Prsm' is the social network that knows everything about you, courtesy of the NSA

Social media fragmentation is a real problem in the modern landscape. Foursquare may let you check in at a restaurant, and your Netflix queue may go to Facebook, but who's keeping track of the calls you make from your cellphone or Skype number? What service will give a group of interested strangers access to your email? Where can you turn if you just want to let somebody literally watch your ideas form as you type? Well, you might want to consider Prsm. Not that you have to, strictly speaking. You probably have an account already.

Mind you, Prsm isn't a social network, precisely. Almost everyone you know is on it, but you're only sharing with the highly trained media engagement experts at the NSA, who will use their time-tested sorting algorithms and proprietary XKeyscore software to put you in circles with the people most like you. If you're a non-US citizen located outside the US, you'll have free access to its premium Pinwale database, though we're told at least a few thousand US users will be admitted as part of a closed beta. While Prsm doesn't have the gaming ecosystem we've grown accustomed to in major networks like Facebook, sources tell us that it's internally testing an Ingress -like alternate reality game in which players identify potential terrorists to earn "skilz" points and unlock achievements.

Asus to halt production of Windows RT tablets

Even while Asus is rumoured to be making the new Nexus 10 for Google, the Taiwanese company has confirmedthat it will cease manufacturing Windows RT tablets. The Windows tablets that are strugglingto sell anyway are now facing trouble with manufacturers pulling out of the project.
According to a report by The Wall Street Journal , Asus was not very impressed with the poor sales of Windows RT-based tablets. On thesidelines of thecompany’s post-earnings conference, Asustek Chief Jerry Shen said, "It's not only our opinion,the industry sentiment is also that Windows RT has not been successful.”
He added that Asus will make Windows 8 devices only for Intel’s chipsbecause thesystem has a backward compatibility. This compatibility has been a cause of concernfor themanufacturer as far as Windows RT went. Shen said that Asus has already taken a writedown as far as its Windows RT tablets went in thesecond quarter of this year. He, however, declined to give a figure.
Microsoft had releasedthe Microsoft RT runningtablets in October, which met with a lukewarm response. The company even slashed prices for theSurface RT last month by a huge $150. This cutcame in an effort to increasethe tablet’s share in themarket, a move that has not exactly met with a thunderousresponse.
Asus, meanwhile, seems to be warming up to Google ina big way. It has manufactured both iterationsof the company’s successfulNexus 7 tablets and is rumoured to be taking up charge forthe Internet giant’s larger Nexus 10 tablets.

Images of iPad 5 display, digitizer leaked: Rumours

There’s finally something more to chew on the upcoming Apple tablet, iPad5, or so we’d like to believe.
This time the news is from Macfixit Australia. The siteis carrying photos of the replacement screens that reportedly belong to theyet unannounced Apple iPad 5. Guys at this site were informed by their supplierthat this new iPad5 Screen/Digitizerhas the same display area as theiPad Retina version, and theedges of the frameare narrower akin to theiPad mini. This supposed iPad5 displayimage has also givenaway that it houses 2 connectorsinstead of 1. The connectors themselves have undergonechanges too – from FFC ((Flat FlexibleCable, like the iPad2/3/4) to FPC (Flexible Printed Circuits,like theiPhone 4/5).
If the displayin theabove image indeed belongs to the iPad5, we must say that it has come at an opportune time. An earlier report on the iPad5 had revealed that its productionwas to begin in July-August 2013 period.
A DigiTimes report that cited sources close to Taiwan-based supply chain companies had siad that the productionof the upcoming fifth-generation iPad would begin inthis period. The source, however, said that the "yield rates" forimportant parts of the 9.7-inch tablet, especially thetouch panels, could be "a major concern for smoothproduction."
The sources said the iPad5 will be thinner and lighter thanthe iPad4 and is said to embody a slim bezel, quite like the iPadmini. The device's display is likely to be suppliedby LG Display and Sharp, while the touch panel assembly will reportedly be carried out by TPK, a Taiwanese company. The ITO thin-film will be supplied by Nitto Denko and Teijin.

Tekken X Street Fighter Looking for the 'Right Time' to Release

Street Fighter X Tekken released on March 6, 2012, meaning Namco Bandai has been answering so-where-the-hell-is-it questions about Tekken X Street Fighter since March 7, 2012. Five games under the Tekken brand have appeared since, raising offhand speculation about TxSF 's priority.

Street Fighter 's star producer certainly didn't help things much when he joked that the game wouldn't get here until 2018. And as far back as 2011, Yoshinori Ono said the two projects were on independent timetables, and that back then, Namco hadn't started Tekken X Street Fighter yet.

Obama Administration’s Letter on Veto of iPhone, iPad Ban

U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman issued the following letter to Irving A. Williamson, chairman of the United States International Trade Commission,on the decision to veto a ban on the sale of some
Apple AAPL +1.28% iPhone sand iPads:
On June 4, 2013, the United States International Trade Commission (“Commission”) determined that Apple Inc. (“Apple”) had violated Section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended, in the importation of certain devices,e.g., certain smartphones and tablet computers that infringe a U.S. patent owned by Samsung Electronics Co. 005930.SE +0.47% , Ltd. and Samsung Telecommunications America Inc. (“Samsung”). Following this determination, theCommission issued an exclusion order prohibitingthe unlicensedimportation of infringing devices, manufactured foror on behalf of Apple. The Commission also issued a cease and desist order that prevents Apple from engaging in certain activities,such as sale of these products inthe United States.
Under section 337, the President is required to engage in a policy evaluation of the Commission’s determinations to issue exclusion and cease and desist orders. The President may disapprove an order on policy grounds, approve an order, or take no action and allow the order to come into force upon the expiration of the60-day review period. This authority has been assigned to the United States Trade Representative. The legislative history of section 337 lists the followingconsiderationsrelevant to the policy review of the impact of theCommission’s determination to issue an exclusion order: “(1) publichealth and welfare; (2) competitive conditions inthe U.S. economy; (3) production of competitive articles inthe United States; (4) U.S. consumers; and (5) U.S. foreignrelations, economic and political.”
In addition,on January 8, 2013, theDepartment of Justice and United States Patent and Trademark Office issued an important Policy Statement entitled“Policy Statement on Remedies forStandard-Essential Patents Subject to Voluntary FRAND Commitments” (“Policy Statement”). The Policy Statementmakes clear that standards, and particularly voluntary consensus standards set by standards developing organizations (“SDO”), have incorporated important technical advances that are fundamentalto theinteroperability of man of theproducts on which consumershave come to rely, including thetypes of devices that are the subject of theCommission’s determination. The Policy Statementexpresses substantial concerns, which I strongly share, about thepotential harms that can result from owners of standards-essential patents (“SEPs”) who have made a voluntary commitment to offer license SEPs on terms that are fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory (“FRAND”), gainingundue leverage and engaging in“patent hold-up”, i.e., asserting thepatent to exclude an implementerof the standard from a market to obtain a higher pricefor useof the patent thanwould have been possible before thestandard was set, when alternative technologiescould have been chosen. At the same time, technology implementers also can cause potential harm by, for example, engaging in“reverse hold-up” (“hold-out”), e.g., by constructive refusal to negotiate a FRAND license with the SEP owner or refusal to pay what has been determined to be a FRAND royalty.

