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All secret Android codes, tips and tricks for your Android mobile devices

2014-09-06T03:13:00.002-07:00

*#06# To check IMEI of your device, enter this code.
*#0*# To enter service menu on the very new Android phones.
*#0228# To check battery status.
*#9090# / *#1111# To make device in Service mode.
*#*#4636#*#* To get information about battery, usage statistics and device.
*#*#34971539#*#* To get all information about camera.
*#12580*369# To get software and hardware info.
*#228# For ADC Reading.
#7353# To hide test menu 2/Self Test Mode.
##7764726 To hide service menu for Motorola Droid.

*#*#273283*255*663282*#*#* For backup of our all media files.

*#*#232338#*#* It display the Wi-Fi mac address.
*#7465625# To view status of lock-phone.
*#*#3264#*#* To show RAM version.
*#*#44336#*#* To display build time and change list number.
*#*#232337#*# To see or display device’s Bluetooth address.
*#*#197328640#*#* It enables test mode for service.
*#*#8351#*#* To enable voice dial mode.
*#*#8350#*#* To disable the voice dial mode.

*#*#0842#*#* To test Back-light/vibration.
*#*#2664#*#* To test the touch-screen.
*#*#0289#*#* For Audio test.
*#*#0*#*#* For LCD display test.
*#*#232331#*#* To test Bluetooth of any Android device.
*#*#0283#*#* To perform a packet loop-back test.
*#*#1575#*#* For advanced GPS test.
*#*#1472365#*#* To Perform a quick GPS test.
*#*#0588#*#* To perform a proximity sensor test.
*#*#7262626#*#* To perform field test.

*#*#232339#*#* Testing Wireless LAN.
*#9090# To Diagnose configuration of device.
*#872564# To control U-S-B logging.
*#9900# System dump mode.
*#*#7780#*#* Reset to factory state.
*2767*3855# To format Android device.

*#*#4986*2650468#*#* To get pda, phone, H/W and RF Call Date.
*#*#1234#*#* To know about pda and firmware version.
*#*#1111#*#* For FTA Software version.
*#*#2222#*#* For FTA Hardware version.
*#*#7594#*#* To change power button behaviour once code enabled.
*#*#8255#*#* To launch Google Talk service monitor.

Whats New In Android 4.4 KitKat

2014-09-06T03:10:00.000-07:00

What's hiding in Android 4.4?

Android 4.4 is the most polished and feature-rich iteration of Google's mobile OS yet, and comes with plenty of new and exciting functions to keep fans happy. However, not all of them are immediately obvious from the start.

Allow us to educate you on some of the most interesting and useful tips, tricks and secrets hiding in the software. Grab yourself a hot beverage, find a comfortable seat and prepare to taste the future of smartphone software.

18) Fire up Google Now with just your voice

It's possible to activate Google Now - Android's answer to Siri - simply by saying "OK Google". When you're on the home screen, simply utter those two words and you'll be prompted to speak your next command, which can be anything from asking for Google to search the web to setting an alarm for a particular time. Just be wary of any annoying friends shouting the same phrase when you're trying to do other things on your phone.

17) Switch on Developer Mode

Developer mode used to be a part of Android's settings menu that was easily accessible, but recently Google has hidden it away to prevent users from tinkering too much. However, it's still fairly easy to discover if you know what you're doing - go to Settings > About Phone and then tap the "Build Number" section seven times. This will unlock the developer menu, allowing you to access a whole number of nerdy features.

16) Taste the next generation with ART runtime

Android uses Dalvik runtime by default, which is described as a "just in time" compiler. That means it does all of the application processing as and when it's required. Moving forward, Google is looking to use ART runtime, which is a "ahead of time" compiler. ART is actually featured in Android 4.4 already, but it's not enabled by default - you'll need to enter the Developer menu to switch it on.

Your handset will reboot and it will take a short time to recompile your apps - you may even notice some stability issues - but on the whole, ART should be quicker and friendly on your battery. As more apps are optimised to use ART, you'll find it more beneficial to use.

15) Use Wi-Fi to determine your location to save battery

Previously with Android, determining your location was based almost solely on GPS, which consumes a fair amount of battery life. Android 4.4 now comes with three modes for this functionality.

High accuracy uses GPS, Wi-Fi and mobile network signal to get a fix on where you are, while Device Only relies totally on GPS. In the middle there is Battery Saving mode, which abandons GPS and uses Wi-Fi and your mobile network - amazingly, this is still pretty precise, and doesn't drink as much juice. Go to Settings > Location > Mode to pick the one that suits you.

14) Keep track of your movements each day

Another cool Android 4.4 feature is the power to track the steps you take each day, as well as differentiate between walking, running, cycling and climbing. This ability hasn't been leveraged as much as you might expect, and only a few apps make use of it right now.

One is the highly polished Moves app from ProtoGeo, which tracks your movements and gives you data on how many steps you've taken, as well as a visual "storyline" of your daily life.

13) Exit immersive mode

One of the new features of Android 4.4 is the "immersive" mode, which basically removes all of the on-screen interface to give you an unimpeded view on your current application. Apps that support immersive mode should automatically remove UI elements, but if you want to get them back, simply swipe down from the top of the display - the notifications bar will magically re-appear.

12) Install an alternative SMS client

Hangouts replaces the default SMS client in Android 4.4, and while it does the job perfectly well - integrating instant messaging and text chats - some people will no doubt long for the old way of doing things.

Thankfully, it's possible to specify a different app for SMS messages. Find one that you like on the Google Play market, install it and then go to the Settings menu within Hangouts. Tap SMS and then SMS Enabled, and you'll be able to select the app you want to use.

11) Record your phone's screen

Taking a screenshot in Android used to be like pulling teeth - you had to connect your phone to your PC in order to grab any kind of on-screen image. Since Android 4.0, we've had the trusty "Volume down and Power button" combo, but 4.4 goes to the next level - it features the ability to record video from your screen as well.

As it is primarily aimed at developers who want to add video to their app listings, taking advantage of this native feature is quite tricky - you'll need to follow theseincredibly detailed instructions - but it's a smart bonus nonetheless.

10) Remotely wipe your phone if you lose it

Losing your phone is a painful experience - especially if it provides your daily Flappy Bird fix - but the amount of data contained on our handsets means that having it fall into the wrong hands can have all kinds of negative ramifications.

Google has your back, however, and provides the means to remotely locate and wipe your phone should it go walkabout. You'll need to enable it from the device before you lose it, though - go to the Google Settings application in your app drawer and select Android Device Manager, then turn on "Remotely Locate This Device" and "Allow Remote Lock And Factory Reset".

The latter option also allows you to remotely change the lockscreen password, should you be too scared to wipe the entire device. In the event of your phone going missing, visit the Android Device Manager page online and you can choose to ring (even if the phone is set to silent), lock or wipe the phone.

9) Get the stock Google UI on your non-Nexus handset

Don't have a Nexus device but crave that uncluttered stock experience? Fear not, you don't have to rush out and invest in a brand new blower - you can get the same result by installing KK Launcher from the Google Play market.

Alternatively, you can download the APK file of the Google Experience interface yourself. It’s available from Android Police. Before you install, make sure third-party apps are switched on in the Settings menu. Android blocks third-party installs as standard.

8) Switch launchers quickly

One of Android's big advantages over its rivals is the ability to change your launcher, which essentially means you can drastically alter the way your homescreen looks and behaves.

Previously, switching between launchers was something of a pain, but Google has now added a quick and easy toggle in the settings menu - so now there's no excuse not to try the many amazing launcher alternatives available on the Google Play market.

When you have more than one launcher installed on your phone, the Settings menu will show a new "Home" option - tapping this will bring up all of the available launchers on your device, allowing you to toggle between them quickly and easily.

7) Enable lock screen widgets

Lockscreen widgets are one of Android's more recent innovations, but in Android 4.4 they're not enabled by default. To turn them on, you'll need to drop into Settings > Security and tick the "Enable Widgets" box. To add widgets, simply swipe from left to right on your lockscreen and tap the "plus" icon. You can choose from Gmail, Calendar and Google Keep, amongst other things.

6) Print wirelessly

Regardless of how much we now rely on paperless documents, there comes a time in everyone's life when a digitally signed PDF just isn't enough and a hard copy is required.

Android 4.4 thankfully has wireless printing baked-in, with HP's Cloud Printing application doing the heavy lifting. You'll need a compatible printer of course, and only certain apps support the feature at present, but it's unquestionably quite handy to be able to send a document through the air and transform it into a physical sheet of paper with nothing but your phone.

5) Gain an easy speed boost by disabling animations

The animations that occur as you move between applications and screens might look pretty, but they can slow you down - especially as they essentially force you to wait a short period before moving to another page or loading an application.

Thankfully, it's possible to reduce the time they run for or disable them completely, both of which will make your handset feel faster. Go to Settings > Developer Options and scroll down to the Drawing section. Find the options which refer to animation scale (Window, Transition and Animator) and toggle them all to "Animation Off". Your UI might not be as pretty in motion, but it will be so fast you may even struggle to keep up.

4) Keep an eye on your data usage

Most carriers enforce data allowance limits these days, which means media-hungry mobile owners with their fingers in all kinds of cloud storage pies are at risk of running over and incurring prohibitive fees.

Thank goodness then for Android's built-in data usage monitor, which tells you exactly how much you've been gobbling up via your mobile network. You can set warnings for when you're close to your limit, or have a ceiling that disables data traffic the moment it is reached. You can even specify a day in each month where your allowance renews and reset the data counter to zero accordingly.

3) Link up your cloud storage accounts with Android's Storage Access Framework

Storage Access Framework is basically a grander way of saying all of your data can be accessed from one convenient menu. When you're prompted to locate files you'll notice that a side-menu has all of your connected cloud storage accounts - such as Drive, Dropbox and Box - listed, so you can easily pull content from these sources without having to open multiple applications. It's one of Android 4.4's most potent features, yet it has received very little attention.

2) Dismiss an alarm before it bothers you

There are few social situations more awkward that an alarm that you no longer need sounding during a meeting or when you're trying to blend in on public transport. Only appearing in public naked comes close, in our opinion. You may not think it's quite that extreme, but you'll still be thankful of Android 4.4's advance alarm notification system.

An hour before the alarm is due to fire, you'll get a pop-up notification on your screen which allows you to dismiss it before it has chance to sound and make everyone on the bus look at you.

1) Get under the hood with Process Stats

Smartphones are very much like computers in your pocket, and sometimes it's nice to get super-detailed in order to get a better understanding of how things are ticking over. In Android 4.4, Google has added a Process Stats section to the Developer Menu, which contains all kinds of information about which apps are running, what processing they're using and how long they've been running since you booted up the phone. It's gloriously geeky, and ideal for those who want to fine-tune their handset's performance.

The best free Android games

2014-09-05T10:44:00.001-07:00

Did you just pick up a new Android device? Maybe you’re looking for a new, cheap way to kill time? You’re in luck - we’ve got some games here that look and play great on the big and small screen alike, and they’re all available for the low, low price of free.

It’s worth keeping in mind that just about all of these employ in-app purchases of some kind or another. We know there are plenty of you that would willingly pay up front for a quality game, but there are plenty of good free games out there too. We’re trying to avoid “lite” games, since you won’t get a lot of replay value by only having the first couple of levels and being pestered to upgrade (pay) for the rest. That said, if the freemium model is a dealbreaker, this probably isn’t the round-up for you. Developers gotta eat.

Without further ado, here’s our list of the best free Android games. Don’t be shy to sing out in the comments with your favorite free games for Android.

Asphalt 8: Airborne

Asphalt 8: Airborne is our favorite racing game on mobile right now. It skips all pretensions of realism and provides an over-the-top, high-octane game with all the fixings. Players can work their way through the career mode, unlock new rides, upgrade the ones they have, or take the competition online in staggered or live multiplayer. The usual race modes are there, plus a new Infected one where players have to tag other racers before succumbing to an explosive virus.

The incredibly polished graphics and outstanding soundtrack make Asphalt 8 an adrenaline trip you won’t soon forget.

