Swipe Halo Fone full review

Swipe Halo Fone with 6.5-inch display, Android 4.2 launched for Rs. 6999

 

Swipe Telecom has launched Swipe Halo Fone, the company’s latest phablet in the Halo series. It has a 6.5-inch ( 800×480 pixels) capacitive touch screen display based on one-glass-solution, powered by a 1.3 GHz dual-core MediaTek MTK6572 processor and runs on Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean). It has a 2-megapixel rear camera with LED flash and a 0.3-megapixel front-facing camera.It comes with dual SIM support and 3G connectivity. It is 9mm thick and weighs 235 grams. It would compete with the Zync Z605phablet launched earlier this year.
Swipe Halo Fone specifications

• 6.5-inch (800 x 480 pixels) LCD display based on One-Glass Solution (OGS)
• 1.3 GHz dual-core MediaTek MTK6572 processor
• Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean)
• Dual SIM (3G + 2G)
• Dimensions: 183x101x9mm; Weight: 235 grams
• 2MP rear camera with LED flash
• 0.3 megapixel (VGA) front-facing camera
• 3.5mm audio jack, FM Radio
• 512MB RAM, 4GB of internal memory, expandable memory up to 32GB with micro SD
• 3G, WiFi, Bluetooth and GPS
• 2800 mAh battery

Swipe Halo Fone comes in black color and is priced at Rs. 6,999.

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Swipe Halo Fone full review

Swipe Halo Fone with 6.5-inch display, Android 4.2 launched for Rs. 6999

 

Swipe Telecom has launched Swipe Halo Fone, the company’s latest phablet in the Halo series. It has a 6.5-inch ( 800×480 pixels) capacitive touch screen display based on one-glass-solution, powered by a 1.3 GHz dual-core MediaTek MTK6572 processor and runs on Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean). It has a 2-megapixel rear camera with LED flash and a 0.3-megapixel front-facing camera. It comes with dual SIM support and 3G connectivity. It is 9mm thick and weighs 235 grams. It would compete with the Zync Z605phablet launched earlier this year.
Swipe Halo Fone specifications

• 6.5-inch (800 x 480 pixels) LCD display based on One-Glass Solution (OGS)
• 1.3 GHz dual-core MediaTek MTK6572 processor
• Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean)
• Dual SIM (3G + 2G)
• Dimensions: 183x101x9mm; Weight: 235 grams
• 2MP rear camera with LED flash
• 0.3 megapixel (VGA) front-facing camera
• 3.5mm audio jack, FM Radio
• 512MB RAM, 4GB of internal memory, expandable memory up to 32GB with micro SD
• 3G, WiFi, Bluetooth and GPS
• 2800 mAh battery

Swipe Halo Fone comes in black color and is priced at Rs. 6,999.

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Motorola Moto 360 smartwatch

Motorola Moto 360 smartwatch coming this summer with amazing design

Assuming you saw the news that came out a little bit ago with Google's announcement of the Android Wearplatform, you may have noticed that the promo videos featured some round smartwatches, which is somewhat odd because almost all smartwatches to date have been square or rectangular. The LG G Watchmay be the first Android smartwatch due out, but the Motorola Moto 360 already looks to be the most beautiful. Motorola has taken the path of little-to-no software enhancements to its Android devices while it is under the umbrella of Google, so it is no surprise to see that the majority of the work with the Moto 360 has gone into the hardware design, which looks absolutely beautiful. From the promo images, the device looks more like a designer wristwatch that happens to have a touchscreen, rather than the majority of smartwatches which tend to be quite obviously smart devices on your wrist.

The Moto 360 is round and made of what looks to be metal though Motorola just says it uses "premium materials". It will feature swappable wristbands, and could offer metal and leather options for those bands. The Moto 360 is planned for release this summer, and there will be a Google+ Hangout session with the lead designer Jim Wicks tomorrow at 2PM EST (11AM PST). Wicks will go through the design of the device, but it is unlikely that we'll get much in terms of specs or pricing. 

