Android | Fone Arena

Does the Moto G lack the WiFi Hotspot feature ?

Moto-G-Black-Front-Hero

We were all excited about the Motorola Moto G which is a $179 unlocked Android device with some really impressive specs for a phone in that price band. It is even coming soon to India as early as Jan 2014. But today something caught our attention on twitter. While responding to a user’s query , Motorola’s official account did mention that that the Moto G does not have the WiFi hotspot feature ! Now this is interesting because the Moto G runs on pretty much stock Android with no custom skin . But Google did disable WiFi hotspot in the Nexus 7 3G 2012 edition so this is not something totally new. This might be a move to prevent backlash from American carriers as they would require a tethering plan for the same. But the device itself costs only $179 without a contract so paying a premium for a tethering plan does not make any sense.

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Intex Aqua i7 Review

The mid range smartphone market in India is insanely competitive to say the least. We have been seeing tons of companies make affordable phones with some of the specifications that are usually only reserved for the top end phones. But due to the same cut throat competition, we have also been seeing many similar devices, with common attributes like the display and the chipset. In that sense, the current market trend is this – a 5 inch 1080p display and a MediaTek 6589T processor. The Gionee Elife E6, the Micromax Canvas Turbo and of course, the Intex Aqua i7 are all part of this trend, improving upon the 720p screen based phones earlier. But is it really worth the effort and upgrade? We find out in our review and are going to see if the Aqua i7 delivers the usual promise of “more for less”.

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Nexus 5 India launch imminent as stocks begin to arrive across the country

google-nexus-5-unboxing-9

The much awaited Google Nexus 5 is expected to launch in India as early as next week. LG Stores, LG Shoppes and retailer sources across various cities including Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai have confirmed to us that stocks will be arriving by Monday. Google has already listed the Nexus 5 on the Play Store at Rs. 28,999 for the 16GB version and Rs. 32,999 for the 32GB version, but LG would sell the phones in the market at Rs. 29,999 for the 16GB version and Rs. 33,999 for the 32GB version, which is Rs. 1000 higher than the Play Store pricing.

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Lenovo Yoga Tablet 8 and Yoga Tablet 10 launched in India for Rs. 22999 and Rs. 28999

Lenovo Yoga Tablet

Lenovo has launched two new multimode Android tablets, the Yoga Tablet 8 and Yoga Tablet 10 in India. Lenovo Yoga allows the users to experience the tablet in three modes – hold, tilt and stand mode. The Yoga 10 inch and Yoga 8 inch models are powered by 1.2GHz MediaTek MT8389 Quad Core processors and run on Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean). The front speakers with Dolby audio provide a powerful surround sound experience through the device speakers and headphones. Both these tablets were announced last month. Lenovo also announced Ashton Kutcher as their product engineer. Continue reading “Lenovo Yoga Tablet 8 and Yoga Tablet 10 launched in India for Rs. 22999 and Rs. 28999”

HTC One Android 4.3 Jelly Bean update with Sense 5.5 now available in India

HTC One Android 4.3

After rolling out the Android 4.3 (Jelly Bean) update in the UK last week, HTC has started rolling out the update in India. The update started rolling out in Taiwan back in September, and the UK users got v3.62.401.1. Update for the Indian users has the version number 3.63.707.4. The new update brings Android 4.3 and Sense 5.5. The update is also reportedly rolling out in Vietnam. Continue reading “HTC One Android 4.3 Jelly Bean update with Sense 5.5 now available in India”

Google Places API brings out Autocomplete for better predictions

google places

Google as a part of improving their continuing effort to help 3rd party developers, has brought out Google Places Autocomplete to make things easier for developers to add location awareness to their applications. What does this mean for developers? Well, by adding location-awareness to your application it bring tons of value and joy to the users. The Places API Autocomplete service, a feature of Google Places API and the Google Maps API v3’s Places Library, brings the same type-ahead-search technology from Google Maps to third party apps, helping you soothe some of the users’ address entry frustration. Continue reading “Google Places API brings out Autocomplete for better predictions”

GT Racing 2 for Android, iPhone and iPad released for free

GT Racing 2: The Real Car Experience from Gameloft went live for iPhone and iPad recently, now the game is available for Android and is also available more widely for iOS users. The GT Racing 2, sequel to the first game has better graphics with new physics model that offers the most realistic car dynamics ever and has the most prestigious cars in the world including the real Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. If you love racing games, check out the Asphalt 8: Airborne game, which went free for iOS and Android recently. Continue reading “GT Racing 2 for Android, iPhone and iPad released for free”

