Author: Shivaank Rana

Samsung Galaxy Ace 3 Officially Launched

After its press shot leaked earlier today, Samsung has now officially launched the Samsung Galaxy Ace 3.

The Samsung Galaxy Ace 3 has a 4-inch WVGA LCD display with a middling 800 x 480p resolution, the Samsung Galaxy Ace 3 features an average array of innards wrapped within a design that arcs back to the Samsung Galaxy S3. Although marginally larger than the 3.8-inch Galaxy Ace 2, the new Samsung Galaxy Ace 3 screen features the same resolution as the past model, suggesting images will benefit from no improvement.

Lining up at 10mm thick and 119.5g in weight, the Samsung Galaxy Ace 3 spec sees Google’s latest Android 4.2 Jelly Bean OS alongside a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM and an 1800mAh Lithium-Ion battery.

The Samsung Galaxy Ace 3 camera is the same 5-megapixel rear-mounted offering from the Ace 2 alongside a VGA forward-facing snapper.

Set to be made available in 3G and 4G LTE forms, the Samsung Galaxy Ace 3 specs sheet is rounded off by the usual Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity options and 8GB of internal storage, expandable via microSD.

The device will also come pre-loaded with Samsung features and applications such as S Translator, S Travel, Smart Stay, S Voice, Easy Mode, Samsung Hub and Samsung ChatOn. In terms of sensors, the device will come with Accelerometer, Digital Compass, Proximity and AGPS connectivity.

Samsung hasn’t confirmed anything on date or price yet.

[toggle title=”Press Release”]Enjoy the New Mobile Essentials with Samsung GALAXY Ace 3

SEOUL, Korea – June 10, 2013 – Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., a leader in mobile technology and digital solutions, today announced a new addition to the popular GALAXY family with the Samsung GALAXY Ace 3, a smartphone that synthesizes a multitude of smart features to produce an enriched user experience suitable for everyday life.

Building on the success of the previous GALAXY Ace series, the GALAXY Ace 3 brings users powerful performance with a dual core processor built to perform data-intensive tasks faster and more efficiently than its predecessor. Powered by Android™ Jellybean 4.2, users will enjoy the larger 4.0 inch display for a brilliant viewing experience while playing games, watching movies, and enjoying the device’s many smart features. The 5-megapixel camera is equipped with multiple features, including Sound & Shot, Best Photo, and Buddy Photo Share to fuel users’ creativity and to allow easy sharing amongst friends.å

To provide a more intuitive user experience, the GALAXY Ace 3 comes equipped with several smart features, providing innovative tools that continue to make the GALAXY series successful in the market.

• ‘S Translator’: Gives instantaneous translations at any time
• ‘S Travel’: Provides guides and travel information for your next trip
• ‘Smart Stay’: Recognizes when a user is looking at the phone, and saves battery life when a user looks away by
dimming the screen and powering down using advanced facial recognition
• ‘S Voice’: Offers voice command functionality
• ‘Easy Mode’: Brings a simple and intuitive homescreen mode for streamlined access to your top functions

Depending on the market, the GALAXY Ace will be available in two different versions – 3G or LTE.[/toggle]

June 10, 2013
Gionee Gpad G2 Full Review

Build Quality And Design

The phone is aesthetically pleasing and looks quite similar to the Micromax Canvas Doodle from the front. A massive 5.3-inch qHD display dominates the front of the device with three touch capacitive buttons underneath it. The phone, as expected, is made up entirely of plastic, with a chrome-like bezel running around the side of the device. There is a volume rocker on the right side which offers decent tactile feedback.

The back panel has a glossy finish, and we feel that it might be prone to scratches. Other than the camera, there is a speaker grill on the bottom right corner of the back panel, and the Gionee logo in the middle. Though one thing to note is that the G2 is quite heavy and prolonged usage might become uncomfortable for some.

Overall the build quality is impressive and the Gionee Gpad G2 has a nice solid feel to it.

