HTC launches dual-SIM Desire V in India

DUAL POWER: THE NEW HTC DESIRE V

NEW DELHI: Less than a month after HTC launched its dual-SIM Desire V smartphone in the international market, the handset is now available in India on some retail websites.

The online retailer Flipkart is selling HTC Desire V dual-SIM (GSM+GSM) smartphone for Rs 21,999. Desire V comes packed with 1GHZ single-core processor and runs on Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) with HTC Sense 4.0. 

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

No problem with HTC One X multitasking: HTC

The HTC One X is not suffering from any multitasking related Issues comments HTC.

Smartphone manufacturer, HTC has dismissed reports that its flagship smartphone, One X has any multitasking problems.

NO PROBLEMO: The new HTC One X

Earlier some users claimed that the HTC One X's memory management system automatically kills any possible application running in the background if it is left unattended for more than 30 seconds. So if you are browsing and you get redirected to Google Play Store then after 30 seconds your browser will automatically shut down. Hence, you have to continue from the beginning and start the application again for re assuming the browsing.

But in a statement sent to The Verge, HTC stated that there is absolutely no problem with the One X or with its operating system. But it has all to do with the Sense User interface for which the memory control feature has been tweaked to provide a better user experience.

"HTC is aware of some questions in the enthusiast community about how the HTC One X handles multitasking and memory management for background apps. We value the community's input and are always looking for ways to enhance customers experience with our devices. That said, right now multitasking is operating normally according to our custom memory management specifications which balance core ICS features with a consistent HTC Sense experience," HTC said in its statement.

Courtesy: The Mobile Indian

HTC Desire C goes official

THE ULTIMATE DESIRE: HTC DESIRE C

HTC  has officially taken the wraps off its Desire C smartphone. The smartphone which runs on the latest version of Android operating system --Android 4.0 or ICS -- is expected to launch in India in mid-June. 

HTC Desire C is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon S1 600MHz processor with 512MB of RAM. It features 3.5-inch HVGA screen with 320x480 resolution. There's a 5 megapixel camera with LED flash and VGA front camera. 

The smartphone will reportedly be available in white and black colours. Though there is no word on the handset's India pricing, HTC Desire C is likely to be priced between Rs 13,500 to Rs 15,000. The smartphone has already been launched in some European markets. 

Key specs: * OS: Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich * Display: 3.5 inch with a resolution of 320 x 480 pixels * Processor: 600MHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S1 * Storage: 4GB internal storage, expandable up to 32GB with MicroSD card * Camera: 5 MP * Connecitivity: 3G with 7.2Mbps HSDPA, Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi and USB 2.00 * Battery: 1230 mAh battery.


Courtesy: The Times Of India

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 S3 vs HTC OneX vs iPhone 4S

 Samsung Galaxy S3 vs HTC OneX vs iPhone 4S

The unveiling of Samsung Galaxy SIII recently has further fueled the ongoing smartphone war. One of the most-awaited phones of 2012, Samsung Galaxy SIII is designed to take the fight to the new crop of quadcore superphones. 

The smartphone takes on Apple's iPhone 4S and HTC's recently launched quadcore smartphone HTC OneX. Here's how the three compare in specs.


Processor:

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

Apple iPhone 4S: iPhone 4S is powered by dualcore A5 processor. The company claims that two cores in A5 chip deliver up to two times more power and render graphics up to seven times faster than iPhone 4. 

HTC OneX: HTC One X runs on a 1.5GHz Nvidia Tegra3 quadcore chip.

Operating System:

Samsung Galaxy SIII: Samsung Galaxy S-III runs on Android 4.0 or Ice Cream Sandwich OS. 

Apple iPhone 4S: iPhone 4S comes pre-loaded with iOS5. 

HTC OneX: HTC OneX also runs on the latest Android operating system Android 4.0 or Ice Cream Sandwich.

Camera:

THE IPHONE 4S CAMERA

Samsung Galaxy SIII: Samsung Galaxy S-III boasts of an 8MP rear camera and a 1.9 megapixel front camera. 

Apple iPhone 4S: iPhone 4S has an 8MP camera with back illuminated CMOS sensor, wider aperture and higher quality lens. It also records video in 1080p full HD resolution now. It has a VGA-quality front camera. 

HTC OneX: HTC OneX has an 8MP autofocus camera with LED flash. There's also a 1.3 MP front camera for video conferencing.


Display:

Samsung Galaxy SIII: Galaxy SIII boasts of a 4.8 HD Super AMOLED display, with ultrafast response time. 

Apple iPhone 4S: iPhone 4S retains the same 3.5-inch (diagonal) Retina display as found in iPhone 4. 

HTC OneX: HTC OneX has a 4.7 inch Super IPS LCD2 screen.


RAM & Storage:
Samsung Galaxy SIII: Samsung Galaxy has a 1GB RAM. It comes in three storage capabilities 16, 32 and 64GB. The smartphone weighs 133 gm. 

Apple iPhone 4S: Though Apple did not disclose iPhone 4S RAM, as per teardown tests of the device it is 1GB. 

HTC OneX: HTC OneX also has 1GB RAM. The smartphone has internal memory of 32GB. It weighs 130 gm.


Battery:
Samsung Galaxy SIII: Samsung Galaxy SIII has a removable 2100mAh battery. 