Android 4.4 KitKat factory images for Nexus 4, 7 and 10 now available

Google started rolling out the Android 4.4 KitKat update for Nexus 7 and the Nexus 10 few days back. Now the factory images and binaries for both the WiFi and Cellular versions of the Nexus, Nexus 10 and also for the Nexus 4 are available from the Google developers website. Google already announced that they will not release the Android 4.4 update for the Samsung Galaxy Nexus since Google doesn’t update its Nexus device beyond the 18 month period. The Android 4.4 KitKat was announced back in September and was released along with the Nexus 5 last month. Continue reading “Android 4.4 KitKat factory images for Nexus 4, 7 and 10 now available”

Xolo Q1000 Opus powered by Broadcom BCM23550 quad-core chip launching this month

Xolo the next level

Xolo has announced that the company has partnered with Broadcom to launched the Xolo Q1000 Opus powered by Broadcom BCM23550 later this month. Broadcom signed up for ARMv7 and ARMv8 Architecture licenses earlier this year and announced the chip back in June, which has four ARM Cortex A7 Cores. The chip has support for Broadcom’s BCM4334 connectivity combo chip with 3G HSPA+ (HSPDA: 21Mbps; HSUPA 5.8 Mbps) connectivity and and BCM4752 multi-constellation GNSS location chip. It also has support for NFC, up to 12MP imaging, Dual SIM support and 1080p HD video capture and playback. Continue reading “Xolo Q1000 Opus powered by Broadcom BCM23550 quad-core chip launching this month”

HTC One family photo gallery

HTC announced their flagship HTC One way back in February, but even now, it is the phone to beat in terms of design and build quality in the Android eco-system. The HTC One is easily the best built and good looking Android smartphone till date and HTC have widened the One lineup with a One Mini, which is a smaller version of the flagship and the One Max, which is a bigger version of HTC One. All the three smartphones look pretty much the same except for their size.

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Zen Ultrafone Amaze 701 FHD Photo Gallery

Zen Ultrafone Amaze 701 FHD is one among the Full HD phablets that has been launched in India. Zen Ultrafone Amaze 701 FHD is different from the other phones in terms of build quality as it borrows its looks from Google Nexus 4. The Zen Ultrafone Amaze 701 FHD is quite a looker as it has glass on the back and a pattern beneath it. The sides of the phone are different and it is curved. The curved sides of the phone make it quite easy to hold on to and feels very comfortable in the hand.

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Zen Ultrafone Amaze 701 FHD Camera Samples

The latest trend in the Indian mid-range phablet market is the inclusion of a Full HD 1080p display in the smartphones and rightly so, every manufacturer has come up or is coming up with a Full HD smartphone and one among them is Zen. Zen’s Ultrafone Amaze 701 FHD comes with a 5inch Full HD display and is powered by the new MediaTek MT6589T quad-core processor clocked at 1.5GHz, Power VR SGX544 GPU and is somewhat let down by just 1GB of RAM. However, it is equipped with a 13MP camera on the back which has become a mandatory for Indian manufacturers these days.

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Micromax Canvas Turbo Review

Micromax Canvas Turbo A250-1

Micromax finally launched their first device with a full HD device after launching two devices, the Canvas HD A116 and the Canvas 4 A210 with HD displays. The Canvas Turbo features a 5-inch display, similar to other flagship Canvas series smartphones. Is the phone worthy at a price of Rs. 19,990? Let’s dive into the review to find it out. Continue reading “Micromax Canvas Turbo Review”

YotaPhone with Dual 4.3-inch LCD and e-Ink screens launching Internationally in December

YotaPhone from Russia-based Yota Devices is finally launching in December 2013. The company confirmed that the phone would launch next month, and TechCrunch is reporting that it would be available internationally. The company showed off the phone with dual screens at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona earlier this year. It packs hefty specifications including a 4.3-inch (1280 x 720 pixels) LCD capacitive multi touch main screen and a 4.3-inch (360×640 pixels) E-Ink rear screen. It is powered by a 1.7 GHz Dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM 8960 processor and runs on Android 4.2.2 ( Jelly Bean). Continue reading “YotaPhone with Dual 4.3-inch LCD and e-Ink screens launching Internationally in December”

Xolo Play Tab 7.0 Unboxing

Today we unbox the Xolo Play Tab 7.0, the Tegra 3 based gaming-focused tablet that launched a while back. Xolo Play was the first phone from the Indian manufacturer to sport a decent build quality and the Tegra 3 processor. It was clearly focused at gaming and Xolo wants to take it further into the hands of tablet seekers, with the 7 inch Xolo Play Tab. This is pretty much a Nexus 7 2012 repackaged with better materials and a different display. So, how does it look and perform in real? We give you a preliminary look into it in our unboxing video, with a quick overview of the hardware and software, watch –

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0z2Yt8C1MI

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