Google certified Cyanogen Mod Oppo N1 shipping on Christmas Eve

cyanogen-mod-oppo-n1-google-cts-approved

Oppo N1 is the first Cyanogen Mod phone to have been approved by Google’s strict CTS, for compliance to Android compatibility and of course, inclusion of Google Play on this limited edition device. The Oppo N1 Cyanogen Mod Edition was announced as “coming in December” but never really got solid dates owing to the obvious roadblocks, but thanks to this recent development, Oppo has revealed that the device is shipping on Christmas Eve i.e December 24th of this year. This marks the first time in history that a popular third party AOSP ROM based phone is Google certified and is shown the green light. Cyanogen Mod’s Koushik Dutta happened to be relieved about the announcement, as his G+ post read

Google just approved our first CyanogenMod  phone

Man, the last 24 hours has been a total rollercoaster of emotions, and it isn’t letting up it seems.

Continue reading “Google certified Cyanogen Mod Oppo N1 shipping on Christmas Eve”

Samsung Galaxy Grand 2 likely to launch in India on December 23rd


Samsung has sent us an invite for a smartphone launch on Monday, December 23rd, 2013. The invite just says “New GALAXY Smartphone Launch” without giving any hint about the smartphone. Since there are no new smartphones for Samsung to launch in India and it had already released the new Galaxy S Duos 2, it is likely to launch the Grand 2 next week. The Galaxy Grand that was launched earlier this year was one of the popular mid-range smartphone in this year. The Grand 2 with better display, faster processor more RAM and a larger battery would definitely attract more customers in the mid-range segment. Continue reading “Samsung Galaxy Grand 2 likely to launch in India on December 23rd”

Geeksphone Revolution with Intel Atom Z2560 CPU and multi-OS support coming in Q1 2014

Geeksphone

Spanish handset maker Geeksphone has finally revealed the specifications of their upcoming high-end smartphone called Revolution. It would feature a 4.7-inch (960 x 540 pixels) capacitive touch screen IPS display, powered by a 1.6 GHz dual-core  Intel Atom Z2560 processor with PowerVR SGX544 GPU and Hyper-Threading technology. Last month the company posted a video showing the performance of an Intel Atom-powered developer device compared with a Qualcomm Snapdragon-powered device, both running on Firefox OS. Continue reading “Geeksphone Revolution with Intel Atom Z2560 CPU and multi-OS support coming in Q1 2014”

Foursquare for Android updated with redesigned UI and faster performance

Foursquare for Android new UI

Foursquare for Android has been updated (v2013-12-19) with a completely new user interface that is more flatter, similar to iOS 7. Foursquare for iPhone got updated with redesigned iOS 7 look earlier this month that also added new features, but the new Android update doesn’t add any new features. Continue reading “Foursquare for Android updated with redesigned UI and faster performance”

Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 Game Edition with bundled GamePad controller revealed

Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 Game Edition

Earlier this week Samsung unveiled the Smartphone Gamepad, a gaming controller for smartphones to improve the gaming experience. Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 Game Edition with GamePad bundle has been outed by a German website, AllaboutSamsung.de, who got hands-on the retail box. Even though Samsung announced that the GamePad has been optimized only for Android 4.3 devices like Galaxy S4, Galaxy S3, Note 2 and Note 3, the Galaxy Tab 3 Game Edition is likely come with Android 4.3 (Jelly Bean) out of the box. Continue reading “Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 Game Edition with bundled GamePad controller revealed”

Xolo A600 Review

Budget Android smartphones with dual SIM capabilities never seem to stop coming and today we have another budget Android smartphone from another Indian manufacturer. Xolo A600 is a budget Android smartphone that is currently priced around Rs. 7,100 and comes with a decent display, a dual-core processor and a 5MP back on its back. Is it worth buying? Lets find out.

xolo-a600-review-3 Continue reading “Xolo A600 Review”

Xolo LT900 with 4.3-inch HD display, 4G LTE listed online

Xolo LT900

Xolo LT900, the company’s first smartphone with 4G TDD-LTE support has been listed on Flipkart. This would launch on Airtel’s 4G network in India and comes with Airtel Mobile TV. It has a 4.3-inch (1280 x 720pixels) IPS Display based on One Glass Solution (OGS) with Corning Gorilla Glass protection, powered by a 1.5 GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor with Adreno 225 GPU and runs on Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean). It has a 8-megapixel rear camera with dual LED flash and a 1-megapixel front-facing camera. Continue reading “Xolo LT900 with 4.3-inch HD display, 4G LTE listed online”

Xolo Q3000 with 5.7-inch 1080p display, 2GB RAM and 4000 mAh battery listed online

