Handsets | Fone Arena

Sharp Aquos mini SHL24 with 4.5-inch 1080p IGZO display, Snapdragon 800 processor announced

Sharp Aquos mini SHL24

Sharp has unveiled Aquos mini SHL24, the company’s latest smartphone in the Aquos series for Japanese operator KDDI. The smartphone has a 4.5-inch (1920 x 1080 pixels) full HD IGZO screen at a pixel density of 487 ppi. It is powered by a 2.2 GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 processor and runs on Android 4.2. It has a 13.1-megapixel rear camera with LED flash, BSI sensor and a 1.2-megapixel front-facing camera with BSI sensor. It also has IPX5/IPX7 ratings for water resistance. Continue reading “Sharp Aquos mini SHL24 with 4.5-inch 1080p IGZO display, Snapdragon 800 processor announced”

Samsung Galaxy Grand 2 Unboxing and First Impressions

The Samsung Galaxy Grand Duos was the first device from the Korean chaebol to land its foot it in the highly competitive mid range phablet market. It was a big success, at least in the Indian market, but now we have its successor, the Samsung Galaxy Grand 2. With an upgraded spec sheet that includes a better display, better processor and the Note 3-esque faux leather back cover, the Grand 2 has caught our fancy, especially at the price of Rs. 22,999. We got the retail unit today, so here is the unboxing of the brand new Galaxy Grand 2 from Samsung including a walkthrough of the hardware and software –

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYcquiY7bFk

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Xolo Q3000 Unboxing and First Impressions

The Xolo Q3000 is the first device from the company to incorporate a full HD 1080p screen. Yes, it took a while for Xolo to do that, as we saw the 5.5 inch Q2000 sporting a 720p screen even when it had the MT6589 Turbo inside. But with the Q3000, Xolo has its first 5.7″ device as well as its first 1080p phone, so we felt it would be pretty interesting to check this phone out. So, here you go, the unboxing video of the Q3000 where we will show you the box contents and a quick overview of the phone itself –

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5c0iLnit1k

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Nokia Asha 502 vs Asha 503 Dual SIM comparison: What’s different?

If you had noticed, we have been taking a look at brand new Asha devices the past few days. We first unboxed the Asha 502 and the Asha 503 and showed you separate photos of both the devices, but we are sure that a single question arises when one takes a look at similarly designed models. The Asha 502 and the Asha 503 have a lot in common. They have similar design, they have the same operating system and almost the same hardware except for a few things. But those few things make the real difference and ultimately end up as a choice in offering from the company, with naturally differing price points. So, what are they? What are the differences between the Nokia Asha 502 and the Asha 503? Lets find out.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7ovkwXO9a4

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Blackphone with secured Android-based PrivatOS announced, launching at MWC next month

Blackphone

Silent Circle, global encrypted communications service based in Washington D.C and the Spanish Android smartphone maker Geeksphone has announced Blackphone, in their first Switzerland-based joint venture. This is the world’s first smartphone with that would offer complete security, privacy and control to its users, says the company. This carrier and vendor-independent smartphone is powered by a security-oriented Android build called PrivatOS, but without compromising on security. Continue reading “Blackphone with secured Android-based PrivatOS announced, launching at MWC next month”

Nokia Asha 503 Dual SIM Photo Gallery

We had been showing you photos of the latest devices we unboxed, like the Nokia Asha 502 and the Nokia Lumia 525. Right next in line is the Nokia Asha 503, which is based on the same new design philosophy as the Asha 502 and comes with a really nice frosty iced look for its case. We have the Asha 503 in black, which might not be as photogenic as the Asha 502 but does not look conservative as well. The gloss for the translucent outer shell is something that takes the bland dark look away and introduces some much needed shine. Let us walk you through the hardware and show you how it actually looks in real pictures.

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Nokia Asha 502 Dual SIM Photo Gallery

The Nokia Asha 502, announced as a part of the new range of Asha devices at Nokia World, was recently unboxed in our studio. Sporting the all new frost iced look for the outer shell, the bright red Asha 502 immediately caught our fancy. The petite device was very photogenic at first glance, so here we are with a full fledged photo gallery, showing off the brilliant looking case and all of the hardware of the Nokia Asha 502. Skip past the break to find the rest of the pictures.

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Nokia Lumia 525 Photo Gallery

We just unboxed the brand new Nokia Lumia 525 in white and found it look very slightly different from the Lumia 520. While we are still reviewing the device, we thought it would be a fine idea to show you the phone in pictures, so that one can get to know how exactly the phone looks like, in real pictures, rather than renders or the usual promotional material. With white glossy plastic on the back, the Lumia 525 sports a slightly sleeker design and looks great, like most Lumia devices usually do. So here’s a quick run down of the hardware through our photos.

