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  Nokia X6 16GB

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  A value for money, full-fledged smartphone

  Attractive design, good display quality and touchscreen response, excellent audio quality and powerful loudspeakers, 16GB memory, Ovi Music offers unlimited music download for one year, Ovi Maps 3.0 with turn by turn voice navigation, excellent bundle

  Build quality not up to the mark, poor display visibility under sunlight, interface is not very user friendly, no auto-correct for text input, no native support for DivX/XviD video playback (only through third party apps)

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Battery Life

The Nokia X6 comes with a 1320 mAh Li-Ion battery. During our testing process, the phone gave us one-and-half day of battery life on a full charge. The usage included a couple of calls, messages, about two hours of web browsing on Wi-Fi, light multi tasking, about half an hour of GPS usage and about three hours of EDGE usage.


Verdict

The Nokia X6 is sold officially for Rs. 16,499 (although you can get it for about thousand rupees less). At that price you get a music phone with a 3.2", 640 x 360 pixel capacitive touchscreen display, 5 megaixel camera with autofocus and flash, 16GB built-in memory, Wi-Fi, GPS, one year subscription to Nokia music service along with free unlimited turn by turn voice navigation. It's hard to come across all those specs in one phone, especially in this price range. To be honest we weren't expecting the price to be this low but now that it is it makes the X6 very good value.

The looks and audio performance are some of the strong points of the phone. The fact that it is a full-fledged smartphone makes it even better. We did expect better build quality though and the display is difficult to read under sunlight. Symbian OS too has a long way to go before it can truly be user friendly and we are glad that the X6 will be one of the last phones to run this operating system.

If you can live with the build, low display visibility in sunlight and the quirks of Symbian, we think this is the best phone that you can buy in this price range right now. The combination of excellent features, good performance and superb pricing makes it great value for money.

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  Olive FrvrOn: Runs on AAA battery

  Frazier Barretto, Apr 01, 2010 1400 hrs IST

  An innovative handset that accommodates a AAA battery

  Build quality, AAA battery charging, FM tuner, color screen

  No real cons for what's being offered at this price

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There have been several innovative handsets from mobile phone manufacturers in the past, and today we have one such mobile phone for review. This is a handset that smartly charges itself from a AAA battery that can be accommodated in the phone. The manufacturer we are looking at today is Olive and the handset is called FrvrOn. The handset has gained attention globally because of its simple and yet innovative idea.

Bundle

• Olive FrvrOn
• Stereo Headset
• Charger
• AAA Battery
• Manual
  

Web Applications 2 Comments

Intel Core i7-940XM: Fastest Quad Core Processor for Notebooks [Coming Soon]

July 6th, 2010 by Varun

Intel is doing wonders with their Nehalem architecture, and now they have decided to raise the bar by upgrading their flagship processor, core i7 chip. This new processor is named as Core i7-940XM, and it will become thefastest quad core notebook processor from Intel as soon as it is launched. Continue reading ‘Intel Core i7-940XM: Fastest Quad Core Processor for Notebooks [Coming Soon]‘

As an Indian it feels immense pleasure to welcome Epic into the family of web browsers. Epic browser, powered by Mozilla, is launched by three developers of Indian origin working at a Bangalore based company Hidden Reflex in India.Epic is by far the only browser that provides you with virus scanning solution.

Although Epic is powered my Mozilla but its lot more than just another Firefox port. Some of the many interesting feature of Epic browser are :-

• It by far the only browser that has integrated antivirus support. This antivirus is powered by ESET antivirus solutions and makes your browsing safe and secure by detecting and quarantining any threat in your downloads. You can also scan your computer and folders by an on-demand scan available from the sidebar menu.
• Malicious Website warnings and anti-phishing support.
• Epic is powered with Google Indic Transliteration tool which makes it easier to type in Indian languages easily anywhere.
• Impressive sidebar applications which which comes in handy at many occasions.
• My personal favorite, one click deletion of cookies, flash data and no storing of your personal data once you enable the Private Mode.

Its too early to say any thing about the browser but it surely bagged 4.5 stars out of 5 in the latest PC-World review.

Toshiba’s Dualscreen Libretto W100 Gets A Sneak Peek

Toshiba shared one of their prototype Libretto W100 dualscreen laptops with Engadget and their resident portable reviewer Joanna Stern had a go at it. The Japanese tech company is planning to release the device next month through retailers including Amazon. Some of the highlights are the tandem operation of the two screens that maximizes the device despite being on top of a Windows 7 OS. You can configure it into many modes including a laptop mode that puts the keyboard on one screen, and a mode that splits the keyboard onto the bottom half of the two screens. There’s even a touchpad mode to help out if you need to. It does need a bit of work on the heat dissipation and the responsiveness of the accelerometer.

