While India is yet to see the official release of the new HTC One M8, the company is reportedly working on a plastic version of the smartphone.
This phone, that seems to go agains the company policy of high quality builds, will be considerably cheaper as not only will it save on material costs, but also machining costs and time which is associated with the manufacture of the current One M8.
Plastic here could be a reference for a polycarbonate design, which HTC is know to have used successfully in their One X and WP8 phones in the past.
Critics argue that HTC’s move to create a plastic version of the HTC One M8 could turn to be a great one only if executed correctly. The physical design of the metal build variant of the HTC One M8 is its biggest asset, so the question is whether consumers will be willing to take the cheaper version with probable downgrade of specs.
HTC Butterfly S
HTC is also reportedly working on a new HTC Butterfly, which will carry the same specifications as the HTC One but with a 13 MP camera.
If HTC launches a Plastic M8, would you consider buying it?
As the third phase of the Lok Sabha elections comes to a close, we present two viral videos that caught our attention. They couldn’t have handled the topic of the 2014 Elections any differently. While one used a sombre note to reminds us that we had been deprived of the power to vote for too long to take it for granted now. The other, intelligently pulls the voters leg for spending too much time thinking, talking, discussing and not enough time doing.
Congress Vs BJP
All India Bakchod, a comedy collective, nails the core theme of every discussion surrounding the elections. The ever-exhausting BJP Vs Congress debate has turned family dinners, kitty parties, and a friendly-drink-at-the-bar into mini war zones. Though that’s not the point of the video, the joke is not on BJP or on Congress – it’s on us. Why is debating about the lack of a reliable leading party the only thing we do so well?
The viewers (slightly more than a million), watch the video, laugh and the next day have another version of the same discussion, by the coffee machine at work.
#PledgeToVote with Mr Shyam Negi
Google India teamed up with Ogilvy & Mather Mumbai and developed this video for their “Pledge to Vote” campaign. It made Independent India’s first voter, 97-year-old retired schoolteacher Shyam Saran Negi, a household name. Negi lives in one of India’s coldest corners. Kalpa is a place where transportation is scarce and the weather conditions are rough. Even though it’s a struggle, Negi has never missed a vote since 1951.
Within the short span of the video, Mr Negi’s story makes us forget the hopelessness and frustration usually associated with the political future of our country. It simply impresses us to be proud citizens of a democratic nation. A reminder of that fact we conveniently forget: just a few decades back, we didn’t have the power to decide who governs our country. Steering clear of the fact that voters are struggling to choose the least incompetent of the contesting parties, Google instead chose to focus on reminding us how privileged we are to have an option of getting our fingers inked.
Update: The Price appears to have further dropped to Rs. 49,000 as of April 14th 2014, just 3 days post launch.
Yesterday Samsung launched the Galaxy S5 into the Indian market on retail sale for a price of Rs. 51500. After seeing more than disappointing sales, the execs at the Korean company’s India office have authorized distributers and dealers to offer discounts and deals to users.
One of the south Delhi distributors said that Samsung issued notices last night to their chain ; asking them to be a lot more aggressive in selling the Galaxy S5.
Samsung has usually seen excellent response from the Indian market for their smartphones, however this time around the company may have hit up on its worst nightmare.
According to people, the biggest reason for the general disappointment with the flagship device, is that Samsung has launched the Galaxy S5 with the Exynos chipset and not the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 in India.
Samsung has been following this policy in the Indian market since the time of the Galaxy S2, after initial sales of the dual core Galaxy S2 a special India edition was launched which actually had a single core processor vs the Dual Core offered in the Global variant at the time. The performance of the Galaxy S5 handsets on these separate chipsets differ in many ways. The Exynos based version also lacks several features including LTE but now includes 4k Video capture, which was missing from the Indian version of the Galaxy Note 3.
While the price has been fluctuating since last night, the Galaxy S5 is available from a price bracket of Rs. 50,000 – 51,000 depending on the mood of the seller. If you were considering buying this phone, we expect huge drops in price in the coming weeks so holding out may actually not be such a bad idea.
Do you think that Samsung should further reduce the price of the Galaxy S5? Or feel that they should launch the Snapdragon 801 variant ? Let us know below or tweet us @iGyaan and include @SamsungMobileIn ! We will ensure that Samsung gets the message.
Our review of the Galaxy S5 will be up shorty ! Stay Tuned.
