Yet another Chinese smartphone company has reached the Indian shore and has announced its official entry in the country with the launch of its flagship smartphone the MX5. Meizu is ranked as one of the top ten smartphone makers in China and already sells handsets in a number of European and Asian countries. But why does the brand want to enter such a crowded market like India? Well one of the officials at the launch event commented that India is now the third largest smartphone market in the world and it makes sense for the company to make its presence felt in the country. The brand also announced its flagship smartphone in India today called the MX5 which takes its inspiration from the iPhone and Samsung Galaxy smartphones. The MX5 comes with a fingerprint scanner and the company claims the response time of the sensor is half a second. The handset comes with a nice looking metal design and features a 5.5-unch full HD (1920x1080) AMOLED display, a Mediatek Helio X10 8-core processor, 3GB of RAM a 20.7MP camera at the back and a 5MP camera at the front, Android Lollipop with a unique custom UI on top and a 3,150mAH battery. The handset also offers quick-charge support for faster charging of the battery, dual-SIM card slots and 4G LTE support. The handset has 16GB, 32GB and 64GB variants with expandable storage, but for now the company is only planning to sell the lower most capacity model which is priced at Rs. 19,999. The smartphone will be available exclusively from Snapdeal via a flash sale model.Meizu recently got a funding of $590 million from China’s leading e-commerce company Alibaba of which a major chunk will be used to establish service centers in India for a stronger after sales support. Meizu also has plans to offer a delivery repair service options to its customers where the company will directly provide pickup and drop facility for repairs and replacements.The smartphone market is now getting congested with Chinese smartphone brands and this is not only leading to a tough competition among themselves but is also leaving consumers with too many options to look at. Providing a strong after sales model and selling handsets with a design similar to high-end smartphones like the iPhone might not be enough to emerge as a strong competitor.
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iBall has been stolen the number one position from Apple and Samsung in Q2 2015 followed by Samsung (2nd), Datawind (3rd) and Micromax become the fourth largest tablet seller, according to a report released by IDC. While Apple has lost the number five race in the Q2. iBall has won the race with a tablet market share of 14.9 per cent against Samsung with 13.8 per cent, Datawind with 13.5 per cent, Micromax with 12 per cent and Xiaomi with 9.5 per cent. iBall jumps back to top spot in Q2 2015 coming off from relatively lower shipments in Q1. Its strong presence in entry level tablets i.e. sub $100 is further strengthened with new products added to the line-up. Supplementing this is its expanding retail and geographical reach, which is working well in favour of the brandSamsung, the number one smartphone vendor in India, slipped to second spot in Q2 2015 despite posting a healthy double digit growth over previous quarter. Inventory issues in some of their top selling models restricted the overall performance for this brand in Q2. However, new products launched in 7 inches and 8 inches segment gained good traction and is expected to contribute to Samsung's growth moving forward.Datawind stands at a close 3rd place after Samsung with vendor share of 13.5 per cent. Tele-sales continues to be a key mode of channel for Datawind as it continues to capitalize on TV penetration in the country to push volumes in smaller cities and towns.In Q2 2015, India tablet market clocked 1.04 million unit shipments with 22 per cent growth over same period last year and year-to-date growth of 15 per cent. This was mainly due to BIS certifications deadline on power adapters which was earlier slated to be May but then was moved to later period. And hence, few vendors pushed high volumes of their existing non-BIS compliant inventory into channel during early months of Q2 2015.Indian tablet market continues to grow as market leaders compensate for shrinking volumes of unbranded players. Demand in the commercial segment continues to rise and this segment witnessed 12.4 per cent shipment growth in Q2 2015 against Q1 2015, even as the volumes doubled