Download Asphalt 8: Airborne now for free

Dumb Ways to Die

In Dumb Ways to Die, players have to successfully get through a gauntlet of simple mini-games for as long as possible, though they progressively grow more difficult. These can range from shooing piranhas away from your crotch, swatting bugs, and holding onto balloons so you don't dive onto the tracks. You get three failures before it’s game over. The art style fantastically morbid - cute little characters are constantly getting maimed in new and exciting ways. As you play, you unlock more of the victims/idiots for your collection. The best part about this game is that it's actually a kind of public service warning by the Melbourne transit association to make sure people don't do stupid things near the tracks. There's even a music video. Well-played, Australia. Well-played.

For a dark-but-cute test of reflexes, Dumb Ways to Die is fantastic.

Download Dumb Ways to Die now for free

Dead Trigger 2

Dead Trigger 2 brings rootin’-tootin’ first-person-shootin’ back to the zombie apocalypse. Despite the altogether realistic visuals, Dead Trigger 2 remains chock-full of tongue-in-cheek humor. Controls use a fast and natural auto-fire mechanism which keeps the focus on moving and aiming. More notably, there’s a robust hideout and crafting system where you get various assistants to build stuff for you, though it takes time. There is a premium currency in place, but it’s used almost exclusively to speed up building times; all weapons can be created and upgraded using the currency you earn throughout gameplay. Regular events bring players to new parts of the world, with collective rewards if goals are met.

If you’re looking for a high-quality shooter, you’ll have a hard time finding something better than Dead Trigger 2.

Download Dead Trigger 2 now for free

Dots

Dots is a light, casual, and addictive puzzle game where players need to line up same-colored dots as quickly as possible. You’ve got a limited number of time or moves to gather up these dots by matching them, get bonuses for tracing closed loops, and once you run out, the dots you’ve gathered can be spent on consumable power-ups. There’s also a local multiplayer mode if you want to see how your friends stack up.

Dots is fun, sharply designed and highly accessible - give it a shot!

Download Dots now for free

Dungeon Hunter 4

Dungeon Hunter 4 is a fast-paced action-RPG that plays like butter. Players hack and slash their way through an extensive single-player campaign, gather loot and gear, level up their abilities, and eventually take the fight into online multiplayer, both co-operatively and competitively. The graphics, particularly during boss battles, are sure to suck you into the world. For those that get particularly enamored, there’s a premium currency available if you want to pick up the swankiest gear.

Dungeon Hunter 4 brings some of the best action-RPG gameplay you’ll find out there.

Download Dungeon Hunter 4 now for free

Galaxy on Fire 2

Galaxy on Fire 2 is a sci-fi RPG that has players blasting through a beautifully-rendered universe. Quests range from hunting down space pirates to mining asteroids and everything in between. There’s plenty of trading to do, and you can always upgrade your ship and buy new rides with the riches you amass. There’s a rich storyline to enjoy, and expansions available through in-app purchases.

Galaxy on Fire 2 is a rich, exciting, wide-open RPG perfect for sci-fi fans.

Download Galaxy on Fire 2 now for free

Plague Inc.

Plague Inc. is a rather dark global virus simulation game. Players gently guide a disease from a modest cough to a deadly worldwide pandemic by evolving it with new symptoms, means of transmission, and resistances. Over time, players unlock new disease types with their own unique traits. World events also randomly pop up every game, forcing you to change your evolution path. With an in-app purchase, you can get rid of ads and add a fast-forward option, or shortcut to new virus types.

As morbid as it may be, the Plague Inc.’s gameplay is truly infectious.

Download Plague Inc. now for free

Plants vs. Zombies 2

Plants vs. Zombies is a venerable mobile franchise for a good reason. The bizarre premise of protecting your back lawn from hordes of undead with sunflowers and peas is certainly part of that, but there’s a lot of tactical thinking in terms of plant choices before the attack begins, and placement. In Plants vs. Zombies 2, you’re taken back in time to defend against zombies dressed in era garb, and try out all sorts of new mechanics. The zombies are getting smarter, and challenge your reaction speed in a number of ways, though you also have a whole new complement of plants to use. Stages also have new terrain features to keep every round fresh. Plant food can be collected to super-charge any plant and gesture-based special abilities can make short work of a wave when things get especially hairy.

All in all, Plants vs. Zombies 2 presents deep strategic gameplay in a fun, colorful package.

Download Plants vs. Zombies 2 now for free

Spaceteam

Spaceteam is a decidedly unique local multiplayer game. Players gather together with their various devices and connect over either Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. They’re then presented with ridiculously-labeled spaceship consoles, with all manner of sliders, knobs, switches, and buttons. Each player then has a message flashing telling them which control needs to be tweaked in order to save their ship from exploding. The thing is, that control could be on anybody’s device, so what ends up happening is everybody starts barking ludicrous orders at one another with straight-faced urgency. Random events can have players in a panic trying to wipe goop off their controls while going through these episodes. In-app purchases unlock new skins, panels, and crew member graphics.

Spaceteam will be one of the most fun party games you play, and thanks to cross-platform compatibility, everybody gets to give it a go.

Download Spaceteam now for free

You Don’t Know Jack

You Don’t Know Jack is an amazingly-written trivia game with a long-standing tradition of bizarre wordplay and general smart-assery. Players compete against Facebook friends for the high scores in themed episodes. Many of the questions adopt a standard multiple-choice format, but there are also Dis or Dat questions where you have to categorize terms, and the harrowing Jack Attack in the final round. The tokens earned through gameplay can unlock new hilarious parody commercials in between rounds or be spent on consumable performance enhancers. In-app purchases can get rid of ads and give you all the tokens you could want.

You Don’t Know Jack is an absolutely hilarious game, even for those of us that are way too dumb to do well with trivia titles.

Download You Don’t Know Jack now for free

Honorable Mentions

Major Mayhem

A fast and furious senseless shoot ‘em up.

Into the Dead

Run endlessly with the zombies.

Injustice: Gods Among Us

Collect your favorite super heroes and have them beat the snot out of each other.

The Sims FreePlay

Build your own little slice of virtual paradise.

Motorola Moto E review

2014-09-05T10:38:00.005-07:00

Key Features: 4.3-inch 960 x 540 IPS screen; Android 4.4; 5-megapixel rear camera

Manufacturer: Motorola

What is the Motorola Moto E?

The Motorola Moto E is a slightly smaller, slightly cheaper alternative to the Moto G, the highest-selling phone Motorola has ever made.

For around £80 you get a simple, pretty high-quality mobile with fewer cutbacks than you’d see in a Samsung phone of the same price, and none of the odd design choices common to lesser-known brands like Huawei and ZTE. It’s not quite as market-shaping a device as the Moto G, but it is another bargain.

Motorola Moto E – Design

The Motorola Moto E is a very simple-looking, non-showy little phone. Its body is plastic, there are no particularly attention-grabbing design quirks and it cares much more about feeling comfortable in-hand than being super-thin.

At 12.3mm thick the Moto E is a chunky little mobile, but the smooth curves of the soft touch back are a delight. It’s a fair bit softer-feeling than the Moto G too.

Other than being smaller – but tubbier – than the Moto G, the main design difference is the use of little silver bars above and below the screen. These initially appear to be decorative – they’re not buttons – but they are actually outputs for the phone’s speakers.

The top one houses the earpiece speaker, the lower one the main speaker. It’s a cunning way to incorporate a front-facing speaker output without having to make the thing absolutely tiny. More on whether it’s any good later.

Thanks to these silvery bits, the Moto E has a marginally less slick look than its bigger brother, but this is still a phone that could easily pass for something twice the price. It’s more of a looker than the obviously bargain basement Samsung Galaxy Fame (a phone that is admittedly getting on a bit).

One of the Moto E’s big aesthetic wins is that it does not use separate soft keys. They’re built into the Android software instead. While this cuts into the available screen space, it helps give the phone a simple and pure look.

Well, that and Motorola’s refreshingly ego-free approach to hardware design. “Motorola” is not written anywhere on the phone, and there is just a small Motorola logo in a neat finger-friendly indent on the phone’s rear. Both the Moto G and Moto E have a simple design that doesn't come across as anonymous or boring: great work on Motorola’s part.

There are some very welcome finishing touches, too. The Moto E screen’s top layer is Gorilla Glass 3, a very strong toughened glass we don’t normally see in phones this cheap. And there’s a special coating to the phone’s exterior (its core part, not the battery cover) that provides some water resistance. As a result you can’t remove the battery, but it’s a compromise that makes sense for the sort of buyer the Moto E is aimed at: it’ll likely survive an accidental dunk in the bath or sink.

You only get 4GB of internal memory with the Moto E, and this becomes a serious roadblock when trying to install some data-hungry. However, there is a memory card slot under the rear cover. Still, not all games simply let you install to SD. It’s one of the phone’s more irritating compromises, making the card slot more useful for storing music and video files than anything else.

Motorola Moto E – Screen

One of the main cutbacks of the Moto E is the screen. It’s a 4.3-inch 960 x 540 pixel display, a little smaller and significantly lower-res than the Moto G’s 4.5-inch 720p screen.

Those used to high resolution phones will notice the slightly more jaggedy edges of text characters, and a lack of fine detail in games.

Is it a big sacrifice for the sake of £20 or so? Yes, but the Moto E display can still go head-to-head with phones that cost upwards of £150. At £80 it's class-leading. Many far more expensive phones than the Moto E ‘make do’ with a similar 960 x 540 pixel screen.

These include the Sony Xperia M2 (4.8 inches), the HTC Desire 601 (4.7 inches) andLG G2 Mini (4.7 inches). All cost more than twice the price of the Motorola Moto E. It’s an eye-opener.

Image quality is good too. Colours are well-saturated among sub-£150 phones, contrast is good and viewed straight on black level is marginally better than the Moto G. Viewing angles are a bit weaker, though. There’s a bit of brightness loss at an angle, although we doubt many will try to share a screen this size anyway.

As much as there are compromises, once again Motorola has made the right choices with the Moto E display. Resolution is slightly limited but general image quality is well in excess of what we traditionally expect at the price. But, yes, the Moto G is better.

Xiaomi Redmi 1S Review

2014-09-05T10:35:00.000-07:00

PRICE

₹6,999

TECH2 RATING

YOUR RATING

COMPARE ITEM

HD display in a small package

By Nikhil Subramaniam / 02 Sep 2014 , 11:40:06

Xiaomi’s Redmi 1S comes with great expectations and it represents a big moment for the company’s India plans. The super affordable mid-range phone goes on sale tomorrow and is expected to outpace the Mi 3 in terms of selling out on Flipkart. With a price tag of Rs 5,999, it also promises to shake up this market segment which is reserved for the very basic smartphones. The Moto E changed that to a certain extent, but Xiaomi takes it a step beyond. Is it successful?

Design and build

The Redmi 1S is no lightweight in terms of specs or in terms of its weight. The smartphone feels a little too chunky in the hand and the heft is quite palpable. In comparison, the Mi 3 is much lighter and also is a better fit in the hands.

We got the dark grey version of the phone and the plastic on the back is only slightly glossy, but it picks up fingerprints easily. Fingerprint smudges were also a problem when it came to the front of the phone, which features three red capacitive buttons and the LED notification light placed under the home button.

8MP camera on the back

The back of the phone is removable and underneath a flashy orange battery grabs your eye. Above it are the two SIM slots and the microSD card slot. These can’t be properly accessed unless you pop the cover off. The power button and volume rocker are affixed to the case, so you will be changing them if you decide to pop another cover on.

The rear camera sits bang in the middle, with a flash underneath, while the single slit for the speaker grille is closer to the right edge. This position doesn’t really help as much of the time we found our hands muffling the sound.

We are not entirely happy with the type of plastic used on the Redmi 1S, but it does feel better than the Moto E’s material. In comparison to the Motorola phone, the Redmi 1S feels a little too chunky, but it does have an edge in terms of performance.

Red flair

Display and performance

This is the biggest disappointment when it comes to the Redmi 1S. Performance is sorely behind what we expected with that chipset on board. The Moto E with a dual-core processor feels a lot snappier in comparison to the Redmi 1S even though the latter is packing a quad-core 1.6GHz CPU.

Unlike on the Mi 3, MIUI on the Redmi 1S feels a lot more sluggish. It booted very fast and for the most part operation is trouble free, but the Redmi 1S is a terrible choice for those juggling too many apps. MIUI on this one just doesn’t feel fleet-footed enough to handle multi-tasking well. It must be noted that the drop in performance only happens when there are too many apps running. I found myself using MIUI’s kill-all-apps button more often than I wanted to; it was a bit like going back to Gingerbread.

