Samsung has officially confirmed that the Galaxy SIII, the highly awaited successor of the Galaxy SII will be announced at a separate launch event, much later than MWC and close to commercial availability of the device.
The phone earlier rumored to being launched at the Mobile World Congress 2012 held this month in Barcelona, will now be launched later. The phone is rumored to have a dual core processor which will run upto 2.0GHz natively.
Samsung is looking forward to introducing and demonstrating exciting new mobile products at Mobile World Congress 2012. The successor to the Galaxy S2 smartphone will be unveiled at a separate Samsung-hosted event in the first half of the year, closer to commercial availability of the product.
Mercury has just launched the new mTab Neo in India at an impressive price, but the specs are a bit weary. The tablet is a 7 inch Android Tab with dual cameras and Wifi and 3G capabilities.
The product combines functionality of two devices and makes the experience and usage more convenient and friendly. At Mercury, we strive to bring products with new ideas and make technology simpler and affordable for all. SIM calling, Bluetooth, in-built 3G, dual camera and overall a strong processor and battery pack up – it’s a complete package needed in the growing market of tablets”
-said Sushmita Das, Country Manager – India
The Tablet features interesting connectivity option such as Micro USB 2.0 and HDMI out. It also has Stereo Speakers and Dual Cameras, Android version is 2.2, the Battery is a large 4000 mAh pack which should be sufficient for the Tab.
Samsung has actually reigned supreme in the year 2011, and looks like the year 2012 will be in their hands too. The Omnia W is a representation of what a company like Samsung is capable of. The device is considerably cheaper than its competition but has excellent specs and usability. Here is our review on the Samsung Omnia W ( Wonder).
Build Quality
The Omnia W is well built, not the best build you would find in this price range, but definitely well built. The construction is all plastic and appears flimsy, but is actually quite good. The back panel has some shell/metal elements that have a brushed and painted look , to try and give the device a little more elegance than it actually deserves, that part may not have been achieved. Buttons are well raised and fairly easy to use. The front bezel is a hair higher than the glass front, protecting the display from flat falls. Overall the device should do well in day to day usage.
Specs
1.4GHz processor
512MB RAM
3.7-inch display
480×800 resolution
8GB storage
5MP camera
720p HD videos
1,500 mAh battery
Camera, Display and Multimedia
The camera on the Omnia is a 5 mega pixel autofocus camera, with impressive light capture, the camera is one of the best cameras in its class of phone. The autofocus is fast, although you have the ability to tap to focus aswell, images can be clicked almost instantly. Video on the other hand is capped at a 720p HD quality, we often wonder why companies do not design the cameras to deliver 1080p, either way, video capture will require a lot of ambient light and indoor video is poor. The front camera is only good enough for low bit video calling , and should solve the purpose unless your friend on the other side is viewing your video on a big screen TV, if so is the case you will look like a character from Minecraft.
The display is a beautiful Super AMOLED display is a Samsung PenTile display which means that two red subpixels, two green subpixels, and one central blue subpixel is placed in each unit cell of the display. In layman words, its an old technology developed by Samsung back in 1990, and is still used in some of their devices. The display matrix arrangement has often received critique, and is not appreciated well. We however, found that the display was able to reproduce color well and had good deep black levels. The display is excellent for viewing video and and playing games. If you have a thing for the “world wide web”, or a bookworm within, then the display is capable of crisp fonts / texts on the screen for easy viewing. Outdoor visibility is low-poor, due to the inherent problems in AMOLED screens.
With limitations to the kind of files that can be played back on the device, it does not compete with an Android device. Bluetooth is locked and file transfer denied, for most of the things. However, whatever Windows can play natively will work on the phone, and you can always sync up using Zune, or Windows Phone Connector. The speaker is loud enough for music and watching movies. The included earphones are above average, but will not satisfy the bassphile.
Phone and Messaging
A capable phone is what the Omnia W turned out to be. The earpiece and mic war loud and clear, and network connectivity was strong. In our standard 3 hour call test the Omnia dropped the call twice exactly at 1 hour 51 mins , both times. No network drop was faced in the overalll testing and we are quite happy with the result.