Specifications And Hardware

The Gionee GPad G2 is powered by 1.2GHz quad-core processor along with PowerVR SGX544 GPU. Internally, the phablet packs in a 1GB of RAM, 16GB of storage, which can be expanded by another 32GB via a microSD card.

It is a dual-SIM phablet, which supports GSM on both the SIMs. The other connectivity options include 3G, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0 and aGPS.

The Gionee GPad G2 has an impressive 5.3 inch IPS display with qHD (540 x 960 pixel) resolution display which translates to 240ppi.

Display And Multimedia

The screen of the Gionee Gpad G2 is really impressive, viewing angles are decent and colour reproduction is vivid and deep. A 240 pixel density makes for fairly crisp text as well. While there are no complaints with things like video playback, reading text and watching movies, outdoor visibility is poor due to the highly reflective screen. That is one are where Gionee could have done better.

Gaming is wonderful on this phone! We were able to play games like Virtual Tennis and Dead Trigger without any issues, but we did encounter some choppiness and lag while playing The Dark Knight Rises (expected!).

[youtube id=”3IamEzuu1oc” width=”100%” height=”300px”]

Audio on the Gione Gpad G2 is loud. Very loud. While that may seem like a good thing, and it is to an extent, it leads to vibration of the phone on high volumes. This can be very irritating, especially while playing games which involve lots of sound effects.

The in-built browser is decent enough, with all the standard options available. There is a slight choppiness to its kinetic scrolling though.

Software And User Interface

The Gionee Gpad G2 runs on Android 4.1.2 with slight modifications to the User Interface. You have a themes option from where you can select the skin that is applied, including an “Android Theme”.

It has a few extra apps like Change, which enable single click change of themes and wallpapers.

Phone and Networks

The phone call capability of the Gionee Gpad G2 is good, networks are solid and Phone calls are stable. The dialler is the standard Android dialler, the one seen on Nexus devices.

Messaging is also a breeze thanks to the responsive touchscreen and the way keys are laid out. You can swap out the keyboard with some alternatives from the Android marketplace, we even tried swype and it works great.

Camera

The Gionee Gpad G2 comes with an 8 megapixel camera at the back with single LED flash with features like face detection, auto-focus etc.

Images though seem a little dull and grainy. Outdoor images come out really well, with nice focus and background blur in macro shots. Indoor and low light images are nothing special.

Video quality was decent, with nice continuous focus and occasional over-exposure our only concern.

Sample Shots :

Performance

Under the hood, the Gionee Gpad G2 runs on 1.2GHz quad-core MediaTek MT6589 processor along with PowerVR SGX544 GPU. While there were occasional lags while navigating through menus, the overall performance was quite satisfying.

One thing to note though that occasionally the screen went blank and a Blackberry style battery pull was required to make it work again. We hope that was just an issue with our device.

It scored an impressive 12,890 in AnTuTu and 3892 in Quadrant.

Conclusion

While everyone is sceptical when it comes to the quality of Chinese manufacturers, we were really pleased with the Gionee Gpad G2. It is fast, snappy and feature loaded. An average camera and occasional lagging are the only disadvantages of the device.

Overall, we would recommend the Gionee Gpad G2 to anybody who wants a feature loaded budget phablet with a nice screen.

June 10, 2013
With Sony Deal Done, Apple To Reveal iRadio At WWDC Today

Apple and Sony Music have reportedly inked a deal, moving Cupertino’s anticipated iRadio service another step forward.

According to All Things Digital — which cited a person familiar with the companies’ negotiations — this means Apple now has the support of all three major music labels, including Warner Music Group and Universal Music Group.

With the record companies on board, Apple plans to announce an advertising-supported service that will compete with Pandora Media for listeners. iRadio will allow users to build custom stations based on an artist or genre that draws on music from the company’s iTunes library. Apple’s agreement with Sony Music was reported by AllThingsD. Sony/ATV Music Publishing, a joint venture of Sony and the estate of Michael Jackson, signed its agreement with Apple, CEO Marty Bandier said in an interview.

