Google Launches Chromebook Pixel, A Touch Screen Laptop

Chromebook Pixel is the first Chromebook designed by Google and the first premium Chromebook. Until now, Chromebooks used low-end CPUs, average displays and plastic chassis. Google decided to change all that and build "the best laptop possible" to inspire other manufacturers. It's like the first Nexus Chromebook.But why is it called Pixel? It's the first Chromebook with a retina-like display, 3:2 aspect ratio and 2560x1700 resolution. Much like Apple's Retina MacBook Pro, Chromebook Pixel uses pixel doubling to make everything look sharp and crisp. The display has "the highest pixel density (239 pixels per inch) of any laptop screen on the market today" and it's a 12.85-inch IPS touchscreen with 400 nit rightness and 178° extra-wide viewing angles.

Pixel has an anodized aluminium body, glass touchpad, backlit keyboard, hidden vents, Intel i5 processor and 4GB of RAM. "The touchpad is made from etched glass, analyzed and honed using a laser microscope to ensure precise navigation. The Pixel also has powerful, full-range speakers for crisp sound, a 720p webcam for clear video, and a total of three microphones designed to cancel out surrounding noise

 The downside is that Google's Chromebook is really expensive: $1300 (WiFi)/$1450 (WiFi+LTE). It's more expensive than Apple's MacBook Air and most ultrabooks. While it has a better display, Chrome OS is more limited than MacOS (or Windows) and it only became popular when Samsung and Acer started to offer $200-$250 Chromebooks. When you can buy tablets with high-resolution displays for $400 (Nexus 10) or $500 (iPad), the $1300 Chromebook Pixel feels out of place and overkill. After all, you can buy a Nexus 4, Nexus 7, Nexus 10 and a Samsung Chromebook for less than $1200. An ARM device would've been a lot cheaper, but less powerful.

 "The Pixel will be available for purchase starting today on Google Play in the U.S. and U.K., and soon on BestBuy.com. The WiFi version ($1,299 U.S. and £1,049 U.K.) will start shipping next week and the LTE version ($1,449) will ship in the U.S. in April. If you're interested in a hands-on experience, you can visit select Best Buy (U.S.) and Currys PC World (U.K.) store locations."

Apple iPhone 5 Fetures And Specifications

Today, I am only going to talk about the new iPhone 5 highlights and this article is probably for those Apple fan-boys and for those people – who were confused on whether they should really buy one.
According to me, there are only two best (and pure) smartphones in the market at the moment namely – Samsung Galaxy S3 and Apple iPhone 5. Both have their pluses and minuses.Apart from the Apple Maps fiasco – everything else is inline with what, iPhone fans would like to have in an upgrade. Again, I am not talking about flexibility on offer from Android against iOS. If we consider & believe that its not happening, picking a smartphone is an easy task.

1] Design

Many people complain about the design not being any different from previous iPhones. I would ask, why would you like to have a different design, when you know the one it already has works lot better?

Also, changing the design entirely would have had a risk of mass-dislike across the world. People want to feel the iPhone that they know with a hint of improvement & that’s exactly what Apple did.

The iPhone 5 design is improved in a right amount, enough to show its new & perfectly balanced to make it a member of the family.

The back side is made of anodized aluminum, same material that is used on MacBooks while its top and bottom made of ceramic glass (on the white and silver model) or pigmented glass (on the black and slate model).

The new iPhone is as thin as 7.6mm. Alternatively, you can say its as thick as the aluminum part on the sides of iPhone 4 or 4S. It uses single chip for LTE voice + data and now requires even shorter sim card type: Nano-Sim.
 
2] 4 inch Display

iPhone 5 has a 4 inch Retina display, making it approx. 9mm taller than iPhone 4S. Apple made it into a 16:9 aspect ratio by keeping the same width, giving it a close to true wide-screen feel when held horizontally.Because its not too wider nor too taller, we can easily operate all the functions with just one hand. Which otherwise is a drawback in phones with 5 inch display.

3] Processor

iPhone 5 comes with (approx.) 1.5 GHz dual-core A6 chip which is Apple’s first custom-designed processor manufactured by Samsung, also features a three core GPU.Latest high-end Android smartphones come with a new standard of a quad-core processor, but you don’t really need to worry about the output you get. Thanks to highly optimized iOS and fully tested Apps on the iTunes Store.When compared, many of the popular games such as Temple Run opened a lot quicker than Galaxy S3 (with a quad-core processor).
 