Plastic construction, but no weakling

Of course it must be considered that most buyers of the Redmi 1S will not be pulling down too many apps. It is after all priced for the first-time buyers.

When it comes to the display too the phone is a let-down. At full brightness colours are perky, but turn it lower and the image turns insipid very quickly. It was quite finicky when used in sunlight too, jumping up and down in brightness quite erratically.

Camera

You will not find a better camera than this one at this price range and it really is spoiling users as earlier they would have had to shell out a lot more for such a camera. It’s not as fast as the Mi 3 camera, but more than adequate for casual shooting. Let’s face it you are not going to be doing any serious photography on the Redmi 1S. For other use cases such as Instagram and social networks, it’s more than enough. Here are some sample shots.

MIUI

Xiaomi has added a new Lite Mode to the Redmi 1S which makes things even more simpler than the standard MIUI interface. Lite Mode gives users access to large buttons on the home screen, with the most basic apps added as default and others packed away. Users can choose the ones to be displayed on the home screen. It doesn’t seem to have a notification drawer, which makes things very complicated if you have experienced Android, and it’s really very plain to look at. But we imagine it would be just what someone moving from a basic feature phone would want to see at first before exploring the world of smartphone apps and customisation.

MIUI runs the show

The Redmi 1S has all of the same MIUI features that we saw on the Mi 3, and many of the pre-installed apps can be uninstalled by the user without needing root. This is something we want more manufacturers to emulate. However, as we described above, MIUI on the Redmi 1S is not the most fluid experience.

Battery life

This one is a mixed bag. Not because the Redmi 1S has a terrible battery. It just takes too long to charge even when used with the supplied charging unit. It took over 3 hours for us to go from 10 to 100, but once it was fully charged, we could easily use the phone for over 14 hours on the single charge. This was with just one SIM card inserted, pulling down 3G data and with Wi-Fi on for most part.

Great battery life

While battery life is great, we can’t say the same for the heating issues of the phone. It gets quite hot even when you simply have multiple tabs open in Chrome or are chomping through the unread pile on Reddit. It’s mildly annoying but certainly not a cause for concern.

Verdict

There’s little doubt that Xiaomi another winner on its hands, but it needs a lot more polish on the performance side of things. In terms of appearance, we don’t have many complaints. We only wish the paint job had been slightly less glossy, but it’s a minor nit-pick.

It needs to roll out fixes for the Indian firmware in the weeks to come and improve the experience. We received a minor firmware update while using the phone, so the company is definitely making the changes required. Sluggish UI is not the best way to make an entry into the market, and the phone has enough firepower to actually utilise it better. In fact, with a dual-core processor the Moto E feels sprightlier. So yes, that’s a definite area for improvement.

Apple iPhone 5S review

2013-12-26T09:04:00.000-08:00

Pros

Touch ID works perfectly
Excellent performance
Great all-round camera
Very light and comfortable in one hand

Cons

Battery life could be better
4-inch screen too small for some
Extra storage cost

iPhone 5S reviewKey Features: 4-inch Retina display; Fingerprint unlocking; 8MP Camera; True-Tone LED flash; A7 Dual-core processor; Aluminium body

Manufacturer: Apple

Living with the iPhone 5S

Cutting straight to the chase the iPhone 5S is one of the best phones to be launched in the past year. Slick and fast, the iPhone 5S has a smart aluminium frame surrounding an excellent 4-inch screen. It’s a premium and solid, yet incredibly light, design.

I really enjoy holding it for long periods of time and have reverted back to reading books on my phone, something I haven’t done since using my diddy-screened iPhone 4 two years ago. Having a decent case helps matters and while I was initially dubious over Apple’s leather one I’ve grown accustomed to it. It does tend to patina quickly – something I like as I have a bit of a vintage leather fetish, but it won’t be to everyone’s taste.

Watch the iPhone 5S video review

What has surprised me most about the iPhone 5S is that I have not missed 5-inch phones one jot. In fact it’s been a bit of a relief stepping down in screen size as I commute a fair deal and often use phones with one hand. If I want a bigger screen, and have the space to use it, I pop out a tablet.

There’s not much point talking about the iPhone 5S’s performance here other than to say it’s very, very fast and extremely reliable. I’ve not experienced any issues with apps misbehaving other than the Pages app, which has since been fixed. Apple’s iOS certainly has its limitations but the fact that it just keeps working well is a godsend to those too busy to learn every little foible of their phone. I’ve not experienced the slow-down effects that tend to occur on Androids after lots of apps and updates have been installed - the iPhone 5S is rock solid.

iOS 7 is a wonderfully simple operating system and while quite a few complained about the new design I was delighted with it, as well as the added touches. While the ‘Today’ notification isn’t something I’ve taken to, the multitasking menu and the Control Centre are great and the lack of them was one of the reasons I picked Android over iOS in the past. The Control Centre is still missing a quick access button into settings which is particularly annoying when wanting to switch Wi-Fi networks. It’s the apps available on the app store that cinched it for me, though. As a mobile gamer the depth and breadth of titles is fantastic – Limbo, for example is a great little game that you can’t get anywhere else.

Cameras have become so important on mobiles that there are now some, like the Nokia Lumia 1020 and Samsung Galaxy Zoom, which are more camera than phone. I’ve found that the iPhone 5S’s camera to be very solid, but not as exceptional as some others. It is perfectly suited for snapping and reacts quickly, which is what I want from a phone camera, but there’s not as much detail as my 13 megapixel Galaxy S4 camera can muster. On the flip side the 5S’s camera works well in lower-lit conditions. The multi-tonal flash provides some far softer and more realistically lit shots in pubs and restaurants when compared to the harsh white light of most LED or Xenon flashes. The 120fps slo-mo video is also great. I wasn't that fussed when I first used it but it quickly makes videos looks more polished and special. Fantastic slow shots of my nephews and nieces jumping on a trampoline made me view it in a new light. The front camera also works well for video-chat as long as long as there's decent ambient light.

The iPhone 5S lacks a microSD card slot for memory expansion, but you can get it in 16/32/64GB versions. The catch is the extra storage is pricey – too pricey – each increment costs and extra £80 on the £549 base price. It all depends on your storage needs, but if you don’t carry a load of movies or music with you 16GB (of which 13.6GB is usable) should be adequate, but for many the 32GB model will be optimal and I haven’t managed to fill 32GB yet.

One of the most talked about features of the iPhone 5S, and my personal favourite, is Touch ID. This is a fingerprint scanner located in the home button of the phone that lets you unlock it without requiring a PIN or password. It works brilliantly and I already find it irritating to use any phone with a PIN or gesture lock now. It may be a luxury, but I’m in no doubt that this feature, or one very like it, will be in every phone will have in a few years. It just makes using your phone on the move so much easier.

After a few weeks of use I had a bit of an issue with call quality – essentially my voice appeared distant to the person on the other end. The issue resolved itself after a short while but it was irritating while it lasted. It was not isolated either, a quick hunt on the internet showed a few users had the same problem. As it's no longer a problem we can assume a software fix was applied.

In terms of stamina the iPhone 5S is good but not outstanding. If I use it sparingly I can get two full days of use without a charge, but when I play games for a few hours I need to recharge it overnight. The good thing about the battery is that it charges very quickly and is predictable – the 5S never suddenly drops a massive percentage of life while it’s been sitting in my pocket, something I’ve had a problem with other phones in the past.

On a day to day basis the iPhone 5S does everything I want it to do, and does the things I do most, better than any other phone I’ve used. It’s not gimmicky and other than the lack of widgets and customisations there’s not much I miss from using bigger phones. If, as expected, Apple does up the screen size in the iPhone 6 I’ll be interested to see whether I’ll enjoy the experience quite as much.

HTC One: To buy or not to buy?

2013-04-22T21:52:00.001-07:00

Spring is in the air, my friends -- and for those of us tempted by technology, that means it's time to start looking at the latest lust-worthy devices to see which wins our heart.

The most recent entry to the Android cathouse is the HTC One -- a sleek and stylish phone from the folks who brought us last year's outstanding One X and One S devices. HTC may not have the same brand recognition or advertising savvy as Samsung, but don't let corporate marketing shape your opinions: Just like the One X in 2012, the HTC One promises to be one of this year's most impressive smartphones -- whether mainstream shoppers realize it or not.

As I'm wont to do with newly released devices, I opened my arms to the One and embraced it, using it in place of my own personal phone and getting to know it intimately for several days. (And yeah -- you'd better believe there was some heavy petting involved.)

You can read my in-depth review for the full scope of my experiences and a detailed look at the phone's pros and cons. Here, I want to focus on some comparisons and think about how the HTC One fits into the broader Android ecosystem.

I've seen a lot of lazy superlatives used in evaluations of the One. Various sites have said it's "hands down the best Android phone around," "the most beautiful Android phone ever made," "the Android that could crush the iPhone," and -- yes -- even "the smartphone that changes everything" (seriously, guys?!).

I'm not going to insult you with those sorts of hollow and sensational statements. The truth is that the One is an extremely well-made phone with a lot of positive qualities. But as anyone who actually uses Android knows, the platform has an evolving array of first-class devices -- a group I like to call the Android elite -- and while it may not jibe with those who strive to write sexy-sounding headlines, there's rarely any single device that's categorically "the best" for everyone.

(Don't worry: Here in a few weeks, we'll be bombarded with stories telling us the Galaxy S4 is the only phone anyone should ever consider, too. These cycles get pretty predictable after a while.)

So let's look at this from a more nuanced and realistic perspective, shall we? The One is without question one of the best Android phones available today. It's beautifully constructed, with a striking aluminum build that looks and feels like a million bucks. It has a stellar display along with awesome speakers, top-notch performance and a camera that -- while certainly not perfect -- takes great-looking everyday shots and excels at low-light performance.

The One also, however, has a dated and problematic button configuration -- something that may sound trivial but plays a significant role in the user experience. Similarly, HTC falls into the common trap of trying to change the Android interface simply for the sake of change; the result, as generally happens in that scenario, is a UI that's messy and convoluted at times -- and a serious step down from Google's stock software.

In the big picture, of course, it's a balancing act -- and what really matters is what's important to you in a phone. So how do you know if the One is the one? I'd make the following suggestions:

Think about the build style -- the look and feel of a phone -- that you prefer. The One's aluminum build has a very high-end and premium vibe to it; frankly, it makes a plasticky device like Samsung's Galaxy S4 (which I'll be reviewing soon) look a little cheap in comparison.
The One's metal casing is also considerably less fragile than glass-centric phones like the LG-made Nexus 4, which -- while high-end and premium in design -- are more prone to scratches and cracks due to the nature of their material.

Give some thought to the battery. The One's battery is not removable -- a factor that won't matter to most folks but is important to a subset of users.
If you're concerned about the possibility of running out of power, other devices do have advantages: A phone like the Motorola Droid Razr Maxx, for instance, has a massive battery that's damn near impossible to kill in a day. And a phone like the Galaxy S4, by virtue of its aforementioned plastic construction, allows you to easily peel off a back panel to swap out the battery for a spare.

Of course, you could also just get a portable power pack to keep around as a backup. Such packs are available from a variety of manufacturers --Motorola, Mophie, and others -- and are a pretty simple Plan B that'll work with any device.

Mull over the notion of storage. The HTC One comes with either 32GB or 64GB of internal space and no SD card slot. For most users, that's going to be more than enough -- but some people do like having more space. Other devices, like the GS4 and Razr Maxx, offer SD card slots for external expansion.

Consider how much software means to you and what sort of experience you prefer. I maintain that Google's Nexus 4 provides the best overall user experience of any device on the market today, thanks to its pure Google Android software and guaranteed rapid upgrades to future Android versions(like the major release expected to be announced at Google's I/O developers' conference next month).
If having the latest and greatest software is important to you -- and, like most users, you aren't the type of person who's going to root a phone and install a custom-made ROM on your own -- Google's Nexus phones may be the path for you. Other devices have their own advantages, but fast and frequent upgrades aren't typically among them.

Lots to think about -- I know. But as I've said many a-time, having too many attractive choices is a fantastic kind of problem to face.

Ultimately, the best way to decide if a device is right for you is to get a feel for what it's actually like to use -- and that's where I can help. Living with a phone for several days tells you a lot.

