Asus’ Vivobooks bring affordable touch world of everyday notebooks. Windows 8 certainly has put new life into notebooks. For instance, did we think touch screens on laptops would arrive so soon and be within the reach of average customers and not just those who have no end of money to spend on new electronics? I certainly didn’t think there was any chance of owning a touchscreen notebook anytime soon and yet, my next is definitely going to be a touch device.But all that’s on the inside. Externally, the Asus Vivobook S400 is a big but light 14-inch laptop. The lid is what I like to think of as “aluminum silk,” smooth, metallic, cold and businesslike. The Asus logo glints even more metallicly in the centre. On the sides, the Vivobook is teardrop shaped, but thicker than you’ll see on ultrabooks and the Macbook Air. There are a lot of ports there – three USB ports, HDMI, VGA, SD card reader, Ethernet port, and headphones slot. The bottom of the laptop is made of that soft rubbery plastic that has become most popular these days. It’s nice to touch, but may pick upsome oil spots. The Vivobook is not an Ultrabook. It still has a hard disk (500GB) though it also has a 24GB SSD (the type of drives found on ultrabooks) to make it boot up faster, which it does. The device has 4GB of RAM and an Intel Core i5-3317U (Ivy Bridge) driving it all. The touch screen is not the brightest or most vivid, but it’s responsive and doesn’t suffer from compromised viewing angles. It’s a mid-range screen, by all accounts. I suppose it’s partly that the fact that you can use a touch screen and do so fluidly, has you forgiving the fact that it isn’t a brilliant looking screen. The keyboard could have certainly been made better by giving the keys more leeway to move as keys that are too depressed into the chassis are obviously harder to type on. The trackpad is perfectly adequate. There’s an 11-inch sister Vivobook, the S200. The Vivobooks cost Rs 59,999 and Rs 39,999.Samsung's Ativ Smart PC 500TThe Ativ Smart PC 500T is an 11.6-inch tablet-laptop hybrid costing Rs 53,990. As a tablet, it’s large, landscapey. Don’t expect to curl up with it as with a Kindle. But, you can use it to browse the web and see the whole page in portrait mode. There’s a lot of screen space, so it’s also interesting for creation work, especially since you have an S-Pen with it.The blue-grey textured lid is of the same plastic as the Galaxy Note II. The keyboard is metallic silver. I found the slot for the tablet to dock a bit iffy and although it may not drop out when you lift the open laptop, it can fly right out when the tablet is closing. The tablet and keyboard kept disconnecting.The screen, a 1366 x 768 p has good colours and contrasts. There’s 2GB of RAM and a 64GB hard drive. You have a USB 2.0 port, HDMI, and SD card slot. The dock has additional USB ports. The battery on the tablet lasts about 10 hours.There’s an 8MP camera with flash and a secondary 2MP. It runs on an Intel Atom processor, which means you can run applications like Photoshop but it’s slower than Core-I devices. But then, it also costs less.
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The Philips name has been synonymous with trusty TV sets and reliable video players; but in the overhaul of this lumbering Dutch behemoth over the past two years, both have been ditched.Nothing, it seems, is sacred in Chief Executive Frans van Houten's makeover of Philips to focus on the healthcare, lifestyle and energy needs of ageing and increasingly prosperous consumers - whether high-margin electric toothbrushes and shavers, street lighting or hospital equipment.To make Philips more lean and nimble has taken a rigorous monitoring of its entire portfolio of products and markets combined with a ruthless willingness to jettison weaklings and poor performers such as the home entertainment businesses, and to concentrate instead on higher-margin market leaders.Van Houten picked new managers at each of the company's three core businesses - consumer lifestyle, healthcare and lighting - and is shaking up a stodgy culture in a firm that once led in R&D but sometimes fell short in the marketplace.The company which first experimented with televisions and radios later lost out in the videotape wars of the 1970s and 1980s and did not react quickly enough when consumers shifted online for their music and other entertainment.Van Houten has also cut jobs and overheads, including office space and IT systems, scaled back inventory to free up cash flow, and launched a 2 billion euro share buyback.The strategy has started to pay off. The divestments and four consecutive quarters of better-than-expected results have pushed the stock to its highest level since March 2011, just before Van Houten officially took over as CEO, as Philips appears to be on track to achieve its 2013 targets."Exiting lifestyle entertainment for me is the real mark, these guys invented a lot of these consumer electronics we know, that is part of the Philips legacy," said Scott Cobb, principal at Southeastern Asset Management which is Philips' biggest shareholder with about 6.5 per cent of the stock."For them to say 'this is a business that is marginally profitable, struggling with declining revenue and does not have scale to compete' sends