Home Blog Page 4543

Top five Android phones under Rs 10,000 for July-August

0

At a time when there is more than 5.5 lakh Android based smartphone are activated daily, consumers are in a dilemma which one to go for and if budget is a constraint, it becomes an uphill task to zero in on a specific handset.

Last time, we did a report on “Best Android phones under Rs 10,000” but the scenario has so far changed in last three months. Now, there are a whole bunch of new Android smartphones, launched by various manufacturers, in India.

In the current ‘Best Android Phones under Rs 10,000″ list, two handsets (from the previous list) retained their position while three new handsets made their way into the top five.

LG OPtimus One

LG Optimus Me

While the LG has not been ruling the Android market, as it has very few offerings, it has improved that position by adding three new phones in the past couple of months. While the two handsets, namely Optimus 2X and Optimus Black, are costlier and are out of this price bracket. The third one, the Optimus Me, is the cheapest Android phone from LG.

Although the Optimus Me is an attractive preposition, it fails to dislodge its bigger stablemate – the Optimus One – from the list. Last time we rated it at number 5 but this time it finds its place as number one.

Optimus One, which was launched more than a year ago, still is a strong contender and continues to be the best choice for the budget conscious.

Featuring Android V2.2 (upgradable to 2.3), Optimus One stands tall among the phones in the list, while the is the standard 600Mhz. What seals the deal is its 512MB and dedicated graphics engine, making it very smooth to operate.

The screen is a 3.2 inch capacitive touchscreen that is both responsive and delivers excellent display with vibrant colour and good sharpness. The 3.2 camera does its job just well enough, but the 1500mAH battery gives it excellent battery life for an Android phone.

Currently available for Rs 10,000, this is not really cheap but then you get stuff that is found in higher priced phones.

Samsung Galaxy Pop S5570

The second position goes to Samsung Galaxy Pop S5570. It has everything that the LG Optimus One has but it has smaller than the former, which robs the smoothness a bit. Having said that, it makes for the smaller internal memory with a price of just Rs 8,300.

This is a close fight and we have given the number one position also due to the fact that Optimus one has upgradable OS and the battery of the Galaxy Pop is smaller 1200mAH one which for sure offers lesser back up.

The phone has a 3.2 inch capacitive touchscreen which is comparable to the best in the segment, and a 3 megapixel camera. The quality and the finish is top notch; the service and brand back up is another plus.

If you are a Samsung fan, this is a sure buy for this budget. Extend the budget a little over Rs 11,000, you can buy Galaxy Fit, which is a better choice.

Micromax A70

This one replaces its elder sibling the Andro A60, in the list. The list of improvement include a bigger 3.2 inch capacitive screen (Andro had 2.8 inch, resistive), which provides much better and smoother user experience.

While all the other features are similar to the top two phone, it scores over the two with its bigger 5 megapixel camera.

A70’s 1450mAH battery is between the top two phone while it costs Rs 8,000, just two three hundred rupees cheaper than Galaxy Pop. So given that the brand value of the Samsung is better than Micromax, the A70 gets the third place, else A70 is very much at par with the Galaxy.

Sony Ericsson Xperia X8

This one has the smallest screen here, a 3.0 inch capacitive display. But what seals the deal is Sony’s expertise in music and camera. The user interface of this phone is the most unique here with corner widgets on the four corners of the screen for easy access to the main features of this phone.

Rest of the features are standard with 600MHz of processor, albeit a lower RAM of 126MB. Although, the phone comes with Android 1.6 but the upgrade is available free of cost to Android 2.1. Also, another downside of it is that its memory can be expanded only by 16GB but then how many of us do utilise the 32 capacity.

The phone is the second most costly device here with a price tag of Rs 9,500, and with many drawbacks like smaller RAM, older version Android. The only reason why it finds its place here is because of its music, camera capability and unique user interface.

Spice Mi 310

This Spice phone was new when we prepared the list last time. This time, it is at the fifth place mainly on account of its smaller 2 megapixel camera and better brand value that the three phones above carry.

All the specification of the top three phones are more or less matched by this Spice phone with a 3.2 inch capacitive display, WiFi, Bluetooth, and 3G. Although, it has a negative aspect in terms of the smaller battery, which is of 1200 mAH.

At Rs 7,300, it is most attractively priced among the phones in this list, and if you are willing to forgive it for its two megapixel camera then there is nothing wrong about this phone especially at this price point. The quality is good and is a match for the better known brands. You can see the detailed review here.

Other you can consider

Huawei Ideos U8500:This one is worth considering; the only reason why it has not made its way into the top five list is due to the fact that the review handset we got from the company was unusually slow. But, Huawei said it was a problem with that particular unit and has promised to send a replacement unit. And if that’s not an issue it would have found its place in the three. It costs only Rs 8,000.

