Samsung Galaxy Mega 2 goes on sale in India for Rs. 20900

Samsung Galaxy Mega 2 (SM- G750H) is now available for sale in India from the official Samsung India eStore, as expected. It has a 6-inch HD (1280 x 720 pixels) display, powered by a 1.2GHz quad-core processor and runs on Android 4.4 (KitKat). It has a 8-megapixel auto-focus rear camera with LED Flash.

It has a 5-megapixel front-facing camera, which is a surprise since the LTE variant has a 2.1-megapixel camera. It comes with Dual SIM support and even has Duos branding on the top. It has One-handed Operation since it has a large screen, comes with Multi-Screen option.

Samsung Galaxy Mega 2 specifications

• 6-inch ( 1280 x 720 pixels) HD display
• 1.2 GHz quad-core processor
• Android 4.4 (KitKat)
• Dual SIM
• 8MP auto-focus rear camera with LED Flash
• 5MP front-facing camera
• 8.6mm thick and weighs 196 grams
• 1.5 GB RAM, 8GB Internal Memory, expandable memory up to 64GB with micro SD
• 3G HSPA＋21Mbps, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS＋GLONASS
• 2800 mAh battery

The Samsung Galaxy Mega 2 comes in Brown Black and White colors and is priced at Rs. 20,900.

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Gionee Elife E6 review

The Gionee Elife E6, a MediaTek quad core powered handset packed with 2GB RAM and 32GB ROM is available for under Rs. 21,000. When it comes to build quality this handset can be compared with big brands like Samsung and the Apple iPhone.

This is a beauty, a masterpiece when you look at it from the design perspective. However on the software front the handset gets a bit slow at time but not that annoying! Gionee seems to have heavily customized the Amigo user interface probably thinking that the 2GB RAM might sustain the load. It’s software related and can be corrected, Gionee might already be working on an update to fix this issue.

Box Contents

Handset, screen guard, Flip case leather, Headphone, travel charger, data cable, Warranty Card / User manual, Service Centers list, SIM removing tool and Air suction Stand.

Design and Display

The device is pretty slim with a 8mm thickness and the battery comes built in it cannot be removed. The handset is light weight.

People have mistaken it for a iPhone. It not only seems inspired by the design of iPhone but gives a really rich feel of a top rated branded device in your hand. The handset screen is 5 inches and yet comfortable to hold. There are stereo speakers placed on the bottom edge.

This is a single SIM handset. The SIM trey (you need a micro SIM card) is placed on the left, power button on top with 3.5mm audio jack, volume rockers on right. A Micro USB port is placed along with the dual speakers. Front side there is the sensors, front camera and navigational buttons on the bottom.

The screen is 5 inches supporting FHD resolution i.e. 1920×1080 pixels. Its IPS LCD and not that visible under direct sunlight. The display quality however is very good and can be compared with Galaxy S3 or Note 2.

Memory and Storage

This handset comes with 32GB internal storage of which 24GB is available for user as phone storage and 7.3GB allocated for system. 2.9GB for apps and there is no external SD cards support. Handset runs on Android 4.2.1 with 2GB RAM.

Performance

Gionee Elife E6 is powered by 1.5GHz MediaTek quad core processor coupled with PowerVR SGX 544MP GPU. The overall performance is good, however you experience a mild lag occasionally, probably the customized OS needs some tweaking. Users need not worry about updates, there is OTA option.

Camera

The rear camera is of 13MP resolution and front camera of 5MP. Rear camera is with BSI II sensor and with LED flash support. The camera can record videos in full HD resolution. The still image output is not that good indoors and in low light conditions. You can check the sample images.

Others

The sound output seems pretty low and the sound quality is not up to the mark, in spite of it housing the DTS surround sound technology. This may not be a good option for music lovers. There are many other features like NQ mobile security, power saving mode, air bwose picture and gesture control to name a few.

Battery

The non-removable 2000 mAh battery should last for a full day with moderate usage. It takes under 3 hours to fully charge the handset from 5 percent to 100.