Apple iPhone 4S: Apple claims iPhone 4S offers battery life offers 8 hours of 3G talk time, 6 hours of browsing (9 on WiFi), 10 hours of video playback and 40 hours of music. 

HTC OneX: HTC OneX has a non-removable 1,800 mAh battery.


Courtesy: The Times Of India

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

Review: HTC One X

Last year was not too kind to HTC. The Taiwanese company, known for its tastefully designed smartphones, looked lost in the face of cut-throat competition. It decided to trust in quantity and released new handsets, each similar in design and functionality, faster than they could reach hands of customers. The results were disastrous. Its profit and revenue plummeted. 

It seems the company realized its mistakes. This year it seems to be focusing on quality. The result, for now, is One series of smartphones. According to HTC, One series represents the best the company has to offer. Of these phones, today we have One X with us. It's the flagship model and if HTC's claim is true, the handset is ought to be the best Android experience in the market at the moment. But is it so? Read on to know... 

Stunning design
HTC rarely makes a badly designed phone. But in HTC One X, the company has pulled out all stops and has given it looks that are head and shoulders above everything else in the Android baazar. One X is a big phone but its curveous design and a thin profile means that it doesn't look intimidating. Unlike the earlier flagship phones from the company, One X is built using a polycarbonate unibody shell. While this keeps the weight down, the phone does feel a little fragile in comparison to something like HTC Sensation. Also, unibody design means the battery can not be accessed by users. There is no provision for adding any extra storage through microSD card. One X requires a microSIM. 

One X sports an almost edge-to-edge 4.7-inch screen, which has a resolution of 1280x720 pixels, and three capacitive touch buttons - back, home and multitasking - under the screen. This makes the phone rather large and if you have smaller hands - girls, please note - you will find One X difficult to use with one hand. 

Inside its beautiful body, One X packs state-of-the-art hardware. The phone is powered by Tegra 3, a processor with four main cores and one ninja core that only kicks in when the device doesn't need much horsepower. The processor runs at 1.5Ghz. There is 1GB RAM to make sure that multitasking is smooth. It has 32GB internal storage, an 8 megapixels (MP) primary camera and a 1.3MP front camera. In sum, we can say that if hardware is what turns you on, One X is the Android phone to get at the moment. 

Fast & fantastic
Let's be clear about one thing. One X is the fastest and snappiest Android phone we have used. Much of this is due to the hardware - after all, not all phones have a ninja in them - and some is due to the way HTC Sense 4.0, the proprietary user interface that runs on the top of Android 4, handles animations. Scrolling is very smooth, web browsing is a blast, GPS locks in an instant and apps are installed or launch within a few seconds. Games - even demanding ones like Shadowgun - run smooth and the phone plays all sorts of videos in resolution up to 1080P. 

At the same time, One X looks good while doing all this. Sense 4, unlike the Sense 3, is neither a show-off nor looks bloated. It looks right in terms of aesthetics, though we must add that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. The only problem that we have with Sense 4 is that at the end of the day it's a custom user interface. While skins like Sense add to the phone's appeal, we suspect they also delay the Android updates. It's trade-off between functionality and beauty. But we believe that users, and not manufacturers, should be allowed to make this trade-off. Ideally we will like to see HTC, or for that matter any other phone manufacturer, giving users option whether they want a phone with stock Android or with custom user interface. 

The 720P screen on One X is among the best we have seen on a smartphone. It has fantastic brightness, which really helps during outdoor use, and has very good colours. Also, the high resolution means it is very sharp, showing super clear text and images. 

HTC has talked a lot about camera in One X. The phone has a dedicated chip for image processing and a lens with aperture of just f2, which should help in low-light photography. In our use we found the camera to be a mixed bag. The 8MP images shot with the phone had nice, though slightly oversaturated colours. But they did not have the kind of detail found in photos taken with iPhone 4S or Nokia N8. In the low light, though, One X proved to be an able shooter, producing usable pictures in situations where other smartphones would fail. Talking of camera, we must add that macro mode on One X seems to be broken. It can rarely focus on objects that are very close to it. 

Battery life is very good, especially for a phone that has such a high-resolution and big screen. With moderate to heavy use - lots of browsing, photography, some gaming, calls, emails etc - the phone lasted 12 hours and a few minutes on 3G. 

Is One X the perfect phone?
The answer to this question is easy: It is not. But then which device is. 

One X is the one of the best Android phones ever made. It offers an experience that is polished, has a design that is beautiful and comes with the hardware that is not going to be obsolete any time soon. 

We do have some complains about the device. We would have liked to see a dedicated camera button. The device is too big if you have smaller hands. Camera performance could have been better. But these are not deal breakers. 

That said, price could be a deal breaker. At Rs 37,899 (market price could be lower) One X is an expensive phone, especially when seen in the context of Samsung Galaxy S2, which is available for around Rs 28,000. In many ways, One X is a better device than S2. But is the premium justified? That depends on how much you value design, aesthetics and big screen with better resolution. If price is no bar, One X is the Android phone to get at the moment. 

Pros: Superb design, fantastic screen, powerful hardware, fast and good looking interface, good low-light photography 

Conclusions: Expensive, no microSD slot, size could be an issue for many users.


Courtesy: Times Of India