Motorola RAZR XT910

Pros:Slim body; Excellent signal reception and voice clarity; Dual-core CPU; 4.3" Super AMOLED screen; 1080p video recording with image stabilisation.

 

Cons:Laggy interface; Too large for one-handed use; No physical shutter button; Battery not user-replaceable; Expensive.

Motorola RAZR XT910
MRP: Rs 36,000
Street Price (As On 05-March-2012): Rs 28,500 (Saholic.com; Letsbuy.com); Rs 30,000 (Flipkart.com)

Motorola has come a long way with its RAZR phones since it launched the first one in 2004. While that was the iconic flip-phone, the new Motorola RAZR XT910 Android phone resembles more of a tablet. This is the arguably the thinnest phone around, with the body being just 7.1 mm thick mostly, although it is wider at the top end. The 1.2 GHz dual-core device with a large 4.3" Super AMOLED Gorilla Glass screen is Kevlar-clad at the back to reaffirm its flagship status. Let us find out if it is really just as good in the performance department.

Design And Build Quality
The RAZR comes bundled with a detachable USB charger, a pair of in-ear earphones, and a couple of information booklets in addition to the warranty card. Surprisingly, no memory card is provided, and you have to rely on the 16 GB internal memory, which omes out of the box. Of this, only 8 GB is available for the user, while the remaining 8 GB is reserved by the OS and applications. As stated earlier, the front is dominated by a 4.3" large Super AMOLED screen with pixel dimensions of 960x540, protected against scratches by Corning Gorilla Glass. Readability is good in general even when using outdoors, although colours are a bit over-saturated. Images are not very crisp, as the pixel density is not very high. The microphone is placed on the lower part of the glass, while another outlet is present at the back for noise-cancellation. A stainless steel frame with gun-metal finish runs along the sides, which is slightly curved near the top and bottom corners.

The thin part of the body at the rear is mostly coated by bulletproof Kevlar fabric, although we must remind you that it cannot protect this phone from bullets for obvious reasons. Since it is sealed off, the battery is not user-replaceable. The wedge-like shape lets you easily carry it in your front pocket, although it is too large to carry in the back pocket. The large size of the phone is a result of the wide bezel around the screen, and tt is therefore is not comfortably safe for one-handed use. Rather, we ended up holding it with one hand and using the other for navigating the UI. Things could be different with you if you have a really large pair of hands, but most people don't. The overall build quality seems to be strong except for the faceplate covering the camera, which seems to be flimsy.

The three physical buttons on the phone are a tacky Lock button on the top right, and the volume up and down buttons just below it. Like many other Android devices these days, the Options, Home, Return, and Search buttons situated at the bottom of the display are capacitive and backlit, although the backlighting doesn't work when you need it the most.

An 8 MP camera with LED flash, boasting of 1080p 30fps video recording supported by image stabilisation is present, along with a front 1.2 MP camera with 720p recording for video calling. A physical shutter button would have really made things a lot easier, although Motorola seems to think otherwise. Like most other phones these days, this one also supports micro SIM. It supports up to 32 GB microSD card. There is some really powerful hardware under the bonnet with a 1.2 GHz dual-core processor, although that doesn't necessarily translate into a superlative real-world performance as we will explain later. A microUSB port is present at the top, along with a 3.5 mm audio socket, and there is also a micro HDMI port to play movies directly to a big-screen external display device.

UI And Applications
The UI based on Android 2.3.5 (Gingerbread) has been completely revamped, which brings some good things and some bad. One of the welcome changes can be seen right at the Lock screen, where you are provided with two slider buttons, one on the left to unlock the phone, while the other on the right launches the camera. A ringer toggle has been added at the middle so that you can mute \ unmute the phone even when it is in the locked state. There are five homescreens you can scroll through and the animation has a certain 3D depth to it. The last of the homescreens has quick-toggle widgets for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Data, and GPS.

The notification, on the other hand, is completely unmodified. The dock at the bottom of the screen has four shortcuts. The last of these launches the apps drawer and cannot be modified, while you can customise the remaining three. Google Maps work well with navigation support, thanks to the highly responsive GPS module assisted by A-GPS and digital compass. The Places app shows places or interest near your current location.

On the gloomier side, it seems to find it difficult to run at times with noticeable lag and framing as we delve deeper into the UI. This is shockingly evident even when you open a web page in the native browser and begin scrolling. It is really surprising, considering the fact that the hardware is sufficiently powerful to handle this version of Android. It therefore points to the lack of optimisation. Lastly, the default theme is quite gaudy and loud, but you can always replace it with a sober one.

Multimedia
The Gallery app shows the photo contents of your memory card as a stack, although you cannot choose any of them by tapping. For that, you have to open the Camera roll, My library, Online, Friends, or MotoCast app. Swiping across photos seems to run smoothly, but zooming in and out is terribly laggy, once again pointing to a lack of optimisation.

The video player is capable of playing up to 1080p movies as long as they are DivX, XviD, MP4, or X264 files. Yes, it plays MKV files with the above codecs. Thankfully, movie playback is smooth as it should be. Since it is a plain vanilla media player, you don't get options such as viewing subtitles, changing display settings, or choosing audio track. For more format support and better control, you can always opt for one of the free third-party players from the Android Market.

The Music app has a lot of customisable options. These include several effects profiles to change the way the audio sounds, surround effects, and five equaliser presets. However, custom equaliser setting is not available. Podcasts and internet radio are also supported through this app and it can even connect to DLNA servers on your home network. While the audio is generally decent, it is plagued by plenty of crosstalk, which will turn off any serious listener. For those who are concerned, the RAZR does not feature an FM Radio receiver.

