Category: Mobile

Smartphone News and Reviews, Latest Cellphones, Accessories, New Launches, Specifications, Details with Image and Video from Apple, Samsung, Lenovo, Moto, HTC, Xiaomi, Oneplus, Meizu, Sony, Lava, Micromax Yu Mobile and More.

Moto X (Gen 2) Goes on Sale Tonight Starting at Rs. 31,999

Motorola recently came up with their latest generation of smartphones, the Moto X (Gen 2) and the Moto G (Gen 2). Moto G (Gen 2) is already available in the market for Rs. 12,999, but we had been waiting to get our hands on the new gen Moto X.

Well the wait is over, the company today has revealed the pricing of the Moto X (Gen 2) through their Motorola India Twitter handle. The new handset will be available exclusively on Flipkart from midnight today starting at the price of Rs. Rs. 31,999.

Pure style. Pure performance. The new #MotoX starts at Rs. 31,999. Available only @Flipkart at midnight tonight. pic.twitter.com/WXB1GSdaP8

— Motorola India (@MotorolaIndia) September 24, 2014

The new Moto X is not much bigger than the previous one, with a 5.2 inch AMOLED display. It is still protected by Gorilla Glass. It is about 0.5 inch wider than last year’s X. However, the refreshed model sports a 1080p full HD display instead of a 720p one.

The screen takes almost all the space on the front, leaving the bare minimum for bezels. It measures 72.4mm wide by 140.8mm tall and weighs 144 grams. To give the device a premium feel, the company has added a smooth piece of aluminium wrapping the entire edge of the phone.

At the back, it has an updated 13-megapixel camera lens with 4x zoom and a ring flash. The camera has the ability to capture 4K video instead of just 1080p and it’s also got a new feature called Best Shot.

As far as the hardware is concerned you won’t be disappointed. The device runs on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor with a 2.5GHz quad-core CPU, an Adreno 330 578MHz GPU and 2GB of RAM. It is powered by 2,300 mAh battery which Motorola claims will last a full day. The new Moto X has four microphones to help reduce background noise, and comes in a “splash guard” water repellent coating and will be available in both 16GB and 32GB variants.

One the software side, new Moto X comes with hand full of softwares, same as the older Moto X, including Migration tool and some others like Touchless Control, Active Display and Motorola Assist have been renamed in the new Moto X as Moto Actions, Moto Display and Moto Assist respectively. Another great iteration in the new Moto X is that instead of ‘OK Google’ as a voice prompt, you can customize the voice command prompt to anything you like.

September 24, 2014

Hands On : HTC Desire 820 and an Exclusive in Matte Finish

HTC at an event today in New Delhi has launched three new devices in its Desire series –Desire 820, Desire 820Q and Desire 816G. While the Desire 816G is already available in the market, the first two will ship during the first week of November in India.

HTC was mum on the exact date and pricing of the coveted Desire 820 units and are apologetic about the lack of availability pre-diwali. The Desire 820 handsets will be available in a bunch of colors and the company is closely studying the market and the color needs. HTC will be making few colors available in the matte finish including the Grey that you see in our pictures.

Honestly the Desire 816 was a very pretty phone, this one has turned out to be much better, in the overall look and feel, it also seems lighter and more robust than the Desire 816, which like we stated in our review was amazingly sold as well.

Specs wise this is the first handset with a 64 bit architecture based Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 chipset which has a clock speed of 1.5 GHz on eight cores. 2 GB of RAM and 16 GB of Storage, along with the 128 GB Micro SD support and the 100 GB of Google Drive gives you more than needed storage capability.

The front display is bright and vivid and has excellent color reproduction and great visibility outdoors, which makes us very happy. HTC has ensured that the handset will get the Android L update, and we are not too sure if the units we saw are actually running L, specially because the software information had been locked down.

The cameras are excellent with a 13 MP snapper and a 8 MP snapper, both with 1080p quality, initial images and focus speeds are impressive and we are eager to fully review the cameras on this handset. Our review will be out shortly, so stay tuned.

As far as availability is concerned we are expecting the Desire 820 to be available on the November 7th and for around Rs. 25,999/-, but don’t quote us on it.