The majors publishers had looked like they were going to be the holdout because Apple initially offered to pay them a rate of 4.1% of its advertising revenue, while the publishers had been withdrawing digital rights from the U.S. performance rights organizations BMI and ASCAP because they wanted higher rates. BMG, Sony/ATV, UMPG and Warner/Chappell executives had privately said they were seeking rates of 10%-15% of iRadio’s advertising revenue. But when Apple agreed to a 10% rate, Warner/Chappell last week signed the deal and now so has Sony/ATV.

Google also recently stepped into the streaming Internet radio market with All Access , which launched in May. The search company’s subscription music service is expected to debut on iOS devices in the coming weeks.

Apple is expected to reveal iRadio at WWDC which begins today.

[AllThingsD]

June 10, 2013
Rumour: Google Set To Ink US$1.3 Billion Deal For Waze Traffic App

Popular mapping-app Waze has been a hot commodity in the tech world recently, fetching offers from Facebook and Apple along the $1 billion range. But it appears Google won the bidding war, for a cool $1.3 billion, according to a report from Israeli media.

Haaretz newspaper said on its website that the two companies had agreed terms and were about to sign for a price “exceeding $1 billion”.

Business daily Globes said the purchase price was $1.3 billion. Neither report identified its sources. “We don’t comment on rumour and speculation,” a Google spokesman told AFP about the Israeli media reports.

Waze, whose mobile app solicits input from more than 40 million users to improve directions and display traffic and road-hazard details, would help Google add social features to its mapping tool, said Greg Sterling, an analyst at Opus Research.

Interestingly, Microsoft was reportedly an early investor in Waze back in 2009, helping the fledgling start-up with building capital. Microsoft (or Nokia and their HERE services) were not part of the latest round of negotiations, which means either they did not see the value in the company, had alternatives or were simply caught off guard.

Last year, Apple CEO Tim Cook issued a public apology for Apple Mapssoftware, which was followed by the announcement of an iOS version from Google of Google Maps.

In an interview with “AllThingsD” at D11 in May, Cook announced that Apple had not bid for Waze.

[T3, Haaretz]

June 10, 2013
Leaked : Samsung Galaxy Ace 3 Press Shot

Samsung has always had lower priced devices away from their flagship models and now a Galaxy Ace 3 image along with specs appear before any official reveal.

The Galaxy Ace 3 codenamed GT-S7270 will come in 2 versions with duo sim (GT-S7272) and without duo sim (GT-S7270). The Galaxy S Ace 3 features a 4.0” TFT display 480×800, 5 megapixel camera with LED flash, VGA resolution front camera, 1.0 GHz dual-core processor, 1 GB of RAM. 4 GB intern and up to 32 GB extern, Bluetooth 4.0, A-GPS, Wi-Fi, HSDPA 14.4 Mbps, HSUPA 5.76 Mbps and a battery of 1500 mAh.

According to leaked information will the dimension of the device be 121.2×62.7×9.79mm. There currently is no information about the weight. Samsung Galaxy Ace 3 will run on Android 4.1.2 or 4.2.2 and uses Samsung’s own touch-wiz Nature UX. (via SamMobile)

Rumors claim the price of the Galaxy Ace 3 should be around US$300 (~Rs 17,000/-), which would actually make it substantially more expensive than the current Ace 2, which runs for about 2/3 of that amount.

The device is said to be available sometime this summer and will come in three colors: Metallic Black, Pure White, and Wine Red.

Anyway, the Galaxy Ace 3 should be announced quite soon, as according to further leaked info, the Ace 3 should become available in July.

[SamMobile, GSMArena]

June 10, 2013
Mercedes SLS AMG Electric Drive Breaks Nurburgring EV Lap Record

The Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Electric Drive set a new speed record for a production electric car at the Nurburgring.

The electron-drives Mercedes SLS AMG managed to get round the ‘Ring in seven minutes and 56.2 seconds, which also makes it the first EV to break the eight-minute barrier on the infamous German track.

Last year the R8 e-tron came close with a lap time of 8:09.099 minutes after Audi engineers raised the standard car’s speed limit from 124 mph (200 km/h) to 155 mph (250 km/h).