You would think that two touchscreen would be twice the fun, right? After all, the iPad was excellent and it only has one screen. Well, you better look at the price first since the Libretto will clock in at roughly €880 ($1,100), way too much for an unproven piece of tech. Maybe if Toshiba adds some excellent software to the mix that takes advantage of the dual screen but even then, the price point need to drop a bit for people to get interested.

Seagate FreeAgent 3TB Previewed

Crunchgear’s Matt Burns gave a quick hands-on with the new Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex Desk 3TB. I’m pretty sure prolific downloaders as well as media professionals will be eyeing this new desktop drive though I concur with the reviewer that many will probably want their media in more than one drive. But 3000 GB really is impressive. Some takeaways are that Seagate gets negative marks on not bundling USB 3.0 and Firewire adapters with the device (you have to buy it separately) and it seems to have no eSATA as well. On the plus side, it’s quiet and solid with an external casing that’s easily removable for people who want to pry out the drive and stick into their desktop. This looks like the best solution if you want the most disk space in a single drive though personally, I’d rather slice up my storage needs into separate hard disks, just in case.

Skinput Touch Interface

Skinput is a new futuristic interface currently being developed by Microsoft and Carnegie Mellon University. The system is the combination of two technologies, the ability to detect ultralow-frequency sound, and a microchip-sized projector.

This amazing interface can recognise which parts of the body has been tapped using the sounds that is created by the sin, bone and skeleton. The Skinput technology uses a band which is strapped on to the arm. The armband contains piezoelectric cantilevers, or sensors that measure pressure, acceleration and force.

Check out the video below.

• Finally, a Break from QWERTY, Multi-tap Keypads

  Techtree News Staff, Jul 16, 2010 1743 hrs IST

  Lava Mobile launches phones with Alpha keyboards

  

Blackberry-esque QWERTY keypad laden phones by Indian manufacturers have become a common thing these days. Most of these phones come with a bunch of features and are very modestly priced. Lava Mobiles, an Indian mobile phone maker also had a a few handsets in this category and it has just added two more to the list with the launch of the Lava B5 and the Lava B2.


What makes these phones unique, however, are the keypads. While these may look like a phone sporting QWERTY keypads upon a closer glance, you'd notice that the QWERTY keypads are actually ABCDEF ones. That's right! These might be one of the rare phones out there to come with an Alpha keypad. If you're still wondering what an Alpha keypad is, it's just your normal keypad with the alphabets arranged alphabetically (A-Z).


While adopting this new standard might be quite weird for folks who have grown up using QWERTY keypads, the company says this is for people who have never used a PC and would find it easier to type using an alpha keyboard.

As for the phones, the Lava B5 costs Rs. 4,399 and comes loaded with a 2.2-inch QVGA display, dual SIM capabilities, email, Opera mini, Nimbuzz, MSN, Skype, FM radio, Bluetooth, Media player, 3.5mm headset jack, and memory card support. The Lava B2 is similarly spec-ed and is priced is slightly cheaper at Rs. 3,999.

The B2 and B5 also have QWERTY versions - you can see them at Lava's official website.

Samsung Wave

Prasad Naik, Jul 09, 2010 1130 hrs IST

Its smart looks, excellent feature set and aggressive pricing makes it a great buy

Excellent design, build and finish, stunning display, smooth interface, good quality camera, 720p video recording, HD video playback (including MKV), superb audio quality, multitasking support, terrific value for money

Clumsy web browser interface, no lens cover, no ambient light adjustment, too few apps on the Samsung store as of now

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A high resolution Super AMOLED display, 1GHz processor, 5 megapixel camera with 720p video recording, HD video playback, Bada OS; the Samsung Wave has the kind of specifications list that will strike fear in the heart of competition and leave the consumers drooling. And if that wasn't enough Samsung has dared to price the phone very competitively. But is it really good? We decided to find out.

