Ultra HD TVs, massive touchscreens, wearable computers. It's CES 2013. What do African dancers have do to with Hisense's TVs? ...
Showing posts with label Mobile. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mobile. Show all posts
Nokia launches 41-MP camera smartphone
At the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Nokia announced the 808 Pureview, a flagship Symbian device with a 41-megapixel camera. In add...
Top 5 Android mobile phones under Rs 10,000 for Dec & Jan
Almost a year ago, Android phones under the Rs 10,000 category were not great enough to attract consumer attention. With sluggish performa...
657 mobile devices were launched in India in 2011
The 881 million mobile subscribers in India, in 2011, had numerous mobile devices to choose from with models varying from the cheapest ta...
Top 5 camera phones in December
These pocketable devices are not just any other phone with a camera but can be viewed as a camera with mobile phone functionality. Coup...
Birth of new mobile OS: Tizen
Linux foundation has announced a new mobile operating system called Tizen. Samsung and Intel are the prominent backers of this OS, which ...
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Showing posts with label Mobile. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mobile. Show all posts
Thursday, 10 January 2013
The International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2013
Ultra HD TVs, massive touchscreens, wearable computers. It's CES 2013.
What do African dancers have do to with Hisense's TVs? We're not sure
CES 2013 opened to 150,000 attendees in Las Vegas on Jan. 8
Earthquake Sound has a car / golf cart with a built-in bass in the hood. There's room for your clubs in the back
The Necomimi Brain Wave Cat Ears actually use your brain waves or facial expressions. Relaxed? The ears will turn down. Feeling interested? They'll pop up.
Snooki, of "Jersey Shore" fame, showed up at CES 2013 to unveil her latest line of audio gear, including a red Bling-Bling Phon
Tap this button on Audi's iPhone app and it will turn on Audi's piloted car. The car then drives to you and picks you up.
Audi's piloted car. The company got a license from Nevada today to start testing self-driving cars in the state.
CES 2013 has 3,264 exhibitors spread across 1.9 million square feet of exhibit space.
The HapiFork pairs with your phone via Bluetooth to tell you about your eating habits. It also vibrates when you are eating too fast
Samsung's Tim Baxter presents the company's new OLED 4K TV. He didn't announce its price or when it will be available.
New phones? There aren't a lot of new phone announcements at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Vizio showed two of its phones, which aren't coming to the U.S
CES 2013, the annual technology show in Las Vegas, kicked off for press with an ice luge. As they say, what happens at CES, stays at CES -- or spreads at Internet speed.
You can go to the casino or you can check out Lenovo's Horizon table. The 27-inch table -- in effect a giant tablet -- runs Windows 8 and has Lenovo's own Aura interface. It will be sold this year at a starting price of $1,699
Not impressed by Lenovo's 27-inch screen, 3M has an even bigger 84-inch touch screen table that can handle up to 40 simultaneous touches. This one isn't coming out for consumers though; it's meant to be a commercial product.
CES is going to be all about Ultra HD TVs. LG released its 4K TV, shown here, in 2012
Nope, they're not Google's Glass. Vuzix's Smart Glasses M100 have a built-in camera that will let you record video, and a display that shows you Android apps.
Combat Creatures' Attacknids took over the floor at CES. The 10-inch-tall robots can fight each other, and probably your cat as well.
Friday, 23 March 2012
Nokia launches 41-MP camera smartphone
At the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Nokia announced the 808 Pureview, a flagship Symbian device with a 41-megapixel camera. In addition to superior still imaging technology, the Nokia 808 PureView, also includes full HD 1080p video recording and playback with 4X loss less zoom and the world's first use of Nokia Rich Recording.
This is the first smartphone to feature Nokia PureView imaging technologies, bringing together high resolution sensors, exclusive Carl Zeiss optics and Nokia developed algorithms, which will support new high-end imaging experiences for future Nokia products
The Nokia 808 PureView features a large, high-resolution 41 megapixel sensor with high-performance Carl Zeiss optics and new pixel oversampling technology
n addition to superior still imaging technology, the Nokia 808 PureView, also includes full HD 1080p video recording and playback with 4X loss less zoom and the world's first use of Nokia Rich Recording
Rich Recording enables audio recording at CD-like levels of quality, previously only possible with external microphones
The camera will use its over-the-top resolution capabilities to "over-sample" the image you shoot, says Nokia, so that if you shoot at 5 MP, each pixel in the final picture will actually use image data from the pixels around it.