The 8 MP camera has a simple UI with a on-screen shutter or record button on the right, and a retractable row of shortcuts for options at the bottom. It supports touch-to-focus, which mostly works well, but can sometimes be unresponsive. There is a remarkable lag between shutter press and actual shot taken, thus you are most likely to miss out on capturing the action as you intend to. Various shooting modes are supported, just like any standard camera. Shooting in 16:9 aspect ratio is restricted to 6 MP, while the full 8 MP is available only for 4:3 shots.

The camera does a decent job with good colour capture, though the image quality is not anything out of the ordinary. The single LED flash is only good enough to light up subjects as close as a metre from the camera. Shooting in low-light environments produces grainy results in still as well as video shoots.

Full HD video shooting mode comes with image stabilisation that actually works and compensates for jerky hands. The camera focuses before the recording begins, but there is no automatic focus thereafter. Files are recorded in the MP4 format. However, you can manually focus while recording by tapping on the screen. The quality of the recorded video is good, with no noticeable frame drops, as long as it is shot in sufficient lighting conditions. Of course, it is still nowhere near a standard camera that can record 1080p.

 

Telephony And Messaging
Signal quality is good, and you will rarely lose reception using a Motorola handset. In our call voice quality experience, it is the hands-free that seems to work the best, followed by the speaker-phone, while the in-built earpiece in the handset tends to distort sound.

The keyboard is a standard Gingerbread affair, so we have nothing new to talk about.

Battery And Verdict
The 1780 mAh Li-Ion battery of the RAZR does a good job at keeping the device alive for 6 hours 40 minutes, which is pretty good for a dual-core phone with such a large bright screen under heavy usage. Conservative usage allowed it to be used for over a day without recharging.

The Motorola RAZR is definitely made to look different and it does make heads turn. It is a good device as far as telephony is concerned and the ramped up multimedia features give it a few more brownie points. However, the laggy performance issues need immediate attention. Being a flagship product, it is priced at Rs 33,500, which combined with the lacklustre performance, takes away most of the fun. You are rather better off with a Samsung GALAXY S II, if you are paying a premium price. On second thoughts, the Nokia Lumia 800 suddenly seems to be a lot more attractive ever since its price has dropped sharply.


Features: 4.5/5
Design And Build Quality: 4/5
Performance: 2.5/5
Value For Money: 2.5/5
Mojo: 3/5

Overall Rating: 3.5/5

SOURCE TECH TREE

Meet Aisha. Micromax’s Siri for the Gingerbread powered A50 Ninja

Ever since the Siri announcement during the unveiling of the iPhone 4S last year, there have been a slew of voice-based assistant apps for Android. And though I am yet to find one that performs as well as it claims to, there’s no denying the marketing potential of them.
This makes the focus on Aisha in the publicity material for Micromax’s latest device for the Indian market, the Superfone A50 Ninja, understandable. First things first, the phone aims at the extreme low end, costing only Rs 4999 (USD 95). It runs Gingerbread on an undisclosed 650 MHz processor, packs a 3.1 inch screen and a 2-megapixel camera.
Considering the price, it’s pretty impressive that Micromax has chosen to offer such a pre-loaded app. AISHA, which stands for Artificial Intelligence Speech Handset Assistant, was developed by Dexetra, the developer behind another voice-assistant, IRIS.
I personally expect the phone to do well. It’s already the cheapest Android smartphone that I’ve heard of in the Indian market (I might be wrong about this since there are so many lower-end devices over here that it’s tough to keep track of). The presence of AISHA will undoubtedly make the A50 Ninja stand out.

Featured: Android Game Review – Mysteryville 2

Game Name: Mysteryville 2 by Nevosoft

Description: The heroine from the first game, Laura Winner, returns to Mysteryville this time for some needed relaxation after her exploits in the (excellent) first game - with a visit to her friend Bill. However, this is Mysteryville and as such, Bill has gone missing only days before an art auction, organised by the town’s new Priest, is to be held. Could this auction and Bill’s disappearance – both strange for the small town of Mysteryville – be connected? It’s up to Laura to find out once again. Laura will have to once again, put her detective hat on and get down to hunting for clues in order to stop yet another tragedy from occuring. You can watch the trailer below.

How It Works: Mysteryville 2, like the first game before it, is essentially a classic clue-finding game. These games will take you from place-to-place to interact with a good variety of characters before having to fulfil tasks that will lead you to finding your all important clues. The game’s mechanic, whilst relatively simple, remains excellent gameplay, the game will have you finding alsorts of items from glasses to house keys, you’ll be very busy indeed. All you need to do is, once you’ve found one of the items from the list on the left, is touch it on the screen and it’ll disappear – clearing the path for you to find other items and eventually the main clue. The game has a timer up top that counts down to zero as you complete each stage, giving you an added challenge as you scour the stage for all the items. You can also post to Twitter and Facebook after you complete each stage meaning, your friends can track how you’re getting on and vice-versa – something that seems to be a big hit with Mobile gamers.

One feature that stood out to me as particularly good is the penalty you’ll be given if you randomly tap around the screen you’ll be given a 20 second time penalty, something that I feel is one of those little additions that makes a lot of difference. It’s something that will stop players ruining their own experience by rushing through stages.

Opinion: I hadn’t really played many games like this before, I’m more of a console gamer myself, so I try to stay away from onscreen controls and the like. This, however was a great change of pace for me, it’s casual yet engaging at the same time, I was able to sit down with a cup of coffee and go through a couple of stages comfortably on the couch, something that console games and ports for Android really don’t offer. My Girlfriend is an absolute mystery lover, she’s watched all the CSI’s and the Criminal Mind types of shows you can name, as such she was my perfect guinea pig, she’s played a few detective games that are on the Play Store and the first thing she said about Mysteryville 2 was that it looked unique and engaging. I think it’s the variety of interesting characters and scenes that keeps the game fresh.
Tips:-

• Take a good look at the scene before you dive in, memorising item locations helps a lot and makes the game flow nicely.
• Try not to tap randomly in one area – you’ll be given the penalty mentioned earlier – you’re only cheating yourself out of a challenge.
• Keep a close eye on the list of upcoming items on the left, focussing on one might slow you down.
• Don’t play all the levels at once, it plays out more like a mystery novel if you take your time – a good one at that!

