Looks like Nokia has gone on a phone announcement spree of late. Just days after the N8 was officially unveiled, Nokia has revealed its latest addition to the X-Series range of handsets.
The X-Series which, until now, comprised of the X3, the China specific X5 and the high-end X6, received a new sibling in the form of the X2. The X2, as evident from the naming scheme, will be positioned below the X3 and is a mid-range handset.
Let's see what it has to offer you.
The X2 features a 2.2 inch QVGA display, dedicated music keys, dual speakers, Bluetooth 2.1, 3.5mm headset jack, FM radio, Nokia Messaging, Facebook integration and MicroSD card support. The phone, unlike other X-Series handsets, runs Nokia's proprietary S40 OS. On the imaging front, it has a very impressive 5 megapixel camera at the rear. This is a rather surprising because the X3, which is positioned above the X2, has a 3.2 megapixel camera.
The X2 is slated to be launched in June, first in India. The price is expected to hover at around the $112 (Rs. 5,000) mark. That seems to be a decent price for a handset of its caliber. Also, this might just be the cheapest 5 megapixel phone you could buy these days.
We leave you with a few images of the X2.
Looks like 2010 is slowly becoming the year of the arrival of official Twitter apps. After BlackBerry and iPhone got their own official Twitter apps, it's time for Android to get its own.
Twitter, in a latest blog post, has announced the availability of the official Twitter app for Android in the Android marketplace. According to Twitter, the app serves as a convenient way to deliver tweets straight from a user's phone while offering tight integration with other services and Android features.
As for the features, the application has a home screen widget of its own and users can "tweet" while viewing maps, scanning the phonebook, or from within any application that uses Android's QuickContact bar. Now for the bad part. This application works only on phones running Android 2.1 and later.
You might want to check the Twitter blog for more details - or simply head to the Android App Market to download and see for yourselves. We leave you with some screenshots:
The iPhone Dev Team has announced that it will delay the arrival of Spirit - the jailbreak tool for iPad and new iPhone 3GS as well as iPod Touch 3G. No specific time was promised about arrival of Spirit jailbreak tool for iPhone OS 3.1.3 and iPad OS 3.2 versions.
Earlier this month, the iPhone Dev Team had showed early jailbreak to the iPad and said that the jailbreak tool would be called Spirit. This jailbreak is mostly for the new devices - iPad, iPhone 3GS and iPod Touch 3G that have new hardware. A user named Comex had found a hack in iPad within 24 hours of its availability. Comex had promised to release Spirit as soon as the iPad 3G+Wi-Fi version is made available today i.e. April 30.
Here are few pointers about Spirit Jailbreak tool:
- Spirit is an untethered jailbreak. This means you won't have to jailbreak iPad whenever it needs reboot or runs out of battery and dies.
- Spirit works on all devices. (However, the redsn0w and PwnageTool flows will continue to work on those devices they've always worked on)
- Spirit does not include a carrier unlock. (Please don't bug @comex about that)
- Spirit requires your device to be activated or hacktivated.
Those who wish to jailbreak their devices need to take out SHSH blogs using Firmware Umbrella tool.
Back in March, security researchers had found an SMS based flaw in iPhone OS that could make the phone vulnerable in 20 seconds. But last year, Apple had patched the iPhone SMS Security Hole with software update after the flaw was reported. Keeping Apple's behavior to patch security holes in mind, Comex has delayed his jailbreak tool release. It's quite possible that Apple releases a software update during or after Worldwide Developers Conference starting June 7.
Uninor has introduced (PDF) what it calls, a new concept of "Dynamic Pricing" that allows users to take advantage of discounts on a call, allotted according to network traffic and the connected cellphone tower.
Uninor claims to be the first mobile operator to launch the concept in India. Discounts on a call can range from 5 percent to 60 percent by simply crossing a street. At 60 percent discount, you can call for as low as 20 paisa and never more than 50 paisa.
The service, branded as '24X7 Badalta Discount Plan (DP)', will offer customers changing discounts on their calls based on traffic on the network. The discounts will change with location and with time, with each cellphone tower broadcasting a different discount. At the same location, the discount will change on an hourly basis. Uninor says, this move will put customers in control of costs, - and with 24X7 changing discount rates, this could very well change the tariff structure in Indian telecom, the company adds.
Under the '24X7 Badalta Discount Plan (DP)', customers will be able to avail a discount on their calls that ranges from 5 percent to as much as 60 percent, depending on their location and time at which they call. This discount will be applicable on a standard base call rate of 50 paisa per minute for any local call, Uninor-to-Uninor or Uninor-to-any other operator. There is no activation charge for this service. However, the user needs to pay Rs. 48 as rental, which is valid for 3 months, Uninor said.
