BlackBerry PlayBook: good points

Despite negative reviews on the internet, PlayBook has several good and useful features too, such as an intuitive user interface, good word processing app, and browsing experience that keeps users happy.

The new BlackBerry PlayBook tablet is an easy target for skeptics these days. The device has been panned by many reviewers who point out deficiencies such as the absence of a native email client and even basic apps, and the compulsion of connecting the device to a BlackBerry phone in order to use BlackBerry Messenger.

The user interface of BlackBerry is extremely complicated, and users have to dig their way through various menus. This makes them suspect that the PlayBook interface will also turn out to be complicated, but fortunately things are otherwise.

The device doesn't have buttons and there are only two basic gestures for operating it, swipe-up and swipe-down. It's very easy, just like Apple's iPad, but it hasn't actually copied iPad.

Here are some points that will make users feel good about PlayBook:

The user interface of BlackBerry PlayBook is a well thought out solution that utilises multi touch gestures really well. iPad or Android users who are accustomed to the home button will need to do some relearning, but once they are through that stage the swipe gestures will come easily to them.

Even those who are not used to gestures have an option in the form of buttons or icons on the user interface as well.

The speakers of the device are placed on the sides of the screen unlike in other tablets, which have them on the rear or bottom. The better than expected speakers definitely give you an enhanced video experience and audio through the headphones is good.

The QNX operating system handles multitasking extremely efficiently. The tablet has the required hardware to run apps in the background, quite like what happens in a desktop or laptop.

The PlayBook's browser is useful and fast, and it takes just one tap to remove the menu bar for a full screen experience. It supports multiple tabs as well, and the zoom feature allows users to concentrate on the desired part of web pages.

The device is light, narrow and slim, and its 7 inch size feels extremely comfortable in the hand. Users can hold it for longer as well.

The word processor of the PlayBook is an optimum example of a Word Processing app, which is needed in tablets like this. Named 'Word To Go', the app comes pre-installed on the tablet and is very easy to use.

A human shaped mobile phone with skin like feel

Coming soon: The phone, which is named Elfoid, is slightly bigger than the palm of a hand and has a speaker installed in the head of the doll-like gadget.

Japanese scientists have developed a mobile phone which not only looks like a human being; its body also feels like skin.

"The mobile phone may feel like the person you are talking to," said the Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International (ATR), which has developed the mobile in association with Osaka University.

The phone, which is named Elfoid, is slightly bigger than a palm and has a speaker installed in the head of the doll-like gadget.

The body resembles a human being but its design is so blurred that it could be either male or female and young or old. A light-emitting diode in its chest turns blue when the phone is in use and red when it is in standby mode.

"The new technology is designed to allow individuals in remote locations to converse in such a way that they feel each other's presence through voice, appearance, touch and motion," the researchers told 'The Telegraph' of UK.

Scientists are hoping to start its commercial production after adding image and voice recognition functions to it.

BlackBerry Curve to come bundled with MTS

MTS BlackBerry Curve CDMA handset is likely to be sold at no cost beyond Rs 1,000 per month and a one year commitment to MTS.

MTS, a CDMA service provider in India, plans to launch BlackBerry Curve under a bundled plan in which consumers will get the smartphone free of cost. for Rs 1,500 per month for 12 months, with which they will get 1,500 minutes of talktime; 1,500 SMSes; and 1,500 MB of data at no extra cost. HTC Pulse is currently sold as MTS Pulse.

Sources familiar with the development said to 'The Mobile Indian', "The launch date of this phone is still not clear as the decision in this regard will be taken after analysing the response that MTS Pulse gets, which was recently launched bundled with MTS connection."

Currently, HTC Pulse is sold as MTS Pulse where, subscribers get the phone for free but have to pay Rs 1,500 per month for 12 months, for which the user gets 1,500 minutes of talktime, 1,500 SMSes and 1,500 MB of data at no extra cost.

Since BlackBerry Curve is around Rs 5,000 cheaper than HTC Pulse, the monthly commitment is likely to be less, at around Rs 1,000. However, since most operators have costlier BlackBerry plans, this price could also be higher.

