GADGETS REVIEW

Samsung Galaxy Camera

2012-09-29T00:04:00.000-07:00

Samsung India is set to launch its Galaxy Camera in mid-November, the company said yesterday while launching its Galaxy Note II phablet. This pegs the launch date of the device around Diwali. Galaxy Camera is Samsung's first camera, and world's second, to be powered by Google's Android mobile operating system. It was unveiled by the South Korean manufacturer at the IFA 2012 held in August.

The Samsung Galaxy Camera is a 16MP snapper with 4.77-inch HD Super Clear TouchDisplay (308ppi pixel density), Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean), quad-core 1.4GHz processor and a 1,650mAh battery. The 16MP camera has aperture of F2.8 and focal length of 23mm, with 21X optical zoom. Galaxy Camera has internal storage of 8GB, which can be extended up to 32GB via microSD card and can play HD videos with 16:9 aspect ratio.

The all-new gadget from Samsung has 10 image capture modes (Smart Pro Mode) and takes videos at 120fps rate with 720x480 pixel resolution. Some of the other features of the Galaxy Camera include Slow Motion Video, Action Freeze, Share Shot, Auto Face Calibration, 65 on-screen editing features, auto cloud backup and GPS with Glonass. Connectivity features of the device include 3G, Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Direct, Bluetooth 4.0 and HDMI. The camera also has voice control functionality and can zoom in or out, set timer, capture images and also rotate, delete and share photos from the gallery.

Key specifications:
Camera sensor: 16MP with F2.8 aperture and 23mm focal length;
Zoom: 21X optical zoom;
Display: 4.77-inch HD Super Clear Touch Display with 308ppi pixel density;
Operating system: Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean);
Processor: Quad-core 1.4GHz;
Battery: 1,650mAh;
Storage: 8GB internal memory, expandable up to 32GB via microSD card; and
Connectivity: 3G, Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Direct, Bluetooth 4.0 and HDMI

BSNL Penta T-Pad IS701C : Review

2012-09-03T00:48:00.000-07:00

Although delayed, BSNL's entry into the budget tablet is not without reason. At Rs 4,999, its 7-inch tablet is the cheapest one in the market with a capacitive touchscreen.

Surprisingly for the price, the tablet does not skip out on any feature or compromise on the hardware specifications.

The build quality is at par with most other budget tablets. It feels solid to hold and the white finish looks elegant. The 7-inch touchscreen has the standard 800 x 480 pixel resolution and suffers from the same issue as most other budgets tabs - poor viewing. On the bright side, the screen has excellent touch response.

The tablet's onboard mini HDMI port can output at 720p resolution to a connected display - a slight letdown as most other budget tablets output at 1080p resolution.

There is mini USB port with on-the-go connectivity and also a full-size USB 2.0 port to connect flash drives - impressive and unexpected at this price. It also has a charging indicator light, skips on useless hardware buttons for home/back and menu, has large and well-placed volume keys - little additions that made us like the tablet more.

Hardware specifications are similar to the competition with a 1Ghz processor, 512MB RAM and 4GB onboard storage expandable via microSD cards. It runs Google's Android 4.0 operating system in its stock interface and provides full access to Google's Play Store as well.

A front VGA camera is available for video calls. Like other tablets, the output quality from the camera is full of noise and mostly useless. The audio output is shockingly loud and is good enough for a small room to play music.

For the price, the BSNL Penta tablet is really high value for money - it has no match in the sub Rs 5,000 bracket at the moment. The only downside is the 3,000-mAh battery that lasts under 3 hours with continuous video playback.

If you can spend a bit more, consider the Zync Z-990 Plus (Rs 6,490) tablet which has better battery life, a faster 1.5Ghz processor and 1GB of RAM - all combined, you get better performance.

Samsung Galaxy S III launching date & Specification

2012-05-25T20:55:00.000-07:00

Samsung's latest smartphone Galaxy S III is reportedly launching in India on May 31. According to a news report, the launch will take place in New Delhi. According to the report, the phone could be priced at Rs 42,500 in India.

Recently, Samsung started taking pre-orders for device on its e-store. Samsung is asking consumers to pay a fixed sum of Rs 2,000 to get in the queue for the device. The listing on Samsung India's e-store also promises all consumers an assured gift with every pre-order.

Surprisingly, though the company has started booking for Samsung Galaxy SIII, it still has not revealed the smartphone's pricing. Also, the terms and conditions don't offer a cancellation option if a user changes his mind. According to terms and conditions on the side, "At the time of launch, an email will be exclusively sent to customers who have pre-booked their Galaxy S III on the eStore, informing them of the availability of the Galaxy S III."

Samsung announced Galaxy SIII at a press event in London recently. The phone has a 4.8-inch Super AMOLED screen with a resolution of 720P, 1GB RAM, 16/32GB storage with a slot for microSD card, 8MP camera with burst mode, zero shutter lag and backlit sensor, 2,100mAh battery, Wi-Fi, 3G and Bluetooth. The phone weighs 133 grams and has a thickness of 8.6mm.

Galaxy S3 runs on Ice Cream Sandwich, the latest version of Android operating software. However, the default user interface of the OS is TouchWiz Nature UX, a custom skin prepared by Samsung.

Samsung Galaxy SIII

2012-05-05T00:39:00.000-07:00

Samsung recently overtook Nokia as the number one smartphone maker in the world (unit sales). But there seem to be no signs as slowing down - they just announced an all-new flagship Galaxy smartphone - Galaxy SIII.

The Galaxy series of smartphones is primarily responsible for Samsung's astronomical growth in the smartphone space. Designed to take the fight to the new crop of quad core superphones, the Galaxy SIIIfeatures a quad core processor, the latest Android 4.0, 4.8-inch HD Super Amoled screen, 8-megapixel rear camera with 1080 p video recording and 1.9 megapixel front camera.

The previous flagship, Galaxy SII, has a 4.3-inch screen. The SIII, with 4.8-inch screen, is not much larger or heavier because of the narrower bezel and innovative weight reduction technologies. It is an unbelievable 8.6 mm thick and weighs just 133 grams. The more rounded shape and premium finish (in pebble blue or marble white) is inspired by nature.

This time, it's also more about just the hardware specifications. There are several smartphone firsts in the Galaxy SIII. For instance, Smart Stay, which keeps the phone screen on as long as you are looking at it; Direct Call - raise the phone to your ear and it instantly starts calling the contact you were looking at or messaging; and Pop up Play, which can keep HD video playing on the screen while you do other tasks Another first is the built-in wireless charging system. With an optional accessory called the wireless charging kit, the Galaxy SIII can be charged by just placing it on the charger instead of connecting a cable.

The camera also sees notable improvements. While the resolution stays the same 8 megapixels as some previous models, the SIII has a back illuminated sensor (for better low light images), zero shutter lag, burst mode (3.3 frames per second up to 20 frames) and a best shot feature which takes eight photographs in quick succession and automatically chooses the best one. Both the front and rear cameras are capable of recording HD video.

Other features include S Voice - a natural language voice recognition system which works with eight languages, face recognition, cloud services, NFC and Wi-Fi direct. A range of accessories (flip cover, cases, docking stations for the desk and car, a dongle to share video wirelessly to TV screens and a specially designed companion MP3 player) will also be launched alongside the device.

NEW NOKIA ASHA 202 Launched

2012-04-30T20:34:00.000-07:00

Nokia has launched its dual-SIM touch-and-type phone Nokia Asha 202. Sporting a 2.4-inch touch screen, the device comes with a 2-megapixel camera, music player, FM radio, Bluetooth and has expandable memory of up to 32GB.

The phone also comes with the chat client Nimbuzz for users to stay connected on-the-go. The dual-SIM Easy Swap technology in Asha 202 allows users to personalise their phones. With a dedicated SIM manager, it allows users to save information of up to five SIM cards.

Nokia Asha 202 is available in four colours: black and gold, silver white, dark grey and dark red. The phone is priced at Rs 4,149 approximately.

Nokia Asha 202 will be the first Series 40 device to offer exclusive EA games in India. As a 60-day promotion at Nokia Store, the consumers can enjoy 40 EA game pack worth Rs 4000 absolutely free. This includes popular and classic titles like Tetris, Need for Speed, The Run and Bejeweled.

Nokia has also tied up with telecom operators like Vodafone, Airtel, Aircel, Reliance and TATA Docomo to offer 100MB of free data for each SIM per month for a period of six months.

APPLE LAUNCHES NEW IPAD IN INDIA

2012-04-26T21:45:00.000-07:00

Apple’s new iPad, which has got largely mixed reviews since its launch in March, finally goes on sale in India today. But what does this new “magical” and “revolutionary” device have to offer Indian consumers? Does the new iPad have enough oomph to justify the price? And will it be able to win over the legions of newly converted Android users in the country?

Design:

The new iPad for the most part is of the same construction as the iPad 2, except it has managed to put on a little weight and a wee bit more thickness. It now weighs in at 1.44 pounds compared to 1.33 pounds and is thicker by .03 inches which is almost negligible. If you’re an owner of an iPad 2, you’ll be able to feel the weight gain right away. After using it for a couple days however, you really don’t think about it.