The Samsung Galaxy S5 is finally here, in a total of 125 countries to be precise. However, despite being one of the most anticipated phones the Galaxy S5 has many a users to please.
The Samsung Flagship is boasting quite a bunch of new unique changes, including the all new water resistant body, a heart rate sensor and an “improved” 16 MP camera.
However in markets like India, Samsung has chosen to launch the handset with a newer Exynos Chipset as opposed to the Snapdragon 801 chipset for Markets like the US. The new Galaxy S5 is also slightly thicker in feel and a lot more plasticky in looks. The bezels feel cheap and have a torrid feel.
Samsung has also launched and made available to buy the trio of smart watches : Gear 2, Gear 2 Neo and Gear Fit.
Gear 2 Neo
Gear Fit
Gear 2
Pricing seems a bit high, as the Samsung Galaxy S5 is available at a Best buy price of Rs. 51,500/-. Galaxy Gear 2 is priced at Rs. 21,900/- and both Galaxy Gear 2 Neo and Galaxy Gear Fit are priced at Rs. 15,900/- each. These devices are now available across India through Samsung’s retail stores and e-commerce website.
Check out our Hands on Video below and stay tuned for a Unboxing coming up.
Up until now Nike’s FuelBand was only favored and bought by those with an Apple iDevice whether iPhones or iPods, simply because of the ease with which they could sync up their bands.
Now, with the launch of the Nike+ Fuel Lab in San Francisco, the sports group is planning to bring more to the user with partnerships and collaborations. Nike plans to bring integration with MyFitnessPal, RunKeeper and Strava. According to Nike, thanks to this partnership Millions of people will have a “common universal currency to monitor and evaluate” all kinds of activity.
[quote text_size=”small” author=”Stefan Olander” author_title=” Nike’s Vice President of Digital Sport.”]
We are excited about evolving NikeFuel to deliver richer experiences that make it easier for all athletes to reach their potential, The demand for simpler data-powered experiences is soaring, and all-day sensing is more available on mobile and wearable devices than ever before. Nike is committed to broadening the use of NikeFuel through collaborations with industry leaders to create smarter products and services.
Nokia has gone across the marks to announce that their latest Nokia 225 is the slimmest and most affordable internet capable phone at 10.4mm thin and priced at approximately Rs 3,200. The Nokia 225 runs on Series 30 and will have access to the internet and preloaded Facebook and Twitter.
Specification details are scarce but what we do know is that the device has :
2.8-inch QVGA display
2-megapixel rear camera
microSD card slot
36 day battery for single-SIM variant
27 day battery fordual-SIM variant
1,200mAh battery
21 hours of talk time
Series 30 Software
Colors black, white, green, red and yellow
The handset will be available in Summer in European and Asian regions.
HTC’s recently launched the new One aka M8, which could possibly be the sole reason that the company struck a profit this quarter. Despite its instant availability and fanfare around the launch, here are a few things that you really must know about the HTC One M8. (Especially if you didn’t already know them)
1. Build Quality :
Carving a phone structure out of a single block of metal is now really old news, and especially after Apple’s iPhone 4 and iPad, this process was repeated time and again. The HTC One M8 takes the candy bar form factor to the next level. The M8 has been punched out of a single sheet of metal alloy, that not only covers the back of the phone, but also curves around to the front. Anyone who has worked with metal would know what a difficult process this is, even with todays available technology.
2. Hardware
Last year, when HTC launched the HTC One, they decided to stick it with an underpowered chipset, the Snapdragon 600, even though a better and more powerful snapdragon 800 was available. This time around however, HTC has thrown in the best of the lot, the Snapdragon 801 which puts it right up there with the competition.
3. Camera
Even though it feels under-rated the M8 has possibly the most advanced camera on a Smartphone today. Sure you have the Lumia 1020 and the Xperia Z series phones with their high MP camera shots. The HTC One M8 takes the focus selection to another level al together. It’s excellent in low light and even though their software is relatively amateur the use of the hardware in the future may do wonders. The fact that the company has opened the dual camera API to developers means that the hardware may be put to excellent use in third party apps.
4. New Sense
Although Sense 6.0 looks like a minor change on Sense 5.0 its a whole new world in there, the UI functionality has been improved, nifty shortcuts and good looking icons make a world of a difference. Quick launches from the lock screen make it really usable and exciting. Overall HTC has managed to give an exciting new look to something which used looked really bland to us, make it fast, responsive and more functional.
