Review: Samsung Galaxy S3

SPAKLING BLUE: THE NEW SAMSUNG GALAXY S3 (SIII)

NEW DELHI: It is not wrong to say that Samsung Galaxy S III (SGS III) is the most awaited Android phone of the year. Its predecessors redefined the smartphone market. There are expectations that it is going to do the same.

The phone is finally here. We have been using it for the last 10 days. Does it live up to the expectations? Is it the best Android phone — nay make it the best smartphone — ever made? Is it worth the hefty price tag? Many questions, we know. Let's find the answers.

Nokia unveils cheap touch screen models

HELSINKI: Struggling mobile phone firm Nokia unveiled its first three basic phone models with large touch screens, filling a gap in its suite of products.

THE NOKIA ASHA 306

Consumer demand for such devices has been rising fast especially in emerging markets. Last year 105 million low-end touch screen handsets were sold globally, according to Strategy Analytics.

Nokia said its Asha 305 model would go on sale this month for 63 euros ($78.52), excluding subsidies and taxes. The Asha 306 and Asha 311 models will go on sale next quarter for 68 euros and 92 euros, respectively.

41MP Nokia 808 PureView smartphone launching in India soon

NEW DELHI: Nokia's much-anticipated 41MP smartphone Nokia 808 PureView is set to launch in the country soon. A countdown timer on www.nokiapureview.in, a dedicated website for the upcoming smartphone, suggests that the phone should reach the country in next few hours.

PIXEL KING: THE NEW NOKIA 808 PUREVIEW

India is expected to be among the first few countries in which the phone will make its global debut. The first markets to begin selling Nokia 808 PureView reportedly include Russia and India.

Nokia PureView 808 has generated a lot of interest due to the gigantic 41-megapixel camera sensor on-board. The high-resolution 41 megapixel sensor camera comes with high-performance Carl Zeiss optics and new pixel oversampling technology.

The PureView runs on the Symbian Belle OS. Other technical specifications include, 16 GB internal storage, 4.0-inch AMOLED display, 1.3 GHz ARM 11 processor and 512 MB RAM.

Nokia PureView 808 also includes NFC, Stereo FM Radio with FM transmitter, HDMI, 3G, Bluetooth 3.0, Wi-Fi b/g/n, DLNA and Dolby Digital Plus for 5.1 channel surround sound playback.

Though the price of the smartphone has not been disclosed, it is rumoured to be launching at a price tag of Rs 30,000 approximately.


You can also check our review of Nokia 808 Pureview here.

Meet Milagrow's Android 4.0-based TabTop

THE NEW MILAGROW TABTOP

Milagrow's TabTop has a 7-inch capacitive display with a 4:3 aspect ratio and claims to be India's slimmest 7-inch tablet(6.5 mm). As far as specs go, it has a 1.2Ghz processor, 512MB RAM and 4GB or 16GB internal memory (expandable via microSD).

Android 4.0 is the operating system of choice and it comes with over 50 pre-loaded applications.

Milagrow promises that they will provide regular software updates for the TabTop. For ports, it has a miniUSB host port, HDMI (with claimed 2160p super quad HD capability) and SD card slot. The 4000mAh should be good for about five hours.


Courtesy: The Times Of India

Acer unveils Windows 8-based tablets, ultrabooks

THE NEW ACER TABS AND ULTRABOOKS

TAIPEI: With the computer industry gearing up for the launch of Windows 8 later this year, technology companies have started to reveal their big plans. At Computex, the world's largest exhibition related to computer products and technologies, Acer on Monday showed a number of devices, including tablets, powered by Microsoft's next operating software. The company said that this year it would launch two tablets (W700 and W510), Aspire 7600U and Aspire 5600U all-in-ones, and Aspire 7 series ultrabooks powered by Windows 8.

Acer said that W510 is a convertible device. "The unique part of the W510 tablet is the tri-mode, allowing users to touch, type and view. Aside from the conventional tablet mode, it can be used in productivity mode. A detachable keyboard dock can be connected to the tablet for optimal typing as well as extending the battery life up to 18 hours. Rotating the tablet 295 degrees allows it to be used in presentation mode, which is excellent for watching a video, browsing a webpage or viewing a PowerPoint presentation," the company said.

W510 has a screen size of 10.1 inches while W700 has a full HD 11.6-inch screen.The smaller tablet will be priced at Rs $799 while W700 will cost at least $999.

S7 series ultrabooks will be available in two sizes -- 13.3-inch and 11.6-inch. Despite the comparatively small screens, both ultrabooks have full HD resolution and aluminum unibody design. The larger model also sports a glossy, sculpted glass cover.

The 13.3-inch model offers up to 12 hours of battery life, while the 11.6-inch model can run for up to 9 hours. Acer's S7 Series also features a light-sensing keyboard, which automatically detects changes in lighting conditions and adjusts the keyboard backlight brightness.

