Here’s why Android One is great for the budget smartphone market

android-one-micromax-spice-karbonn

One of the many significant announcements at the recent Google I/O developers conference was Android One. The program was formally unveiled with one central goal in mind, reaching the next 5 billion people in the world. These are the ones without a smartphone, mostly in emerging markets like India, China and so on. Google will be partnering with companies in the supply chain to provide a turnkey solution for many OEMs that are currently driving the budget smartphone segment in emerging markets. Android One involves a combination of affordable reference hardware, handpicked by Google, and stock Android software, with updates directly from Mountain View. The first three OEMs to sign up for this program are from India, which has familiar, but rather important, implications for the budget smartphone market.

Continue reading “Here’s why Android One is great for the budget smartphone market”

Asus Zenfone 5 Benchmarks

Asus Zenfone 5

Asus unveiled the Zenfone 5 in the Zefone series along with a range of other Zenfone smartphones earlier this year at the CES 2014. We already brought you the unboxing of Asus Zenfone 5. Here we have the benchmarks of the smartphone. It is powered by a  dual-core Intel Atom Z2560 clocked at 1.6 GHz with PowerVR SGX 544MP2 GPU and has 1GB RAM. It has a 5-inch (1280 x 720 pixels) capacitive multi touch display and runs on Android 4.3 (Jelly Bean) with Zen UI on top. Check out the synthetic benchmark scores below. Continue reading “Asus Zenfone 5 Benchmarks”

Google Drive 2.0 for Android gets new UI for detailed file info

Google Drive 2.0 for Android

Google updated Drive app for Android to version 1.32 earlier this month with new UI and new animations. At the Google I/O earlier this week it announced updates for Google Drive for Android and iOS with support for editing Microsoft Office files. Recently the Google Drive app for Android got updated to version 2.0 that brought several new visual changes that lets you access all the new features easily. Continue reading “Google Drive 2.0 for Android gets new UI for detailed file info”

Android L Keyboard ported to other Android devices

Android L Keyboard

Android L, the next iteration of Android would bring several new features and new material design, a new visual language. Google released developer preview of Android L for Nexus 5 and the Nexus 7 (2013) yesterday. XDA members immediately ported the keyboard to other devices and released Flashable Zip for rooted users and APK for all other non rooted ones. Today some folks from the XDA released the Android L Keyboard on Google Play. Continue reading “Android L Keyboard ported to other Android devices”

Micromax Canvas Gold A300 price drops to Rs. 20999

Micromax Canvas Gold A300

Micromax Canvas Gold A300 went on sale online last week priced at Rs. 23999. Now the smartphone is available on Flipkart for  Rs. 20,999 for the Gold variant. The White with Gold variant comes at a slightly higher price tag. The Canvas Gold  has a 5.5-inch (1920 x 1080 pixels) IPS display, powered by a 2 GHz octa-core processor and runs on Android 4.4 (KitKat). It features a 16-megapixel auto focus rear camera with Sony sensor, LED Flash and a 5-megapixel front-facing camera. Continue reading “Micromax Canvas Gold A300 price drops to Rs. 20999”

LG F70 with LTE gets priced on official India website at Rs. 19500

LG F70 MWC 2014 -5

LG F70 started rolling out globally globally in May, few months after if was announced at the MWC 2014. Not the smartphone has been listed on official LG India website with a price tag. It has a 4.5-inch WVGA display, powered by a 1.2 GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor and runs on Android 4.4 (KitKat). It has a 5-megapixel rear camera and a 0.3-megapixel (VGA) front-facing camera. It is the company’s first mid-range smartphone with LTE support. It comes with tri-band LTE connectivity, including the 2300 MHz LTE (Band 40).

