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Top five Qwerty phones within Rs 3,500

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If you are addicted to or if you send a lot of mails from your phone, you probably need one that has a keypad. This is especially true if you have a limited budget as bigger touch screen phones are much more expensive than these.

Here we have picked some mobile phones that have decent features along with a Qwerty keypad, and that cost within RS 3,500.

Nokia X2-01

This Nokia phone is a light weight device with a lot of social media applications, a 2.4 inch screen and one of the best keypads in this price bracket. A drawbacks of this phone is its camera, which is capable of just (.3 megapixel) resolution.

Apart from that, the phone has all the typical features you expect from a Nokia phone &#151 decent battery backup and easy to use interface (Nokia still has a simple for feature phones, unlike for its smartphones).

The phone comes with Flickr, Facebook and Twitter apps built in, and other apps can be downloaded from the Ovi Store. and FM radio too are present. The device’s external memory can be expanded up to 8 GB. However, it does not use either Wifi or 3G. But then, this is a budget device.

The phone has a candy bar design, which feels nice to hold, and it weighs just 107 grams. The keypad is easy to use because spacing between keys is perfect.

If you are willing to overlook a bad camera (calling it average will not make sense when 2 has become the new average,) then it is a great phone, with a low price and decent features. Besides, it is good looking and is of standard Nokia quality.

The phone is available in several colours including red, blue, white and black, and costs just under Rs 3,500.

Micromax Q6

This one has both, a multitap and a slideout Qwerty keypad.

Qwerty phones are typically broad, which makes them slightly awkward to carry in the pocket, but since the keyboard slides back, this phone is as wide as a normal multitap phone; while is also has a large Qwerty keypad when needed.

The good part of this is that you get separate direction keys and larger spacing between keys, making it much easier to type with.

Other than that, this Micromax phone is a dual device with a 2.4 inch screen that has 320×240 pixel resolution. Memory can be expanded up to 8 GB. There is also a 2 megapixel camera at the back. The phone sports a 3.5 mm jack, so you will be able to connect most headsets to it.

Along with that, you also get social media apps such as Facebook, Twitter and Nimbuzz. The default is Opera mini. For connectivity the phone uses Bluetooth and GPRS.
It is available in black colour and is priced at Rs 3,400.

Lava B8

This is the most feature rich phone in this list. It is a dual SIM device with a 3.2 megapixel camera and a flash that can also be used as a torch. It has 64 of expandable up to 16 through an card. Its screen measures 2.4 inches and displays 320×240 pixel resolution.

The phone features push mail service, aimed at people who are hooked to their emails. Connective options are also rich for this price bracket with Blutooth, Wifi and GPRS.

The device also has social networking apps, Opera Mini browser, an Indian calendar and music player with equalizer (and 3.5 mm jack) etc.

The phone has a gravity sensor and a motion sensor just in case you need to play games. The price is good too at Rs 3,400.

Alcatel ICE OT 606M

This single SIM slider phone from Alcatel is not much different from Micromax Q6, apart from the fact that the screen is a bit smaller at 2.2 inches and the camera offers VGA resolution.

Alcatel looks good, and with several dual colour options including pink and florescent green, it is especially appealing to women. The keypad is also well designed and as the phone sits well in the hand, typing is a lot more comfortable.

With Alcatel, you can expect slightly better quality but its availability has been an issue until now. The company has recently started to sell phones at Big Bazaar outlets, which is a welcome relief if you are looking for this phone.

ICE OT 606 is priced at Rs 3,350.

Lemon IQ 707

This dual SIM phone is one of the oldest in the market, but is also one of the best buys right now. It is very light at just 96 grams. The keypad is really comfortable to use, and its trackball too is smooth and of good quality.

Though the screen is small at 2.2 inches, its is good. The phone has a 3.2 megapixel camera, which works well in most lighting conditions.

While it doesn’t have connectivity options comparable to Lava B8, it does well for its price with Bluetooth and GPRS.

What impressed me most is the quality of the product, which, coming from an Indian manufacturer, is better than expected. The look and feel of the product is better than what its price, Rs 2,800, suggests.

Spice to launch tablet PCs in July

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To capitalise on the and tablet wave, Spice will launch three tablets based on Android 2.3 operating system in India in July this year.

Dilip Modi, managing director of Spice Mobility, told ‘The Mobile Indian’, “We will launch 7, 9 and 10 inch tablets based on Gingerbread in mid-July and they will be available for less than Rs 20,000.”

The upcoming 7 inch tablet, to be called Spice Mi-700, will have dual cameras for video calling and will be powered by a Qualcomm chipset.

Modi further said the tablets will come in and Wifi models but didn’t elaborate on their specifications.

Spice had earlier announced that it plans to offer affordable Android devices to Indian consumers to surf the net, and Android handsets between Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000 so that different strata of society can buy them.

Currently, Spice has two Android phones, Spice Mi-300 and Spice Mi-310.
Mi-300 is an Android 2.1 phone with an 8 cm capacitive touchscreen. It supports 3.5G and HSPA. The handset has a 5 camera, Wifi, and AGPS. It also has Google service with push mail.

