Microsoft Lumia 950 and 950xl

Microsoft on Tuesday launched its Windows 10 Mobile-powered Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL

 flagship smartphones after months of speculation, alongside the budget Lumia 550. Both the

 flagships have been confirmed to be available in November, while the budget Lumia 550 is

 only due in December.

Shortly after the event, Microsoft India listed the dual-SIM variants of both the flagships as

'coming soon'. We can expect the company to announce the pricing of both the handsets

near India launch. Microsoft India however has not listed the Lumia 550 on the company's

site, tipping that the budget handset may be launched in the Indian market at a later stage.

The Microsoft Lumia 950 has been priced at $549 (roughly Rs. 35,800) while the

 Lumia 950 XL comes at $649 (roughly Rs. 42,300), we can expect the Indian pricing for

the dual-SIM variants to remain around these prices.

The Windows 10 Mobile-based Lumia 950 Dual SIM features a 5.2-inch

QHD(1440x2560 pixels) ClearBlack Amoled display, offering a pixel density of 564ppi and

 also featuring Corning Gorilla Glass 3. Under the hood, the handset is powered by a

hexa-core Snapdragon 808 processor clocked at 1.8GHz coupled with 3GB of RAM.

There is 32GB of inbuilt storage and is expandable up to 200GB via microSD card.

The dual-SIM dual standby device support dual Nano-SIMs and comes with

USB Type-C port (USB 3.1). Backed by a 3000mAh removable battery, the handset sports

 a 20-megapixel rear camera with autofocus, OIS (optical image stabilisation),

an f/1.9 aperture, and a triple-LED RGB flash module. There is a 5-megapixel front-facing

 camera as well. It measures 145x73.2x8.2m and weighs 150 grams

.The Lumia 950 XL Dual SIM (see above), on the other hand, features a 5.7-inch

 QHD (1440x2560 pixels) ClearBlack Amoled display with a pixel density of 518ppi.

It is powered by a 2GHz octa-core Snapdragon 810 processor coupled with 3GB of RAM.

 It packs 32GB storage and is expandable via microSD card (up to 200GB). The

 Lumia 950 XL Dual SIM features the same camera module from the Lumia 950

and both the devices also sport a dedicated camera button as well. The Lumia 950 XL

 Dual SIM packs a large 3340mAh battery. It packs 151.9x78.4x8.1mm and weighs

165 grams. Both the Lumia 950 Dual SIM and Lumia 950 XL Dual SIM also suport

 dual standby with Nano-SIM card support.

Gionee Elife E7

Chinese handset maker Gionee has launched its new flagship phone, Gionee Elife E7, in the Indian market. The phone boasts of a full-HD screen and high-end hardware including a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 quad-core processor, in addition to a slim, attractive form factor. We got a chance to spend some time with the phone, here are our first impressions:

At first glance, Gionee Elife E7 looks like a taller version of the Elife E6. However, on closer inspection, you'll notice that it looks more rectangular, majorly due to the lack of rounded corners. The phone's top and bottom edges, however, are rounded, just like the ones seen in Huawei Ascend P6.

The phone is made of good quality plastic material, but sports a glossy finish that makes it prone to smudges.

The front of the phone is dominated by 5.5-inch Full-HD (JDI) display that sports a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels and pixel density of 401ppi. It also features Gorilla Glass 3 for added protection. We found the display to be adequately bright, with images and text appearing sharp and crisp. There's minimal bezel at the left and right side of the display panel, giving the phone an edgy look.

The three capacitive physical buttons for Menu, Home and Back are placed just below the display. The 8MP front-facing camera lens is located above the display, along with the sensor array. There's no branding on the front.

The left edge of the phone features a sim card tray, while the volume rocker key sits alone at the right edge. The power key and the 3.5mm headset jack are placed at the top edge, while the micro USB port is at the bottom. We wish Gionee had put the Power key at the right or left edge, as its present location makes it cumbersome to use. The keys are made of plastic and offer above average tactile feedback.
Gionee Elife E7 doesn't have a removable back. The phone's back is curved and sports a glossy finish that is prone to smudges. The large camera lens (housing a 16MP sensor) is placed at the top, similar to the Nokia Lumia 1520, along with a small LED flash. There's Gionee branding towards the lower part of the back. The phone was good to hold, despite the glossy back.

