standby
Android 4.1.2 (Jelly Bean
10 mm thick
2MP rear camera with LED flash
0.3 MP front-facing camera
720p HD video playback
3.5mm audio jack, FM Radio
3G, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth
512MB RAM, 512 MB internal memory, expandable memory up to 32GB with microSD
2000 mAh battery with up to 5 hours talk time and up to 200 hours standby
The Micromax A71 comes in White color and is priced at Rs. 6,750, but it not available for sale yet. Micromax launched the Canvas XL A119 with 6-inch qHD display yesterday and plans to launch the Canvas Mad A94 later this week.
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January 16, 2014, 10:30 pm
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Asus launched a lot of Android devices at the CES 2014 alongwith a few Windows based devices. Among the few Windows based devices that it announced, the Asus Vivotab Note 8 is one. It is the company's first 8inch Windows 8.1 tablet. With the Asus Vivotab Note 8, Asus joins the bandwagon of companies that are interested in the 8inch Windows tablet market. We have a first look video of the Asus Vivotab Note 8 right below.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TY9ETGDmkE
The Asus Vivotab Note 8 is similar to the other Windows 8 tablets on so many aspects, but is set apart from the crowd by its Wacom digitizer. The pricing of the tablet is on par with the rest of the competition except that the competition doesn't offer a Wacom digitizer. The rest of the specifications are similar with a 8inch 1280x800 pixel display, Intel Atom Z2580 processor, 2GB RAM and 32GB internal storage along with a microSD card slot for expansion of internal storage.
There is also a 5MP camera on the back and 1.2MP camera on the front. There is a 3950mAh battery to ensure that the tablet's battery life doesn't become a problem.
On the front, above the display, the Asus logo dominates ...
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January 16, 2014, 10:58 pm
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Lava has launched the Iris Pro 30, the company's latest flagship smartphone finally after several delays. It has a 4.7-inch (1280 x 720 pixels) IPS display based on OGS technology and Corning Gorilla glass protection, powered by a 1.2 GHz quad-core processor and runs on Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean) OS. The phone is 7.5mm thick and weighs just 114 grams since it uses magnesium alloy body. The phone has CABC (Content Adaptive backlight control) screen brightness regulation technology that automatically reduces screen brightness for 30% more battery life.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OP2mBWLfJ88
It has a 8-megapixel rear camera with dual LED flash and a 3-megapixel front-facing camera. It comes pre-loaded with LAVA Zone, Twitter, Facebook, MX Player and more. It has a range of software features such as flip to mute, lift to answer and call, video PIP, sound and shot, voice and face unlocking.
Lava Iris Pro 30 specifications
4.7-inch (1280 x 720 pixels) HD IPS display based OGS technology, Gorilla glass protection
1.2 GHz quad-core processor with PowerVR SGX 544 GPU
Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean)
Dual SIM (normal + micro)
8MP rear camera with dual LED Flash, Blue glass filter
3MP front-facing camera
Noise cancellation with dual microphones
Dimensions: 138x66.7x7.5mm; Weight: 114 grams
3.5mm audio jack, FM Radio
1GB RAM, 4GB internal memory (2.43GB ...
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January 16, 2014, 11:50 pm
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Among the numerous Android smartphones and tablets that Asus showcased at CES 2014 was its trademark PadFone device. However, unlike the previous iterations of PadFone series, this year, Asus has decided to tone down a little in terms of specifications. The yesteryear PadFone devices had top of the draw specifications, but this year's Asus PadFone Mini is a more subtle yet affordable PadFone offering. We go hands on with the all new PadFone Mini that was announced during December 2013. You can check out the video right below
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCzEU3V9FZw
The Asus PadFone mini comes with mid-range specifications. The PadFone Mini's smartphone part has a 4.3inch display sporting a qHD resolution of 540x960 pixels and hence a pixel density of 245ppi. PadFone Mini is powered by a 1.4GHz Snapdragon 400 Quad-core processor from Qualcomm, has 1GB of RAM and 16GB internal storage. There is a microSD card slot for expansion. The 7inch tablet dock has a resolution of 1280x800 pixels and 2200mAh battery. The PadFone mini smartphone has a 1500mAh battery.
The PadFone Mini is the first in the PadFone series to feature a removable backcover. The PadFone Mini weighs just around 120g and the tablet dock around 260g. On the right side of ...
