TuneUp Utilities 2013 Review

PRICE IN INDIA

2,715

TECHNOLUVERZ RATING 

7.0

AVERAGE USER RATING 

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• REVIEW

If your PC or laptop has been working in an erratic manner, or has slowed down after you last reinstalled Windows, here’s what you can do: Install TuneUp Utilities and solve your problems with just a few clicks. It may sound gimmicky to you, but it will make absolute sense if you look at what it actually does. The reason for slowing down could be many, such as bloated registry due to hundreds of redundant entries, invalid shortcuts, fragmented partitions and unwanted start up programs and services that take forever to load. Also, web browser cache and temporary files created by applications hog hundreds of megabytes of storage space. Such issues pile up over a period of time and should be resolved from time to time to maintain optimal functioning of the operating system. The quickest solution is using a system tuning utility that fixes everything in one go.  The latest version of TuneUp Utilities adds support for Windows 8, browser cleaner and Live Optimization among many other improvements. Here’s what it has in store for you. Features TuneUp Utilities 2013 is a 27MB download (get it from here) and needs around 75MB of disk space for installation. Immediately after the installation, it prompts you to run “1-click Maintenance”—it scans for redundant registry entries, invalid shortcuts and references in the start menu and desktop, junk files, browser cache, fragmented drives, and so on. It takes around a minute to complete the scan, after which it displays the number of issues found and the overall condition of the system. You can click on the number of problems found to view them and uncheck the actions you don’t want the software to perform. 1-Click Maintenance solves all issues in one go A good thing here is that even if you’re not well-versed with certain functions or terminologies, moving the mouse pointer over them or selecting them displays a brief explanation in simple English. Clicking the “Run maintenance” button fixes all the issues in one go. This can take anything between a few seconds to an hour depending on the number of issues and whether your drive(s) need to be defragmented. You’re taken to the main UI after the “1-Click Maintenance” run is complete. You can choose what to run with 1-Click Maintenance The main UI comprises five tabs in the decreasing order of priority—Status and recommendations, Optimize computer, Clean up computer, Fix problems and Customize Windows. The lower one-third portion of the UI stays static. The left side of this panel has buttons to choose the PC Optimization mode (Economy, Standard and Turbo). The Economy mode helps prolong battery life of mobile devices by turning off the display and wireless radios when idle, disabling visual effects and turning off background services that are rarely used such as support for virtual machines, error reporting, Quick Windows search etc. These parameters can be defined as per your preference. With Economy mode enabled, your laptop’s battery life should extend by around half an hour or so. The Economy mode helps improve battery life of mobile devices The Turbo mode is meant to give your PC an instant speed boost—in addition to postponing scheduled maintenance tasks, disabling visual effects and rarely used services, it ensures optimal performance regardless of power consumption. Over to the right side, the optimisation status bar displays the optimisation tasks you have run and the “Unused potential”, which lists the recommended tasks. Moving on to the five tabs in the main UI, here’s what they offer: Status and recommendations Everything green means your system is running optimally This section displays status and suggests recommendations related to system maintenance, performance and fixing problems. These are presented as separate blocks along with individual statuses. “Maintain System” does exactly what “1-Click Maintenance” does, but when the PC is idle or as per user-defined schedule. “Increase Performance” recommends optimisations based on the type of Internet connection and visual effects you specify. You can run the recommended optimisations (related to Internet connection, browser settings, display and animation effects) after analysis. “Fix Problems” suggests resolving issues that negatively impact system health, for example, checking for drive errors. You know your system is running optimally if all the statuses are green with a checkmark. “System protection” is like System Restore in Windows. It allows undoing changes made by the various modules in the software. You can specify the number of backups to keep and the timeframe to store backups until they are automatically deleted. Optimize computer Reduce system load by disabling startup programs and optimising registry This section presents tools to reduce system load and optimise registry. So, you have Program Deactivator, StartUp Manager and Uninstall Manager to manage startup items and installed software—each of these is a separate module. Prioritise programs and disable startup programs To help you decide whether you should enable or disable items, the software uses a rating system that evaluates priority. There’s also an independent registry cleaner, disk defragmenter and startup optimiser, each with an easy-to-use interface.

