Soon, an app to predict where you're headed next

WASHINGTON: Researchers have taken geolocation apps one step further by developing technology that may predict where you are headed.

TECHNO NEWS: Geo Location Apps

Where you've been and where you are may soon become passe, thanks to Mirco Musolesi, a computer scientist at the University of Birmingham who helmed the project.

The New Ipad : 5 Positives and 5 Negatives.

THE NEW IPAD

The new iPad made its debut in India on Friday. So far it has seen a modest response. No frenzied queues of buyers, but given the way iPad 2 built upon the success of iPad, there is hope for the new iPad. There is nothing earth-shattering about the new iPad that can be termed a path-breaking leap. 

Yet, it marks a step ahead in evolution. It is always difficult to better the best-selling gadget, but Apple has managed it in past as proven by the sales of both iPhone 4S and iPad 2. 

Let us see if iPad 3 (Oh, but they don't call it that!) can meet the same success, and more importantly, whether it is for you! We evaluate the top five advantages and disadvantages of the new iPad.


Positive: Camera

When the new iPad was launched, we were disappointed considering Apple could have easily taken a leap of faith and ported a 8 megapixel rear camera to it a la iPhone 4S, but didn't. 

But having played with the new iPad for a few days, we can say that despite having been upgraded to just 5 megapixels (still far better than iPad 2), the new iPad camera can take stunning pictures with fine detailing, once again disproving the theory that more megapixels mean better pictures. Thanks to its image stabilisation, face detection et al, the overall quality of pictures is quite decent. 

Apple launched its iPhoto ($4.99 on iTunes store) photo-editing software in time for the new iPad. It is a lot cooler to edit the photos you shoot with your new toy with iPhoto, and in my view, it is a 'must-have' to go with it.

Positive: Video

The new iPad's awesome camera is all that one requires to click a great video, edit and upload in a jiffy. Okay, the last bit is not possible in most parts of India, but then Apple can hardly be blamed for the mess our networks are in, and the pathetic, expensive bandwidth they provide. 

We loved the experience of shooting full HD videos on the move too, though holding a camera that is nearly 10 inches wide (9.7 to be precise) gets to you after a while, especially if you are a video aficionado! 

For video editing, iMovie ($ 4.99 on iTunes) remains the best option on iPad followed by Photoshop and other, more basic alternatives.

Positive: Display

Positive: Games, Books & News

We have hardly played games on the new iPad in the past four days, but a definite upside will be noticeable on most games once they incorporate retina display. The action games were remarkable on iPad 2 also, but they will be faster and in-your-face on the new iPad. 

But doing just about anything, including even reading news on Zite or reading the same books, seems so much better on the new iPad, not just because of the better display, but also a better and faster touch experience thanks to what is under its hood.

Positive: Good Battery Life

Good enough! Ain't it?

Despite the more power hogging display, processor and 4G radio, the new iPad offers same battery time as iPad 2 ie. 10 hours. For one, it would have meant more cells being added to its frame and the battery optimized. Yet, it is only marginally thicker by 1.4 mm and a tad heavier by 50 gram, still a lot lighter and slimmer than the first iPad. 

Since the difference in weight and thickness is marginal, many users will not feel it. What is better that they won't have to change almost all their accessories. For example, my Belkin cover and Logitech keypad fit the new iPad quite fine.

Negative: Looks the same

Ipad2 and the NEW IPAD

Many were disappointed to see iPhone 4S look exactly the same as 4. But then, the camera and Siri made all the difference and helped people quickly forget the lack of a new design faster. 

Barring the camera and the retina display, the new iPad has very few unique selling points. The fact that it looks almost exactly like its predecessor is a handicap. For those who want their newest gadget to flaunt their status, it will be a sorry buy. Apple has been less than obliging to them. Moreover, nowhere does the new iPad say it is the third generation, or new, for that matter! 

It looks and feels a lot like iPad2 in appearance. However, that disappointment disappears the moment you switch on the new iPad.