Will Apple find any takers in India? AFP

Display and Internal makeup:

This is where the new iPad garners attention. The “Retina” display is a thing of absolute beauty. The display touts a 2048 x 1536 screen which means it has four times the pixels of its predecessors. We can add more numerical figures to show how the display oozes beauty but it’s something you have to see it to experience it. The icons just seem cleaner and the text, more crisp. Viewing pictures on this beast of a screen is a real pleasant experience. There are a few apps that are optimized for the Retina display that we recommend:

Facebook
Amazon Kindle
iPhoto
Evernote

The iPad uses the 1GHz dual core A5X chip which seems to be a reworked A5 chip used to power the iPad 2. This time it bumps up the ram to 1GB from the 512mb in the iPad2. Apple has worked in a quad-core GPU which enhances graphical performance over the iPad 2. You’ll find Bluetooth 4.0, as well as Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n on board. Additionally, it packs 4G LTE radios for the North American version. In other parts of the world the device is compatible with 3G HSPA+ networks. Just as with the last version, you can buy an iPad with 16GB, 32GB, or 64GB of storage. This review was done using a 16 GB Wi-Fi version.

Camera and sound:

The iPad’s rear camera has been upgraded to a 5-megapixel auto focus camera which can also record HD (1080p) videos up to 30 frames per second. The camera lacks a flash so let’s not expect to capture high quality images in low light conditions. If you were really counting on the iPad to help you capture those memorable moments, then maybe its time to drive down to an electronic store and get yourself a good point and shoot camera. Moving on to the front, you can expect the same VGA camera used in the iPad 2.

We would have liked to see an upgraded shooter considering Apple’s push for their proprietary FaceTime application. It’s safe to assume that people would use their tablet to video chat more than they would use it to take still images or videos. Nothing has noticeably changed as far as sound goes. We’re still bummed about the placement of the speakers which is placed in the rear. The experience would be much better if Apple would have managed to place the speaker on the sides similar to the Samsung Galaxy tab 10.1 which actually has dual speakers on either side.

Does it heat up?
Doing all these various tasks on the iPad must be heating it up quite a bit, wouldn’t it? That’s the latest grumbling around the web, isn’t it? I’ll just speak for myself. The iPad does heat up but then again it all depends on the specific tasks you’re performing and the length of time its being performed. I use a case so it necessarily not a big deal for me.

Battery and Pricing:

The new iPad is power hungry and to feed the quad core graphics and the Retina display, Apple has packed it with a 42.5Wh then you better hope that Apple hours As far as the battery life of the new iPad is concerned, the new 42.5Wh rechargeable battery compared to the 25Wh powering the iPad 2. Apple claims to provide 10 hours of use from a single charge. We came close to it but then again, the battery life will be different for different folks depending on what they’re using the tablet for. Charge time from empty to full is an overnight affair.

The new iPad is priced exactly the same as the previous versions. A 16GB Wi-Fi only model starts at $499, 32GB for $599 and the 64GB for $699. The Indian prices are not immediately out, but it looks as though Apple’s new CEO Tim Cook may be a little more interested in the Indian market than his predecessor Steve Jobs.

In conclusion:

With the gawking Retina Display and the quad-core graphics, does the new iPad make a compelling argument for a purchase? If you are an iPad 2 owner, the changes in the new iPad more or less leave you with the similar user experience unless you’re really dissatisfied with the screen on the iPad 2. For people using the “other” tablets, is this new iPad offering enough to make you a convert?

Well, if you passed on the iPad 2 to get a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 or the Asus Transformer, then the new iPad is certainly not going to tickle your fancy. The current viable option available on the market is the Asus Transformer Prime. Later this year, we can expect Microsoft’s Windows 8 to make some noise as well. Additionally, there are rumors of Google releasing its own tablet as well so wait out a few months and the picture will be much clearer.

Attitude Daksha : Launched in India

2012-04-25T21:57:00.000-07:00

Even as we continue to wait for the Indian government's ultra low-cost Aakash tablet, a slew of budget tablets from other manufacturers have arrived in the Indian market. The latest entrant in the budget tablet race is Attitude Daksha from Telmoco Development Labs Pvt. Priced at Rs. 5.399, the Attitude Daksha runs on the latest Android operating system, Ice Cream Sandwich.

The Attitude Daksha tablet has a seven-inch capacitive five-point touchscreen, 1.2GHz ARM Cortex A8 processor and 512 MB DDR3 RAM. The device supports an HDMI port, microSD slot, 3.5 mm audio out, micro USB port and an OTG connector for 3G USB dongle. It also supports 1080p full HD video streaming and has dedicated 400 MHz GPU. It comes with a standard 0.3MP front facing camera and an optional 2MP camera. Daksha is powered by a 4,000 mAh battery, which is rated to deliver a back up of over six-hours with Wi-Fi on. Check out the detailed specifications of the new Daksha tablet in the image below.

The Attitude Daksha, meant for students and educational purposes, is likely to hit the shelves from May 15. Telmoco Development Labs is also planning to bid for the Aakash-2, the upgraded version of the original Aakash tablet. “With government subsidy and mass production, Attitude Daksha could compete with Aakash -2,” said Technopark-Technology Business Incubation Centre secretary and registrar K.C.Chandrasekharan Nair, after launching the product.

Of late we've seen a number of ICS-based budget tablets for the Indian market. Last day, we'd reported Karbonn Mobiles is also going to launch its Android 4.0.3 ICS-based tablet, SmartTab 1. Recently, budget tablets such as the Micromax Funbook, Zync Z990 and HCL ME U1Tab were launched with the latest ICS operating system.

PRICE IN INDIA : Rs. 5,399

Nikon launched entry-level D3200 DSLR camera

2012-04-20T19:57:00.000-07:00

Nikon, in a move to expand its portfolio of DSLR cameras, has announced an entry-level 24.2-million pixels D3200 Digital SLR camera. The highlight of this camera is that it possesses a brand new CMOS image sensor, which helps it to deliver an effective pixel count of 24.2-million pixels. Nikon D3200 has the same EXPEED 3 image-processing engine built-in as in Nikon D4 and D800/D800E cameras.

The company claims that through its 'Guide Mode', this camera becomes more intuitive and its operations easier. Nikon D3200 also comes with a D-Movie function, which enables users to capture Full-HD movies with the press of the movie-record button located above the shutter-release button.

The users of this device can also view and share the captured images wirelessly on their Android devices using the new Wi-Fi module, the WU-1a. As of now, there are no details available in regards to the pricing of this device or by when it will be available in the Indian market. However, it is expected to be available in the US market by late April for $700.

HTC One X : REVIEW

2012-04-16T19:22:00.003-07:00

Introduction
The HTC One X brings the best processor, an HD screen and a sublimely thin chassis as the Taiwanese firm looks to recreate the success of the original Desire.
The One X is a phone that's had us intrigued for a while – running a quad core CPU (Nvidia's Tegra 3) plus one of the largest screens on any HTC… and that's without being given a gargantuan name like the Titan.
It's clear from the outset what HTC is trying to do with the One X: shake off the slight doom and gloom surrounding the brand's fall in profits, and bring out a slick, powerful and, more importantly, useable handset that only costs £36 per month (about $57) on a two year deal.

With Ice Cream Sandwich running from the outset, this is the phone that really takes HTC to the next level – but is it a case of too much, too soon for a brand that's still really just over a decade old?

Design

HTC's phones have been slowly moving towards sleeker design ever since the purchase of One & Co (which may have had more than a little to do with the new naming strategy) and the release of the HTC Legend.

Since then, unibody designs and smooth lines have been a feature of its devices, and that principle has been evolved with the HTC One X.
However, before you read any further, a note of caution: if you're not willing to accept a pretty large mobile, then you're better off waiting for the likes of the HTC One S – the One X is a large piece of phone estate in your hand.
But it's that large 4.7-inch screen that is such a stunning feature of the One X – it's a 720p HD display packed into a chassis that's only 8.9mm thick. Plus it's also using the Super IPS LCD 2 technology that, while it lacks the vivid colour reproduction of Samsung's Super AMOLED range, really brings games and movies to life.

We're not going to get into the pros and cons of OLED vs LCD – suffice to say, it's a matter of choice whether you prefer improved contrast ratios or a more true to life colour reproduction. In our opinion, both are excellent and the One X will certainly not disappoint.
Like the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, it's got a pixel density (screen sharpness) that rivals the iPhone 4S, but does it on a screen that's over an inch larger. It's one of those devices that you have to see to really believe, but there's a good chance you'll confuse it with a shop model with a static image Sellotaped onto the front.

The rest of the phone design is, again, pretty subjective. For the large size, it's very light indeed at 130g. That's quite a bit heavier than the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S2 (14g, in fact) but in reality you'll consider it to be almost impossible to feel in the pocket.
The rest of the phone is pretty minimal in design. Unlike the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, we're offered some physical (well, touch sensitive) keys on the front of the HTC One X, meaning the display won't need to jump up and down to show the contextual versions.

There's an expected volume rocker switch on the right-hand side, a power button on the top (accompanied by a 3.5mm headphone jack) and a microUSB slot on the left-hand side – which also doubles a Mobile High-Definition Link to hook up to a TV.
It's a very sparse offering on a phone that's so expansive in its design, and leads to a very minimalist feel, which will likely appeal to many.

