Bharadwaj Chandramouli | Fone Arena

Micromax to preload BBM on all its Canvas Smartphones

BlackBerry messenger, one of the most popular instant messaging services, had announced its arrival on iOS and Android platforms earlier, but it looks like manufacturers are already warming up to the concept of pre-loading it on their devices. Micromax is the one of the first manufacturers to announce that it will pre-load BBM on all of its Canvas Smartphones starting from the first week of October. But of course existing users too, can download the BBM app through the play store, irrespective of the device they own.

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Nokia wants to reinvent innovation, teases an event on October 22nd

Nokia has released the above picture on its social media channels, signaling an event in the middle east(likely Dubai or Abu Dhabi) on October 22nd, presumably for the Lumia 1520 Phablet and the Nokia Sirius Windows RT tablet launch. This news comes after rumours that Nokia might delay or cancel some of its products after the Microsoft deal, which makes some sense as some products may overlap within the same company, but if the teaser is to be believed, we will definitely see the Lumia 1520 at least, with the Sirius launch now a big question mark.

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Windows Phone retains the position as India’s second largest smartphone OS with 5.4% marketshare

It’s been almost an year since Windows Phone 8 launched, but the growth has seen a spike only recently, with the Nokia Lumia 520 becoming the most popular Windows Phone, not just in India, but the world. India has definitely been a tough market to crack for anything other than Android. Even with the huge marketing and retail push by Nokia, the most trusted brand in India for quite a number of years, Windows Phone is just at 5.4% of the whole Smartphone market. With iOS and BlackBerry contributed even lesser, Android rules the market with more than 84% marketshare at least.

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Oppo R819 Review

Oppo, a relatively new player in the Smartphone world, had already impressed us with the beautifully made Find 5, its current flagship device. But as any company that looks to expand its portfolio, Oppo has sought to address the mid-range market, which brings volume as well as the ability to reach more people. The R819 is a step in that direction. Armed with a 4.7 inch 720p display, a super thin 7.3mm profile and an 8 megapixel camera, the device is a decent cut-down in specifications when compared to the Find 5, literally in every sense, including thickness and weight. Oppo is now getting into the very similar yet extremely crowded mid-range category, but does the R819 impress enough to stand out? Read on for our fully detailed review below.

Note: Check out the 360 degree view of the Oppo R819 before proceeding towards the full review!

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Jolla’s Sailfish OS now fully compatible with Android apps and Android hardware

Seen as a major move from a small, yet significant new player in the mobile industry, Finalnd’s Jolla(pronounced as yo-la) announced today that the Sailfish OS is now fully compatible with Android apps as well as Android hardware. It was already confirmed that Sailfish would run Android apps, but the question was when. Now we know.

Taking advantage of the already robust and immensely popular Android ecosystem is what Jolla have done, on top of the unique UX the Sailfish OS offers. Not only you can download popular Android apps on the Sailfish OS, which Jolla claims, is without any modifications, the operating system is also Android hardware compatible. Meaning Vendors can take Sailfish OS and make devices with their current Android-based hardware implementations. Or one day, you can possibly load Sailfish on your Android phone, if you wish.

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Nokia was testing Android on its Lumias before the Microsoft acquisition, could it have worked out?

This has been blowing up on the Internet for the past few hours. New York Times reporter Nick Wingfield initially had this scoop that Nokia was testing Android on its Lumia range of devices as a “Plan B” if Windows Phone completely fails to take off. Yes, Nokia was indeed testing Android on its Lumias and it is speculated that it might have been a possibility in light of growing tensions between the two companies, with Microsoft failing to deliver features at a pace Nokia wanted it to. It is believed that this would have played a role in pushing Microsoft to acquire Nokia, but not a huge one, as insiders say that Microsoft was aware of this early on in the partnership.

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Tablets to outship PCs for the first time in the fourth quarter of 2013 – IDC

Tablets had been somewhat of a conundrum before Apple came up with the iPad. Only then, it made sense for people to approve and acknowledge a different kind of a computer that swiftly replaced the netbooks of our era. But was it ever enough to replace or outsell the traditional PC and Laptops? Well, according to IDC, the company that constantly releases numbers on the Smartphone market, the last quarter of this year will mark the first time ever that the tablets will outship Traditional PCs, including Desktops as well as Laptops. The above chart shows just that.