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January 17, 2014, 12:40 am
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CES 2014 was expected to be filled with wearable gadgets and we weren't disappointed or excited. Almost all the leading manufacturers now have their own version of wearable technology, most in the form of smartwatches. Pebble, one of the KickStarter successes is also a smartwatch company and it announced the second generation Pebble Steel at CES 2014. We went hands on with the new Pebble Steel and you can check out the video right below.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZlGaVPQMJo
The Pebble Steel is an visually upgraded version of the original Pebble smartwatch with under the hood improvements. The original Pebble, when compared to the new Pebble Steel, feels like a toy watch. The second generation of Pebble - Pebble Steel comes with a solid metallic build and comes with metal strap or leather strap options. The metal strap option includes a couple of color choices - dark black and silver options. The keys on the sides of the Pebble watch are also made of metal unlike the one on the original Pebble smartwatch.
The new well built Pebble offers same features as the original Pebble and runs on the same Pebble OS. It also ensures the same 5-7 days of battery life. The second generation Pebble ...
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The Moto G has been expected to launch in India sometime in the first quarter of 2014 but now thanks to a report published by the Times of India, we can get a more specific time frame. The report states that the Moto G launch in India has been scheduled for the last week of January. India is slated to get the dual SIM variant of budget Android device alongside Brazil. Expected to be priced very competitively, the phone brings modest specifications in the form of a 1.2Ghz Snapdragon 400 processor, 1GB RAM and a 720p 4.5 inch display.
The device is expected to have a phased roll out starting from key markets. It'll be interesting to see how Motorola markets the product given that they have withdrawn from India. The report suggests that Motorola is partnering with an unknown distributor to launch the device in India. The after sales support will also be outsourced giving us potential cause for concern. That said, there's significant interest in the device considering that Motorola has been bought over by Google. The device retails in both 8GB and 16GB configurations at a price point that starts at $179. It remains to be seen how competitive ...
Spice has been at the forefront of India's budget Android market almost since its inception. With some compelling releases over the past few years and months, it has been able to carve a niche for itself while facing stiff competition from Micromax, Karbonn and competition at large. Throwing its latest device into the budget Android device ring with the Spice Smart Flo Mettle 5x, the company aims to gain a foothold amongst the first time smartphone buyers. Will it succeed? We find out in our review.
Hardware
There's really nothing special about the looks of the Spice Smart Flo Mettle 5x other than the fact that it exudes quality. The front of the phone is the same as your typical entry level Android phone with a 5 inch screen taking up most of the real estate. Below it are three capacitive buttons that correspond to multitasking, menu and back. These are buttons are backlit and are fairly responsive. There's a notification light built into the lower half of the phone, right below the capacitive buttons that lights up when there's a missed call, email or a message. Depending on ambient lighting conditions, this light may or may not be visible.
Up above the ...
Oppo has announced Oppo Neo, the company's latest mid-range smartphone in Indonesia.The phone has a 4.5-inch (854 x 480 pixels) FWVGA IPS sensitive touch screen with glove mode, powered by a 1.3 GHz dual core processor and runs on Android 4.2-based Color ROM. It has a 5-megapixel rear camera without flash and a 2-megapixel front-facing camera. It also has 3G connectivity and Smart Dual SIM feature.
It has high-end materials for the casing that feels more comfortable in your hands, says Oppo. It also has Quick Reach mode that lets you draw a pattern on the screen and double tap on the display to launch apps easily. The Gesture panel lets you customize your patterns.
Oppo Neo (R831) specifications
4.5-inch (854 ×480 pixels) FWVGA capacitive touch sceen display
Android 4.2 (ColorOS)
Dual SIM
1.3 GHz dual-core processor
5MP Auto Focus rear Camera
2MP front-facing camera
9.2mm thick and weighs 130g
3G HSPA+, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1, GPS
512MB RAM, 4GB of internal memory, Expandable memory up to 32GB with micro SD
1900 mAh battery
The Oppo Neo comes in Black and White colors and is priced at 2,599,000 Indonesian Rupiah (~Rs. 13,215). It would go on sale in Indonesia soon. No word on global roll out yet.
Google has updated its Chrome browser for Android and iOS devices that brings data compression and bandwidth management. This lets you help you reduce data usage, which can reduce data usage by up to 50% while browsing on-the-go. This uses Chrome’s Safe Browsing technology that helps protect you from malicious webpages, says Google. Opera Mobile for Android already has this feature called Off-Road mode with built-in Opera Mini compression.
You can enable this from Settings > Bandwidth management > Reduce data usage and then toggle to ON. You can also track your bandwidth you save each month.The update also brings app shortcuts on Android that lets you create shortcuts of your favorite web pages on your homescreen. This can be created directly from the toolbar when you are visiting a web page.