That effect is compounded by the microSIM slot on the back of the phone, which requires an Apple-esque device to open it up – and there's no microSD support to be found here either, with the battery locked into the unibody design.
While the smaller SIM will be a slight annoyance to those upgrading from the full-size version, the lack of a microSD slot will be a big worry for many, especially as HD movies and large games will play very well on a phone like this.
There is 32GB of onboard storage, but that's not going to be enough for the ilk of smartphone user that wouldn't buy an iPhone until capacity was raised to 64GB.

The rear of the phone features the 8MP camera, which protrudes quite a lot from the handset, but thanks to the slightly curved nature of the chassis, doesn't affect the phone too much when resting on a table.
The power button on the top of the phone can be quite hard to hit with the phone resting in the palm if you've not got the largest hands in the world, although the travel is such you'll hit it pretty accurately most of the time, which is something some phones fail to manage.
The size is the main design issue we can see for most people – this sleek-looking, lightweight phone will appeal to both men and women, but those with smaller hands will struggle to use the HTC One X effectively without doubling down on their digits.

We reviewed the white version of the One X, and it's worth noting that in a few hours it was quite dirty with fingerprint smudges and the like, so be warned you might want to fork out for a case too.

Interface

The HTC One X comes with a new overlay for the brand – it's not a departure from the HTC Sense Android skin we've come to know and love, but it's very much a stripped down version.

Now that the screen has the HD resolution and is boosted to a whopping 4.7 inches, there's plenty of room to place the widgets left, right and centre. You're still limited to seven scrollable home screens, but we doubt many people will want to go much higher than that.
The HTC One X also comes with a Tegra 3 quad core 1.5GHz processor, which to the uninitiated is the next level of mobile power packed into a smartphone. This is backed up by 1GB of RAM, and translates into a superbly slick action under the finger.

The same rotating, 3D design is apparent when you flick left and right through the homescreens, but HTC has done away with the 'infinite rotation' idea it's been rocking for the last year… so when you go too far to the left, you can't go any further.
If you want to access the homescreens in an exploded view, simply pinch in on the screen, where you can add or remove your homescreens with a simple long press.
Thanks to the fact the HTC One X is now using Android 4.0 (or Ice Cream Sandwich to you and me) the whole feel of the interface is much improved, with the new Roboto font making the appearance look much cleaner.
There have been some differences added in thanks to the new version of Android - for instance, the Settings are now accessed from the notifications bar (which can be called up by swiping down from the top of the screen from any application) rather than with a dedicated menu key (which has now been assimilated into the OS).
To compensate, there's a new multitasking key on offer, making it easy to jump between applications. This is one of the first places the HTC One X actually displays a hint of slowdown, as popping open the 3D thumbnail list can cause a little bit of lag. Jumping between the open programs is a bit shifty as well; as it's actually only a picture of the app you're looking at, rather than the app itself.

This means a second or so of lag while you wait for the selected app to come to the fore - not really what you'd expect from a phone that's meant to have one of the most powerful processors around. You can stop the app from running from this window though, simply by flicking the thumbnail skywards with a most satisying motion.
Plus, that's one of the very few examples we can see of the HTC One X coming up with any kind of slowdown or lag - and the rest of the interface is simply marvellous.
For instance, thanks to the addition of Ice Cream Sandwich, all your notifications are now shown in a much larger and easy to see manner, with the option to get rid of anything you don't want to look at with a simple left or right swipe. When you've got four different email accounts, missed calls and notifications from some apps, the last think you want is a clutter notifications bar, and this system means the end of that headache.
This new system does mean the days of being able to switch Wi-Fi, GPS and Bluetooth on and off from the notification bar are gone - we're not sure why this has happened with a simple update, but it's likely Google has mandated it with Android 4.0.
The menu system has been changed AGAIN on an HTC phone (honestly, we don't know how the company manages to keep doing this) with a new side-swipe action rather than the long list of apps scrolling vertically. It's sometimes hard to keep track of which screen you're on as the numbers at the bottom are a little small, and there's also the confusion of the 'Frequently Used' and 'Downloaded' applications panes too, which look very similar.

However, HTC has cranked up the customisation options on the One X, meaning if you don't like any given tab in most app you can simply hit the menu key, move the tabs around or get rid of them altogether.
Within the menu system there are a lot of new features too, with the likes of the Google Play store now included in the top right-hand area of the screen, making it easy to boost your app haul when you feel like it.
There are more changes afoot as well when it comes to the lock screen - the 'fling a ring' to unlock procedure is certainly becoming pretty iconic, and there's more you can do with it now too. You're already given four quick icons you can drag into the ring to activate upon unlocking, but now if you've got a missed call or a message you can suck that into the ring with a cool animation to open it as well.
You can even customise the lock screen so that you can see stock prices, weather updates, pictures or notifications whenever unlocking your phone - although be warned these can suck the battery a tad.

We mentioned the fact HTC has added a whole host of little flourishes to the One X that really float our boat, and one of the best is the fact that, even if it's not permanently added the weather will pop up first thing in the morning to let you know how your day is going to pan out. Well, not totally - it's not a psychic app, but it will help with the notion of whether you'll need a jumper without the need to faff about asking your phone with your voice.
While all the above is well and good (very good, in fact) the question still remains: is it intuitive? Will the non-smartphone user be able to pick up the HTC One X and be able to use it easily? Well, the answer to that still has to be no - we're not talking iPhone levels of simplicity or anything.
But that perceived weakness is also the phone's strength - it's so widget-tastic and simple to use once you've had a good play that it's definitely one of the most intuitive and powerful interfaces out there. It's just a matter of taste whether all the choices and things you can play with are really what you want on a smartphone.

Contacts and calling

When it comes to contact management, HTC has always been at the head of the field in our opinion. It was one of the first brands to properly manage to integrate social networking into your phonebook, and has since evolved this process to be even slicker than ever.
The same is still true on the HTC One X, which manages to present a very quick and nimble view of every contact, and is helped by the greater onus placed on this feature by Google's Ice Cream Sandwich overhaul. We'd thoroughly recommend you log into the likes of Facebook and Twitter before even firing up the phone's contact system, as you'll find many of your friends will already be linked, with profile pictures too, once you go in for the first time.
As we mentioned, Contacts has been upgraded with Android 4.0, and now can only be accessed through the Phone icon on the One X, and a little slide to the right to see all your chums. The layout is so much more expansive than it was too, with the list of friends easy to read and better spaced out than before.

Simply flicking the finger down the list is the easiest way to jump from one person to the next, although there's a little slider bar that allows you to jump to the correct letter of the alphabet if you're in more of a hurry and just HAVE to tell your sister you saw a squirrel fall into a pond.
As any HTC user will already know, social networking and HTC Sense are close bedfellows, and we're in love with the way each person is displayed here. Little touches, like prioritising high quality Facebook profile pictures over lo-res Twitter ones, make the device look much neater - especially as we're now given a much larger contact snap at the top of each name.
Editing your contacts is also something of a dream on the HTC One X, as you've got total control over which information is shown by default. This may not sound like a big deal, but if you've got three different profiles (say from Google, Twitter and Facebook, as well as the phone entry) you might have multiple contact names and pictures for the same person. Therefore, being able to choose the right info is really handy.

Once in the contact profile, HTC has added a mass of information to make it into a little hub for your buddy. This means not only do you have all the contact info, but any messages or email conversations you've had, call history and Facebook albums too. The latter is a much-improved feature from previous HTC handsets; no longer does it take minutes to download pics from your friend's social networks, as it's not only a few seconds to have a good ol' stalk of people you find semi-attractive.
HTC has once again included Contact Groups, which is a really handy feature for its devices. While most other phones allow you to have this feature simply to send out group messages and the like, on the HTC One X you can create a Favourites group to display on the home screen with pictures, or a Co-workers option which you can have as a tab in the email inbox to jump straight to the important messages.
In short: HTC has nailed the Contacts integration on the One X, and long may it continue.

Calling

Calling on the HTC One X is improved once more, albeit with some slight flaws. Signal management is generally pretty good, with the bulk of the time seeing nearly full bars from the device.

However, there was more than one occasion when the handset would completely drop all connectivity, only to fire it back up again a few seconds later. It wasn't life-threatening, but was most irksome when trying to check to see whether Portsmouth were still losing 3-1 (they weren't - it ended 5-1 in the end).
Call quality, however, is much better. The noise reduction system worked very well in our opinion, as someone on the other end of the phone was able to hear us easily even when walking past a building site. However, the same person complained of a lot of wind in the background, despite it being an almost completely breeze-less day. We're not sure what to make of that, other than concluding the One X has a very sensitive microphone.
Smart dialling is also included on the HTC One X, allowing you to tap into the phone's keypad to call up the name of your intended recipient using the same system as predictive text. We really like this feature, as it saves you having to enter the Contacts app time and again - so we suggest you learn to use it as soon as you pick up the phone.