up against the same period a year ago. Karthik J, Senior Market Analyst, IDC India says, "However, for tablet market to grow further, consumer demand is vital which is losing sheen as tablet as a category is suffering to justify its use case existence between larger smartphones and Notebook PCs."Q2 2015 has been a great quarter for Microsoft as Windows-based tablets' shipments more than doubled over previous quarter, standing currently at 5 per cent OS share. New Windows-based products launched in Q2 at affordable price points received good response led primarily by brands like iBall, Micromax and Lenovo.Almost three fourth of tablets sold in India are connected tablets (2G/3G/4G enabled) and 54 per cent are 3G enabled owing to limited Wi-Fi hotspots in the country. Kiran Kumar, Research Manager, IDC India says, "With 4G network now being available nationwide through Airtel and more operators to join league soon, it presents a positive picture for next generation 4G connected tablets in India."(BW Online Bureau)
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A huge hoard of Chinese smartphone makers have entered India and while you might have not even heard of Vivo, it has got the title of making the world’s first smartphone with a 2K (2560x1440) resolution display and also one of the slimmest smartphones in the world. The company is fairly new in the market and has about a dozen phones under its portfolio. Their latest handset for the Indian market is the X5Pro.The handset is made out of glass panels on the front and back and a metal frame sandwiched in between. Now this does make the handset slippery but it gives an elegant look. Sony brought this design philosophy with its refreshed Xperia series and it has definitely caught on. The X5Pro uses a 2.5D glass for the display which means that the glass protecting the actual display has a slight curve on the edges, but it is entirely curved like the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge or the Galaxy Note Edge. This makes swiping a little more comfortable and also gives the handset a nice smooth finish. The display itself is bright and sharp as Vivo has used a Super AMOLED display, same as Samsung, which offers high contrast and slightly warmer tones. The overall finish of the handset feels impressive and very solid and it isn’t that heavy either thanks to its slim design.On the inside the X Pro features a Snapdragon 615 octa-core processor with 2GB RAM, a 5.2-inch full HD Super AMOLED display with Gorilla Glass 3, 16GB of expandable storage, a 13MP rear and an 8MP front cameras combo and a 2,450mAh battery. The handset runs on Android Lollipop with Vivo’s own Funtouch OS 2.1. The UI is quite similar to most of the Chinese smartphone UIs that we have seen which skips an app drawer menu, offers a themes store (which doesn’t work for India) and a bunch of features and apps. The quick settings toggles have been moved to the bottom (like the iPhone) so you need to swipe up to get access to them. This also shows you the apps that are currently running in the background and just swiping them out closes them. The UI is smooth and didn’t show signs of lags but somehow seems too cluttered and gives a slight unfamiliar feel. The lockscreen comes with a round icon in the middle which can be assigned to show your profile picture and your name to add a bit of personalisation.The camera works well and turns out be the best feature apart from the design of the smartphone. The focusing is fast and even the shutter doesn’t offer any lag, it snaps instantly. The camera app offers modes for different environment and also slow and fast video recording modes. Surprisingly there are no options to fine tune your image like no exposure compensation or white balance, which seems quite odd as almost every smartphone offers these feature. Probably Vivo thought of keeping the camera app simple for the user to understand rather than tinkering around with the setting.In terms of battery life it isn’t the best in the market and with a 2,450mAh battery pack, you get about a day of charge on light usage and heavy tasks lead to about half a day or even less. Heavy tasks also lead to a lot of heating which is a very well-known fact of the Snapdragon 615 chip. At a price of nearly Rs. 27,000 this is an overpriced smartphone without offering a strong USP. Similar and even more powerful handsets like the OnePlus 2, and the Asus Zenfone 2 are available at a much affordable price.
