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For all the Latest CES Coverage on iGyaan : Click Here
Author: Bharat Nagpal
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Live : Launch of the Samsung Galaxy Grand 2
Samsung will launch the new Galaxy Grand 2 in India today starting 12:00 Noon, stay tuned and get the latest updates on iGyaan.
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In Conversation with LG : G Flex, Their Revival, Tablets and Future
LG has been under the radar for a very long time, However, many will agree that 2013 was a good year for LG. After their Association with Google last year for the Nexus 4, LG started to get noticed a lot more in the consumer smartphone scene. We had a chance to visit the LG manufacturing facility in Greater Noida, India, to get a perspective on the current situation of LG smartphones and their future plans.
[pullquote_left] LG hardware is why Google Chose LG for Nexus[/pullquote_left]
Amit Gujral, whose current title puts him as a General Manager at LG Electronics, is also the Marketing head for LG Mobile in India, told us that LG’s hardware is one of the primary reasons Google picked LG for the Nexus 4 and the Nexus 5. The company believes that the success they have faced in 2013 has been purely based on the fact that the LG Optimus G and LG G2 were ground breaking products not only from an LG brand prospective, but also from a Nexus point of view.
LG has also recently announced the LG G Flex, a phone intended for launch in India around Feb 2014 for upwards of Rs. 65000 (US $ 1050). Despite the price, Amit says that the LG G Flex is a “cause for celebration”, stating that wearable and flexible devices are the future.
[pullquote_right] The G Flex is a cause for celebration[/pullquote_right]While Bendable products will be game changers, flexible devices are a step closer in approaching that goal. The most innovative feature is also claimed to be the flexible battery, from LG Chemical, which has truly made a flexible device possible for LG.
LG will also not launch the G Pad 8.3 in India, the company believes that larger smartphones have become a trend. In a market like India, a user prefers a phone call and data capable Smartphone over a non connected large screen tablet.
LG also feels that the technology for making phones truly rugged and truly waterproof is not here yet and it costs a lot at its present capability. “The Indian market is not ready” claims Amit “to understand and pay for this waterproof technology”.
The Self Heal coating from the LG G Flex may make its rounds to the next-gen LG devices as well, with a focus on consumer feedback, Amit expressed simply “If the People want it, we will put it”.
LG plans to eventually bring smartphone manufacture to India, with their two manufacturing plants operational 24 hours a day, and a major chunk of their Smartphone demand from India. LG is also working on something for the safety of women in India, while Amit was not keen to discuss intricate details on their pet project dedicated for the Indian market. An app in all likelihood will be an answer to what it could be.
LG has had a truly successful year in terms of their handsets, with the Optimus G, Optimus G Pro, the LG G2, Nexus 4 and Nexus 5 doing exceptionally well in all markets including India, the G Flex may as well be LG’s next premium grace.
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Win a Nexus 5, Courtesy UC Browser
Want to Win a Nexus 5 ? iGyaan is always thankful to its readers and is giving away a shiny new 32 GB White Nexus 5 to one lucky winner who takes part in our Giveaway below. The giveaway is brought to you by UC Browser, one of the most popular browsers for Mobile devices, available on Android, iOS and even Windows Phone.
UC Browser has been updated with exciting features like AutoPager , Speed Mode II and a new Facebook Video Uploader
Check out our Video on the UC Browser and take part in the Contest Below.
Here is your chance to Win a Nexus 5, for either your self or for one of your friends. Standard Contest rules apply, and Valid Identification is required by the Winner to claim a prize. Tell your friends that they can plan as they will stand a chance to Win a Nexus 5 courtesy of UC Browser on iGyaan
Winner
Congratulations Vikram Chandhok for winning the UC Browser Nexus 5 giveaway! Here is your winning entry:
“The best thing about iGyaan is the emphasis it pays towards the quality of its content, both for high end products as well as low end products.”
“The answer is pretty obvious, we need a fast mobile browser because of our country’s slow mobile networks”
We will be contacting you soon to co-ordinate with you.
