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Evernote Peek iPad 2 application gets updated

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Evernote has released an update for the iPad 2 version of its education centric application, the Peek.

Evernote Peek is by far the most interesting study centric application available for iPad 2 today. The functionality that makes this application unique is its interface and interactivity with the smart cover that gives it an almost book like feel. The Peek allows users to create books with both questions and answers that can be seen by lifting the smart cover in different ways.

The update has added audio clues to the application. Now, users can also record or insert audio files for easy remembrance of the answers just like a clue.

To demonstrate this, the application will also feature three new audio featured notebooks right after the update namely bird calls, Spanish language, French language. Users can also use this feature to create more interactive audio books for kids on the iPad 2 with this app.

The second most important improvement in this application is the inclusion of book sharing option which allows fellow Peek users to share created books with others from within the application.

Evernote has also added a sort feature to the application that allows the users to sort the questions from within the notebooks to be features in orders selected by users be it random, time based or even date based.

The free to use application can be downloaded on the iPad 2 by simply connecting it to the store via iTunes.

Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 gets Android 2.3.3 Gingerbread finally

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Sony Ericsson has finally made the 2.3.3 Gingerbread available for the Xperia X10 users across the globe. The update brings Facebook integration to the Xperia X10, enabling users to share songs and upload images instantly to the social network. The update is visible through the Sony Ericsson India website from here.

With this update, X10 will get the Mobile Hotspot creating feature which was one of the much demanded features. Apart from that, users would be able to share the network data connection with their laptops with the Tethering. Besides, the music player finally gets an equaliser so that music enthusiasts can adjust the music output as per their taste.

If your Xperia X10 has several apps, then you can also sort them the way you want it through the tray. All Xperia X10 users must take back up of their contacts and all other data because the new Android 2.3.3 update wipes out all content of the device.

Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 is currently available at the price of Rs 21,000 approximately but there are several options available to compete with this device (for example the Samsung Nexus S).

Facebook’s web apps coming to mobile browsers

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Facebook is planning to bring all the popular Facebook web applications on to the mobile web platform, starting with iOS.

Named as Project Spartan, the secret project will bring Facebook apps such as Farmville and The Mafia Wars to the mobile devices.

The existence of the Project Spartan was first disclosed by a web site, Tech Crunch, which revealed that it will first become available for the devices to begin with.

With applications coming to the mobile based browsers, for the iOS based devices to be more specific, Facebook developers are also aiming to make available Facebook credits through the mobile browser as well.

All this and much more is under way as Facebook is revamping the whole setup based on HTML 5 now. The Facebook iPad application that got leaked a couple of days back also strengthens the fact that the social network is going through HTML 5 makeover so that more functionality and a better overall experience can be added to mobile or handheld devices be it smartphones or tablets.

The idea behind getting application on a mobile platform is not different than what most stores like the Apple, Google and Microsoft have in mind. Let aside the ever highlighted ease of access and usage to the mobile customers but Facebook also sees a bigger opportunity in mobile platform and does not want to let go of that.

Mobile applications today are a booming business and Google marketplace can be quoted here as one of the major success stories but more so we are looking here at an online app store catering mainly to web based applications for browser based usage.

Facebook developers are yet to officially comment on the availability date for the mobile web based applications but it is expected to be launched soon moreover by the end of this year itself. Till now, the focus for the Project Spartan has only been on the iOS platform but once available it won’t take much time to come to other smartphone devices running Android and Windows Phone too.

Acer brings Liquid E Plus smartphone to India for Rs 12,250

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Acer India has announced the availability of its new Liquid E Plus smartphone for the Indian market.

Acer Liquid E, which is the successor of the limited edition Liquid E Ferrari, houses almost similar hardware configuration but comes at a much lower price point. This is why the new Liquid E plus device is being projected as an entry level device for the Indian market.

“Acer Liquid E Plus is presently available in the market for Rs 12,250 across several cities in India,” said an Acer India spokesperson to The Mobile Indian.

In terms of hardware configuration, the Liquid E Plus will come pre-installed with the v 2.2 Froyo (Frozen Yoghurt). There is no information on whether this device will get the Gingerbread upgrade or not available as of now.

