Android 3.2 Heading for Motorola Xoom 3G

After the recent Android 3.1 update for the Wi-Fi version of the Xoom in India, it’s the 3G version’s turn. The Wi-Fi version has already received the 3.2 update in the West a while back, and now Verizon has posted details about the 3G version getting the update. The ‘soak test’ completed a few daysago, so we should be expecting the update to roll out any time now. There’s no official word on when this update will be hitting our shores yet, but we expect it to arrive soon.

3.2 update rolling out soon for the 3G version

Android 3.2 is the next incremental update to Honeycomb that brings with it a host of new features, as well as some much needed performance optimizations. Some of the major changes include ‘Media Sync from SD card’ that now lets apps directly access media from the SD card slot, if the tablet has one. The next one is ‘Compatibility zoom for fixed size apps’, which adds a new menu icon in the system bar for apps that are not designed for a larger screen. Finally, we have a bunch of general optimizations done for a wide range of tablets of different sizes. Google has also added some new APIs for developers to manage their apps better across different screen sizes. For the full change log, hit this link here.

MSI Announces Low Priced Tablets for India - ENJOYPAD 7 and 10

MSI’s WINPAD tablet running Windows 7 was unveiled last year Computex 2010 but never really made much of an impact on the Indian market. It does however appear, that they fully intend to launch their budget priced tablets viz. the ENJOYPAD 7 and 10 (not really the best name out there) for this market.   Low priced and ready to go The new Enjoy series of tablets feature a 1.2 GHz ARM Cortex-A8 processor and 512 Mb of RAM. This means new slim tablets will be running Android 2.3.3 aka Gingerbread out of the box. Perhaps Honeycomb would have required them to up the price. There's been no word on whether or not these devices will be upgradable to Honeycomb at some later date. The tablets will have Adobe Flash 10.1, support for better web browsing and feature display resolutions of 800 x 480 pixels for the 7-incher (16:9) and 1024 x 768 for the larger 10-inch device (4:3). Aside from that both tablets will be equipped with dual 2 megapixel cameras for video calling and images. Other features include Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP. These ENJOYPAD tablets will come with 4GB of internal memory and support for microSD cards up to 32GB. MSI has stated that the battery life (4000mAh Lithium battery) on these devices have a target of 4-5 hours of usage. We can only confirm this after our own tests of course.    The tablets are priced at Rs. 14,999 for the ENJOYPAD 10 and Rs. 13,999 for the smaller ENJOYPAD 7. They can also be ordered online from http://in.msi.com/.

VisionMobile Report: Android Not a Very 'Open' Platform

One of the reasons for Android’s success is the belief that it’s an open operating system and people generally like that. A study done by VisionMobile, an analysis and research company states that Android isn’t the most open platform out there. VisionMobile has deviced a way to gauge the ‘openness’ of a software or platform and it turns out Android has an openness rating of just 23 percent. Eclipse, a software development toolset scores the best score of 84 percent followed by Linux at 71 per cent. Webkit, the rendering engine for Apple’s Safari and Google’s Chrome browser closely follow at 68 and 65 per cent respectively.

Android trails behind the rest

VisionMobile believes that openness of a software or code is not only to do with the license that it adheres to, but also to do with Governance. Governance is what decides the roadmap for the project, the transparency of the decision making process, whether the discussion on the development of the project is open to everyone and if anyone can choose to make variants of the project. VisionMobile believes that the most open of projects are likely to do well in the long run. The only odd one out is Android, which although popular, isn’t as open as some of the other platforms. VisionMobile says it wouldn’t have been as successful, if vendors hadn’t pumped in the money that made it a strong competitor to Apple’s iOS-based devices.

Six Free Video Chat Apps for Your Android/iOS Smartphone

With a whole plethora of free applications available for video calling on smartphones, we users are spoilt for choice.

