IPad 2 now in India!

After bringing in the much awaited iPad to the Indian market, Apple has introduced the tablet’s successor too! iPad 2 is now available in the country in both black and white colors. The device has volume rocker and silence keys on the right spine and the micro SIM slot on the left. There is a secondary camera at the top of the front panel followed by a 9.7 inch capacitive touchscreen that is protected by the oleo phobic coating. There is a single home key at the bottom. At 8.8 mm the iPad 2 is pretty slim and this combined with the Aluminium body make it a pretty good looking device.

The iPad 2 runs on iOS 4 and is powered by dual core a5 chip that makes it work faster than its predecessor. As always the touch response of the iPad 2 is pretty smooth. The UI is pretty much similar as seen in other Apple products in this category. In terms of connectivity you have the option of choosing only WiFi or 3G +WiFi. Bluetooth is also available but only can connect headsets. On the social networking front you can download all popular SNS apps from the App store. You can use Face time to do video calling with other Face time users but it works only on WiFi. The iPad2 also comes with an accessory called ‘Smart Cover’. It is a foldable cover that latches on to the spine of the iPad and them you can fold it to use it in various ways so as to be able to use the iPad at various angles.

There is a VGA camera at the front that can be used for video calling and for taking self portraits. The camera at the back is capable of taking HD videos but it didn’t impress us much when it came to stills. The video quality is good enough. There is no flash for the HD video camera and its pretty plain vanilla.

The battery backup of the iPad 2 is great and it can keep going on at least for two days if you use it extensively. There is no option of expanding the memory of the iPad 2 and it’s available in three versions 16 GB 32 GB and 64 GB. The sales pack just has the charger and cable and if you wish to buy a Smart cover, you will have to shell out Rs 2,100 for synthetic material covers and Rs 3,000 for Italian leather covers.

HTC Desire Z -- The new desire

There are many new Android devices will launch in the Indian market every month, but HTC manages to make things sizzle every time establishing a new salsa with Android OS partner. The same applies to the recently launched its desire Z.

Known for its quick Start, this device is up within seconds of touching the power button. Like the Nokia E7, this unit also features a sliding QWERTY keyboard that is comfortable to use. However, the mechanism of transparency and articulation seems a bit loose. It is an elegant looking device, but at 180 grams, I felt a little heavy. The facade has a 3.7 inch capacitive touchscreen; including four touch keys for home, menu, and search again. Below the screen is the optical track-pad to respond, but with the QWERTY keyboard and touchscreen rarely required.

The Desire Z running on Android 2.2 operating system and comes with HTC Sense UI. There are seven teams on the initial screen, just press the home screen; the seven committees bring the same screen. HTC scenes are also available on this device. These pre-configured profiles are indicative of the ideas, such as work, play, travel, social and HTC. Personalization includes adding widgets, changing sound notifications such as alarms, ringtones, etc.

There are a number of widgets you can edit like the clock widget offers many viewing options. The bar message remains on top and along with other things also shows recently used widgets. When it comes to entering, you have a virtual QWERTY keyboard and hardware, and one can always choose to find more easily. The contacts of the phone come with strong social network integration. You can add contacts from Business, Facebook, Flickr, the HTC Sense, Plurk and Twitter accounts to your list. The accelerometer has some nice features. This allows the device to switch to silence the ring; ring volume goes down just to pick up the phone and will grow if it is in your pocket.

The phone supports all popular programs, email, along with Microsoft Exchange. The work of the batch-mode for your emails with multiple emails simultaneously. Besides the online Google, you can also connect to the HTC Sense connecting you with other friends using htcsense.com. You also have the HTC Hub, where you can find some applications for your mobile phone. The phone has a 5.0-megapixel camera with higher image resolution 2592 x 1552 pixels and can record video 720p. The photos can be Geo-tagged, but not the video. The quality of the pictures and the videos does not wake us up too.

The music is normal and no additional EQ presets. Songs can be sorted based on the artist albums and playlists. There is a related application of the media that the music and video to other devices DLNA.

Live TV on Mobile in India

Mobile and TV both are mediums of entertainment and connectivity. Mobile phone today is not just a medium to make basic tele-conversation as it serves as a multi-utility and entertainment device while TV is still a mode that entertains and keeps you informed about things happening all around the world.

Considering that mobile phones are with you all the time, Mobile TV provides the facility of watching your favorite TV clippings that you can enjoy without much of a hassle. All one need is a 3G support to watch TV on mobile and thus can subscribe to the pay TV options on different mobile networks or can download TV shows from the internet and enjoy watching TV on their phones including podcast at any hour or place.

Live mobile TV is an interesting way to watch live telecast of several news channels, political events, chat shows, sports events or others just by visiting a site on phone. Opt for live streaming and enjoy the service anytime anywhere while being on the move.

Live streaming of cricket match is the most used service on mobile TV as Indians are considerably the biggest fans of cricket. With no time in hand to sit in front of TV and enjoy cricket, users surely prefer to get the glimpses of the major clippings of live match on phone while they are engaged doing other things. Live TV is gaining popularity as it keeps the user updated in no time and also provides an option to record it to view later.