a massively strong signal that this company and its management are not the old Philips."Cobb said the 2 billion euro share buyback was also a strong buy signal because it showed the management was confident of delivering cost savings and pushing through change.There is plenty of room for further improvement.By some measures, such as the ratio of enterprise value (EV) to earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), Philips looks undervalued against German conglomerate Siemens and General Electric, its rivals in the field of lighting systems and hospital equipment.Starmine puts the forward 12-month EV/EBITDA for the Dutch firm at 6.8, versus 7.7 for Siemens - and 18.7 for GE, whose figures analysts say are distorted because of its finance activities. Two French firms in the capital goods sector, Schneider Electric and Legrand, trade on multiples of 9.1 and 9.5 respectively.Philips is also cheaper than two small European firms which compete purely in the home appliances sector. SEB <SEBF.PA> of France, which owns the Moulinex brand, and De'Longhi of Italy, are valued at multiples of 7.2 and 7.9 respectively.Based on other ratios such as price/book value, and EV/revenue, Philips ranks at the lower end of the group's range.And with roughly one third of Philips' units still underperforming and in need of turnaround, according to Van Houten, there should be further upside for investors."There is much more potential to unlock. We need to stay at this for five years," Van Houten said, just two years into the turnaround, adding that too many companies "stop too early" when it comes to shaking up their business.Red-Amber-GreenVan Houten became chief executive in April 2011, but during his months as CEO-in-waiting, he took a whirlwind tour of what was soon to become his global empire.Stunned by the sheer number of different products available in a myriad of different markets, he realised the group had proliferated and had little inkling of which of these combinations made or lost money.He worked closely with his chief financial officer, Ron Wirahadiraksa, and with chief strategist Jim Andrew, a former Boston Consulting Group partner who had worked in India and Singapore, to come up with his plan.Using what he describes as a "dashboard" - a computer model that monitors hundreds of combinations of products and the markets where they are sold - he can keep track of profits, sales, market share and supply chain efficiency for anything from medical equipment in Malaysia to salad dicers in Russia.Each business and market combination appears in red, green or amber, according to performance, and is further scrutinised for ways to squeeze more value out of it.Recognising that Philips could no longer compete with low-cost Asian manufacturers such as Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics when it came to televisions and audiovisual equipment, Van Houten cut them loose.The model isn't foolproof. High-growth countries are set high targets, but for example if growth hits 28 per cent, just short of a 30 per cent target, the targets may have to be eased slightly, Van Houten says.The consumer division's underlying margin for earnings before interest, taxes and amortisation has already improved to 11.7 per cent in the fourth quarter from 8.3 per cent a year ago. With the sale of the low-margin audiovisual business, it should increase further, helped by its leading position in electric shavers and toothbrushes.Overall, the consumer lifestyle division now accounts for a far lower per centage of group sales - 26 per cent in the fourth quarter, down from 36 per cent two years ago - while healthcare has climbed to about 41 per cent of group sales, up from about 36 per cent in the same period.With home entertainment out of the way, the consumer division will focus on appliances such as coffee-makers, electric shavers, and "airfryers" which cook low-fat food.Philips signed up Taiwanese actor and model Godfrey Gao to endorse its electric shavers in China, helping it to sell more than 10 million last year as it pushed into second- and third-tier Chinese cities.In Russia, the company has adapted its salad-choppers to produce cubes because that is how Russians like their vegetables - and the dicers have proved a hit, Van Houten said.Historically, Philips had tied its fortunes to the developed markets of North America and Europe.It was slow to exploit the rapid rise of emerging markets where billions of consumers craved a better lifestyle and higher standards of healthcare, and increasingly had the money to pay for it.That's changing, if slowly. The share of sales derived from growth economies such as Brazil, Russia, India and China, as well as Africa and the Middle East, inched up to 35 per cent in the fourth quarter, from 33 per cent of the total two years ago, and is set to rise further, Van Houten said.(Reuters)
