Google Play Books now available in India

After a long wait, Google has finally started selling e-books in Google Play for the Indian users. The feature, which went live last evening, is already visible on the web version of Google Play and slowly rolling out to the device-based Google Play too.

The prices of the e-books are pretty competitive in the Google Play and very similar to Amazon Kindle books and in most cases cheaper than Flipkart’s Flyte e-books.

This is certainly a welcome addition, but there is still a long road ahead for Google in India. Company is yet to begin selling Movies, Music, TV Shows, and Magazines to the consumers in the country.

“Just under one year ago, we introduced Google Play, a digital entertainment hub where you can find, enjoy and share your favorite apps and games on your Android phone or tablet. Today we’re adding books to Google Play for people in India. Books on Google Play now offers thousands of Indian titles, from new releases to classics. It’s easy to find great Indian authors such as Amish Tripathi, Devdutt Pattanaik and APJ Abdul Kalam, plus international bestsellers from the world’s largest ebookstore,” Google India noted in a blog post.

Purchasing e-books from Google Play is same as buying applications; you can pay with the credit card that you have already registered with Google Play. Once purchased, you will be able to read downloaded e-books not only on Android devices but also on web, iPhone/iPad and select e-readers, which support Google e-books.

To read Google e-Books on your Android device, you will first need to download Google Play Books app from Google Play.

Intel announces quad core Bay Trail-T platform for tablets due later this year

Intel has shared plans for the 22 nm fabrication process based Atom Bay Trail platform with quad core processors.

Intel has announced plans for its next generation mobile platform targeting tablets and aims to make it available by the end of this year. The new mobile platform codenamed Bay Trail-T, specifically for tablets, is ready and expected to be available by November this year. The Bay Trail-T platform will offer a next generation Atom system-on-chip codenamed ValleyView-T, and it is set to hit production floors in the fourth quarter of this year. The Bay Trail-T platform will support both Windows and Google Android platforms.

The current generation 32 nm Intel Atom processors will soon be followed by the smaller 22 nm ValleyView-T mobile processors. The ValleyView-T system-on-chips will comprise of four cores and could be clocked at up to 2.1 GHz. These processors will be capable of supporting dual-channel memory with a 64-bit wide memory bus and memory bandwidth of up to 17 Gbps. Clearly, there will be double the memory bandwidth jump from the last generation CloverView system-on-chip.

The ValleyView-T SoC will boost computing performance by 50 per cent to 100 per cent, compared to the current CloverView chips. Also, Intel has packed the seventh generation graphics core to boost graphics performance by up to three times over existing graphics technology. One must not forget that though Intel offers dual core Atom chips for tablets and mobile phones, those processors still rank high in the different mobile benchmarks suites.

Though Intel has charted out the components comprising system-on-chip, the actual series of Atom processors will arrive with different feature sets. Intel aims to push the ValleyView-T processors in mass production in the fourth quarter of this year. Only by early next year will we get to see the quad core Intel Atom Bay Trail-T platform based tablets that will run Windows or Google Android operating system.

Salora launches Jelly Bean tablet for Rs 5,499

Salora has 2 tabs with a 7inch display, while the cheaper one gets 800x480 pixel resolution & 512 MB RAM; at a slightly higher price you get 1280x600 pixel resolution & 1 GB RAM.

Salora, a well-known TV brand from yesteryear, and a new entrant in the Android device market, has launched its first two Android tablets in India, priced at Rs 4,999 and Rs 5,499. Both tablets get 7 inch displays and support only WiFi. Both get 4 GB inbuilt memory, a 3200 mAh battery and 0.3 megapixel camera in the front and no rear camera. However, both are different in other aspects and while the cheaper Salora Pro tab runs on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system the Salora Pro Tab HD is based on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.

Salora Pro Tab has a 1.5 GHz dual core processor coupled with 512 MB RAM and has a 0.3 megapixel front camera, and 3200 mAh battery. The tablet comes with inbuilt memory of 4 GB. The display of this tablet supports WVGA 800 x 480 pixel resolution. Salora Pro Tab HD, on the other hand, supports better resolution of 1280 x 600 pixel and also gets a better 1 GB RAM, but only a 1.2 GHz processor. Given that it has better RAM and Android Jelly Bean performance should be appreciably better and the display resolution is also much higher.

Since the price difference between the two is only Rs 500 we think one should opt for the Salora Pro Tab HD. We will get the tablets soon for review, only then will we be able to say whether they are indeed worth your money.

Adobe releases Photoshop Touch for Android phones

Until today only available for tablets, Adobe has now launched the smartphone version of Photoshop Touch app in Google Play. Priced at INR 270 or $4.99, the Photoshop Touch for phones allows you to professionally edit your photographs right on your Android phone. The app however works only on Android phones with Ice Cream Sandwich or Jelly Bean.

Here are the features of Adobe Photoshop Touch for phones:
Use popular Photoshop features, such as layers, selection tools, adjustments, and filters
Apply precise tone and color adjustments to your entire composition, a particular layer, or a select area.
Apply painting effects, filter brushes, and more
Apply strokes, add drop shadows and fades, and more.
Take advantage of your device’s camera to fill an area on a layer with the unique Camera Fill feature.
Start a project on your phone and finish it on your tablet or back in Photoshop at your desk using a free membership to Adobe Creative Cloud. Your projects are automatically synced between your devices.
Free membership to Creative Cloud provides 2GB of cloud storage.
Support for Images up to 12 megapixels

Download Adobe Photoshop Touch for phones from here.

Asus launches Memo Pad in India for INR 9999

Asus has officially launched Memo Pad budget tablet in the Indian market today. The tablet has been priced at INR 9999 and will be available later this week.

Asus Memo Pad ME172V features 7-inch display with 1024x600p resolution, Android 4.1, 1GHz VIA WM8950 CPU and 1MP front camera. The tablet also packs 8GB of internal storage, microSD card slot and Wi-Fi connectivity.

Company has pre-loaded the full suite of Asus applications like SuperNote Lite, BuddyBuzz, ASUS WebStorage, ASUS Studio and WebStorage Office on the tablet.

The tablet will be competing with hoard of re-branded Chinese tablets available in the country as well as Acer’s Iconia B1 (INR 7,999) and Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 311 (INR 12,599).

Asus Memo Pad key features:

• 7-inch capacitive display with 1024x600p resolution; supports 350-nit brightness
• Dimensions: 96.2 x 119.2 x 11.2mm, weighs        358 g
• Android 4.1 Jelly Bean
• ASUS SonicMaster audio and MaxxAudio
• GHz VIA WM8950 CPU and a Mali-400 GPU
• 1MP front camera
• 4270 mAh battery

AVG launches new anti-virus for Android

It is available in both free and paid versions.

AVG Technologies, a provider of Internet and mobile security, has launched a new version of AVG anti-virus for Android smartphones and tablets. Both free and paid versions of the AVG 3.1 anti-virus are now available for download from Google Play. The paid version is priced at Rs 799 for a lifetime use.

