mPassport Seva for Android, iPhone and Windows Phone offers Passport related information

mPassport Seva

The Ministry of External Affairs had launched the mPassport Seva mobile app on Android platform, as a pilot, on 21st March 2013, now it has released the app for iPhone and Windows Phone devices too. The app enables Indian Citizens to access passport-related information on their smartphones including status tracking, locating a Passport Office and other general information. It is executed in Public-Private-Partnership mode with Tata Consultancy Services. Continue reading “mPassport Seva for Android, iPhone and Windows Phone offers Passport related information”

Huawei Ascend W2 with 4.3-inch display, Windows Phone 8 official

Huawei Ascend W2

Huawei has finally announced the Ascend W2, the company’s latest smartphone running on Windows Phone 8 after several rumors. It is the successor of the Ascend W1 that was announced at the CES 2013 earlier this year, and packs a 4.3-inch (800 x 480 pixels) WVGA super-sensitive touch screen display, powered by a 1.4 GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8230 processor. It has a 5 MP auto focus rear camera with 720p HD video recording. The phone has capacitive touch buttons with backlight similar to the color of the phone. Continue reading “Huawei Ascend W2 with 4.3-inch display, Windows Phone 8 official”

HTC One Android 4.4 KitKat update coming to EMEA countries by January 2014

HTC already promised that they would roll out the Android 4.4 (KitKat) update for the HTC One within 90 days from the official KitKat launch on 31st October. Now the Android Community is reporting that HTC has told them that the EMEA countries (Europe, Middle East, and Africa) would get the Android 4.4 update starting from the end of January. Continue reading “HTC One Android 4.4 KitKat update coming to EMEA countries by January 2014”

HTC One SV gets the Android 4.2.2 and Sense 5.0 update

HTC One SV Android 4.2.2

HTC has started rolling out the Android 4.2.2 update (v3.11.401.1) for the International variant of the One SV starting from Croatia and other European countries. This bring Sense 5, BlinkFeed , Quick settings and lots more features. Complete changelog of the update is not available yet. Even though the phone did not launch in India, it is a good thing that HTC is bringing the Android 4.2 update for devices powered by a dual-core processor. Continue reading “HTC One SV gets the Android 4.2.2 and Sense 5.0 update”

Micromax Canvas Turbo Benchmarks

Micromax Canvas Turbo A250 Benchmarks

Micromax launched the Canvas Turbo A250, the company’s first smartphone with a 5-inch 1080p display last month. We already brought you the unboxing of the smartphone, here we have the benchmarks of it. The phone has a 5.0-inch (1920 x 1080 pixels) CGS (Continuous Grain Silicon) IPS display, powered by 1.5 GHz quad-core MediaTek MT6589T processor with PowerVR SGX 544MP GPU and runs on Android 4.2.1 (Jelly Bean).  Let’s find out how this compete with other devices in range of synthetic benchmark tests when compared to other smartphones with a full HD display and a similar MT6589 T including the Spice Pinnacle FHD Mi-525, Gionee Elife E6 and the Intex Aqua i7.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymMQjidTxJs Continue reading “Micromax Canvas Turbo Benchmarks”

LG G Flex to go on sale in Korea from November 12th, video shows off the flexible body

LG G Flex Korea

LG Electronics has announced that the company’s latest smartphone, the G Flex would go on sale in their home ground Korea from November 12th. The company’s first phone with a flexible display was announced last month, and packs a 6-inch (1280 x 720 pixels) HD Curved Curved Plastic OLED display from LG Display that vertically concave from top to bottom with a radius of 700mm, powered by a 2.26 GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 processor and runs on Android 4.2.2 (Jelly Bean). It has a 13-megapixel rear camera with LED flash and a 2.1-megapixel front-facing camera. It packs a 3500 mAh curved battery developed by LG Chem. Continue reading “LG G Flex to go on sale in Korea from November 12th, video shows off the flexible body”

Oppo R819 now available in Midnight Black variant

oppo-r819-midnight-black

Oppo R819, a super thin and compact offering from the Chinese company, is now available in a midnight black colour variant. We had reviewed the device earlier and found it to be quite nice for the price it comes at, but we were also wary of the device’s build, which was glossy and white. Seems like Oppo has fixed our complaints with the midnight black version which looks way more slicker than the original white version. From the looks of the press image, it seems that the black version will be matte, with the sides still sporting a nice chrome strip. In short, personally, I would have liked the midnight black variant more than the white.

Continue reading “Oppo R819 now available in Midnight Black variant”

Sony Xperia Z1 vs LG G2

Sony announced their latest flagship device – Sony Xperia Z1 at IFA 2013. Sony Xperia Z1 had leaked numerous times prior to launch and when Sony announced it, nothing came as a surprise – even the 20.7MP camera. Sony Xperia Z1 has one of the biggest camera sensor on an Android smartphone, even bigger than the one on the camera-phone – Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom, but without the optical zoom.

sony-xperia-z1-vs-lg-g2-18

LG had announced their flagship nearly a month before the IFA during the first week of August. LG G2 is the company’s top of the shelf product powered by the best of Snapdragon – Snapdragon 800 . It comes with an unbelievable build that is almost bezel free and has a new design language with the power lock key and the volume rocker at the back of the device.