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An internal memo at Yahoo Inc introducing a ban on working from home has sparked a debate on whether remote working leads to greater productivity and job satisfaction or kills creativity and is just a chance to slack off.Working remotely has become commonplace due to technology and has been welcomed particularly by people with young families or those facing long and expensive commutes.Statistics from the US Bureau of Labor show nearly 25 per cent of full-time workers did some work at home in 2010.A survey by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) found 59 per cent of UK companies in 2011 offered some kind of teleworking, a jump from 13 per cent in 2006, with small companies leading the trend to help cut office costs.But Yahoo Chief Executive Marissa Mayer has ruled that staff can no longer work from home from June this year, as outlined in the widely leaked internal memo which appeared on newspaper websites and online forums on Tuesday."Some of the best decisions and insights come from hallway and cafeteria discussion, meeting new people, and impromptu team meetings. Speed and quality are often sacrificed when we work from home," said the memo attributed to Yahoo human resources head Jacqueline Reses.Asked about the memo, a Yahoo spokesman said the company does not comment on internal matters.Mayer, 37, who returned to work two weeks after the birth of her first child last year, was brought to Yahoo from Google to revive the company's diminishing fortunes.Her decision to clamp down on remote working met a wall of criticism from proponents of a flexible workplace to improve the work-life balance, boost motivation, and keep women at work."It's incredibly disappointing," said Jennifer Owens, spokeswoman for website Working Mother, adding most women were delighted when a pregnant Mayer took over the helm of Yahoo."Her plan ... is to lead her workforce back to the last century by banning work-from-home policies across the company."Step BackwardsRichard Branson, head of Virgin Group, said the move by Yahoo! undermined the trust that staff would get their work done wherever, without supervision, as working is no longer 9-5."This seems a backwards step in an age when remote working is easier and more effective than ever," Branson wrote in a blog on the Virgin website."If you provide the right technology to keep in touch, maintain regular communication and get the right balance between remote and office working, people will be motivated to work responsibly, quickly and with high quality."Britain's BT Group, one of the first UK companies to adopt teleworking, said about 69,000 of its 89,000 staff were equipped to work flexibly of which about 9,400 are home workers.The company said this led to benefits like accommodation savings, increased productivity and reduced sick absence, adding 99 per cent of women returned to BT after maternity leave."Our flexible working policies can also achieve a better balance between work and family commitments, which can be especially important for those with young families or caring responsibilities," a BT spokesman said.Flexible working was cited in a careerbuilder.com survey released last month as one of the most important factors in job satisfaction and staying with a company.The Harris Interactive survey of 3,900 U.S. workers between November 1 and 30 last year found 59 per cent said flexible schedules were important and 33 per cent cited the ability to work from home over having an office or a company car.Guy Bailey, CBI's head of employee relations, said flexibility can be a real win-win for companies and their staff, acting as a recruitment and retention tool for businesses and letting staff balance their working and home lives."However, it needs to work for both parties, so home-working arrangements will understandably vary from company to company," he told Reuters.A 2011 survey of 1,500 workers in 15 European nations commissioned by Microsoft Corp found only 52 per cent of people trust colleagues to work productively away from the office.This was reflected in comments by some former employees of Yahoo who backed Mayer, saying she was making the right call because many employees were abusing the system.Several unnamed ex-employees told the website Business Insider that Yahoo's large remote workforce led to "people slacking off like crazy, not being available, and spending a lot of time on non-Yahoo projects."(Reuters)
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Video glasses are the sort of gadgets that are straight from the science fiction department for just about anyone born before the turn of the century. Their promise of a portable immersive home-cinema experience has really not been met so far, but two new products from Sony and Epson may just change that. Do the Sony HMZ-T2 and the Epson Moverio BT-100 deliver, or are they just funky (and rather pricey) headgear? Read on… Sony HMZ-T2Wear the HMZ-T2, and you'll fit right in on a set of Star Trek: The Next Generation, it's sleek and has a distinctively futuristic vibe going for it. To set it up, you connect the headset to a HDMI pass-through unit which accepts the HDMI audio-video input, be it from a game console, a Blu-ray player or even a phone. Plug in your favorite headphones (or the included set) into the 3.5mm audio jack, switch it on and sit back. The dual 720p OLED displays in each eye of the T2 come together to give you the impression of watching a 72-inch TV from a distance of around 7 feet. The experience is extremely immersive, and you pretty much shut out the world when you're watching a movie on this. If you have 3D video or