HTC One and GALAXYS 4 Google Play Editions receive Android 4.3 OTA update

The HTC One and Samsung GALAXY S 4 Google Play Editions feature pure Android sans the common Sense and TouchWiz interfaces,and for some users, that Android has been bumped to version 4.3 with an OTA update this evening. Though not all owners have received the update yet, reports are starting to rollin from those who have, and we’ve got the details on it for you after the jump.
The update is showing up as build JWR66V, with the Samsung GALAXY S 4 version being the larger of the two at 180MB, while the HTC One version is 150MB. Among the changes that are coming with the update are larger icons on widget panels, tethering via Bluetooth for the GALAXY S 4, and the menu background has been switched from black to a lighter gradient.
As we noted in our review, the Google Play Edition versions of the two devices feel snappier when being used than their conventional counterparts, though purely in terms of benchmarks the two varieties aren’t much different. The GALAXY S 4′s software size comes in around the 6GB mark, a couple gigabytes lower than what you get with TouchWiz. As far as hardware goes, however, the handsets are relatively unchanged.
As mentioned, the update is coming OTA, and not everyone is seeing it yet, so if you’re still waiting, it should arrive shortly. Not familiar with Android 4.3? The latest Android version brings with it enhancements,improved rendering, and some changes for developers like On-screen GPU profiling.
Follow us on twitter @shibadey933

Xbox One AR gaming glasses appear in Microsoft patent

It looks like Microsoft is taking a dip into the wearable technology pool with a new patent that reveals plans fora pair of augmented-reality glasses that would be used during multiplayergaming to receive voice commands, track your eyes, and recognize thefaces of other players. As such, these glasses take a different approach than Google Glass.
The drawings included inthe patent application show off a pair of wonky-looking glasses with sensors along the side and on the front that are used forlocating gamers and tracking gestures. The information that the glasses collect can be used to send gaming invitations to friends, although that whole system isn’t fully detailed, and it seems a little vague at this point.
The glasses were actually leaked last year whena 56-page document got out that detailed theglasses, as well some other information about the Xbox business. The document says that these AR glasses would hit the publicsometime in2015, but we wouldn’t be 100% sure about that.
However, the document also talks about thenext Xbox (the
Xbox One as it’s now called), touting a 2013 release date with a second-generation Kinectincluded. The document listeda priceof $299, which is way off, but the document may have at least a little bit of merit. Seeingas how this is only a patent right now, a 2015 release periodseems realistic.
It’ll be interesting to see how these glasses will be implementedwith the Xbox One in thefuture, and whether or not they can be used to communicate directly with the Kinect. Of course, this is also just a patent, and most of time, patents never see the light of day as an actual product, so keep that inmind.

Moto X and the dawning Context Ecosystem

The Moto X is too expensive. It’s underpowered. It’s ugly. Consumers don’t want color options. They don’t want to talk to their phone, just on it. If it’s not metal, it’s not premium. Man, the Moto X is a disappointment. Some of the instant – and vocal – criticisms of Motorola’s new phone have bordered on the vitriolic, the backlash perhaps again proving that pre-reveal hype can be a double-edged sword. Nonetheless, there’s a sense that in immediately dismissing the Moto X on how it measures up to today’s phones, we’re missing out on recognizing how it could be showing us the shape of the phones of tomorrow.

We’re trained to judge on numbers, in part because it’s simply easier. User-experience is subjective, but 1.7GHz is faster than 1.5GHz, four cores are twice as many as two, and 13-megapixels is far more than 8-megapixels. That conveniently ignores the fact that just because a camera has more megapixels, say, it doesn’t mean it will necessarily take better photos; just because you have a quadcore, it doesn’t mean your phone will necessarily run smoother than a handset with a dualcore.

U.S. Government Requested Information On 1,319 Twitter Accounts In 2013

During the first six months of the year, 78% of all government requests for data Twitter received originated from the United States, according to a transparency report released on Wednesday.

O2 to launch 4G in Britain on August 29

O2’s will run its 4G network at a lower radio frequency than EE, which got a head start by reusing surplus airwaves while rivals were forced to wait for an Ofcom auction earlier this year.

O2’s 800MHz frequency is suited to covering wide areas and penetrating buildings. The higher frequencies owned by EE and Vodafone are better for delivering high capacity to keep internet access speed up in densely populated areas.

O2 reveals 4G network launch date

O2 has announced that its 4G mobile
network is set to launch on 29 August.

The service - offering higher mobile data speeds than 3G - will initially be available in London, Leeds and Bradford.

LG unveils a Pocket Photo Printer for Rs 14,990

LG has hit the mobile market with a unique accessory dubbed as the LG PD 233 Pocket Photo Printer. This pocket printer backs the Android and IOS platform devices by providing wireless connectivity through NFC and Bluetooth.
LG has very well strategized to roll down this accessory with the two leading Mobile Operating Systems. Serving the motive of portability, it is as big as a human palm and and produces the desired print within few seconds of connectivity via NFC or Bluetooth.
The concern of expensive ink cartridges has been eliminated by the Zink's inkless Printing Technology, which ensures longevity and preservation of the spectacular print quality. Android and IOS users can download the LG Pocket Printer application to use the perks offered with this accessory. It involves editing options as well as photo filtersso that you can retouch your photos. Now the stress of printing birthday cards, business cards and invitation cards can be laid off instantly with this new printer.
LG has surely succeededin doingsomething out of the box in the mobile accessory segment. Wireless connectivity ensures freedom from thehassle produced due to various external connections. But this device seems to be overpriced and can only attract the lavish and premium end customers. LG has to consider the monetary value of this product in order to achieve affective sales broadly.

Sprint will adopt PlayPhone’s mobile-social games portal

PlayPhone is announcing today that Sprint has agreed to adopt its social gaming portal. The move is a big endorsement for PlayPhone’s bid to become a key provider of mobile-social game services that help consumers find games and developers get discovered.

With deals in place with Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint, San Francisco-based PlayPhone is now providing its mobile-games portal service to carriers with 83 percent of the U.S. mobile smartphone and tablet population. Sprint, now owned by Japan’s Softbank, is being more aggressive about catching up with its rivals, said Ron Czerny, the chief executive of PlayPhone, in an interview with GamesBeat.

Samsung Retools Galaxy S4 for Faster Data

By Min-Jeong Lee Samsung Electronics Co. is set to launch new versions of the Galaxy S4 and S4 Mini that can switch between two different types of high-speed LTE networks, making data downloads even faster for users. But with the rest of the world still waiting to get on the LTE bandwagon, it’s doubtful the dual-network function would be widely used anytime soon. Samsung’s Galaxy S4 smartphone Bloomberg News

The majority of global networks that use Long Term Evolution technology use the Frequency Division Duplex or FDD-LTE variant, Samsung said in a statement. The alternative technology, called TDD-LTE or Time Division Duplex LTE, is expected to gain traction in China, the U.S. and some parts of Europe, the South Korean smartphone maker said.

Samsung Rigged the S4 to Unnaturally Perform Better in Benchmark Tests

The Samsung Galaxy S4 is a damn fine phone. It's fast, it's big, it's thin and it's completely deserving to be in most people's pockets. But apparently that's not enough for Samsung. Samsung has gotten caught cheating benchmark tests to make itself look better. Basically, the S4 is specifically tweaked to be better at benchmarking than anything else it does.

Anandtech found that the S4 games its GPU to spit out a 533MHz clock speed in certain benchmark tests (AnTuTu, GLBenchmark 2.5.1 and Quadrant) while most every other app and game performance is limited to 480MHz (some other benchmark apps show a lower clock speed too). 533MHz obviously sounds a lot more impressive than 480MHz.

SmartNaMo Android smartphone dedicated to Narendra Modi launching soon in India

A China based company SmartNaMo is goingto launch an Android powered smartphone in the honour of Narendra Modi, the Chief Minister of Gujarat. SmartNaMo is also goingto establish an assembly unit in the Ghandhinagar where the company branded phones will be assembled. Company is currently giving final touches to an Android powered smartphone to show appreciation to Gujarat’s Chief Minister for the work he has donein theState.
In next coming days SmartNaMo team is goingto presentthis special branded smartphone to Narendra Modi and will requesthim to give permission to use his signature on all ofthe SmartNaMo branded phones coming in the future.
The first Smartphone from the SmartNaMo manufacturerwill be a high end device with 5inch full HD display along with the resolution of 1920*1080 pixels. Its display will be protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 2 coating to protect from the scratches. It will be poweredby a 1.2Ghz Quad Core processoralong with 2GB ofRAM memory. It will be packing a decent 13MP rearcamera with goodquality ofphoto and video capture. Other featureslike battery, internal storage and Android version used in the phoneare not disclosedat the moment.
Product website ofthe phonestates the device will be launched inthe Indian market by the end of August this year. A special Facebook fanpage is also created for the upcomingNarendra Modi branded smartphone in India. We will update you more after getting more officialspecs information about the phone from the company.

