Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 LTE hands-on and unboxing

Samsung has just released yet another Android tablet to their ever growing list. With almost every size under the sun I’m sure many are wondering what separates their latest 7.7″ model from the pack. We have all the details in our hands-on and first impressions with the new Verizon 4G LTE-powered Galaxy Tab 7.7 so read on below for our thoughts and video.


Is this just another size that Samsung has thrown against the wall to see what sticks? Or can this compete with the iPad 3 that is surely coming soon? The only downside to the new Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 is the fact that they still managed to launch with Android 3.2 Honeycomb and NOT 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. If they had the latest and greatest this tablet would probably be at the top of my list for portable tablets — under the quad-core Prime for top spot of course.

Now for the specs, Samsung has equipped this with slate with a 7.7″ display. What makes this important is although many Samsung tablets had impressive AMOLED panels, this is the first tab with a Super AMOLED Plus HD display — just like the Galaxy Note. What does this mean? It means the screen looks freaking awesome! With a 7.7″ Super AMOLED Plus HD panel with a full 1280 x 800 resolution it is powered by the Samsung Exynos 1.4 GHz dual-core processor (not a Qualcomm) 1 GB of RAM, and 16GB of internal storage. It also has a micro-SD slot for extra storage, micro-SIM for the Verizon 4G LTE, and a pair of cameras. Front being 2 and rear being 3.2 megapixels.

I’ll save my detailed thoughts for the full review coming early next week but my initial impressions are extremely favorable. The bezel is smaller than previous Samsung tablets making for a small device, while still having 7.7″ of screen real estate. Performance is swift, build quality is top-notch and the slight redesigns to the buttons and rear body are welcomed changes.
Samsung and Verizon are calling this the thinnest 4G LTE tablet available being just 7.8mm thin (0.31″) and weighing only 12 ounces. Hopefully they plan to update this to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich within the next 2-3 months — and if they can do that they’ll have a real winner. Released yesterday it can be yours for just $499 and a new 2 -year contract at Verizonwireless.com or $699 outright (for the LTE).

ASUS says they’ll be first to “Android 5.0 Jelly Bean”

As the updates to Android come out some manufacturers are fast to adopt the latest and greatest, while others tend to take way too long — especially on phones. ASUS is one of those on the “fast” list and have prided themselves on being the fastest to update their devices. Just like the original Transformer was the first to update to new versions of Honeycomb, the Prime was the first to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. Now ASUS has mentioned Android 5.0 and Jelly Bean, and we sure are excited.


While some tablets had early versions, ASUS was the first to officially update to Ice Cream Sandwich. According to the folks over at TechRadar ASUS and their close relationship to Google especially over the past couple of months has them in a good position for the next version of Android. We already knew it would be called Jelly Bean, but no one was sure if this would be 4.1 or something else.
Here is what Benson Lin, Asus’ Corporate Vice President told TechRadar:

Asus is very close to Google, so once they have Android 5.0 I think there will be a high possibility that we will be the first wave to offer the Jelly Bean update.”

Not only was the Transformer one of the best selling tablets, but the Transformer Prime has been extremely hot as of late. Pair those with the new ASUS Padfone officially unveiled at MWC and coming this April — ASUS has a good shot at being first again unless Google launches another Nexus device. With Lin calling it both Jelly Bean and Android 5.0 this could potential confirm that Google will only be making minor changes until 5.0 and we won’t see a 4.1 Jelly Bean.
With the Padfone being an awesome showing of what Ice Cream Sandwich can do combining both recent operating systems from Google, Jelly Bean should combine them even more and be awesome. The Prime has received tons of updates the past few months for bug fixes since getting ICS, but I’d rather have that then wait 4-6 months for others to eventually update to the latest and greatest.

HTC Thunderbolt “test builds” of ICS could be coming next week

Well folks, we have some tasty good news for those that still might be rocking the original 4G LTE-powered HTC Thunderbolt. It looks like HTC is about to start taking the same update approach as Motorola and a few others, and will be supplying “test” or beta builds to select few lucky customers of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich with Sense UI 4.0 like we saw at MWC. More details after the break regarding this possibly real news.