The Aspire 7600U has a touchscreen with support for 64 touch points. Acer said that Aspire 5600U is the thinnest all-in-one PC currently.


Courtesy: The Times Of India

Hands-on: ViewSonic VCD 22, world’s largest ‘tablet’

TAIPEI: It's not exactly a tablet. But it's not really a desktop computer either. VCD 22 is a unique device. It is a low-power, all-in-one device with a 22-inch touchscreen. It runs on Android 4.0 aka Ice Cream Sandwich! At Computex 2012 we had a chance to use the device briefly. As a concept, the VCD 22 doesn't make any sense. After using it, we can say it looks even worse of a folly than what it appears on paper.

THE NEW ViewSonic VCD 22

There is virtually nothing right about VCD 22. In terms of hardware, it is a daringly low-powered device. As far as design is concerned, it looks just like any other regular monitor, complete with a TN (Twisted Nematic) panel screen with a resolution of 1920 X 1080 pixels and poor viewing angles that most monitors have. Under the hood there is a 1Ghz dual-core processor and 1GB RAM.

During our use, we found the user experience to be poor. The 1Ghz dual-core processor struggled to provide smooth experience. There was lag while switching between tasks and browsing apps. The bigger issue was the Android on a 22-inch screen. The operating software is just not meant for large screens. The scaling of user interface to a full HD resolution made it look blurry. When the apps designed for mobile phones were used on the big screen, not only they looked ugly but also functionally wrong.

The VCD 22 we used had a number of educational apps preloaded on it. Like there was an app that showed anatomy of human body. This hints that Viewsonic may sell the device only in schools or colleges. If that is the case, the device may work though Viewsonic will have to sort out the performance part. But in the current state VCD22 is definitely not for mainstream users and homes.


Courtesy: The Times Of India

Opera unveils Mini 7 for basic phones

RED HOT: THE NEW OPERA MINI 7

Opera's newly unveiled Mini 7 is sure to put a smile on the faces of the basic handset users. This new browser is offering bunch of new features, which will make it easier for the users to navigate websites.

Opera Mini 7 adds a smart page feature, which integrates all the 'live' information such as social networking feeds. So you can stay up-to-date on Facebook and Twitter on your home page itself. Smart Page also serves as a central hub to tie in all your news feeds by using recommendations from news sites along with your own personal choices. Opera's signature Speed Dial has been expanded to support unlimited entries for quick access to your favourite websites.

Opera, which boasts 168 million users as of March 2012, has stuck to its roots and offers services to all users as long as they have Internet on their phones. Opera Mini 7 is offered as a free download for Java-based, BlackBerry and Symbian S60 feature phones, which means it will run on many basic phones, which are traditionally starved for quality apps.

The increased social outreach in the latest version of Opera is sure to add fuel to rumours of the Norwegian browser being acquired by Facebook, though there have been no comments by both companies on such an acquisition.

Like previous versions of Opera's mobile browsers, Opera Mini 7 has an ability to optimise usage and compress data, since it shifts a large part of user-end calculation, such as running javascript, to special servers. This lessens the need to visit sites directly and hence, less data is consumed, directly leading to cost-savings for the end users.

Opera Mini 7 is now available for a free download from m.opera.com.

XOLO X900: Review

THE NEW LAVA XOLO X900

The first Intel smartphone is here. After years of work, California based Intel announced the first smartphones with its own Atom chips at the Mobile World Congress earlier this year. Not able to secure the support of popular smartphone manufacturers like HTC and Samsung, company went ahead with Chinese tech giant Lenovo and relatively unknown Indian manufacturer Lava to launch the initial smartphones.

The name Lava doesn't inspire much confidence in Indian consumers. While the company launched its first smartphone in India last year, it hasn't been able to generate much buzz. Intel needed hardware partners, and Lava needed a product that would help shed its image of a feature-phone manufacturer. In many ways, XOLO is a partnership of convience for both sides..

X900 is technically the first Intel powered smartphone to ship worldwide; it is based on Intel's Medfield reference design and has been priced at Rs. 21,999. In this review, we will be find out if the first Intel smartphone is capable making a place for Intel in the smartphone chip market.

Hardware
We have seen quite a few beautiful devices in the last few weeks. Coming from Sony's Xperia S, Lava XOLO X900 is a tad less aesthetically pleasing but that shouldn't be taken as a negative for the smartphone.

For a device that mirrors the reference design, XOLO X900 looks polished and feels nice in hand. The overall design isn't revolutionary but it is some fine work and consumers won't be disappointed.