Continue reading “LG F70 with LTE gets priced on official India website at Rs. 19500”

Xolo Win Q900s with 4.7-inch HD display, Windows Phone 8.1 announced for Rs. 11999

Xolo Win Q900s

Xolo has announced Xolo Win Q900s, its first Windows Phone 8.1 smartphone as a result of its partnership with Microsoft earlier this year. It launched Xolo Win, its first Windows 8.1 tablet earlier this month, months after the announcement. The Q900s has a 4.7-inch HD display, powered by a 1.2 GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 (MSM 8212) processor with Adreno 302 GPU, a 8-megapixel rear camera with LED flash and a 2-megapixel front-facing camera. Continue reading “Xolo Win Q900s with 4.7-inch HD display, Windows Phone 8.1 announced for Rs. 11999”

Oppo R1 Review

Oppo R1-3

Oppo launched the Oppo R1 in India back in April, about four months after it announced the smartphone. It is the successor of the Oppo R819 that we reviewed last year. The Oppo R1 has a completely new design and has new hardware and software features compared to the R819. It has brilliant design and comes in slim form factor, but is it worth the price? Let us find out in the complete review. Continue reading “Oppo R1 Review”

Google and LG team up to bring Project Tango tablet in 2015

In addition to several announcements at the I/O developer conference, Google confirmed that Project Tango is coming to consumers next year. The company revealed that it is working on the tablet with LG and the device will be ready for consumers in 2015.

project-tango-google Continue reading “Google and LG team up to bring Project Tango tablet in 2015”

Samsung Galaxy Tab S launching in India on July 1st

Samsung Galaxy Premiere 2014 India

Samsung India has just sent out press invites for the launch of Galaxy Tab S series in India on July 1st. The Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4 and the Galaxy Tab S 10.5 that were announced couple of weeks back comes with a 8.4-inch and 10.5-inch Super AMOLED displays at high WQXGA resolution, Android 4.4 (KitKat) and have Adaptive Display. These have 6.6mm slim profile. The Indian variant is likely to be powered by Octa-Core Exynos processor. Continue reading “Samsung Galaxy Tab S launching in India on July 1st”

Amazon offers over $100 worth of paid apps free for two days

Amazon free Apps June 26 and 27th

Amazon today announced that it would offer paid Android apps worth over $100 for free on the Amazon AppStore for two days, Friday 27th and Saturday 28th June. This includes some popular apps and games under different categories such as Fun, Travel and Remote Office apps. There are 31 app in the list, and these are usually priced between US$0.99 and US$ 9.99. All you need to do is just get the Amazon App Store from here and sideload it on your Android device. You can scroll to the $100 of Paid Apps banner and click it to see the list of apps and install them. Continue reading “Amazon offers over $100 worth of paid apps free for two days”

Google not axing Nexus lineup: Google Exec

Google is not bidding adieu to Nexus devices and will continue the program. Reports had surfaced online that Google is killing the Nexus line of devices for Android Silver. However, Dave Burke, head of engineering at Android and the Nexus program has stated that just because Google is launching Android Silver, it doesn’t mean that Nexus is going away.

google-nexus-5-review-20
Continue reading “Google not axing Nexus lineup: Google Exec”

Swipe Konnect 5.0 Unboxing

Swipe Konnect 5.0-10

Swipe launched the Konnect 5.0, its first smartphone in the Konnect series priced at Rs. 8,999 earlier this month. It has a 5-inch qHD screen, powered by a 1.3 GHz quad-core processor and runs on Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean). The company has already started rolling out the KitKat update for the smartphone. Check out the unboxing below. Continue reading “Swipe Konnect 5.0 Unboxing”

Adobe Photoshop Express finally arrives for Windows Phone

Adobe Photoshop Express for Windows Phone

Adobe has launched Adobe Photoshop Express for Windows Phone devices finally. This offers basic editing such as Crop, Straighten, Rotate and Flip. It also has red eye removal, automatic fixes for Brightness, Exposure and Shadows and has a range of filters. It was launched for Android and iOS few years back. This would be a good alternative to Creative Studio that is present on Lumia smartphones. Continue reading “Adobe Photoshop Express finally arrives for Windows Phone”