Ratings:-

• Speed (3/5) – The game has a gentle pace and is great for a casual play whilst relaxing, fans of Riptide GP and faster games might find it a be slow though.
• Features (4/5) – Mysteryville 2 has a variety of challenges focussed around the object finding genre, ranging from a frantic find all to the odd anagram, there’s a nice gamut of things to do.
• Theme (4/5) – As much fun as a good mystery novel is, parts of the game can seem a bit farfetched, over all it plays out well with some welcome twists.
• Overall (4/5) – There’s a lot to love in Mysteryville 2 – much like there was in the first game - from crisp detailed graphics more like art than backdrops, unique characters and easy, accessible gameplay for all it’s well worth the asking price.

Pros:-

• The graphics really are something to look at, they scale well to tablets and generally look great on whatever you play it on making the whole experience a breeze to look at.
• A strong variety of characters throughout it all keeps things fresh and interesting right from the get go.
• Accessible gameplay makes for a frustration free experience to enjoy at your own pace.

Cons:-

• Sometimes there is a lot of time left on the countdown making it seem a little too easy.
• Some of the dialogue from the characters can seem a tad farfetched but then again this is a mystery game.
• Some levels take longer than others which can drag a little.

Conclusion: I like a change from what I’m used to and Mysteryville 2 was certainly the change I needed, after playing fast paced games with finicky onscreen controls being able to use the touchscreen for exactly what it’s meant for was welcome. Like I’ve said, being able to play this game in comfort wherever and whenever was a big hit for me, meaning I could spend more time than I normally would on a game. It’s also good to play with someone else – my girlfriend and I ended up making a pretty good team spotting all the items and clues the other didn’t – something I hardly ever do side by side anymore.
It should be noted that it worked perfectly well on both my Nexus S and my Iconia Tab A100 both running ICS with no issues, making the A100 a perfect partner on the sofa these last few days.
You can find Mysteryville 2 in the Play Store

Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1

The Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 dispels any doubt about the return of the stylus - the S Pen transforms the tablet into something that will appeal to artist and business types alike. It's a very different experience, one that other tablets cannot match. It's not just the level of precision no finger can provide, the bundled software really extends the functionality.

Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 official pictures
The tablet itself can be seen as a special edition of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 - the body is slimmer (8.9mm vs. 9.7mm), the chipset is more powerful (both in CPU and GPU terms) and the front-facing camera is much better.
We won't waste too much time comparing the Note 10.1 to the Tab 2 10.1, we'll leave that comparison for the complete review. For now, here's where the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 stands.

Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 at a glance:

• Form factor: Tablet
• Dimension: 256.7 x 175.3 x 8.9 mm
• Weight: 583g
• Display: 16M-color 10.1" PLS LCD capacitive touchscreen of WXGA resolution (1280 x 800 pixels)
• OS: Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, TouchWiz UI
• Chipset: 1.4 GHz dual-core processor, Mali-400MP, Exynos chipset
• Camera: 3.2 MP autofocus camera with 1080p video recording; 2MP front-facing camera
• Memory: 16/32/64GB of inbuilt storage, expandable via a microSD card slot
• Connectivity: Voice and data connectivity with quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE and quad-band (850/900/1900/2100 MHz) UMTS, 21 Mbps HSDPA and HSUPA 5.76 Mbps support, video calls, dual-band Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct, Assisted GPS, Bluetooth 3.0, 30-pin connector
• Battery: 7,000mAh
• Misc: Gyro sensor, accelerometer sensor for automatic UI rotation, ambient light sensor, Adobe Flash Player 11 support, DivX/XviD support, TV-out (adapter required), USB host (via an adapter)

We can only dream of what the Note 10.1 could've been like with a tablet-sized Super AMOLED screen, but the PLS LCD used here offers pretty good image quality too. The 1280x800 resolution is the standard. It isn't much in terms of numbers, but it's perfectly alright in terms of actual image quality.
The tablet runs Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich imbued with TouchWiz magic. The Mini Apps that float around like windows improve the multitasking capabilities. The preloaded Photoshop Touch app is a premium addition. The note taking apps are on the level too - jotting down a memo on the Galaxy Note 10.1 is as easy as on an actual notepad.

LG Optimus 3D Max smartphone made officially

The LG‘s second generation 3D Android smartphone has just officially announced. The handset is known as the LG Optimus 3D Max and currently shipping in Europe. Amazon Germany is also already offering the LG Optimus 3D Max smartphone starts €494 (some $650).

Coming in slimmer and lighter body than the previous Optimus 3D smartphone, the new LG Optimus 3D Max measures 126.8 x 67.4 x 9.6 mm and weighs about 148 grams. New 3D handset is powered by a 1.2GHz OMAP4430 dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, 8GB of onboard storage, and runs Android 2.3 Gingerbread OS (update to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich later).
As screen, LG Optimus 3D Max smartphone has a 4.3-inch touchscreen 3D WVGA display with Gorilla Glass 2, a VGA front-facing for video calls, and a 5MP dual-lens camera that functionality for 3D videos and photos. Other feature on Optimus 3D Max is a microSD card slot, HSPA+ 21Mbps, NFC (also LG Tag+), Wi-Fi, DLNA, GPS, HDMI, and a 1,520 mAh battery. In additional, it offers 3D Converter and 3D video editing.

NOKIA LUMIA CHALLENGED IN UK

NOKIA LUMIA IS FASTEST PHONE AS PEOPLE CHALLENGED IN UK.
SEE THIS VIDEO

NOKIA SAYS THAT THERE IS NO NEED FOR DUALCORE PROCESSORS AS SINGLE CORE IS ENOUGH THR IMPORTANT THING IS HUNGRY OS YOU ARE USING.

