Samsung Galaxy Grand VS Micromax Canvas HD A116

XOLO X900

XOLO X900 Price: Rs.13999

Key Features
Android v2.3 (Gingerbread) OS and Upgradable to v4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich)
8 MP Primary Camera with Burst Mode
1.3 MP Secondary Camera
4.03-inch TFT LCD Capacitive Touchscreen
1.6 GHz Intel Atom Processor with Hyper Threading Technology
400 MHz Graphics Engine
Micro SIM Card Slot


Intel has stepped into the smartphone market and tied up with Lava mobiles to bring out the Xolo X900 as its initial offering. The device comes in a sleek frame and has a candy bar form. This mid-range smartphone is run on the Android v2.3 (Gingerbread) OS and can be upgraded to the superior v4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) OS. The processor on the device is the Intel Atom which churns out an impressive 1.6 GHz of processor speed and is backed up by a substantial 1 GB of RAM which ensures that the apps on the phone are run in a smooth manner. Hyper-Threading Technology on the processor cleverly uses its ability to load apps in minimal time. The phone also contains a micro SIM card slot.

The display on the device is an enlarged 4.03-inch TFT LCD Capacitive touchscreen which gives an effective resolution of 1024 x 600 pixels. The high-end features of this device make interaction with the screen a very satisfying experience. The phone also contains a 400 MHz Graphics Engine which enhances the gaming experience of the user.

The Xolo X900 comes with an impressive 8 megapixel primary camera which is capable of high quality 1080 x 1920 pixel video recording and is backed up by a single LED flash. The secondary 1.3 megapixel camera allows the user to transmit better video quality when taking a video call. The camera possesses an 8x digital zoom and comes packed with features such as Autofocus, Touch focus, Burst mode and multi-mode. The Burst mode function allows the user to click multiple pictures in a short span of time for objects that are being shot in continuous motion with a single tap of the click button. Additionally, the camera is capable of recording HD or Full HD video.

Design


The Xolo X900 is a sleek looking rectangular device with slightly curved edges. The phone has a minimal thickness of 10.99 mm and weighs in at a slight 127 g which makes it easy to hold in the palm of the hand. The considerable screen of this device is protected by the almost impenetrable Corning Gorilla Glass. The device comes packed with an Accelerometer which adjusts screen orientation depending on the direction in which it is held. Additionally, the Proximity sensor switches off the display when held close to the ear and the Ambient Light sensor adjusts screen brightness depending on the environment.

Storage and Battery

The phone comes with an internal memory of 16 GB and its heavy features are powered by a 1460 mAh battery. The battery promises to provide the user with a lengthy 14 hours of talktime on the 2G network and 8 hours of talktime on the 3G network.

Connectivity and Features

The Xolo X900 is capable of keeping the user connected to the internet at home, work as well as on the move. It features GPRS and EDGE technology to connect to the internet via the 2G network. For a faster browsing experience the device comes loaded with HSDPA and HSUPA technology which allow the phone to transfer data over the 3G network at a faster rate compared to other devices without this feature. The phone comes with WiFi capability to connect to a wireless network and can also be tethered to another device through the USB or WiFi hotspot function. The phone can also act as a navigation aid in the form of Google Maps which uses the device’s GPS support. This phone is also capable of exchanging data through the micro USB port or the Bluetooth function.

The Xolo X900 will keep the user entertained through the inbuilt music player or the video player on the device. Additionally, the phone comes with features like Dual Speaker, Ambient Noise Cancellation, a micro HDMI port and a Gmail app which combined with the other features, make this phone a worthy buy

Celkon A119 Signature HD with 5-inch HD display, Android 4.1 launched for Rs. 13499

Celkon has launched the A119 Signature HD, the company’s latest flagship Android smartphone. This is the first phone in the new Signature series. It has a 5 inch (1280 x 720 pixels) touch screen display, powered by a 1 GHz dual-core processor and runs on Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean). It comes with a 12-megapixel auto focus camera on the back and a 3-megapixel front-facing camera. It has dual SIM support with dual standby. This would compete with the Xolo A1000 that was launched last month, which comes with similar features.