Bundle

• Samsung Wave
• Battery (1500 mAh Li-Ion)
• Charger
• Stereo Headser
• USB Cable
• 2GB microSD card + SD adaptor
• Pouch
• User Guide
• Software CD

The Samsung Wave is priced at Rs. 18,000. Samsung Wave is hands down the best phone you can buy under Rs. 20,000 in India today. It looks great, has an incredible hardware, a gorgeous display, 1GHz processor, smooth fluid interface, good quality camera, 720p video recording and HD video playback. Even if you forget for a while that the Wave is a smartphone that supports full multitasking and support for native bada apps from Samsung's application store, and think of it as a feature phone it still is a great buy for that price. As and when the price falls and the store gets populated with more and better apps it will be an even sweeter deal. It's not perfect though and nor is it an iPhone killer. But for the kind of money you are paying, you are getting much more in return. If you have a budget of 20k, then this isthe phone to buy. Well played Samsung.

The Wave has a 1500 mAh battery. With heavy usage, consisting of several hours of web browsing over EDGE and Wi-Fi, music playback, occasional GPS usage and heavy camera usage, the phone gave me one day of battery life. When I dropped the intensity of my usage I got half a day more of battery life. Considering the kind of features the phone has I feel one day of battery life is fairly acceptable.

Test unit sourced from Samsung India Pvt Ltd.

HTC Hero review: Born to rise

In the beginning there was G1: the frontline trooper, the mean machine, the expendable GI. Elsewhere, in the HTC discourse, it was hope and vision. Well, it seems the dreamer's Dream is coming true and someone there is really proud with what they've done. HTC Hero is perhaps the most advanced Android to date. And the OS is probably the closest the competition has ever come to the iPhone's touchscreen revelation. The bold lines of the HTC Hero are just a hint at its superior hardware and when it comes to homescreen kit and widgets, it definitely has an edge even over the iPhone.

HTC and their Hero are finally bringing the fledgling new Android OS up to speed and up to par. Not that a Hero is badly needed to save the day for either HTC or the Android OS, but inspiration is always welcome. Having made their name in Windows Mobile, HTC probably most appreciate the creative break from the Microsoft mobile OS that's become a habit (and a curse) for them. It would be too much to call it a plan B, but after all business is propelled by competition - even if it's household.

HTC Hero press photos

Designwise, the HTC Hero brings even more style to the Android family. Breaking with the full QWERTY heritage but keeping the trademark angled chin, the Hero continues the tradition of slim full-touch phones much along the lines of HTC Magic that we also recently reviewed.

But today's story is a Hero's tale, and you can bet we've got one here to inspect. Let's kick it off with a rundown of the key specs and the main letdowns that we've found so far.

Key features

• Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support
• 3G with HSDPA 7.2 Mbps and HSUPA 2Mbps
• Heavily customized (in both graphics and performance) Android OS v1.5 (Sense UI)
• 3.2" capacitive touchscreen of HVGA resolution
• Qualcomm MSM 7200A 528 MHz CPU, 288 MB RAM
• 5 megapixel autofocus camera with video recording
• Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g and GPS receiver
• Trackball navigation
• Accelerometer sensor for auto-rotate and turn-to-mute
• Digital compass for automatic navigation of maps
• Multi-touch zooming in gallery and web browser
• Standard miniUSB port for charging and data
• Stereo Bluetooth (A2DP)
• microSD card slot with support for up to 8GB cards (2GB one included)
• Standard 3.5mm audio jack
• Direct access to the official Android repository
• Web browser comes with Flash support
• Smart dialing
• Tethering support right out-of-the-box

Main disadvantages

• No video-call camera
• No FM radio
• No camera flash, dedicated shutter key or lens cover
• Camera features are a bit outdated
• CIF@15fps video recording (352 x 288 pixels) is below par
• No TV-out port
• No voice dialing
• Flash video playback is laggy
• No DivX or XviD video support
• Poor MP4 playback performance - barely watchable in video resolution above QVGA
• No Bluetooth file transfers (not without rooting)
• No proper file manager (not without rooting)

The HTC Hero is hitting the shelves in two main colors - white and brown. The white is said to have the supposed advantage of some sort of super duper Teflon coating. No, it won't cook more healthy food for you but should keep away dirt and fingerprints alike.

The brown variety purportedly doesn't have this kind of coating, but we can't really comment on that having not seen both paintjobs. No matter what color you choose however, the frame around the display is finished in very classy brushed aluminum.

HTC Hero live studio shots

But if it so happens that black's what turns you on, the HTC Hero borne on the T-Mobile waves, a.k.a. T-Mobile G2 Touch, has only recently been announced and it's got that delightfully exclusive black armor.

Well, black, white or brown, we sure plan to have the Android reveal its true color. We got the white-clad Hero to test and, as you can guess, we're more than eager to jot down all the little bits and pieces that make it stand out of the Android crowd.