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Ashok Leyland Stile MPV Unveiled

Ashok Leyland has unveiled the production version of the Stile MPV. The Stile is a rebadged Nissan Evalia and is stripped down to be priced lower than the Nissan. The Stile is ‘styled’ differently to its Nissan equivalent. It also gets a lower-spec version of the 1.5-litre Renault-derived K9K turbo diesel engine, which produces 75 bhp and 185 Nm of torque. Compared to this, the Nissan Evalia produces 85 bhp and 200 Nm of torque.

The Stile is expected to gain a CNG powered variant with a petrol engine serving as the base. Ashok Leyland has many body styles in mind regarding the Stile’s usage. These include but are not limited to 7/8 seat options for the passenger variant, an ambulance and a panel van.

The Ashok Leyland Stile is expected to be launched in September and further details including pricing will be revealed at the same time. The MPV was unveiled by Carlos Ghosn, the global Chairman and CEO, of Nissan and Renault, when he was in Delhi for the unveiling of the Datsun Go. The Stile will be sold from Ashok Leyland’s dealerships but will be manufactured by Nissan at Oragadam.

July 20, 2013
Yamaha Recalls 56,082 Ray Scooters In India

Yamaha Motor today said it is recalling 56,082 units of its first scooter, the Ray, after detecting insufficient strength in the handlebar of some vehicles due to inadequate welding.

“There is a chance in extreme cases that this might impact the steering operation. As a part of an exercise to rectify the problem, the company will reach out to each individual customer in possession of such scooter to process the recall,” India Yamaha Motor said in a statement on Saturday.

Apparently, the fault in Ray was identified during one of the field studies and the handle bars in all identified vehicles will be replaced free of charge.

Yamaha entered the scooter market in India only last year and has been able to capture 16 per cent of the scooter market already. The company’s first product, the Yamaha Ray, has seen good response with around 9,000 units being sold every month.

Yamaha’s first offering in the segment is powered by a 4-stroke 113cc engine with Continuous Variable Transmission (CVT) that produces 7.1PS @ 7500rpm and a torque of 8.1Nm @ 5000rpm. Aimed specially at the fairer sex, the Ray looks young and has a seat that is specially designed keeping in mind easy leg reach. The Yamaha Ray is offered in six colours: Pink, Purple, Blue, Burgundy, Grey and Black.

July 20, 2013
Apple Acquires Transportation App HopStop
Apple, in a bid to improve its infamous mapping system, today acquired popular transportation app HopStop.

Apple confirmed the purchase late Friday afternoon, though did not go into detail about what it intends to do with the company.

The new mapping software Apple debuted in September with the iPhone 5 has been faulted for getting users lost and for its lack of public transportation directions. HopStop shows users in more than 500 cities the fastest way to travel by foot, bike, subway and car; Locationary deploys real-time data from a variety of sources to help users find featured businesses.

The functionality is similar to the newly-acquired Waze, except it is for transit rather than automobile traffic.

HopStop’s App Store description reads :

Get detailed subway, bus, train, taxi, walking and biking directions, real-time transit information via “HopStop Live!”, as well as official transit maps, nearby station search, and station-to-station schedules in over 600 cities throughout the US, Canada, Europe, Australia and New Zealand.

In addition, you’ll benefit from our latest feature, HopStop Live!, which lets you see what other HopStop users are saying, in real-time, about the stations, trains, lines and buses you use most. HopStop Live! empowers our community of millions of transit riders to work together towards a common goal to get everyone to where they need to go, faster.

With HopStop Live! you can:
- Follow your favorite lines, stations or stops
- Report real-time delays and issues
- Contribute pictures of what you’re seeing on buses and trains
- Share to Facebook and Twitter
The app also supports these great features as well:
- Get directions from your current location
- Get schedules for hundreds of regional rails, subways, buses, ferries, light rails, streetcars, trams, trolleys & more
- Map a location & see nearby subway & bus stops
- Estimate travel time & cost for a taxi & call cab companies
- See a list of all possible routes with Smart Route
- Get biking directions in NYC, DC, Chicago, & SF
Earlier on Friday a report from All Things Digital noted that Apple had purchased Locationary, a location-based data company that blended data from multiple sources, including things like business listings and products and services.