To all those who did not win the grand prize, we will be coming up with another major giveaway pretty soon. So stay tuned for iGyaan for more updates.
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Live : Launch of the Gionee E7 on iGyaan
Gionee will launch their next Flagship Phone in a couple of hours, the ELIFE E7. Get the live video feed below, and stay tuned for our Hands on video.
Event should begin at 4:30 PM IST.
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Apple Buys Kinect Co-Creator: PrimeSense
Apple has just acquired Kinect Co-Creator PrimeSense for a whopping sum of US $ 345 Million, according to Israeli news source Calcalist.
If the news is true, this could mean that Apple’s future devices may have motion sensing technologies. Alternatively it could mean that Apple could make displays with this technology built in. Maybe Apple’s rumored iTV will have this tech inbuilt to interact with the hardware. According to reports, the last time Apple tried to acquire PrimeSense, the deal was scrapped due to legal woes. However this time around the company was eager to acquire the ex-kinect maker to improve on the Apple TV.
[VIA]
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Apple iPad Mini with Retina Display On Sale Now
Apple has now put the new iPad Mini with Retina display on sale on its Online US store, with shipping dates for US customers from November 20-22. Pricing is set as announced starting $399 for a 16GB Wi-Fi model, all the way till US $ 829 for 128 GB LTE cellular variant.
Apple was vocal about supply constraints at the time of launch, as Tim Cook mentioned that Apple was unsure if it will be able to meet the demand of the iPad Mini with Retina display at launch.
If you are planning to get this mini powerful tablet in your hands now may be the right time.
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Google Chrome now Shows Which Tab is Playing that Unwanted Music
Unwanted music from websites is that one possible thing that annoys almost everyone. But when you have multiple tabs open, finding the culprit is almost impossible. Google Chrome’s new 32 beta update fixes that by adding a small speaker icon on the tab that’s playing the music.
It also lets you know which tabs are using your webcam, or streaming to your TV over Chromecast. Additionally, the Safe Browsing features now automatically blocks malware files, instead of advising you to merely proceed with caution.
Interested ? We have linked the download page below, check it out!
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Google announces the Nexus 5 with Android 4.4, 16 GB for Rs. 28999
Google has announced the “oh so leaked” Nexus 5 officially and this time around it has popped up on the Indian Play Store as well. The Nexus 5 has a lot of specs similar to the LG G2 a 2.2Ghz quad-core Snapdragon 800 and 2GB of RAM, a 4.95-inch 1080p display.
The Nexus 5 retains wireless charging and goes on sale in the US today for a price of US$ 349. You’ll also find LTE, Bluetooth 4.0, 802.11ac WiFi and NFC on the Nexus 5, along with Google’s latest Android KitKat (Aka 4.4). The front of the Nexus 5 is quite similar to the LG G2, and the bezels appear to be made of aluminum.
Considering India a key market, in the official press release Google mentioned :
Nexus 5 is available today, unlocked and without a contract, on Google Play in the U.S., Canada, U.K., Australia, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Japan and Korea (and coming soon to India).
Pricing seems a bit higher compared to the US$ variant, however that has been the case since the launch of the first Nexus Device.
[toggle title=”Press Release”]Android for all and the new Nexus 5
Just in time for Halloween, we have two new treats for Android fans. First, we’re excited to unwrap our latest platform release, KitKat, which delivers a smarter, more immersive Android experience to even more people. And second, we’re introducing Nexus 5-a new Nexus phone developed with LG.
The first thing you’ll notice about KitKat is we’ve made the experience much more engaging: the book you’re reading, the game you’re playing, or the movie you’re watching-now all of these take center stage with the new immersive mode, which automatically hides everything except what you really want to see.