The smartphone and tablet versions of the anti-virus are also available with a little bit tweak. The company claims that the new version aims to offer best protection possible for mobile devices combined with a real ease of use.

Both versions for Android Tablets (3.1.2) have a completely new user interface, with simplified menus, screens and settings adding to the products' look and feel and improving the ease of navigation.

Both the versions now include a Call and SMS Blocker feature which lets the user filter unwanted calls and text messages by building their own customised "black and white" phone lists. Using these lists, the users can set their mobile device to automatically reject incoming calls and text messages from certain numbers. Instead of ringing through, calls can be rejected, sent an SMS (auto reply) or switched to silent.

"Our customers are increasingly telling us that so much of their daily lives are now connected with their mobile devices, so we recognise the importance of constantly improving the protection available to them,” said Omri Sigelman, vice president of Mobile Sales for AVG Technologies.

Sigelman added, "With a range of different options available to customers we are showing that device protection needn't cost more than the device it is on or be overly complicated. No matter the budget, the main thing is that our customers feel confident that their devices will be able to support them in their busy digital lives."

The AVG AntiVirus for Android version 3.1 offers anti-theft and privacy protection features. It has anti-virus and spam filters as well.

The paid version of the antivirus scans apps, settings, files, and media in real time, and also protects the phone during web browsing. The antivirus is designed to detect apps that use intrusive ads and potentially unwanted program.

It also kills tasks that slow your device, you can also monitor battery, storage and data package usage with this app. AVG Anti-Virus also comes with device tracker with remote lock and wipe ability. One can also lock apps with app blocker feature.

The free version doesn't offer app locker and app backup feature, however you do get to try this feature with 14 day trial.

AVG has also tied up with Samsung to offer the paid version free to Samsung Galaxy users, however the offer is limited to UK right now.

New Google Settings app silently arrives for Android devices

Google's Android team has quietly pushed the new Google Settings app as part of the new Google Services 3.0 update.

Google has quietly pushed a new update for the Settings app on the Android OS based devices. The existing Settings app icon continues to exist and there is a new green coloured Google Settings app icon. This may confuse many Android users and the app may be termed as a malware.

Google has updated its Google Services Framework app in the background in order to bring better settings that show the integration of the Google+ social network with other Google products on the Android phones.

The new Google Settings is specifically meant for the Google+ centric applications and services. There are five major options appearing in the Google Settings app -Apps with Google+ Sign In, Maps & Latitude, Location, Search and Ads.

With this, Google has included the Google+ Sign-in features and other improvements that will help the user to use third party apps that require Google+ sign-in.

For instance, there are number of third-party services that offer you access via signing in using the Facebook or Twitter account. So now, those services can also offer Google+ as sign-in option. Those services will be listed in the "Google Settings” and thereby give fair idea to the user about the number of services accessing their Google+ information.

Google Settings will give you fair idea about your information being access by Google or any other third-party service that you've granted access for. Out of the five options, the Maps & Latitude and Location leads to the location settings option which user can enable or disable as per requirement.

Users need not worry and just keep a check on the services they have approved to access their Google+ information.

Nokia HERE maps app coming to other Windows Phones

HERE Drive Beta and HERE Transit apps available to other Windows Phone 8 based devices.

Nokia has announced to make its mapping suite of apps available for other Windows Phone devices as well. Microsoft confirmed that Windows Phone 8 users in select countries will be able to download the Nokia HERE Maps, HERE Drive Beta and HERE Transit apps. Previously these free maps and navigation apps were limited only to the Nokia Lumia series of devices.

Nokia had rebranded its Maps to HERE and made it available for the Windows Phone based Lumia smartphones. The HERE Maps were also available to other platforms but via mobile web interface. Now these mapping and navigation services supporting apps will be available to other Windows Phone 8 based devices too.

The Nokia HERE maps offers detailed online as well as offline mapping with turn by turn based navigation for over 90 countries. The HERE Drive Beta is experimental navigation service that offers voice-powered turn-by-turn navigation guidance. One can get all possible details about the trip, speed and other conditions from the app.

Finally the HERE Transit offers information about the public transport of several supporting cities of the world. Users can look for nearest bus stop or train station. This indeed is quite beneficial for the HTC, Samsung and ZTE devices running Windows Phone 8.

These three mapping and navigation apps will be first made available for Windows Phone 8 users in Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Mexico, Spain, the UK, and the US.

Whatsapp for BB10 coming in March

The native application will take a little longer to arrive on the new BB10 platform.

Whatsapp, the cross platform messenger application, will soon be launched for the new BlackBerry 10 operating system based devices.

"In the next few weeks, Whatsapp will be made available for BlackBerry 10 platform," said Suni Dutt, managing director, BlackBerry.

He also added, "We want our customers to enjoy the benefits of both the BBM as well as Whatsapp."

Vice president of Whatsapp, Neeraj Arora has also confirmed this. In a Twitter post, Neeraj said that the Whatsapp application for BlackBerry 10 is currently under way and will be made available for devices and users globally in the month of March.

Whatsapp is a true cross platform messenger application that is available on Android, BlackBerry (OS 5,6,7), iOS and Windows. The messenger allows users to have text chats and share files amongst friends across different platforms. And alongside instant messaging, Whatsapp also allows sharing of photos, videos, audio and your location with other users.

Actual Multiple Monitors:The Best App To Handle a Multiple Monitor Setup

The Windows OS supports a dual monitor setup. But the native dual monitor support offers basic functionality which has a lot of room for improvement. Here to enhance your dual monitor setup on Windows is an app called Actual Multiple Monitors.

Actual Multiple Monitors is a desktop utility for Windows operating systems. The app is sized at nearly 7 MB. You can install the application and use it to fully manage your dual monitor setup. In addition to standard dual monitor control features, you are able to set options like a multi-monitor taskbar. You can also control what your mouse actions do. The mouse can be easily moved to the other monitor or used for maximization.

Along with a free version, the app offers a Pro version that includes advanced features such as toolbars and desktop wrapping. You can get the Pro version for $29.95; it comes with a free 30 day trial.

Features:

• A user-friendly desktop app.
• Compatible with Windows.
• Lets you efficiently manage a dual monitor setup.
• Offers a Pro version for advanced features.

Check out Actual Multiple Monitors @ www.actualtools.com/multiplemonitors/index.php

Manilla: Organize Your Accounts And Bills Online

Every month you get bills in the mail; these cover your phone expenses, your utility bills, your internet bill, cable subscriptions, magazine subscriptions, and any memberships you signed up for. You also get timely bank balance sheets mailed to your home. When all of it is put together, you end up with a huge pile of paper. To organize all those bills, to keep in mind the due dates for payments, and to balance your expenses and income in the end is not an easy task when everything is on paper. You could surely make use of everything being computerized and easily manageable. Fortunately, a service called Manilla helps you manage all your accounts and bills online in an easy and effective way.

