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Google Maps for Android adds Zagat-based Restaurant Reviews

When Google completed a $151 million acquisition ofrestaurant rating firm Zagat in September it was seen as an attempt to compete with Yelp’s popular online rating service and it was only a matter of time before they integrated the service into their products. On Wednesday, Google Maps for Android was updated to prominently feature Zagat-based reviews on many restaurants around the world. The changes announced on Wednesday, a video on youtube by googlemaps, eliminates an annual $25 subscription fee that Zagat had been charging for online access to its surveys of diners. Those diners have rated about 35,000 restaurants in more than 100 cities around the world.

This integration is part of a larger rollout called Google+ Local, on which you can get personalized recommendations from people in your Google+ Circles. According to Google’s Lat-Long Blog,[quote] Each place you see in Google+ Local will now be scored using Zagat’s 30 point scale, which tells you all about the various aspects of a place so you can make the best decisions. For example, a restaurant that has great food but not great decor might be 4 stars, but with Zagat you’d see a 26 in Food and an 8 in Decor, and know that it might not be the best place for date night.[/quote]

Zagat uses a 30 point rating system which includes everything, from food to the ambiance.

Google’s check-in services have never really taken off, so Local’s renewed focus on personalized recommendations goes a long way to making Places relevant again.

The update for Google maps was made available in the play store on Wednesday.

June 4, 2012
RIM to set up Asia’s first Blackberry Innovation Zone in Kerala

Research In Motion(RIM), manufacturer of BlackBerry, is all set to open it’s first innovation zone for the Asia Pacific region in Kerala. It will do so in collaboration with Startup technologies and will be located at Rubus Labs in Kerala-based Startup Village, the Innovation Zone will be the first of its kind in the Asia-Pacific region, and will showcase the latest in BlackBerry technologies.

Alec Saunders, vice-president of Developer Relations and Ecosystems Development, Research In Motion, said they will provide Rubus Labs access to the latest BlackBerry products and technical information.

The innovation zones would encourage young minds to learn and innovate by giving access to RIM's technology.

The release added that the labs would host regular developer activities such as BlackBerry Hackathons and Bar Camps and that training sessions will be conducted across the 126 engineering colleges in Kerala under the BlackBerry BASE (BlackBerry Apps by Student Entrepreneurs) programme by using the outreach of Startup Village.

June 4, 2012
ZTE 6.2mm ‘Athena’ to be world’s thinnest smartphone?

Just days after Oppo announced its new phone, Finder, which took the crown of the world’s thinnest phone from Huawei’s Ascend P1 S by a mere 0.03mm, Chinese mobile company ZTE has announced that they will be coming out with a new handset, called ‘Athena’, which at just 6.2mm would become the thinnest android smartphone in the market. The device may not leave Chinese shores, but it’s an amazing feat considering all the technology inside of it. The phone will reportedly feature a 720p display, Cortex-A15 chip (most probably multi-core) and up to 64GB of internal storage, as well as a Miflavor UI, ZTE’s custom ROM that runs over Android 4.0 ICS.

The "Athena" next to an iPhone.

To throw In a few numbers, the iPhone is 9.30mm ‘thick’, the Galaxy S II is 8.45mm thick and the RAZR is 7.10mm thick. From the current generation of quad-core phones, the HTC One X is 8.9mm thick, while Samsung’s latest flagship, the Galaxy S III measures in at 8.6mm.

The Athena is rumoured to be available in a black Kevlar coating, the same as that used on the Motorola RAZR. But the main question is – Would a phone this slim be prone to reduced battery life and heating problems? We’ll have to wait and see! More to come on this handset soon, we hope.

June 4, 2012
Opera releases Version 7 of the popular mobile browser Mini.
Opera on Friday releases the new version of their popular mobile browser, called Mini 7, aimed at capitalizing on the social networking wave. The biggest change that makes its way into the browser is a new feature called “Smart Page” which brings all the latest feeds from your Facebook and Twitter accounts, your favorite websites (via RSS feeds) on your homepage. The SmartPage also uses Opera’s page compression technology, which shifts a large part of user-end calculation, such as running javascript, to special servers which reduces the data charges involved in mobile browsing.

