Z10 Adds a Little Zest to BlackBerry Lineup

Company rebranding aside, the new BlackBerry Z10, one of two new smartphones announced Wednesday by the former Research In Motion, has all the bells and whistles we've come to expect in high-end handsets, including a touchscreen. Will all those features -- and more apps than Windows Phone 8 had during its launch -- be enough to drag customers away from their iPhones and Androids?

  Have you heard about Big Data? Join us February 13th @ 2PM EST to find out what Big Data is all about. Including: what Big Data is, challenges associated, overcoming those challenges, uses of Big Data & how to do it on a budget.
 

The handset maker previously known as RIM on Wednesday launched its new BlackBerry 10 smartphones: the Q10 with the familiar QWERTY keyboard, and something new for the company -- the touchscreen-based Z10.

BlackBerry, as the firm is now called, will release the Z10 in the United States in March with the Q10 following in April.

BlackBerry Z10

The company released full specifications of the Z10, but only had a placeholder Web page for the Q10 because "we'll be showcasing the Z10 and what it can do, and we'll release more information when we can," BlackBerry spokesperson Nick Manning told TechNewsWorld.
The Z10's Specs
The BlackBerry Z10 will have a touchscreen with gesture-based navigation, a virtual keyboard with contextual auto-correction, next-word prediction and a personalized learning engine that gets to know the way users type.
Its 4.2-inch screen has a resolution of 1280 x 768 pixels, and a 15:9 aspect ratio.
The Z10 has a dual-core 1.5 GHz CPU, 2 GB of RAM and 16 GB of flash memory. It also has a removable microSD memory card with up to 64 GB capacity; a USB 2.0 high-speed port for charging and data synchronization; and a micro HDMI port for connection to a projector or an HD TV set.

There's a 2 MP fixed-focus front camera with 3x digital zoom and image and video stabilization that can take videos at 720p. Features of the device's 8 MP autofocus rear camera include Back Side illumination for low-light performance; a 5-element F2.2 lens; a dedicated image signal processor; flash; image stabilization; 5x Enhanced Super Resolution digital zoom; and can record videos at 1080p.
The Z10 comes pre-loaded with various apps including BlackBerry apps; Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn; Foursquare; YouTube; BlackBerry Connect for Dropbox; Print To Go; and Adobe Reader.
Other features include password protection, screen lock and sleep mode, and BlackBerry Balance, which restricts business apps and data from being accessed by personal apps.
The Z10 supports WiFi and Bluetooth. It incorporates Near Field Communication (NFC) technology and has GPS, an accelerometer, a magnetometer, a proximity and ambient light sensors, and a gyroscope.

It's the Experience, Not the Tech

Most of the specs listed for the Z10 are standard in smartphones. Understanding why may be the key to comprehending BlackBerry's strategy.
"The most interesting thing about the announcement was that it wasn't about specs," Carl Howe, a research vice president at the Yankee Group, told TechNewsWorld.
"BlackBerry is selling an experience now. I think that shows a very mature marketing plan and a conscious desire to market the products as more than the sum of their parts."

The Apps (May) Have It

BlackBerry Q10

Apps are critical for any mobile device being marketed now, and the 70,000 apps offered on the BB10 platform "is the most number of apps that any new platform has launched with," Manning said.
"One of the things BlackBerry has done remarkably well is maintain the enthusiasm and interest of the developer community," Jeff Orr, a senior practice director at ABI Research, told TechNewsWorld. "There were more than 1 million app downloads on day one, and there's probably about 1,000 premier applications [that] include everything from Angry Birds Star Wars to a number of pretty hot titles, and they have things that are in development."
"BlackBerry 10 is launching with far more apps than Windows Phone 8 did when it launched," Yankee Group's Howe said. "I think it's probably enough to get started."

Making Headway in the Market

The challenge is whether BlackBerry can now make any headway in the smartphone market, where Android and iOS dominate.
Like Windows Phone 8, BlackBerry "is relevant in a space where the company has domain expertise but doesn't have the necessary channels and reach and audience," Orr pointed out. "The device, apps and platform are good, but their reach and their ability to maintain this vision are what the company have to prove."
If the company executes, said Howe, BlackBerry may become "a solid third ecosystem behind Apple and Android and ahead of Windows Phone 8."

Pollution Levels At Your Fingertips

Pollution is invisible and knowing how much is around you is not always easy. But a new system called Citisense, which consists of a mobile air quality sensor and smartphone app, could one day give people real-time information about the air around them.
"Asthmatics, who number in the millions, would find this valuable to their immediate health," said William Griswold, a computer science professor at UC San Diego, who lead the group that developed the system. "What we found is that people are very interested in their personal exposure, even if they are not asthmatic."
The system, which is still in the research stages, has a mobile sensor that a person wears while walking or biking around a city. The sensor detects the levels of pollutants in the air and sends the information to a server that uses machine learning to analyze the information for the app. Users with the app can see maps that display levels of pollutants, estimates of a user's exposure to those pollutants as well as a color-coded scale for air quality that uses EPA standards, i.e. green for good and purple for bad.

NEWS: See How Purchases Directly Impact Climate Change

The sensors were tested for four weeks by 30 people all over San Diego, most of them faculty at the university. According to the press release, one tester found that she was exposed the most to pollutants while she rode her bike to work.
Griswold said in the release that, “The people who are doing the most to reduce emissions, by biking or taking the bus, were the people who experienced the highest levels of exposure to pollutants.” The field tests also found that pollution levels varied throughout the day, depending on variables like traffic.
For the most part, the sensors are mobile and proximity to them is necessary for the app to receive data. However, Griswold said in an email to Discovery News that if enough sensors were put out into an area, personal sensors wouldn't be necessary to receive feedback on the pollutants nearby. "With the machine-learning component in the backend," he said, "it will be possible to get an estimate of your exposure from the machine learning estimates, even if you don't have a sensor."
Toward the end of the testing phase, a few fixed sensors were tested, but Griswold said that they didn't affect the user experience enough to continue.
One of the hurdles facing the project now is battery life. The data exchanges between the sensors and mobile devices takes up a lot of power. When testing, users had to carry around two chargers, one for the sensor and one for the smartphone. Currently, the team is experimenting with replacing constant updates by spacing out times when data is transferred to every 15 minutes to save battery life, or making it a transfer that occurs on demand.
Griswold said in an email that sensors like this will be start appearing on mobile phones in about a decade or so.

Unlock Your Door With ShareKey

 

The Android app communicates with smart locks on one’s door via NFC.