Bringing more Google smarts to Android
Behind the polish on the screen is the power under the hood. Take the Phone app, which for most people hasn’t really changed since the days of flip phones. Now, we’re making calling easier than ever, by helping you search across your contacts, nearby places, or even Google Apps accounts (like your company’s directory), directly from within the app. And with the new Hangouts app, all of your SMS and MMS messages are together in the same place, alongside your other conversations and video calls, so you’ll never miss a message no matter how your friends send it. This is just a small taste of KitKat-learn more on our site.Google has always focused on helping users get immediate access to the information they need, and we want to bring this same convenience and power to users on Android. With the new Nexus 5 launcher, Google smarts are deeply integrated into the phone you carry around with you, so getting to the information you need is simple, easy and fast. Swipe once from the home screen to get Google Now literally at your fingertips. Put Google to work for you by saying “OK, Google” to launch voice search, send a text, get directions or even play a song you want to hear. And in the coming weeks, we’re enhancing Now with important new card types that bring you information about contextual topics that interest you such as updates from a favorite website or blog.
Reaching the next 1 billion users
Building a platform that makes mobile phones accessible for everyone has always been at the heart of Android. Until now, some lower-end Android phones couldn’t benefit from more recent Android releases due to memory constraints. With KitKat, we’ve slimmed down Android’s memory footprint by doing things like removing unnecessary background services and reducing the memory consumption of features that you use all the time. We did this not only within Android but across Google services like Chrome and YouTube. RAM (or memory) is one of the most expensive parts of a phone, and now Android can run comfortably on the 512MB of RAM devices that are popular in much of the world, bringing the latest goodies in Android 4.4 within reach for the next billion smartphone users.Introducing Nexus 5
Along with our sweet naming tradition, we also introduce a new device with each platform release to showcase the latest Android innovations. For KitKat, we partnered with LG to develop Nexus 5 — the slimmest and fastest Nexus phone ever made. Its design is simple and refined to showcase the 5″ Full HD display. Nexus 5 also keeps you connected at blazing speeds with 4G/LTE and ultra fast wifi. The advanced new lens on Nexus 5 captures more light for brighter night and sharper action shots. And with optical image stabilization, you no longer have to worry about shaky hands and blurry pictures. A new HDR+ mode automatically snaps a rapid burst of photos and combines them to give you the best possible single shot. Learn more on our site.Nexus 5 is available today, unlocked and without a contract, on Google Play in the U.S., Canada, U.K., Australia, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Japan and Korea (and coming soon to India), starting at $349. Just in the time for the holidays, Nexus 5 will be available soon at the following retailers: Sprint, T-Mobile, Amazon, Best Buy and RadioShack.
Android 4.4, KitKat, which comes on Nexus 5, will also soon be available on Nexus 4, 7, 10, the Samsung Galaxy S4 and HTC One Google Play edition devices in the coming weeks.
How’s that for a treat?
Posted by Sundar Pichai, SVP, Android, Chrome & Apps[/toggle]
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Micromax Canvas Turbo A250 Unboxing and Hands On
Micromax has launched its latest flagship dubbed the Micromax Canvas Turbo A250 and we go Hands on with the device. Priced at Rs. 19999 the Micromax Canvas Turbo A250 features a Media Tek 6589T 1.5 Ghz quad-core CPU and a Power VR SGXT GPU, 16 Gigs of inbuilt storage along with a 2 GB of RAM. The Hugh Jackman promoted smartphone has a unidbody metal construction along with a Full HD display, the device runs on Android 4.2.1 Jelly Bean.
In The Canvas Turbo BOX.
- Micromax Canvas Turbo A250
- 2000 mAh Battery
- USB Flat cable
- USB Wall Charger
- IN Flat Earphones
- Extra Ear tips
- Quick Start guide
- SIM Removal Tool
The Canvas Turbo A250 is the first Canvas phone with a 5 inch Full HD display with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels. The Canvas Turbo A250 also appears to be made with a full lightweight aluminum construction which at first appears to be plasticky. The device also sports a 13 MP primary camera along with a 5 MP secondary camera, the device is capable of Full HD 1080p video recording and 30 fps from both cameras.
The In Box contents of the Micromax devices have improved lately, as the quality of the earphones and the USB cable seems to be improved than what we saw earlier as standard. The Canvas Turbo A250 builds on the design from Canvas doodle 2 and the Canvas 4, the screen is Full HD but the UI is still the same which might not be appreciated by all.
