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Batteries that need just 10 minutes to charge

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NTT Docomo of Japan has come out with a new ultra-fast charging battery pack which needs just about 10 minutes time to get fully recharged. Although the technology is a bit crude at the moment but a prototype of this was shown by NTT Docomo at CEATEC (Cutting-edge IT & Electronics Comprehensive Exhibition) event in Japan.

This battery if becomes mainstream will solve a huge problem of smartphone users. Smartphones usually need 3-4 hours to get completely recharged and with numerous applications, it again gets out of charge in a day’s usage.

NTT Docomo has named the external battery pack as battery sleeve and has designed it for NEC’s Medias smartphone. Although the video and the pictures of the device, as reported by Engadget, looks like a primitive age smartphone due to the bigger battery sleeve size but surely adds a new dimension of usage due to the major reduction in the recharge times.

The battery sleeve recharges from the same power source as your regular wall charger but it utilises almost 10 times the voltage while recharging. So basically, a regular battery charges at 0.55 mA, while the NTT Docomo battery sleeve charges at 5.8 -making it possible to charge the battery in a short time.

Charging battery at such fast pace has its own disadvantages as well – it damages the battery and considerably shortens the battery life as well due to over heating of the lithium cells. The project is in its very initial stages and works are going on to sort out the issue.

New smart antenna for iPhone 4S

The newly launched Apple iPhone 4S comes with new smart antennas which is expected to solve the issue of the flaws of iPhone 4.

The earlier version of the phone, the iPhone 4 has only one antenna dedicated to the cellular networks. However, problems aroused when users pick the phone in a certain way which resulted in blocking the dedicated antenna for cellular network.

On the contrary, the iPhone 4S has two antennas which are located in the stainless steel on either sides of the phone. So, if a user blocks one antenna, the other antenna could pick up the cellular network thus providing uninterrupted signal on the phone.

“Improving on the innovative stainless steel external, dual-antenna design of iPhone 4, iPhone 4S is the first phone to intelligently switch between two antennas to send and receive. iPhone 4S now supports twice the download speed with of up to 14.4 and iPhone 4S is a world phone, so both CDMA and GSM customers can now roam internationally on GSM networks,” Apple said in a press release.

How to book Railway ticket using mobile

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Gone are the days when you have to stay in a long queue to get your ticket booked. Today, you can do the same anytime and anywhere using your mobile phone.

One has to visit IRCTC website which is available on mobile through three different mobile apps – Paymate, NGPay and ATOM to book railway tickets. We have chosen ATOM as it is available on and has application for all the major mobile platforms and works even on most feature phones.

Android users can go to Android Market on their device, search for ATOM, find and download it. Other can search it in independent stores like Getjar.

Step 1

The once downloaded will ask you to register by first verifying your mobile number. It will seek permission to do so, allow it.

Step 2

The app will then ask you to fill up the form asking your name, gender, email id, date of birth and address. This will be followed by keying your choice of a four to six digit PIN, which you need to enter twice (the same PIN). This will be your (password) for all future transactions.

Also it will ask you for a security answer, which can be used in future in case you forget your password. Provide these details properly as this will be used while you book tickets or do any other transactions.

Step 3

After successful registration, a page will appear showing your (customer) ID. Please note it down somewhere. It will also give you a customer care number, which you can contact in case of any confusion. Press the ‘OK’ button which will then take you to the homepage of the app.

Step 4

There are several things that you can do through this app including bill payment, DTH recharge, buy movie ticket, recharge prepaid mobile, pay insurance premium, shop etc.

Step 4 B

When you open the app each of these categories is listed. For ticket booking, you need to click on ‘services’ and then ‘Travel’. This will give you four options, choose IRCTC. You can also book bus ticket, air tickets if you choose other option.

Step 4 C

Clicking IRCTC will again give you options like reservation, PNR Status, Cancel E-Ticket, and Retrieve e-Ticket and Help.

Step 5

To book a ticket, click on ‘Reservation’. The new window will give you option to search by station name or station code. If you know the station codes select ‘search by station code’. If you don’t remember codes, then click on search ‘by station’. Key in the station name in the box provided, even first three letters of the station name will be sufficient.

Step 5 A

Click ‘Next’, a new window with starting station options (based on what you entered will come up), choose the right one for you and click it.

Step 5 B

This will be followed by the ‘to station’ choices, again select the right one.