5. Awesome First Party Accessories
HTC did it with the HTC One Max when they launched the extended battery case, they basically proved to us that they can make excellent accessories for their own devices. They have done it again with the HTC One M8 and the Dot View case. This case itself deserves an award for how simple and noble the idea behind it is. it gives protection and functionality to the phone. thanks to the touch sensitive design it gives you the ability to use the phone with the cover still on. Simply Genius!
The Slimmest Phone in the world moniker goes to the Gionee E Life S5.5, but it does impress us in other domains as well.
Gionee held a mega event in India and launched the slimmest phone in the world. The company launched a smartphone that is only 5.5 mm thick or should we say 5.5 mm thin. The Gionee Elife S 5.5 was globally launched at MWC 2014 where the company showed off a pre build version of the device. The final version meant for India will be available for purchase starting April 27th for a price of Rs 22900 .
First Impressions
The Elife S 5.5 does not only seem to aim to be the slimmest phone by any means necessary, it actually impresses in many other domains. The handset is superbly well built with a great mix of metal and glass, with the later taking care of the front and back of the handset.
[quote text_size=”small”]5.5 mm is about as slim as we can take[/quote]
Honestly 5.5 mm is about as slim as we can take, any slimmer and a smartphone will become uncomfortable. The ELife S 5.5 despite its metal and glass appearance manages to not be very sharp at the edges. The S 5.5 has rounded off edges at the back to give it a more tapered design making it more easily handle able and pocketable.
Hardware on the Elife S5.5 is on the up side as well, with a true octacore Mediatek chipset clocked sat 1.7 GHz, no its not the turbo version seen on the Micromax Canvas Knight, but it is the same chipset sans turbo of course. You also get 2 GB of RAM and 16 GB Storage, with a 13.0MP AF +5.0MP camera combination both with wide angle lenses and 1080 p video capture.
Gionee has come leaps and bounds in terms of the user interface, the new Amigo 2.0 is not only faster and more responsive it also looks a lot better and has interesting elements which were earlier missing from the UI. The new themes and colors option along with smoother transitions and good looking animations make the S 5.5 slim smartphone look and behave the part of being a smooth operator (pun intended)
The battery life also seems to have come really far on the new S 5.5 with the handset doing much more with less drainage. One thing the unit lacks is LTE capability, however our country mostly lacks that too so can’t really complain.
The handset turns out to be a beautiful mix of design, looks and capability for an impressive price, however only extended testing will reveal the true outcome.
[quote text_size=”small”]Beautiful mix of design, looks and capability for an impressive price[/quote]
Sony India has overtaken Apple in their sales for smartphones in India becoming the second largest mobile phone shipper in 2014. This aggressive movement has been rewarded to Sony thanks to the company’s focus largely on the Rs 10,000-20,000 smartphone space, backed by Rs 300-crore marketing spend.
The number one spot was retained by Korean smartphone giant Samsung with 43% market value share. Sony took second place with 9.1% value share in the Indian smartphone market in the October-December quarter of 2013 against Apple’s 7% share.
This decline in Apple’s sales has been thanks to the company’s decision to withdraw sales of their largest selling unit the iPhone 4, and hence the disappearance of Apple from the under Rs. 20,000 price bracket. Apple did relaunch the iPhone 4 specially for the Indian market but failed to gather any response from the market who were hoping for a cut on the price of the iPhone 4s.
Sony Executives claim :
While this loss of sales prompted Apple to relaunch iPhone 4 once again in India in January, sales have not picked up since it is not at all spending on marketing or offering any buyback offer and even the initial euphoria around iPhone 5S has sobered down,
Kenichiro Hibi, managing director at Sony India, said the company’s smartphone business has attained similar revenues as its flagship television business in the fiscal ended March 31.
[quote text_size=”small” author=”Kenichiro Hibi, ” author_title=”Managing Director at Sony India”]The smartphone business doubled in last one year which led to 20% growth in overall sales in 2013-14. We expect to grow at a similar pace this fiscal as well to touch Rs 12,000 crore sales[/quote]
While this may be considered a big loss for Apple, the company has seen decline of sale during the months that lead up to the launch of their next flagship.
Apple’s Annual Developer Conference will run from June 2nd to 6th in San Francisco
Apple has just announced that its annual World Wide Developer Conference has been scheduled for the 2nd of June through 6th in San Francisco. To mix things around the company will now select attendees randomly instead of a first-come-first-served basis.
