Mobile - Part 3

Nexus 5 and KitKat Treat: Live!

After all these drama and PR games of specs/image leaks, the curtains have been finally pulled! LG made Nexus 5 has been announced along with much awaited android flavor – KitKat (Don’t be frustrated, if you didn’t win any contests here and there 😛 )

On FlipKart: Nexus 5 (32 GB)

Some KitKat’s Sweetness

A smarter caller ID: Whenever you get a call from a phone number not in your contacts, your phone will look for matches from businesses with a local listing on Google Maps.

All your messages in the same place Never miss a message, no matter how your friend sends it. With the new Hangouts app, all of your SMS and MMS messages are together in the same app, alongside your other conversations and video calls. And with the new Hangouts, you can even share your location and send animated GIFs.

Emoji everywhere Emoji are colorful Japanese characters, which are now available as emoticons in your Google keyboard.

HDR+ photography HDR+ mode on Nexus 5 automatically snaps a rapid burst of photos and combines them to give you the best possible single shot. Daytime pictures are vivid with clean shadows, and nighttime photos are sharp with less noise.

Nexus 5
Watch this video before you read boring text 😛

..well to be brutally honest, this video dint impress me as much

But Nexus 5 device in itself is so well designed, it grabbed my attention much before I watched these videos.

Nexus 5 Specs
Nexus 5 comes with 4.8 oz and 8.59mm thin.
Display: 4.95” 1920×1080 display (445 ppi). Corning® Gorilla® Glass 3
Operating System: Android 4.4, KitKat.

Processor:
CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon™ 800, 2.26GHz
GPU: Adreno 330, 450MHz

Camera: 1.3MP front facing and 8MP rear facing with Optical Image Stabilization.

Dimension: 69.17×137.84×8.59 mm, 4.59 ounces (130g)
Battery:(under test environment)
2300 mAh
Talk time up to 17 hours*
Standby time up to 300 hours†
Internet use time up to 8.5 hours on Wi-Fi, up to 7 hours on LTE‡
Wireless Charging built-in

Audio: Built-in speaker. 3.5mm stereo audio connector

Wireless:
Dual-band Wi-Fi (2.4G/5G) 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac
NFC (Android Beam)
Bluetooth 4.0

Networks:
2G/3G/4G LTE

North America:
GSM: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
CDMA: Band Class: 0/1/10
WCDMA: Bands: 1/2/4/5/6/8/19
LTE: Bands: 1/2/4/5/17/19/25/26/41

Rest of World:
GSM: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
WCDMA: Bands: 1/2/4/5/6/8
LTE: Bands: 1/3/5/7/8/20

Memory:
You can Choose 16GB or 32GB internal storage (actual formatted capacity will be less)
2GB RAM

Ports and Connectors:
microUSB
SlimPort™ enabled
3.5mm stereo audio jack
Dual microphones
Ceramic power and volume buttons

Sensors:
GPS
Gyroscope
Accelerometer
Compass
Proximity/Ambient Light
Pressure
Hall

Device Color: White and Black

Price:
For 16GB variant $349
For 32GB variant $399

Nexus 5 Price In India
Nexus 5 – 16 GB – Rs. 28, 999
Nexus 5 – 32 GB – Rs. 32, 999

These devices are officially unlocked and are not bound to any contracts.

My Views On Nexus 5

Camera
It’s an awesome device. But you may think, these days smartphones are shipping with 32 MP camera’s and Nexus 5 is stuck with 8 MP!, well clarity of pictures don’t just depend on Mega Pixel rates, so lets wait with the new additional camera features Nexus 5 is shipping with. I’m sure, they’ve taken much care about video recording and photo capturing, as it has been highly emphasized in promo videos. The new HDR+ fixes all your shaky captures!

Sensors
It also comes with cool sensors. We could play around and create wonderful applications for devices running KitKat.

