Handsets | Fone Arena

Beetel launches Retro Phone, a stylish landline phone for Rs. 1690

Beetel Retro Phone

Beetel Teletech Limited (Beetel), popular for its fixed line devices has launched Retro Phone – a stylish new fixed line phone with a colourful, sleek & retro look that combines new technological features including an LCD display, digital dial, 3.5mm audio jack and more. The 3.5mm audio jack lets customers to connect the device to a headphone for a mobile-like hands free experience. It also has anti-steal alarm which intimates against any parallel use of the number. Continue reading “Beetel launches Retro Phone, a stylish landline phone for Rs. 1690”

How Broadcom is quietly “Connecting Everything”

broadcom-connecting-verything

The mobile handset market today is pretty much dominated with phones powered by either a Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset or a MediaTek chipset. But there are certainly few other players as well.You might be aware of Samsung’s Exynos chips and also Apple’s own custom chips found on the iPhone and iPad. Then there are Nvidia & Intel too. Another player who is not very popular in the market at least in India is Broadcom. The company is finally talking and had invited us to a Mobility Roundtable in New Delhi few days back where I got to speak to several executives from the Irvine , California-based company. You might have heard about the Samsung Galaxy Grand Duos, which is one the most popular phones to be powered by a Broadcom BCM28155 chipset. Another device which was powered by the same chip was the Samsung Galaxy S2 Plus.

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Google Nexus 5 Review

Google Nexus 5 Review

The Google Nexus One was strictly a developer device, with promises of instant updates and stock Android experience. It did not retail at prices that undercut the competition($530) but managed to become the only device that had the latest Android version. The Nexus S was similar, but with Galaxy Nexus, Google managed to price it surprisingly lower than the competition with similar hardware, thanks to introduction of the Google Play ecosystem. Somehow, from being a costly developer device, the Nexus became a highly desirable and affordable device, that brought users the best Google experience.

Video Review

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1qKZAXVVbw

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LG G Flex Unboxing

lg-gflex-unboxing_11

We have the World’s First Flexible Display phone with us at FoneArena. Here is an exciting unboxing of the LG G Flex. It is not only the first truly flexible display phone but also the back cover has self healing capabilities! Doesn’t it sound like something out of a Sci-Fi movie ? Brace yourself and check out the unboxing video where we show you a quick demo of the Flexible part.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQBy0MgZ5fo

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Motorola Moto G Unboxing

motog-box-front

We got you an exclusive first look at the Moto G from London and now we have the Motorola Moto G Unboxing on FoneArena. The handset is a very affordable handset with some interesting specs and is actually a stripped down version of the MotoX smartphone. The Moto G features a 4.5 inch 720p display and is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor. The phone would be sold in 8GB and 16GB capacities and the actual user accessible space might be a little lesser.It ships with Android 4.3 at launch but the company is promising an update to Android 4.4 KitKat soon. The most attractive feature of the MotoG is the $179 price for the 8GB model in the US (135 GBP in the UK). It is currently on sale in the UK and coming soon to US and India in 2014.

Watch the rather short video of the MotoG retail package getting the unboxing treatment, to be honest it is a pretty small package.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_Ha4RD3cG0
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HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S4 GPE officially get Android 4.4 KitKat from today

We saw Samsung and HTC post KitKat kernel sources for their Google Play edition devices yesterday and it has naturally led to the official Android 4.4 KitKat OTA update for both the devices starting its roll out today. Google announced this officially through their Android Google+ account and it seems like the devices will start getting the update anytime now. Both the devices had their own KitKat versions ready for a while now, but the green signal has been officially lit and hence these devices now join the ranks of Nexus 5, nexus 4, 7 and Moto X as the only devices running Android 4.4 KitKat right now.

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A guide to secure your personal data before disposing your phone

As global smartphone sales have gone off the charts, not many fully understand the concept of data security. Many assume that phone companies take care of this well. Actually this is not true. There is this other scenario where the data you save can be retrieved no matter what you do over the years. How is this possible? Lets start with the basics. Everything I explain here has an Explanation and a Technical Explanation for a better understanding.