Samsung Galaxy Note III specs leaked

Korean newspaper Business Daily has leaked the specifications of the upcoming phablet, citing a source at Samsung.
Samsung Galaxy Note III is coming closer to launch, with several leaked images and reports for the past few weeks. Now, korean newspaper Business Daily has leaked the specifications of the upcoming
phablet, citing a source at Samsung.
The new report claims that Samsung Galaxy NoteIII will have a 5.7-inch screen and run on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 chipset (Processor). It is said to be powered by Android 4.3 (Jelly Bean), the latest version of Google's mobile operating system (Android), and have 3GB RAM that the company announced this week. It will also support the new LTE-A 4G standard that Samsung introduced with the Galaxy S4. The phone will also have a metal line, similar to the one in the current flagship smartphone.
These specifications and features are in line with ongoing rumours about the phablet.
BusinessDaily also claims News that Samsung earlier tested the 5.99-inch display for the handset. However, it decided to go with the 5.7-inch screen after seeing the lacklustre market response to its Galaxy Mega 5.8 and Galaxy Mega 6.3 phablets.
It is speculated that Samsung will unveil the third-generation Note phablet at an event on September 4, the first day of IFA 2013, in Berlin.

Plastic iPhone appears with FCC markings

The plastic iPhone has leaked enough times now that there’s nothing particularly unique about another leaked image – except for the one that leaked on Weibo today showing FCC markings on the back of the shell. Previous leaks of the handset have shown the same design, but only with theApple and iPhone logos.
The designof the handsetfeatured in theimage is the same as theone we’ve seen several times now, not theleast of which was thegallery that appeared comparingthe plastic model to the iPhone 5. The speaker holes, microphone, and such are the same, with theonly notable differencebeing metal edgingaround the headphoneand lightning ports.
Unfortunately, no details about the handsetwas provided with theWeibo post, but the image is interesting nonetheless.According to a leak that surfaced earlier this month – also on Weibo – theplastic iPhone will be available in two models, bothof which look the same but feature different hardware and will come in at different price points.
Reportedly, the lesser of thetwo models is codenamed Zenevo, and will feature a Samsung H5P dual processor and 1GB of RAM, as well as Bluetooth 4.0 and FDD 4G connectivity. The other model, according to tipsters, is codenamed Zegato/Bertone and will feature an H6P processor and 1GB of RAM, as well as Bluetooth 4.0 and TDD 4G LTE support.
Also leaked today was a rumor that thehandset would be announcedon September 6, but word has surfaced since then stating this isn’t the case. As with all the rumors, take it all with a grain of salt. Check out thetimeline below for more rumors that have cropped up on recent weeks.

Sonyannounces list of XperiaSmartphones to get latest Android 4.3 update in the future

Google has just launched thelatest Android 4.3 version of the mobile operating system and Sony has already announced list of the Xperia Smartphones that are going to get the latest OS update soon. Android 4.3 Jelly bean version is goingto provide better multi-user support to the users with a restricted profile feature. It was announced on 24th July along with the latest edition of the Google Nexus 7 tablet and Chromecast USB device.
The selected Xperia smartphonesin this list include
Sony Xperia Z ,Xperia ZL ,Xperia Z Ultra, Xperia ZR and Xperia SP. Sony Xperia Tablet Z is also going to receive the latest Android 4.3 Jelly Bean update. However, it is not a final list from the company and we might soon findlatest OS update for the Sony Xperia L and Xperia C too.
Sony also added that it is also planning to upgrade some ofits devices directly to Android 4.3 that are running Android 4.1 version. Company is soon goingto announce the name ofthese smartphones in coming days. It is surely a wise step from Sony to directly update the devices with latest OS than repeating it again with each version.
However, GoogleNexus devices are goingto be the first ofthe Android devices that are goingto be updated with the latest OS version. Other smartphonemanufacturers are also expected to announce their roadmaps to update their Android based devices with the latest version ofthe operating system.

Answer Android calls by waving your hand with Air Call-Accept

One of the fun air-gesture features of the Samsung Galaxy S4 is called air call-accept, which lets you answer incoming calls by waving your hand over the phone. To give similar functionality to users of other Android phones, an XDA Developers member published a new app called Air Call-Accept.
Air Call-Accept is enabled by default after installation. Opening the app reveals the simple on/off slider. On some phones, you'll also need to make surethat the proximity sensor is enabled.On the Galaxy S3, go to Settings > Motion. With the freeversion ofAir Call-Accept, you can wave your hand overthe proximity sensor to answerincoming calls. The paid version also allows you to reject calls, turn on the speaker whenanswering, and send an SMS whenrejecting calls.
Keep in mind that the app has some bugsthat the developerstill needs to iron out. Forum members over at XDA Developers have noticed that Air Call-Accept automatically answers calls when the phone is in a pocket or when a flip cover is installed on the phone.

The First Review Of Google's New Tablet Says It's Better Than The iPad Mini

The Verge's David Pierce is in love with Google's new Nexus 7 tablet.
Just two days after the big announcement, Pierce argues that the Nexus 7 crushes Apple's iPad Mini for several reasons:
>He says the display is much better and sharper than the iPad Mini's display.
>It's perfect for movies and games.
>The speakers are louder and have stereo sound.
>Battery life is excellent. It can go all day with 75% to spare.
>It's $100 cheaper than the iPad Mini.
Look out for our full review of Google's Nexus 7 next week.

