Author: Shivaank Rana

Xbox One Games To Cost The Same As 360, No Price Hike

Xbox One first-party titles will be $59.99, as confirmed by a Microsoft representative speaking to Kotaku. Activision, EA, and Ubisoft have not announced game pricing for the next-generation console.

In an official statement to gaming-exclusive sister site of The Verge, a Microsoft representative tells Polygon that pricing for Xbox One games published by Microsoft Studios will remain the same at $59.99: “I can confirm that Microsoft Studios games on Xbox One will be $59.99,” the representative told Polygon.

With every release of a new generation of consoles, gamers and enthusiasts alike often wonder what kind of, if any, price increase they’ll be seeing in the gaming market. When Microsoft and Sony unveiled their previous generation of new consoles, games saw a pretty substantial price increase.

It comes to many as a relief that there won’t be a price increase for Xbox One titles, despite the added cost of development for new consoles. Truly a win for the hardcore and casual gamers who work hard to buy multiple titles each and every month.

While that is good news for some, what about PS4 gamers? Can they expect the same treatment? After all a $100 difference in console pricing means nothing if the price of games will just end up covering the difference, right? While Sony has yet to confirm the pricing, an earlier report in February, Sony announced that the maximum price for PS4 games should be $60 too. Although Kotaku emphasized that Sony representatives were quiet on this topic at E3.

June 15, 2013
Google Announces ‘Project Loon’, Giant Balloons For Affordable Internet

Google has a truly sky-high idea for connecting billions of people to the internet – 19 kilometres in the air to be exact – through giant helium balloons circling the globe that are equipped to beam Wi-Fi signals down below.

According to Google, two of every three individuals on Earth either do not have access to the Internet, or don’t have access to a connection that is both fast and within their financial means – in some areas, individuals are faced with prices equal to more than a month’s paycheck. This issue isn’t going to resolve itself without thinking outside of the box, according to the company, and that is where the balloons come in. It was the culmination of 18 months’ work on what Google calls Project Loon.

In addition to providing access to the two out of every three people on earth Google says don’t have access to affordable broadband, another goal of the Google[x] team behind Project Loon is to help with maintaining communications following natural disasters.

The solar-powered, remote-controlled balloons would navigate stratospheric winds 20 kilometers above the surface of the earth, well above the altitude where most planes travel. Similar to the way satellite internet works, the balloons would communicate with special antennas and receiver stations on the ground.

The balloons also represent another of Google’s forays into the telecommunications business. The company has been setting up Google Fibre internet connections in Kansas City, Austin, Texas and elsewhere that offer speeds 100 times faster than what most consumers have today.

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June 15, 2013
Sony Xperia L Full Review
Design And Build Quality

At first glance, the Sony Xperia L is quite reminiscent of the Xperia Arc, with it’s arched back and a large screen towards the front.

A noticeably plastic finish greets you when you pick up the handset, but it feels sturdy and there was little flex in the body – meaning the Xperia L doesn’t feel too cheap.

The removable back cover has a soft rubber finish which makes the phone easy to grip and free from finger prints. On the contrary, the front panel is a magnet for fingerprints.

All of the Sony Xperia L ‘s buttons are on the right side of the device. The volume rocker is at the very top, while the power button (the same distinctive power/lock key found on various other Xperia devices) is lower down, almost in the middle of the device. Down at the bottom of the device is the hardware camera button. There is a micro-USB port on the left while the headphone jack sits square in the middle of the top of the device. At the bottom there is that famous light that glows beneath the display, letting the user know if they had any notifications waiting.

Overall, we were really impressed with the build quality of the device.

Specifications And Hardware

On the specifications front, Sony Xperia L sports a 4.3-inch display with 480×854 pixel resolution and is powered by a 1GHz Qualcomm MSM8230 dual-core processor. It runs on Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean operating system and packs 1GB RAM along with 8GB of internal storage which is expandable up to 32GB via microSD card.
The handset supports WIFI, DLNA, 3G, GPS and Micro-USB and packs 1750mAh battery gives up to eight and a half hours of talktime and standby time of up to 498 hours. The device comes equipped with an 8-megapixel front camera with Exmor RS and a VGA front facing camera.