game content, the T2 does a pretty bang up job of a flicker- and headache-free 3D experience, but even without the 3D capabilities, the picture quality is pretty good on this device, and the only real downside is that the additional HDMI pass-through unit puts this squarely in the "not-portable" category. Highly recommended as a companion to the recliner! Epson Moverio BT-100The BT-100 takes a different approach to the problem — you can actually see your surroundings while watching a movie, so you don't miss the refreshments trolley on that long-haul flight. Unlike the blacked-out immersive experience on the T2, there's a translucent shade over the front of the glasses to dim your surroundings, and the image is projected onto a layer right in front of each eye. Unless you're in brightly lit environments, the BT-100 works just fine. The arguably clunky glasses are only one part of the equation. They plug into a portable base unit which runs Android and is the brain of the operation. On this unit, you get the standard Android buttons and a trackpad to navigate around the menus, plus the USB charging port and a headphone socket. The unit offers 1GB of internal storage and expansion up to 32 GB to store your movies while you're on the go. The trouble is that the unit is very finicky when it comes to supported file formats, and it really limits the capabilities of the device out of the box. And since there's no access to the Android Market, getting an alternate video player with better format support is not an easy task. That said, the included video samples showed off the 3D effect well, and while picture quality isn't as good as the T2's, regular DVD-quality content looks just fine. Consider only if portability is paramount. Rating: 8/10Price: Rs 69,990URL: http://bit.ly/W28Cnj Rating: 7/10Price: Rs 42900URL: http://bit.ly/YeFUOo Head In The GameSmall Bluetooth headsets are quite the norm, so when the Plantronics Voyager Legend landed on my desk, I expected no less than a rich feature set for this rather chunky looking piece of kit. Despite its looks, the Legend is comfortable to wear, and its integrated Smart Sensor detects when the headset has been placed on the ear and automatically answers the incoming call. Call quality is excellent, and the boom microphone picks up your voice while reducing the effect of wind noise. I like the Caller Announce and Voice Command features in everyday use as well - the former reads out address book names for incoming calls, while the latter lets you speak out basic commands like answering/ignoring the call or checking on battery status. No gimmicks, just features that really work as advertised. Rating: 8/10Price: Rs. 5690/-URL: http://bit.ly/125EZlBtechnocool at kanwar dot nettwitter@2shar
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Reasonably priced. Not a phrase I’d associate too often with a product from Bose, but of late the audio major has been pulling a few tricks out of the hat. Does the trend continue with the Solo TV sound system and the SoundLink Air digital music system, as the pricing seems to suggest? Let’s find out. Solo TVSoundbars have become all the rage in space constrained living rooms, and while the Solo TV doesn’t look like one, it’s meant to achieve the same effect - sit underneath your TV and replace the internal speakers with something a little more powerful than what you get from the limited drivers built into most flat-screen TVs. It has an understated, minimalist look that will go with any décor and TV, although the company recommends using it with a 42 inch or smaller set. Connectivity on the Solo TV is limited to optical and coaxial digital inputs and a single stereo analog connection, no HDMI inputs though. So if you plan to use this with your Blu-ray player/PS3, you’ll need to either run a cable from your TV to the speaker or pick a sound source with the right outputs. Pity. All the cables you need are included in the box, for what it’s worth. The included remote is incredibly basic, with just power, mute and volume controls, so you’d do well to integrate it with your universal remote and simplify your setup. How does it sound? Everyday TV viewing will benefit the most from the added volume and bass, and the sound quality boost is impressive for most reasonable-sized rooms. I wouldn’t recommend this for someone looking at a system for 5.1 movie audio though; the lack of an additional subwoofer and HDMI connectivity and really limited surround sound means you may as well look elsewhere. I’ve tried soundbars with virtual surround sound that deliver far more immersive audio than this. SoundLink AirIf you’ve got an iPad or an iPhone, or even a PC/Mac with a packed iTunes library, the Airplay-enabled Soundlink Air could make for a worthwhile buy. Setup is easy – all you need to do is visit bose.com/wifisetup on your computer to download an app (available for Mac and Windows) for configuring the speaker system; during this process, you connect the SoundLink Air to your computer using the included Micro-USB cable. Alternatively, you can hold down the Reset button on the SoundLink Air, which creates an ad-hoc wireless network; you then connect your computer to that Wi-Fi network and direct your browser to the SoundLink Air’s own IP address