February 2016 |

Nokia-Samsung Patent Verdict Expected Within Days

February 8, 2016 Richard Gomez 4

Home | Mobiles | Mobiles News Nokia-Samsung Patent Verdict Expected Within Days Reuters , 1 February 2016 Nokia and Samsung are expected to settle their two-year patent dispute within days, with analysts forecasting a one-time payment of hundreds of millions of euros for the Finnish company.
Nokia entered into a binding arbitration with South Korea's Samsung in 2013 to settle additional compensations for a five-year period starting from early 2014.
The International Chamber of Commerce's arbitration court is due to make its ruling on the issue imminently.
Nordea analyst Sami Sarkamies, one of few analysts to give a precise estimate, said the verdict could boost Nokia's operating profit by about EUR 700 million ($758 million or roughly Rs. 5,138 crores) this year, forecasting the court will stipulate an annual patent fee of EUR 300 million.
“Samsung has been paying Nokia probably 100 million per year, and the rate could now come up to around EUR 300 million (per year). Th..

HTC RE Camera Review 2023

February 8, 2016 Richard Gomez 7

Home | Cameras | Cameras Reviews HTC RE Camera Review: Fun Concept, Patchy Implementation by Ershad Kaleebullah , 29 December 2014 Many believe that smartphones have turned us into trigger-happy zombies who would rather capture an entire concert on video than actually enjoy the show. We don't really want to discuss about their beliefs here, but we'd like to highlight one thing: the convenience of fishing out your smartphone from the pocket to capture a moment is unparalleled. Additionally, this candybar-shaped device inside your pocket is fast becoming a quite capable shooter that can at times give many digital cameras a run for their money.
On the other end of the spectrum, there are sports and action cameras like the GoPro Hero series which can be a great companion for people who want to dabble in a little bit of adventure videography. Here again, the focus is on hands-free operation.
In short, there is no dearth of convenient shooters that can get the job done in a swift ..

Sigma dp2 Quattro Review: Captures Images Brimming With Colour

February 8, 2016 Richard Gomez 6

Home | Cameras | Cameras Reviews Sigma dp2 Quattro Review: Captures Images Brimming With Colour by Ershad Kaleebullah , 9 February 2015 Sigma is a Japanese family-owned business that makes lenses for DSLRs and micro four-thirds cameras, proprietary sensor technology that is starkly different from what the industry uses, and of course, cameras. It operates in a niche segment that caters to imaging experts who want to go beyond established ideas of photography and capture images that look incredibly lifelike. Whether Sigma's strategy works or not is a debate for another day, but it is definitely making some headway in this niche space.
Sigma's latest compact camera in India is the dp2 Quattro, which has a design that is whacky and unusual when compared to the dp2 Merrill. It also improves upon its predecessor in the specifications department by using an upgraded version of Sigma's proprietary Foveon X3 sensor.
There are three cameras in the dp Quattro series, each with a ..

Canon PowerShot SX60 HS Review 2023

February 8, 2016 Richard Gomez 5

Home | Cameras | Cameras Reviews Canon PowerShot SX60 HS Review: Big Zoom, Average Performance by Ershad Kaleebullah , 14 February 2015 For those who don't want to deal with the learning curve generally associated with DSLR cameras, a high-end compact makes the most sense. While these cameras cannot actually capture DSLR-quality images, they pack in a ton of features for a price that is more pocket-friendly.
Some of these cameras have SLR-like designs and amazing zooming capabilities. We have with us the Canon PowerShot SX60 HS, which is the world's first compact camera with a 65x optical zoom lens. Canon also adds the latest Digic 6 processor into the mix. Let's find out if the SX60 HS can wow us with its image quality.
Design and screen
Thanks to the really long optical zoom lens, the Canon PowerShot SX60 HS feels heavier and chunkier than most other super-zoom cameras in the market today, including its predecessor the SX50 HS. It has dimensions of 127.6×92.6×14.3mm ..

Audio Technica ATH-WS770iS 2023

February 8, 2016 Richard Gomez 4

Home | Tv | Tv Reviews Audio Technica ATH-WS770iS Review by Ali Pardiwala , 2 February 2016 When it comes to good personal audio, few brands have the same reputation and stature as Japanese manufacturer Audio Technica. The company's microphones and headphones are widely used the world over by professionals and audiophiles. Furthermore, major events and showcases, including the Grammy Awards and the Olympic Games, have relied on Audio Technica for audio solutions.
Even if you leave aside the company's achievements in professional audio and focus only on the headphones division, Audio Technica is no slouch. The popular ATH-M50X headphones are frequently praised by enthusiasts everywhere, and we're quite fond of them too, having included three of the company's models in our list of the Best On-Ear and Around-Ear Headphones for Every Budget.
While the aforementioned ATH-M50X is a monitor headset and is therefore tuned to deliver a neutral sonic signature, the Audio Tech..

Jaybird X2 2023 Review

February 8, 2016 Richard Gomez 4

Home | Tv | Tv Reviews Jaybird X2 Review by Ali Pardiwala , 6 February 2016 Demand for wireless headphones is growing, and music-focused stereo Bluetooth headsets are all the rage right now. Thanks to a vast improvement in the quality of Bluetooth audio transmission over the years, it's now possible to effortlessly stream high-quality sound without any of the typical issues that plagued the early years of wireless audio.
Jaybird, an American company, has already won some praise for its Bluebuds X earphones, and is widely considered among the better audio products for athletes and fitness enthusiasts. The newest product in the range is the Rs. 15,999 Jaybird X2, touted by the company as “perfection in wireless sound”. We're keen to put that claim to the test in our comprehensive review of the Jaybird X2.
Design, specifications and comfort
The Jaybird X2 is a pair of wireless in-ear headphones, with the earbuds connected to each other by a short flat cable that runs behind your..

