First there was Bendgate... now brace yourself for hairgate.Fresh from the online uproar over whether the shiny new iPhone 6 bends when carried around in pockets, Apple has been hit by a new complaint - that the handset traps users' hair or beards when they make calls.It is difficult to gauge whether there is any real issue, but Twitter users have made #hairgate a rising social media trend, leading major news outlets to pounce on the story."The seam on my iPhone 6 where the aluminum meets the glass is definitely catching my hair and pulling it out," one user tweeted. Bearded iPhone users have jumped on the bandwagon complaining that their facial hair gets yanked during calls, leading to spats over whether to treat #beardgate as a separate trend, or simply as a subset of #hairgate.Apple was not immediately available to comment.Jokers are having a field day, with the Twitter account of the Atlanta International Fashion Week speculating that it may be an elaborate plot against hipsters for whom facial hair has become de rigeur. Another user tweeted: "Congrats, Apple, for finally getting hipsters to shave." For some it is a heaven-sent marketing opportunity; Gillette Co. was quick to tweet: "Your phone may be smarter than ever, but leave the shaving to the experts."However, many iPhone 6 users were left to wonder what all the fuss was about."I have iPhone 6. Doesn't bend and doesn't snag hair. Who thinks up these things? Apple haters? Competitors?" tweeted Dr John Wooten, a Virginia-based technical consultant.(Agencies)
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Intex Technologies on Monday (October 06) launched a budget smartphone: Aqua Y2 Pro At Rs 4,333 Commenting on the introduction, Sanjay Kumar Kalirona, Mobile Business Head, Intex Technologies said, “The Aqua Y2 PRO as the name suggests is handcrafted for the gen-Y crowd and is our latest addition to the Aqua collection. With a unique pricing, the all new Y2 PRO runs on Android 4.4.2 KitKat and is the most reasonably priced 3G smartphone in 4.5 inch screen. We are proud to announce a phone which is made for the millennials.” The all new Intex Aqua Y2 PRO is packed with features targeting the youth. The phone runs on latest Kitkat operating system and is powered by 1.0 GHz dual-core processor. The smartphone comes with a 5 MP rear camera that with an auto panoramic feature redefines photography while including essentials such as HDR and continuous shot. The phone also comes with a front VGA camera that supports video calling. Yes Bank Partners With SunTec SunTec Business Solutions on Monday announced that Yes Bank, India's fourth largest private sector bank, has selected SunTec’s Xelerate product suite for its revenue management and business assurance needs in its retail banking division. Yes Bank will use SunTec’s technology to help launch new product packages and manage revenue streams more effectively. Yes Bank operates in a unique market, and believes that the customer experience differentiation it can obtain with the help of SunTec will be key to successfully achieving its strategic objectives. In addition, Yes Bank will use the Xelerate product suite to streamline its pricing and billing process. Pralay Mondal, Senior Group President, Branch and Retail Banking, Yes Bank said "We see real value in SunTec’s vision in providing futuristic solutions. Partnering with SunTec gives us the ability to quickly develop new products and improve our existing offerings. We are looking forward to working with SunTec to put our customer-centric business strategies into action.” Nanda Kumar, CEO of SunTec said “We are very pleased to be working with one of the most impressive players in the Indian financial services industry. The Indian retail banking sector is full of exciting opportunities, and we look forward to helping YES BANK take advantage of them.” Aircel Partners With Arya To Enrich Smartphone UsersThe debutant Smartphone brand Arya launched in exclusive partnership with Amazon has successfully made inroads to Indian Smartphone market. The overwhelming response and surging demand has paved way for leading service provider Aircel to partner with Arya to enrich existing and new users of the Arya Z2 with seamless data connectivity and mobility experience with a new offer whereby all Arya Z2 users can get 500 MB data free on a monthly basis. Commenting on the partnership with Aircel, Gopal Jiwarajka, CMD, Salora International Limited said " We are extremely excited with the response to our product Z2 and the faith Indian consumers have shown in us. The technical community and consumers have been very positive on the