Manilla is a free to use web service that aims to make it easier for its users to manage their bank accounts and various bills online. You start by creating an account on the website and logging in through it. Next you begin adding various services you have subscribed to. A wide variety of services are supported by the website. You can add household related service such as phone and internet companies; you can add finance related companies such as the banks you have accounts in; you can add travel companies you have accounts with; and you can add various other subscriptions such as magazines.

Once you select the services you want to add, you need to enter your account information for Manilla to link with them. In case you do not have an online account with the service at that time, you are provided with a direct link to create an online account.

Once all your accounts have been linked to Manilla, you need to visit only your Manilla dashboard to access information related to your bank accounts and bills. You also get friendly reminders for the timely payment of your bills. You can setup custom email and text alerts to ensure you do not miss bill payments. Everything being in your account also means that you would not have to deal with physical paper clutter anymore; if you have any physical bills you would that you want to add to Manilla, you can simply scan them and store in your account as files.



Features:

• A user-friendly web service.
• Lets you manage your accounts and bills online.
• Supports a wide variety of services: banks, communication companies, magazines, etc.
• Gives email and text reminders about bill payments.
• Completely paper-free.

Check out Manilla @ www.manilla.com

Nokia 105, 301 announced for Rs 1000, Rs 4500

Nokia 105 is a basic phone, while Nokia 301 comes with 3G connectivity and smart camera.

Nokia has announced two new feature phones 105 and 301 aimed at markets like India. While the Nokia 105 is a basic phone with colour display, the Nokia 305 comes with 3G connectivity and a smart camera. Both the phones will be available in India shortly for Rs 1,000 and Rs 4,500 respectively.

The Nokia 105, which runs on the Nokia Series 30 platform, features a 1.45 inch colour screen and will be available in cyan or black models. It will serve as the successor to the Nokia 1280.

The single SIM handset will feature FM radio, speaking clock and built-in flashlight, as well as up to 35 days on standby and 12.5 hours of talk time. It will also come with Nokia Life, a SMS and internet based service, which provides tips on education, health, and agriculture as well as entertainment topics.

Nokia 301 on the other hand runs on the Nokia Series 40 platform and features 3.5G (HSPA+">HSPA) and a smart camera. The phone has a alphanumeric keypad and a 2.4-inch screen.

The Nokia 301 features a 3.2 megapixel camera with a range of image-capture, editing and sharing options, including 'panorama' for wide-angle and group photos. It also comes with burst mode feature that allows it to capture five pictures in one press.

The Nokia 301 also has a self-portrait mode with the rear-facing camera with voice prompts that can guide the user to position the phone correctly without needing to see the screen.

Additionally, users can post photos directly from their gallery onto social networks and share other content using Slam, which works by transferring content such as images or contact cards to an adjacent Bluetooth-enabled phone, without needing to pair the devices.
The handset allows YouTube streaming, and also has apps such as Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp. The phone will also feature a 'lite' version of Mail for Exchange lets users check work email and sync their calendars and contacts.

The Nokia 301 will be priced around $85 (Rs 4,500) and will come in single and dual-SIM models. The single-SIM should offer standby time of up to 39 days, while the dual-SIM promises 34 days standby, with talk time of "up to" 20 hours. The phone will come in five different colors cyan, yellow, magenta, black and white. Both the phones will be launched in India by the end of March.

Airtel to launch voice services for LTE customers soon

Bharti Airtel will soon launch voice services for its 4G, TD-LTE (Time Division Duplex Long Term Evolution) customers in Pune, India through its existing GSM network. The operator has selected Nokia Siemens Networks to deploy its Circuit Switched FallBack (CSFB) voice solution in the operator’s live TD-LTE network in the city. With CSFB, the network can transfer customers to GSM platform to make and receive voice calls and access voice mails while retaining the experience of fast data services on 4G smartphones.

Jagbir Singh, CTO and Director of Network Services Group, Bharti Airtel, said, “Bharti Airtel has the advantage of pan-India GSM and 3G networks and with the deployment of cutting edge CSFB functionality, we will have the flexibility of using either or both the networks to support voice services on our TD-LTE platform. The solution will enable our 4G customers to enjoy high-quality voice services on GSM network and ultra-fast data services on TD-LTE platform – thereby allowing them to have a unified experience on a 4G handset.”

Nokia Siemens Networks has deployed its radio network elements in addition to its voice core and packet core network elements to Airtel's network in Pune. The company deployed its Single RAN (radio access network) platform, based on its Flexi Multiradio Base Station. In addition, its Mobile Softswitching (MSS) systems and its Liquid Core-based Evolved Packet Core (EPC) platform, including Flexi NS (Network Server) and Flexi NG (Network Gateway) have also been deployed. Nokia Siemens Networks’ network management system NetAct has been implemented to monitor, manage and optimise the network.

Airtel launched its 4G services in Pune back in October 2012, and became the first service provider in Maharashtra to bring 4G to customers.

Airtel 4G gives customers access to data for High Definition (HD) video streaming, instant uploading of photos, rich content and much more. Bharti Airtel also has plans for rolling out India’s first multi-mode LTE TDD smartphone in India, along with partners Qualcomm and Huawei.

Customers can now check the availability of Airtel 4G services in their area online through a Google Maps interface and buy the services online. Along with a host of payment options, Airtel 4G is also available on monthly EMIs and cash on delivery.

UMI X2 launched with quad core processor, 2 GB RAM for Rs 14,000

The phone also comes with a full HD 5 inch display, 13 megapixel camera and 32 GB inbuilt memory.

UMI, a Chinese handset vendor, has launched its second Android smartphone in India, which is called as UMI X2. The phone is based on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean operating system but the company has promised to upgrade it to Android 4.2 in April.

The phone has high end features such as a 5 inch IPS panel display with full HD (1920x 1080) pixels) resolution. The display also comes with Gorilla Glass 2 coating that would provide it protection from scratches. The UMI X2 runs on a 1.2 GHz MTK MT6589 quad-core processor with PowerVR SGX544 GPU, 2 GB RAM and 32 GB inbuilt memory. The smartphone also supports a micro SD card of up to 32 GB.

The UMI X2 also comes with a 13 megapixel camera at the back and a 2 megapixel camera in the front. The phone has dual SIM support and comes with large 2500 mAH battery.

In terms of specification, price the UMI X2 is unbeatable and even Micromax Canvas HD 116 looks overpriced and underpowered.

LG announces world’s smallest wireless charger ‘WCP-300’

Wireless charging will soon be present in almost all flagship smartphones and it makes sense that the manufacturers to start focussing on wireless chargers. After a beautiful Nexus 4 wireless charger, LG has now announced the so-called world’s smallest wireless charger – WCP-300 today.

Despite the small size, company claims that the charging area on WCP-300 is 1.7 times wider than company’s previous generation wireless charger.