Micromax Canvas 4 A210 Review

PRICE 19,500
GC Rating:7.5
Micromax has had its fair share of limelightin theentry-level smartphonesegment for quitesome time, until XOLO came along and shook things up. Tired of playing theold cat and mouse game, Micromax has finally decidedto look beyond thesub-Rs 15,000 bubbleand attempt a mid-range droid which means competing with thebig boys like Samsung, HTC, etc. We had our doubts if Micromax could affordto have a phone priced at Rs 20,000 (or above) after havingdeveloped a reputation for low-cost smartphones. The Canvas 4 A210 is theirfirst gamble at a mid-range smartphone, which at first glance appears to be an amalgamation of a bunch of popular phones (Galaxy S4 and iPhone 5). Let’s see if this mash up pays off in theend.
Design and Build
The Canvas 4 lookssuspiciously similar to theSamsung Galaxy S4 and that’s no coincidence. Even the two capacitive buttons on either end are identicalto Samsung’s. Unlike the S4 however, theA210 feelsa lot sturdier and is easily thebest-built (and looking) Micromax to date. The 5-inch IPS panel is protected by Gorilla Glass, which is a step up and on thetop, we have thefront-facing 5MP camera and proximity and ambient light sensor. The first highlight you’ll notice is the anodised aluminium chassis that lendsthe phone a sturdy feel. The aluminium side has a chamfered edge much like theiPhone 5 and helpsboost theradio signal. The battery is covered by a simple, removable plastic cover. Underneathlie thetwo SIM slots and the microSD card slots (not hot-swappable). Last, but not the least, we have a 13MP camera sensor courtesy Sony and a single LED flash.
Buttons and ports are similar to most smartphones these days. We have a power/sleep button, volume rocker, microUSB portand a 3.5mm headphonejack. The buttons are also milledout of thesame anodised aluminium so thefinishand tactile feel is superb. Overall, the fit and finishof the Canvas 4 is unlike any other Micromax we’ve seen so far and there’s a good reason forthis. You see, theA210 is a slightlytweaked variant of the Blu LifeOne, a popular phone announced this March inthe US. Micromax has tweaked theoriginal designa little but internally, it’s essentially thesame phone. Re-branding a popularhandset is a smart move by Micromax as it will always have a better development community behindit. Remember how popularthe ZTE Blade was? It came to Indiabranded as the Dell XCD35 which became quite populardespite being terrible inevery way.
Features
The Canvas 4 is powered by MediaTek’s tried and tested MTK6589 SoC. This is thestandard variant that’s clocked at 1.2GHz. Coupled with 1GB of RAM, you’re in fora very smoothAndroid (4.2.1) experience. The interface is incredibly snappy and HD IPS display reproduces very rich and vibrant colours. There is a slight bluishtinge which is more apparent at lower brightness levels. We didn’t face much of an issue out doors as well but then again, we have been subjected to some pretty gloomy weather here so we can’t say forsure. The UI is not skinned inthe typical Micromax fashionand this is first visible with theabsence of toggle switches inthe notificationbar.
The A210 features some new gestures that make useof thefront camera and theproximity sensor. ‘Smart Gesture’ can be enabled inthe settings menu offeringyou gestures like-flip thephone to silence or activate loudspeaker, answer thephone automatically whenplaced near the ear or even diala number by simply choosinga contact and holdingthe phone to your ear. These are very similar to gestures we’ve seen in Samsung handsets since the Galaxy S3. Also available are a bunch of M! appsbundled along. The M! Live App lets you buy games via SMS, M! Zone and M! Unlock. The latter (which is now available for free on the Play Store) letsyou blow on your screento unlock it. It’s quitegimmicky at best but it’s still something uniqueto Micromax.
Media
The music player is an overhauled stock Jelly Bean player with a fancy new skin. You can sort your music via Albums,Artists, etc. and there’s even an optionfor Micromax’s OnlineMusic store. The ‘Now Playing’ screen is nicely designed with thealbum art taking up thefull screenand controls in theforeground. We miss thelock screenwidget though and apart from thestandard visualiser and EQ presets, there’s nothingreally special here. Audio quality is good via theloudspeaker but the sound gets muffled when placed on a desk. It’s not very loud either so you may miss alerts in a noisy environment.
The Canvas 4 also debuts a very Samsung-esque video player. The oversized controls are easy to useand you can lock thecontrols, preview other videos while watching one, adjust the aspectratio, take a screenshot or simply move ahead one frame at a time. The two new features are ‘Look Away’ and the pop-out videoplayer. The former is similar to Samsung’s Smart Pause and works well too, provided thelightingconditions are ideal. The pop-out videoplayer works in a similar fashionas Samsung’s implementation. We easily managed to play a 1080p video while chatting on Whatsapp in thebackground without any discernable lag. The default video player managed to read most video formats with ease from MOV to MKV. FM radio is also present.
There’s 16GB of internal memory out of which 10GB is available for user data and roughly 2.4GB is available for apps. The good thing is you can move bigger appslike games to theinternal storage if you need to.
Connectivity
The A210 is a quad-band GSM handsetwith single-band 3G. It also supports two full-sized SIMs just like any other Micromax phone. Other connectivityoptions include Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi and forthe first time, USB 3.0. Features missing from theCanvas 4 includeGLONASS and NFC. Web browsing works well with thestock browser which also features the pop-up functionlike the videoplayer. Productivity appslike M! Security, which features a virus scanner, anti-theft feature and lets you back up your contacts, are bundled along as well.
Camera
The Micromax Canvas 4 uses a Sony developed 13MP sensor and a fixed-focus 5MP front camera. Photos look good on the phone’s displayfor bothindoor and outdoor shots but whenyou view them on thePC, there’s a lot of colournoise throughout the entire picture and it just gets worse in low light. Even with theflash, objects are illuminated well within a distance of two feet but there’s an abnormal amount of noise visible on dark colours. The other issue was that it takes too long to focus. Even after tapping on an area, theframe finder just sits there and does nothing. After a full second, thecamera tries to focus and finally after about two or three seconds turns green and you’re good to go. This issue is not restricted to low-light or HDR photos but even standard shots under brightsunlight. There are theusual scene modes, panorama, 360 panorama, smileshutter and beauty shot. The front facing camera offers good clarity even though it’s just fixed-focus.
The main camera also records Full HD videos, which are average at best. The framerate is pretty stable but we have the same colournoise issue creeping in videotoo. The camera problem isn’t Micromax’s fault entirely as it seems to be an issue with the sensor as we faced a very similar problem on the Xperia Z and ZL. The only differenceis that Sony’s post processing algorithmswere a lot betterat removing most of thecolour noisein the photos.
Battery life
The 2000mAh battery is certainly not breaking any recordsbut does what you’d expect – provides a full day’s worth of usage on 3G. In our battery tests,the Canvas 4 sailed through our 8-hour loop test with 22 per cent battery to spare.
Verdict and Price in India
The Canvas 4 A210 is priced right alongside theSamsung Galaxy Grand and the Panasonic P51 at roughly Rs 19,500. Amongst the three, we’d recommend the Panasonic P51 for its much lighter and slimmer chassis, betterbattery and camera performance. The Canvas 4 would make a very good buy if priced under Rs 15,000 but nothingmore. We like the A210 for its rugged build, good screen,generous onboard storage and theoverall snappy performance. However, if Micromax really wanted to make an impact in this pricerange, they could have easilyfitted a Full HD displayand a larger battery as it’s quiteheavy as is. Also, simply slappingon a 13MP sensor does not guarantee good picture quality. For these reasonsalone, we would pick the P51 over the Canvas 4 at this price.

Round Table: Isthe high-end smartphone market reaching saturation point?

We are not far away from the point where high-end smartphones start at Rs 50,000 and above. Where earlier this was unimaginable, theRs 45,000 is no big barrier to cross anymore and as more and more high-end flagships with ‘better’ hardware hit themarket. At some point, the core hardware development will hit terminal velocity with very little headroom forinnovation. Even Samsung is moving its focus from smartphone sales to components as it shifts its investment priority. Willthis lead to a saturation of the high-end segment, where thepotential audience forthese phones dwindles or will the growth continue unabated? Let’s throw the discussionopen.
If you oversimplify a high-end smartphone, then essentially it is a high-resolution screen, thefastest available silicon,and the best possible camera you can squeeze in. At least two of these three aspects have reacheda tipping point of sorts.
There’s only so much you can do within thespace you have for camera optics, without making thephone look like a ‘franken-phone’. From a pure “megapixel” point of view, 13MP is great, and the picture qualitywill not progress beyond a point without better optics. Of course, themegapixel counterwill keep goingup, but as has been said numerous times megapixels aren’t everything.
On thescreen front, a full-HD display is outstanding. I mean, so outstanding that I often wonder if most people realize that small displays with such incredible resolution is quite an amazing thing to have. That leaves us with processing power. Admittedly, here there is some headroom available, but even many cheapersmartphones perform reasonably well with a GHz+ processor ticking under the hood.
The key differentiatorsseparating the low-medium-high-end smartphones are almost always these core specs. And as you check-uncheck that filter list in theleft hand panel on any e-commerce site, you’ll notice that thegaps are reducing. The mid-range smartphoneused to be the high-end smartphone of about a year ago and that’s already getting attacked by faster and better-specced phones at lower prices. And the time-gap may very well come down to 6 months as opposed to a year as it stands now. So yes, phones priced around Rs 40,000 and over will have a tougher time inthe market in thefuture, and they may very well end up being marginalized.
Francis D’Sa
I strongly thinkit is. High-end smartphones being pumped out by thetop brands seem to only be an exercise to see who can make thefastest and most feature-rich smartphone. With Samsung presently leading, and HTC and Sony creeping up its sleeves, it does seem like there is a war to produce the best phone. Consumers are being wooed constantly with better features and promise of a faster performance. But only those already using high-end smartphones are still tempted to upgrade theirexisting phones with even more powerful units. The question is, are they really getting theirmoney’s worth?
Some who have already invested inthe high-end or mid-range handsets feelcheated as thenext 'new and improved'phone makes their phone outdated within a matter of months. Manufacturers don’t seem to be interested inwhat theuser wants or needs on his device. And this could lead to inclusionof features that they don’t need and thus an increase inprice. With the amount of high-end phones floodingthemarket, only those who can affordto replace their smartphoneevery few monthswill go ahead and do so. Others who used hard-earned savings to buy a phone hoping it would be future-proof feelcheated and this will only make them shy away from thetop bracket. In this sense, it is heading towards saturation.
RoydonCerejo
The priceband for high-end phones will keep increasing fora simple reason - staying on thecutting edge of technology does not come cheap. The high-end space won't be saturated like the mainstream segment (Rs 15,000 and below) since there's only room forthe best and we have only a handful of players in this category. I also thinkthe perception of 'value-for-money' will change over time and will also steadily increase. A Rs 30,000 phone was considered flagship a year ago but today whencompared to a Rs 45,000 phone, it will be good value as you'll most likely be getting 90 - 95 per cent of thefeatures. There will always be an audience for premiumhandsets (look at how well the iPhone is selling despite its 'ridiculous'price) and this will ensure only the best in thebusinesswill be successful,thus avoiding clutter.
Have your say below. Willconsumers continue buying high-end smartphones if they don't offeranything tangibly betterfor thehigher price?