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Skillsoft, learning and talent management firm, released its research report, The State of Mobile Learning in India. The report highlights key insights into the availability of and preferences for mobile learning, as well as challenges and concerns which impact the implementation of mobile learning in organizations in Asia Pacific broadly, as well as specifically in India. The research report includes numerous unique insights for organizations in India addressing the challenges of learning and development in the mobile-enabled age.The State of Mobile Learning in India: How mobile is shaping cloud-based learning reveals gaps in the learning and development landscape in India and identifies ways in which organizations can utilize mobile learning to address these challenges. The regional study collected 545 responses from decision makers (individuals who manage a budget within an organization for Human Resources or Learning & Development) and learners (individuals who do not manage Human Resources or Learning & Development budgets and receive training in any form) across 16 countries in Asia Pacific.One telling insight from the report showed that while respondents in India overall (80 per cent) agreed that mobile learning would increase learning engagement, adoption rates among organizations remains low (27 per cent). This suggests that there is a significant opportunity for organisations in India to capitalize on the perceived benefits of mobile learning by these respondents.Aruna Telang, Manager, Consulting Services - Asia, Skillsoft commented, "For many in India, mobile has become their platform of choice, where employees are empowered to access learning on demand. Companies seeking to adapt to this new reality need to quickly evolve their learning strategies and better understand the needs of their workforce in order to ensure high learner engagement and the program's effectiveness."Mobile learners in India are both highly pragmatic and bullish on mobile learning. 80 per cent agree that mobile learning enables the development of new knowledge and skills, while 83 per cent of users believed it gave them a competitive advantage in the industry. Overall they are clearly convinced of the benefits of mobile learning with 97 per cent responding that mobile learning benefits them in some way. Organisations in India also see the benefits of mobile learning, with 82 per cent agreeing that mobile learning improves business efficiency and 76 percent seeing improved business results.Organizations and users in India agree that the preferred formats for mobile learning content are video tutorials (48 per cent), slide shows (40 per cent) and interactive content with active participation (39 per cent). There remains opportunity to increase the use of the most popular format preferred by Users and Potential Users. This approach leads to gaps, such as with simulations, which are used by 17 per cent of organizations, while they are preferred by 55 percent of users. Clearly, as mobile learning develops, organizations in India have improvements to make in terms of delivering formats that appeal to their employees while balancing business and compliance requirements.There are also obstacles to implementing an effective mobile learning program. The three biggest concerns for organizations seeking to implement mobile learning are network issues like connection stability and speed, VPN requirements (62 per cent), concerns about network security (58 per cent) and inadequate support from IT (40 per cent). "Additional operating costs" are another area of concern (48 per cent) with mobile learning adoption. These challenges have not dampened the enthusiasm for mobile learning however, with 45 percent respondent organizations planning to implement mobile learning in the near future."Much of the success of mobile learning in India can be attributed to the 173 million mobile internet users in India, which decision makers and business professionals can no longer ignore. Cloud-based learning is evolving to match the expectations of the mobile employee where learning opportunities often occur throughout the day. If it is done right, mobile learning offers knowledge at the touch of one's mobile devices which can establish continuous employee development and provide organizations with better skilled human capital and greater competitive edge." said Vinay Pradhan, Country Manager - India, Skillsoft.The report findings demonstrate how organisations have the opportunity to transform the way they deliver talent development that resonates with and engages their learners, resulting in a greater return on investment and proves that organizations that leverage mobile learning successfully achieve greater employee and organizational effectiveness and business impact.
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Panasonic India launched Eluga Switch (Rs 19,990), the premium smartphone in India. The has a 5.5-inch full HD reversible display which orients the display to face the user, even when held upside down, 360° User Interface.The 4G/LTE network enabled device boasts unparalleled processing power with a Qualcomm 1.5GHz Octa Core Snapdragon 610 Processor, enabling fluid multi-tasking between apps. The crystal clear 13 MP rear camera is complimented by an 8 MP front-facing camera with a 84 degree wide viewing angle to capture single groupie shots. The 5.5-inch FHD screen possesses an assertive display with contrast and light adjusting sensors that operate in real time to provide a comfortable viewing experience.With audio technology unprecedented in a smartphone, the Switch features JBL powered 1.2W dual front speakers topped off by Hi-Fi sound quality. The high-end software is packaged in a 7.5mm super sleek gun metal gray metallic frame, weighing a mere 141 gm. The Switch features an impressive 2GB RAM with 32GB internal memory, supported by a 2910 mAh Li-ion battery.The JBL engineered dual front speakers with Hi-Fi sound reduce distortion for a soothing listening experience. The 3D audio technology ARKAMYS, ensures excellent tonal quality, rich bass and a natural sound. The smartphone also comes with an inbuilt DJ Mix music player with beat-matching and mixing capacities, as well as a complimentary premium JBL headset.Manish Sharma, Managing Director, Panasonic India said, “As our presence in the market has expanded significantly and to get the best of this growing segment, the Eluga Switch is our answer to the consumer’s demand for a Panasonic engineered premium smartphone. As we see immense growth opportunities in the Smartphone segment, we have introduced the Switch which synthesizes Panasonic’s flagship Japanese technology with preferences of the Indian consumer into one, easy-to-use, seamless smartphone.”