for setting up the unit. So yes, it does need some setup over a wired/Bluetooth system, but the benefits of using Airplay more than make up for this. Since Airplay piggybacks over the Wi-Fi network, your music streams to the Soundlink Air practically anywhere your Wi-Fi network reaches. That’s a big plus over the first-gen Bose SoundLink Bluetooth speaker that had to work with the limited range that Bluetooth offers. One downside – the rechargeable battery pack that makes this baby truly portable is an additional purchase. Without it, you’ll have to locate an electrical socket wherever you take the device, not to forget lugging around the massive power adapter! Bose has also included a remote control in the box that offers basic Power, Mute, Volume, Play/Pause, Track Forward/Backward functions, apart from the ability to switch between Aux input and AirPlay devices, which is about okay since you’ll probably control the audio from your iPhone or iPad anyway. Keep the remote handy though – since there’s no power button on the speaker itself, you’ll have to use the remote to turn it off, or resort to switching off the wall socket. Bear in mind, while this does have an Aux input, the SoundLink Air is intended to a wireless-first dock, so there’s no physical dock connection for charging iOS devices or playing audio directly from the dock connection. Sonically, the SoundLink Air delivers satisfying, room-filling sound, though there is the tendency to boost bass levels more than other frequencies. If you like the extra kick in the music, you’ll love the effect, though I will caution you to avoid peak volumes while playing bass-heavy music. To be fair, getting to that volume means you’re playing music plenty lout anyway – turn it down just a tad, and music sounds powerful and clean, even on deep bass tracks. This niggle aside, sound is crisp and clean in general. At the price and overall package, the SoundLink Air can be had for a lot less than many of the pricier Airplay systems I’ve seen hit the market, and is a fine AirPlay speaker to consider. Solo TVRating: 7/10Price: Rs 25,763/-URL: http://bit.ly/UB3YO7 SoundLink AirRating: 8/10Price: Rs 22,384/-URL: http://bit.ly/WnMdyT Losing Focus It’s been over four years since the first mirrorless camera was launched, and Canon is pretty much the last major manufacturer to release a mirrorless model. Has the delay meant that the EOS M is the best mirrorless yet, or is it a case of too little too late? Specs wise, the EOS M checks off the boxes – in fact it’s nearly identical to the Canon 650D when it comes to internals and features, albeit in point-and-shoot-sized body. Inside this petite frame are a competitively sized 18-megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor and the legendary DIGIC 5 image processor, and there’s a new lens range built for the mirrorless baby in the EOS range. Of course, you can pay extra and buy the official Mount Adapter if you want to pair the camera with your existing collection of Canon lenses. You get all the modes that are standard to any competent DSLR, and the EOS M makes up for the lack of physical buttons and dials by packing a stunning 3-inch touchscreen onto the back of the camera. Images shot with the EOS M are fantastic, and low light performance is at par with the bigger DSLRs at this price point. But…and there’s a big but…this camera suffers from a horrible autofocus (AF) system. Even when you turn the Continuous AF mode off, the camera gets painfully slow at autofocus in many situations. This may be just a firmware fix away, but until then, the otherwise pretty fantastic camera stops one step short of earning a recommendation. Rating: 7/10Price: Rs 49,995/-URL: http://bit.ly/VkFriEtechnocool at kanwar dot nettwitter@2shar
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As BlackBerry launches the first smartphone from its make-or-break BB10 line in India, one of its most loyal markets, the company faces new competition from a formidable rival that has long had a minimal presence in the country.More than four years after it started selling iPhones in India, Apple Inc is now aggressively pushing the iconic device through instalment payment plans that make it more affordable, a new distribution model and heavy marketing blitz."Now your dream phone" at Rs 5,056, read a recent full front-page ad for an iPhone 5 in the Times of India, referring to the initial payment on a phone priced at $840, or almost two months' wages for an entry-level software engineer.The new-found interest in India suggests a subtle strategy shift for Apple, which has moved tentatively in emerging markets and has allowed rivals such as Samsung and BlackBerry to dominate with more affordable smartphones. With the exception of China, all of its Apple stores are in advanced economies.Apple expanded its India sales effort in the latter half of 2012 by adding two distributors. Previously it sold iPhones only through a few carriers and stores it calls premium resellers.The result: iPhone shipments to India between October and December nearly tripled to 250,000 units from 90,000 in the previous quarter, according to an estimate by Jessica Kwee, a Singapore-based analyst at consultancy Canalys.At The MobileStore, an Indian chain owned by the Essar