Microsoft Devices on Friday (15 May) announced pre booking on its power-packed smartphone, the Microsoft Lumia 540 Dual SIM. Blending exceptional design and great imaging quality, the Lumia 540 is a stylish, mid-range smartphone that delivers high-end performance in a compact package. The device can also be upgraded to Windows 10 when the service becomes available later this year. Starting May 15, consumers can pre book their Lumia 540 and avail exciting offers. Consumers can walk into key retail partner stores in different cities across the country to avail the pre booking offer.The Lumia 540 Dual SIM features the latest Windows Phone 8.1 innovations and boasts a 5-inch HD display and crafted design details. The device also enables better mobile experiences, such as taking wide-angle selfies that fit in more of the action, thanks to the front-facing 5 megapixel camera. Google Launches New Chrome DevicesGoogle India on Friday (15 May) announced the launch of range of new, affordable Chromebooks for India, as well as the launch of Chromebooks for Education and Chrome OS for Businesses.While launching the new range, Smita Hashim, Global Product Manager, Chrome OS said, “When we introduced Chromebooks four years ago, we wanted to build a laptop for the way people use computers today always fast, easy to use, and secure by default. Since launching Chromebooks in India, we’ve been working to ensure that Chromebooks work in an environment where connectivity can be spotty, and many people’s first experiences with technology are through a phone rather than a laptop.”Huawei Upgradesv Its Power-Fi Data CardHuawei, a leading global information and communications technology (ICT) solutions provider global leader in datacards, on Friday introduced a new feature- In-built Wi-Fi range extender to its existing range of Power-Fi 3G datacard category. Wi-Fi range extender will act like a Wi-Fi signal booster which can pick up the Wi-Fi signal from user homer router and boost it to provide better connectivity in areas which have very poor signal. This new feature will be available on the Power-fi data cards- E 8221 and E8231.Unveiling this new feature, P. Sanjeev, Director -Sales(Devices Business) at Huawei India said “Huawei is a leader in the data card market which is a proof of our commitment towards providing our customers with superior innovations, enabling high speed connectivity. Today, there has been a phenomenal rise in the consumption of multimedia content on the web which needs high speed internet connectivity. Through this feature, users will be able to enhance their Wi-Fi signals and do much more on the Internet. We believe that this latest innovation will give consumers more value and is a step towards Huawei’s effort to provide more products and more features to Indian consumers.”Convergys To Host Job Fair In ChandigarhConvergys Corporation, a global leader in customer management and the first US Business Process Management (BPM) company in India, is hosting a job fair in Chandigarh. The two-day job fair will be on May 16 and 17 at The Toy Hotel, Sector 34A, Chandigarh. It is open for both college graduates and professionals. Jobseekers can walk-in and visit anytime between 11:00 am to 6:00 pm on both days.“We are excited to organize this job fair in Chandigarh as it is an important area with highly talented individuals. We are looking for quality talent who would like to become world-class service professionals supporting global Fortune 500 brands, and can work from our Contact Centers in the National Capital Region,” said Rajiv Dutta, Director for Talent Acquisition for Convergys India and China.Hitachi Data Systems Unveils Powerful SolutionsHitachi Data Systems Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd, on Friday announced a leap forward in its technology leadership for delivering software-defined infrastructures that enable customers to simplify IT and free data from traditional hardware and location constraints, making it more accessible for all existing and new analytics-driven workloads. These new and enhanced offerings have been designed to help customers achieve greater levels of information access through virtualized, hyper-converged and scale-out platforms that are built to accelerate the journey to IT as a service (ITaaS) through application-led, software-defined architectures.