Gionee Elife E7 runs a heavily customised build of Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean, called Amigo 2.0, which is second iteration of its UI skin. The skin is similar to Xiaomi's MiUi ROM and doesn't feature a separate app launcher. Instead, the app icons are merged with the home screen, similar to the iPhone. Even the multitasking menu of the phone is similar to the card-based multitasking menu introduced first in webOS and now in Apple's iOS 7. During our brief use of the phone, we didn't encounter any stutters or lag while launching apps or going back to the home screen, however, we still feel that Gionee has gone overboard on transition effects and animations.

Elife E7's USP is its high-end hardware that includes a 2.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 quad-core processor, 2GB RAM (3GB for the 32GB version) and Adreno 330 GPU, and a 16MP rear camera with 1.34m pixel size. We weren't able to play around extensively with the phone's camera but clicking a casual indoor shot (under fluorescent light) in the default mode, we observed some minor noise, and slight aberration in colours, though the level of detail was pretty good.

Samsung Galaxy Grand 2 Phablet

 

NEW DELHI: Within a fortnight of launching the Galaxy Duos 2, Samsung has unveiled the Galaxy Grand 2 phablet in the Indian market. It is the successor to the Galaxy Grand that was launched earlier this year and was a big hit in the country. This phablet has a larger screen, more RAM and bigger battery than its predecessor.

The new phablet will be be available for sale from January 2014 and will be priced between Rs 22,990 and Rs 24,990, Samsung said.

Vineet Taneja, country head, mobile and IT, Samsung India, said, "Galaxy Grand 2 with a vivid HD screen offers a premium viewing experience and enhances multitasking abilities with its Multi Window feature. Along with this, the introduction of Club Samsung will significantly elevate user experience in terms of features, content and services. Our new offerings are a testimony of our commitment to offer differentiated products to all our valued customers."

The all-new Galaxy Grand 2 has a 5.25-inch HD screen and 1.2GHz quad-core processor. It comes with 8GB internal storage, up to 64GB microSD card support and 1.5GB RAM. On the back, it has an 8MP camera with LED flash and sports a 1.9MP camera in front.
Connectivity suite of Galaxy Grand 2 includes 2G, 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 and microUSB 2.0. It is powered by a 2,600mAh battery and the company claims that it can provide talk time of 17 hours. The phone will be available in white, black and pink colours in the market.

Some of the proprietary apps that come preinstalled in Galaxy Grand 2 are Story Album, S Translator, S Travel, Sound & Shot, Samsung Hub, Samsung Link and Group Play.

This phablet will compete against the likes of Huawei Ascend Mate, the upcoming Nokia Lumia 1320 and its sibling Samsung Galaxy Mega 5.8.

Robot on Space mission

TOKYO: The first humanoid robot in space made small talk with a Japanese astronaut and said it had no problem with zero-gravity on the International Space Station.

Footage released by the robot's developers showed Kirobo performing its first mission on the station, talking in Japanese with astronaut Koichi Wakata as part of an experiment testing Kirobo's autonomous conversation functions. Wakata says he's glad to meet Kirobo, and asks the robotic companion how it feels about being in a zero-gravity environment.

"I'm used to it now, no problem at all," Kirobo quips.

Experiments with Kirobo will continue until it returns to Earth at the end of 2014. In the meantime, Kirobo says he wants to ask Santa for a toy rocket this Christmas.

Kirobo is programmed to process questions and select words from its vocabulary to construct an answer, instead of giving pre-programmed responses to specific questions.

The creator of the robot, Tomotaka Takahashi, said the autonomous functions meant nobody knew how well Kirobo would be able to answer Wakata's questions.

Though Kirobo had some awkward pauses and Wakata spoke more slowly than usual at times in their chat earlier this month, Takahashi said conversations smoothed out over time. "Through layers of communication, we were able to observe the initial stages of a relationship begin to develop between a human and a robot, and I think that was our biggest success," he said.

Kirobo took off from Japan's Tanegashima Space Center for the International Space Station this summer aboard a space cargo transporter. Wakata arrived in November and will assume command of the station in March.

The project is a joint endeavour between advertising company Dentsu, automaker Toyota, and Takahashi at the University of Tokyo's Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology.

Acer Iconia W4

 

BANGALORE: Acer India, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Acer Computer International, unveiled its 8-inch Iconia W4 tablet.

Iconia W4 tablet features IPS and zero air gap technologies providing a sharp display with enhanced clarity and brightness. It is also equipped with Windows 8.1 and the 4th generation Intel Atom processor offering faster tablet performance, upto 10 hour battery life for web browsing and up to eight hours for video playback, company officials said.

