6 new smart Cameras by Samsung!

NEW DELHI: Samsung Electronics today announced the launch of its new, smart cameras across WB, ST, ES and DV series. The new launches include WB100 with a 26x High Zoom lens; ST200F and DV300F with Wi-Fi connectivity and ST66; DV100; and ES90. All models are compact in size and deliver flawless images.

SAMSUNG'S NEW: WB100

1) Samsung's WB100 camera comes with a 16 megapixel image sensor, 26x Optical High Zoom lens and 22.3-mm ultra wide-angle lens. Photographers who wish to capture moving images will be assisted by Samsung's Dual Image Stabilisation (OIS + DIS) function that compensates for unsteady photographs.

Nokia PUREVIEW 808 Review

MEGAPIXEL KING: THE NEW NOKIA PUREVIEW 808

NEW DELHI: Nokia first showed PureView 808 at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this February. Since then it has caught the fancy of smartphone buyers, in particular those who love to take good pictures from their phones.

PureView is the successor to N8, a phone that became quite popular with photography enthusiasts. But the N8 angle is not the only reason why Pureview has created the buzz in the last few months. It is in the spotlight primarily due to the tag of 41 mega pixels that it carries. Yes, 41 mega pixels!

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

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

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 

Sony launches lightest LTE smartphone - Xperia SX

Sony has also launched the Xperia GX smartphone. Both devices will run Android 4.0 and will feature slightly different design.

IN SPOTLIGHT: SONY XPERIA SX

Sony Mobile has announced the new Xperia SX and Xperia GX smartphones for the Japan market. The all new Sony Xperia SX smartphone is so far the lightest LTE smartphone weighing about 95 grams. The Xperia GX is a repackaged Xperia Ion smartphone with slightly different design and Exmor R camera. Both handsets will be made available in the Japan market during the second quarter of this year and there is no word on whether same devices will be launched globally.

In terms of design, both smartphones will be slightly different from the 2012 Xperia series and will have rounded corners. Sony Mobile has launched the new Xperia SX smartphone that features a 3.7-inch Reality Display with Mobile BRAVIA Engine. Under the hood, it runs dual-core 1.5 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon mobile processor and offers 8 GB internal flash storage.

Interestingly, this smartphone will weigh mere 95 grams despite having LTE chipset inside it. To be made available in Black and White colours, the Xperia SX will have 8 megapixel Sony Exmore R image sensor at the back.

Meanwhile, the Sony Xperia GX will arrive with Xperia Ion features inside with totally new body design. The Xperia GX will feature a 4.6-inch Reality Display powered with Mobile BRAVIA Engine and supporting 1280x720 pixel resolution.

FASCINATING PHOTON

This smartphone runs a dual-core 1.5 GHz Qualcomm processor and will have 16 GB On-board storage. Sony has also added the Walkman application for high quality audio experience and xLOUD audio engine. The Xperia GX has 13 megapixel camera with Exmor R image sensor for mobile, HD video recording and Sony technology to capture 3D Sweet Panorama images.

Lucky Japanese people will get to see the Xperia SX and Xperia GX smartphones with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich update.

Courtesy: The Times Of India

Sony launches 13 MP smartphone, Xperia GX

THE XPERIA GX

Sony Mobile Communications has launched two new Android-based LTE smartphones in Japan, Xperia SX and Xperia GX. 

Sony branded Xperia GX has a 13-megapixel camera. Xperia GX has an 4.6-inch HD screen and 16GB of internal flash storage. 

Xperia SX comes with a 3.7-inch screen and weighs 95 gm, making it one of the world's lightest LTE smartphone according to the company. Xperia SX has 8GB of internal flash storage and an 8-megapixel camera. 

Both the smartphones are powered by 1.5GHz dual-core processors and will run on Android 4.0, also known as Ice Cream Sandwich. 

The company has not announced the pricing of the two smartphones. 


Courtesy: The Times Of India

RIM launches BlackBerry Curve 9320; may come to India in June

BlackBerry Curve 9320: 

This is the first handset in the Curve series to feature WiFi hotspot functionality.

Close on the heels of launching the first BlackBerry 7.1 operating system based Curve 9220 smartphone in India last month, Research In Motion (RIM) has announced the launch of another phone with the same operating system.