Featuring a rectangular shape, XOLO X900 reminds of iPhone 4/4S , it is similar in looks with the chrome ring, button placement and even the micro-SIM card slot, which isn't really bad.
The front of the X900 houses a 4.03-inch display with 1024x600p resolution, along with capacitive Android buttons, 1.3MP front camera, earpiece, MIC and a bunch of sensors. The micro-SIM card slot is present on the right side with two-stage dedicated camera button, volume rocker and speaker.
The matching second speaker for stereo sound is present on the left with HDMI-out port. The company hasn't clubbed any HDMI cable in the box, which would certainly have been a nice addition.
Bottom is pretty much clean apart from the Micro-USB cum charging port, while top includes power button and the 3.5mm headphone jack. On the rubberised back, consumers will find the 8MP camera, LED Flash, regulatory symbols, Intel and XOLO branding.
It might not be the thinnest or lightest phone around, but when it comes with real life usage, XOLO X900 works out pretty well.

Display
In the world of HTC One X and Apple iPhone 4S, manufacturers truly need some great work to compete with some really awesome display panels. WVGA no longer cuts and HD is the standard - anything less is simply a dissapointment for a top of the line smartpone.
Intel and Lava have opted something that falls in the middle - 1024x600p resolution; it is not very common for smartphones, but we have seen it in quite a few tablets including Kindle Fire and Samsung Galaxy Tab 620. It might not be 720p HD, but it is not a disappointment either. At its price, X900 will be competing with Motorola Atrix 2, Samsung Galaxy S Plus, which come with qHD and WVGA resolutions - thus X900 surely wins that race.
XOLO X900 features a 4.03-inch display, which is pretty decent and offers nice colour output and viewing angles. Although in comparison with the recent smartphones like HTC One X and Galaxy Nexus, we found it a tad underwhelming. But then that's a battle no one was expecting the X900 to win.
As the display has 295 pixels-per-inch, consumers would hardly notice any individual pixels on the device. Even the touch experience is great and we never had any problems with touch accuracy.
XOLO X900's display is also sufficiently bright and consumers will not have issues while operating the phone directly under the sun.

Camera
Cameras have become an integral part of smartphone experience these days, manufacturers are spending considerable amount of time and effort in bringing something unique and useful to the table. - The ImageSense enhancements in HTC One series of smartphones or Pureview technology in Nokia 808 are testament to the fact.
Intel and Lava have also tried to include their own set of improvements to the camera in X900 - let's see how they worked out.

BACK QUEEN: THE NEW LAVA XOLO X900

X900 houses an 8-megapixel camera sensor in the smartphone, which has been clubbed with one of the most comprehensive camera apps we have seen in recent times. It also comes with something called Burst Shot, last seen in HTC One X, that allows consumers to click upto ten pictures in less than a second.
Lava and Intel even had a dancer at the X900 launch to clearly show how effective burst shots can be while taking shots of something that is in motion. It was the first feature that we tried on X900 and it work flawlessly. Overall, even in non-burst mode, the quality of still captures was a tad disappointing. We found it sub-par and looking at the cameras in other modern smartphones, it certainly lacked a bit.
Shots taken from the 5MP camera of Galaxy Nexus were better in colour output, vibrancy and details than shots the 8MP camera of XOLO X900.
The camera app on the smartphone also offers various colour filters like Sepia, BW, Negative, which can be applied directly in the app itself.
The video recording interface on the phone is similar to the still imaging UI and it allows you to shoot up to 1080p video, which is pretty much a standard in high-end smartphones. You can even apply the colour effects while recording a video or set white balance or zoom. The recording output is decent and looks good. Camera maintains auto-focus continuously, which helps in capturing long videos with a lot of movement.
The 1.3MP front camera is decent and you can even record 720p videos with it.

Software/ Interface
Give us some Ice Cream Sandwich - consumers with old Android phones have been shouting the same since November 2011, when ICS source code was publically released. Even if we forgive manufacturers for being super-late in providing updates for old smartphones, how can they launch a new smartphone with old operating system version on-board?
Intel and Lava have done the same with XOLO X900. When manufacturers like HTC could launch their One series of devices with ICS and a comprehensive UI on-board, there is no excuse for Intel or Lava to release X900 with Gingerbread.
Having said that, as a Gingerbread smartphone, XOLO X900 is quite decent as company has kept the interface as well the whole Android experience pretty much stock. There are no extra applications loaded on the smartphone apart from the XOLO Care app and the inclusion of Swype.
Talking about the app compatibility, being the new architecture for Android, there is a lot of confusion on which apps will be compatible with the phone's Intel x86 platforms. While apps like Facebook, Twitter, Barcode Scanner, Astro, Dropbox, and Instagram work flawlessly, several games ,Shadowgun, Deer Hunter, Backstab, Temple Run, and Asphalt 6 amongst them, aren't supported as of date.
We hope Intel is working proactively with developers to get such apps ready for the platform.