quality and user experience of the Z2." Anupam Vasudev, Chief Marketing Officer, Aircel said, “Aircel has always believed in the potential of data and recognizes the role it plays in empowering the end users. Today, as we stand at the cusp of a data revolution in the country, strategic partnerships with device manufactures will indeed help service providers in further strengthening the telecom ecosystem in India." Line Launches Official Camera AppLINE, one of the world’s leading mobile platform with 490 million users, on Monday announced that its official camera app, LINE camera, has surpassed the 100 million global download mark as of September 22. Line camera is LINE’s official camera app, and provides users with the functionality to easily edit and decorate photos saved on their smartphone or taken with the app and share them with their friends and groups on Line or other social networking services, including Facebook and Twitter. “Line camera has proven to be a very successful application as we have crossed the 100 million mark worldwide and users have downloaded and experienced the camera app. At Line we have received an overwhelming response from our users and we are focused on keeping the needs of consumers at the core,” said Damandeep Singh Soni, Spokesperson, Line India.Daimler Financial Services Launches Customer Online System for BharatBenz FinancialBharatBenz Financial (BBF), part of Daimler Financial Services Pvt. Ltd., has launched its first customer online self- service portal for Commercial Vehicles customers in India. This premiere in the Indian trucking market enables BharatBenz customers to access all their account information at the click of the mouse from anywhere and anytime. As well as providing customers with increased transparency, the COS also shortens the response times to customer queries. BharatBenz Financial is the 1st choice provider for truck financial services and today finances and insures 1 in every 3 trucks across the country. Speaking on the launch of portal, Mr. Sominder Singh, Head - Sales and Marketing, BharatBenz Financial said, “BBF’s mission has always been to lead in the innovation and delivery of the brand’s customer experience. The launch of the COS portal is another step forward towards this mission.”
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Microsoft Devices on Wednesday (01 October) launched the recently unveiled Lumia 830 and Lumia 730 running the latest Windows Phone 8.1 operating system. The audience was in for a surprise as the company also announced the Lumia 930 at the event. "We recognised the potential of the affordable smartphone segment and brought some extremely successful products to the market including the Lumia 520, 525 and the more recent Lumia 630 and Lumia 530. Building on our momentum in this space, today we introduce three new devices, Lumia 930, 830 and Lumia 730, which we believe will help us consolidate our position in the mid priced smartphone market in India," said Ajey Mehta, Managing Director, Nokia India Sales Pvt. Ltd., a subsidiary of Microsoft Mobiles Oy. Let's take a quick look at the specs now. Lumia 730It is a dual SIM device with a 4.7 HD display. The phone comes with 8 GB internal memory and 1 GB of RAM. Lumia 730 boasts of a 6.7 MP Carl Zeiss camera on the back and a front facing 5 MP camera for those exquisite selfies! Microsoft has put in a 2200 mAh battery under the hood of the phone and it will cost you Rs 15,299. Lumia 830This is a 5 inch offering which sports a 5 inch HD display. The amount of RAM is same as the Lumia 730 but the internal memory on-board is 16 GB. The camera has been pumped up too: the primary is a 10 MP Carl Zeiss affiar and the secondary a 0.9 MP one which can record HD videos. Microsoft has priced this phone at Rs 28,799. Lumia 930This is a beautifully crafted device and the best thing about this smartphone is the camers. Lumia 930 has a 20MP PureView camera and advanced Rich Recording, ensuring a flawless video and imaging experience with Living Images and optical image stabilization. Apart from the camera, the phone features a FULL HD 5 inch display and a solid 2 GB of RAM. Lumia 930 will be available in India starting October 15, 2014, at Rs 38,649. Quite a hefty price for the specs on offer! Microsoft Got More To OfferAt the event, Microsoft also announced the Denim update for its Lumia series. It features live folders, SMS merge, forwarding and mobile web site improvements in IE. Lumia Denim will be available on both Lumia 830 and Lumia 730 at sales start while it will roll out as an over-the-air update to all the other Lumia smartphones in Q4, 2014.