The four motors powering the SLS Electric Drive deliver thrust to all four wheels. That’s a good thing, since the powertrain serves up a mind-blowing 737 lb.-ft. of torque. Mercedes-Benz estimates the SLS Electric Drive needs less than 4.0 seconds to accelerate from 0 to 60 mph. Top speed is electronically-limited to 155 mph.

In addition to its brute force, the Mercedes SLS AMG Electric Drive also features a unique carbon fiber structure built around its battery system that helps improve overall stiffness and dynamics. Then there are the racing-style pushrod shocks and carbon ceramic brakes to harp on about, but the aspect that draws the most attention is the sophisticated torque vectoring system of the car developed using Formula One technology.

The Mercedes SLS AMG Coupé Electric Drive celebrates its sales launch in June 2013. The purchase price is approximately $550,737 USD. (Don’t count on us reviewing it.)

[Motor Authority, NYDailyNews]

June 9, 2013
After Samsung And HTC, Sony Set To Launch A Google Edition Xperia Z

The Sony Xperia Z is already a good smartphone, but the Android device’s interface may get even better thanks to a report that says a Google Nexus edition is on the way.

Sony and Google have teamed up to develop a Google Edition of the smartphone that Katrina Kaif loves to drop water on, according to anonymous Sony sources who spilled the goods to Android Geeks.

The “Google Edition” Sony Xperia Z should be sold in the U.S. through the Google Play Store later in the year, just like the two other Google Edition handsets. Being a “Nexus user experience” phone it’s very likely this new Xperia Z will benefit from speedier system updates.

Whether certain features will be compromised in the Google edition of the device is still unknown. Sony’s UI of the Xperia Z as it is close to the stock Vanilla experience. Perhaps the camera app that has certain additional features or Sony’s Bravia Engine that reduces noise in the display will be missing the Google edition. But these are certainly not something that most users would miss.

The Xperia Z comes with an impressive spec sheet. There’s a 5-inch 1080p display, a quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro CPU, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of storage, microSD expandability, a 13-megapixel Sony Exmor RS rear camera and IP57-rated water and dust-resistance credentials.

The Sony Xperia Z Google Nexus, if the report is accurate, will cost $599 in the Google Play Store after it is announced in July.

[Android Geeks]

June 9, 2013
Apple Puts Up ‘7’ And ‘X’ Banners Ahead Of WWDC

When Apple crossed over the 50 billion app download mark last month a press release hinted that they’ll show the world “new versions of iOS and OS X.” The much anticipated iOS 7 recently appeared in a GFXBench database and confirmed its presence.

Banners have been going up outside Moscone Center in San Francisco this week and the latest is a simplistic design showing the number 7, which basically confirms that we’ll see Apple finally unveil iOS 7. Other banners stated that WWDC is “where a whole new world is developing.”

Jony Ive, Apple’s SVP of Industrial Design, is the man behind the new foray into iOS 7. This has been rumoured to be “black, white, and flat all over.”

Image Courtesy : Apple Insider

Apple is rumored to announce upgraded MacBooks featuring Intel’s new Haswell processors at the event. More specifically, KGI analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who has been reliable in predicting Apple’s product announcements, expects a slimmer 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro model with upgraded FaceTime camera, and a dual microphone MacBook Air, to be introduced.

Apple’s official WWDC 2013 app for iOS is already available. WWDC 2013 is scheduled to run from June 10 to 14, with a keynote slated to kick off the event on Monday. We’ll bring you all the details as WWDC 2013 unfolds.

[Apple Insider]

June 8, 2013
Report : Internet Explorer 10 Is the Most Energy-Efficient Browser on Windows 8

Microsoft loves its Internet Explorer browser and has no problem showing off to the world what it is capable of doing. This time around, IE is championing a new title as the most energy efficient browser on Windows 8.

According to the new findings, Internet Explorer 10 is the most energy-efficient browser on Windows 8, using less energy than Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox to display a large number of websites.