Check out our unboxing video above. Benchmarks, Gaming and alot more to come soon, stay Tuned!
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Apple sold 33.8 million iPhones and 14.1 million iPads last quarter
Apple’s earnings report is out and the Cupertino based computing giant has exciting numbers to show. The Company posted quarterly revenue of $37.5 billion and quarterly net profit of $7.5 billion, or $8.26 per diluted share, compared to revenue of $36 billion and net profit of $8.2 billion, or $8.67 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 37 percent compared to 40 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 60 percent of the quarter’s revenue.
Apple also sold 33.8 million iPhones compared to 26.9 million along with 14.1 million iPads during the quarter, compared to 14 million in the year-ago quarter. Comparing Smartphone sales Samsung Sold 86 million in the same quarter, but this number includes far more models than Apple offers including many a budget phones that don’t directly compete with iPhones. Samsung sold 16 million Galaxy S4 in what it calls “orders placed” that includes shipments to dealers and retail outlets, where the actual sale number remains low. Samsung also managed to snag 10 million tablet sales compared to the iPad’s 14.1 million, again however, the range Samsung offers is a lot more than that offered by Apple with the iPad.
The quarterly earnings didn’t include the iPad mini with Retina display or iPad Air, which were announced last week, and only included one week’s worth of sales for the latest iPhones, the 5c and 5s.
“We’re pleased to report a strong finish to an amazing year with record fourth quarter revenue, including sales of almost 34 million iPhones. We’re excited to go into the holidays with our new iPhone 5c and iPhone 5s, iOS 7, the new iPad mini with Retina Display and the incredibly thin and light iPad Air, new MacBook Pros, the radical new Mac Pro, OS X Mavericks and the next generation iWork and iLife apps for OS X and iOS.” Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO
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Apple iPhone 5S Gold : iGyaan Diwali Giveaway
You Read it right , iGyaan is bringing a Diwali Giveaway for the Gold iPhone 5s in India, a variant that is sold out globally. Diwali is one occasion where all expenses go unbarred in India, people meet up with old friends and new, revive relationships and build new ones. To show how much you guys mean to us this Diwali we are giving away an iPhone 5s (did we mention its the golden one) to one of you because we want to make this Diwali not just happy, but a Happier Diwali!
This Giveaway comes to you before the launch of the iPhone 5s in India so play hard and tell all your friends to take part in the iPhone 5s Giveaway and you could stand a chance to win a iPhone 5s for yourself or your loved one.
The Winner for the iPhone Contest is @srijan_b
How do you plan to make this a #HappierDiwali Entry :
I will celebrate my Diwali with my loved ones, festivals these days are not celebrated as they were before. So i am gonna celebrate with a family get together worshiping goddess Lakshmi, so that she can bestow her blessing on my family. I don’t buy crackers, and instead plan to give money to a good cause. I am also planning to give some new clothes to my family and lastly we will have a family dinner together. Most importantly iPhone 5s is my love i love each and everything made by Apple, the design the hardware, the software, camera, screen everything is made to love. I would be the happiest person to own the iPhone 5s.
Congratulations ! We hope you did give the money to a good cause.
Other goodie winners are announced on Twitter @iGyaan.
Stay tuned for our Nexus 5 Giveaway this week. Happy Contesting.
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Has Apple Ended it for Paid Operating Systems with OS X Mavericks
Apple yesterday announced a flurry of new products from the new iPad Air to the iPad Mini with Retina Display, brand new Mac Pro and a revamped Macbook Pro with retina display. Possibly the most subtle and less talked about are the software launches. Apple launched the new Mac OS X 10.9 Mavericks and 7 new applications including a revamp of popular iMovie, iPhoto and Garage Band which made the iLife suite and work based Pages, Numbers and Keynote which made the iWork suite. The best part being the fact that all of the above comes free to Mac owners.
Logically all these Apps and Operating System updates are meant for consumption on Apple products, and by making these crucial applications and a major Operating System update free, Apple may have stirred the industry and the likes of Microsoft who basically survive by selling their operating systems and apps.