Cheap phones drive the mass market

“Over the last decade of telecom revolution, constant price fall in handset industry has worked wonders for the consumer, who wants all the features in his phone but is often restricted by his budget”

Around five years ago, I was sitting at a hangout spot in West Delhi when suddenly an exceptionally loud ringtone almost pierced my ear curtains. A moment later, waiter at that momos corner pulled out a big flashy mobile phone and started talking in his local language. On inquiring later, the costly looking phone was for only Rs 2000.

Since the mobile revolution in our country started in the last decade, we have seen immense drop in the prices of the mobile phones. The international brands are facing stiff competition from Chinese and local companies because of huge price difference. Earlier, there were only unbranded Chinese handsets that were selling low price phones but now there are numerous Indian companies which are selling phones at highly competitive prices.

Phones from companies like Byond, Intex, Rage, Lava, Maxx, Micromax, T-Series give enough leverage to the customer to opt for phones with required features without burning a hole in their pockets. There are plenty of features like dual SIM, internet access, MP3 player, a descent quality camera and many more that one can gets within a budget of 2000-5000 or even lesser.

The only thing that one has to compromise on the phone is brand but that does not make a big difference as every phone has an average life of 1.5 to 2 years. And with most of the Indian companies working hard on improving their after sales service, the worrying factor about the durability is slowly fading away.

Cheap phones from these indigenous companies has also led to international companies bring their price tag down and this competition in the market has come as a boom to the Indian consumer, whose prime objective while buying a product is to ensure value for money.

Android: Revolutionising smartphone market

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Android operating system, developed by Google and launched aboard Google Nexus Smartphone last year, has managed to take the smartphone market by storm. Earlier, smartphones used to mean a QWERTY or alphanumeric input handset running either on Blackberry, Symbian or Windows Mobile. iPhone, although quite popular, still was the choice of more socially upward mobile consumers. Coming of Android changed all the equations of the market and has written new ground rules for Smartphone’s.

Motorola Xoom

Initially a brainchild of Android Inc, the company was bought by Google in 2005 in preparation for their foray into mobile handset market. The operating system is based on Linux kernel, much like the iOS operating system, which is used by Apple for its iPhone, iPad and iPod series of devices. With its clout, Google also managed to persuade handset manufacturers like Sony Ericsson, HTC, Samsung and LG to support Android’s further development and hence formed Open Handset Alliance. The task of maintaining the open standards and refinement of the system has been entrusted with Android Open Source Project. According to a recent report by Comscore, Android is the world’s best selling smartphone platform across the globe.

Most of this spectacular growth can be attributed to the R&D efforts put in by the developers in releasing updates and providing adequate applications for the consumers. Since the initial release of Android OS in October 2008, there have been six versions released in the market, namely, Cupcake, Donut, Éclair, Froyo, and Gingerbread. A version for tablets – Honeycomb, has also been launched, which comes loaded on Motorola Xoom.

Sturdy and Stylish Dell Venue

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Dell is not one of the most notable names that one thinks of when one is looking to buy a Smartphone in India. However, Dell has now pretty serious in regards to its Smartphone segment and is even keen on expanding its footprint in India. This is a touchscreen phone with a curved and stylish body and an impressive set of features. The front panel is adorned with 4.1 inch AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, which incorporates three feather touch buttons at the bottom for back menu and home.

Dell Venue runs on 1GHz Snapdragon processor it has 1 GB memory and 512MB RAM, running on Android v2.2 operating system. We found that the touch response for this device was pretty good but it did border on being too sensitive at times. While on the performance side, we found Dell Venue to be snappy. Additionally, Stage UI from Dell adds to the overall functionality.

On the multimedia front, the phone has 8.0-megapixel auto-focus camera, which can be used to capture high definition 720p videos. The picture quality is good even in low light conditions. However, there was no front camera for making video calls.

For Email, the phone supports Microsoft Exchange and other POP3 and IMAP accounts. It has built in GPS along with Google Maps and WiFi. The phone is capable of supporting HSDPA, 7.2 Mbps; HSUPA, 5.76 Mbps speeds that makes it a pretty impressive 3G phone.

Another flip side for this device was that it felt a little heavy compared to the other smart phones of today.

Currently, Dell Venue in India costs around Rs 29,990 and it is a good option for a Smartphone in this range.

Nokia N8: Smartphone at its best

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With the Nokia N8, people can create compelling content, connect to their favorite social networks and enjoy on-demand web TV programs and Ovi Store apps. It comes with a 12 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics, Xenon flash and a large sensor that rivals those found in compact digital cameras. It also offers the ability to make HD-quality videos and edit them with an intuitive built-in editing suite. Doubling as a portable entertainment center, people can enjoy HD-quality video with Dolby Digital Plus surround sound by plugging into their home theater system. On the social networking front, Nokia N8 allows people to update their status, share location and photos, and view live feeds from Facebook and Twitter in a single app directly on the home screen. Calendar events from social networks can also be transferred to the device calendar.

The Nokia N8 comes with free global Ovi Maps walk and drive navigation, guiding people to places and points of interest in more than 70 countries worldwide. Powering the Nokia N8 is Symbian version 3, which introduces several major advances, including support for gestures such as multi touch, flick scrolling and pinch-zoom. The Nokia N8 also offers multiple, personalisable home screens which can be loaded with apps and widgets. The new 2D and 3D graphics architecture in the platform takes full advantage of the Nokia N8′s hardware acceleration to deliver a faster and more responsive user interface.