Bharadwaj Chandramouli | Fone Arena

Nokia makes the Lumia 928 all but official with a video comparison teaser

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The Nokia Lumia 928 was unofficially confirmed on the official site yesterday, and most details have been leaked out about this device which is expected to launch on the 15th of May. Nokia have gone ahead one more step and have released a video comparison teaser boasting of the OIS capable 8.7 MP PureView camera on the Lumia 928, which is known to sport a Xenon flash in addition to LED. The video comparison is between the Nokia Lumia 928, the Samsung Galaxy S III and the Apple iPhone 5 titled “New Nokia Lumia with PureView takes on “The Hurricane””. Here is the video footage comparison video –

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

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Finland negotiates with India for the Nokia Tax case

Nokia and the Indian government have been at odds for quite a while regarding a purported Tax evasion by the Finnish company. A lot of multi-national companies like Vodafone and Shell too have been facing the heat regarding similar tax evasion cases. Nokia in particular had its Chennai Sri Perumbudur plant raided by the Income tax department. Finally, the Indian government decided to slap a tax demand of around Rs. 2000 crore for tax evasion, and a case was filed in the Delhi high court regarding the same. As of now, the case has been stayed and Finland has now come in aid of Nokia, with them proposing a mutual agreement procedure with the Indian Government based on a Tax treaty between the two countries.

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YouTube finally gets a huge update on Windows Phone 8, graduates to a fully functional app

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Microsoft and Google have not always been best of friends by any means and that had meant no official blessing for any Google services on Windows Phone. It was a huge pain for people using Google services and they were huge in number. YouTube is also one of the most used Google services, probably next to Gmail, and its official app on Windows Phone, published by Microsoft was a link to the mobile web version of YouTube until today. Now, the official app, still made by Microsoft has gotten a huge update and is finally a real app. With support for every YouTube client feature you’d want, the app has been finally released onto the Windows Phone store.

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Foursquare for Windows Phone 8 gets a refresh, new UI and new features

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Foursquare, the leading location based social network has received a major refresh for the Windows Phone 8 platform, with a new UI, new features and more. The official app has been around in the Windows Phone marketplace for quite a while now and it was revealed that Nokia and Microsoft are working with Foursquare to bring a new experience to the Windows Phone platform and here it is. The app, boasting millions of users is primarily used for exploring nearby places and checking in to places so as to create a history of geotags with the added bonus of points and badges.

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Viber now available for download on PCs and Macs, mobile version updated to 3.0 for support

viber-pc-download

Viber, the cross platform VOIP client, which broke into the scene mobile-first has now transcended to the PC ecosystem by introducing its client on Windows and Mac computers. Viber is very similar to Skype in letting you make voice calls, video calls and send messages in groups or otherwise. Only thing differentiating it from Skype was desktop support and now that part of the puzzle has been found. Viber desktop lets you do everything you do on your mobile phone and even lets you transfer calls from one device to another, which is pretty cool. Here is a promotional video announcing the desktop support –

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ASUS Fonepad vs Samsung Galaxy Note 510

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The ASUS Fonepad and the Samsung Galaxy Note 510(also called the Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0) are one of a kind tablets. Both launched at MWC, with similar functionality, but with different markets in mind. Carrying the Note brand, the Galaxy Note 8.0 or the Note 510 as it is called in India, has stylus features and all the Samsung goodness associated with all its Note products, while the Fonepad is ASUS’ first entry into the calling tablet market with it squarely aimed at the Tab 2 310’s price range while offering more performance per rupee ratio. By design and looks, it is clearly a Nexus 7 in another form. Between these two tablets, we are going to see which one is better and which one might suit you the best in case you are in confusion. Before diving into the in-depth text comparison, here is our video of the same –

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zakkZyn-LBg

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Samsung readying its India plant for manufacturing the Galaxy S4

Not too long ago, Samsung proclaimed in their REX series launch event that they had started to manufacture those range of devices at their manufacturing facility in India. They also proudly touted that the R&D was completely done in-house as well. While the R&D might still take longer for higher end devices, Samsung has announced that their Noida facility will undertake the manufacturing of the Samsung Galaxy S4 real soon, in order to meet demand. The Samsung Galaxy S4 was launched a couple of days back in India and you can see the unboxing of the Exynos 5 Octa Indian version here.

