Technoway : 06/14/13

Friday, 14 June 2013

Water resistant Sony Xperia ZR to be launched soon in India, up for grab online at Rs29,990



Sony is expected to launch its water resistant smartphone Xperia ZR soon in India as it is listed for pre-order on ecommerce sites. The device has appeared on Flipkart.com and Infibeam.com with a price tag of Rs. 29,990. The amazing feature of this phone is its ability to take pictures even while it remains submerged in 1.5 meters of fresh water for up to 30 minutes and the user can shoot even from a locked screen. The company is clearly betting on its USP that it is highly water resistant and one can film in full HD underwater. The device comes with 4.6” HD Reality Display with Mobile BRAVIA Engine 2 for sharp and bright viewing experience. It has 13 MP fast capture camera with HDR video and “Exmor RS for mobile” and is suitable for capturing perfect photos and videos in any conditions as per company’s claims. The company claims that it is dust-resistant and is IP55 and IP58 compliant, so one can keep it submerged in 1.5 meters of fresh water for up to 30 minutes. The user can shoot even from a locked screen. It is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro quad-core 1.5 GHz processor, and 4G LTE. There seems to be completion between MediaTek and Qualcomm as far as the Quad-Core processor is concerned. Handset maker like Micromax has tie-up with MediaTek in India, The device boasts of “WALKMAN” application for access to all users’ downloaded music, a library of over 20 million songs to explore from Music Unlimited and Facebook social integration. It come with Stereo Bluetooth Headset SBH50 is an advanced app-enabled wireless headset with built-in FM radio, OLED display and one-touch connection for wireless audio streaming. The phone also offers NFC functionality and is LTE 4G capable. Sony managed to ship 33 million Xperia smartphones, with the company claiming that a vast majority of these were Xperia Z handsets. Sony had said that the Xperia ZR will be launched in various global markets from Q2 2013 (availability will vary by market). Specifications: 4.6” HD Reality Display with Mobile BRAVIA Engine 2 for sharp and bright viewing experience. 13MP fast capture camera with “Exmor RS for mobile” and HDR for perfect photos and videos in any conditions. Waterproof and dust-resistant (IP55 /IP58) for the ultimate in durable design. Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro quad-core 1.5 GHz processor with 2GB RAM for fast performance. Battery STAMINA Mode for outstanding battery life.

Mercedes E-class facelift coming soon

It's been almost four years since Mercedes-Benz launched the W212 generation E-class in India. The time is ripe then for this mid-life facelift. What Mercedes has essentially done with this car is taken the E-class's most distinctive features - the four headlight setup and the ‘Ponton’ haunches - and updated them thoroughly. The most obvious change is with the headlamps that are now encased in a single flowing lens with LED elements for the low beam and daytime running lamps. Mercedes is also offering the E-class with the option of full LED headlamps. Then, you'll notice the more aggressive grille that flows into a re-profiled bonnet and a new front bumper devoid of fog lamps- changes that make the E-class look a lot more dynamic than the stately looks of old.Move to the sides and the biggest change is that the ponton haunches make way for a smoother, cleaner design that flows into the new tail-lamps and a sportier rear bumper. Overall, it's a sharper, cleaner design that has at the least given the W212 a few more years of freshness.

Mercedes E-class facelift coming soon

As for the insides, the updates are more subtle and most notably with the thick bar of silver trim (or wood, depending on the variant) that separates the upper and lower part of the dashboard. There's a new sportier steering wheel, the air-con vents have been redesigned and the controls beneath the audio system's head unit are new as well. The dials are new, the COMAND system gets a new screen and Merc is bringing in a sat-nav and a DVD player as well. Another big talking point is that Merc could also offer a park assist system, similar to the one in the VW Passat, which will help park the car once it detects a suitable parking slot. We've always loved Merc cabins for their tough build and exceptional fit and finish and we expect nothing to change in this respect.

The Indian E-class will be offered with two engine options - the petrol is a 2.0-litre, direct injection motor making 184bhp and the diesel, a 2.1-litre, 204bhp motor. Both engines are four-cylinder units mated to Merc's 7G-tronic automatic transmission. Merc says the top-of the range six-cylinder E350 CDI has been discontinued for now.
Mercedes is expected to make an announcement about the updated E-class on 25 June.

BSNL employees slam telegram service closure

Even as the Union government gears to give the iconic telegram service a grand farewell on July 15, BSNL employees have condemned the move, arguing that it is still being used by government departments and organisations and those in rural and remote areas.

Rejecting BSNL’s contention that mounting losses made the service unsustainable, unions have urged Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal to try to make it profitable. “It is a valued service and should be kept as a skeleton service and preserved as a heritage,” says the Forum of BSNL Unions/Associations, which represents more than 2.5 lakh employees of the state telecom major.

‘Most authentic’

“Even after the introduction of… Internet, STD and e-mail, telegrams are still used by military personnel for official use and also for contacting their families from remote locations… Many banks and State governments are still utilising the service. Telegrams are also treated as most authentic… in legal matters and official records. At least, minimum service should be maintained in the interests of the people who are still using it,” Forum convener V.A.N. Namboodiri has said. He urged Mr. Sibal to hold discussions with unions before taking a final decision.

Mr. Sibal has said the telegram service will get a “ceremonial farewell.” “We will bid it a very warm farewell, and maybe the last telegram sent should be a museum piece. That is the way in which we can bid it a warm farewell,” he said on Thursday.