Display And Multimedia

The front of the Xperia L is dominated by its 4.3-inch FWVGA display with the standard Android keys appearing onscreen instead of below it. Again, its 854×480 resolution is pretty standard for a phone at this price, and you have to zoom in to read text on web pages, but we saw bright whites and punchy colours.

The Xperia L’s LCD display doesn’t have the true blacks of an AMOLED screen, but blacks are still very deep. It’s a high-quality display for a relatively inexpensive handset. Viewing angles are really decent as well.

Sound quality on the Sony Xperia L is excellent, loud and clear. Couple that with it’s display quality and you have a really capable multimedia device in front of you. On-screen buttons disappear while you watch videos freeing all the screen space for your viewing pleasure.

One area where the Sony Xperia L disappoints though is the browsing experience. We tried various browsers and performance on each was equally dismal. Pages took a lot of time load up and there was a lot of lag while zooming and scrolling.

Gaming on this device is excellent, and while games like N.O.V.A and Fifa 12 were not compatible with the device, it delivered the ones that were excellently.

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Camera

In terms of photographic ability Sony has equipped the Sony Xperia L with an impressive 8MP rear facing camera which also boasts a single LED flash, 720p video recording and HDR and panorama modes.

One of the benefits of having a large sensor is low light performance and the Xperia L takes some of the best low-light photos we’ve seen in the segment. Outdoor images though were just about decent with slightly washed out colours. Looking at fine detail you’d often notice images turn out soft and spongy.

The camera experience is somewhat hampered by the slow and buggy camera app. Focusing takes a lot of time and the app takes a moment or two to process the image, resulting in blurry motion shots.

Sample Images :

The 720p video capture suffers from the some of the same issues, although not quite as much as still photos do. The auto-brightness is very aggressive, so expect some very noticeable shifting in your brightness, especially if the subject is backlit.

Performance

With a 1 Ghz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 chipset, Adreno 305 GPU and 1 GB of RAM, the hardware inside the Sony Xperia L is nothing we haven’t seen before, so we had a fairly good idea of what to expect.

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The Sony Xperia L scored 10104 in AnTuTu Benchmark, 60.2 fps in NenaMark2 and 4064 in Quadrant. Impressive for the hardware the device is powered by.

Software And User Interface

Sony has applied its own layer of gloss to Jelly Bean, with its a homescreen editor function allowing you to quickly and easily manage your widgets, apps and shortcuts as well as changing the phone’s theme and wallpaper – making it that bit more personal. Lovely.

Sony has given greater presence to its own services like the great WALKMAN app but also to more clunky offerings like the Sony Select application.

Onboard Sony firmware clearly has an impact on the advertised 8GB of internal storage which is 5.8GB.

Phone Calls and Connectivity

The phone networks are consistent and of good strength, no issues with connectivity to data and voice services. Overall network performance is impressive and voice handling good thanks to decent microphones and speakers in the Sony Xperia L .The dialler has also been tweaked by Sony.

Messaging was decent as well due to the large screen and the well laid keyboard.

Battery

[tabgroup][tab title=”Connections Off”]
- Talk Time 3G network(data off): 5 Hours
- Talk Time 2g (data off) : 6 hours
- Internet : N/A
- Music : 8 Hours
- Video : 6 hours
[/tab][tab title=”Connections On”]
- Talk Time 3G network(data on): 4.5 Hours
- Talk Time 2g (data on) : 5.5 hours
- Internet : 6 Hours
- Music : 8 Hours
- Video : 4.5 hours
[/tab][tab title=”Wifi Only”]
- Talk Time 3G network(data off): 4.5 Hours
- Talk Time 2g (data off) : 6 hours
- Internet : 6.5 Hours
- Music : 8 Hours
- Video : 5 hours
[/tab][/tabgroup]

Conclusion

Generally the Sony Xperia L copes with everything pretty well and while there is a hint of slow down every now and then that’s expected from cheaper handsets. What should help it stand out in its fairly crowded category are its looks and design.
June 14, 2013
Microsoft Office Mobile For iPhone Is Now Official

Microsoft has released the Office Mobile application for the iPhone, enabling users to view and edit Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents from virtually anywhere. It is free to download but requires an Office 365 subscription.