Today, we will be seeing how Sony’s camera centric powerful Xperia Z1 will take on the all-round LG G2. Both the phones pack some serious processing power and do they have what it takes to dwarf out each other. Lets find out. You can check out the in-depth comparison video right below.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAVeOP6IG5M

Continue reading “Sony Xperia Z1 vs LG G2”

Nokia Illusion rumored to be 8 inch Windows RT tablet

nokia-lumia-2520-battery-cover

Just a few weeks back Nokia announced its first offering in the tablet segment with the Windows RT running Lumia 2520. It looks like the Finnish company might be working on a companion device in the 8 inch tablet segment. Evan Blass, the person behind @evleaks today revealed that the Nokia Illusion will be their offering for those looking for a smaller tablet. For better or worse, this tablet too will be powered by Windows RT. Like the Lumia 2520, expect to see this powered by a Snapdragon 800 processor clocked at 2.2Ghz and pack a Carl Zeiss equipped camera at the back.

 

We’ve seen the competition really heat up in the smaller tablet segment with the Nexus 7 and iPad Mini doing extremely well. This is partially because of the extra portability on offer and to some extent, the pricing advantage. Nokia’s sunlight readable display would be an even bigger selling point at the 8 inch size segment. We expect to see this device at CES in January.

Lenovo P780 Unboxing

Lenovo P780 Unboxing-12

Lenovo launched the P780, successor of the P770 back in June. We got the device with a 4000 mAh battery for unboxing. The phone has a 5-inch (1280 x 720 pixels) capactive touch screen IPS display and has a 1.2 GHz quad-core MediaTek 6589 processor, better than its predecessor. It runs on Android 4.2.1 (Jelly Bean) with Lenovo’s custom UI on top. Check out the unboxing below.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZZw5AJLnB0 Continue reading “Lenovo P780 Unboxing”

Intex Aqua i7 Benchmarks

Intex Aqua i7 Benchmarks

Intex launched the Aqua i7, the company’s latest smartphone in India back in September. We already brought you the unboxing of the device, here we have the benchmarks of the smartphone. This would compete with other devices with full HD screen in the Indian smartphone race.  It is powered by a quad-core MediaTek 6589T processor clocked at 1.5 GHz with PowerVR SGX 544MP GPU. It has a 5-inch (1920 x 1080 pixels) full HD display with Gorilla glass protection and runs on Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean). Let’s find out how this compete with other devices in range of synthetic benchmark tests.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCE_POoEERw Continue reading “Intex Aqua i7 Benchmarks”

BlackBerry abandons deal with Fairfax, Thorsten Heins gets replaced by John S Chen as interim CEO

BlackBerry-Q5-Live-2

We’d reported some time back that BlackBerry was all set to be bought over by a consortium led by Fairfax Financials. The company today announced that it is backing away from the deal and will instead switch over to Plan B. This is likely due to the inability to raise a higher a bid for the company which is suspected to be the aim altogether behind the Fairfax bid. BlackBerry is now looking to raise $1 Billion in cash and will be replacing CEO Thorsten Heins. John S Chen, former CEO of Sybase will be taking over as interim CEO while the board looks for a replacement. The company will raise the money with a private placement of convertible debentures and its largest investor, Fairfax Financials will take up $250 million of the debentures. There were rumors that Qualcomm amongst others was about to bid for the dying company but it looks like that deal didn’t go through either. The next few months should be very interesting as we keep a track of what exactly will happen to the iconic brand. BlackBerry is expected to burn through its $2.6 billion cash pile in about 18 months.

[Via – Reuters]

Micromax Canvas Turbo Unboxing

micromax-canvas-turbo-unboxing-1

Today, we bring you the unboxing of Micromax Canvas Turbo, the latest and greatest from Micromax in the highly popular canvas series of devices. Hugh Jackman was a huge score for the company as it plans to push its limits beyond the Indian borders. Announced in October for a price of Rs. 19,990, the phones marquee features are its full HD display, its quad core 1.5 GHz MediaTek MTK6589T processor with 2 GB of RAM and 16 GB of ROM. With quick successions to the flagship range, how does the Canvas Turbo differ from the Canvas 4 and the Canvas HD? Ideally, we will be able to talk about it in our review, but here’s a quick unboxing video for a quick overview of the box contents and the device itself –

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9PUuASZOYk

Continue reading “Micromax Canvas Turbo Unboxing”

Motorola Moto G launch event set for November 13th, coming to India?

Motorola Moto G launch invite

Motorola has officially announced that the Moto G, the company’s new mid-range Android smartphone would be unveiled on November 13th, after some rumors. In a tweet Motorola Mobility says, “Time to say hola, olá, g’day, hallo, bonjour, namastē, hello to #MotoG” which includes greetings in several languages in different parts of the world such as Spanish, Portuguese, Australian, German, French, Hindi and English. The Motorola Moto X that was launched back in August is only available in the U.S. Looks like Motorola is planning to launch this mid-range smartphone in other markets where the Moto X is not available. Continue reading “Motorola Moto G launch event set for November 13th, coming to India?”

Samsung Galaxy S3 gets official Android 4.3 update in Ireland, International roll-out to follow soon

Samsung has just updated their current flagship – Samsung Galaxy S4 with Android 4.3 and now it looks like the South Korean company has started pushing out the Android 4.3 update to their yesteryear flagship – Samsung Galaxy S3. Samsung Galaxy S3 was launched with Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich and it received an update to Android 4.1.2 sometime back. The company skipped Android 4.2 for Galaxy S3 and Galaxy Note 2 and are directly updating their yesteryear flagships to Android 4.3 Jellybean.

Samsung-Galaxy-S3-1 Continue reading “Samsung Galaxy S3 gets official Android 4.3 update in Ireland, International roll-out to follow soon”