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Micromax Canvas NitroRs 12,900just look at the sheer number of new phones in the budget class suddenly. Would Micromax sit by and watch someone eat its lunch? Unlikely. So it came up with a competitor to the Moto G and whatever else costs Rs 12,900 or so. The Canvas Nitro has a faux leather look as is found on the Note 3, and has a solid if slightly heavy feel to it. Definitely nicer than the older Micromax phones. The back opens up to show two SIM slots, micro-SD slot and a 2500mAh battery that lasts through the day. Specs include a 720x1280 LCD screen which is good enough, a 1.7GHz Mediatek MT6592 processor with 1GB of RAM and 8GB of storage. It performs well and isn't rough and glitchy. But it's the software that's annoying. First, there's a bunch of apps like Truecaller that you're forced to keep. You can't offload them. Then there's a rip-off of HTC's Blinkfeed (which Samsung also helped itself to) and that's less than stellar. It's a magazine app in which you can get content from multiple sources including social networks. But open up an article and there's a noticeable unpleasant blueness over the bottom half. I'm not sure where that comes from. Otherwise, there's no heavy interface on top of the Android 4.4.2 that it's running on. The cameras are 13MP and 5MP, but both photos and video on this device is not much fun at all.Overall, the Canvas Nitro is a middling smartphone that has quite a bit of competition.Xiaomi Redmi 1S Rs 6,999With the redmi 1s in your hand, you'll invariably feel you have something of unquestionable value for money. It's solid and well built. There's a happy mismatch between the way it looks and feels, and the fantastic price of Rs 5,999. Now if only it was possible to buy it the good old way. But Xiaomi seems to be continuing with its flash sales on Flipkart. 40,000 units were sold out in 4.2 seconds, according to Xiaomi's charismatic Hugo Barra. It has a 4.7-inch IPS HD screen with 1280x720 pixels, and 312ppi density. It's not Gorilla Glass but Dragontrail Scratch-resistant Glass. There's a 1.6GHz quad core Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor with just about 1GB RAM and 8GB internal memory. The camera is a not-bad 8MP with LED flash and 1080p FullHD video recording and 1.6MP front camera with 720p HD video recording. The back panel can be opened and hides a 2000mAh battery, two SIM slots, and a micro SD card slot. It runs Android 4.3 Jelly Bean and Xiaomi's MIUI interface which is easy and a bit Apple-like. The Redmi 1S's benchmark performance is not bad but don't expect top-end gaming. You may encounter the occasional crash. It has good external sound, an adequate screen but it is very reflective. Sony Xperia T3 Rs 27,990the one thing that the Sony Xperia T3 has going for it is that it’s really really slim. It wears the totally familiar look of Sony’s design for phones — everything straight. It’s a large phone at 5.3 inches but it’s so light that it doesn’t feel it. It’ll stick out of a pocket but won’t cause too much pocket-sag. The T3 is like many other phones from Sony, but it’s a mid-range offering, if you call Rs 27,990 mid-range today. Be that as it may, the Xperia T3 might have fared better if it had any big differentiators, other than sheer thinness. The phone has a steely metal strip all around, which doesn’t look bad at all, and a soft back that will stay pretty neat and clean, provided you don’t oil it up too much. This model isn’t waterproof, so please don’t take her into the shower.The display is a 720p, but a nice one. It’s bright, has no big problem with angles, and doesn’t do at all badly with colours. The device runs on a 1.4GHz Snapdragon 400 quad-core and though it’s okay for the most part, it did freeze on me a few times. Don’t expect heavy gaming abilities. It’s got 1GB of RAM, an expansion slot for an SD card, and an average 8MP camera. The front camera is a 1.1MP so no selfie craziness. The battery is 2,500mAh and does fine, especially with the power saving mode on.Check for freebies along with the T3 if you’re buying as Sony is offering the Smartband and a case worth a lot.Moto G Rs 12,999A short while ago, I found myself recommending the Moto G pretty often to those who asked for budget phone suggestions. The value for money formula was compelling and the phone worked well. However, Motorola can't afford to rest on its laurels as new players barge in with rather good phones, so it's launched new versions of the Moto G and Moto X — the Moto X, coming soon, and the Moto G available now on Flipkart for Rs 12,999. Both these will be able to work with the Moto 360 smartwatch, also coming soon.The new Moto G is now a bigger phone. The screen is 5 inches and the 0.5 change from earlier makes a difference. It's narrow, though, so not awkward to hold. The Moto G's design and general look and feel and its build stay much the same. Sturdy and comfortable. The customisable back cover option isn't offered in India but the default back is the soft type, helping the grip. The back is removable for access to SIM and micro-SD slots, but the 2070mAh battery can't be removed. Pity, as that's one of the weak points on this phone.The 720p screen is really comfortable enough, bright, good colours and angles. One welcome difference is that there are two front speakers, so you get louder, clearer sound. The Moto G runs on a 1.2-GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor with 1GB of RAM. It has the very latest Android, and will always update early. The Moto G also comes with software improvements. It has a front camera and its 8MP shooter is rather nice. It's also a dual SIM. (This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 20-10-2014)