As we have already stressed enough, the WP7 keyboard is one of the best in the world, we don’t need to say that its really good on the Omnia W. It has predictive text and autocorrect, and it is a super fast keyboard, no complaints. The messaging and email capabilities are good, the OS is connected well to Facebook and Twitter and should serve you well.
Internet, Battery and Operating System
The internet is a domain which is not properly tapped on the Omnia, with limitations of the browser in terms of javascript and flash. That being said it is one of the fastest internet browsers out there. The screen is great for website browsing and even better to read daily news stories from iGyaan. With a host of apps from the marketplace you can actually find your fix for the web.
Battery life is impressive on the Omnia W with upto 2 days of standby and 5 hours of talk time. The battery fares well while gaming and heavy graphic games can be played for a good 2-3 hours. Music playback should last 10 hours while video lasts about 4-5 hours.
The OS is a different playing field in the world of iOS and Android, as we mentioned in our previous Reviews. The interface is one of the cleanest and snappiest out of the lot, and there is no crashing or lagging from the interface even when multiple tasks are running ( Surprising since Windows is the name attached). The marketplace is also ever-growing with a host of applications and games, the future of Windows Phone looks bright. With no access to file sharing over bluetooth and native file compatibility, the closed system may be a let down for some. Samsung has added Video Calling to the OS to make it a little worthwhile. Samsung also offers multiple apps to make the experience a bit better. The included AllShare will allow for you to stream media to other Samsung Devices.
Conclusion
One of the best phones available at the price range, if you are not happy with the Android OS. or the way it looks. Also to consider the OS is as fast and responsive as iOS if not faster. A good smartphone with inbuilt office documentation capabilities and one that supports Microsoft SkyDrive. If you are a true windows junkie, the interconnectivity will impress, the lack of script execution may limit the experience. But overall the phone is a complete mix of Phone, Smartphone and PMP.
Multiple reports have been flying in since the iPhone 4s leaks and now much recent ones, that the next gen iPhone will have a larger 4inch+ display. What do you think will be the outcome of such a device tell us below.
Samsung has released its Q4 results and it shows that the company is headed in the right direction to becoming bigger than ever before. The electronics mammoth company has posted a 5.3 trillion won ($4.7 billion) operating profit in Q4 2011, with a sales revenue of 47.3 trillion won ($42 billion). The major of the chunk of its income is thanks to the impressive smartphone sales by the company , with over 300 million phones sold in 2011.
The earnings also reported that the mobile division stood accountable for 40% in the total earnings, while other major contributors were Samsung Semiconductors and Display divisions with 2.3 trillion won ($2 billion) and 8.55 trillion won ($7.6 billion) in sales respectively.
Samsung reports that in 2012 the sales from mobile phones will account for 50% of its total revenue considering it has an impressive lineup coming. Shipments of Samsung’s smartphones jumped 30 percent compared to the previous quarter (holiday quarter). Looking forward, Samsung expects the demand for entry-level smartphones and LTE will grow the smartphone market by more than 30 percent over the year, and the company expects tablet demand to grow as well.
Nokia is really struggling with their Symbian phones, especially after the announcement of the end of days for the OS. Nokia Belle is the name given to the dying OS and the new revision brings some promise. Lets see how the Nokia 701 with Belle does in our review.
Build Quality
The Nokia 701 is exceptionally well built, If you have handled any of their E-Series metal phones, you will feel a similar sort of construction here. The back cover and top front bezel are all steel, the frame and remaining parts are solid plastic with a nice paint job that fools you into believing that the whole phone is made of metal. The 701 is also considerably heavy and feel really solid in the hand . The glass however, sits flush with the bezel and is prone to cracking if the device falls face-first. Overall the build is up to mark if not above it.
