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Google brings new photo social networking: Photovine

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Google seems to be on a roll for social media overhaul – earlier with the Facebook killer Google+ and now a simple rival to almost all photo sharing websites with the Photovine.

In the past, we had heard quite a few rumors about Google working on a social network specifically based on photographs and now with the unveiling of the Photovine all becomes very clear.

The working of the new social networking service is simple but unique. Photovine works on the principle of vines that comprise of pictures added to any given topic by single or multiple users through their mobile phones. All that is required here by this service is a couple of pictures, which the users can use to create vines or can also add to the existing vines.

These vines are visible to other users as well who can also add pictures to the existing vines if they feel like or they can create a new vine all together.

Privacy has been taken care of in this as users can choose to make their photo vines visible to others or not. As per the teaser released by Google, the Photovine follows a Twitter like system in which the people who have subscribed to a users’ Photovine gets instant update as and when a photo is uploaded on it.

As of now, the Photovine service is under wraps but with a plan to roll out the service soon, invitation requests of users are being accepted at the Photovine website. Users can visit the Photovine website here and register for an invite, sooner the better as the invites will be taken care of on first come first serve basis as expected.

Sony Ericsson Xperia Duo in September

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Sony Ericsson will launch its first dual core handset, Xperia Duo, in September this year. Photos of the 2.3 Gingerbread device were leaked through a Chinese forum and a website.

Featuring a massive 4.5 inch touchscreen the Xperia Duo will also come integrated with Bravia Mobile Engine technology. As per rumours this 4.5 inch touchscreen display will support 960 x 540 pixel qHD resolution.

The dual core inside Xperia Xuo will be clocked at 1.4 GHz, but there’s no information on the manufacturer of the as yet. Every dual core processor has its distinct features that promise better and faster user experience with applications as well as multimedia.

Other than that Xperia Duo will feature a 12 camera with Exmor R CMOS imaging sensor to offer top notch imaging quality and video recording. Yes, we can anticipate that the camera will record 1080p full video and also play the same.

To power the host of power-loaded hardware, Sony Ericsson will add a 2500mAh battery with enough juice for at least a day.

The new range of dual core smartphones bearing super costly and top level hardware certainly seem enticing, but several users found out that such phones are too big for their hands. Obviously, such devices are focused on those users who wish to make the most of their smartphones. Developers and enthusiasts must love such powerful handsets.

Facebook for every Phone

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Facebook for Every Phone app supports up to 2,500 handsets.

Select mobile service providers like Aircel, Airtel, Idea Cellular and Reliance Communications in India promise free data access to try out this application. This application is very similar to the one available on and platforms. Anyone with a data connection can visit m.facebook.com to download it.

This application is aimed at entry level devices and will get installed on myriad Java-enabled handsets. Support for more handsets will be rolled out in due course.

Facebook for Every Phone has all the popular tabs – News Feed, Messages, Events, Photos, Friends and others. So even entry level devices can enjoy the app treatment instead of having to access the text version of Facebook Zero.

Facebook is addressing entry level handsets apart from smartphone owners to gain a larger audience on the mobile platform. Let’s see if the rival Google+ application would be available for Java-enabled handsets or not.

MNP effect: 10.5 mn users switched operators in May

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MNP (Mobile Number Portability) seems to be gaining popularity with 10.5 million (105.70 lakh) users switching to other operators using the service in the month of May, registering a growth of 24 per cent.

Out of these requests, around 6.32 lakh pertains to Haryana wherein MNP was implemented from 25th November 2010. In MNP Zone-I (Northern & Western India), maximum number of requests have been received in Gujarat (10.53 lakh) followed by Rajasthan (8.25 lakh).

Whereas in MNP Zone-II (Southern & Eastern India), maximum number of requests have been received in Karnataka (7.95 lakh) followed by Tamil Nadu service area (7.74 lakh).

It seems that the service is gaining popularity through word of mouth advertising as peers switch operators getting better deals from the new operator, luring others into using the service.

Twitter for Android app gets new features

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Twitter for Android application has received a worthy update that brings push notifications and multiple account support. Two of these features have been requested heavily by the users ever since the first version of the official Twitter App was rolled out.

The new Twitter app v2.1.0, for devices running Android 2.1 or higher, can be downloaded from here or from Android Market.

After installing and sign-in to the Twitter App, the Push Notifications settings can be accessed by going to Settings> User Name and then select the type of notifications &#151 Tweets (normal updates), Mentions and Messages.