Speed
2GB RAM in a smart phone is awesome. Not long ago we had only 256 MB of RAM in our desktop computers 😛 – good old days. So we could expect this smart phone to be a faster device.
Also not to forget: CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon™ 800, 2.26GHz and GPU: Adreno 330, 450MHz

..talking about the speed – According to Sundar Pichai, head of Android, apps have been fine-tuned to use less computing power, with new android KitKat. Also, Google wants KitKat to be compatible with even the low end(hardware wise) android devices. Application developers could build application that would run based on the memory the device has. This way, Google is aiming to bring android KitKat to all the android enabled devices. But providing upgrade to these devices are left to device manufacturers. This way, Google wants to bring uniform user experience for all android device users.

Nexus Devices
If you follow our blog, you might already know that, I love android devices. Recently I bought Nexus 7 (first generation tablet) and I’m still loving it. It’s really an amazing device.

As always, one of the biggest advantage of Nexus devices is that it gets the new versions of android( updates ) sooner than any other devices. That being said, Nexus 4, Nexus 7(both 2012 and 2013 models), and Nexus 10 will be getting KitKat i.e., android 4.4 in coming weeks.

You can order Nexus 5 from FlipKart: Nexus 5 (32 GB)

Google Nexus 7 Tablet In India

Google is all set to launch its entry level tablet Google Nexus 7 in Indian market for a price tag of Rs. 19,999 which is almost twice as much as it’s dollar rate in United States(which is $199).

The 7-inch Table, built by Taiwanese manufacturer Asus, has the following features:

OS: Android Jelly Bean (Android version 4.2).
Processor: Nvidia Tegra 3 processor, which clocks at 1.3 GHz.
1280×800 resolution with 7-inch IPS display screen.
1GB RAM.
1.2 megapixel front camera.
4325 mAh battery.

1. 9hrs HD video playback
2. 10hrs Web browsing or e-reading
3. 300hrs Stand-by time

..and ofcourse supports large number of apps present in android market place!

It had a 8GB variant which was replaced by a 32GB variant for the same price in the US market. Not to forget, it also has a 3G variant.

Look at some of the offers present on Amazon for Nexus 7

Mobile Web Design – Avoiding Universal Errors

This is a guest post by Spinx Web Design. If you want to guest post on this blog, check out the guest post guidelines.

Errors or Mistakes usually happen because of deviation from the standard. When it is about mobile web design, the perception of the designer is usually considered to be the main cause for the mistakes. The mistakes can be minor, small or even big depending upon the effort and money required to resolve it as well as the extent to which the losses occur because of that mistake. Some of the most common errors made by the designers when designing mobile websites are as follows.

1. Necessary Content: The mobile web design should have only the content that is necessary and can be displayed on the mobile screen. It should not be a copy of the content of the website that is designed for the desktop computers.

2. Load: If the mobile website is heavily loaded it may take a longer time to download and this could prove to be an irritant for the visitor.

3. Ignoring HTML5 and CSS3: Coding the mobile website with HTML5 and CSS3 can optimize the speed of downloading. The need of images can be reduced when the coding is done with the help of HTML5. CSS3 coding can offer rounded corners and gradients.

4. Width of the mobile device: When the mobile web designer does not take into consideration the width of the device it is possible that the elements may turn out to be not legible. This may happen because the elements have not been formatted to adjust to the width of the mobile device. This issue can be resolved with a simple HTML coding.

5. Downloading String: If the downloading string is not displayed on the screen of the mobile device the visitor may not know whether the action is being executed or not. The dilemma may compel or tempt the visitor to move to another mobile website.

6. Responsive web design: The mobile web designer should design a responsive website that is not only user friendly but also gets adjusted to the screen size and technicalities of the mobile device.

7. Home Screen: The home screen should be set in such a way that the screen does not look cluttered and illegible.

8. Excess of imports: When the designer uses AJAX framework like MooTools and jQuery, the import of data from the server becomes necessary and this can increase the duration of downloading time.

9. Images: The mobile website should have only the images that are required. Unnecessary images can add weight to the website and this could adversely affect the downloading time.

10. Size of the Finger: The touch screen is now becoming a regular feature of the mobile phones and this means that the mobile web design should be such that it can be navigated through with the help of the finger tips. The icon size should not be very small.

11. Form filling: The mobile web design should have short forms to be filled. If the visitor has to form long forms then it can irritate him/her. On the other hand the forms have to be designed keeping into consideration the facilities offered through the keyboard.