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Motorola Moto 360 smartwatch

Motorola Moto 360 smartwatch coming this summer with amazing design

Assuming you saw the news that came out a little bit ago with Google's announcement of the Android Wearplatform, you may have noticed that the promo videos featured some round smartwatches, which is somewhat odd because almost all smartwatches to date have been square or rectangular. The LG G Watchmay be the first Android smartwatch due out, but the Motorola Moto 360 already looks to be the most beautiful. Motorola has taken the path of little-to-no software enhancements to its Android devices while it is under the umbrella of Google, so it is no surprise to see that the majority of the work with the Moto 360 has gone into the hardware design, which looks absolutely beautiful. From the promo images, the device looks more like a designer wristwatch that happens to have a touchscreen, rather than the majority of smartwatches which tend to be quite obviously smart devices on your wrist.

The Moto 360 is round and made of what looks to be metal though Motorola just says it uses "premium materials". It will feature swappable wristbands, and could offer metal and leather options for those bands. The Moto 360 is planned for release this summer, and there will be a Google+ Hangout session with the lead designer Jim Wicks tomorrow at 2PM EST (11AM PST). Wicks will go through the design of the device, but it is unlikely that we'll get much in terms of specs or pricing. 

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Google announces Android Wear with hardware coming from HTC, Samsung, Motorola, LG, and Asus

We knew this was coming, and somehow Google still found a way to surprise us. Today, Google has announced that it is "extending" Android to wearables with Android Wear. That word "extend" will be very important in this, because Android Wear is neither an update to the Android system, nor is it a new operating system. But, as you'll see, it does rely heavily on Google Now (as we thought it would).

In the preview videos released for Android Wear, you'll see quite a lot that you've seen before from products like Google Now and Google Glass, just translated to a smartwatch. The focus of Android Wear is in relevant contextual data, much of which you already get from Google Now like location-based weather, traffic data, reminders, travel info (airplane boarding passes, etc), and app notifications. There are the usual fitness tracking options that are already relatively standard on wearables, and interesting notifications like jellyfish warnings when you're at the beach. The interface is gesture-based, but quite a lot of the functionality seems to come from the voice command system, which does include the song recognition feature in Google Now. 

Google has also started the rollout of the Android Wear SDK Developer Preview. Again, Google has been very careful to say that the SDK will allow developers to "extend" app functionality to wearables, meaning this is not a platform which will have standalone apps on it to start. Google has also announced partnerships with a number of manufacturers to bring wearable products to market, including LG, Samsung, Motorola, HTC, and Asus.

The info page also shows support from Intel, MediaTek, Broadcomm, and Qualcomm, which indicates that there should be quite a few different devices at different price points on the way. Even more interestingly, Fossil is listed as a partner, which could mean there will be some more stylish watches on the way as well.

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Google announces Android Wear with hardware coming from HTC, Samsung, Motorola, LG, and Asus

We knew this was coming, and somehow Google still found a way to surprise us. Today, Google has announced that it is "extending" Android to wearables with Android Wear. That word "extend" will be very important in this, because Android Wear is neither an update to the Android system, nor is it a new operating system. But, as you'll see, it does rely heavily on Google Now (as we thought it would).

In the preview videos released for Android Wear, you'll see quite a lot that you've seen before from products like Google Now and Google Glass, just translated to a smartwatch. The focus of Android Wear is in relevant contextual data, much of which you already get from Google Now like location-based weather, traffic data, reminders, travel info (airplane boarding passes, etc), and app notifications. There are the usual fitness tracking options that are already relatively standard on wearables, and interesting notifications like jellyfish warnings when you're at the beach. The interface is gesture-based, but quite a lot of the functionality seems to come from the voice command system, which does include the song recognition feature in Google Now. 

Google has also started the rollout of the Android Wear SDK Developer Preview. Again, Google has been very careful to say that the SDK will allow developers to "extend" app functionality to wearables, meaning this is not a platform which will have standalone apps on it to start. Google has also announced partnerships with a number of manufacturers to bring wearable products to market, including LG, Samsung, Motorola, HTC, and Asus.

The info page also shows support from Intel, MediaTek, Broadcomm, and Qualcomm, which indicates that there should be quite a few different devices at different price points on the way. Even more interestingly, Fossil is listed as a partner, which could mean there will be some more stylish watches on the way as well.