Celkon A119 Signature HD Specifications

• 5 inch (1280 x 720 pixels) touch screen display
• 1 GHz dual-core processor
• Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean)
• Dual SIM (GSM + GSM)
• 9.3mm thick and weighs 177 grams
• 12MP auto focus camera with LED Flash
• 3MP front-facing camera
• 3.5mm audio jack, FM Radio
• 1GB RAM, 4GB internal memory (1.45 GB user memory), 32GB expandable memory with MicroSD
• 3G, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS/A-GPS
• 2100 mAh battery

The Celkon A119 Signature HD comes in Dusky Black and Serene White colors and is priced at Rs. 13,499.

GOOGLE NEXUS 7 REVIEW

Hardware

The 7-inch (1280×800 pixels) IPS display with a pixel density of 216 ppi is good. Text, photos and videos are clearly visible in the sharp and bright display. The screen has Corning Gorilla glass protection and is prone to fingerprints. It has a minimal bezel around the display and has good build quality.

There is a 1.2MP front-facing camera at the top along with a ambient light sensor for auto brightness control.

Since the tablet doesn’t have capacitive touch buttons, there are on-screen buttons for home, back and multi-tasking. The functions of these buttons vary accordingly.

There is tiny microphone hole on the left along with pins for docking station. The tablet is 10.45 mm thick.

The power button and the volume rocker are located on the right side . These buttons are present at the back cover instead of the front part, that lets you access them easily when you are holding. It might be uncomfortable for some.

The micro USB port and the 3.5mm audio jack are located at the botton.

At the back there is a secondary microphone that is hardly noticeable. This is used to reduce background noise.

There is a Nexus branding and Asus branding on the textured back. There is a loudspeaker grill below that.
Camera

The tablet has a camera app that lets you capture images from the front-facing camera. Panorama and the Photo Sphere app doesn’t work since the tablet doesn’t have a rear camera. You can swipe to the left to view the image gallery. You can hold on the camera UI or touch the circle on the bottom to access the settings menu that lets you control white balance, change picture size, enable geo tagging and adjust exposure. You can also record videos from the camera at 640 x 480 pixel resolution.
Software

Since this is a Google Nexus device, this would be the first to get the latest Android update. The Nexus 7 launched on Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean), and it received Android 4.1.2 update later that brought portrait mode finally. It brought Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean) that brought several features including Lockscreen widgets, Multi-user support, better notifications and Quick Settings, Daydream and more.

The Lockscreen widgets are much useful to view Gmail, Calendar, Sound Search and more, directly from the lock screen. Even if your device is password protected, you can view a glance of the widgets, but can’t access them.

You can also launch the Google Now from the lockscreen by swiping up from the bottom. Google Now offers several cards for travel, Maps, Weather and more.

The Multi-user option lets you add several users. You can log into your personal account and maintain your own settings right from the lock screen. It also saves all of your app data so that the other users don’t need to download all the apps again.

The homescreen has Google Search / Google Now bar with voice and shortcuts. There are on-screen buttons for back, home and multi-tasking. You can add shortcuts and add apps to the Favorites tray. You can press and hold on the home screen to change the wallpaper.

You can press and hold the home button to launch the Google Now.

In the portrait view, you can swipe to either left or right to clear the background apps, in the landscape view you need to slide it to up or down.

You can swipe down on the left side to get the notification bar. The notifications bar has advanced options such as option to share the images easily, reply to e-mails and more.

You can swipe down on the right side to see the Quick Settings options that has shortcuts for Brightness, WiFi, Airplane mode and Bluetooth.

You can also add Widgets to the homescreen easily by holding it and placing it on the homescreen.

In the settings, you can enable Daydream screensaver that runs when the tablet is charging when it is docked. There are different daydream screensavers such as Clock, Colors, Google Currents, Photo Frame or Photo Table.