SPECS	HTC DESIRE 820
Display	5.5 inch, 720×1280 pixels, ~267ppi
Processor	Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 1.5 GHz octa-core (64 bit)
RAM	2GB
Storage	16GB expandable upto 128GB
Battery capacity (mAh)	2600, non-removable
Camera	Rear camera 13-megapixel Front camera 8-megapixel
Operating System	Android 4.4

September 24, 2014

HTC Brings Out the Colourful Desire 820 and Desire 820Q Dual-SIM in India

HTC has launched its new offerings Desire 820 and Desire 820Q Dual SIM in India, which the company showcased at the IFA Berlin 2014. HTC has been one of the front runners in the smartphone game with its One M8 and the Desire line-up, which have been a favourite amongst Android lovers.

The smartphones have been given an amazing look and feel. They come with a bold two-tone color scheme that makes the devices standout. Even the HTC logo on the back gets a different color treatment for each phone color option. The devices are made in a unibody, polycarbonate casing that HTC defines as its “double shot color technology.”

With the Colors and powerful front camera makes it a youth friendly device. — The Colors and powerful front camera makes it a youth friendly device.

Same as its predecessor Desire 816, new desire 820 comes with a 5.5 inch 720p HD screen. The new handset is one of the first phones to come with a 64 bit Qualcomm’s octa-core Snapdragon 615 chipset. The processor runs on two quad-core chips of 1.5GHz and 1.0GHz with 2 GB RAM and 16 GB internal storage.

On the imaging side, the main camera on the device is a 13 MP shooter with f/2.2 aperture and the front camera packs an 8 MP which is one of the main highlight of the handset. The device is powered through a 2600 mAh battery. On the software front, it runs on Android 4.4.2 KitKat wrapped under Sense UI. The Desire 820 comes with latest Category 4 LTE.

The HTC Desire 820Q is essentially the mini version of Desire 820. It comes with a 64 bit Snapdragon 410 1.2 GHz quad core processor and 1GB of RAM. The handset borrows rest of the specs from its bigger brother. Both smartphones will have DLNA to stream wireless on TV.

Back in IFA, HTC said that the phones will be updated with Android L when it comes out which makes it one of the first companies to promise the Android L upgrades. They come with HTC’s Dual Boomsound front facing speakers and also its own version of the dot view case. Both devices will be shipped in early November, however, the pricing is not revealed yet, the company said that they will announce the pricing near the release date.

Specs	HTC Desire 820	HTC Desire 820Q Dual-SIM
Display	5.5 inch, 720×1280 pixels, ~267ppi	5.5 inch, 720×1280 pixels, ~267ppi
Processor	Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 1.5 GHz octa-core (64 bit)	Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 1.2 GHz octa-core (64 bit)
RAM	2GB	1GB
Storage	16GB expandable upto 128GB	16GB expandable upto 128GB
Battery capacity (mAh)	2600, non-removable	2600, non-removable
Camera	Rear camera 13-megapixel Front camera 8-megapixel	Rear camera 13-megapixel Front camera 8-megapixel
Operating System	Android 4.4	Android 4.4

September 23, 2014

MIT’s THAW Brings Ultimate Seamless Interconnectivity Between Smartphones and PC

With a PC and Mobiles being an absolute necessity, it is necessary to have seamless interaction between them. Apple’s latest ecosystem attempts to do just that. Continuity features like Handoff let users continue their work from their phone to their Mac PC’s without a delay. Not to be left behind, Google also announced some interconnectivity features between Android desktops and Chrome systems. But these attempts are still futile in comparison to MIT’s THAW which takes seamless interconnectivity to a whole new level.

Two teams of researchers at MIT have developed a smartphone system called THAW which allows users to transfer files through and fro from PC to a smartphone. This can be done simply by touching the phone to the screen of the desktop PC. You can take the webpage you were working on your phone by just touching the phone to the screen. It almost feels like those screens in sci-fi flicks which can be shifted from one display to another, like Avatar.

THAW makes you phone a physical handle through which you can send or receive files directly from the screen. The secret behind the technology is the phone camera. The camera takes the image from the desktop screen and then through software manipulations the files are accessible on the phone. This feature will help solve the file management clarity issue that everyone is trying to address. Apple’s Cloud Storage now gives the ability to change the content, and it will appear the same from all your devices. THAW just takes it a bit further.

Now this project is still in its infancy and may or may not come to the market. But just the knowledge of the possibility of this technology will create a boom for devices with such functionalities. This looks like an excellent feature to have and looks so simplistic and effortless. Hopefully, the companies are watching; this is one feature that everyone will love. MIT researchers claim that this can work with practically any smartphone with accelerometer, so come on Samsung, here’s an idea for the Galaxy S6.