4] Camera

iPhone 5 now has a much-needed (according to competitive market) 8 megapixel iSight Camera with a truly sophisticated Panorama captures, face detection on photos and enhanced video stabilizer which is able to shoot 1080p HD videos.Not just that, the new lens is made from sapphire crystal – a material known for being as hard as Diamond in transparent materials, so now you know why its less likely to get a scratch.

Secondary front camera, mostly used for FaceTime is capable of capturing 1.5 megapixel photos & 720p video at 30 frames per second. That’s enough for any smartphone.

5] Battery

Battery on iPhone 5 is of approx. 1430 mAh which looks alright considering the processor it needs to run & a 4 inch screen. Typically it should be enough to get you about 8 hours of talk-time, Internet usage or games & about 40 hours of audio playback with 225 hours of standby.

6] Wireless Connectivity

The new iPhone is a truly world phone because it now supports more mobile networks around the world. It also has three mics located at different strategical positions with smart noise-reduction offering crystal clear sound.

Superfast WiFi ability is also made available by implementing dual-band 802.11n wireless connectivity which basically accelerates your Wi-Fi experience up to 150 Mbps

Bluetooth 4 integration also makes sure faster connections, faster transfers & very low battery consumption when in use.

7] New Lightning Connector

The one thing Apple radically changed (hence received disappointing voices from allover) is its USB dock cable connector. However, the benefits of this new Lightening Connector is far better than the older 30 pin cable.

New Lightning Connector has 8 pins with full digital signaling, its smaller in size & because the same pins are available on both sides – it can be used either ways. We no longer need to see which side goes where, making it lot easy to connect.
 
8] New Earphones (EarPods)

This one is another example of Apple’s design innovations. iPhone 5 is shipped with the new earphones – they call it EarPods – are designed from a research on 600 people, turning it into an unique shaped headphone. The concept is not to just make the most comfortable earphones but also to provide the best acoustic experience.

These new Apple EarPods are also designed such that, they provide stronger protection from sweat and water & stay in-place even if you’re shaking your head upside-down.
 
9] New iOS 6

11 Detailed Features Why You Might Like To Buy The New iPhone 5iOS 6 is the latest version of the operating system comes pre-installed on iPhone 5. This newer version is a more stable and optimized with 200+ new features and tweaks for improved user experience.

The Mac users have added benefit of faster data & connectivity sync with iOS 6 devices including that for multi-player gaming through Game Center
 
10] Improved iTunes Store

I would always rate iTunes Store as the best app store anywhere in the world for any purpose. The entire process is highly streamlined (minus the developers’ headache if any :) ) for a user.

Importantly, each and every app and it’s updates are tested thoroughly before they are approved to enter the main App Store for downloads. This process is done manually to maintain high standards for apps unlike Google Play Store where maximum apps are either of no use or are very badly crafted & are prone to malware activity.

Also, new app suggestions from friends on social media such as Facebook & Twitter only helps us choose the right apps we might need or find more interesting.

11] The Brand Value

Last but not the least – Apple’s brand value & quality standards. No matter how many people shout bad about the iPhone, no one can complain about the materials, precision and the quality of the devices they produce.

Apple also offers best value to its iPhones by not releasing too many phones back-to-back, making your iPhone an exclusive handset for almost a year. All these factors also help getting the highest resale value for your older iPhone.

That’s about it for now. I hope this article resolves any confusions you may have (just in right time) because the new iPhone 5 is coming to India in first week of November 2012.

AT&T Announces Samsung ATIV Smart PC Which Brings 11.6″ Display

AT&T has recently added the Samsung ATIV Smart PC to the lineup of its 4G tablets and this Windows 8 slate carries an 11.6″ display thereby making it the most terrific one. This ATIV Smart PC comes accorded with an Intel Clover Trail 1.5 GHz dual core processor, 64GB of built-in memory which is further expandable through a microSD card slot. The device also carries an optional keyboard docking system, with the help of which the device gets the power to convert itself into a proficient notebook. This slate comes preloaded with a trial version of Microsoft Office 2013. 

