HTC ChaCha Launched for Rs.15,990

HTC’s much awaited ‘Facebook phone’ has just been launched in India for Rs.15,990 and will be available in the market shortly. The phone will feature the beefed up 800MHz processor and Android 2.3.3 Gingerbread. This will be HTC’s first touch and type QWERTY handset and will go on to compete with Nokia’s E6 and LG’s upcoming Optimus Pro.

Now, your FB updates are just a button away

What sets this phone apart from the competition is the dedicated Facebook button which is context aware meaning if you’re viewing a photo or a video, the button will light up allowing you to share that instantly with a single press. You can even update your status, upload a photo, share a picture, upload a video, share a link to a website by the same manner. Other features include:

• 2.6-inch touchscreen display with a resolution of 480 x 320 pixels
• 3G, Wi-Fi, GPS with A-GPS, Wi-Fi Hotpsot
• Bluetooth 3.0 with A2DP
• 5 megapixel camera with autofocus and LED flash
• 3.5 mm audio jack
• Memory expandable to 32 GB

If you are a Tata DOCOMO customer then the new combo schemes HTC is offering may interest you. 3G users get free 3GB of data and 3hrs of mobile TV that's valid for three months while 2G customers get free data of 3GB and 300min of talk time (Tata-to-Tata) free for three months.

Asus' Rs. 32,999 Transformer TF101 Tablet is Here

Finally, after much speculation and rumors, Asus has launched the TF101 Eee Pad Transformer for a price tag of Rs.32,999 which is presumably the MRP. This pricing is for the 16GB Wi-Fi only version, the 3G variant will be launched at a later date. We've also got confirmation from Asus that this price will include the docking station as well. Keyboard sold separately The tablet alone has limited connectivity, however when paired with the docking station, we get two USB ports, a multi-touch touchpad, SD-card reader and a full QWERTY keyboard. The Transformer uses a 10.1-inch IPS panel with 1280x800 pixel resolution and features 10-finger multi-touch support. Powered by Nvidia’s Tegra 2 processor and with 1GB of memory, 1080p video playback is a non-issue. We also have Bluetooth v2.1 and Wi-Fi ‘n’ for connectivity. Unfortunately, we’ll be getting Honeycomb 3.0 for now, so some sluggish behavior is to be expected.

LG Optimus 3D Not Getting Gingerbread Update Till October

Seems like there is some bad news as well as good news for LG Optimus 3D owners. The bad news is that the smartphone will not receive the 2.3 Gingerbread update until October.  Whilst this might infuriate Optimus users, there’s a reason for this delay. A pretty good one too. The wait might just be worth it as LG are planning to give the usual bunch of features brought by Gingerbread with one important addition – apps running OpenGL for graphics can be switched from 2D to 3D.

Currently, the phone works on the Froyo OS 2.1 and supports 3D up scaling for pictures and videos, with an additional ‘depth control’ that helps customize the ‘amount’ of the third dimension that the user can see. However, there is an absolute lack of 3D content on the Android Market for the Optimus 3D.  

LG Optimus 3D

For those that are hoping to buy the Optimus 3D, here’s a quick spec sheet- 4.3-inch capacitive touch screen, 1GHz, ARM Cortex-A9 processor, twin 5 megapixel rear cameras, 1080p video, front facing camera, Wi-Fi, GPS, and Bluetooth 3.0.

Our word of advice to Optimus 3D users. Patience. LG’s desire for converting 2D to 3D on the fly for applications and games might just be the thing that gives the LG Optimus 3D that much required edge over its competitors.

Samsung Readying 5.3-inch ‘Galaxy Q’ for IFA

The rumor mill is abuzz with news of Samsung busy prepping a ‘Dell Streak’ like device for IFA in September. The news comes from a Chinese site, eTomato, who’ve brought this to our attention but there isn’t any leaked image or presentation slide to go by so take this with some salt. 

What is Samsung up to?

Apparently the new device will be called the Galaxy Q and will sport a massive 5.3-inch display, most likely Super AMOLED Plus and that’s about it, we don’t have any other information about this mystery device. If we are to speculate then it will most likely have a dual-core processor either Exynos or Tegra 2. It should run Ice Cream Sandwich given IFA is two months away -Google should have a stable build for Samsung by then. 