Highlights Prices of Apple’s Mac OS X have dropped in cost considerably over the years. Apple charged users US $129 for four main OS updates, then Apple dropped the operating system’s upgrade price to $29 with 2009’s OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, and then to $19 with last year’s OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion.
Microsoft was forced to lower the price of its expensive Windows 8 to a mere US $ 29 to compete with Apple last year, where the Redmond company offered its previous OS owners a cheaper upgrade to the new Operating System. However post a golden period the price was returned to a whopping US $ 199 which the company charges for their PRO variant of Windows 8. Microsoft this year however offered Windows 8.1 as a free upgrade to Windows 8 owners, and while many may call it an incremental upgrade, Microsoft continues to claim that Windows 8.1 is a major software overhaul which is “worthy of a price tag”.
Back in the 80’s software was a part of commuters as a vertically integrated product. Apple with OS X Mavericks has suddenly sprung that era into present day. Since Apple is the only company that manufactures hardware for their software or vice versa, it makes sense for the company to gain profit from hardware sales and make the software free. In essence the user sees it as a freebie especially since it had a price tag prior to it being free.
Apple has also ensured that anyone with a Mac computer upto 4 years ago can update to the new Mac OS X Mavericks, which will make old owners of Apple computers happy, since they won’t need to spend money for new operating systems each year.
What’s more, Apple has also enabled users to get Apple own apps like the iLIfe suite and iWork suite free of cost, making it a boon for students and daily users. Apple used to drive huge profits from selling applications and operating system upgrades. Most people don’t upgrade their Operating Systems till they buy a new computer, Apple however has sort of changed that, or has tried to change it. Just like software updates on the iPhone that drove more than 80% iPhone owners to upgrade to iOS 7, it is expected that a whole chunk of Mac owners have probably already upgraded to Mac OS X 10.9 Mavericks, or plan to over the weekend.
Installer The upgrade process is simple, hit the Mac App Store download the Mavericks installer, run the installer and about 20 minutes later you are upgraded. As Steve Jobs would say “It just Works!”, exactly how upgrading a modern operating system should feel like. It gets done with the minimal of fuss and fanfare, and then the operating system steps aside and lets the user get back to work.
For Apple owners this may not seem as a big deal, however the folks over at Microsoft are probably festering out new plans as we speak to keep their investors happy. Do you think OS should be free? Let us know below!
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Apple Launches iPad Mini with Retina Display and A7 Chipset for US $ 399
Apple has launched a new iPad Mini with Retina display for a price starting US $ 399. The new iPad Mini also features a2048 by 1536 pixel display, but at 7.9 inches along with the same A7 chipset seen on the iPhone 5 and the new iPad Air. The iPad Mini with retina display will go on sale later in November as the company will retain the original iPad Mini for a lowered price starting US $ 299.
The iPad Mini now competes with the iPad Air with respect to specs and comes out US $ 100 cheaper than the 9.6 inch variant of the new iPad aka the iPad Air.
The new iPad Mini will get 8 X faster graphics and Expanded LTE thanks to the new A7 chipset, and users will also be able to enjoy their new Airport Wifi speeds thanks to new Wifi with mimo tech inbuilt.
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Apple Launches the iPad Air with 43 % smaller bezel and a 7.5 mm thickness
The Apple iPad event is live and the company has announced a brand new iPad called the iPad Air. The new tablet has a 43% thinner bezel and a thinner 7.2mm thickness, the iPad Air also has 5 MP iSight camera with dual microphones.
iPad air ships November 1st, in many countries across the world including China and hopefully India as well. The iPad Air also weighs just 1 pound which is .4 pounds lighter than the iPad 3 or iPad 4.
The new thin iPad also runs the new A7 chipset seen on the new iPhone 5s which means that the performance seen on the hardware will be quite similar especially in the graphics area.
Apple has discontinued the iPad 3 and iPad 4 and will now sell the iPad Air starting US $ 499 and a cheaper iPad 2 for a price starting US $ 399 for the 16 GB WiFi only variants.