“The WCP-300 employs electromagnetic induction technology and is Qi certified by the Wireless Power Consortium. Electromagnetic induction produces a magnetic field that in turn generates an electric current to charge the batteries in devices placed on the charging pad. Certification ensures that the WCP-300 is compatible with all smartphones that support the Qi standard,” LG noted in a press release.

WCP-300 will support Nexus 4, LG Spectrum 2, Optimus G Pro, vu II and LTE II smartphones among others.

The charger will arrive this week in South Korea for 65,000 won (roughly $60). It also scheduled to be released in other markets in the coming weeks.

Nokia Lumia 520, Lumia 720 budget smartphones announced

Nokia Lumia 720 is priced at around Rs 18,000 while 4 inch Lumia 510 is priced at around Rs 10,000.

Nokia has announced two new Lumia phones with Windows Phone 8 operating system, namely Lumia 720 and Lumia 520.

The Lumia 720 comes with a 4.3 inch ClearBlack Gorilla Glass 2.0 display with 800 x 480 pixels resolution. It comes with polycarbonate unibody like the Nokia Lumia 920. The phone is slim with 9 mm thickness and weighs 128 grams.

Nokia Lumia 720 has a dual-core 1 GHz Snapdragon processor, 512 MB RAM, 800 x 480 resolution based ClearBlack display, 2,000 mAh battery, and NFC. It also has dual camera with a 1.3-megapixel camera with wide-angle lens in the front and a 6.7 megapixel rear camera with f/1.9 lens, specifically crafted by Carl Zeiss labs to take in more light.

Like the Lumia 920 and 820, Lumia 720 also has the 'Glam Me' camera filter to edit the image with fun elements. The phone also comes with apps like Nokia Here apps (Drive, Transit and Maps), as well as Nokia Music. Nokia has priced Lumia 720 at Euro 249 (Rs 18,000).

Lumia 520, which will be the cheapest Windows Phone 8 smartphone from Nokia, comes with a 1 GHz dual core Snapdragon processor, 512 MB RAM, 8 GB of internal storage, 64 GB expandable memory slot, and a 1430 mAh battery.

Its 4 inch IPS LCD display has 800x480 pixel resolution and is covered with a hardened glass and comes with super sensitive touch capabilities that works with fingernails or gloves too.
The Nokia Lumia 520 has a 5 megapixel camera with autofocus and is capable of recording 720p HD video at 30 fps. The phone is slim at 9.9 mm and weighs 124 grams.

The Lumia 510 will go for a crazy low price of $183 (Rs 10,000) and will be launched in second quarter (April to June) in India as well.

Samsung Galaxy SIV to be announced on March 14th

Samsung Galaxy S4 is rumored to include a 5-inch full HD (1920x1080p) Super Amoled display and Samsung Exynos 5 Quad 5440 mobile processor.

Samsung has announced that it will unveil the Galaxy SIV, the successor to hugely popular SIII, in New York on March 14th.

"We introduced the Galaxy SIII in London last year, and this time we changed the venue to New York, as we were bombarded with requests from US mobile carriers to unveil the Galaxy SIV in the country, "Samsung Electronics' mobile division chief JK Shin was quoted as saying by the Edaily news website.

Samsung Galaxy SIV is expected to come with a 5-inch full HD (1920x1080p) Super AMOLED display that will offer full 1080p HD resolution. According to reports, the Galaxy SIV will feature Samsung Exynos 5 Quad 5440 mobile processor which is based on the ARM Cortex-A15 processor design.

Though the exact nature of the processor is not known but since the dual core 2 GHz Cortex A15 chip in the Exynos 5250 is around twice as fast as a dual core 1.5 GHz Cortex A9 chip, the new chip is definitely going to be much faster.

In all likelihood, Samsung Galaxy SIV will have 2 GB RAM which has become a de facto for the flagship and high-end premium smartphones. The Galaxy SIV will run Android 4.2 Jelly Bean with the TouchWiz 5 user interface layered on top of it. The Galaxy SIV is also expected to get a 13 megapixel camera.

Simmtronics offering XPad with free Tata Photon data

The users of the tablet can buy Photon Plus dongle for Rs 850 after which they will get 3 GB data for free.

Simmtronics has tied up with Tata Docomo to offer Tata Photon Plus dongle at discounted price to the users of its tablets. Simmtronics is currently offering three tablets in India including Xpad X-720 (7 inch), Xpad X-801 (8 inch with voice calling) and Xpad X-1010 (10 inch).

Simmtronics tablet users can now purchase the Tata Photon Plus at a discounted price of Rs 850, which is Rs 449 less than the market price of the dongle. Besides, they will get 3 GB data (1 GB per month) for free, which is worth Rs 750. There is also a 100 percent cash back offer for the Xpad buyers.

To avail this facility, Xpad customers need to carry a copy of invoice of their Xpad tablet, the serial number of the tablet, identity proof, address proof and a photograph to a Tata Docomo store.

Simmtronics has also tied-up with Ozone to offer free WiFi at over 5000 locations across the country. Ozone offers WiFi hotspots across India in locations like shops and cafes, educational institutions, hotels, malls and airports etc.

Lava launches Iris 454, priced at Rs 8,499

Surprisingly Iris 454 comes with an HDMI port, making it perhaps the only budget smartphone to have the feature.

Lava International has launched its latest Android 4.0 ICS based smartphone, called Iris 454, in India. Priced at Rs 8,499, the phone comes with 4.5 inch qHD (960 x 540 pixel resolution) IPS display and runs on a 1 GHz dual core processor and 512 MB RAM.

Lava Iris 454 comes with an 8 megapixel camera with Auto Focus and LED flash. It also has a VGA (0.3 megapixel) camera in the front. Surprisingly it comes with an HDMI port, which can be used enjoy the content of the phone on a HDMI television.

The phone has 4 GB internal memory and Lava is also offering a 4 GB micro SD card for free with the phone. While the there are several other phones with similar features in the Indian market from players like Salora, Spice, Karbonn, Byond and others, this one is one of the cheapest in the market.

The phone gets Gravity and Proximity sensors, 3G, Bluetooth, WiFi and GPS connectivity options. The Lava Iris 454 also comes with pre-installed apps like Saavn, Fusion and Hike.

Huawei to launch Android 4.1 based Ascend Y300, G500 in India

Both phones will come with a dual core Qualcomm chipset, 5 megapixel camera and Gorilla Glass cover.

Huawei will release the latest version of Ascend Y300 and G500 in India by end of April. Both phones will be based on Android Jelly Bean 4.1 and run 1 GHz and 1.2 GHz dual core processors based on Qualcomm chipsets.

The Mobile Indian has learnt from reliable sources that both phones will be launched in India by April end and that they will be priced between Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000.

While the Ascend Y300 will come with a 4 inch display, Ascend G500 will get a 4.5 inch IPS display. Both phones will get Gorilla Glass to protect their display from scratches.