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Vu Televisions, the California-based luxury television company, on Thursday (11 September) announced the launch of their 50” and 55” 4K Ultra HD TVs exclusively on www.snapdeal.com, India’s online marketplace.With the motto of “luxury in technology”, Vu 4K Ultra HD TVs are nearly half the price of similar products from the competition, Rs. 89,900 for the 50” versus Samsung’s 48” 4K TV at Rs. 1,59,556, and Rs.1,19,000 for the 55” versus Sony’s equivalent model at a market price of Rs. 2,18,000. In fact, Vu delivers more value to customers with the world’s first Quad-Core graphics engine giving an accelerated Ultra HD experience that can upscale basic set-top box content to more detailed and sharper images.Devita Saraf, CEO and Design Head, Vu Televisions commented at the product launch “The Television is treated as a family member in India, and excellent picture quality and service enhance this experience. Our TVs are the only A+ grade panels in India, which is the top 15 per cent of all the world’s television production. With our Ultra HD Range, we make large size TVs even more advanced and yet affordable.StartupWave Crosses 190 Entrepreneur MembersIndia’s yearly job creation requirement over the next decade is predicted to be 10-15 million per year, which can be addressed by boosting Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). While there has been a steady growth of such enterprises, over 21 per cent of them failed in early years due to roadblocks to scale.StartupWave is a virtual incubation platform that has been built as an infrastructure for the Indian start-up incubation eco-system. It has been conceptualized by Intellecap in partnership with Government of UK’s Department for International Development in India and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) on behalf of the German Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).Nisha Dutt, Executive Director at Intellecap says, “We believe incubation support needs to be more democratic, and available to anyone with a business idea regardless of whether they are in Delhi or Ranchi or Imphal. StartupWave is still in early stages of working towards this vision; but given that it is an online platform, we think we will be able to scale it rapidly.” Havas Media India Wins Borosil’s Integrated MediaHavas Media India has won the integrated media duties of Borosil Glass Works Ltd. in a multi agency pitch. The account is estimated to be upwards of Rs 20 Crores and will be handled out of the Havas Media Mumbai office.Borosil Glass Works is a leading producer of laboratory glassware and microwavable kitchenware in India having the ISO 9001 certification.Commenting on the appointment, Rituraj Sharma, V P Consumer Products, Borosil Glass Works, said, “Havas Media came across as a very professional and a passionate agency. Their transparency, knowledge and media expertise was impressive. We wanted a dynamic partner to help us scale further and found one in them .”Speaking on the win, Anita Nayyar, CEO, Havas Media Group, India and South Asia, said, “Borosil is a prestigious and trusted brand in India and we are glad they have entrusted us with their business. It has been a good year of integrated media wins for us. Our ability to provide meaningful connections across communication touchpoints has been appreciated by clients.”YUP! The One Click Messaging AppImagine if you can say “I love you”, “Wanna party”,’ “Reached Home” and interact with the all-time favourite Yo Yo Honey Singh with just one click! Nucleus Research, has announced the launch of cool, fun and engaging one click messaging application – YUP!Joining as the first member and brand ambassador of YUP!is rapster and music director YO YO HONEY SINGH. Yup! users will have Yo Yo Honey Singh as their first friend as they download the app.Announcing the launch, Namrata Suri, Director, Nucleus Research Pvt. Ltd., said, “Today’s the Indian Smartphone user is smart, curious and clearly knows what they want. Indian’s today are early adopters of cool and trendy applications and want simple and innovative interface to stay connected. YUP!will cater to this need and make one-click messaging the default standard of interaction in India.”Joining as the first member of Yup!, Yo Yo Honey Singh, said, “I am excited to become a part of YUP!team as this gives me an opportunity to engage with my fans in a unique way. My fans can now interact with me and share their feedback by just Yupping me anytime, anywhere. Join Yup! to become a Yup Star.”FirstRide.in Launches In IndiaFirstride.in, a recently incepted service is a complete solution provider for all your car related requirements. The company is founded by two young enthusiasts Vijay Kumar Reddy and Prasoon Agrawal with a mission to uphold the automobile industry and give users a seamless experience while buying cars. The unique platform offers total assistance to its customers during the complete life cycle of trying a car to owning one. The process begins by arranging a test drive to help buyers choose the right car, getting car loans sanctioned, and assisting in insurance and post-sales services to facilitate the maintenance of the car. The USP of the brand is its unbiased and customer-centric approach and its association with varied brands enables it to offer impartial information to customers.Vijay Kumar Reddy, Spokesperson, Firstride.in commented, over the years, the car buying market has turned from a seller’s market to a buyers’ market. The buyer today is smart, knowledgeable and clear on what his next purchase will be. Dealerships are now only avenues to touch and test their planned purchases. The traditional sales guy at the car dealership is dead. He is now replaced by data, knowledge, information and feedback from the internet.