With a whole plethora of free applications available for video calling on smartphones, we users are spoilt for choice. While most apps currently allow video calling over 3G and Wi-Fi for multi-platform users, it’s the extra features that set these applications apart. Let’s take a look at few of the currently available video chat apps, for both Android and IOS Skype The most popular video chat application currently, Skype allows free video calls between Skype users via both 3G and Wi-Fi. Post registration, Skype allows users on Android and iOS devices, MAC and Windows PC to make video calls to each other. Call quality is impressive, however, Skype currently allows video calling on extremely limited handsets. Skype Fring Fring allows free video calls via 3G and Wi-Fi between users from different networks (MSN, ICQ, Google Talk, AIM and Yahoo!). It requires registration to the Fring server and allows syncing of contacts from the networks mentioned above. What sets it apart from the rest of the applications, though, is support for a four-way group video chat. Fring Tango Another up and coming video chat service, Tango, is the ‘Whatsapp’ of video calling. Besides the usual video calling over 3G and Wi-Fi, the tango app seamlessly integrates into your phonebook and updates your contact list based on the people who have installed the app. The only downer for this app is that it is not as popular as some of the other apps for Android and iOS currently available. Tango Qik Qik, like the other apps, supports video calling over 3G and Wi-Fi. In addition to that, it allows video recording and uploading too. An interesting feature that Qik supports is video sharing for select circles. So, your colleagues will not have access to the videos you uploaded for your friends to view. Qik also supports live uploading, which means that if the user has Internet access, any video recording gets uploaded simultaneously in real time.  Qik

Vtok
Vtok is a surprisingly small application that allows video calls for Gmail users over both 3G and Wi-Fi. What sets it apart from the rest of the apps is that users do not need an account to sign up, they simply need to log-in with their Gmail account. Another feature is the option to choose between the front and the back camera on the device. The back camera option might just beat the whole purpose of video chatting; however, it could be helpful for users who want to try video calling features, despite their phones lacking a front camera. 

Vtok

ooVoo
Another video calling app that deserves recognition is ooVoo. It currently supports three-way video calling with HD video capability at 720p. 720p video calling is definitely work in progress with the current data rates. However, connection via Wi-Fi easily translates into superior call quality. Another feature is recording and sending video messages to friends or email addresses. Users can also send files up to 5MB in the free version. 

ooVoo

Honourable Mention: Facetime
Facetime, as we all know, is an iOS exclusive application that allows video calling between iOS users. It allows video calling through both, the front and the back cameras. The application has the best call quality out of the lot, however, it is usable via Wi-Fi only.

Facetime

All the apps currently support video, voice and text chatting between phones and desktops. Naturally for any video calling app, the best option is connection via Wi-Fi, due to better data rates and minimalistic fluctuations. Wi-Fi to 3G works decent, with the worst option being video calling over the 3G services currently available in India. What we would love to see in the near future is Google integrating the Google Chat Video Calling service in Android Phones, as well as the Facebook+Skype app for phones. Also, WhatsApp could give their chat service a major boost by introducing video calling among their users. 

The above mentioned apps are just a few of the many available options. Do feel free to list your favourites amongst these or any other options you would like to share.

Samsung Stops Revealing Phone and Tablet Sales Data

According to the Wall Street Journal, Samsung Electronics Co. on Friday, released an announcement saying that they will stop reporting sales data for their mobile phones and tablet computers. According to Samsung, competition in this segment has intensified and this step has been taken to potentially reduce the risks attached to divulging figures, which could eventually affect Samsung’s own businesses. In their earnings release, Samsung have simply noted that, ‘shipments of mobile handsets increased in the high-single-digit range quarter-on-quarter’. When asked for a further explanation, Samsung declined the request.

Samsung stops reporting phone sales data

Samsung was recently entangled in a legal battle with Apple; with the latter accusing Samsung of copying the iPhone’s hardware, software, design, packaging and marketing. There could be a chance that this might have influenced Samsung's plans of hiding their sales data. Because  the rate at which Samsung’s smartphone sales are increasing, they will be stiff competition for Apple. Samsung’s phone sales may not have reached the number they were expecting to, this quarter, which might have led them to believe that it would be best to cease reporting phone and tablet sales data.