Step 6

Then comes the choice of Class (sleeper, 3rd AC, second AC, Chair car etc), select your choice and click next.

Step 6 A

The second page will ask you for the number of passengers who will be travelling on the particular journey, number of child passengers (0-4 years), ticket type, and quota (general, tatkal for journey within next two days and ladies) and the date of travel. Make your choice by select through the check boxes given alongside the options.

Step 6 B

The next window will give you the list of trains; select the one that you want.

Step 7

After selecting the relevant train, the app will show you the details of the train such as its name, number, from station, To station, date, arrival, departure etc.

Step 7 A

You will now have the availability status on various dates. When you click next, you will again be asked for the journey date, which you can choose based on the availability (if your chosen date was 7th but tickets are available for 9th you can choose 9th).

Step 7 B

In the subsequent page, you will be asked for the details of the passengers like their name, gender, age (the same as in regular web IRCTC).

Step 8

After you are done with all this, now is the turn to make the payment. There are three options here namely credit card, Corporation bank, and Axis bank account.

If you are not a customer of these two banks, you should select the credit card option, which works even for the Debit cards.

After selecting the credit card option, the app will ask you to choose between Visa and Master Card (look on your card, you will know).

Step 8 B

The next window will ask you about the card details including your full name (if it is your card). If the card belongs to someone else mention his or her name. Fill in other details like Card number, expiry date (mentioned below the 16 digit card number), CVV which is mentioned on the back side on the right corner of the signature strip (its a 3 digit number) generally accompanied by a 4 digit number that is the last four digits of the card number and also your ATOM PIN (which you generated when registering).

Step 9

The next screen asks for an OTP (one time password) which you will receive from the bank through and email. However, to receive the OTP you need to register your mobile number and email id with your bank.

Step 9 A

Once you key in the OTP, the application will ask you ‘if you want to store the card details with the application’. Now, it depends on you whether you want to save it or not. Remember that even if you save the details of your card, you will still need to key in PIN and OTP every time you transact and therefore it is safe to store the details in your phone. Saving it will make it easy for you to book tickets in subsequent occasions as you will not need to key in the details every time you shop. However, if you have a very easy pin and you keep forgetting your mobile here and there, then you better not save the details.

Step 10

Finally, the booking page will appear with all the details of the journey, the price and the availability details. If you don’t need any changes, you can proceed with the payments.

Step 11

The last and final step is to take the printout of the ticket. You can also save the screen shot of the ticket onto your phone as a proof of ticket. You won’t need a printout. If you access your mail through mobile it solves the problem, just show it to the ticket checker along with your ID proof.

Top 5 gaming phones for Sept- Oct

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In the month of August The Mobile Indian had come up with a a list of top gaming mobile phones. However, with newer smartphones being launched almost every week, the top handset list also bound to be dynamic. Here is a list of most exciting gaming phones for the month of September-October.

Sony Ericsson Xperia Play

Xperia Play has always managed to make to the top gaming phone’s list. Price corrections and addition of new dedicated games recently, makes it even better preposition than it was last time.

Built on the lines of Sony’s PlayStation Portable (PSP) platform, Xperia Play smartphone features a dedicated PSP keys along with a joy pad that is capacitive but works well.

At the heart of this device, you will find a 1 GHz processor and dedicated graphics engine that makes better gaming possible. Apart from being a gaming device, this is also a full featured smartphone running Google 2.2 (update to 2.3 already announced) on a big 3.7 inch display. Xperia Play is available for Rs 29,990 in India, you can also get some freebies like handsfree and Reebok Gym Kit. The price can be negotiated without the freebies.
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Nokia X7

Nokia X7 is the latest handset to be based on Symbian Anna OS and also it is likely to be the first to get Anna when it comes as an update. It is targeted at gamers with High Definition gaming capabilities.

Like the Xperia Play, this phone has some dedicated games and will remain the center of Nokia’s Mobile gaming strategy for some time to come. Hence, you will continue to see contests and new games being introduced by Nokia for this phone.

The 4 inch entertainment smartphone is made from toughened glass and seamless stainless steel. The processing is taken care by 680 ARM 11 Processor. The 4 inch, capacitive offers 16 million colours and a resolution of 640×360 pixels. Free games like Asphalt 5 and few more are included in the package.

The 8 full focus camera also offers 720p video recording and comes with a dual LED flash. The Nokia X7 comes with 8 memory card pre-installed and has 350 MB built-in operating memory. It can support micro SD cards up to32 GB. The Phone gives a maximum download speed of 10.2 and supports 802.11 b/g/n WiFi.