Other features common in the two phones include a 5 megapixel camera with LED flash, 1700 mAh battery and Huawei's proprietary power saving technology with claims battery savings of up to 30 per cent. Ascend G500 will additionally get DTS surround sound capability for better audio. Both phones will be launched first in India, and will be different from what is available elsewhere.

Huawei has four device ranges under its Ascend brand name with Y representing the lowest end and aimed at the youth; G series aimed at young professionals; P series in the upper mid range of devices; and the D series representing flagship phones from Huawei.

BlackBerry Z10 officially launched in India for Rs 43,499

Those who have pre-booked it earlier will get it from tomorrow.

BlackBerry has officially launched its latest smartphone, the BlackBerry Z10, in India today for Rs 43,499. Those who have pre-booked it earlier will get it from tomorrow itself while others will have to wait one more week after which the phone will be made available in retail markets.

BlackBerry Z10 features a 4.2-inch LCD touchscreen display with 1280x768 pixel resolution. It's the first time a BlackBerry smartphone offers 356 pixels per inch pixel density and the up to 4 points of multi-touch. Inside its 9 mm chassis, rests a dual-core 1.5 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Plus MSM8960 mobile processor, 2 GB RAM and 16 GB on-board storage. Of course, out of that 16 GB some would be reserved for the system and updates. Thankfully there is a Hot Swappable memory card slot to accommodate a higher density micro SD Card.

At the rear, BlackBerry has packed an 8 megapixel camera with auto focus, LED Flash and 5X digital zoom. This camera can be used to capture high quality images and also record full 1080p HD videos. BlackBerry Z10 also features a 2 megapixel front facing camera with 3X digital zoom and 720p HD video recording ability.

Apart from that, the BlackBerry Z10 packs dual-band WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, Accelerometer, Proximity Sensor, Gyroscope, Magnetometer, Ambient Light Sensor and Near Field Communication chip. There is also a micro HDMI out port along with micro USB port.

The BlackBerry Z10 offers better location locking with Assisted, Autonomous and Simultaneous GPSmodule. BlackBerry Z10 come packed with an 1800 mAh battery that promises talk time of up to 10 hours and standby time of up to 305 hours on 3G network. This smartphone promises audio playback for up to 60 hours and video playback for up to 11 hours.

TravelVegas: Get The Best Deals & Offers In Las Vegas [iOS]

Las Vegas is an extremely exciting and busy city that sees tourists throughout the year. Casinos, restaurants, and various other entertainment places see a lot of business. To promote their products, such places often have offers and discounts available which the average city visitor is not aware of.

Since you can end up spending quite a bit of money in this expensive city while you visit, it is best to discover deals which you can take advantage of during your short stay there. Thankfully, you can do this easily by using an application dedicated to this purpose, called TravelVegas.

TravelVegas is a smartphone application for iOS devices. The app is completely free to use and it is sized at nearly 40 MB. Compatible with iPod Touch, iPhone, and iPad devices, this application requires your device to be running version 5.0 or later of iOS.

The app’s function is as its name suggests – it helps you travel Las Vegas. But it does so by updating you on the latest offers and deals available in the city. The very first icon in the options of the application is that of Deals. Food offers, show tickets, tours, casino deals, and a lot more ground are covered by these deals.

You can mark the deals and places that you are interested in. They can be marked as your favorites and saved on a map so it becomes easier for you to plan your tour of the city.

Furthermore, the application helps you find nearby hotels, restaurants, shows, and clubs using simple interactive maps. Of the places you find, you can read reviews of others and share your own. A 4 day weather forecast helps you better plan your activities in the city.

Features:

• A user-friendly phone app.
• Compatible with iOS devices.
• Shows deals and offers in Las Vegas.
• Shows places on interactive map.

Check out TravelVegas @ itunes.apple.com/us/app/travelvegas-las-vegas-deals/id521506259?ls=1&mt=8

Image Downloader: Download All Images From A Webpage [Chrome]

If you need to download schematics of a circuit from a website, you will need to download all images from a particular webpage that contains those schematics. The same applies to many other situations when you need to download all images off a particular webpage. Rather than spending the time in manually saving each image, you can use a tool called “Image Downloader” to automatically download all images off a website.

Image Downloader is a free to use browser tool that works with Google Chrome. This tools comes as a browser extension that you can install onto Chrome. After installation you will find a blue icon placed on Chrome’s address bar. Whenever you are on a site that you want to download images from, click on this icon and a list of image thumbnails will load.

By default, all images will be selected. You can deselect some images and download the images off the webpage selectively. Images are stored in Chrome’s download folder.

Features:

• A user-friendly browser tool.
• Compatible with Google Chrome.
• Can download all images off a website.
• Lets you selectively download images as well.

Check out Image Downloader @ chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/cnpniohnfphhjihaiiggeabnkjhpaldj

OVGet: Download Videos Off Streaming Sites

Streaming websites is a fun way to pass your time; but sometimes you need to download important videos for offline viewing later on your computer or handheld device. You can download the videos you stream through an app called OVGet.

OVGet is a free to use web service that lets you download videos off video streaming websites. Supported sites so far include YouTube, PutLocker, SockShare, Dailymotion, Metacafe, Veoh, NovaMov, VideoWeed, MovShare, NowVideo, GorillaVid, DivxStage, VuReel, VidBux, AllMyVideos, VidX Den, Facebook, and more.

To get started, all you have to do is enter the URL of the page the video is on. A Java application will run which you will need to allow. All the available video formats will be shown and you can download any one you like; quality descriptions of each file format will also be included.

A direct link, HTML link, and BBCode link will be generated which you can share on forums or your own site. Sharing buttons for Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and Pinterest are given.

Features:

• A user-friendly web service.
• Lets you download videos from streaming website.
• Only asks for video URL.
• Provides all available formats of video.
• Generates HTML links and BBCode links.

Check out OVGet @ www.ovget.com

Free Instagram Downloader: A Desktop App To Download Public Instagram Photos

If you are following a particular Instagram user, you probably download their photos locally. But manually downloading all the pictures of a particular Instagram user can take quite some time and effort. Here to make the process simpler is a tool called Free Instagram Downloader.

Free Intagram Downloader is a desktop application for Windows 2000, XP, Vista, and 7. The app is sized at nearly 3.7 MB and it lets you download public photos of Instagram users to your computer. The application is very easy to use. All you have to do is type in the username of an Instagram user and corresponding photos will be loaded up.

You can download images together or select only a few to download. You can also be taken to the image direct link by opening it up in your browser. The URLs can also be exported to a text file.

Features:

• A user-friendly desktop app.
• Compatible with Windows computers.
• Lets you download Instagram images.
• You can download images together or selectively.

Check out Free Intagram Downloader @ www.iwesoft.com/product/35/instagram-downloader

Printable-Calendar: Print Out Calendars For Any Month Of The Year

Calendars can be very useful if you mark important dates on them and look at them to remind you of your important events. If you want to get a calendar but do not want to spend money on buying one, you can simply print one out, thanks to a web service called Printable Calendar.