The study discovered some pretty miniscule changes between each browser when it came to situations like “Average, Top 10 Websites” and “Fishbowl Benchmarks.” However, the introduction of Flash into the test showed a fairly substantial change between browser power consumption, with Internet Explorer consuming approximately 18.6 percent less wattage than Google Chrome.

“In the above scenarios, Internet Explorer 10 exhibited the lowest energy consumption. In some scenarios such as playing Adobe Flash video on laptop PCs, it was 18% more energy efficient than Google Chrome, and it was 17% more efficient than Mozilla Firefox in playing HTML5 video,” Microsoft explained.

Microsoft goes so far as to say that if every single Chrome and Firefox user switched to Internet Explorer 10, it would save enough energy to power over 10,000 US homes for a year.

“This is enough energy to power 10,722 households in the United States for an entire year [and] would eliminate the release of over 85,000 metric tons of Carbon Dioxide equivalent in greenhouse gas emissions,” it said.

[SoftPedia, TechCrunch]

June 7, 2013
Samsung Rolling Out New Galaxy S4 Update To Implement Apps To SD Feature

The Galaxy S4 may be on its way to selling 20 million units faster than any other Android device, but it’s not without its issues.

One of the major out-of-box problems with the Samsung Galaxy S4 is something users may not notice until it’s too late: of the 16GB advertised storage, only 9.15GB is available to the user. The rest is used for high-resolution assets, system files and other Samsung necessities, all but ensuring that extra expenditure for a microSD slot.

An upcoming software update, rolling out to users in Germany starting today, addresses that issue by harkening back to Android 2.2 Froyo, adding a “Move to SD Card” button in the App Settings menu of the Galaxy S4. The system update also reclaims 800MB or so for users, bringing the default free space to 9.23GB, but having that option to move individual apps to the SD card could be the difference between playing that big-time 3D game or not.

The main issue here is that Samsung seems unapologetic about its misleading advertising of the Galaxy S4, preferring to resurrect a feature that was a security concern to developers and an annoyance to users rather than releasing a high-end phone with enough storage to satisfy the needs of its buyers.

The update to build I9505XXUBMEA also fixes many performance issues present on the release build, including a graphics bug that made the screen appear like it was tearing when the user scrolled through an app.

The camera app adds a new firmware and the ability to take HDR video, a net positive for users trying to eke that extra bit of dynamic range from uncertain lighting conditions. Users can also toggle Smart Pause in the Expanded Settings portion of the notification shade, but we’ve yet to see whether the software improves the feature itself.

Samsung hasn’t officially mentioned the new software update so there’s no news on availability in other countries. Given the understandable disappointment in free storage for the 16 GB models of the phone, however, we don’t expect Samsung to wait too long to get this update out globally.

[SlashGear]

June 7, 2013
BBM For Android And iOS Not Coming On June 27th

BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) is coming to Android and iOS this summer and according to a T-Mobile UK Tweet the released yesterday, the date is set for June 27th.

When Thorsten Heins announced the news that their popular messaging app would arrive on other platforms he also noted that BBM would be slimmed down. The app will be free and compatible on devices running iOS 6 and Android Ice Cream Sandwich (OS 4.0) or higher. BBM for iOS and Android will be limited to messaging and groups at launch, then updated “later on” with BBM Voice, screen share, and the BBM Channels.

T-Mobile UK then deleted their Tweet claiming BBM for Android and iOS coming June 27th. Rumours are that they jumped the gun on pressing publish and that the app is not available for download on that date.

The company has confirmed the rumored date is wrong,

“On May 14th, BlackBerry announced plans to make its ground-breaking mobile social network, BlackBerry Messenger (BBM), available to iOS and Android users this summer, subject to approval by the Apple App Store and Google Play. While there have been reports that BBM will be available to iOS and Android on June 27th, this is not accurate. We will communicate an update as soon as we have an availability date to share. (via MobileSyrup)”

T-Mobile UK later apologized for the error, noting on Twitter that “Sorry folks, we got over-excited about the #BBM app coming to Android / iOS. No specific availability date yet, stay tuned for details”

Are you guys excited about BBM coming to Android And iOS? Let us know below!