Specs
Price
Rs. 17,990
Frequency
Quad Band
Phone Style
Candybar touchscreen
Thickness
11mm
Length
117.2mm
Width
56.8mm
Weight
131g
Built-in Memory
8GB
Additional Memory
microSD – up to 32GB
High-speed Data
GPRS, 3G, HSDPA
Connectivity
Bluetooth, USB, Wi-Fi, A-GPS
Screen Size
640×360 pixels, 3.5 inches
Secondary Screen Size
N/A
Screen Colours
16 million colours
Camera
Yes
Camera Resolution
8 megapixels
Flash
Yes, dual LED
Radio
Yes, with RDS
Battery
1300mAh, 6hrs talktime, 504hrs standby
Display, Camera and Multimedia
The display on the 701 is supposedly the brightest display in the world. It has a 1000 nits brightness and excellent outdoor visibility. The screen is also very responsive to touch and has great color reproduction.
The camera was a let down especially because sits a fixed focus camera, so has a lot of limitations. The video quality is mediocre and pictures are decent. Indoor performance is poor to say the least. Don’t rely on the camera much if you are a happy snapper.
Audio quality from the speaker is impressively good, the sound has deep bass and great quality mids and highs. The included earphones can be used for daily medium use, If you like listening to good quality music on your phone consider investing in a set of good earphones.
OS, Apps and Internet
Belle is possibly the only OS from the Symbian range that can truly compete with the Likes of Android and iOS, still not truly there, the OS is much more responsive than the previous builds and offers a more-Android-esque UI. Switchable dashboard, a notification panel, app drawer and widgets that mimic Android. Still, its user friendly , but certain things such as age old connectivity options and old menus are a let down.
Apps are limited to the ones on the OVI store and there are a lot now-a-days . From Angry Birds to NFS you even have Whatsapp and Skype.
Internet browser is still slow and laggy, pinch to zoom does not work and the browser cannot render a full page within the screen. The need to pan limits what you are looking at in the phones screen. There are however tons of apps from the Ovi store like : Opera Mini, and U browser that make the internet experience a lot better.
Battery Life
The Phone has a really bright display so you would expect a high battery drain, contrary to that battery life was excellent with over 5 hours of talk time, sometimes even 7 hours. the phone lasted 5 days on standby which was needless to say – impressive.
Conclusion
The Nokia 701 is proof that the company is really trying to prove itself in what has now become a world of iOS, Android and Windows Phone 7.5. The build quality is superior and so is the display , the OS is a drastic improvement over previous gen interfaces that were usually a let down. However, that being said, the phone feels a bit overpriced, and we have seen capable companies with better softwares and hardware throw out better phones at lower prices. We fail to understand why Nokia keeps pricing their phones so high. If you are a die hard Nokia fan and still need a fix of that Symbian Love this phone should suit you, bear in mind that the optics are sub satisfactory.
City’s autorickshaws may finally get fitted with GPS from March. DIMTS, the agency in-charge of the project, has been asked by the transport department to empanel vendors who will supply the GPS devices to three-wheeled scooter rickshaws (TSRs). The process should take about a month after which the Govt will be in tune to install the devices. Meanwhile, the authorities are working on a comprehensive auto-rickshaw policy for the addition of 45,000 new autos as part of a court directive. These new rickshaws will all be pre fitted with gps enabled meters for accurate tracking and billing.
We will have to issue a notice giving details of the specifications vendors need to meet. Their applications would then be evaluated by us and the entire process is likely to take 40 days. Auto-rickshaw owners can then get the GPS fitted from these authorized vendors”
-DIMTS official
After the whole process is complete, which is expected to take another 6-9 months. A total of 1 Lakh traffic law violating AutoRickshaws will ply on New Delhi streets. Although all of these will be equipped with state of the art meters, a real resolution to the growing traffic menace is still awaited.
Google announced today that three of its web services will be getting an arrow to the knee. Picnik, a photo-editing company that Google acquired in 2010, Needlebase, the data management platform and Google owned Sky Map Android app will go open-source by mid-year.
Picnik, was supposed to be integrated into Picasa, allowing users to edit their images online. But, the company will now be shuttered. Needlebase is possibly the only service out of the three that no-one has heard of, acquired from ITA Software, on June 1, 2012. The technology is being evaluated for integration into Google’s other data-related initiatives.