Le 1s 2023 Review

February 8, 2016 Richard Gomez 8

LeEco (the company formerly known as LeTV) is the latest to join the long, long list of Chinese smartphone manufacturers trying their luck in India. The company doesn't have any of the advantages of being an early mover, and no matter how shockingly low it can push prices, it won't be the first to be doing so. Still, there's a lot to like about the Le 1s, which is quite full of interesting features considering its budget price tag.
LeEco hasn't gone only for impressive specifications; it's clearly trying to achieve a level of desirability, as you can immediately see from the Le 1s's metal body. While the much more expensive Le Max (Review | Pictures) took on the might of mainstream flagships and came up looking just a little short, LeEco is hoping that the Le 1s will have much wider appeal.
Look and feel
There's only so far you can go with specifications, and so LeEco has decided to bring premium materials and build quality to the budget smartphone sp..

Samsung Galaxy A7 (2016) and Galaxy A5 (2016) First Impressions

February 8, 2016 Richard Gomez 4

Samsung, at its Southwest Asia Forum 2016 in Kuala Lumpur, announced details of its new Galaxy A5 and Galaxy A7 2016 edition smartphones for the Indian market. The handsets were first unveiled last year in China, though the company had not disclosed anything about the availability of the two refreshed models outside China at that time.
The Galaxy A series was first launched in late 2014, and now the South Korean giant claims that it has contributed to increase in its worldwide 4G market share, along with the J-series. According to Samsung, its share in 4G devices increased from 25.9 percent in December 2014 to 60.6 percent in December 2015. The company however declined to share exact numbers.
We spent some time with both the new Galaxy A5 and Galaxy A7 2016 edition smartphones at the launch event and here are our first impressions.
At the press briefing in Kuala Lumpur, Samsung stressed that the new generation Galaxy A5 and Galaxy A7 are designed using glass and metal. This was evident..

Asus ZenFone Zoom 2023 Review

February 8, 2016 Richard Gomez 5

Innovation tends to reach a saturation point after a while, which bogs down pretty much ever facet of technology. What do you do when those eureka moments start drying up and you find yourself looking for something new to wow your audience with? Putting a fresh spin on old technology seems like one way to go about it. Smartphone cameras with optical zoom have been around ever since Nokia launched the N90, way back when. This didn't exactly catch on since no one likes carrying a bulky camera in their pockets, which is what these phones essentially were.
Samsung has toyed with this idea a bit, with its last attempt being the Galaxy K Zoom over two years ago. The 10X optical zoom was the highlight of this phone but it was still more of a digital camera than a smartphone.
Asus has never known to shy away from experimenting with hybrid devices and its latest incarnation is the ZenFone Zoom. This is its attempt at a smartphone with optical zoom and thankfully, it hasn't compromi..

No Need to Fret, Apple Is Doing Fine

February 8, 2016 Richard Gomez 7

Home | Mobiles | Mobiles Features No Need to Fret, Apple Is Doing Fine Farhad Manjoo, The New York Times , 28 January 2016 Let's get this out of the way first: Despite what you may have heard, the iPhone is not dying. Neither, by extension, is Apple.
It's true that in an earnings report Tuesday, after weeks of speculation by Wall Street that iPhone sales would finally hit a peak, Apple confirmed the news: iPhone sales grew at their lowest-ever rate in the last quarter. And the company projected total sales of as much as $53 billion (roughly Rs. 3,61,532 crores) in the current quarter that ends in March, which would be a decline of 8.6 percent from last year and Apple's first revenue drop in more than a decade.
But if Apple is now hitting a plateau, it's important to remember that it's one of the loftiest plateaus in the history of business. The $18.4 billion (roughly Rs. 1,25,518 crores) profit that Apple reported Tuesday is the most ever earned by any company ..

Lenovo Phab Plus 2023 Review

February 8, 2016 Richard Gomez 7

Yes, the new Lenovo Phab Plus is enormous and unweildy. No, it's not worth buying if you do not explicitly want a huge phone – or a tablet that can also make voice calls. Now that that's out of the way, we can look at it for what it really is rather than dismissing it as ridiculous: a hybrid device designed for people who spend a lot more time playing games and watching videos than talking on the phone.
Lenovo stresses the screen and audio quality of the Phab Plus, which is a way of saying it's an entertainment-focused device. There really isn't anything else like it on the market. With a metal body and a price tag close to Rs. 20,000, Lenovo is trying to create a premium niche in the voice-calling tablet market. Let's see if the company has tapped a whole new product category, or whether the Phab Plus is just a novelty that will soon be forgotten.
Look and feel
The very first thing to deal with when it comes to this phone is its size. With a 6.8-inch screen an..

Asus ZenPad 8.0 (Z380KL) Review: Flying the Android Tablet Flag

February 9, 2016 Richard Gomez 9

Asus has been one of the earliest proponents of Android tablets, producing the excellent Transformer range as well as two generations of Nexus tablets. The company also tried its hand with the FonePad and MemoPad series, although some of these products such as the FonePad 7 (FE171CG) (Review | Pictures) didn't quite impress us.
That hasn't stopped Asus from persisting, and the Taiwanese company has now brought its 'Zen' branding to tablets. Hoping to replicate the success of the ZenFone range, the ZenPad tablets were launched earlier this month. Today, we have the ZenPad 8.0 for review, which is the top-end model. Running on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 SoC, the ZenPad 8.0 aims to offer the ZenFone experience with a larger screen. We go into the details in our review.
Look and feel
Although the Asus ZenPad 8.0 goes by the Zen branding that Asus has been using for its smartphone lineup, the tablet itself bears no similarities to the smartphones. There are no off-screen ..