Motorola Charm: Must watch if you love touch and physical keypad combo, price Rs 8,500, Galaxy Pro is another option in this type of phone.

BlackBerry tariff plans: BSNL the most affordable

0

In recent times, with the mobile internet boom, mobile users have shifted their focus towards devices like BlackBerry and Android. BlackBerry, due to its dedicated push email functionality, has gained tremendous popularity over other smartphones and has become really popular amongst email and mobile users.

Individual users, apart from even bigger organisations, have also adopted BlackBerry devices as default mobile communication devices for email messaging solutions.

BlackBerry has six different devices presently in the Indian market targeted at different users like the Blackberry Curve is primarily targeted at casual users comprising mainly of youth while for more serious business users Blackberry Bold 3 is there which offers better enterprise mail based features as compared to the Curve. Along with a user specific focus, the devices also have a price centric approach as well.

Today a Blackberry device can be owned for as low as Rs 9,500 for the Blackberry curve and the price point goes as high as Rs 27,000 also with devices like the Torch. So with such a varied price point offering BlackBerry devices cover a whole range of consumers.

Also, owing to the high demand and rising popularity of the BlackBerry devices, almost all telecom service providers today are offering special tariff plans for such users.

Postpaid Tariff offerings

To cover the whole gamut of users using BlackBerry devices, major telecom companies Including Airtel, Aircel, Idea, Tata Teleservices, RCom, BSNL and MTNL are offering lucrative postpaid plans, which can be divided into three main categories.

The cheapest in the postpaid category is the Rs 299 plan which offers users unlimited access to BlackBerry Mail and Blackberry Messenger services.

Although this plans offers nothing incredibly out of the box but many users have opted for this as a simple means to get services on their devices. Airtel, Idea, Vodafone, BSNL, Tata Indicom, Tata Docomo and RCom are the major operators who are offering this plan as of now.

Under the Unlimited Internet plan for Rs 599, most operators offer benefits of the above mentioned plan plus unlimited Internet access, which can only be accessed on a BlackBerry device and not via any laptop.

Under the unlimited plan, BSNL has the cheapest offering Rs 362 for 2G data and also offers a Rs 499 plan that includes 2GB of data also.

The second cheapest plan is offered by Tata Docomo for Rs 399 per month. Operators like Idea, Airtel and RCom offer this plan for Rs 599. Then there are limited data plans from MTNL and Aircel, both priced at Rs 499 but only MTNL is offering 2GB of free data whereas Aircel is offering a meagre 500KB of free data. RCom in GSM offers the most expensive plan priced at Rs 1,099 for a month’s usage.

Lastly there is the Enterprise user plan that includes access to enterprise email along with other services like messenger and unlimited internet. Airtel, Idea, RCom, Vodafone offer this plan at Rs 899 per month whereas MTNL offer cheapest enterprise plan at Rs 699 for 2G with an option of Rs 1,199 for unlimited 3G data as well.

But, Airtel offer 2GB of off device data usage per month for Rs 899 as well. Both Aircel and BSNL offer this plan at a standard but slightly higher price than rest of Rs 999.













































































Operator

BlackBerry Postpaid Tariffs


Email/ BlackBerry Messenger (Unlimited plan in Rs)

Email/BBM/Browsing (in Rs)

Email/BBM/Browsing + Enterprise mail access Browsing (On BlackBerry device only in Rs)

Airtel

299

599

899 ( additional 2 off device usage)

Idea

299

599

899

Vodafone

299

899

899

Tata Indicom

299


900

Reliance

299

599

899

MTNL


499 (2GB data limit)

1199 (3G)

699 (2G)

Aircel


499 (limit 500KB and after that 10p/10kb browsing will be charged)

999

BSNL

299

362 (2G)


999

499 (for 3G data limit is 2 GB)


Reliance GSM

299

1099

899

Tata Docomo

299

399

Prepaid tariff offerings

Most telecom operators like Airtel, Vodafone, RCom, Tata Docomo and Idea have offerings for prepaid users as well. Aircel and Tata indicom do not offer prepaid service for BlackBerry devices.

The prepaid plans are almost identical to that of postpaid schemes. For prepaid, however, the choices are fewer.

BSNL boast the cheapest plan under this category at Rs 271 per month for which users can use the email and BBM facility. Airtel, Idea, and Tata Docomo offer the same benefit for Rs 299.

Almost every service provider including Airtel, Vodafone, RCom, Tata Docomo and Idea offer services (email, BBM, Browsing) for Rs 399 per month. MTNL is the only operator that had a data limited plan with 2GB free data for Rs 499 per month.

For enterprise customers, the choice in prepaid is slim as only Airltel and BSNL offer enterprise service that too priced at Rs 899 and Rs 898 respectively.

