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Watch the Launch of the Galaxy Grand Live on iGyaan

Samsung is ready to announce the Galaxy Grand for the Indian market at 12:30 on January 22nd 2013. Bookmark this page to watch it live. The Samsung Galaxy Grand is dual-SIM smartphone and features a massive 5-inch WVGA display , which as per the resolution (800 x 480 pixels) can be termed as average at best. The smartphone runs on Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean out of the box. Under the hood, the Galaxy Grand is powered by a 1.2GHz dual-core processor coupled with 1GB of RAM so we can easily expect a smooth operation on the device for the most part.

The device looks strikingly similar to Samsung’s current flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S3 and comes with 8GB of internal storage along with a micro-SD card slot using which, users can expand the storage on the device by up to 64GB. For connectivity, the Galaxy Grand features 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, A-GPS Glonass and DLNA.

Apart from these features, Samsung Galaxy Grand comes with some unique features as well. Some of the features on the device include ‘Direct Call’, which enables users to automatically dial a call by raising the smartphone to the ear.

Popup video allows the users to watch a video in a pop-up window anywhere on the screen while running other tasks on the device. The AllShare Play feature allows the users of the device to share content across different Samsung devices using just a single account. Another interesting feature is the ‘Smart Alert’. which shows missed events such as missed calls and new messages when users pick up their phone.

The Phone will be launched tomorrow January 22nd for India, expect a full detailed hands on video along with more relevant details for the launch.

January 21, 2013
2013 Audi R8 Launched In India At Rs 1.34 Crore
The Audi R8 has to be among the most popular supercars of recent times. The R8 has been in market since about half a decade now and sometime earlier, Audi felt that the car has aged a fair bit and came out with a mid life facelift to keep the car fresh.

For the 2013 Audi R8, Audi has replaced the R-Tronic Transmission with a 7-Speed S-Tronic Transmission that enables faster and smoother playing between the gear ratios. For those who won’t settle for anything but a manual, Audi also offers a 6-Speed Manual transmission.

The high end variants of the Audi supercar line up are powered by a 5.2-liter V10 that pumps out 522 HP of power and 540 Nm of torque. The Entry level Coupe variant however, comes equipped with a 425bhp V8 engine.

On the outside, the car gets styling revisions at the lights, bumpers, grille and diffuser. The tail pipes are now circular in shape. The interiors get new seats and revised console. However, the nature of changes is such that only the purists would be able to spot the difference between the new and outgoing editions of the car.

Audi had a very successful 2012 in India, selling 9003 cars, and hopes to cross the 10,000 figure in sales in 2013. It is also targeting the number one slot, as it closed 2012 at second place, just about 300 units shy of BMW India’s sales.

2013 Audi R8 prices in India (ex-showroom, Delhi)
- Audi R8 V8 Coupe – 13,455,000 rupees (430hp 4.2L engine)
- Audi R8 V10 Coupe – 15,788,000 rupees (525hp 5.2L engine)
- Audi R8 V10 Convertible – 17,355,000 rupees (the top opens and closes electrohydraulically in 19 seconds up to 50kph)
[Motoroids]
January 21, 2013
RIM’s Rebranded BlackBerry World Web Store Launched

RIM officially put the naming of the BlackBerry App World to sleep this morning. In its place is the new branding of “BlackBerry World.” This change was noted at BlackBerry Jam Americas back in November and will play a big part in the launch of BlackBerry 10. According to their company blog, BlackBerry World “reflects a shift in the type of things you can purchase from the store,” such as apps, with music (powered by 7Digital) and movies coming later. RIM promises that the new BlackBerry World will be your “one-stop shop for all of your mobile entertainment needs.”

The beleaguered manufacturer made the change in preparation for the launch of its new OS, BB 10, later this month. It recently announced that it had amassed 15,000 BB 10 app submissionsin just two days, and calls BlackBerry World “the one-stop shop for all of your mobile entertainment needs.”