Along with that, the Liquid E Plus will be featuring the same configuration as it predecessor including a under clocked Qualcomm snapdragon running at 786 along with a dedicated Adreno 200 graphics processor.

The display remains the same at 3.5 inch with 480 x 800 pixel with capacitive touch and a 5 auto focus camera. But, the company will offer a complimentary 8GB Micro SD with the Liquid E Plus only in India.

Maxx launches slider touch phone

Maxx Mobiles has today launched a slider touch phone &#151
Maxx SOUL (MS727). With a 2.4″ screen, the compact handset has a keypad as well for convenient texting.

The Soul MS727 comes with full metal body. Powered
with 900mAh battery, the phone is equipped with 1.3 camera and a free 2GB that is pre-loaded with licensed multimedia content including music and videos.

The Maxx Soul comes packed with FM radio with scheduling,
audio player supported by and WAV formats and also with a video player supported by MP4 and 3GPP formats. The JAVA enabled Maxx Soul offers GSM support, and Opera Mini browser.

On the connectivity front, it comes with Bluetooth, MySync (PC suite) and Mass storage. Its price has been kept at Rs 3,395.

On the launch of Maxx Soul, Ajjay Agarwal, chairman and managing director, Maxx Group said, “Maxx Soul is developed keeping in the mind the users who like touch phones but prefer using keypads for basic texting and calling. So we have packed both the features into one exciting bundle, at an affordable price.”

Uninor Bhaktiras launched

Hungama Digital, which publishes and distributes Bollywood and South-Asian entertainment content, in association with Uninor has launched a dedicated portal for devotees across all religions, which is named as Uninor Bhaktiras.

Starting from the devotional music content across six religions such as Hinduism, Muslim, Sikhism, Christianity, Buddhism and Jainism to the soulful numbers rendered by singers like Anuradha Paudwal, Lakhbir Singh Lakha, Sonu Nigam, Anup Jalota, Harbhajan Hans, Suresh Wadekar, users can opt for endless list of devotional music via this service. To avail the Bhaktiras service, Uninor customers need to dial toll free number 52777.

One of the most innovative features in Bhaktiras service is that the listener can set an alarm of his own favourite devotional song just by pressing a single key “#” to start their day with a fresh frame of mind.

Furthermore, the 12 navigational languages of the interactive voice recording make it easier for users to understand and follow instructions in a convenient way. Each religious category has a special zone which serves the most popular and latest content to the users.

S Tel offers free calls and data for 90 days in Rs 99

S Tel has launched a special start-up kit – SUK 99, which offers bundled free minutes every day and daily data usage for a 90 days period for Rs 99, in Assam.

Shamik Das, chief operating officer, S Tel, said, “Our aim has always been to bring better choice to the consumers, at convenient tariffs and tailored to match their communication needs. SUK 99 offers our consumers the choicest of benefits in one single product with a longer validity.”

He further added, “S Tel will continue to place itself as simple and transparent brand that speaks the language of the local people, belongs to them, and seeks to uncomplicated and demystify the lives of mobile user.”

The startup kit let’s S Tel subscribers make 10 minutes free for First 30 days, 5 minutes local call free everyday for next 60 days and 1 daily for 90 days along with of Rs 5.

Recently, S Tel had launched Ghar Baithe chune Mann Chahe plan – a self recharge concept for its subscribers. Targeting the youth segment, S Tel introduced mobile Internet services that provide unlimited download option across Daily, 10 Day and monthly plans.

S Tel Adda portal offers free browsing on subscribers WAP enabled phones where one can download ringtones, wallpapers, themes, videos, animations and games.

S Tel customer care in Assam and North East can be reached at 9127012345 from any landline or mobile number. Besides this, S Tel users can access the toll free customer care number 1212.

Top five productivity apps

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The good part of owning a smartphone, be it Android, iPhone or BlackBerry, is that the users have access to numerous apps which help them do more and become more efficient. All the smartphone platforms have numerous such apps though there are more chances of users coming across more free apps on operating system compared to iOS.