In the last year, I’ve locked myself out of my home no less than three times. Consequentially, that’s resulted in me having to shimmy through open windows like a burglar. I’m surprised my neighbors never called the cops on me.
If only I had ShareKey, a near field communication (NFC) app for a smartphone, I could have avoided all the breaking and entering.
Developed by Dr. Ahmad-Reza Sadeghi of Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute for Secure Information Technology (SIT), the Android app communicates with smartlocks on one’s door via NFC, which allows data to be exchanged wirelessly over a short range. To lock or unlock the door, simply wave the phone near the lock.
Unlike systems such as Lockitron and UniKey that use Wi-Fi and Bluetooth to send instructions remotely, ShareKey requires that a phone be physically waved in front of their locks, making it more difficult for hackers to steal the signal.
Better yet, the system allows for any smartphone to be granted access to the doors for a specified amount of time, be it a few hours or a few weeks. House guests, dog walkers and plant waterers all know what a three-ring circus it can be swapping keys and getting them made, so this feature is an added bonus. ShareKey can send these “electronic keys” directly to the recipient’s smartphone as a QR code via email or a multimedia text message.
“For instance, I can grant the building superintendent access to my apartment
for a short period so that he can open the door for the gas meter to be
read while I’m at work,” explains Alexandra Dmitrienko from the SIT.
“The solution is built around modern security technologies and can be
easily integrated into existing access control systems.”
At this year’s CeBIT trade fair in Hannover, Germany,
researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Secure Information
Technology SIT in Darmstadt will demo ShareKey in an attempt to drum up interest in hopes that it will be on the market soon.

Apple Patents Smart Shoes

As “smart” technologies continue to consume just about every aspect of our lives — from eating and doing laundry to turning on the lights and saving ourselves from drunken blackouts — you’d think we’re incapable of functioning in world without a device negotiating our every move.

But as someone who’s prone to wearing a pair shoes or boots until they fall apart, perhaps I’m in need of more smart interventions than I think. It seems Apple may have a foot in the door for doing so, especially on the heels of their recent patent application for “smart shoes.”
Rather than being equipped with a external tracker, the shoes would contain wear-out sensors that would alert you via Wi-Fi when it was time to get some new kicks.
“As a shoe wears, physical support provided by the shoe decreases, thereby reducing associated protection from injury,” the patent states. “When a critical wear level is reached, even if the shoe looks like it is not particularly worn, the shoe may not provide adequate support and may, in fact, cause damage to feet.”
 
The sensor, which would connect to your iOS device, would exist either as a thin layer built in to the sole or be located in the heel.
“In one embodiment, a shoe wear out sensor includes at least one detector for sensing a physical metric that changes as a shoe wears out, a processor configured to process the physical metric, over time, to determine if the shoe is worn out, and an alarm for informing a user of the shoe when the sole is worn out,” states the patent.
Considering Apple’s savvy for design, I’d be interested to see what’s on the drawing board, if in fact these are stand-alone shoes. After all, this pair could use a little work.
 
Photo: A pair of vintage white sneakers that were part of Apple’s line of employee-exclusive clothing.

HTC 29 Jan, 2013Butterfly launched in India for Rs 45,990

HTC has confirmed long-time rumours by launching its flagship smartphone, the HTC Butterfly, in India. The world’s first smartphone with a 1080p display, the Butterfly's 5-inch Super LCD 3 touchscreen has a whopping pixel density of 441 ppi. The native resolution of the display is a phenomenal 1920 x 1080 pixels. This is the first full HD phone to be released in India and will cost you Rs 45,990.

HTC Butterfly with 5-inch 1080p display here at last

The HTC Butterfly runs on a 1.5GHz Qualcomm S4 Pro quad-core processor, and has 2GB of RAM. It has 16GB of internal storage, which is expandable by up to 32GB via microSD cards.

The smartphone runs on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, but the HTC Sense 4+ software overlay hides most of the stock interface. The smartphone has an 8 megapixel rear shooter and a 2 megapixel front camera with HTC’s ImageChip on board. The HTC Butterfly is powered by a non-removable 2,020mAh battery, which seems like it wouldn’t be able to last long thanks to the full HD display, but we will have to wait for further tests before concluding on the matter.

"HTC Butterfly is quite simply the most stunning smartphone HTC has created to date, with a display that people will fall in love with instantly,” said Faisal Siddiqui, Country Head, HTC India. "It offers the best experience in terms of performance, design and innovation, and is our most eagerly anticipated smartphone with rave reviews from media and consumers alike."

The smartphone will be available in retail stores later this month. Note that the device will need a Micro-SIM card.

The highlighted specifications of the HTC Butterfly are:

• 5-inch Super LCD 3 1920x1080p display with Corning Gorilla Glass 2 (441 ppi)
• LTE, 3G, HSPA+
• Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct, DLNA, Wi-Fi hotspot, NFC
• GPS with A-GPS support and GLONASS
• Bluetooth 4.0 with A2DP
• 8 megapixel rear camera with LED flash, 2 megapixel front camera
• 16GB internal storage, expandable by up to 32GB via microSD
• HDMI out, microUSB

The Butterfly was first unveiled in October 2012 and started selling in Australia and Europe earlier this month. It is available in the USA as the HTC Droid DNA (with some modifications) through Verizon, and in Japan as the HTC Butterfly J.

HTC is said to be working on another flagship smartphone, the HTC M7, which will also have a 1080p display on a 4.7-inch screen. Information about the M7 has been leaked extensively over the past few months, with the latest video showing the handset’s housing. The M7 is expected to be announced at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, next month.

Dual-core iBall Andi 4.5q with Jelly Bean unveiled

iBall has joined the line of low-cost manufacturers offering value-for-money, high-spec devices. iBall's newest offering is the iBall Andi 4.5q, which runs Android 4.1, Jelly Bean.

The Andi4.5q is powered by a dual-core 1GHz Cortex A9 processor and has 512MB of RAM. The 4.5-inch qHD screen has a pixel density of 245 ppi and a resolution of 960 x 540 pixels. Thanks to the Jelly Bean experience, the 4.5q comes with Google Now pre-installed, so you'll receive weather and traffic updates regularly. You can use Google Now’s voice functionality to get quick results for any query, besides routine sports and stock updates.

The iBall Andi 4.5q will run Jelly Bean

The dual-SIM handset has an 8 megapixel auto-focus camera with LED flash and a front-facing camera. The company is bundling a dual cover and a free scratch guard with every handset. The connectivity options include Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS and 3G, along with a micro USB slot. The iBall Andi 4.5q is priced at Rs 11,490.

However, iBall’s latest device falls short of the quad-core handsets, Karbonn S1 Titanium and Micromax’s A116 Canvas HD, which bring better specs for a similar price. In fact, the 4.5q seems like a small refresh of the iBall Andi 4.5H, which was introduced late last year.

 The iBall Andi 4.5H also has a qHD display, a dual-core 1GHz Cortex A9 processor, 1GB of RAM and 4GB of internal storage. The 4.5H supports 3G video calling and comes with pre-installed apps, including WhatsApp, Facebook, Opera Mini, Nimbuzz, Zomato, IBNLive, Moneycontrol and CricketNext.