Author Bio: Spinx Web Design is a USA based web design and web development company and organization likes to write content on WordPress and designing,Web2.0, Mobile tips and
tricks, Social Media, Web Design, Web Development etc.

Sony Ericsson Xperia Review: Cons

I purchased Xperia Arc on June 01, 2011 on my birthday. And to remind you, Samsung Gallexy S2 wasn’t released yet, and I knew it would cost more than Xperia Arc!

There are many other better smart phones available already in the market for the same price. I took this for Rs. 26650 in the month of June 2011. So I still think, it’s not a bad deal.

Cons of Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc:
1. It sucks..as it does not have a front camera 🙁 Hence you can’t enjoy video calling. What an idea sur ji! 3G ka satyanas.

2. Charging port. Its damn problematic. The charger pin is like fork and if you slightly miss while plugging, it will straightly strike on your mobile screen and cause big deep scratches.(It has already happened with me 🙁 )

3. If you decide to take off your memory card for some reason, you have to switch off the phone, remove the phone battery and then the memory card. Dude its 2011, make it fast.

4. If you disconnect your wifi, while some applications using the net is still ON, the phone freeze’s for some time, and a message pops up and asks if it has to force shutdown the app or wait till it recovers the shock!

5. It doesn’t have fake calling, like that of Samsung Monti!

6. The pouch which comes along with the phone is neat, but WTF it doesn’t have a locking system. I mean, the phone immediately slides out of the cover and falls off. No protection at all. So this nice cover is of no use, we have to take new pouch if you don’t want your phone to fall off.

7. Speakers: Sony Ericson speakers are so popular for its quality. But the battery dies in less than 8hrs.

8. Battery Backup: If used with wifi, it lasts for about 12 – 14hrs. But I once used the phone to chat with my friends for 12hrs and the battery lasted for 12hrs. Very bad.
It has got a huge battery, so thought they would have improvised it. Better luck next time.

9. Bluetooth automatically sets to invisible mode. Have to make it “Discoverable” each time. And in the beginning people may think that the phone has soon Bluetooth connectivity issues.

10. Biggest of all…. it takes a lot of time to boot. What boot time you may guess of a smart phone ? 10 seconds, 20, ok 30 ?
Well Sony Ericsson’s Xperia Arc takes almost 3 minutes to boot.

11. Phone freezes even when you are chatting with multiple friends and you switch between messages very fast: And well, that may be because I’m too faster than the mobile processor.

12. You can’t send sms’es to multiple contact at once. And believe me, it’s really a smart phone.

13. No 1080p HD recording.

14. And I personally didn’t like timescape app.

15. The camera click button in the side is very small. You can’t even properly hold it and press.

16. The charger wire and the USB cable(which is same: 2 in 1) is too short. We need to have a chair or table to place the phone while charging and while using as a USB device.

17. Doesn’t have a built in voice recorder..thank god we have some apps which does it. But again, inbuilt voice recorder could have been cool.

18. The charger and USB slot in the phone is too small and is very tight, so we can’t unplug the wire so easily. Over time, this slot is prone to damage quickly.

19. On the home screen we can pinch the screen to see the overview. But in the overview mode, the time stops updating!! We need to exit the overview mode inorder to see the proper time again(if we don’t have the time displayed in the upper top right corner).

20. You can’t take screen shot directly on your device(without connecting it to a PC) without rooting the phone. update: Hope this is solved with OS upgrade.

21. Threaded messaging(SMS) is cool, but once you have a lot of messages in the thread, it takes a lot of time to open and sometimes freezes and asks if it has to force close it 🙁

22. There is no quick spot to know what apps are running in the background.
This list will grow as and when I find some faults with the device..

So should you not buy this phone ? Well, don’t come to that conclusion yet. But yes, there are already a lot of better smart phones in the market, so you surly have a lot of alternatives. But Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc isn’t that bad too. Please subscriber to read the Pros of the phone…soon to be published on this blog 😉

For more photos, videos and specs info: Gifted Myself: Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc!

Gifted Myself: Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc!

From years, I have used a lot of brand phones -> From Samsung X200 to N-gage to Nokia 6630 to HTC p3452, and now a brand new Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc.