Google Chrome for Android already has Translate feature that lets you translate webpages easily, just like you do on Chrome for desktop. Google has announced that this feature would be available for Google Chrome for iPhone and iPad soon.
These updates for Android and iOS would be rolling out over the next few days.
Apple introduced the iPhone 5S in Gold last year. We have already seen gold variants of the Samsung Galaxy S4, Note 3, HTC One and BlackBerry Q10. LG introduced the LG G2 in Black and White colors back in August last year. Now the company has introduced Gold and Red colored variants of the LG G2 for Singapore market. The Gold variant would also be available in Taiwan. As you can see, these phones have Gold and Red colored back, but a small strip around camera module and hardware buttons on the back are in Black. LG has introduced these new color variants just in time for Lunar New Year that is celebrated in some Asian countries on January 31st.
The LG G2 packs a 5.2-inch (1920×1080 pixels) Full HD IPS display at 423 ppi, powered by a 2.26 GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 (MSM8974) processor with Adreno 330 GPU and runs on Android 4.2.2 (Jelly Bean). It has a 13-megapixel rear camera with LED Flash, Optical ImageStabilisation (OIS), 1080p video recording and a 2.1-megapixel front-facing camera. It also comes with a lot of unique features such as rear-mounted power button and volume keys, double tap to wake up feature called Knock On and more.
The new LG G2 color variants are priced at ...
Back in October we reported that Huawei would launch four new Android smartphones, G700, G610, Y511 and Y320 in India soon. These phones went on sale online at the end of October. Now, Huawei has launched these phones officially. The Ascend G700 packs a 5-inch (1280 x 720 pixels) HD IPS display, has a 8-megapixel rear camera with LED Flash and a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera. The G610 has a 5-inch (960 x 540 pixels) IPS display, 5-megapixel rear camera with LED flash and a 0.3-megapixel front-facing camera. Both these phones are powered by a 1.2 GHz quad-core processors, pack a 2150 mAh battery.
The Huawei Y511 has a 4.5-inch (854 x 480 pixels) display, 3-megapixel fixed focus rear camera and a 0.3-megapixel front-facing camera. The Y320 comes with a a 4.0-inch (800 x 480 pixels) display, 2-megapixel fixed focus rear camera. These smartphones are powered by a 1.3 GHz dual-core processors. All these smartphones run on Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean) with Huawei’s own Emotion UI on top. These phones also have dual SIM support with dual standby.
Commenting on the launch, Victor Shanxin, President, Huawei Devices India, said,
At Huawei, we are building a broad portfolio of products catering to the varied taste of consumers. We understand that India is a unique market ...
Samsung has announced that they have sold (supply channel) 10 million units for Galaxy Note series smartphones in their home ground Korea. Since the launch of Galaxy Note back in 2011, it took 2 years and 1 month to achieve the 10 million mark in its domestic market.
Global sales of Galaxy Note crossed 10 million mark in nine months and the Galaxy Note 2 took just four months to cross 10 million sales mark globally. Last month Samsung announced that the Note 3 global sales crossed 10 million mark in just 2 months after the launch. Samsung Galaxy S4 that was introduced last year crossed the 10 million mark in less than one month.
Large screen, new features and the S Pen attracted more customers, says Samsung. The Samsung Galaxy Note series got new color variants after its initial launch to attract new set of customers. Samsung introduced new Note 3 color variants - Rose Gold White, Rose Gold Black and Merlot Red colors apart from Jet Black, Classic White and Blush Pink colors.
Micromax has launched Canvas XL A119, the company's first phablet with a 6-inch display. It has a 6-inch (960 x 540 pixels), powered by a 1.3 GHz quad-core processor and runs on Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean). It has a 8-megapixel rear camera and a 5-megapixel front-facing camera. It comes with dual SIM support with dual standby, similar to other Micromax smartphones.
The company had already launched the Canvas Doodle 2 A240 with a 5.7-inch HD screen and aluminium body. We felt it huge in our review, but the display was impressive. Since the Canvas XL has a 6-inch qHD screen with a pixel density of 183 ppi, it might not be as impressive as Doodle 2. Even though this has just 1GB RAM, it packs a memory card slot and a 2450 mAh battery.