Negative: No 128 GB model

Why still 16, 32 and 64 GB? Hey Apple, most users of the new iPad have only just begun, but given any avid iPad lover's average usage and given the new iPad's delightful camera and display, it will be a matter of time before he hits the ceiling of 16, 32 or 64 GB. Considering the price sensitivity of average buyers, one is inclined to believe the first two will sell more. 

And that will be a big irritant: to keep the storage under check because not only the videos and stills, but even the HD movies and apps that you will store on new iPad will consume a lot more space than the iPad 2. Frequent syncronisation via iTunes to just add, delete or download stuff will be an irritant without doubt. 

Given its hardware capability, one is bound to shoot more and view more. Therefore, one may have to upload, download and delete/sync videos and movies more often than one likes. A 128 GB option - even if that made it pricier - would have been in order, followed by 32 and 64 GB. 

It was one of our biggest launch disappointments and Apple could have addressed it. It is particularly more distressing since Apple is loath to let the users load anything without the use of iTunes and use any external storage such as a USB or SD card.

Negative: Data hogger

Sometimes your best qualities can become an albatross around your neck if you are ahead of time. If we consumed a fair bit of data on iPad 2, the new iPad will take that up by a few notches. 

For most Indian telecom users, data usage is a huge concern given the choked and hugely expensive Indian broadband connections they get at home and on the move from providers like Airtel, Reliance, BSNL and Vodafone. The new iPad could mean a bigger drag than iPad 2 on our pockets and mental health. 

Please remember, the iPad 3 experience is so rich and immersive that you may want unlimited bandwidth and lightening fast LTE (or 4G) speeds above 40 MBPS at disposal to deal with your increased needs of videos, movies and apps. Considering that both home broadband and 3G are miserable in India, it may exasperate you at times. 

As of now, there are only two networks in the US and one in Canada that currently support the 4G for new iPad. There is a very remote chance of the new iPad's 4G capability utilisation in India in the near future. Consider yourself lucky if our telcom providers can give even a workable and affordable 3G connexion jo har ek iPad ke liye zaroori hota hai (essential for every ipad)!

Negative: No Siri

SIRI MISSING?

After the successful launch of its much-talked about voice assistant Siri (artificial intelligence if you will!) in iPhone 4S, it ought to have made its way to the new iPad, but didn't. Now that one is a sore miss by Apple. It disappointed a lot of Apple users not to see SIRI in iPad considering how well it was integrated in iPhone 4S. 

Though there is a basic audio assistant to help you around some basic tasks in the new iPad, but no artificial intelligence a.k.a. Siri.

Negative: Not many new apps

It has been a little over six weeks since launch and iOS developers are yet to launch the apps that fully utilise the HD and Retina Display capabilities of the new iPad. But it is a matter of time for they have had a plethora incorporating the same for iPhone 4S already. 

The real juice of the new iPad will be in the apps that optimise its main USP: the display. Until then, even having GarageBand ($4.99) and iTunesU on the new iPad can be uber cool.

Should you buy it?

THE NEW IPAD

The new iPad is not so remarkable an upgrade as iPad 2 was over iPad, or even iPhone 4S was over iPhone 4. And that's where our disappointment lies. 

So in our view, if you are an existing iPad owner, you can resist the urge to upgrade and wait until you have milked iPad 2 well enough. But if you are a new buyer, it makes good sense to buy the new iPad, unless price is a big constraint. 

But then, Apple has done quite well to keep the purchase threshold at Rs 30,500 for the most basic model. And that packs in a far better package than any other tablet currently on the marquee given the sheer pleasure of using the vast App Store eco-system for iPad combined with its user interface and build quality. 

It is high time Apple takes this experience a few notches up by opening up its App Store for Indians to buy films, videos and books to take full advantage of its repertoire and bang for the buck to the iPad buyers.

Courtesy: Neeraj Saxena @  Times Of India

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Review: Huawei Honor

NEW DELHI: The name Huawei may not ring a bell for most phone buyers in India, but it is a huge multinational firm. The company is among the leading manufacturers of telecom equipment in the world and in the recent years has become a big player in phone and tablet market. 

Gartner, a market research firm, said in February that Huawei had 2.3% share in 2011 in smartphone market worldwide. This put it marginally ahead of Motorola and Sony Ericsson. 