Read More

Xiaomi Redmi Note with 5.5-inch HD

Xiaomi Redmi Note with 5.5-inch HD display, octa-core processor confirmed

Srivatsan on March 17, 2014 – 12:34 pmNo Comment

Xiaomi’s upcoming smartphone in the Redmi series got certified in Tenna in China last week. Lei Jun, founder of Xiaomi Tech has confirmed that the phone would called Redmi Note / Red Rice Note and would feature a 5.5-inch HD screen and an octa-core MediaTek MTK6592 processor. As you can see from the image, it has capacitive touch buttons that glows in Red and a LED notifications light on top.

According to the details in the certification, the Redmi Note would run on Android 4.2.2 (Jelly Bean), feature a 13-megapixel rear camera with LED flash and a 8-megapixel front-facing camera, would be 9.45 mm thick and weigh 192 grams. It would have 1GB of RAM, expansion slot, TD-SCDMA connectivity for Chinese markets, 3G WCDMA variant for other markets. It would have WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth and GPS. Other details such as internal storage and battery are not available yet.

The Xiaomi Redmi Note would go on pre-order in China on March 19th at 8PM local time on Qzone. We should know more details about the smartphone by then.

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Xiaomi Redmi Note with 5.5-inch HD

Xiaomi Redmi Note with 5.5-inch HD display, octa-core processor confirmed

Srivatsan on March 17, 2014 – 12:34 pmNo Comment

Xiaomi’s upcoming smartphone in the Redmi series got certified in Tenna in China last week. Lei Jun, founder of Xiaomi Tech has confirmed that the phone would called Redmi Note / Red Rice Note and would feature a 5.5-inch HD screen and an octa-core MediaTek MTK6592 processor. As you can see from the image, it has capacitive touch buttons that glows in Red and a LED notifications light on top.

According to the details in the certification, the Redmi Note would run on Android 4.2.2 (Jelly Bean), feature a 13-megapixel rear camera with LED flash and a 8-megapixel front-facing camera, would be 9.45 mm thick and weigh 192 grams. It would have 1GB of RAM, expansion slot, TD-SCDMA connectivity for Chinese markets, 3G WCDMA variant for other markets. It would have WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth and GPS. Other details such as internal storage and battery are not available yet.

The Xiaomi Redmi Note would go on pre-order in China on March 19th at 8PM local time on Qzone. We should know more details about the smartphone by then.

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canvas turbo Design and Features

Design and build
After taking the phone out of its Apple-esque packaging, the Turbo comes across as well built and feels great to hold. The aluminium chassis feels durable and there isn’t any chrome to mess up the aesthetics. The upper and bottom sections around the back are plastic for the radios to work and these have the tendency to pop open from the sides if you drop the phone from waist height. It’s probably a good idea to have a cover on at all times. The buttons have a good tactile feedback but the area around the SIM slots have a crude finish and don’t sit flush with the phone.

A much better attempt compared to its predecessor

 There are the usual slots all around the phone, including two micro-SIM slots. Memory expansion is sorely missed however as that’s something we’ve taken as a given in Chinese phones. Due to the aluminium chassis, the battery is also non-removable. Overall, we think Turbo is a marked improvement over the Canvas 4 in terms of aesthetics and build quality. We’ll still give a nod in Gionee’s direction for the E6 for aesthetics and attention to detail but that’s just our personal opinion.

The 13MP shooter

Features
The Canvas Turbo uses Sharp’s Continuous Grain Silicon (CGS) technology which enables lower power consumption and more components like the display controller and LCD interface to be integrated into the panel. This reduces the need for extra components to be connected to the display which makes room for a more compact and slimmer phone. The Full HD resolution of the IPS panel also provides crisper text and sharper colours. The display is bright and sunlight legibility is pretty good as well. There doesn’t seem to be any scratch-resistant protection however which is a little worrying.

Some new handy features

The A250 uses stock Jelly Bean as much as possible apart from a different icon set and few of their own apps. The UI is smooth and not as laggy as Gionee’s offering but it’s still not ‘Project Butter’ smooth. Along with ‘Blow-to-Unlock’, we now have an app called ‘ifloat’ which lets you quickly access some apps no matter what you’re doing or which app you’re in. This app also enables a Facebook Chat Heads-style alert for missed calls and messages. You can reply directly from these pop-ups without having to switch apps, which is cool. There are also a whole bunch of gestures to play around with.