September 20, 2014
Teardown of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus Reveals What’s Inside

Apple’s flagship is now available for anyone who has got the money for it. The phone got polarising reviews with Apple fans sticking by their device and Android fans turning social media against the new iPhones using tons of memes. As always, it is now time to rip apart and unveil all the secret sauces that went into making the new jewel in Apple’s crown. The tear down of both phones showed us that they are pretty interesting on the inside.

First up, the iPhone 6 with a 4.7 inch display. A Japanese blog called ‘Mac Otakara’ disassembled the phone. They found that the 1810 mAh battery on the device was fastened to the chassis with adhesive tabs. The phone has received some internal tweaks to adapt to the slimmer design. It has a linear oscillating type vibrating motor that sits on the right with the battery. The phone is said to have 1GB RAM.

The Phones were torn down by IFixit and Mac Otakara

The iPhone 6 Plus, on the other hand, was unraveled by iFixit who are known for surgically removing all the organs of devices and laying them side by side. The battery on Apple’s biggest iPhone yet stands at 2915 mAh. The battery is bigger in comparison to Samsung’s S5 (2800mAh) which was released earlier this year. Like the Samsung flagship, the iPhone 6 Plus has a full HD(1920X1080) display.

iFixit confirmed that the device holds an Elpida 1 GB LPDDR3 RAM. It is an entire gigabyte less than Samsung’s S5 and 2 gigabyte less than the Note 4. The company also confirmed that the smaller sibling, iPhone 6 also carries the same amount of RAM. The devices are powered by Apple’s A8 chipset.

The Camera Module with OIS is beautiful to look at.

The camera modules on the phones were impressive to see. This new cameras has optical image stabilization, and it sure looks beautiful on the inside.

The 128GB NAND flash memory has been supplied by SK Hynix. Other features that were found inside include the Wi-Fi module supplied by Murata, touch screen controller by Broadcom, power amplifier module by TriQuint and gyroscope and accelerometer combo supplied by InvenSense.

Apple has claimed that the new devices have better battery life and are faster than the previous generations. Considering its higher end phones have the same amount of RAM as there is in the Moto E, it will be interesting to see how the phones handle the new additions such as the much-touted interconnectivity features.

September 19, 2014
Exclusive : Samsung Galaxy Note 4 to Arrive in India in the First Week of October

Samsung has already announced that the US release of the eagerly-anticipated Galaxy Note 4 will be on October 17th. Now, it seems it will release in India ahead of the US sometime during the first week of October. Samsung, the Korean electronic major, is said to be the pioneer of the phablet trend, blending tablet and smartphone features in one device. The pre-orders in the US already started on last Friday.

“Samsung created the large screen smartphone category with the Galaxy Note and we are on our fourth generation, a category others are just entering,” the company said in a statement. “The Galaxy Note 4 delivers a refined Note experience, and the latest technology that consumers want in their smartphone.”

The Note 4 boasts a 5.7-inch high definition screen, improved front and rear cameras, speedy charging, and an “S Pen” to write, draw or edit on the touch screen more naturally. The Galaxy Note 4 comes with a 16 MP camera on the back with Optical Image Stabilization (OIS.) With the OIS, Samsung claims, you’ll get professional quality HD videos with minimum jitters.

The company has gone out of its way to bring a superior selfie experience, and it was truly innovative of them. The 3.7 MP front camera has a wide f/1.9 iris which will ensure brightness of the image. The device gets its juice from a 3220 mAh battery which is a slight increase over the predecessor. Samsung claims that with advanced optimization of their product, the battery will last longer than before. The Samsung Galaxy Note 4 also comes with 50 GB of Dropbox storage for two years.

It has also been said that the new Galaxy Note 4 will only be available on offline stores and not through any online e-commerce websites. It is a result of recent boycott by Indian retailers over the pricing issue. The dealers said that they would stop stocking Samsung phones unless the South Korean tech giant takes steps to narrow the wide gap in pricing between its phones sold at various offline outlets and on e-commerce sites.

September 19, 2014
Exclusive : Moto X (Gen 2) to Go on Sale in India By End of Next Week

Well, Motorola has already launched the new version of the blockbuster Moto G. At the same event, the company had also announced the next gen Moto X and Moto 360, which the company said will go on sale by late September. Now, a source told iGyaan that the new gen Moto X may go on sale next week.