Spice Mi-310 is based on Android 2.2 (Froyo) operating system. It is a touchscreen phone with GPS, AGPS and Wifi hotspot functionality that allows users to share their data connection with five handsets.

Samsung unveils foldable displays

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Samsung has created a new foldable touchscreen displays that would allow the smartphone to have a tablet like bigger screen without sullying your view with creases.

Advanced Institute of technology research at Samsung Korea has revealed the prototype of a device with a folding touchscreen display.

With the folded screens, a smaller phone that used to house a 3.5 inch display would be able to house a double size screen.

As reported by physorg.com, these displays have been tested for over 1 lakh folding cycles and after that they show a difference of 6 per cent when compared to new screens.

The technology behind the making of the folding touchscreens is not magic but clever use of technology which Samsung pioneers in. To make this folding display a possibility, Samsung has used two totally different independent displays controlled by a display controller and joined them using a flexible materiel like silicon glue.

With use of this technology, smartphones and tablets will definitely get a size advantage where in device will now be smaller than the display. Also Smaller display will help in making device more sturdy while to some extent reducing the cost of manufacturing also.

iPod to create its own screen saver based on the surrounding

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The iPod Nano, which is a personal media player and a fashion statement for many, might soon see its fashion quotient go up.

According to a latest patent filed by Apple, iPod Nano will be more wearable, it could use a variety of and inputs, including a camera, microphone, and even a thermometer to obtain information about its surroundings and then create visual element matching it and display it on screen.

So, for example, your screen saver will match the jacket you are wearing, or on a cloudy day, the screen will display rain drops and so on so forth.

There is also a mention of Games as a menu option.

This application was filed in November 2009. The people behind this patent application might be thinking of giving better augmented reality options thanks to more information available to the device compared to mere camera visuals and location thanks to data.

The type of data that would come to the iPod is not clear yet. In fact, whether it will make it to production at all is also doubtful. However, these efforts would definitely help improve devices and it’s a welcome sign of things to come in the future.

MVL Mobiles launches ultra slim SIZERO touch phone

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MVL Mobiles has announced the launch of its first ultra slim touch screen phone, the SIZERO, for just Rs 4,349.

The dual multimedia phone has a 2.8 inch full touch screen and comes with high quality Audio/Video recording and playback support for multiple formats. Coupled with other features like webcam support, modem, java, Opera browser, conference calling, Bluetooth, FM player with recording, and motion sensor, the SIZERO isa good multimedia phones in its price bracket.

The SIZERO also features an Expense Tracker allowing you to better manage your finances. With Expense Tracker, you can keep track of how much money you have spent and on what goods this month (week, year) and plan your budget accordingly.

The Sniffer in the phone allows the user to locate the phone in case of theft or loss. The phone comes with preloaded multimedia content consisting of 40 high videos and 15 songs, 2GB memory card, a string and a sleek leather pouch to add the style quotient.

Commenting on the launch, Arjun Rishi, director, MVL Mobiles, said “SIZERO, a slender and sleek phone, makes the mobile experience simpler and faster with the touch. It’s a complete phone that allows users to enjoy their favourite music, play games, and capture picture & videos.”

He further added “We have launched this multimedia fully touch phone in the affordable price bracket of Rs 4,349, in order to make it more accessible to the Indian consumer”.

It is available at all leading stores across India.

Google News adds ‘news near me’ to mobiles

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Google News for mobile has added a new feature into it, News Near You, which will enable users to access localised news.

For this service, users will not have to enter their location details in the search. Rather, the news service will automatically detect the user’s location to serve news to that particular user.

To use this feature, users need to visit Google News from the of his smartphone or iPhone. For a new user, a pop-up will ask for location details. If the user agrees to that, news relevant to the location will appear in a new section called “News Near You” at the bottom of the homepage.

Users can also turn off the feature if they do not want to share their location or they do not wish to read local news by simply adjusting the mobile browser settings.

This application, however, is available only in the US English language.

Top 5 must have apps for summer vacation

Traveling can be classified under two main categories: One is boring business travel, and the other is traveling for fun.

With summer vacations coming up, a lot of families and individuals will be planning their trips. Especially for these people we have a bunch of very useful and must have applications.

These applications work across all smartphone platforms including Apple, BlackBerry, and Symbian.

World Mate

One thing that starts way in advance of the journey is the making of a travel itinerary. Where to go; which route to follow; whether to go by car or bus or plane; where to stay &#151 all this needs to be decided in advance. But if the itinerary is not managed well, all the effort might be in vain.

To simplify the process we have World Mate application, into which the user needs to feed information, and it alerts the user about various events at the right time.

The application also provides in purchase options for travel, stay and other bookings.

It allows users to modify certain details if they wish to extend or shorten their stay, or skip an activity. All these details are synchronised with the online server and can be accessed by the user at any time.

The app keeps track of different time zones that the user is passing through, and updates the listed schedule accordingly.