Other updates include
- Better tab features
- Unlimited speed dials for quick access to your favorite websites.
- Direct URL’s (without “www.”)
The website made the new version available for download for free from their website, m.opera.com, for BlackBerry, Symbian S60 and Java phones. No news yet on when it’ll be made available for iOS and Android users.
June 4, 2012
Hands on with the Samsung Galaxy S3 at Launch in India

Okay so the Samsung Galaxy S3 was just launched in India, with a lot of fanfare. The company had a list of high profile guests and key executives from Samsung Korea and top admin from their India office. Celebrity Nargis Fakri was also called to introduce the product in the Indian market.

The phone takes a major redesign approach, if compared to the Galaxy S2 or even the Note. The “Inspired by Nature” theme may not appeal to some, but definitely feels exceptionally good in the hand.

The phone features a Quad Core Exynos CPU with a clock speed of 1.4GHz , 16 GB of storage and a 8 MP camera at the back. There is also a 1.9MP HD front Camera and the 4.8 inch Super AMOLED display that is spec’d at 1280x720px with a 306 ppi.

The phone has been priced at Rs. 43180/-, which is a mammoth miscalculation by Samsung, if you ask us. Our sources tell us that the device will be effectively available for approximately 37k.

Check out the images below and stay tuned for a hands on video, coming shortly.

Images

May 31, 2012
Sony Xperia P Unboxing and Hands On Video
Sony is just about ready to launch their new unibody marvel into the market, and we go unboxing and hands-on, iGyaan Style. The new smart phone has an amazing unibody construction with the top part as a plastic shield to allow network connections.

[tabgroup][tab title=”Specifications”]

[arrowlist]
- Dimensions: 4.8 x 2.3 x 0.4 inches
- Weight: 4.2 oz
- Available in red, silver, and black
- 4-inch TFT capacitive display (960 x 540)
- Sony WhiteMagic technology
- Android 2.3 (Gingerbread)
- Dual-core 1GHz processor
- 1GB RAM
- 16GB built-in storage
- 8.1-megapixel camera w/ AF and LED flash
- Front facing VGA camera
- HD Video recording @ 1080p
- MicroUSB
- 3.5mm audio out
- Radio: Stereo FM / RDS
- 1305mAh Li-Ion battery
[/arrowlist]

[/tab][tab title=”Prominent Features”]

[arrowlist]
- 8.1-megapixel camera + full HD Video (Exmor R)
- Unibody Shell
- Dual Core 1 GHz CPU + Mail 400MP
- 1 GB Ram
- 13 GB available storage
- Free Cloud account
- High Res 4-inch TFT + Mobile Bravia
[/arrowlist]

[/tab][tab title=”In The Box”]

[arrowlist]
- Handset
- Charging + Sync Cable
- Power Brick
- In Ear Hands Free kit
- Documentation
[/arrowlist]

[/tab]

[/tab][tab title=”Price”]

[arrowlist]
- Indian Rupees : 24,999 /-
- US $ : 420
[/arrowlist]

[/tab][/tabgroup]

Images

Video Unboxing
May 31, 2012
The Samsung Galaxy S III Gets Priced for India Rs. 43180/- MRP

The Galaxy S3 Event is now live, and the price of the S3 has been decided at a whopping Rs. 43,180/- in India. We will keep you updated as more develops.

[Developing….]

May 31, 2012
Report : Internet Trends report finds online growth driven by China and India

India, China and Vietnam have all seen triple digit percentage growths in 3G penetration since last year, according to the report by venture capital firm KPCB. Also out of the 663 million online users added over the last three years major chunk comes from India and China. According to the report boon in connectivity is also being pushed by the broader availability of 3G data connections. However , the lack of properly set infrastructure leads to incorrect number swapping. You can read the full report below.

May 31, 2012
ADATA Premier Pro microSD Gold Edition Launched (PR)

ADATA has launched their new range of microSD cards called the Premier Pro , aimed at professionals and demanding consumers, the 16GB and 32GB editions come with a 45MB/s read and 40MB/s write speeds and support the latest SD 3.0 standard.

They are expected to be available sometime in June, but the pricing remains unknown. The 8GB variant is supposedly the snappiest of the lot and has the highest access rates.

