Launched the Windows Phone 7 Series on Feb 17th, 2010

It was announced in the Mobile World Congress 2010 at Barcelona that Microsoft would launch its handsets based on its new mobile phone OS (operating system) christened Windows Phone 7 series. This new operating system will be quite a departure from the earlier versions.

The current windows mobile operating system is based on Windows CE 5 while the latest version will entirely depend on Windows CE 6 kernel such as the Zune HD.  7 Series has rebuilt Windows Mobile from the ground up, featuring a completely altered home screen and user interface experience, robust Xbox LIVE and Zune integration, and vastly new and improved social networking tools. Check the Windows Phone 7 site also.

This new mobile phone operating system is just the beginning for Microsoft. Everything will be new here. From the look and feel of the mobile to downright underlying code- every detail has been revamped and changed. The all new 7 series will boast of altered home screen with more robust user interface experience coupled with better social media optimisation and integration tools.

Here’s a look at some of the minimum specs available so far:

• Large WVGA screen with a single aspect ratio (which means BlackBerry-style devices won’t be readily available to begin with)
• Five specific hardware buttons required: Start, back, search (a dedicated Bing button), camera button, and power — no more, no less
• Capacitive multitouch
• CPU and GPU requirements (beginning with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon as the go-to processor)
• WiFi
• AGPS
• Accelerometer
• FM radio
• High resolution camera

Check out the Feature Demo video, a nice one !

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Now, the world would wait and watch to what extent Windows Phone 7 Series gives a competition to Apple’s iPhone and Googles’s Nexus One and other Android phones. Keep reading !

Google brings Nexus One to enter into Smartphone arena

Here is the internet supergiant Google in the world of smartphone with its latest product Nexus One and in direct competition with Apple iPhone. Google is now vying the smart phone market and is trying to establish and build its market presence in the world of communication coupled with Web technology.

Nexus One is powered by Android Mobile Technology Platform 2.1 and Snapdragon 1GHz core processor. It is the look of the latest Google smart phone that is mind blowing. Nexus One is slimmer, slightly thinner as well as lighter than the iPhone. Nexus One measures 119mm in height, 59.8mm in width and 11.5mm in depth. Additionally, the weight of Nexus One is slightly lighter than iPhone that is 130 gms in comparison to 135gms of iPhone. This high-end smart phone from Google is Android’s signature gadget.

The display of Google’s smart phone will be through 3.7 inch WVGA-AMOLED capacitive touch screen with picture clarity of 800 x 480 pixels. It is through this screen that most of the navigation happens and is quite a pleasure to watch. The snapdragon processor is fast and is able to handle multiple applications without much discomfort.

Officially the phone has up to 7 hours of talk time, 5 hours of internet use and up to 250 hours of standby time on 3G, 7 hours of video playback and 20 hours of audio playback.

Now we see how the new Google Nexus One gives competition to other Smartphones, specially with Apple iPhone.

Keep Reading !

First, the question is ‘What is Augmented Reality’?

To explain, Augmented Reality is one of the newest innovations in the electronics industry. It superimposes graphics, audio and other sense enhancements from computer screens onto real time environments. Augmented reality goes far beyond the static graphics technology of television where the graphics imposed do not change with the perspective. Augmented Reality systems superimpose graphics for every perspective and adjust to every movement of the user’s head and eyes.

Development of the needed technology for augmented reality systems, however, is still underway within the laboratories of both universities and high tech companies. It is forecasted that by the end of this decade, the first mass-produced augmented reality systems will hit the market.

Now, slowly we will find products coming in this area. Vuzix is generating a lot of buzz over by their booth at this year’s CES with their new Wrap 920AR eyewear – the first augmented reality sunglasses on the market. Complete with a stereo camera pair, users can view the real-world environment and computer-generated imagery seamlessly mixed together; allowing video game characters to jump out of the TV and come to life in your living room, or magazines and books with animated links back to the web in real time.

The stereo camera pair delivers a single 1504 x 480 side-by-side image that can be viewed in 3D stereoscopic video, while the video eyewear provides an unprecedented 67-inch display as seen from 10 feet. The Wrap 920AR also includes a 6 Degree-of-Freedom Tracker, which allows for absolute accuracy of roll pitch and yaw and also X, Y and Z positioning in 3D space.

“The Wrap 920AR offers the world’s only sunglass styled Augmented Reality experience” said Vuzix CEO, Paul Travers. “This state-of-the-art video eyewear, offers consumers an AR solution only available in handheld devices to date, merging the real world with the digital in a pair of glasses makes for world changing experiences from industry to gaming,” adds Travers. “With the Wrap 920 AR, Vuzix brings exclusive new capabilities to the consumer.”