Some apps help users save time, others reduce stress for them. It is up to the individual users to find out which apps work for them and which ones don’t. Here are the top five apps that we believe will help users become more effective and productive.

Evernote (All platforms)

Price: Free

Evernote makes it easier for the users to sync their notes among devices such as PCs, smartphones and tablets. They had to copy the data between different devices or even keep mental notes. With the arrival of Evernote, all this changes and users can save their notes by just typing it on the app.

The second simple option to have a note saved is taking a snapshot of it in which users can take the help of their iPhone camera or the photo library of the devices. Last but not the least, is the voice memo, which saves the note but doesn’t transcribe the notes for the users.

Users can also easily reference their notes, by adding a title, tag and description to the note so it may be easily searchable later.

Evernote can also search for a text within images including snapshot of business card, magazine articles or even whiteboard. The free storage limit of 60 works for most of the moderate users, but heavy users would need to buy the premium service starting at $5 (Rs 225) per month. The Android version also works just like the PC version of Evernote app.

Advanced Task Killer (Android)

Price:Lite version : Free; and Paid: Rs 221

When Android phones were a new arrival into the market, a key feature users first noticed about these was their multitasking capabilities. At that time, the iPhone could run only one application at a time, though things have changed on the iOS platform now.

It was a novelty for the users to be able to return to the right where they left it working. This creates a new problem for the users as every app working in the background eats up phone’s resources including memory and battery.

Advanced Task Killer allows the users to have more control over their apps, it displays which apps are running in the background so they can be turned off by the users depending upon which apps they need. Users can also enable an auto kill feature and they have the option to ignore some lists if they don’t want certain apps to be turned off.

Most of the Android handsets, working on Android version earlier than 2.3 Gingerbread, will find this app handy, whereas those with the latest version of Android will not need this app since the phone resources are much better managed on the latest version.

Google Gesture Search (Android)

Price: Free

While the number of apps for the Android Market is swelling by the day, Google still makes extremely popular apps on the platform, partly because it understands the Android platform better. The Google Gesture search is one such useful app which allows the users to search better and improve their efficiency.

The app helps the users turn their phone screen into an elementary keyboard, so if they write the letter ‘w’ on their phone screen using their finger, all the contacts starting with the letter ‘w’ begin to appear on the screen, along with music tracks. If the users write more letters on their screen, the search becomes better and narrower so there is more likelihood of getting what they want.

Instapaper (iOS)

Price: Rs 220

This iPhone app allows users to save articles which they can read later at their convenience. Users need to install a bookmark on their computer and whenever they come across pages they wish to read later, they just need to click on the bookmark and page is sent to Instapaper.

Users can read the same article later on their iPhone or iPad through the Instapaper client – on the Instapaper website in the browser.

Android users can search the Android Market for third party apps such as ‘Readingo’ which allows them to use Instapaper on their Android phones. The Pro version of Instapaper allows users to tilt the screen and scroll down the page without touching the screen. The tilt screen feature can be turned off and on according to users’ convenience.

Dropbox (Android, iPhone, BlackBerry)

Price: Free

The Dropbox app allows users to access their files across all devices they need. The users just have to create a free Dropbox account, and download the Dropbox app, after which they can save all files, documents, pictures, movies in their Dropbox folder.

The files are available on all the computers and smartphones linked with the users’ Dropbox account. Once the linking is done, the app becomes dead simple to use. Whatever device being used by the users, the Dropbox is the place where all the files users need later can be dropped.

Battery saving tricks for Smartphone owners

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Smartphones today are just like power hungry monsters. No matter how bigger battery they have, how long the smartphone will perform between charges depends largely on the user’s device usage pattern. Calling, messaging, gaming, multimedia – there are many utilities that a smartphone today offers and more we use those, the lesser battery backup we get.

There are plenty of softwares available today that promise to enhance the battery backup of your device. These softwares actually help save some power that gets wasted due to amateurish use of devices.

But, without these softwares also, one can get maximum out of their smartphone battery without cutting down on tasks such as calling, messaging, internet usage or even gaming.