In India, the first telegraph message was transmitted live between Calcutta (now Kolkata) and Diamond Harbour, a distance of 50 km, on November 5, 1850; and the service was opened for the public in February 1855. Over the years, BSNL made several upgrades, the latest being the web-based messaging system introduced in 2010.

CloudOn CEO: Office Mobile for iPhone is 'half-baked'

Microsoft’s Office Mobile for iPhone is a “half-baked” effort that breaks basic features like file compatibility, according to the chief executive of rival CloudOn, which provides Office compatibility across the Apple iPhone, iPad, and Android platforms.
However, Milind Gadekar, CloudOn’s chief executive, acknowledged that Microsoft’s offering was superior in its offline capabilities, a lead that it hopes to erase throughout the rest of the year.
Microsoft released Office Mobile for iPad early on Friday, via a “free” utility that requires an annual $100 Office 365 subscription to use. CloudOn, however, provides users with the ability to access a stored copy of Office in the cloud, for free, with the ability to save documents to a number of online storage providers. On the other hand, it requires a persistent online connection, and can suffer a performance hit if the connection is poor or drops.
Nevertheless, CloudOn’s true Office compatibility and ability to export documents to a number of providers makes its solution the right one if an iOS user wants Office compatibility, Gadekar said. It already boasts 4 million users, he said.

Office for Mobile allows users to open, edit, and save Word and Excel files. But it doesn’t offer features like “Track Changes,” which allows users to, well, monitor the changes made to a file.

”One should assume that file compatibility should work,” Gadekar said. “If I’m a lawyer, and I live and breathe with Track Changes, and my whole life revolves around Track Changes, one would expect that Track Changes should work if I bring up a Word document on an iPhone. And it doesn’t.”

That’s true, according to one paralegal PCWorld contacted, who asked not to be named. Changes are needed so a lawyer can approach a problem critically and make sure the elements of the case are properly noted.

Office Mobile: Half baked?

Gadekar also went on to imply that Microsoft had released Office Mobile before it was fully done.

“Microsoft’s model is to release a version of the software and then iterate until they get it right,” Gadekar said. “Now consumers will either adopt the product or walk away from the product. Putting out a half-baked product could be disastrous, and in some sense it feels that, at least in the first version of it, especially around areas of file compatibility, where images do not show up, and you do not have the ability to add a spreadsheet, these are very basic capabilities that one should assume should exist.”
PCWorld asked Microsoft to comment on Gadekar’s quote. At press time, the company had not responded.
Wes Miller, an analyst at Directions on Microsoft, said in an interview this week that there could eventually be three levels of Office: one for the iPhone, with the ability to access documents and do light editing; a more full-featured version for the iPad; and a “full” version of Office for the Mac or other desktop platforms.

Gadekar said that he saw similar layers of functionality: an “access” layer, a “review” layer, and a “heavy editing” aspect. The first two could be performed offline, he said, with only the third requiring a persistent level of connection.
CloudOn’s plan is to address those issues in the coming months, Gadekar said. The company’s roadmap calls for collaborative sharing and editing of documents by this summer, with additional improvements throughout the rest of the year. By the fourth quarter, he said, some of the offline functionality for the access and review aspects of CloudOn should be enabled.
Gadekar also addressed questions of network connectivity, which can be a source of headaches when using a cloud-based service like CloudOn. There is an advantage to a native application, he admitted, especially when dealing with the unpredictability of a network interface. “We continue to make investments to help improve the experience,” he said.

Josh Fortune HD arrives in India, shows off a retail tag of Rs 11,999

AT&T taking pre-orders for Galaxy S 4 Active, in stores June 21

Samsung's rugged Galaxy S 4 Active will make its U.S. debut on June 21. (Samsung)

AT&T and Samsung are going after outdoorsy customers with the new Galaxy S 4 Active, a rugged version of Samsung's popular flagship smartphone.
With a thicker and heavier shell than the original Galaxy S 4, the G S 4 Active is able to keep dust out of its components as well as water even when submerged under more than three feet of water for up to a half hour.
The G S 4 Active was unveiled earlier this month, but AT&T did not announce it would be the exclusive U.S. carrier until this week.

AT&T began taking pre-orders for the G S 4 Active on Friday. The phone is available for $199.99 with a two-year contract and will be available to customers starting June 21.
The South Korean tech giant has already succeeded in capturing mass audiences with its flagship device, more than 10 million of which were sold in one month, and now it is going after more niche markets by releasing variants of the phone that have been slightly altered to appeal to different people.
The G S 4 Active will be the first of the G S 4 variants Samsung is releasing to become available in the U.S. Additionally, Samsung will be releasing a G S 4 mini for customers who want a smaller device, the G S 4 zoom for customers interested in photography and the G S 4 Google edition for customers who want their device to run on Google's stock Android software, not the version customized by Samsung.

Nokia's super camera phones at 41-megapixel coming soon

General view of the Nokia flagship store in Helsinki. (Reuters)

Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia has plans to make an announcement on July 11, according to a press invitation sent out on Thursday and amidst widespread speculation in online media that it is about to launch a new flagship camera phone.
An e-mailed press invitation to the event in New York featured the phrase "ZOOM. REINVENTED". Technology blogs and websites have recently published pictures online purporting to show the new phone with a 41-megapixel photographic sensor.
Nokia has launched a succession of new phones in various price segments over the past month after first-quarter results showed a surprisingly steep drop in lower-end handset sales.
The company declined to comment further on its press invitation.

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Friday, 14 June 2013

Office Mobile: Half baked?