Other than the default Slide unlock, the tablet also feature Face Unlock, Pattern, PIN and Password unlock. The security settings also has an option that disallows or warns you before installing an app that may case harm. There are also new accessibility features such as Magnification gestures and accessibility shortcut for blind users. You can also read What’s new in Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean) to know more details about these features.
Apps

The tablet has Google Apps including Google+, Gmail, Calendar, YouTube, Earth, Talk, Currents, People and Calendar. It has the Chrome browser, which replaces the old Android Webkit browser. The Google Currents app lets you explore online magazine, just like Flipboard.

The Photo Gallery has photo filters that lets you add a list of Instagram-like effects such as Vintage, Latte, Litho, X Process and more. You can also add borders, crop, rotate, straighten and adjust white balance.
The new Gmail app has pinch-to-zoom option and swipe to archive or delete features. This also adds option to Attach photos and videos from within Gmail and view larger photo previews and gallery view for photo attachments. There are Play Books, Play Magazines and Play Movies & TV, but these are not available in India.
Music and Media Player

The Play Music is the Music Player. You can view all Music or Music only on the device. There is Album view and several options in the music player including shuffle, repeat and instant mix. You can add songs to the queue to play next.

You can enable equalizer from the settings, which offers several equalizer settings (Classical, Dance, Flat, Folk, Heavy Metal, Hip Hop, Jazz, Pop, Rock, FX booster and custom). The Bass boost and 3D effect are available when you plugin the earphones. The audio from the loudspeakers and the earphones are good. You don’t get earphones in the box, unlike the Samsung Galaxy Tablets.
The Play Movies and TV app can play MP4, MPG and 3GP videos but doesn’t support AVI or MKV formats. You can change the on-screen caption size from the settings.
Keyboard and Browser

The Keyboard offers several input languages. It also has auto-correction, suggestions, next-word prediction and more. The Android 4.2 update brought gesture typing that lets you input a word just by gliding over the letters, just like Swype. Some of the advanced keyboard settings include, contact name suggestions, language switch key, option to switch to other input methods, change between QWERTY or QWERTZ and adjust keypress sound volume.

The Chrome browser scores 385 points with 11 bonus points out of 500. It also has Incognito tab, bookmark sync and more useful features.
Connectivity

The connectivity options include, WiFi 820.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth, NFC to share files using Android Beam and for contact-less payments using Google Wallet in select countries. It also has GPS support, but since this is the WiFi version, it’s not much helpful when you are travelling since Google Maps need data. There is a Data usage manager that lets you keep track of data used by apps every month.
Benchmarks
Let us see how the 1.3 GHz quad-core Nvidia Tegra 3 processor and GeForce GPU performs.
Quadrant Benchmark

The Nexus 7 is between the Note 10.1 and the Tab 2 310 in the Quadrant benchmark.
Vellamo

Nexus 7 is at the last in the Vellamo browser benchmark.
Smartbench 2012 – Productivity

The Nexus 7 is just behind the Note 10.1 in the Smartbench productivity benchmark.
Smartbench 2012 – Gaming

It is few points behind in the SmartBench Gaming.
Linpack – Single Thread

Linpack – Multi-Thread

The Nexus 7 lies between the Note 10.1 and the Tab 2 310 in both Linpack single and multi-thread.
GLBench Egypt (1080p) (Onscreen)

Nexus 7 tops the GLBenchmark Egypt test
NenaMark 2

It is just behind the Note 10.1 in the NenaMark 2 test.
Conclusion
The Nexus 7 has good build quality and offers latest Android experience. The 4325 mAh battery lasts for 2 days with average use. We compared the Nexus 7 with the Galaxy Tab 2 310 recently, and the main thing this lacked is the 3G support. The Tab 2 310 excels in the storage, 3G and the voice calling. The Nexus 7 has limited storage with no expansion slots which is a bit disappointing. The iPad mini went on sale in India recently, which becomes a direct competitor to the Nexus 7 since it lies in the similar price range. At a price tag of Rs. 19,999, if you need an Android Tablet with good build, display and want to run the latest Android version, go for it.
Pros

