Micromax Canvas 3D To Be Released This Week

The much rumored Micromax’s 3D is not a rumor anymore as the Smartphone which comes in the line of Canvas series is expected to be launched soon.

Named as Canvas 3D A115, the Smartphone is said to be powered by a 1GHz dual-core processor coupled with 1GB of RAM. It will run on Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean, with 4GB of internal storage and microSD support.

The device will feature a 5 inch display that supports 800 x 480pixels resolution sporting an 8 megapixel rear camera with LED Flash and a 2 megapixel rear snapper, as reported by unconfirmed sources to TOI.

It will feature 3D interface but not 3D playback facilities as offered by LG Optimus 3D which is priced approximately at 26,000.

Micromax which is on the positive side aims to emerge as the largest phone seller in India. It has been the second largest Smartphone maker in India as of the last quarter in 2012. As CEO Deepak Mehrotra announced earlier, the phone is one of the thirty devices to be launched this coming week.

As the device will be launched this week, online retailer Saholic has listed the device, though the price which is supposed to be around 15,000 is not yet revealed. The company had also emerged as the biggest retailers for phablets in the same quarter with 1.98 lakh shipments.

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Smartphones, Tablets And PCs Market To Touch $ 814.3 Bn By 2017

Global sales of connected devices like Smartphones, tablets and PCs is expected to surpass 2.2 billion units and touch revenues of $ 814.3 billion by 2017, according to research firm IDC.

Worldwide shipment of such devices grew 29.1 percent year-on-year in 2012, crossing 1 billion units shipped at a value of USD 576.9 billion, IDC said in a statement.

Going forward, IDC predicts the market to continue surging with shipments surpassing 2.2 billion units and revenues reaching USD 814.3 billion in 2017, it added.

"Consumers and business buyers are now starting to see Smartphones, tablets, and PCs as a single continuum of connected devices separated primarily by screen size," IDC Programme Vice-President (Clients and Displays) Bob O'Donnell said.
The growth in 2012 was largely driven by 78.4 percent rise in tablet shipments, which surpassed 128 million units.
IDC expects tablet shipments to surpass desktop PCs in 2013 and portable PCs in 2014 and cross 352 million units by 2017.
Global desktop PC shipments, which stood at 148.4 million in 2012, is expected to drop to 141 million units in 2017.
Portable PC sales are expected to grow to 240.9 million units in 2017 from 202 million units in 2012.

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Byond Launches Phablet PI For 10,999

Byond Technologies, an Indian mobile manufacturer based on Pune has launched its new Phablet PI in the country. The phone comes in 5.3inch qHD display with a resolution of 540*960 pixel IPS capacitive touchscreen. It is powered by 1GHz dual-core processor along with 1GB RAM.

Priced at 10, 999; the phablet offers 4GB of internal storage, which can be expanded up to 32GB via a microSD card and runs on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean operating system. It is equipped with 2,000mAh battery on –board which gives three to five hours of talk time and 200 hours of standby time. Similar to the other Byond phablets, it is a dual-SIM handset which features an 8-megapixel rear camera with LED flash and 1.3 megapixel front-facing camera.

The phablet is available in white and Navy Blue color options as well as offers a free screen-guard and a cover along with the purchase.

Recently, the company had launched Byond Phablet PII in the market at a price tag of 14, 999. To know more about the specifications of this device, have a look at our earlier coverage- 5 Big Screen Budget Phablets Under 15, 000.

As a device manufacturer, the company seems to be expanding into multiple device domains. Byond offers various tablets under its Mi-Book Series, priced between 3, 999 to 11,499.

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Zen Ultrafone 701 HD, a Perfect Rival to Micromax's Canvas HD Arrives with a Better Retail Offer

With Zen having launched its Ultrafone 701 HD in India, the high-definition Canvas phone from Micromax seems to be feeling the heat. Priced at 11, 999, the quad-core Android Smartphone from Zen has features similar to its rival Micromax’s current flagship phone, with a price lesser than that of the Canvas headset, reports Mobiletor.

In terms of specifications, there’s hardly newness to those who know about the Micromax’s high-definition Canvas features. Zen Ultrafone 701 HD is made of 5-inch capacitive touchscreen and boasts of a 720p resolution for its visuals.