Internet

Internet browsing on HTC handsets has always been a pretty pleasurable experience, and that's still the case on the HTC One X, especially with that whopping great screen to play around with. HTC has also upgraded the Android browser (thanks to the updates on offer from Ice Cream Sandwich) and the result is a mobile internet experience that packs a lot of desktop punch.
However, the first thing you'll notice is the rendering speed of the One X internet browser isn't particularly stellar. In our tests, we found that the overall loading speed of most websites was around a couple of seconds quicker than usual, which is what you'd expect with the Tegra 3 processor running things. But in terms of the time it took to actually see the words on the page of the site we were navigating to it wasn't as quick an experience.
In fact, while the early loading speeds were fine, over both 3G and Wi-Fi connections we were a bit disappointed by the speed with which we could jump between sites on the One X.
It's not terrible - far from it - but we were hoping that the quad core processor would offer some blisteringly fast speeds.
Let's not get too down about that though, as there's plenty more to get excited about here. For instance, the web pages look simply beautiful on the large 4.7-inch HD screen of the One X, with text legible even at full zoom.
Pictures look particularly dazzling as well, with the high-res nature of the web browser allowing you to get a decent overview of the page with a swift glance.
Once you get into reading an article on a site, the HTC One X comes into its own - as many HTC phones have done over the years.
For instance, there's the excellent text re-flow system that still leaves all other Android phones in its dust - double tap on any section of text and it will re-jig itself to fit the screen.
You might say any phone these days does that, and you'd be right; but the HTC One X can take things one step further.

Pinch to zoom in even further, and the text will still reformat itself to fit on the screen, no matter how big the letters get, which means unlike the iPhone 4S, you can choose how big your reading experience is.
Speaking of Apple, HTC has stolen the 'Reader' feature from Safari - simply tap this icon at the top of any web article and it will jump into a new window with only the text and the minimum amount of pictures for company, making it easier to digest.
There's sadly no option to take this offline at the moment, but we hope that will get added in at some point.
Flash is still supported on the HTC One X's web browser, although we don't think it's going to be available on other phones too far in the future as Adobe seems to have given up on the system somewhat. However, there's an easy toggle in the Settings that allows you to turn Flash video on and off, meaning you can speed up the web experience quite dramatically.

The Settings section has been given something of an overhaul too, with the excellent addition of 'Desktop mode' allowing you to bypass the annoying mobile sites if you so wish (and with this larger screen, we reckon you will frequently).
Some things have stayed the same thankfully - namely the bookmarks lists that makes it so easy to keep track of the sites you browse to the most frequently. Not only are your bookmarks clearly presented as thumbnails of the web page itself, but you're also offered a 'Most Visited' pane that lets you pick the sites the browser has noticed you trot along to frequently.
You can also save websites to view later - while this is a feature that's been around for a while, you can perform the same trick with web video now too. Sadly, still no support for offline reading, which is a bit sad, as that's something the HTC's of yesteryear used to love to offer

Media

Media on the HTC One X is, predictably, a great experience. We've moaned about certain aspects of the music and video player before, and while they've not all been addressed, we're still happy that they've at least been evolved.
We'll get a big problem out of the way first though: there's no expandable memory card slot on offer here, with HTC ramming in 32GB of storage to compensate. This will probably be enough for most people, but there are those that really love to pack their devices with media, and hate the thought of having to pick and choose because of storage limitations.
Also, don't forget that HD screen now supports HD movies too - with Google Play now supporting HD rentals and movie purchases, you'll quite quickly fill up the internal memory if you're not careful.

Music

The music player on the HTC One X is improved massively from the standard offering on the likes of the HTC Hero from just three years ago - there's a new and re-tooled option to play with here, and it comes with high resolution album art and SoundHound integration.

The latter feature is a particularly good addition, as it allows you seemingly unlimited amounts of songs you can have listened to and get information back on. Simply tag the icon at the top of each song and you'll be able to get lyric information, local gigs from the artist and info on the album if you fancied buying it.
However, and this seems like a massively missed trick again, you can't have the album information ported to the file you're listening to. When you consider that many people have a horrendously mis-managed MP3 collection, this would have been a godsend.
While we're on that, there's a wide range of format for playback on offer: AAC, AMR, OGG, M4A, MID, MP3, WAV and WMA if you're interested.
Let's get onto the better stuff though: the music player itself, boosted by Beats Audio integration. The interface is still very simple, which is important to many. There's a home screen widget that lets you see which songs you've listened to recently, but even if you've bothered to update all your album art, this seems like more of a gimmick than anything else.

We weren't given any Beats Audio headphones on our review HTC One X sample, but we're told they will be coming to the final retail version. We luckily had a set kicking around and the difference between Beats Audio boosting being on and off was startling.
We've heard many opinions on whether the service is really as good as the likes of Dolby for improving sound, or whether it just makes everything sound very bass-heavy. We think it's somewhere in between: you'll notice a massive difference in sound quality when it comes to having the enhancement on and off, and that goes for mid-range and treble, not just bass.

However, it does tend to make songs sound overly complex at times, so it really comes down to personal preference as to whether Beats Audio is a real plus - but in our eyes, it very much is.
The Beats Audio booster is also now pervasive throughout the phone too, so other apps, like Spotify or the video player, will get to use the upgrade in sound quality.
The main music player home page is much more of a hub than ever before, with the addition of 7 Digital, SoundHound and TuneIn radio all designed to make it much more of a media experience.
Curiously, you can also add other apps in here, and not just those around music – for instance, a link to your favourite game or the Google Play Movie portal.
The effect is a little overwhelming at the start – it's certainly a mile away from the simplicity of iOS or Windows Phone. However, if you're into choice and music hubs when it comes to deciding how you're going to get some tunes inside your brain, this is going to rock your world.

Video

HTC has been annoying us for years with the way it presents its videos, and while this has been slightly upgraded, it's still just rubbish.
You enter the Gallery (no video player as a standalone app here) and you're faced with any video folders you've created (that's the update)… but no filenames, only large thumbnails.
That's fine if you've got a hugely diverse video collection that looks radically different for each movie, but if you're watching a series it gives you no information at all.

We recommend you download a new application immediately (mVideoPlayer is our pick thanks to an excellent bookmarking system) and improve your HTC One X post-haste.

Thankfully the movie playback experience is a lot, lot better than the one for trying to find the right file. Firstly, the video quality looks superb on the HTC One X screen, with a sharp definition to everything you want to watch.

Lower-light scenes aren't the best if we're honest though, and that's where the Super LCD technology seems to struggle. It's not rubbish, and much better than a lot of the phones on the market, but for your darker movies the Samsung Galaxy S2 is still the phone we'd turn to every time.
The main video player app also allows you to stream out to a smart TV or computer thanks to the inbuilt DLNA (the same system can be used to connect up to a Wi-Fi device or Bluetooth speaker in the Music app) which makes watching a film on the train then instantly popping it up to a large screen TV when you walk through the door an ace experience.
HTC's not quite managed to live up to its promise of supported file types though, as while we managed to drop MP4 and 3GP file types onto the device without a problem, AVI files refused to play despite being listed as compatible.
In terms of getting content onto the HTC One X, that's a little trickier, as you're limited to Google Play Movies, or the HTC Watch service. The former is good in that it allows you to download HD films; however the selection is limited and the cost is nearly £5 (about £8) just to RENT one of them, let alone buy it.

HTC Watch is slightly better, in that it's better integrated into the phone already (with a much nicer widget to use) and has special offers than allow you to rent films from as little as 5 pence (about 8 cents) on occasion. However, the selection is lower and there's no HD content on there yet.
The HTC One X is a great device for video playback, with rich colours, an excellent frame rate to minimise blur, and Beats Audio providing pretty rich sound (although we'd have preferred a spot of Dolby Mobile in there too.)
However, the navigation system needs to be sorted out somewhat, and the opportunity to get content on there needs to be boosted as well.

FM radio

We couldn't jump through the media section without a nod to the FM radio – sure it's a little archaic these days, but it's a pretty good rendition on the HTC One X.

A simple scan found 12 stations in less than 10 seconds, which we consider to be pretty speedy considering we've watched the process take minutes. The One X doesn't save them under their names (despite RDS being included) and there's no opportunity to record radio or transmit the sounds via FM to a car stereo.
However, it's a visual treat and hold stations very well through Beats Audio headphones, so if you're into radio on the go you'll like this a lot.

Camera and video

The HTC One X has an 8MP camera on the back of the device, with a 1.3MP sensor on the front. The rear of the phone also packs a single LED flash, and enhanced optics to help increase the depth of photo.
HTC has made great strides with its camera software over the years, but with the One X it's really outdone itself, allowing users to create so many more varied styles of photos and using the raw power of the quad core processor to good effect.

There are two sides to the camera - the large amount of settings you can tweak to actually get the photo in the first place, and the effects you can place on top to alter the output.
We'll concentrate on the former first: you can tweak a vast number of settings from within the handset to help improve your picture quality on the go. Exposure, colour saturation and sharpness can all be controlled by separate slider bars, and a simple tap anywhere on the screen will auto-calibrate the brightness levels and focus on the desired object within a second.
There's no dedicated shutter button, but if you've got the camera set up as one of the icons on your lock screen you can whip the phone out of your pocket and be snapping away in just under two seconds. It's not the fastest on the market, but in real world tests we found it to be quick enough never to miss any important moments.

There are a variety of scene modes on offer as well - and these aren't the bog standard 'firework' or 'beach' scenes that everyone intends to use but never gets round to. We're talking the High Dynamic Range option, which takes a number of brightness levels from a single photo and interpolates them to make the best quality image, or a macro mode that can scarily close to any object.