Their website and mobile store have been redesigned. BlackBerry smartphone or PlayBook owners will see the new BlackBerry World changes arrive on their device “in the coming weeks.” RIM also notes that we can easily share links to the content via BBM, Facebook, Twitter, or you can use your NFC-enabled device and “simply tap smartphones together and invite your friends to download it.”

The change to RIM’s online store is rolling out now, and should be available to everyone in the next 24 hours. It will be rolled out to the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet and BB smartphones in the coming weeks.

January 21, 2013
Exclusive Hands on : Micromax A116 Canvas HD

With really no reason as to why the company numbered this device A116 the Canvas HD was announced today at a press conference in New Delhi. The Device is a add on the the popular A series for Micromax and is also a lead on to the highly popular A110 Canvas 2. The Phone is priced at an MRP of 14,999., But we expect the device to be available for around the Rs. 12,000 price mark in India.

The Micromax A116 Canvas HD is powered by a Mediatek MT6589 chipset that has a quad core 1.2 GHz processor and PowerVR SGX5 GPU, the device is laden with 1 GB of RAM and 4 GB of storage. The front has a nice and vivid 16.7 Million color 5 inch IPS display with a resolution of 1280 x720 hence the Canvas HD moniker.

The Micromax A116 Canvas HD is almost identical in design to the the A110 but seems a bit sleeker and more defined along the edges. The camera was non functional on the prototype unit that we handled, but the company says is better than the one on the A110. The Canvas HD also has an improved light perfonce in the front camera and an enhanced speaker if Micromax is to be believed. On the Benchmark front we found that the device was quite capable and was able to deliver a knocking performance (video soon).

Internet browsing was surprisingly smooth, and the web page was snappily laid out on the poor internet connection that we had. The phone is also backed by Mediatek’s promise of a highly efficient battery life and low heat generation. Which should ensure a good overall user experience for Micromax A116 Canvas HD owners.

Canvas HD A116

Watch our hands on Video below and stay tuned for Benchmarks. We will also come out with an unboxing and Review in the coming week.

January 21, 2013
HTC M7 Spotted with Sense 5.0

HTC M7 has to be the worst kept secret for the company, with images and renders doing rounds on the internet, Android Police has an image and screenshots for the M7, a prototype HTC smartphone. Quite similar in looks to the Droid DNA for Verizon and similar in specs too. However the M7 appears to be running Sense 5.0

The widgets and the overall look of the UI seems to have been overhauled. The locations of buttons resemble the Windows Phone 8x along with the front facing camera. While the design is reminiscent of the Butterfly and the DNA it feels like a completely new device. Lets see what HTC has in store for us at Mobile World Congress.

[Android Police]

January 21, 2013
Lamborghini Aventador Roadster To Launch In India On 25th January

The Indian arm of Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A., an iconic Italian super sports car maker, is going to introduce its Aventador Roadster to domestic audience on January 25, 2013. The stunning two-seater ‘Raging Bull’ was unveiled at the 2012 Los Angeles auto salon, wherein it thrilled the supercar aficionados across the world with its ravishing design and power.

The Lamborghini Aventador Roadster engine generates peak power of 700 PS and peak torque of 690 Nm. Powered by the same 6.5L petrol engine that powers the coupe variant, the roadster will have a top speed of 350 kmph and a 0-100 acceleration time of 3.0 seconds. Respective figures for the Aventador coupe variant stand at 354 kmph and 2.9 seconds. Deceleration from 100-0 kmph can be achieved in just 60 ft. Aventador is the fastest Lamborghini ever. It has a power (bhp) to weight (kgs) ratio of 1:2.34.

The open-top Lambo comes with a removable two piece carbon fibre roof with each piece weighing about 6kg. The roof can be folded and conveniently stowed in the small storage solution provided under the car’s nose.

To compensate for the reduction in structural rigidity, the rear pillars have been reinforced and there is a metal hood to cover the engine instead of the hardtop version’s glass hood.