The 1300 battery is rated for up to 450 hours standby and 4.5 hours talktime on a 3G network &#151 longer over GSM.

Nokia X7 is also a smartphone and as such gets all the smartphone-specific goodies includes GPS, WiFi, 3G, lots of apps, social networking, push mail service etc. Nokia X7 is also a Web TV device with which you can watch local and global internet streaming TV.

The phone is also cost effective since it costs only Rs 21,000, which comparatively cheaper with rest of the phones in list.

iPhone 4

Steve Jobs brain child, iPhone took the smartphone market by storm. Even the fourth generation iPhone gives tough competition to the best of the rest. Apple has recently came out with iPhone 4S, which though will not be available in India for the time being.

Any game comes alive of the of the iPhone. The fabulous touch makes the gaming experience truly engaging. Along with that there are a huge number of developers who love to develop games for iPhone, which makes the iPhones applications one of the best.

The fourth-generation model of Apple iPhone comes with a 3.5 inch screen with 640 x 960 pixel resolution. The technology is known as Retina display, and it is said to offer the best resolution ever on a phone.

The phone has a 5 megapixel camera and an LED flash for illumination. The 5 megapixel snapper uses one of the best image to reproduce life-like colours with detail and variance. The device is capable of recording 720p videos with continuous focus and touch focus as well.

Besides, iPhone 4 has an A5 1 GHz processor, 512 MB of and 16/32/64 GB of internal memory.

On top of all that is the price which is not really low at Rs 35,000. However, it is only available with two operators Airtel and Aircel and both of them are offering complete money back plans over the period of two years.
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Samsung Galaxy S II

This phone is the closest competitor to the iPhone 4. With its amazing 4.3 inch screen, games comes true to life. And coupled with a 1.2 GHz dual core processor (powering Android 2.3 Gingerbread), the games are as responsive as they get. The slim form factor coupled with well contoured body and a good grip makes playing games easier.

The dual core application processor offers unsurpassed functionality like faster browsing, quicker multi-tasking, smoother UI, snappier streaming, highly efficient gaming and encoding/decoding ability that supports video play and recording.

The smartphone sports an 8 megapixel auto-focus primary camera and a 2 megapixel front-facing secondary camera with a built-in LED flash that captures crisp and detailed pictures in low light.

This one too is a DLNA certified device so you can play your games on TV when you are home. The phone is priced at Rs 30,000 currently and offers everything that you expect from smartphone without any compromises.

HTC EVO 3D

3D makes the games come alive like in the truest sense as it lends all the (visual) dimensions to the image that the real life stuff have. And if it’s a glass less 3D that too on a mobile phone then the whole experience is a real game changer.

3D is finally here and not just on one but two phones – LG Optimus 2X and HTC EVO 3D. Both are worth considering if you are looking at a 3D phone. Last time around we included Optimus 2X, but this time we thought of the later.

HTC Evo 3D, like the LG optimus 2X, can record, play and convert content in 3D and that’s a great plus. And with the advent of augmented reality combined with 3D, gaming experience gets the touch of reality that’s very engaging.

HTC Evo 3D though at present is not game changers as not enough 3D games are available in the market. But, with more 3D phones coming, it is expected that the developers would also likely to launch more 3D content in the future as well. Hence, it is a secure investment to buy a 3D phone.

HTC EVO 3D’s 4.3 inch qHD display gives 3D view without the need to wear 3D glass. It has 2 cameras; the main camera is dual 5 megapixel with auto focus and it has inbuilt dual LED Flash and is capable of recording 3D video. The secondary or the front camera is 1.3 megapixel.

With 1.2 GHz dual core processor and a 1 GB RAM, Evo 3D gives a smoother experience with faster loading of apps, multitasking, and faster browsing with the latest Flash Player. You can watch the HD videos and games of your phone on a bigger screen as it has HDMI port or you can do the same wirelessly with DLNA. The phone is powered by a powerful 1730 battery which is big enough for some tough gaming regimes.

The phone is priced at Rs 34,500, which is understandable with so much technology and hardware.

App Review: Pixlr-o-matic

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The Pixlr-o-matic is an extremely useful image editing tool. The app makers suggest that with Pixlr-o-matic, one can give about 25,000 different finishes to an image, so those who are heavily into photography may like the app.