You can have the features details related to the features of the device discussed below.
The Samsung ATIV Smart PC has a good quality of build up and finish which seems similar to that of the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1. The 11.6 inches display of LCD Touchscreen Capacitive, Multi-touch in nature and resembles a display resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels. The ATIV Smart PC is to hit AT&T’s shelves at the time of shopping season and the price is yet unknown. There is a 5 megapixels rear-facing primary camera equipped in the device along with the other camera features as LED flash, Auto focus, Geo tagging, camera with 1280×720 (720p HD), Video calling and is equipped with a front-facing camera of 1.9 megapixels.

In terms of the connectivity features, the device is offered with Bluetooth v4.0, Wi-Fi 802.11 b, g, n, a, USB 2.0 connector and microUSB connector along with Micro HDMI (Type D), NFC support, Computer sync and OTA sync. The other additional features are such as equipped in the device are such as Flight mode, Silent mode, Speakerphone, accelerometer, Gyroscope, Compass, Voice commands and Voice recording. There is an 8200 mAh battery which has been equipped ensures a long lasting battery backup. Besides, the device also accords Built-in online services including Facebook, Twitter and lost more others.

Dual SIM 3G Android Budget Smartphone : Samsung Galaxy S Duos S7562 Review !

At first look, your eyes may get mistaken for calling it Galaxy S3. I  It has a pebble shape and full plastic body and little bit heavier in weight than S3 and even Galaxy S.Galaxy S Duos S7562 is a first mid range Android smartphone with Dual SIM. It has a appearance of Galaxy S3 and the hardware of Galaxy S and Dual SIM. 4 inch screen, 1 GHz CPU, 512 MB RAM and 5 MP Camera are some of the notable features of Galaxy S Duos. It is Galaxy S1 with Dual SIM and LED Flash minus AMOLED Display. 

Design and Appearance

Four inch screen isn’t edge to edge and the home button is similar to other Galaxy series phones. Thickness is exactly as the Galaxy S i9000.

Display

TFT Capacitive touchscreen with a resolution of 480×800 gives a superfine display. In sunlight however, it went completely dark at mid level brightness and somewhat readable in full brightness. It lacks Auto Brightness.

Interface

Galaxy S duos boasts the traditional but nice TouchWiz UI. It is easy to manage apps, create folder and navigate. I wont talk much about this because you can always install beautiful custom Android Launchers and get features that you want.

Applications

Not always does Samsung inserts bloatware on phone. On Galaxy S Duos, I found some really useful pre-installed apps. Calendar which is now called S Planner, Handy, My movies, My Music, Chat On and Samsung App Store of course.
Handy and My Movies are the most noticeable apps and useful among the list. Handy is for booking movie, train, bus and aeroplane tickets along with support for Stock investments. While My Movies lets you watch full length movies. Yes, full movie streaming without any subscription completely free.

Camera / Photo / Image Capture Quality

Rear Camera is 5 MegaPixel with LED Flash which captures 2560×1920 px photos. It has Auto Focus means you cannot touch focus but the outcome is fairly good. I compared it with the photo quality of Galaxy S i9000 which has same 5MP camera and almost similar hardware configuration.In dim light or window sunlight room, Galaxy S Duos doesn’t capture well without Flash. And when Flash is switched ON, somewhat unnatural photo is captured. Also, colors aren’t so well recognized in absence of bright light.
At night or while capturing objects in dark, LED flash is powerful and reaches a distance at least 4-6 feet easily. Quality of night photos can be said just fine.

Video Recording

Galaxy S Duos S7562 doesn’t support HD Videos capturing but VGA at 30 FPS. Resolution of videos captured is 640×480 in MP4 format. In bright light, quality of videos is fair and you can use LED Flash while video recording too during shooting in dark.o be honest, Videos aren’t really appreciable.

Audio and Video Playback

Popular Audio and video formats even MKV are playable. It has one speaker at rear besides Camera which should be enough for individual listening. Headphone sound quality isn’t something to talk about.Though, it doesn’t record HD videos but can playback full HD videos. 720p videos played smoothly while problem came when I tried 1080i videos. I tried Hardware acceleration on MX Player but still there were lags in playback. Still, the good thing is its compatibility with various video formats. If default player gives error, download MX Player.