Printable Calendar is a free to use online service that offers exactly what its name suggests: printable calendars. You can visit the site’s homepage and you will see a view of the current month’s dates. You can change the month and year and then update the calendar to reflect the days of your set month. A Print button lets you print out the calendar just like you would any other page.

Features:

• A user-friendly web service.
• Lets you print out calendars.
• Provides prints of one month at a time.
• You can shift to any month and year.

Calendar Creator.
Check out Printable Calendar @ www.printable-calendar.co

Private ME: A Mirror App For Devices With Front Facing Flashlight & Blackout Bars [iOS]

We use our smartphones for a lot of functions – communicating with others, checking the time, watching videos, taking pictures, and more. But when it comes to checking our appearance, we usually still use a mirror. Our smartphone should enable us to quickly view what we look like. This should be particularly true of phones with a secondary camera that faces the front. You should be able to quickly check out how you look in a mirror through that front facing camera. However if you are doing so in a private moment, you do not want the camera to accidentally snap a photo and save it on your camera roll where it is potentially viewable to others.

Therefore you need a private mirror application. But because it will not be a mirror and your smartphone, you should get a few bonus features as well such as extra light and more. All of this is offered by an excellent smartphone application called Private ME.

Private ME is a highly useful smartphone application for iOS devices. The app is sized at nearly 3 MB and is compatible with iPod Touch, iPhone, and iPad devices running version 4.3 or iOS. The app basically performs the function of a mirror along with additional features of being a private photo application. The most basic way to use the app is simply as you would use a mirror – check your appearance while looking into the phone and view your phone’s screen.

Other helpful features of the application include the front facing light which let you use the app as a mirror even in the dark.

The app lets you save photographs as well, using a three step saving system which ensures your camera roll is clear of any images you do not want to be there. Additionally for images that are private, you can use blackout bars to censor parts of the image you do not want others to see.

Features:

• A user-friendly phone app.
• Compatible with iOS devices.
• A mirror application to check your appearance.
• Has front facing flashlight.
• Lets you add blackout bars to censor images.

Check out Private ME @ itunes.apple.com/us/app/private-me/id552504636?ls=1&mt=8

YouTube Previewer: Preview YouTube Thumbnails From Video Links [Chrome]

When you load a YouTube video, one of the cooler features is the ability to see a live thumbnail preview of the video by moving your mouse along the bar. This is a great way to see what is coming up in the later parts of the video. This works great when you are on YouTube’s website or looking at an embedded version of the video, but what if there is only a link to the video? Is there a way to preview that too?

YouTube Previewer is an easy to use Chrome extension that allows you to mouse over a YouTube link and see a preview very similar to what you see in the video bar. You can move your mouse along the link to see different sections of the video. The only problem is that sometimes previews appear at the top of the page, not directly over the link. This was an issue when the link was towards the bottom of the page.

Features:

• Preview a YouTube video from a YouTube link.
• Simple mouse over mechanic.
• Drag mouse to see different live preview sections.

Find YouTube Previewer on the Chrome Web Store

Google to launch Google Glass for mass market by end-of-2013

Google has told The Verge that it will be releasing the Google Glass for mass market by the end of this year. It also revealed that it is also looking to create a whole ecosystem around Google Glass, including partnerships with prescription lenses makers and so on.

“Well, we finally have official word from Google that it is aiming to release a “fully-polished” version of the wearable headset to consumers by the end of this year,” The Verge noted in a report.

There is no word on the exact final pricing, but company did say that it aims to price it below USD 1500, the amount it charged the initial Google Glass buyers at Google I/O 2012. We anticipate the mass market version to be much cheaper if Google does not it to become a niche product, and similar sentiment were echoed by Steve Lee, Product Director, Google Glass in an interview with The Verge.

Google has recently begun looking for more Glass Explorers (sort of new beta testers) in the United States, who will be lucky to get early access to the product.

What is Google Glass: It is wearable augmented reality device powered by Android.

LG Optimus G now available online in India for INR 30,990

Ahead of the official announcement on February 27, Indian retailer Saholic has started taking orders for LG Optimus G smartphone.  Promising the shipments in five business days, the website has priced the phone at INR 30,990.

LG India has already started sending out press invites for the launch event and Optimus G is likely to go on sale same day, which means Saholic.com will actually begin the phone deliveries after the launch event. This is more of pre-order than normal order.

Originally launched in the last quarter of 2012, the Optimus G was initially available only in select countries. Company recently began the global roll-out with Android 4.1 on-board.

To remind you, LG Optimus G features 4.7-inch True HD IPS Plus display with 1280x768p resolution, 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro quad-core processor, 2GB RAM, 32GB of internal storage. The phone also packs 13MP rear camera, 1.3MP front camera, NFC and 2100 mAh battery.

As many of you would know, LG Optimus G is also the base for Google’s Nexus 4 smartphone. LG has worked quite hard on the phone and has collaborated with sister companies like LG Chem, LG Display and LG Innotek to include some great internal in the smartphone.

Asus to launch MemoPad tablet in India on Feb 27

The 7 inch Android Jelly Bean tablet is expected to be priced below Rs 9,000.

Asus is going to launch its new 7-inch tablet, called MeMo Pad ME172V, with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean operating system in India on 27th February.

The tablet which is priced at Rs 8,195 ($149) internationally is expected to come with only a slightly higher price (probably Rs 9,000) given the intense competition in this segment offered by Acer and Lenovo and Google itself and also by Indian brands.

The new MeMo Pad ME172V carries design similar to the Nexus 7 tablet and is targeted at consumers seeking an affordable table to read eBooks, browse mobile web, casual gaming, and social networking.

The new Asus MeMo Pad ME172V features a 7-inch touchscreen display with 1024 x 600 pixel resolution. This screen offers 10-point multi-touch, 350-nit brightness and 140 degree viewing angles. Inside the chassis, Asus has packed a 1 GHz VIA WM8950 mobile processor with Mali-400 graphics chip and 1 GB RAM. This hardware is good enough to power the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean update running on it.

Asus will also offer 5 GB of web storage on its clouds servers to the users of this tablet and by default the tablet will be offered in 8 GB and 16 GB on-board storage options. Of course, there is a micro SD card slot to expand the storage. Weighing 370 grams, the tablet is mere 11.2 mm thick and packs a 4270 mAh battery.

No mobile number deactivation if balance Rs 20 or more: TRAI

If you have not used the mobile number for 90 days whose balance is less than Rs 20, then operators can deactivate your number.

If your prepaid mobile number has Rs 20 or more balance left then it could not be deactivated by the mobile operator even if you won't use the number for any purpose, according to a recent decision of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

Announcing the recent amendment to a regulation on deactivation of mobile phone numbers due to non-usage, TRAI said, "The mobile connections of prepaid consumers shall not be deactivated for any period of non-usage less than 90 days."