Actually I took this phone for my birth day June 01 2011, but delayed this review because I need to use it for some time to know it better! isn’t it ?

I’ll publish the review article this week; you could have a look at the specs, images and some videos of the Phone first:

Product Name:	Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc
3G:	Yes
Touch Screen:	ofcourse!
Screen Size:	4.2 inches
Operating System:	Androidv2.3(gingerbread): Upgradable
Camera Resolution:	8.1 MP
Wifi:	Yes
Memory Card:	Yes
Expandable Memory:	32 GB
Touch Screen type:	Capacitve
Back Camera:	Yes
Front Camera:	No!
Flash:	Yes
Radio:	Yes

Sizes
– 125.0 x 63.0 x 8.7 mm
– 4.9 x 2.5 x 0.3 inches
Weight
– 117.0 gr
– 4.1 oz

HD phone with 8.1 megapixel camera
Xpera Arc has a Sony Exmor R™ for mobile CMOS sensor that lets you capture high-quality movies and stills in low light. So go ahead and shoot. Then show, in stunning HD direct on your TV via the HDMI connector.

We will be publishing the pros and cons of “Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc” and some of the useful android apps soon…so stay tuned. Subscribe to the free blog updates below.

Sold HTC SmartPhone For Rs. 5000

Yes I sold my HTC p3452 for Rs. 5k Initially I decided to buy HTC because iPhone is too costly in India.

I loved the phone. As always, there were some flaws and I wanted change!

Things I dint like about my HTC phone:
1. Worst battery backup. It dint last even for 12hrs 🙁 With mp3 or WiFi, I could use the phone for 4 to 5 hours max.
2. It was locked to Vodafone! Well, I knew there will be ways to unlock it for other operators. After installing some software, it did work with all operators. But sometimes it needed restart, which again took considerable amount of battery power.
3. Touch screen sensitivity wasn’t satisfactorily built. Messaging was freakingly annoying. The small screen(2.8 inches) of the device made it even more difficult to navigate and to operate the phone.
4. Overall performance of the device was very poor. Slow processing.
5. Couldn’t play mp4 videos (and still this phone is called smart phone!)
6. It had “Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.0 Professional”, but I wanted android.
7. 2 MP, 1600×1200 pixels: Camera quality Sucks! No HD video recording.
8. (Don’t) Touch Screen: Doesn’t work when operated with fingers. We have to use the stylus ……… and it works when operated with nails!
9. Data cable provided with the device never worked. I had to use my camcorders data cable.
10. You have to use the phone with the original company settings and software. If you make more changes, i.e., try to over customize and start installing more 3rd party software, then the device acts as if it’s dead. It slows down the entire device, hangs, takes time even to restart 🙁

For all these reasons, I wanted a new phone. And it’s smart phone era and there are many smart phones with competitive price tag, especially after the advent of android.

But the device had a sexy look, good pouch, not that bad to use for making and receiving calls: if used with original company settings.

Keeping all these in mind, I offered the phone to one of my friend’s friend for Rs. 5000 and he immediately agreed and bought it. Before purchasing he asked a question: Why are you selling it?
Instead of telling, “I want to buy a new phone”. I told all these above demerits, straight forward. But he was already sold to the sexy design of HTC p3452. He is a average user and his main requirements are calls and style! He can use this phone to make and receive calls, and the phone looks great.

How to Tether Your 3G Phone to Your iPad 2

This is a guest post by Kelly Austin. If you want to guest post on this blog, check out the guest post guidelines.

The iPad 2 is a great improvement over the original iPad in many ways, yet the additional cost of integrated 3G connectivity is not a premium many want to pay – especially when they are already paying for that same service on their smartphones. Luckily, there are workarounds and it is possible to tether your iPad 2 to your 3G (or 4G) capable phone. Keep reading to find out how.

Depending on your phone’s operating system, you will have to use a different workaround. Listed below are the tested and working methods for various phone operating systems. If your phone’s OS is not listed, it may not (yet) be possible for you to tether to your iPad.