Performance /Battery Life
XOLO X900 recently became the first smartphone worldwide to ship with Intel's Atom Z2460 32nm SoC with processor clocked at up to 1.6 GHz. It also comes with a PowerVR SGX 540 GPU at 400 MHz, and a dual channel LPDDR2 memory.
Despite being powered a single-core processor, XOLO X900 performs at par with other smartphones in the same price-bracket and are powered by dual-core processor. There is
no-sluggishness or lag while going through menus or working with the applications.
Even before Intel entered the smartphone arena, a lot of questions were raised around the battery life of any future phones based on Intel processors. x86 has traditionally been seen as a power hungry platform, not suitable for use in smartphones and other devices where battery juice is at a premium.
The x86 power myth also seems busted as X900's battery backup is inline with any other competing high-end Android smartphone. Medium to heavy users will be able to pass the day with the smartphone's 1460 mAh battery.
The gaming performance in pretty good and most casual games worked flawlessly; although, we did miss many popular gaming titles because of incompatibility with the architecture.
Intel has clearly taken a big step with the first smartphone and it is certainly a worthy competitor, but there are few things that it needs work on - like app compatibility.

Verdict
While the Lava XOLO X900 performs pretty well for its price, the positioning as well as the branding might well end up hurting the phone. Although Lava has pitched it under the name XOLO, Indian consumers are very brand conscious and a 'Lava-made Rs. 22,000 phone' factor will surely play a lot of role in their buying decision. But, if you can look beyond the brand, XOLO X900 is worthy of consideration.


Pros

• Quality display
• Overall performance

Cons

• Camera
• Dated Gingerbread on board
• Lack of compatibility with select apps

Ratings
Design: 3
Display: 3.5
Camera: 3
Performance: 3.5
Software: 3
Battery Life: 3.5
Value for Money: 3
Ecosystem: 3
Overall: 3.5

Courtesy: NDTV

Sony announces 2 water-resistant Xperia phones

WATER LADY: THE NEW SONY XPERIA GO

NEW DELHI: Sony is expanding its Xperia range with the addition of two new smartphones Xperia go and Xperia acro S. Both the smartphones are waterproof and dust-resistant. Both the smartphones are expected to launch globally in the third quarter this year. 

Sony Xperia go sports a 3.5 inch Reality display and has a 5MP camera. It has a 1GHz dual core processor and runs on Android 2.3 OS. The device is upgradeable to Android 4.0. 

Sony Xperia acro S will be Sony's first smartphone to come pre-loaded with Android 4.0 or Ice Cream Sandwich OS. The smartphone features a 4.3 inch screen, 12MP rear camera that supports full HD video recording. There's 1.5GHz dual core processor and HDMI TV connectivity. 

SPLASH GIRL: THE NEW XPERIA ACRO S

Xperia go key specs:

* 3.5-inch Reality Display
* 5MP camera
* Scratch resistant mineral glass display
* Dust and water resistance
* 1GHz dual core processor
* Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) 

Xperia acro S key specifications:
* 4.3-inch 720p HD Reality Display
* 12MP camera
* Full 1080p HD video recording and 720p HD front camera
* Scratch resistant mineral glass display
* 1.5 GHz dual core processor
* Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich)


Courtesy: The Times Of India

Acer, Toshiba to unveil Windows 8 tablets

THE NEW LAUNCH: Acer, Toshiba to unveil Windows 8 tablets

SAN FRANCISCO: Acer, Toshiba and Asustek Computer will unveil tablets running Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system next week, people with knowledge of the matter said, challenging the dominance of Apple's iPad. 

Acer will display a tablet based on Microsoft's new software at the Computex show in Taipei, while Toshiba will show a tablet and a notebook-type device, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the plans haven't been made public. Asustek will present tablets with detachable keyboards similar to its current Transformer model, the people said. 

The annual Computex show provides a forum for the computer industry to tout its wares before the typical increase in second-half demand. Computer makers allied with Microsoft will use this year's event to highlight a long-awaited response to the iPad and machines that run Google's Android operating system, which together have 91 per cent of the tablet market. 

Windows 8 also will be the first version of the software that will work on processors using ARM Holdings technology, a type of chip made by Qualcomm and Nvidia that dominates the phone industry. ARM-based chips, manufactured by Samsung Electronics, power the iPad. 

The use of ARM-based chips marks a snub for Intel, which along with Advanced Micro Devices has been the exclusive provider of chips for Windows machines. Intel, which has more than 80 per cent of the PC-chip market, hasn't been able to parlay that dominance into market share in phones or tablets. 