The HDR mode is a little bit of a letdown if we're honest, as it can blur very easily while processing the photo - it's nowhere near the level of Apple's HDR photography, which has been wowing us for some time now.
The other effects are very easy to use though - you can do things like simply making your photo black and white or covered in sepia, or you can get a little bit fancier and alter the depth of field to blur out the edges of a shot and only focus on the object at the centre of the photograph.
And on top of that there's the fantastic shutter speed as well - you can set the HTC One X to capture photos at the rate of around 10 per second, allowing you to get some cracking motion shots.
Not all the pics come out clearly, but overall the option can be used well.
Normal shutter speed, with the auto focus on and flash in play, is a little slow - we clocked around four seconds between each photo, which isn't terrible but can be bettered by the competition.

In bright light, the HTC One X captures all the detail on offer

Images look sharp and colourful, although can be a little grainy

Tapping the screen allows you to correct light levels and pick out detail

Here we see three zoom levels: the quality is still impressive at maximum zoom

Panorama mode is easy to use thanks to the on screen instructions

The LED flash is bright enough to capture all objects, but not wash out the scene

A quick snap straight out the pocket shows the HTC One X is a great day to day camera

Video

The HTC One X can record in 1080p from the rear sensor, and 720P HD from the front camera. In short, we can't see you ever wanting to go any higher on the resolution front... but we know we're going to regret that statement in a few short months when the next level of cameraphone emerges.

There are a number of cool features on the HTC One X when it comes to video recording: for instance, you can capture in slow motion, or while shooting in Full HD at 30 frames per second you can take pictures while recording.
This is a really awesome feature when you want to both film and photograph at the same time.
You can even take pictures while viewing video back after it's been shot - that's the sort of thing that had our friends wowed down the pub.
However, the overall video quality wasn't wow-worthy when shoved onto a larger screen - it seemed a little grainy in our eyes, and the sound recorded from the dual microphones didn't really do the power of the phone justice.
It's not awful, but not the smooth footage other cameraphones are able to manage from dual-core processors.

Battery life and connectivity

The HTC One X comes with an 1800mAh battery that's unfortunately sealed within the chassis of the phone - meaning no chance of being able to swap it out in the event of a power-outage on the go.
Sadly, and this is one the major failings of the HTC One X, the battery life on this device follows many others from the HTC range: meaning it's terrible.
We were actually shocked to see how poorly it fared at times, with one instance requiring us to charge the phone twice in one day and still running it down before the evening. However, before you completely give up on the One X at all, we should qualify that statement a little bit as it's unlikely you'll experience the same thing.

When we test any mobile phone we obviously run it through many tests and try to work out what the main selling points of it will be. With the HTC One X, we found there to be so many plus points that we really had to run the device hard to test it all out, leading to a quicker battery run-through than usual.
For instance on the fateful 'Two Charge' day, we downloaded three movies from HTC Watch, played a number of Tegra 3 compatible games, watched said movies and went for a run with the GPS turned on - plus messed around with most of the features.
This is very atypical usage, so we doubt many people will ever achieve the same power rate as we did - but we believe that if a phone has something worth doing, then the battery should hold up, and even with medium usage levels, the battery powered down by about 11PM at the latest. Having seen the same sort of output from the HTC Desire and Desire HD, we also know that the phone will likely start to do more poorly over time as well.
The reason for this is the screen - it's sucking a huge amount of power, likely because the graphical processing power needed to fire all those new pixels is really taxing the device. It's also a new type of technology for the firm, and it seems that HTC hasn't quite worked out how to optimise it yet.
Playing powerful games predictably drained a lot of power too - for instance, playing RipTide for 15 minutes caused the One X to heat up quite a bit and drained 5% of the overall battery power, which is more than a little worrying.

Calling seemed to take the same level of power as well, as did movie watching for extended periods. If you're not going to use the phone very much, then you'll likely sail through a day on a single charge, but given that this is an awesome powerhouse of a device we're really, really disappointed that the battery is the one thing that's really letting it down.
We hoped that the first samples might have had faulty battery meters, but we recalibrated it and still got the same results. It's a real shame, and a factor any user should really think about before picking up this otherwise practically flawless phone.

Connections

The HTC One X comes jam packed with every top-end connection we can think of - be it Wi-Fi 802.11n (the fastest kind) to Bluetooth 4.0, it's all present and correct under the hood.
The addition of Bluetooth 4.0 is particularly exciting, as it means the One X will be able to take advantage of a number of cool accessories coming onto the market soon.

In terms of wired connections, the HTC One X will also let you connect up to a TV using a MHL lead, which is sadly not supplied in the box. This mini HDMI connection uses the same microUSB port that powers your phone, which makes it really easy to mirror the content on the tiny HD screen on a much larger one.

Maps and gaming

There are two mapping options on the HTC One X - usually we get annoyed at the confusion, but this time we think the two sit next to each other rather nicely. Google Maps 6.5 has been released for this ilk of devices especially, with high resolution maps on offer to make the experience a really visually arresting on when zooming in on the streets of London or New York.
You've got all the usual wonderful features here - 3D buildings that you can swipe around using multi-finger gestures, a free sat nav service with traffic guidance, and now even the ability to search through public transport networks to help get you to where you need to go. And that's without talking about the excellent Streetview service, allowing you to glide around the map in a photo-like environment.

However, and this is something we didn't expect, the mapping software on the HTC One X seems slower than the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S2, which has a slower and less powerful processor chugging things along. It's not hugely noticeable, but in real terms you don't get that buttery-smooth feeling we're used to with these kinds of devices.

HTC Locations is another ball game altogether and one that you probably won't be using all that often. It's mostly a sat-nav service, but one that's far more in-depth than the Google maps Navigation offering that most will use.
With HTC Locations you're given access to speed cameras, more in-depth traffic and voice guidance from a larger range of personalities. It's also got wide-ranging information on cash machines, petrol stations and more – and you can download the maps to enable offline viewing of practically anywhere in the world.

The only real downside is the fact you've got to pay for most of it – we highly doubt many will fork out £4 a month to get access to most of the features on offer here. It's a good service, but one that's mostly out-flanked by Google Maps.

Gaming

Gaming on the HTC One X is something that we think deserves a special mention as it brings such a new level of realism to a mobile phone. We're talking console-quality graphics on a handset for the first time, and graphical processing power that shares a lot of traits with the PS Vita, for instance.
We tried a number of Nvidia Tegra-optimised games on the One X, and they all shared one thing in common: they looked better than anything that we've ever seen on a mobile phone and had a greater level of detail too.

The downside is that all the games so far are really nowhere near the gameplay level of a console game; for instance, RipTide is a splendid Jet Ski game that whips through underwater tunnels and jumps with dizzying speeds. The water effects are sublime, and the physics that knock your craft around are on another level when it comes to the mobile.
But the graphics still look cheap in places, meaning the water will lap over objects and not interact with them - nor will gravity play a proper part in the gameplay. What we're trying to say is that the games are excellent and the power is clearly there, but there's a lot of potential left to be exploited when it comes to titles that really push the quad-core power of phones like this.

Of course, there's a bundle of casual games that look amazing on a phone like the One X - Angry Birds and Cut the Rope look phenomenal, and the likes of Draw Something really benefit from the larger screen size. Gaming is going to be huge on the HTC One X we think... it's just a shame the battery isn't able to keep up at times.

Conclusion

When we got our hands on the HTC One X, it was a mix of trepidation and excitement. How would our first quad core phone on test fare? Could HTC make an HD screen fit well into a phone? Would we get annoyed at the lack of a microSD slot?
We've answered all those questions and more in this in-depth review, and it's clear that the HTC One X is a top-notch phone - but one that just, just misses out on being the third member of the five star phone clan due to having a really poor battery.

PRICE IN INDIA : RS 36,080/-

WRIST WATCH CUM MOBILE LAUNCHED INDIA

2012-04-14T21:43:00.000-07:00

The Indians will now be able to flaunt an innovative wrist watch cum mobile phones in the country. All thanks to a Netherland based wrist watch mobile phone making company as they opened their first three outlets in the capital region

Touchscreen Mobile Phone Watch.

This tri-band mobile phone watch features a built in touchscreen as well as a full numeric keypad

It also has built in Bluetooth, and a Mic, and will work with GSM 900 / 1800 / 1900 networks, as well as that there is a built in camera, which can take photos and video.

Main function: Digital Cell Phone Watch
Additional functions: Portable Media Player
Display: 1.4 inch polarized TFT LCD Touchscreen, 160 x 128 pixels with 65K colors
Memory: 512MB TF/microSD Card included (expandable to 2GB)
Color: Black band and face
GSM Compatibility: Tri-band 900 / 1800 / 1900
GPRS Support: YES
Bluetooth: YES “ version 1.2
Bluetooth Profiles: A2DP, AVRCP, Hands-free, Headset, SPP, DUN, OPP, FTP, SAP, FAX, HID
Trans-Flash Card Slot: YES “ 1
SIM Card Slot: YES “ 1
Call Settings: call waiting, call divert, call barring (if supported by your network carrier)
Built-In MIC: YES
Messaging: SMS, MMS, Voice-mail
Mobile internet: Yes“ WAP (if supported by your network carrier)
Languages: English, Russian, French, Arabic, Thai, Turkish, Malaysian, Indonesian, Vietnamese
System: Windows 98SE / ME / 2000 / XP / Vista, Mac OS 9.x and later, Linux 2.4 and up
Power Source: Built in Rechargeable Li-ion Battery

Battery Life:
- Talk Time: Up to 2.5 hours
- Stand By: Up to 150 hours
Dimensions: Watch Face Only â€“47mm x 60mm x 21mm (L x W x D); Strap “ Adjustable one-size-fits all

The price of the launched products ranges between Rs 9,000 to Rs 24, 000.