Also, the regulator said that an 'Automatic Number Retention Scheme' shall be implemented for prepaid consumers on payment of reasonable charges.

"A consumer whose connection is deactivated shall be given a grace period of 15 days within which he can reactivate the same number," TRAI added further.

The Regulations also mandate implementation of a 'Safe Custody Scheme' for postpaid consumers on payment of a reasonable charge. Such consumers will not be required to pay monthly rental during the period of safe custody.

Purported Nokia tablet hints in web server logs

AdNetwork server throws up purported Nokia Tablet with RX-108 model with Windows 8 along with two smartphones RM-860 and RM-892.

Nokia is reportedly working on more Window Phone 8 smartphones and it seems that the Windows 8 tablet might be a reality soon. AdDuplex network founder Alan Mendelevich spotted couple of Nokia model name bearing devices in the server logs four days ago. It is being speculated that the unknown Nokia model RX-108 with Windows 8 is actually the Nokia Lumia Tablet. Two other smartphone models RM-860 and RM-892 were also spotted in the ad network server logs.

Nokia has been rumoured of working on Lumia tablet since couple of months. Though there have not been any exact details or confirmations from the company. So far we know that the tablet is likely to carry the unibody design such as the current Lumia 920 smartphone and most likely run Windows 8 or Windows RT.

Along with the tablet, Nokia RM-860 model with 1280x768 pixel resolution was also listed in the adnetwork's server log. This smartphone is likely to be the US-centric Verizon Lumia 920 model. There was another RM-892 from India listed in the logs but no more details were available on that.

At this moment, we believe that Nokia will make no announcements about the purported Windows tablet at the Mobile World Congress 2013 next week. All excitement will be saved for a later event or the mid of this year.

Zopo to launch 3 Quad core phone: Bookings start tomorrow

Zopo mobile is all set to launch three Android based smartphones in the price bracket of Rs13,000 to Rs16,0000.

Zopo mobile, a Chinese handset player which recently entered Indian market, is all set to introduce three Android 4.1 Jelly Bean operating system based Quad core smartphones - Zopo 810, Zopo 910 and Zopo 950+, in the country.

The three smartphones will be available for booking starting 24 February and the deliveries will happen from 15 March, company has informed The Mobile Indian.

Zopo 810 will be priced at Rs 12,999 and on the feature front it has a 5 inch display screen, 1 GB RAM, 8 megapixel rear camera with LED flash , 2 megapixel front camera, 1280 x 720 pixel resolution and 2000 mAh battery. These features are similar to what is found in Micromax Canvas HD A116.

While, Zopo 910 will come with 5.3 inch IPS panel with qHD resolution and 8.0 megapixel camera and will be priced at Rs 13,888.
On the other hand, Zopo 950+ will have a massive 5.7 inch IPS display screen and will be priced at Rs 15,999.

Zopo Mobile has also announced that all these phones will be upgraded to Android 4.2 Jelly Bean in April.

Nikon eyeing to bring Samsung Galaxy camera competitor

Nikon has signed a licensing agreement to gain access to Microsoft's imaging patent portfolio for Android.

Nikon has signed a licensing agreement with Microsoft to gain access to Microsoft's patent portfolio for certain cameras running on Android platform, setting of a rumour that the camera giant is planning to bring a new device to beat the Samsung Galaxy Camera.

At this moment, there are few Nikon Coolpix models running Android platform and quite possible that Nikon is looking to expand the product line-up. Neither of the companies specified the patents in questions and whether Microsoft will continue receiving royalties from Nikon or not.

Samsung recently introduce the Galaxy Camera which is basically a powerful hardware bearing smartphone with great point-and-shoot camera level optics. However, prior that Nikon had introduced its first Android operating system running camera - Coolpix S800c.

Important aspect that the camera makers have noted is that consumers and amateurs want digital cameras that can connect to wireless networks. Post that, the images can be directly shared to social networking websites, uploaded to secured cloud storage accounts or transferred to a mobile device or tablet. With Android, the possibility to find hacks and optimise the performance of the camera as a portable device also increases. For instance, if the hardware supports, one can use a custom application to view videos recorded in a specific format.

Powerful digital cameras with 3G network and WiFi support certainly look like an interesting gadget option for the technology savvy folks. While those technologies continue to advance, Microsoft quietly enjoys the royalties received due to its patent portfolio.

Google Chromebook Pixel official, a 12.9-inch touchscreen laptop for $1299

Rumours were true after all and Google has made the Chromebook Pixel official late yesterday. Featuring high-res 12.85-inch touch display, this Chrome OS laptop has been price at USD 1,299 and is now available on Google Play in US and UK.

Chromebook Pixel has been designed by Google and is clearly the first premium offering in the cheap Chromebook space. Google seems to be aiming at Apple’s Macbook Pro with Retina display with Chromebook Pixel.

Chromebook Pixel features a 2560x1700p touchscreen with 239PPI, 4GB RAM, Core i5 processor, Intel HD 4000 graphics, and five hours of battery like. According to Google, all the usual nitty-gritties like two USB 2.0 ports, a Mini DisplayPort, 3.5mm headset jack, SD card slot, dual-band 802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 3.0, and HD webcam are present.

“Packed with 4.3 million pixels, the display offers sharp text, vivid colors and extra-wide viewing angles. With a screen this rich and engaging, you want to reach out and touch it—so we added touch for a more immersive experience. Touch makes it simple and intuitive to do things like organize tabs, swipe through apps and edit photos with the tip of your finger,” Linus Upson, Vice President, Engineering, Google noted in a blog post.

Google is also offering 1TB of Google Drive storage free for three years with every Chromebook Pixel purchase, which itself is more expensive than the device price.

Google is offering two version of Pixel, One with Wi-Fi only connectivity and other with LTE support. The LTE version will go in sale beginning April for USD 1,449. The Chromebook Pixel will also be available via BestBuy.com and you can visit select Best Buy (U.S.) and Currys PC World (U.K.) store locations for hand on experience.

HTC One coming to India by end of March

It comes with an innovative user interface that resembles Microsoft's Windows Phone home screen.

HTC is all set to launch its new smartphone, the HTC One, in India by March end.
While the launch of HTC One in India has been confirmed by the people in the know, pricing is still a guess work.

HTC One runs on Android 4.1 operating system but the differentiating factor in this smartphone as compared to other Android running smartphones is its home screen, called as BlinkFeed. The home screen, designed by HTC itself, resembles Microsoft's Windows Phone home screen and Flipboard.

HTC's BlinkFeed interface consists of tiles in home screen, similar to what is seen in Windows OS based smartphones that update automatically feeds from mail, calendar and social media.

HTC One has real estate of 4.7-inch screen with 1920x1080 pixels resolution. It has a 1.7 GHz quad-core Snapdragon 600 processor with 2 GB of RAM along with 32 GB internal storage. On the connectivity front it supports Bluetooth 4.0, NFC and LTE. It is powered by a 2300mAh battery.