The Nokia 808 PureView also features Dolby Headphone technology, transforming stereo content into a personal surround sound experience over any headphones and Dolby Digital Plus for 5.1 channel surround sound playback
With superior low-light performance and the ability to save in compact file sizes for sharing in email, MMS, and on social networks, the Nokia 808 PureView makes it possible for anyone to capture professional looking images in any conditions
The device uses a 1.3 GHz processor, comes with 16GB of storage and runs a 4" screen at 360 x 640, which is below HD resolution.
Mary McDowell, the firm's executive vice president for mobile phones, said the company's engineers had been working on the product "for years"
Wednesday, 25 January 2012
Top 5 Android mobile phones under Rs 10,000 for Dec & Jan
Almost a year ago, Android phones under the Rs 10,000 category were not great enough to attract consumer attention. With sluggish performance due to myriad hardware models and delayed updates, several users preferred to wait till good Android handsets showed up in that price range.
Now we have a range of relatively powerful mobile phones that can run the latest Android OS smoothly. It is indeed very important to know the version of Android the mobile phone uses to make the best of it.
Android phones under Rs 10,000 are expected to have a feature rich package. They need to have a reasonably large capacitive touchscreen, decent processor, at least 3.2 megapixel camera and, of course, a recent version of Android OS.
Here is a list of the best mobile phones one must consider while buying a new Android phone for Rs 10,000 or less.
LG Optimus Net P690 (Rs 9,999)
Now we have a range of relatively powerful mobile phones that can run the latest Android OS smoothly. It is indeed very important to know the version of Android the mobile phone uses to make the best of it.
Android phones under Rs 10,000 are expected to have a feature rich package. They need to have a reasonably large capacitive touchscreen, decent processor, at least 3.2 megapixel camera and, of course, a recent version of Android OS.
Here is a list of the best mobile phones one must consider while buying a new Android phone for Rs 10,000 or less.
LG Optimus Net P690 (Rs 9,999)
Successor to the popular Optimus One, the new Optimus Net P690 has instantly been accepted as a budget friendly smartphone, mostly because the phone is a feature rich package. Optimus Net P690 has a 3.2 inch touchscreen display with 320 x 480 pixel resolution and runs Android 2.3 Gingerbread operating system.
Under the slim chassis, Optimus Net houses an 800 MHz mobile processor along with 512 MB of RAM, which is a good enough combination to run Android 2.3 Gingerbread smoothly. If third party developers get interested in this device then perhaps a custom ROM with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich might be supported on it.
Supporting 3G networks, Optimus Net offers wireless connectivity via WiFi and Bluetooth 3.0 as well. LG has used a 3.15 megapixel camera at its rear for decent quality photos to be uploaded and shared on social networks.
Finally, a mobile phone with a seemingly fast processor, decent camera and capacitive touchscreen should be your best bet if you plan to spend under five figures.
Samsung Galaxy Y S5360 (Rs 7,500)
Packing a 3 inch capacitive touchscreen, the new Galaxy Y is quite popular amongst users of all ages and occupations etc. It's one of those mobile phones that come with Android 2.3 Gingerbread pre-loaded and with a flavour of TouchWiz user interface layered on it. Galaxy Y GT-S5360 mobile phone houses an 832 MHz processor to run the mobile operating system smoothly with 290 MB of RAM.
The compact candy-bar form factor makes it quite enjoyable and easy to hold. The Galaxy Y also comes in a special package - Galaxy Y Color Plus, which packs four additional inter-changeable backpanel covers, just like the Samsung Corby series phones. The Galaxy Y is kind of disappointing with a mere 2 megapixel camera at the back without any secondary camera in front.
Galaxy Y also features WiFi and Bluetooth 3.0 support. Of course, it comes with FM radio that works with an RDS and location services chip with A-GPS. Not counting the camera, this handset offers the best budget friendly Gingerbread experience.
Sony Ericsson W8 (Rs 9,300)
Sony Ericsson's Walkman series mobile phones come with the special Walkman software and audio profiles loaded in them. The new Sony Ericsson W8 features a nice 3 inch capacitive touchscreen display and Walkman branding targeted at music lovers. By default the mobile phone bundles a 4 GB microSD card for music files.