“The fundamentals of IT are changing. Whether it is the adoption of ‘third platform’ technologies and striking the proper balance among the different modes of IT, or the ongoing move to providing IT as a service, there is real change taking place, all while our customers are trying to move to ITaaS,” said Vivekanand Venugopal, VP and GM, Hitachi Data Systems, India.Snapdeal Intrdocues Snapdeal CareTo support social causes and create a stronger corporate conscience, Snapdeal on Friday announced the launch of Snapdeal Care programme. The programme enables customers to make a donation to a NGO of their choice, by selecting products for them while shopping online. Snapdeal will manage the complete process, ensuring that the products are delivered to the chosen organization.Talking about the Snapdeal Care Platform Kunal Bahl, Co-founder and CEO, Snapdeal said “We have been working to create life changing experiences for our buyers and sellers. We are now expanding our eco system to touch the lives of more people across the country including the less fortunate. With Snapdeal Care, our customers can now make a difference to someone’s life with just a couple of clicks. Through this initiative, we want to spread the message that even a small contribution by anyone can make a difference and bring a smile to somebody’s face.”Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi Ranked 7th BestUniversità Commerciale Luigi Bocconi, one of Europe’s premier universities, has been ranked number 7 in the world of Business and Management studies by QS World University Rankings 2015. The 113 year old University has moved up a notch compared to its ranking in 2014. MISB Bocconi is the only off shore venture by the University in India.Expressing great pride on the achievement, Mr. Alessandro Guiliani, MD, MISB Bocconi said, “We are very proud of this achevement, which is a testament of the constant strive to excel in the last 113 years of our history. This reputed ranking will give further recognition in India too, where we have set up the first foreign business school strongly believing in the potential of the country and its talent”.Xerox Increases Automation With New Versant 80 PressTo meet the demands of today’s printing professionals Xerox has introduced the Versant 80 Press with solutions that meet a wide range of needs: with more quality, faster performance and better results. Commenting on the launch, Balaji Rajagopalan, Executive Director, Technology, Channels & International Distributor Operations, Xerox India said, “We are excited to launch the Versant 80 in the Indian market. This device has the capabilities of producing high end applications faster and on more media types. Customers today are demanding that the presses are able to handle multiple media types and this machine has the capability to do exactly the same. With the Versant 80 one has greater choices and easier color availability. One can just select a spot color and it hits it right on – the first time. We believe that this device will revolutionize the color printing industry and cater to a wide array of our customer needs.”
Read More
If Amazon’s Echo wasn’t interesting enough, it’s just got a little more so. Launched in November last year, Amazon Echo is a speaker that is as Internet-of-Things as we can get today. What makes it different from the millions of others around is that you can talk to it, and it answers back. Echo has to stay switched on. As it sits there, you command it to play music for you – specific artists, playlists, genresand albums in your collection, or to access streaming services. You can also just call out questions, such as on weather or some simple answerable ones that can come up from a search. Amazon’s demo shows how Echo can virtually be part of the conversation as one person asks it to play rock music, another tells it to stop, mother asks it to add wrapping paper to the shopping list, and someone else asks it the definition of the word annoying. Siri-like, all the answers are out pat. Echo is a Bluetooth speaker, so you can happily take it from place to place. All it needs is its internet connect so it can access the cloud and give you the music and answers you want. It can even handle to-do lists, read the news, check facts, and more as long as you wake it up with the name, Alexa. You don’t need to shout across the room or go up very close because it has seven microphones at the ready. Now, Echo also adds shopping to its list of skills. It figures, since Amazon is after all, a great big shop, so it was only inevitable that it would tie in with what Amazon does. The Echo isn’t available per se in India for now. First of all, voice recognition would have to be optimized for India, no easy task with all the languages and accents spoken here. You could get it through a workaround from Amazon.com, but there’d be little point as many things available on Amazon for US customers aren’t within the reach of customers elsewhere. And this is particularly true for music. Much of what’s available for the Echo is tied into Amazon’s Prime Membership programme, right now. But Echo is nevertheless a fascinating product because one can see the possibilities in the not-too-distant future when you will have many objects around that are connected and interactive and not restricted to Amazons, by any means. There are other voice enabled speakers even now. SpeeCup is a speaker that responds to voice and gestures. It’s been years since Samsung’s smart TV’s have been able to respond to voice commands. More than the hardware it’s the execution and the careful fitting in into users’ lives that will make or break a new product like the Echo.