[Via]
July 20, 2013
Honda Reveals Sketches of Brio-based MPV

Honda has unveiled sketches of a new Brio-based MPV in Indonesia, and the car is expected to debut at the Indonesia International Motor Show later in September. According to reports, it will be available with an updated version of City’s 1.5-litre iVTEC petrol engine, and Honda’s torque-heavy 1.5-litre 100 bhp diesel engine. 3 rows of seating for a total seating of 7 people will definitely increase its length over the 4 metre limit, so the car will not be eligible for an excise benefit.

The ‘low’ MPV or ‘LMPV’ (Codename: 2NH) has been given aggressive styling which should go down well with the masses. This is another attempt by Honda to do away with the admittedly staid designs of recent years, and the bulky LMPV seems to have enough character to push the Japanese automaker in the right direction. The front end is clearly inspired by the Brio with large inlets on both bumpers, The elongated wheelbase and low-slung roof line give it a sporty stance. A kink in the window line, attempts to reduce the MPV’s length visually and complements the dimensions of the car well . The car is flanked by very prominent character lines, and the flared wheel arches will surely grab some attention. A very interesting feature is the floating D-pillar which ends in a smooth curve halfway to the boot.

Unfortunately, this is all the information Honda has revealed as of now, but more news is expected in the coming months. The ‘low’ MPV should ideally make its India debut at the 2014 Auto Expo in Delhi. The MPV has tough competition with the Toyota Innova and the Maruti Suzuki Ertiga in the Indian market. But with it’s eye catching and aggressive styling, good engine options and the ever reliable Honda badge, it may just give them both a run for their money, as long as Honda are smart with the pricing. Watch this space for updates.

July 20, 2013
Report : Some Samsung Galaxy Note 2 And S3 Variants To Skip Android 4.2.2 For 4.3

Samsung Galaxy Note II users, along with Galaxy S3 owners, have been waiting rather impatiently for their turn to upgrade to Android 4.2.2, which came pre-installed on the flagship GS4.

Now, it seems as though the company may be moving away from releasing a version of the eight month-old software in favour of waiting for Google’s inevitable Android 4.3 release, which is slated to come to AOSP next week.

Telstra, an Australian network provider released a statement on their upgrade page claiming, “Samsung have elected globally to skip the 4.2.2 update for this device and will instead go to a newer version of Android. No schedule has been provided for this update.”

In some ways, this is a good move. Android 4.3 brings OpenGL ES 3.0 support along with standardized Bluetooth LE functionality and a host of other small improvements. Considering some devices, like the Nexus 7, actually dropped in performance from Android 4.1 to 4.2, Samsung may be waiting for Google to fix some underlying code issues before pushing the upgrade trigger.

While this is in no way an official report, the same would seem likely for the Galaxy S3, which is only waiting in limbo for some sort of upgrade news.

[Via]

Related Products

July 20, 2013
Hello Moto: Moto X Press Render Leaked

If you are actively following the news around the Moto X you will know that earlier today the launch date for the elusive Moto X was finalized. Now @eveleaks the notorious tipster for the mobile world has leaked press renders for the hardware.

The Moto X is expected to be a Mid Range handset and expected to be priced around 300-400 US $. The hardware expectations are running anywhere from a 4.7 inch to 5 inch HD display which may only run up to 1280 x 720 p screen. An 8 MP main camera and a 2.1 MP front facing camera will finish off the optics, and a Quad Core chipset will handle the processing needs of the Android 4.3 capable handset.

If you closely inspect the render it appears to have a carbon fibre weave on the back which sort of resembles the design of the Blackberry Q10, and the interface appears to be running stock Android with no tweaks or overlays as earlier expected.

