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Instagram coming soon to Android

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Instagram coming soon to Android

Apple’s famous Instagram application may soon come to the platform. The chief executive officer (CEO) of Instagram, who promised this, however has not shared the details of the meant for Android devices.

The Instagram app offers filters as well as fancy effects and enables users to share them over different social networks.

Kevin Systrom, CEO of Instagram, told Guardian that Instagram gets barrage of requests for the Android version of the app. Currently the Android version of the app is being developed by two team members of the Instagram.

At this moment, there are several free apps that offer free filters and special effects for both and Android platform. What makes Instagram different is the network of professional photographers, and celebrities. Users can follow their images and also get several followers for their own images.

At this moment, Systrom is hiring new Android platform focused engineers and developers in order to speed up the Instagram for Android development. It makes sense because several high end smartphones are now being launched with 8-megapixel or 5-megapixel image sensor. With popular app like Instagram, Android users could certainly make the best of their smartphone’s camera.

First car with Android launched

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First car with Android launched

Luxgen Motors, a Taiwan based automaker, has unveiled a first of its kind car with an infotainment system based on operating system. The car, named Luxgen5 Sedan, is a premium sports sedan.

Luxgen Motors has partnered with HTC, the famous Taiwan based smartphone maker and together they developed THINK+ system. When an HTC mobile phone is connected to the THINK+ Touch system, all of the mobile phone calls will then be controlled directly through the 9 inch smart touch screen on the central console. Users can also access Facebook, send and receive e-mails or look up local sights through the touch screen.

The Luxgen think+ Touch system’s five key functions include Multimedia, Phone, Safety, Information and hTC mode. Apart from using the touch screen itself, shortcut buttons are provided below the screen.

Another feature allows navigation function using the HTC mode. Users can check the map and set routes in the car. The hands-free system means users can also make calls using the car’s convenient hands-free interface.

You also have a very convenient phone dock in the car adjacent to the central control. Although no details have been provided, from the pictures available it is evident that the dock will charge your phone apart from keeping it safe.

The Android interface will also tell you better about the cars’ state of health, though no details have again been offered. You will no longer need to decipher codes (that is what you get in other cars) to know the problem with the car, you will get clear words stating that to you.

While this is the first car to have this system but the company promises that even other cars and SUVs in its lineup will get it too. And we promise you, similar systems will start appearing in other cars from other manufacturers soon enough.

Google’s launches magazine style reader Google Currents

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Google’s launches magazine style reader Google Currents

Google has announced the launch of its latest innovation – the Google Currents, for devices. The native magazine style application is similar to the Flip Board of the iOS.

Google Currents allows users to read news and related text based content on the Android devices in form of an e-magazine with bigger pictures and text. With Google integration, we hope it will now turn out to be a new standard as far as reading on mobile devices goes.

The Google Currents has a long list of e-magazines such as Forbes, Techcrunch, Saveur, Popular Science, Good, 500px, Fast Company and many more. All these are available for users for free of cost. The application also brings along tight integration with the Google reader service and the subscribed RSS feeds on the reader can also be made available on the Google Currents in the form of interesting and easily readable articles.

The best thing about the Google Currents application is its deeper integration with the Android system as well which allows the application to make the content available even in the absence of data or internet connectivity. This is made possible by the method of synchronisation which takes place when the stories are downloaded by the application and it makes a local copy of the related material to make available if there is a lack in the internet connectivity.

But sadly the application does not come integrated with social medias hence users cannot share the content in sites like Facebook, Orkut etc. But since it is the first revision of the application, there will be many more functionalities is expected to be added to the application.

The Google currents application is presently not available in many countries including India but we hope that it will soon be made available worldwide.

Nokia to sell of Vertu

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Nokia to sell of Vertu

With the launch of Nokia Lumia Windows Phone based devices it seems as if Nokia is shifting its entire focus for the betterment of the smartphone business only. According to Reuters Nokia is in the process of selling its ultra luxury mobile brand Vertu. The sales of the premium mobile brand will allow Nokia to overhauls its smartphone business globally as to make it able to compete with other global smartphone players as well.

Nokia which has been known for its wide range of products seems to be focusing more on smartphones now especially after the announcement of the Lumia range of Windows phone based smartphones.

It is not known, how much the sale of Vertu going to help Nokia financially. But considering the brand image worldwide, it would not be going cheap.

The finances earned from this deal will definitely pump new blood in the veins of the Finnish cellphone manufacturer helping it to focus on newer devices like Lumia and the recently disclosed Windows 8 based tablet as well. But since there is no official confirmation on the sales of the Vertu brand, we will have to wait until Nokia discloses more plans as to what and when things will happen.

Microsoft now brings smartphone apps for Xbox Halo-Reach

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Microsoft now brings smartphone apps for Xbox Halo-Reach

After launching the My Xbox LIVE for iOS, Microsoft has now released two apps for smartphones for its Halo: Reach game. The apps aim to provide near real-time support and tactical guidance to players of Halo: Reach and Halo: Anniversary Multiplayer gameplay”.