Asustek will demonstrate tablets based on an Nvidia ARM- based chip called Tegra and another powered by an Intel chip, the people said. The Tegra-based device, which is similar to the one that will go on sale, will be displayed publicly, setting up an opportunity for direct comparisons between a Windows computer running on ARM and one using Intel technology. 

Tablet sales The Acer tablet is built around an Intel chip, while Toshiba is using Texas Instruments for its processors. 

Microsoft plans to show off Asustek devices in a presentation by Vice President Steven Guggenheimer at the show on June 6, said one person familiar with the company's plans. 

The show provides the first airing of tablet hardware that Microsoft intends to use to narrow Apple's lead in the tablet market. Sales of Windows PCs to consumers have slumped as buyers opt for tablets, making it critical for Microsoft to offer a compelling option in that category. 

The tablet market is poised to grow 70 per cent a year on average through 2015, according to estimates from Evercore Group LLC. Traditional notebooks will have an average annual growth rate of 8 per cent. Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook predicted in January and reiterated this week that tablets will surpass PCs in terms of units sold. 

Windows 8

LAUNCHING NEW WINDOWS 8 TABLETS

The June 5-9 Taipei show will highlight a limited number of ARM-based devices as Microsoft seeks to ensure that when Windows 8 is released later this year, the products will stand up to comparisons with the iPad. The limited debut will be followed by a second wave of computer and phone makers lined up for next year, two of the people said. Qualcomm, the world's largest maker of mobile-phone chips, will demonstrate a test device running Windows 8 based on its Snapdragon processor, said a person familiar with its plans. The company is committed to having customer devices in the market when the new version of the software goes on sale, the person said. 
Spokesmen for Microsoft, Asustek, Acer, Nvidi, Intel and Texas Instruments declined to comment on their plans before announcements and demonstrations planned for next week. 

Courtesy: The Times Of India

Samsung Galaxy S3: First impression

LATEST BUZZ: THE NEW SAMSUNG GALAXY S3

New Delhi: Samsung Mobile Galaxy S3, Samsung's flagship Android phone, has hit India. It was launched today at a glitzy ceremony in New Delhi. Since Galaxy S was launched in 2010 and set a new standard for Android phones, smartphone enthusiasts have come to expect each flagship Galaxy device to be a market leader in terms of hardware, performance, features and user experience. Galaxy S II nicely exceeded what was expected of it and became one of the best-selling Android devices of all time. No wonder, there is a lot of buzz around Galaxy S III (SGS III). 

We have the review unit of SGS III with us and over the next few days we will be putting it through its paces. In the meantime, we can share our first impression of the device. 

First the basics. With a screen size of 4.8 inches, the phone feels big in hand. But that is somewhat of an industry standard nowadays. Other flagship devices like Galaxy Nexus or One X too are equally large if not more. But given the size, we will definitely ask you to check out the device before buying. This is particularly important if you have small hands. The phone is built of glossy plastic but it feels sturdy and quite classy, at least in white colour. The Super AMOLED screen has a resolution of 1280x720 pixels. It has punchy colours, something that is hallmark of AMOLED screens. 

Samsung says the phone's design and user interface are inspired by shapes and sounds found in nature. As a user, you are going to find the evidence of this as soon as you power up the phone. The lock screen on the phone doesn't have any strip showing people how they should swipe the way it is on iPhone, or any circle that needs to dragged. Instead it asks users to swipe on the screen and when a user does that, the moment creates ripples, as if there is water under the screen, before it is unlocked. Then there are sounds. For example, when the phone is unlocked the sound is that of a drop falling into a pool of water. 

Overall, the phone feels fast. It runs on Android 4.0.4, which is the latest version. In comparison, Galaxy S II that received Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4) updates day before yesterday uses Android 4.0.3 version. 

Before we go back to exploring the device, we want to talk about a couple of pictures that we snapped with the phone's 8MP camera. All of these pictures were taken in good lighting. And all of them have excellent level of detail and very pleasing colours. Of course, we need to spend more time with the phone and its camera before we can conclusively say something. 
That's all for now. We will post the full review, including how it stacks up to competitors like HTC One X, in the coming days.

Samsung Galaxy SIII: 9 things to know

South Korea's Samsung Electronics has unveiled its latest flagship smartphone -- unveiled Galaxy SIII in the country. One of the most-awaited phones of 2012, Samsung Galaxy SIII (SAMSUNG GALAXY S3)  succeeds company's Galaxy SII.

Here are nine things to know about the Samsung's all-new smartphone Samsung Galaxy SIII.
Runs on Android 4.0

Samsung Galaxy S III runs on Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich). However, the default user interface of the OS is TouchWiz Nature UX, a custom skin prepared by Samsung.

Screen is 22% bigger than SII

Samsung's latest Galaxy phone sports a 4.8-inch touchscreen with an HD Super Amoled display at 1280 x 720 pixels. Overall, the screen is reportedly 22% larger than Samsung Galaxy SII.