BlackBerry Curve 9320

Along with identical features and specifications as the Curve 9220, the new BlackBerry Curve 9320 brings the WiFi hotspot functionality, making it the first Curve series phone to have the feature. The WiFi hotspot was announced by RIM for its high end devices earlier this year and has been incorporated in the BlackBerry Bold 9900 as well. Notably, the WiFi hotspot functionality would enable Curve 9320 users to share internet with up to five different devices.

The BlackBerry Curve 9320 features a 2.44-inch display with a VGA">QVGA 320 x 240 pixel resolution at 162 pixel density and comes with a full Qwerty keypad that has been one of the key differentiating factors for the BlackBerry range of smartphones.

FEATURE FEED

On multimedia front, the Curve 9320 features a 2 megapixel camera fixed focus camera, stereo FM radio and media player, WiFi connectivity, and expandable memory up to 32 GB through a micro SD card.

Another highlight of this smartphone is the dedicated BBM button for instant access to BlackBerry Messenger without having the need of getting in to the menu or having to setup shortcut icons on the home screen.

Although the device has been announced by the company, the pricing and availability details are yet to be announced. It is being expected that the BlackBerry Curve 9320 will again fall under the budget smartphone category with an expected price tag of Rs 12,000 for the Indian market where it could be launched next month (June) itself.

Courtesy: The Mobile Indian

iPhone 4S vs HTC One X vs Lumia 900 vs Xperia S

iPhone 4s,Sony Xperia S, Samsung Galaxy, HTC One X, Nokia Lumia 900

The battle for the smartphone marketshare is getting hotter. While Apple continues its dominance with iPhone, Samsung is slowly increasing its share. Nokia too aims to make an impact with flagship Lumia series. Smartphones form a key part of Sony's turnaround strategy too. HTC too has just launched a slew of new smartphones. 

As the marketshare battle goes on, here's comparing the hottest smartphones of these four companies against each other. So, here's how HTC One X, Nokia Lumia 900, Sony Xperia S and Apple iPhone 4S stack up against each other.


Display:

iPhone 4S vs HTC One X vs Lumia 900 vs Xperia S

iPhone 4S: iPhone 4S features a 3.5-inch LED-backlit TFT screen with 960x640 resolution. 

HTC One X: The phone sports a large 4.7-inch display with a Super IPS LCD2 capacitive touchscreen that offers 720 x 1280 pixels. The display is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass. 

Lumia 900: Nokia Lumia 900 sports a 4.3-inch screen with 480 x 800 AMOLED capacitive touchscreen with 217 ppi. The phone also has Corning's Gorilla Glass protection. 

Xperia S: Xperia S has a 4.3-inch scratch resistant TFT touchscreen with resolution of 1280x720 pixels


Operating System:

iPhone 4S vs HTC One X vs Lumia 900 vs Xperia S

iPhone 4S: The phone uses Apple's iOS 5.1. with iOS 5, Apple has overhauled the notification system, thereby removing one of the biggest drawbacks its mobile OS had. 

HTC One X: The phone comes with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. 

Lumia 900: The phone features the latest version of Windows Phone 7.5 Mango. 

Xperia S: The phone bundles Android 2.3 Gingerbread, but is upgradable to Android 4, Ice Cream Sandwich.


Processor:

THE NOKIA LUMIA 900

iPhone 4S: iPhone 4S is powered by dual-core A5 processor. The company claims that two cores in A5 chip deliver up to two times more power and render graphics of up to seven times faster than iPhone 4. The dual-core graphics offer faster and improved 3D experience. iPhone 4S has a 512 MB RAM and the device is available in three models 16GB, 32GB and 64GB. 

HTC One X: One X comes with a 1.5GHz Nvidia Tegra 3 quad-core processo and packs 1GB RAM and 32GB of internal memory. The phone also packs 12 core GeForce GPU for games and applications. 

Lumia 900: The phone packs a 1.4GHz Scorpion single core processor with Qualcomm APQ8055 Snapdragon chipset. The phone features 512MB of RAM and Adreno 205 GPU. 

Xperia S: The phone has a dual core 1.5GHz Qualcomm MSM8260 Snapdragon with an Adreno 220 GPU. The phone comes with 32GB of internal storage and 1GB RAM.