It runs 4.2 version of Android Jelly Bean OS, rather than 4.1 possessed by its rival. Besides, the handset is powered by a 1.2GHz quad core processor and 1GB RAM and equipped with an 8MP primary camera and a 3.2MP secondary snapper, apart from which potential buyers will be able to spot 4GB of internal hoarding capacity and a microSD card slot which expands storage up to 32GB.

It includes connectivity features such as 3G, Wi-Fi as well as Bluetooth, apart from a dual-SIM functionality that has been a customary aspect for most of the recently launched Smartphones. The handset can be pre-ordered now through Snapdeal and incentives have also been declared for pre-ordering consumers which includes a flip cover, a back panel and a screen guard.

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Samsung Launches 2013 SMART TVs Which Transforms Television Viewing Experience

Samsung, the electronic giant announced the introduction of 20 new television models across its flagship Smart TV Series 8, 7, 6 as well as the LED TV Series 5500 and 4500. Besides, a new ‘Made for India’ LED television series too is being launched in the market. 

Designed to deliver the ultimate lean back experience to consumers, the F8000 and F7500 are the first Samsung televisions to feature a quad-core processor. Available in 46”, 55” and 65” class screen sizes, the F8000 and F7500 feature an ultra-thin profile, a quarter-inch thick bezel and stands that are truly spell binding. The F8000 is also among Samsung’s first line of Smart TVs equipped with Intelligent Viewing, which creates an optimized picture quality dependent on the source of content, and a quad-core processor – making it even easier and faster for consumers to toggle between apps, online services and on-air TV.

Also, with the newly improved smart interaction, users can now rotate images, or simply zoom in and out with two hands. Voice control capabilities have also been enhanced. Samsung Smart TV is now able to understand more than 300 commands with much better language recognition rates. In addition, a new Smart Touch Control is provided, wherein all number keys have been replaced by a touch pad on which users can simply write the channel number they want and flip and scroll the screen. It can also control devices made by other manufacturers through a very simple set-up.

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HTC One Reaches India For 42000; Galaxy S4 To Follow

HTC’s latest Android flagship, HTC One was launched in India for 42,000. According to Firstpost, the phone will hit stores towards end of April and the company, has tied up with Reliance Communications to offer buyers 1GB of free 3G data for three months.
Meanwhile, Samsung’s Galaxy S4, the  toughest competitor to HTC One will reportedly reach India on April 25. The device is expected to be priced under       40,000.
With two flagship devices on the same platform, here is a breakdown on best features that each has to offer.

Design: HTC One which belongs to the big camp Smartphones stands out with a classy metal body finish that matches Apple’s standards.  With a beautifully machined aluminium back, and detailed aluminium front, the Smartphone claims ‘zero gap’ in construction, weighing 143 gm. But Samsung Galaxy S3 is lighter, weighing 130 gm. It has a complete plastic finish on the front panel and the back with a textured pattern of tiny circles laid on it. The S4 is also slim with 7.9 mm thickness while HTC One is thicker with 9.3 mm thickness.
While S4 looks bigger and better than S3, HTC has given a drastic difference to the phone from the previous flagship - HTC One X.

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How To Flash A Custom ROM To Your Android Phone With ROM Manager + Full Backup & Restore

Have you been hearing about all this custom ROM business - Cyanogen, DamageControl, etc and wondering what in the world all those are about?

Or perhaps you already know what those are but are still afraid of trying custom ROMs on your phone because you don't know how to install them or don't want to lose your data and current OS state?

Well, today is your lucky day because in this article from the "I wish somebody showed me how to do this crap when I was getting started" series, I will show you how to

• easily install a custom ROM but only after you
• back up your current system and exact phone state so that you can
• restore to that exact state with a click of a buttonWhat do you have to lose now? Try out a new ROM and go back to your original OS in a matter of 30 minutes.

Sounds like a good deal? Then let's go.

Note: By the way, having written this tutorial, I know it may seem like there is a lot to do here, scaring you away, but in reality there really isn't - I was simply trying to provide as much detail and be as clear as possible, covering all the bases.