The service is being launched simultaneously in the three telecom circles of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. The plan can be activated by a customer by simply walking up to the nearest a retail shop. The plan will be subsequently extended to other circles as well.
The discount available at any given time will be visible at all times on the screens of handsets that display cell broadcast. The discount visible on the screen at the time a customer calls will be the applicable discount for the call. When the call ends, a flash will appear on the phone screen indicating the actual discounted cost of the call. As mentioned earlier, the dynamic discounts available at any given time will depend on network traffic and customers location at that time.
If you happen to be a Uninor subscriber in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu or Karnataka, you might want to check this one out!
The long wait for Adobe Flash 10.1 for Android platform will finally get over in June. Adobe's CTO Kevin Lynch stated, in official blog post, that Flash Player 10.1 for Android phones would be previewed at Google I/O conference in May. That means the next major Android update 2.2 dubbed as Froyo may be seeded our at around same time. This is just a pleasant break from the recent heat between Adobe and Apple over Flash platform.
Two days back, Andy Rubin, Google's VP of Engineering, confirmed that Android 2.2 Froyo will bring full Flash support and Android would be the first platform to get it. Lynch clearly stated that they will be shifting their focus from the Apple tussle after the recent change in the iPhone Developer Program Agreement. These change implied that developers cannot make use of Adobe programs for developing apps for the iPhone platform. Further, he added that Adobe is working to bring Flash Player (10.1) and AIR (Adobe Integrated Runtime) to major mobile system players like Google, Microsoft, Palm (HP), Nokia and others.
With the arrival of full Flash support in Android mobile OS based phones, Google aims for larger mobile market share. In short, full Flash support on Android will bring better and richer mobile web experience for the consumers.
ECS has launched its A885GM-A2 and A885GM-M2 motherboards based on the latest AMD 880G/SB850 chipsets. The boards are priced reasonably and help user assemble the most affordable six-core system.
Both the boards support the latest AMD Six-Core Phenom II CPU, which is capable of giving a 50 percent performance boost over older Quad-Core systems. They also feature ECS's M.I.B. III (Motherboard Intelligent BIOS) bios-level easy overclocking utility using which users can overclock the whole system themselves - moreover, advanced overclockers can further extract more performance by using ECS eOC - the latest exclusive overclocking utility - after setting ECS M.I.B III.
Both the boards support SATA 6Gbps function which provides two times faster transfer rate than previous generation.
The prices of both the boards in India are as follows.
A885GM-A2: Rs. 4,860
A885GM-M2: Rs. 4,900
The boards are expected to be on sale shortly in the Indian market at the aforementioned prices.
The Google TV Project that involves Intel, Sony and Logitech is due to arrive next month and will have custom Android operating system dubbed as Dragonpoint. BusinessInsider reported that Sony is aiming to announce home-entertainment devices equipped with Intel chips and loaded with Google software according to two people familiar with the matter. Co-incidentally, Google I/O conference is also set for next month.
Last month, Google had announced a tie-up with Sony, Intel and Logitech for bringing Android interface to TV screen. Under this project, the participating companies will enable easy browsing of web applications on the TV screen, through an interactive software interface. Set-top boxes build by Sony will have Intel Atom chips inside. Logitech is expected to build a keyboard packing remote control.
Google would be developing custom interactive interface dubbed Dragonpoint based on Android and it would be like an operating system within itself. Besides aiming at the home-entertainment segment, Sony is also masquerading to bring 3D gaming and 3D movies experience to the living with 3D BRAVIA televisions.
Nokia has finally accepted and acknowledged the existence of its next generation Symbian smartphone - the N8. The phone has had its specifications leaked just a day ago and it seems, Nokia has had enough. The company has announced the phone officially. The N8 has been in the news lately and it was just yesterday that the first reviews of the handset surfaced. Just a few hours later, a document detailing the phones spec sheet was revealed.
Now that the phone has been made official, let's see what it has in store for you the potential buyer. The N8 happens to be Nokia's first 12 megapixel camera phone - complete with Carl Zeiss optics, Xenon flash and a large sensor that, according to Nokia, rivals those found in compact digital cameras. The N8 is also the first Nokia device to support HD Video recording. The N8 also features a built-in video editing suite - the effectiveness of which we're unsure of. The phone supports Dolby Digital Plus surround sound and users can connect it to their home theatre system. Contrary to the expectation that it would come with 64GB of internal memory, it will ship with "just" 16GB of in-built storage space. With MicroSD slots, the memory is expandable up to 48GB.