So, as we said earlier, today options are pretty limited and the user has to decide and differentiate between the need and the want. Because everything that is available comes with a price tag.






























































Operator

BlackBerry Prepaid Tariffs


Email/ BlackBerry Messenger (Unlimited plan in Rs)

Email/BBM/Browsing (On BlackBerry device only in Rs)

Email/BBM/Browsing / Enterprise mail access (On BlackBerry device only in Rs)

Airtel

299

399

899

BSNL

271

399

898

Idea

299

399


Tata Docomo

299

399

MTNL

499 ( 2GB data download limit)

Vodafone

399


Reliance GSM

398

Reliance CDMA

398

LG planning more Android handsets: Report

0

LG is planning to release more Google OS loaded handsets in coming months, according to PocketNow.

It said that the South Korean giant is eying five more Android based handsets, out of which four will certainly come with Android Gingebread richness while one is expected to be an entry level Froyo loaded handset. There’s no word on the official launch of these handsets.

To lead the line up will be LG Prada K2 handset that will feature a 4.3-inch NOVA display and will be mere 8.8 mm thick. Under the hood, it will pack a dual-core processor and will run on Android 2.3 Gingerbread. With Prada-inspired body casing, this handset will support and expected by the end of November.

LG Victor will be a mid-range handset with 3.8-inch WVGA display, 1GHz processor, five camera at the back panel and a VGA camera in the front. Even this handset will come with Android 2.3 Gingerbread and will offer DLNA, WiFi Direct and WiFi (802.11 b/g/n) support.

Certainly LG would like to reap on the Optimus One’s popularity with its successor dubbed as LG Univa that will sport 3.5-inch HVGA display. The LG Univa may feature an 800 processor which rises above the 500Mhz bearing Optimus One. Univa will come with Android 2.3 Gingerbread and is said to carry 11.5mm thickness. This model will carry 5-megapixel camera and it becomes a perfect contender in the mid-range Android segment.

The lucrative low-end segment will be tapped with LG E2 handset that most likely will come pre-loaded with Android 2.2 Froyo. It will feature a display and a 3 megapixel camera to become a super budget Android. For the US based Sprint users, LG will introduce a Near Field Communication capable Gelato which will sport 800Mhz processor, 3.2-inch HVGA display and 3-megapixel camera.

With no specific timeframe mentioned, expect these handsets to show up any time in coming months but mostly Holidays. Do note that the specifications mentioned are part of a roadmap and may change with the launch of actual devices.

Games likely soon on Google+

0

Google+, which is already seen as a Facebook competitor, is set to introduce games on the social networking website, according to a report.

Slashgear has discovered a page on Google+ which mentions of an upcoming section &#151 Games Stream, where users could get updates on games. The reference to games was later removed from Google+ help page by Google.

If the Slashgear discovery is anything to go by, Google is likely to put the games related updates in a separate feed, thus removing the common noise related complaint of Facebook users. The Facebook users don’t really have much control over the updates related to games.

The Facebook method is more in favour of developers though it annoys some of the users.
Another website, AllThingsD, reported that Google may decide to take smaller cut from the game developers’ revenues instead of current 30 per cent demanded by Facebook. Another noticeable possibility is Google may make gaming faster on Google+ by hosting games on its own servers.

Popular Facebook game Diamond Dash goes mobile

Popular Facebook social game, Diamond Dash is set to became a mobile game. Wooga, the German company behind the game which is now the third-largest social game maker on Facebook, is preparing to take Diamond Dash into the hot mobile games market.

The game will first be available for iPhone users, followed by other platforms. It is also looking at HTML5 format for this game as it will then play across all platforms.
Berlin-based Wooga has more than 35 million monthly active users on Facebook, behind only Zynga which has 266 million users and Electronic Arts-PopCap Games with 48 million users. That’s a pretty big achievement for a company that didn’t exist until a couple of years ago.

Besides Diamond Dash, its hits include Monster World, Brain Buddies, Happy Hospital and Bubble Island. Brain Buddies was the first game the company launched on Facebook, and it hit 4 million monthly active users in its first eight weeks in the summer of 2009.

“We do very few games with very high quality,” said Jens Begemann, chief executive, in an interview earlier this year. “Very few people know us.”

The company made its announcement at the Casual Connect game conference in Seattle. Wooga’s Diamond Dash has more than 10 million monthly users, and the company has had 300 per cent active user growth in the past 12 months. Wooga is now planning to publish the title, which is the 10th most-popular game on Facebook, on Apple’s iOS.

It will also look at developing mobile versions of its other games.

Android Market to choose best file for your device

0

Soon you can download apps from the Android Marketplace without worrying whether it would work on your device or not thanks to the multiple APK (Android Packages) support introduced by Google, the maker of Android operating system.

With multiple APK files support, developers can make apps that would different hardware bearing smartphones and tablets, a feature that was absent earlier.