Micromax Canvas XL A119 specifications
6-inch (960 ×540 pixels) touchscreen IPS display
1.3 GHz quad-core processor
Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean) OS
Dual SIM with dual standby
Dimensions – 165 x 84.2 x 10.4mm; weight: 180 grams
8MP rear camera with LED Flash
5MP front-facing camera
3.5mm audio jack, FM Radio with recording
1GB RAM, 4GB of internal memory (1.7 GB user memory), expandable memory up to 32GB with microSD
3G, WiFi, Bluetooth with A2DP, GPS / aGPS
2450mAh battery with up to 9.5 hours talk ...
The Xolo Q3000 is the first device from the company to incorporate a full HD 1080p screen. Yes, it took a while for Xolo to do that, as we saw the 5.5 inch Q2000 sporting a 720p screen even when it had the MT6589 Turbo inside. But with the Q3000, Xolo has its first 5.7" device as well as its first 1080p phone, so we felt it would be pretty interesting to check this phone out. So, here you go, the unboxing video of the Q3000 where we will show you the box contents and a quick overview of the phone itself -
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5c0iLnit1k
Here are the box contents of the Q3000, which surprised us with a few interesting additions -
Box Contents -
Xolo Q3000 in black
Flip Cover(Unconventional)
Extra scratch guard
USB Travel Charger plug
micro USB cable
micro USB OTG cable
Xolo branded headset with mic(not in-ear)
Information booklet and warranty/safety guide
Out of all these box contents, we found that the USB OTG is one of those rare additions that we usually don't see on other phones, let alone tablets. The other interesting addition was the kickstand-cum-flip cover, which uses sticky yet not icky adhesive to stick to the phone's back rather than completely replacing the back panel, ...
Samsung has announced the Galaxy Tab 3 Lite, a cheaper version of last year's Tab 3. This has a 7-inch (1024×600) TFT LCD display, powered by a 1.2 GHz dual-core processor and runs on Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean) with Samsung's own TouchWiz UI on top. It has a 2-megapixel rear camera and 2-megapixel front-facing camera. It would come in Wi-Fi only and 3G variants similar to the Tab 3.
It has Samsung Link, Samsung Voice and comes pre-loaded with Samsung ChatON, Dropbox, Polaris Office and Flipboard apps. It is not clear if the 3G version has voice calling since the images doesn't reveal an earpiece. According to the recently leaked manual the tablet packs a dual-core Marvell PXA986 processor with Vivante GC1000 GPU.
Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 Lite specifications
7-inch (1024×600) TFT capacitive touch screen display
1.2 GHz dual-core processor
Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean)
2MP rear camera
2MP front-facing camera
9.7mm thick and weighs 310g (Wi-Fi)
1GB RAM, 8 GB internal memory and microSD card slot up to 32GB
3G HSPA+,WiFi b/g/n (2.4GHz), WiFi Direct, Bluetooth 4.0 and GPS + GLONASS
3,600 mAh battery.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 comes in Black and White colors and would go on sale globally. No word on availability or pricing yet. Last month's leak revealed that this would be Samsung's cheapest Galaxy tablet. Hope ...
Long rumoured voice assistant, codenamed "Cortana", is all set to make its beta appearance on Windows Phone, starting April 2014, according to a very credible source - @msftnerd. The Siri-like feature is reportedly voiced by Jen Taylor, who actually did the voice acting for Cortana, an AI character in the hit game-series "Halo". The voice assistant, which might carry the name "Bing Tell me", will launch for developers, in beta, in April, which coincides with the Build 2014 Developer event by Microsoft. "Build" is where Microsoft plans to unveil information about the next release of Windows, codenamed Threshold.
"Bing Tell Me .."
“.. will it rain today?”
“.. when’s my next meeting?”
“.. how do I get to the American Airlines Arena?”
..is supposedly the way one can talk to Cortana. This kind of conversational assistance has been in Apple's Siri since 2011, which was then usurped by the conversational and predictive situational assistance from Google Now. All the services are constantly improving and, as always, Microsoft is years late to the game with Cortana. According to sources quoted earlier, the service is being delayed mainly because apparently they want the experience to be much better than what others are currently offering. But the main ...
Micromax started teasing about their upcoming smartphone related to Ads last month. Earlier rumors revealed that the phone would be called Micromax Canvas Mad A94. Now Manish Khatri from Mahesh Telecom reports that the phone would be priced at Rs. 8,100.
According to earlier reports, the phone would pay you in terms of mobile phone recharge coupons for watching video ads on your smartphone before customers make a call. MTS introduced a similar feature back in 2012, but didn't get popular with the customers.