If you are a developer, you probably already got the email to register your account for a lucky draw to be able to attend the WWDC 2014. We can expect to see all of the latest iOS 8 madness alongside the next OS X developments, maybe even the elusive iWatch and Apple iTV that we have been long hearing rumors of.
Apple was recently in the news as the company is in talks to buy Renesas Electronics Corporation, a unit that designs liquid crystal display chips for iPhones for about ¥50 billion, Apple is expected to complete the stake purchase by summer.
Nokia’s First Android Handset Targets the Budget Audience with Dual Sim Capabilities
Nokia launched the Nokia X (aka Normandy) earlier this year at Mobile World Congress 2014. The handset was a first of a kind for a company which basically started off by purely thrashing Android as an OS and now embracing it in their products.
The Nokia X has a very basic strategy, it is a cheap android phone with build and promise of Nokia, without the actual support of Google.
The Nokia X runs a Hybrid OS, An Unlicensed Android 4.1.2 alongside Nokia’s own Fastlane UI from the Asha lineup of devices. What that means is, you get the Android experience but you don’t get Google Apps, including the Play Store, Gmail etc. But there are always workarounds considering that the whole UI is essentially built on Android.
Build is impressive, the Nokia X has a sturdy matte finished back, with replaceable panels. Its like a better built version of the Nokia Asha 502/503 lineup almost as good as high end Lumia phones. The back is smooth and fits well in the hand thanks to its polished off round edges. The layout of the buttons and ports is also very identical to the Asha 503 so it looks like a design lift.
On the hardware front the Nokia X is loaded with a Qualcomm MSM8225 Snapdragon S4 Play with a Dual-core 1 GHz Cortex-A5 CPU. You also get an Adreno 203 GPU all of this is supported by a 1500 mAh battery. On the memory front you have 4 GB Storage and 512 MB RAM along with microSD card expandability up to 32 GB.
The handset runs Nokia X platform 1.0 UI essentially Android 4.1.2, on a 4 inch 480 x 800 px IPS LCD capacitive display with 2 point multitouch. There is no front camera and the main 3.15 MP camera only does 480p video and lacks a LED flash.
Check out our hands on images and the Video Unboxing Up Top. Stay tuned for a final review.
Nokia is excited about the new Nokia Lumia 630 and so are we.
Nokia just announced a flurry of devices to go along with Microsoft’s new Windows Phone 8.1 update. The new Nokia Lumia 630 is one such device which will be available in India soon within a price bracket that will satisfy many a buyers.
India will be amongst the first countries in the world to get the first ever Windows Phone 8.1 device, when it launches this May for a price that may be well under the Rs. 13000 price bracket.
First Impressions
[quote text_size=”small”]Think Nokia Lumia 520 meets Nokia X and iPhone 5c[/quote]
Think Nokia Lumia 520 meets Nokia X and iPhone 5c this is what the resultant is: A big bright phone with swappable color back panels, a great build quality and impressive OS handling.
Right Side
Bottom
Top
Rear Camera
Running Microsoft’s recently announced Windows Phone 8.1 out of the box we were quite impressed by this device’s performance on the pre-build OS. The handset has been tastefully pastured with matte finish on the back which is flatter on the sides and slightly rounded at the back.
This is also the first Windows Phone handset to ditch the hardware touch keys for on screen buttons, and it may take a while to get used to especially if you are coming from a previous Lumia. You also end up losing a lil bit of the screen real estate.
On Screen Buttons
The Nokia Lumia 630 may as well be an entry level handset if you look at the hardware. The front poses a 4.5-inch IPS ClearBlack display with a 854 x 480 px resolution Corning Gorilla Glass 3 but no front camera, the rear has a 5 Mp camera but lacks any flash or lighting.
2 Sim Cards and 128Gb micro SD Support
It takes in two Micro Sim cards, only the first one handles 3G data while the other holds on to 2G. Smart call forwarding forwards the call from the second sim to the first sim or vice versa if you are on a call so both sim cards are sort of active.
The battery is bigger than previous versions of the Lumia family with an 1850 mAh battery in the back.
RAM may be the one thing that brings down the Lumia 630, with just 512 MB under its hood, the hardware level disappointment will create a major withdrawal. Especially considering that previous “budget” Lumias have been shipping with 1 GB.