[toggle_box title=”Press Release” width=”Width of toggle box”]

Performance Advance in microSDHC Memory Cards from ADATA

Premier Pro microSDHC UHS-I U1 Offers Ideal Specs for Smartphone and Tablet Users

Taipei, Taiwan – May 30, 2012 – ADATA™ Technology today announces the launch of new Premier Pro microSDHC UHS-I U1 memory cards, which thanks to their ultra-high speed transfer and the latest SD 3.0 standard support, this newest addition to the Premier Pro line offers ideal specifications for smartphone and tablet users.

Premier Pro storage products from ADATA are targeted towards professionals, as well as the most demanding end users. These new microSDHC cards follow through in the tradition of this prestigious product family, with support for the latest SD 3.0 standards. Read/write speeds for the larger capacity cards (16 and 32 gigabytes) are 45 MB/second (Read) and 40 MB/second (Write). They also offer up to 1400/150 IOPs random Read/Write speeds, ensuring high performance while running multiple applications or when working with high resolution media files.

Ray Chu, Product Manager at ADATA, is confident about the future of Premier Pro microSDHC storage: “These cards have the best read and write performance among all comparable products offered by the industry’s key players. When that is combined with the aggressive pricing options in store for this line, the result is going to be a bonanza for our customers worldwide.” The Premier Pro microSDHC UHS-I U1 cards will be bundled together with an SD adaptor, to facilitate transfer of contents to and from users’ personal computers.

Availability
The Premier Pro microSDHC UHS-I U1 memory cards will be available in capacities of 8, 16 and 32 gigabytes.

[/toggle_box]

May 31, 2012
Leaked iPhone 5 cases hint at taller iPhone with a Metal Back

There are some images floating around the Inter-webs of a new iPhone design shell, that has been received by many repair companies. UBreakiFix has added some pictures that show a completely new iPhone dock connector.

The images also indicate a brand new back design with a mix of aluminum and glass, that seems to look rather interesting to us. There is still chances that these are images from a fake chinese manufactory, pretending to be the real deal. But, it definitely strengthens the rumors of a 3.99 inch 16:9 screen and a tiny dock connector.

[uBreakiFix]

May 30, 2012
HTC One S confirmed Release in India set to First week of June, Price of Rs 32,198
HTC has confirmed the launch of the HTC one S in India, claiming that the “One X equivalent – smartphone” will launch in India on the 5th of June for a price of Rs. 32,198. The One S was supposed to be launched with the One X and One V on 2nd April but was delayed.

Everyone looking forward to the device should be aware that the block color suffers from the micro arc oxidation problem and therefore, may not be the best choice for color.

Specs Include:

[arrowlist]
- Android 4.0 with HTC Sense 4
- 4.3-inch with a resolution of 540 x 960 pixels
- 1.5 GHz dual-core processor
- 8MP camera with AF, LED flash, BSI sensor and 1080p HD video recording
- F2.0 aperture and 28mm lens
- 16GB Internal memory
- 1GB RAM
- Beats Audio
- Wi-Fi, DLNA, micro-USB 2.0, HDMI
- 1650 mAh battery
[/arrowlist]
May 29, 2012

Unboxing the Samsung Ultrabook NP530U4B-S02IN

Samsung’s new series of Notebooks have started to arrive at the iGyaan office. The first one to show up is the NP530U4B-S02IN, and it looks pretty impressive. The overall design of the laptop/notebook is really sleek and lightweight, the outer shell is metallic aluminum, while the underside is made with fiber glass that’s light but resistant to wear and damage. With fast boot the computer boots-up in just 20 seconds while Fast Start wakes from sleep in 2 seconds.

The laptop boasts the new Samsung Series 5 ULTRA’s 35.56cm (14.0) HD SuperBright screen which is coated with an Anti Glare coating, with Image Enhancer technology and an AMD Radeon™ HD7550M (1GB) graphics processing unit.

The company claims a battery life of upto 6.5 hours of usage, but we will test it out in a real world environment.