Optimise Display brightness

The display of a smartphone alone uses a major chunk of the battery power. But, we can optimise the display to consume just the right amount of power and thereby increasing efficiency too.

All smartphones today come with ambient light but by default the system is set on a comfortable brightness (sometimes max brightness too) setting that allows the display to be visible in both bright and low light conditions. So, if your device is not using the ambient light sensor it is unnecessarily wasting energy. The ambient light sensor controls the screen brightness according to the ambient light thereby conserving power wherever possible.

Say no to live wall papers

Live wallpapers, as we all know, are really cool with all this jazzy effects and transition. But to do all that they use the processing power of the smartphone and thereby consuming battery power even when sitting idle.

Processors are optimised to go on a low power mode as soon as activity level goes low in order to conserve battery but live wallpapers restrict it from getting in a low power mode.

Set a shorter screen timeout

Screen timeout time is the time taken by a display to go to the standby from an active mode. This mode allows the display to save power when the display is not required by turning it off.

By default, many devices are set on a two minute timeout which means the display will go to sleep mode after 2 minutes and if you do not need the display to be on for that much time without any activity turn it down to 15 seconds or 30 seconds to save your phone’s battery power.

Timely sync

Devices today are connected to the internet 24 x 7 and due to that manufacturers have come up with synchronisation services online that keep a safe and secure backup of your device.

But, the service manufacturers also set the device to sync data with the online accounts whenever there is a change or addition to the files on device.

If you are not a very heavy user you can reduce the number of times your device synchronises itself with the account. This way the device will drastically reduce the online activity that otherwise continues in the background and consumes power too.

Turn of radios if not required

Bluetooth , WiFi, – all such radios or wireless connectivity protocols come at No 2 position when it comes to power consumption after the display. Usually, people forget to turn off the radio once the work is done. Same is the case with the WiFi radio which draws a lot of power from the battery to stay operational without the need to do so.

So be smart and remember to turn off the radio similarly you turn off your car’s ignition after you reach your destination.

GPS is for outdoors only

Global Positioning System is a unique technology that allows the device to be aware of its location by getting data directly from the geo stationary satellites way above in the sky. But do you know that only works when you have a clear line of sight for the sky?

Many applications such as your camera too utilises GPS to tag the location of the photograph and many times such apps continue to run in the background while utilising GPS as well.

Always, keep a check on what all services are running on your device and especially the GPS if you are indoors when it won’t do any good to you other than feasting upon the battery power.

Use the task manager often

Today as the devices are getting faster, the operating systems are also changing. Today operating systems do not kill the applications automatically as soon as you exit from it or move your focus to another application.

Rather, all the applications keep running in the background although in a low power state, utilizing both processing power and memory that leads to a lower battery life. If you do not need an application, kill the application from the task manager. This way the background activity will be reduced and also the device will perform faster.

And Finally Vibrate less

Vibration mode is today available on all smartphones but do we actually know why was it invented? Well, the vibrate mode was invented to alert the user when the device is in his pocket or bag but today most people use it regardless. Vibrators use much more battery power than the normal ringer does. So, if you can do without it, it’s good for you.

Even touchscreen devices today provide haptic feedback to make the touch feel more realistic. But as said earlier that too uses battery, so if you can do away with the feedback it will help you save some more battery. This is especially useful for those who do a lot of texting.

Microsoft Windows Marketplace comes to India

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Microsoft has announced the availability of Windows Marketplace for Mobile, which allows users to browse and download applications on their Windows phone, in 19 new countries including India.

The internet giant has also added many more things to the marketplace to give users a personalised experience.

For a customised and personalised user interface, Microsoft has started adding country and language specific localisation to the application hub. And the new marketplace will periodically be changing the prices of the application owing to the fluctuation in the currency prices so the prices remain accurate.

Along with that, Microsoft has also added seven new developer locations for more content as well. This, however, does include India, but Indian users can expect localised applications soon enough.

Microsoft will also be adding the support for Microsoft Advertising pubCenter for the Windows phone 7 application developers for eighteen different countries including India. With in-app advertisements, similar to Android, we can expect a lot of free or advertisement supported applications arriving with the new marketplace.