According to the Office Mobile app page on iTunes, Microsoft has carefully optimised the app for the iPhone’s 4-inch display and, as usual with Microsoft’s software, it features full integration with SkyDrive and Sharepoint.

It’s also synchronised to the extent that there is a ‘Recent Documents’ list for quick access and if you left reading a document on a computer or tablet the iOS app will pick up on exactly the same page via SkyDrive.

Offline editing will sync with your documents saved in the cloud when a connection becomes available. The app is also tailored to work with documents sent as email attachments.

Microsoft believes iPad users are better served by the Office 365 web apps anyway and hasn’t (yet) announced this app for the tablet.

The new app might suggest a closer collaboration between Microsoft and Apple, especially following the slightly hidden announcement at WWDC that the default search engine for Siri will be Bing, not Google.

Subscribers to Office 365 will get the Office Mobile app to use on up to five iPhones for free, although the service is currently only available in the US. Microsoft have confirmed that they will continue to roll out the service across 136 markets in 29 different languages in the coming days.

June 14, 2013
LG Optimus L3 II Dual Full Review

Build Quality And Hardware

At just 102mm long and 61mm wide, the LG Optimus L3 II Dual is a really snug fit for anybody’s hand. It is made up entirely of plastic and has a glossy black finish both at the front and the back, which we feel makes it very scratch and smudge prone.

The overall design of the phone is really well, bland, to be honest. It has rounded corners, and a grey bezel runs around the phone. Under the 3.2-inch display there are 4 touch capacitive buttons, namely back, home, menu and a SIM switch button.

At the top you have your power button along with a headphone jack, a microphone and Micro-USB port at the bottom, and your volume rocker towards the left.

Remove the back cover of the LG Optimus L3 II Dual and you’ll see the battery, below which, there are two SIM cad slots. Also, the micro-SD card slot is located to the left of the battery compartment, which in our opinion is a bit flawed as you’ll have to remove the battery cover every time, if you wish to take out your micro-SD card. Also, you really have to wrestle the phone to get the back cover off.

Build quality though is solid, but the lack of thought put into the design leaves us slightly disappointed.

Specifications And Hardware

LG Optimus L3 II Dual is a dual-SIM smartphone that comes with 3.2-inch QVGA IPS display. It houses a 1,540mAh battery. It is powered by a 1GHz single core processor with 512MB of RAM, 4GB of internal storage and a 3-megapixel camera.

The device runs on Android 4.1.2 (Jelly Bean) out of the box and connectivity options include 3G, Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth and aGPS. There is a 3-megapixel rear fixed focus camera on the smartphone.

Display And Multimedia

LG Optimus L3 II Dual has a 3.2-inch screen that has a resolution of 240×320 pixels. Thus, the screen has a low, 125 ppi pixel density, which leads to unclear text and obvious difficulty while browsing. The screen has a high contrast and decent brightness though. As it is an IPS display, the viewing angles are pretty good and outdoor visibility is one of the best in this segment.

Now we obviously wouldn’t expect a stellar screen from a device of this segment, but we did expect better in terms of the pixel count.

Video experience on the device is hampered by the screen size and resolution, and so is gaming. So if these are your major criteria while choosing a phone, we suggest you give this one a miss.

Audio on the LG Optimus L3 II Dual is nice and loud. We were really satisfied with the quality of the sound.

The phone can connect to the internet, using 2G, 3G or Wi-Fi, with a maximum download speed of 3.6 Mbps on 3G. The web browsing capability on the LG Optimus L3 II Dual is dire, yes, dire. Pages take loads of time to load up, pinch to zoom is very choppy and laggy as well and it isn’t the best in this segment and also, the low-res screen makes it difficult to read online content.