I am using an Sprint HTC Hero (CDMA) in this tutorial and in fact this is exactly how I got Android 2.1 on it using the DamageControl ROM, weeks before it was released by Sprint (in fact, it's not even released yet at the time of this writing). The specific phone used is not important and I listed it just for reference - ROM Manager should work with pretty much every Android phone.

Custom ROMs

At first I started an explanation of custom ROMs here, but it quickly outgrew itself and demanded to be in a separate post. Who am I to argue with the creative genius?

Proceed to read the Custom ROMs For Android Explained And Why You Want Them article and then come back here - I'll be waiting.

By the way, if you are wondering, you will most likely have to wipe when upgrading to a custom ROM (of course, we'll do a full backup first) but once you've installed it, any regular updates are usually applied right over the current version and don't require any wipes. Remember, all your Google contacts sit in the cloud and will be sync'ed right back as soon as you boot the new ROM and log into Google.

The Steps

Here are the steps, at a glance. Look the list over and move on to the more detailed explanation of each bullet point.

1. Root Your Phone
2. Install ROM Manager App
3. Back Up
4. Download The ROM You Want To Try
5. Flash It
6. Want To Go Back? Restore It

 1. Root Your Phone

The first thing you need to do is root your phone. Don't be afraid - we already covered this in the Rooting Explained + Top 5 Benefits Of Rooting Your Phone article a few weeks ago, so go ahead and read that first - I'll wait.

Rooting is usually a 5 minute process, and many guides around the web explain what that process is for your exact phone model and Android version combinations, just Google "YOUR_PHONE_MODEL root".

Now that you have root, let's proceed to the next step.

2. Install ROM Manager App

This is the easiest step. Go to the Android Market on your phone and install ROM Manager.

This excellent application handles backing up and restoring, as well as flashing new ROMs, all from an easy user interface. This application requires root, which is why we've first gone with step 1.

Got the app installed? You should see something like this:

 

3. Back Up

This part is very easy and in fact I dedicated a whole tutorial just to this subject which you can read if you want more details about the backing up and restoring process.

Done reading the backup tutorial? Now check this out: you don't even have to perform a manual backup - ROM Manager will automatically ask if you want to back up or not in step 5, when you are flashing the new ROM. This is what it will look like:

3.1. Flash A Recovery Image

If you read the backup/restore article above, you may have seen that there is a one-time step that was needed before ROM Manager, or any other manager, can install ROMs, back up, restore, or do anything with Nandroid Backup - and that is flashing a recovery image.

Important: unplug the USB cable during this step, as some users are reporting problems flashing recovery while plugged in (thanks DennGir and others).

This recovery image contains a boot loader which replaces your original boot loader.
The boot loader gives you the ability to run Nandroid backup and restore commands outside of the OS.
It also lets you install ROMs but we will not do that today. Since the OS cannot back itself up fully while running, ROM Manager will reboot into this boot loader to perform Nandroid operations.

Again, remember: this step needs to be done one time only.

4. Download The ROM You Want To Try And Copy It To Your Phone's SD Card

Here is where you need to do a bit of research and find the ROM image you want to put on your phone. If you don't know exactly what you're looking for, again, Google can help you - just search for "YOUR_PHONE_MODEL ROM" and look around.

For instance, if you have a Nexus One, you may want to go with CyanogenMod and if you have a Sprint HTC Hero (CDMA), you will want to check out DamageControl.

If you bought ROM Manager Premium, which I recommend, you would have a "Download ROM" menu enabled right within the app, containing some of the most popular ROMs, so you don't have to look for them online or spend time downloading them on your computer and copying to the phone. If you choose not to use ROM Manager Premium or if the ROM you want is not included in the default list, then keep reading this section.

Each ROM you find will be based on a specific Android version - make sure to pay attention to that.

DamageControl ROM For The HTC Hero

In my case, I knew that there were not many options for my Sprint HTC Hero and I quickly found that the DamageControl ROM was exactly what I'd been looking for.

It is currently based off Android 2.1 and it's exactly what I had flashed on my phone to come up with this [p]review: Detailed Mega Review Of Android 2.1 On Our HTC Hero – Discover All The New Features (With Lots Of Screenshots).

Download The ROM You Selected

Download the ROM image, which is usually a zip archive, and copy it into the root folder of your SD card.

Important: you do not unzip the .zip file - just copy it as is.