The smartphone’s Flipkart profile has already been uploaded which says ‘Coming Soon’. You can sign up for the newsletter, if you want to be among the first ones to get your hands on the smartphone.

The new Moto X is bulkier and boasts a number of new features and designs that should definitely increase the X’s demand.

The new Moto X is not much bigger than the previous one, with a 5.2 inch AMOLED display and it is still protected by Gorilla Glass. Moto X 2nd gen is about 0.5 inch wider than last year’s X. However, the refreshed model sports a 1080p full HD display instead of a 720p one. At the back, it has an updated 13-megapixel camera lens with 4x zoom and a ring flash. The camera has the ability to capture 4K video instead of just 1080p and it’s also got a new feature called Best Shot.

The device runs on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor with a 2.5GHz quad-core CPU, an Adreno 330 578MHz GPU and 2GB of RAM. It is powered by 2,300 mAh battery which Motorola claims will last a full day. The new Moto X has four microphones to help reduce background noise, and comes in a “splash guard” water repellent coating and will be available in both 16GB and 32GB variants.

The handset will be go on sale at end of the next week as mentioned above. The company at the launch event said that they will have enough stock this time. Pricing details have not yet been revealed by the company.

Check out our Hands on with the Moto X (Gen 2) below:

September 17, 2014
Apple Might Screw Up the India Launch of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, Again!

The new iPhone 6 and 6 Plus are expected to do well in India, especially considering the launch date which falls just shy of major festivals of our country. Oct 17th (the official launch of both big iPhones in India) is also just 4 days prior to the mega festival of “Dhanteras” which celebrates gold and anything that represents gold. A few days post that is the biggest festival of India, Diwali/Deepavali, which again brings about the act of gifting, shopping and spending money like there is no tomorrow. And finally “Bhai Duj” which again ensures that people are buying gifts for their respective brothers and sisters.

In 2013, Apple launched the gold color iPhone 5s, which was sold out within hours and remained out of stock for many a days. It is assumed that there was a high demand of the gold color due to the excitement around the time of the above stated festivals. However, the way the iPhone was launched in India was the complete opposite of how Apple does things globally.

Apple in India, unfortunately does not have any of its own stores, no online store, no flagship stores and well nothing close to a “5th Ave” store. The company has its distribution tied up with Indian distributers “Ingram” and “Reddington”, who make a spectacle of the launch, by making available “limited” number of phone in limited cities. This redundant process has left people who actually want to buy an iPhone with a horrible taste.

Poorly Orchestrated iPhone 5s Launch

The launch is nothing close to what happens, for example, at a US store (or any other Apple store). There is this strange coupon system that lets you stand in line to buy an iPhone. Then there is a “special” coupon that lets you skip the line and jump ahead to a “special” area for VIP guests of big distributers i.e. Ingram, Reddington and networks like Airtel.

The standard line is essentially made up of store owners and employees of store owners, who want to essentially get stock that they can then sell from their respective stores to their respective “best clients”. There is a huge inflation of price of the iPhone as well. The same day as the launch of the gold iPhone 5s for (Rs. 54,500 for the 16GB variant), the phone was available at most dealers and brick mortar stores for as high as Rs. 70,000. An inflated price you had to pay for not standing in line.

There are a few who actually brave it and stand in line, but their numbers are limited and their wait times are catastrophically high. The event itself is loud and disorganized, usually outdoors and in the open (except a few), leading to long wait times and a chaotic atmosphere. The company also tries to build in live music and unnecessary shows with loud emcees making it look like a typical Indian fair (mela).

Despite claiming that the gold color had reached “out of stock” status, Apple India warehouses were full of them, and Apple chose not to sell anymore gold colored iPhone 5s, because it was affecting the sales of the other colors.

Why does it have to be so difficult, and complicated for a user to buy a phone that they want to pay money for. Apple needs to bring their user experience to India, considering India is an important market for them. Apple is planning to officially be in India by next year, that means that the company will finally set up shop which may end all these theatrics. However if there are limited number of handsets to sell, a simple pre-order system should suffice, or a registration system which lets actual buyers who want to own these phones buy them. Apple asks for identification and credit cards at the time of purchase in the US and also limits the sale to a maximum of two handsets.