A Mature Android Smartphone - The Sony Xperia Z Review

2013-04-22T21:36:00.000-07:00

Sony Xperia Z

Sony’s latest Android handset, announced at CES 2013 and reaching a number of markets during February this year, is an impressive continuation of Sony’s Android line of smartphones. While it is not the Android device to rule over all other Android devices, it shows a steady progression from Sony’s first Android handsets last year. The Japanese company know how to build up all the elements of a solid smartphone. While I might lack a spark that makes it special, it’s capable and dependable handset that I can recommend.

Naturally the recently announced Samsung Galaxy S4 sneaks ahead in the spec stakes, but that’s about the only phone that does. Compared to the other flagship handsets around the smartphone the world, the Xperia Z is in the top class with a 1.5 GHz Quad Core CPW, an Adreno 320 GPU, and 2 GB of Ram. Perhaps the sole memory option (at 16 GB) is a bit weak, but microSD cards are supported for extra storage.

At 5 inches on the diagonal the screen is a delight. Powered once more by Sony’s ‘Bravia Engine 2′ it is a sharp 1080p display that smashes through Apple’s definition of a retina screen with 440 pixels per inch. One sacrifice for that density might be in the viewing angle, with colours starting to fade at a relatively small amount of angle, although information does remain readable. It’s more than enough for one person to cope with on a jostling train or jogging down the street, but with the 5 inch HD screen you would expect to be sharing videos at some point in time.

The battery is sealed into the handset, and while it has a high capacity (2,400 mAh), the screen along with the 4G LTE radios will place a lot of demand on the power source. Thankfully Sony has worked on the software so that the handset can easily get through the day. This comes down to the ‘Stamina’ mode, which in essence is a strict guardian of power. If the phone’s screen is off, then background tasks are going to be suspended, data transmissions limited, and the phone will try to draw as little power as possible, on the assumption you’re not actually doing anything with the phone. Apps can be white-listed to ignore Stamina mode if required.

While it does nothing for the geekerati who tinkers every moment with their smartphone, the regular user is going to see a much longer ‘stand-by’ time on this handset. Android is still power hungry in use, but most of the time the Xperia Z will sit in a pocket, as still as a ninja. That’s how you get through a working day and a night of entertainment on one charge – more power used when active, less power used when dark.

Sony has carried on with a minimalistic style for their third post-SonyEricsson design. It’s nice to see that there is a certain language to a Sony Android device – they are very angular, straight edges, and as minimal as possible in terms of external hardware.

This is helped by Android’s switch to soft keys for the main Android interface buttons, which are now shown on the screen rather than as physical keys. There is a very subdued volume control on the side, but the only real break in the look is the power button – and Sony has stated that this almost ‘wristwatch-like’ button as the iconic identifying mark that will run through the line.

It also has the advantage that it sticks out just enough so that when you pick up the handset you immediately know which way the handset is orientated in your hand. That’s a very important physical clue, because the handset is literally sandwiched between two sheets of tempered glass taking up all of the front and the rear of the handset, which leads to me thinking the back of the screen is a second touchscreen, or at least a touchpad in the same way as the PS Vita has. Part of me wonders if Sony could squeeze a second screen on the back of the device if they ever decide to do a gee-whizz handset?

Not that there isn’t any gee-whizz on this handset. If you’ve seen the commercials, you’ll know that this is the ‘water resistant’ handset that can be dunked in water, dropped in a pint, be splashed over, and still work. Assuming that all the flaps on the device are closed securely. There’s handy warning to do this when you lift open a flap (say to put the micro USB charger cable in) but I’ll be honest, even with a review handset I’ve not felt brave enough to deliberately try this out. I trust Sony that it works, but I’m not ready to test that until there’s an accident. But I do make sure the covers are closed as much as possible.

Samsung Galaxy S4 preview: a bigger, faster upgrade to the world's most popular Android phone

2013-03-18T09:41:00.003-07:00

Samsung's Unpacked events are nothing if not spectacles, and tonight at Radio City Music Hall in New York City the company used the time to introduce its latest flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S4. The S4 succeeds the wildly popular Galaxy S III, and brings with it a litany of new features and tweaks — though at first glance, you might not even notice it's different.

The GS4 looks a lot like the Galaxy S III or the Galaxy Note 8. A lot. The phone’s nearly the same size as its predecessor, despite having a larger 5-inch, 1080p Super AMOLED screen that is the first of its kind in a smartphone. The GS4 is taller but thinner (just 7.9mm) than the GSIII, and is lighter as well. Samsung’s basic design ID hasn’t changed, which is unfortunate: the GS4 is plasticky and feels much cheaper than a device like theHTC One, though Samsung at least squared the edges slightly and added just enough texture that it doesn’t feel slick or slimy like the GS3 does. But from the colors – “white frost” and “black mist,” or just white and black if you’re a human — to the ports and buttons to the way it feels in your hand, Samsung hasn’t changed the way it thinks a phone should look.

Samsung’s consistently on the bleeding edge of smartphone horsepower, and that continues here: the Galaxy S4 is built to fly. It’ll be sold with either a Samsung Exynos 5 or Qualcomm ~~Snapdragon S4 Pro processor~~ (Update: Qualcomm let us know that contrary to what we'd heard, it's an even more powerful Snapdragon 600 chip), depending on region, and every model will come with 2GB of RAM, a big 2,600mAh battery, and 16, 32, or 64GB of storage (plus a microSD slot if you want to add more). The 5-inch display is the belle of the ball, of course, and it looks great — we don’t love the PenTile subpixel arrangement, but on such a high-res display it didn’t seem to cause any problems. Viewing angles are great, colors pop on the Super AMOLED display, and the bezels on the device have been slimmed to the point where the screen feels even larger and more immersive.

These are mostly small improvements, though, and in some ways the Galaxy S4 feels like an upgrade designed less for people who own the previous generation and more for those looking for a first smartphone, or upgrading from a two-year-old device. (Call it the Galaxy S IIIS.) One aspect did get a significant upgrade, though: the GS4’s new 13-megapixel rear-facing camera comes with both upgraded hardware and some new software flourishes. For starters, Samsung adopted some of the menus and options from the Galaxy Camera, like the on-screen mode dial and a few of the scene modes. The Eraser mode is one of our favorites: it takes a series of quick pictures, then automatically detects motion in the background and lets you seamlessly remove it. Goodbye, photo bombers.

SEE OUR FULL SAMSUNG GALAXY S4 GALLERY RIGHT HERE

In classic Samsung form, there are countless different ways to take a picture. DualShot lets you take a picture with both front and rear cameras at once, using pre-made templates that embed one within the other. Drama Shot takes a burst of shots and overlaps them — Samsung’s demo showed a guy jumping off a rock, and it had automatically layered every stage of his jump into one shot. Cinema Photo is probably the most fun, allowing you to take a series of shots, and pick one part of the photo to move while the others stay still; it’s basically Cinemagram for your GS4, and lets you make goofy GIFs in the time it takes to shoot five photos. The camera is fast and usable even while doing such complex things — it’s clear there’s processing power to spare on the GS4.

Software

The Galaxy S4 runs Android 4.2.2, for now the most current version of Google’s operating system, but Samsung spent most of its time touting what it's added on top of the OS. These features vary wildly, from the simple utility — S Translator, which translates messages and emails to and from any language — to what amounts to a complete re-imagining of how we use a smartphone. "Air Gestures" let you scroll through pictures or scroll a webpage by literally swiping with your hand, without touching the screen — you just sweep from left to right over top of the phone, and it responds. It looksridiculous, but it works. "Air View" gives your finger the power to hover over an email or date and see the information hidden behind, which previously only the Note and S Pen combination could handle. Those both work surprisingly well, though they’re certainly as much gimmick as game-changer. From our limited testing, "Smart Pause" and "Smart Scroll" skew more toward gimmick — they’re supposed to detect your eyes, and either pause your movie when you look away or scroll when you reach the bottom of a page, but neither worked much at all in our time with the GS4.

The most ambitious of Samsung’s new features is S Health, which Samsung has made vastly more powerful — it now amounts to Samsung putting a Fitbit or Jawbone Up into your phone. The GS4 has a pedometer built in, plus temperature and humidity sensors, which can automatically detect your surroundings and your exercise levels. You can input how much you eat and sleep, too, and get all the data you’d expect from an external device right on your phone. There’s even a companion wristband, the S Band, that syncs via Bluetooth to your phone for those moments you’re walking around without your phone in your pocket.

Somehow packed into the small phone along with all those sensors is an IR blaster, which pairs with Samsung's WatchOn app to serve as a combination universal remote and visual TV Guide — just point your phone at your TV. It's the same Peel-based system we've seen on a handful of Samsung tablets, and it makes perfect sense on a phone as well.

Samsung loves to talk about how its devices work together, and the newest feature for GS4 owners is Group Play — it lets you cue up a song or a picture, and quickly share it in sync with any other GS4 owner nearby. You can even use it to play local multiplayer games, so long as the app supports it; Asphalt 7 and Gun Bros 2 are the two launch partners, but other games should support the feature soon. NFC remains the key connection point, and unless all your friends buy GS4’s we’re betting Group Play is a better demo than it is a practical feature.

Befitting its global spectacle of a launch event, the Galaxy S4 is going to be available around the world, and Samsung’s continuing the scorched-earth strategy that worked so well with the GSIII. The device will be available on all four major US carriers, plus Cricket and US Cellular. It’ll be out in the second quarter of this year, and Samsung wouldn’t comment on price except to say it will have a "premium Samsung smartphone price."

At first blush, the Galaxy S4 doesn’t feel revolutionary, but given the continued success of its predecessor maybe a revolution wasn’t called for. It’s a faster phone with a better screen, a better camera, and some cool new software features, and for the company that’s nearly synonymous with the word "Android," that may be enough to ensure another huge success.

Micromax Canvas HD: The phone that CAN, now in HD

2013-02-19T10:01:00.000-08:00

New Delhi: Micromax’s new flagship phone, the A116 aka Canvas HD has been unleashed in Indian markets at a pretty price tag of Rs 13,990. The Canvas HD comes in as a direct successor to its major out-selling smartphone, the Micromax Canvas 2 A110.

The Canvas HD will be labelled under the ‘phablet’ category.

Reports have emerged that the Canvas HD is already selling fast like hot cake. Surprisingly, the phone which was launched on the midnight of February 14 exceeded bookings of 25 units per minute!

Micromax in a statement on Saturday declared that its newly released phone has already sold 9,000 units online in less than 24 hours of its debut.

The company has teamed up with Snapdeal.com for the sale of its A116 smartphone. Unluckily, the phablet is out of stock.

Smartphone aficionados have waited with bated breath for the release of the Canvas HD since the previous Canvas phone, too, remains readily unavailable in major stores and online retailers.

But before you convince yourself, and others, to get a crack at the Canvas HD, let’s take a look at some of the features that this new phablet carries:

Processor

The Canvas HD is powered by a 1.2 GHz quad-core MediaTek’s MT6589 Cortex-A7 processor, unlike the one on the A110 which sported a 1GHz Scorpion Adreno 200. Judging by the change in processor unit, from dual core to quad core, the new phone has all the capabilities to handle heavy apps and other operations.

Display

What Micromax has brought to the table is the advent of larger, more expansive screen estate. The screen size also accounts for the bulk of the interest generated in these phones as users are steadily shifting their attention to touchscreens and apps. The display on the Canvas HD is probably one of the major talking points about the phablet.

A massive 5.0-inch (12.7 cm) IPS LCD capacitive display with 1280×720 pixels and 294 ppi pixel density breaks free from the A110’s 5.0 TFT capacitive screen. While the Canvas had 480 x 854 pixels on its screen the 1280 x 720 pixels on the Canvas HD account for brighter, fluent and sharper features. Users can expect better viewing angles along with crisp image quality with little or no saturation.

Battery

With bigger screen sizes come bigger batteries, and having an HD screen on the phone results in major battery drainage. Android phones aren’t generally famed for their battery support; nevertheless, a bigger battery size is handy. The 2,000 mAh Li-Ion battery in the Canvas HD is capable of 5 hours of talk time while the stand by time is kept at 174 hours.

This isn’t a shift from the earlier battery on the A110 but a phone with an HD display demands better battery backup.