Here's a look at the iBall Andi 4.5H's specification:

• 4.5-inch IPS display, 960 X 540 resolution
• 3G, EDGE, Wi-Fi
• GPS and A-GPS
• Bluetooth
• 8MP rear camera with LED flash
• 4GB Flash memory expandable up to 32GB via microSD

Prior to this, the company launched the Andi 4.3j, a dual-battery Android smartphone for Rs 9,499 in October 2012, and a 5-inch phablet, the Andi 5c, for Rs 12,999 in August 2012. The Andi 5c runs Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and is powered by a 1GHz Cortex A9 processor. The 5-inch IPS screen is its standout feature. The camera on the back is a 5 megapixel one, while the 2300 mAh battery should provide enough juice to last you through the day.

Mitashi MiE032v08 HDTV Review

PRICE IN INDIA

29,990

TECHNOLUVERZ RATING

7.5

 

However much we try to neglect, we have a prevalent prejudice against budget products. It is believed that these products, in order to adhere to cost constraints, compromise on the quality and performance front. And with our past experience, we agree with this school of thought to an extent. But there are some brands that have managed to break through this common belief and Mitashi is definitely one of them—particularly with its newly formed flat panel division. Last year, Mitashi was among the top performers in the budget flat panel section and was an obvious candidate this year as well. We reviewed its latest 32” LED from the v08 series.  

Out of the box
The first place where budget manufacturers can cut corners is in aesthetics and Mitashi has done this quite effectively. While the MiE032v08 does not boast of a crystal design or a monolith shape, Mitashi has still managed to retain a presentable look that can go well with any interior set-up. The MiE032v08 is a perfect fit for small rooms or as a second TV (in a guest room or for the kids). The matte finish makes it less prone to scratches and also easy to clean. The build quality is up to the mark with the TV fitting snugly on the stand. And with the light weight, we don’t think that mounting it on the wall should be a problem.

Not bad in terms of dimensions

Technology
The 32” MiE032v08 is an LED TV. We were amazed to see the box claiming it to be both full HD and HD-ready. But as we dug deeper in the specification sheet, we found out that the TV’s native resolution is 1366 x 768, which makes it an HD ready TV and not full HD. Mitashi has taken the liberty of calling it full HD only due to the fact that it can playback full HD (i.e. 1080p) signal but, obviously, in a downsample mode. The TV does score high in terms of connectivity with a total of three HDMI inputs and a USB input, along with the regular components like a VGA input. With the onboard USB 2.0, the TV also claims to playback all the latest digital file formats for audio and video, including MKV, Real Media and also DivX HD Plus. For audio, Mitashi has packed in two 10W speakers for each channel, along with some preset modes for equaliser settings.

Remote control
Similar to the TV’s form factor, the remote is lean and sleek. Just like a lot of other television remotes that you get these days, this one is also cramped with buttons up to the brim. We think that with the limited number of tasks that this TV can pull off, we could have done with a less populated remote.

Full function remote

Performance
Like we have already mentioned, the TV is light in weight, so setting it up will not be any problem. Due to the lack of too much jazz, we were ready to get started with the TV within five minutes after we unpacked it. We had connected a Sony PS3 unit and also a USB pen drive to the TV. While we were on the PS3’s homescreen, we decided to check the settings that the TV offers and were not surprised to see a very simple user interface with hardly any control over tweaking the parameters. There are four picture presets, namely standard, dynamic, mild and user. Even within the user mode, there are basic controls for brightness, contrast, sharpness and colour, along with two more controls for colour temperature (which worked with the saturation levels) and noise reduction.

Not the very best in it's class, but quite decent nonetheless

So, with not much to play around, we quickly slipped in a Blu-ray of ‘Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows’ and were treated to quality pictures replete with clean imagery and substantially deep black levels. One of the main reasons for the crisp imagery was the relatively smaller screen size of the TV that caused the 1080p video stream of the Blu-ray to come out as absolutely neat and tidy. But the small screen size also helped when we watched some DVDs from our stack from close distances. This aspect is particularly important for typically small rooms where one would want to use flat panel screens neither too big nor too small. We now switched the source to the USB drive. The TV was very quick (approximately 10 seconds) to read the 4GB pen drive filled with music, movies and photos. The navigation through all these files was also easy and fast, with the TV not taking more than five to ten seconds to initiate the playback of any file depending on the size of the file.

Plays full HD but in downsample mode

Verdict and price in India
This Mitashi 32” LED TV is priced at Rs. 29,990 and it looks like a very fair deal. With the prices of 32” LCD TVs also being in the same price bracket (maybe with a difference of Rs 500-1,000), it does seem logical to invest in the 32” LED TV. At least for the 10 percent to 20 percent power saving that LED technology has to offer. We think that the TV is a good fit for second TV buyers or users that intend to use the TV in smaller room sizes where the viewing distance is not more than eight to ten feet.

Temple Run 2 Review

PRICE IN INDIA

Free

Temple Run was an instant hit at launch. It was a pioneer in the runner’s class of mobile games and sparked a new era in the industry. Developers have cashed in on the craze and since then we’ve seen scores of games designed around this theme. Disney and Imangi even launched a special edition of the game called Temple Run Brave for their animated movie Brave. The idea was the same, but they threw in a few more challenges, of course, as you play Princess Merida (updated version lets you run as King Fergus as well), the lead character trying to outrun Mordu the demon bear through the forest. Temple Run 2 brings a fresh look to the game and tries to keep things just as entertaining as the first edition. Here’s a closer look. Obstacles look similar but with a few new twists Sticking to the standard principle of the runner game style, Temple Run 2 once again sees an intrepid explorer scurrying from a cave being chased by some sort of demonic ape. The game starts off at an easy pace as usual and naturally picks speed the further you run. Collect coins and power-ups as you run, slide, jump and rail down a tunnel to avoid a host of obstacles in your path. Trip up and the big bad ape will be hot on your heels. Just like its predecessors, Temple Run 2 is quite addictive. Using the device's Gyro and accelerometer, you can dodge obstacles by tilting your device to the left or right. Swipe gestures are still one of the key factors, and so is collecting gold coins. What makes this version so much more entertaining, even if it is essentially the same as the ones before, is the new environment. The murky swamp locale has now given way to a more picturesque mountain path. You’ll need to slide down ropes while swinging either to the left or right to collect coins, jump across streams, across broken wooden bridges, over temple ruins and even over spiked booby traps. For slide moves, you’ll need to slip under ruins and fire traps. Then you get to a rather interesting part in the game after a few thousand metres – a mine shaft. Watch out for those power-ups and tricky miner levels In this level, you’ll be riding along a beaten down track into a mine in a beaten down mine cart. You’ll need to duck and lean to collect coins or avoid obstacles and broken train tracks. Unlike some of the other games in this category, you’ll also need to swipe left or right down the right track. The wrong turn could lead you smackdab into a closed off shaft. What’s great about this game is that resurrection is quite easily available at least once without the need to buy or upgrade some factor for your character. Upgrades are available nonetheless from boosting the time limit on various options like the magnetic capture of coins or gaining protective shields, speed boosts etc. With 10,000 coins, you can even choose a new character to run. Upgrade your existing character or simply choose a new one The more you progress, as you may already know, the faster your pace gets. This is when things tend to get really tricky. There are a few instances where the road might look like it would go straight ahead, but you'd need to swipe left or right—and since the game is quite unpredictable, we can't really say where. This is possibly one of the more challenging parts of the game, especially if you've progressed far into the game and running around a break-neck speed. The bottom line All in all, Temple Run 2 is a well-designed game. The new location adds that fresh appeal to an existing franchise that was already entreating to begin with. We found no issues with control when we tested it on the iPad 2 and Galaxy Nexus devices. The game worked great and was very responsive on both platforms. Best part is, it’s free for both as well. If you’re into runner mobile game genre and were already hooked to Temple Run, part 2 will only make things better. We’re quite looking forward to part 3 (fingers crossed). To download Temple Run 2 for Android go here. To download Temple Run 2 for iOS go here.

