Samsung Galaxy S5 to reportedly feature aluminium unibody metal chassis
Ketan Pratap, December 04, 2013
Samsung's next flagship device, rumoured to be dubbed Galaxy S5, might be the first smartphone from the South Korean giant to sport a metal chassis.
As per a report published by Japanese site, EMS One the alleged Galaxy S5 would sport an aluminium unibody chassis and that it would be manufactured by Taiwanese based company, Catcher. The report claims that Catcher would be manufacturing between 10 million and 30 million Galaxy S5 metal unibody cases.
Notably, Catcher has been the company manufacturing aluminium unibody for devices like HTC One, Apple iPad mini 2, notes Phonearena.
In addition, the RB Men blog has posted a purported image of the Galaxy S5 with metal chassis. The alleged image reveals an unnamed Samsung device's rear panel which features metal back, instead of the plastic we have seen in other Galaxy smartphones.
Prior to this, a set of images allegedly showing a structural component of Samsung's next flagship smartphone, the rumoured Galaxy S5, was spotted online.
Earlier a report suggested the South Korean manufacturer plans to release two versions of the alleged Galaxy S5. As per the report, there would be two variants of the Galaxy S5: a premium variant sporting a metal chassis and a flexible OLED, and a variant which would come with the usual plastic body, as found on other Galaxy smartphones.
Further, the report also speculated that Samsung would initially manufacture around 800,000 to 1 million units of the alleged Galaxy S5 in January, and would increase the number up to 6 million units in February. The report claimed that Samsung would likely release the Galaxy S5 in March or April 2014.
Rumoured specifications of the alleged Galaxy S5 include a 64-bit Exynos chipset or a Snapdragon chipset; 3GB of RAM, a 16-megapixel camera, a 4000mAh battery and Android 4.4 KitKat with TouchWiz UI on top.
Karbonn Titanium X with 5-inch full-HD display launched at Rs. 18,490
Ketan Pratap, December 05, 2013
Karbonn has unveiled its latest smartphone in India, the Titanium X priced at Rs. 18,490. Previously, in early November, the domestic handset maker had posted a teaser image of the Titanium X on its official website without pricing.
The Karbonn Titanium X runs Android 4.2 Jelly Bean out-of-the-box. Notably, the smartphone is a single SIM device with support for a micro-SIM.
The Titanium X features a 5-inch full-HD (1080x1920) IPS display, and is powered by a quad-core 1.5GHz processor coupled with 1GB of RAM. The smartphone sports a 13-megapixel rear autofocus camera with dual-LED flash, and also houses a 5-megapixel front-facing camera. It includes 16GB of inbuilt storage, which is further expandable up to 32GB via microSD card.
On the connectivity front, the smartphone includes NFC support, which will make the Titanium X the first 'affordable' smartphone from an Indian brand to sport this feature. The smartphone is backed by a 2300mAh battery, which is rated to deliver up to 6 hours of talktime, and up to 240 hours of standby time. The Karbonn Titanium X includes a host of sensors that include proximity sensor, G sensor, magnetic sensor, gyro sensor, and light sensor.
Commenting on the launch, Shashin Devsare, Executive Director, Karbonn Mobiles said "With the Karbonn Titanium X we are taking the Indian smartphone market to a different level altogether - the level X. Our endeavour is to set a benchmark in the Indian smartphone market, and establish Karbonn Titanium X at the pinnacle of research innovation. Unlike any other smartphone in the market, the Karbonn Titanium X enables the Generation X to live life in the fast lane and discover more into their social interactions."
Samsung Galaxy Win Pro quad-core smartphone listed on official China site
Hitesh Arora, December 06, 2013
The South Korean handset maker seems all-set to launch another mid-range quad-core smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy Win Pro.
The successor to Samsung Galaxy Win I8550, which was launched in India as the Galaxy Grand Quattro, is listed on Samsung Mobiles' China portal (above image translated via Google Translate). So far, there has been no official announcement by the company, and availability and price remain unknown, though most specifications are featured on the listing.