Camera:

iPhone 4S vs HTC One X vs Lumia 900 vs Xperia S

iPhone 4S: The phone packs an 8 megapixel camera with f2.4 aperture. Apple has also included other camera improvements like backside illuminated sensor which Apple claims gets 73% more light than the iPhone 4 sensor. 

HTC One X: The smartphone includes a 8 megapixel rear camera with autofocus, LED flash, geo-tagging, face and smile detection and 1080p@30fps video capture. There's also a front 1.3 megapixel 720p camera. 

Lumia 900: The phone sports a 8 megapixel 3264 x 2448 rear camera and can capture 720p video. Camera features include autofocus, dual-LED flash and geo-tagging. For video calling, Lumia 900 comes with 1.3 megapixel VGA camera. 

Xperia S: The smartphone comes with a 12.1 megapixel with 1080p camera on the rear. There's also a 720p front facing camera for video calling.


Connectivity:
iPhone 4S: iPhone 4S can run both on CDMA and GSM networks. With AirPlay feature, iPhone users can wirelessly stream the data phone to HDTV and speakers via Apple TV. In addition, with AirPlay Mirroring, whatever you do on your iPhone appears on the HDTV at the same time. 

HTC One X: The phone supports aGPS, stereo FM radio with RDS, Wi-Fi, DLNA, Bluetooth v4.0 with A2DP and microUSB. 

Lumia 900: Nokia's flagship Lumia 900 provides HSDPA, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth v2.1 with A2DP, NFC (Near Field Communication), and microUSB v2.0 support. 

Xperia S: The phone comes with HSDPA support, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth v2.1 with A2DP, NFC (Near Field Communication) and microUSB v2.0.


Battery:
iPhone 4S: Apple claims iPhone 4S offers as much as 8 hours of 3G talk time, 6 hours of browsing (9 on Wi-Fi), 10 hours of video playback and 40 hours of music. 

HTC One X: The One X packs a Li-Po 1800 mAh battery. However, the company doesn't specify the battery life. 

Lumia 900: The phone includes a Li-Ion 1830 mAh (BP-6EW) battery which promises seven hours of talk time. 

Xperia S: The phone provides up to 7hrs 30 min (2G)/up to 8hrs 30 min (3G) talktime.


Price:
iPhone 4S: : Airtel sells iPhone 4S 16 GB model for Rs 44,500, 64GB model for Rs 57,500 and 32GB model for Rs 50,900 (approx). 

HTC One X: The phone is available at a market operating price of Rs 37,899. 

Lumia 900: Xperia S: Xperia S handset is priced at Rs 32,549.


Courtesy: The Times Of India

Samsung Galaxy Y Pro Duos Review

Samsung Galaxy Y Pro Duos is the latest budget Android smartphone offering from Samsung's basket. It is very similar to the Galaxy Y Duos except that now there's room for a front camera as well. With dual-SIM Android phones buzzing around already, can this one hold its ground? We take a look.

Design & Build
The Galaxy Y Pro Duos in its candy bar form factor feels incredibly light at 112 grams. The phone fits comfortably in your palm. We received a metallic black unit which was well designed with curved edges on the top and bottom. The back panel is plastic-made and comes off easily. It is a touch-cum-QWERTY phone so it makes life easier. The screen dimensions seemed to have been reduced as a result. But this being a QWERTY smartphone, you can't really expect a big display.

The smartphone houses a 3.2MP rear camera and a front facing VGA camera for video calling as well. The power button is placed on the right while the volume rocker finds room on the left. The bottom houses the charging/USB port, while the 3.5mm audio jack is located on the top.

Once the back panel comes off, you see the battery, below which are the dual-SIM slots. The microSD slot is located on the top-right.

The QWERTY keypad is neatly laid out and feels very comfortable to use for typing. The standard Menu, Home, Back and Search buttons are distributed on either side of an Optical trackpad that also make navigation easier.

The Galaxy Y Pro Duos came with a charger, a USB cable, a pair of headphones, 3 pairs of earplugs, a warranty card and a quick start guide in the box.

Display
The Y Pro Duos sports a 2.6-inch capacitive TFT LCD display with a resolution of 320x240 pixels. The colours look decent enough even in broad daylight, although the text seemed a little blurry.

What's interesting is that the screen orientation is available in both portrait and landscape modes. The latter doesn't make sense at all with the screen size being so small and feels really weird.