However in India, most purchases are made by cash and why should the company care about identification as long as phones are getting sold? To make matters worse, the people who are supposedly selling you the phones have not been trained as you would expect at a “genius bar”, they have been debriefed a few hours prior to the launch and know basic things like “turning on the iPhone” and “inserting a sim card”. They usually freeze up if you ask them questions around “iCloud” or some new elements like “handoff”.

The one good thing out of all of this is the fact that Apple has made the phones available in India early, unlike the iPhone 4s which was launched a good 9-10 months later, the iPhone 6 will launch a month after the US launch. However, this year expect the problems to be big, or well “bigger than bigger”. #BigFailSale anyone?

[poll id=”21″]

September 17, 2014

LG Introduces G3’s Mid-Tier Variant LG G3 Beat in India

LG has launched the new LG G3 Beat in India for the price of Rs. 25,000. The smartphone which was announced earlier this year is essentially a mid-tier variant of the flagship G3. The new LG G3 Beat will be available across the country retail outlets as well as on e-commerce websites.

LG Electronics India MD, Mr. Swoon Koon in a statement said,”Mobile communications needs to serve the requirements of a growing segment of consumers who are looking for a balance between style, design, features, and great performance, combined together at a favorable price. The LG G3 Beat represents our commitment to the mid-tier smartphone market that demands mature technology, proven performance, great innovation and an attractive price, all in a single device.”

On the hardware side, the G3 Beat fashions a 5-inch HD 720p display and is powered by a 1.2GHz Snapdragon 400 quad-core processor paired with 1GB of RAM. Also included is 8GB of internal storage that can be further expanded using a microSD card. It is powered by 2540mAh battery and runs on Android 4.4.

The LG G3 Beat features the same ‘Floating Arc Design’ as seen on the LG G3, featuring smooth curved sides and gradually tapered edges. The highlight of the G3 Beat is its 8-megapixel rear camera which comes with the Laser Autofocus feature, same as the G3. However, it has a 1.3-megapixel front camera. Connectivity options on the LG G3 Beat include Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth, GPRS/ EDGE, A-GPS, GLONASS, NFC, Micro-USB, 3G and 4G LTE support

The device weighs 134 grams and will be available in black, white and gold. At this price point, the LG G3 Beat will be up against the likes of the Sony Xperia T3, Samsung Galaxy S5 mini, and the Oppo N1 mini.

Specs	LG G3 Beat
Display	5-inch 720p
Processor	1.2GHz Snapdragon 400 quad-core
RAM	1GB
Cameras	8-megapixel rear/1.3-megapixel front
Storage	8GB expandable
Battery	2,540mAh
Android OS	4.4.2 KitKat
Price	Rs 25,000

September 17, 2014

Samsung All Set to Bring a Pro-Selfie Phone and a Metal-Bodied Device

Selfies are big right now, and seems like their popularity is only going to grow. It became a major fad after the big Oscar push from Ellen Degeneres. That selfie was the single most viewed picture around the world and was taken from a Samsung phone. Now Samsung is getting ready to bring a selfie friendly phone.

Seems like the company worked hard on perfecting the selfie. The recently released Note 4 has some amazing features for clicking self-portraits. The phone has a wide 90-degree shooting angle and can take even wider 120-degree snaps. The new phone Samsung plans to unveil will be probably called Galaxy Grand Prime (quite a mouthful.)

The phone is seen running the latest TouchWiz UI

The phone is expected to get a 5 MP front camera, which is a decent offering. The Grand Prime also offers an 8 MP camera on the back. The spec table for the Grand Prime is probably better than previous Samsung offerings. The phone has a 1.2 GHz quad-core Snapdragon 400 SoC with 1 GB of RAM. It comes with 8 GB of internal storage and is expandable up to 64 GB, which is welcome. It is powered by a 2600 mAh battery which will give it a good battery life. The device is expected to be priced at $236 which converts to approximately Rs. 14,400. It is expected to come out in October.

Samsung is also expected to be bring out a metal clad phone called SM-A500 that seems to be its new design model. The company received a lot of flak for its plastic bodies. After bringing the Galaxy Alpha and the metal casing on Note 4, the SM-A500 will be the next in line to get the metal on.

The SM-A500 might come with 13 MP back camera and a 5 MP front camera. It is expected to get a 5-inch (1280×720) Super AMOLED screen. It will be powered by a quad-core Snapdragon 400 processor and will get its juice from a 2330 mAh battery. The phone seems to be running the latest Touchwiz UI. Some have called the device a mini Galaxy Alpha. The SM-A500 also has fingerprint and heart rate sensors and might include the ultra power saving mode from the Galaxy S5 and Note 4.