Asus Transformer Pad 300 vs Apple iPad 3: Specs and features comparison

Transformer Pad 300 shipping has begun in US. Many are comparing it with Apple iPad 3. Here we compare their specs and features
Taiwanese tech giant and an emerging powerhouse in tablet and smartphones Asus has started shipping its latest Transformer Pad 300 tablets in the US market. The tablet that is considerably cheaper than its previous and much appreciated Asus Transformer Prime is also better than its previous versions in more ways than one.
The new 10.1 inch tablet from Asus comes with many major improvements that will help it give tough fight to its market competitors including Apple’s highest selling iPad 3. Though it will be too early to call it an iPad 3 killer, as many said the same about its last Transformer Prime, but Asus’ own shortcomings prevented it from exploiting the demand.
Reviewers are unanimous that Transformer Pad 300 that comes with obvious price advantages over its competitors in the market has an edge over others. Its biggest strengths include Quad-core Tegra 3 processor that will help give users very fast processing powers. Another great advantage that it will have over not just its predecessor but also over its competitors is the fact that its camera produces a lot better results than the existing market rivals. Asus Transformer Prime was beset with wi-fi issues. But the latest Asus tablet has very improved and fast Wi-Fi performance. Another plus point for the Transformer Pad 300 comes with very responsive screen. Other advantages include Micro-HDMI and microSD slots besides obviously better battery life.
For around $400 price tag, the Asus tablet will become the hottest selling tablet in the market. Because its competitors including iPad 3 are considerably expansive than it and price conscious users will find it a lot affordable than very expensive iPad 3 or even its predecessor Transformer Prime.
Specs: The latest Asus tablet comes with very impressive 10.1-inch with 1280 x 800 resolution accompanied by 149 ppi. Here it lags far behind Apple’s iPad tablet that comes with retina display. Cupertino based tech giant’s iPad 3 comes with a very impressive 2048×1536 resolution, giving it as much as four times as many pixels than the previous iPad 2 and more than the typical HD TV set. It also comes with 264dpi resolution.
Processor: When it comes to processor Asus Pad 300 packs great power. It comes with a very powerful quad-core Tegra 3 processor and 1 GB of RAM. iPad 3 on the other hand runs on A5X processor. Though the Cupertino based tech giant says that it is many times more powerful than the A-5 that came with iPad 2, but there are reasons to doubt this claim. A reviewer says, …“there’s no difference in the standard compute power (though the RAM is up to 1GB – that’s half what you get on the lowest-spec MacBook Air; all the improvement is in the graphics processor”. Another reviewer has this to say, “The new iPad received a total Geekbench score of 756, essentially identical to that of the iPad 2, although Geekbench only tests processor and memory performance and does not address graphics capabilities that are the focus of improvements in the A5X”. But so far Apple has performed better than all the tablets available in the market and we will have to wait for some time to really appreciate the Tegra 3 processor in Asus Pad 300.
Operating System: the latest Asus Pad 300 comes loaded with Google’s latest Android 4 or Ice Cream Sandwich. It also comes with very impressive Waveshare UI. This is going to make its performance among the best in the market. iPad 3 on the other hand comes with a little improved Operating System in the form of iOS 5.1. But there are reasons to believe that the upgrade doesn’t improve the OS substantially but just fixes some bugs that needed to be taken care of even earlier. Eric Zeman while writing in Informationweek.Com says, “Apple’s competitors have not only added features to their platforms, but have made visual upgrades as well. Look at Android, for example. The change in the operating system’s appearance between Android 2.x/3.x and Android 4.0 is incredible. Everything about the OS was redesigned and it looks much, much better now. Windows Phone is too young to require a refresh, but even Research In Motion has altered the appearance of BlackBerry 7 when you compare it to Blackberry 5”. Nonetheless Apple’s latest tablet has impressed users with its overall performance.
Storage: When it comes to storage options Asus Pad 300 has two options including 32 and 64GB. iPad on the other hand comes with three storage options including 16GB, 32 GB and 64 GB storage options. But Asus Pad 300 comes with  microSD card slot that gives it an extra advantage.


source nvonrews

Review: Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet

Pros:Sturdy build; HDMI port; USB-OTG support; Good UI customization; Promising accessories.

 

 

Cons:Quite bulky; Expensive; Terrible camera.

Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet







MRP: Rs 51,000


According to experts, tablets are the future of computing. Therefore, following the market trend, laptop-maker Lenovo has launched the ThinkPad - a tablet with a twist, which doubles up as a laptop. Let's see how it fares against the competition.


The video review for Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet is given below.



Design And Build Quality
The retail package is generously accessorised. Apart from the tablet and detachable USB charger, you get a pair earphones and stylus. Additionally, you get the keyboard accessory, which doubles up as a dock.

The tablet's front is guarded by Gorilla Glass except for the part where it sports four buttons namely Home, Back, and a browser shortcut, and an auto rotate lock. The gadget's back has a matte rubbery finish that offers a comfortable grip.

The gadget measures 10.2" (l) x 7.2" (w) x 0.6" (14 mm) (d), which is thicker than most tablets, but this is the price you pay for the additional port and slots. Moreover, at 732 grammes it's ridiculously heavy to hold.

Its 10" display has pixel dimensions of 1280x800. Its brightness and colour reproduction quite good. Additionally, it boasts of wide viewing angles.

The ThinkPad is powered by a Tegra 2 chip consisting of a dual core 1 GHz CPU and GeForce ULP GPU. Other specs include a 1 GB of RAM, 32 GB internal memory, 5 MP main and a front VGA camera, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, full sized USB (OTG) port, HDMI-out, micro-USB port, SD memory card slot, 3.5 mm jack, and a 3250 mAh battery. The tablet also supports a SIM card slot which is good for 3G connectivity and messaging, but you can't make phone calls using it.