Update July 22nd : White Render also leaked :

The color will be known as Unicorn White, and will be available alongside the black Moto X at launch unlike the Nexus 4. Although rumors of many other colors exist, no real confirmations have come forward.

July 20, 2013
Motorola will launch the new Moto X on August 1st

Motorola’s launch teaser for the new Moto X just went out and it seems the company is ready to launch the new phone on August 1st. While the leaks of the super-phone from the company have been a-plently what needs to be seen is whether this will be the next Nexus or not. Google’s Eric Schmidt who was allegedly already spied many times using the phone in the past has not been too secretive about the product.

No strict details are known, but the fibre like construction and slick curves are the beginning of a new design change at the Google-Motorola campus. The Moto X is expected to be a mid range smartphone and not something that’s all that jazz. The Handset will be targeting the mass market and may even go for free on contract with various US carriers. Despite the fact that Motorola shut down its campus in India, it is expected that the company will make a sharp return India side.

Lets see what Google have up their sleeve for the July 25th conference and the 1st August unveiling of the Moto X. Read below Motorola’s Press Note

[toggle title=”PR”]Moto X: The First Smartphone Assembled in the USA

There are more than 130 million smartphones in use in the USA today and not one of them was assembled here…until now.

May 28, 2013 Danielle McNally

Today at the AllThingsD conference Dennis Woodside revealed how we are reinventing Motorola through a portfolio of products starting with Moto X, a new flagship smartphone that will be designed, engineered and assembled in the USA. We’re not talking about just a handful of units either — available this summer, every Moto X sold in the USA will be assembled in Fort Worth, Texas, making it the first smartphone ever assembled domestically.

There were a few reasons why we decided to do this. There are several business advantages to having our Illinois and California-based designers and engineers much closer to our factory. For instance, we’ll be able to iterate on design much faster, create a leaner supply chain, respond much more quickly to purchasing trends and demands, and deliver devices to people here much more quickly. And as a part of Google we’re being encouraged to take big bets on things that make a difference.

We still have a network of global operations, and that won’t change. Our global manufacturing partner remains Flextronics and we’ll continue to assemble devices locally in China and Brazil. But Flextronics is busy looking for people for the new Fort Worth facility now. If you’re interested, we encourage you to check the available positions and apply.

This is an incredibly exciting time to be in the mobile device industry. Our role in inventing the mobile phone is well known. We’re happy to be shaping its future as well.[/toggle]

July 20, 2013
This is the 2014 Honda Jazz

So as it turns out, the images leaked in a Japanese magazine a few weeks ago were spot-on accurate. This is the 2014 Honda Jazz, and is expected to be launched in India somewhere in mid-2014.

This a major stepping stone for Honda as it aims to do away with accusations of dated styling across its range in recent years. The Jazz also suffered in the Indian market due to its relatively higher price tag and sales numbers never really took off despite it truly being one of the best hatchbacks in its segment. The 2014 Jazz may just do away with all those issues.

The new Jazz will be offered with three powertrain options, one of which is a hybrid! The Jazz Hybrid packs a 1.5-liter, Atkinson-cycle engine coupled to a 22-kw electric motor and battery. It will carry a brand-new seven-speed dual clutch transmission. And unlike Honda’s current integrated motor assist hybrid system, the new hybrid drivetrain allows driving in electric-only mode. HOWEVER we’re highly doubtful that the hybrid option will make it to India, due to the lack of a market. The other two options are the 1.5-litre i-DTEC ‘Earth Dreams’ diesel engine and a 1.2-litre petrol engine, both of which will be on offer in the Indian market.

It’s the first car to be released with Honda’s new design language, which they call “Exciting H. It’s sleeker, bolder and more aggressive than the outgoing car. The Jazz maintains its tall-hatchback look with MPV-like proportions, and offers a completely redesigned exterior. A new, narrow grille is bookended by Civic-like headlights. In fact, the entire front end reminds us of the European-spec Civic. There’s a new bumper with large air vents and a prominent character line running down the sides of the car, flowing into the new taillamps, part of which are on the boot. The restyled wheels are a nice touch, and all in all, the 2014 Jazz’s sporty looks are a breath of fresh air.