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Official IRCTC apps for Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8 announced in partnership with Microsoft

This might be the biggest coup for Microsoft in India. IRCTC, the notorious Indian Railways train ticket booking website known for its crashes and slowness under usual heavy Indian loads has received an exclusive app for the Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8 platforms, developed in partnership with Microsoft. This app will naturally let you book tickets, make PNR enquiries, check booking and cancellation histories and more. But the most important catch here is that the app will not be able to book tickets between 08:00 to 12:00 or 23:30 to 00:30 hrs of any day. This is presumably to reduce the expected additional load from mobile devices in the peak booking times, due to this app. You can download the app for Windows 8 here (link now LIVE) and Windows Phone 8 here.

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Nokia Lumia 925 Review

The Nokia Lumia 925 was launched in London a few months back, as the company’s answer to all the issues related to the Lumia 920. Concerns of bulk, thickness and similar looking design were addressed, with the Lumia 925 sporting a new Aluminium based design, a thinner and lighter build, bringing along some needed changes. The Lumia 920 was already a well rounded flagship smartphone, and with Nokia supposedly fixing all of its issues in the 925, does it make it the best Windows Phone currently available in the market? Our detailed review might help answering that question, read on.

Video Review

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKjcWbwpJc8

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Gionee Elife E5 Unboxing and First Impressions

The trend in today’s Indian market is cheap Android Smartphones. Many companies like Micromax and Karbonn have successfully built huge businesses over this specific concept, however there are always compromises to be made. Most devices that land in the Indian market are re branded low cost Smartphones from across the border in China. Shenzen is a hub of countless number of companies that are mainly contract manufacturers and often end up offering really low cost, and thereby low quality phones. But some of them really stand out, like Meizu, Xiaomi, Oppo and the new entrant in our list of impressive Chinese companies – Gionee. The Elife E5 has inspired us to think beyond and acknowledge the fact that excellent phone makers exist, irrespective of the market they are from.

We unboxed the Elife E5, one of the company’s recent releases in the Elife range, and found it really nice. Here is a video of us talking about the box contents and the device itself, go past the break for our complete impressions.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIzid_VK8bs&feature=youtu.be&a

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Unlocked Apple iPhone 5C prices starting from $549, iPhone 5 discontinued and iPhone 4S now $450

That’s right. C definitely doesn’t stand for cheap. The unsubsidized unlocked prices for the iPhone 5C have been revealed. The 16 GB version will be available for 549$ and the 32 GB version will be available for 649$. Let me do the direct conversion for you, the Indian National Rupee prices will likely be – Rs. 35,500/- for the 16 GB version and Rs. 42,000/- for the 32 GB version, rounding off to the nearest values without taxes and import duties. That seals the rumour that a low cost iPhone is on the way. It never was and is going to be the plan for Apple as they would never want to lose the insanely high ASPs that they are getting with the current iPhones.

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Apple iPhone 5S announced with A7 processor, Fingerprint sensor and an updated camera

Just after unveiling the all colourful iPhone 5C, Apple has now moved on to release the iPhone 5S, the next iteration for their flagship iPhone products. Again, the leaks were spot on, with the new home button having a biometrics finger print sensor, but there are also other interesting additions. One is the gold colour variant(Gold, Slate and Silver are the three new colours), which again, was perfectly accurate from the leaks and the other is the new Apple A7 and M7 chips. The iPhone 5S also brings an updated camera and revamped internals, read on to find out what the iPhone 5S is all about.

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iOS 7 to be available for Apple iPhone 5 and 4S on September 18th

Apple just revealed that the much awaited and critiqued iOS 7 update will be coming over to most Apple devices, but it will reach the iPhone 4S and the 5 on September 18th. The iOS 7 update includes the much awaited user interface overhaul and some extra features like AirDrop and brand new multitasking.

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Samsung Galaxy Note 3 vs Moto X hands on comparison

The Samsung Galaxy Note 3, launched at IFA received much attention mainly for its extensive customization options apart from the top end specifications. These options mainly deal with the back covers, ranging from metal to false stitched leather, and literally anything can be done with respect to the back cover. Guess which other device offers similar or even better customization? You guessed right, it’s the Moto X. One of the few devices in the world that can come with a wooden back, the Moto X is the Googlorola company’s only ticket back to being credible. With increasing competition and their top end specs, can the decidedly mid specced phone match up against the Note 3? We try to find out in a quick comparison video –

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fQ4IMGBoIM

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Samsung Galaxy Note 3 vs Apple iPhone 5 hands on comparison

With the next iPhone(s) scheduled to launch in just a few hours, we took the liberty of comparing the Apple iPhone 5 with the just launched Samsung Galaxy Note 3, because for all you know, the 5S might just be a slight upgrade over the 5. That said, the Galaxy Note is possibly the most technologically(read: hardware) advanced smartphone right now, so how does it fare in comparison with the most popular smartphone on the planet? Watch our video for a quick hands on comparison.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xc9PcQRkMHk

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