UI And Applications
On the software front, Lenovo has done a great job in customising Android 3.1 (Honeycomb). The swiping gestures work pretty smoothly and there's hardly any lag, even in the menus. Lenovo's Launch Zone widget provides quick access to select apps. Of course, you can personalise this widget and add your favourite apps here.

Despite the standard on-screen navigation keys, the physical buttons come in handy at times. The manufacturer has also added a Favourite button that looks like a speech bubble. When clicked, it shows thumbnails of your favourite apps.

What makes this tablet stand out from the rest, is the keyboard accessory which transforms this tablet into an Android netbook. The keyboard features a chiclet-type layout, and the keys are reasonably big. Instead of a touchpad, the company has opted for an optical trackpad, which works like a charm. It comes in very handy while browsing the internet.

Another interesting accessory is the stylus. Currently, there's only one app called Notes Mobile that takes advantage of this electronic pen. The app also supports handwriting recognition. Sadly, the feature is not implemented in other apps such as the browser and email client.

Maps and navigation are taken care of by Google Maps. However, the GPS depends totally on the internet connection.


Multimedia
The default music player has a neat interface, and the sound quality through bundled earphones is excellent. However, the equaliser settings are missing.

The video player handles 720p videos, very well. However, it stutters with 1080p videos. The gadget supports DivX, XviD, and MP4 formats out of the box, so you don't have to bother with third-party apps.

Unfortunately, the device's camera produces horrible pictures. The quality is so bad that you won't believe it's a 5 MP snapper. The amount of noise in low-light situations is unacceptable, and it also produces inaccurate colours. Its performance in video recording is equally bad.


Battery And Verdict
The 3250 mAh battery's performance is good. Under heavy use, the device's battery can keep the device running for around 7 hours. Needless to say, it's quite good by Android standards.

The ThinkPad has a great build quality. Lenovo's customisation and performance is better than the other Android tablets. Additionally, you get special accessories such as the keyboard folio and stylus.

On the other hand, the camera is bad and the tablet is quite thick. Although the keyboard accessory is promising, it's not too useful with the Android OS. Finally, it's a decent tablet, if you aren't on a tight budget.


Features: 4/5
Design And Build Quality: 3/5
Performance: 4/5
Value For Money: 2.5/5
Mojo: 3/5

Overall Rating: 3.5/5

SOURCE :TECHTREE

The new iPad

The new iPad has been available unofficially for a while now, via Tradus.in. Although it was good for those who couldn't wait to get their hands on Apple's latest tablet, it made sense to wait for the official launch and buy such an expensive product with warranty. Now, the wait seems all worth the time, as the Cupertino-based company has launched the new iPad at a lesser price than the unofficial sources in India.



The tablet is powered by the brand new A5X chip with a quad-core GPU. Its Retina display has pixel dimensions of 2048x1536. Apart from that, you get a 5 MP camera, Wi-Fi connectivity, and reportedly offers 10-hours of battery life.



The new iPad will be sold through select Apple authorized resellers, and will come in six variants. Here's a list of all available models, and their pricing details for the Indian market.






HTC One X Unboxing, Benchmarks & Gaming Test

A BUYER GUIDE HTC One X

HTC One X vs Apple iPhone 4S

Today, we’ll be pitting two mighty titans against each other to determine which is the best high-end smartphone in the market if money was no object. We have the best offerings from both camps, the HTC One X from the Android camp and of course, the iPhone 4S from camp iOS. Both these handsets offer bleeding edge technology and are the absolute cream of the crop. Now, if you’re an Apple or HTC fanboi, then we don’t expect you to read this since you already own one of these handsets, but for someone who has this sort of budget and wants to know which phone to pick, read on to find out.

HTC One X
Hot from HTC’s stable is the One X, a quad-core, Android 4.0 running beast. HTC's ditched the unibody aluminium design for their flagship and have gone with a lighter, polycarbonate shell which makes it super light despite its gigantic proportions. The new ‘overflowing’ screen design looks incredibly sexy and gives it a fresh look. The phone features Sense 4.0, which isn’t as graphics heavy as their previous versions but manages to provide a familiar look and feel.

First quad-core handset to hit the streets

The One X also features Beats Audio for enhanced sound quality through the bundled music app. The interface is incredibly slick and with a good pair of headphones, the sound is rich with plenty of deep bass. The pièce de résistance of the One X however has got to be the processor and camera. It features Nvidia’s quad-core Tegra 3 CPU running inside which makes it the first quad-core handset in the market. Although many apps aren’t quite optimised for four cores yet, games like GTA III will definitely see a boost in performance. The camera fares well under low light as well and takes less than 2.5seconds from the time you open the app and capture the image.

Apple iPhone 4S
The iPhone 4S wasn’t quite what we were expecting after all the leaks and rumours but it wasn’t a terrible upgrade either. The distinguishable features of the 4S include the new powerful dual-core processor, beefed up 8MP camera with 1080p video capabilities and of course, Siri. Apple didn’t mess around with the design of the phone too much; in fact, it’s practically identical to the iPhone 4 from the outside. The faster CPU does allow for a better gaming experience and also multi-tasking is a lot smoother.

A high-end grudge match without an iPhone just doesn't cut it

iOS 5 made its debut with the 4S and brought with it new features like notification centre, iMessage, reminders, etc. The camera in the 4S is able to capture a lot more detail thanks to the larger pixel count. That, coupled with the faster processor enables you to record in 1080p as well. Finally, we have Siri, the electronic assistant to help you automate mundane tasks. While getting it to work with a heavy accent can be a task, it works well if you speak in a neutral accent.

Both these phones are great in their own right but there can be only one winner. Let’s go to the charts to find out.