The 2014 Jazz will produced at Honda’s Tapukara plant, using a large amount of content locally to keep costs down. Since the Jazz shares its platform with the new City (due here in early 2014), it will definitely be more affordable than the earlier car. The Jazz should also be eligible for the sub-four-metre excise benefit.

All in all, the new Honda Jazz is a promising car, and it may just turn around Honda’s fortunes in the coming years, if priced appropriately. We can’t wait to see it on Indian roads, what do you think of the new Jazz?

July 19, 2013
Micromax Canvas 4 A210 Unboxing, Gaming, Specs and Features
We recently received a unit for the new Micromax Canvas 4 A210 Unboxing and the smartphone has some interesting elements inside the box. The phone is an upgrade to the Micromax Canvas HD A116 and changes a few hardware aspects but major aesthetics and inbox accessories have been changed.

Micromax Canvas 4 A210 Unboxing

The box of the new Micromax Canvas 4 will remind you Apple’s packaging of the iPod touch with the phone put on top and the a clear top cover, the design of the packaging is reminiscent of Apple design. Inside the box you will get:
First Impression

When we started the Micromax Canvas 4 A210 Unboxing we were surprised with the quality of inbox accessories, for once the company has truly focused on accessories that make the phone work. The USB cable is flat and tangle free so is easy to carry in the pocket and can be twisted and turned to result in its original form with little or no effort. The build quality of the Micromax Canvas 4 is far superior to any Micromax phone in the past, it is solid and robust with a steel shell and plastic back. The front is all glass with a 5 inch display with a now mediocre 1280 x 720p display (where most are promoting a 1080p display).

The form factor is very functional and handy, and not a lot of people will be impressed with Micromax’s software gimmicks like the Blow to Unlock feature. The Phone has a 13 MP camera which is now traditionally seen on flagships from Samsung and Sony, what is interesting here is the fact that the Micromax Canvas 4 has a 5 MP front camera which even major manufacturers neglect to feature. Micromax has also bundled several apps that allow for access to Micromax Services like MiZone and M! Security.

There is definitely some rattling sound in the unit we received and it comes from around the Sim Tray region. Check out our Micromax Canvas 4 A210 Unboxing video above and the Gaming Video below to get an initial idea of what the Device performs like.

Buy It Now

Gaming

[youtube id=”iQwaNj4ZgbU” width=”100%” height=”300px”]
July 19, 2013
ZTE Launches 6 Android Smartphones In India

Chinese manufacturer ZTE today launched 6 new Android smartphones in India. The smartphones are part of the company’s Blade, Grand and Kis series.

“ZTE enjoys a customer base of over 32 million Indian handset users. With the initial launch of six devices priced between Rs 5,000 and Rs 15,000, we will build further on our handset portfolio in the months to come. By the year end, we aim to have our pan India presence with the smartphones and data cards,” said Xu Dejun, CEO, ZTE India.

The most expensive of these smartphones is the Grand X (top), which is the flagship device of ZTE and it is priced at Rs. 14,999. The ZTE Grand X is essentially a dual SIM phone and sports a 5 inch qHD display with a resolution of 540 x 960 pixels. The device runs on Android 4.2 Jelly bean operating system and is powered by a 1.2 GHz quad core processor. It has 1 GB of RAM and 4 GB of internal storage. Memory can be expanded up to 32 GB via micro SD card. The handset comes equipped with a 5 megapixel rear camera and 0.3 megapixel front facing camera. Connectivity features include WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS and WiFi. A 2500 mAh battery powers the device.

The next top end smartphone that ZTE has launched is Blade L, which is priced at Rs 12,599. It also has a 5-inch screen, but comes with a 1 GHz dual-core CPU, 512 MB RAM and runs on Android 4.0.

The ZTE Blade G2 features 4.5-inch FWGVA display, Android 4.1 and 1GHz quad-core processor with 512MB of RAM. The phone also packs 4GB of internal storage, and 5-megapixel rear camera. It is priced at Rs.11,599.