The Samsung Galaxy Win Pro is a dual-SIM (WCDMA+GSM) smartphone that runs on Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean. It is powered by a 1.2GHz quad-core processor, but the memory and storage capacity are not mentioned by the company.
The Galaxy Win Pro flaunts higher resolution but smaller 4.5-inch qHD (540x960) display, compared to its predecessor, which had a 4.7-inch WVGA (480x800) display. Apart from a VGA front-facing camera, the smartphone boasts of a 5-megapixel AF rear camera with LED flash with shooting modes like panorama shooting, continuous shooting etc., the camera can also record sound while shooting photos.
The battery power has been slightly improved with a bump up to 2100mAh from 2000mAh on the Galaxy Grand Quatrro. Other specifications of the Galaxy Win Pro include full-HD video playback capabilities, apart from Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 3G, GPS and Micro-USB connectivity.
Recently Samsung had announced the successor to the Samsung Galaxy Grand, the Samsung Galaxy Grand 2 runs Android 4.3 Jelly Bean out-of-the-box. The Galaxy Grand 2 is a dual-SIM device with support for GSM+GSM. It features a 5.2-inch HD TFT display with a resolution of 720x1280 pixels.
The Galaxy Grand 2 is powered by a 1.2GHz quad-core processor alongside 1.5GB of RAM. It sports an 8-megapixel autofocus rear camera accompanied by an LED flash. It also houses a 1.9-megapixel front-facing camera. It comes with 8GB inbuilt storage, which is further expandable up to 64GB via microSD card.
Samsung Galaxy S Duos 2 dual-core smartphone launched at Rs. 10,990
Ketan Pratap, December 06, 2013
Samsung's latest budget Android smartphone, the Galaxy S Duos 2, is now official in India. TheSamsung Galaxy S Duos 2 was listed on the company's online store in November this year, however there was no word on the availability of the device, with the page providing a 'Notify Me' option for consumers.
Samsung notes that the Galaxy S Duos 2 supports 10 regional languages, namely Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Punjabi, Tamil and Telugu.
The Galaxy S Duos 2 comes with a 4-inch WVGA (480x800) TFT display and is powered by a 1.2GHz dual-core processor (unspecified chipset). It is a dual-SIM (GSM+GSM) smartphone and runs Android 4.2 Jelly Bean with TouchWiz UI on top.
The Galaxy S Duos 2 sports a 5-megapixel rear camera with LED flash and also includes a VGA front-facing camera. The smartphone comes with 768MB of RAM and 4GB of inbuilt storage, which is further expandable up to 64GB via microSD card.
Connectivity features on the Galaxy S Duos 2 include Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, EDGE, GPRS and 3G. There is a 1500mAh battery backing the device which the company claims can deliver up to 8 hours of talktime and up to 280 hours of standby time. The Galaxy S Duos 2 has dimensions of 121.5x63.1x10.57mm, and weighs 118 grams. The smartphone will be available in two colours - Black and White.
Recently, Samsung announced the successor to the Galaxy Grand, the Galaxy Grand 2. However, the South Korean handset maker has not revealed the price for Galaxy Grand 2, and has also not announced the availability details for the smartphone.
The Moto X proves you don't need cutting edge specs to make a great Android phone.
Motorola Moto XThe Moto X reveal didn’t deliver the super phone many Android fans were hoping for, but Motorola’s latest flagship handset isn’t playing the spec game like Samsung and HTC. With the Moto X, Motorola and Google are changing the way we interact with our devices, opting to cram the phone with sensors rather than extra processing cores. The philosophy behind the Moto X is a laudable one, and I hope that other Android phone manufacturers take note: Your phone should work with you to make your life more convenient.
”Okay Google Now”
The Moto X is packed to the brim with sensors that help it predict what you’ll need from it next. For instance, the phone will automatically display the time when you slide it out of your pocket or pick it up, without you having to press the power button. It’s convenient and helps save some battery life since it doesn’t light up the entire screen, only a small portion of it. I’m a big fan of the feature and wish someone had thought of it sooner.
MICHAEL HOMNICKActive Display shows you which apps need your attention.