Sky Map was created by half a dozen Googlers at the Pittsburgh office in their 20 percent time to show off the amazing capabilities of the sensors in the first-generation Android phones and offer a window into the sky. This will now be converted to open source.
Google is knows for acquiring and ending companies faster than most people can develop a business plan.
Now this is an amazing video demonstrating the use of a creative yet useful technology. Looking at the video it seems that this concepts was made quite some time ago and dropped . We wish some company would buy this doors design and implement it in their cars. Its simply brilliant.
The rolling door not only makes it easier to get out or get into the vehicle, it also makes parking a breeze as you will see in the video. It will come in really hand for those tight parking spots you would have faced, if you live in cities like Delhi or Mumbai. The door is theoretically also much safer, since it can’t accidentally be left open or opened while the car is moving.
The company behind the design is called Jatech, but it seems that after they made this video their work on the project stopped completely.
Considering how Apple just reinvented the text book with the new iBooks 2 App, the best feature about iBooks 2 is the ability of authors to write textbooks and publish them on iBooks. To make that project easier, Mac users can now download the iBooks Publisher App. This new app allows would be book sellers the ability to drag and drop photos, videos and even Microsoft Word files into various templates. If you use iWork you can drop a Keynote presentation into the doc, and it becomes an interactive widget. Authors can also arrange glossaries by highlighting and clicking words, and clicking again to add a definition.
The books can then be published straight to the Apple iBooks Store for either Free or a maximum of US $ 14.99, The paid books will go on revenue share with Apple, in a 70/30 split where the Authors get 70% of the total sales.
The App itself is quite amazing as we ant hands on with it.
When you start it up , it shows you a bunch of templates.
You can select your type and then continue to drag and drop media as per your convenience.
Apple has released a new version of the iBooks publishing platform yesterday at the Guggenheim museum in New York City. The new iBooks 2 app is available today as a free download from the App Store. It features a lot of new improvements including the ability to share textbooks. The reason for giving iPad’s to students in universities becomes even more useful starting today.
The App allows fullscreen books, interactive 3D objects, diagrams, videos and photos, the iBooks 2 app will let students learn with just a tap or swipe of the finger.
Education is deep in Apple’s DNA and iPad may be our most exciting education product yet. With 1.5 million iPads already in use in education institutions, including over 1,000 one-to-one deployments, iPad is rapidly being adopted by schools across the US and around the world, Now with iBooks 2 for iPad, students have a more dynamic, engaging and truly interactive way to read and learn, using the device they already love.”
-said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing.
Apple Reinvents Textbooks with iBooks 2 for iPad New iBooks Author Lets Anyone Create Stunning iBooks Textbooks
NEW YORK-January 19, 2012-Apple® today announced iBooks® 2 for iPad®, featuring iBooks textbooks, an entirely new kind of textbook that’s dynamic, engaging and truly interactive. iBooks textbooks offer iPad users gorgeous, fullscreen textbooks with interactive animations, diagrams, photos, videos, unrivaled navigation and much more. iBooks textbooks can be kept up to date, don’t weigh down a backpack and never have to be returned. Leading education services companies including Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, McGraw-Hill and Pearson will deliver educational titles on the iBookstore? with most priced at $14.99 or less, and with the new iBooks Author, a free authoring tool available today, anyone with a Mac® can create stunning iBooks textbooks.
“Education is deep in Apple’s DNA and iPad may be our most exciting education product yet. With 1.5 million iPads already in use in education institutions, including over 1,000 one-to-one deployments, iPad is rapidly being adopted by schools across the US and around the world,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “Now with iBooks 2 for iPad, students have a more dynamic, engaging and truly interactive way to read and learn, using the device they already love.”