Dual SIM Management

Galaxy S Duos S7562 is a GSM+GSM Dual SIM Dual Active Smartphone. One of a kind in this range and that too with 3G support. It can be called as the USP or X Factor of this phone, reason behind its sale.Switching Network, Enabling or Disabling is seamless. Samsung has taken care to add this feature in notification bar itself. Dual Active feature is called as Smart Dual SIM and can be enabled optionally. Whenever one SIM is busy, we can receive call from another and the person calling will get “Waiting” tone instead of “Switch off” which happens with most of the Dual SIM Phones.


3G and Video Call

3G services can be accessed from any one of the SIM Network at a time. You can choose the SIM from which Data Service has to be received from “SIM Manager” in settings.Front Camera is VGA and it is just fine for video callings. I didn’t try 3G video call but on Skype, it was fine.

Performance

With 1 GHz processor and 512 MB RAM memory, Android ICS 4.0.4 runs smooth. Multitasking was seamless. I didn’t try heavy graphics games but Contra for Android and Fruit Ninja worked fine. Still, I think it should be capable for running most of the games as hardware power is enough to cope up the load.

Battery Life

Galaxy S Duos has 1500 mAh Battery. You may feel that being a Dual SIM Android phone with 3G and 4 inch display, it won’t last long but that’s not completely true. It lasted for more than 12 hours for me with activities including 3G, Display most of time was ON as I was testing, video playback and streaming around 45 minutes and few calls of just 20 minutes.Being Android user from last 3 years I admit that smartphones don’t offer a 2 day long battery but you can still improve it to last at least for a day.

Conclusion

Before drawing out any conclusion,  I would say that it is the best and value for money phone in the market with Dual SIM functionality at the moment. If you are looking for Dual SIM active phone within 15-18K price range with standard features, Galaxy S Duos is worth every penny spent.

The Battle of the 7 inchers,Nook HD vs. Nexus 7 vs. Kindle Fire HD

Barnes & Noble has joined the ranks of the new generation tablets, by introducing two brand new models in the market: the Nook HD and the Nook HD+. Now, that the party is gathered and most note-worthy companies have assembled, a match between the three most desired 7 inch slates was more than required. So today, we set ourselves to track down the answer of a really burning question: which one is better? The Nexus 7, the Nook HD or the latest Kindle Fire?

At the end of the page you will, hopefully, be able to make a choice, as soon as these three babies unleash. The starting price is no quarrel, with all three options being sold at $199, while the availability will differ from case to case. For instance, the Nook HD will be launched in late October, the Nexus 7 can already be purchased if you are in the right country and the Kindle Fire HD accepts pre-orders.

Nook HD vs. Nexus 7 vs. Kindle Fire HD

The context is simple. We have three tablets, two of them produced by the most content-hungry companies out there, Amazon and Barnes & Noble, while the other product is launched by Google itself in cooperation with Asus. All three sources have nicely-contoured marketing schemes and mostly bet on other profit factors, instead of the selling price alone. Let’s take a look at what each product has to offer:

Design
The first in line is the Nexus 7, a 7-inch wide slate with a stylish candy-bar design that was designed to be used in portrait mode. The front of the device is devoid of any hardware buttons and the only element being present on this side is the front-facing camera, which is covered entirely by a glass panel. To maneuver through the menu the user will encounter three hardware buttons and on the right side of the slate, a power/sleep button, alongside the volume keys, can be found.

Although the Nexus 7 is primarily made out of plastic, a pleasant feeling is bestowed upon the user at touch. Asus made use of stylish corner cuts and a slim bezel around the screen itself, which measures around 2cm on top and 1,4cm on sides, making the tablet pretty pleasant to hold. The back plate of the tablet is marked by the Nexus logo and covered in tiny holes within the plastic material, which offer an overall premium look and feel of the small gadget (198.5 x 120 x 10.45mm in size).

The Kindle Fire HD is the 7-inch answer from Amazon, which measures 193 mm x 137 mm x 10.3 mm in size. A bit larger than the Nexus 7, Amazon’s latest creation bypasses classical rules and introduces a design which will stand-out in the crowd. The front of the tablet is mostly occupied by the large screen, with the front-facing camera serving as the only white cloud in a blue sky.