The Bottom Line
On paper, the HTC One X smokes the iPhone 4S and comes out as the clear winner. The hardware present in the One X is clearly better as you get four CPU cores to handle all floating point operations and twelve GPU cores for rendering graphics. Despite this, it’s really tough to clearly decide between the two and ultimately, it depends on how much flexibility you’re willing to live with. The One X is a great option if you do some heavy gaming while travelling as the Nvidia chipset is more than capable in this department. You also get the freedom to customize the look and feel of the phone to suit your liking and it’s also slimmer and lighter (albeit larger) than the 4S. Areas where you might face issues are the battery life, which is not the best, especially if you’re going to be stressing the phone out every day. Timely updates are another issue as even though Google may roll out new updates, it will be a while till HTC rolls it out to their customers.

Apple on the other hand may have a very tight knit ecosystem, but that works in their favour as they only have one phone to worry about. You may not have the flexibility to customize the look beyond a point and transferring data to and from your device is not the easiest as it is on Android. However, once you make your peace with it, it’s not too bad. In the end, both of these handsets represent some of the finest mobile phones money can buy. We’d say go with the HTC One X if you like endlessly customizing the interface, do a lot of gaming on the move and need something slim and light. If you already own an older generation iPhone then I think the choice is pretty obvious.

Street Cricket GAME

Trine Games has been a busy little studio of late, releasing three console titles in less than two years. While Street Cricket Champions was fun in parts, last year’s Ra.One: The Game was quite a disaster. Now, however, Trine has released what gamers from our cricket-crazy nation have been clamouring for ever since Nintendo announced the Wii. Move Street Cricket, as the name suggests, is a cricket game for the PS3 based entirely on motion controls via the Playstation Move. Motion controls and cricket are the perfect fit, and in theory, Trine and Sony should have a winner on their hands.

But it’s never quite that easy. Cricket might seem like the perfect game to build around motion controls, but that only really extends to the batting part of it. The real challenge lies in implementing the other aspects of the game - bowling and fielding. But naturally, the first thing you want to do in a motion-controlled cricket game is batting, so that’s what I did. Off the bat (heh!), there were some controller calibration issues. For a game that requires such intricate use of the Move controller, the calibration process is rather basic, and this adversely affects gameplay. Even if you hold the Move controller with your wrists turned outwards to present the full face of the bat, the stance on screen shows the bat facing inwards. This presents a problem when playing shots on the offside, because you’ll have to turn your wrists out to an uncomfortable degree to open the face of the bat. Further calibration issues result in the bat often being half buried in the ground, despite the fact that I’m over six feet tall and my Playstation Eye camera is placed on top of my TV. A more detailed calibration process would have taken care of both these issues.

Do I make this look good?

That aside, strokeplay in Move Street Cricket is quite fun, and the game does a surprisingly good job of allowing you to play an array of strokes, including late cuts, paddle sweeps and the Dilshan scoop. It takes a while to get the timing right and even after you do get used to the game, playing back-foot shots square of the wicket is quite difficult. Making batting considerably harder is the camera, which is placed at a slight height behind the stumps on the batsman’s side. The problem with this angle is that the ball tends to get lost in the background after it leaves the bowler’s hand, making it hard for you to judge its speed and flight. All these gripes aside, however, Move Street Cricket delivers a batting experience that is quite close to what cricket fans would have expected from a motion-controlled game.

Unfortunately, the other aspects pale in comparison, especially the bowling. The delivery selection process is asinine, requiring you to perform looping rainbow-like gestures rather than simply pointing the controller in the direction of the delivery you’d like to select. Even more ludicrous is the method of placing the marker where you’d like the delivery to pitch. These cumbersome controls often lead to no-balls, wides, wrong delivery selection, and short balls. Batting was always going to be the preferred activity in a Move cricket game, but thanks to the poor bowling controls, you’ll often want to just quit matches once you’re done batting. Fielding is mostly AI-controlled, but the catching mechanic is again unnecessarily complicated. Rounding off the bouquet of poor gameplay mechanics is the running between the wickets, where the batsmen seem to want a drinks break before setting off on a second run. Long story short – the only time you’ll be having fun in Move Street Cricket is when you’re swinging for the fences.

I'm gonna take you to outer space

As the name suggests, the game is a take on gully cricket and features venues such as back alleys and amusement parks, although unlike Street Cricket champions, where venues were of different sizes and had different scoring rules, here, grounds are the same size and the differences are only cosmetic. The visuals aren’t anywhere near what you would expect from a PS3 game. Player animations are stiff, and the venues look bland and often too colourful. The sound effects aren’t up to the mark either; you’ll end up hearing players yell out the same phrases again and again, which can get quite annoying.

If your idea of a good cricket game is one where you get your kicks from batting and quit when it's time to bowl and field, Move Street Cricket is right up your alley. If you're looking for something even remotely well-rounded, however, you'll have to fall back on Codies' games and the standard controller.

Attitude Daksha Tablet Launched For Rs 5400

 Attitude Daksha Tablet

Android 3.2 device with a 7" screen, claims to play 1080p videos.

 

 While the Aakash tablet project remains embroiled in controversy, other companies are making hay while the sun shines. Telmoco Development Lab has launched its own low-cost Android tablet – Attitude Daksha, which is touted by the company to be the most powerful 7" tab for students and professionals alike. The new device comes with Android 3.2 (Honeycomb) along with CyanogenMod public libraries, and is powered by a 1.2 GHz ARM Cortex A8 CPU with 512 MB DDR3 memory.
The Attitude Daksha sports a 7" 5-point capacitive touchscreen, although pixel dimensions of the same have not been mentioned. It is said to be capable of "streaming" as well as playing back 1080p videos, thanks to its 400 MHz GPU, along with handling interactive Flash apps and videos. Ports on the tab include HDMI, micro USB, Ethernet, and 3.5 mm audio out. It also has a microSD slot and a USB OTG connector for 3G dongles. The powerful 3600 mAh battery claims to provide up to 6 hours of back up time with Wi-Fi switched on. Initially meant to launch at schools, professional institutions, and corporate houses, the Attitude Daksha will be available in the market for the general public from 15th May and you can also order it online from http://www.telmoco.com/. What are your thoughts about such low-cost Android tablets?

