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.