Unfortunately, Sony Ericsson's Android phone buyers have to wait for weeks to get the latest update and enjoy a smooth OS experience. W8 comes with the age old Android 2.1 Éclair operating system that is powered with a 600 MHz mobile processor and a mere 168 MB of RAM. However, this mobile does not have enough hardware muscle to run even Android 2.3 Gingerbread smoothly, let along the upcoming Android Ice Cream Sandwich
Sony Ericsson has added custom Walkman styling with the TimeScape interface, bringing a W shortcut to the top right corner of the homescreen. This smartphone supports 3G networks and also offers WiFi support for wireless internet connectivity. It is a good phone which does appear slightly over priced. If you wish for a good music experience with your favourite pair of earphones and a fancy looking mobile, W8 should be the apt choice.
Motorola Fire XT311 (Rs 8,950)
Android is indeed cumbersome to use with a Qwerty smartphone in candybar form, but if there's a capacitive touchscreen involved, the task is a wee bit easier. Motorola Fire XT311 is a Qwerty candybar phone with 2.8 inch capacitive touchscreen display supporting 240 x 320 pixel resolution.
Fire is one of the good entry level Motorola devices with Android 2.3.4 Gingerbread operating system for those who wish for the fastest and best features. Under the hood, Fire XT311 houses a 600 MHz mobile processor that might appear a bit slow, but is decent enough to run the operating system with a 256 MB RAM and 512 MB ROM.
The Fire XT311 is one heck of a good looking Android smartphone. It is very different from the dual-SIM EX119 that has a minimalist design. This mobile phone promises talk time of 7 hours on 2G networks and 5 hours on 3G. Considering the healthy talk time and physical Qwerty keypad, Fire XT311 is indeed worth a try.
Micromax Superfone Lite A75 (Rs 8,900)
Micromax launched the iPhone 4-mocking Superfone with a bang and quietly slipped in the Superfone Lite, which is a stepped down version of the former model. Superfone Lite A75 comes with Android 2.3 Gingerbread. Micromax offers a 3.75 inch capacitive touchscreen display to enjoy Gingerbread goodness to the maximum without spending more.
Under the hood, it packs a 650 MHz mobile processor and offers dual GSM SIM support with dual-standby mode. 3G and WiFi enabled, this mobile phone is expected to eat up loads of battery life and that's why the company has packed a 1300 mAh battery, which is pretty decent for a budget phone. Then again, Superfone Lite comes with just 256 MB of RAM and there would be performance as well as battery issues on dual-SIM mode.
All the above mobile phones are available in Indian markets at different rates in different regions because of the variable taxes, octroi and other charges.
Saturday, 31 December 2011
657 mobile devices were launched in India in 2011
The 881 million mobile subscribers in India, in 2011, had numerous mobile devices to choose from with models varying from the cheapest tablet of the world, Aakash, for Rs 2,500, to the latest sensation iPhone 4S which is available for around Rs 50,000.
This year saw the launch of a whopping 657 mobile devices, which include mobile phones and tablets, by Indian as well as MNC handset players in the country.
Operation system
This year saw growing demand for high-end handsets that use a mobile operating system, but Java emerged a clear winner. Of 657 handsets launched this year, 525 were based on Java with a lot of innovative offerings like web browsing, pre-loaded apps, powerful cameras, touchscreen and support for maps.
After Java, it's Android that emerged as the second-most successful operating system. In total, 100mobile devices including smartphones and tablets were launched this year running different versions of Android operating system.
Nokia's operating systems - S40, Anna and Symbian - bagged the third slot. This year, we saw Nokia launching 13 devices based on these operating systems. The fourth spot was jointly shared by iOS and BlackBerry with seven devices each launched by Apple and RIM respectively.
The latest entrant in the OS space, — Windows, bagged the fifth slot with four new smartphones. This year Samsung also launched one device based on its proprietary operating system - Bada.
Brands
In 2011, the maximum number of mobile devices were launched by Maxx Mobiles. It launched 52mobile phones in India. The second slot was bagged by Fly Mobiles with 41 new devices including one tablet and 40 feature phones.
Samsung, which has been growing by leaps and bounds in India, came out with 39 devices including the Galaxy series of smartphones and tablets. Samsung occupied the No. 3 slot jointly with Spice (S Mobility) which also launched 39 devices including a dual SIM Android smartphone.