Nokia N Series: If you own an N series phone from Nokia running on the Symbian platform, you will need to download the Joiku Hotspot application (found at: http://www.joikushop.com). Once downloaded and installed on your phone, simply launch the application and follow the on-screen instructions to create a wireless hot spot. From here, you simply connect to it with your iPad as you would any other mobile wifi hotspot and you are free to roam the internet!

Android OS: For any Android based phone such as the HTC Hero, you will need to download the Android WiFi Tether application (found at: http://code.google.com/p/android-wifi-tether/). Download and install the application to your phone (note: your phone needs to be rooted in order for this method to work). Launch the application and follow the on-screen instructions to setup either a mobile hotspot or tether via bluetooth to your iPad. Again, connecting to the hotspot is the same as connecting to any wireless network. Note: For newer Android based phones such as the Evo 4G there is no need to download any 3rd party applications as the wireless hotspot feature comes pre-installed on the device.

Windows Mobile: For devices using the Windows Mobile platform, you will need to download the WMWifiRouter application (found at: http://www.wmwifirouter.com/). Download and install the application on your device and launch it once installed. Follow the on-screen instructions to set up a portable hotspot from your device and connect to it with your iPad as you would any other wireless network.

iPhone: For iPhone owners, you will need to download the MyWi app (found at: http://www.rockyourphone.com/index.php/mywi.html). (Note: This requires a jail-broken iPhone in order to install and will not work on a stock device). Once downloaded and installed on your iPhone, launch the app and follow the on-screen instructions to create a portable hotspot from your iPhone. This app will also allow you to tether through bluetooth or USB. Once set up, simply connect to the wifi network as you would any other wireless network on your iPad.

With these options, it is possible for almost anyone with a 3G or 4G capable smartphone to tether their iPad 2 and have internet connectivity almost anywhere they go. Please be aware that tethering through your device will incur any data charges stipulated by your carrier according to your contract. Please check with your carrier to clarify any potential charges that may be imposed by the use of tethering before doing so.

image credit: josedelcorral

This post was contributed by Kelly Austin from Higher Salary. Visit her site for information on the average game designer salary and information about other popular careers.

Mobile Number Portability In India: Don’t Be Trapped!

So starting from today( Thursday, 20/02/2011 ), the MNP or the Mobile Number Portability service is available all over India. So far, this facility was avilable only in Haryana(from November 25 2010) in India. Now this facility is available all over India and hence you can retain the same number and switch from one operator to another.

Customers who wish to exercise this option will have to send an SMS from their phone, send PORT ” Your mobile number without quotes ” to 1900. Subsequently, they will get a unique porting code as a reply from the existing service provider. The customer can then apply in the prescribed format, mentioning the code, to the new service provider for porting the number.

New operator should take a maximum of 7 days to process the application. The subscriber will have to pay Rs 19 as porting charge. Once a subscriber shifts to another operator, he cannot port his number again for another 90 days.

MNP has been available in many parts of the world from many years now. Its ironical to see the 2nd largest consumers of the mobile phone in the world(India) is getting this service now. And the 3G spectrum is not still available in all parts of the country. India is a leading country when it comes to technology, but the political situation makes it look poor and backward! If all were good, 4G would have already been implemented in India.

Caution:
I’m sure, now mobile operators will start providing offers which are tied with the number of years! If you stay with them longer, you will get better offer(They may claim). Once you pay for 3 or more years, you will get stuck with them for atleast 3 years and you think you got the most precious offer, and only after some days you will see call drops, surprise SMS fees, high GPRS costs, low internet bandwidth etc. So make sure before committing to any operator for long term.

MNP helpline numbers:
IDEA MNP Helpline: 1800-270-0000 (Toll-free)
Vodafone MNP Helpline: 1800-1234567 (Toll-free)
TATA Docomo MNP Helpline: 1800-266-0000 (Toll-free)
Aircel MNP Helpline: 98020 98020

I wish this MNP brings in more flexibility and peace of mind to customers.

ps: Public notice: It is advised not to line up outside your paanwalla shop for switching to new mobile operator. MNP is starting today, not ending 🙂

* No pending bills with old service provider, before the transfer.
Existing offers ~~and balance amount~~ will not be carried to the new network.