We still don't have the complete specifications of the phone yet, but a eBay and Saholic listings reveal that the phone would come with a 4.5-inch screen, quad-core processor, Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean), 5MP rear camera, Dual SIM support, 512MB RAM, 4GB internal storage with expansion slot and a 1800 mAh battery.
The stocks are expected in a couple of days. So we can expect the launch later this week. We will bring you more details about the phone once it goes on sale.
Huawei CEO, Richard Yu, took to Chinese micro-blogging site, Weibo, to announce the company's new offerings in the mobile processor segment. The new chipsets includes two octa core chips and a quad core SoC.
The quad core chipset is manufactured using a 28nm process and will include ARM A9 cores. We expect this chipset to be aimed towards the upper mid range handsets.
Moving on to the octa core chipsets, we find that they will be using the big.LITTLE architecture and have a combination of Cortex A15, Cortex A7 cores. The A15 cores will predominantly be used for heavy lifting work with the handset switching over to the A7 cores in a low power state or when performing low level activities.
The chipset that really stands amongst Huawei's new offerings however is its 64bit octa core chipset. The SoC has a combination of A57 and A53 cores with the handset switching between the former and latter depending on the intensity of work load. The 64 bit architecture ensures that once there is low level 64 bit support, we should begin to see better performance and battery life gains. Both the octa core chipsets on offer include LTE support. The complete network related support ...
As sensor technology becomes ever more sophisticated, wearables and health related use cases are becoming ever more prevalent for smartphones. With Android 4.4 KitKat, Google introduced support for persistent pedometer data capture to the operating system thereby enabling application that can track the distance that you walk daily. However this isn't sufficient for avid fitness buffs and it seems that Google might be working on a more robust offering.
Spotted in a code leak, it seems that Google might be working on a full fledged Fitness API that would pull in activity data from built in sensors on Android devices. It is still ambiguous as to whether the new API is tied in with a new flavor of Android or if it will be bundled with a future Google Play Services update. The API will allow applications to view and edit fitness data, health and activities will be available to these apps in raw form allowing them to use it in any way they deem fit.
While some users will raise concerns around privacy and Google having even more data on our personal life, it could lead to some very interesting and useful applications. We remain cautiously optimistic about the new ...
Amidst a flurry of Android and Windows tablets and laptops, Asus unveiled a new series of Android smartphones at CES 2014. The new series of smartphones, Asus ZenFone series, comprises of three smartphones - ZenFone 4, ZenFone 5 and ZenFone 6. Each of the smartphones is named based on their screen size and all these offerings fall in the entry and mid-range category. Despite being different in terms of internals and sizing, the three smartphones share almost a similar design language and you can check out the comparison between the three devices in the video right below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyn2JLbQcpQ
The Asus ZenFone 4 is the smallest among the three smartphones and is the company's new entry range Android offering. It comes with a 4inch WVGA display, dual core Intel Atom Z2520 processor, 1GB RAM and 4GB internal storage along with microSD card slot. There is a 5MP snapper at the back along with a VGA secondary camera on the front.
The Asus ZenFone 5 is the middle member of the three smartphone series and is a mid-range offering. It has a 5inch HD display, comes with a dual-core Intel Atom Z2580 processor, 1GB RAM and 4GB internal storage along with a microSD card slot. ...
Micromax launched the Canvas Viva A72, the company's first budget phone in the Canvas series last April. Now the Micromax A71 has appeared on Flipkart with similar screen, but has more RAM and has 3G support. It has a 5-inch (480 x 800 Pixels) capacitive touch screen display, powered by a 1 GHz processor and runs on Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean). It has a 2-megapixel rear camera with LED Flash and a 0.3-megapixel front-facing camera. It also comes with dual SIM support as usual.
Micromax A71 specifications
5-inch (480 x 800 Pixels) capacitive touch screen display
1 GHz single-core ARM Cortex A5 processor
Dual SIM (GSM + GSM) with Dual Standby
Android 4.1.2 (Jelly Bean
10 mm thick
2MP rear camera with LED flash
0.3 MP front-facing camera
720p HD video playback
3.5mm audio jack, FM Radio
3G, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth
512MB RAM, 512 MB internal memory, expandable memory up to 32GB with microSD
2000 mAh battery with up to 5 hours talk time and up to 200 hours standby
The Micromax A71 comes in White color and is priced at Rs. 6,750, but it not available for sale yet. Micromax launched the Canvas XL A119 with 6-inch qHD display yesterday and plans to launch the Canvas Mad A94 later this week.