Software And UI

The LG Optimus L3 II Dual comes loaded with Android 4.1.2 (Jelly Bean) along with, as expected, LG’s Optimus 3.0 UI. Apps like Gallery and Music have been given a makeover by LG, and we were happy that LG paid attention to such small details when it came to the software on the phone. It gets the same lock screen transition and other animations that some of it bigger siblings get.

You have 5 lock screens along with various themes to choose from. The drop down windows has a set of toggles on the top, which can be customised and adjusted according to your needs. The lock screen too can be customised by using various shortcuts and clock/calender widgets.

The LG Optimus L3 II also comes pre-loaded with some of LG’s custom applications like the QuickMemo app that lets users scribble notes on a blank page or on top of a screen shot. Others include ones for Backup, Cell Broadcast, File Manager, a Memo app, Polaris Viewer, LG’s service related apps, SmartWorld, and a Task Manager.

Safe to say, this phone has one of the best software detailing in this segment. Well done LG.

Camera

The LG Optimus L3 II Dual comes with a 3.2 megapixel fixed focus camera without flash which in our opinion is a bit substandard and the image quality is average at best. Even with such a low quality camera, you have 3 shooting modes to choose from- Portrait, Landscape, Sports, Sunset and Night modes, along with settings for ISO, White Balance, Colour effects, and exposure.

Sample Shots :

Pictures were hazy, and grainy. In low-light conditions, images are barely visible. Likewise, videos can be recorded as QVGA videos. Not good enough by any means.

Phone, Messaging and Network

The dialer is nice and easy and like any other android phone cleverly integrates contacts and groups.

Call clarity was decent throughout our use, with neither us nor those on the other end of the line having any issues being heard. We had no dropped calls either. The phone is a dual-SIM GSM phone with support for one active and the other in standby mode.

The keyboard is fairly accurate and responsive. The keyboard works well in both landscape and portrait mode and the biggest surprise of all, it also has handwriting recognition! The handwriting recognition feature is as accurate as we’ve seen on any device. Impressive.

Conclusion

We’re not sure what LG was aiming for with the LG Optimus L3 II Dual. It lacks a USP. The only impressive feature of this device, and a big one that too, is the attention paid to the software aspect of this device. The custom apps, handwriting recognition etc. puts this device head and shoulders above the competition in this segment as far as software is concerned.

In contrast to that, the hardware of the phone is powered by seems dated and below this price point. Phones like the Micromax Canvas A110 offer way better specs at just a few 100 rupees more.

June 14, 2013
Xbox One Will Only Work In Certain Countries At Launch Excluding India

If you were thinking about ordering the Xbox One via a relative/friend abroad and use it in India before it officially launches here, Microsoft wants you to forget about it.

Just when you thought Microsoft couldn’t go a day without some new anti-consumer disaster it’s been revealed that the Xbox One is so reliant on its online connection that it won’t even turn on in some countries, no matter where you buy it from.

Microsoft’s Xbox One preorder information page states that the console will only support Live in only 21 countries at launch, and therefore presumably won’t work anywhere else.

The problem is there are only 21 supported countries at launch (depending on who you ask there are around 206 countries in the world) and that doesn’t include Portugal, Poland and most of Eastern Europe, or Japan and the rest of Asia (including India).

The full list of supported countries is Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and United States.

Microsoft have described this as a “staged approach” to marketing their new console. Their regional vice president for sales and marketing in Asia stated that they were still working on allowing Asian gamers a “great experience”, including localised content.

The only alternative for people residing in India (or the other countries omitted) would be to create a new Xbox Live account that pretended to be based in a supported region

In contrast, Sony has said that the PlayStation 4 will be region-free, like the PlayStation 3.

June 14, 2013
Apple Exec Eddy Cue Goes Defensive At E-Books Trial

Eddy Cue, the Apple Inc. executive in charge of negotiating the company’s controversial e-book deals, defended how the tech giant started its online bookstore as he made his highly anticipated appearance on the witness stand in a federal antitrust trial.