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Mark the day. The 9th of September, 2014. It’s the day that the line, made famous by Steve Jobs, was brought out of cold storage and proudly called out by Tim Cook, CEO, Apple, at a special event at the Flint Center for Performing Arts, Cupertino, California, where he took the stage with the confidence that he wasn’t going to disappoint Apple fans. As leaked out earlier, Apple did launch two iPhone 6s, the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 and the 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus. Probably wisely, Apple has stayed with the design that has been so wildly successful for the company, seeing it through sustained profitability for the past few years when everyone was clamouring for a new product or product category from Apple. Time after time, people would refer to the iconic Apple leader, Steve Jobs and insist that the post-Jobs company really couldn’t be the same, after all. And today when Tim Cook said “And one more thing…” to tumultuous applause, it was quite as if he had just taken over the mantle from Steve Jobs.The iPhones are bound to be expensive, when they arrive, but at least they’ve moved with the times to cater to users’ demands for larger phones. Remarkably, they’re thinner still and will have new features with the launch of the new iOS 8 operating system. Tim Cook, CEO, AppleOf course, the specs are all up, specially the resolution of the screen. 1334 x 720 for the iPhone 6 with 326ppi density, and 1920 x 1080 with 401ppi density for the iPhone 6 Plus. There are already phones with that level of resolution, but one can be confident that the iPhone screens will look superbly finessed and will please fans no end. The camera is still an 8 megapixel but has enhanced optics of all sorts including Optical Image Stabilization on one of the models. Tim Cook and Phil Schiller repeated their favourite line about these being the best iPhones they’ve made yet – which is obvious since they cannot possibly make worse ones anyway.In the course of the two-hour long event, Apple didn’t exactly start any new categories, but it certainly gave a shot in the arm to two technologies. The first of these is mobile payments. The iPhone’s fingerprint scanner, as always intended, will do away with the ritual of pulling out your credit card, risking sales staff seeing your security number, and will need just a tap of the finger to make a payment. Apple has partnered with many businesses to kickstart this. Of course, when it happens in India, remains to be seen, but once it’s got going, mobile payment will gather momentum everywhere. America basically does what Apple tells to; the rest of the world does what America does, and with that, the technology will take off. Apple WatchAwaited for years, a smartwatch finally became part of Apple’s portfolio. Predictably, the company will position it as if it were their invention – and fans will lap it up. But undoubtedly, the Apple Watch (not the iWatch as everyone thought) will help open up the market, by dint of the very fact that Apple is validating the presence and potential of the wearables industry.The Apple Watch may or may not be the best looking device in the world, but it’s got the Jony Ive stamp and has a few innovative design elements, one of which is the “crown” or a dial which is reminiscent of the classic iPod’’s “clickwheel”. This dial helps interact with the watch without having to obscure the surface with podgy fingers. Siri also lives in there somewhere, so the user can voice-interact as well.The Apple Watch got a standing ovation from the attendees at the Apple event. A lot of time was spent describing the features and a visibly pleased Tim Cook thanked the Apple team specifically for their work on the watch. The Apple Watch will also be able to make payments, but apart from that, has many of the capabilities that some smartwatches already do. Notifications, social networking, calendars and reminders, maps and navigation, music and music control, are all in its repertoire. Most important is that it is a fitness and health device that will measure and track various parameters and even feature a shareable heartbeat.Whether Apple will be at the very center of the wearales industry with its watch, only to be available next year is not easy to predict at this point, but the Apple Watch certainly is a good One More Thing for now.Mala@businesworld.inmala.bhargava@gmail.com
