Bharadwaj Chandramouli | Fone Arena

Nokia Lumia 820 3600 mAh Mugen Power Batteries extended battery review

nokia-lumia-820-mugen-batteries-3600-mah-2

The Nokia Lumia 820 is at the fag end of its life cycle, waiting to be succeeded by a more capable Lumia 825 or something, but it is still present in the hands of lots of people, who unanimously face the single most annoying issue on the 820, the disappointing battery life. I know I face it, because I have been using one for the past 7 months and I can tell you outright that the in-built 1650 mAh battery is bad, period.

Seeking respite from the incessant battery drains, my eyes grew wide when the well known Android “extended battery” maker, Mugen Power Batteries, announced that huge extended batteries for the Lumia 820 are in the works. There were two variants announced, and one of them was the 3600 mAh one with a special battery door. Needless to say, I got the biggest one. What follows is my experience with the accessory over a comfortably long term of 2 months to see if it is really worth it or not.

Continue reading “Nokia Lumia 820 3600 mAh Mugen Power Batteries extended battery review”

Apple loses marketshare as Android tablet sales surge – IDC

idc-tablet-marketshare

What started with Kindle Fire is now the leading form factor in the tablet space. Yes, thanks to the booming small tablet market, Android is surging ahead at no. 1 spot in the tablet space too, with Apple losing marketshare and not growing along with the market. IDC had released its Smartphone marketshare analysis recently, which saw Apple growing at a slower pace than the others and that seems to be the case in tablets too.

Continue reading “Apple loses marketshare as Android tablet sales surge – IDC”

Oppo N-Lens N1 cameraphone renders leak out, show off the 12 megapixel camera

oppo-n-lens-12-megapixel-camera-2

We recently saw Oppo, the company behind awesome hardware like the Find 5, officially confirming that they are indeed working on camera centric devices with the codename “N-Lens” as future flagships. However, contrary to what we had head before, the company is set out to produce cameraphones rather than connected cameras. We believed it was going to be competition with the Galaxy NX or the Galaxy Camera but if the very recently leaked renders are to be believed, Oppo is all set to launch its cameraphones, starting with the N-Lens N1 which has leaked in renders, one of them shown above.

Continue reading “Oppo N-Lens N1 cameraphone renders leak out, show off the 12 megapixel camera”

Bing gets a facelift on Windows Phone, adds new design and features

bing-1

Bing, Microsoft’s answer to Google, is the default search app on Windows Phone with a dedicated key. The service received a substantial upgrade with the Windows Phone 8 update that brought panoramic quick access to relevant stories at that point in time. Otherwise the results have been similar since the inception of the OS and that has finally changed, with the new rollout that has started for the Bing Search app in Windows Phone. The new update brings a new layout and new features based on the Bing Neural network that works similar to the Knowledge graph from Google.

Continue reading “Bing gets a facelift on Windows Phone, adds new design and features”

Obama administration vetoes Apple iPhones/iPads import ban, South Korea concerned

samsung-galaxy-note-510-8-vs-apple-ipad-mini-22

In a turn of events for the Samsung-Apple patent controversy, US president Barack Obama’s administration has vetoed an import and sales ban on some Apple iPhones and iPads, upending a legal upper hand for Samsung. This is reportedly the first time since 1987 that a presidential administration has vetoed a ban by the country’s own International Trade Commission. This has raised a few eyebrows in the far east, in South Korea, where the media criticized the USA for protecting Apple.

Continue reading “Obama administration vetoes Apple iPhones/iPads import ban, South Korea concerned”

Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom Review

samsung-galaxy-s4-zoom-review-8

Samsung has been recently having an obsession to provide solutions of convergence in weird form factors. We saw that with the Mega 6.3 and the Galaxy Note 510, both being devices with a certain feature, unknown to that specific form factor, hacked in, and the S4 Zoom falls in that same category. It is basically a Smartphone with a camera slapped on its back, or a point and shoot with a smartphone slapped on its back, you get the idea. Samsung started this trend with the Galaxy Camera, a high end point and shoot running Android, which is basically a connected camera, with 3G. Expectedly, Samsung has taken it further with the S4 Zoom adding phone functionality. Priced at Rs. 29,990, is the S4 Zoom a hack job or is it actually a good enough cameraphone? Lets find out.

Video Review

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfz1vMhBbIk

Continue reading “Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom Review”

ZTE ships 11.5 million smartphones in Q2 2013, at 5% of the total smartphone marketshare

ZTE Grand S-4

Amongst a number of highly competitive Chinese smartphone makers is ZTE. This company was recently revealed as one of the Top 5 Smartphone makers in the world, by IDC, pegging it at the fifth position. However, contrary to IDC’s claims, ZTE has posted its Q2 results with a total of 11.5 million(up from 10.1 in the report) shipments, pegging the company at an even more impressive fourth position. With this number, the company now owns a healthy 5% of the total smartphone marketshare. Several Android OEMs are finally starting to make substantial inroads into the market, is the Apple-Samsung duopoly fading fast?

