News | Fone Arena - Part 2526

Sony Xperia Z Ultra gets its first software update

Sony Xperia Z Ultra 14.1.B.0.471 Update

Sony Mobile has started rolling out the first firmware update v14.1.B.0.471 for the recently launched Xperia Z Ultra (C6802). The stock firmware is 14.1.B.0.461, so this might be a minor change. The baseband version and the kernel version has a minor change. The new firmware has a build date of July 19th. There is no changelog so this might be a an update to fix some bugs and improve the performance of the device. We did not notice any changes or any new apps on the device after the update. Continue reading “Sony Xperia Z Ultra gets its first software update”

Sony’s Q1 FY13 results out, mobile sales increase by 36% YoY

son-yq1-fy13-results-mobile-sales

Looks like Sony is back in the game, especially in mobile! The Japanese company has just reported its first quarter FY 2013 results and has beaten expectations set by analysts. The increased performance is due to, you guessed right, its mobile division. While it posted huge operating losses last year, the division has gained 36% YoY, posting an operating income of 60 million USD. The company’s overall net profits stand at a small 35 million USD, which is not huge by any means, but posting profits after struggling for the past year should be encouraging for the consumer electronics giant.

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Vodafone K3800 3G USB Dongle launched for Rs. 1750

Vodafone K3800 3G USB Dongle

Vodafone India has launched a new USB Dongle – K3800 with data transfer speed up to 14.4 Mbps. The Plug and Play dongle supports all major Operating Systems and comes with MicroSD card support with expandable memory of up to 32 GB. It has an interactive and customised landing page that lets users customise the settings and widgets. It also offers Live Web Chat support for the users – a first of its kind feature for any dongle. It also lets users send and receive SMS and has phone book functionality. Continue reading “Vodafone K3800 3G USB Dongle launched for Rs. 1750”

Lava Iris 356 and Iris 402 with dual-core processor, Android 4.2 now available for Rs. 4199 and Rs. 5199

Lava Iris 356

Lava Iris 356 and the Iris 402 that appeared on the official website earlier this week are now available from online retailer Flipkart. The Iris 356 has a 3.5-inch (480 x 320 pixels) display, powered by a 1.2 GHz dual-core processor and runs on Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean). The Lava Iris 402 packs a 4-inch (480 x 800 pixels) display. Other features are similar to the Iris 402. These have 3G support, Dual SIM with dual standby, rear and front-facing cameras. Continue reading “Lava Iris 356 and Iris 402 with dual-core processor, Android 4.2 now available for Rs. 4199 and Rs. 5199”

Samsung tops Apple in a new customer satisfaction survey

Samsung has finally topped Apple in a customer satisfaction survey. The new customer survey conducted by American Customer Satisfaction Index is first of its kind with the survey containing individual smartphones.

ACSI Smart Study

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Is Nokia launching a tablet at the September 26-27 NYC event?

nokia-nyc-event-world-tablet

It’s been long rumoured that Nokia is launching a Windows tablet, and that might actually come true if the recent leaks are to be believed. Windows Phone Central reports that Nokia is having a launch event in New York on September 26th and 27th spanning two days, for a rumoured tablet announcement. The above image is a screenshot of a purported event invite that is doing the rounds internally. Is this actually the Nokia World event this year? Quite possibly.

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TimesCity acquires restaurant recommendation app Gawbl

TimesCity Gawbl

TimesCity, part of Times Internet has announced that they have acquired Gawbl, an Android app that lets users discover places to eat based on their mood. Gawbl was a start-up that began 7 months ago by Pune based team, led by its founder, ChiraghKirpalani. The Android app was launched back in April that offered recommendations in Pune. Continue reading “TimesCity acquires restaurant recommendation app Gawbl”

Samsung to supply Retina displays for the next iPad mini

Samsung and Apple might be involved in a lot of patent cases, but their partnership continues to flourish. Samsung is tipped to be the provider of the retina display for next generation iPad mini that is rumored to arrive by the end of this year.