Another interesting feature of the Moto X is Active Display. The phone lacks a notification LED, so all your notifications show up on the lock screen. The screen will pulse softly when you have a new notification, and you can easily see which apps are trying to get your attention. If you want to see more information about a certain notification, you can press and hold the center of the screen while Active Display is on to see a small preview. Active Display works with all Android apps that give you a notification, and you can manually select which apps utilize the feature should you find too many of them clogging up your screen.
The Moto SmartActions app that was on previous Motorola phones has been replaced by a new Moto Assist app. Whereas SmartActions let you create a wide variety of actions to help automate your phone and get the most out of it, Moto Assist is extremely basic and only offers actions for when you’re driving, sleeping, or in a meeting.
Moto Assist
The phone can detect when you’re driving and can read aloud your text messages to you and tell you who is calling. You call also set the phone to silence itself between certain times, similar to the Do Not Disturb feature introduced on iOS 6. Moto Assist is certainly less complicated than SmartActions, but I liked the flexibility of SmartActions and hope Motorola can add additional actions to Moto Assist in future updates.
The headlining feature of the Moto X, however, is Touchless Control: With Touchless Control enabled, you can speak commands to your phone without having to interact with it in any physical way. The feature is built atop Google Now, and you trigger it by saying “Okay Google Now,” followed by your command. You won’t get jokes and stories like you do with Siri, but I’ve often found Google Now to be better and faster at processing my speech than Apple’s virtual assistant.
MICHAEL HOMNICKOnce you set it up, Touchless Control will automatically launch whenever you say, “Okay Google Now.”
When you first set up Touchless Control, you need to train the software to recognize your voice, and I tested to make sure other people couldn't activate my phone by saying the trigger phrase. The feature worked extremely well when used from a few feet away, however, and Google's voice processing software was quite accurate at understanding my queries—even in noisy environments. Touchless Control will activate if you yell across the room, but the couple of times I tried it Google Now wasn’t able to parse my request. It’ll come in handy when you’re driving or just want to impress your friends.
The Moto X ships running Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean, though Motorola promised the phone would be updated to 4.3 in a timely manner. The Moto X is not a Nexus device, so it won’t be updated at the same pace as the Nexus 4 or the Nexus tablets. Motorola has generally been good about updating its phones, but it’s something worth noting if you were hoping to have your hands on the latest version of Android right out of the gate.
Designed by you
MICHAEL HOMNICKThe Moto X looks pretty snazzy.
For the longest time Motorola was making phones that were more functional than fashionable. Last year’s Verizon Droid Razr line, for example, provided exceptional battery life and performance, but the phones were boxy and somewhat awkward to hold. The Moto X, by contrast, features a curved back that rests gently in your hand, and the phone feels much more compact compared to its Droid cousins. Measuring 65.3 by 129.3 by 10.4mm (at the phone’s thickest point), the Moto X isn’t much taller than the iPhone 5—though it is wider and heavier than Apple’s offering. One of my big issues with the iPhone 5 is that its narrow frame can make it seem top-heavy and I always feel like it’s going to flip out of my hands. That problem never even entered my mind while handling the Moto X, whose wider chassis seemed to conform perfectly to my palm.
MICHAEL HOMNICKThe Moto X (top) and Nexus 4 (bottom)
The Moto X is constructed out of a composite blend that Motorola adamantly denies is plastic. The material doesn’t feel as flimsy as the polycarbonate used on theSamsung Galaxy S4, and it didn’t get greasy or gross after handling the phone for a prolonged period of time. I’m still not convinced that it isn’t plastic, but the material doesn’t make the phone feel cheap and it seems like it can stand its fair share of abuse.
ARMANDO RODRIGUEZThe Moto X will be available with a wood back sometime near the end of the year.
The phone will be available in white or black if you pick it up in-store, but you can also order a customized Moto X online through Motorola’s Moto Maker website and have it shipped to you in four days. There are hundreds of different colors available for the back of the phone—as well as the camera ring, volume rocker, and power button—but you’re limited to white or black for the front face of the device. Unfortunately these customization options will be limited to AT&T at launch, though Motorola did say that other carriers will follow shortly after. Another point worth noting is that the 32GB version of the Moto X will only be available through Moto Maker, so you’ll need to settle for the 16GB version or wait until Moto Maker is available for your carrier of choice.