Operating System

The stock OS on the Canvas HD is Android Jelly Bean 4.1 and has a planned upgrade in the works to Jelly Bean 4.2. Many of Micromax’s phones come with the latest OS upgrade Google Android has to offer. The A110 Canvas 2 was no exception with its Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. The lucid and flowing interface of Jelly Bean 4.1 will be appreciated by new and old users while using the Canvas HD.

Storage

The Canvas HD has 4GB internal memory which is expandable up to 32GB. While both phones, the A110 and A116 have 4GB of internal storage the Canvas HD has twice the RAM its predecessor had. Lagging issues will be handled with the increase in RAM and functioning will become smoother and the phone more responsive.

With the release of Canvas HD, Micromax also plans to launch 30 smartphones this year as a part of its aggressive marketing strategy of increasing its smartphone inventory.

Micromax also unveiled the Bolt A35 on Valentine’s Day, the first phone in the Bolt series which has its own file transferring option called Flash Transfer’

Interestingly, the Canvas HD has found a competitor in the Xolo A1000 which was released on Friday. The two phones mirror each other very closely with the minor exception of the battery being bigger on the Xolo A1000.

With similar specs, one could expect that the two phones will be dancing around each other for weeks!

Micromax A116 Canvas HD selling 25 units per minute

2013-02-19T09:58:00.002-08:00

Micromax had recently launched its A116 Canvas HD smartphone. The smartphone was available for pre-booking from company's website and through the deal site snapdeal.com, and a total of 9,000 units were sold out in just 24 hours. As per company's claims this smartphone is being booked at a pace of 25 units per minute.

Shedding more light on the trend, Snapdeal.com has shared that the first lot of the A116 Canvas HD was sold out within 15 minutes of announcing the sale at midnight of 14 February 2013. The second lot which consisted of 300 units and was up for sale at 9:00 AM to was sold out within 15 minutes and the third lot of 1,200 phones took about 45 minutes to be sold out.

Just to recap, Micromax A116 Canvas HD come with 5-inch HD IPS screen that sports 1280x720 resolution and a colour depth of 16.7 million. Micromax A116 Canvas HD is powered by MediaTek's MT6589 quad-core processor that clocks 1.2GHz. It runs on Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) out of the box. It packs in a 2000mAh battery.

For camera, there is an 8-megapixel rear shooter with LED flash and 4X zoom and a VGA front camera. Other features of the smartphone include 1GB RAM and 4GB of internal storage, which can be expanded to up to 32GB via microSD card. It is a dual-SIM GSM + GSM smartphone.

Commenting on the sales, Shubhodip Pal, CMO Micromax, said, "The response from our consumers has been phenomenal and the demand has been increasing every passing minute. After the unprecedented success of the Canvas 2, we are overwhelmed with the customer response for Canvas HD. This is the first time our online sales partners have ever witnessed a digital queue in cyberspace to such an extent for any product, to the traditional cue one normally sees. The data also shows that 60% of the orders received online have come from the metros."

He further added, "It was great to witness consumers wait until 12:00am for their chance to book the Canvas HD on Valentine's Day. We expect the sales of this device to touch a new high in the coming weeks which will soon be available for sale at all leading retail stores in the country. We hope to further strengthen our leadership in the new phablet category in India."

Commenting on the sales Tony Navin, Vice President - Business Development, Snapdeal.com said, "This product, one of the most awaited launches exceeded our expectations by a huge margin. We took this live at midnight and we were completely surprised to see all 500 units which we expected to sell in the entire day sold out within 15 minutes of launch. Our call volume shot through the roof with enquiries and we have replenished inventory levels to cater to more sales. In a category such as Mobiles, this kind of pace of sales beats our previous records that we have witnessed. Our partnership with Micromax is now more than a year old and has been one of the most exciting journeys for both the parties. We look forward to such meaningful associations in the future as well".

Micromax has shared that they are now looking at replenishing the stock at the earliest but did not mention the exact availability date for the same.

Samsung Ativ S review

2013-02-19T09:44:00.007-08:00

If I asked you to name a manufacturer of Windows Phone-based handsets it is very likely that you’d come up with Nokia. The company has plenty of models available, and it has worked hard in its partnership with Microsoft to offer some good software add-ons that help its brand stand out.

But of course others are producing Windows Phone handsets too, and Samsung has just joined them. Samsung is rather late to the Windows Phone 8 party, but that doesn’t stop the Ativ S being a smashing phone with a lot going for it. The absence of LTE support is irritating, but there’s a lot more here that’s very nice.

The Ativ S is a big phone – the largest of any to run Windows Phone 8, in fact. The Super AMOLED screen measures 4.8in thereby just about beating Nokia’s 4.5in Lumia 920, and it houses 1,280 x 720 pixels. It’s the same screen found in the Galaxy S3, in fact, and it is obvious why Samsung has chosen to resurrect it here – it’s a pleasure to work with. If anything, Super AMOLED works better with Windows Phone than Android because the big blocks of colour that make up the tile-based interface respond much better than the Android interface to the bright sharp rendering on offer. Video looks great too and, well, you get the idea.

Having mentioned the Galaxy S3 I should continue with the comparisons. Some might say the Ativ S is a very similar looking phone, but in fact it isn’t. It is similar in size, sure, and Samsung has opted for a physical Windows button that takes you to the Start Screen just as it opts for a Home button on the Galaxy S3. Here the flanking touch buttons are back and search, incidentally. The reflective Windows Phone symbol on the physical button looks a little cheap and cheerful for my taste, and sadly it is not backlit. It’s an odd aberration, and a very visible one, in what is otherwise a pretty stylish physical design.

The backplate is very thin and flimsy, but the fake metal finish to the plastic material looks great. The grill towards the bottom of the back covers the speaker, which in turn produces audio that's too heavy on the treble for my taste and tends to distort at top volume. This grill also has a fake metal finish.

The fake metal concept extends to a long plate at the bottom of the back that melds into the edging. This has been given a chrome-like makeover and it's the only part of the metal lie that doesn’t quite work. Plastic with a chrome finish just never seems convincing.

The chassis has a has squarer and blockier appearance than that of the Galaxy S3, though the overall dimensions of the two handsets are remarkably similar – the Ativ S measures 137.2 x 70.52 x 8.7mm, while the Galaxy S3 is almost identical at 136.6 x 70.6 x 8.6mm.

Button and connector placement is completely unremarkable. The headset slot is on the top edge, micro-USB on the bottom. A smallish volume rocker is on the left, main power and camera shortcut on the right. Under the backplate there’s a slot for your microSIM and another for microSD, both of which can be got at without the need to remove the battery.

You get 16GB of built in storage, and that microSD card slot lets you add up to 32GB more, so there are none of those old issues about being unable to expand Windows Phone storage here.

Samsung has used a 2,300mAh battery in the Ativ S, and it did a pretty good job of keeping the phone alive. Placing it under an average (for me) burden that included some web browsing, email syncing, calls and even a little gaming, it saw me through a working day. If you are a heavy user, or listen to music on the commute, you’ll probably need to find mains power during the day.

The 8-megapixel main camera benefits from a flash, and I found photos to be perfectly acceptable in terms of both colour depth and quality. However, I still carry a dedicated camera most of the time and use a cameraphone for tweetable photos and the like rather than anything I want to keep long term. There is a 1.2-megapixel front camera, too, for those interested in video-calling or taking pictures of themselves.

The dual-core Qualcomm processor, which is supported by 1GB of RAM, might sound behind the times when compared to the quad-core processors that support top-grade Android handsets, but I had no complaints about the responsiveness or speed of the Ativ S. In both cases, it performed well and did not let me down. As befits a high-end handset these days NFC is built in. It’s a pity, though, that there’s no LTE support.

I’ve said before that if you want software extras to lift the standard out-of-the-box Windows Phone 8 experience, then Nokia’s Lumia range is probably where you should be looking. Samsung has not changed my view with the bundle it supplies on the Ativ S. Yes, there are some extras here, but nothing that’s a deal-maker, I'm afraid.

You get Samsung Now, which is just an aggregator for weather, news (from Yahoo! News), stocks (from Yahoo! Finance), currency conversion, and an odd Top Tweets service that delivers tweets from several countries including France, Germany and Italy, but not the UK.

Live Wallpaper is a fairly nice app that lets you choose up to 12 photos for the lock screen. I rather like this one as it helps you personalise things and get away from Windows Phone 8’s otherwise samey look across handsets. It is really easy to use which means you might be encouraged to change photo sets regularly.

MiniDiary lets you gather information in one place and can accommodate notes, photos and voice recordings. Personally, I’d install Evernote instead. Music Hub gives you some music related extras and is built around a store. Photo Editor will for some be the star of the show as it gives you a range of useful image editing facilities.

Samsung has also taken the opportunity to pre-install ChatON, its IM application. It does the job well enough but your contacts will also need to be on ChatON for you to take advantage of it. The same goes for Family Story, an app designed for sharing photos, notes and events with owners of other Samsung devices. You need a (free) Samsung account to use it.

To be honest, the pre-installed apps won't draw you to the Ativ S. The good battery life, nice design and plentiful (and expandable memory) are the key features in that respect.

Verdict

At the time of writing this, Samsung’s Ativ S is the Windows Phone 8 handset with the largest screen, and the screen is bright, clear and a real eye-catcher. Slick operation under the fingers, NFC, plenty of memory and a generally stylish physical design are all additional points in its favour.

Specifications

Manufacturer and model	Samsung Ativ S
Network	GSM 850/900/1800/1900 HSDPA 850/900/1900/2100
Processor	Qualcomm 1.5GHz dual-core
RAM	1GB
Built-in memory/memory expansion	16GB or 32GB/microSD
Display	4.8in, 1,280 x 720 pixels
Main camera	8-megapixel
Front camera	1.2-megapixel
Wi-Fi	Yes
GPS	Yes
FM radio	No
Battery	2,300mAh
Size	137.2 x 70.52 x 8.7mm
Weight	135g
OS	Windows Phone 8

Samsung to drive growth of new Tizen OS in 2013

2013-02-19T09:31:00.001-08:00

Call it a hedge. According to Businessweek, Samsung has said that it will bring out "new, competitive" phones based on the Tizen OS this year, giving the world's largest mobile-phone maker a modern, in-house alternative to operating systems controlled by Google and Microsoft.

Samsung's declined to confirm the Businessweek story, but it's perfectly plausible, and I suspect the response I got came because it's the middle of the night in Seoul and they can't get anyone at headquarters to respond right now.

Samsung is a smartphone giant, but it's mostly dependent on others for its mobile platforms. The company makes dozens of different models powered by Google's Android, including its successful Galaxy S line. Samsung also built a range of Windows Phone 7 devices, before turning lukewarm on Windows Phone 8 with a single phone (the Ativ S/Ativ Odyssey).

But the company understands that you're vulnerable if you're entirely dependent on others. So, a while ago, Samsung developed bada, a quasi-smartphone OS that found some success. In the third quarter of 2012, bada had a 3 per cent global market share, beating Symbian and Windows Phone, according to Gartner.

The bada effort merged into Tizen, which had already swept up a bunch of other Linux-based OS efforts including Nokia's Maemo and Intel's Moblin (which together became MeeGo) as well as the Linux Foundation's LiMo.

Samsung's support for Tizen puts the OS leagues ahead of other new mobile OS projects such as Firefox OS, the brand-new Ubuntu for Phones and Jolla's Sailfish OS, none of which are available on any current devices. We've heard previously about a ZTE Firefox phone and a Jolla phone coming in 2013, but Firefox isn't so far a core OS for ZTE, and Jolla is tiny.

Still, Tizen's partners have made promises they haven't delivered upon. At CES last year, Intel said it would "move a lot faster" and that Tizen tablets might appear in 2012. That didn't happened.

On 31 December, 2012, the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper said Samsung's Tizen phones would come to Japan's largest wireless carrier, NTT DoCoMo. There's been no word yet on Tizen's future plans for the UK - its 2012 bada phones made it to the UK, with the Wave Y is available on PAYG from Phones 4u, so we'll assume we're in the picture until we hear otherwise.

Samsung also hasn't given any details on the timing or specific models of upcoming Tizen phones.

Samsung Galaxy Note 800 (Note 10.1) launched in India for Rs. 39,990

2012-08-27T12:50:00.001-07:00

Samsung has launched the Galaxy Note 800 (Note 10.1) in India. The pre-booking for the 10-inch tabletstarted on the Samsung eStore last week. It packs in a 10.1-inch WXGA (1280 x 800 pixel) TFT display, 1.4 GHz quad-core processor and runs on Android 4.0(Ice Cream Sandwich). It has 5MP Auto Focus rear Camera with LED Flash and 1.9MP front camera.