The new iBooks 2 app is available today as a free download from the App Store™. With support for great new features including gorgeous, fullscreen books, interactive 3D objects, diagrams, videos and photos, the iBooks 2 app will let students learn about the solar system or the physics of a skyscraper with amazing new interactive textbooks that come to life with just a tap or swipe of the finger. With its fast, fluid navigation, easy highlighting and note-taking, searching and definitions, plus lesson reviews and study cards, the new iBooks 2 app lets students study and learn in more efficient and effective ways than ever before.
iBooks Author is also available today as a free download from the Mac App Store and lets anyone with a Mac create stunning iBooks textbooks, cookbooks, history books, picture books and more, and publish them to Apple’s iBookstore. Authors and publishers of any size can start creating with Apple-designed templates that feature a wide variety of page layouts. iBooks Author lets you add your own text and images by simply dragging and dropping, and with the Multi-Touch™ widgets you can easily add interactive photo galleries, movies, Keynote® presentations and 3D objects.
Apple today also announced an all-new iTunes® U app giving educators and students everything they need on their iPad, iPhone® and iPod touch® to teach and take entire courses. With the new iTunes U app, students using iPads have access to the world’s largest catalog of free educational content, along with over 20,000 education apps at their fingertips and hundreds of thousands of books in the iBookstore that can be used in their school curriculum, such as novels for English or Social Studies.* The iTunes U app is available today as a free download from the App Store.
*Some content is available only for iPad.
Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices with iPad.
The Delhi high court will on Thursday take up the pleas filed by Google India and Facebook India challenging the summons issued by the lower court, for ‘offensive material’ posted on their websites.
Google and Facebook on Tuesday said that it was impossible for them to control the internet content uploaded by billions of people. Senior advocate Neeraj Kishan Kaul, appearing for Google India, had said that the summons issued to social networking sites by a metropolitan magistrate showed complete lack of understanding about how the online system worked.
The issue relates to a constitutional issue of freedom of speech and expression, and suppressing it was not possible as the right to freedom of speech in democratic India separates us from a totalitarian regime like China
–Neeraj Kishan Kaul
The advocate had tried to mention the fact that Google India and Google Inc. were infact two different entities and that Google India had no control over the actions of the US counterpart, nor are they responsible for it.
While companies in the US protest the SOPA and PIPA, India is still fighting for freedom of speech and expression of mind.
The support for the Internet anti piracy bill is dwindling due to the massive protests on wednesday. lawmakers abandoned and rethought their backing for legislation that pitted new media interests against some of the most powerful old-line commercial interests in Washington. In reaction to the pending legislation, the online encyclopedia Wikipedia went dark. Google’s home page had a black banner across its logo that led to pointed information blasting the bills.
As a senator from Florida, a state with a large presence of artists, creators and businesses connected to the creation of intellectual property, I have a strong interest in stopping online piracy that costs Florida jobs, However, we must do this while simultaneously promoting an open, dynamic Internet environment that is ripe for innovation and promotes new technologies.”
– Senator Rubio
With major online protests from major online companies, the support of the bill has dwindled in the hearing and is expected to not be enacted. A newer more open bill is said to be under works.
While we believe that online piracy by foreign websites is a serious problem that requires a serious legislative response, we will not support legislation that reduces freedom of expression, increases cybersecurity risk, or undermines the dynamic, innovative global Internet,”
-White House official said.
The Pirate Bay has broken its silence over the PIPA and SOPA anti-piracy bills as well.
Of course we’re worried. Not so much for The Pirate Bay, as there are many workarounds, but for democratic reasons. It’s crazy what politicians will do in the name of copyright! They are either totally paid off, stupid or copyright holders. Or all of them – that’s not as uncommon as you might think. The worst part is that it’s so obvious that pretty much everyone in and outside the US, including major corporations, are against this bill.”
-ThePirateBay – Spokesperson
Most of those protesting the bills believe that the US has too much power over the internet and that a bill passed in the US will have its effects outside its borders. They believe that the UN should protest this so that they can prevent the possibility for a single country to rule over the global infrastructure.
Motorola has tied up with power machine maker JCB to release the UK variant of the Defy +. The limited-edition handset comes pre-loaded with branded-applications for the construction site including a spirit-level, theodolite, decibel meter and a DIY store locator. The remaining specs are the same as we saw on the Indian version of the Defy + including 1GHz processor, 2GB internal storage and a 3.7-inch Gorilla Glass display along with a 5MP camera. In the UK its priced at a high £260, compared to the 18 K in India. You can check out our review here.