There’s still no functionality to create and set push notifications for custom search strings like heavy rains, traffic jams, bomb blasts, etc.

Several users have more than one Twitter account and now they can manage multiple accounts with the new Twitter for Android App. Multiple sign-in support allows user to log in just once and then the application stores the account details.

The widgets have also got some changes and now users can put widgets about the normal updates or mentions to the Homescreen of Android smartphones. Apart from that, the update has number of improvements and bug fixes.

Motorola Xoom successor to flaunt Android Ice Cream Sandwich OS

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Motorola is rumored of working on a 10 inch tablet with next generation Ice Cream Sandwich interface running on it. This next-generation tablet will have a high display with 4:3 aspect ratio.

Buzz about the Xoom tablet successor has already interested several eye-balls online with the Verizon Tablets Teaser and the leaked Motorola website redesign images.

At the start of this year, Motorola launched Xoom tablet running Android 3.0 Honeycomb at the Consumer Electronics Show 2011 in Las Vegas. The Motorola Xoom has 10.1-inch display with 16:9 aspect ratio and was the first tablet to have the Android 3.0 Honeycomb.

Now, Fudzilla reported of receiving a confirmation that Motorola Xoom successor would come with a 10.1-inch with 2048 x 1536 resolution and 4:3 aspect ratio is under development. This tablet will carry the next Android update codenamed as Ice Cream Sandwich which will carry combined features of Android 3.0 Honeycomb and Android 2.3 Gingerbread.

As far as the hardware goes, we can expect to see the Nvidia Tegra 3 but there’s no guarantee that it would be used.

Taking it as a grain of salt, the next Motorola tablet is most plausible to be launched at the Consumer Electronics Show 2012 with the launch of next major Android update for tablets. That may or may not be codenamed as Ice Cream Sandwich. Next year, we also anticipate Apple to launch next version of the iPad with a new set of features.

‘Sony aims to be No 2 with S1, S2 tablets’

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Some more details about the new tablets from Sony, known as S1 and S2, have come as reporters were allowed to play with the devices for some time.

S2 is a tablet with two screens which looks more like a gaming device, though the company says users can also convert it into a book. The devices can also connect with Sony televisions, PlayStation content and Blu-Ray players – a feat that will be difficult for Apple to repeat.

According to Bloomberg, Sony believes it can be number 2 behind Apple though the details about when the tablets would be released or pricing details have not been revealed by the company.

Phil Molyneux, Sony Electronics’ president and chief operating officer, believes the users are looking for a smaller and faster device which can fit into their pockets, and that’s where Sony tablets would come in. The S2 screen can be folded and will fit into the pockets nicely. “You can’t do that with other devices unless you have bigger pockets,” he said.

Sony is very good at building elegant devices, and Sony S1 and S2 tablets are no different. Sony S1 is a 9.4 inch touch screen device which has a textured finish at the back. It is a lightweight tablet, which seems durable at the same time. It comes with jack, sync port, power adapter, and buttons for power and volume. It has a favourites pane which shows the content recently viewed by the users.

While rendering web pages, Sony has a come with a trick which loads image first and javascript later, so to the users it seems the pages are loading faster, though they load at the same speed as other tablets. If the users prefer that the web pages should load just like other tablets, they can simply turn off the Quick View feature. With the new multi touch feature, Sony has made sure the tablets respond faster and smoothly to the users finger gestures.

The Sony S2 uses two hinged screens, which fold together to make a smaller unit, small enough to fit into the pocket. It is, however, difficult to make two screens work well together. So unless the device works well into the hands of the users, one can’t be sure about its performance till that time.

One benefit of S2’s dual screen is that users may be able to view the contents such as a map on both the screens in one spread.

Uninor’s new offer: Buy one, get one movie ticket free

Like Vodafone’s Tuesday offer, Uninor has introduced Super-Hit Wednesdays. Under the offer, every Wednesday, Uninor customer can now avail a free movie ticket with the purchase of one ticket at any Cinemax theater in Mumbai.

To avail the offer, Uninor subscribers need to dial the code 50001 to get a 13-digit unique code which can be submitted at the theater ticket counter to get the offer.

The offer has already been up and running since 1st June, 2011, which also happens to be its first anniversary of operations in Mumbai.

The offer has so far received a good 1st week response of 8,000 calls followed by 6,500 in the second week.