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Lenovo had a respectable range of smartphones last year with its Vibe series of handsets but this year the company seemed to be focusing more on budget handsets for the Indian market. It did announced a bunch of smartphones at MWC 2015 but none of the new handsets made its way to India until now. The company just announced that it will be launching the Vibe Shot this month in India which will mark as a comeback to the series.The Vibe Shot is a camera centric smartphone and Lenovo is aiming for smartphone photography enthusiasts thanks to the manual controls and a variety of modes that the smartphone offers. The smartphone itself looks impressive with a metal and glass combination. The finish and design is impressive and definitely feels premium. At the back there is unique looking metal and glass combo with the camera module residing on the metal strip. Lenovo has also added a proper hardware shutter button and a quick sliding button to shift between auto and pro modes. In terms of specifications the Vibe Shot features a Snapdragon 615 octa-core processor, 3GB of RAM, 32GB of storage which is expandable to 128GB, a 5-inch full HD display, a 16MP camera at the back and an 8MP camera for the front. The handset supports 4G and comes with two SIM card slots and has a 3000mAh battery.The camera on the handset comes with a triple-tone flash and an infra-red guided auto focus system which helps to improve focusing even in low light. The camera performs a lot better than most of the smartphones in the market however it isn’t the fastest. It produces sharp pictures with accurate colours and even offers a nice depth of field. The camera app features a manual mode, where you can adjust the shutter speed, ISO, exposure value and focus which isn’t something new as most of the smartphones offer these features. The app also comes with a few slow shutter modes which help in taken stair trails, create light painting and so on. All of the modes work well, but definitely need some time to get used to. The Vibe shot does look like an impressive camera smartphone, but it is doesn’t come close to flagships like Samsung Galaxy S6 of the iPhone, but for a mid-range device it could do wonders. Of course it will face a tough competition against the Asus Zenfone 2 series and ZTE Nubia Z9 Mini.The handset is expected to officially launch on the 28th of August, however no pricing is confirmed at this point of time.
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Puneet Mehrotra is sure that a few years down the line, people will look back at the radiation smog in the same sense of disbelief the way we look at the 1952 London smogOne of the biggest hazards of technological innovation and so called smart devices is radiation. From reduction in sperm count to electromagnetic radiation impacting pregnant women, there is evidence to suggest increasing stress levels, incidents of certain cancers from medium to long term exposure to radiation. The threat of radiation is real. The Great Smog of 2015The great smog of London of 1952 equivalent in our time is the radiation we are living in. If that the former was significant of the Industrial revolution, the latter is significant of the Information Technology revolution. Radiation is a fact and not fiction. Any decent laboratory around the world can vouch for that. Yet due to vested interests and the enormous industry investments the issue is rarely highlighted with a sense of urgency. Radiation doesn’t discriminate between the rich and poor or the urban and rural. Everyone is affected by it, whether you like it or not. The Effect of RadiationAccording to Dr Vini Khurana, a top Australian neurosurgeon says the world's heavy reliance on cell phones could be a greater threat to human health than smoking and even asbestos. Dr Khurana, who is a staff specialist neurosurgeon at the Canberra Hospital and an associate professor of neurosurgery at the Australian National University, said there had been increased reports of brain tumours associated with heavy and prolonged cell phone use, particularly on the same side as the person's "preferred ear" for making calls. Prolonged exposure to Electromagnetic Radiations from Mobile Phones, Computers and other personal Electronic Gadgets can cause:● Short term effects such as Headaches, Dizziness, Nausea & Fatigue.● Lower sperm count in men – The harm is done simply by keeping a mobile phone switched on in one’s pocket.● Risk to development of fetus in pregnant women.● Increased Stress Levels and risk to Heart – Tachycardia.