Main camera sensor: 5 MP
Display size: 4.5”
Display resolution: FWVGA (854 x 480)
Processor name: Snapdragon 400
Battery capacity: 1830mAh
RAM: 512 MB
Mass memory: 8 GB
Smart Sim Management
Action Center
Lock Screen
Thanks to Windows Phone 8.1 out of the box, you get smart sim management, various in built sense options including WiFi Sense, Battery Sense and Storage Sense. You will also get the new boxy notification panel dubbed “Action Center” which was long anticipated.
Stay Tuned for our hands on review video followed by a full review.
Microsoft has finally shown off its new mobile search assistant, Cortana, its version of Siri and Google Now.
As a part of Microsoft’s new Windows Phone 8.1 update, Cortana is a new Voice Recognition based personal digital assistant. Named after the AI in the popular XBOX title “Halo” the “personal digital assistant,” has the ability to search the Internet, set up alarms, shift calendar appointments, find restaurants, send messages, place calls and more.
Cortana is quite identical to Siri on an iPhone, tap a button and ask the ui a question, however like Google Now Coranta can also tap into applications and and the phone’s core services to deliver you contextual information.It can offer the weather where you’re located, deliver favorite sports scores, or scan email and provide updates on a flight status or package delivery.
Cortana runs on Bing and has a lot of intriguing features, for example it learns from habits of its users when and how they do their tasks. One unique feature of Cortana is that it can actually push the results of its searches over to other apps. Also like competition, Cortana doesn’t need to learn your voice and tries to interact with you naturally.
Cortana wasn’t the only new aspect of Windows Phone 8.1, which now has a notification drawer called Action Center, which collects text messages, emails, calls and updates from social networks and other apps. It also has quick toggles for things like Bluetooth and Wi-Fi seen on Android and iOS both.
Microsoft Also plans to push this Windows for free for hardware makers to use on phones, tablets with screens under nine inches. This should considerably bring down the costs of hardware running Windows.
The Nokia icon was the envy of the global audience, well no more! The new Lumia 930 is essentially the global version of the Nokia Icon and it features a 5-inch full HD display and a 20-megapixel PureView camera with a Zeiss lens. The phone also ships with a Creative Studio app that’ll let you add Instagram-style filters to your snapshots. A 1.2 MP wide-angle camera adorns the front
The Front of the Lumia 930 has a 5-inch, 1080p Full HD display (1920×1080; 441ppi), with Gorilla Glass 3, Super Sensitive Touch and a near 180-degree viewing angle. The handset features Integrated Dolby Surround Sound. Hardware wise a 2.2 GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor, 32GB of internal storage (7GB free OneDrive cloud storage) and 2GB of RAM finish it up with a 2420 mAh battery.
The handsets will ship with Windows Phone 8.1 out of the box and contain apps like Nokia Camera, Nokia Storyteller, Nokia Creative Studio and Nokia Refocus. A new new Living Images feature will even turn statics pictures in movie styles.
With Windows Phone 8.1 the handset will finally get a notification center and the all new “Cortana” Microsoft’s answer to Siri and Google Now. The Nokia Lumia 930 is roughly priced at US $ 599 and is expected to hit Europe first and then Asian countries starting June.
Gionee has officially launched the new Gionee Elife S 5.5 in India for a price of Rs. 22,900/- at an event held in Goa. The ELife S 5.5 comes just weeks after its global launch at MWC 2014 in Barcelona.
The Gionee S5.5 sports a 5? display with a resolution of 1920 x 1080p, a 1.7Ghz Octa Core chipset from MediaTek 2 GB of RAM and 16 GB Of storage. The Sleek phone has a 13 MP rear camera, and 5 MP front shooter.
The Gionee Elife S5.5 is the slimmest smartphone yet and measures only 5.5 mm. Retaining the slim structure, the devices manages to be equipped with a 2300 mAh battery.
The phone has been launched in India in all five colors, and will be available starting April 27th.
Specifications
5.0” Super AMOLED Plus display Octa- Core 1.7GHz CPU Single SIM 13.0MP AF +5.0MP AF Camera 95 Degree Ultra-Wide Angle AMIGO OS 2.0 (based on Android OS, V4.2) Memory: 16GB+2GB Ultra slim 145.1 x 70.2 x 5.55mm GSM-850/900/1800/1900MHz WCDMA-850/1900/2100MHz or 900/1900/2100MHz 3.5 mm Earphone Jack WIFI/GPS/BT4.0/FM/G-sensor Non-removable 2300mAh Battery OTG