Asus launched a lot of Android devices at the CES 2014 alongwith a few Windows based devices. Among the few Windows based devices that it announced, the Asus Vivotab Note 8 is one. It is the company's first 8inch Windows 8.1 tablet. With the Asus Vivotab Note 8, Asus joins the bandwagon of companies that are interested in the 8inch Windows tablet market. We have a first look video of the Asus Vivotab Note 8 right below.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TY9ETGDmkE
The Asus Vivotab Note 8 is similar to the other Windows 8 tablets on so many aspects, but is set apart from the crowd by its Wacom digitizer. The pricing of the tablet is on par with the rest of the competition except that the competition doesn't offer a Wacom digitizer. The rest of the specifications are similar with a 8inch 1280x800 pixel display, Intel Atom Z2580 processor, 2GB RAM and 32GB internal storage along with a microSD card slot for expansion of internal storage.
There is also a 5MP camera on the back and 1.2MP camera on the front. There is a 3950mAh battery to ensure that the tablet's battery life doesn't become a problem.
On the front, above the display, the Asus logo dominates ...
Lava has launched the Iris Pro 30, the company's latest flagship smartphone finally after several delays. It has a 4.7-inch (1280 x 720 pixels) IPS display based on OGS technology and Corning Gorilla glass protection, powered by a 1.2 GHz quad-core processor and runs on Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean) OS. The phone is 7.5mm thick and weighs just 114 grams since it uses magnesium alloy body. The phone has CABC (Content Adaptive backlight control) screen brightness regulation technology that automatically reduces screen brightness for 30% more battery life.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OP2mBWLfJ88
It has a 8-megapixel rear camera with dual LED flash and a 3-megapixel front-facing camera. It comes pre-loaded with LAVA Zone, Twitter, Facebook, MX Player and more. It has a range of software features such as flip to mute, lift to answer and call, video PIP, sound and shot, voice and face unlocking.
Lava Iris Pro 30 specifications
4.7-inch (1280 x 720 pixels) HD IPS display based OGS technology, Gorilla glass protection
1.2 GHz quad-core processor with PowerVR SGX 544 GPU
Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean)
Dual SIM (normal + micro)
8MP rear camera with dual LED Flash, Blue glass filter
3MP front-facing camera
Noise cancellation with dual microphones
Dimensions: 138x66.7x7.5mm; Weight: 114 grams
3.5mm audio jack, FM Radio
1GB RAM, 4GB internal memory (2.43GB ...
Among the numerous Android smartphones and tablets that Asus showcased at CES 2014 was its trademark PadFone device. However, unlike the previous iterations of PadFone series, this year, Asus has decided to tone down a little in terms of specifications. The yesteryear PadFone devices had top of the draw specifications, but this year's Asus PadFone Mini is a more subtle yet affordable PadFone offering. We go hands on with the all new PadFone Mini that was announced during December 2013. You can check out the video right below
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCzEU3V9FZw
The Asus PadFone mini comes with mid-range specifications. The PadFone Mini's smartphone part has a 4.3inch display sporting a qHD resolution of 540x960 pixels and hence a pixel density of 245ppi. PadFone Mini is powered by a 1.4GHz Snapdragon 400 Quad-core processor from Qualcomm, has 1GB of RAM and 16GB internal storage. There is a microSD card slot for expansion. The 7inch tablet dock has a resolution of 1280x800 pixels and 2200mAh battery. The PadFone mini smartphone has a 1500mAh battery.
The PadFone Mini is the first in the PadFone series to feature a removable backcover. The PadFone Mini weighs just around 120g and the tablet dock around 260g. On the right side of ...
CES 2014 was expected to be filled with wearable gadgets and we weren't disappointed or excited. Almost all the leading manufacturers now have their own version of wearable technology, most in the form of smartwatches. Pebble, one of the KickStarter successes is also a smartwatch company and it announced the second generation Pebble Steel at CES 2014. We went hands on with the new Pebble Steel and you can check out the video right below.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZlGaVPQMJo
The Pebble Steel is an visually upgraded version of the original Pebble smartwatch with under the hood improvements. The original Pebble, when compared to the new Pebble Steel, feels like a toy watch. The second generation of Pebble - Pebble Steel comes with a solid metallic build and comes with metal strap or leather strap options. The metal strap option includes a couple of color choices - dark black and silver options. The keys on the sides of the Pebble watch are also made of metal unlike the one on the original Pebble smartwatch.
The new well built Pebble offers same features as the original Pebble and runs on the same Pebble OS. It also ensures the same 5-7 days of battery life. The second generation Pebble ...
