Tag: Android

iGyaan Exclusive : Micromax A52 with AISHA and 1 GHz ready for Launch

Micromax is working on an upgrade to the A50 with AISHA, called the A52 , the new smartphone will feature a 1GHz processor with dual sim capabilities. The phone will be available in Yellow, White & Black and will have a 3.2 inch capacitive LCD. The price is expected to be around Rs. 6,000 which would make this an exclusive product in this price range with such features.

Sources reveal that the phone will be launched within days with a marketing campaign based around AISHA and 1 GHz chipset, just as we saw for the A50. The phone will come with Gingerbread , with a supposed update to ICS available soon. If the device truly launches for 6k it might just make our list of best phone to buy.

Wait for more information and see our unboxing of A50 below.

June 5, 2012
Sony Xperia Sola Unboxing and Hands On Video
Sony has launched their new smartphone the “Sola” in the Market, and we go unboxing and hands-on, iGyaan Style. The new smartphone has a different build as far as all Xperia net devices are concerned.

[tabgroup][tab title=”Specifications”]

Main

[arrowlist]
- 3.7 inch scratch-resistant TFT touchscreen
- 16 million colours, 854 x 480 pixels
- Google Android 2.3 (Gingerbread)
- (Upgrade to Android 4, Ice Cream Sandwich, planned in Quarter 2 2012)
- 1 GHz STE U8500 Dual Core processor
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Camera and video

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- 5 megapixel camera with LED flash and Auto focus
- 16x digital zoom
- HD video recording (720p)
- 3D Sweep Panorama
- Image playback, supported formats: BMP, GIF, JPEG, PNG, WBMP
- Image capture, supported format: JPEG
- Video playback and recording, supported formats: 3GPP, MP4
- Face detection and Smile detection
- Fast capture
[/arrowlist]

Connectivity and communication

[arrowlist]
- USB High speed 2.0 and Micro USB support
- WiFi and WiFi Hotspot functionality
- DLNA Certified
- Synchronisation via Exchange ActiveSync and Google Sync
- aGPS
- WebKit web browser with Pan & zoom
- Bluetooth technology
- Native USB tethering
- floating touch™
- NFC
[/arrowlist]

Memory

[arrowlist]
- Internal phone storage: 8GB (up to 5GB user-accessible memory)
- RAM: 512 MB
- Expansion slot: microSD, up to 32GB
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Networks

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- GSM GPRS/EDGE 850, 900, 1800, 1900
- W-CDMA Band I, II, V and VIII
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Entertainment

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- TrackID music recognition
- xLOUD Experience – audio filter technology from Sony
- FM Radio with RDS
- 3.5 mm audio jack for headphones
- Audio playback, supported formats: MP3, 3GPP, MP4, SMF, WAV, OTA, Ogg vorbis
- Audio recording, supported formats: 3GPP, MP4, AMR
- Timescape with Twitter integrated
- Facebook inside Xperia 2.0
- Sony Entertainment Network (selected markets only)
- 3D surround sound
- Clear bass and clear stereo
- Accelerated Adobe Flash Video
- Motion gaming
[/arrowlist]

Display

[arrowlist]
- 3.7”, 854 x 480 pixels 16,777,216 colour TFT
- Reality display with Mobile BRAVIA® Engine
- Hard coated shatterproof sheet on scratch-resistant glass
- Capacitive touchscreen with on-screen QWERTY keyboard
- Screenshot capturing
[/arrowlist]
[/tab][tab title=”Prominent Features”]

[arrowlist]
- 5-megapixel camera + HD Video (Exmor R)
- NFC Tags
- 1 GHz STE U8500 Dual Core processor
- NFC TAGS
- Expandable Memory
- Floating Touch
[/arrowlist]

[/tab][tab title=”In The Box”]

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

[/tab]

[/tab][tab title=”Price”]

[arrowlist]
- Indian Rupees : 19,999 /-
- US $ : 350
[/arrowlist]

[/tab][/tabgroup]

Image Gallery

Video Unboxing
June 5, 2012
AppGyaan [Must have apps!]

[tabgroup][tab title=”Android Apps”]

Theme Sense 4 CM9/AOKP (Rs 64)

For all those android users using a CyanogenMod 9 or AOKP ROM (Oh yes, we know), who want their phones to run HTC’s beautiful Sense 4.0 UI, here comes the app that you’d been waiting for! This theme from BlackDub imitates the new streamlined and functional interface to perfection. A must have for spicing up your phone.