Additionally, HTC One has two speakers- one at the top and the other bottom of the display screen. Along with that HTC One has an infrared diode that converts the smartphone into a remote control for TV.

CloudOn brings Microsoft Office to Android smartphones

The app allows users to create, review, edit and share their Office documents.

CloudOn, a free mobile productivity app that gives smartphones and tablets access to Microsoft Office, is now available for Android smartphones. Till now it was only available for iOS and for Android tablets like the Nexus 7.

CloudOn allows users to create, review, edit and share their Office documents. CloudOn also updated its FileSpace - a kind of news feed for all the activity that happens around a given file. This feature brings together all the annotations, edits and notes other may have added to a document and which, as CloudOn argues, usually get lost as files get shared back and forth via email.

The Android smartphone version of the app comes with a tweaked interface to make it easier to use on a touch-enabled devices by increasing spacing of icons and also making them larger.

Just like the iOS and Android tablet versions, Android smartphone users will also be able to view their documents in landscape mode, add notes and comment to any file and access their files on Dropbox, SkyDrive, Google Drive and other cloud-storage services right from the app.

"We are thrilled that CloudOn is now available across the entire Android ecosystem, and are excited to be able to reach more of our loyal customer base,” said CloudOn CEO Milind Gadekar in a canned statement today. "In addition to bringing Microsoft Office to Android phones, we are excited to give our users a better way to create content, and also access the critical contextual information around documents as we continue to grow our productivity offering."

Videocon launches Videocon A27 dual SIM Android for Rs 5,999

Featuring a 1 GHz Broadcomm processor the device comes with 3.75G connectivity.

Indian mobile phone manufacturer Videocon Mobiles has announced the Videocon A27, latest addition to its Android smartphone range. The Videocon A27 is a budget Android smartphone aimed at users shifting from feature phones to Android devices within a tight budget.

The Videocon A27 is a dual SIM smartphone based on Android's Ice Cream Sandwich operating system and carrying a price tag of Rs 5,999 for which it offers a bigger 4 inch display as well. Competing with devices from manufacturers such as Micromax, Karbonn and Spice, the Videocon A27 offers some nice hardware specifications as well.

Videocon A27 is powered by a Broadcomm single core processor running at 1 GHz, that brings 3.75G connectivity. The device gets 512 MB of RAM along with 4 GB of internal storage, of which only around 2.2 GB will be available for users. The storage can further be extended to 32 GB with the help of micro SD memory cards.

The 4 inch display comes with 480 x 800 pixel resolution with a capacitive touch input system supporting multi touch as well. The device gets a 3 megapixel camera capable of recording videos as well at 30 frames/second along with a 0.3 megapixel camera in the front for video calling with video recording capability.

The device comes ready with dual SIM GSM connectivity supporting 3.75G networks. It also gets Bluetooth, WiFi and GPS as standard. There is a 1500 mAh battery pack for powering the device that promises a claimed 4 hours of 2G talktime.

Google drive for Android gets video streaming, pinch to zoom

Improved application now comes with integrated video playback capabilities and pinch to zoom on presentations

Google Drive, the online document and file collaboration application, been upgraded for Android. Along with stability updates, Google has added some new and exciting features to the application as well.

Now Goggle Drive application will let user's stream videos right from within the application itself. But the feature is only applicable for devices running Android Honeycomb 3+ versions to start things with but is expected to roll out to further devices as well in future releases.

The new Google Drive also comes with pinch-to-zoom feature in the presentation viewer. This will allow users to showcase or highlight important areas while making presentation using the application itself. The ability to edit documents was added to the application in the previous release and the new additions will certainly help users make most of it using the Google Drive application.

Along with the newly added features and functionalities users will notice a few other tweaks to the Drive app, including better overall performance all around the application.

Zopo Mobile to launch quad core phone with 32 megapixel camera

The phone to be launch in May will feature a 5.7 inch display, Nvidia Tegra 3 processor & 32 MP camera.

Zopo Mobile, a Chinese handset brand, is going to launch an Nvidia Tegra 3 quad core phone in the Indian market this May. In an email to The Mobile Indian, the company said that the phone will get a 5.7 inch display and a 32 megapixel camera, which will be the largest apart from Nokia Pureview 808. The phone will also have a 5 megapixel front facing camera, which is going to be the largest with only one phone from Spice called Mi 530 getting a similar front camera.

The device will run on Android 4.2 operating system, which is again a first for a phone in India. The phone's price has not been announced but it is expected to cost less than Rs 18,000 (Rs 15000 or less is a bigger probability). Zopo Mobile is a late entrant into the market but has launched some very aggressive products including a 5.7 inch HD display phone with dual core processor; and a 3D display phone etc.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 400, 200 processors unveiled for budget smartphones

New Snapdragon 200 series is targeted at the multi-SIM entry-level devices while the Snapdragon 400 series.

Qualcomm has unveiled two more series of mobile processors - Snapdragon 400 for budget level smartphones and Snapdragon 200 for entry-level smartphones. Smartphones housing either of the two series of processors are expected to hit the markets later this year.

The Snapdragon 200 processor series aim to offer value along with performance by supporting multi-SIM configurations without compromising much on the battery life. Whereas the Snapdragon 400 processor series will deliver performance, battery life and connectivity expected from a mid-range device.

The Snapdragon 400 series of processors will be offered in two options - dual-core Krait cores System-on-Chip, clocked at 1.7 GHz per core and quad-core Cortex-A7 System-on-Chip, clocked at 1.4 GHz. Qualcomm has used the Adreno 305 graphics chip to provide rich 3D gaming and graphics pump. These chipsets will support Low Power Double Data Rate 2 or Rate 3 level RAM modules to offer wider memory bandwidth. More memory bandwidth means push in the processor's performance. Advance camera features, premium audio and 1080p HD video capture as well as playback will be supported by the processor.

These processors will also support the new WiFi Miracast technology that allows pushing multimedia content to Miracast standard certified HDTV displays. In short, the mid-range level of smartphones will get a good over-all performance boost with the Snapdragon 400 series processors.

Entry-level Snapdragon 200 processor comprise of quad-core ARM Cortex-A5 cores clocked at 1.4 GHz per core. Featuring support for LPDDR2 RAM, the chipset features Adreno 203 graphics chip which will be just enough to drive the casual games and deliver smooth user experience. Playback of 720p HD quality videos will be supported along with up to 8 megapixel camera support. Better location based services are promised with high-accuracy GPS module. For the multi-SIM configurations, this chipset supports Dual SIM-Dual Standby, which is fairly less than the multi-SIM configurations supported by Snapdragon 400 series chipsets.

Qualcomm recently introduce the Snapdragon BatteryGuru app that helps conserve battery and thus this app will aid the new Snapdragon family of processor loaded devices.