• Good display
• Runs on the latest Android OS
• Good build quality

Cons

• Less internal memory with no expandable slot
• Few Tablet-optimized apps on Google Play

Samsung Galaxy Grand I9082 review

This is by no means intended as a moment of relief from the building tension, but our timing isn't without a sense of humor. Assuming that all eyes are set on Samsung to, again, deliver the godfather of Android smartphones, the one we're about to review is more like the...grandfather.
It may seem quite unfortunate for the Galaxy Grand that a week from now it'll be yesterday's news. But on a second thought, it has a better insurance policy against irrelevance than most of last season's Samsung phones that tried too hard to emulate the Galaxy S III.

Samsung Galaxy Grand official pictures
Dual-SIM support is obviously not a universally sought-after feature but demand for smartphones that can operate two SIM cards has been consistently strong in certain markets. This fact should at least begin to explain why the Galaxy Grand is currently the second most popular handset in this website's database.
So, Samsung has been busy lately releasing phones styled after the outgoing flagship, the Galaxy S III. Think a particular screen size and level of equipment, and the Koreans most likely have it. Now, a massive screen and dual-SIM support doesn't sound like the combination on many people's minds but what do we know. It may've made all the sense in the world for Samsung to unleash a big fat five-incher in a niche that other smartphone makers like Sony, HTC and LG are very much interested in too.

Key features

• Quad-band GSM (SIM 1 & SIM 2) and 3G (SIM 1 only) support
• Dual SIM stand-by
• 21.1 Mbps HSDPA and 5.76 Mbps HSUPA support (SIM 1 only)
• 5.0" 16M-color TFT capacitive touchscreen of WVGA (480 x 800 pixel) resolution
• Android OS 4.1.2 Jelly Bean with Nature UX
• 1.2 GHz dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 CPU, Broadcom VideoCore IV GPU, 1GB of RAM
• 8MP autofocus camera with LED flash, face and smile detection, image stabilization
• 2MP secondary camera
• 1080p HD video recording at 30fps with stereo sound
• Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n support; DLNA and Wi-Fi hotspot
• GPS with A-GPS connectivity and GLONASS; digital compass
• 8GB of inbuilt storage, microSD slot
• Accelerometer, gyroscope and proximity sensor
• Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
• microUSB v2.0 port with MHL
• Stereo Bluetooth v4.0
• FM radio with RDS

Main disadvantages

• The five-inch diagonal stretches the WVGA resolution really thin
• Middling screen contrast and overall quality
• Poor low-light video recording
• No dedicated camera key

The dual-SIM Galaxy Grand is powered by the same dual-core chipset as the recently released Galaxy S II Plus. Switching from Exynos to Broadcom looks like a minor step down in terms of GPU, but as we saw on the S II Plus the superior power efficiency more than makes up for it. In fact, combined with the low (by today's standards) screen resolution this might turn the Galaxy Grand in one of the longest lasting smartphones on the market.

Samsung Galaxy Grand I9082 live pictures
Oh well, that's at least one redeeming quality of a screen that has the pixel density of an entry-level HVGA unit - the Galaxy Mini II should be a proper reference. The huge 5" diagonal obviously stretches the resolution (480 x 800 pixels) thin.
Other than that though, there isn't much else that's seriously wrong with a handset that clearly positions itself in the midrange. The Galaxy Grand has some of the advanced features courtesy of Android Jelly Bean and the latest TouchWiz. The build quality is above average and the battery backup sounds promising - and that's an important asset for a dual-SIM phone. Let's see. We start with the design and build, as usual.