There are already many selfie focused phones in the market. Lava recently brought out the X5 that came with a front flash. Samsung has to provide something better to make its mark back in the mid segment. It seems they have finally stopped being thrifty with the spec sheets and decided to take on its competition. We can just wait till the phone comes out to see where it stands in the selfie business.

September 17, 2014
Apple Breaks Own Record, 4 Million iPhones Pre-Ordered Within First 24 Hours

The two new phones by Apple – the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, announced last week, went up for pre-order on 12th September. Apple reports that within the first 24 hours they recorded more than 4 million orders. The deliveries of these phones will begin on Friday.

In terms of the previous models, for the iPhone 5, Apple took two million orders when it was first launched in September 2012. However, the company did not reveal the numbers for the editions that came in 2013; the iPhone 5S and 5C.

The new iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus, have a 4.7 inch display and a 5.5 inch display respectively. The phones despite being bigger, are lighter and thinner. The iPhone 6 is 6.9 mm and the new iPhone 6 Plus is only 7.1 mm thick. At the mega-event held in Cupertino, Apple also announced that the iPhone 6 is up to 50% more energy efficient. The new A8 chip has up to 25% faster processing power and up to 50% faster graphics.

The major development with these iPhones was that Apple launched a new Apple Pay payment system that uses NFC and Touch ID. Virtual credit cards can be stored in Passbook, without the actual number being stored, for which Apple creates a secure temporary payment ID.

This year, Apple received quite a bit of criticism for slow adaption of technology. Clearly, these numbers speak otherwise. We’ll have to wait till next month to see how the Indian market responds.

September 16, 2014
Sony Launched the Affordable Xperia E3 and E3 Dual in India

The Xperia E3, shown off by the company at IFA Berlin 2014, is a handset with lower specs matching its lower price point. And Sony launched the Xperia E3 and its dual SIM variant in India today.

The Sony Xperia E3 Dual comes in white, black and lime colour variants. It is priced at Rs. 12,990. On the other hand, the Xperia E3 comes in black and white color variants and is priced at Rs. 11,990. Both the single SIM and dual SIM variants sport similar specs which include a 4.5-inch capacitive touch screen display offering a resolution of 854 x 480 pixels. Both come powered by a 1.2 GHz quad-core Snapdragon 400 (MSM8226) processor with Adreno 305 GPU. The latest handsets are backed by 1GB RAM and run on 4.4 KitKat.

They come with a 5 megapixel camera on the rear with LED flash capable of recording video at 1080p and a 0.3MP (VGA) front-facing snapper. The camera also includes Sony’s innovative auto scene recognition feature and HDR for pictures. The camera apps that come pre-installed with the Xperia E3 include – AR fun, Social live, Timeshift Burst and AR Effect.

The E3 and E3 Dual both come with a 2330mAh battery and Sony’s STAMINA mode for enhanced battery performance which delivers up to 12 hours 20 minutes of talk time, and up to 706 hours of standby time. The network and connectivity options include – 4G LTE, 3G, GPRS/ EDGE, Wi-Fi, A-GPS with Glonass, USB 2.0, FM radio with RDS, Bluetooth 4.0, and a 3.5mm jack.

Since Google has also announced its first lot of Android One handsets in India yesterday, the new Xperia E3 smartphones are here to face a ton of competition in the market.

September 16, 2014

Unboxing and Hands On : Xolo Play 8x-1100

The new Xolo Play 8X-1100 is a new edition of Xolo’s Play series. The new handset will be competing against the likes of Xiaomi Mi3 and Moto G (gen 2). Xolo Play 8X-1100 comes with a 5-inch 720×1280 display, powered by a 1.7GHz processor alongside 2GB RAM and a 13-megapixel rear camera.

The device runs on Android 4.4 KitKat, supports USB OTG and is powered by 2100 mAh battery.

Specs	Xolo Play 8X-1100
Display	5.00 inch, 720×1280 pixels, 294 ppi
Battery capacity (mAh)	2100, removable
Processor	1.7GHz octa-core
RAM	2 GB
Memory	16GB, expandable uto 32 GB
Camera	13 MP primary, 5 MP secondary
Operating System	Android 4.4 KitKat

<br />

September 16, 2014

The Android One Trio is Here! Meet Canvas A1, Sparkle V And Dream Uno

So, we have waited long for the Android One devices. The phones were announced at the Google I/O this year, and they are finally here for the world to see. Today Google launched the three phones that it had announced previously.