There was a tie for the fourth slot between Videocon, which entered the mobile device segment last year, and Karbonn Mobiles. Both of them launched 35 devices each, which were mostly feature phones. Intex, an Indian handset player, bagged the fifth slot with 26 mobile phones. Notably, it launched India's first projector phone — IN 8809.
Indian handset major Micromax, which launched three Android devices this year, occupied the sixth slot with 23 new devices. Beetel, which also forayed into the mobile space for the first time, occupied the seventh slot. Beetel was in the limelight for two sub-Rs 15,000 Android tablets that it released in 2011.
LG with 17 and Onida with 16 mobile phone launches occupied the eighth and ninth slots respectively. Finnish handset major Nokia, which forayed into the dual SIM segment, and Chinese player Huawei, which launched the Ideos range of smartphones, tied at the tenth position with 15 new devices each.
There was a tie for the 11th position as well, between G'Five and Red, which launched 14 devices each in 2011. Sony Ericsson, which had launched its Xperia range of phones this year, bagged the 12th position with 13 devices. HTC and Airphone were jointly at the 13th position as they launched 12 devices each.
At the 14th position there was again a tie between Motorola and Maxphone, with 11 devices each. Philips, with 10 phones in the year 2011, stayed at the 15th place.
Overview
The key factors that contributed to this phenomenal growth in mobile phones were rapid advancements in technology, both hardware and software; the rise of dual-SIM handsets; launch of 3G services; and decrease in the average price of mobile devices.
Going by the success of so many smartphones and features phones, it looks like the introduction of innovative features with sophisticated technologies that have potential to live up to customers' growing expectations has become more of an industry norm and a challenge for existing players to survive in the market.
Another conclusion that can be drawn from the number of mobiles launched by Indian players is that they understand the growing appetite of Indian consumers and because of local advantages such as good commission agreement with distributors, low cost of manufacturing and strong links with small retailers especially in tier two and tier three cities, they have been able to strive in a highly competitive mobile space.
Moreover, Indian handset players are expected to continue their growth journey in 2012 too. When urban markets touch saturation levels, the focus is bound to shift towards the rural sector, where they have a good presence and customers are highly price sensitive. Apart from that, most buying decisions are taken at the point of sale, that is, retail shops where the salesman will try to push products that get him the maximum commission.
With increasing consumer awareness and a plethora of options, it can be inferred that in coming years mobile consumers will love to buy value for money smartphones with advanced capabilities, rather than mere communication and SMS devices.
This year saw the launch of a whopping 657 mobile devices, which include mobile phones and tablets, by Indian as well as MNC handset players in the country.
Operation system
This year saw growing demand for high-end handsets that use a mobile operating system, but Java emerged a clear winner. Of 657 handsets launched this year, 525 were based on Java with a lot of innovative offerings like web browsing, pre-loaded apps, powerful cameras, touchscreen and support for maps.
After Java, it's Android that emerged as the second-most successful operating system. In total, 100mobile devices including smartphones and tablets were launched this year running different versions of Android operating system.
Nokia's operating systems - S40, Anna and Symbian - bagged the third slot. This year, we saw Nokia launching 13 devices based on these operating systems. The fourth spot was jointly shared by iOS and BlackBerry with seven devices each launched by Apple and RIM respectively.
The latest entrant in the OS space, — Windows, bagged the fifth slot with four new smartphones. This year Samsung also launched one device based on its proprietary operating system - Bada.
In 2011, the maximum number of mobile devices were launched by Maxx Mobiles. It launched 52mobile phones in India. The second slot was bagged by Fly Mobiles with 41 new devices including one tablet and 40 feature phones.
Samsung, which has been growing by leaps and bounds in India, came out with 39 devices including the Galaxy series of smartphones and tablets. Samsung occupied the No. 3 slot jointly with Spice (S Mobility) which also launched 39 devices including a dual SIM Android smartphone.
There was a tie for the fourth slot between Videocon, which entered the mobile device segment last year, and Karbonn Mobiles. Both of them launched 35 devices each, which were mostly feature phones. Intex, an Indian handset player, bagged the fifth slot with 26 mobile phones. Notably, it launched India's first projector phone — IN 8809.