The first is Halo Waypoint that sends related news like stats, awards, news, and other Halo: Reach related content to the phones. Another app called ATLAS can deliver some impressive features the first app won’t be offering.

ATLAS stands for Assisted Tactical Assault System and it’s a “near-real-time player data and tactical guidance” supplement for your Halo: Reach multiplayer matches. So with this, you get a GPS-like service, pinpointing your location in the game along with information about weapons, vehicles, health pack locations, etc.

“In addition to map viewing, we are also including a cutting-edge experimental feature where we show near-real-time information. That means when you are playing a Matchmaking Multiplayer Halo: Reach game on Xbox LIVE, ATLAS shows your location on the map and updates dynamically as you move around,” The Halo Xbox blog explained.

Both the apps will be available on Android, and Windows Phone 7 from December 10.

Nokia Lumia 710 to be available next week in India

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Nokia Lumia 710 to be available next week in India

Nokia flagship Windows Phone, the Lumia 710, will not go for prebooking and will be available in stores directly from next week, the Finnish handset manufacturer has said. Nokia has started shipping the Nokia Lumia 710 device globally and thus the device will be available in the Nokia stores world over including India within the next seven days.

Nokia Lumia 710 has started selling in Taiwan as of today along with the Lumia 800 and will continue to ship throughout the world in the following month to make its availability global.

Users will have pay Rs 18,700 approximately plus local taxes and duties. Nokia in India is yet to officially announce a final MRP of the Lumia 710 but looking at the things and the international price, it is expected to be made available in India for a price of Rs 20,000 approximately.

Couple of days back, Nokia had announced the prebooking of their flagship Windows Phone device the Nokia Lumia 800.

Nokia Lumia 710 is an entry level Windows Phone. It gets exchangeable back covers and will come in black and white varieties, with the choice of black, white, cyan, fuchsia and yellow back covers. Its 3.7 inch ClearBlack TFT screen offers an 800 x 480-pixel resolution which, Nokia says, is good for readability in sunlight as well. At the rear, there’s a 5 megapixel auto-focus camera with an LED flash. The camera can also shoot video at 30 frames-per-second.

Lumia 710 has a similar 1.4 GHz as its bigger cousin, the Lumia 800, along with a 512 of RAM and 8 of onboard storage memory along with a micro card slot.

Also available to purchase separately are a range of complementary audio accessories co-designed and co-developed with Monster. The in-ear Nokia Purity Stereo headset by Monster, providing high-performance in-ear style and the on-ear Nokia Purity HD Stereo headset by Monster for the best mobile audio experience.

Both products provide a fresh listening experience and are the first output of the exclusive long-term partnership between Nokia and Monster, intended to introduce a range of premium audio accessories to reflect the outstanding quality and bold style of the Lumia range.

Asus Transformer Prime up for pre-order in UK

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Asus Transformer Prime up for pre-order in UK

Asus’s Transformer Prime tablet is now up for pre-order in the UK. An online retailer, Clove, is offering the tablet for £550 (Rs 45,000) for its 32 model with keyboard dock or 64 GB model without the keyboard dock. The tablet is likely to be available there in January 2012.

The Asus Transformer Prime comes with Nvidia 1.3 GHz Tegra 3 ‘Kal-el’ quad-core processor. The tablet will arrive in the market with Android 3.2 Honeycomb but is likely to be upgraded to Ice Cream Sandwich after some time. So far the availability of the tablet is not visible on other places.

The tablet which comes with the keyboard doc has 18 hours battery life. Besides, it has an 8 camera at the back and comes with 10.1 inch capacitive touchscreen.

HTC Sense 3.0 update starts rolling out

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HTC Sense 3.0 update starts rolling out

HTC has started rolling out the new HTC Sense 3.0 user interface update for the older smartphones starting with the Desire and Incredible S. HTC Turkey’s official Facebook profile posted a timeline and list of devices that would be getting the HTC Sense 3.0 UI and 2.3.5 Gingerbread update.

With the recently launched devices coming with pre-loaded with HTC Sense 3.0 UI and most recent ones with HTC Sense 3.5 UI, it is a kind of heartburn for the users of HTC’s older Android smartphones. So HTC has started the roll out of HTC Sense 3.0 UI to select set of devices. The new Sense 3.0 UI along with Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread update has started rolling out over the air to several people.

As per the HTC Turkey’s Facebook post, the owners of the Incredible S, Desire S and Desire HD would be getting HTC Sense 3.0 and Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread update in this month. The Wildfire S will get the Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread along with the Lockscreen update.

Update to improve the Twitter and Facebook on HTC Salsa is being planned and might be sent out later this month or next. On the tablet front, the HTC Flyer tablet will finally get the Android 3.x Honeycomb update.

While the new HTC’s Android based handsets continue to roll out with the HTC Sense 3.5 UI update, the existing users expect the Sense 3.0 update obviously. As of now, there are no hints on whether the devices mentioned above would be getting Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich update or not.

Play games together on desktop, phones and tablets

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Spacetime Studios, a developer of massively multiplayer online (MMO) games, has announced new versions of its two games that can now be played amongst players on different platforms.