Micromax Funbook tablet

2012-04-04T01:16:00.001-07:00

One thing is for sure, tablets are the future of education. But I am not quite certain if that tomorrow will be displayed on a 7-inch screen. 10-inch devices do seem to have an advantage. Even if they currently carry a heavier price tag, I am quite sure things will change fast. As fast as the plummeting prices of feature-rich tablet devices.

On Tuesday, when Micromax announced its awaited entry into the tablet market with the Rs 6,499 Funbook tablet (model number: P300) targeted towards the youth, the excitement and interest in the online world made it seem to be worth the wait. Two of the top 10 trends on Twitter that day was related to the tablet. I too couldn't wait to get my hands on the device and here is the first review that you will find anywhere of the Micromax Funbook tablet.

We should never be fooled by publicity images. All models, whether human or not look, attractive when properly photoshopped. Therefore I was a bit skeptical before I actually held the Micromax Funbook in my hand. The first thing that struck me was its weight, or rather the lack of it and also its comparatively slim profile.

Many of the much-hyped tablets, be it the world's cheapest Aakash tablet or the overpriced Milagrow TabTop PC, put me off at the first sight. I wouldn't want to be seen in respectable company with one of those fugly devices in my hands. The Micromax Funbook may not be the most handsome kid on the block, but it does have attractive looks. Available in two variants Slate Grey and Midnight Black, the review unit is Slate Grey. But I personally prefer Midnight Black.

There is also the recently launched HCL ME U1 tablet with comparable specs, but a Rs 1,500 higher price tag. Since I'm yet take the ME U1 for a test ride, I'll not proceed with further comparisons.

Measuring 12.2 x 19.2 centimetres the Micromax Funbook tablet is comfortable to hold with one hand for long durations, (aided by its minimal weight) unlike the Amazon Kindle Fire, which cannot be recommended for people with weak wrists.

Something that stands out like pimples on a teenager's face are the protruding home, menu and back buttons. Android Ice Cream Sandwich doesn't need these front hardware buttons and this makes me suspect that Micromax's device was not originally intended run on Android 4.0 and the software upgrade was thought of later taking note of the interest in the latest version of Google's mobile operating system. Sometimes it is a bit awkward to find two sets of buttons, one on the screen and other on the body to perform exactly the same functions. But the advantage of having the hard buttons is that they are easier to access than their tiny on-screen counterparts. But Micromax should have given adding touch buttons a thought. The tablet would've looked a lot sexier.

Android 4.0 (the Funbook runs version 4.0.3) is said to be a vast improvement over its predecessors and it is. When Android 4 is here, there's no point to go for a device with an older version of the OS and then wait for the manufacturer to release an official upgrade.

(An observation: Ice Cream Sandwich looks much better on the more compact smartphone screens than on the larger tablet displays. )

The tablet also claims to be an entertainment hub. I threw in a number of different popular formats at it, including some 1080p and it played them all smoothly. The 1.22GHz Cortex A8 processor with Dual Mali GPU seemed to be doing the job well. The sound output (via the built in speaker) is nothing to be very satisfied about and it is (as usual) advisable to invest in a good pair of headphones.

The presence of a mini-HDMI port extends the tablet to some exciting, albeit un-tablet-like possibilities. Because of its ability to play formats that the HD TV at home couldn't, I plugged the Micromax Funbook to television set and watched a few clips on a larger screen. It can also double up as a handy home media player.

The Micromax Funbook's capacitive screen will not dazzle you with its 800x480 pixel resolution. Also the viewing angles aren't that good. While the device plays 1080p videos, the lower screen resolution means that you cannot enjoy them in their full HD glory, but the video clarity makes watching HD videos more worth the while than other lower resolution videos. The touch is also quite responsive.

The presence of a mini-USB port came as a shocker. Expecting micro-USB compatibility is almost the norm for most devices nowadays since it is compliant with the Universal Charging Solution initiative. Don't know why Micromax chose to sail against the tide on this little but important point. Also having a non-standard charging socket and charger seems strange. When major manufacturers are coming together to develop standards, Micromax is breaking them with what is otherwise a more than satisfactory product.

The tablet doesn't have a rear camera and comes with a front VGA camera, that is only good for video chatting. To desire for a rear camera is asking for a bit too much at this price, at least for now.

The 2800mAh battery gives, according to Micromax, a browsing time of about 5 hours. That's not too great an achievement and something that we will have to learn to live with given that it is light on our wallets. I had been using the device intermittently (on WiFi) for this review and it ran out of juice in a little more than 4 hours.

Positioned as an education tablet, the Funbook comes preloaded with education apps. But they failed to impress. I quit the Vriti app soon after, not because I left school years ago but because it looks so unimaginative and was sluggish even on my high speed home WiFi. I wonder how Vriti (and Micromax by extension) will engage the young and demanding audience they are intending to target?

Also I have this thing against bloatware. Since it does not take a Herculean effort to install apps of the user's choice, manufacturers can at most point users to places that they think will be of the user's interest and not clog the device that she purchases with potentially unwanted software. Micromax's own app store that comes preinstalled with the device pales in comparison with Google Play or even the Amazon App Store. Also I don't get the idea of treating video files as apps.

With the Amazon Kindle App, that doesn't come preinstalled, the Micromax Funbook turns itself into a handy e-reader. Only if it had the battery to support extended reading sessions.

With tethering on my Android smartphone I no longer have the need for a separate Internet USB dongle and nor do many others. This means that I have hardly have any need for the bundled Tata DoCoMo 3G dongle. So does that translate into an even lesser price tag? Have to post this question to Micromax.

Even in this age of globalisation, we do take a lot of pride in made in India products. More so when the market is flooded with made in China stuff. The Micromax Funbook proudly flaunts its made in India tag and is said to be the first 'swadeshi' tablet. Our review device was manufactured at Simmtronics Semiconductors Limited, Roorkee, Uttarakhand.

India is a market of sasta, sundar and tikau (cheap, beautiful and durable). Very few products managed to score well on all three parametres. The Micromax Funbook tablet may not be Aakash cheap, but it is wallet friendly. It may not be a beauty queen but is pleasing to the eyes. Durability is a factor of time and usage, this is one factor that, as the cliche goes, only time can tell. But definitely paisa wasool (worth the money).

Before you rush out to grab a 7-inch Funbook for yourself, note that Micromax isexpected launch a 10-inch tablet soon.

Micromax funbook Tablets Specifications :

Network & Connectivity:

3G – Yes (Supported by an external USB Dongle)

WiFi- Yes

USB- Yes

3.5 MM Jack- Yes

HDMI Port – Yes

Display:

Type Capacitive Touch Screen

Screen Size- 17.8cm

Features- Multi-Touch Screen, Pinch Zoom

Storage:

Internal 4GB

Expandable Up to 32 GB

Card Slot – MicroSD

RAM- 512 MB

Camera:

Primary- 0.3 Mega Pixels (VGA camera)

Video recording – Yes

Battery:

Capacity Li-Ion battery – 2800 mAhBrowsing timeUp to 5 hrs

Other:

Browser- Yes

Games – Yes

JAVA – Yes

Color – Midnight Black Slate Grey

Micromax funbook Price in India Rs 6499 only

HCL RELEASED NEW TABLET : U1 TABLETS

2012-04-02T11:10:00.000-07:00

Further intensifying the price war in the fast-growing tablet PC market, HCL Infosystems on Monday introduced U1 tablet, priced at Rs.7,999, that comes loaded with 17 applications covering jobs, games, social networking and music besides goodies worth Rs.3,000.

The company also launched ‘MyEdu Tab' focussing on the education sector. The ‘MyEdu Tab K12' (kindergarten to class XII) version, priced at Rs.11,499, is an innovative educational tablet packaged with curriculum-mapped digital content and educational applications, while ‘MyEdu Tab — Higher Education' version comes with a price tag of Rs.9,999 and is an edutainment platform that brings together world-class rich multimedia content on technical and professional skills, assessments and applications.

“Our feature-rich tablets are designed keeping in mind the specific needs of Indian consumers. It has capacitive screen and 1Ghz processor with high performance and low power CPU. The tablet comes with a front camera and 512 MB RAM, with an internal memory of 4GB expandable to 32GB and a long-lasting battery. It also has a full USB, mini USB and a micro SD card slot,” HCL Infosystems Executive Vice-President and Head (Mobility) Gautam Advani told journalists here.

The tablet market in India is expected to grow to over 20-lakh units by 2013 from 3.5-lakh units in 2011. HCL now enjoys 15 per cent market share in the tablet PC business. The company also plans to export its tablet PCs to Africa, Gulf nations and other developing nations.

Talking about ‘MyEdu Tab', HCL Infosystems Senior Vice-President and Head HCL Learning Anand Ekambaram said: “It will change the way we learn, definitely make learning an interesting proposition and will make the student more engaged even as the cloud ecosystem will enable a learner to imbibe knowledge at his/her own pace. Our tablet will rope in parents by enabling them to take a more active interest in their wards learning process.”