Now that Mobile World Congress is over and we all saw an awesome first hand look at the new HTC One series and their latest Sense UI 4.0 everyone is probably wondering about the current crop of phones. While the Thunderbolt was one of the last HTC phones to get Android 2.3 Gingerbread it looks like HTC wont let the same happen with Ice Cream Sandwich. According to Vzbuzz HTC will start sending test devices to a select few users starting as soon as next week.

Now this could obviously be a fake. Emailing people that own the Thunderbolt yet offering “test devices” and not an over the air update seems odd — although could also be a security measure so the build doesn’t get leaked early. The other reason this feels completely fake to me is why HTC would be linking to addictivetipsdotcom to explain Android 4.0 ICS and not their own site, or Google themselves. For now I’m going to chalk this up as a fake but the chance HTC is preparing beta tests could still be quite possible.
Stay tuned for more details as I’ll be digging for more information.

Device Specifications and Information

Device Info

Device Name : ThunderBolt

Manufactuer : HTC

Carrier : Verizon

Announced Date : January 06, 2011

Release Date : March 17, 2011

Also Known As :

Display

• Screen Size : 4.30 Inch
• Resolution : 480x800
• Screen Type : TFT

Dimension & Weight

• Height : 4.75 Inch
• Width : 2.44 Inch
• Depth : 0.56 Inch
• Weight : 177 Grams

Battery & Power

Battery Type:
• Lithium Ion

• Battery Capacity : 1400 mAh
• Talk Time : NA
• Stand By Time : 330 hours

Software

Android OS:
• 2.3.x

Audio Playback:
• AAC
• AMR
• MID
• MP3
• WAV
• WMA

Video Playback:
• 3GP
• MPEG-4 (MP4)
• WMV

Messaging:
• SMS
• MMS

Hardware

CPU : Snapdragon

CPU Clock Speed : 1000 Mhz

Core : 1

Ram : 768 MB

Internal Storage : 8.192 GB

iPad 3 to run iOS 6.0

This week sites appear to be finding a new operating system popping up in their access logs, these logs showing not just an unknown iPad version with iOS 6.0 and a new version of a web browser. This version of the iPad has been said more than a coincidental amount of times to be having a high definition display and an improved set of hardware to support it, as well as a slightly less likely ability to run on 4G LTE networks across the nation. Signs in access logs today suggest that this device will be running a new version of the iOS Apple mobile operating system along with a version 535.8 of the web browser that comes with the operating system.


The next version of the iPad is set to be shown off on the 7th of this month, having been officially teased just this past week in an image invite. This invite is set to bring in the press to an event that’ll show the tablet off with both an HD display as well as a possible button-less piece of hardware. Have a peek at the post tossed up just yesterday including a mock-up of the image juxtaposed against the known iPad setup which shows how there’s basically no place for a home button – imagine that!
We’ll be at the March 7th event and will be reporting to you live via our live-feed straight from the event as we go at such gigantic shows of power, and you’re invited to join in on the fun. Have a peek at the link that’ll go live at the start of the event on the day of the showing, and we’ll be knocking out stories in the main news feed as well. Check out our timeline below for more iPad 3 tips and notes from the past few weeks as well to get up to speed quick!

Huawei to build new T-Mobile myTouch phones

T-Mobile will be refreshing its popular line of myTouch Android smartphones and this time around the devices are set to be made by Huawei. As usual, the new lineup will include two versions of the device, one with a slide-out QWERTY keyboard and one without. The duo are expected to arrive sometime in late Spring.


When T-Mobile first introduced the myTouch line back in 2009, HTC was the main manufacturer up until last year when LG swooped in for the latest iteration. Now T-Mobile is switching it up again, giving an opportunity to Huawei, which has increasingly become the go-to manufacturer for carrier-branded phones and tablets.
The Huawei-made myTouch phones will have model numbers U8680 and U8730. They are expected to run Android 2.3 Gingerbread and feature WVGA 480 x 800 resolution displays, but apart from these details little else is known. They will certainly be affordable though and will likely arrive by the end of May.

