Friday, November 7, 2014

Google Nexus 9: The Android Powerhouse

The first tablet to run the Google's new Android 5.0 Lollipop is the Nexus 9. The design might not be very stunning but the Android Lollipop and the NVIDIA’s chipset on the tablet gives it the best boost ever.


Google joined hands with the HTC for the Nexus 9 to offer the best experience that users are looking for on a tablet, so let’s take a look at the tablet from its hardware to the software as compiled by the phone arena with some of the details from the Engadget too.




# Display

The image details are pretty good where the pictures are almost spotless. The Nexus 9 comes with an 8.9-inch screen with a display resolution of 1536 x 2048 pixels and a pixel density count of 288 ppi which is quite sharp on the web browser allowing you to read even small texts clearly. With the Benchmarks aside, the screen looks clear with great details on it and has good color reproduction.


# Processor and Memory

The tablet is powered by the Nvidia Tegra K1 chipset clocking a speed of 2.3 GHz. It comes with a 64-bit processor which is faster and is coupled with a 2GB of RAM. It comes with the internal storage memory of 16 or 32 GB which has no expanding options as well.


# Camera

The Nexus 9 comes with an 8 mega pixel rear camera and 1.6 mega pixel front snapper. It produces average photos that won’t disappoint the user as long as the lighting is sufficient for the picture. The camera takes good outdoor shots and if the image is not too steady, the captured image turns out blur and the low light images loses its elements in the image being not as bright as the outdoor shots. When the video recording quality is considered, it’s full HD recording is okay enough to use, but isn’t the first priority choice when we have to record as video.


# Battery and conclusion

The nexus 9 comes with a 6700 mAh battery which is quite big enough to last more than a day. According to the usage on the phone arena, it gives you up to 1.5 days of power usage. The very own standardized battery benchmark test, produced a mark of 9 hours and 24 minutes which doesn’t quite match the Google’s claim of 9.5 hours usage with the Wi-Fi browsing.

The Google Nexus 9 tablet is a serious threat for the other tablets in the range. The specs and design might not be the best out there, but it delivers an overall package that gives it the best presence packing in all the qualities we need in a near perfect gadget.
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Monday, November 3, 2014

Not Lenovo, Xiaomi Now World's Third Largest Smartphone Maker

The Chinese Smartphone maker, Xiaomi is on the Top Five list of best selling phones in the market pushing Lenovo to the 4th position. Samsung still manages to be on top with declining sales every year.

With lots of new Chinese smartphone players in the market, the global phone shipments have gone above 300 million handsets for the second consecutive quarter year with lots of new phone launches and growth in the smartphone markets. So let’s take a look at the top manufacturers with their positions as per the reports by the rediff.com.






# Samsung

Standing on the no.1 position in the market, the Korean company Samsung has a total shipment value of 78.1 million and it claims a market share of 23 percent. Though it remains to be the world’s leader on the Smartphone sales, the company has received a huge blow on the sales from quite some time now. According to the International Data Corporation, “Samsung has long relied on its high-end devices, its mid-range and low-end models drove volume for the quarter”.



# Apple

The iPhone maker, Apple manages to come on the 2nd position with its overall shipment volumes at 39.3 million units and holding a market share of 12 percent. The launch of the iPhone 6 and 6 plus got the company its highest third quarter revenue returns where Apple managed to sell up to 10 million smartphones in the starting week of its launch. According to the IDC, the demand for the previous generation iPhones has contributed well for its revenue in the third quarter.


# Xiaomi

The Chinese company Xiaomi created ripples in the smartphone market with its hardware and its stunning quality on the phones. The phone Mi3 in India had created so much demand that it almost crashed the e-commerce site, Flipkart. The company’s focus on the markets like china and India, has led it to succeed over the times.


 “Xiaomi, Lenovo, and LG Electronics posted market-beating growth and with markedly different strategies," said Ramon Llamas, research manager, IDC.


# Lenovo

Another Chinese company which has managed to stay on the list in  the fourth position is the Lenovo. With the total shipments volume of 16.9 million in the third quarter and the market share of 5.2 percent, the sales have swiftly improved with a hike of 20 percent in the third quarter. Phone models like the A369i and A316 which are priced right have driven the sales from the emerging markets like AsiaPacific and the Middle East and Africa.


# LG

With the total shipments being 16.8 million and a market share of 5.1 percent, LG has good results with its low-cost smartphones pushing the total volumes past the 15 million units level for the first time in the company's history. LG’s F and L series smartphones have managed to receive good response from both emerging and developed markets with its flagship G3 making a good presence in the high end phone market.


# Other manufacturers

Its not just these top 5 companies which claim the market share, there are other phone manufacturers like the Oppo, Sony and many more. The total shipments volumes of the other manufacturers amount up to 159.2 million claiming the market share of 48.6 percent.
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OPPO Launches 2 New Phones; Bets Big On India

Chinese handset maker OPPO considers India as a key strategic market for the company and is collaborating with Flipkart and Amazon for online sales of its products.


"In our global expansion, India is no doubt one of the key strategic markets. Right now, we are retailing in over 20 major cities and regions, mainly through multi-brand chains," OPPO India CEO Tom Lu told reporters during the launch of two smartphones, OPPO N3 and OPPO R5, by the company here.


OPPO N3 with automated swivel camera is priced at $649, while OPPO R5, which the company claims is the world's thinnest smartphone measuring 4.85 mm in width, costs $499.


The new launches will be available in India around December. When asked how much the new phones will cost in India, Tom said the company will decide on prices based on cost. He, however, added that the company has no intention of competing on price.


"Our opportunity is to continue delivering incredible quality with products covering a range of prices," he said.


OPPO is planning to build its own showrooms and exclusive stores shortly. It is aiming to have over 4,000 retail points in one year.


"We are targeting 200 service centers in the next one year and over 4,000 sales points," he said.


Stating that all its phones are doing well in India, the OPPO CEO said that the company is investing heavily in the country.


When asked whether the company would launch products specifically for the Indian market, he said: "May be in the future. We are working towards it."


With the India smartphones market growing at a good pace, he said that the company's aim is to ensure that it has a diversified product portfolio to meet thechanging needs.


OPPO has launched 10 smartphones in India till date.
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