At the Google I/O Conference, the company promised to bring several capabilities to help developers for narrowing down the so called fragmentation. With the Multiple APK support, developers get the freedom to upload different APK files loaded with features for respectively supporting devices.

Basically, different editions of the same vary in terms of different screen sizes or GL texture-compression formats.

Several times users get confused when the web version of Android Market would throw up an error &#151 This App is not compatible for your device. To overcome the incompatibility and version issue, multiple APKs will aid the developers to reach out for more potential users/buyers.

Besides, developers get more freedom to implement different APIs with separate APKs and observe more control over distribution of specific files.

So whenever the Android Ice Cream Sandwich launches, it will bring better capabilities for the developers as well as users to manage their devices efficiently. With the new version of Android Market being rolled out, we suppose the multiple APK support will be visible eventually.

Google+ circles likely to become more personal

0

Fridge, a social networking startup, has been acquired by Google to improve the capabilities of Google+ in group sharing. Fridge started with a vision to make the process of creating ad-hoc online social groups simpler for the users, so they could share posts, photos, videos, text messages and discussions through desktop computers and mobile devices.

“We strongly believe in the group social experience and couldn’t think of a better place to realise our vision of bringing the nuance and richness of real-life sharing to the web as part of the Google+ Project,” says a blog post from Fridge.

The circles feature of Google+ is unique to it, which allows users to create different groups &#151 such as friends, family, work, college buddies or game buddies. This way, the users are able to share different contents with different groups, unlike other networks where whatever they post go to all the members of the group.

The current Fridge users have been asked to download their personal data by August 20 after which all their data will be deleted by Fridge as per their privacy policy.

Google+ is currently in beta and is available only to users through invites, though the ease with which users can get invites varies depending on time. It is estimated that Google+ has close to 20 million registered users. Facebook, on the other hand, has about 750 million members, a huge lead over Google+. The shared circles concept as well as event planning from Fridge could make its way to Google+.

X-Men First Class will be released on Android

Twentieth Century Fox, the famous Hollywood production house, is set to allow smartphone and tablet owners to view the studio’s Blu-ray movies on their mobile devices. The first Blu-ray movie to be made available on Android devices will be the “X-Men: First Class”.

The application which will allow users to load the movies on the phones will be available from October starting with US, UK, Germany and France, followed by other parts of the world.

“Given its strong growth as a mobile operating system, the support for Android is an important move for us because it further enhances Blu-ray discs as the best way to get your movies to all your screens,” Fox marketing vice president Vincent Marcais told the Financial Times.

It’s not known if Fox will make digital copies of movies for sale separately from Blu-ray discs.

Marvel debuts on Android with Captain America game

0

Marvel Entertainment has launched its first game for Google platform &#151 Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty. The game comes for the Android 2.1 Eclair or higher running devices along with the release of the comic hero blockbuster movie Captain America: The First Avenger.

The action packed game promises high quality graphics. For the opening weekend the game is available at special price of $0.99 (Rs 43.92 approx) and after that it will be priced for $4.99 (Rs 221.37 approx).

Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty comes with loads of action and that too in 3D. While the evil Red Skull is leading the HYDRA for building weapons for the war, the Captain America has to stop them. All allies have been captured as well so the mission also involves rescuing Falsworth, Dum Dum Dugan and Bucky.

As Captain America, players need to use the unbreakable shield to maneuver through the attacks and even block them. Packing 24 levels, the game spans around three massive episodes with hidden areas to be discovered. For the achievers, Marvel has also offered number of unlockable items.

Tailored with high quality graphics and cinematic action, the Captain America performance may vary on different devices. The game has been optimised for Android 2.2 Froyo or higher devices but even users with Android 2.1 will be able to play it.

The game carries original soundtrack woven with the story written by Marvel writer Christos Gage. Marvel and Captain America fans can also check out the free Captain America Live Wallpaper for their devices.

Opera Mini browser to have games shortcut

Opera Software, makers of Opera Mini for mobile phones, has partnered with UTV Indiagames, a game developer, to offer gaming content on Opera Mini Speed Dial.

Opera Mini users in India can access games as well as other products from the gaming company with just one click. Opera users will get full access to a collection of games, which include puzzles, action and strategy games developed by UTV Indiagames.

Indiagames currently provides various movie-based mobile games apart from a range of wallpapers, music and videos.

Starting this month, a UTV Indiagames shortcut will be available from the Speed Dial for those who download the Opera Mini browser. Existing users can upgrade Opera Mini and the shortcut will be added to their Speed Dial.

“The Speed Dial shortcut solves the ‘discovery’ problem and gives users immediate and convenient access to thousands of exciting games and other entertainment products tailored for their mobile phones.” said Samir Bangara, chief operating officer, UTV Indiagames.