Wikipedia for Windows Phone 8.1 updated with Cortana support

wikipedia-cortana-update

Windows Phone 8.1 has been out as a developer preview for just a little more than a week, but we are already seeing developers updating their apps to support the OS’ new features. Among the many apps being updated is Wikipedia, developed by Rudy Huyn. This app is the closest to an official app from one of the world’s largest resources for information, as it is made by a popular third party developer with Wikipedia themselves approving and endorsing it for the platform. The app now has been updated to include support for Cortana, the new personal voice assistant and one of the major new features of the OS. Once updated, the v2.3 will let you directly search for topics using your voice by giving simple commands to Cortana.

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Instagram personalizes Explore Tab

Instagram has tailored its Explore Tab in order to offer more personalized content to its users. Announced in 2012, the Explore tab shows you photos and videos of persons you don’t know and the ones that are not in you friend list. It was a replacement to the Popular section. Hence, users are forced to view these random media content against their will.

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Broadcom BCM23550 quad-core SoC powers the Lava QPAD e704 tablet


Lava partnered with Broadcom recently to launch the QPAD e704 tablet with a quad-core Broadcom SoC earlier this month for Rs. 9999. Broadcom has announced that it is powered by a quad-core Broadcom BCM23550 chip with HSPA+ support. It has a RF transceiver, power management IC, connectivity combo chip and multi-constellation GNSS location chip. Continue reading “Broadcom BCM23550 quad-core SoC powers the Lava QPAD e704 tablet”

Samsung Galaxy Beam 2 projector phone with metal build goes official in China

Samsung Galaxy Beam 2

Samsung has officially unveiled the Galaxy Beam 2 (SM-G3858) in China. It got certified in China last month and has metallic build. The Galaxy Beam that was unveiled back in 2012 has plastic build. It has a 4.66-inch WVGA screen, powered by a 1.2 GHz quad-core processor and runs on Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean). The built-in projector projects in WVGA resolution and has background color correction feature for better color output. Continue reading “Samsung Galaxy Beam 2 projector phone with metal build goes official in China”

Gionee to set up 750 service centers across India by March 2015

Gionee started its operations almost a year back in India. Today it has announced that it will open more than 750 service centers across India by March 2015. The Chinese company recently unveiled world’s thinnest smartphone Elife S5.5  at Rs 22,999.

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Qualcomm’s quarterly report shows reducing revenue and hence shares tumble

Qualcomm had posted its quarterly results on Wednesday and it wasn’t something that the company would have been happy with. Qualcomm had posted its first drop in revenue since June 2010. The shift of the smartphone market from the developed countries to developing countries seems to be the main cause for this.

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Facebook reports Q1 2014 earnings, records $2.5 billion in revenues

Facebook  released its earnings report for Q1 2014 posting revenue of $2.5 billion, which is an increase of 76 percent since 2013. The social network exceeded Wall Street expectations which were between $2.36 and $2.4 billion.  Facebook’s mobile ads represented 59 percent of its total ad revenue in the first quarter, up from 30 per cent in the year-ago period. The company’s revenue from advertising was $2.27 billion, up 82% over that time.

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DGCA allows in-flight mobile phone, laptop use in flight mode

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The Directorate General Civil Aviation (DGCA) has allowed the use of Portable Electronic Devices (PEDs) including cell phones in the non-transmitting mode called flight or airplane mode. Previously travellers were not allowed to use these electronic devices and were asked to switch them off before the flight takes off.

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Facebook has over 1 billion mobile monthly active users

Facebook has revealed some important numbers in its latest Q1 earnings call of 2014. The social network reported that it has more than 1.28 billion monthly active users on mobile and desktop and over 1 billion monthly active mobile only users.

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Apple Q2 2014 Results: $10.2 billion in earnings off $45.6 billion in revenues, iPhone sales up 17%

Apple Q2 2014 Earnings

Apple today posted its financial results for Q2 2014 and the numbers shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. The company reported earnings of $10.2 billion in a quarter with no new hardware announcements and managed to better its year on year performance as well. Continue reading “Apple Q2 2014 Results: $10.2 billion in earnings off $45.6 billion in revenues, iPhone sales up 17%”

Japan Display now shipping samples of 10.1 4K displays

Japan Display is one of leading producers of smartphone displays and the Japanese company has now started shipping the samples of its 10.1inch 4K displays. The 10.1inch LCD display has a resolution of 3840×2160 pixels ( 3840 – horizontal and 2160 – vertical) and the display is being called 4K2K display. We are yet to see 4K TVs become mainstream, but the 4K fever has already started catching on to the tablet industry.

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Xiaomi confirms Indian entry along with 9 other countries

hugo-barra-xiaomi-singapore

Xiaomi, the Chinese manufacturer known for its unique business model of selling its devices directly, announced its global expansion plans, starting with the hire of Hugo Barra, an Android executive from Google. Months after he joined, Xiaomi started its operations in Singapore, and ever since, we have been expecting more countries to be added to the list. Very recently, Xiaomi’s CEO Lin Bin and Hugo Barra visited Google’s MD in India, signaling a trigger of its operations here. And the company just announced it on Twitter, along with 10 other countries, where it will launch next.

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HTC denies intent to purchase Nokia’s Chennai plant

HTC Desire 210 India launch

Rumors have been floating around that HTC plans to acquire Nokia’s Chennai based plant to increase operations in India. The plant is considered the largest in the world and employs over 8000 people. In a statement to FoneArena, the company has categorically denied any such intentions and says that Mr. Chang’s words were taken out of context. Full statement is included below. Continue reading “HTC denies intent to purchase Nokia’s Chennai plant”

Google to offer mobile app install ads in Search and YouTube

In a bid to enhance its ad offerings, Google will soon start to roll out mobile app install ads in mobile search and YouTube. The company is following other tech giants like Facebook and Yahoo. Just last week Twitter also introduced app-install ads on its mobile platform.

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Sony Xperia E1 Dual Review: a loud whimper for your buck

sony-xperia-e1-dual-review-1

Sony has been making a comeback of sorts. A couple of years back, they were struggling to match the competition in price and were never on par in specifications but things started to change last year, when the company rebooted the brand and design with fresh new phones, like the recent and much loved Xperia Z1 Compact. While it has amplified at the higher end with flagships like the Z2, the effect has now reached the lower end spectrum of the market. The Xperia E1 Dual is Sony’s latest jab at the entry level smartphone which replaces the good old Tipo Dual. Priced at less than 10,000 rupees, this Sony smartphone aims to satisfy the needs of a market that always wants more for less. Armed with music focused features, can the Xperia E1 dual stand out from the crowd? Lets find out in our review.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ap56WSDWO18

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