At present, the Lamborghini Aventador is offered to domestic sports car enthusiasts at a price tag close to Rs. 3.7 crore in the country. Accordingly, industry experts believe that upcoming Aventador Roadster will be pitched at a slightly higher pricing than its coupe version in the Indian auto market.

[Rush Lane]

January 19, 2013
Sony Xperia Z To Receive Android 4.2 Update Shortly After Launch

Sony will be rolling out an update to Android 4.2 Jelly Bean shortly after they launch their new Xperia Z smartphone sometime in the next couple of months, likely in March. Talk Android reports that the news came earlier today on Twitter, during a company question and answer session.

From Sony’s Twitter account: “Xperia Z launches on JB 4.1, but will receive 4.2 shortly after launch. As always, we’ll share more info on this over the coming weeks on the blog.”

The Jelly Bean 4.2 update will bring some modest improvements over 4.1, like a more reactive user interface through touch-responsive CPU boosting, automatically resizing widgets, lock-screen widget options, and Android Beam, which is basically that “tap to share” feature that the Samsung Galaxy S3 boasted in its launch advertisements.

While it’s great that Sony is promising quick action on the update front, especially since if they do follow through with it in good time it will be one of the first non-Nexus devices to run Google’s newest OS, we’re left wondering whether the whole thing is lip service to a very small group of users and journalists.

As we’ve reported earlier, the Sony Xperia Z will be a quite impressive piece of hardware to run Android Jelly Bean on, no matter what version you have. With a five inch screen capable of 1080p high definition resolution, a 1.5 GHz quad-core processor with 2 GB of RAM, and a 13 megapixel rear camera with 16x digital zoom, the Xperia is going to be a hot smartphone to have when it releases sometime in the next couple of months (it’s being released in the United Kingdom on March 1st, so it’s a safe bet that soon after it will land here).

January 19, 2013
LG Optimus G Sells 1 Million Units As Rumors Of Optimus G Pro Emerge

The LG Optimus G flagship handset has crossed the 1 million sold mark, according to the smartphone maker. Available in a number of markets around the globe since September, the phone is set to arrive in Europe and China later this month where it should pick up momentum.

1 million units puts it significantly behind rival handsets from Samsung and Apple. The Galaxy S3, for instance, has achieved 41 million in channel sales since its launch last May, and Apple sold over 2 million iPhone 5 units in just its first weekend of mainland China sales.

The LG Optimus G features a 4.7-inch (768 x 1280) True HD IPS Plus Display, 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 quad-core processor, 16GB of memory, 16GB microSD card, LTE, 2GB of RAM, 13-megapixel rear-shooter and 1.3-megapixel front-shooter.

Specs for the Optimus G Pro also leaked recently, said to feature a 5-inch Full HD screen, 1.7GHz Snapdragon S4 Pro APQ8064 processor, 2GB of RAM, 32GB of storage, and a whopping 3,000mAh battery. Rumours are pointing towards a Japan launch.

LG also announced that its smartphone sales reached 7 million in the third-quarter, beating the previous high of 6.2 million, reports Yonhap News.

LG has had some troubles in the past few years, but their last Q3 results have shown the company is back on its feet, ready to fight back the big dogs.

[TNW]

January 19, 2013
Opera To Launch WebKit-Powered ‘Opera Ice’ Browser For iOS And Android in Febuary

Opera Software, the company behind the popular browser of the same name, will launch a new smartphone and tablet browser called Opera Ice in February, Pocket-lint has revealed. It is an attempt to stay relevant and take the fight to Google and Apple in the mobile browser stakes.

According to a preview obtained by Pocket-lint, the company plans to do away with many of space-wasting icons and boxes, opting instead for gestures and big, beautiful icons.

The company will launch Opera Ice for Android and iOS, and it will be optimized for tablets as well as smartphones. It appears that the new version will take over from the traditional Opera Mobile as the company’s flagship mobile browser, but it will still offer its bandwidth-saving Opera Mini browser for legacy smartphone users.