Android 5.0 Jelly Bean tipped by ASUS

There’s a good chance that the next version of Android will be code-named Jellybean, that we already knew – now what we’re hearing from ASUS is that they’re quite likely to be on the list to be first on the market with said operating system. Generally Google chooses one manufacturer to work closely with them to create one of what they call their “Nexus” line of devices to demonstrate a “vanilla” or “virgin” version of their newest operating system. As ASUS now has a close relationship with Google, so says their corporate vice president, they’ll likely be amongst the first to release a device with the update right out of the box.


It’s unclear whether the quote, which comes from TechRadar, really truly does confirm the code name for what we must assume is Android 5.0, one version higher than the current Android 4.0 code-named Ice Cream Sandwich, but it’s a very juicy set of words all the same. Have a peek at what Benson Lin (ASUS corporate vice president) said this week:

“ASUS is very close to Google, so once they have Android 5.0 I think there will be a high possibility that we will be the first wave to offer the Jelly Bean update.” – Lin

The first tablet to be granted the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich update on the market was the ASUS Transformer Prime, a device which was already on the market at the time. There was no tablet member of the Nexus family released for the Android 4.0 update, instead Google relying on the Galaxy Nexus made by Samsung, a smartphone, to carry the load on its own. Thus far the closest a tablet has come to being part of the Nexus lineup was the Motorola XOOM, a device which shouldered the Android 3.0 update known as Honeycomb.

We expect that ASUS certainly has a good chance of being one of if not the exclusive device makers for the future release of whatever Google ends up calling their next operating system version, and a device such as the Padfone might not be far off from the truth when it comes to presenting such an oddity. We’ll know soon enough!

Dell XPS 13 Ultrabook: first impression

Ultrabooks were all the rage at CES 2012 last month, and if one model rose above the rest, it was the XPS 13 from Dell. The latest in a long line of powerful portables, the Ultrabook version of the XPS 13 wowed onlookers with a combination of a metal, plastic and carbon fiber body and incredible slimness, not to mention a tiny overall footprint – Dell claims that it’s crammed a 13-inch screen into a body size mostly reserved for 12-inch laptops. You can pick one up from Dell now starting at $999, but you might want to read our initial impressions first.

I’ve owned quite a few Dells in my life, and while they’ve been generally reliable and always good value for money, the new XPS blows them all out of the water when it comes to style. The only thing that the company has that comes close is some of their executive laptops, and those are more attractive thanks to their tank-like qualities, where the XPS is svelte. An impressively light weight of just 2.9 pounds combines with a .71-inch thin frame to make it an impressively compact machine.
The top is matte silver plastic (very few fingerprints) ringed with a durable aluminum, with a Gorilla Glass-covered LCD screen – an appreciable addition. On the keyboard deck you get lighted keys, and love it or hate it, the all-in-one trackpad/mouse button combination that seems to be standard on ultrabooks. There are defined left and right click areas, for those that want it. The deck itself is a grippy, soft-touch plastic that feels great on the palms. Just below the trackpad is an activity light visible when the laptop’s closed. A single USB 2.0 port on the left side is flanked by a combined headphone/microphone jack and the power jack, while the right side holds a USB 3.0 port and a power port. That’s all you get for in and out – an SD card slot would have been nice, but is just as absent as an optical drive.

The bottom holds some interesting goodies: aside from the drag-racer inspired carbon fiber panel, there’s a covered “XPS” aluminum latch that hides the Windows 7 system information. This is a snazzy and hitherto unseen way of keeping the bottom base of stickers or paint – not overly necessary, but a nice touch. A long vent hints as surprisingly powerful innards: our review unit came with an upgraded Intel Core i7 processor and a 256GB SSD drive, but a Core i5/128GB combo is standard. At present, Dell is only offering the XPS 13 with 4GB of RAM and Intel integrated graphics.

Easily the most pleasing thing upon initial inspection is the screen. It’s bright, surprisingly clear for a 1366×768 panel, and a seriously tiny bezel makes it stand out in the crowd of ultrabooks already on the market. Despite its small size, the full-size keyboard and soft-fouch palmrest and touchpad make for very comfortable use, and a light bloatware load is always a good sign.