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Nokia Asha 503 Dual SIM Unboxing

We just unboxed the Nokia Asha 502, and next up we have the Asha 503 Dual SIM phone, which is technically a variant of the Asha 502. The Asha 501 led the portfolio of devices based on the Asha SW platform earlier last year, but now, it is accompanied by new devices offering more choices of the same. Even by design, the unique iced look of the casings presents a compelling point for people looking at buying their first quasi-smartphones. So, how does the Asha 503 look and feel, and what are its box contents? We unbox the phone for you on video, to find out –

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9fHSOojQdg

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Nokia Asha 502 Dual SIM Unboxing

The Nokia Asha 501 was the company’s pilot for the new Asha SW platform. The lineup grew to a full portfolio when they launched the Asha 500, 502 and 503 at the Nokia World event in Abu Dhabi. While we had taken a hands on look at these devices at the event, it was quickly clouded by the flashier lumias. But now we have a chance to check them out again, as these devices have finally launched into the retail market here in India. We have the Asha 502 here, which is basically the Asha 501 with a new cool chassis and a 5 megapixel camera with flash. For a better understanding of the device and the retail box contents, we unboxed the device for you on video, watch –

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnvN7oVHN74

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Nokia Lumia 525 Unboxing

The Nokia Lumia 525 was announced a while back, with the sole intention of removing the 512 MB RAM limit that barred the original Lumia 520 from getting all the games and apps on the Windows Phone store. This is very similar to the 256 MB limit some of the devices had on Windows Phone 7.5, so Nokia made a quick revision by upping the RAM on the 520 and releasing it as the Lumia 525. This is, by no means, a generational successor to the 520, rather just a minor upgrade to the already popular best seller. We just got the retail version in India, which costs Rs. 10,400, as announced, so of course, we bring you the unboxing to see what’s in the box, and a quick hardware overview.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmuuuLywH20

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Pete Lau’s OnePlus and Cyanogen will partner to create the OnePlus One

Pete Lau, the distinguished engineer from Oppo, had announced earlier that he left the company to pursue something new. It was known that it involved CyanogenMod and its CTO Steve Kondik, but now we know what exactly they are upto. Pete Lau is now the CEO of a new hardware start up called OnePlus, and unsurprisingly, its software partner will be Cyanogen Inc. which will power its phones, starting with the flagship “OnePlus One”. No, we are not making that up.

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Huawei Ascend Mate 2 4G officially unveiled, packs LTE and a 13 MP camera

Huawei has just unveiled the Ascend Mate 2 4G at their CES 2014 press conference today in Las Vegas. The refreshed Ascend Mate, which was one of the first 6 inch devices to enter the world of phablets the same time last year, packs the same 6.1 inch 720p display, with a supposedly better IPS panel and finally incorporated 4G LTE inside. The Ascend Mate 2 4G is also slightly thinner than its predecessor and boasts a 200 MHz increase in clock speed featuring the 1.6 GHz quad-core Snapdragon 400 processor with Adreno 305 GPU. Sporting a new 13 MP BSI sensor on the back, it improves upon the 8MP one on its predecessor and also comes with a 5 MP front facing camera this time around.

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Xolo Q1000 Opus Unboxing

Xolo Q1000 Opus Unboxing

Broadcom, a company that powers most of the WiFiac chips inside smartphones these days had been very quiet in the SoC business, but they had recently announced new chips and a partnership with Xolo for their Quad Core low end chip. The fruition of that partnership is the Xolo Q1000 Opus, yet another Q1000 that looks and performs nothing like the other one. This low-mid range device, that launched to retail in December last year, is priced at Rs. 9,990 and has modest specifications to rival the competition in the same segment. We have got this phone for testing in our labs, so as a first order of business, here is our unboxing with a quick look at the hardware and an overview of the minimally modified software –

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TF_4qpUaOrA

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Nokia Lumia 1020 and Lumia 520 emerge as the favourites in #SmartFone13

2013 came to an end a few days back and so did our quest to see which two phones would emerge as the favourites in our #Smartfone13 championship for flagships as well as budget devices. Two major polls were run in parallel for about a week with several phones knocked out in the weeks before, to bring the tally to the final four. It was Sony Xperia Z1 vs the Nokia Lumia 1020 for the flagship battle and the Nokia Lumia 520 vs the Gionee Elife E6 for the budget devices battle, with the Lumias ending up as the winners. How? Go past the break to find out!

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