You can do it by

• attaching the phone with a USB cable and selecting the option of mounting the SD card to be used as a drive on the computer

• unmounting the SD card, physically taking it out of the phone, and inserting into your own card reader

• downloading the ROM straight from the phone browser

Once you've copied the ROM image, you can proceed to flashing it in step 5.

If you purchased ROM Manager Premium for $3.99, in addition to thanking the developer for the awesome job, you've also unlocked a few premium features. In particular, the Premium version can download ROMs compatible with your phone straight from ROM Manager. Just select "Download ROM" and see which ones are available for your model.
Unfortunately, there is no ROM entered into the app for Sprint HTC Hero at the moment, so you still have to download it manually using the directions in step 4.

5. Flash It

The process of installing new firmware or low-level system software in general is called flashing.

We will be flashing the new custom ROM over the stock one that came with your phone.

• Pop open the ROM Manager and click "Install ROM from SD Card"
• The ROM you downloaded in step 4 should show up in the list. If it doesn't, make sure you've put it into the root folder of the SD card.
• Click on the ROM and you should receive a popup inviting you to
  • back up existing ROM (which you should do unless you've already backed up manually) and
  • wipe data and cache, which you should only do if you want to do a clean install, i.e. when upgrading from the stock ROM. Note: this does not wipe your SD card data - it only wipes the phone's internal memory.
• Follow the rest of the prompts and voila - the ROM is being installed!

Check out these screenshots I took, showing the full process:

 

The flashing process should take 5-10 minutes installing everything and then 10-20 minutes during the first boot. Please be patient during this process.

Once the phone boots, you should find yourself in the new ROM.

This is it - end of the road! You've done it! Enjoy your fast and clean phone.

Problem During Flashing?

If after the "Reboot and Install" step, you immediately get a picture of Android with a big exclamation point, most likely it means the ROM image you downloaded was not cryptographically signed by the developer (which happens if they were in a hurry to release or simply don't use encryption).

That's OK - you can fix this by:

• clicking the exclamation point screen, which goes to the ClockworkMod recovery menu or simply rebooting into recovery manually (that's one of the options in the ROM Manager). Alternatively, you can boot into recovery by holding Power and Home buttons together while powering up your phone
• selecting the option that says "install zip from sdcard"
• toggling the "toggle signature verification" option to turn the verification off (it should say "Signature Check: Disabled")
• giving flashing another try by selecting "choose zip from sdcard" and selecting the right ROM, just like before

I took some screenshots of this process to make this easier to comprehend:

6. Want To Go Back? Restore It

Alright, you may want to restore the original full backup of your OS that you took in step 3 (or 5). Maybe you forgot something in the original installation or want to go back to stock for another reason - no problem.

Install and load up the ROM Manager app in the custom ROM you flashed (basically, repeating step 2). Now use the "Manage and Restore Backups" menu to find your backup and restore it (including the OS itself and all the apps, settings - everything that you backed up).

After you're done restoring, you'll be back to your original OS as if nothing ever happened (was it just a dream?)

You can read more about the Backup/Restore procedure in our tutorial called 

Did you like this tutorial? Do you have questions? Don't hesitate to comment below.

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Tablets Beat PC's In Sales For First Time In 2013

Bangalore: Tablets are expected to outdo desktop computers for the first time in 2013. This has been reported by a research from International Data Cooperation (IDC), where they have stated that the number of tablets sold this year is expected to increase by almost 50 percent, to over 190 million units.

The continuous rise on sales of tablets however means that it  will also outdo laptop computers according to a report by the Telegraph.

Reports have also emphasized on the Smartphone market’s growth by 27 percent. This is due to the number of units sold, which crossed over 900 million units.

IDC has also predicted that by 2017over 350 million tablets will be sold every year, almost closing the gap to the estimated 1.5 billion Smartphones that were to be sold last year.

On the either side, the sale of desktop PCs is in gentle decline while laptop computer sales are slightly stable worldwide increasing gradually in well established markets.

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5 Outstanding BlackBerry Phones That You Shouldn't Miss

Once upon a time RIM and now BlackBerry, the  company has had the word ‘Smartphone’ synonymous to its QWERTY keypad phones. BlackBerry devices continue on improving their software keeping up with its position in the market.