It has S Pen input and apps such as S Note, S Planner, Adobe Photoshop Touch. It also includes unique features such as Smart Stay, Pop Up Play, AllShare Play and AllShare Group Cast that were present in the Galaxy S3. It also comes with My Education app for school students that offers over 10000 innovative and interactive free videos for students from class 1 to 12. This app also has assessment papers with test on real time basis, test results, admission dates directory of schools and colleges.

The connectivity features include, 3G (HSPA＋ 21Mbps), Bluetooth v 4.0, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n (2.4 & 5 GHz). It has 2GB RAM, 16GB internal memory, microSD (up to 32GB) and 7,000mAh battery.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 800 priced at Rs. 39,990 and is available across India.

Micromax A90 Superphone Pixel review

2012-08-27T12:49:00.001-07:00

Micromax is well known for their low end budget hardware but they’ve also had a fair few innovative products over the years. Striking the right balance between performance and price is hard but it seems that the indigenous company might finally be on the right track.

We got our hands on the newly launched Micromax Superphone Pixel and put it through its paces. Read on to find out how this ICS running device fared.

Hardware

There’s absolutely no doubt that Micromax has learnt from consumer feedback. The hardware quality leaves little to complain about. The design of the phone is very reminiscent of the Samsung Galaxy S2 right down to the patterned back. The front of the phone is refreshingly clean with nothing to distract from the screen.

Micromax has gone in with an all touch design with onscreen buttons replacing the capacitive controls generally found below the display. The panel is covered with a Gorilla Glass display which should offer some manner of protection from scratches.

On the right we have a power key which works to switch off the display. On the left is the volume rocker key. Over all the phone has a very clean design with few buttons and distractions. The lack of a camera key was a bummer.

Coming to the screen, the Super AMOLED display is absolutely stunning. Resolution is WVGA which feels sufficient given the size and price point though we wouldn’t mind a qHD panel. The display is perfectly visible under sunlight and maximum brightness reaches eye searing levels.

The back of the phone houses an 8MP camera with LED flash. Overall, the design of the phone doesn’t leave much to be desired. One of the better looking and feeling mid range devices out there and more so at the enticing price point.

Performance

The chipset here is a MediaTek MT675 combined with a PowerVR SGX 531 GPU. A potent combination, Android 4.0 runs like a charm on it with no lags whatsoever. RAM is 512MB which might be a bit low for all the power users but is generally enough for day to day usage.

As indicated by the Quadrant scores, the A90 (2370) comes close to and in some cases even beats higher range devices like the Sony Xperia U (2248).

With a score of 3950 in Antutu, the A90 has decent scores for its class of devices. The dual core Xperia U fares much better here.

A score of 2900 in Sunspider Javascript is not bad at all for a device of its class. The dual core Xperia U scores marginally better at 2435 but in real life usage, the difference was minimal. Synthetic benchmarks tell only half the tale. In terms of usability, there is no reason to be concerned as the phone remains speedy even under fairly heavy usage.

Software

Software wise there isn’t much to say. The A90 is running stock Android 4.0 ie Ice Cream Sandwich with the only customizations being a few custom icons.

Micromax has also bundled in a few apps but most of them turn out to be useful ones like Whatsapp instead of bloatware. Given that the phone comes pre rooted, it shouldn’t be too hard for a user to remove these manufacturer installed apps. We really wish more manufacturers would go down this route instead of providing customers a sub par experience. We’re looking at you, Touchwiz !

Multimedia

The inbuilt storage on the Micromax A90 is 4GB of which about 2GB is available. Memory can be extended by 32GB via the microSD slot. The smartphone supports the usual mp4, mkv and avi file formats for video playback. The MediaTek MT6575 chipset supports video playback up to 720p.

Camera

The camera on the Micromax A90 is an 8MP unit which takes remarkably good stills in sufficient light. Low light performance predictably suffers with a fair amount of noise and visible banding.

Day light images are crisp and noise free for the most part. Auto focus is very quick as long as conditions are ideal.

Battery Life

For a 1600 mAh battery, you won’t expect battery life to be anything out of the ordinary. You’re in for a pleasant surprise ! The phone keeps going on and on. Between the optimized software, low power processor and fairly large battery, the A90 is able to squeeze in over a day of usage. Even after heavy usage, the phone always had battery life left over to use the next day in our tests.

Video Overview

You can check out a quick video demo of the phone below.

Conclusion

The Micromax brand name is still associated with low end cheap phones and this legacy baggage might hold back what is otherwise an excellent product. With the perfect mix of good performance, brilliant display and fantastic pricing, it is hard not to recommend the A90.

We loved the display and the fact that the phone comes with stock Ice Cream Sandwich. Additional RAM is one area where we believe Micromax could have worked on. We would wholeheartedly recommend this phone to anyone looking for a good Android experience on a budget.

Pros

1. Fantastic display

2. Stock Android 4.0

3. Smooth performance

4. Great battery life

Cons

1. Update to Jelly Bean unlikely

2. 512MB RAM may be limiting for power users

Voice Search arrives in 13 new languages

2012-08-27T12:46:00.002-07:00

Norwegian restaurants in New York City.” I can type that phrase fast, but I can say it even faster—and when I’m on the go, speed is what I’m looking for. With Voice Search, you can speak into your phone to get search results quickly and easily. Voice Search is already available in 29 languages, and today, we're bringing support to 13 new languages for Android users—bringing the total to 42 languages and accents in 46 countries. In fact, 100 million new speakers can use Voice Search now, with the addition of:

Basque
Bulgarian
Catalan
European Portuguese
Finnish
Galician
Hungarian

Icelandic
Norwegian
Romanian
Serbian
Slovak
Swedish

Each new language usually requires that we initially collect hundreds of thousands of utterances from volunteers and, although we’ve been working on speech recognition for several years, adding these new languages led our engineers and scientists to tackle some unique challenges. While languages like Romanian follow predictable pronunciation rules, others, like Swedish, required that we recruit native speakers to provide us with the pronunciations for thousands of words. Our scientists then built a machine learning system based on that data to predict how all other Swedish words would be pronounced.

This update has already started to roll out, and will continue to do so over the course of the next week. How you get started with Google Voice Search depends on what kind of phone you have. If your phone runs Android 2.2 or later, and you see the microphone icon on the Google Search widget on your homescreen, all you have to do is tap the icon to start a voice-powered search. Otherwise, you can install theVoice Search app from Google Play . Note that you can only speak one language into the app at a time, and you may need to change your language settings to use one of these new languages.

As with other languages we’ve added, one of the major benefits to Google’s cloud-based model is that the more people use Voice Search, the more accurate it becomes.

Review: Dell Venue Pro

2012-08-27T12:43:00.000-07:00

Review: Dell Venue Pro

Pradeep 'Shifty Rat' Menon, Sep 05, 2011 1712 hrs IST

What you'd get if Apple and Microsoft had an illicit affair.

Stylish; Impressive screen.

Heavy; Low quality camera; Multiple interface issues.

Check specifications

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Expert Rating :

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Dell Venue Pro
MRP: Rs 35,000
Street Price: Rs 24,000 (Flipkart.com)

What's peculiar about technology is the ever-accelerating speed at which it seems to evolve. Pretty soon we'll have intergalactic space travel, teleporting Subway sammiches, and iPhone releases every other day. Consider the phones we use, for example. I don't know how old the average TechTree reader is (12?), but I remember an age when mobile phones didn't have a colour display. Phones could just make calls and send messages, and that was a pretty big deal by itself.

Phones evolved, and now we can do some pretty crazy stuff with them. You can take 360-degree pictures, automatically scan and save visiting cards, point your camera at the sky and see stellar constellations, and even use your phone as an internet router. The Dell Venue Pro is among the newest phones out there, and I was curious about what new features I'd find on it. I had last used a Windows Phone a few years ago and I wanted to see how it would hold up against the Androids and iOSes.

The Package
The package, eh? The package from the guy who sent it to us was: the phone and its charger in a plastic bag. I definitely hope this isn't how regular customers get the phone - I'd be pretty mad if a salesman tossed a phone worth 35 grand into a plastic bag and threw in a charger as an afterthought. Anyway, it seems the package should contain earphones and a little leaflet (probably to reassure you about your impulsive buy).

You can polish a turd.

The phone is a beauty. It's large, sleek, and looks bloody expensive. It's a tad heavy and a bit unwieldy, but then we live in a world where people are dumb enough to walk around with iPads, so this is no biggie. The Venue Pro features a slide-out keypad bearing keys so tiny that you can only type with a safety pin. I didn't bother using the keyboard during the test period because, you know, I have fingers.

On to the tech specs: the phone runs on a 1 GHz (Scorpion Core) Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, and has anAdreno 200 GPU thrown in for graphics muscle. It has 512 MB of RAM and 8 GB of onboard storage space, but you can't add memory cards for additional space. Probably because Dell thinks you shouldn't be carrying more than 8 GB of data anyway. The most impressive thing about this phone is its display: a 4.1" AMOLED Gorilla Glass screen. It's unbelievably responsive and a delight to use, thanks to its clarity and rich colours.

The Dell Venue Pro's screen.

Alright, so the phone looks great. In fact, I used it for two whole weeks and almost everyone who saw the phone had to ask about it. Of course, I claimed it was mine, because there's no way in hell I'd admit to being a TechTree employee. This thing is a fine chick magnet, my lonely friends! Those swanky colours, the fade-in and fade-out menus, the techno ringtones, and the click-clack of the slide out keyboard is audio-visual foreplay for the dumb and pretty women around me. I had to play dumb to bond with them but hey, I added 10 new contacts to this phone. It's like the one app that I can never find on iTunes - iAttract.

Day 2 Of Phone Usage
The first day was a dream. The next was like the day after your wedding - reality hits home. It started when I decided to configure my phone service provider's internet settings. Simple enough. Hmm, go to Settings, then go to... ok, Phone? Oops, no. Umm, Network? Dammit. Mail? Internet Explorer?! Messaging?! MUSIC AND VIDEOS?!CALCULATOR!!!!!!!!!!

Revolution now means reverse evolution.

This couldn't be happening. My swish phone wouldn't allow me to tweak \ control \ access my network settings! The max I could do was swipe twice to disable 3G. I tried Wi-Fi next, and surprisingly, I could get on my WAN network. I was about to use Internet Explorer after many, many years - I was cornered. I had to do this. I poked the screen.

404 error.

I screamed, dropped the phone, and fell on the ground, rolling all over the dirty TechTree floor in agony. I wailed and kicked around and punched the furniture around me. I had a long tantrum, after which I took the rest of the day off and went home. This wasn't right - Microsoft would pay. I sat under a dim lamp in a corner of my room as I sulked and swore to avenge my pain.

However, I had to know my enemy well to defeat him. I returned a much stronger man to where I had dropped the Venue Pro and picked it up. No one steals a phone when they see a 404: Page Not Found error - it's the law of the jungle. I tried every possible thing to access the internet, but nothing worked. For a few minutes, I managed to accessGoogle.com, but the rest of the time was 404 Happy Hours. Buy one, get one free.

He started it.

Meh. I decided to move on. I decided to personalize my phone at this point. Apparently I had to create a Windows Live IDfor a "wholesome" experience. So be it. At this point, it magically connected and let me finish registration. Then some random messages warning me to wait or die appeared. I looked away.

As I sat there clueless about what was going on, it demanded that I update my Facebook app. Glad that I had not been physically assaulted by the phone yet, I quickly clicked Yes. It did a few swanky things and soon I was on my Facebook page. You know how Facebook looks tacky on all mobile apps? Well, Windows just took it to another level. All I could do was see my homepage, my profile page and update my status, without my privacy settings.

Here's the best part. All your FB contacts are automatically added to your contacts list. People I'd never seen or met before were on my phone list. I had to scroll for a few hours just to call my mom to inform her that I was dying of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. You can't even have your favourite numbers at the top. Pretty soon I was just staring at the phone with my mouth open. To finally remove all the Facebook contacts, I had to reset the phone. No lies.