The HTC Sense UI 4.0

JetAudio Basic (Free)

This is an app worthy of replacing the default music player on your Android Smartphones.

It comes with 32 equalizer presets that will provide a wide array of listening experience.
For those who would like to customize their own sound experience, it also allows 10 bands graphic equalizer and other advanced playback functions including playback speed control, crossfading, AGC and much more. It’s available for free on the Play Store.

There are multiple Presets and equalizer options.

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[tab title=”iOS”]

SkyDrive (Free)

It comes as a shock, but Microsoft online storage service has been available for iOS users. The latest release adds a couple of new features such as support for Retina displays on the new share of apple devices. Features such as the option to upload multiple pictures and videos, sharing of these files via e-mail or web link help it to be the app of the week. The SkyDrive app also lets the user open files uploaded to SkyDrive using other iOS apps. So, if you fancy additional-based cloud storage, head to the iTunes store for the latest version.

Music Unlimited (Free Trial + subscription)

Yet another music streaming service, but this time, from Sony. It’s biggest advantage is that it is offered across a ton of Sony hardware-Android, PlayStation 3, PS Vita, and Sony TVs and Blu-ray players. It also boasts music from all the major labels, not just Sony’s own music division. If you’re interested, you can get a free 30-day trial.

The interface is smooth and flowing.

[/tab][tab title=”Windows Phone”]

WizTiles

This app makes it into the list because it brings the much needed option of customizing your home screen. You can choose from images and other themes to make your home screen more lively. It is available for download in the Windows Market Place.

Just the app many of us were waiting for!

[/tab][/tabgroup]

June 5, 2012
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
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
Sony Xperia P to be Available May 25th for 24,999

Sony Mobile’s much awaited Xperia P mobile phone has been deemed to be available starting May 25th for a price Rs. 24999. The Xperia P is a slightly lower version of the Xperia S and will feature a 4-inch Reality Display that Sony claims is the brightest on any screen, so far.

This 120gm phone also has impressive music, it includes xLoud, Clear Bass and 3D surround. It comes with Android 2.3 installed and a Android 4.0 promise.

The one factor that puts it above the Xperia S is Aluminum unibody construction. And as far as internals are concerned its powered by a 1Ghz dual-core processor with 1GB RAM and internal storage of 16GB. The Camera also bears the grunt of downsizing to 8MP vs the 12 on the Xperia S

May 21, 2012
Samsung SIII gets over 9 Million Pre-Orders Worldwide

Samsung Galaxy SIII, the device recently launched in London with a worldwide announcement of features, has received over 9 million pre-orders worldwide according to the Korea Economic Daily. If these numbers are to be believed, then Samsung is almost close to the half of the 20 million SIIs they sold overall till FEB 2012.

According to a separate report by Reuters, the company’s factories are producing 5 million units monthly, so it does not seem like stocks should be an issue once the device does get launched.

[Korea Economic Daily]

May 18, 2012
Google working on several Nexus devices for Android 5.0, Tablet in tow

Looks like Google is planning to release a series of Nexus devices this year, including some tablets, on Google Android 5.0. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Google is planning to partner with a variety of OEMs (in order to have up to five Pure Google Nexus devices available at once. All of these devices will ship with Android 5.0 Jelly bean

This move is likely to be announced at the next Google I/O conference.

[WSJ]

May 16, 2012
Lava Xolo X900 Hands On featuring, One X, Xperia S and iPhone 4s

The Intel based Android smartphone comes to India first, and has managed to create quite the buzz. The phone is powered by an Intel Atom Processor Z2460 which is a single core chip clocked at 1.6 GHz and Hyper Threading, there is also a 400 MHz GPU on the SOC.

The x900 has a 4.03 inch display with a 1024 x 600 px resolution and gorilla glass protection. The back of the device is home to an 8 MP camera with 1080p whereas on the front has a 1.3MP and 480p for video chat

The overall look of the phone is quite a disappointment, the build looks cheap and plasticky, it also has flimsy panels and the buttons are not tactile. the phone can easily be passed off as a cheap chinese replica model. The back however, has a nice soft touch rubber finish and is possibly he only real thing working for this phone in terms of aesthetics.

Benchmarks on this device blew out of the roof with impressive results all around, you will see in our hands on video. The phone is priced at Rs. 22,000 (US $ 425) which seems justified for the hardware and the performance, but not for aesthetics or build quality.