LAUNCH DATE May 15

Comparision of Samsung Galaxy R vs LG Optimus 2X

	Samsung Galaxy R	LG Optimus 2X
Mobile Image
Brand	Samsung	LG
Model	Galaxy R	Optimus 2X
Mobile Price	Rs.22,739	Rs.19,999

Weight	132 g	139 g
Form Factor	Touch Bar	Bar
Dimensions	125.70 X 66.70 X 9.55 mm	123.9 X 63.2 X 10.9 mm
Operating Frequency	GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 / HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100 MHz	GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 / HSDPA 900 / 2100 Mhz
Keypad
Dual Sim
3G	Yes, HSDPA, 21 Mbps; HSUPA, 5.76 Mbps	Yes, HSDPA, 10.2 Mbps; HSUPA, 5.76 Mbps
Display
Display Colour	4.19 Inches, WVGA SC-LCD Capacitive Touchscreen, 16M Colors	4.0 Inches, WVGA 16M Colors, TFT Capacitive Touchscreen
Display Size	480X800 pixels	400X800 pixels
Touch Screen	Yes, Capacitive Touch Screen	Yes, Capacitative Touch Screen
Processor
CPU	Yes, Dual-core 1GHz ARM Cortex-A9 processor, ULP GeForce GPU, Tegra 2 AP20H chipset	Yes, Dual-core 1GHz ARM Cortex-A9 proccessor, ULP GeForce GPU, Tegra 2 chipset
Internal Memory and RAM
Internal Memory	Yes, Internal Memory : 8 GB Storage, 1GB RAM / 2GB ROM	Yes, Internal Memory : 8 GB Storage, 512 MB RAM
Messaging
SMS	Yes	Yes
MMS	Yes	Yes
Email	Yes	Yes
Pop Mail	No	Yes
Push Mail	No	No
Pocket Mail	No	No
Inbox Capacity	Yes, Threaded View	Yes, Threaded View
Camera
Image capture	Yes, Rear Camera : 5.0 MP Camera (2592x1944 Pixels) With Auto Focus And LED Flash, Front Camera : 1.3 MP Camera (1280x1024 Pixels)	Yes, Rear Camrea : 8.0 MP Camera (3264x2448) With Auto Focus And LED Flash, Front Camera : 1.3 MP Camera (1280x1024 Pixels)
Image resolution	2592.0 X 1944.0 Pixels	3264.0 X 2448.0 Pixels
Image zoom	Yes, 4x Digital Zoom	Yes, Digital Zoom
Video capture	Yes, Video Streaming, Video Telephony	Yes
Video resolution	Yes, 1280x720 (720p HD)	Yes, 1080p@24fps, 720p@30fps
Video zoom
Modes
Music & Video
Audio player	Yes, Music Formats : MP3, WAV, EAAC+ With Loud Speaker And 3.5mm Audio Jack	Yes, Music Formats : MP3, WAV, WMA, EAAC+, WAV, MIDI With 3.5mm Audio Jack
FM	Yes, Stereo FM Radio With RDS	Yes, Stereo FM Radio With RDS
Radio	No	No
Speaker	Yes	Yes
Tv output
Audio Jack	Yes	Yes
Video player	Yes, Video Formats : MP4, H.263, H.264, WMV, DivX, Xvid	Yes, Video Formats : MP4, H.263, H.264, WMV, DivX, Xvid
Data & Connectivity
GPRS	Yes	Yes
Edge	Yes	Yes
Mobile office
Wireless Protocol	Yes, Wi-Fi 802.11 A/b/g/n, Wi-Fi Hotspot	Yes, Wi-Fi 802.11 B/g/n, DLNA
Mobile sync
Bluetooth	Yes, V3.0 + HS	Yes, V2.1 With A2DP
Infrared	No	No
Port	Yes, Micro USB 2.0	Yes, MicroUSB V2.0, TV-out (720p Video) Via HDMI Port
PTT	No	No
Memory
Memory slot	Yes, Micro SD Card	Yes, Micro SD Card
Expandable	Yes, Up To 32GB	Yes, Up To 32GB
Phone Book	Yes, Practically Unlimited Entries And Fields, Photocall	Yes, Practically Unlimited Entries And Fields, Photocall
Call Information
Dialled	Practically Unlimited	Practically Unlimited
Missed call	Practically Unlimited	Practically Unlimited
Received	Practically Unlimited	Practically Unlimited
Call recording	No	No
Battery
Battery model	liion1650mAh	liion1500mAh
Talk time	Up toUp To 22.5 (2G) / 9.6 Hours (3G) Hours	Up toUp To 7 Hours 50 Minutes Hours
Standby time	Up toUp To 660 Hours (2G) / Up To 550 Hours (3G) Hours	Up toUp To 400 Hours Hours Up To 400 Hours
Ringtone
Polyphonic	Yes	Yes
MIDI
WAV	Yes
MP3	Yes	Yes
AAC
AMR
M4A
WMA
Mp4
Technology
Java	Yes, Via Java MIDP Emulator	No
OS	Android OS, V2.3 (Gingerbread)	Android OS, V2.2 Froyo, Upgradable To V2.3
Games	Yes	Yes
Others
FM Recording	No	No
Torch light	No	No
Call Blacklist	No	No
SMS Blacklist	No	No
One touch player
Pocket MSN	No	No
Browser	Yes, HTML, RSS	Yes, HTML, Flash
Skype calling	No	No
Other Features	Voice memo/dial/commands Organizer Predictive text input (Swype) Calendar Scheduler To do list Clock Worldtime Alarm Calculator Memo Book Stop Watch Countdown Timer	Document viewer Organizer Voice memo/dial Predictive text input   Samsung Galaxy R is a WINNER