Dual-core and lag-free
Unlike Samsung, HTC, LG, and pretty much every other Android phone manufacturer out there, Motorola isn’t competing when it comes to specs. While hardcore Android fans will take one look at the Moto X’s spec sheet and scoff at the phone’s 4.7-inch, 1280-by-720p AMOLED display and 1.7GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor, there’s a lot more to a handset than the type of chips it uses or the resolution of its display. Motorola and Google worked closely together to optimize Android for this hardware, and the results of that collaboration are telling. To put it bluntly: The Moto X feels faster than many of the quad-core phones I’ve used in the past year.
MICHAEL HOMNICKThe Moto X is fast, like super fast.
Apps open instantaneously, there’s no lag when jumping from an app back to the home screen, and the phone doesn’t hang when trying to install multiple apps at once. Even games like Riptide GP2, the game that Google chose to showcase the beefy quad-core processor in the new Nexus 7, looks as good and runs as well as it did on Google’s new tablet. If anything, the Moto X proves that you don’t need a beefy quad-core processor to have a lag-free Android experience.
Motorola rates the nonremovable battery in the Moto X at 24 hours of mixed use. In my four days with the phone I’ve only had to charge it twice: Once when I got it on Thursday, and a second time when I came into the office on Monday. Granted I only used the phone casually—checking email, browsing the web, taking photos, and messing around with Google Now—but the phone seems like it’ll make it through an entire day on a single charge. If you’re someone who’s constantly on their phone playing games, however, I can see the battery running dry in about 4-5 hours of constant use.
I was given the Verizon version of the Moto X to test and was overall satisfied with the phone’s download speeds and call quality. Although it’s not as fast as when it first launched, I had very few problems streaming music and downloading apps over Verizon’s LTE network, and the cross-country call I made had zero static on either end of the line. One of the people I called remarked that I sounded like I was standing right next to them—even though I was 2903.5 miles away. Impressive.
Camera is hit or miss
MICHAEL HOMNICKThe Moto X has a 10-megapixel camera
Although the 10-megapixel camera on the Moto X is absolutely better than the cameras on any of Motorola’s previous smartphone endeavors, the photos it captures are nothing to write home about. Indoor shots looked okay, but suffered from a number of artifacts and were sometimes overexposed. Shots taken outdoors were sharper, but often came out too dark if you didn’t have superb lighting.
Outdoor images came out looking dark.
The camera has an RGBC sensor, which features a fourth, clear pixel that’s supposed to help it perform better in low-light environments. I shot some photos at night to test out the camera’s performance and was disappointed with the results: Photos were grainy and using the flash often left my subjects looking washed out. The camera performed better than the iPhone 5 with these night shots, but if you want stellar low-light performance you’re going to want to pick up the Nokia Lumia 1020 or HTC One instead.
Bottom line
I have to give Motorola and Google some credit: They’ve demonstrated that we don’t need bleeding-edge specs to get a solid smartphone experience. The Moto X announcement may not have lived up to everyone’s hype, but the phone itself is still worth considering. At $200 on contract, you’re getting a phone that performs as well as “high-end” smartphones like the HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S4 while still offering helpful extras like Touchless Control and Active Display.
I have my reservations about the Moto X shipping with an older version of Android and I question how well the X8 system architecture will perform a year from now, but I think Motorola and Google have a winner with their latest handset. It’s not quite a Nexus, but it’s the closest you’re going to get to one while still being on contract somewhere other than T-Mobile.
At a Glance
The Moto X proves you don't need cutting edge specs to make a great Android phone.
At first glance both the QX10 and QX100 look like conventional lenses for an SLR (single lens reflex) camera but there’s more to them. They are essentially compact digital still cameras without screens and control buttons.
Sony’s QX10 lens camera
Behind the lens in each of the devices is a image sensor—the chip found inside every camera that converts light to an electronic image, an image processing chip and a WiFi adapter. Both come with a clip that can be used to mount them to a smartphone and it’s software in the smartphone that is used to control them and replace the viewfinder.