The Wrap 920AR’s stereo camera assembly and 6-DoF Tracker will also be available separately for upgrading existing Wrap video eyewear.

Vuzix Wrap 920AR Specifications:

• 1/3-inch wide VGA Digital Image Sensor
• Resolution: 752H x 480W
• Includes 6 Degree-of-Freedom Tracker
• Frame rate: 60 fps
• Dynamic range: >55dB linear; >80-100dB in HiDy mode
• Shutter efficiency: >99%
• ADC Resolution: 10-bit column parallel
• High-speed USB 2.0
• PC and Mac compatible
• System requirements: Windows XP SP2, Windows Vista, Windows7, Mac OS X     10.4.9 or higher
• MSRP: $799.99

Would be interesting to watch, how more and more products come in this area. Keep reading …

Motorola Droid : The latest Android phone

Motorola droid is one of the most hyped and talked about smart phones that is going to make its way to the market on 6^th Nov 2009. The phone is powered with the Android version 2.0 and is expected to show a noticing leap in the over all performance as compared to other android mobile phones. This CDMA phone comes with Verizon wireless network. Let’s see what makes it better or at least at par with other smart phones.

The Tech-Spec:

• The processor: Arm Cortex A8 (600MHz, OMAP 3430). This brings a significant improvement in the speed specially while switching from one app to another.
• It possesses 256MB RAM and 512MB ROM.
• Screen: 3.7 inch touch screen with a resolution of 480 x 854. It is not a multi- touch screen, a point worth noting.
• Keyboard: It sports both a physical and an onscreen QWERTY keyboard. The sleek slide out physical keyboard has a toggle bar similar to RIM’s Blackberry trackball where as there are no enhancements in the onscreen keyboard.
• Camera: It is coupled with a 5 megapixel camera having 4X zoom, dual LED flash, automatic focus, image stabilization, real-time colour effects, scene modes, location tagging, and videos can be captured at 740 x 380 resolution, upto 24fps and playback up to 30fps. It also has image editing tools.
• Connectivity: It has Stereo Bluetooth Technology v2.1, WiFi 802.11, micro USB connector, provides support for Corporate calendar, email and contacts( Exchange 2003 and 2007), Google contacts, calendars, Gmail, Facebook contacts
• Battery power: Up to 385 min of usage time and standby time up to 270 hrs.
• Messaging: Includes email (corporate, Gmail, IMAP, POP3, Attachment and browser document viewer), MMS, SMS, IM (Gtalk), Voice mail.
• Navigation: It has come up with beta version of new navigation service that tells us the real-time direction, turn by turn in collaboration with Google maps. Google provides a good combination of its satellite, map, traffic and location info with text to speech directions. This is considered as one of the major enhancements.

With droid being the first mobile loaded with Android v2.0, it is a much awaited smart phone. Let’s wait and watch how well it grips the market.

Sony Ericsson Satio 

 Satio, a Sony Ericsson product, launched in market on 7^th Oct, 2009 will definitely leave you amazed with it’s the startling features. You might call it a perfect blend of a whooping cyber shot 12.1 megapixel camera, a walkman music player and of course a touch screen mobile phone. It has all the multi media features you can think a phone can have. This phone was first introduced in Barcelona with a name ‘Idou’. Now to substantiate on the above claims, let’s have a brief overview of its tech specs: 

1. Camera:

• 12.1 Megapixel Camera
• Upto 12x digital zoom
• Auto focus, intuitive touch focus
• Xenon Flash
• Face and smile detection.
• Geotagging
• VGA 30 f/s Video recording
• Photo Editing
• Best Pic 

1. Dimension : 112 x 55 x 13.3 mm
2. Weight : 126 gm
3. Screen: 3.5 inches, 16:9 widescreen, TFT Screen, Accelerometer Sensor
4. Resolution : 640 x 360 pixels
5. Internal Memory: 128 MB, 256 MB RAM
6. Card Slot : MicroSD, expandable up to 32 GB
7. Colours : Black, Blue, Bordeaux
8. OS : Symbian Series 60, 5^th edition
9. CPU : ARM Cortex A8 600 MHz
10. Connectivity :

• In-Built Wi-Fi
• Bluetooth : v2.0 with A2DP
• USB : v2.0
• 3G : HSDPA, 7.2 Mbps; HSUPA, 3.6 Mbps
• TV Out

1. Keyboard : Onscreen QWERTY Keyboard
2. Battery Life :
3. Miscellaneous :

• Stand By : Up to 360 h (2G) / Up to 340 h (3G)
• Talk time : Up to 11 h (2G) / Up to 4h 50 Min (3G)

• HD and 3D Games
• FM Radio with RDS
• Facebook Application
• YouTube
• Google Maps
• Media Player, Bluetooth Stereo ( A2DP), Music Tones ( MP3/AAC)
• Web Feeds
• Document Readers/Editors
• GPS Positioning 

Satio comes with many other basic functionality along with the above mentioned ones. One striking change is the customization of the OS, as a result of which Satio features a tabbed homescreen with tabs that link to favourite app, gallery, contacts, network services etc. It comes with colour-matched Wireless stereo hands free. 