[tabgroup][tab title=”Hardware”]


Processor	Intel® Core™ i5 Processor 2467M (1.60GHz, 3MB L3 Cache)


LCD	35.56cm (14.0) SuperBright 300nit HD LED Display (1366 x 768), Anti-Reflective


Dimension (WxDxH)	333.0 x 229.5 x 20.9mm (13.1″ x 9.0″ x 0.82″)
Weight	1.79Kg (3.94 lbs)


Graphic Processor	AMD Radeon™ HD7550M
Graphic Memory	1GB DDR3 (Ext. Graphic)


System Memory	6GB DDR3 System Memory at 1,333MHz (on BD 4GB + 2GB x 1)
Memory Slot	1 DIMM Slots


HDD	1TB S-ATA II Hard Drive (5400RPM) with ExpressCache 16GB
ODD	Super Multi Dual Layer


Main Chipset	Intel HM65


Sound	HD Audio
Sound Effect	Mic Noise Suppression SoundAlive™
Speaker	4 watts Stereo Speaker (2 watts x 2)
Integrated Camera	1.3 megapixel HD Webcam


Wired Ethernet LAN	10/100/1,000 Gigabit Ethernet LAN
Wireless LAN	Inte®l Centrino® Advanced-N 6230, 2 x 2 802.11 abg/n (up to 300Mbps), Widi Support
Bluetooth	Bluetooth V3.0 High Speed


VGA	Yes
HDMI	Yes
Headphone Out	Headphone-out/Mic Combo
Mic-in	Headphone-out/Mic Combo
Internal MIC	Yes
USB	(Sleep-and-Charge) 2 USB 3.0, 1 USB 2.0
Multi Card Slot	4-in-1 (SD, SDHC, SDXC, MMC)
RJ45 (LAN)	Yes
DC-In (Power Port)	Yes


Keyboard	87 Key 86 Key
Touch Pad	Touch Pad (Scroll Scope, Flat Type, Gesture UI)


Virus	Norton Internet Security (60-day Trial)*
Lock	Security Slot
Recovery Solution	Samsung Recovery Solution
S/W Security	BIOS Boot Up Password HDD Password Norton Internet Security (60-day Trial)* Absolute Data Protection (90-day Trial)*


AC Adapter	60 watts*
Standard Battery	8 Cell (45.3Wh)

[/tab][tab title=”Software”]


Operating System	Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium (64-bit)


Standard DVD	OS DVD
Installed S/W	Universal Printer / Scanner Driver Easy File Share Easy Migration Adobe Acrobat Reader Microsoft Office Starter 2010 Samsung Support Centre Microsoft Office Starter 2010 WildTangent Game Console Windows Live Norton Online Backup (30-day Trial) Skype Cyberlink Media Suite Cyberlink Youcam Software Launcher Intel® Anti-Theft Technology Intel® Identity Protection Technology

[/tab][tab title=”Price”]


Price	Recommended Market Price : Rs. 54,390/-

[/tab][/tabgroup]

In the Box you get the laptop, manuals and the charger, alongside a software restore disk.

Check out the Images below and stay tuned for the video (uploading now).

Image Gallery

Video

May 29, 2012

Absinthe 2.0 Jailbreaks nearly 1 Million iOS Devices over the Weekend.

The new Jailbreak called Absinthe 2.0 for all iOS devices running 5.1.1 has been a huge hit. Its simple and easy to use jailbreak method has been the biggest possible reason behind nearly one million devices being jailbroken over the weekend.

The exact number as tweeted by the Jailbreaking team is 973,086 iOS devices in a single weekend, out of which 211,401 were the new third Gen iPads. (two were ours!)

If you want your device jailbroken, you can still do it before Apple closes the window with the next update.

[VIA]

[Chronic Dev Team]

May 29, 2012
Samsung Galaxy S III Launch in India Live

We will be covering the launch of the Samsung Galaxy S III in India.

The event takes place on the 31st of May at 12:00 Noon .

(Update the time is now shifted to 1:30 PM)

So bookmark this page and watch the event live.

Live Video

May 29, 2012
Facebook now trying to make another Smartphone

Facebook is back to building smartphones, and this time around its no ChaCha. According to the New York Times Bits blog, the company is hiring old Apple iPhone and iPad engineers and employees to develop phones exclusive to Facebook

[quote]Mark is worried that if he doesn’t create a mobile phone in the near future that Facebook will simply become an app on other mobile platforms. – Said one of the Facebook employees[/quote]

With Facebook’s IPO now out, this unique move may actually help the company gain some movement, when they seem to be slowing down.

May 28, 2012

Blog

Images

Images

Video Unboxing

Specs Include:

[/tab][tab title=”Software”]

[/tab][tab title=”Price”]

Image Gallery

Video

Live Video