Android 4.3 comes with a hidden app permission manager

Android 4.3 will come with a permissionsmanager built within its folds. While most custom Android ROMs come with a such a manager forusers who want thefreedom of customisingapp permissionsas they see fit, stock Android OS' did not give that kind of leeway. This seems to have changed with Android 4.3, according to Android Police.
The application is still hidden,though, probably because thecompany is working out thefiner details. From what can be seen right now, the permissionsmanager is called "App Ops" and will let users selectively disablecertain permissionsthat are given to apps. This is ideal for users who sometimes have to put up with misbehaving apps which constantly ping out location details while draining thephone’s battery ina few hours.
From the screenshots seen, there is an App Ops icon, which whentapped will open up a list of all installed apps as well as the permissionsthey use. The list is categorised into 4 user-friendly tabs which list out apps based on functions. Thus, theapp manager breaks up all theapps into "location," "personal," "messaging," and "device" sections, so users can easily segregate theirapps and figure out which permission they are using. The app also comeswith a timestamp which displays whenthe app last used a permission.
Once users select an app, they will see a screendisplayed with an easy on/off optionshowingup next to each permission. So if users don’t want theirFacebook application to know theirlocation, they can easily hit the “off” button. This will not change the way theapp works, it will just limit theamount of information that the app has. The screen displayed will also showthe last time each individualpermission was used.
There are some faults in thesystem. Even though users may have disabledsome permissionsfor an app, for example Facebook, whenthe app is launched on themain dashboard,it will not showany notificationmessage saying that permissionshave been limited. This might make it confusingforusers to remember what permissionsthey might have disabled, unless they launch theApp Ops manager.
Another problem faced is thelist of permissionsitself. Most of thepermissionshave to have been used by the app at some point, inorder to getthem displayed on App Ops. Taking up the Facebook example again, it seems that permissionsthat were given whenthe app was first launched, thepermissionswhich were givenwhen a user’s contacts were imported, and thepermissions granted whena user may have posted a picture taken from thecamera, are all different, and have to be hunted down first. After that, owing to App Ops displayissue, it seems like users will have to make the app usethe said permissionsfirst, in order to disable them. All told, that is a lot of work, and it is hoped that Google will work on simplifying theapp permission method.

Intex Cloud X3 with dual-core processor and Android 4.2 launched for Rs. 3790 in India

Intex technologies launched Cloud X3 with dual-core processor. Intex has partnership with MediaTek to launch smart phone. This phone is powered by 1Ghz dual core processor. The Phone has MediaTek MT6572 chip and its running on Cortex A7 CPU, sub-system with speeds up to 1.3GHz based on leading 28nm process technology that makes the device really power efficient. The phone comes with dual SIM support with dual standby, it also has a 2-megapixel rear camera and a 0.3-megapixel rear camera. The
Specification's are
>3.5" display with 480 by 350 pixel
>2 MP primary cam and 0.3 MP on front
>Dual SIM with dual standby
>Android 4.2 Jelly Bean
>1Ghz Dual core processor
>2G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS
>256 MB RAM, 156MB for users
>1450mAh Battery
>200 hours standby
>2 Hours talk time
>FM, 3.5mm jack
>32GB expandable

Leaked picture shows incredibly thin bezel on a Nokia phablet

A possible Nokia phablet has been rumoured for quite some time now. Courtesy of PhoneArena, we now have a picture to go along with those rumours. Chinese company ICTech has posted a photo of the front panel of the6-inch Nokia Lumia handset. Notable inthe leaked picture is an incredibly thin bezel. This is one of the thinnest bezels that we have seen in a phablet. There also appears to be a tiny hole where we expect a front-facing camera will fit in.
The Lumia phablet is slated to be a direct competitor to Samsung's Galaxy Mega series and Sony's Xperia Z Ultra. The phablet is set to run on thelatest (at the time) version of Windows Phone 8. According to ICTech, Nokia has already kicked off mass productionof the phablet. It is only a matter of time beforeNokia makes an official announcement that acknowledges theexistence of the Lumia phablet.
Back inJune, we saw reportsstating that Nokia has been working on two phablets. The report states that one of the phablets, which is expected to be launched between September and October this year, will come with a camera similar to that of Lumia 925 and will carry a 5.5-inch or 6-inch display. We’re assumingthat theleaked picture shows this phablet.
The second smartphone,which will be launched by February 2014, is expected to feature a bettercamera thanthe first phablet, with a higher megapixelcount (presumably thesame camera featured on the Lumia 1020); it could also have a Lytro-style camera, which lets you adjust focus after shootingan image. Nokia has been rumoured to be using Pelican Imaging's 16-lens array to improve thephotography experience on smartphones.

Sony Xperia Z Ultra goes up for pre-order for Rs 44,990

Been eyeing the Sony Xperia Z Ultra? Well you won’t have to wait too long to get your hands on it. Sony’s massive phablet has gone up for pre-order for Rs 44,990 at online retailer Flipkart. The Z Ultra is also listed on Infibeam for the same price and will ship in four to five days, but the launch price of thephone will be Rs 46,990 according to the listing.
The Xperia Z Ultra rightfully has gained a lot of buzz thanks to it being the first device to sport Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 800 SoC,which is expected to bring a whole lot of power to thesmartphone. The four Krait cores in the chipset are clocked at 2.2 GHz and there’s theAdreno 330 GPU to deliver high-quality mobilegraphics. Just to help things along further, there’s 2GB of RAM. Just like many of Sony's recent phones, this one too is waterproof and impervious to dust.
The Z Ultra’s 6.44-inch display shouldpretty much negate any need for a tablet on the side. And with a 1080p resolution, it’s not lackingfor good image quality either. The TFT LCD in theXperia Z looked much washed out to us and theviewing angles were poor. The Triluminos display of theUltra supposedly does away with those two worries and some early impressionshave called it on par with themuch-praised Super LCD3 on the HTC One.
Despite the weather-resistant body, the Z Ultra gets a microSD card slot (under flaps, of course), and that’s in additionto the 16GB of internal storage. The slot accepts cards up to 64GB in capacity.
The camera specs of the Z Ultra are slightlybehindits smaller cousin Xperia Z. The 8-megapixel primary camera is endowed with geo-tagging, touch focus, face detection, image stabilisation, HDR, 3D Sweep Panorama mode plus other shootingmodes. The front-facing camera is a 2-megapixelunit. Both thecameras are capable of shooting 1080p videos at 30fps, but only theback camera gets videostabilisation and the HDR mode.
The battery on theZ Ultra is non-removable thanks to the sealed design. The 3050 mAh unit sounds plenty, but we are not sure how much power will be hogged by thelarge full HD displayand the high-end SoC. The battery is rated forup to 790 hours and 820 hours on standby on 2G and 3G respectively. It is rated for up to 14 hours for talk time on 2G connection and up to 16 hours on 3G. Sony says thephone shouldlast up to 120 hours when playing just music.
The Z Ultra comeswith the very best inWi-Fi connectivity. This means it can go up to theac band and also comeswith dual-band support. In addition,there’s Wi-Fi Direct and DLNA for content sharing. Other connectivityoptions includeBluetooth and NFC.
This is one of themost exciting (if intimidating) smartphones of the year and we are itchingto getour hands on it. Let us know if you will be consideringSony’s latest phablet.