[toggle title_open=”Press Release” title_closed=”Press Release” hide=”yes” border=”yes” style=”default” excerpt_length=”0″ read_more_text=”Read More” read_less_text=”Read Less” include_excerpt_html=”no”]Motorola Mobility and JCB Announce Limited Edition Motorola DEFY™+ – Life Proof just became Work Proof
Jan. 17, 2012
BASINGTOKE, UK – January 17, 2012 – Motorola Mobility today launches a limited edition Motorola DEFY™+ handset which transforms the UK’s favourite life proof handset into a ‘work proof’ model.
The exclusive Motorola DEFY+ JCB Edition features exceptional work-orientated protection for anyone operating the demanding construction and engineering sectors, or who work in the rugged outdoors and in extremely demanding conditions thanks to its patented visco-elastic protective sleeve from JCB with re-entrant geometry.
Taking ‘work proof’ functionality one step further, the Motorola DEFY+ JCB Edition handset also offers construction site users and outdoor enthusiasts who routinely work with core technical and measuring materials a range of built-in options. It comes pre-loaded with bespoke JCB applications including: a spirit level, theodolite, decibel meter and recorder, torch, unit converter, calculator and DIY store locator. This saves the user time and effort of lugging around a boot load of individual work components, and also serves to speed up their productivity and output at the touch of a button.
For those users who will also need to communicate remotely, between multiple venues, or even on-the-go with a range of associates the handset will feature Push To Talk functionality which will allow them to operate the device as a walkie-talkie (via the cellular network) with group call and messaging functionality.
Victoria McManus, UK marketing director, Motorola Mobility said: “We’re thrilled to be working with JCB on this bespoke Motorola DEFY+ device. The unique protective sleeve will pull on JCB’s years of expertise in the construction industry to help us reach a new audience who we know are in need of a life and work proof handset.”
Motorola Mobility launched the standard Motorola DEFY+ handset in September 2011. The limited edition JCB version will also feature existing Motorola DEFY+ handset functionality such as a 1GHz processor that runs 25 percent faster. Users can make the Motorola DEFY+ JCB edition meet their own personal needs by organising and personalising their Application trays for easy and quick access to their most used tools, games and content.
It also features the Android™ 2.3 (Gingerbread) which delivers a more intuitive user interface and improvements on the features users choose most – including enhanced calendar and email features, home screen options and better battery life.
Jason Kemp, Marketing Director at Data Select, said: “The Motorola DEFY+ JCB Edition is the perfect extension of an already robust handset. Smartphone use is on the rise amongst construction audiences and this handset perfectly addresses their workday needs.”
The Motorola DEFY+ JCB Edition also includes a car charger with an extra long curly cable. It is available to purchase in all good UK retail stockists from RRP £259.99.
Motorola DEFY+
Key features and specifications of Motorola DEFY+ include:
Powered by Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) and features more than 300,000 apps from Android Market™ 1 GHz processor that runs 25 percent faster for efficient Web browsing and multitasking Water resistant, scratch resistant and dust proof to withstand all that life throws users way Features scratch resistant Corning® Gorilla® Glass 3.7-inch high-resolution touch screen display MOTOBLUR™ lets users stay in touch with friends, providing quick access to social media accounts and live widgets directly from the homescreen Motorola Media Link allows users to sync their media content from their desktops at home or work Loaded with the ability to create group emails and communication Adobe® Flash® Player 10 for uncompromised viewing of applications, content and videos 5MP camera with auto focus, flash and digital zoom 2GB internal; 2GB microSD card in box, expandable up to 32GB1 Access to Google Mobile™ Services (Google Maps™ with Navigation, Google Talk™, browsing) 1700 mAH battery for 7.1 hours of talk time and 16 days in standby2
About JCB
JCB is the world’s third largest manufacturer of construction equipment with 22 factories around the world including 11 in the UK, six in India and others in Brazil, the USA, China and Germany. The company employs more than 10,000 people worldwide and is privately owned by the Bamford family. In 2010 JCB’s earnings on an EBITDA basis were £235 million (2009 – £95 million) on sales of £2 billion.[/toggle]