Indian handset major Micromax, which launched three Android devices this year, occupied the sixth slot with 23 new devices. Beetel, which also forayed into the mobile space for the first time, occupied the seventh slot. Beetel was in the limelight for two sub-Rs 15,000 Android tablets that it released in 2011.
LG with 17 and Onida with 16 mobile phone launches occupied the eighth and ninth slots respectively. Finnish handset major Nokia, which forayed into the dual SIM segment, and Chinese player Huawei, which launched the Ideos range of smartphones, tied at the tenth position with 15 new devices each.
There was a tie for the 11th position as well, between G'Five and Red, which launched 14 devices each in 2011. Sony Ericsson, which had launched its Xperia range of phones this year, bagged the 12th position with 13 devices. HTC and Airphone were jointly at the 13th position as they launched 12 devices each.
At the 14th position there was again a tie between Motorola and Maxphone, with 11 devices each. Philips, with 10 phones in the year 2011, stayed at the 15th place.
Overview
The key factors that contributed to this phenomenal growth in mobile phones were rapid advancements in technology, both hardware and software; the rise of dual-SIM handsets; launch of 3G services; and decrease in the average price of mobile devices.
Going by the success of so many smartphones and features phones, it looks like the introduction of innovative features with sophisticated technologies that have potential to live up to customers' growing expectations has become more of an industry norm and a challenge for existing players to survive in the market.
Another conclusion that can be drawn from the number of mobiles launched by Indian players is that they understand the growing appetite of Indian consumers and because of local advantages such as good commission agreement with distributors, low cost of manufacturing and strong links with small retailers especially in tier two and tier three cities, they have been able to strive in a highly competitive mobile space.
Moreover, Indian handset players are expected to continue their growth journey in 2012 too. When urban markets touch saturation levels, the focus is bound to shift towards the rural sector, where they have a good presence and customers are highly price sensitive. Apart from that, most buying decisions are taken at the point of sale, that is, retail shops where the salesman will try to push products that get him the maximum commission.
With increasing consumer awareness and a plethora of options, it can be inferred that in coming years mobile consumers will love to buy value for money smartphones with advanced capabilities, rather than mere communication and SMS devices.
Tuesday, 20 December 2011
Top 5 camera phones in December
These pocketable devices are not just any other phone with a camera but can be viewed as a camera with mobile phone functionality.
Touted as the fastest iPhone, this handset is truly a remarkable device from Apple. The iPhone 4s comes with a sleek, sharp and thinner design that is similar to its predecessor — the iPhone 4. The fifth-generation model of Apple iPhone comes with a similar 3.5 inch screen with 640 X 960 pixel resolution which is known as the Retina display, the highest resolution display ever built into a phone, and FaceTime for video calling. The display has also been treated with a special oleo phobic coating which is very useful for the Indian environment.
The phone has got an 8 megapixel camera as compared to the 5 megapixel of iPhone 4. The camera has an LED flash also for illumination. The 8 megapixel snapper uses the one of the best image sensors to reproduce life like colours with detail and variance. The camera can also record full HD 1080p video and get functionalities like touch focus and Geo tagging. Along with this, the upgraded OS 5 and a mighty faster dual core processor makes it easier to edit and share pictures.
Apple users can also make use of the Apple iCloud service to store their pictures. Apple is offering 5 GB of space free on iCloud to all its users.
Nokia N8 with Anna — 12 Megapixel (Price Rs 22,000)
Many camera phones have come and gone but this device of Nokia continues to top the charts due to its amazing camera quality. The Nokia N8 boasts of Carl Zeiss optics, a 12 megapixel 1/1.183 inch optical format CCD image sensor, Xenon flash with automatic red-eye removal and auto focus. This type of a sensor has never been used in a camera phone before that makes the N8 unique to its technology and allows it to capture images that are far better in terms of resolution and variance as far as pictures are concerned.
With the Symbian Anna upgrade, the Nokia N8 has gotten newer video recording capabilities such as continuous auto focus, 720P video recording capability. Besides, N8 users can record videos in 30 frames /second as opposed to present 24 frames / second earlier.
Not just the camera, the N8 is an equally excellent device with good hardware and a very responsive and vibrant 3.5 inch touchscreen which makes usage of this device a breeze. The speedy 600 MHz processor might sound puny in front of the bigger multi core competitors but it has been optimised so beautifully that there is virtually no lag in anything you do on this device.