HDFC LAUNCHED APP FOR WINDOWS MOBILE

HDFC has just launched the mobile banking app for its Indian customers at the Windows Phone Store. The app will allow users to handle their accounts and basically do everything as with any netbanking application.
Here's what users can do with the app as mentioned in the app description:
Pay utility bills, credit card bills, etc.
View Account summaries and Fixed Deposit summaries
Transfer funds ,including transfers to other bank customers
Request statements, cheque book, stop payment
If either of you own an HDFC bank account, make sure you download this app on your Windows Phone. It's a welcome sign to see the app make its way to Windows Phones. It also tells us about the growing Windows Phone marketshare in India.
Smartphones like the Nokia Lumia 510, 610 and the 710 have been very popular in the country. New WP8 smartphones like the Lumia 620 has been available for quite some time now and has been selling well too. Newer and cheaper smartphones like the Lumia 520 will make its way to the market soon.
So as far as Windows Phones are concerned, Nokia has us covered. Other manufacturers like Samsung, HTC are virtually non-existent in the low end WP segment which could be a concern for Microsoft in the long run.
Windows Phone users can download the app for free from the Windows Phone Store. The app works with all Windows Phones (Windows Phone 7.5 and Windows Phone 8 handsets), so compatibility is not a concern.

Lava Xolo B700 launched at Rs 8,999

After recently launching its flagship phone, the Xolo 1000 for Rs 19,990, Lava has unveiled its mid-range dual-SIM Android smartphone, the Xolo B700 for Rs 8,999.

The Xolo B700 runs on a 1GHz dua-core processor with PowerVR SGX 531 GPU. The phone also has 512 MB RAM and 4GB internal storage, expanded by up to 32GB via microSD card.

But the one feature that truly sets it apart is a massive 3450 mAh battery!

Online retailer Flipkart has put the Xolo B700 up for sale at a price of Rs 8,999



Specifications

Processor: 1GHz dual-core processor; PowerVR SGX 531 GPU

Display: 4.3-inch IPS display; 960x540 resolution

Camera: 5 MP rear, 0.3 MP front

Storage: 4GB internal; expanded by up to 32 GB

OS: Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich

Battery: 3450 mAh

Sony Xperia Z vs. HTC Butterfly

Introduction

Flagships have evolved significantly during the past year, and in screen terms in particular, what once looked like overkill has become the gold standard for both size and resolution. HTC was the first of the major manufacturers to set the bar high with a fullHD five-incher, and saw the competition scrambling to respond. The Sony Xperia Z wasn't too late to follow, and turned some heads with its sharp design, coupling professional elegance with great performance.

While the HTC Butterfly is no longer in charge of the HTC Android lineup (that honor belongs to the just-announced HTC One), it still is an impressive device in its own right. It debuted back in October as J Butterfly for Japan and visited the US in November as the DROID DNA.

The Butterfly/DNA's spell alone at the top wasn't long enough to make a huge difference, financially. That's largely down to its limited availability too. Even now, the HTC Butterfly is hard to come by in many markets, which is the exact opposite of what Sony's doing with the Z.

So, the Xperia Z is an all-round flagship, while the HTC Butterfly has just slipped down the pecking order. One is readily available and enjoying high demand, the other is a regional version that some markets just won't get. But we don't care which one's better at making money. We've got some quad-core Kraits to benchmark, screens to compare, and batteries to test. So, who's up for a ride?

As usual, let's start by taking a look at what advantages each device has over the other.

Sony Xperia Z over HTC Butterfly

• IP57 dust and water protection
• Higher-capacity battery
• Higher-resolution camera sensor with better image quality
• Wider market availability

HTC Butterfly over Sony Xperia Z

• Curved screen for better usability
• Display has superior contrast and viewing angles
• Can shoot 6MP stills while recording video
• Beats audio amplifier

In terms of sheer specs, the two devices are very similar. In addition to the same screen size and resolution, both phones are powered by a quad-core 1.5 GHz Krait CPU running on the Qualcomm APQ8064 chipset, alongside Adreno 320 graphics. All of the connectivity features are doubled between the two devices, and with the exception of the higher-res camera sensor and battery on the Xperia Z, so is everything else - all the way down to the Android release.

HTC Butterfly and Sony Xperia Z live images

In the coming chapters we'll break down how each device performs and where one has an advantage over the other, in areas such as camera performance, sound quality, and benchmarks. But first, let's take a closer look at the exterior.