Trip It

Every time you have to travel to a far off place, you do not need to carry all the print outs, manuals and help guides while sacrificing other precious luggage.

Rather, you can jot everything down and send it to plans@trpit.com before proceeding on your journey.

Trip It maintains your itinerary and provides additional and related information that might help users during their journey.

For example, if you have to catch a flight at 8 AM, the application not only alerts you well before the actual flight schedule; it will also assist you with maps and directions to the airport.

The application and all its services are free of cost.

Google Maps with places

Google Maps, since the day of its launch, has been in the news for its innovative features. The application uses the device’s built in and AGPS technologies to access the user’s location, and it can be used for getting directions to locations nearby. It provides step by step navigation in both drive and walk mode.

Besides, users can access information about places near them, which are categorised by the app under various heads like cafe, hotel, places to see etc.

Wikitude

Wikitude is an augmented reality that scans your surrounding for geo-referenced content using the device’s camera and to display information related to the object on the screen, right where the real object is located.

For example, if you are standing near a monument, all you need to do is start this application and point your phone’s camera at the monument, and this application will present all the related information about it on the smartphone’s screen.

For people who love to explore new places and like to know more about them, this is a must have application that adds a new perspective to what is being seen.

Trip Advisor

The name Trip Advisor is enough to explain everything about this application. For people who are new to a place, Trip Advisor can help by suggesting various places of interest that are selected by other users.

The application can help travelers by narrowing down on the best hotels, places to eat etc. It also has user reviews and opinions shared by previous users about the places they visited.

RIM extends Playbook tablets warranty to two years

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Research In Motion, the makers of BlackBerry, has announced newer warranty plans for its Playbook tablet computer, extending it to two years from the current one year term.
Earlier, Playbook buyers were given only 90 days of technical support and one year of limited hardware support.

With this new plan, they can have two years of technical support and hardware warranty, which not only provides additional protection against manufacturing defects but also covers accidental damages such as screen breaks too.

The plan, however, is optional and is available only for the United States and Canada users, who are required to pay $129 (Rs 6,000 approximately) to avail this service.

With the tentative launch of the BlackBerry Playbook in India scheduled in the month of June sometime, it is highly expected that RIM will also extend the warranty plans for the Indian users as well.

Samsung to unveil new 10.1 inch display

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Samsung will unveil a new 10.1 inch display with 2560×1600 resolutions next week in the SID Display Week 2011 International Symposium in Los Angeles, said the company in a press release.

This is much better than anything else what is on offer on other tablets currently. Samsung says it uses PenTile technology (geometrical layout of subpixels used in electronic device displays and is a Samsung Trademark) in the display which will allow the display to operate at 40 per cent less power than other similar devices.

Samsung has, however, said that the display technology may undergo an upgrade. There are no indications when the new display will make its way to the Samsung Galaxy line up. But if it does, it will bring Samsung a significant advantage over its competitors.

The new display is a joint effort between Nouvoyance and Samsung.

“Samsung’s PenTile display technology is the only display technology that operates at 40 per cent less power yet provides twice that of full HD-viewing performance for consumers compared to legacy RGB stripe LCDs,” said Sungtae Shin, senior vice president of Samsung Electronics.

He added, “There is no other commercial display technology in the market today that offers such high resolution and density in a 10.1-inch size display.”

Apple, the current leader in the tablet PC market, has chosen to stay away from the PenTile technology so far, unlike its rivals like Google who used it in its Nexus One smartphone. Apple has decided to stick to the in plane switching technology (a display technology developed by Hitachi that improves viewing angles) for its displays in iPhones and iPads.
Chances are that the new display will also not make its way into Apple’s product stable as the 10.1 inch form factor is different from the 9.7 inch size adopted by iPad.

The resolution also is way beyond the current 1024 x 768 display used by iPad. But Apple is not likely to stay quiet while the opposition takes away the kudos.

Adobe launches Flash player 10.3

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Adobe has released the Flash Player version 10.3 for Android based devices. With speed and reliability being the keyword for Android now-a-days, the new update of the Flash player focuses on adding more speedy operations while managing and fixing the bugs.

The new Adobe 10.3 or 10.3.185.21 version, according to the company, is a general availability release which means that while all the other devices will have its Beta version, Android 2.2 and above devices will enjoy its full functionality.

The new release enables ARM Neon optimisation for devices running ARM system on chip with the Arm cortex 9 processors. ARM Neon technology accelerates multimedia and signal processing algorithms such as video encode/decode, 2D/3D graphics, gaming, audio and speech processing, image processing, telephony, and sound synthesis.

All in all, the new release will help benefit the newer devices and especially the upcoming 3D devices.

With this release, the video rendering and streaming issues with Samsung Galaxy S, HTC EVO and other Android honeycomb devices have been majorly answered. However, there are still some issues identified with some devices, such as the Nexus, HTC Galaxy and Galaxy HD, for which Adobe will come out with yet another update of this release.

Users for Android devices can upgrade the Flash player directly from the Android marketplace.