Continue reading “ZTE ships 11.5 million smartphones in Q2 2013, at 5% of the total smartphone marketshare”

Samsung boasts the world’s first TDD-FDD LTE seamless handover technology with new Galaxy S4 and S4 mini devices

Samsung Galaxy S4 LTE-A

Samsung has just announced that it has the world’s first commercially available devices(new Galaxy S4s and S4 minis) that can seamlessly do handover between two different LTE networks(based on TDD and FDD). This news comes at a time when most companies and their multimode LTE chipsets are gearing up for LTE Advanced support. Qualcomm had announced last year that they will bringing a truly global LTE chipset with support for both TDD and FDD LTE variants, with the MDM9x25 series of modems, but Samsung seems to have one-upped them, not for a dual mode TDD-FDD LTE chipset, but for this “seamless handover” technology.

Continue reading “Samsung boasts the world’s first TDD-FDD LTE seamless handover technology with new Galaxy S4 and S4 mini devices”

Five interesting Moto X features you need to know

Moto X

The Moto X just went official in the USA, with a ton of information(aka press coverage) doing the usual internet rounds. With modest hardware specifications, Motorola has taken a completely different approach with its latest flagship device. So different, it makes you wonder what really is special with this device. Unless you want to read through various long form articles, you won’t really know what the stand-out features are. We have taken that effort instead, so here is a compiled list of really interesting Moto X features you definitely need to know.

Continue reading “Five interesting Moto X features you need to know”

Meizu MX2 Unboxing and first impressions

meizu-mx-2-unboxing-2

Meizu, a well known Chinese smartphone manufacturer, rose to popularity with its M9 and MX devices. The company was always known for making devices that look remarkably similar to Apple’s iPhone, and that tradition continues with its latest flagship, the MX2. With a really impressive build quality and a gorgeous display, we set out to unbox this beauty of a device with some high expectations. Does it deliver? Watch the unboxing video and skip past the break for our initial impressions of the device.

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

Continue reading “Meizu MX2 Unboxing and first impressions”

Sony’s Q1 FY13 results out, mobile sales increase by 36% YoY

son-yq1-fy13-results-mobile-sales

Looks like Sony is back in the game, especially in mobile! The Japanese company has just reported its first quarter FY 2013 results and has beaten expectations set by analysts. The increased performance is due to, you guessed right, its mobile division. While it posted huge operating losses last year, the division has gained 36% YoY, posting an operating income of 60 million USD. The company’s overall net profits stand at a small 35 million USD, which is not huge by any means, but posting profits after struggling for the past year should be encouraging for the consumer electronics giant.

Continue reading “Sony’s Q1 FY13 results out, mobile sales increase by 36% YoY”

Samsung tops Apple in a new customer satisfaction survey

Samsung has finally topped Apple in a customer satisfaction survey. The new customer survey conducted by American Customer Satisfaction Index is first of its kind with the survey containing individual smartphones.

ACSI Smart Study

Continue reading “Samsung tops Apple in a new customer satisfaction survey”

Is Nokia launching a tablet at the September 26-27 NYC event?

nokia-nyc-event-world-tablet

It’s been long rumoured that Nokia is launching a Windows tablet, and that might actually come true if the recent leaks are to be believed. Windows Phone Central reports that Nokia is having a launch event in New York on September 26th and 27th spanning two days, for a rumoured tablet announcement. The above image is a screenshot of a purported event invite that is doing the rounds internally. Is this actually the Nokia World event this year? Quite possibly.

Continue reading “Is Nokia launching a tablet at the September 26-27 NYC event?”

Samsung to supply Retina displays for the next iPad mini

Samsung and Apple might be involved in a lot of patent cases, but their partnership continues to flourish. Samsung is tipped to be the provider of the retina display for next generation iPad mini that is rumored to arrive by the end of this year.

iPad-Mini-1

Continue reading “Samsung to supply Retina displays for the next iPad mini”

Google extends Windows Phone calendar and contact syncing deadline to December 31st

There was huge uproar after Google announced its plans to drop EAS support for all non-corporate GMail accounts, mainly because that affected Windows Phone, which has no in-built support for the new CardDAV and CalDAV technologies. Hence Microsoft and Google decided to extend the support for Windows Phone devices until July 31st, yesterday, a date from which devices without the GDR2 update would have stopped supporting syncing to Google servers. Thankfully, the companies have extended the date yet again, to December 31st, since most devices haven’t got the update yet.

Continue reading “Google extends Windows Phone calendar and contact syncing deadline to December 31st”