June 7, 2013
Hands-On With The Blackberry Q10 At India Launch

Blackberry today launched the first Blackberry 10 powered QWERTY device, the Blackberry Q10 (read here).

BlackBerry believes there is a niche for QWERTY-based smartphones in today’s mobile space with around 80 per cent of users wanting large-form touch-only devices like the iPhone 5, Galaxy S4, and HTC One – that explains the decision to launch the Z10 first. We wen’t hands-on with the device.

Blackberry Q10 Initial Impressions

The BlackBerry Q10 is the first phone to land running the BlackBerry 10.1 operating system update. As a result, the Q10 is a joy to use, mostly.

Jumping through menus and reverting back to the home screen is prompt and fuss free. Opening apps, however takes that fraction of a second longer than desired.

After looking at the Blackberry Q10 in images on the internet for quite some time, we had the impression that it would be a small device. Instead, the Blackberry Q10 feels great in the hand, with beveled edges all around the plastic back. There is a black steel edge around the entire device and a glass front above the keyboard.

The back comes with a gray tweed-over-black pattern, which Blackberry claims is unique to each Black Blackberry Q10. The white Blackberry Q10 has a glossier look and feel to it and it does not have the poly carbonate weave at the back.

Overall, it looks and feels elegant, refined and professional.

Moving on to the keyboard, one thing to note is that the once curved keyboard has now been straightened out and the metallic frets separating the rows of characters are now slightly raised for improved tactile feedback – in other words you should be able to feel where your thumbs are on the board more easily. The break in the keys is a nice clean look however and the overall size of the keyboard is similar to previous devices. Impressive.

The Blackberry Q10 has a 3.1-inch Super AMOLED touchscreen, albeit with a square 720 x 720 resolution rather than a widescreen aspect like a typical touchscreen phone. It’s a necessary trade-off to fit in the keyboard, but it does mean any video you watch is squashed and hard to view. The screen looks neat though, and the bright and bold Super AMOLED display does a good job of making everything pop.

The Q10 uses a removable 2,100 mAh pack that’s plenty large enough given the relatively compact screen. It is reported that BlackBerry has even taken advantage included some darker color schemes for BlackBerry 10 apps, to take advantage of the fact that AMOLED uses less power for dimmer parts of the display.

Also, we were really impressed with the Blackberry Q10’s browser. Pages load quickly over cellular or Wi-Fi means, and well laid out options and quick access to shortcuts make the Q10 browser is efficient and business like. The QWERTY keyboard makes inputting URL’s a breeze, with no pop-up digital display crowding out on-screen content. It also has an option to load flash content.

An impressive feature for business customers is that they can take advantage of BlackBerry’s new Balance feature, which made its debut with the Z10. With Balance, a user can blend both work and personal email streams into a single email stream. (Phones with BES advanced policies set require users to go to separate work and personal email inboxes.) Other apps are divided into separate work and personal containers.

To make Balance or these advanced policies work, users must be connected to a BES server, which in most cases means an enterprise buys the server to locate behind the firewall.

In conclusion, we’d like to say that for existing users, the Q10 is an obvious upgrade: it’s the best QWERTY smartphone available in the market today, but that may have more to do with the fact that very few manufacturers are interested in revisiting that segment. It is fast, snappy, and has that old-school Blackberry feel to it. However, we feel that the Blackberry Q10 is overpriced by at least Rs. 10,000, and the company will have to reconsider it over time.

Full review coming soon!

June 6, 2013
Additional Shots Of The Nokia EOS Surface Online

Nokia currently has three versions of its Windows Phone flagship, in the form of the Lumia 928, the thin and light aluminium-bodied Lumia 925, and the original Lumia 920. But as we’ve known for some time, a new range-topper is set to join the company’s line-up soon, Nokia’s 41-megapixel ‘EOS’ device.

After yesterday, not one, but two sources bubbled up photos today of a Nokia Windows phone that could be the handset-maker’s next flagship, the Nokia EOS.