I gotta finish this. I spent the rest of the day running through everything, and found that there were a billion things you could not do. You know how you can add pictures to a contact? Well, you can't do that here. Hell, you can't even add a ringtone to any contact. Even worse, you can't set some favourite song as a ringtone. Wow. Just wow.

I found myself calling the wrong people often. This was because when you clicked a name, it would show the number in a large font and the contact name in tiny letters on the upper left corner. I even called people I'd never met before! You know how awkward it is when you call a Facebook contact you've never met in person?! It's downright creepy, Microsoft!

Hey, remember me?! From Facebook?

The Pictures section was again slick, but that's where it ended. It was as if the coding team was on vacation and they made the designers finish and launch the OS. The only options the Pictures menu allows is Set As Wallpaper, Delete,or Cancel. Hey, what about all the other things I want to do? Like email it, edit it, move it to another album, or mark all?

Camera
The camera was a lot of fun. Not because of awesome pictures, but because we had a game where anyone who took a non-blurry picture would win 500 bucks. Nobody won. The camera runs on two modes: Off and Parkinson's. In the light of day, the camera works decently. But walk into a room, or try to take a picture any time after 6 pm, and all you get is a blur. The awesome screen just amplifies the camera's shortcomings.

That's AWESOME!! What is it?

Music And VideosA-ha, the best part. When I plugged the Venue Pro into my computer for the first time, nothing happened. My computer and I just sat there, staring at each other. Since the guy who sent us the phone didn't send a driver disc, I had no clue what software came with the Venue Pro. I Googled for "dell venue manager" and got nothing. After a few minutes of reading angry reviews, I found it. Turned out I had to use Zune to move stuff to the phone. I don't like it, but I persevered.

The Zune download went like this: first, it made me download the installer. Once it was installed, it said there were new "software updates", and made me download those too (why not just update the installer file, you jackasses?) and then, they made me download phone updates. I played along. Zune finally powered up - after flashing the intro screen for about two minutes. All this on a computer that could simultaneously and single-handedly launch 20 rockets into space.

If you thought iTunes sucks, you've got to see the Zune. You'll never utter a word about iTunes being inflexible again. It's like someone has a warm shotgun barrel against your nuts. It's their way or no way. Zune forced me to add all the songs on my computer and convert my videos, and all my private pictures. I was terrified because I figured my phone would automatically upload everything to Facebook too. It felt like the Great Robot Takeover that I had feared all my life. The way Zune takes over your computer is just tyrannical. I imagine this is what a cavity check at Chennai airport feels like.

Bitches need lurvv too.

After taking a few hours to add songs, I tried the music player. It was alright; but after what I'd gone through, anything would sound good. Kinda like the 50 bucks the warden gives you when they let you out of prison. I had no complaints and quietly moved on.

I had had enough of this phone, at this point. I didn't care about that stupid mobile version of Office, or Outlook, or theCalendar, or that ridiculous search function on the homepage. Oh yeah, what the hell is up with that? Do you think the first thing I think of when I look at my phone is, "I gotta run a Bing search"? Jeez.

I don't know about this new direction the phone makers have taken. You've got to get into the philosophy of a phone. What is a phone? What are you going to use it for? I get that they want to reduce confusion for the technologically-challenged customers, but they have to draw the line somewhere. Apple was the primary retard, but even it looks sane in comparison. It takes an idiot to go astray, but it takes an even bigger idiot to follow him. The whole "we will decide what to give you" attitude is absolute crap. I used to hate my Symbian phone before I used the Dell Venue Pro, but now I realize that at the very least, there's a filesystem on my phone. I can do a bunch of things with my stuff. Sure, the newer phones have many new utilities \ apps, but all the old and very essential functions are gone.

This is what happens when style replaces common sense. Seriously, I wonder what Microsoft's focus group was like: were they talking to high-schoolers? I can't imagine any adult using this phone. Ever. And I'm also curious about why they named this Windows, because there is absolutely no connection between the computer OS and this piece of shit. The only Windows this thing needs is one that you can throw it out of.

VerdictThis phone has layers. Multiple layers of fail, that is.

Yes, you can make calls. After 10 minutes of going through contacts.
Yes, you can send messages. Unless you accidentally hit the Search button and lose everything you typed, because the phone does not save drafts.
Yes, it will give you more friends. But none that read TechTree.

Features: 1/5
Design And Build Quality: 3/5
Performance: 1/5
Value For Money: 1/5
Mojo: 1/5

Overall Rating: 2/5

AICTE to launch academic networking website and job portal

2012-04-26T02:14:00.002-07:00

The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has planned to launch an academic networking website along with an in-house job portal and a repository of doctorate papers to check duplication and cheating. The academic networking site proposes to interconnect 7.5 million students enrolled across AICTE-approved institutions linked through email IDs.

The AICTE is also readying Project Factory, a repository aimed at capturing abstracts of all post graduate projects in an online bank. These abstracts of research work will be available to industry stakeholders and research labs so that those interested can easily contact the student concerned and take it forward.

The AICTE e-governance project envisages an employment portal that proposes to store every student’s semester-wise results online and link it with his CV. This CV will automatically be forwarded to industry HRD heads whenever there is a vacancy suited to the student. This central database will link up with an industry database of 8,000 stakeholders and help facilitate the placement process.

AICTE had also recently deployed Microsoft Corporation’s Live@edu in more than 10,000 technical colleges and institutes throughout India. The project will be implemented over the period of next three months. Live@edu is a hosted communication and collaboration service that offers email, Microsoft Office Web Apps, instant messaging and storage to AICTE’s more than 7 million students and nearly 500,000 faculty members, for a total reach of 7.5 million users.

Google launches Google Drive; upgrades Gmail to 10 GB for all users

2012-04-26T02:12:00.002-07:00

Google has launched Google Drive, a cloud storage service where users can upload and access all of their files, including videos, photos, Google Docs, PDFs and beyond. The service is offering new users 5GB of storage for free with upgrades starting at 25GB for $2.49/month, 100GB for $4.99/month or even 1TB for $49.99/month. Google also increased the free storage in Gmail from the existing 7.5 GB to 10 GB to all users.

“Drive is built to work seamlessly with your overall Google experience. You can attach photos from Drive to posts in Google+, and soon you’ll be able to attach stuff from Drive directly to emails in Gmail. Drive is also an open platform, so we’re working with many third-party developers so you can do things like send faxes, edit videos and create website mockups directly from Drive. To install these apps, visit the Chrome Web Store—and look out for even more useful apps in the future,” Sundar Pichai, SVP, Chrome and Apps, Google has said in a blogpost.

Nokia 808 coming soon with 41megapixel camera

2012-04-25T08:02:00.000-07:00

Also known as Nokia 808 PureView RM-807

General	2G Network	GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
	3G Network	HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1700 / 1900 / 2100
	Announced	2012, February
	Status	Coming soon. Exp. release 2012, May

Body	Dimensions	123.9 x 60.2 x 13.9 mm, 95.5 cc
Body	Weight	169 g

Display	Type	AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
	Size	360 x 640 pixels, 4.0 inches (~184 ppi pixel density)
	Multitouch	Yes
	Protection	Corning Gorilla Glass
		- Nokia ClearBlack display

Sound	Alert types	Vibration; MP3, WAV ringtones
	Loudspeaker	Yes
	3.5mm jack	Yes
		- Dolby Digital Plus - Dolby headphone enhancement

Memory	Card slot	microSD, up to 32 GB
Memory	Internal	16 GB storage, 1 GB ROM, 512 MB RAM

Data	GPRS	Class 33
	EDGE	Class 33
	Speed	HSDPA 14.4 Mbps, HSUPA 5.76 Mbps
	WLAN	Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, DLNA, UPnP technology
	Bluetooth	Yes, v3.0 with A2DP
	NFC	Yes
	USB	Yes, microUSB v2.0, USB On-the-go support

Camera	Primary	41 MP (38 MP effective, 7152 x 5368 pixels), Carl Zeiss optics, autofocus, Xenon flash
	Features	1/1.2'' sensor size, ND filter, up to 4x lossless digital zoom, geo-tagging, face detection
	Video	Yes, 1080p@30fps, lossless digital zoom, LED light
	Secondary	Yes, VGA; VGA@30fps video recording

Features	OS	Nokia Belle OS
	CPU	1.3 GHz ARM 11
	Sensors	Accelerometer, proximity, compass
	Messaging	SMS (threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Email, IM
	Browser	HTML5, Adobe Flash Lite
	Radio	Stereo FM radio with RDS; FM transmitter
	GPS	Yes, with A-GPS support
	Java	Yes, MIDP 2.1
	Colors	Black, White, Red
		- SNS integration - Active noise cancellation with a dedicated mic - HDMI port - MP3/WMA/WAV/eAAC+ player - MP4/H.264/H.263/WMV player - Voice command/dial - Document viewer - Video/photo editor - Predictive text input

Battery		Standard battery, Li-Ion 1400 mAh (BV-4D)
	Stand-by	Up to 465 h (2G) / Up to 540 h (3G)
	Talk time	Up to 11 h (2G) / Up to 6 h 50 min (3G)

Intel Inside Lava: Desperate Intel or a Lava Coup?

2012-04-23T12:14:00.000-07:00

We don't understand why Intel tied up with Lava but we can certainly hazard a couple of guesses.

It signifies Intel’s first big step into the world of smartphones, hitherto a monopoly of ARM.

The immediate response is always the same.

“What?!” Some people think. Some choose to shake their heads in disbelief and others laugh thinking it’s a joke. But then when it’s stressed that it’s not a joke, the response is always the same.

“What was Intel thinking?”

I am, of course, talking about the recent revelation that the giants of the processor world would be making their grand entrance into the arena of smartphones inside the chassis of one manufactured by Lava. No wonder the initial response is the same.

For the uninitiated, here’s a rundown: On April 18th strong rumors emerged that the Lava Xolo X900 would be the first smartphone in the world to be powered by an Intel mobile processor. On the 19th, Lava and Intel collaborated on a launch event in Delhi where they revealed that, indeed, the rumors were true.

So, why is this, such a big deal?

Because Intel’s first processor for mobiles (codenamed: Medfield) has been a big deal for over two years ever since news about it was leaked back in 2010. For a market that solely relies on ARM architecture processors (manufactured by the Qualcomms and the Texas Instruments of the world), the entry of x86 processors has the potential of really shaking things up. It signifies Intel’s first big step into the world of smartphones, hitherto a monopoly of ARM.

Lava, on the other hand, is a mobile phone manufacturer of little renown. It is one of a bunch (that includes others such as Karbonn, Micromax, and Zen) that is popular because it sells very low-end phones for the budget market. Its portfolio doesn’t speak very highly of its prowess at making smartphones. In fact, right now the only Lava smartphone I could find in the market was the S12, sporting a 600MHz processor running Android 2.2.

So, you can understand why Intel’s decision to enter into a partnership with Lava has left many bewildered.

For this to make any sense, there could be three reasons why Intel made this staggeringly confounding move:

1. Lava was willing to let Intel have complete control over the way the Xolo X900 was designed, manufactured and maybe even marketed. If Intel had gone with a Samsung or an HTC or a Motorola, it would definitely not have had as much say over how the device would turn out as those manufacturers have clout in the market. Lava doesn’t and was therefore probably more flexible with the terms of the deal. Sounds somewhat plausible.

2. “Post-PC” seems to be the catchword of the season and regardless of how accurate it turns out to be, the popularity of the mobile platform as PC-competitors (in the form of tablets) cannot be denied. There is anxiety among the traditional players in the PC arena and that is best exemplified by Microsoft’s decision to make Windows 8 tablet ready and able to run on ARM processors. Seeing its biggest partner cozy up to ARM may have forced Intel’s hand. After all, ARM has a massive head-start in the mobile arena with a vibrant ecosystem of apps, operating systems and manufacturers whereas Intel has just reached the starting line. Quite likely.

3. Now, I may be reaching into the realm of science-fiction here, but hear me out. It could be possible that Lava actually impressed Intel enough to seal the deal. Maybe unbeknownst to everyone, Lava has been investing in R&D and has scaled up its manufacturing prowess and quality control. Highly unlikely.

Whatever the reasons may be, you can’t deny that the Intel-Lava partnership is a strange one. To an outsider, it looks like Lava has just pulled off a coup. Or was Intel just desperate?

But the question still remains. What was Intel thinking?