Windows 8 makes desktop computing fun again

There’s no denying that switching from any other version of a Windows operating system to Microsoft’s new Windows 8 is a big jump in its user experience. What’s not quite as clear from the outset, if you’ve never used the operating system in person that is, is that this operating system makes the entire computing experience as entertaining as it was when the iPad was first released. It’s that big of an improvement in the entertainment department.


When you first open up a clean install of Windows 8, you see the word Start in the upper left-hand corner, the name of your device or your chosen profile name in the upper right alongside your chosen icon, and a series of smart tiles reminiscent of Windows Phone 7 and above. In other words, if you head out to the store today and look at a Windows Phone smartphone today, you’ll see setup very similar in aesthetics and functionality to the Windows we’re seeing here today in Windows 8.
Included in the basic build is an app store simply titled Store, Xbox LIVE Games, Internet Explorer 10 (a new preview version with a few differences that aren’t immediately apparent to the average user), Maps from Bing, Video (also connected to the Store), Photos, Messaging, Mail. Weather, Calendar, People and more – a lot of these connect directly to archives of information already live through Windows Phone. Most of these apps also include the tag “App Preview” which lets you know that this operating system is full of preview content as well as functionality.
Pinball FX2 and Solitaire are included so you can see how a game looks right on your Start screen, Camera connects to your video chat camera, and Xbox Companion connects you with your gaming console the way most of these apps connect you with your Windows Phone. You’ve also got Music (connected to the Store again), SkyDrive for cloud computing and storage, Remote Desktop, Finance, Reader, and Windows Explorer – which does just what you think it does as its the same shortcut it’s always been.

This start screen is just one portion of the whole Windows 8 world, but it’s certainly the most important. It makes the collecting of more tiles a desirable adventure. Just like my first experience with the iPad and what I’m sure most people’s first experience was like with their smartphones with the app store front and center, I want to expand my experience because this operating system is fun to use.
I’ve got the Windows 8 Consumer Preview loaded on the Acer Aspire S3 that I reviewed back at the start of February, so I’ve not yet had the full laptop plus touchscreen experience quite yet – but having tried out the tablet experience earlier this week and back at CES as well I can say this: Microsoft may well have pulled a rabbit out of their hat on this one.

Apple crosses 25 billion App Store downloads, thanks all the little people

If you've ever downloaded an app from iTunes then congratulations, you are a part of history. Just a few minutes ago Apple notched its 25 billionth download, thanking all involved for getting there, and of course (like it did for 10 billion, and 1 billion), gifting the lucky individual who crossed the line with another $10k gift card. Not sure what you would buy with $10,000 in App Store bucks? That's ok, since you probably don't have it, but don't forget -- our official Engadget and Distro apps are free, and will love you back all the same. Remember way back in 2008 when all this was fresh and new?

Flipboard for iPad now with Cover Stories

When Flipboard first came to the iPad, it was an app, using which one could load up 9 publications, that they want to read often. Then the app overhauled and came to the iPhone. It presented multiple news sources in column view and also came with Cover Stories. Now, the app is updated and Cover Stories is now on the iPad. Cover Stories gives readers one place to quickly catch up on some of the most interesting stories, posts and photos from everything they have connected to their Flipboard. Cover Stories shows up as a new, “double tile” on Flipboard’s first page. Cover Stories learns what readers like from their interactions with news, posts and photos shared by friends and sources. Over time Cover Stories on Flipboard gets more and more relevant, giving readers one place to quickly catch up on their social news.

Now with Cover Stories

Other updates that Flipboard has integrated are:

• A third page in the Flipboard Table of Contents, which gives readers more tiles, now with a total of 32 tiles, to quickly dive into favorite Flipboard sections.
• New first launch experience on Flipboard for iPad during which a reader can pick topics of interest to get started -- from Tech to Travel. This set-up now mirrors the new user process from Flipboard for iPhone.
• In addition to having whole Google Reader feed, now it’s possible to add a specific Google Reader folder as a Flipboard tile.