Referring to the government's focus on providing tablet PCs to students, Mr. Advani said HCL Infosystems was also keen on providing tablets to students but would not compromise on its quality to match any price point. Pointing out that the Centre's Aakash has helped in pushing sales of tablets, Mr. Advani said: “We would love to participate in the government tender…if it comes to prices which are not feasible, we will exit graciously.”

Huawei Ideos X3 Review: Cheapest Android With A Great Cloud Service

2012-04-02T01:26:00.000-07:00

Huawei has been creating a lot of buzz lately. The company used to have it’s focus on network devices previously. But now they seem to have set their eyes on the growing smartphone industry as well. At this year’s Mobile World Congress, we witnessed the Huawei Ascend D QUAD which came with a quad core processor and LTE. It looks like Huawei is really serious about what they’re doing. Anyway, this review isn’t about any monster spec’ed phone. This is about a low end yet a highly irresistible phone for its price, the Huawei Ideos X3. If you follow us on Twitter or Facebook, you know that we’ve been reviewing this phone for a while now. Here, check out our special unboxing video.

The Huawei Ideos X3 has a 3.2 inch TFT screen with 320X480 resolution which has approximately 180ppi. On the inside we have a 600MHz Qualcomm processor with 256MB RAM and 512MB ROM. And of course, the memory is expandable up to 32GB. The phone is also capable of connecting to HSDPA networks, WiFi b/g/n, GPS and Bluetooth devices. It can also take average pictures with its 3.15MP camera and 480p videos. For those radio addicts, it does FM radio connectivity.

Like you would expect, the Ideos X3 like any other Android phone gives you a seamless Google experience. With Gingerbread on board, it is the same experience what other Google OS powered phones has to offer. However, Huawei has really taken care of some of the biggest set backs of the Android OS. We know that by default, Google does not offer a pure back up solution other than the Google Plus service which just backs up your photos and videos alone. While your Google account keeps track of all the app you have on your phone which can be restored to your phone anytime you enter your Google credentials. But it does not backup any app data and hence it can’t restore the same either. Hence, Huawei has introduced the Huawei Cloud+ service which is a free(with huawei devices) online storage solution with some really good features. One can enjoy this service when he/she purchases a Huawei phone as the service is bundled with Huawei Android devices. Every data thats backed up to the cloud can be accessed via the web as well at hicloud.com

So what exactly is cloud+ ??

Cloud+:

Cloud+ is an exclusive Huawei Cloud service to Huawei device users. Cloud+ is seamlessly integrated into the Huawei phone platform. Cloud+ offers a range of next generation features like Cloud+ Drive, Message+, Streams, Phone Finder, SNS Contacts integration, and anywhere any device access for content saved on Drive. These features help the phone user to experience the future of smartphones.

Cloud+ Drive:

You get a 16GB free cloud storage with every smartphone that you purchase from Huawei. Since your contacts, mails, messages, settings and account information don’t use as much space, you will find that 16 GB goes a long way. Therefore, we provide hard disk for your life. You can store up to 3500 songs on Cloud+ Drive or 7000 photos on Cloud+ Album. Cloud+ is simple to start and simple to use. Access your smartphone menu and click on Cloud+ Settings. Give your account a user name and password. You are all set use Cloud+.

Message+:

Message+ is an advanced messaging solution to share text, photos music and voice notes between friends and groups. Send and receive messages in seconds and see when your contacts are typing. Don’t hold back; share your thoughts, stories with unlimited characters and emoticons. Get confirmation when your messages are delivered and read. Swap pictures, videos, voice notes and more; Never worry about the size of the files that you want to share with your friends. Huawei smart phone automatically detects your Message+ friends. If you have Message+ users on your phone contact list, then your phone automatically detects those friends. Otherwise, just enter your friends account name and get connected with your friend. And you can also do group chats using this app.

Huawei Social Streams:

Huawei Streams provides an integrated social networking experience with facebook, twitter and LinkedIn. Experience a new way of social networking on your smartphone with automatic updates of your friends, photo sharing, status updates, messaging with few key taps.

SNS Contact Integration:

Your facebook, twitter and LinkedIn contacts are imported and integrated with your phonebook. You contact’s updates, albums and your interaction with the contact are closely integrated with your contact’s information.

Cloud+ Synchronisation and Back up:

Cloud+ Contacts allows you to synchronize contacts from your phone to the Cloud+ server in real time. Contact information changes on your phone will be automatically synchronized to the Cloud+ server or your other Huawei phones and tablets. Go to your Contacts settings. Enable “Synchronize” option.

All Backup:

A smart way to backup all your important information. Backup the information so that even if you lose your phone, you just lose your phone not the information. Also, retrieve back the data on to your new Huawei smart phone and get back the same experience. Don’t just limit there, retrieve the backed up data on to your mediapad and get back the same experience.

Phone Finder:

Find My Phone

Don’t panic. As soon as you realize that your Huawei phone is missing, Hicloud can help you figure out where your phone is. Log on to www.hicloud.com, use the Phone finder feature to locate your phone on the google maps. Not just locate, perform other useful functions to safe guard your data.

Lock Your Phone

You keep lot of important information on your phone, so you want to protect this information until your phone is safely back in your hands. From the internet account, set a password to lock the phone and keep your information private.

Back Up Your Data

If you have lost your phone and you are worried that you would lose all the phone contacts, the message communications, system settings and account settings, you can backup your data on the cloud using this feature.

HiSpace

HiSpace is Huawei App store available exclusively to Huawei smartphone owners. Over 1500 top apps for work, play and everything in between. The apps that come in the Huawei smartphone is just the beginning. You can download more apps from HiSpace and experience more on your phone. Hispace provides categories to choose the apps from. Don’t get lost in the plethora of apps on the android market.

Hispace provides the best in the industry apps categorized to ease your search and experience on the app market.

So that’s the biggest highlight of this phone. This is something what no other Android phones can’t offer. Of course they can replicate the same experience if you download plenty of apps that almost do the same tasks. But remember its not unified, you have to find apps by yourself, sacrifice storage space, manually configure and handle them and of course remember all the credentials for each service which is a lot of hectic work. While the cloud service works out of the box. All you need is just one account and rest the phone takes care of.

So the biggest question is the battery life. The battery life wasn’t impressive from our tests. And lets face it, its 1200mAh battery. While it tried to offer approximately 5 hours on 2G with internet turned on all the time and Huawei Cloud services running in the background, we managed to squeeze in a little more when we tried turning off internet when we weren’t really using the internet apps. On 3G we got similar battery life as 2G when 3G was turned off, rest of the time it was fairly 4 hours. For improved battery life, we recommend turning off the automatic daily backups to weekly or manual. Unfortunately we couldn’t find an option to back up only when connected to a wifi network. Well, thats a bummer and we hope Huawei to address that immediately as 3G back up can cost you a lot of money.

At price around Rs 5000/-, Huawei Ideos X3 offers a pure Android experience on a decent hardware and a great cloud service which one can only dream with other phones of the same price range.

iBall Andi 2 FULL SPECIFICATION

2012-03-30T20:30:00.001-07:00

IBALL ANDI 2 : Dual SIM Smartphone

FULL SPECIFICATION

Network type	GSM
Design	Candybar
SIM slot	Dual (Dual-standby) (GSM-GSM)
Thickness	No exact info
Announced	28, March, 2012
Launched	28, March, 2012
Launch MRP	Rs. 9,999
Current lowest price	See in the red box above
FEATURES
OS	Android 2.2 (Froyo)
CPU	800 MHz processor
Memory	No exact info
Storage	No exact info
Expansion slot	Yes, up to 32 GB via micro-SD
Sensors	Accelerometer
CONNECTIVITY
3G	Yes, up to 7.2 Mbps
EDGE	Yes
Bluetooth	V2.1 + A2DP
Wi-Fi	802.11 b/g/n
USB	V2.0 (micro USB)

DISPLAY
Type	TFT, Capacitive-touch
Size	3.5-inch
Resolution	480 X 320p @165 pixel per inch
CAMERA
Rear	3 MP fixed focus with Digital zoom
Flash	No
Front	Yes, VGA
Features	Geo tagging, White Balance, Color effect
BATTERY
Type	Li-ion-1450 mAh
Standby time	NA
Talk time	NA
Music playback	NA
Video playback	NA
Web browsing	NA
VIDEO/AUDIO
Video	No exact info yet
Audio	Loud-speaker
3.5mm jack	Yes
OTHER FEATURES
GPS	Yes, A-GPS
Radio	Yes, Stereo FM with RDS
Built-in apps	Document Editor Gmail Google Search YouTube Android Market Google Maps SNS integration
Miscellaneous	Predictive text input
Color choices	Black

iBall Andi 2 price in India is Rs. 9,999

Indai's 11 Lowest cost Tablets

2012-03-27T19:23:00.000-07:00

Olive Pad

The Olive Pad has earned rave reviews in the recent times. It also happens to be one of the earliest local devices to hit the Indian market. The Olive Pad boasts of some excellent features at a very reasonable price tag. It comes preloaded with Android V2.2 (Froyo) OS, a 17.8-cm (7-inch) TFT capacitive touchscreen and 3G features.

The other key specs of Olive Pad include 0.3-megapixel secondary camera, 600 MHz ARM11 processor, Wi-Fi, 32 GB expandable memory and push mail support.