Camera Quality
At 3.2MP, you can't expect wonders but even so, the camera is decent enough for a budget smartphone. There is no flash, so pictures taken in the dark won't impress you much, while images taken in day-light are just OK.

Samsung Galaxy Y Pro Duos camera supports video recording upto a resolution of 320x240 pixels and once you shoot a video, you also have the option to trim them. Basic settings include white balance adjustments, resolution selection, self-timer and scene modes.

OS & Interface
The Galaxy Y Pro Duos comes with Android Gingerbread (v2.3.6) which seems outdated nowadays with Ice cream Sandwich Android phones already available in the market. Samsung's traditional TouchWiz interface allows for a satisfactory operability experience. There are 3 customisable homescreens and the menu isn't cluttered with too many pre-loaded apps.

The 832 MHz single core processor performs well enough to allow multi-tasking without too much lag. The device also comes with 384MB of RAM that feels very less and the memory can be expanded upto 32GB via microSD card slot.

Pre-loaded software
As we mentioned earlier, there aren't many pre-installed apps apart from the standard Google ones like Gtalk, YouTube, Maps and Gmail. Even must haves like Facebook and Twitter were missing. We however downloaded them from the Play Store and they worked just fine. Polaris Office is useful for accessing and reading your documents.

You can also access Samsung's stock app store, Samsung Apps to download free or paid apps after you've signed-up.

Performance
The phone is an average performer and there's no wow moment involved. Dual SIM functionality is limited in the sense that while you can keep personal and official numbers separate, you can use only one SIM at a time for calls. You can also choose your SIM preference from the notifications menu.

The standard Li-ion 1350mAh battery lasts for a full day without you having to reach for the charger . Both the 3G and Wi-Fi experience were good and the battery didn't give up on us while surfing the web, watching videos, making calls or running multiple applications.


The audio quality of the phone again, isn't very great on both, the speaker phone and the headphones that came along with it. A disappointing fact with regard to the FM Radio is that you can set only four radio stations at a time and not more.

When playing YouTube videos, they seemed a bit pixelated, though they played fine without lags.

We fired up a game of Angry Birds Space and the multi-touch experience wasn't smooth enough. You can't really see the target and have to guess your aim in most scenarios.

The stock browser supports Adobe flash and the surfing experience was decent without too many hiccups while using both 3G and Wi-Fi.

Verdict
With many budget dual-SIM phones flooding the market, the Galaxy Y Pro Duos doesn't put something extraordinary on the table. It is a decent performer that just about gets the work done. All features are pretty basic that you'd get with any budget Android phone. The introduction of an optical trackpad, though makes navigation easier can be confusing since it takes a while to getting used to with the touch screen in place. We're sure you've heard the phrase, 'out of sight, out of mind'. This one is sure to be in that list.


Pros
Optical trackpad makes navigation easy
Touch and type at an affordable price

Cons
Poor camera
No Multi-touch

Price: Rs. 9,500

Ratings
Performance: 3
Features: 3.5
Ease of setup: 3.5
Ergonomics: 4
Wow factor: 3
Value for money: 3.5
Overall: 3.5


Courtesy: Gadgets @ NDTV

Sony Xperia S Review

THE SONY XPERIA S

Sony Xperia S is the first product from newly formed Sony Mobile division after the company bought out Ericsson's stake in Sony Ericsson. It sports a beautiful design and comes with some big upgrades from last-years' models like 12.1MP camera and 720p display. But, are these upgrades enough for us to forget the presence of dated software? Read on to find out.

Hardware
Sony's design prowess is clearly visible in Xperia S; it looks simple but is unique and distinctive. It might not be the lightest or the thinnest phone on the planet, but the Xperia S stands out nonetheless. Be it the transparent bar below the capacitive buttons, or the flat sides of the phone, the modern design sets it apart from the crowd.

They say devil is in the details, and the Sony Xperia S sure gets those right. It comes with the matte finish on the sides and back, while the front is covered in a single-sheet of glass. The front and rear of the phone are pretty much clean apart from the Xperia branding, ear-piece and secondary camera on the front, and speakers, primary camera and Sony branding on the back. On the right side, you will find the two-stage shutter button, volume rocker, and HDMI port, while the left houses the USB-cum-charging port.