Furthermore, this update extends Flipboard's content across more borders. They've made their first European launch with a French edition. Also, readers of Flipboard in the UK, Canada, Australia, Ireland, France, Hong Kong and Taiwan can easily access a Content Guide with hundreds of recommendations based on their language and location through the new country picker.  A single tap on the red ribbon lets readers access the Content Guide. Later this month, Flipboard will also launch a Japanese Content Guide. Flipboard for iOS is available for free from the iOS App Store.

51% of organizations lose data through mobile devices

A study entitled Global Study on Mobile Risks finds that corporate mobile devices and the bring your own device phenomenon are going against enterprise security and policies. 77 percent of more than 4,000 respondents in 12 countries agree that the use of mobile devices in the workplace is important to achieving business objectives. However, 76 percent also believe that these devices put their organizations at risk. Furthermore, only 39 percent say they have the necessary security controls to address the risk.

Enterprise mobile usage is not completely secure yet despite rise in usage

The study was conducted by the Ponemon Institute and was sponsored by security firm, Websense. The research shows that organizations often don’t know how and what data is leaving their networks through non-secure mobile devices. Traditional static security solutions, such as antivirus (AV), firewalls, and passwords are not effective at stopping advanced malware and data theft threats from malicious or negligent insiders. The study was designed to help IT security professionals plan for the increased use of mobile devices in the corporate sector.

The key findings of the study were:

• 59 percent of respondents report that employees circumvent or disengage security features, such as passwords and key locks, on corporate and personal mobile devices.
• During the past 12 months, 51 percent of the organizations in this study experienced data loss resulting from employee use of insecure mobile devices, including laptops, smartphones, USB devices, and tablets.
• 77 percent of respondents agree that the use of mobile devices in the workplace is important to achieving business objectives. A similar percentage (76 percent) believe that these tools put their organizations at risk. Only 39 percent have the necessary security controls to address the risk, and only 45 percent have enforceable policies.
• Insecure mobile devices increase rates of malware infections. 59 percent of respondents say that over the past 12 months, their organizations experienced an increase in malware infections as a result of insecure mobile devices in the workplace, with another 25 percent unsure.
• 65 percent of the respondents are most concerned with employees taking photos or videos in the workplace, probably due to fears about the theft or exposure of confidential information. Other unacceptable uses, include downloading and using Internet apps (44 percent) and using personal email accounts (43 percent). 42 percent say that downloading confidential data onto devices (USB or Bluetooth) is not acceptable in their organizations.

Over 4,600 IT and IT security practitioners in Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Mexico, Singapore, United Kingdom, and the United States were surveyed. With an average of 10 years’ experience in the field, 54 percent are supervisors (or above) and 42 percent are from organizations with more than 5,000 employees. This survey defines mobile devices as laptops, USB drives, smartphones, and tablets.

Asus finally launches Transformer Prime in India for a whopping Rs. 50,000

After months of waiting, the Transformer Prime has finally landed on our shores. Just like we reported a month back, about the Indian pricing, the Prime (TF201-1B014A) will be priced at Rs.49,999 and there’ll only be one model available at the moment. This will be the Wi-Fi version only and it doesn’t seem like they’ll be making a 3G version, since this will eventually be phased out and replaced with the new Transformer 700 that they announced at MWC 2012.

It's here, but is it too late?

The Transformer Prime will come with Honeycomb at launch, but will be upgradable to Ice Cream Sandwich, soon. The tablet will run Nvidia’s Tegra 3, which is the first quad-core CPU for hand-held devices. On the screen front, it will sport the same 10-inch LED backlit display with a resolution of 1280 x 800. Another major change is the new 8MP snapper on the back, along with flash. Even if the Prime does come with a 3G dongle support, having a SIM card slot is just more convenient, instead of having a dongle sticking out the side. Also, with the new range of Asus tablets on the horizon, we don’t know if this was the perfect time to launch an old product, just after you’ve announced its replacement. Also, this month could be when Apple pulls the wraps off the iPad 3, so there’s another reason to hold on to your tablet purchase.