iPad-Mini-1

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Google extends Windows Phone calendar and contact syncing deadline to December 31st

There was huge uproar after Google announced its plans to drop EAS support for all non-corporate GMail accounts, mainly because that affected Windows Phone, which has no in-built support for the new CardDAV and CalDAV technologies. Hence Microsoft and Google decided to extend the support for Windows Phone devices until July 31st, yesterday, a date from which devices without the GDR2 update would have stopped supporting syncing to Google servers. Thankfully, the companies have extended the date yet again, to December 31st, since most devices haven’t got the update yet.

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Microsoft Office for Office 365 launched for Android phones

Microsoft Office for Andorid

Microsoft has finally launched the Office app for Office 365 users using Android smartphones. Microsoft launched the Office Mobile for iPhone back in June. This would let you open and edit Microsoft Office documets such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents. It also has support for charts, animations, SmartArt Graphics, and shapes just like the desktop app. You can open documents in the cloud on SkyDrive or SkyDrive Pro. You can edit and view documents offline but you need to be connected to the internet to save the changes on the cloud. Continue reading “Microsoft Office for Office 365 launched for Android phones”

Apple CEO Tim Cook meets China Mobile head to talk cooperation: Reuters

china-mobile-apple-iphone

China Mobile, the world’s largest operator by volume of subscribers is also the only operator in China that doesn’t offer iPhones or iPads for sale. The primary reason why China Mobile doesn’t offer Apple products is due to the company’s homegrown TD-SCDMA technology for 3G, which is an exclusive standard for the operator, for which most companies produce custom radios in their phones. But this might change soon, with Reuters reporting that Apple’s CEO Tim Cook is in talks with China Mobile’s Chairman Xi Guohua, for a possible cooperation between the two giants.

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Samsung denies benchmark boosting allegations, says it’s normal for most fullscreen apps

SamsungLogo

Just hours ago, we had seen how Samsung had boosted its benchmark scores for a favourable result in comparison to the competition. After all the brouhaha surrounding this issue, Samsung has spoken up, denying the allegations by saying that most full screen apps have the access to full GPU clock speed. That said, the vague response on the company’s Korean website doesn’t seem to explain what “Benchmark booster” actually means.

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Android-powered home phone announced by Panasonic

Panasonic KR-PRX120

Panasonic seems to have backed out of the smartphone race, but is now looking to bring back the home phones with its new Android powered home phone. The home phone will be running on Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) and will have a 3.5 inch HVGA display (320×480 pixels). The phone, model numbered KR-PRX120 will have a base station and a handset with the DECT wireless standard. Continue reading “Android-powered home phone announced by Panasonic”

LG G2 to come preloaded with ringtones from the Vienna Boys’ Choir

LG Optimus G2 Vienna Boys Ring

LG Electronics has announced that the upcoming LG G2 will come preloaded with the sounds from the world famous Vienna Boys’ Choir. LG confirmed their flagship G2 recently and also revealed the Quick Window accessory for the device. The LG G2 would have unique harmonic sounds including 9 ringtones and 5 notifications and alarms and also 4 musical chimes such as Bach’s Air on the G String. Continue reading “LG G2 to come preloaded with ringtones from the Vienna Boys’ Choir”

Videocon A24 with 4-inch display, dual-core processor, Android 4.2 launched for Rs. 4699

Videocon A24

Videocon Mobiles has launched the A24, the company’s new budget smartphone running Android 4.2. It has a 4-inch (480 x 800 pixels) display, powered by a 1.2 GHz dual-core processor and runs on Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean). It has Dual SIM with dual standby, 3.2-megapixel rear camera and a 0.3-megapixel (VGA) front-facing camera. It has 2G (EDGE) support and packs a 1450 mAh battery. Continue reading “Videocon A24 with 4-inch display, dual-core processor, Android 4.2 launched for Rs. 4699”