The idea is that users get the best of both worlds—compact digital camera quality images with the advantages of smartphone photography, such as the ability to instantly upload or share pictures.
But what’s the reality? I took the QX10 out for a test at IFA and here’s what I found out.
Getting started with software
One of the first things you’ll need to do is download Sony’s PlayMemories software. It’s available for Android and iOS and is used to control the QX10 and QX100. It needs to be paired with the lens using a password that is printed on the manual or inside the battery compartment lid on each lens. The connection is made over WiFi Direct or, if the phone supports it, NFC (near field communication).
Once the software is installed, you’re ready to start snapping pictures.
PHOTO: MARTYN WILLIAMSSony’s QX10 lens camera is mounted on a Galaxy Nexus smartphone here.
I tried it on my Galaxy Nexus, an Android phone from late 2011. Clipping the lens onto the phone was very easy and at 90 grams, the QX10 didn’t end up making the 135-gram phone front heavy. I found it easiest to hold the phone by grabbing the lens body as I walked around taking pictures.
Controlling the camera
The software shows a live image and has on-screen zoom and shutter controls, but I found it easier to use the physical zoom and shutter buttons on the side of the QX10. The camera can be focused by tapping on any area of the live image, much like the camera software in most smartphones.
It also provides some of the settings you’d normally adjust through a camera’s menu including the shooting mode, white balance, picture size and quality, exposure control and ability to automatically transfer a review image (either a 2-megapixel version or the original) to the phone after each picture is taken. The actual images are stored in a microSD card that fits into the QX10 alongside its battery.
There wasn’t much of a perceptible lag in the live image, but it wasn’t always smooth when panning from side to side.
It took about four seconds from the button being pressed to the picture appearing on the phone screen. That’s slower than a digital still camera, but then the QX10 is a compromise between two devices and it does that quite well.
How it performed
PHOTO: MARTYN WILLIAMSHere’s an image taken with a Panasonic DMC-ZX3 digital still camera... (click to enlarge)
It did great in bright light and low light—the intelligent auto mode will take several pictures and merge them when there’s not enough light—but some of the pictures seemed to lack a little of the brightness and color that came from a compact digital camera when I took comparison images. However, that’s not to say the QX10 pictures were bad.
I found it useful to have a lower resolution version of each picture sent to my phone. They are not too large for the phone to handle and perfect for sending to social media channels or attaching to emails.
PHOTO: MARTYN WILLIAMS... now compare that to one taken with Sony's QX10 lens camera. (Click to enlarge.)
I’ve never been able to take such high quality photos with my cellphone, so for that the QX10 is a winner. If you like to take pictures and are always disappointed by the camera on a smartphone then the QX10 and sister QX100 are worth considering. But if you’re more serious about taking pictures, you might want to stick to your digital camera.
The QX10 and QX100 will be available from late September.
In the U.S., the QX10 with 10x optical zoom is expected to cost $250 and the QX100, which has a 3.6x zoom and larger image sensor, expected to cost $500.
Nokia asks Delhi High Court to release factory seized in tax dispute
Reuters, November 21, 2013
Nokia has asked the Delhi High Court to help release its Indian factory after its seizure by the local tax authorities, the Finnish firm said on Thursday as it seeks to resolve the tax dispute ahead of the sale of its mobile phone business to Microsoft.
Nokia said it did not expect the dispute to affect its 5.4 billion euros deal with Microsoft, although it was prepared for the possibility that the Chennai plant, one of its biggest phone-making factories, will not be transferred to the U.S. company in time for the sale, which is due to close in the first quarter of next year.
If the seizure is still in place when the Microsoft deal is finalised, Nokia could briefly operate the plant as a contract manufacturer for Microsoft, according to sources close to the company.
Nokia has been in disagreement with the Indian authorities over an income tax bill of 20.8 billion rupees, one of several tax disagreements involving foreign companies in India.
In a statement, Nokia said it wanted the assets to be released by December 12. The sources said the court will hold a hearing on November 28.
