Home Blog Page 4702

Fly Mobile unveils musical Qwerty phone

Fly Mobile has launched a dual GSM phone packed with a lot of features.
To start with, the mobile measures 115.5 x 59.5 x 12.6 mm. B436 has a 5.6 cm, 262,000 colour QVGA, TFT display.

Fly B436 is for those who are very fond of music. Its speaker with amplifier produces good sound output. Dedicated music keys, a 3.5 mm jack, and 20 frames per second video play back ability add to B436’s charm.

Bluetooth allows you to listen to your music using wireless headsets. There is also an FM radio recording facility.

The best thing about the handset is that it has dual cameras, which enables video chats. On the front it has camera, while on the rear there is a 1.3 mega camera.

Keeping with trends, Fly B436 comes preloaded with Facebook, Yahoo, MSN, Snaptu, and Nimbuzz.

The phone supports a of up to 8 GB.

According to Fly, B436 delivers up to 10 hours of with its 1200 battery.
It has also GPRS, and MMS capabilities.

HCL forays into tablet space

0

Though not officially launched, HCL’s three new tablet computers are now available for sale on its online store with starting from as low as Rs 2,500.

All the three tablets are slated to launch this month. However, there was no official announcement on this till now. HCL is expected to do an official announcement on the same this week.

The cheapest of the three, the HCL ME AE7-A1 carries a price tag of Rs 14,990. This tablet computer features a seven inch resistive touch screen, a low power consuming 800 Arm cortex processor, 2.2 Froyo, WiFi, Bluetooth, 2400 mAh battery pack, 256 MB RAM with 2GB inbuilt memory, and a 32 expandable slot.

This tablet also features dongle direct connector option which allow users to connect EVDO dongle directly to this device for internet connectivity.

HCL ME AM7-A1 is the mid range tablet computer that costs only Rs 22,990. It has a seven inch capacitive touch screen, a performance friendly A8 processor, 512MB of RAM with 8GB built in memory and 32 GB expandable card slot, Android 2.2 froyo, and a 4200 mAh battery pack for a longer battery backup.

It also features full video playback and has a WCDMA slot too for internet connectivity on the go.

ME AP10-A1 is the last and the most expensive tablet PC from HCL’s range. With a price tag of Rs 32,990, this tablet computer features a 10 inch screen, 1GHz dual core processor, 3D accelerometer, 1GB RAM with 16 GB inbuilt memory, 3650 mAh battery pack and Android 2.2.

It also features full HD video playback and has a 3G WCDMA SIM slot too for internet connectivity on the go.

With the launch of new tablet computers, HCL is aiming to add some competition to the tablet computer market which was so far being dominated by brands like Samsung and Apple only.

Multimedia cellphones under Rs 5,000

0

If you go to buy a mobile phone for within Rs 5,000 you will be bombarded with options as almost all manufacturers have their own variants targeted at different groups.

Besides, non branded Chinese phones are also available for as little as a few hundred Rupees.

People usually look for a range of features on their multimedia phones, such as music, photography, video recording, and internet.

So if you want a phone which performs the above mentioned functions within a budget of Rs 5,000, then here are few options you could consider.

Nokia 5130 Xpress Music (Rs 4,800)

It is one of the most economical music series phones in Nokia’s stable.

The Xpress Music tag implies the superiority of its audio capabilities. An average 2 mega camera, a brilliant 2 inch display, and a very comfortable multi tap keypad are some of its basic features.

It has capabilities and 16 of expandable memory for storing all that music, as well as a 1050 battery pack which can power this device for up to six hours of talk time.

Samsung Champ C330 (Rs 4,000)

Samsung Champ always makes it to the top of the lists of multimedia handsets, especially among young people.

It is a small and cute looking phone with a 2.4 inch touchscreen display and a body built around it. The touchscreen, although resistive, is very good at identifying even the slightest touch. A 1.3 mega pixel camera and an 8 GB expandable memory are some of its key features.

But the biggest benefit of this device is the long battery life. It has a standard 1000 mAh battery pack that provides eight hours of talktime, and some users even say it lasts for around 12 hours.

LG Cookie Lite T300 (Rs 3,600)

It is the first and perhaps the only competitor to Samsung Champ.

LG Cookie Lite too is a small mobile phone, with a 2.4 inch resistive touchscreen display, which is vibrant and large to save your eyes from hurting. The user interface is quite attractive and carries the legacy of the older Cookie devices forward.