BlackBerry Curve is a 3G phone (its CDMA version can surf at a speed of 3.2 Mbps on MTS' network). The device uses Wifi and GPS. It has a 2 megapixel camera, and a 2.4 inch screen. Along with that, you get BlackBerry Messenger service and a push mail feature. The phone's memory can be expanded to 32 GB

Pre booking for Micromax Bling 2 starts

Micromax has started prebooking of Bling2, which is 3G and GPS enabled, has features like Swarovski keys, 3 megapixel camera, and 32GB external memory.

Keeping Mother's Day in mind, Indian handset maker Micromax has started pre-booking for Bling 2, the successor of Bling Q55 mobile phone.

As reported by The mobile Indian earlier, Bling 2 will have a 2.8 inch capacitive touchscreen and will run on Android 2.2. It will also have Bluetooth, GPRS, WAP, MMS, and a 3.5 mm audio jack.

Bling2, which is 3G and GPS enabled, has features like Swarovski keys, 3 megapixel camera, and 32GB external memory.

To pre book Micromax Bling 2, a customer has to visit the stores mentioned on their website (http://micromaxbling.com/) and pay Rs 500, and they will also get a complimentary Satya Paul clutch.

Micromax joined the Android handset bandwagon some time back with the launch of A60 priced at about Rs 7,000. Micromax A60 is one of the most affordable Android handsets available in the market.

Spice to launch Mi 410 smartphone in June

Spice Mi 410 runs on Android 2.2 and has a number of pre-loaded free applications such as one from Indian Railways. It will be available exclusively at Spice Hotspots across the country.

Spice will launch Mi 410, a smartphone running on Android 2.2, in India this June.

Dilip Modi, managing director of Spice Mobility told 'The Mobile Indian', "We will launch Spice Mi 410 in the first week of June, and it will be priced at around Rs 15,000."

He further said that Mi 410 has a 4.1 inch touchscreen display and that it is powered by Qualcomm's 1 GHz Snapdragon processor.

Spice Mi 410 will be available exclusively at Spice Hotspots across the country, Modi added.

On the connectivity front, Spice Mi 410 supports 3.5G, HSPA, Wifi, Bluetooth, GPS and AGPS. Besides, it supports Google messaging service along with push mail. The handset has a 5 megapixel camera.

Spice Mi 410 can also act like a Wifi hotspot to support up to five Wifi enabled devices.

Spice had intended to launch Mi 410 with Android 2.1 last year but, according to Modi, its plans were delayed because the company was working on adding new features to the handset and wanted to release it with Android 2.2.

Currently, Spice has two Android devices, Spice Mi-300 and Spice Mi-310.

Mi-300 is an Android 2.1 based phone with an 8 cm capacitive touchscreen. It has support for 3.5G and HSPA. The handset has a 5 mega pixel camera, Wifi, GPS and AGPS. Spice Mi-310, on the other hand, is based on Android 2.2, and has GPS, AGPS and Wifi hotspot functionality.

Top 5 cheap and best android phones in India – Sep 10

As promised earlier to launch various regular monthly updates, we are here with the first and most demanding series. In this series we will keep you updating about the cheapest and best Android packed phones available in Indian markets.

Android is in & a number of players are struggling hard to mark their presence. A few days back you had to pull no less than 20K out of your pocket to get a decent Android Phone, But now you can easily get one in a range of INR 10 to 15 thousands.

Lets see which are the best available options in the market for now:

1. Samsung i5503 Galaxy5



The newly launched youngest dude of the Samsung Galaxy series. Definitely a value for money phone.

MRP : Rs 8,999

Android version : 2.1 (Eclair)

Display : 2.8-inch, 256K

Camera : 2.0 Mega Pixels with Geo-tagging

3G : HSDPA, 7.2 Mbps

Wi-Fi : 802.11 B/g, DLNA

External Memory : Up to 16GB

Additional Features :-

Stereo FM Radio With RDS, Social networking integration, Organizer, Document viewer (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF), Voice memo, T9

View more specs

2. Acer beTouch E110



Overall a good phone for the price offered.