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Charlie Tritschler, Senior Vice President Product Management at Motorola, is delighted with his company’s success in India. Barely a year after Motorola launched its Moto series smartphones in India, sales have notched up to 1.6 million devices. So when it was time for upgrades all around, Motorola had no hesitation launching the new versions of the Moto G and Moto X in the country, with the Moto 360 smartwatch accompanying the phones.The Moto G, Motorola claims, is the best selling phone the company has ever had and they peg it down to the price-performance equation. The most significant upgrade to the Moto G is the display, a 5.0-inch 720p IPS HD display. It certainly looks good and the larger phone is still very nice to hold. The white version has a clean matt finish back and this time around, supports an SD card slot. Other specs are also bumped up. There’s now an 8MP main camera and a 2MP front camera. Sound is much better because of two stereo speakers on the front. There’s 16GB of internal storage and a 2070mAh battery – that part is not an upgrade. The processor is also still the Snapdragon 400 1.2GHz. Charlie TritschlerThe Moto G runs on pure Android and gets upgrades “faster than Google,” sometimes.The Moto G is of course, the middle of the series so far, the Moto E being the absolute entry level (and not included in the new upgrades so far) with the Moto X at the top end of the food chain. The good news for Indian consumers is the price which is Rs 12,999. Charlie Tritschler spoke of how Motorola knew well that consumers in India expected a certain pricing and said that Motorola was not about to disappoint in a market which has become increasingly important to the company. As for threats from Chinese companies like Xiaomi which recently entered the Indian market with dramatic flair, he said that Motorola was going to continue to execute its strategy regardless and that it was confident of delivering value and not running out of stock. The Moto G is available already on Flipkart, and includes promotional offers such as 100 per cent cash back for 100 customers through a lucky draw.The Moto X is not yet available and nor is there a price announced, although it will be on sale later this month on Flipkart. Did Motorola not want to move beyond Flipkart and get to target segments who were not online, specially in smaller towns and cities? Charlie Tritschler said that Flipkart was growing rapidly and that using other distribution channels would only prove costly. In time, customers would manage to buy online.The Moto X, an interesting phone to begin with, doesn’t skimp on new specs. The display is now up from 4.7 to 5.2 inches of 1080p resolution with 423 ppi density and looks bright and vivid with vibrant colour representation. It runs on a Snapdragon 801 quad core processor clocked at 2.5GHz and has 2GB of RAM. While there are smartphones with higher specs than these, the clean and unfettered use of Android on the device makes it perform smoothly – visibly so. Android 4.4.4 will upgrade readily to future versions.Charlie Tritschler says that Motorola studied in detail what customers wanted further in the Moto X and just went on to put in those features. The camera is now a 13MP with a fast shutter speed, tap to shoot, and features like best shot which is suggested when the camera takes additional information from before and after the shutter release. An easy selection in the gallery lets users make collages with photos and videos and set them to music. On top of all that, the camera can shoot 4k video.The Moto X is slim and svelte and easy to hold. It looks premium with its metallic skirting. There’s a bamboo backed version for those who want real wood on their phone.But Motorola has done more than just bump up the specs and fine tune the design. The Moto X original was the first to include the responsiveness to an OK Google, waking up from total sleep, ready to take a command even when elsewhere in the room. Now, in the new Moto X this has been taken to the next level. There are four microphones to catch the sound better and you can interact with the device much more via voice. With Google enhancing work with Indian accents, this is now easier, including commands to call contacts with Indian names. There are other commands such as “take a selfie” which will wake up the phone and go to the front camera to do just that.The Moto X is also taking in some features that are contextual, perhaps a cue from Google Glass and smarwatches. The phone will sense or figure out what you’re doing such as driving, about to sleep etc and do things like read out text or shut off sounds. Other than Moto Voice and Moto Assist, as these features are called, you also have Moto Display and Moto Actions, which presents all sorts of information and tasks on the lock screen such as when you move your hand over the screen, so that you can save battery. These tasks are actionable. Notifications show up in this way too and you can actually see them without a full wake-up of the phone.The Moto X also has a fast charger, and that should be welcome considering the battery is only a 2300mAh. Mala@businessworld.inmala.bhargava@gmail.com