Verdict

The Gionee Elife E6 is beautifully crafted and will grab attention. The handset is powerful, though the Software needs a little bit of attention, probably some future updates could fix the issue. This handset was initially priced at Rs. 23,000 but now the prices have fallen down to under Rs. 21,000. A price between 18K to 19K would have been perfect.

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Lava E-Tab Ivory with 7-inch display launched for Rs. 10199

Lava has launched the E-Tab Ivory, a new tablet with voice calling support in the E-Tab range. The E-Tab E-Tab Z7C+ (Connect+) with voice calling support went on sale recently, but this has a dual SIM support similar to the Micromax Funbook Mini P410 that went on sale earlier this month. It has a 7-inch (1024 x 600 pixels) capacitive touch screen display, powered by a 1.2 GHz dual-core MediaTek MT8377 processor and runs on Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean). It has dual SIM cars slots with 3G support, voice calling and SMS. These is a 2-megapixel rear camera and a 0.3-megapixel (VGA) front-facing camera.

It comes pre-loaded with Total Recall HD and NFS HD games . Lava has once again partnered with Hungama for VAS initiatives such as Hungama’s Music Application. It also comes pre-loaded with range of apps including OLX, PayTm, Twitter, Facebook and WhatsApp.

Lava E-Tab Ivory specifications

• 7-inch (1024 x 600 pixels) capacitive touch screen display
• Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) OS
• Dual SIM (3G + 3G)
• 1.2 GHz dual-core MediaTek MT8377 processor with 500 MHz Power VRSGX531 Ultra GPU
• 2MP rear camera
• 0.3 MP (VGA) front-facing camera
• Dimensions - 194.0mm x 120.5mm x 10.8mm
• 3.5mm audio jack
• 1GB RAM, 4GB internal memory, expandable memory up to 32 GB
• 3G, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth, GPS
• 3000 mAh battery with up to 5 hours of running time

The Lava E-Tab Ivory has a metallic fished with white bezel and is priced at Rs. 10199 (MRP). It would be available from online channels and retail stores across India.

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LG G Pro Lite with 5.5-inch display and Stylus Pen official, coming soon to India

LG has officially announced the G Pro Lite, the company’s latest mid-range smartphone. It surfaced recently and packs a 5.5-inch (960 ×540 pixels) IPS display, powered by a 1 GHz dual-core MediaTek MT6577processor and runs on Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean). It has a Stylus Pen for handwriting that can be stored conveniently in a slot. It has a 8-megapixel rear camera with BSI sensor and LED flash and a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera. It pack a 3140 mAh battery similar to the G Pro.Other features include dual stereo speakers and Dual SIM support with a dedicated SIM Switch key in the LG G Pro Lite Dual variant. It has KnockON that wakes up the display in two taps, Pause and Resume Recording for recording of short snippets of video, QSlide, QuickMemo to jot memos or notes and QTranslator.

LG G Pro Lite specifications

• 5.5-inch (960 ×540 pixels) IPS display
• 1 GHz dual-core MediaTek MT6577processor
• Android 4.1.2 (Jelly Bean) OS
• Dual SIM with dual standby with dedicated SIM Switch Key (G Pro Lite Dual)
• Dimensions – 150.2 x 76.9 x 9.48 mm
• 8MP rear camera with BSI sensor and LED Flash
• 1.3MP front-facing camera
• 3.5mm audio jack, FM Radio
• 1GB RAM, 8GB of internal memory, expandable memory up to 32GB with microSD
• 3G (HSDPA: 7.2Mbps / HSUPA: 5.76Mbps), WiFi, Bluetooth 3.0 with A2DP, GPS / aGPS
• 3140 mAh battery

The LG G Pro Lite comes in Black and White would launch in Latin America first followed by other markets including Asia, Russia, China, India and the Middle East. No word on pricing yet.