Read More
One of the most important things in your life today is probably your smartphone and with the increase in the number of smartphone users, there has also been a hike in smartphone theft and security vulnerability. If you own an Android device then there are some measures that you can take to make sure it doesn’t fall in the wrong hands. Setting up a secure lockscreen: Android offers a bunch of ways to have a secured lockscreen with options to setup a PIN, pattern, password or even your own face. Devices with Android 5.0 also include a feature called Smart Lock where you can set a secure location automatically unlock your device. Enable Android Device Manager: Thanks to the inbuilt GPS, one can easily locate his/her Android device in case it goes missing. Once you have enabled the ‘Android Device Manager’ feature on the device, you can simply sign in with your Google account on any browser and remotely locate your device and even remote lock and/or erase your phone’s content. Backing up your data: Backing up your data and apps is a good habit as it helps you recover everything in but also helps you to manage your device storage in a better way. Most of the Android based devices come with a built in backup feature or one can install a third party to backup apps, media and data. Avoid connecting to unsecure networks: There might be certain places that offer free Wi-Fi without a security key. While there is no harm in connecting to these networks, there is a chance that these unsecured wireless networks might be sending out information from your device to malicious users. Install apps from trusted sources: While most of the apps on the Play Store are safe, there are certain apps that can be a major threat to your device’s security. When installing an app, it asks for certain permissions, make sure you go through them as it might ask for access to your personal information. If you are installing an app from an unknown source, consider the following: Is the app from a trusted source? What made you sure it's from a trusted brand?Does it offer a service that could include hidden fees?Is it asking for sensitive information or device permissions you wouldn’t give to a stranger? Be aware of ads: Most of the free apps, and many websites have ads that seem safe or tell you that your phone is at risk, or infected. Do not click them or try to open them. These ads could ask for personal information or even download malicious apps to your device.
Read More
What? All that for just Rs 19,999? Well, even less, if you look around online for even better deals. The Swipe Ultimate 3G Tab was showcased at CES earlier this year, and is one of a number of affordable hybrid tablet-laptops coming out now. Look at all it’s got going for it… The Swipe 3G is of course, 3G SIM enabled. You can’t make cellular calls on it, but you can of course, get internet access via the SIM and Wi-Fi. It’s a nice 10.1 inch tablet, a bit heavy but usable, and it attaches at the hinge to a keyboard when you get into laptop – or rather, netbook – mode. When you close the screen-lid of the device, you have a wrap around case which not only looks good but lets you carry it off like a file. When the screen is lifted, the back of the case has flaps that provide the backrest for it to be upright. Here’s where you do have to be a little careful though. Someone knocking into the tented flaps could bring the screen down with a thud on whatever surface you’re using it on. When you lift the screen out of the hinge, it’s a tablet. So you have the best of both worlds for a good price. Because it’s a tablet, it’s obviously touchscreen, which works out just fine for Windows 8.1 which is free on this device, along with Microsoft Office, for a year. There’s nothing cheap about either the 1280x800 IPS screen or the keyboard. The viewing angles have often been awful on smaller machines, but not on this one. The keys have often been horribly plasticky on cheaper devices, but not on this one. The Swipe Ultimate isn’t a workhorse of a machine but it’s just fine as a basic tablet-notebook. It works on an Intel 1.86GHz processor with 2GB of RAM and 32GB of storage. Email, browsing, video, working with Office documents, reading, are what this device is great for. And it’s got a 5 and 2MP set of cameras for your video calling needs. There are lots of connectivity options, including Bluetooth 4.0, Mini HDMI, USB, OTG and support for a dongle. You don’t have a microSD slot though and will need to use cloud storage to add to the onboard space. It’s also silent, because there’s no fan to contend with. All in all, it’s a great deal for those who can be careful not to let the screen or tablet part fall while moving positions.