Here’s a quick recap of the highlights of the Transformer Prime:

• 10-inch IPS Capacitive Touchscreen with a 1280 x 800 pixel resolution
• 1.3GHz quad core Tegra 3 processor, 1GB of RAM
• Android 3.2 Honeycomb, upgradable to ICS
• 64GB internal storage
• EDGE/GPRS, Wi-Fi
• GPS with A-GPS support
• Bluetooth with A2DP, USB 2.0
• 8 megapixel camera LED flash, 1080p video recording
• Stereo FM radio with RDS
• Memory expandable up to 32GB via microSD card
• 3.5 mm handsfree socket

ATab tablet for Rs. 5,000 to be available from this month

Looks like the low cost, affordable tablet segment in the country will have to make some more place, as the market continues to get populated with more entrants - some known, others new. Now, AcrossWorld Education, the global SaaS company have introduced ATab to the Indian market, in partnership with Delhi-based Go-Tech, with an aim to get quality educational content to the schools and colleges in the country. The ATab is an Android tablet, sporting a 7-inch, advanced touchscreen display and will cost Rs. 5,000. The ATab will be available in India from the second week of March. Some other features of the ATab include, 1.1 GHz processor, 512 MB RAM, 2GB inbuilt memory expandable up to 16 GB, Wi-Fi and an external 3G USB Dongle.

ATab tablet in India

Now for the best part. In its feature list, the ATab mentions that it comes with Education Bridge, which essentially is a "revolutionary education technology platform" by one of its makers, AcrossWorld Education. Those buying the ATab tablet will receive a three-year free and unlimited access to Education Bridge. The tool, according to the official statement "allows academic institutions, teachers and students to use a variety of content elements including Open Content, Open Educational Resources, Legacy Content and proprietary content sources to connect, collaborate, and innovate. It also includes professional services for deployment and training schools and colleges on using EducationBridgeTM to leverage premium global educational content."

Interestingly, several schools and colleges based across cities, like Delhi, Kanpur, Allahabad, Rourkela and Gaujarala have expressed their keen interest on the yet-to-be-released ATab. The following schools have already tied-up with AcrossWorld Education - Carmel Public School, Gaujrala; Dr. Ambedkar Memorial Institute of Technology, Rourkela; Shikhar Shishu Sadan Convent School, Dhampur; and, Gandhinagar Public School, Moradabad.

In his statement, Dr. Stephan Thieringer, President and CEO of AcrossWorld stated, “Open Source is the future of education. With the availability of ATab, Indian schools will be able to discover and leverage world-class educational content at their fingertips at the K-12 level itself as well as at the college and University level. It is very timely and appropriate that India schools and colleges alike seriously explore advanced technology solutions that provide instant access to the world’s best educational resources , especially now within an affordable budget.”

In its initial launch phase, roughly 10,000 units of the ATab tablet will be introduced to the market; and this number will be taken higher, gradually. Enthusiasts in India should expect the tablets to surface around the second week of this month. The tablets, according to the official statement will come in several colours to appeal to the youth.

Canon introduces the PIXMA E500 printer in India

The best part of advancements in technology is that as time passes, the cost of different products tend to drop and with it, an all round feasibility occurs. Keeping cost in mind, Canon announced the launch of their new affordable multi-function PIXMA E500 printer in India that uses affordable ink as well. E500 is suitable for home and small office users who have large printing volume and desire a printer with low running cost per page with high quality printing.

2000 pages from a single cartridge

Canon claims that the printer includes new features that will enhance the overall customer experience. E500 comes with new high-capacity FINE11 Cartridge System (PG-88 Pigment Black / CL-98 Tri-color) and print speed of ESET: 5.0ipm for color and ESET: 8.6ipm for black and white printing. With increase in red region saturation and high capacity black ink cartridge, the printer delivers brilliant output according to the brand. Some of the other highlighted features of E500 are PC-less photo enhancement via the Auto Photo Fix II, filter effects and D.C.G. processing technology with which E500 delivers high quality photo prints.