Karbonn S1 Titanium Review

PRICE IN INDIA

10,500

TECHNOLUVERZ RATING 

5.5

AVERAGE USER RATING 

                    

                                    7.0

• SPECIFICATIONS

Display
Form Factor	Bar
Screen Type	qHD Multi Touch Capacitive Screen
Screen Size	4.5 inches
Screen Resolution	540 x 960
Processor
Processor	Qualcomm Snapdragon Quad Core
Speed	1.2 GHz
Memory
Internal Memory	4GB, 512MB RAM
Extendable Memory	microSD, up to 32GB
Camera Features
Sensor Resolution	5MP, 2592 x 1944 pixels
Features	Auto Focus, LED Flash
General Features
OS	Android
Version	4.1 (Jelly Bean)
WAP Enabled	Yes
Bluetooth Features	Yes
Dual Sim Support	Yes
Messaging	SMS, MMS, EMS, Email
GPS	Yes
USB Connector	Yes
Available Colours	White & Black
Carrier Networks
2G	GSM 900 / 1800 / 1900
3G	WCDMA 2100
Data
GPRS	Yes
EGPRS or EDGE	EDGE
WiFi	802.11b/g/n
Body
Dimensions	66 x 9.25 x 134.6 mm
Sound
Media Player	Music formats: MP3 MIDI WAV AMR AAC AAC+ - Video formats: H.263 H.264 AVI 3GP MP4
Alert Tone	Vibration, MP3
Audio connector	Yes
Battery
Type	Li-Ion
Capacity(mAh)	1600
Talk Time with Standard Battery (Minutes)	4 Hrs
Standby Time with Standard Battery (Hours)	200 Hrs
Miscellaneous Features
Other Features	Calculator, Alarm Clock, Stop Watch, World Times, Organizer, Voice Recorder, Power On/Off Animation, Embedded Games
After Sales Service
Warranty Period	1 Year

First Impressions: Sony Xperia Tablet Z

In light of the Xperia Z smartphone, it was good to see that Sony has upped its game and I was quite eager to see just what the new tablet would offer. I managed to wrangle a few minutes with the device and here’s my initial take on the Xperia Tablet Z.