Exploring App Stores – Media Players for Android

One of the main reasons people buy Android phones is the wealth of customization options available in the form of apps. Apple’s App Store may still be the largest one today, but the Android Marketplace is expanding rapidly, and you’ll find most of the popular apps available on both platforms. When it comes to multimedia, the stock music and video player in Android offers very basic functionality and supports just a handful of formats. Unless you have something like Samsung’s TouchWiz UI, which supports MKV and FLAC out of the box, you have to rely on apps. Here are some of the best video and audio players available in the Marketplace, which I think are worth checking out.

RockPlayer Lite
We start off with RockPlayer Lite, a free video player that’s been around for sometime now and is still one of the best players. The player supports most popular video formats including MKV. The interface is not very fancy and directly gives you access to the folders and files in your phone. It also supports subtitles for movies.

A very capable barebones video player

Currently the only free version is available, which puts a little ‘R’ in the upper right corner of the screen and since the paid version has been taken down, there's no way around this.

Moboplayer
This is my personal favourite media player, as it offers all the features of RockPlayer in an easy-to-use interface. It supports multiple audio streams from a single video, multi-subtitles, hardware and software decoding, video streaming though HTTP protocols and thumbnail display of videos. The OSD controls are very intuitive as well, for example swiping your finger on the right side of the screen lets you control the volume, while the left controls the brightness.

Will play just about any video format

You can also lock the OSD by tapping the ‘Options’ soft key on your phone. The best part, besides it being free, is that when you start it the first time, it checks if you have the necessary codecs installed. If you don’t, it will redirect you to the Marketplace for the right codec pack for your phone. 

TuneWiki  
Let’s face it, the stock Android music player is a disappointment. This is where TuneWiki comes in. It’s a novice friendly music player app with a social networking twist. You sign in using your Facebook or Twitter account and invite your friends on TuneWiki. Then, through the SongBox feature, you can see what your friends are listening to, which is a great way to discover new music.

Discover new music through your friends with Facebook and Twitter integration

It even has an ‘F Like’ option for Facebook. Song ID is a feature similar to Shazaam and Sound Hound. The app also automatically pulls lyrics for the currently playing song and shows up at the bottom of the ‘Now Playing’ screen. Other features include managing and editing playlists, Song Maps that let you discover what songs are trending, videos of the songs in your playlist and streaming radio from SHOUTcast.   

Cubed This app is currently still in Beta, but it works just fine and I haven’t come across any major bugs, yet. Albums are displayed in the form of a 3D cube, which can be flipped vertically to scroll through the albums or horizontally to find any album alphabetically. The animations are really slick and smooth, but you’ll probably need a fast processor for the best experience.  Cool animations make it fun to use A five band graphic equalizer is present as well with a nice graphical representation. You also get different desktop widgets, so you can access your music without opening the app.  PowerAMP This is possibly the best and most powerful music player app in the Marketplace. The free version lets you try the app with all its features for 15 days. The paid version is not cheap, but worth it if you’re a music buff. The audio support list is quite extensive, which includes FLAC and APE formats, as well. The 10 band equalizer can be adjusted for a single song or a list of songs, perfect for the audio geek. Excellent tweaking options for your music Other features include crossfade, gapless playback, folder view, CUE file support, download missing album art, visual themes and many more. Hit the title to try the free version.  mVideo Player Finally, if you’re somewhat of a neat freak, then you’ll love mVideo Player. It’s not as powerful as Moboplayer or RockPlayer, as it will only play videos that your phone can natively play. However, it does one hell of a job organizing all your videos into categories, perfect if you have many TV shows on your phone. Great app for organising your video collection It also has IMDB and OpenSubtitles integrated to give you quick info about the movie you’re watching or find subtitles for the current video. Poster search lets you find movie posters making it easier to recognize the movie in your library.   That’s it from my end. Feel free to share your favourite media players in the comments below.

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.