Speaking at the launch, Mr VP Sajeevan, Director, CSP Division, Canon India, said, “Our latest PIXMA printers incorporate Canon’s advanced technology at lower price points and PIXMA E500 is designed to meet our customers need to deliver unparalleled print quality at affordable prices. Besides, with high capacity cartridge system the user will not have to replace cartridges frequently.” Canon state that photos appear true to life with exceptional vibrancy and incomparable quality as the versatile E500 is equipped with FINE print head technology which produces a wide color gamut to achieve vivid coloration, high glossiness and true depth. Users can print ready-to-frame photo images in minutes and with ChromaLife100 Technology they get 100 years of photo longevity under album storage.

The E500 printer's fold-up paper tray provides a compact printing solution for home users with limited workspace or students with small dorm rooms. Also, users can easily replace cartridges from the front cover. Users can also scan the documents and pictures in minutes with 1200 x 2400 dpi optical scan resolution and save energy with CIS (Contact Image Sensor).  The auto scan mode performs document type detection, multi-cropping in one-pass scanning and saves files into appropriate document categories

E500 printer with the new FINE11 Cartridges can also access to Canon’s Creative Park Premium. With E500 users get full HD Movie Print feature with which they can merge frames and combine multiple frames to show natural flow of movement. Users can also prints printable CDs and CD jewel case with the newly introduced Disc Label Printing which comes with 33 layouts options and 11 background samples.

183mn phones shipped to India in 2011, reveals study

Mobile trends in India were at their highest last year and wider acceptance by rural areas, 3G awareness, among others are being credited to have brought about that change. Compared to 2010, mobile phone shipments in India grew by 10 percent, as per a study carried out by CyberMedia Research. The increase show the shipments were 183.4mn units in 2011, compared to 166.5mn units in 2010. Nokia, however, still leads the pack. In the feature phone and smartphone segment, Nokia took the top spot, followed by Samsung. Nokia retained 31 percent market share with feature phones and 38 percent with smartphones. Micromax and RIM took the third place in feature phone and smartphone segment, respectively.

10 percent increase in phone shipments

"In 2012, the proportion of smartphones with extended features like NFC and 3D gaming is likely to increase. It will be interesting to see how Microsoft and Nokia take their partnership to the next level with a new range of smart devices based on the Windows 7.5 Mango OS platform," CyberMedia Research Lead Telecoms Analyst, Naveen Mishra said.

Not surprisingly, the last year saw RIM drop in position to claim the third spot in the smartphone segment. On the other hand, the smartphone market blossomed with the launch of 150 models by 30 vendors. With established players, like Nokia and Samsung expanding their dual-SIM portfolio, the multi-SIM category saw a year-on-year increase of 61 percent in shipments and accounted for 57 percent of the total shipments in 2011. According to this report, Nokia displaced G’Five, while Samsung pushed Micromax a step lower. So assumedly, G’Five had a good penetration in the rural areas and the shipments of its entry level handsets may be high.

"The innovative products in the Finnish vendor's portfolio helped Nokia become the market leader in the category," CyberMedia Research Telecoms Practice Analyst, Tarun Pathak said. The year 2011 also saw about 250 3G handsets from about 30 vendors hitting the market, accounting for nearly 18 million units, and an year-on-year growth of 153 per cent. 

The report, however points out that the acceptance of 3G is still not full-fledged, owing to the lack of 3G network in India. As of December 2011, the number of active 3G subscribers stood at 15 million, and this number may see a further rise, if 4G rollout manages to bring in 3G services at lower prices. This could also lead to a higher number of smartphone users.

Windows 8 Consumer Preview crosses 1 million downloads

If you’re a PC or a tablet enthusiast, you’re going to be excited about Windows 8, just as we are. The popular operating system that has been under development is nearing completion. Microsoft decided to release a Developer Preview build, late last year, in September. A few days back, Microsoft also released a Consumer Preview, which seems to be getting even more popular. Microsoft has posted a message on their Twitter ID @BuildWindows8 that talks about Windows 8 Consumer Preview having gotten a million downloads already. Clearly, everyone’s curious to see how the next big operating system from Windows 8 looks and feels like. Another great thing about the preview is that its said to expire, sometime in early 2013. 