The app focuses on gestures to navigate between pages and to access the home screen, which resembles an iOS or Android screen with bookmarks that mimic native applications. Opera means to utilize WebKit to ensure ultimate standards compliance, and to allow HTML5-based web applications the most space to run. The company is betting on HTML5 as a cross-platform development unifier and WebKit, as we saw recently with Microsoft’s mobile IE10 woes, is the only true player in the space at the moment.

The company also stated that it may bring a Windows Phone version to market, but it first wants to evaluate whether there is enough demand for such a product.

Look for Opera Ice to debut during Mobile World Congress next month in Barcelona.

[Pocket-lint]

January 19, 2013
Samsung Galaxy Note II To Come In Amber Brown And Ruby Wine As Well

Remember that black Galaxy Note II, the one we were so excited about? It was a fake, a render, a disappointment. But there is hope.

Samsung has announced two new colours of the Galaxy Note II, Amber Brown and Ruby Wine, which will be hitting Asian markets in the coming months. They’re a little more ornate than the aforementioned render, but they also stand to appeal to a wider audience.

The existing lineup, which includes white and slate grey, has been available since the phone’s release last year, but Samsung has traditionally waited several months between variants, hoping to appeal to the wait-and-see crowd.

Samsung’s Galaxy Note 2 has always been a sexy slab of silicon, especially on the inside, where it rocks a quad-core Exynos 4412 CPU and 2 GB of RAM. However, if you’re one of those guys or gals that like to stand out with eccentric or bizarre fashion statements (I’m trying to avoid the “fashionista” term), you probably weren’t too swept off your feet by the phablet’s color combos.

Other than the funky and snazzy colours, the GNote 2 will have the same hardware or software installed inside including a HD Super AMOLED display, quad-core Exynos 4412 CPU, 2 GB of RAM, 16GB/32GB internal memory and 8 megapixel rear camera and front camera for video calling, Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) and a 3,100 mAh battery. Even though the existence of a Topaz Blue and back versions of Galaxy Note II still remains a sweet dream, the availability of the phones in new colour combinations will truly evoke the fans.

[Android Authority]

January 18, 2013
Video : Blackberry 10 Photo Editing App

BlackBerry 10 is about just over 12 days away and the excitement is certainly high. One of the most talked about features that will be on camera – which will be an 8MP shooter – is Time Shift. This gives users the ability to edit a picture and make it perfect. Another expected camera feature to be built-in to BB10 is a picture editor app that’s similar to Instagram. With this you’ll be able to crop, remove red eye, add various filters and style, then share with your contacts.

The filter wars seem set to continue if you were to take the latest leaked video of the BlackBerry 10 photo editing app that has started to make its rounds online. At first, we had Instagram adding in a new filter, where Twitter and Flickr followed that up by adding more filters to their sites.

BlackBerry does not want to miss jumping aboard the photo editing bandwagon, which is why we have this video of a pre-production version of the BlackBerry Z10 that comes with just 1GB RAM and does not have the final software for security purposes, showing off some of the more notable features found in the smartphone’s camera app.

Are you excited to have the native capability of adding filters and other effects to photos and videotaken on your BlackBerry 10 device? Check out the video and sound off in the comments with your thoughts on it.

[Mobile Syrup]

January 18, 2013
Video : Nokia Lumia 920 And Samsung Galaxy S III Get Hit By A Fast Ball To Check Build Quality

So, how would you further test the Nokia Lumia 920?s sturdiness when it has already faced so many “Torture tests” and has proved why it is “the Premium device” among the so many Flagships out there.

Now, Nokia has tested both Lumia 920 and SGS III in a “Pitching Machine challenge“. Both the devices were set to facehigh-speed “fastballs” pitched from the machine.

The S III goes up to bat first, and unfortunately suffers a career-ending injury (as you can see in the video). Not only does its screen crack, but the back panel careens off, leaving its innards exposed. Really, what happens is to be expected.

The video captured the fastball impact and continued to record after being knocked off the stand. The screen survived and the casing was left unscathed.