Pixlr-o-matic comes with an easy to use user interface. Besides, there is option to share the pictures on social network as well.

In total, there are 25 different filters in the app, 30 lighting effect options and 31 frames. But that doesn’t mean the app comes with no negatives &#151 there are no editing tools including tilt, shift, crop and rotate.

To start, the users just need to either take a new picture or select an old one from their image gallery. The pictures get loaded into the dashboard where users can add the desired effects to the image. The effect gets converted into the image after a moment but the finished result is visible very clearly.

Besides this app, there are couple of photo editing tools available on the Android as well like the Lightbox and Streamzoo.

The dashboard in the app is clear and functional enough which follows a quick and easy process for adding effects to the images. There are several photo apps which take a lot of time to load the pictures for adding effects, not Pixlr-o-matic which makes loading photos a breeze. The interface looks polished and professional, and once within the app users feels dark room like environment.

Users can also save the images on their card but there are limitations as well – users can only apply one effect at a time and even that effect can’t be increased or decreased either. The names of the filters are another area of difficulty. Users don’t know which filter does what so they find it difficult to find out which filter should be picked for which task.

App Review: WP Clock light

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Live wallpapers provide a nice alternate to the usual mobile phone’s screensaver. However, live wallpapers are not customizable. Also, stock live wallpapers in the put tremendous strain on the device’s while consuming a lot of battery power.

There are a couple of alternative wallpapers available on the Android Market as well but when it comes to offering utility along with functionality, WP Clock light is definitely one of the best choices you can make.

WP Clock light, as the name suggests, is a free application which acts as a live wallpaper for Android devices. A unique thing about this wallpaper is the amount of information it displays on screen while keeping the style quotient in mind.

The wallpaper is a representation of a clock along with the full calendar showing the day and the year. All this is displayed on the screen in a lighter shade of grey or while set with about 30 per cent transparency in order not to hide the background. The display also included a digital battery meter and WiFi connectivity status indicator.

Although the application is a freeware, it still includes features like background customisation and font colour selection which gives an advanced level of customisation freedom.

WP Clock light is very smooth when it comes to operations and does not obstruct any application. It is by default not associated with native applications so if you have an automatic task killer or manager, this wallpaper will be killed every time you will try to optimise the system memory. But you can restart the application and add it to the exceptions in the task manager application and that’s a small price to pay for a good application.

The WP Clock light is available for free and there are no bugging apps in this to bother the users. If you like some more customisation options then you can also opt for the paid version application available for around Rs 50 from the Android market.

The utility app is available for all Android devices and requires Android version 2.1 and above. The application can be downloaded directly on the Android 2.1 and above devices from the Android Marketplace or alternatively user can also follow this link to download it also.

Game Review: Alien Invasion

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We have always been fascinated by aliens and extra-terrestrial creatures that how will they look and what will they do whenever we come across them. Well there have been numerous games, videos and even movies made on alien creatures and all of them always show these poor little things rain havoc on our cities. So much that whenever now aliens are being talked of, people always say that they will come and kill us and take over our plants, movies like ‘Paul – The Alien’ and ‘ET’ are exceptions though.

Well the game we are talking here about is yet another game where the aliens are in the bad role and the human guy is killing them to save earth. As mentioned, you will play as Rowdy (Fictional Name) – the cowboy who has no other job but to kill the aliens who otherwise will kill Rowdy. The towns and cities have already been swept clean by these aliens and as you progress you will find aliens harder and harder to kill. But there is hope as Papa Jones (again fictional) still owns a weapon shop which is open for business, supplying Rowdy with the necessary ammo to kill the intergalactic critters.

Overall a very nice game with great graphics and even better concept that promises hours of fun and game play. You get to upgrade weapons and buy ammo with the money you get per alien kill. The money that you get per alien kill also increases as you proceed. The game surely requires some amount of strategising as well in order to progress as you cannot just go ahead and kill the aliens and progress.

The game gives you five lives and no health upgrade option while a stage is on, so if you die you will loose one life and it is only when you reach Papa Jones’s shop you will be able to patch those wounds with a medic’s kit.

The overall quality and the sound effects of the game are great and you will not be annoyed, though the repetitive music is a bit irritating.

This game requires an OS 2.1+ device with a multitouch screen. You can download the Alien Invasion application on your Android device manually or can also visit the Android Market to do the same. Alternatively follow this link.