HTC officiallylaunches HTC Desire 600 in India for Rs.26990

HTC Indiahas finally officiallylaunched the HTC Desire 600 Android smartphone in the Indian market for Rs. 26,990. The phone is powered by a 1.2GHz quad core Snapdragon 200 processor and 1GB of RAM memory. It also comes with the BlinkFeed software feature that was officially announced in the HTC One Android flagship by thecompany earlier this year. It is launched in the affordable mid-range Android smartphone range in theIndian market.
Features ofHTC Desire 600 smartphone–
It comes with 4.5 inch superLCD 2 display along with the resolution of960 * 540 pixels
It is poweredby a 1.2 GHz dual coreSnapdragon 200 processoralong with 1GB ofRAM memory
It is running the Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean operating system version
It comes with 8MP ofrear camera with 720pixels resolutionvideo capture along with LED flash support
It also comes with a 1.6MP front facing camera for video calling purposes
It comes with common connetectivity featureslike WiFi, Bluetooth and 3G
It is poweredby a 1860mAh battery which is higher than the HTC Desire smartphonefor sure
It comes with Beats Audio technology for better smartphoneaudio experience
“The HTC Desire 600 Dual SIM combines speedand easy multitasking with the truly innovative HTC BlinkFeed home screen.The result is an affordable mid-range phonethat sets the standard for its class, keeping the busiest userup-to-date at a glance and offeringthem the power and range of featuresto switch between work and play,” said Faisal Siddiqui in the launching event for the latest HTC smartphonein the Indian market.

Android 4.3 Jelly Bean version officially announced with better multi-user support

Google has announced the latest version of the Android operating system dubbed as Android 4.3 Jelly Bean along with the second edition of Google Nexus 7 tablet. However, it is not offering special new game changing features because it is just a minor updated version of the Jelly Bean 4.2 version. But, the latest version now offers better multi-user support with restricted profiles. Google talk is now officially replaced by the Google hangouts in the latest version of the OS.
Notification area of the OS is also improved with the access to notification history to the users. Open GLES 3.0 support is also introduced in the new version to provide better 3D game graphics rendering. Google has also introduced GooglePlay Games app that shows you which game your friends are playing and their leaderboard achievements in the games.
Bluetooth 4.0 with low energy mode is also integrated in the OS to provide longer range for the low bandwidth accessories like fitness tracker etc. Google said that the Nexus devices are going to be the first Android based devices to get the latest OS update in the future. Then it is expected by the mobile phone manufacturers to upgrade their supporting devices with the latest version of the operating system.
Overall, the Android 4.3 Jelly Bean version is not a totally revamped version of the Android OS because it is just having some minor upgraded features. However, the better multi-user support in the latest version of the OS is a great enhancement by the company that allows you to restrict app usage for a specific profile on your Android powered device.
Source: Google

Google announces Chrome cast for $35 to stream internet content on TV

Google has announced many new products in its press event yesterday and Chrome cast is one of the notable devices unveiled yesterday. Chrome cast is launched for the Android devices users to access their internet content on their TVs. It is kind of a thumb drive that can be plugged into the HDMI port of your TV to display your internet content on your TV. It brings the Netflix as well as YouTube on your TV device after plugging in.
Chrome cast is basically a 2inch USB dongle that is running the stripped down version of the Chrome operating system. A user can plug it into the TV devices to stream media contents from the famous websites like Netflix, YouTube and Google music services. Chrome cast is basically controlled by the software that you already use on a daily basis. So, if you are a heavy Google user than the Chrome cast is surely the next gadget you should buy.
Price of this smart gadget is only $35 that is surely affordable for most of the smart gadget buyers in the market. If you are watching a new season of your favorite TV serial on your Google Android OS powered device than just push the Cast button to stream it on your TV, if you are already using the Chrome cast USB device.
So, basically this new smart device from Google Inc. allows you to check your emails, join a Google hangout, check Twitter on your TV while enjoying your favorite content. Chrome cast device is currently not available for the Indian users, but we will update you more when it will be available in the country.

Today's Google Doodle pays tribute to DNA scientist Rosalind Franklin

Trust Google to come up with Doodles that take you on a five-minute journey through time and educate you about historical figures. Today’s doodle celebrates the 93rd birthday of DNA scientist Rosalind Franklin and her achievements. Franklin is credited with the discovery of the DNA molecular structure.
The doodle is a plain and simple illustration and not one of the interactive ones we’re used to seeing these days. One of Google’s Os houses Franklin’s face and her eyes are trained on Google’s “L”, which has been represented by the DNA’s double helix.
Born in London in 1920, Franklin studied Chemistry within the Natural Sciences Tripos at the Newham College, Cambridge. She made significant contributions to the field of genetics, molecular structures of the RNA, viruses, coal and graphite.
The scientist worked under Maurice Wilkinsat King’s College, Cambridge in the Medical Research Council’s Biophysics Unit. According to some, Wilkins took some of Franklin’s X-ray crystallography images and showed them to Francis Crick, and James Watson, who were also researching inthe same field, trying to discover the structure of DNA. Franklin passed away at a young age of 37 of ovarian cancer in1958 and was ineligible fora NobelPrize nomination. The Prize was then awarded to Crick, Watson and Wikins in1962 for Chemistry. This was, after they had admitted that Franklin’s images were used to formulate their1953 hypothesis regarding the structure of theDNA.
Earlier this month, Google came up with theirmost interactive doodleyet to commemorate the Roswell UFO incident. In a point-and-click game, you have to help an alien who has crash landedhis spaceship near a farm in Roswell to rebuild it.

Motorola launches Droid Maxx, Droid Ultra and Droid Mini for Verizon

While we’re waiting with bated breath for the Moto X which is set to be unveiled on August 1, Motorola has launched three smartphones in its partnership with Verizon. The smartphones seem to be successor to last year’s smartphones called Razr Maxx, Razr HD and Razr M. They carry Droid branding sans Razr name and hence are dubbed as Droid Maxx, DroidUltra and Droid Mini.
More than the hardware, the devices have tons of innovative software features. Though, one differentiating hardware component in the devices is Motorola’s own 8-core chip called as X8 Mobile Computing System designed with Qualcomm. The cores actually splits the tasks on the smartphone and thus conserves battery life without impacting performance. Motorola claims that this will help in increasing CPU performance by 24% and graphics performance by 100%. The 8 cores are divided as: dual-core for application processing, quad-core for rendering graphics, single-core for contextual computing and single-core for natural language processing. The dual-core processor for processing applications is Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro clocked at 1.7 GHz. For graphic processing, it has Adreno 320 GPU.
Let’s check out the specificationsof these triads-
Droid Maxx
5-inch Super AMOLED display with 720p resolution (1280 x 720 pixels; 294 ppi pixel density) protected by Corning Gorilla Glass
Motorola X8 SoC
2 GB RAM
32 GB Internal memory
10 MP primary camera with LED flash capable of Full HD video recording
2 MP secondarycamera
Non-removable Li-ion battery of 3,500mAh giving it battery life of48 hours
Available in Black
Kevlar Unibody design which also makes the smartphonesplash resistant
Droid Ultra
The smartphone is strikingly similar to Droid Maxx in terms of hardware, but difference comes in battery performance. It’s also thinner and lighter at 7.2 mm and 137 g respectively in comparison to 8.5 mm thickness and 167 g weight of Droid MAXX.
5-inch Super AMOLED display with 720p resolution (1280 x 720 pixels; 294 ppi pixel density) protected by Corning Gorilla Glass
Motorola X8 SoC
2 GB RAM
16 GB Internal memory
10 MP primary camera with LED flash capable of Full HD video recording
2 MP secondarycamera
Non-removable Li-ion battery of 2,130mAh
Available in Black and Red
Kevlar Unibody design which also makes the smartphonesplash resistant
Droid Mini
4.3-inch Super AMOLED display with 720 p resolution(1280 x 720 pixels; 342 ppi pixel density) protected by Corning Gorilla Glass
Motorola X8 SoC
2 GB RAM
16 GB Internal memory
10 MP primary camera with LED flash capable of Full HD video recording
2 MP secondarycamera
Non-removable Li-ion battery of 2100 mAh
Available in Black
Kevlar Unibody design which also makes the smartphonesplash resistant
Software features
All of the smartphones run on latest version of Android 4.2 (JellyBean) but with lots of customizations like-
TOUCHLESS CONTROL
These Droids makes full use of their parent company Google’s technology- Google Now and will always be on listening mode to act upon instructions given to it after one speaks ‘OK, Google’. Users can also make phone calls or search for directions without touching the screen. One can configure the notifications which will be making useof this capability.
ACTIVE DISPLAY
Instead of showing a notification by lighting up whole part of the screen, this technology enables the devices to light up certain parts of the screenfor showing them and thus saving battery life.
QUICK CAPTURE AND DROID ZAP
These features are available in Camera app of the devices. Quick Capture allows users to to launch the camera instantly from standby mode by wobbling it. Droid Zap gives users theability to share theircaptured images with other users within 300 feet distance by temporary moving theimages to a cloud.
The smartphones can also connect wirelessly to Miracast enabled TVs forenjoying pictures,games, etc. on larger screens.
DROID COMMAND CENTER
It’s a widget for showing weather, time and battery details.
MOTOROLA CONNECT
It’s a chrome extension which will sync the smartphone’s messages and phone calls to the browser.
MOTOROLA ASSIST
This feature lets one configure the devices for various modes such as fordriving, meeting or sleeping.
DROID MIGRATE
This feature helps user to migrate their data from old phone to Motorola’s smartphones.
Pricing and Availability
Unlike other smartphone manufacturers which are going for larger screen sizes, faster processors, etc. Motorola aims to provide a complete experience to users by making full use of hardware’s potential with the software. the smartphone will be released in next month for Verizon customers. The unlocked version of the smartphones will be costing $499 for Droid Mini, $599 for Droid Ultra and $699 for Droid Maxx. The features of these smartphones also gives us an idea about what to expect in Moto X, which is the flagship smartphone of the company. There’s no official announcement if these devices will be launched in other countries like Indiaor not.