Cue testified that he didn’t know about any of the e-mails and more than 100 phone calls involving the CEOs of five of the biggest U.S. book publishers in late 2009 and early 2010.

Cue said he “struggled and fought” with the publishers, in individual talks before the introduction of the iPad, to get them to sign contracts to sell e-books on Apple’s iBookstore. Cue testified it’s his opinion the CEOs weren’t coordinating over their negotiations with Apple.

“If they were talking to one another, I would assume I would have had a much easier time getting those deals done,” Cue testified.

Steve Jobs closely monitored the negotiations but was “indifferent” about the outcome for Amazon, Cue testified. However, when asked if Jobs knew that there was a chance that once the iBookstore launched, publishers would withhold best sellers and new releases from Amazon, he responded, “I believe so, sure. Smart guy.”

When Tim Cook was asked about the trial during his recent appearance at the All Things D conference, he called the trial “bizarre,” noting that Apple wasn’t going to settle and effectively admit to something it didn’t do.

Cue’s testimony on Thursday marked the end of this week’s proceedings. The trial will resume next Monday and scheduled to wrap up late next week.

June 14, 2013
First HTC Butterfly S Images Leak, Show Design And BoomSound Speakers

HTC is scaling its lauded One flagship down and up – we already saw the One mini, now thanks to some spy shots we’re getting a closer look at the HTC Butterfly S, an update on the company’s first 1080p phone with One hardware.

According to the source of the leak, the HTC Butterfly S still features a 5-inch 1080p screen, and the rear speaker has been deprecated by the new front-facers. It’s speculated that the internals have been upgraded too, and that the Butterfly S will be powered by a Snapdragon 600 chip. (We can see HTC’s latest Sense 5 UI on-screen.)

The biggest change we can see here, at least compared to the first Butterfly, is the move to give the handset a pair of front-facing speakers, like the BoomSound HTC first introduced on the HTC One. Another One trait – the two button arrangement has been replaced by standard three capacitive buttons.

The camera is expected to use the One’s UltraPixel technology too, but there’s nothing in the pictures to tell us if this is a sure thing.

We expect to hear the official word on the HTC Butterfly S from HTC on June 19, when the Taiwanese company is holding a special media event, so hold tight.

[Via]

June 14, 2013
Sony Xperia Z Ultra Phablet Teased, Announcement Rumoured This Month

An invitation to a Sony press event teases what looks like a Godzilla sized phablet. The rumoured Xperia Z Ultra is pictured and the translation reads “Sony mobile reserves a BIG surprise for you.” The Xperia Z Ultra has a speculated screen size of 6.44-inches with a stunning 1080p HD, plus shows a stylus with the words “Don’t forget to mark your calendars!” that indicates it’ll have input support similar to the Samsung’s Galaxy Note.

The Sony Xperia Z Ultra is rumored to feature a 6.44 inch full HD Triluminos display with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels, the device is also rumored to feature the new quad core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor with a clock speed of 2.2GHz.

Other rumored specifications on the handset include 2GB of RAM and 16GB of built in storage, plus a microSD card slot with support for 64GB cards, the device is also expected to feature front and rear facing cameras.

On the back of the Sony Xperia Z Ultra there will be an 8 megapixel camera for photos and video, up front there will be a 2.2 megapixel camera for video calls, the device will come with Android 4.2 Jelly Bean.

What we’re not sure about is that the Xperia Z Ultra is rumoured to be water resistant, yet the headphone jack is open with no port covering it. Hopefully all will become clear in the next few weeks regarding the exact specs, but either way we are looking at a very desirable device.

[Via]

June 14, 2013
Rovio Teases Their Upcoming Racing Game, Angry Birds Go!

Angry Birds creator Rovio has a new game in the works, which is teased on a newly released website that features a bird dashing down a pathway. “Something NEW is coming!” reads the site, and in a blog post, Rovio says the game is unlike its standard Angry Birds titles.