The games – Pocket Legends and Star Legends, have thus now became first MMOs in history to allow people to play the same game together on desktop computers, smart phones and tablets. Currently, Pocket Legends and Star Legends are playable on most Apple and mobile devices as well as Windows, Mac and Linux computers. The games more than seven million downloads and a million play sessions weekly.

Spacetime Games are played on a single global server, which means it is now possible for an iPhone user in the US to play with an Android user in Germany and a PC user sitting in India.

“There have always been technical walls between players of different platforms,” says Gary Gattis, chief executive officer of Spacetime Studios. “Now, people are free to play on the device they choose with anyone, anywhere, anytime, whether they are at home or on-the-go.”

Spacetime Studios integrated Google Native Client (NaCl) technology with the Spacetime Engine to create the desktop clients for Pocket Legends and Star Legends.

Device Review: Jabra Freeway

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When it comes to hands free kits, Jabra as a brand in India is quite reputable and we have seen quite a few iconic products coming from this brand in the past as well.
Jabra Freeway, it’s a dedicated in-car Bluetooth hands free kit and Jabra has utilised all its expertise on this product.

Looks and Build Quality

The Jabra Freeway comes in a unique and sleek form factor as far as car Bluetooth hands free kits in India are concerned. It has a full matte black colour tone that gives it a discrete as well as a sophisticated look. A major benefit of its discreetness is that it can easily blend in with your car’s interiors.

Like Jabra’s earlier products, this hands free car kit has also top notch build quality that will last longer. The matte finish also acts as a fingerprint resistor and the Jabra Freeway does not get dirty fast.

Design

The Jabra Freeway, in terms of design, is optimal for in car usage either on the dashboard if you don’t like to clip it on the visor. For the sun visor, there is a high tensile metal based clamp that allows this to cling on to the visor and for desk type usage this has got silicon pads as well on the bottom to keep it from slipping off while driving.

Jabra Freeway has regular push-to-work buttons which are placed very discreetly under the body to give this a neater look. These buttons are dust proof as well.

The Jabra Freeway has a seven button design out of which one is placed on the side to control the power. Rest of the buttons on the device control everything from the call connect/disconnect, volume level and even the and the FM transmission.

Connectivity and technology

The Jabra Freeway features Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP, hands free and headset profile allowing it to connect to any Bluetooth compatible mobile phone with ease. For charging, there is a connector which is conveniently placed on the right side next to the power key.

The Bluetooth connectivity range for this device is well over 20 meters and the Jabra Freeway can also be connected to two devices simultaneously.

The key feature of the Jabra Freeway is its voice commands and voice alerts. If you are receiving a call from a known person, the device will call out the name or else the number from which the call is being received. Users can choose to pick up the call or disconnect by saying answer or reject. Users can also connect to the last dialed number by simply saying call after pressing the voice button.

Another big advantage of the Jabra Freeway is the FM transmitter which is capable of transmitting audio over FM. Users can use the capabilities of the device to transmit music or the call audio to the car’s music system with a great ease.

For people who stay on the road often, they do not need to take this out and even switch it off as the Jabra Freeway features an inbuilt motion sensor that allows it to shut down in the absence of motion and turn itself back on as the motion comes back on.

Performance

You can pair this device with any Bluetooth enabled phone. You can turn on the pairing mode by keeping the call button pressed. It takes less than 10 seconds to get paired but you have to repeat the whole process again if you have to connect other phones with the Jabra Freeway.

In terms of the voice quality, the Jabra Freeway is leagues apart from its competitors and provides a crystal clear sound.

It features Bluetooth A2DP profile that allows music playback from one’s mobile phone but since the device does not feature any music control keys so users will have to control music playback via their phone. Songs can also be transmitted over to the car’s music system for louder playback.

The Jabra Freeway has a virtual stereo sound output created with the combination of three drivers including two mid range drivers and a low range driver that acts as a subwoofer for a fuller sound.

In terms of the sound output the device is great and the voice quality as mentioned earlier also is great and enough to satisfy a couple of ear buds as well.

On a personal note while not in the car, we used this device as a portable Bluetooth multimedia speaker system and we thoroughly enjoyed every bit of its sound.

Battery performance

The Jabra Freeway has an internal battery pack that can power this device for up to 10 hours of continuous jabbering. But in case of minimal usage, this device can accompany you for more than a week.

It took about three hours to get completely charged from zero battery level.

To sum it all up

In one line, the Jabra Freeway is a robust Bluetooth hands free car system with excellent sound quality. The voice alerts for calls and battery status surely take off a lot of burden and allow the drivers to focus more on the roads. Along with this the inclusion of voice commands is a superb idea and will give the drivers a more hands free experience.

Overall the device is just a bit bulky which can be overlooked amidst all the other features. The price of the device is about Rs 6,500 listed on popular online shopping portals, and the Jabra Freeway makes absolute sense for every penny asked for.

So if you are looking for a superb Bluetooth solution for your car then look no further as things don’t get any better than this, at least for now.

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