Samsung Galaxy Note — 8 Megapixel (Price Rs 32,299)
Apart from having the biggest smartphone screen, the Galaxy Note is by far the fastest Android smartphone available to the Indian customers. The Galaxy Note is powered by a faster 1.4 GHz dual core processor and comes with a 5.3 inch Super Amoled plus screen and 16 GB inbuilt memory. This phone is almost 200 MHz faster than the Galaxy S2 which is very useful for doing memory intensive tasks like photography and image editing.
The device has an 8 megapixel auto focus camera with LED flash. The device manufacturer has managed to keep the size of the device slim even while incorporating a higher resolution sensor. In terms of video recording, the Galaxy Note offers 1080p HD video recording at 30 FPS. In fact, it is the highest ever frame rate attained by a smartphone in terms of video recording.
The 5.3 inch display is very useful for seeing pictures and especially while editing them on the go. The device has all the necessary hardware for speedier operation and is a breeze to operate even with the included stylus.
HTC Sensation XL — 8 megapixel (Price Rs 38,800)
The Sensation XL is HTC's first ever phone to feature a 1.5 GHz processor supplied by Qualcomm and a whole new interface with the latest HTC sense 3.5 UI. Backed by the latest Android operating system, this device works flawlessly and offers users unparalleled performance. The Sensation XL comes powered with Dr Dre's beats audio enhancement system along with a pair of tuned "Beats' headphones.
The Sensation XL, like its predecessor HTC Sensation, features an 8 megapixel camera which is capable of recording high definition videos in 720p HD resolution. The quality of the camera is good with both stills and videos. The camera also features auto focus to give precise but automatic control to the user. The Sensation allows manual tweaking as well with its touch focus feature that makes the camera focus on the point where the user wishes to.
The device features a 4.7 inch qHD resolution based touchscreen that makes watching pictures and videos fun. The device is complete with its great camera capabilities along with exceptional sound quality thanks to the Beats audio enhancement.
Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc -8 Megapixel (Price Rs 29,000)
Although Sony Ericsson has upgraded the Arc to Arc S, somehow the former gives better camera wise performance than the later. In the past, we have seen world class camera phones that offer best in class photography options and results coming from the brand Sony Ericsson and the Arc is no exception to that.
The Arc features an 8.1 megapixel camera with HD video capability featuring Sony's exclusive Exmor R (CMOS) based image sensor that enhances still images and videos even in low light conditions. The image quality is impressive while the device meets all expectations any shutterbug might have. It records 720 P videos and has a very capable flash for low light shooting as well.
The Xperia Arc is powered with a 1 Ghz processor from Snapdragon including a dedicated Adreno 205 graphics engine for faster operations and a 4.2 inch touchscreen display. The phone features a 512 MB of RAM and a 364 MB of ROM for speedy operations and the phone also comes bundled with an 8 GB microSD card and can manage up to 32 GB of external storage.
The phone also features touch focus, which allows users to manually select which area to focus on while capturing an image. Users can also leave the phone on full auto mode or can select smile detection for that perfect shot.
Couple of years back, a mobile phone with a camera used to be a rarity and is usually priced on the higher side. But now the scenario has changed with almost all mobile phones now equipped with lenses of varying capacity.
Today mobile phones come with advanced cameras with features like advanced optics, complex image sensors and a whole lot of technology running in the background. In fact, today digital cameras are having a tough time selling in numbers all thanks to the camera phones.
Since our last Top 5 Camera Phone installment , lots of things have changed in this arena. From the last list the Galaxy S2, HTC Sensation, and even the iPhone 4S have been replaced with newer more powerful devices.
So here we have this month's installment of our top 5 camera phones money can buy, read on.
Apple iPhone 4s — 8 Megapixel (Price Rs 44,300)
Today mobile phones come with advanced cameras with features like advanced optics, complex image sensors and a whole lot of technology running in the background. In fact, today digital cameras are having a tough time selling in numbers all thanks to the camera phones.
Since our last Top 5 Camera Phone installment , lots of things have changed in this arena. From the last list the Galaxy S2, HTC Sensation, and even the iPhone 4S have been replaced with newer more powerful devices.
So here we have this month's installment of our top 5 camera phones money can buy, read on.