“Those birds and piggies are getting ready for their most thrilling and action-packed game yet,” explains a post on Rovio’s blog.

“All your favorite characters are returning for a brand new title that will bring you closer to Piggy Island than ever before. It’s Angry Birds, but not as you know it!”

Angry Birds Go! will be the seventh game in Rovio’s series, following the original Angry Birds, Angry Birds Seasons, Angry Birds Rio, Angry Birds Space, Angry Birds Star Wars and Angry Birds Friends.

Rovio hasn’t announced what platforms Angry Birds Go! will be released for. The first four games were mobile titles, while Angry Birds Friends launched as a Facebook web game before crossing to mobile.

The Angry Birds games attracted 263m monthly active players in December 2012, and helped Rovio generate €152.2m (£129m) of revenues in 2012, posting a net profit after tax of €55.5m (£47m).

No release date was given, but Rovio says ‘be on the lookout for more updates over the summer,’ so it sounds like they’re shooting for a late summer/fall release. For updates, make sure you follow the official Facebook page.

June 13, 2013
Nokia Will Ship Its Last Symbian Phones This Summer

Nokia is set to ship its last batch of the outdated Symbian OS smartphones this summer, before devoting its smartphone production to Windows devices, The Financial Times reports.

Nokia pointed long development of Symbian devices as one of the reasons to halt their production. According to the manufacturer it takes 22 months to bring a Symbian product to the market, compared to less than a year for a Windows Phone handset.

“It took 22 months to get a Symbian phone out of the door. With Windows Phone, it is less than a year. We spend less time having to tinker with deep-lying code and more time on crafting elements of the experience that make a big difference, such as around photography, maps, music and apps in general.”

Of course, there is also the matter of the number of units sold. Nokia moved only 500,000 Symbian smartphones in Q1 this year – significantly less than the 5.6 million Lumia devices sold during the same period.

Nokia will supposedly sell the last of the Symbian devices only in developing markets, that too only until stocks last.

In the past seven months, the company has released seven new Windows Phones, and with Nokia EOS rumors swirling the company is clearly committed to Microsoft’s mobile platform.

June 13, 2013
Yahoo Set To Recycle Inactive User Names

Yahoo will begin resetting each and every Yahoo ID that is been dormant for a period of more than 12 months. This will effectively free up millions of usernames that can be registered with new users.

Starting in mid July existing and new users will have the opportunity to reserve their ideal username, unfortunately it will take up to a month to learn if the name you have chosen has became available.

“We want to give our loyal users and new folks the opportunity to sign up for the Yahoo ID they’ve always wanted,” Jay Rossiter, Yahoo’s senior vice president of platforms, said in a blog post.

The great Yahoo account purge begins on July 15, so if you have an account from yesteryear that’s inactive but holds a certainly sentimentality, log in before then.

Yahoo’s new policy differs from approaches at some other large Web companies. Gmail and YouTube profile names aren’t up for grabs after they become inactive, a Google spokeswoman said, for security reasons. A Microsoft spokeswoman said the company can delete users’ account data if they go more than 270 days without signing in, though there are exceptions.

June 13, 2013
HTC One Mini Specs Leaked Along With New Image

Photos of the HTC One Mini popped up just last week. Now there’s a new image to go along with some hardware specifications for HTC’s upcoming 4.3-inch phone.

Bloomberg is confirming what we already knew. According to “two people familiar with the matter,” HTC will release a smaller version of their popular HTC One flagship phone. The report indicates that the One mini will have a 4.3-inch display and “will probably have a less-powerful Qualcomm Inc. processor and lower-resolution screen than the flagship.”

When the images of the HTC One mini leaked online a couple weeks ago the resolution was confirmed to be 720p with a dual-core processor, 16GB internal storage, 2GB of RAM and the trademarked 4MP UltraPixel camera. No insight into what version of Android, probably 4.2 Jelly Bean. Bloomberg’s sources, “who asked not to be identified because details aren’t public,” stated the smaller version of the flagship One “will go on sale by August.” The price is expected to be around $550 (€400).