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Vodafone’s “All-in-one” plans for Samsung Galaxy S4 detailed

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The Samsung Galaxy S4 just launched in India today, and part of the announcement was the exclusive partnership with Vodafone for bundle offers. Vodafone, one of India’s largest mobile operators has special plans for the Galaxy S4, which we slightly touched upon in the launch post, and now we are going into the details. First of all, it is called a “All-in-one” plan which means voice, text and data is included in this plan. Unlimited data and generous amounts of voice were described as a part of the offers, so lets dig in and see what the details are.

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Celkon A62 spotted on Snapdeal, 4.7 inch FWVGA Dual Core Android ICS phone for Rs.6,799/-

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Celkon, known for its cheap value for money Android phones, including its new A119 Signature HD that we reviewed recently, has been spotted of selling its new low end Android device, the Celkon A62 on Snapdeal. The device comes with a huge 4.7 inch screen, with a resolution of 854×480 pixels. While it may not sound really exciting, we must remind you that it costs Rs. 6,799/- which is probably one of the few devices that have a huge screen at this price.

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Skype arrives on Blackberry Q10 in preview form

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Skype had been telling us that they are indeed working on an app for Blackberry 10, and they have fulfilled that promise by releasing their ubiquitous voice, messaging and video calling app for the newly launched BlackBerry Q10, albeit in preview form. Note that this app is not native to the platform and is the Android app directly ported over to support BlackBerry’s emulation layer. It has launched just for the BlackBerry Q10 as of now, with optimized support for that screen size.

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Smartphones outship Feature phones for the first time ever – IDC

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International Data Corporation(IDC), the market research firm that usually outs numbers for the mobile phone market every quarter has something new to say this quarter. According to them, the first quarter of 2013 has been the first time ever in the history of the mobile phone market that the Smartphones have outshipped feature phones. The whole worldwide mobile phone market seems to have grown 4% this quarter. Samsung still remains the leader in the mobile phone market dominating sales in both smartphones as well as feature phones.

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Nokia Lumia 520 vs Lumia 620, which one should you buy?

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The Nokia Lumia 520 just launched a couple of weeks back, marking the entry of the cheapest Windows Phone 8 device in the Indian market. We reviewed it recently and found it to be quite nice for the price. Talking of the price, one could actually spend a couple more thousands and get the Lumia 620 instead, but is it the right thing to do and is it worth the extra spend? Which one should you buy then? To answer you quickly, we have taken a look at both these devices in a video comparison, head past the video for the text and more photos –

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53_rKwtFIkA

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Nokia teases new Asha devices, to be launched on April 24th

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It has been a while since Nokia launched new devices in its Asha range of low to mid range priced mobile phones. Last time we saw cheap phones from Nokia was at the Mobile World Congress in which they announced the Nokia 301 and the Nokia 105, which were surprisingly not part of the Asha range. It was not surprising to think that may be Nokia is going for full touch for its Asha brand exclusively, especially with the success for devices like the Asha 311. With Android devices completely eroding Nokia’s marketshare at the low end, they desperately need a refresh, and the above image suggests that Nokia will be gearing up for a new wave of Asha devices starting April 24th.

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Nokia Lumia 620 Review

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Since the Windows Phone 8 reboot, Nokia has so far launched five devices, with the Lumia 920 and the Lumia 820 launching way back in September 2012, then the Nokia Lumia 620 at LeWeb, and the Nokia Lumia 720 and Lumia 520 at the Mobile World Congress. The portfolio of devices cover almost all the price points of the market, and the Lumia 620 is in that special mid range segment. Same time last year, Nokia had the Lumia 610 as the predecessor to the 620, but the hardware was so lacking(with 256MB of RAM) and Windows Phone 7 was not really up to the mark in terms of market expectations. Fast forward to this year, Windows Phone 8 brings a lot of features and ticks check boxes of most requested features including Bluetooth file transfer, mass storage, support for micro SD cards, NFC tap to send etc and the hardware too has gained some decent specs, with respect to the Lumia 620. With all these specs and features backing it, will the Lumia 620 suffice a budget minded smartphone buyer in India? Read on to find out.

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Celkon A119 Signature HD Unboxing

Celkon A119 Signature HD-3

Yet another entry into the mid range burgeoning phablet category of the Indian market is the Celkon A119 Signature HD. Celkon is relatively new to the space and with the launch of the A119 Signature HD, it follows the legion of Indian “manufacturers” who make smartphones in China. With a respectable spec sheet, the A119 Signature HD is aimed at upsetting the established players like Micromax and karbonn, vying for the coveted “most value for money” device that is ever to land in the market. We have got the device at our labs for review, and here is the unboxing of the phone, with a quick hardware tour –

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kcwtc2jXaBE

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