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

Samsung Galaxy Ace Duos GSM-only smartphone launches @ Rs 13,490

THE NEW SAMSUNG GALAXY ACE DUOS GSM SMARTPHONE

Samsung: The Samsung Mobile has launched GSM-only version of dual-SIM smartphone Galaxy Ace Duos. Galaxy Ace Duos' GSM+CDMA version is already on sale in India for Rs 13,490 approximately.

The smartphone is powered by a 832 MHz processor and runs on Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) OS. The phone has a 3.5 inch TFT touch screen display with 320 x 480 pixels. Dimensions are 11.5 mm thick and weighs 122 gram.

Samsung Galaxy Duos comes with a 5MP autofocus caSamsung Galaxy Ace Duos GSM-only smartphone launches @ Rs 13,490mera, 3GB internal memory, 512MB RAM, and a microSD slot (expandable up to 32GB.

On connectivity front, it supports 3G HSDPA 7.2 Mbps, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n and Bluetooth 3.0.

Key specs:
* 3.5" HVGA (320x480) TFT-LCD
* Android 2.3 (Gingerbread)
* 832MHz processor
* 5MP camera with autofocus
* Wi-Fi 802.11, USB 2.0, Bluetooth v 3.0
* 512MB (RAM), microSD slot (up to 32GB)
* 1,300 mAh battery


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 

Samsung launches smart TV at Rs 37,700 in India

MUMBAI: South Korean consumer electronics major Samsung is bullish on the flat panel TV business in India, and is eyeing a 35 per cent market share in the segment that is expected to touch 50 lakh units in the current year.

The company which is present in India through its wholly- owned subsidiary, Samsung India Electronics, has a market share of around 30 per cent of the 38 lakh units of flat panel televisions in the country.

"We have over 30 per cent share in the business, which is more than the industry growth, and this year it should increase by five percentage points to 35 per cent," Samsung India Audio Video Business Vice-President Raj Kumar Rishi told reporters here.

The firm is also betting big on the LED TVs and expects to garner a market share of close to 40 per cent this year from 34 per cent in 2011.

"Consumers are showing a strong adoption of LED TVs. It has better technology, lower energy consumption and the better picture performance. We will also launch new products in LED and drive the transition from LCD to LED," Rishi said.

"Samsung's contribution to LED TVs is expected to grow to 70 per cent this year compared to 25 per cent sale of flat TVs in 2011," he added.

The company today launched its interactive smart TV priced at Rs 37,700 to Rs 2,73,000.

With the new launch, the company is targeting a market share of 65 per cent in this category.

Samsung also plans to sell 1.5 lakh units of smart TV units as their market is projected to reach 2.5 lakh units in 2012 as compared to over 1.1 lakh units in 2011.