The HTC One Mini will go head-to-head with Samsung’s Galaxy S4 mini.

Engadget too received some more info about the HTC One Mini, plus the image above. They note that the display is in fact 4.3-inches, comes with a 1.4GHz dual-core processor and has the similar aluminum unibody that the original HTC One features, but the front of the device has been outfitted with plastic. The One Mini comes with Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean with Sense, BlinkFeed, Zoe share, Beats Audio, but lacks the IR blaster.

[Via, Via]

June 13, 2013
Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom Officially Announced

Samsung has continued the expansion of the Galaxy S4 family of devices and announced the Galaxy S4 Zoom today.

This cameraphone will potentially be loved by the picture-taking crowd with its 16MP CMOS sensor, 10x optical zoom lens and a Xenon flash. Other key specs of the Zoom have it sporting a 4.3-inch QHD DISPLAY (960×540 resolution), runs Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, powered by a 1.5GHZ dual-core processor, Wi-Fi and LTE connectivity, 1.5GB of RAM with 8GB of internal storage (expandable storage up to 64GB) and a 2330mAh battery.

The Galaxy S4 Zoom comes with a dedicated shutter button. Along with the hardware, Samsung has incorporated various features and modes in the software of the device as well to add to the camera capabilities of the device.

The ISO can be adjusted up to 3200, something that is seldom seen in normal smartphones. The hybrid can be used to click continuous shots at 4fps max with auto focus. The camera also comes with up to 25 smart mode options. These smart modes are namely Beauty face, Best photo, Continuous shot, Best face, Kids shot, Landscape, Dawn, Snow, Macro, Food, Party/Indoor, Action freeze, Rich tone (HDR), Panorama, Waterfall, Animated photo, Drama, Eraser, Sound & Shot, Silhouette, Sunset, Night, Fireworks, Light trace and Smart mode suggest.

There is also an expert mode with P/S/M/C options, presumably to let you click pictures in Program, Shutter Priority, Manual and Custom modes, just like a camera.

One of the new features that Samsung has included in this category of the Galaxy S4 Zoom is called “Zoom Ring.” This is part of a “revolutionary new interface” that allows you to quickly share while on a phone call. Samsung notes that you do “a quick twist of the Zoom Ring will activate the In-Call Photo Share feature, letting you capture and send an image directly via MMS to whoever you are talking to simply.”

Pricing and availability of the Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom has not been announced yet.

June 12, 2013
Airbus A350 To Make Maiden Flight On Friday

The Airbus A350 XWB will make its maiden Friday, June 14, the company has announced.

Spanning a large portion of the long-range widebody market with its three variants, the A350 is also poised to challenge Boeing’s highly successful 777 as well. And by taking a more conservative design approach to reach new heights in fuel efficiency, range, and reliability, Airbus might steer clear of the kind of new-plane growing pains that have plagued the Dreamliner.

Airbus A350 XWB is a family of wide-body, long-range jet airliners that are the first Airbus with wing structures and fuselage made of carbon fiber-reinforced polymer. The XWB stands for “extra wide body,” and it uses 25 percent less fuel and an equivalent reduction in CO2 emissions compared to other aircraft in its size category.

The Airbus A350 XWB has already achieved 613 firm orders from 33 customers worldwide, and will enter into service in the second half of 2014.

Meanwhile, in Canada, Bombardier is planning to fly its new CSeries single-aisle airliner by the end of the month.

Bombardier officials said earlier this month they would not make it to Paris with the CSeries but have said it will fly in Montreal before the end of the month. The CSeries is being touted as an efficient alternative to the Boeing 737 and A320, not to mention smallish airliners being developed in Japan, China and Russia. The CSeries will use geared turbofan engines from Pratt and Whitney that are projected to cut fuel costs by up to 20 percent and be noticeably quieter than other jet engines. Bombardier has potential orders for up to 400 aircraft and about 145 are firm.

June 12, 2013