conglomerate, which says it sells 15 per cent of iPhones in the country, iPhone sales tripled between December and January, thanks to a monthly payment scheme launched last month."Most people in India can't afford a dollar-priced phone when the salaries in India are rupee salaries. But the desire is the same," said Himanshu Chakrawarti, its chief executive.Apple, the distributors, retailers and banks share the advertising and interest cost of the marketing push, according to Chakrawarti. Carriers like Bharti Airtel Ltd <BRTI.NS>, which also sell the iPhone 5, run separate ads.India is the world's No. 2 cellphone market by users, but most Indians can't afford fancy handsets. Smartphones account for just a tenth of total phone sales. In India, 95 percent of cellphone users have prepaid accounts without a fixed contract. Unlike in the United States, carriers do not subsidise handsets.Within the smartphone segment, Apple's Indian market share last quarter was just 5 percent, according to Canalys, meaning its overall penetration is tiny.Still, industry research firm IDC expects the Indian smartphone market to grow more than five times from about 19 million units last year to 108 million in 2016, which presents a big opportunity.Samsung Electronics dominates Indian smartphone sales with a 40 percent share, thanks to its wide portfolio of Android devices priced as low as $110. The market has also been flooded by cheaper Android phones from local brands such as Micromax and Lava.Most smartphones sold in India are much cheaper than the iPhone, said Gartner analyst Anshul Gupta."Where the masses are - there, Apple still has a gap."'I Love India, But...'Apple helped create the smartphone industry with the iPhone in 2007. But last year Apple lost its lead globally to Samsung whose smartphones, which run Google's free Android software, are especially attractive in Asia.Many in Silicon Valley and Wall Street believe the surest way to penetrate lower-income Asian markets would be with a cheaper iPhone, as has been widely reported but never confirmed. The risk is that a cheap iPhone would cannibalise demand for the premium version and eat into Apple's peerless margins.The new monthly payment plan in India goes a long way to expanding the potential market, said Chakrawarti."The Apple campaign is not meant for really the regular top-end customer, it is meant to upgrade the 10,000-12,000 handset guy to 45,000 rupees," he said.Apple's main focus for expansion in Asia has been Greater China, including Taiwan and Hong Kong, where revenue grew 60 percent last quarter to $7.3 billion.Asked last year why Apple had not been as successful in India, Chief Executive Tim Cook said its business in India was growing but the group remained more focused on other markets."I love India, but I believe that Apple has some higher potential in the intermediate term in some other countries," Cook said. "The multi-layer distribution there really adds to the cost of getting products to market," he said at the time.Apple, which has partly addressed that by adding distributors, did not respond to an email seeking comment.Ingram Micro Inc, one of its new distributors, also declined comment. Executives at Redington (India) Ltd, the other distributor, could not immediately be reached.BlackBerry, which has seen its global market share shrivel to 3.4 per cent from 20 per cent over the past three years, is making what is seen as a last-ditch effort to save itself with the BB10 series.The high-end BlackBerry Z10 to be launched in India on Monday is expected to be priced not far from the Rs 45,500 price tag for an iPhone 5 with 16 gigabytes of memory. Samsung's Galaxy S3 and Galaxy Note 2, Nokia's Lumia 920 and two HTC Corp models are the main iPhone rivals.Until last year, BlackBerry was the No. 3 smartphone brand in India with market share of more than 10 per cent, thanks to a push into the consumer segment with lower-priced phones. Last quarter its share fell to about 5 per cent, putting it in fifth place, according to Canalys. Apple was sixth.(Reuters)
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Stellar Virtuoso 495 From SpiceTime was when all you would get for Rs 10,000 if you wanted to try Android was a flimsy little underpowered phone. Look at the difference today. For Rs 10,499 you get a phone that is almost a tablet. It has a 4.5- inch screen and essentially can do so many of the things that large PCs handle and make phone calls all at the same time. In the case of the Stellar Virtuoso 495 from Spice, that would be two phone calls, since it’s dual sim. It’s not the first low-cost device from Spice to offer a lot of bang for your buck, but it’s their slimmest. Spice COO, Dilip Modi says it’s time to “stamp out dominance” in 3G smartphones. Why not – I’m sure consumers are all for it. The build of the Virtuoso is not bad and in the bundled leather case, looks quite professional. You get a 1GHz dual core processor, 512 MB RAM, a 1700 mAh battery, and 4GB internal storage expandable to 32GB. It has an 8MP primary camera and 1.3MP secondary. It’s running on Android Ice Cream Sandwich – don’t know about updates to Jelly Bean, though. The Virtuoso competes with a bevy of 5-inch tablet-phones that are launching at what seems like one a week.