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Samsung Galaxy Grand 2 with 5.25-inch HD display, 1.5GB RAM, Android 4.3 announced

Samsung Galaxy Grand 2

Samsung has just announced the Galaxy Grand 2, successor of the Galaxy Grand. It has a 5.25-inch (1280 x 720 Pixels) capacitive touch screen display, powered by a 1.2 GHz quad-core processor and runs on Android 4.3 (Jelly Bean). It has a 8-megapixel auto focus camera with LED flash and a 1.9-megapixel HD front-facing camera. It comes with dual-SIM capabilities similar to previous grand and has Samsung’s unique features such as Multi Window, Story Album, S Translator, S Travel, Sound & Shot, Samsung Hub, Group Play, Samsung Link and more. It packs a 2,600 mAh battery that would offer up to 10 hours of video playback and 17 hours of calls. Continue reading “Samsung Galaxy Grand 2 with 5.25-inch HD display, 1.5GB RAM, Android 4.3 announced”

YotaPhone to go on sale in early December, launch event set in Russia on December 4th

YotaPhone from Russia-based Yota Devices was reported to be launching in December 2013, now the company has officially announced that the phone would go on sale internationally in early December. The Yota phone with LCD and E-Ink screen was showed off the phone at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona earlier this year. The phone also has special YotaPhone gestures and Put2Back applications for the back screen. Continue reading “YotaPhone to go on sale in early December, launch event set in Russia on December 4th”

MediaTek launches MT6592 True Octa-Core chip, offers speeds up to 2GHz

MediaTek True Octa-Core

MediaTek has finally launched the MT6592, the company’s first True Octa-Core solution for smartphones and tablets. The chip was revealed back in July, now the company has detailed the complete specifications of the chip. MediaTek claims that this is world’s first true octa-core mobile platform that can utilize full capabilities of all eight cores in any combination, both for low-power and more demanding tasks. It also allows for all eight of its cores to run simultaneously. It uses Heterogeneous Multi-Processing (HMP) in CPU and each core can be clocked up to 2GHz.
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Google Nexus 5 now available for purchase on Play Store in India

google-nexus5-india-playstore

Google has finally started selling the all new Nexus 5 on the Play Store in India after being listed as coming soon after the global announcement. The 16GB version is listed at Rs.28999 as hinted before and the 32GB version is listed at Rs.32999. Both the 16GB and 32GB models in both black and white colours are available for purchase. The Nexus 5 is already on sale at LG dealerships at select cities in India at a slightly higher price of Rs.29999 for the 16GB model and Rs.33999 for the 32GB model. Great to see LG and Google bringing a device to the Indian market within days or weeks of the US launch with some reasonable pricing too!

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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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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”

Motorola Moto G Hands On

Hands on with the Motorola Moto G

If you’re looking for a cheap Android smartphone, you’ll probably be looking at Samsung and Sony or a cheaper player like Micromax and Huawei. The only problem is – cheap Android phones are usually low spec and definitely not fast. Until now.

Google-owned Motorola introduced the Moto G, a budget Android smartphone with a BIG difference – it has a low cost price tag with excellent specs that definitely beat the best available from other manufacturers.

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

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Motorola Moto G India Launch in early Jan 2014

moto-g-india

Motorola just officially announced the Moto G at an event in Sao Paulo in Brazil and also holding a satellite event in London where we should be getting our hands on the Moto G shortly. The company has also confirmed that the Moto G is indeed coming to India as soon as January 2014. The device is priced at an aggressive $179 price for a 8GB unlocked version in the US without any contract of any sort. The 16GB version costs just $20 more at $199. The India pricing is not yet available but we expect it to be announced closer to launch and hopefully under Rs.12500 which is probably one of the cheapest Android phones from an international handset maker.

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