RIM to show off first BlackBerry 10 smartphone tomorrow

Toronto: The maker of the BlackBerry smartphone is promising a speedier device, a superb typing experience and the ability to keep work and personal identities separate on the same phone. It's the fruit of a crucial, long-overdue makeover for the Canadian company.
Thorsten Heins, chief executive of Research In Motion Ltd., will show off the first phone with the new BlackBerry 10 system in New York on Wednesday. A marketing campaign that includes a Super Bowl ad will accompany the long-anticipated debut. Repeated delays have left the once-pioneering BlackBerry an afterthought in the shadow of Apple's trend-setting iPhone and Google's Android-driven devices.
Now, there's some optimism. Previews of the software have gotten favourable reviews on blogs. Financial analysts are starting to see some slight room for a comeback. RIM's stock has nearly tripled to $16.18 from a nine-year low in September, though it's still nearly 90 percent below its 2008 peak of $147.

RIM is promising a speedier device, a superb typing experience and the ability to keep work and personal identities separate on the same phone.

Most analysts consider a BlackBerry 10 success to be crucial for the company's long-term viability.
"The old models are becoming obsolete quickly," BGC Financial analyst Colin Gillis said. "There is still a big user base but it's going to rotate off. The question is: Where do they rotate to?"
The BlackBerry, pioneered in 1999, has been the dominant smartphone for on-the-go business people. Corporate information-technology managers like the phones because they're relatively secure and easy to manage. Many employees loved them because of physical keyboards that were easier to type on than the touch-screen iPhone.
President Barack Obama couldn't bear to part with it when he took office. Oprah Winfrey declared it one of her "favorite things." People got so addicted that the device was nicknamed "the CrackBerry."
The BlackBerry began to cross over to consumers. But when the iPhone came out in 2007, it showed that phones can do much more than email and phone calls. They can play games, music and movies. Android came along to offer even more choices. Though IT managers still love BlackBerrys, employees were bringing their own devices to the workplace - a trend Heins acknowledged RIM was slow to adapt to.
Suddenly, the BlackBerry looked ancient.
Even as BlackBerry sales continued to grow in many parts of the world, many BlackBerry users in North America switched to iPhones and Android devices. BlackBerry's worldwide subscriber based peaked at 80 million in the quarter that ended Sept. 1, before dropping to 79 million in the most-recent quarter. In the US, according to research firm IDC, shipments of BlackBerry phones plummeted from 46 per cent of the market in 2008 to 2 per cent in 2012. Most phones in use today are either iPhones or Android devices.
RIM promised a new system to catch up, using technology it got through its 2010 purchase of QNX Software Systems. RIM initially said BlackBerry 10 would come by early 2012, but then the company changed that to late 2012. A few months later, that date was pushed further, to early 2013, missing the lucrative holiday season. The holdup helped wipe out more than $70 billion in shareholder wealth and 5,000 jobs.
Although executives have been providing a glimpse at some of BlackBerry 10's new features for months, Heins will finally showcase a complete system at Wednesday's event. Devices will go on sale soon after that. The exact date and prices are expected Wednesday.
RIM redesigned the system to embrace the multimedia, apps and touch-screen experience prevalent today.
"Historically there have been areas that have not been our strongest points," Rick Costanzo, RIM's executive vice president of global sales, said in an interview. "Not only have we caught up, but we may even be better than some of the competition now."
Costanzo said "no one else can touch" what RIM's new system offers.
The new operating system promises better multitasking than either the iPhone or Android. Simply swipe a finger across the phone's display screen to switch to another program.
All emails and notifications from such applications as Twitter and Facebook go to the BlackBerry Hub, a nerve center accessible with a finger swipe even if you have another application open. One can peek into it and open an email, or return to the previous application without opening the email.
"You are not going in and out of applications; you're flowing through applications with one simple gesture of your finger," Costanzo said. "You can leave applications running. You can effortlessly flow between them. So that's completely unique to us."
That said, multitasking will still be limited. If you're watching a video, it will still run while you check for email. But it will pause if you decide to open an email and resume when you are done.
The BlackBerry's touch-screen keyboard promises to learn a user's writing style and suggest words and phrases to complete, going beyond typo corrections offered by rivals. See the one you want, and flick it up to the message area. Costanzo said that "BlackBerry offers the best keyboard, period."
Gus Papageorgiou, a Scotiabank financial analyst who has tried it out, agreed with that assessment and said the keyboard even learns and adjusts to your thumb placements.
The first BlackBerry 10 phone will have only a touch screen. RIM has said it will release a version with a physical keyboard soon after that. That's an area RIM has excelled at, and it's one reason many BlackBerry users have remained loyal despite temptations to switch.
Another distinguishing feature will be the BlackBerry Balance, which allows two personas on the same device. Businesses can keep their data secure without forcing employees to get a second device for personal use. For instance, IT managers can prevent personal apps from running inside corporate firewalls, but those managers won't have access to personal data on the device.
With Balance, "you can just switch from work to personal mode," Papageorgiou said. "I think that is something that will attract a lot of people."
RIM is also claiming that the BlackBerry 10's browser will be speedy, even faster than browsers for laptop and desktop computers. According to Papageorgiou, early, independent tests between the BlackBerry 10 and the iPhone support that claim.
Regardless of BlackBerry 10's advances, though, the new system will face a key shortcoming: It won't have as many apps written by outside companies and individuals as the iPhone and Android. RIM has said it plans to launch BlackBerry 10 with more than 70,000 apps, including those developed for RIM's PlayBook tablet, first released in 2011.
Even so, that's just a tenth of what the iPhone and Android offer. Papageorgiou said the initial group will include the most popular ones such as Twitter and Facebook. But RIM will have to persuade others to make a BlackBerry version, when they are already struggling to keep up with both the iPhone and Android.
Like many analysts, Papageorgiou recently upgraded RIM's stock, but cautioned that longtime BlackBerry users will have to get used to a whole new operating system.
He said RIM can be successful if about a third of current subscribers upgrade and if the company can get 4 million new users overseas, especially in countries where the BlackBerry has remained popular. IDC said smartphone shipments grew 44 per cent in 2012. If those trends continue, it will be possible for the BlackBerry to grow even if iPhone and Android users don't switch.
"This doesn't have to be the best smartphone on the planet to be a success for RIM," he said. "I think the big question though is, if it fails, is it just too late? Are the other two ecosystems just so advanced that no one can catch up? That's a big risk."