Foursquare expands its Ads service to more small businesses

In an attempt to take its Ads service to more small businesses around the world, Foursquare, the popular location-based social networking site has introduced its self-serve Foursquare Ads. A post on the Foursquare
blog confirms that the service aims to help small businesses around the world to “connect people looking for somewhere to go with businesses that want to drive traffic to their stores.”
“Foursquare is the best way for those businesses to reach nearby customers. In our ad pilots over the past year, we’ve been honing our targeting technology, using the same algorithm that powers our Explore recommendation engine,” an excerpt from the post reads.
Foursquare is hopeful that with its new self-service tools, it will be able to help more peopleconnect with the1.4 million+ small businesses around theworld that use Foursquare. Interestingly, the new toolsmean that businesses will only pay whenpeople visit – inperson or thelistingon thesite.
The feature is currently being rolled out and will reach more businesses in a month, and a few thousand local businesses will receive it today. If you want to be among thefirst ones to try this out, click here.
Foursquare recently launched an all-new app for Nokia’s S40 range of phones , including thenew Asha devices. This release is boundto bring in a lot more users to the social app’s fold, consideringthefact that S40 is still one of theworld’s most popularoperating systems. The application’s new user interface looks minimalat best and will provide for simple discovery and check-in using your S40 phones. The application will come pre-loaded onto newer Asha devices around the world as they go on sale inthe next few months.

Beats Studio next generation headphones slated for launch in August

Beats Electronics has rolled out the carpet for its next-generation Beats Studio headphones,announcing that they will be available for purchase in August with a pricetag of $299 USD. With the latest version comesa promise of improvements across qualityand design, as well as a rechargeable Lithium-ion battery, something theoriginal lacked.
As far as designgoes, there are three options featured in theimage above. The latest generation of Beats Studio uses a lightermaterial than theoriginal version, and is designed to be bothstronger and more flexible. The headphonesfeature no straight lines, and noneof the screws are visible. Likewise, theear cups can be adjusted to fit thewearer via an “ergonomic adjustment mechanism,” a change over thelast version.
The headphonesutilize adaptive noisecancellation,more commonly called ANC, which includes two modes: a music mode, and an increased noise cancellationmode that results from unpluggingthe cable. In theformer mode, Beats Electronics says the combinationbetween noise cancellationand music is balanced, with the materials used inthe constructionaiding theprocess.
Beats Acoustic Engine – a digital tuningsoftware – is used to tune to Beats Studio headphonesforproper sound quality, while manually swapping batteries is a thing of the past with the integrated rechargeable battery. Use time comesin around the 20 hour mark on a charge, which is achievedusing either a USB cableor a standard outlet. There’s a built-in charge indicator inthe form of 5 LEDs, as well as automatic shutdowns to help conserve the battery.
Said Jimmy Iovine, “With theoriginal Studio headphonewe set out to prove that people all around the world care enough about sound to invest in it – and we did. Now we are taking it a step further.The new Studio is tuned with balance, accuracy and emotion, has a breathtaking design and truly innovative technology. This is thesound of the future.”

New BlackBerry A10 leaked pictures show large 5-inch display

Want to see what BlackBerry's upcoming high-end handset,dubbed theA10, will look like? According to VR-Zone, theleaked picturesshow thehandset's front and back sides. The pictures showa large 5-inch display on theA10. Other thanthis, however, there’s not much to see, since, thehandset appears to follow thesame design principleas the Z10. It is also a general consensus that thehandset will be launched runningBlackBerry 10.2 out of thebox.
Earlier this month, specificationsof the handsethad been
leaked. And the information looked like it was a slide taken right off a BlackBerry presentation. One of the stand out new feature that we can see in theA10 is themassive battery. With 2,800 mAh of juice,the phone shouldhave a fairlylong battery lifedespite the larger 5-inch display. Other thanthis, we can now also see that the A10 measures 140.7x72x9.4 mm. However, the Verizon-only variant of the A10 seems to be thicker, measuring 9.7mm.
The A10 may have an 8-megapixel rear camera, and a 2-megapixelfront-facing camera. Memory wise, the handset is equippedwith 16GB of internal storage, along with a hot-swappable microSD card slot which can be used to shove inan extra 64GB. Connectivity options seem to includeLTE with thestandard Wi-Fi, 3G and GPS functionality. It will also have NFC and DLNA. Under the hood, thehandset will run on a dual-core 1.7GHz Snapdragon S4 processor, and the graphics will be handled by a quad-core GPU.
Take a look at earlier leaks formore picturesand details of theBlackBerry A10. Also, let us know inthe comments below if any of the new BlackBerry phones have caught your fancy.

3 Budget smartphones that look beyond Mediatek Facebook Share Twitter Share

In theprice-sensitive Indian market, desi phone makers have ensured to bridgethe gap between superior features and affordableprices. Today, we can easily find smartphones with high-end features priced well under Rs 15,000. The Indian smartphonemarket is inundated with such budget phones, but if you look closely, most of them run on Mediatek processor. We can even say that the
Mediatek MT6589 is the beating heart of thequad-core smartphoneboom that’s ongoingin India. There are just a handful of manufacturers that have been looking beyond the commercial Mediatek for the budget category. We came across only three smartphones from leading Indian phone makers which do not equip Mediatek and are worth a look.
KarbonnTitanium S5
Karbonnlaunched the affordableTitanium S5 powered by a quad-core processor earlier this year priced at Rs 11,900. Unlike most Indian quad-core smartphones that feature Mediatek, theS5 equipsQualcomm MSM8225Q Snapdragon chipset. The quad-core processor clocks at 1.2GHz and features an Adreno 203 graphics. The S5 followsthe latest fadand sports a large 5-inch IPS display. The Titanium S5 runsAndroid version 4.1.2 Jelly Bean. Previously, we’ve seen theTitanium S1 powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Play SoC comprisingfour ARM Cortex-A5 CPU cores runningat 1.2GHz each and Adreno203 for graphics.
Here's a quicklook at the specificationsof the Karbonn Titanium S5:
5-inch capacitive IPS display with 540 x 960 pixels resolution Dual-SIM, 3G, Wi-Fi GPS with A-GPS Bluetooth with A2DP 8MP rear camera with auto focus, 2MP front-facing camera 4GB internal memory, expandable up to 32GB via microSd card slot
Micromax A111 Canvas Doodle
Micromax has been trying to steal Samsung's thunder by offeringaffordablesmartphones with specificationsalmost at par with Samsung's devices. In one such attempt, the company launched the A111 Canvas Doodle sporting a 5.3-inch displayand a stylus at Rs 12,999, to take on the Galaxy Note. While Micromax has been employing Mediatek in almost all its smartphones, the A111 Canvas Doodle seems to be an exception. It is powered by a 1.2GHz Qualcomm MSM8225Q Snapdragon and runs on Android Jelly Bean 4.1.2.
Take a look at thespecificationsof theA111 Canvas Doodle:
5.3-inch capacitive touchscreen with 480 x 854 pixels resolution Dual-SIM, 3G, Wi-Fi GPS with A-GPS Bluetooth v2.0 with A2DP 8MP rear camera with auto focus, 2MP front-facing camera 4GB internal memory, expandable up to 32GB via microSd card slot
XoloX1000
The XoloX1000 also goes against theherd and screams "Intel inside". It is powered by Intel Atom Z2480. The single-core multi-thread processor clocks at 2GHz and features PowerVR SGX540 graphics. The X1000 equips Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich, but is upgradeable to Android jelly Bean 4.1. It comes with a huge 8GB internal storage that can be further expanded. It is available via onlineretailers forRs 14,000. Check out thecomplete review here. The X1000 is Xolo's third handsetto feature Intel’s mobileprocessor. Its predecessors are the Xolo X900 and Xolo X500. Xolo's latest quad-core Q600 smartphoneis powered by Mediatek.
Take a quicklook at the specificationsof the XoloX1000:
4.7-inch capacitive touchscreen with 720 x 1280 pixels resolution 3G, Wi-Fi GPS with A-GPS Bluetooth v2.0 with A2DP 8MP rear camera with auto focus, 1.3MP front-facing camera 8GB internal memory, expandable up to 32GB via microSd card slot
So far, Mediatek is dominating thebudget smartphone market. Intel is trying to push into thebudget phone category and we may soonsee Nvidia Tegra-based budget smartphones too. We hope to see rather diverse range of devices inthe budget smartphonecategory.