What remains to be seen is how will Samsung market this product? If they dare to call it a phone then would it suffer the same fate as Dell’ Streak? How does one walk around with a 5.3-inch slab in his pocket. As a tablet, the screen size seems a bit too small and if you’re going to lug around another device then it might as well be at least seven inches or more, else you might as well use your phone. Let’s wait and watch if it actually materializes or if it's just vaporware. 

Android 3.2 is Officially Here!

Android 3.2 is here! The new release implies that the previous version has been worked upon with new capabilities for both the users, and the developers, complete with level 13 API changes.

The latest one..

According to a post on Google's Android Developers, this latest version of Android has been optimized for better user experience, something that the existing Honeycomb version so desperately needed. The newer version of Android comes with a swanky compatibility display mode, which is designed to make apps look good across all devices. With a pixel-scaled alternative, the few apps that behave weirdly on larger displays will have themselves sorted out. Additionally, users will be able to sync the available media with the removable SD card to have data on the card directly sent to the required app. The latest version of Android will come with updated SDK tools for developers. The tool kit consists of an Android library, system image, few emulator skins but excludes external libraries.

We had reported a few days ago about the first Android 3.2 tablet, the Huawei MediaPad making an appearance at CommunicAsia, Singapore. Now, with the official announcement being made the cat is finally, completely out of the bag. What do you think?

LG Optimus Pro and Optimus Net Now Official

After a glimpse of what the LG’s new touch-and-type phone would look like, the Korean company has made the Optimus Pro official. Alongside the Pro, LG also announced the Optimus Net, a full touchscreen phone for Internet junkies on a budget. There's no word on the Indian pricing just yet, but be sure to keep an eye on online stores as these are bound to pop up sooner or later for pre-order.

Some stiff competition for Sammy's Galaxy Pro

Both the handsets will launch with Android 2.3 Gingerbread and pack 800Mhz processors with LG’s own Optimus UI 2.0 running over Gingerbread. The Optimus Pro will go up against eitherNokia’s E6 or Samsung’s Galaxy Pro depending on the pricing. The phone features a 2.8-inch capacitive touchscreen and a full QWERTY keypad, 3MP camera with VGA recording, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and a 1500mAh battery.

The Optimus Net will have a larger 3.2-inch touchscreen and pretty much the same internals as the Optimus Pro. Both phones will be launched in a total of 30 countries, starting with Europe. 

Twitter for Android Gets Big Update

Twitter for Android has gotten a huge update bringing two big features, namely push notifications and multiple account usability. So now, if you have more than one Twitter account that you tweet from, you can use the Android app to switch between accounts without logging in and out. These features have been available for Twitter on iOS since Twitter bought the iOS app, Tweetie. However, to the disappointment of many Twitter users as well as social media marketers, yet to the smiling faces of third party clients that base their product on multiple account usage, this feature is still not available on Twitter for web.

Twitter for Android with new features

For iPhone users, push notifications came in Twitter for iPhone and now for Android users it seems slightly redundant. Android already has a bar for notifications so users will see the same notifications twice. The Twitter for Android app is available for free from the Android Market. If you want your Twitter on your Android smartphone to be able to push notify and tweet from multiple accounts, head on over and download the app.

Adobe to Introduce New Android Apps for Upcoming Sony Tablets

Adobe and Sony have announced the new ‘Adobe AIR App Challenge’ to entice developers to create and develop unique high-performance mobile applications - a precursor to their upcoming ‘Sony Tablet’ rumored to become available in the global market starting Fall 2011.

Both companies will enable tapping into native device capabilities to combine Adobe Flash technology and HTML 5 to enable a wide range of applications including media, gaming and data-driven applications. Adobe says that their Creative Suite 5.5 and their latest developer tools combined with Sony’s upcoming tablets will provide content publishers with a platform to deliver better tablet experiences. 

Sony Tablets to get taste of Adobe Air

 

Sony, as we've already reported, are developing two tablets - the S1 optimized for media and the S2 designed for mobile communication as well as entertainment. As part of the collaboration, Sony will pre-install Adobe Flash Player on ‘Sony Tablet’ devices enabling a more 'complete' Web browsing experience that includes an array of videos, games and other multimedia content.