● Glioma, Brain Tumour and Cancer in extreme cases. According to Pranav Poddar of EnviroChip, a radiation prevention chip maker, “Radiation can be classified as having: thermal effect and non-thermal effects. The thermal effects have been largely studied and referred to the heat that is generated due to absorption of Radiation. Being exposed to the thermal effect could cause fatigue, cataracts and reduced mental concentration. The Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) value has been fixed and specified for mobile phones to limit the thermal damage. However, more research is going on to study the Non-Thermal effects of radiation.” Taking ResponsibilityThe first step to change is taking responsibility. Living in denial, pretending that radiation doesn’t exist or that we are not affected by radiation or that industry will be affected wont help. What will certainly help is taking steps to prevent radiation. Litigation and Cigarette IndustryProbably the single biggest reason that bent the powerful cigarette industry was litigation in the USA. Take for instance the case of Cynthia Robinson. The Florida widow recently won a $23.6 billion lawsuit against tobacco company R.J. Reynolds, one of the largest recent judgments on the industry, and in an interview with TIME, she says she hopes they listen to the jury’s message. Her lawsuit was centered around cigarettes were addictive and caused lung cancer, but the company was negligent in telling smokers like Johnson about those risks. While it was possible for Cynthia to establish the link between her husband’s death and cancer caused by smoking, it may not be easy to establish the link between certain cancers and radiation, at least as of now. Telecommunications, mobility and smart device manufacturing, are all part of the cash cow circle of the government revenues. It will probably take litigation, may be years before the government may act. Companies like Airtel, Vodafone and others have little priority or urgency on installing radiation prevention technology. Noteworthy is this technology is available, yet the industry is not interested in it as yet. That leaves the consumer with the age old adage “prevention is the best cure”. Radiation Prevention ChipsTake the Envirochip for instance. Envirochip is a Radiation Protector Chip which when fixed on a Mobile Phone, neutralizes the harmful effects of Electromagnetic Radiation (EMR) emitted from the Mobile Phone completely. According to Pranav Poddar, CEO of Envirochip “This is done by changing the nature of harmful radiations and making it non-bio-effective for the human body without reducing the signal strength or quality from the device. The Envirochip has been tested extensively by reputed medical institutions in India and a lab in UK. “ According to him, the benefits of these chips have been tested. Tests on more than 500 people have shown that their Stress levels have reduced by over 5%, which is medically significant. Improvements can be seen in various health parameters such as Pulse rate and Immunity. Fix the Envirochip on the back of your Mobile Phone and you are safe. Envirochip on Flipkart for around Rs.500. There is another one by Art of Living- Anti Radiation Chip, certified by Max Healthcare. A search on Google yields several results of chips ranging from Rs.199. However look for who is the certifying authority, users reviews besides besides any tests the chip may have undergone. The Last WordAn optimist that I am I relate electromagnetic radiation the same way as the Industrial revolution and the pollution in London in early last century, simply a phase of transition as technology advances. The great smog of 1952 due to industrial production from the coal-fired power stations in the Greater London area is something of the past now. London has more vehicles than it has ever had, more people living in it, even more consumption, yet the air is cleaner. The reason is technological advancements. A $26 billion victory against a tobacco company, a few decades ago such victory would have been almost impossible. Yet in 2014 it happened. Similarly it make take maybe litigation, government policy, industry initiatives or whatever else. I do know for sure a few years down the line, people will look back at the radiation smog in the same sense of disbelief the way we look at the 1952 London smog Puneet Mehrotra is a columnist on life and technology puneet.im puneet@tbe.in
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The rapid advance of industrial technologies has transformed our lives. Ever since the diversification of our agrarian economies into the production of goods and services, industrial technology has helped increase productivity and the standard of living in both developed and emerging countries. Today, the manufacture of industrial goods still accounts for 16 per cent of gross world product and is estimated to reach 25 per cent by 2022. A major technological development is again about to turn the industrial world upside down - this time in the form of the digitization of the factory.Whether in terms of the safety, quality or affordability of our everyday products, we consume, without a second thought, goods which would have seemed miraculous to past generations. The technology that powers our modern transport facilities, smartphones, medical equipment and food supplies is at the height of current industrial innovation.The latest wave of this industrial innovation has been described in various terms, such