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Lava International Limited on Thursday (04 September) unveiled Iris 460 which is a fashionable mid-range Smartphone with a leather back cover aptly suited for consumers who would like to make a distinct style statement. The Iris 460 is fully loaded with a host of excellent features and the latest technology to take on the best in the range.The classy looking Iris 460 comes with a beautiful handcrafted black leather back case with Gun Metal Middle Housing that makes it not only a phone but a beautiful accessory as well. Furthermore, it is equipped with fast 1.3 GHz dual core processor providing consumers a smooth experience overall along with fast downloads. The OGS multi-point touch technology makes browsing and typing very user friendly.With a stunning 11.43 cm (4.5”) Full Lamination FWVGA IPS Display with 217 PPI & 16.7 million colours, the Iris 460 brings pictures and videos to life from multiple angles of viewing. The device is pre-loaded with 11 Indian Languages namely English, Hindi, Tamil, Telegu, Kannada, Punjabi, Gujarati, Marathi, Bangla, Malayalam, and Oriya. The Device also boasts of supporting W-CDMA at 900 MHz, thus allowing 3G Data Services to Idea Customers in Delhi Circle, Airtel and Vodafone Customers in Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai. Further the device runs 3G Services on both the SIM Card. The package includes a flip cover for a complete offering.Amazon Launches Kindle Kids’ Book CreatorAmazon announced KDP Kids, designed to help children’s book authors prepare, publish and promote both illustrated and chapter books in Kindle Stores worldwide. Children’s book authors can use Amazon’s new Kindle Kids’ Book Creator tool to easily create illustrated children’s books that take advantage of Kindle features like text pop-ups. Once the book is ready, authors can upload it to KDP in just a few simple steps. Authors can also choose to enroll their books in KDP Select to earn royalties of up to 70 per cent, and access additional marketing tools like Free Book Promotions. Amit Agarwal, Vice President and Country Manager, Amazon India said, "We want to empower our authors with a tool which can help them focus on telling great stories. No one should have to be a computer programmer to create a beautiful, illustrated Kindle book for kids."By creating a digital edition of their book, authors can reach a whole new audience of Kindle readers, who have already downloaded millions of children’s books this year.“As a self-published author, doing all the work myself and being no technical expert, I found this so easy to use,” said children's book author and illustrator Michele Lynn Seigfried. “It will definitely save me time and money when I publish my future books.”Canon Expands Its Colour Production Printers PortfolioCanon India, a leading Digital Imaging company, announced the launch of a new colour production cutsheet press series as part of their continued efforts to empower print service providers (PSPs) to cater to the print industry’s ever-evolving needs.With technology derived from the award-winning Canon series, the 80ppm C800 and 70ppm C700 deliver excellent print quality, enhance productivity and enable versatility in both commercial and in-house print environments.Dr Alok Bharadwaj, Executive Vice-President, Canon India said, “Canon professional printing product division is registering over 25 per cent annual growth and is the fastest growing business of Canon in India. It is doubling every three years and is expected to be a 200 crore business by 2016 .The new C800 series will be the major driver for expansion as we aim to achieve 30 per cent market share in the category of cut sheet commercial production printing by 2016”. He further addedThe imagePRESS C800 multifunction printer and the imagePRESS C700 multifunction printer has priced Rs 47.5 lakh and Rs 44.5 lakh, respectively.Tata Communications, Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula1 Team Announce F1 Connectivity Innovation PrizeTata Communications, a leading provider of a New World of Communications, confirmed the details of the second technology challenge intended to harness global brainpower in the $50,000 initiative set against the white heat of connectivity innovation that defines Formula 1 racing.Lewis Hamilton, Driver for the MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS Formula One Team says, “The Mercedes-Benz Silver Arrows have an amazing history in our sport. The legendary skills and achievements of drivers like Juan Manuel Fangio and Stirling Moss in the 1950s are an inspiration to me and, I believe, provide a rich tapestry for this project to bring our history alive through the hands of the fans themselves.Entrants are being set a technology challenge to define the capture and curation of artefact from the present season with the MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS Formula One Team back to Mercedes’ history in the sport in the 1950s. In addition entrants are being asked to propose a campaign methodology to ensure the Scrapbook captures the imagination of the digital generation.MongoDB Collaborates With Happiest Minds MongoDB announced an engagement with Happiest Minds Technologies, a next generation IT services and solutions company. Research from leading analysts at Gartner predict that business intelligence and analytics will continue to be a priority for CIO’s through 2017. Through this engagement with MongoDB, Happiest Minds aims to provide Big Data solutions that are agile and scalable, and offer real time insights for intelligent decision-making.With the pervasiveness of social and cloud applications, increasing data volume and variety, and new architectures like cloud and virtualization, enterprises need a new approach to data