Online Price: Rs 14,999

iBall Slide

Offered at a budget price, the iBall Slide also found a place in our shortlisted tablet devices' list. Powered with Android 2.3 Gingerbread OS, iBall Slide offers a 17.8-cm (7-inch) capacitive touchscreen display, 3.2-megapixel front camera and 2 GB expandable memory storage. Armed with 1 GHz ARM Cortex- A8 processor, iBall Slide comes Wi-Fi enabled for the users.

Online Price: Rs 13,995

Reliance 3G Tab

A recent entrant into the tablet domain, the 3G Tab by Reliance comes preloaded with superb features at a budget price range. The Reliance 3G Tab comes integrated with a 17.8-cm (7-inch) TFT LCD touchscreen display, 2-megapixel camera and Android 2.3 Gingerbread OS. It offers expandable storage capacity of 32 GB, Wi-Fi and 800 MHz processor.

Online Price: Rs 12,999

Spice Mi-720

A recent offering from Spice Mobility, Spice M1-720 tablet is an entry-level tablet device designed for the masses. The key features of thâ€Žis tablet include a 2-megapixel camera, 0.3-megapixel secondary camera and 17.8-cm (7-inch) TFT touchscreen display. The device packs a 800 MHz Scorpion processor, Wi-Fi, 32 GB expandable memory and Android 2.2 Froyo OS.

Online Price: Rs 11,990

Creative Z1107

Next in the line of budget tablets' listi is the ZII07 by Creative. Powered with Android 2.2 Froyo operating system, it boasts of a 2-megapixel primary camera as well as a 2-megapixel secondary camera. The other key features include a 17.8-cm (7-inch) TFT touchscreen display, 768 MHz processor, 16 GB expandable storage and Wi-Fi.

Online Price: Rs 11,000

HCL ME AE7-A1

HCL has recently announced its 'ME' series tablet PCs that are offered at exceptionally low bracket price range. One of the devices in this series, HCL ME AE7-A1, comes equipped with a 17.8-cm (7-inch) resistive touchscreen display, Wi-Fi, ARM 11 800 MHz processor 256 MB DDR2 of RAM, in-built accelerometer, G Sensor and Android V2.2 (Froyo) OS.

Online Price: Rs 10,333

Beetel Magiq II

If your budget happens to be below 10K, the remaining tablets are designed for you too. These devices offer decent features to the users at extremely low prices. The Beetel Magiq II packs a 2-megapixel primary as well as secondary camera, a 17.8-cm (7-inch) TFT touchscreen, 768 MHz processor, Android 2.2, 16 GB expandable storage and Wi-Fi.

Online Price: Rs 9,500

Black Elemente 701

The Black Elemente 701 tablet is another budget device which comes equipped with basic but decent specs to match the price tag. This low-cost tablet comes preloaded with a 17.8-cm (7-inch) multi-touch HD display, external 3G, Wi-Fi, Android 2.1 OS and a 1 GHz processor. You can get 32 GB expandable memory and 8GB internal memory storage with this device.

Online Price: Rs 8,999

Binatone HomeSurf

Binatone has released tablets tailor-made to your tight budget. It offers HomeSurf in the range of 8K and easyTab as low as Rs 6,699 in the Indian market. Binatone HomeSurf packs Android 2.1, a 17.8-cm (7-inch) TFT colour display, eBook reader, voice recorder, Web browser and voice recorder. Whereas the easyTab comes enabled with QWERTY keypad, a 17.8-cm (7-inch) TFT display, music player, video player and Android 2.1 OS.

Online Price: Rs 7,999

Fly Vision

The most recent entrant to join the tablet bandwagon in the Indian market is the Fly Vision. This low-cost Android tablet packs a 17.8-cm (7-inch) TFT LCD touchscreen, Android 2.2 and a 1.3-megapixel camera. The Vision tablet comes powered with 600 MHz Rockchip 2818 chipset processor, 256MB RAM and 16GB external micro SD card. It also features Bluetooth, USB 2.0, WiFi and 3G.

Online Price: Rs 7,299

AAKASH

The Aakash is a low-cost tablet computer with a 7-inch touch screen,AMR processor and 256 MB RAM running under the Android 2.2 operating system. It has two universal serial bus (USB) ports and delivers HD quality video. For applications.The Aakash is an Anroid based tablet computers produced by British company Datawind

Online Pricing : Rs 3000

MOTOROLA DEFY

2012-03-26T21:13:00.001-07:00

MOTOROLA DEFY-The Waterproof & Dust Proof Phone

FULLSPECIFICATION	Motorola Defy is next level for New generation mobile.Defy has life proof and also it is speedier smarter and more capable for delivering rich entertainment experiences you have come to expect Defy comes with more feature that no other can't give that are waterproof and scratch resistant tools . Motorola made available to the market with low price between 10,000 to 15,000
Design	Candybar
SIM slot	Single
Thickness	13.4 mm
Announced on	01, September, 2010
Launched on	25, January, 2011
Launch MRP	Rs. 18,500
Current lowest price	See in the red box above
FEATURES
OS	Android 2.2 (Froyo) with Motoblur UI
CPU	Texas Instruments OMAP 3610 chipset (800 MHz processor, PowerVR SGX530 GPU)
Memory	512 MB RAM
Storage	2 GB internal
Expansion slot	Yes, up to 32 GB using micro-SD, (2GB card inbox)
Sensors	Accelerometer, Proximity, Light, Digital compass
CONNECTIVITY
3G	Yes, HSDPA up to 7.2 Mbps
EDGE	Yes
Bluetooth	V2.1 with A2DP + EDR
Wi-Fi	802.11 b/g/n with Hotspot
USB	V2.0
DLNA	Yes

DISPLAY
Type	TFT, Capacitive multi-touch with 16M colors
Features	Corning Gorilla Glass protection
Size	3.7-inch
Resolution	854 X 480p @265 pixels per inch
CAMERA
Rear	5 MP with autofocus
Flash	Yes, LED
Front	No
Features	Geo tagging, Image stabilization, Face detection
BATTERY
Type	1500 mAh Li-Po
Standby time	Up to 238 days
Talk time	Up to 6 hours 48 min
Music playback	NA
Video playback	NA
VIDEO/AUDIO
Video	VGA (640 x 480p) Video recording/playback @ 30 FPS
Audio	Dedicated microphone with Active NC
3.5mm jack	Yes
OTHER FEATURES
GPS	Yes, A-GPS
Radio	Yes, Stereo FM with RDS
Built-in apps	Motorola Media link Zinio CardioTrainer Document editor Gmail Google Talk Google Search Google Maps YouTube Android Market SNS integration
Miscellaneous	Touch sensitive buttons, Adobe Flash lite, Splash resistant, Dustproof
Color choices	Black Expected PRICE IN INDIA (RS) : 13,000

SAMSUNG GALAXY BEAM

2012-03-26T02:05:00.000-07:00

SAMSUNG GALAXY BEAM - UPCOMING GALAXY SERIES

Network and Release
2G Network	GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
Announced	COMING SOON !!
Status	COMING SOON !!
Size and Weight Specifications
Thickness	12.50 mm
Weight	145 grams
Display Specifications
Type	Touch Screen (Capacitive), AMOLED Screen, 16M
Size	480 * 800 Pixels Resolution, Screen Size : 4. inches
	- Multi-Touch

Sound Features
Alert types	Vibration, Ringtone, Mp3 Ringtones
Loudspeaker	YES
3.5mm jack	YES
Memory Specifications
Phonebook	No Practical/Maximum Limit
Call records	Yes
Internal	768 MB
Card slot	YES
Data, Internet and Connections
GPRS	GPRS Upto 114 kbps
EDGE	EDGE Upto 560 kbps
3G	HSDPA Upto14.4 Mbps
Bluetooth	YES
WiFi	YES
USB	YES
Camera Features
Primary	5 MegaPixel LED flash
Features	- Auto-Focus - Geo Tagging - Face Detection - Smile Detection
Video	YES
Secondary	YES
Other Important Specifications and Features
OS	Android OS, v2.3 (Gingerbread)
CPU	Dual-core 1 GHz Cortex-A9
Messaging	SMS (Threaded view), MMS, Email, IM
Browser	HTML5, Adobe Flash
Radio	NO
Games	Supports Motion Sensor Downloadable Java Games
Colors	Black
GPS	YES with A-GPS support
Java	YES
Other Features	- Document Editor - Compass - Lost Mobile Tracker - Supports Video Call - Voice Record - Voice Dialing - Music Recognition - Music Mood Recognition - Motion Control for Music - Supports YouTube - Social Networking - Fake Call
Battery life
Stand By Time	Up to 300 h
Talk time	Upto 8 Hrs EXPECTED (INR) PRICE : 34,000 SAMSUNG GALAXY BEAM COMMERCIAL

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Huawei Ideos X3 Review: Cheapest Android With A Great Cloud Service

iBall Andi 2 FULL SPECIFICATION

FEATURES

CONNECTIVITY

DISPLAY

CAMERA

BATTERY

VIDEO/AUDIO

OTHER FEATURES

iBall Andi 2 price in India is Rs. 9,999

Indai's 11 Lowest cost Tablets

MOTOROLA DEFY

MOTOROLA DEFY-The Waterproof & Dust Proof Phone

FEATURES

CONNECTIVITY

DISPLAY

CAMERA

BATTERY

VIDEO/AUDIO

OTHER FEATURES

SAMSUNG GALAXY BEAM