Read More
Windows 8/8.1 was a big attempt by Microsoft to bring in a new ecosystem that could work on touch devices as well as the traditional PC. Sadly it has faced a lot of criticism due to the clunky interface and the repeated failures of trying to use your finger as a cursor. This (still) did not stop OEMs to stop venturing into making Windows based touch devices. One of the newest members added to the Microsoft family is Micromax. After claiming the throne for the biggest smartphone manufacturer in India, the company went on to make LED TVs last year and now it has come up with a convertible tablet called the Canvas LapTab. Ignoring the lazy name, the device promises a value for money package. Not only do you run full-fledged Windows on it, but you get free 1TB of cloud storage on OneDrive and a one year subscription of Office 2013 with three licences. For Rs 14,999 you get a 10.1-inch HD display (1280x800) which offers great viewing angles and a good amount of brightness. Sadly the bezels are quite large and the glass panel on top of the display gets smudged very easily, fingerprint haters should stay away. The front also houses a capacitive Windows key, the front camera and an LED notification light. The back is a combination of metal and some rubber-like plastic accents to accommodate the stereo speakers, the rear camera and all the ports and buttons. The overall finish of the tablet looks good until you get to the supplied docking keyboard. The quality here is quite bad. Firstly, the keyboard is just too cramped up, especially if you are coming down form a proper full-sized keyboard and you will end up hitting the wrong keys, but that’s just a matter of usage. Secondly, the touchpad is horrible, apart from being very flimsy and unresponsive; it does random swipes and selections. Lastly, the docking mechanism, which seems fairly simple, just place it on the groove and the tablet fixes itself with magnets. But the problem here is, it stays at just one angle, you cannot tilt it at all as it moves from the docking point and disconnects from the keyboard. So the laptop mode is only useful if you are using the LapTab on a flat surface. On the inside there is an Intel Atom processor clocked at 1.8GHz with 2GB of RAM and there is 32GB of storage onboard along with expansion. There is also a SIM card slot, in case you want to use cellular data. The performance is smooth and the hardware provides good enough power to watch HD movies however the onboard speakers are very low on volume so you better plug in some earphones or an external speaker. The cameras are dull and didn’t impress due to the lack of proper software. The battery backup is claimed to be about 8 hours but it didn’t live upto its expectations as it ran for about 6 hours straight after fully charging it, which took about 5 hours itself. The LapTab seems like an attractive alternative to a notebook, but sadly it needs lot improvements. The design is not very attractive or practical and the overall user experience is not appealing. At a similar price point there are much better alternatives like the HP Stream 11, Asus Eeebook and even the Notion Ink Cain.
Read More
Myntra, the e-retailer giant, has decided to offer its service only in the app format, shutting down all its operations from the desktop version. The Flipkart owned platform has done detailed study before this “strategic” move, and according to the company around 70 per cent of the sales and approximately 95 per cent of the internet traffic is through mobile devices, hence the decision to go app-only. However, few apprehensions still surround the decision. E-market in India is still in a nascent stage, and although it is growing at a remarkable pace, questions arise that are the customers ready to embrace the facilities only through a mobile device. The few problematic issues are: Apps are better suited to smartphones as compared to feature phones:Although India is slowly marching towards smartphones, a vast population is still comfortable with feature phones, which do not support many applications. How viable will then this move be considering the compatibility issues. Speed of the internet, and costs incurred :Many apps consume a substantial amount of mobile data, and presently the cost of a 3G connection is still very high, raising doubts as to whether shifting to an app-only service will be beneficial in the longer run, since the costs of Internet services in India are not likely to come down in the near future. Desktop versions do offer better navigational facilities:Indians still want to compare products, and pay according to what suits their pockets the best. PCs thus offer better navigational facilities and multiple choice options. The users have a general tendency to switch to different products almost simultaneously and here Desktops trump mobile phones. The advantages of offering variety:The more the choices, the better the chances to tap into requirements. Hence, availability of both the desktop as well as mobile versions could serve the purpose better, as only compared to one platform. The company is confident enough to go ahead with the move, and the trends that will filter out in the coming days, will be an interesting watch and might just be a benchmark for others to follow.