After some success in its home country - China - the firm has started expanding operations abroad. Due to similarities in Indian and Chinese phone market - both are developing countries and price sensitive - consumers here are obvious targets for Huawei. Last year, it had tested the waters here with Ideos range of phones. This year it is more assertive. It has already launched Honor, a mid-range Android phone, and plans to bring Ascend D, the flagship device, soon. 

We have Honor with us today. With this phone, Huawei promises consumers best-in-class features at most competitive price. Not an easy promise to fulfill, we know. Let's find out if Honor can take on the competition in mid-range smartphone market. 

Looks good on paper Honor may not have superstar looks but it's not shabby either. The design is classic candy bar. It has a plastic body with two buttons - power and volume rocker - given chrome finish. Under the 4-inches screen, which has a resolution of 480 x 854 pixels, there are four touch buttons for Options, Home, Back and Search. The back cover, which has a textured finish, can be removed to access SIM slot and battery. 

With a thickness of 11mm and a weight of 140grams, there is nothing striking about Honor. But at the same time, it is functional design, which makes using the device very easy. 

Honor is powered by a single-core 1.4Ghz processor. It has 512MB RAM and 4GB storage, with option to add a micro SD card. The highlight of the device is 8MP primary camera with a LED flash. The phone can record videos in up to 720P resolution. A 2MP camera is provided for video chats. 

User experience
In terms of hardware, Honor is better many mid-range phone. But after using it for weeks, we feel that the hardware advantage has not translated into the user experience that can put Honor ahead of the pack. Let us elaborate. 

For most parts, Honor acts like a nice mid-range Android phones. This means it may not dazzle you with speed and superfast user interface but for all practical purposes the performance is adequate. Apps open without any lag, casual games like Angry Birds work very well, GPS locks in a snap, browsing experience is pleasant, and call quality is good. Media playback is average with the phone failing to play several file formats, like the ones encoded with DivX, but that is acceptable from a mid-range phone. Honor's speaker, though, is very loud considering its size. 

But there are two aspects that stand out. One for good reasons and another for, well, not being up to the mark. 

Good news first. The 8MP pixels camera in Honor punches above its weight. The photograph taken with it have decent amount of details and balanced colours. It doesn't perform very well in low-light but it is all same with most midrange smartphones. Videos shot in 720P resolution are acceptable. 

Now, the bad news. Honor's 4-inch screen is disappointing. It shows good colours and is sufficiently bright until you are not standing in sunlight. Viewing angles could have been better but they will not be any issue for most buyers. The problem is with the screen's touch sensitivity, which is a tad slow. It is not as slow or bad as what found on sub-10K phones but then Honor is not competing with these phones. While in many tasks - for example web browsing - it doesn't affect the user experience, playing games like Temple Run, which require flawless touch sensitivity, is difficult on Honor. 

Another problem with screen is 'ghosting'. It is especially apparent if you are using a Twitter app. While scrolling through timeline, display pictures of contacts leave traces. Ghosting may not be a problem in most cases but if it occurs - in our case it was during Twitter use - it will bug users. 

Battery life is good. When used for emails, Twitter, some photography, some gaming, some calls and lots of browsing the phone lasted over 10 hours on 3G connection. 

Worth its price
Huawei Honor is a decent phone for its price. Screen could have been better but given its good performance and a decent camera for still pictures, our experience with Honor wasn't bad. At the same time, it is not the kind of experience that can make us give Honor a clear recommendation. The phone has an MRP of Rs 19,999. At this price, its primary competitors are HTC One V,Samsung Galaxy S Plus, Sony Ericsson Neo V and Nokia Lumia 710. 

If you are out in the market, looking for a mid-range smartphone, you should definitely consider Honor. Just that before buying it, make sure you demo it at the store to see if you are comfortable with the touch response or not. 

Pros: Good camera for still photographs, lag-free performance 

Cons: Screen touch sensitivity is not optimum, out-of-box runs on Gingerbread and not Ice cream sandwich, the latest version of Android.


Courtesy: The Times Of India

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