Known as the Nokia EOS, photos from a GSM Arena tipster and from a new Twitter user going by ViziLeaks (via WP Central) both show a similar squared-off shape and tall dimensions.

As you can see from the photo,the device features a large camera lens on the back, with what looks like a massive flash for a smartphone and also a focus assist light, this could possibly be a prototype of the device, as the ‘XX Mega Pixel’ shows that this is not the final version of the device.

Much of the EOS’ design echoes what we’ve seen before on the Lumia 920, so it has a fully polycarbonate bodyshell and it’s quite thick and chunky.

The Nokia EOS is reportedly only 1mm thinner than the Lumia 920, which was widely criticised for its weight and bulk, so it’ll be interesting to see how consumers react.

It will apparently feature a 4.5-inch 1280×768 pixel AMOLED display, like the Lumia 928, along with wireless charging support and a full-sized Xenon flash.

While these images, like yesterday’s, are also unconfirmed – originating from anonymous or unverified sources – the fact that multiple sources have revealed what appears to be the same device would seem to confirm that this is indeed Nokia’s new flagship Windows Phone.

[GSMArena, @ViziLeaks]

June 6, 2013
Stock Google Keyboard Now Available On Google Play
Do you use Swype or SwiftKey on your Android? Google wants you to switch away and use their stock Android keyboard.

Google today released its Google Keyboard app for phones and tablets running Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) and above. You can download it now directly from Google Play, although it’s only available in English-speaking locales (Google says more countries will be added soon).

This is the same keyboard that was introduced with Jelly Bean (Android 4.2), that includes Gesture typing, a way to swipe from letter-to-letter to spell out words. It should also actively predict words on-screen as you gesture between letters, making this one of the smartest keyboards you’ll use.

Downloading and launching the Google Keyboard app will walk you through turning on the keyboard and setting it as your default, after which your Android phone will have the same typing experience available on Nexus devices. Switching back to the keyboard that came with your phone (or any other alternative keyboards you may have downloaded) can be done from the device’s Settings page.

Google Keyboard’s features:
- Gesture Typing with dynamic floating preview.
- Voice Typing.
- Next-word suggestions and current-word completions.
- Dictionaries for 26 languages.
- Advanced keyboard layouts.
- Works across your Android devices (tablets and phones).
So if you’re unhappy with what companies like Samsung and HTC have cooked up, you can always use the stock Google keyboard now.

[Ars Technica]
June 6, 2013
Blackberry Finally Launches The Blackberry Q10 In India

Blackberry has finally launched the Blackberry Q10 in India, at an initial price of Rs. 44,990/-.

The Blackberry Q10 smartphone, which comes with the physical keyboard that many BlackBerry fans prize, is selling well in both Canada and Britain, the 2 main countries where it was launched first.

The BlackBerry Q10 is the successor to their premium QWERTY phone which is Bold, and features a square 3.1-inch AMOLED touchscreen with 720 x 720 resolution. The usual shortcut buttons are now part of the user interface with the space below the screen dedicated solely to BlackBerry’s tried and tested QWERTY keyboard. BlackBerry also noted that the Q10 has a glass weave body for added strength and weight reduction.

The Blackberry Q10 sports a 1.5GHz processor with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of onboard storage, which is expandable with a microSD slot. The 3,1-inch touchscreen has 330ppi, 720 x 720 display.

Blackberry Q10 will come running on BlackBerry 10, which will also come with applications and games such as Foursquare, Skype, Twitter, Facebok, Angry Birds Star Wars, Where’s My Water, Cisco WebEx and many more.

The Blackberry Q10 was listed on online retail sites for pre order, Blackberry claims they have already received over 1000 pre orders.

BlackBerry hopes its new line of smartphones, led by the touchscreen Z10 device it introduced earlier this year, will help claw back market share lost to the likes of Apple Inc’s iPhone and Samsung Electronics Co.’s wildly popular line of Galaxy devices, which are powered by Google Inc.’s Android operating system.

June 6, 2013