Bharadwaj Chandramouli | Fone Arena

Sony Xperia Tablet Z launched in India for a price of Rs.46,990

Sony launched its Xperia Tablet Z at the Mobile World Congress and it recently went on pre-order for about Rs.44,990 at several online retailers in India, but now, at a launch event in New Delhi, Sony has finally launched it here, for a price of Rs. 46,990. Boasting a brilliant 10.1 inch 1920×1200 display, the tablet aims to be the big screened point of interaction for all of Sony’s services like Music unlimited and Movies. We had went hands on with the device back in February at the MWC event and were left quite impressed. But with a steep price, will it find its way into people’s hands? Only time will tell.

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WeChat now available for Nokia Asha devices

asha-we-chat

WeChat, the Instant messenger application from the grand orient, has its aim squarely at Whatsapp for ubiquity in platforms. In that direction, it has announced the availability of the IM app for Nokia’s Asha range of devices. The IM app, which works fairly similar to Whatsapp in terms of functionality, is available for download over the Nokia Store.

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Samsung Galaxy Mega 5.8 now available on Snapdeal for Rs.24,900

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Yesterday, Samsung unveiled two new Galaxy devices at a launch event in Chennai. The Galaxy Mega 5.8 and the Galaxy Mega 6.3 are the two new entrants to the new Mega series of devices solely focused on big screened smartphone computing. Out of the two devices launched, which were set to be available in India real soon, we already have the Galaxy Mega 5.8 listed as available on Snapdeal, the online retailer for a price of Rs. 24,900 which is two hundred rupees lesser than the launch price of Rs. 25,100. Although it is currently listed as sold out, we think that the devices are already trickling down into the retail channels and you will be able to get the device sooner than what Samsung said, we feel. Check out our photo gallery of the Samsung Galaxy Mega 5.8 and the first impressions of the device.

Update: It is available on the Samsung eStore too, for the same price.

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Nokia Asha 310 vs Samsung Rex 90

asha-310-vs-rex-90-10

You might have seen a lot of comparisons here lately, mostly dealing with big budget tablets or interesting smartphones, but we never were able to show you how the entry level market was like, especially with so many touch devices in that segment now. These are not smartphones, but they are not dumbphones either. Nokia particularly calls its new range Asha phone smartphones, which most might not agree with, but it has some really good features to talk about. Similarly, Samsung also recently launched its Rex series of devices to combat the Nokia Asha range in a similarly priced market. So, which one is better? Lets find out.

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Nokia Lumia 920 receives a price cut, now available for Rs. 32,639/-

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The Espoo company’s flagship has been around for a while, and was retailing at quite high a price. It was priced at around Rs. 36k – Rs. 38k in several places. It has now received a substantial price cut, at a time when other flagships like the HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S4 have made their foray into the Indian market. Now retailing at Rs. 32, 639 at the Nokia India Online Store and for lesser elsewhere, Nokia hopes to attract more sales of the device in India. Equipped with a 8.7 megapixel PureView camera and a lot of other innovations like the wireless charging for example, the Lumia 920 comes with attractively coloured options.

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Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 vs Apple iPad mini

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While we are reviewing the Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0, we saw it fit that we compare it with the other small tablets in our labs. The Apple iPad mini is the one and only smaller iPad with a cheaper price as well as better portability obviously, so how does it fare when compared to the Galaxy Note 8.0? Lets find out. Here’s the in-depth video comparison and read past the break for the text –

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cA6JVdlvpSs

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Karbonn Titanium S5 vs Micromax A116 Canvas HD

karbonn-titanium-s5-vs-micromax-a116-canvas-hd

We got to unbox and review the Karbonn Titanium S5 recently and found it to be a good enough phone for the price. Since we had the Micromax A116 Canvas HD lying around, and also since there are a lot of similarities in the form factor and somewhat the price, we decided to compare them both. Here is a detailed in-depth look at the comparison of Karbonn Titanium S5 vs Micromax A116 canvas HD –

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RpehhDhbUU

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Nexus 4 spotted running Android 4.3 Jellybean

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XDA forum user Chaleen has posted the above image found on a Nexus 4 in a mobile Expo in Thailand. The Android version number being 4.3 suggests that the newest iteration of Android, which was expected to be launched at the Google I/O a week back might actually be launched on the rumoured date of June 10th. More screenshots from the user below.