This sounds like good news for developers as it’s relatively easy to build AIR applications with Adobe tools and deploy them as native applications via the Android Market. The new apps, it seems, will have tight device integration, including support for camera, video, microphone, multi-touch and more. Also, support for geo-location allows developers to create location-based applications and services. However, only time will tell if this new tablet with ‘new’ applications will satiate the ever-increasing needs of the consumer. 

Your Tablet Choices Available on the Shelves 2

With a fresh batch of tablets due to arrive in the months to come, we as consumers are once again spoilt for choice as every manufacturer is trying their best to out-do the competition with price cuts, freebies etc. Galaxy Tab P1000 With its elder brother all set to make its debut anytime now, the Tab P1000 is still a good option for those who don’t want to spend too much and require a more compact form factor. You can buy the 3G version of the Galaxy Tab P1000 for Rs. 24,700 which makes it a pretty good deal. Still offers good value A few facts about the Tab P1000: 7.0-inch capacitive touchscreen Supports resolution of 600x1024 pixels 3G, Wi-Fi Bluetooth v3.0 + EDR and A2DP 3.1MP rear AF camera with LED flash, 1.3MP forward facing camera for video calling. HD video playback, DivX/WMV/Xvid/H.264/H.263support Stereo speakers Expandable memory up to 32GB Viewsonic Viewpad 7 Viewsonic’s Viewpad 7 has the potential for a decent tablet but it was too overpriced for a 7-inch form factor. To add to its woes, it's quite underpowered as well, if you think about the measly 600Mhz CPU. We just got a update from Viewsonic regading the pricing which has now dropped to Rs.17,999. Unnecessarily expensive The Viewpad 7 includes the following feature list : 7.0-inch capacitive touchscreen Supports resolution of 800x480 pixels 3G, Wi-Fi Bluetooth v2.1 + EDR and A2DP 3MP rear AF camera , 0.3MP forward facing camera for video calling. MP4 and 3GP support Stereo speakers Expandable memory up to 32GB Viewsonic Viewpad 10 The Viewpad 10 is a completely different beast compared to its younger and more timid sibling. This tablet lets you dual boot between Android and Windows 7 and instead of an ARM CPU, it's powered by Intel’s Atom N455 processor. The Viewpad 10 is priced at Rs. 30,000 with 16GB built-in memory and Wi-Fi only. Windows or Android? How about both The Viewpad 10 Features: 10.1-inch capacitive touchscreen Supports resolution of 600x1024 pixels Wi-Fi support Bluetooth v2.1 + EDR and A2DP 1.3MP forward facing camera HD video playback, MP4/WMV/H.263/H.264support Stereo speakers Expandable memory up to 32GB Olive Pad V-T100 The Olive Pad and the Viewsonic Viewpad 7 are practically identical as the OEM that's built the tablet appears to be the same. It is cheaper though at Rs. 24,900 for the 3G version, mostly due to the fact that  they don’t have to charge a premium for the brand name. Affordable 3G tablet The Olive Pad has the following features : 7.0-inch capacitive touchscreen Supports resolution of 800x480 pixels 3G, Wi-Fi Bluetooth v2.1 + EDR and A2DP 3MP rear AF camera , 0.3MP forward facing camera for video calling. MP4 and 3GP support Stereo speakers Expandable memory up to 32GB Zinglife E-Pad ZL-101 The E-Pad could have sold really well with the whole iPad look-a-like design but sadly it's not the most user friendly tablet. It does manage to playback 720p videos smoothly though, I’ll give it that. The pricing is good for a 10.1-inch tablet at just Rs. 15,000 but honestly, I would give this one a skip. Buy it if you dare Some facts about the E-Pad ZL-101: 10.1-inch resistive touchscreen Supports resolution of 600x1024 pixels Wi-Fi support Bluetooth v2.1 + EDR and A2DP VGA forward facing camera for video calling. HD video playback Stereo speakers Expandable memory up to 32GB Creative ZiiO 7 Last but not the least we have Creative’s own ZiiO 7 PMP. I refuse to call it a tablet since you can't really do much beside watch videos or listen to music. It packs in a great audio chip, the X-Fi, which helps quite a bit for music and videos. It’s a little pricey at Rs.17,999 but it’s any day better than the Zinglife. A good PMP, but that's about it It packs in the following features: 7.0-inch capacitive touchscreen Supports resolution of 800x480 pixels  Wi-Fi support Bluetooth v2.1 + EDR and A2DP VGA forward facing camera for video calling. H.264, MPEG4, WMV9, MOV, AVI, MKV support Stereo speakers Expandable memory up to 32GB That's all for now folks. Be sure to read up on reviews before you make a buying decision. It's recommeded to try out the tablets before since many of them may look identical on paper but the real world experience can differ greatly.