The devices cost Rs 24,999 and Rs 26,999 for 32GB and 64GB models.

The company said it expects 20% growth in the PC segment next fiscal.

"Our year is January to December, so looking at next year we think that first quarter is going to be bit static because of the uncertainty in the political part, but we believe after that it is going to grow very very strongly," Acer India Chief Marketing Officer Rajendran told PTI on the sidelines of the launch of Acer's Iconia W4 tablet.

He said: "Reasons being sentiment- India's sentiment is going to be positive; another thing is- all these fears about runway Dollar rate,Current Account Deficit - all that has kind of come under control. I don't know what elections are going to throw up, but I think there is general positive mood for change."

"If that happens, I think people will start coming back to buy," he added.

Stating that the company has not frozen the figures for next fiscal, Rajendran said "20% is not unreasonable."

"This year we are closing in December, I would say it has been flat, flat or minor positive," he added.

Rajendran said "at the more subliminal level even if I look at SMB's, corporate, enterprise-that space, may be consumers also- the time for refreshing is very relevant."

"It is not because three or four years has gone by,but the XP end of life was announced two years back, end of support is going to be there- the whole....of devices are going to be exposed to virus attacks, malware- which is bigger challenge."

"So people even in the lower spectrum of SMB are getting sensitised to this, and technology has come a long way in these three, three and half years- we think that is also going to be a bump up in terms of refresh cycle coming in," he said.

Declining to comment on company's stature in tablet market, he said: "...we want to build up momentum and build up critical mass." "...I do expect substantial increase in that segment as well- because we see the user behavior- which is very very revealing for us."

Worlds first phone with 2k Resolution

NEW DELHI: Chinese manufacturer Vivo has pipped the likes of Samsung and LG to launch the world's first smartphone with 2K (2560x1440p) resolution, named Xplay 3S. This phone's screen has more pixels than the current crop of 1080p displays, making text, videos, images etc clearer and sharper.

The new Vivo Xplay 3S's 6-inch display has pixel density of 490ppi, which is higher than the 469ppi (the highest pixel density before this launch) of HTC One. Other features of Xplay 3S are also top end, such as 2.3GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 chipset, 3GB RAM and 13MP rear camera. It also has a 5MP camera in front and comes with an app called Photo+ that features augmented reality functionalities and shares video on the cloud.

The phone is powered by a customized version of Android, named Funtouch OS. Other features of Vivo Xplay 3S include 32GB built-in storage, 3,200mAh battery and metallic bezel. The phone weighs 172gram, measures 4.95mm at its thinnest point and comes with a fingerprint scanner.

The manufacturer has included several audio technologies in the phone, such as TI OPA2604 amplifier and ESS Technology ES9018 DAC. Its DTS Headphones:X technology supports 7.1 and 11.1 surround sound effect.

Vivo is also the company behind the world's thinnest smartphone, X3, which is just 5.75mm thick.

Samsung's upcoming Galaxy S5 smartphone is also rumoured to feature 2K resolution. Earlier this year, LG unveiled its 2K resolution display panel that is likely to be used in future smartphones. Chinese manufacturer Oppo has also announced that its upcoming Find 7 handset will have 2K screen resolution.

Sony Playstatio 4 (ps4)

NEW DELHI: Sony has launched the PlayStation 4, its new gaming console in the Indian market for Rs 39,990. The console will be available in stores starting January 6, 2014.

Sony also said that the PlayStation camera will be retailed at Rs 4,990. The PS4 controller has also been priced at Rs 4,990 in India. PS4 exclusive titles Knack and Killzone: Shadow Fall would be available at a price point of Rs 3,999.

The PlayStation 4 was released in November for $399 in the US market. The eagerly-awaited PlayStation 4 sold more than 2.1 million units after less than three weeks on the market after its November 15 debut in North America and Sony said it was on track to hit a worldwide target of 5 million units by March.

The PlayStation 4 is powered by an eight-core AMD Jaguar CPU, and features 500GB hard drive, 8GB of unified memory, built-in Blu Ray drive and the new DualShock 4 controller. The PlayStation 4 also features 802.11 b/g/n WiFi connectivity option, an Ethernet port, Bluetooth 2.1, and two USB 3.0 ports.