This phone, however, has a smaller 900 mAh battery pack, but surprisingly LG claims it to last for almost eight hours. It also has a 1.3 mega pixel camera at the back, but a smaller, 4 GB, expandable memory.

Micromax X600 Gravity II (Rs 3,700)

We still haven’t forgotten old Gravity, an iconic dual phone (CDMA+GSM) with an interesting and intriguing user interface.

The new X600 is similar, but only the old version supports dual GSM SIM operation. In every thing else the two phones are identical, with a ‘Turn to Talk’ interface that allows the user to switch SIMs just by turning the phone upside down.

A 1.3 mega pixel camera and memory expandable to 4 GB are the phone’s standard features. It has the biggest display in this list, at 3.2 inches with a responsive resistive touchscreen, and a 1000 mAh battery pack that delivers talktime of up to five hours.

Sony Ericsson Spiro W100 (Rs 5,000)

How can one not expect a Sony Ericsson handset where there is talk of multimedia mobile phones?

Well, Spiro W100 just barely makes it to the list with a price tag of exactly Rs 5,000. Being a slider, the Spiro has a relatively small 2.2 inch display, but it is a rather brilliant one.

The Spiro carries Sony Ericsson’s legacy of great sounding music from both earplugs and loudspeaker; a 2 mega pixel camera and memory that is expandable to 16 GB are its standard features &#151 don’t worry, though, it supports cards too. The standard battery pack delivers 1000 mAh, which is good for up to four hours of talk time, or for up to 20 hours of music playback.

RIM’s PlayBook to have Android apps

0

With the tablet war intensifying, Research In Motion has now decided to allow PlayBook users to run applications on their devices.

PlayBook users cannot directly access Android Market, but can reach it through BlackBerry World.

RIM will also launch two new app player programs, one each for Android, and its own apps.
“The BlackBerry PlayBook is an amazing tablet. The power that we have embedded creates one of the most compelling app experiences available in a mobile computing device today,” said Mike Lazaridis, president and co chief executive officer at Research In Motion.

“The upcoming addition of BlackBerry Java and Android apps for the BlackBerry PlayBook on BlackBerry App World will provide our users with an even greater choice of apps and will also showcase the versatility of the platform,” he added.

From the first impression, this new method of getting apps from the app market doesn’t look intuitive in contrast to the ease with which one can source apps from iPad or Android stores.

Also, it’s still not known whether Android developers will agree to port apps following the guidelines prescribed by Research In Motion or not, especially as they have to submit the apps separately.

No Honeycomb smartphone for the time being

0

If you are expecting an 3.0 Honeycomb based smartphone then perhaps you have to wait a bit longer as Google, the maker of the operating system, has decide against making it open like other Android versions.

“Honeycomb is not yet ready to be altered by outside programmers and customised for other devices, such as phones,” Andy Rubin, vice president, Engineering, Google, was quoted as saying by Businessweek.

The Honeycomb version of Android is especially designed for tablets and it already runs on Motorola Xoom. Google has often cited the openness of Android as its main advantage over platform.

Rubin, however, maintained that Android will remain an open source, but “the company does not want users to have a bad experience if Honeycomb is customised for smartphones” as Google is not sure if the Android version 3.0 is ready to be used for smartphones.

Developers and companies are attracted to open source software platforms because they can alter it according to their requirements.

For example, the KHTML (the Konquerer version of HTML) source was taken by Apple which then produced browser. Similarly, the Webkit engine from Apple was then taken by Google and Nokia which then created unanticipated products out of it.

Notably, the only Honeycomb tablet available in the market, the Motorola Xoom, has not created as much interest in the market as was expected.

Application search woes

0

Searching an application is one of the most difficult issues smartphone users are facing today as most of the actual stores do not provide the desired results upon an app search request, according to a study.

Getjar, a third party application store who did the study, found that only 25 per cent or just 1/4th of the total app users are able to find the application they are searching for using an app store search.

Half of the respondents say that they discovered applications while browsing the internet and 17 per cent came to know about an application from friends and other sources.

Even though the sources are scattered at the moment but people are showing interest in applications with almost 34 per cent of them spending more than an hour daily on applications, the poll has found.

The growing popularity of applications also indicates that smartphones are slowly but gradually getting popularity. The growing popularity of smartphones has also been confirmed by Ovum, an independent research agency.

Ovum has recently said that smartphones will constitute almost 40 per cent of the global mobile phone market by the year 2016.

Meanwhile, the GetJar study has also found that gaming apps are the most popular, followed closely by social networking apps.