MRP : Rs 8,999

Android version : 1.5 (Cupcake)

Display : 2.8-inch, 256K

Camera : 3.15 Mega Pixels

3G : Yes

Wi-Fi : No

External Memory : Up to 32GB

Additional Features :-

Stereo FM Radio

View more specs

3. Samsung i5801 Galaxy3 



Launched with Samsung i5503 Galaxy5. Costs around 3K more but has a loads of advantage over Galaxy5.

MRP : Rs 11,901

Android version : 2.1 (Eclair)

Display : 3.2-inch, 16M

Camera : 3.2 Mega Pixels with Geo tagging & Auto focus

3G : HSDPA, 7.2 Mbps

Wi-Fi : 802.11 B/g, DLNA

External Memory : Up to 32GB

Additional Features :-

Accelerometer sensor for UI auto-rotate, Proximity sensor for auto turn-off, Multi-touch input method, Digital compass, Google Search, Maps, Gmail, YouTube, Calendar, Google Talk integration, Document viewer (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF)

View more specs

4. LG GT540 Optimus 



Another good option if you can stretch your budget a bit more than 10K.

MRP : Rs 10,999

Android version : 1.6 (Donut)

Display : 3.0-inch, 256K

Camera : 3.15 Mega Pixels with Geo tagging & Auto focus

3G : HSDPA, 7.2 Mbps

Wi-Fi : 802.11 B/g, DLNA

External Memory : Up to 32GB

Additional Features :-

Accelerometer sensor for UI auto-rotate, Google Search, Maps, Gmail, YouTube, Google Talk integration, Facebook, Twitter

View more specs

 5. HTC Wildfire



Well I know 15K doesn’t fall under cheap category but considering the features you won’t mind pulling out few more bucks.

MRP : Rs 14,999

Android version : 2.1 (Eclair)

Display : 3.2-inch, 16M

Camera : 5 Mega Pixels with Auto focus, Geo tagging & Led flash

3G : HSDPA, 7.2 Mbps

Wi-Fi : 802.11 B/g, DLNA

External Memory : Up to 32GB

Additional Features :-

Google Search, Maps, Gmail, YouTube, Google Talk, Picasa integration, A-GPS, Accelerometer sensor for UI auto-rotate, Proximity sensor for auto turn-off, Multi-touch input method, Touch-sensitive controls, Optical trackpad, HTC Sense UI, Turn-to-mute and lift-to-dim-out a call

Sony Ericsson Xperia mini & mini pro goes HD

Sony Ericsson unveils the new Xperia mini and Xperia mini pro with HD capabilaties and 1 Ghz Qualcomm snapdragon processor, the latest additions to its Xperia family.

Refreshing the Xperia Mini range of smartphones, Sony Ericsson has announced the launch of its latest version of Xperia Mini and Xperia mini pro HD smartphones. Both the smartphones now feature a 1 Ghz Qualcomm snapdragon processor to meet the increasing computing requirements for smartphones and will be based on Google's newer Gingerbread operating system.

Both the Xperia Mini and the Xperia Mini pro handsets feature the Sony Bravia Engine for enhanced display on its 3 inch capacitive touch screen which is protected from scratches by a protective mineral glass. The Bravia engine also allows the Xperia mini to record High Definition 720P videos from its 5 megapixel camera making it the world's smallest HD video recording smartphone.

The key difference between the two new devices still remains the same that the Mini still remains to be a touchscreen only device while the mini Pro get a hardware slide out Qwerty keypad. While the rest of the hardware remain exactly the same in both the Xperia mni and the Mini Pro HD smartphones.

"We wanted to provide consumers even greater choice across the Xperia™ range, while building on the success of the original mini series. These turbo-charged smartphones now contain even more power, enhanced functionality, a larger screen and premium features unique to Sony Ericsson." Said Steve Walker, Head of Marketing, Sony Ericsson

Also included in the new Xperia™ mini and mini pro is the Facebook inside Xperia feature that integrates social media throughout the phone, by making Facebook immediately accessible from the most used areas of the phone such as the picture gallery, music player, phone book and calendar without having to use any special application for it.

The devices are scheduled to ship in the third quarter of this year to selected countries however the company has not made any announcement regarding their price.