Android smartphones: The big fight

2012-04-11T13:18:00.000-07:00

The high-end Android phone market is always busy, with companies releasing new flagship models every few weeks. Most people might not be able to afford some of these but it’s still fun to watch. This has never been truer before, with companies now pulling out all the stops with phones that have multi-core processors and HD displays. Today we have collected a small bunch of the hottest Android smartphones available in the Indian market. Each of these phones represents the pinnacle of the smartphone technology available today with the best of what Android has to offer and no matter which once you choose, you can’t really go wrong.

Before we start, here is a handy comparison table showing all the main specifications of each of the phones we will be talking about today.

HTC One X

The one Android smartphone that’s currently making the news is the HTC One X and not without good reasons. The One X brings together everything that is great about the company and more in one device. For starters, it has this beautiful polycarbonate unibody design that not just looks great but also provides the phone a sense of solidity and ruggedness. Once you stop looking at the phone’s body you will find that there is lot more to ogle at on the One X thanks to its gorgeous 4.7-inch 720p Super LCD2 display that makes everything look crisp and vibrant.

Hands-on: HTC One X

Underneath this beautiful exterior lies a powerhouse of a processor. The Nvidia Tegra 3 is the first quad-core processor that we have seen on a phone. Thanks to its 4-PLUS-1 configuration, the processor employs a fifth companion core responsible for handling all the menial tasks whereas the four performance cores take over when things get too demanding. This helps save some power because the companion core consumes only a fraction of power compared to the performance cores. Apart from this there is also a 12 core GPU for taking care of all your games and 3D applications.

The HTC One X also has one of the quickest cameras around. Thanks to the dedicated ImageSense processor, the One X camera can start, focus, capture and move on to the next shot faster than any camera phone we have seen before. It also has a super fast burst mode along with 1080p video recording.

If there are any complaints about this phone, it would be the rather large size, the love-it-or-hate-it Sense UI and the less than stellar camera quality. Otherwise, for approximately Rs. 35,000, this is one of the best smartphones you can currently buy.

Samsung Galaxy Note

With an enormous 5.3-inch display, the Galaxy Note is in a class of its own. Dell may have pioneered this category with its Streak but it certainly could not convince people to buy it, something Samsung had no problem doing despite the condemnation from the critics.

Samsung Galaxy Note Review
The biggest feature of the Galaxy Note (literally) is its display. 5.3-inches of glorious Super AMOLED goodness makes almost every other smartphone display pale in comparison. Whether it is web browsing that you like to do, or watching a movie or viewing some photos, the display makes everything look splendid.

The Note also comes with a stylus that helps you get creative with the touchscreen and the suite of drawing apps. There is also a fantastic 8 megapixel camera on the back with 1080p video recording that is one of the best in the business and a long battery life despite the enormous display.

But the large display is also its greatest problem, because it makes the phone itself really, really large; large enough to make you wonder if you should continue using the term ‘phone’ for it. This is definitely not a phone for people with small hands and even those with large hands will find it uncomfortable to operate single-handedly.

Another problem with the phone, although temporary, is that it still comes with Android 2.3 Gingerbread even though Android 4.0 has been out for months now. Samsung has announced, though, that the Note will be updated this quarter.

If you can live with the phone’s disproportionately large size, the odd looks you get when you are out talking on it, the outdated version of Android and Samsung’s custom TouchWiz interface then the Galaxy Note is a solid alternative that really puts the ‘smart’ in ‘smartphone’.

Samsung Galaxy Nexus

The launch device of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, the Galaxy Nexus enjoys the distinction of being a Google branded phone, which gives it some advantages over others. One of them is that you always get the latest Android updates before everyone else and the second is that you get to enjoy the stock Android experience untainted by hardware manufacturers’ custom skins.

Really, the biggest reason why one would want to go with this phone is the software. Android 4.0 is a wonderful operating system and nowhere do you get to enjoy it better than on Google’s own phone.

Unfortunately, the hardware leaves a lot to be desired. The processor is from last year’s smartphones and has a hard time keeping up with the latest chips from Nvidia and Qualcomm. You may not notice this while using the phone, which remains smooth and fast but this difference will be clearer as time moves on and applications become more demanding. The camera is also average in terms of specs and performance. There is just 16GB of internal memory with no way to expand it further and the battery life isn’t particularly great. The only good thing about the hardware is the vivid 720p display but some may find the colors too saturated.

Review: Galaxy Nexus

Then there is also the problem of the phone not being sold officially in India. Samsung India had promised to release it sometime in March but the month has come and gone with no sign of the launch. However, you can purchase it for around Rs. 29,000 on eBay. For that price you get the pure Android experience that the Nexus series is known for along with the latest software updates but almost everything else is done better by its rivals here.

Sony Xperia S

Sony’s first handset after they dropped the Ericsson part of their name, the Xperia S brings a lot to the table. First of all, there is a 12 megapixel camera, which no other Android phone currently has on offer. And it’s not just a spec; if you’ve seen any camera sample from this phone you’d agree that it does in fact have a brilliant camera. Then there is also the 4.3-inch 720p HD display that has the highest pixel density of any mobile device available in the market today.

Then there is also the Qualcomm Snapdragon S3 processor, which despite being last year’s chip still manages to give some of the newer processors a run for their money. Add to that 1GB of RAM and a generous 32GB of internal memory.

Sony announces Xperia S, Xeria P, Xperia U and Xperia Sola in India

What we really like about this phone first of all is the design, with its cool transparent glass strip at the bottom. The glass contains the icons for the buttons placed above it and interestingly, also acts as the phone’s antenna. The other good things about it is that it is the most compact of the smartphones in this bunch, despite having similar features. A lot of people don’t like having big smartphones and for them the Xperia S would be a perfect fit.

Of course, it also has its share of flaws, the fact that it is running Android 2.3 being the biggest one. Sony did promise Android 4.0 update for this phone but seeing that it launched recently it should have had the latest version of the OS out of the box. Other minor issues are lack of expandable storage space, non-removable battery and display viewing angles that are not on par with the other LCD and AMOLED units here.

With a launch price of Rs. 32,549, the Sony Xperia S is priced pretty well although we would advise waiting for the Android 4.0 update to come out first, by which time the price would have hopefully gone down further.

It would be difficult to pick one out of these, considering each one is good at different things, but if we had to suggest one it would be the HTC One X. It’s currently the most all-round device available on the market and should fulfill almost every user’s needs.

Having said that, if you are not in a big hurry, we would advise waiting for the Samsung Galaxy S III, which is expected to be announced in May and is likely to be a firecracker of a device, going by Samsung’s track record.

HCL launches Android tablets in India

2012-04-11T13:13:00.000-07:00

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HCL has finally launched its budget Android tablets in India.

HCL has finally launched its budget Android tablets in India. The two new tablets are named ME U1 and MyEdu tablet. Both these tablets will run on Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) right out of the box. Enough of cheap Gingerbread/Honeycomb based Chinese tablets.

The HCL ME U1 tablet is

powered by a 1GHz processor, supported by 512MB RAM and 4GB of internal memory. Seems like HCL did an uncle Scrooge when it came to saving money on flash memory. 4GB on an Android tablet is like a pizza without cheese. Thankfully there's a memory card slot to solve the problem.

The tablet features a 7-inch display at a resolution of 800x480 pixels. It includes other standard features such as a front-facing camera, a USB port, a micro-USB port and a micro-SD card slot. The tablet is powered by a 3600 mAh battery. The hardware specifications for both the tablets are almost exactly the same.

Interestingly, the tablets have an HCL branded ME app store instead of the usual Android Market app, which is now called the Google Play Store. HCL has set the price tag of this tablet at Rs. 7,999, claiming that it would compete with the Aakash tablet.

Meanwhile the MyEdu tablet is targeted towards students. It comes in two variants and includes a bunch of educational content for students. The K12 version, priced at Rs. 11,499, comes with a lot of educational apps such as games, videos and e-books. The second variant is priced at Rs. 9,999 and it includes higher education based content.
HCL has expressed their desire to bid for the next edition of the world's most cheapest tablet Aakash. The Aakash tablet will be provided at a subsidized price by the government and is mainly targeted at educational purposes.

HCL's Ice Cream Sandwich based tablets are slightly more powerful than the entry level Aakash tablets. Only time will tell which ones make it to the students' backpacks.

Google Chrome OS Review

2012-02-02T00:23:00.000-08:00

I will first tell my view of what's new in Chrome OS, Technical specification, advantages of Chrome OS, etc. Let me dive into the topic now. Everyone knows Google giant and also know their yet to launch OS. It is named as Chrome OS, after their own Browser.

Google revolutionize the browsing age by launching their slim and thin browser named as Chrome. The browser was similar to Firefox 3 and also IE 7. But it was faster than IE 7. It had some tweaking performance in the DNS side to make the browsing experience faster. Around 3 million people used Chrome browser. I was one amongst them.

Now the giant has announced the news of launching their own OS , which will surely compete against Windows. I think by the mid of 2010 Google Chrome OS will be available. This is a sad news for Microsoft. The catch point of Chrome Os is that it is open source light Operating System. But sad news for the Google fans is that, this OS is launched for Netbooks initially. But I hope they will release desktop version in a month or so, after the launch of netbooks version. The main importance is given for SSS(Speed, Security and Simplicity).

Google is designing the OS to be fast and lightweight , to start up and to get users onto web ASAP. The GUI (Graphical User Interface) is not given much importance. But the look will be like simple and elegant. They are also redesigning the security architecture of the OS so that user's don't have to worry about viruses and other malware threats.

As far as the technical specification goes, Chrome OS will run both in x86 and ARM chips. The software architecture is simple, with new windowing system on top of Linux Kernel. Now do you get from where Chrome OS will get its security feature , quicker start-up and also be lightweight? Yes it is from Linux kernel. All Web-based applications will easily work and new applications can be written using your favorite web technologies. And to the added benefit those applications will run on standard browsers running on Windows, Mac and Linux.

Google has announced that Chrome OS will revolutionize netbooks and other underpowered machines. The OS is a small, fast-booting platform whose sole purpose is to run a browser, and from there to access all the Google apps and other web services you know and which are dear to you. Now we will see the advantages of Chrome OS.

Economic -
Netbooks are really cheap. But netbooks running Windows are costlier than netbooks running Linux for one obvious reasons. To buy an original Microsoft license. . Ever wondered why the Linux versions of netbooks cost around 2500 Rs. less? It is because of Microsoft tax. Since Chrome OS is based on Linux , like most of the Google products, it will be surely less than netbooks running Microsoft Windows.

Speed -
We know Windows 7 runs faster than Windows Vista on a netbook. But the point is Windows 7 runs only on netbook. But Chrome OS will run on low-powered processors like Atom and ARM. And the web-applications doesn't require that much configuration. So it should be faster. It also promises for boot time in seconds, not in minutes like in Windows. So it will be easier for a cold boot, rather than hibernate or sleep , saving precious battery life.

Compatibility -
Google says that "People don't want to spend hours configuring their computers to work with every new piece of hardware, or have to worry about constant software updates. " One of the big problems with using other OS on a netbook has been drivers. Try installing OS X on one if you don't believe, or any version of Linux not specifically designed for your model. If Google can come up with an OS that can be downloaded, dropped onto any machine and then "just works, " we might just have the ultimate portable OS.

And I conclude my thoughts with one main aspect. If Google can design a whole new OS which is clean, fast and focused for Web-Services, then Chrome OS will surely be a revolutionary OS. A free revolution that will make Microsoft very uncomfortable.

How to turn your Facebook Timeline into a movie

2012-02-02T00:20:00.001-08:00

timeline is new facebook profile which is now going to be the permanent profile for all facebook users. There are many websites which are offering some good services to make your timeline profile cool and attractive. One of the best service is to make a movie of your timeline.

Follow these steps to turn your timeline into movie

Visit timeline movie Maker
Click on create movie. After that you will see a new dialog box which will ask you to login with facebookaccount
After logging in with facebook, allow app to access yout facebook profile. It will render your data and create your timeline movie.
Enjoy your timeline movie show

Y0u can also customize your movie ith different sound tracks and photos. You can also share this with your friends.

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18) Fire up Google Now with just your voice

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13) Exit immersive mode

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10) Remotely wipe your phone if you lose it

9) Get the stock Google UI on your non-Nexus handset

8) Switch launchers quickly

7) Enable lock screen widgets

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HCL launches Android tablets in India

Google Chrome OS Review

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