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Nokia 107 and 108 Dual SIM phones avilable in India for Rs. 1607 and Rs. 1883

Nokia announced the 107, affordable Dual SIM phone for China back in August and the 108 affordable camera phone with dual SIM support last month. The Nokia 107 and the 108 have a 1.8″(160 x 128 pixels) TFT display, run on Series 30 OS and features FM Radio with RDS and music player. The Nokia 108 has a VGA rear camera with video recording capabilities, Bluetooth 3.0 with SLAM that enables multimedia content sharing between phones equipped with Bluetooth. 

The Nokia 107 packs a 1020 mAh battery and the 108 comes with a 950 mAh battery.Both these use two Mini SIM cards. Both these have a micro SD card support (up to 16GB for 107 and up to 32GB for Nokia 108). The Nokia 108 comes in Yellow, White, Red, Cyan and Black, while the 107 comes in Red, Black and White.

The Nokia 107 is priced at Rs. 1,607 and is available only in Red color currently. The Nokia 108 is priced at Rs. 1,883 and is available in Cyan and White colors from the official Nokia Shop.

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Samsung Galaxy S4 mini and Galaxy S3 get price cut, now available for Rs. 22080 and Rs. 24900

Samsung has cut the price of the Galaxy S4 mini and the Galaxy S3 in India. The Galaxy S3 got a price cut in India back in February. It was launched in India in May 2012 at a MRP of Rs. 43,180. It is now available for Rs. 24,900 after the recent price cut. 

No sign of price cut for the 32GB version of the Galaxy S3 yet. This is the first price cut for the Galaxy S4 mini since its launch earlier this July for Rs. 27990. The Galaxy S4 mini is now available for Rs. 22,080 after the price cut. This was first spotted by NDTVGadgets.

It is surprising that the Galaxy S3 is still in production even months after the release of the Galaxy S4. The Samsung Galaxy Mega 5.8, Galaxy Core and Galaxy S Duos got a price cut in India back in August. BlackBerry Z10 got a huge limited period price cut in India recently. More smartphones are expected to get a price cut for this festive season.

Online retailer Flipkart is now selling these devices at new rates. These are available at a slightly higher price from the official Samsung India eStore. This might be a temporary price cut for the festive season.

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8 Ways to Get Better Battery Life on iOS7

Apple has released the final version of iOS7 and it is available for iPad, iPhone and iPod. iOS 7 comes with quite a lot of new features including new UI and icons. There are many improvements to the existing features along with new feature additions. While the new features are always a welcome addition, it also be a battery hog especially when you are using all of them at the same time. Like every release, there are complaints that the battery life with iOS7 isn’t good on older devices like iPhone 4S.

So in case you have already upgraded to iOS7 and not getting enough battery on your iOS device, then here are some simple tips to get better battery by disabling certain features. Please note, disabling all the features might not be feasible for all users, so disable the ones which you are not using.

1. Turn off Background app and content refresh:

iOS7 has a new options called Background App Refresh, which as the name indicates can refresh apps automatically in the background. Don’t waste power downloading things when you don’t explicitly need to. Settings, General, Background App Refresh shows you everything you can turn off. Also go to Settings, App Store and turn of automatic app and content downloads.

2. Turn off Siri’s Raise to Speak:

Siri is a great addition to iOS, but if you want to get more battery, you can turn off Siri’s Raise to Speak option. Go to Settings, General, Siri and turn off this option as you will get more battery life due to accelerometer issues.

3. Turn off Location Services:

Location services are used by apps like Maps, Foursquare, weather etc. This is a very useful feature, but at the same time takes battery. So if you are not using this, you can turn it off. Go to Settings, Privacy, Location Services, and turn off any app and system service you really don’t need tracking or using your location. Quite a lot of apps use location and this could cause a drop in battery life.

4. Turn off Push Notifications:

Push notifications is important if you want all the new updates from apps and your emails instantly. But at the same time, your device will be searching for new updates regularly. If you want to save battery, you can do manual push instead of automatic one scheduled. If you do not want notifications from all apps, go to Settings, Notifications, and turn off any app you don’t care to be alerted about.