Read More
If Amazon’s Echo wasn’t interesting enough, it’s just got a little more so. Launched in November last year, Amazon Echo is a speaker that is as Internet-of-Things as we can get today. What makes it different from the millions of others around is that you can talk to it, and it answers back. Echo has to stay switched on. As it sits there, you command it to play music for you – specific artists, playlists, genresand albums in your collection, or to access streaming services. You can also just call out questions, such as the on the weather or some simple answerable ones that can come up from a search. Amazon’s demo shows how Echo can virtually be part of the conversation as one person asks it to play rock music, another tells it to stop, mother asks it to add wrapping paper to the shopping list, and someone else asks itthe definition of the word annoying. Siri-like, all the answers are out pat. Echo is a Bluetooth speaker, so you can happily take it from place to place. All it needs is its internet connect so it can access the cloud and give you the music and answers you want. It can even handle to-do lists, read the news, check facts, and more as long as you wake it up with the name, Alexa. You don’t need to shout across the room or go up very close because it has seven microphones at the ready. Now, Echo also adds shopping to its list of skills. It figures, since Amazon is after all, a great big shop, so it was only inevitable that it would tie in with what Amazon does. The Echo isn’t available per se in India for now. First of all, voice recognition would have to be optimized for India, no easy task with all the languages and accents spoken here. You could get it through a workaround from Amazon.com, but there’d be little point as many things available on Amazon for US customers aren’t within the reach of customers elsewhere. And this is particularly true for music. Much of what’s available for the Echo is tied into Amazon’s Prime Membership programme, right now. But Echo is nevertheless a fascinating product because one can see the possibilities in the not-too-distant future when you will have many objects around that are connected and interactive and not restricted to Amazons, by any means. There are other voice enabled speakers even now. SpeeCup is a speaker that responds to voice and gestures. It’s been years since Samsung’s smart TV’s have been able to respond to voice commands. More than the hardware it’s the execution and the careful fitting in into users’ lives that will make or break a new product like the Echo.
Read More
The Taiwanese smartphone maker disappointed its fans in India when it announced that it won’t be bringing their new flagship, the One M9, to the country. Now HTC has not been doing well in the smartphone business, but promises to continue to deliver quality products, one of which is the Desire 826. The smartphone comes with a soft glossy (slippery) plastic back and a rubber lining surrounding the edges. The design is simple, attractive and it feels quite good for a mid-ranged device. It is however very large due to the 5.5-inch display and the large bezels, especially above and below the display. This is primarily to accommodate the BoomSound stereo speakers which are nicely hidden in slits on either sides of the display. The front facing camera sits right in the middle, just like the Desire Eye, but sadly comes with HTC’s UltraPixel (read 4MP) resolution and an f/2.0 lens which hasn’t been impressive. The two SIM card slots and the microSD card slot are hidden nicely under a rubber flap on the left edge keeping the overall finish of the smartphone in top notch. The power and volume keys are placed on the right edge, which are not the easiest to use as they difficult to reach due to sheer size of the device and are quite flushed with the body giving a very low amount of feedback. In the hardware department the Desire 826 features a Snapdragon 615 octa-core chip with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of expandable memory which provides ample amount of power. The 5.5-inch display now has a 1080p resolution which is a nice bump from the 720p display on the Desire 820. The back features a 13MP camera with an LED flash which manages to click some good looking pictures although it isn’t the fastest in terms of focusing. To power the smartphone there is a 2600mAh battery which provides enough juice that lasts for a day if you are a light user. On heavy usage the smartphone goes on for half a day before you run looking for the charger. Running on the latest Android 5.0.2 update, it comes with HTC’s Sense 6 interface on top which is buttery smooth and runs without any hiccups. Just like Sony and Samsung, HTC too has implemented a themes section to personalize your smartphone, however one has to sign in to an HTC account. The biggest area where the Desire 826 disappoints is its price. In such a competitive market, pricing a device at Rs. 25,000 with the above mentioned specs is overkill. One can get cheaper alternatives like the Xiaomi Mi4/Mi 4i, Yu Yureka or the Huawei Honor 6 which offer a similar or even better hardware configuration. HTC has been relying on providing good looking handsets without considering the pricing, which is possibly the reason why the smartphone maker has not been churning good profits.
Read More