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Nokia Lumia 720 – low light photo samples

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We had reviewed the Nokia Lumia 720 earlier and had lauded the camera capabilities. We were so impressed by the low light performance that we decided to give it a go again and see how it fares in very challenging conditions. Below is a summary of the photos taken and some additional information on how it fared. Read on.

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BlackBerry launches 0% EMI scheme for BlackBerry Z10 and Curve 9220, partners with Idea for BIS offer

It’s been quite a while since the BlackBerry Z10 launched in India, and that too, with a hefty price tag. To spur the sales of the device, the Waterloo company has now joined the “0% EMI” bandwagon by offering an EMI scheme for the only BlackBerry 10 device in the market as well as the cheap Curve device – the 9220. Like most other EMI schemes offered by companies like Samsung and Nokia, this will also feature Rs.0 down payment, 0% processing fee and 0% interest and the plan will be rolled out in 3000 BlackBerry outlets across India this weekend. One can choose to pay Rs. 4,799/- per month for 9 months, for the BlackBerry Z10 and Rs. 799/- per month for 12 months, for the Curve 9220.

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Panasonic P51 Review

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Panasonic announced and launched its first and only smartphone for the Indian market – the Panasonic P51 last week. It is supposed to be its splashing entry into the crowded Indian smartphone market and everybody expected it to make an entry in the low-mid end segment where the volume is, so did we. But instead of following the “new manufacturer – low price” route, Panasonic did the opposite in bringing a flagship-like device with a price tag that you would attach to a mid-high end smartphone. Does Panasonic deliver in providing a premium experience for the price? Or is it just another me-too entry that is exorbitantly priced? Read on to find out.

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Mobile data usage nearly doubles in India, thanks to a 3x increase in 3G usage

According to a MBIT index study conducted by Nokia Siemens Networks, the 3G infrastructure provider for most of the networks in India, it has been revealed that the mobile data usage in the country has almost doubled in the period of December 2011 – 2012. The main reason for the increased usage in mobile data is attributed to 3 times increase in usage of 3G mobile data by consumers, mainly from, what operators call, the “A” circles. Apparently, a regular 3G user consumes an average of 434 MB per month while the average amount of data consumed by the 2G user is 115 MB per month. Ultimately, there has been a 92% total increase in the usage of mobile data, with a whopping 196% increase in 3G usage and a 66% increase in 2G usage.

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ASUS Fonepad vs Apple iPad mini

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We just finished reviewing the ASUS Fonepad and witnessed a launch of its beefed up variant too, but that won’t stop us from comparing the new calling tablet from ASUS with the similarly priced small tablets that we have in our labs. Like we compared it with the Samsung Galaxy Note 510 and the Galaxy Tab 2 310, we are now comparing it to the Apple iPad mini, which is probably the best small tablet money can buy right now. So, how does the ASUS Fonepad compare to the smaller iPad? We took them both in front of the camera to find out –

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fIuZoCpels

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Jolla reveals its first Sailfish OS device with the other half and a pre order program

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Jolla, the smartphone start up company from Finland, has just revealed its first Sailfish OS based device, with colourful replaceable shells they are calling the “Other Half”. This is the first Jolla device that has appeared ever since they started the “other half” teaser campaign on their social media channels. Running on the intuitive Sailfish operating system, the device will be able to run native apps as well as Android apps(as mentioned earlier) on a seamless user interface. We had a hands on demo of the Sailfish OS earlier at the Mobile World Congress, you can watch it for more information about the intuitive OS.

The device is slated for a end-of-2013 availability and there is currently a pre-order program in place. Here is Marc Dillon of Jolla, explaining about it –

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sduBRkYQ9eY

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ASUS Fonepad updated with better specs – Intel Z2460 and 32 GB internal storage

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The ASUS Fonepad has been in our labs for quite some time, and in our review, you might have noticed that we were disappointed with the Fonepad’s performance. It even suffered in our gaming performance tests. But if you are still waiting on buying one, then good news awaits you. ASUS has just announced and launched a new Fonepad with better specs. The “Lexington” Intel Z2420 chipset has been swapped with the better performing Intel Z2460, and the 16GB internal storage, which gave us only 11GB of usable memory has been doubled to 32GB. All the other specs remain intact though, with the display still highly reflective, we guess. But still, a good thing that ASUS heard customer feedback and swiftly fixed it. However, there is a price to pay for the new version of Fonepad. It will be 60$ higher than before, a good 3,300 INR higher in our case.

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