Xolo Q3000

Xolo launched the Q2000 with a 5.5-inch HD screen, now the Q3000 with a 5.7-inch Full HD screen has been spotted on Flipkart. It has a 5.7-inch (1920 x 1080 pixels) IPS display, powered by 1.5 GHz quad-core MediaTek MT6589T processor and runs on Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean). It has a 13-megapixel auto focus rear camera with LED Flash, BSI 2 sensor, 1080p video recording  and a 5-megapixel front-facing camera with a BSI sensor similar to the Q1000S. This is the first Xolo to come with 2GB RAM and 4000 mAh battery. Continue reading “Xolo Q3000 with 5.7-inch 1080p display, 2GB RAM and 4000 mAh battery listed online”

Lava Iris 402+ with 4-inch display, 1.2 GHz dual-core processor up for pre-order at Rs. 5678

Lava Iris 402 Plus

Lava launched the Iris 402 back in August along with the Iris 356, an affordable 3G smartphone. Now the Iris 402+ has appeared on the official website. Most of the specifications are similar to the Iris 402, but the Iris 402+ packs a faster 1.2 GHz dual-core processor, comes with 4GB of internal memory and has 512MB of RAM. It has a 4-inch (480 x 800 pixels) display and runs on Android 4.2.2 (Jelly Bean). It has 3G support, Dual SIM with dual standby, 3MP rear camera and VGA front-facing camera. Continue reading “Lava Iris 402+ with 4-inch display, 1.2 GHz dual-core processor up for pre-order at Rs. 5678”

Motorola Moto G gets the Android 4.4.2 KitKat update

motog-hands-on

Motorola has started rolling out the Android 4.4 KitKat update for the Moto G earlier than expected. Moto G gets the Android 4.4.2 update directly, skipping the Android 4.4.1 update. The new update brings Android KitKat features such as restyled status and navigation bars, full-screen mode, color emoji, smarter power use and more. In our Moto G review we felt the camera was too plain and lacked some important features. This update finally brings new camera features, including the most expected manual focus and exposure control. Continue reading “Motorola Moto G gets the Android 4.4.2 KitKat update”

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas now available for Android

GTA San Andreas

Rockstar Games released the Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas for iOS devices earlier this month, as they promised. The game is now available for Android smartphones and tablets.It is available only for select Android devices at the moment, since it might not be optimized for your device yet. The game is likely to get an update soon to support more devices. As usual it supports select Bluetooth controllers and USB gamepads. Continue reading “Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas now available for Android”

Dolphin Zero privacy-focused browser launched for Android

Dolphin Zero for Android

Dolphin Browser has launched Dolphin Zero, a new private browser that automatically deletes your data including browsing history, cache, passwords and cookies to make your browsing experience completely private. The browser has aggressive shredder to make sure to automatically delete any traces from your browsing, so no data is stored, says the company. Continue reading “Dolphin Zero privacy-focused browser launched for Android”

Sony QX Cameras to get firmware update in January

At IFA 2013 in Berlin, which was held during September, Sony launched their latest flagship Android smartphone – Sony Xperia Z1 and a couple of WiFi enabled QX series lens. Sony’s QX 10 and QX 100 received a lot of acclaim from the industry and are now all set to receive a firmware update. According to Engadget, the update will be coming to the two lenses sometime in January and the update is expected to improve the camera performance.

Sony QX10 Review-2 Continue reading “Sony QX Cameras to get firmware update in January”

Simmtronics enters into Smartphone market with new XPAD phones

Simmtronics XPAD FUNDROID Q2

Simmtronics, popular for its XPAD tablets has entered into smartphone segment with its new FUNDROID, AMAZOID and SMARTDROID series in the XPAD range. The XPAD FUNDROID series include, XPAD FUNDROID Q1, XPAD FUNDROID Q2, XPAD FUNDROID Q4 and the XPAD FUNDROID Q5. The AMAZOID series has the XPAD AMAZOID M1. The company plans to launch phones in the SMARTDROID series soon. Continue reading “Simmtronics enters into Smartphone market with new XPAD phones”

BlackBerry Messenger to come pre-loaded on LG smartphones

BBM

Micromax was the first company in India to pre-install BBM on all its Canvas smartphones in India. Now BlackBerry and LG have entered into a partnership to pre-load BlackBerry Messenger on all LG smartphones involving both standard and virtual preloading (using the LG App Manager). The LG G Pro Lite would be the first LG smartphone to offer BBM out-of-the-box. LG launched the G Pro Lite in India back in October. Looks like new G Pro Lite units would come pre-loaded with BBM. Continue reading “BlackBerry Messenger to come pre-loaded on LG smartphones”