Satio provides you with ultimate multimedia experience, from HD Games to smooth High Definition video viewing, from GPS positioning to photo and document editing to a rich experience of a Digi Cam. What else do you want from a mobile phone? 

Last, but definitely not the least, its price – Rs 35,500 (Approx). Now, It’s for you to decide if Satio deserves to be your handset or not.

LG unveiled NetTop XPION X30 

Its LGs turn now, after Asus and Acer, to make its mark in the race of slim and laconic PCs. LG has rolled out its first small desktop computer known as the XPION X30 that will be powered by the vaunted NVIDIA ION graphics. LG has done it with style, launching its first ever nettop, XPION X30 on 18 Sept, 2009 in its native market, Korea. 

Let’s have a quick look at the tech spec of this Ion based nettop: 

• It is powered with 1.6 GHz Intel Atom N230 processor.
• It also encloses 2 GB RAM, 250 GB HDD.
• It is pre-loaded with Windows vista, but is soon expected to come with Windows 7 (after its launch).
• Nvidia Ion (MCP7A) enables it to handle full 1080p HD video with 7.1 HD audio and supports DirectX10 which liberates you from the worries of sluggish behaviour of the system when playing a high definition video and a game simultaneously.
• With a weight of mere 1.54 kg, it draws a power of just 40 W.
• It sports a sliding cover on a 3.5” case, under which there are 6 USB ports , audio ports and a 4-in-1 memory card reader. 

The most scintillating feature of this nettop is its ability to get VESA (Video Electronics Standards Association) mounted to an LCD.

Let’s wait and watch when LG plans to open up its nettop sale to other countries.

 Nokia with miniature N97

Here comes Nokia with miniature N97, not that it is miniature in any of the major performance parameters. In Nokia world, 2009, a conference in Stuttgart, Germany, Nokia disclosed its plans to launch N97 mini in October. This one is another addition to Nokia’s touch screen portfolio.  And the buzz around is – what is it in N97 Mini which is not present in N97 and vice versa. 

Let’s try to get an answer to this question by having a look at features the new N97 Mini exhibits: 

• The most striking add-on is the software on which N97 mini is going to run. The usual Symbian S60 OS will be running with user interface improvements like flick scrolling, more home widgets and more social networking tools.
• The first of its kind is the addition of, Lifecasting with Ovi (a partnership with facebook). This program gives user, the liberty to post their location, update their status, photos on facebook, directly from the device homescreen.
• It will have new Ovi maps loaded in it, where contents will be accessible from Lonely Planet, Michelin and Wcities.
• The dimension of N97 mini is 4.4 inches x 2 inches x 0.5 inches where as N97 measures 4.6 inches x 2.1 inches x 0.6 inches.
• N97 mini weighs 138 g, slightly lighter than N97 which weighs 150g.
• It has a 5 Mega pixel, 4x zoom, 640 x 480 video recording resolution, 30fps recording frame rate, Carl Zeiss camera which is as good as N97 but is accompanied with more features like Geo-tagging, video stabilization.
• It will support RealVideo and Flash Lite 3.0.
• It sports a 3.2 inches inclined resistive touch screen as compared to N97’s 3.5 inches screen.
• It possesses 8 GB of memory expandable to 24GB with an addition of 16GB  microSD card while N97 has 32 GB of memory.
• The stand-by time is as long as 12 days and music playback in offline mode is 28 hours.
• This is accompanied with a QWERTY keyboard, with no D-Pad(directional pad) which was present in its predecessor, N97.
• It is a Wi-fi, Bluetooth, and Quadband ( 850/900/1800/1900 MHz) GSM device. 

Some drawbacks:  

• The smaller keyboard, which makes typing difficult.
• There is no camera lens cover which makes the camera vulnerable to dust, scratches and finger prints.
• There is no North American 3G Bands support. 

This high end phone will cost $639 approximately, definitely not a miniature to N97 in this aspect, which costs around$700 Lets see it impresses how many and it will be interesting to keep a watch on N97 vs N97 mini battle.

Lets watch it more before you decide to go for it.