Samsung trumps Apple’s tabs in India

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Despite being the topper in the world tablet market, Apple has been left behind by Samsung in the Indian tablet market.

According to a research report of CyberMedia, Samsung commands 45.8 per cent market share in the 158,000 strong Indian tablet market. The Samsung tablet, Galaxy Tab 7 was launched in India back in October 2010, whereas Apple entered the Indian market late in January.

Apple enjoys only 18.4 per cent market share whereas even BlackBerry PlayBook is reported to have 21 per cent market share in India, according to the CyberMedia report. But the figure of 21 per cent is probably more about the number of tablets with the distributors rather than the number of tablets bought by the end users.

There are 27 tablet models available in India from 10 manufacturers. The well-known tablets available in India include Samsung Galaxy Tab, Motorola Xoom, Apple iPad 2, and BlackBerry PlayBook.

In the report, it was estimated that there will be major influx of cheaper tablets within the segment of Rs 7,000 to Rs 15,000 soon. The report notes the Indians users prefer to buy 7 inch tablets more and the operating system preferred by them is Froyo 2.2.

Another surprise, Indian tablet users prefer the tablets more than the WiFi ones, which means they are not price conscious after all.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 was launched in India in August this year whereas the 8.9 inch tablet is expected soon. It is interesting to note that Apple has not filed legal action against Samsung in India, whereas it has done so in almost all other major markets. Probably, that is because Apple does not see India as a major market for itself.

Even otherwise, Samsung has been the only company which has posed a credible threat to Apple’s iPad and that’s probably the reason the company has faced numerous lawsuits from Apple as well. The apprehension proves itself in India. Just like the Apple flagship stores in the US and other major markets, Samsung has also opened its flagship stores in India.
Recently, Samsung had opened its smartphone cafe in Bangalore where users can experience the devices and not dummies, just like the Apple’s retail stores abroad.

The idea of experience zones, however, is not new in India. Many companies such as Research In Motion, Dell, Nokia and even Lava have their own experience zones in India. Nokia calls its experience zones Concept Stores. Several carriers in India such as Aircel, Airtel and Vodafone have also set up their experience zones in India.

BlackBerry Playbook gets Flash security update

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Research In Motion (RIM) has started the roll out of a new update for the BlackBerry Playbook devices worldwide. While the update 1.07.3312 comes in the form of the device upgrade, it focuses mainly on the security fixes and not on performance or operations related improvements.

The update aims at fixing the Adobe Flash issues that can potentially affect any PC, tablet, or other device with an operating system that supports Adobe Flash.

This vulnerability APSB11-26, identified by Adobe as critical vulnerabilities have been identified in Adobe Flash Player 10.3.183.7 and earlier versions that could cause a crash and potentially allow an attacker to take control of the affected system. And there were reports that of these vulnerabilities being exploited to trick the user into clicking on a malicious link delivered in an email message.

Adobes released the Flash player update version 10.3.183.10 for most devices but since the Playbook does not use a separate Flash application the Playbook developers have updated the Flash version through the operating system update option.

While there have been no attacks reported worldwide involving the attack on a Blackberry playbook, RIM is still urging Playbook users to upgrade to the latest update for added security.

The update is available for users across the globe over the air and users will get automatic notification for the update being available for the device.

Users running BlackBerry Playbook software version v1.0.7.2942 will get the update as a Flash only update which will take a few minutes to update over WiFi. Older OS version users will have to download the latest OS version along with the flash upgrade too.

Google Docs app spruced for Android Honeycomb tablets

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Google has rolled out a tiny update for the Google Docs to let it work better with the Android Honeycomb based tablets.

Google Docs allows caching documents on the phone and tablets. On the Google Docs app, one can also create word files and spreadsheets with photos and videos attached inside the documents.

The new Google Docs app brings a 3-panel interface for the Honeycomb tablets for better navigation and browsing through the documents. The three panel interface appears like Microsoft Outlook or the Twitter app for Mac.

Amongst the three panels, there is a details panel that shows the thumbnail and the sharing panel. Besides that, the Honeycomb tablet users can now use Google Docs in portrait or landscape view mode as per their wishes. That does make quite a lot of difference for the different screen size and orientation bearing tablets.

Along with the new interface, the autocomplete system has been tweaked for better sharing experience. The new Google Docs app now supports 46 languages on the Android Honeycomb tablets.

The new update for Google Docs is now available for download in the Android Market.