Has 8 Mega Pixel Camera

Samsung Galaxy SIII comes with an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera with a zero-lag shutter speed to provide instant image-capturing. There's also a 1.9-megapixel front-facing camera.

Has Siri rival 'S'

A feature similar to Siri on iPhone, Galaxy SIII has 'S' Voice that will help users in doing several tasks through voice commands. A demo at the launch event showed how a user can use the voice command feature to play a song, for example. Samsung claims that 'S' voice goes beyond earlier voice recognition technology from Samsung.

Thickness & weight

The smartphone has 16GB of internal memory. This can be expanded with a microSD card. Samsung said the Galaxy SIII will have a 2,100 mAh battery. The phone weighs 133 gram and has a thickness of 8.6mm.

Runs on Samsung's latest Chip

The phone has Samsung's new Arm-based processor Exynos 4 Quad. The 1.4 Ghz quad-core chip is based on the ARM Cortex A9 and enables more tasks in a shorter period of time claims the company. 

Samsung claims that it is the first quad-core processor built on the High-k Metal Gate (HKMG) low-power process technology. Other features of the processor include a video hardware codec engine for 1080p/30fps video recording and playback and an HDMI 1.4 interface.

Comes with free DropBox storage

Every user of Galaxy SIII smartphone will get free 50GB cloud storage from Dropbox, according to the company. This means the storage for Galaxy SIII users will be double of what Dropbox is giving HTC One series owners. The storage will, however, be valid for two years only.

Price and availability in India

Samsung Galaxy SIII has launched at an MRP of Rs 42,180 in India. However market price is expected to be lower by a few thousands rupees.

Courtesy: The Times Of India

BlackBerry Curve 9320 launched in India for Rs 15,990

BLACK SHINE: THE NEW BlackBerry Curve 9320

Amid falling tariffs and increasing popularity of 3G services, Canadian handset maker Research in Motion today launched 3G-compatible BlackBerry Curve 9320 smartphone priced at Rs 15,990 in the country. 

The new smartphone features all the core BlackBerry messaging and social-centric features that keep people connected and offers global 3G connectivity, RIM said in a statement. 

"The BlackBerry Curve series is extremely popular and successful in India. This new model is designed to make it easy for customers to be socially-connected, and we expect it will be especially popular in the youth segment," RIM India Managing Director Sunil Dutt said. 
Based on the BlackBerry 7.1 operating system, the handset also comes with a built-in FM radio and a better battery life, which offers customers up to 7 hours of talk time. The integrated camera includes a flash and supports video recording. 

Recently, Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular have slashed 3G prices by up to 70 per cent, while Reliance Communications also joined the league today to cut prices by up to 61 per cent from their existing rates. 

The tariff plans are aimed at making internet usage within the reach of rural, mid-town customers at home and help first time users experience the benefits of 3G, the operators have said. 
The government had received over Rs 67,000 crore from the 3G auctions held in 2010. With operators taking huge loans to pay for the 3G licences, experts say operators are under pressure to recover the investment, which could see more operators slashing tariffs in the coming days.


Courtesy: The Times Of India

Review: HTC One V

SIZZLING BRIGHT: THE NEW HTC ONE V

A few weeks ago MobileRide reviewed One X, the flagship Android phone from HTC. We found it to be one of the finest Android phones ever made. The experience was polished, the design was gorgeous and the user interface was butter smooth. But it carries a price tag that puts it out of the reach of most phone buyers. At a market price of around Rs 36,500, One X is an expensive preposition. 

A better value for phone buyers could be One V. It belongs to the One Series and in terms of hierarchy sits below One X and One S. But HTC says that all One series phones provide a premium experience to users and despite its comparatively low price One V is no exception. One V also happens to be the cheapest phone in India that runs Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS), the latest version of Android, out of the box. 
The device does look pretty good on paper. But can it serve a user well? Can it be the smartphone of choice for masses? We find out. 

Legendary design
People who are following Android scene for the last two years still remember HTC Legend fondly. In a market full of plasticky smartphones -- at that time even iPhone had a rather run-of-the-mill design -- Legend had striking looks. It was made of a unibody aluminum shell and had a chin that gave it a distinctive look. One V borrows heavily from Legend. Its aluminum unibody looks and feels great. The only piece of plastic is a small cover on the bottom, which can be removed to access slots for SIM and micro SD card. The chin is not as prominent as it was on the Legend. This is not a bad thing. The shorter chin makes the device look more compact. 

Though ICS has virtual buttons, HTC believes that users are better served by physical buttons. On all One series phones, three buttons -- back, home and multitasking -- sit below the screen. On One V, if a user long presses the multitasking button it also shows options or menu within the apps that are yet to adopt the user interface used by ICS. 