management with solutions that are scalable and flexible. Now, enterprises will benefit from the expertise of MongoDB Trained Consultants as well as industry specific use cases and expertise.. Happiest Minds will offer a variety of services which will include MongoDB Architectural Advisory and Capacity Planning Services, Development, Testing and Data Migration.Kamal Brar, Vice President, Asia Pacific at MongoDB said, “We are pleased to include Happiest Minds in the rapidly expanding ecosystem of MongoDB. Together, Happiest Minds expertise and MongoDB’s proven scalability and dynamic data model will allow customers to make faster, more accurate business decisions.”Vserv Appoints Pranab Punj To Spearhead Global MarketingVserv, an award winning mobile ad exchange, on Thursday announced the appointment of Pranab Punj as Associate Vice President, Global Marketing. Pranab, a veteran in the digital sector, strategically complements Vserv’s aggressive growth plans and further extends the company’s leadership in the ever-evolving mobile ecosystem across geographies with a strong focus on Emerging Markets. Pranab will be responsible for driving Vserv’s global marketing endeavours, brand positioning, PR, events and digital marketing.As a part of the senior leadership team, he will be key in devising and implementing Vserv’s marketing strategy for a diverse global target audience incorporating marketers, telecom operators and app publishers. Dippak Khurana, CEO & Co-founder, Vserv, said, “We are glad to welcome Pranab to the Vserv team at this growth juncture as we scale our business globally. Pranab’s unique experience in dealing with digital brands & products will enable us to accelerate our marketing efforts. In an ever evolving ecosystem as ours, there’s a constant need for all stakeholders to reinvent their mobile strategies and we look forward to make great strides together in empowering them.”Speaking on his appointment, Pranab Punj, Associate Vice President, Global Marketing, Vserv, said, “It brings me great excitement to be a part of a brand like Vserv which has evangelized the mobile ecosystem in Emerging Markets. Through its marketing efforts, Vserv had provided succinct insights for all stakeholders to unlock the full potential of the mobile medium. In my current capacity, I look forward to augment these efforts further and to newer markets.”Intex Celebrates Mary KomIntex Technologies, one of the fastest growing mobile phone companies in India announces the launch of its latest offering, the Aqua Style Mini smartphone at Rs. 4,990/-. The phone launch also heralds Intex’s association as the exclusive mobile brand partner of the upcoming biopic movie based on Mary Kom, starring Priyanka Chopra.Intex has associated with Viacom18 to be a brand partner, where-in Intex branding will be prominently featured in the film, which releases on the 5th of September. To show its support, the company will be taking out 5000 limited edition smart phones with Olympic bronze medalist Mary Kom's icon embossed at the back of its phones.Talking about the association, Keshav Bansal, Director Marketing, Intex Technologies said, “This movie sends a strong message of true character, grit, inspiration and determination by showcasing how hard work never fails. It is the promotion of these ideals that made us associate with a power packed film such as Mary Kom, as it immensely resonated with our brand ethos and strengthens the brand’s image. Thus, to further support this message, we at Intex are launching the special edition Aqua Style Mini to commemorate Indian sporting legends.”Usha International Collaborates With Film Mary KomUsha International, one of India's leading consumer durables company proudly announces its association with the long awaited Biopic and Priyanka Chopra starrer 'Mary Kom'. USHA has a strong history that reflects its strong support towards promotion of sports and women empowerment. Associating with a film that depicts the life story of Mary Kom, a woman recognized as an icon of strength for many, solidifies USHA's commitment towards initiatives which depict the importance of sports, women of substance and women empowerment.In addition USHA shares a few memorable experiences with the real life Mary Kom with her being chief guest at the USHA All India Ladies Open Amateur Golf Championship in December 2012 and her recent visit to The Hab - by USHA.USHA looks forward to having yet another memorable experience with the reel life Mary Kom 'Priyanka Chopra' who will be visiting the HAB by USHA in Mumbai soon, for the promotions of the film Mary Kom.On this occasion, Chhaya Shriram, Director Usha International Ltd, says, "USHA is very proud to be associated with Mary Kom and with the film based on her life, representing independent and focussed women, who achieve at the highest levels through hard work and dedication to their goals and values, a true testament to women's empowerment, strengths which USHA is committed to promoting through its own women empowerment initiatives such as pan India rural Silai schools, women and sport sponsorships, amongst others."
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