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Apple updates iPhone, iPad software; releases iOS 6.1

New York: Apple has released a software update for iPhones and iPads that speeds up data downloads on some major overseas telecom networks and a handful of small US carriers.
Apple says iOS version 6.1 adds the ability to access the "LTE" networks of 36 additional iPhone carriers. Those include Alaska Communications, Bluegrass Cellular of Kentucky and C Spire of Mississippi. Internationally, they include major carriers in Italy, Denmark, Finland, Croatia, Portugal, Saudi Arabia and South Africa.
iOS 6 features include Siri, which supports more languages, easy access to sports scores, restaurant recommendations and movie listings; Maps with Apple-designed cartography, turn-by-turn navigation and Flyover view; Facebook integration for Contacts and Calendar, with the ability to post directly from Notification Center, Siri and Facebook-enabled apps; Shared Photo Streams via iCloud; and Passbook, the simplest way to get all your passes in one place.

Apple says iOS version 6.1 adds the ability to access the LTE networks of 36 additional iPhone carriers.

Additional updates in iOS 6.1 include the ability to use Siri to purchase movie tickets in the US through Fandango, and iTunes Match subscribers can download individual songs to their iOS devices from iCloud.
The update also includes the ability buy US movie tickets through the "Siri" voice-controlled assistant feature. Also, subscribers to "iTunes Match" will now be able to download individual songs from their online lockers to their phones.
The update is compatible with the iPod Touch as well.

Availability
iOS 6.1 is available as a free software update today. iOS 6.1 is compatible with iPhone 5, iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPad (third and fourth generation), iPad mini, iPad 2 and iPod touch (fourth and fifth generation). Some features may not be available on all products.

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Apple launches 128GB iPad 4 at Rs 49,900 onwards; in stores from February 5

New Delhi: Apple has announced the launch of the 128GB version of the fourth generation iPad with Retina display. The 128GB iPad with Wi-Fi and iPad with Wi-Fi + Cellular models provide twice the storage capacity of the 64GB models to hold even more valuable content.
The new 128GB versions of the fourth generation iPad will be available starting Tuesday, February 5, in black or white, for Rs 49,900 for the iPad with Wi-Fi model and Rs 56,900 for the iPad with Wi-Fi + Cellular model. All versions of the 128GB iPad will be sold through select Apple Authorised Resellers.
The fourth generation iPad features a 9.7-inch Retina display, Apple-designed A6X chip, FaceTime HD camera, and iOS 6.1. iOS 6.1 includes support for additional LTE networks around the world, and iTunes Match subscribers can download individual songs to their iOS devices from iCloud.

The new 128GB versions of the fourth generation iPad will be available starting Tuesday, February 5, in black or white.

Apple says iOS version 6.1 adds the ability to access the "LTE" networks of 36 additional iPhone carriers. Those include Alaska Communications, Bluegrass Cellular of Kentucky and C Spire of Mississippi. Internationally, they include major carriers in Italy, Denmark, Finland, Croatia, Portugal, Saudi Arabia and South Africa.
iOS 6 features include Siri, which supports more languages, easy access to sports scores, restaurant recommendations and movie listings; Maps with Apple-designed cartography, turn-by-turn navigation and Flyover view; Facebook integration for Contacts and Calendar, with the ability to post directly from Notification Center, Siri and Facebook-enabled apps; Shared Photo Streams via iCloud; and Passbook, the simplest way to get all your passes in one place.
iPad runs over 800,000 apps available on the App Store, including more than 300,000 apps designed specifically for iPad.

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Dell XPS 12 Review

PRICE IN INDIA

94,990

Technoluverz Rating

7.0

Dell has managed to make a strong name for itself as far as Ultrabooks go and it is once again taking the lead in the Indian market with the swanky new XPS 12. The smallest in the series, the XPS 12 combines the same premium, high-quality craftsmanship we’ve seen in the XPS 13 with a bit of razzle dazzle. On one hand, it’s a regular Ultrabook and then with a quick screen flip, it turns into a tablet. Dell had debuted this same concept a few CESs back, but it never really made it to production because the software wasn’t quite touch friendly at the time. So, does the XPS 12 have enough practical value to justify the high price tag? Let’s find out.

Design and build
On the face of it, the XPS 12 looks like nothing more than a shrunken down version of the XPS 13. Save for the carbon fibre finish on the lid, it looks pretty much identical to its elder sibling. The chassis is made up of a mix of carbon fibre, machined aluminium and Gorilla Glass for the display. This makes the notebook extremely durable and sturdy and it will happily take the beating of everyday use without showing any scars. It’s quite light as well with a starting weight of 1.54 kg. While this is quite light for a notebook, it’s a lot for a tablet.

Well crafted

The ports and buttons are arranged a little differently so that it’s convenient to use in either modes. We have speaker grilles on either side for stereo sound, a volume rocker and orientation lock button for tablet mode, headphone jack and the power switch to the left. The other side houses two USB 3.0 ports, the charging port and a mini DisplayPort connector. There’s no card reader, LAN jack or HDMI present.

Doing the flip

You can switch to tablet mode by simply rotating the display within the bezel itself. There are latches that hold the screen in place when locked into position so that it doesn’t accidentally pop out when travelling. The mechanism is extremely smooth and fluid, allowing you to flip the screen in one swift motion. The backlit keyboard is the exact same one used on the XPS 13 and just like it, the battery is also non-removable. Overall, the Dell XPS 12 is very well designed and built and simply exudes style and luxury.

Low on connectivity

Features
The XPS 12 is available in four pre-set configurations. The base model that we received came with an Intel Core i5-3317U Ivy Bridge CPU, 4GB of DDR3 RAM and 128GB SSD storage. This being a hybrid notebook, you get Windows 8 as the OS of choice. The XPS 12 maxes out at a Core i7-3517U, 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD. Sadly, there’s no option for a discrete GPU even if you want it. The battery capacity also remains the same. One good thing is that you get a Full HD display as default, no matter which configuration you pick. The panel has very good viewing angles and excellent colour reproduction, which makes watching video or simply using Modern UI a real treat. However, one side effect of having such a high-resolution display on a screen this small is that the desktop environment does not scale as well as Modern UI so everything looks really small. This makes it a real task to work on text documents or simply read anything without having to zoom in.