Check out the hands on images, featuring the best of the devices from today. Stay tuned for the Hands on Video

Images

Video (Coming Soon)

May 11, 2012
Samsung Galaxy S III goes up for pre-order in the UK

Three prominent Uk network providers Vodafone, Three and O2 have started taking pre-orders for the next Galaxy, the S3. Since the networks have already started receiving huge numbers of queries, it seems like a good idea to start pre-orders considering the devices should be available end May-early June.

Pricing also seems worthwhile as you can snag the 16GB version for £41 monthly plan on Vodafone, which has some data benefits as well. Hit the links below to find your fix.

[Vodafone UK]

[Three]

[O2]

May 11, 2012
Sony Xperia S Unboxing and Hands on Review

The Sony Xperia S, was launched recently in India, and despite the high price and low specs seems to doing just great in the market. The device has an impressive display one of the best till date, with a 1280×720 px resolution crammed into a 4.3 inch display along with the Mobile Bravia Engine .

First impressions of the device make you feel like the phone is more eye-candy and less functional, but that is quickly changed when you power on the device and the crisp display shows up. The phone appears to be very functional and responsive.

At the heart of the device is a Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8260 Dual Core chipset with 1.5GHz of speed, and a Adreno 220 GPU . The Xperia S has an whopping 12 megapixels of camera resolution at the back with full HD 1080p video capability. On the front is a 1.3 MP camera which is however capable of 720p video aswell.

The design is brilliant and the glowing bar in the bottom area looks exceptionally good. The back panel opens up to give access to the micro-sim slot, the battery is a 1750 mAh battery and is not changeable. The phone has a 16GB store with no micro SD expandability.

Check out the Images and size comparisons below and stay tuned for the full video review.

Images

Video Unboxing & Hands On (coming soon)

May 11, 2012
Samsung SIII gets exclusive Flipboard App, other Android users need to wait for “coming months”

Uberly popular iOS app “FlipBoard” has made it to the Samsung Galaxy SIII as an exclusive for a couple of months before the app is released to the Android Google Play store for the public gestation. Apart from its similarities to the iOS version the Android version ( or the Galaxy SIII version) will also add notable widgets for the dashboards of the device.

[Flipboard]

May 4, 2012
Micromax launches Siri competitor “AISHA” and A50 Superfone Ninja (PR)
Micromax is trying to settle in the entry level segment with its own version of Siri, called AISHA it stands for Artificial Intelligence Speech Handset Assistant. In Micromax’s own words :

Through the voice recognition tool, Users can initiate a Google search, view stock market details, Know phone status, movie reviews, make calls, read news of desired locations, know horoscopes, make language translations and also view recipes through AISHA. This is not just enough, AISHA helps you to inquire your missed calls, send message, inquire date and time, weather conditions, pose knowledge questions and a number of jobs to count on.AISHA is an application that translates words into action. By simply speaking to the phone, the users can connect with the people, businesses and activities that are important to you. With AISHA if the users need to check the weather conditions they just need to say ‘What is the weather in Delhi’ and AISHA will respond saying “The weather will be sunny”.

Along with this unique assistant, Micromax has also launched a budget friendly A50 Superfone which will come with AISHA preloaded. A50 runs on Android version 2.3.6 (Gingerbread) with a processor speed of 650 MHz, and a 7.9 cm (3.11inch) touchscreen display. Apart from all the above the device is also a dual sim 3G phone which has standard Wifi and Bluetooth. The phone features a 2.0 MP camera and a price of just Rs. 4999/-

Superfone Ninja is equipped with the power of AISHA, an intelligent and interactive which responds to user’s voice commands. To start using AISHA, an internet connection and a Google account is required. Once the Internet connection has been configured on the phone, just tap on Aisha to bring up the Aisha interactive screen and users can start issuing their voice commands. Aisha is continuously updated with new things for the users to enjoy. Just tap ‘What is new option’to find out the new things in Aisha.

[toggle_box title=”Press Release” width=”550″]

Micromax launches “AISHA” with A50 Superfone Ninja
New Delhi, April 26^th, 2012: Micromax Informatics Limited (“Micromax”), the 12th largest handset manufacturer in the World (According toGlobal Handset Vendor Market share report from Strategy Analytics) today announced the launch of A50 Ninja, which comes with an Artificial Intelligence Speech Handset Assistant, “AISHA”.