One V may not have the uber hardware but it seems to pack in enough to match its competitors. The phone has a 3.7-inch Super LCD screen with a resolution of 480 x 800 pixels. It is adequately bright, shows pleasant colours and has good touch sensitivity. There are reports that some One V screens have yellow spots. It's true. On our review sample we found two small yellow spots on the bottom of the screen. Though, these spots are only visible when the screen displays white background and most users may not even notice them unless they are specifically looking for them. 

One V is powered by a single core 1Ghz processor. There is 512MB RAM and 4GB internal storage. However, user accessible internal storage is less than 1GB but there is an option for a micro SD card of up to 32GB. The phone has a rear camera that can shoot pictures in up to 5 mega pixels and videos in a resolution of up to 720P. There is no front camera, so if you plan to do lots of video calls with your phone, stay clear of One V. 

Smooth experience
As detailed above, One V lacks the kind of hardware that will tickle the fancy of a phone enthusiast. But instead of headline grabbing features or specifications, what One V offers is solid user experience. The device runs HTC's custom user interface called Sense on top of ICS. We are not a fan of custom user interface that companies put up in their smartphones but the current version of Sense goes well with One series phones. 

Given its mid-range aspirations and underlying hardware, One V is not a particular fast phone. There is some lag during multitasking, opening apps and navigating between different screens. It's just a matter of a few milliseconds but if you have used a high-end Android phone you will notice. That said, the lag is never a deal-breaker as the performance is better than most mid-range Android devices. The phone doesn't freeze or hang the way some other Android phones do. And everything works well. Web browsing experience is good. Most popular video formats in a resolution of up to 720P play alright. GPS locks within seconds. 

Just like its older siblings, One V too has a separate chip for photo processing. It makes a difference in real life. We found the camera on One V to be better than what other mid-range phones sport. The photographs it produced had oversaturated colours. But it is not something that will bother too many users. The level of detail was good and low-light pictures were better than what other mid-range phones can manage. The videos recorded in good light were usable. 

Given the relatively smaller screen on One V, we were hoping for good battery life on it. It turned out we were right. Paired with a 3G connection, One V lasts around 13 hours when used for web browsing, emails, calls, Twitter, some photography and around 20 to 30 minutes of gaming. For an Android phone, it is a very good screen 

Sum of it all
Despite of its flaws, which are pretty minor in the grand scheme of things, One V is a fantastic mid-range phone. There is a lot going for it. Compared to other mid-range phones, performance is good. Design and build quality belies its comparatively modest price. Screen - in terms of brightness and colours -- is very good. Camera is better than what other mid-range phones offer. It runs the latest version of Android. Put it all together and One V offers a solid Android experience at a comparatively affordable market price of around Rs 16,500. If you are out in the market looking for a mid-range smartphone that you will not be using to make video calls, it is a device worthy of your attention and your hard-earned money.


Courtesy: The Times Of India

Sony launches Xperia U, Xperia P, Xperia Sola in India

TRIO LEAD: THE SONY XPERIA SOLA, XPERIA P & XPERIA U

Sony Mobile Communications has officially launched three new Xperia smartphones in the country: Xperia U and P, and Xperia Sola. The smartphones were initially unveiled at the Xperia S launch last month. 

Sony Xperia U has a 3.5 inch scratch-resistant TFT touchscreen with a resolution of 854 x 480 pixels and is powered by a 1 GHz STE U8500 dual-core processor. The smartphone runs on Google Android 2.3 operating system (upgrade to Android Ice Cream Sandwich promised). There's a 5 megapixel camera with auto focus, 16x digital zoom and LED flash. The phone has 8 GB internal memory and 512 MB RAM. The smartphone is priced at Rs 17, 399. 

Sony Xperia P is powered by a 1 GHz U8500 dual-core processor. It sports a 4-inch scratch-resistant TFT touchscreen with a resolution of 960x540 pixels. It runs on Google Android 2.3 OS (upgrade to Android 4.0 or Ice Cream Sandwich promised). There's an 8 megapixel camera with auto focus, 8x digital zoom, LED flash. The phone offers internal phone storage of 16GB, and 1 GB RAM. The Sony Xperia P is priced at Rs 26,799. 

Sony Xperia Sola is powered by a 1 GHz dual-core processor. The smartphone has a 3.7 inch scratch-resistant TFT touchscreen The phone's 5 megapixel camera has auto focus and LED flash. There's 8 GB internal storage with microSD memory card slot expandable up to 32GB. Sony Xperia Sola is priced at Rs 20,449.


Courtesy: The Times Of India

Review: Nikon 1 J1 camera

SUPER LIGHT: THE NIKON 1 J1 CAMERA

There is a new breed of cameras in the market nowadays. These are called mirrorless cameras. While they are around for a few years now and have brought success to firms like Panasonic and Sony, the camera heavyweights Nikon and Canon have become serious about them only this year. 