Performance
Thanks to the SSD onboard, the XPS 12 performs very well. We recorded a very healthy read speed of 420MB/s in SiSoft Sandra 2013’s ‘File System’ test. PCMark 7 returned an overall score of 4685 points while 3DMark Vantage scored 10,523 points with the entry level preset. Video encoding and files compression will also benefit greatly here due the SSD. Storage is limited here, so you won’t be able to dump your entire music and movie collection on the notebook.

Comfortable keys

As an Ultrabook, the XPS 12 is extremely portable and very comfortable to use even for extended typing. The keys have good tactile feedback as well. The trackpad is large enough to use comfortably, but it tends to get in the way while typing. Audio quality is also pretty good. The volume levels are high thanks to the side mounted speakers and the quality of audio is also very good for music and movies. The weight of the XPS12 can be a problem in tablet mode though. Don’t expect to carry the Ultrabook around in one hand for too long like you would a typical tablet since it’s just not possible. Fatigue tends to set in very soon on your wrist. One tablet feature we found missing was the ability to toggle the screen on and off like you do on a smartphone or tablet. Even in tablet mode, pressing the power button puts the XPS 12 is standby mode, so you can’t really wake it up instantaneously.

Tablet mode

Battery life
We found the battery life to be average. We managed to get two solid hours, which roughly translates to about 4 hrs of good usage. You’ll be able to squeeze a little more if you’re careful with your usage, but don’t expect too much.

Verdict and price in India
With a starting price of Rs 94,990, the XPS 12 is one expensive notebook, even for an Ultrabook. While it does have a very good feature set, behind the fancy new rotating screen, it’s a very average performing notebook. The hybrid nature of the device is fun to use, but we’re sure that the novelty will wear off after a while. The Windows 8 store has still a long way to go in terms of Windows apps and until that happens, traditional desktop applications will still rule—and you don’t need a fancy touchscreen to use them.

How To: Get the fastest Internet connection ever

A powerful utility to combine multiple Internet connections into a mammoth broadband pipeline.

It has always been a geek’s dream to have the fastest Internet connection ever, and we bet you would desire the same too. Almost all those who are hooked on to the Internet to surf, download or entertain themselves would definitely be owning an broadband connection at home. It could be via a telecom service provider, your local cable guy or 4G wireless Internet providers. Some even own 3G USB Internet dongles for their work and entertainment while being outdoors. Most smartphone users today also opt for 3G Internet services on their phones and tablets. All these connections can be individually used on your PCs, laptops and handhelds efficiently.

Download, set up and activate the utility

Though you can connect them all together on a single PC and access the Internet, the Internet speed will be only drawn from the last connected network, leaving the others unused. For instance, you have four different Internet connection sources A, B, C and D.  Your PC will access Internet from A when it is connected. The moment you initiate a connection from B, the PC will divert all network connections via B, leaving A unused. The same happens when C is initiated; A and B are unused and it applies the same to D. The operating system is not smart enough and does not know that there are multiple Internet networks. It needs help, but is unable to do so. In Linux, it is possible to do so by tweaking the kernel, adding some modules and running some scripts that will tell the operating system about the various active Internet connections and balance the network load accordingly. On Windows, it is not possible and a third-party utility is required.

Single connection speed

Clubbing all your available Internet connections into one single mammoth pipeline was not possible until Connectify, a well known software development company which developed Connectify hotspot, a virtual software router for Windows, stepped in. It kickstarted a campaign to help collect funds for the project and achieved it. It finally came up with Connectify Dispatch, a utility to connect to multiple Internet connections for combined speed and reliability. Using this utility, you can now connect all your available Internet connections – be it from a DSL modem, a wired cable connection, a wireless router, a tethered mobile phone or a USB Internet dongle – into a single mega broadband connection. Read ahead to know how you can do it in four simple steps.

All adapters active and associated with Dispatch

Step 1: Download Connectify Dispatch and install it. It is not a free utility and there are no demo versions available. The utility costs Rs 5,114 for a lifetime license, which includes the HotSpot Pro utility as a bundle. Optionally, you can opt for a one year license for Rs 4,023, but we recommend the lifetime offer, which is reasonably cheaper than this one. Once installed, activate the utility and you can see it running, but not active, in the system tray.

System tray showing adapters activated and deactivated

Speed using a single Internet connection only

All Internet connections combined as a single large bandwidth

Step 2: individually set up and test all your Internet connections on the PC. Install the USB dongles, tethered phone, wireless network, Ethernet cable Internet, or whatever sources you may have. Ensure they are working and all connected to the PC.

Using only three connections

Step 3: Double-click on the Connectify icon in the system tray to pull up the Dispatch user interface. Here you see the Dispatch utility, which is not started as yet. There is a graph available to know the bandwidth of all your available connection’s, and the overall bandwidth speed. Also, you will see the number of active adapters (Internet connections) in the lower half. Other icons available are Hotspot (to start the Wi-Fi hotspot) and Settings (to tweak a few changes).

Step 4: Connect, enable or start all your Internet connections. Once all are active, hit the ‘Start Dispatch’ button on the Dispatch window and you are ready to cruise the Internet highway by utilising all the Internet connections simultaneously. The Dispatch utility will automatically combine all the Internet connections together, analyse each one of them and route the Internet traffic accordingly whenever and wherever necessary. You can check the download speeds by downloading some large file, video or torrent. You will definitely notice a difference.

Assign individual applications to select particular Internet routes

How we tested
1. Internet connection A – Tikona Wireless 4G broadband via Ethernet – 2 Mbps speed.
2. Internet connection B – Tata Photon Plus 3G USB internet dongle – Speeds up to 3.1 Mbps.
3. Internet connection C – Tata Photon Plus 3G USB internet dongle – Speeds up to 3.1 Mbps.
4. Internet connection D – Tata Photon Plus 3G USB internet dongle – Speeds up to 3.1 Mbps.

Set bandwidth limitations for each Internet connection

The setup was done on a Lenovo laptop and was conducted inside a house in the suburbs of Mumbai. The testing was done at night around 1 AM when we could obtain maximum speeds and minimum interferences from any other networks in the surroundings. As we all know, the USB 3G Internet dongles claim maximum speeds of up to 3.1 Mbps, but this entirely depends from area to area. In our case, the maximum Internet speeds we acquired was between 800 Kbps to 1.5 Mbps at any given time. The Tikona connection was stable at around 2 Mbps. In all, estimating the USB dongles gave us around 1.2 Mbps speeds and the Tikona Wireless giving us around 2 Mbps speeds, clubbing them together, the speeds we acquired was a little more than 6 Mbps.