Unlike the last Symbian based flagship, the N97, the N8 runs the latest version of the Symbian OS - Symbian ^3. While they share quite a few visual cues, S60 Version5 and Symbian^3 are two different operating systems. Symbian^3 supports multitouch (although as of now we're unsure if it has been used effectively on the N8), flick scrolling and pinch-zoom. The Nokia N8 also offers multiple, personalizable homescreens which can be loaded with apps and widgets. The new 2D and 3D graphics architecture in the platform takes full advantage of the Nokia N8's hardware acceleration to deliver a faster and more responsive user interface. Symbian^3 also raises the bar in performance by delivering greater memory management allowing more applications to run in parallel for a faster multi-tasking experience. It remains to be seen how much of an actual enhancement does Symbian^3 bring to the end user experience.
The N8 is fully social networking ready. Users can update their status, share location and photos, and view live feeds from Facebook and Twitter in a single app directly on the home screen. Calendar events from social networks can also be transferred to the device calendar.
The phone has a 3.5-inch capacitive screen with a 360x640 resolution. While the resolution might not be very high compared to Android based devices, the AMOLED display will make it look quite impressive. The device in its prototype avatar had a non standard sized HDMI port, we seriously hope this has been rectified in the final version. Even with all these features, the phone manges to stay quite slim at just 12.9 mm thin!
The N8 will be available in select markets during the third quarter of 2010. It is estimated to be priced at around the EUR 370 (Rs. 22,000) mark. This is the price minus taxes or subsidies. Also, it would be outright foolish to expect this phone to be priced below the 25k mark in India - so don't get your hopes too high.
RIM has announced the launch of three new smartphones at the 2010 WES event in Orlando, USA. The new smartphones in question are the BlackBerry Pearl 3G 9100 and 9105 compact devices and the Blackberry Bold 9650.
Blackberry Pearl 3G
We will start with the new Pearl 3G series in which both devices boast of more or less, the same features except for differences in their keyboard layouts. The 9100 has a 20-key hybrid QWERTY SureType keypad, as the ones seen on prior Pearl models. The 9105, on the other hand, has the traditional RIM proprietary keypad design in a 14 key alphanumeric layout. Both the phones are amongst the most compact devices ever released by RIM. However, the reduction in size hasn't resulted in compromise on the features front. Both the Pearl 3G models measure up at 108mm x 50mm x 13.3mm (4.25in x 1.96in x 0.52in) and each feature a high-res 360 x 400 pixel display. At 93g, the devices are also amongst the lightest devices from RIM. Both the phones boast of a 624MHz processor and come with a 3.2 megapixel autofocus camera (with video capture), an optical trackpad controller, GPS and Wi-Fi (802.11b/g/n), and a high-capacity microSDHC memory card slot.
These Pearl phones also pack in a fully features media player and Bluetooth support. Both the devices are powered by a 1150mAh battery that should stay put for 5.5 hours of talk time on GSM/EDGE and HSDPA 3G networks. The devices are expected to be available for the average Joe starting May.
Blackberry Bold 9650
The BlackBerry Bold 9650 is RIM's latest offering for the CDMA platform. It supports the 3G (EVDO) networks in North America and (HSPA/UMTS) elsewhere and has a full-QWERTY keyboard, optical trackpad and built-in Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g) support. The BlackBerry Bold 9650 also includes 512 MB Flash memory and an expandable memory card slot that supports up to 32 GB microSDHC cards. It comes preloaded with a 2 GB card.The Bold 9650 boasts of a large (2.44-inch) high-resolution display (480 x 360 resolution at 245 ppi), a 3.2 MP camera with flash, variable zoom, image stabilization, autofocus and video recording and an advanced media player for videos, pictures and music.
It also comes with a 3.5 mm stereo headset jack and A2DP support. The Bold 9650 also features a Full HTML web browser and supports streaming audio and video via RTSP. For businessmen on the go, there is full GPS support as well. It boasts of a 1400 mAhr battery that should suffice for 5 hours of CDMA talk time. The Bold 9650 too, like the Pearl series, is expected to be on sale starting next month.
Kingmax has launched a new USB Flash drive - KINGMAX PD-02, which is the advanced version of the KINGMAX PD-07. While it keeps the streamlined appearance, it adds the slide USB connector and anti-scratch surface.
The slide USB connector design of PD-02 makes it slim and the cap-less feature makes it more convenient to use. Also, because of its special scratch resistant material, users no longer have to worry about the USB drive getting scratched or damaged.
The PD-02 is currently available in four capacities: 2GB, 4GB, 8GB and 16GB, which are all in compliance with USB2.0 high-speed transmission. It comes in a sleek design -- 59.5mm (L) x18mm (W) x9.6mm (H). This new pen drive will be supported by Windows 7, Vista READYBOOST technology.
The PD-02 comes with a five-year warranty and its 16GB model is available for Rs. 1,700. The prices of the other capacities have not been disclosed by Kingmax as yet.