We would certainly ask you to watch the video yourself and see what happened. The video is part of Nokia’s #switch campaign, with a whole series of videos which can be seen on Nokia’s YouTube page here.

January 18, 2013
Leaked : LG Optimus G Pro Images And Specs

It’s inevitable that LG will follow-up the popular 4.7-inch Android-powered Optimus G with another flagship device. Rumours have been pointing towards something called the “G2? that has a bigger display, more powerful processor, better camera and bigger battery. Engadget might have solved this mystery as they’ve posted an image of a spec sheet that shows the “Optimus G Pro” will be hitting NTT Docomo in Japan soon.

Apparently, it would sport a 5-inch full HD screen on the front, along with a Snapdragon S4 Pro CPU inside, clocked in at 1.7GHz, and 2GB of RAM to go along with it.

Furthermore, the device is said to include 32GB of internal memory, along with a 13-megapixel photo snapper on the back, the same as the original Optimus G did.

The new smartphone is also said to be heavier, at 160 grams, thicker, and 10.1 mm, and to sport a 3000 mAh battery (Optimus G landed last year at 145g and 8.5mm, while featuring a 2100 mAh battery inside).

For the time being, however, no official confirmation on the existence of this device has been provided, which means that we should take the above with a grain of salt. However, more on it might emerge in the near future, so stay tuned to learn the news.

[Engadget]

January 18, 2013
Tata Motors-owned Jaguar Land Rover India Sales Log 32% growth

Tata Motors ‘ luxury Jaguar Land Rover unit on Thursday said wholesales in India rose 32 percent year-on-year to 2,393 units in 2012. It had sold 1,813 vehicles in 2011.

During the year, the company launched the Range Rover luxury SUV in the country. Apart from that, it also sells the Freelander 2, which is built in Pune, Discovery 4, Range Rover Evoque, and Ranger Rover Sport in the country. The XF, XFR, XKR, XKR-S and the XJ from the Jaguar stable are also available in the country.

JLR said new Land Rover products will be launched in India in 2013. The new Jaguar F Type, an all new two seater sports car, will also be launched in the country later this year, along with model year changes for the Jaguar XF and XJ.

[quote]Commenting on Jaguar Land Rover India’s sales performance, Mr Rohit Suri, Vice President, Jaguar Land Rover India said, “Despite difficult economic circumstances and a general slowdown in the Indian car market, we have continued to grow our sales due to appealing and exciting products that distinguish us from other luxury car manufacturers. The coming year will see the introduction of further new and refreshed products and we are confident of increasing our share of the Indian luxury car market.”[/quote]

Tata Motors shares were up 2.8 percent at Rs 328.95 on NSE in noon trade.

JLR had said on Sunday that its total global sales rose 30 percent to over 3.50 lakh units and it plans to add 800 new jobs at its factory at Solihull in central England on the back of strong demand for its vehicles in China and other markets.

[Money Control]

January 17, 2013
LG Optimus G2 Rumored for Fall 2013 Launch

LG Electronics might not launch a successor for its Optimus G flagship handset next month as previously rumored, but it could be planning the unveiling of the device, supposedly called Optimus G2, for the fall of 2013.

Apparently, the handset vendor is set to launch the new flagship model about one year after the official unveiling of the current model.

However, the company is still set to unveil other Optimus devices before that, including a new, large handset at the 2013 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona next month, a recent article on CNET reads.

This device, rumoured to be called the Optimus GK, will utilize the 5.5-inch 1080p screen created by LG Display, which was being shown off in a number of devices at CES this year. LG’s Optimus G sequel will likely be 5-inches, with a next-generation Qualcomm chip and a more streamlined body.

Furthermore, the new mobile phone is expected to run under Google’s Android 4.1 Jelly Bean operating system when made official. Apparently, the company is waiting for the next flavor of Android to be launched before making the new device official. Last year, Optimus G was unveiled with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean several weeks before Android 4.2 was launched.

Of course, none of this may be true — launch plans are always very much in flux — but sources close to CNET say these plans are pretty credible.

January 17, 2013