But the Xperia S isn't perfect. We can't claim to be fans of the rectangular design, which makes it a little harder to hold compared to smartphones with curved edges like the HTC One X.
Another disappointment with Xperia S is the fixed battery. Although the back cover is removable, the battery is still not user-replaceable.

Display
Sony has included a 4.3-inch 1280x720p Reality display on Xperia S, which comes with company's own Mobile Bravia engine. The Xperia S has better PPI (pixels-per-inch) than all the smartphones available in the Indian market even iPhone 4S, thus giving you extremely sharp images. The colour reproduction is good and display is sufficiently bright, we even found it taming HTC One X in the brightness department. However, the viewing angles are sub-par on the smartphone.

DISPLAY: THE SONY XPERIA S

Camera
Sony Xperia S comes with a 12.1MP rear camera with f2.4 aperture, along with 1080p video recording support. As you can expect from Sony, the Xperia S camera performs brilliantly and takes some nice and detailed shots. Be the indoor clicks or outdoor shots, Xperia S does not disappoint.


Software-wise, the controls on Xperia S camera app are pretty straight forward, and you can also select manual settings for ISO, white balance, metering and focus mode. Company has also included a nifty feature which allows you directly open the camera with the dedicated camera key even when the phone is locked. This two-stage camera button allows users to set the auto-focus with a half-press, while a full press completes the image capture. The button is conveniently located and distinction between the two stages of the capture is clearly felt under the finger.
Despite running on Android 2.3, Sony has added the panorama, 3D panorama shot- taking capabilities in Xperia S, which were natively introduced first time in ICS.
The 1.3MP front camera on Xperia S is decent and capable of shooting 720p video. So, you don't have to worry about video-chatting on your phone.

Software/ Interface
One of the few disappointments, but not exactly a surprise given the spec sheet, is the presence of Gingerbread. With phones like HTC One X and One V that come pre-loaded with Ice Cream Sandwich for competition, launching Xperia S with Android 2.3 isn't really a positive for the company. Although Sony has promised to release an update sometime this quarter, consumers will be stuck with the old version for at least a few weeks.
We don't have any specific qualms with Gingerbread and Sony's skin atop it, but we miss a few things in particular from ICS, like the refreshed UI, Android Beam, and resizable widgets. While on the subejct of Android Beam, Sony Xperia S ships with Near Field Communication hardware, which can be used for quite a few things including changing the smartphone settings to a pre-set using the SmartTags in the box (as our review unit was missing them, so we weren't able to test the feature).
In terms of other software additions, Xperia S comes with Facebook inside Xperia, which includes features like single sign-on for Facebook, FB Images in phone gallery, contacts and calendar sync as well as the Media discovery widget.
In terms of pre-loaded apps, Sony has filled up Xperia S with apps like TrackID, World Clock, Neoreader, Wisepilot, Office Suit, Timer, Recommender, and PlayNow.
Overall, by Gingerbread standards, Sony's implemetnation runs nice and smooth and we did not face any issues.

MAGNIFICENT: THE SONY XPERIA S 

Performance/ Battery Life
Sony Xperia S comes with a dual-core Snapdragon processor clocked at 1.5GHz and 1GB RAM. With phones like HTC One S expected next month with next generation Qualcomm Krait processor and Android 4.0, the specs may seem a little underwhelming on paper, but what about the real world performance?
Leaving the competition aside, talking solely based on the Xperia S performance, which is pretty good and we would go on say that it is the best Sony (Ericsson era phones included) smartphone so-far in-terms of user-experience. There is no lag whatsoever, or any hiccups while playing high-def videos or playing graphic intensive games.
Coming to the battery life, the fixed 1750 mAh battery gave us surprisingly decent performance and it would easily last a-day for moderate users. Light-users might be able to able to squeeze out even more.

Verdict
Can Sony Xperia S be your next smartphone? Well, if you are ready to wait for ICS and don't have an issue with a generation-old processor, Xperia S has a lot to offer. It packs in quite a punch, has great display, excellent battery life and a beautiful design.

Pros

• Attractive, unique design
• Great HD display

Cons

• Gingerbread
• No microSD card slot or user-replaceable battery

Price: Rs. 32,549

Ratings
Design: 4
Display: 4
Camera: 4
Performance: 4
Software: 3
Battery Life: 3.5
Value for Money: 3.5
Overall: 3.5

Courtesy: Gadgets @ NDTV