Override the default DNS

Testing and using the Connectify Dispatch for a few hours, we definitely state that the utility works and can benefit those who are looking for higher broadband speeds. BitTorrent is designed to make use of many network sockets simultaneously, which makes it a perfect application for Connectivity Dispatch.

Select adapters to act as Primary connections or stay as backups

Other options possible with Dispatch
You can further tweak the Dispatch utility to benefit your work. You can set up individual applications to use particular Internet connections to balance the load manually too. In this way, for example, you can download multiple files from Hotfile, Rapidshare, Mediafire and other similar file hosting websites that have IP-based time limitations to download the next file. It can also benefit those who want to download particular files faster than others, such as torrents can be on a faster bandwidth while smaller files can use the slower Internet connections.

Start Hotspot with a combined speed and share it to other devices

You can also use Dispatch to balance the load as per your will. You can set it to keep particular Internet connections as standby or backup connections in case any one of them fails. Other options available are to use DNS servers other than the ISP provides you. You can use Google or OpenDNS to your advantage. You can also meter individual connections to limit the Internet usage so that you don't exceed the download limits according to your plans. This can be done on daily, weekly or monthly rules according to your download plans. Lastly, you can set Dispatch to draw the bandwidth from the available connections that have the best latency and reliability.

An Android phone using Hotspot over Wi-Fi with full combined speed

Finally, if you have bought the Dispatch + Hotspot utility together (Rs 5,114), you can start up HotSpot and share this combined mega-Internet pipeline to all other computers and devices on the network wirelessly or using a router.

Connectify Dispatch is a very powerful utility that can benefit small and large business environments too. Take for example, a large organisation that provides most of the employees with a USB Internet dongle for use when they are travelling. When they are not travelling, the Internet connection is wasted as they are lying unused and the office Internet connection is used at work. By using these dongles on a PC installed with Dispatch, the entire bandwidth can come in handy for the entire office to have a faster Internet connection. Other areas where Dispatch can come in very handy is for video chat, online high-definition and 3D video entertainment, distributed or cloud gaming, online backups and data sync servers, remote desktop sharing, and a few others.

Opera to launch Ice, a new browser for smartphones and tablets

Opera Software has a new browser for smartphone and tablet users. The maker of the widely used browser of the same name will be launching a new smartphone and tablet browser called Opera Ice in February.

Pocket-lint revealed that Opera Ice is an attempt by the company to make a foothold in the mobile browser field dominated by Google and Apple. In an attempt to take these giants heads on, Opera has changed its approach strategy, switching to the WebKit rendering engine that Google Chrome and Apple Safari use instead of Presto, the engine that has powered Opera since 2003.

Opera Ice in a screen-grab (Photo Credits: Pocket-lint)

In a video published by Pocket-lint, Opera CEO Lars Boilesen explains that Opera has traded in the traditional tabs and buttons in favour of an all-touch gesture based control system. The homepage contains compact icons or ‘apps’ as Boilesen describes them. These apps can be used to open pages directly, like Boilesen shows with the Google Maps app. The URL bar and search functions have been combined to make the experience of browsing simpler. Boilesen shifts back and forth between pages via simple swipe hand gestures.

The ‘apps’ can be bookmarked and an icon placed on the opening screen for easier access. Boilesen also showed how going on to a website deemed dangerous by the browser will throw up a very animated warning sign.

"This is a full touch and tablet-focused browser," said Boilesen in the video explaining Opera Ice’s interface. "Most are taking a PC browser and squishing [it] into a tablet, or they are taking a mobile browser and blowing it up to fill the space."




What about the company’s existing mobile web browser Opera Mini? Boilesen says that while Opera Mini was ‘great’, it wasn’t offering features up to Chrome and Safari’s standards. There are also many sites Opera Mini does not work with. Instead of trying to stretch Opera Mini’s capabilities, the company decided to chalk out a new, smartphone and tablet-based browser that was customised to be used via hand gestures and had a UI that was built especially for the platform.

Boilesen confirmed that the company will not be ditching Opera Mini. "Mini is super important … It needs to be a platform where we create users and then migrate those users to over to our smartphone products,” he said. Boilesen also mentioned that there will be a desktop Opera browser to be launched in March.

Opera Ice is slated to be released in February for iOS and Android, said Boilesen. He said that Windows Mobile will also figure in Opera Software’s scheme of things soon, but it isn’t a priority till sales of the platform pick up.

Windows Mobile has seen a severe problem with browsers in the past, with Google blocking Maps on Windows Phone 8. Google had said that Internet Explorer was not a WebKit supported browser, leading to the blocking of the service. Of course, Microsoft refuted the claim saying, “Internet Explorer in Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8 use the same rendering engine.” Given this tussle, it wouldn’t be a bad move for Opera to take advantage.

Nokia Lumia 920 Review

PRICE IN INDIA

38,199

Technoluverz RATING

7.5

AVERAGE USER RATING

8.5

Enter the Nokia Lumia 920. It’s round two for Nokia to try and prove itself to its fans as being a company that’s still quite relevant in the smartphone game. The Lumia 920 is its latest flagship device for Microsoft’s Windows Phone 8 platform. HTC beat Nokia to the punch by launching its 8X first, ushering in the new Windows Phone 8 age in India. But it wasn’t a race, so no winners here. So, we’ve done a review based on just the specifications as well as a hands on with the Lumia 920. We’ve also done come comparisons pitting it against other high-end devices like the 8X and the iPhone 5 based on specs and camera samples respectively. This is our official review of the Lumia 920 after using it for a few days and putting it through its paces.

Form factor
Our first impression is that the Lumia 920 is a good looking handset, but it’s large and rather bulky as well. Take into account the fact that HTC has a super slick looking WP8 device and the 920 comes off in quite a bad light. It does, however, feel very sturdy just like the Lumia 800 and 900. Unfortunately, like both its predecessors, this one too is quite heavy at 185 g. There also seems to be an offset of balance as the upper portion of the handset seems to be slightly heavier. The 920 also features a unibody design form, which means no access to the battery and no support for additional memory over and above the 32GB of onboard storage.

All buttons are placed on the right

All buttons are concentrated on the right side of the handset starting with the volume rocker, power/screen lock and the camera’s activation/shutter release button. A MicroUSB port is located at the bottom while a 3.5 mm handsfree socket is placed at the top near the SIM card (micro) tray. The now famous PureView camera (8 megapixel) with Carl Zeiss optics is just slightly off centre on the rear panel with dual LEDs for the flash. There’s also a 1.3MP front facing camera placed right next to the earpiece.

Lastly, Nokia Lumia 920 has one of the most impressive displays yet. With a 768 x 1280 pixel resolution spread across the 4.5-inch display and 332ppi, the screen is crisp at all times and easily legible with colours that really pop. Nokia has included what it terms a PureMotion HD+ display and coupled it with its ClearBlack technology to make it more appealing to your eyes. Being an IPS LCD panel also ensures that your visual experience is as good as possible. The display is also sheltered by Corning Gorilla Glass 2, which we noticed was quite handy in keeping scratches at bay.