Adding another notch to the Xperia series, Sony announced the Tablet Z at a recent event. The tablet will make its way to the Indian shelves sometime around May. My expectation from the device, taking into account Sony’s past tablet offerings, was minimal. However, in light of the Xperia Z smartphone, it was good to see that Sony has upped its game and I was quite eager to see just what the new tablet would offer. I managed to wrangle a few minutes with the device and here’s my initial take on the Xperia Tablet Z.  Take a quick look at the Xpera Tablet Z on video -  Design The Tablet Z comes off as a larger version of the BlackBerry PlayBook in many ways. The simple elegance of flat rectangular surfaces makes the device appear to be trendy and sophisticated, much like the PlayBook. The difference here is that the Tablet Z is so much thinner. In fact, at just 6.9 mm in depth, the Tablet Z is pretty much the slimmest device out there at the moment. Using what Sony calls an OmniBalance design, holding the device at the corner with just two fingers proved to be undaunting even with the weight of 495 g behind it, to say the least. As large and slim as the device may be, the fact that it is so well-balanced is a testament to Sony’s new design form.  Yes, it really is this thin! The Tablet Z has a 10.1-inch LED backlit display sporting a resolution of 1920 x 1200 pixels. Using Sony’s Mobile Bravia Engine 2 with the Reality Display technology, the viewing experience in all of the indoor lighting conditions was really good. Unfortunately, I was unable to check it outdoors. Colour reproduction and contrast was quite strong, making HD videos and hi-res images look vivid.  Like the Xperia Z smartphone, the Tablet Z too features well-concealed ports for the memory card, USB/MHL port, earphone socket and SIM card slot. They’re flushed into the design to give the tablet a seamless feel all around. This device also boasts of IP55 and IP57 grade protection from the elements like water (up to 1 metre for 30 minutes) and dust. And just like the phone, it’s protected by shatterproof glass and a polycarbonate rim all around it. The flaps are well-secured to envelop the various access ports and keep the environmental hazards at bay. The very distinctive Power/Sleep button is placed on one side and is the only actual protrusion on the otherwise flat surface of the device.  All in all, the Xperia Tablet Z is a rather impressive piece of hardware that looks and feels quite fresh in terms of design and handling. 16GB of on-board storage plus more via microSD card support up to 64GB Features The specifications don’t quite differ from the Xperia Z smartphone. Sony has also incorporated the tablet with a 1.5GHz quad-core Krait (Snapdragon S4) processor from Qualcomm and 2GB of RAM to help ensure smooth functionality. The test devices on display performed adequately, but I’d still like to test it in our labs to see just how fluid the UI and overall working proves to be. The dedicated Adreno 320 GPU should help quite a bit when it comes to high-end mobile gaming. All of this will help run Android Jelly Bean 4.1.2, which will hopefully receive an upgrade by the time the tablet hits the Indian market. On-board storage of 16GB plus 64GB microSD card support is yet another specification that bears mention.  The new additions to Sony’s customised Android UI play well with the large display area and the graphics to support it. Like the new mobile devices, the focus of the Tablet Z is to be an entertainment module for most part. A Walkman music player is also there with all the trimmings including presets, 3D surround sound options and a graphic EQ setting to customise your audio. Sony’s Virtualphones Technology or VPT helps further customise the audio, and to expand that even further, Sony has thrown in its ClearAudio+ system along with a variety of other settings ranging from xLOUD, Clear Phase, Clear Bass, Dynamic Normalizer and more. There’s enough here to make absolutely sure you don’t miss a beat, a gun shot or a bone cracking in some fight scene. The set of four external speakers also make quite an impression.  Connect your DUALSHOCK 3 controller for enhanced gaming The Tablet Z is also PlayStation certified and comes with an app to use with your DUALSHOCK 3 controller for the PS. With a separately sold adapter, you can hook the controller up to the tablet for gaming.  There’s also tons of connectivity features infused into the Tablet Z. In the wireless segment, it’s got Wi-Fi with all the trimmings – Wi-Fi Direct, Hot Spot creation, DLNA, 3G support (for the version that supports it), NFC for use with a variety of accessories available (headphones speakers etc.), One Touch services with compatible devices and, of course, Bluetooth 4.0 with A2DP. Sony has also included an IR sensor and a Remote Control app that lets you use the tablet with a wide array of TVs etc., allowing you to use it as a universal remote. MHL is what you can use to hook the tablet up to your TV with microUSB. GPS with GLONASS support is also on-board.  8MP camera with plenty of goodies An 8MP shooter is loaded up onto the rear of the device and is fitted with Sony’s Exmor R mobile sensor to help enhance low light images. The same sensor is also added to the front facing 2MP camera to make HD video chatting better too. The main camera also features Burst Mode amongst a plethora of other settings. The Tablet Z is touted to have a 6000 mAh battery, which should be a serious powerhouse. With that kind of a power pack, it shouldn’t be too hard to get some heavy usage out of the device.  Here's a quick look at the Tablet Z: Viewing 1 of 10   First impression in a nutshell The Sony Xperia Tablet Z has a lot going for it with a superb design form that’s well-built and loaded to the hilt with features. With all of this, Sony better price the device competitively if it wants it to fare better than the last lot. From purely a first impression standpoint, the Xperia Tablet Z has quite a lot to entice most users. However, should it be priced around Rs 32,000-35,000, I believe Sony could just have a winner on its hands.  Stay tuned for the detailed review post the official launch scheduled for May. .