Priced at Rs. 4,999/- the Micromax A50 Ninja makes an effort to provide an affordable smartphone solution for the masses who have longed for a phone which is not just smart but an intelligent device. In succession to A85, A75, A73 and A78, Micromax intensifies its Superfone portfolio by introducing A50 and thus offering handsets ranging from Rs. 4,999 to Rs. 12, 500.

A50 runs on Android version 2.3.6 (Gingerbread) with a processor speed of 650 MHz .The phone features a 7.9 cms multi touch capacitive screen to provide ease to the users. It’s another dual SIM Android powered offering from Micromax. However, with A50 Micromax offers a new innovation to the user in form of AISHA. Through the voice recognition tool, Users can initiate a Google search, view stock market details, Know phone status, movie reviews, make calls, read news of desired locations, know horoscopes, make language translations and also view recipes through AISHA. This is not just enough, AISHA helps you to inquire your missed calls, send message, inquire date and time, weather conditions, pose knowledge questions and a number of jobs to count on.

AISHA is an application that translates words into action. By simply speaking to the phone, the users can connect with the people, businesses and activities that are important to you. With AISHA if the users need to check the weather conditions they just need to say ‘What is the weather in Delhi’ and AISHA will respond saying “The weather will be sunny”.

For the smooth functioning of AISHA to provide an intelligent and immediate response, Micromax has back-end tie up with Indian portals such as Timesjob.com, Simplymarry.com etc

Through AISHA, the users can update their status on Facebook and Twitter. A50 comes on the Gingerbread platform and the users can discover a hub of apps that awaits them at the Google Play Store ranging from entertainment to music apps. Micromax A50 sports a 2.0 MP camera.

Superfone A50 Ninja is available at an attractive price of Rs. 4,999. This model will be available across all leading retail outlets in India. For more information, please visit

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April 28, 2012
Dropbox adds automatic photo uploads for Windows and Mac : free 500 MB for using it each time

While Google launched Drive Cloud with free 5 GB Data storage, Dropbox does not want to feel left out at the party. Adding new features for existing users, the company today announced a new app to allow automatic photo uploads from your Windows or Mac computer.

Thats not all, Dropbox will also offer upto 3GB free store for using the service, actually 500MB each time you use it to a maximum of 3 GB free.

[Dropbox]

April 28, 2012
Samsung Galaxy S Advance i9070 coming to UK April 30th (PR)

Samsung’s new addition to the Galaxy S series, the S Advance is ready to hit UK retailers the 30th of this month. Dual core chipset and Super Amoled display is what the advance bring to the table.

Check out the PR :

UK AVAILABILITY OF SAMSUNG GALAXY S ADVANCE ANNOUNCED

Latest Galaxy device set to hit shops on 30th April

26th April 2012, London, UK – Samsung Mobile UK has today announced the Galaxy S Advance will be available in the UK from 30th April. Joining Samsung’s Android-powered Galaxy portfolio, the Galaxy S Advance boasts the same sleek and stylish design of the award-winning Galaxy S II.

Simon Stanford, Vice President, UK & IRE Telecommunications & Networks Division, Samsung UK and Ireland said: “We’ve been pleased with the response we’ve had from customers, partners and media since announcing the Galaxy S Advance in January. As with many of our smartphones before it, the Galaxy S Advance features a screen which uses our Super AMOLED technology so anyone that buys one will experience unparalleled colour and vivid clarity when viewing any content on the device.”

A dual-core 1.0GHz processor and HSPA 14.4 Mbps connectivity means owners of the Galaxy S Advance can enjoy a highly responsive interface and super-fast speeds when browsing the web and downloading content, as well as smoother screen transitions and faster image processing.

Featuring Android Gingerbread and Samsung’s TouchWiz user interface, the Galaxy S Advance allows users to stay connected at all times through Samsung Hubs which offer access to music, books and games. Samsung’s own cross-platform communication service ChatON offers easy instant messaging and group chatting and allows content to be shared in multiple formats to make messaging simpler and more intuitive. Owners of the device will also benefit from its Find My Mobile feature, a lost-phone management system that enables customers to trace their missing device directly via the Internet or even delete the device’s data remotely – ensuring personal information remains safe.

The Galaxy S Advance will be available in the UK across a variety of networks including Phones 4u and Vodafone.

April 27, 2012