as "Industry 4.0," the "Industrial Internet of Things," or even the "4th industrial revolution." The underlying objective is the same - to establish constant connectivity between the Internet and each resource involved in the manufacture and delivery of goods. Going beyond this connectivity, the "digital factory" creates a shared virtual world in which realistic simulations and better decision making are possible with regards to, for example, reducing consumption of resources, energy and time.The stakes: refocusing on global value creationWhile the digital revolution has already significantly impacted industry, its benefits do not yet extend to the planet's 7 billion inhabitants. Dare we hope that this new wave of innovation will provide a better quality of life for civilization? And can we reduce industry's environmental impact at the same time? Yes, I believe it is possible - and this is the vision that we want to share with our customers over the coming decades.Companies in the industrial sector are often seen by their shareholders simply as sources of profit. But for citizens and employees - and their countries as a whole - they have greater responsibilities. Over the past 40 years, the intense focus that has been placed on beating the competition and reducing costs has not only damaged the social fabric but has also adversely affected industry itself, and its ability to change. This disillusionment can be tackled effectively if we adopt a more long-term and sustainable vision which is not limited to the confines of the factory walls.Emerging countries such as Brazil, Russia, India and China have already recognized the value of this and have seen enormous economic returns, not only by developing their manufacturing capacities, but also in terms of design. But they are now faced with rising wages, environmental concerns and quality control compliance.If we work together, the wealth created by industry could serve the needs of everyone on the planet. For this to be achieved, we must produce the right goods for each region, at the right price, of the right quality and in the right quantity. These goods could be created using new and more sustainable processes, with more highly skilled jobs and thereby sustain the growth of the economy in each region. For each country and for each company, the key factor for success will be the capability of adapting to rapid changes in demand.The digital factory will make it possible to address these issues. By implementing the digital factory concept, humans again become the key focus, their cognitive functions are given free rein and they can concentrate on innovation.The digitization of industrial processes is already underway. But the sums invested up to now continue to be small as compared with the digitization of other corporate functions, such as finance and engineering. Manufacturing is now gaining importance and is looking set to distribute more globally the wealth it generates.This trend has important implications for industry and national leaders. Industrial processes can easily be connected, tailored and dynamically changed across a network of industrial companies. This strategy, referred to as "Manufacturing as a Service" or MaaS, gives companies the possibility of responding rapidly to changes in demand or in market conditions. Industrial companies can now remain connected with their customers, providing them with value throughout the entire life of the product - thereby also extending industry's impact from the products themselves to the services which support them.Industrial companies applying a MaaS approach can create high value-added experiences for other companies or for their clients throughout the product life cycle - from delivery, support, repairs or changes, to its end-of-life.The digital factory also has the potential to create a large number of skilled jobs - that is to say "knowledge workers" - that will be freed from repetitive tasks thanks to digitization, computer systems, equipment connected directly to the Internet and advances in automation.In addition to generic digital infrastructures, such as access to high-speed Internet, industrial companies must invest in other digital manufacturing technologies. The result, in terms of the creation of skilled industrial jobs, will make it possible to develop more sustainable manufacturing, with harmonious and sparing use of necessary resources throughout the product life cycle.Workers must be trained for these opportunities and their jobs must evolve relatively rapidly, since this new world of production is capable of creating a new economy, for the benefit of all.Like the "Lean" revolution and other initiatives for continued improvement, this change will take some time. But with a positive mind-set and determination to invest in this future, the "digital factory" has the potential to offer unprecedented growth and riches for our planet.The author, Chandan Chowdhury, is managing director-India at Dassault Systèmes
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