Motorola Working on 4:3 Aspect Tablet with 2048 x 1536 Resolution

The R&D team at Motorola seems to be on to something big, at least they believe so. Fudzillahave received confirmation about the company hard at work on their next big tablet project, which is a bit different from the current herd. Motorola will go old school on this one by offering a 4:3 aspect ratio on a 10-inch slab of glass. Not only that, it will sport a crazy high 2048x1536 resolution, that’s higher than any HDTV or 24-inch PC monitor currently available. Could this be the next Xoom? Sources at Fudzilla apparently have had a go at the prototype and say that it will run Ice Cream Sandwich when it comes out which means we are looking at a Q4 or early 2012 announcement. There’s no telling why Motorola would go with a 4:3 aspect when the entire world has moved on to the wide screen format. Maybe they are taking a cue from Apple, I mean, it’s worked brilliantly for them so it’s worth a shot. No word on what hardware it will be packing but my guess would be either Nvidia’s Tegra 3 or AMD’s Fusion APU.

HTC HD2 to Get a Windows Phone 7 Mango ROM?

The HD2 from HTC boasted of some seriously breathtaking specifications and that too, back in 2009. And because of the specifications, it’s not very surprising to see the smartphone run ports of MeeGo, Android and Windows Phone 7. The latest on this front now, is that the HD2 will be getting a ROM to the Mango Update of Windows Phone 7.

Mangoes for you, HD2

If you have tried Windows Phone 7 on the HD2, you definitely must have heard of the Dark Forces Team. These guys were the ones to bring the port-that-won’t-be-official to the smartphone, and if what sources say are to be believed, the same team will also bring the Mango update for the HD2.

Apparently, Dark Forces Team is working hard to bring the ROM for the handset, sometime during this week, but this hasn’t been confirmed yet. It will be interesting to see how well the HD2 handles the ROM and hopefully will make Microsoft change their mind and launch some official updates for the HD2.

Is this the Samsung i973 Running Windows Phone 7 Mango?

There were rumors back in early July about Samsung prepping a new Windows Phone 7 (WP7) based on the Galaxy SII. Today, we have a first glimpse of what could potentially turn out to be the i973, which runs on WP7. At the Microsoft Partner Conference in Los Angeles, Steve Guggenheimer, Corporate Vice President - OEM Division, showed off an upcoming WP7, which he described as being ‘thin and light', the same being SII's forte.

Image courtesy GSMArena

We only get a quick glimpse of the phone as he quickly puts it back in his pocket. How come it wasn’t on display along with the rest of the products? It seems like Microsoft didn’t want anyone to get a good look at the device. From the picture, it appears to be a 4.3-inch screen, however there’s no way to tell if it’s Super AMOLED or SLCD. The three touch sensitive buttons are placed at the bottom like in every Windows Phone device. Hit this link to watch Steve’s portion of the keynote.

Evernote Releases App for Android Tablets

Evernotw has released an app designed specifically for Android tablets and is available for free from the Android Market. It offers the same note taking functions as all the other Evernote apps, including audio note recording and social note sharing but it does it with a new interface that helps visual note browsing. In this new interface, the homescreen presents notes in Snippet View. The left hand bar can be used to to tab through notebooks, tags and shared notebooks view options. Using the application, users can also create and edit rich text notes. This feature is available to all Evernote users, not just Android tablet users. There will also be a new bar for text editing above the keyboard.

Evernote on Android tablets has a new look

There's a larger Evernote widget available now for the homescreen, where users can see snippets of their recently created and edited notes. Evernote's VP of marketing, Andrew Sinkov says, "In addition to letting you jump to core Evernote features, you now see snippets of your recently-accessed notes. This means you no longer need to launch Evernote in order to find a recent note, just tap on the note in the widget.” This new Evernote for Android is available for free in the Android Market.