Apple iPhone 4s — 8 Megapixel (Price Rs 44,300)
Touted as the fastest iPhone, this handset is truly a remarkable device from Apple. The iPhone 4s comes with a sleek, sharp and thinner design that is similar to its predecessor — the iPhone 4. The fifth-generation model of Apple iPhone comes with a similar 3.5 inch screen with 640 X 960 pixel resolution which is known as the Retina display, the highest resolution display ever built into a phone, and FaceTime for video calling. The display has also been treated with a special oleo phobic coating which is very useful for the Indian environment.
The phone has got an 8 megapixel camera as compared to the 5 megapixel of iPhone 4. The camera has an LED flash also for illumination. The 8 megapixel snapper uses the one of the best image sensors to reproduce life like colours with detail and variance. The camera can also record full HD 1080p video and get functionalities like touch focus and Geo tagging. Along with this, the upgraded OS 5 and a mighty faster dual core processor makes it easier to edit and share pictures.
Apple users can also make use of the Apple iCloud service to store their pictures. Apple is offering 5 GB of space free on iCloud to all its users.
Nokia N8 with Anna — 12 Megapixel (Price Rs 22,000)
Many camera phones have come and gone but this device of Nokia continues to top the charts due to its amazing camera quality. The Nokia N8 boasts of Carl Zeiss optics, a 12 megapixel 1/1.183 inch optical format CCD image sensor, Xenon flash with automatic red-eye removal and auto focus. This type of a sensor has never been used in a camera phone before that makes the N8 unique to its technology and allows it to capture images that are far better in terms of resolution and variance as far as pictures are concerned.
With the Symbian Anna upgrade, the Nokia N8 has gotten newer video recording capabilities such as continuous auto focus, 720P video recording capability. Besides, N8 users can record videos in 30 frames /second as opposed to present 24 frames / second earlier.
Not just the camera, the N8 is an equally excellent device with good hardware and a very responsive and vibrant 3.5 inch touchscreen which makes usage of this device a breeze. The speedy 600 MHz processor might sound puny in front of the bigger multi core competitors but it has been optimised so beautifully that there is virtually no lag in anything you do on this device.
Samsung Galaxy Note — 8 Megapixel (Price Rs 32,299)
Apart from having the biggest smartphone screen, the Galaxy Note is by far the fastest Android smartphone available to the Indian customers. The Galaxy Note is powered by a faster 1.4 GHz dual core processor and comes with a 5.3 inch Super Amoled plus screen and 16 GB inbuilt memory. This phone is almost 200 MHz faster than the Galaxy S2 which is very useful for doing memory intensive tasks like photography and image editing.
The device has an 8 megapixel auto focus camera with LED flash. The device manufacturer has managed to keep the size of the device slim even while incorporating a higher resolution sensor. In terms of video recording, the Galaxy Note offers 1080p HD video recording at 30 FPS. In fact, it is the highest ever frame rate attained by a smartphone in terms of video recording.
The 5.3 inch display is very useful for seeing pictures and especially while editing them on the go. The device has all the necessary hardware for speedier operation and is a breeze to operate even with the included stylus.
HTC Sensation XL — 8 megapixel (Price Rs 38,800)
The Sensation XL is HTC's first ever phone to feature a 1.5 GHz processor supplied by Qualcomm and a whole new interface with the latest HTC sense 3.5 UI. Backed by the latest Android operating system, this device works flawlessly and offers users unparalleled performance. The Sensation XL comes powered with Dr Dre's beats audio enhancement system along with a pair of tuned "Beats' headphones.
The Sensation XL, like its predecessor HTC Sensation, features an 8 megapixel camera which is capable of recording high definition videos in 720p HD resolution. The quality of the camera is good with both stills and videos. The camera also features auto focus to give precise but automatic control to the user. The Sensation allows manual tweaking as well with its touch focus feature that makes the camera focus on the point where the user wishes to.
The device features a 4.7 inch qHD resolution based touchscreen that makes watching pictures and videos fun. The device is complete with its great camera capabilities along with exceptional sound quality thanks to the Beats audio enhancement.
Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc -8 Megapixel (Price Rs 29,000)
Although Sony Ericsson has upgraded the Arc to Arc S, somehow the former gives better camera wise performance than the later. In the past, we have seen world class camera phones that offer best in class photography options and results coming from the brand Sony Ericsson and the Arc is no exception to that.