Priced Rs. 11,999, ZTE Blade E runs on Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean OS. It is powered by a 1.2 GHz quad core processor. It sports a 4.5 screen, 512 MB of RAM, 4 GB of internal storage, a 5 megapixel rear camera, 0.3 megapixel front camera and as far as connectivity is concerned, it has WiFi, GPS and Bluetooth.

Apart from these mid-range smartphones, ZTE introduced two budget Android handsets with dual-sim functionality. ZTE Blade C has a 4-inch screen, 1GHz dual-core CPU, 512MB and costs Rs 7,599. Below it is the ZTE Kis Flex, priced at Rs 5,799 and having features like 3.5-inch display, 1GHz processor and 256MB RAM.

ZTE, in partnership with Pune-based Calyx Communications, also introduced the At Your Doorstep service model in select cities of the country. Under this initiative, it will resolve issues with users’ handsets at their homes.

July 19, 2013
Samsung’s New Exynos 5 Octa Coming Next Week

While U.S. Samsung Galaxy S4 owners received a Qualcomm Snapdragon SoC in their handsets, some global variants, including Indian devices, were released with Samsung’s octa-core Exynos 5 Octa SoC.

Samsung took to Twitter today to announce an upgrade to their Exynos processors, claiming, “a new Exynos 5 Octa is coming next week!” While we are not sure what improvements have been made to the octa-core processor, Samsung claims that it will be “more powerful” and “enhanced” than the older version.

Speculation calls for the new chip to be the Samsung Exynos 5420 and will feature a higher clock speed along with improved optimization for the 8 integrated cores. Not technically a true octa-core chip, the Exynos 5 Octa is comprised of two sets of quad-cores with one set of Cortex-A15 chips doing the heavy lifting while the other set of quad-core Cortex-A7 chips takes care of the light housekeeping. Not all 8 cores can be used at once. When one set of quad-core chips are being used, the other cannot.

Looking at history, Samsung has always created an Exynos processor and improved it in some way soon after. Whether it be double the cores (in the case of the Exynos 4) or LTE capabilities, Samsung always steps up its game with the second version of its processors.

As PhoneArena reports, a road map from low cost chip producer MediaTek showed off a true octa-core chip coming, manufactured using TSMC’s 28nm process. Mass production of this chip, the MT6592, is expected to start in November with the first handsets powered by the silicon to launch early next year. All 8 cores will be available for use at once.

We expect the next generation Samsung Galaxy Note smartphone to be powered by the new Exynos 5 Octa chip.

[Via]

July 19, 2013
VLC Media Player Returns To iOS App Store

Late in 2010, an iOS version of the popular, open-source VLC media player appeared on the App Store. But by January 2011, Apple had pulled the app, facing possible litigation from one of VLC’s original creators. According to a report from Ars Technica, version 2.0 of the app has now returned to the New Zealand and Australian App Stores, with a U.S. launch scheduled for late Thursday night and worldwide roll out later.

The visual appearance of the app has remained fairly consistent to the old version from 2010. The app was completely rewritten and is much faster thanks to modern output modules for audio and video, and offers multi-core decoding and support for any video files available in VLC media player for desktop operating systems.

Along with the faster performance, VLC for iOS 2.0 has a number of new features, including the ability to sync media via WiFi, Dropbox, 3rd party apps, or web download. It also added support for network streams, video filters, subtitle rendering, and more.

VLC supports a “WiFi Upload” feature as mentioned above, that lets you upload files through a desktop web browser running on the same local WiFi network, as well as a new “Download from Web Server” option where you can enter the URL of a file you want to download within the app. The app comes with support for iTunes file sharing, and Dropbox integration.

Back in 2011, VLC developer Rémi Denis-Courmont filed a complaint against the original VLC iOS app, created by developer Applidium. At the time, VLC was licensed under the now-outdated, open source GNU General Public License version 2.