Lumia 800 vs. iPhone 4S

It’s no secret that the world of high-end mobile phones is currently dominated by the iOS and Android operating systems. To help you get a perspective on their latest releases, we gave you head-to-head spec comparisons between the iPhone 4S and the Galaxy Nexus, and then between the Droid Razr next to the Galaxy Nexus.
While those two platforms are the kings of the hill right now, Nokia showed us what a Windows Phone 7.5 handset can look like this week, with the gorgeous Lumia 800. Why not put it next to the iPhone 4S, and see how they size up?
Of course you’d be wise to look beyond just specs when shopping for a new device. If technical specifications were the only thing that mattered, then Android tablets would likely be taking a much bigger piece of the iPad’s pie. With that said, you can learn a lot about a device’s capabilities by looking at the individual components that it’s made of.

Design and dimensions

Both phones are similarly proportioned, with one exception. The Lumia is slightly wider, and longer by a hair. The biggest difference in dimensions is that the Lumia is thicker than the 4S. As new devices like the Galaxy Nexus and Droid Razr are racing to see who can become the thinnest, it’s interesting that Nokia’s handset measures a little chunkier than the last two iPhones.
Both of these phones are quite the lookers. While you’ve likely grown accustomed to the look of the iPhone 4S by now (it’s identical to last year’s iPhone 4), it’s hard to find a slicker-looking device. An aluminum antenna is sandwiched between two panels of glass. Even if you prefer a more rounded, less angular device, it’s hard to argue that the iPhone 4S isn’t classic Apple design at its finest.
The Lumia 800, meanwhile, brings something that we haven’t seen a lot of in smartphone bodies – color. It will be available in cyan (above) and magenta, in addition to the familiar black. The body of the phone has a more unified build than many recent handsets, with its smooth one-piece body. If you saw pictures of the Meego-running Nokia N9, it’s virtually identical to the Lumia.

Display

The Lumia’s display is slightly larger than the iPhone’s, but has a lower resolution. The screen uses curved glass to create an effect of blending in with the body of the phone. In that regard, the greatest strength of the Lumia’s display may be that it lends itself to the illusion of no separation between display and body. Windows Phone’s heavy use of deep blacks, next to the black front bezel, will only accentuate this effect.
Pixel density tilts heavily in the iPhone’s favor, though 252ppi on the Lumia’s AMOLED display shouldn’t disappoint too many people.

Processor

Nokia went in an interesting direction here, foregoing a dual-core CPU, and instead opting for a single-core 1.4GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S2 chip. The iPhone 4S, meanwhile, carries Apple’s dual-core A5 system-on-a-chip, underclocked at 800MHz.
We’ll look forward to getting these two phones side-by-side for some performance testing, but we do already know that the iPhone 4S runs iOS 5 with no lag whatsoever. While some could be let down by the single-core CPU in the Lumia, the Windows Phone software library isn’t currently heavy on resource-intensive apps, so perhaps this single core chip, with a relatively high clock rate, will suffice.

Memory

Both phones are equals in the RAM department, coming in at 512MB. Some were surprised that Apple opted for half of the iPad 2′s 1GB in the 4S, but its performance doesn’t appear to be suffering without the extra memory. Perhaps Nokia and Microsoft came to the same conclusion regarding the Lumia and Mango.

Storage

While neither handset offers SD card support, the iPhone gives you more options for on-board storage. This is another area where Windows Phone’s much younger app library shows its face. Without the extensive library of huge games that the App Store has, there’s less of a need for the extra storage on the Lumia. Still, those who like to store their entire music library or several movies on their device may be disappointed with a maximum of 16GB.
Microsoft’s Skydrive service can help to make up for this, as owners of the phone will get 25GB of free cloud storage.

Battery life

I’d recommend taking the above estimates with many grains of salt. Apple is known for giving solid battery life estimates on both their iOS devices and MacBooks, while many other manufacturers’ claims are known for falling short. With that said, it looks like Nokia is promising longer talk time, and more standby, while the iPhone claims to have longer video playback.
For those more interested in the hardware, the Lumia 800 has a 3.7V 1450mAh battery. The iPhone’s, meanwhile, is a 3.7V 1420mAh model. As always, software and other hardware features can have at least as big of an effect on actual battery life.

Camera

While the iPhone 4S’ camera has been heralded as exceptional for a smartphone camera, the Lumia will also have a particularly high quality camera. We know this because it appears to be identical to the camera in the Nokia N9. The pictures that the N9 takes hold up fairly well next to the 4S (though the 4S still has an edge in terms of color vibrance and lighting).
One major difference in the camera department comes in terms of the front shooter. Namely, the iPhone 4S has one and the Lumia does not. Mobile video chat may not have caught on the way some expected it to, but if you want the option, the Lumia isn’t the phone for you.

Summing up

Regardless of the hardware we compared above, the biggest spec may be that of availability. If you live in the US, you can get the iPhone 4S right now, while there is no information regarding an American launch for the Lumia. Nokia hasn’t had much of a presence in the states for some time, and it doesn’t look like they’re rushing to change that. Perhaps it’s part of a joint strategy with Microsoft to build an international presence, while easing into the US market. Either way, it will be available throughout most of Europe in November.
We excluded download speeds, as the Lumia obviously has no carrier info for a US release. The iPhone 4S, as you probably know, will get 3G speeds on Verizon and Sprint, and you may get HSPA 14.4 (“4G” according to AT&T) speeds on AT&T.
So while many won’t even have the choice between these two phones yet, the Lumia 800 is significant enough of an entry that it’s worth profiling. Microsoft needs their Nokia Windows Phones to be something special to have a hope of gaining some significant market share, and this phone has the ingredients (particularly in terms of design) to help them do that.