The Arc features an 8.1 megapixel camera with HD video capability featuring Sony's exclusive Exmor R (CMOS) based image sensor that enhances still images and videos even in low light conditions. The image quality is impressive while the device meets all expectations any shutterbug might have. It records 720 P videos and has a very capable flash for low light shooting as well.
The Xperia Arc is powered with a 1 Ghz processor from Snapdragon including a dedicated Adreno 205 graphics engine for faster operations and a 4.2 inch touchscreen display. The phone features a 512 MB of RAM and a 364 MB of ROM for speedy operations and the phone also comes bundled with an 8 GB microSD card and can manage up to 32 GB of external storage.
The phone also features touch focus, which allows users to manually select which area to focus on while capturing an image. Users can also leave the phone on full auto mode or can select smile detection for that perfect shot.
Wednesday, 30 November 2011
Birth of new mobile OS: Tizen
Linux foundation has announced a new mobile operating system called Tizen. Samsung and Intel are the prominent backers of this OS, which will also work on tablets, netbooks, TVs and in-vehicle devices.
Tizen is a new open source mobile and device operating system based on Linux which will be designed to support multiple device categories such as smartphones, tablets, smart TVs, netbooks, and in-vehicle infotainment devices.
The project is hosted by the Linux Foundation with development led by a technical steering team from Intel and Samsung. Tizen will build upon technologies developed as part of the MeeGo and LiMo (Linux Mobile) projects.
Intel, along with Nokia, was part of the Linux Foundation's earlier project called MeeGo. "Over the next couple of months we will be working very hard to make sure that users of MeeGo can easily transition to Tizen, and we will be working even harder to make sure that developers of MeeGo can also transition to Tizen." An Intel representative working on the MeeGo project said on the project's website.
MeeGo is not dead but Nokia has left it in favour of Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 as its smartphone OS. Intel is still backing MeeGo, but will now move to Tizen and will use its knowledge for this new project.
Google recently announced its decision to buy Motorola, which will put it directly in competition with device makers like Samsung, LG, Acer, Asus and HTC who use Google's Android operating system in their smartphones.
After the move it was widely speculated that the device makers will look for a new OS to hedge the risk. With Samsung already participating in the Tizen project, Acer and Asustek are expected to join it as well. HTC is also evaluating its options (according to Digitimes,) but it is clear that it was indeed keen on a new operating system.
There are several reasons to believe that this project will taste success or will at least remain in focus. Samsung already has a smartphone operating system under its belt with bada (an OS that has seen a fair amount of success,) and will use its know-how to improve Tizen. Intel too has a lot of experience with MeeGo, an OS which techies used to love.
The other reason is that Linux Foundation has a fairly large number of members in Fujitsu, Panasonic, NEC, Motorola, ARM, ACCESS, Casio, NTT Docomo, SK Telecom, Telefonica, Vodafone and a host of others. While it is still not clear what their position with this new project is, we certainly expect to hear some of them joining it soon. Motorola could be ruled out as it is now owned by Google, the biggest rival of this project.
The Tizen application programming interfaces are based on HTML5 and other web standards, which means compatibility will not be an issue. And that is why Linux Foundation anticipates that the vast majority of Tizen application development will be based on these emerging standards.
According to the Tizen website, HTML 5 and web standards based APIs will cover various platform capabilities such as messaging, multimedia, camera, network and social media. For those who use native code in their applications, the Tizen SDK will include a native development kit.
What is also good is that Intel will support Tizen with its Intel AppUp developer program and a developer framework based on HTML5 and WAC standards. Intel is also encouraging developers to continue building and submitting apps for MeeGo netbooks already shipping, apps that will be compatible — unchanged — on Tizen netbooks.
So by the time Tizen OS makes its first appearance, it will have a good stack of apps. A lack of apps had killed HP's WebOS, which was otherwise touted as a potential iOS killer.
HTML5 and Web Standards support means that this OS will be very suitable for cloud based services like those of Amazon, Google cloud service (Google Drive), Windows Sky Drive and iCloud.
Mobile manufacturers like Huawei and HTC are also trying their hands at cloud services and so are mobile operators across the globe. These companies will like this OS for this reason more than anything else.
Linux foundation will open the entire Tizen software stack from the core OS up through the core applications and polished user interfaces. Tizen and its SDK (software development kit) are expected to be released in the first quarter of 2012, with the first devices hitting the market in mid 2012.
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