Doing well, even as a preview build

We’ve even written a quick install guide, which you can find here. We looked at the early Developer Preview, a while back. Windows 8 is being developed for multiple platforms. On one hand, it’s made for desktop PCs and notebooks. An ARM version is also being made for use with tablets and possibly phones in the future. The operating system also includes a whole new interface, very different from previous Windows desktop operating systems, which is called Metro UI and offers a sliding array of tiles that house applications.

Windows 8 is looking to be a strong operating system for desktops as system requirements haven’t changed much. Microsoft claims that any system running Windows 7 will be able to run Windows 8 as well. This means, organizations and also home users choosing to upgrade won’t have to invest in more powerful and expensive hardware. There’s no sign of a build for ARM devices such as tablet yet, but Microsoft might try and get a few demo tablets out, before the final launch. There’s quite a lot that has changed and improved, since the last Developer Preview. We’re going to be looking at the Windows 8 Consumer Preview a little closely in the days to come, so stay tuned.

XFX jumps onboard with AMD's new HD 7000 series GPUs

XFX released their all new Radeon HD 7000 Series line-up that’s now available in four versions for you to choose from- Core Edition, the multi-award winning Double Dissipation, Black Edition Single Fan and Black Edition Double Dissipation – all featuring XFX’s Ghost Thermal Solution.  These are the prices for the following models:

• FX-797A-TNFC - Rs.41000
• FX-795A-TNFC - Rs.34800
• FX-777A-ZDSC - Rs.11300

Now in India!

Ghost Thermal technology is the optimal thermal design that allows air to pass through the heatsink directly to the PCB and core components. This exclusive design allows fan speeds to be kept lower, while allowing the heat to dissipate evenly through the card without excess noise. XFX’s exclusive Ghost Thermal design is complemented by its highly efficient HydroCell thermal solution, which is a vapour chamber, based on the same principles as heat-pipe technology, which uses a recirculation process and wick system for vaporization. All of this combined with XFX’s award-winning Double Dissipation dual-fan design makes it one of the coolest and quietest cards on the market, while simultaneously increasing overall graphics card performance and lifespan.   

The 7000 series introduces AMD’s revolutionary 28nm Architecture, which utilizes the smallest transistors used in a GPU, ever. Utilizing AMD’s EyeFinity technology, the world’s first 28nm GPU chip provides improved texture and dynamic power management for uncompromised efficiency and performance across up to six displays. The 28nm GCN Architecture enables a dramatic increase in processing power for better performance, while using less power and better transistor efficiency, than previous generation technology. In addition, AMD and XFX bring gamers a plethora of new breakthrough technologies, including the all new PCI Express Gen 3 Bus Architecture with up to 32GB/s bandwidth, 384-bit Memory Bus and also up to 3GB of memory in a single video card.

German court dismisses 2 Apple-Samsung appeals

At the Mannheim Regional Court in Germany, today, representatives of both Apple and Samsung had assembled to place their appeals before the presiding judge, Andreas Voss. However, the judge, according to a post on Foss Patents dismissed the appeals of both Apple and Samsung. As familiarized by our previous reports, both Apple and Samsung are waging a bitter battle in Germany, and in several other countries, worldwide over a host of patents, which each one claims is owned by them.

Dismissed for now!

Both the companies, had this time, too approached the court with appeals and allegations against one another. The appeals that were dismissed by the judge, include one of Apple's two claims about Samsung infringing on its patented slide-to unlock technology, and one of other 3G/UMTS-essential patents that Samsung alleges Apple infringes on. The post adds that the decision on the slide-to unlock patent, which has Apple accusing Samsung of patent infringement will be announced on March 16, i.e. two weeks from today.

The report further states that, "Samsung today announced its intent to appeal the dismissal of its case, and while Apple typically declines to comment, I believe they, too, will appeal, especially since the Mannheim court's interpretation of the slide-to-unlock patent was narrower than the one the Munich I Regional Court adopted in a case that Apple won (for the most part) against Motorola two weeks ago, a fact that shows that there's room for interpretation and appeals courts could decide either way."

This news is an update to an ongoing battle between Cupertino-based, Apple Inc. and South Korean company, Samsung Electronics, since a while now, over a host of patent infringement allegations.