Upanga Dutta, circle business head, Mumbai, Uninor said, “At Uninor, we understand how Bollywood has given Mumbai its charisma and how Mumbaikars simply love watching movies. This product gives us a chance to connect with our customers by giving them what they love and giving another reason to feel proud to be associated with Uninor.”

Mumbai has 10 Cinemax theatres in Mumbai. Cinemax is also present in more than 18 other cities like Delhi (where Uninor is not there), Pune Kolkota, Nagpur, Nashik and Ahmenbad.

A Uninor spokesperson, however, did not confirm whether the offer will be extended to other cities as well.

Pay your bills with BSNL-Itz’s Trust Card

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Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) has partnered with Itz Cash Card to launch Trust Card, which can be used for online, on-mobile payments.

It enables the customers to pay for BSNL services like postpaid bill, prepaid top-ups and value added services like Hello TV subscription. It also allows online bill payments of utilities like electricity, telephone, cooking gas, mobile, water, book rail/air tickets, renew DTH subscription, services by government or government bodies apart from other online payments.

The Trust Card will initially be available in denominations of Rs 250, Rs 500 and Rs 1,000. To start with, the cards will be launched in Chandigarh, Kolkata, Pune, and Chennai. Gradually the cards will be launched in other areas of India. The cards will be sold through ItzCash franchisees branded as ItzCash World and from BSNL retail outlets.

RK Upadhyay, chief managing director, BSNL said, “We have always been looking out for services that would add value and compliment the services that we provide to our customers. The fact that customers can use Trust Card to pay other bills apart from BSNL bills makes it even more convenient for its users.”

Handset review: Huawei Ideos X2

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Huawei has so far launched three Ideos smartphones under its own brand name in the Indian market. These devices seem to be a mix of aggressive pricing and decent quality; the Ideos X2 or U8500 is no different in this regard.

The design of the phone is different from the rest of the lot because the back panel has a matte finish which continues to the front of the phone till the bottom of the screen. Four physical buttons are placed on a strip with gunmetal finish, which is split into two by the track pad in the middle that has surrounding it. There is also chrome in the ear piece.

Both side panels have a gunmetal finish. The top of the phone has a glossy finish. The body seems to be of good quality and looks nice and quite unique.

The device has a 3.2 inch capacitive touchscreen with 320 x 480 pixel resolution. The display is good to look at, producing decent colour and a sharp image. The touch response is good too. The track pap at the bottom aids navigation, making it a sweeter deal.

There are four physical buttons at the bottom of the phone, a volume rocker on the right side and a power button at the top along with a 3.5 mm audio and jack.

Performance

The phone is based on a 600 GHz and as such we did not expect blazing performance, but this phone was disappointingly slow. We tried reformatting to improve performance but even then the speed didn’t improve.

The 600 processor is somewhat standard in this price bracket and other phones in this range are Spice Mi310, Dell XCD 328 and Micromax A70, all of which perform decently &#151 certainly better than the Huawei device does.

We believe poor performance was a problem of the particular piece we received for review because we didn’t find complaints similar to ours on the net ( We will reserve our comments about performance of Ideos X2 as we are in the process of getting a new handset) .

The 3.2 camera performs as per expectations and images have decent colour and clarity. The battery is 1150 and supports a full day of medium usage; heavy users will have to charge the phone by evening.

Experience

With good looks and reassuring quality, you will feel good having the phone in your hand. The buttons, though few, have a nice tactile feel and are well placed. The track pad that augments the touchscreen is responsive too. There is nothing much to talk about in terms of the user interface as Huawei hasn’t added much to Android OS.

Two problems of the phone kill the user experience – the first is its speed and the second is the old version of Android.

The second problem has an easy solution as you can upgrade the device to Android 2.2 Froyo from Huawei’s homepage.

Unzip the zipped folder. You will see different folders. Find the largest download folder, about 211 MB. Copy the download folder to the root of your card. Turn off your phone. Hold the hang up key + volume up and hit power. The word “Froyo” will flash on the screen. Then it will say “update failed”. Wait a bit and then pull out the battery. Put the battery in again and start the phone. The first start will take five minutes, so wait. When the phone starts, it will be running on Android 2.2 Froyo! If you are experiencing any problems with or radio then redo the installation.

Verdict

Apart from the problems, the other features of the phone are impressive. With WiFi, 3G, A-GPS, FM and 32 expandable memory, the phone is value for money and worth considering.