Kindle Fire - from the side

The sides of the device are curved towards the back and the continuous line is only broken by the side power and volume buttons, as well as the headphone jack and the various ports found. At the first touch, the back-plate is very soft and a small band that houses the speakers and Kindle’s logo, stretching across the equipment offers a professional look.

Slightly thinner than the Nexus 7 (.01 inches), the Kindle Fire HD weights 395 grams and arranges itself comfortably in hands. The slate feels good in hands, and it’s particularly well-suited for the portrait mode.

When taking a look at the newest member of the family, the Nook HD measures 127mm across, meaning 7mm wider than the Nexus 7 and 10mm thinner than the Fire HD. While most tablets go with the classic candy-bar look, Barnes & Noble has opted for an extra comfy support which is placed around the edges, offering a rest-place for thumbs without leaving marks on the actual display. Although the principle in theory is good, the extra space could have been saved to reduce the overall size.

Verdict: In matter of pure looks, the Nexus 7 is the classiest of the three. With its simple yet stylish design, the tablet won’t be mistaken for a Galaxy Tab and will fit comfortably in hands.
Display

The Nexus 7 comes with a 7-inch 1200 x 800 HD backlit IPS display which packs a respectable 216 pixels per inch density. Although bright and rich in color, the overall contrast is somewhat disappointing and seems almost muted, noticeable while viewing the home screen. Leaving this small matter aside, viewing content in any other form has proved to be great, but it still is a long shot compared to the iPad or its Asus sibling, the Transformer.

While the IPS LCD display on the Kindle Fire HD supplies almost the same pixel density, Amazon’s creation blows away the Nexus in terms of color richness, general brightness and the number of black levels. Although covered in an anti-glare coating, the screen proves to be pretty shiny in most rooms.

Surprisingly, the Nook HD lives up to its name by offering a higher 1440×900 resolution and a pixel density of 243, approaching the numbers of the latest iPad. While watching the same video on these three tablets, I can safely say that it has the most colorful pictures without reaching over-saturation.

Verdict: Nook HD.
Battery and Connectivity

Red batteryAccording to manufacturers, the Kindle Fire HD can last approximately 11 hours on an average use. If you tune the Wi-Fi or download content from the web, that amount will drastically become shorter. The performance is comparable to the one of the Nook HD, which offers around 10.5 hours of reading and 9 hours of video playback, much like the Nexus 7 with a 4325 mAh battery.

In terms of connectivity, all devices stand pretty much equal, having microUSB ports, microHDMI connectors (except for the Nexus 7) and Wi-Fi connectivity.

Verdict: It’s a tie!

Processor and Memory

When looking at the raw processing power, the Nexus 7 is the clear winner. With its powerful quad core CPU, clocked at 1.2 GHz, it puts to shame the other two tablets packed with only dual-core components (and on a similar frequency). As for the memory, the Nook HD fells short with 512MB of RAM for the standard version, while the Fire HD and the Nexus 7 both have 1GB built-in.

In the storage room Amazon’s device is once more the most prominent with 16GB by default, while the other two have only 8GB. Reports have said that the Nexus 7 has severe issues with the memory because of its Android settlement, and owners can only make use of around 5GB of the whole. Moreover, the Nook HD has the advance of coming with an extra storage slot which can take it to a staggering 64GB, so memory consumers will find comfort in B&N’s safe haven.
Operating system

User experience

All three tablets are based on Android. The Nexus 7 has the exclusive advantage of arriving with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean on board, while the other two competitors rely on 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich with a modified skin on top. Sadly, these modifications were made badly.

Amazon has whipped most Android traces clear off, by putting a jerky barrier between the classic Android and what Amazon had in mind. In a few words, the user must perform plenty of tapping to get around through the menu, the home button has moved to the far left and the center of the menu is now replaced by a back button; confusing, indeed. There is no multitasking per-say, the favorite app menu is hard to reach and in general, there’s a pretty unintuitive method of moving from place to place.

Another impediment of the Kindle Fire is the response time, the OS having big lag issues from time to time. Most of the time, the keyboard feels delayed, certain buttons stall for moments and warping through applications can cause the device to freeze. Something that is no case at all, for the Nexus 7.