Jelly Bean-powered HTC Desire 500 smartphone launched in Taiwan

The HTC Desire 500 smartphone has been officially launched inTaiwan. This Android 4.2 Jelly Bean running smartphonesports a 4.3-inch displayand is powered by a 1.2GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 processor.
The Desire 500 features thecompany’s Sense 5 UI and BlinkFeed. The latter, for those not inthe know, allows users to stay abreast on everything from breaking news, sports, social netowkrs and more. HTC BlinkFeed brings infresh content from over 1,400 content partners for over 10,000 news feedsper day. Users can customise their own BlinkFeed.
The camera on theHTC Desire 500 smartphonecomes with Rapid Shutter feature that allows you to capture more images with multi-shot burst mode camera. Then there is the VideoPic setting that allows users to capture bothvideos and images at thesame time. With theHTC ImageChip,the company claims that users can get great shots despite movement and poor lightingconditions. All this is fuelled by an 1800 mAh battery.
Here’s a quick look at thespecificationsof theHTC Desire 500 smartphone:
4.3-inch WVGA display3G, EDGE/GPRS, Wi-Fi capabilities Bluetooth 4.0 with aptX-enabled GPS with A-GPS 8MP rear camera with autofocus, LED flash and Smart Flash, 1.6MP front camera with BSI sensor 4GB internal memory + microSD card support for up to 64GB more memory (card not included)
As per Engadget , thesuggested retail price forthe Desire 500 is NT$11,900 (roughly USD 400), which obviously is a little high consideringthe specifications.

LG August 7 event invitation confirms G2 unveiling

LG sent out invitations for its August 7 event earlier this month , hinting that it would be unveilingthe LG G2 with a coupleof careful letters and numbers in theimage. Now it has fired of another invitation, this time leaving no doubt that it will be showingoff thehandset next month, as well as providing the first official look at thesmartphone.
The invitation states that participants will getto “experience” theLG G2, removing thedoubt no one had at this point that the handsetwill be making its appearance on August 7. This comes shortly after thecompany
confirmedthename of thedevice in a separate announcement, droppingthe “Optimus” tag as many leaks have suggested.
The LG G2 will be kicking off a line of premiumhandsets that all fall under the “G” brand,according to that announcement, with a separate line of handsets falling under the “Vu:” brand. While theevent invitation doesn’t give a particularly detailed look at thedevice, it does confirmthe existence of thebuttons on the back of the handset,which will serve as power and volume rockers.
The unconventional button layout, which we first heard about back inApril, is said to be theresult of how thin the handsetis, with there being no room on the edges for typical button placement. Some suggest thebuttons will serve more than simple power and volume control, but that is yet to be seen.
According to other leaks, the LG G2 will feature a 5.2-inch display, and will run a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 2.2GHz processor along with 2GB of RAM. There’s said to be a 13-megapixelrear camera, with the software being Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean. You can find out more about what we’ve already heard inthe timeline below, and of course we’ll be here with all the details on August 7.

Nokia Lumia 625 is big, cheap and 4G (photos) and hand on review

If you're looking for a Windows Phone with a large screen and low price, look no further.
The Lumia 625 has the largest screen of any Lumia phone so far, at 4.7-inches. It runs the latest version of the Windows Phone software, codenamed Amber.
It will come in six colours: black, white, green,orange, yellow and red. (Red version not pictured.)
It's a plastic case, although it doesn't feel cheap and nasty like some of its low-cost rivals.
The phone is 9.15mm thick and weighs159g.
The camera is a 5-megapixel affair, with LED flash. It can shoot 1080p video at 30fps.
The Lumia 625 features removable rear covers so you can change the colour if you want, but there is no removable battery.
It shares a few features with the Nokia Lumia 1020, including the Smart Camera App seen on that phone.
There is a micro SD card slot underneath the rear cover.
The headphone port is at the top ofthe phone.
This press photo shows the headphones that Nokia will be selling alongside the phone. Called the Coloud Boom for Nokia, the company claims the cable is tangle-free.

Micromax working onOctaCore Smartphone, Micromax CanvasA240

Indigenous Mobile brand Micromax has again hit the mobile market news with a rumor that states that the company might be working on an Octa-Core Smartphone, dubbed Micromax Canvas A240 (Assume Micromax Canvas 5 as of now).
This news provided by MMX Newscaster, a reputed source for Micromax leaks has taken the technology sector in India by storm. Fresh from the success of
Micromax Canvas 4, Micromax has certainly pulled a rabbit from thehat with this rumor.
It was expected that Canvas 4 might be powered by an octa core processor but that expectationwas shattered after Canvas 4 was officially revealed. However, now Micromax may have realized to fulfill the dream of a budget device that would be driven by an Octa core chipset.
This rumor stands a firm ground mainly due to MediaTek future plans for introducing new Octa core chipsets like MT6592 and the MT629X, which will support built-in LTE.
MediaTek will deliver its first set of Octa core processors to its clients by the end of this month. This chipset has delivered tremendous performance according to AnTuTu benchmark and has risen above Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 800, Snapdragon 600 and Exynos 5 Octa. Though there is no official word about the specification but it is supposed that the Canvas A240 will sport a 5 inch full HD displayalong with a 13 MP rear camera.
Meanwhile Sony may unveil its new Smartphone Xperia Z Ultra next month. Speculation about Apple IPhone 5S are also heating up the market. Hence if this MIcromax’s rumored device goes on floors in the same time frame, we will surely witness a tech war between a domestic budget phone manufacturer and its high end foreignrivals.

Micro max Bling 3 with 4.1 JB coming soon

Micromax had launched their first Bling series Smart Phone in 2010 after that in 2011 they launched Bling 2 A55. Now they are work on New Bling 3 A86, according to the from flipkart Micromax going to launch Bling 3 with Android 4.2 Jelly Bean. The Specification's of Bling 3 are bellow
>4" capacitive touch screen
>4.1 Jelly Bean
> GSM+GSM
>Dual SIM slot
>1Ghz dual core processor
>11.4 mm thick
>VGA front cam
>5 MP primary cam
>3.5 mm jack
>1600 mAh Battery
>3G, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluethoot 3.0, aGPS
>4 Hours of talk time and stand by up to 200 hours time
>Memory can be expand upto 32 GB
There's still no Info about RAM, internal memory and Screen resolution.
The phone is available in ebay for 10k but we not sure about the price, because the price could be lower or higher.
Source: flipkart