Coming to some of the specifications, the Turbo is powered by the MediaTek MT6589T quad-core chipset, running at 1.5GHz. There’s also 2GB of RAM onboard so performance in benchmarks is pretty much the same as we’ve already seen in the Elife E6.  

Media
Micromax hasn’t changed much in the audio and video department as it’s exactly the same as the Canvas 4. What we really liked is the volume level and quality of the loud speaker, which is very good.

Media playback is pretty good

We also get the Samsung-esque video player with oversized controls and features like ‘Look Away’ and the pop-out video player. We easily managed to play a 1080p video while chatting on Whatsapp in the background without any discernable lag. The default video player managed to read most video formats with ease from MOV to MKV. FM radio is also present. Out of the 16GB of internal memory, there’s 12.4GB that’s available for the end-user. While this may be an issue considering there’s no expandable memory, the iPhone 5 on iOS7 leaves you with about 13.1GB (16GB model) and we don’t see people complaining, so that’s that.

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canvas turbo Design and Features

Design and build
After taking the phone out of its Apple-esque packaging, the Turbo comes across as well built and feels great to hold. The aluminium chassis feels durable and there isn’t any chrome to mess up the aesthetics. The upper and bottom sections around the back are plastic for the radios to work and these have the tendency to pop open from the sides if you drop the phone from waist height. It’s probably a good idea to have a cover on at all times. The buttons have a good tactile feedback but the area around the SIM slots have a crude finish and don’t sit flush with the phone.

A much better attempt compared to its predecessor

 There are the usual slots all around the phone, including two micro-SIM slots. Memory expansion is sorely missed however as that’s something we’ve taken as a given in Chinese phones. Due to the aluminium chassis, the battery is also non-removable. Overall, we think Turbo is a marked improvement over the Canvas 4 in terms of aesthetics and build quality. We’ll still give a nod in Gionee’s direction for the E6 for aesthetics and attention to detail but that’s just our personal opinion.

The 13MP shooter

Features
The Canvas Turbo uses Sharp’s Continuous Grain Silicon (CGS) technology which enables lower power consumption and more components like the display controller and LCD interface to be integrated into the panel. This reduces the need for extra components to be connected to the display which makes room for a more compact and slimmer phone. The Full HD resolution of the IPS panel also provides crisper text and sharper colours. The display is bright and sunlight legibility is pretty good as well. There doesn’t seem to be any scratch-resistant protection however which is a little worrying.

Some new handy features

The A250 uses stock Jelly Bean as much as possible apart from a different icon set and few of their own apps. The UI is smooth and not as laggy as Gionee’s offering but it’s still not ‘Project Butter’ smooth. Along with ‘Blow-to-Unlock’, we now have an app called ‘ifloat’ which lets you quickly access some apps no matter what you’re doing or which app you’re in. This app also enables a Facebook Chat Heads-style alert for missed calls and messages. You can reply directly from these pop-ups without having to switch apps, which is cool. There are also a whole bunch of gestures to play around with.



Coming to some of the specifications, the Turbo is powered by the MediaTek MT6589T quad-core chipset, running at 1.5GHz. There’s also 2GB of RAM onboard so performance in benchmarks is pretty much the same as we’ve already seen in the Elife E6.  

Media
Micromax hasn’t changed much in the audio and video department as it’s exactly the same as the Canvas 4. What we really liked is the volume level and quality of the loud speaker, which is very good.

Media playback is pretty good

We also get the Samsung-esque video player with oversized controls and features like ‘Look Away’ and the pop-out video player. We easily managed to play a 1080p video while chatting on Whatsapp in the background without any discernable lag. The default video player managed to read most video formats with ease from MOV to MKV. FM radio is also present. Out of the 16GB of internal memory, there’s 12.4GB that’s available for the end-user. While this may be an issue considering there’s no expandable memory, the iPhone 5 on iOS7 leaves you with about 13.1GB (16GB model) and we don’t see people complaining, so that’s that.

Read More