The Nook HD interface is also slow, besides looking cartoony and laggy within most animations. In terms of speed, it can be compared with the original Kindle Fire, which failed to make a stand.

Winner: Obviously, the Nexus 7.

Eye-catching features

Tablets on top Bypassing the era of specs and other technical complications, each tablet has its own tricks up the sleeve. For example, the Nook HD can be accounted as the first Android tablet that comes with multiple users support, making it a wonderful device which can be shared between members of the family. Moreover, the high-priority accounts can even restrict certain books or features to other accounts, similar to a parenting pass-requiring feature. Speaking of parenting, Amazon has a service of this matter embedded, but it only affects the whole device and owners have to pay for it.Also on the Amazon camp, the vendor is high above the others when it comes to pure content. Holding thousands of books, movies, music and even a nice collection of apps, Amazon clearly shows an advantage in this category. Pairing this with the Prime service, which lets users enjoy unlimited streaming and promotional prices for a fixed annual rate, purchasers can consider themselves lucky.

Moreover, the Whispersync technology allows owners to continue borrowed books, movies and other content right from the point where they took off. Also, an advanced searching tool by the name of X-Ray was embedded, allowing users to query certain characters which can be tracked across movies and such.

When it comes to sheer applications, Nexus 7 is the king of the hill. Although it lacks any tablet-specific feature, it surpasses all competitors but does not enjoy any exclusive. Everything found on a regular Android phone will be located here as well. The thing is that Amazon, and B&N alike, lack most note-worthy applications from their store.

Winner: Kindle Fire.

Sheer specification comparison

Kindle Fire HD vs Nexus 7 vs Nook HD specs

Verdict

Putting all the elements head to head, it is always left to the user choice. If you want a fast tablet, which can handle games on the go and enjoys the powers great apps, as well as the advantage of being a member of the Nexus family (instant OS updates), Nexus 7 is the choice. Those wishing for something more poetic, to be used mostly for videos, books and other media content, Kindle Fire HD is the answer. Sorry Nook, maybe next time.

Motorola Razr i: 2 GHz Smartphone, Technical Specification And Expert Reviews !

Another Smartphone Arrives, Motorola  brought up a 2 GHz smartphone called Moto RAZRi powered by Intel Atom Processor. Yes, the same Intel Atom processor used to power Netbooks.Motorola Razr i is a full screen (edge to edge) smartphone with a display of 4.3 inches running on Android 4.0.4 ICS. The RAZR i boasts 8MP camera which offers up to 10 shots a second, NFC capabilities and Android Beam.

The above features might not be interesting as all of them are now a standard in high end smartphones however, two things which grabs anyone’s attention are: Intel and their 2 GHz Atom chip inside.It isn’t the first smartphone powered by Intel processor but a first with reputable manufacturing brand.It is powered by a 2000mAh battery, claiming up to 20 hours of mixed usage time. Speaking of design, the smartphone has an aluminium frame and a Kevlar back panel. Motorola has made its own software additions including SMARTACTIONS which will trigger specific apps and the interactive Circles Widget that allows quick access to notifications, weather, time and more.

Motorola RAZRi Technical Specifications:

Android 4.0
4.3-inch Super AMOLED Advanced display with a 960×540 pixel resolution
2GHz single-core Intel processor, 1GB RAM
5GB internal storage expandable via micoSD
8MP camera capable of taking up to 10 shots a second
8.3mm thick, 126 g
2000mAh battery
Device could decide fate of both companies; I mean Motorola (recently taken over by Google) and Intel (dying to enter in Mobile market).

Price of Motorola Razr i isn’t officially unveiled yet but we will soon come to know as its launch is scheduled in October in the UK, France, Germany, Brazil, Argentina, and Mexico.

Is it Powerful than Most of the Computers / Laptops today?

As quoted on Expert Reviews- RAZRi only has a single-core, though this is balanced somewhat by Intel’s long-established Hyper Threading technology, which effectively creates two virtual cores on one physical processor.No, it is not the most powerful phone out there but they didn’t detect any slowdown in the installed Android 4.04. Navigating the menus and even switching between applications were quick. In fact it felt snappier than its immediate competition.

So, what do you think about this move by Motorola? Will you buy if the price is in the range of other dual core phones?