The rear panel is host to the advanced PureView camera

The Lumia 920’s glossy shells are colorful and very chic, but a matt or rubberised option would have made the handset easier to grip.

Features and performance
Interface
The Lumia 920 comes running Microsoft’s Windows Mobile 8 on a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor of the 1.5GHz dual core variety (Krait with 1GB RAM). The OS on its own is smooth and quite fluid and there’s a slight (only a slight) improvement in motion blur reduction while scrolling thanks to the PureMotion HD+ display. The Windows phone 8 platform offers quite a bit in terms of it being a very user friendly, clutter free setup. Where it sorely lacks is in the application department. The lack of popular application support for this OS will be a make or break type situation for a handset this highly priced.

The Lumia 920 with Windows Phone 8's new Start screen

The new Windows Phone 8 homescreen with the options to resize tiles comes in very handy as you can fit so much more on the page and still keep it neat and tidy. Pop-up messages that show up on the upper part of the display can easily be accessed with a simple tap. The keypad is still just as good as it was in the older devices. It’s large and well spaced out, but should have had tap-and-hold characters. Transitions and animations are smooth with no lag.

Media
Thanks to the USB mass storage accessibility and non requirement of the Zune software for media transfer, it’s a simple drag and drop option now for movies and music alike. The music player’s interface is very well set up, but the biggest issue is that one has to go to the settings menu in order to adjust the EQ or to switch the Dolby enhancement on or off. This should have been made accessible right from the player interface. Tone quality is quite above average. With the help of Dolby and the 7 band customisable graphic EQ option, or the many presets, the audio proved to be really good.

Great audio that gets better thanks to Dolby and the presets

You can access your music via the dedicated music app or via the Nokia Music app that also gives you access to a lot of online content for streaming audio. The same service also lets you download music for free onto your device. For some reason, we were unable to do so as we kept getting a “Network problem” error. Mix Radio is an ad hoc streaming service for online music. You can choose from multiple languages as well as genres etc. A Podcast option is also available.

The new Windows Phone 8 comes preloaded with quite a few video codecs that support MP4, WMV and a few AVI formats as well. Full HD videos in the supported formats play without a hitch and thanks to the vibrant display, they look really good while doing it. Another plus point for the WP8 system.

Connectivity
To start with, the Lumia 920 features an LTE (FDD) that isn’t supported in India, so you’ll have to stick to 3G or EDGE. Wi-Fi (dual band) support is also provisioned and so is NFC and Bluetooth (with A2DP and EDR) for data transfer. With an Internet sharing option thrown in, you can set your phone up to be a Wi-Fi hotspot whenever you need it. The Wi-Fi also comes in handy for DLNA.

Web page rending is swift and setting up accounts can be a little buggy at times

WP8’s IE browser with full support for HTML5 is as swift and easy to use as they come. There are a couple of alternatives available on the Market as well, including US Browser. It’s not too hard to set up your email, Outlook or social networking accounts, but we did have issues with syncing some accounts including our Microsoft Hotmail account. In some case, it would only sync our email or contacts and sometimes it would sync the rest but not contacts. “800xxx” errors seem to be a plague on Windows Mobile device. The Contacts or People tab syncs with your FB account and it’s well integrated with the social network.

Offline maps are a Godsend

GPS with GLONASS is on board to support Nokia Maps and Nokia Drive as well as other location-based services like City Lens etc. Nokia Drive is a well-designed mapping application that’s extremely versatile. Maps are available for pan India and quite a few other countries as well. The maps themselves are downloaded to your handset's memory and are very usable offline.

Misc. features
Like the others, the Lumia 920 WP8 handset also comes with One Note and Office that allows you to access SkyDrive, email and documents stored on your handset. Angry Birds Roost has been preloaded, allowing you to access all the goodies from Rovio’s best seller. Of course, the game is not free on this platform. On the application store for WP8, Nokia has a list of apps available for the handset. They range from freebies to those that are priced at Rs. 160. The Xbox game tile lets you access your downloaded games and your Xbox account. Wireless charging is also another capability of the Lumia 920. However, all the charging stations are accessories you'll have to purchase as extras. The handset can also be set to activate a few chosen features via NFC when placed on any of the wireless charging stations.

A few extras thrown in

Camera
And now for the piece de resistance – Nokia’s famous PureView camera. In the settings, you’ll find Scene options, ISO settings, Exposure control, White Balance and more. Nokia has also thrown in four lenses that include Panorama; Cinemagraph, which lets you capture animated images; and Smart Shoot that’s a brilliant feature giving you the ability to capture multiple images, choosing the best one and removing unnecessary obstacles from the way. Bing Vision lets you scan QR codes. There are also a few edit options for cropping or auto fixing images.

Here are a few samples taken from the 8MP camera:

Close Up

In Close Up mode (scenes), the closest focus range is 7 cm from the subject. The depth of field is the shallowest (background blur) for that range as you can see in the image. Images appeared very crisp with colours looking quite vibrant.

Low Light, Night Mode

Low light shooting is this cameras forte. The Night scene mode keeps the shutter open for a longer time, allowing the camera to expose the scene optimally in low light. The Lumia 920 did this beautifully. The PureView’s floating lenses technology is handy for slight handshakes, but we recommend resting your handset on a surface for the best results.

Standard Out Door

The overall exposure, white balance and colour reproduction proved to be well above average for mobile camera technology. The Lumia 920’s camera is definitely one of the best out there in the mobile domain.

The handset can also capture videos in 1080p full HD and once again, the floating lens comes to the rescue to counter movement. The front camera can also record videos in 720p HD.


Battery
Nokia Lumia 920’s 2000mAh battery managed to give us a full day’s usage on a full charge. Usage included almost 20 images captured in low light, 2 hours 45 minutes of video, constantly accessing email accounts and social networks and a few calls as well. It works out to be quite an asset. The system also comes with battery saving options as well that we estimate will extend battery life by a couple of hours at least.

Wireless charging uses the Qi standard already available in many accessories.

The bottom line
Nokia has launched the Lumia 920 for a whopping Rs 38,000. That’s quite a hefty price tag all things considered. But that being said, the handset is easily the highest spec'd WP8 device available for India right now. It does have its kinks with the lack of expandable memory and possibly its biggest issue is constraint by an ecosystem that’s in dire need of apps. However, Nokia has tried to offer a few choice apps to compensate. So while the bulky, heavyset smartphone should have been better priced, you do end up with a product featuring a really great camera, decent battery and a great mapping software. If that’s what you’re interested in, the Lumia 920 satiates your needs.

Nokia should, however, consider the fact that in today’s fast-paced smartphone world, they still have to deal with tough competition from competing operating systems and better spec'd handsets at lower prices.