It also said that the amount of free apps and the ease of search are the two most important things that users are looking for in an app store.

“The cost of an app was also the biggest deciding factor in whether to download an app or not,” says Getjar.

Nokia to continue Symbian support even after Windows Phones arrive

0

Despite opting Windows Phone 7 operating system for its forthcoming smartphones, Nokia has decided to continue its support to Symbian platform.

About the Symbian updates, Nokia open letter says, “The first major update will arrive in summer, delivering a new home screen, new flexible widgets, new icons, a faster browser, new Navbar and a fresh look and feel to Ovi Store and Ovi Maps, including integration of social media services in Ovi Maps”.

The existing Symbian users will, thus now, be rest assured that they will get support from the company even when Nokia will no longer sell new Symbian phones.

About the hardware improvements, the open letter says, “Over the past weeks we have been evaluating our Symbian roadmap and now feel confident we will have a strong portfolio of new products during our transition period &#151 that is 2011 and 2012. These devices will take advantage of the strong integration of devices and services as well as our strength in areas such as imaging and location-based services.”

At the same time, the hardware for Symbian phones will also continue to get better, including faster processors. Nokia plans to replace Symbian with Windows Phone 7 over the next two years, thus making the users and developers worried about the sooner demise of Symbian platform.

Nook Color becomes a tablet

0

Nook Color, an e-reader, could soon be converted into a tablet computer with a forthcoming update of its software, Barnes and Noble has indicated.

Barnes and Noble, the maker of Nook, has indicated this on Home Shopping Network.
Operated with 2.1, Nook Color primarily offers ebooks, preloaded games and a web browser, but Nook users till now do not have access to app stores, and nor does Nook support Flash.

Also, earlier, people who want to root their Nook to access Android Market used to get their device’s stuck because Barnes and Noble treated rooting as a type of jailbreaking.

The update, which will arrive in April, will provide users access to new apps, email features, and some other new functionality. Nook Color owners will also get a whole bunch of other applications including Angry Birds, Drawing Pad, Tikatok, and Lonely Planet Phrasebook.
Those who plan to buy Nook Color from Home Shopping Network will be interested to know that it is available at $50 (about Rs 2,250) less from the Barnes and Noble website.

Earlier,a Wall Street Journal story wrote about how to root Nook Color, and said it was working very much like an Android tablet. The writer picked up the rooting method from Ars Technica website.

However, Barnes and Noble itself hasn’t confirmed the software update news.

Gameloft games now exclusively on Amazon app store

0

Gameloft, a French video game publishing company, has joined hands with the Amazon AppStore for platform. Its games will now be available exclusively on Amazon.

Gameloft has decided against using the Android Market as the store is prone to piracy. While, Amazon supports Digital Rights Management (DRM), which limits the use of digital content and devices and prevents unauthorised copying.

“The Amazon ecosystem is controlled where we don’t find too many pirated version of our games or malware games, so for the consumers, it will be a safer place to come and get applications,” Guillemot, chief executive, Gameloft, said in an interview to Reuters.

Gameloft has assured its customers that there would be no malware attached with the games and they can buy using their credit cards from the Amazon marketplace.

Amazon has decided to control the complete approval process of all the apps and games at all stages, just the way Apple operates, to make sure only quality games and apps are allowed at the Amazon AppStore.

Rovio, the maker of Angry Birds, is already present there on the Amazon AppStore for Android platform. Apart from Gameloft, Amazon Appstore has other popular titles such as the Modern Warfare, Uno, Assassins Creed, and Ultimate Spiderman Total Mayhem.

Most probably, Amazon is going all out to get all the major game publishers on their platform to make themselves a serious candidate in the crowded app marketplace.

Google Latitude gets updated for iPhone

0

Google has now added the Check-In functionality to the latest version of Google Latitude for iPhone users. iPhone users can now download the latest version of this application free of cost from the Apple store.
The Check-In functionality was added to the Google quite some time back.

With Check-In Latitude, users can share their location and current details (down to the very place where they are) with other Latitude users on the network.

With the addition of the check in feature, Latitude has become a direct competitor for the popular Foursquare application which is available across all platforms.

Even the Latitude has some of the very similar functions as the Foursquare such as the ‘detailed location sharing’ and rewards to regular visitors who were tagged as VIP, or showing users available nearby.

Google has also revealed that it is testing the Check-In application for marketing purposes, where the users will be offered schemes and discounts from nearby stores and shops. But this is currently under testing phase and might be soon implemented in the upcoming version of Latitude for the world.