5. Disable Parallax effect:

iOS7 supports parallax effect that makes home screen icons float when moving the phone around. You can disable this feature from the accessibility in the Settings.

6. Quit power hungry apps:

You can double-click the Home Button to activate the multitasking view. Here you can see all the app which are opened in your iOS device. You can close power hungry apps which runs in the background. Simply hold your finger down on power-hungry apps, and then fling them off the screen to close them. You can close apps which take up a lot of battery.

7. Disable Airdrop:

AirDrop is a feature which allows you to quick share files to other iOS devices. In case you are not using it, you can disable it and it can get you significant battery life. AirDrop will search for devices nearby and hence reduces the battery. You can quickly disable AirDrop from the Control Center in iOS7.

8. Turn off Background App Updates:

iOS7 allows you to update the installed apps automatically in the background. While this is a nice feature to have when you have too many apps installed, it can also be a problem when you are running low on battery. You can turn off background app updates from the Settings-> iTunes & App Store.

These steps should be able to get you more battery on your iOS device. If you are extremely low on battery, you can think of disabling 3G or 4G LTE network to get more power out of your device.

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Micromax MMX 440W wireless router, hotspot and portable charger

Micromax has launched a stylish, sleek and portable Wi-Fi router named MMX 440W. It can function as hotspot, router and can also charge devices like smartphones, thanks to the 4400 mAh battery that it houses. It is listed on flipkart for Rs. 2090.

They price details have not yet been revealed but the MMX 440W model is already listed on the Micromax info website. This portable router comes with 2.4GHz WLAN Band and supports HSDPA / HSUPA / HSPA+, CDMA EVDO Rev modem.

You can plug in your wired LAN cable and use the MMX 440W as a hotpots connecting and sharing the net connection with up to 32 devices simultaneously. There is a built in rechargeable battery of 4400 mAh capacity. You can carry this device anywhere – simply plugin in any wired network and go wireless.

Another unique thing about this device is that the same battery can be used to charge other mobile devices. In all the MMX 440W can act as a portable charger, can be used as a portable router and a Wi-Fi hotspot. This is similar to the Lava W200 pocket wireless router with power bank, however the W200 cannot be used to charge another device moreover the battery is just 1800 mAh capacity.

440W will cost a little more than the Lava W200 model, as it comes with better features.

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XOLO launches XOLO Play Tab 7.0 for under Rs. 13000

XOLO Play Tab 7.0 is powered by Tegra 3 processor and runs Jelly Bean OS on a 7 inch screen. XOLO Tegra Note made headlines in September that will come powered by Tegra 4 processor. The Play Tab 7.0 is already listed on some online stores for a price tag of Rs. 12,999.

XOLO started the tablet series by launching the XOLO Tab that supports 3G, powered by quad core processor (Qualcomm Snapdragon 8225Q) and priced at Rs. 13,499. The XOLO Play Tab 7.0 is different from the XOLO Tab as well as from, yet to be launched the XOLO Tegra Note. The Play Tab 7.0 is more powerful than the XOLO Tab, but doesn’t support 3G.

XOLO Play Tab 7.0 comes powered by NVIDIA T30L cortex A9 (Cortex A9 Tegra 3) quad core chipset clocked at 1.2GHz with 12-core NVIDIA ULP GeForce GPU. This tablet is 10.6mm thick and weight is around 338 grams.Capacitive IPS display is 7 inches with supported resolution of 1280×800 pixels with 16M colors.

Play TAB 7.0 runs on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean OS with 1GB RAM and 8GB internal storage + micro SD card support of up to 32GB.Other key features are front 2 megapixel camera (there is no rear camera), Wi-Fi (b/g/n) with hotspot, full HD playback (1080p) supported, USB 2.0, 3.5mm audio jack and Bluetooth 4.0. 

A 4000 mAh Li-ion battery gives music playback time of up to 8 hours using the internal speakers and the tab can be fully re-charged within 4 hours.

The XOLO Play Tab 7.0 for Rs. 12,999 – takes you to the next level of entertainment.

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