Before we review one of the Nikon's offerings, let's quickly introduce mirrorless cameras. Unlike the DSLR cameras, they don't have a mirror-based optical viewfinder. This means they can accommodate a big image sensor in a smaller and compact body. In many ways, a mirrorless camera is an attempt to combine the best of a point & shoot camera, which is the compact size, and best of a DSLR camera, which is the image quality and interchangeable lens, into one device. The idea is definitely sound and has helped mirrorless cameras gain lot of traction in the market. 

Nikon launched two mirrorless cameras in India several weeks ago - 1 J1 and 1 V1. Of these the J1, the cheaper one, is with us today. Can it fulfill the promise and match picture quality of a DSLR camera without its additional bulk? Let's find out. 

Clean looks, fantastic build quality
J1 has a modern and minimalist design. There are few protruded parts and if the lens is not attached, the camera looks like a single unified block built with aluminum allow. At the same time, the build quality is top notch, something that a user will realize as soon he picks up the camera. It feels heavy for its size and dimensions. Is it a good thing? This will depend on whether you like your cameras to be light or feel reassuring in the hand with their weight. We like the solid feel J1 has. 

J1 can capture pictures in up to 10.1 mega pixels. It has a sensor size of 13.2 mm x 8.8 mm, which is considerably smaller compared to the APC C (23.4mm x 15.6mm) used in competing cameras like Sony Nex-5K. However, Nikon says that it uses a technology called high-speed AF CMOS, which helps J1 capture impressive amount of detail even in the low light conditions. The company calls its image sensor CX format. It has a crop factor of 2.7X. This means that if you use a 10mm lens on the camera, the actual focal length will be 27mm. 

The camera can shoot videos in up to 1080P - full HD - resolution. 

Just like other mirrorless cameras, J1 uses a proprietary lens mount called Nikon 1 mount. As part of the default kit the company bundles a 10-30 mm lens (27-81mm effective) with the J1. 

Some hits, some misses
We spent a considerable time with J1, shooting thousands of photographs in different conditions with two lenses - the 10-30mm and 30-110 telephoto. We shot in the daylight and in the pitch dark. We shot macros and landscapes. While the picture quality was mostly good, the overall experience turned out to be average. Let us explain. 

The pictures and videos taken with J1 have very good quality if the light is adequate. This means if you are shooting outdoors or in a well-lit room, the performance of J1 is stellar. The images have right amount of detail, pleasant colours and good sharpness. It especially handles dynamic range - the contrast between bright areas and dark areas in a scene - very well. The same is true for videos. Also, focus is very fast and camera performance is snappy. 

Unfortunately for J1, good performance in adequate conditions is no longer a big deal. A decent point & shoot camera performs somewhat similar if the conditions are ideal. The difference between good cameras and great cameras lies in the way they handle low-light conditions. Here, J1 performs marginally better than point & shoot cameras but falls short of image quality that similarly-priced mirrorless or DSLR cameras can produce. Given the size of the sensor used in J1, we are not surprised. While technologies like high-speed AF CMOS can be useful, at the end of the day it's all about how much light a camera can capture and process, something that depends largely on the size of image sensor. 

Another major issue with J1 is manual control, or the lack of it. For some reason, Nikon has made it difficult to use manual mode on J1. Yes, the options are all there. But they are hidden in menu and using them is cumbersome. We understand that Nikon has tried to simplify the process of taking photo. The company believes J1 will be used by mainstream users and not prosumers, who tend to buy DSLRs. But it would have been better to see more accessible manual control on J1. Nowadays, even cheap point & shoot cameras try to get the manual controls right.

Sum of it all
J1 is a nice camera. It is built well, has a good-looking design, and takes nice pictures when the conditions are optimum. But there are some crucial aspects where it falls short. This makes it a tough sell. It has an MRP of Rs 29,950 with kit lens of 10mm-30mm but it doesn't offer much advantage over a point & shoot camera for mainstream users due to its average performance in low-light conditions. At the same time, the gap between the image quality of J1 and a similarly priced DSLR cameras like Nikon's 3100 is big enough to make it a poor option for prosumers or photography enthusiasts. 

It gets even more difficult for J1 when you compare it with mirrorless cameras like Sony's NEX-5K. The only advantage J1 holds over Sony's device is the design. If you want a more compact and stylish camera, J1 is worth the premium. But for everything else, it is a tad overpriced for what it does. 

Pros: Fantastic build quality, fast auto focus, slim and sleek profile compared to other mirrorless cameras, good image quality in ideal conditions 

Cons: Poor low-light performance, lack of easily accessible manual controls