Sony has streamlined the PS4's on-screen user interface, and the menu features large app and games icons in a horizontal bar with another line of smaller icons above it that let users connect with other gamers, tinker with system settings and access the PlayStation Store, to download new games and buy or rent multimedia content.

The launch lineup includes 22 games to attract fans of just about any genre, from military shooters to sports simulations to family-friendly adventures including "Killzone: Shadow Fall," and "Drive Club." It also offers media apps, including Hulu and Netflix.

The PlayStation 4 competes with the Xbox One, Microsoft's next-generation console, that has been priced a $100 higher. Microsoft also claimed it sold 1 million units in in 24 hours following its November 22 release.

Lenovo Galaxy S4 Rival Vibe X

   

  NEW DELHI: Chinese electronics maker Lenovo expanded its smartphone lineup in India with the launch of Vibe X. It is a smartphone with a full HD 5-inch screen, 13MP rear camera and 5MP front camera and comes at a price tag of Rs 25,999.

The smartphone has hit the Indian market within two months of its global unveiling.

Lenovo Vibe X runs on a 1.5GHz quad-core MediaTek 6589T processor and is powered by Android 2.2 Jelly Bean operating system. It has a 2GB of RAM, and 16GB of internal storage.

For photos, there's an 13MP camera at the back, and a 5MP camera in the front. Connectivity suite of the device includes 2G, 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 and microUSB 2.0. It packs a 2,000mAh battery and comes in black and silver colour combination.

Unlike its metal-bodied sibling K900, Lenovo's new phone is made of plastic, but features the company's proprietary laser etched finish. With thickness of 6.9mm, the new Vibe X is slimmer than iPhone 5S and Samsung Galaxy S4. At 120 gram, this phone also weighs less than most top-end devices today.

With a 5-inch 1080p Gorilla Glass 3 display, Vibe X adds to the company's phablet range comprising Lenovo K900, P780, S920, S890, S880, A830 and K860 models.

Smart Phones: Bendable screens,Iron tech

SAN FRANCISCO: This may be remembered as the year smartphones became boring.

Although high-definition displays on smartphones have gotten bigger and their cameras have gotten better, the pace of gee-whiz innovation has dawdled.

Smartphone and software makers are working on ways to snap out of this technological lull, although it probably will be at least another year or two before breakthroughs revolutionize the design and function of mobile computing devices.

In a foreshadowing of things to come, LG Electronics is boasting about the G Flex, a new phone with a curved display. Previously available in Korea and Singapore, the concave device arrived in Hong Kong on Friday.

"We want to claim this as the future of smart devices," Ramchan Woo, the head of LG's mobile product planning division, said during a recent demonstration in San Francisco.

If such visions are realized, smartphones and tablets will be equipped with display screens that can be rolled up like a scroll or folded like a wallet.

Making the devices even easier to carry around will be important if software makers want to deepen the bond between people and their phones. That could happen as smarter tracking tools and voice-recognition technology let smartphones understand habits and thoughts like a family member.

The future smartphone "will be small enough to carry with you at all times without thinking about it, and it will be essential enough that you won't want to get rid of it," Silicon Valley futurist Paul Saffo said. "It will become a context engine. It will be aware of where it is, where you are going and what you need."

The G Flex provides a peek at the shape of things to come. Despite its name, the G Flex isn't pliable. The device is slightly bowed from top to bottom, allowing it to curve toward a person's mouth when used for phone calls. It also has a curved battery, something LG says is a first for smartphones. LG applied a "self-healing" protective coat on the G Flex to automatically repair any minor scratches.

More than anything, the G Flex is meant to begin the smartphone's evolution from the primitive state of flat screens. In theory, the curved-screen technology will lead to bendable screens, which will then pave the way to foldable screens. If that progression plays out, it would be possible to fold a larger smartphone so it can easily fit into a pocket.
Another Korean company, Samsung Electronics, also is selling a concave smartphone there. Unlike the G Flex's vertical bow, Samsung's Galaxy Round curves horizontally from left to right when it's held upright. With a price tag of about $1,000, the phone is more an expensive novelty than a mainstream product.

Like LG, Samsung is setting the stage for bigger things to come. Samsung vice chairman Kwon Oh-hyun told analysts last month that the company believes it can produce a mobile device with a foldable display by 2015.

Samsung appears to be working on two slightly different concepts, according to two analysts who saw prototypes of what's in the company's product pipeline during last month's meetings. Reporters weren't given a chance to see the prototypes.