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Huawei Media Pad 7 LiteThe flood of budget tablets continues with a 7-inch tab from China-based networking and telecommunications equipment and services company, Huawei, called the Media Pad 7 Lite.Actually it isn’t that light after all, but it’s just 30 gm more than the Nexus 7 which is 340 gm and no one complains about that tab being heavy. The iPad Mini is much lighter at 308 gm, but then it’s also twice the cost.The MediaPad has a matt aluminum and matt plastic back giving it a bit of solidity and the feel that you’re holding something of worth. Users have become quite sensitive to the backs of smartphones and tablets and getting a good feel from running one’s fingers over them has become a way of deciding that you have something of quality and worth in your hands. Much as one would feel while touching the fabric of a shirt one wants to buy.It seems Huawei wants this to be a landscape tablet, for that’s how the device starts up, really taking its time to do so. When it does, you see that the screen is not bad at 1024 x 600 pixels, despite a low density of 170 ppi. It’s bright and has good contrasts in colours. Viewing angles are fine too. Flipping through its screens, I found Huawei hadn’t bothered to put very much on the device either by way of apps or widgets.Now that can be either good or bad, depending on whether you want to install your own stuff or go with what’s chosen for you regardless. Huawei also hasn’t put very much “skin” or user interface elements. Again, some people like that and some just don’t. So on this tablet, you get a plain Android 4.0 experience. Yes, that’s Ice Cream and not the more exciting Jelly Bean. It’s working on a 1.2GHz Cortex A8 single core processor with 1GB of RAM. It didn’t do very well on the benchmarks I ran on it and finally just decided to hang altogether while downloading the final one. Even so, it’s better than many 7-inch tabs I’ve seen; just a little stuck now and then.This 7-incher lets you make calls and use a 3G card for data. You can increase its 8GB of storage with a micro SD card. There’s a 4100 mAh battery, but you can’t see it as it’s sealed in the unibody. There’s the usual quality of camera seen on budget devices – 3.2 megapixel main and 0.3 megapixel secondary. The MediaPad 1080p HD video playback at 30 frames per second. It costs between Rs 12,999 and 13,700 depending on where you buy it from.Many people love the 7-inch size for tablets and if you’re thinking of one, you have lots to choose from and here I would say compare specs and prices because there aren’t very dramatic prices. If you compare with the iPad Mini, it’s Rs 21,900 for the 16GB model. Google’s Nexus 7 tablet is Rs 19,000 though you may find better prices online.The XPad X720 At this rate, small tablets are going to be free soon. Some of them hardly cost anything now. The elusive Aakash has some fresh competition in the form of a 7-inch tablet called the XPad X720 from Simmtronics. It costs just Rs 4,600 for a capacitive 480 x 800 screen, Android 4.0 and a 1GHz A08 Cortex processor. The tablet is fine. It's not badly made or unresponsive or otherwise badly troubled. Yes, it's value for money.Like with the Aakash and some other low-cost tablets, the Xpad is meant to appeal to students but it does have possible applications in organisations in which a portable device is needed for designated tasks. The Xpad won't be the ideal gizmo to use, especially outdoors, but it's likely to be usable in many situations. It has the specs of a midrange smartophone in the body of a tablet -- 512MB of RAM, 4GB of thermal storage with expansion to 32GB possible with a microSD card and a data card. Simmtronics allows owners of the Xpad to use various wifi hotspots such as those available at Cafe Coffee Day for free. The X720 doesn't have 3G capability on board but a dongle can be used. There's only a front facing 0.3mp camera for a video call and a 2800 mAh battery -- which is actually better than on mid-range phones. The tab is to be available at major gadget stores and online.
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