[Via]

July 19, 2013
Google Posts Profits But Misses Revenue Expectations

Google has released its Q2 2013 earnings today and, though they appear strong in absolutes, they missed analysts’ expectations by a fairly wide margin.

The company posted $14.1 billion in revenue, up slightly from last quarter and an improvement of 20% from the previous quarter last year, but analysts were expecting $14.4 billion. Net income was solid at $3.23 billion and $9.56 per share but, again, they were below expectations.

Motorola maintained its reputation as an anchor weighing down the otherwise-profitable Google, as the hardware division posted a quarterly loss of $342 million on revenue of $998 million. Revenue was down from the previous quarter, while the net loss was up, placing even higher expectations on Moto X, which is expected to debut at the end of the month.

Google’s average cost-per-click, which includes clicks related to ads served on Google sites and the sites of its network members, decreased about 6% in the quarter compared with a year ago. Analysts had predicted prices would drop about 3% in the period.

“The shift from one screen to multiple screens and mobility creates tremendous opportunity for Google. With more devices, more information, and more activity online than ever, the potential to improve people’s lives even more is immense,” CEO Larry Page in a press release.

Google is expected to spend upwards of $500 million on advertising Moto X, which is rumoured to be customizable by colour, engraving and build material. The company is otherwise extremely healthy, with over $53 billion cash on hand.

[Via]

July 19, 2013
AMD Exceeds Expectations But Posts Losses In Q2

A day after its competitor Intel posted financial results for its most recent quarter that came in slightly below analyst’s estimates, AMD bucked that disappointing trend – but it’s not quite out of the woods yet.

AMD reported its second quarter results on Thursday after markets closed, and reported a loss of $0.09 per share on sales revenues of $1.16bn.

In the previous first quarter, revenues came in at $1.09 billion, down 32 percent from a year ago. Last quarter, the chip maker’s net loss per share (after one-time items) was 13 cents a share, or $94 million.

The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based AMD, the No. 2 maker of PC microprocessors, has had a tough couple of years as it trailed Intel in competitiveness and saw a slowdown in demand as consumers began to favor tablets and smartphones over PCs. Since it wasn’t well positioned for that transition, the slowdown hit AMD harder than Intel

Analysts expected a loss of 13 cents a share on revenue of $1.1 billion for the second quarter. AMD had a profit of 6 cents a share a year ago.

A.M.D. processors are being used in Microsoft’s coming Xbox One and Sony’s next-generation PlayStation game consoles. These devices are largely behind A.M.D.’s upbeat revenue forecast.

A.M.D. said its gross margin in the second quarter was 40 percent and would fall to about 36 percent in the third quarter. Analysts on average had expected a third-quarter gross margin of 39 percent.

[Via]

July 19, 2013
Apple 2013 MacBook Air Update Pushing Out To Fix WiFi Issue

A software update is now available for the recently launched 2013 MacBook Air. Apple describes it as follows:

This update fixes an issue that in rare instances may cause an intermittent loss in wireless connectivity, an issue with Adobe Photoshop which may cause occasional screen flickering, and an issue which may cause audio volume to fluctuate during video playback.

News of the screen flickering issue emerged shortly after the release of the 2013 MacBook Air, when users began noticing display flickering when using Photoshop, especially when accessing the app’s larger brush tools. An Adobe representative noted that it was likely a driver or GPU issue.

Another problem cropped up last week when MacBook Air owners complained of uncontrollable volume fluctuations while playing video content in both first-party and third-party applications. This too has reportedly been solved with the latest Software Update 1.0.

Considering how many issues it’s meant to address, it’s a little surprising that the the MacBook Air (Mid 2013) Software Update only takes up 3.35 MB. You can download it via Apple’s site. As AppleInsider notes, Apple even took advantage of the opportunity to update its Support downloads page so it’s more in line with the design shift seen throughout the rest of the site.

Apple is currently testing a larger 10.8.5 update to OS X, as well as the next major release of the operating system (10.9, also known as Mavericks).

July 19, 2013