Let us look at these devices, claimed to be the best as listed out by Digital Trends.

BlackBerry Style 9670

Price: 14, 699

BlackBerry has named this phone – Style. But its design seems to be unapologetically fat. It is powered by a 624 MHz processor coupled with a 512MB RAM. It runs on BlackBerry OS 6 with several enhancements versus the previous one.

The Style has an internal memory space of 8GB with microSD card option for expandable media storage up to 32 GB.

The phone has a 2.7 inch internal screen (360 x 400 pixel resolution) with a 5 mega pixel camera and a VGA on the front.  Both the screens are however sharp and bright and the phone also gives good voice clarity.

The phone has WLAN, USB and Bluetooth for connectivity. The QWERTY keypad is also easy to use giving good grip.

BlackBerry Bold 9700

Price: 12,990 onwards

The Bold 9700 is BlackBerry’s stylistic handset just like the Curve 8900. Powered by a 624MHz processor, it runs on BlackBerry’s Operating System v5.0, which is upgradable to v6.0.

The Bold comes stacked with an internal memory of  only 256 MB, but includes a 2GB micro SD card in the built in expansion slot. The memory is expandable up to a whopping 32 GB.

The solid built quality phone has a 2.44 inch display, with a 3.2 mega pixel rear camera and a VGA in front. Despite the small size of the phone, there is a 1500 mAh battery with 6 hours of talk time and 21 hours of standby time. The battery performance is however claimed to be one of the best as compared to other blackberry handsets.

Connectivity features of the phone are GPRS, EDGE, Speed, WLAN, Bluetooth and USB.

The phone is said to give clear landline quality just but its keyboard potentially small for large fingers.

BlackBerry Torch 9800

Price: 15,990 onwards

BlackBerry Torch 9800 comes with a QWERY keypad cum multi touch screen display running BlackBerry OS 6. It is powered by a 624 MHz processor, coupled with a 512 MB RAM.

The internal storage memory of the phone is 4 GB and is expandable up to 32 GB. There is a 3.2 inch capacitive touch screen, with a resolution of 480 x 360. This is the first Touch screen Smartphone from RIM (now BlackBerry). On the back, there is a 5 megapixel LED flash camera and there is an allowance for video recording at 24 fps. 

There are varied connectivity options to the Smartphone, like GPRS, EDGE, 3G and Wi-Fi, giving easy internet access. Bluetooth and USB are also a part of it.

The overall design offers good grip to the users with multi touch input method that allows work more efficiently.

The Smartphone has a 1270 mAh battery that gives a talk time up to 5 hours on 3G.

BlackBerry Torch 9810

Price: 27, 342

BlackBerry Torch 9810 comes with a 1.2 GHz processor, running BlackBerry OS 7. The Smartphone has a RAM of 768 MB.

The internal storage capacity of the phone is 8GB, but the microSD card allows expandability up to 32 GB.

This phone has a TFT LCD display of 3.2 inches with a screen resolution of 640 x 480 pixels and also a QWERTY keypad. The Liquid Graphics technology present in the touch screen also provides for fluid animations and instant response times. A 5 mega pixel camera is fitted on the back with flash and continuous auto focus.

The Smartphone is Wi-Fi enabled with 2G and 3G network support as well as Bluetooth and USB. Socialization on the phone is very easy allowing users with social networking services such as Facebook and Twitter.

The 1270 mAh battery allows 6 hours in 2G and 5 hours in 3G network.

BlackBerry Z10

Price: 40, 999

BlackBerry Z10 is one of the first models to run on BlackBerry 10 operating system. This full touch screen device comes with a 1.5GHz dual core processor and a 2GB RAM.

The internal memory of this Smartphone is 16 GB and since it comes with microSD, the storage space is expandable up to 32 GB.

The Smartphone has a 4.2 inch display screen with 1280 x 768 pixel resolution. It has an 8 megapixel camera on the back that captures images with good quality. There is a secondary camera of 2 mega pixel as well.

The connectivity features of the Smartphone include 4G LTE, 3G and Wi-Fi.

Multimedia features like media players, social networking apps, games and FM radio are also available in the Smartphone.

The 1800 mAh battery allows 10 hours of talk time and 316 hours of Standby time.

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