The Micromax Canvas A1, Karbonn Sparkle V And Spice Dream Uno is the trio that will begin the big Android One experiment. The phones are presently only available online and will be in stores from next month. They went on sale at 3.30PM today.

Canvas win has a recognizable camera design which is the best amongst competitors

As mentioned earlier, Android One is Google providing standard specifications to OEM’s so that they can provide those features to low-cost devices directly. These devices come with the latest Android operating system, i.e., KitKat 4.4. They all have similar specs and are different only in the way they are designed. Out of these three devices, Micromax gets the pole position on the designing front. The Canvas A1 has a beautiful wooden-like platform for the main camera on the back of the device.

Karbonn Sparkle V comes in many color options.

All these devices have a 4.5 inch FWVGA (854 x 480 Pixels) displays and are powered by a 1700 mAh battery. The processor on the devices is a MediaTek SoC with a 1.3GHz quad-core processor and Mali 400 GPU paired with 1GB of RAM. On the back, the devices have a 5 MP camera with LED Flash. For selfie convenience, the phone provides a 2 MP camera.

It can be observed that the specifications on these devices seem limited in comparison to devices like the Moto E and the Redmi 1S. The advantage these devices have is automatic updates from Google, which keep them up-to-date. This can be a great device for people wanting a stock Android experience.

The companies have chosen different online retail partners for their devices. While Micromax chose Amazon as their exclusive Android One partner, Spice and Karbonn chose Flipkart and Snapdeal respectively. You can expect some competition amongst these e-tail giants too.

This is just the beginning for Android One. Google plans to involve new partners. It has announced that Acer, Alcatel, ASUS, HTC, Intex, Lava, Lenovo, Panasonic and Xolo will soon be launching smartphones under the Android One program.

These phones are pocket friendly and will encourage others to make similar devices

On the price front, the Karbonn Sparkle V is priced at Rs.6399. The Micromax Canvas gets a price tag of Rs. 6499, while the Spice Dream Uno is the cheapest with a tag of Rs. 6299.

As expected, the phones come with 6-month free update and app download package from Airtel. In a press statement, the Chief Product Officer of Bharti Airtel, Anand Chandrasekaran said, “Android One customers on Airtel will be able to stay updated on the latest Android version and update all their apps at no additional data charges. Customers can enjoy 100 MB of data per month for 6 months for software updates and 200 MB per month for 6 months for app downloads and updates on the first prepaid active Airtel SIM inserted in the Android One device.”

The phones come with 6 month data plans from Airtel

Overall, the Android One line of devices seem like Google’s direct link to the lower-end consumers. The biggest issue with Android platform is high levels of fragmentation, devices running older versions of the OS are still available for sale in the market. With the lessons learnt by this initiative, the Android team may be able to provide a better integration of its OS across devices.

It will be interesting to see how this experiment pans out in India as Google intends to expand the initiative to Indonesia, Philippines and other South Asian countries by the end of 2014. It also plans to take to more countries in 2015. It seems the end of woes of lower-end Android customers is close to being over.

September 15, 2014
First Android One Phone, The Karbonn Sparkle V Launched For Rs. 6399

Google has unveiled the first Android One phone in India. The phone will come from the Indian Phone company, Karbonn and will be called the Sparkle V.

The Karbonn Sparkle V is a Dual Sim phone. It comes with Android Kitkat 4.4 out of the box. It has a 4.5 inch FWVGA (480×854) display. The device carries 1 GB RAM and is powered by a 1700 mAh battery.

The internal memory on the device is 4 GB and is expandable up to 32 GB. Sparkle V has a 5 Megapixel camera on the back and a 2 MP camera on the front. It also comes with sensors such as G-Sensor, Proximity sensor, Light sensor, E-Compass and Gyro Sensor.

The phone is future proof as it will automatically update to the next available version of operating system. The makers claim that the phone is capable of handling HD games and provides smooth multi-tasking ability. The phone offers users a variety of applications and features which are pre-loaded in the phone.

The device is priced at Rs. 6399 and is available exclusively on Snapdeal.

September 15, 2014