Vivid Blue HTC One and One mini officially announced

Images of the Blue HTC One surfaced last month, now HTC has officially announced that the HTC One and the One mini would come in Vivid Blue colors. The HTC One was released in Silver and Black colors initially and the Red HTC One was released in China and UK recently. The One mini was released in Glacial Silver and Stealth Black colors similar to the One.

New colors would offer customers range of choices. Samsung announced the Galaxy S4 in five new colors including Pink, Blue, Red, Purple and Brown back in June, in addition to the Black Mist and White Frost color variants. Hope other companies like LG follow them and launch their flagship smartphone in range of colors in addition to the Black and White colors.

The new Vivid Blue HTC One and One mini models would be available in select markets from Q4 2013.

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Mercury mTAB Star with dual-core processor, 3G and voice calling launched

Kobian has launched the mTAB Star, a new 7-inch tablet. It has a 7-inch ( 1024 x 600 pixels) capacitive touch screen, powered by a 1 GHz dual-core processor and runs on Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean). It has a 2-megapixel pixel rear camera with LED flash and a 0.3-megapixel front-facing  camera. It has 3G data connectivity and voice calling through a SIM card slot and packs a 3000 mAh battery. It has Adobe Flash 11.1 and a built-in speaker.

Commenting on the launch, Sushmita Das, Country Manager – India at Kobian Pte Ltd said

mTAB Star will compete and stand strong as the ultimate choice for purchase this festive season across the consumers for its light weight and advanced features at attractive cost. It has all the required latest features to enjoy work and play. It has been well designed and developed to address the increasing demand for stylish products in the market.

Mercury mTAB Star Specifications

• 7-inch (1024 x 600 pixels) capacitive multi-touch display
• 1 GHz dual-core MediaTek MT6577 processor
• Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) OS
• 12 mm thick, weight 320 grams
• 2MP rear camera with LED flash
• 0.3MP (VGA) front-facing camera
• 512MB RAM, 4 GB internal memory, expandable memory up to 32GB with micro SD
• 3G (via SIM card slot), WiFi b/g/n, Blutooth 3.0, USB 2.0
• 3.5mm audio jack, Built-in Speaker
• 3000 mAh battery

The Mercury mTAB Star comes with 1 year warranty and is expected to be available in first week of September 2013. The price would be available at the time of availability .

LG G Pad 8.3 shows up in a leaked render

LG released a teaser video for its upcoming LG G Pad 8.3 tablet. Though the video had little to do with the tablet, it was about various people talking what they use their tablet for and what would make them use it more. The theme of the teaser goes by “What would make a tablet just right for you?”. The new LG G Pad is expected to be announced at the IFA in early September.

From the video, we couldn’t guess much other than the fact that the G Pad 8.3 will have an 8.3 inch display of Full HD resolution (probably 1920×1200). According to rumors and other reports, the G Pad 8.3 is expected to have a Snapdragon 800 SoC clocked at 2.3 GHz. The leaked render shows the LG G Pad 8.3 right next to the company’s flagship – G2. The G Pad 8.3 shares a similar design language with the G2 with a rectangular build and rounded corners with thin side bezels.

If the rumors turn out to be true, then the G Pad 8.3 will be LG’s first tablet since the Honeycomb basedOptimus Pad which was launched way back in 2011. LG even released the Optimus Pad LTE in 2012 Korea. It would mark the re-entry of LG into the tablet industry.

LG Optimus L9 II with 4.7-inch True HD IPS display officially announced

LG Optimus L9 II that leaked yesterday, has been officially announced in Netherlands. It comes with a 4.7-inch (1280 x 720 pixels) HD display, 1.4GHz dual-core processor (Probably Snapdragon 400) . It packs a 2150 mAh battery and a Infrared transmitter for Quick-Remote. Other details are not available yet, but according to the rumors, it is expected to come with a 8-megapixel rear camera with LED flash, BSI sensor and a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera. It is also likely to run Android 4.1.2 (Jelly Bean), pack 1GB of RAM and 8GB of internal memory.

LG unveiled the Optimus L Series II devices, the Optimus L3 II, the Optimus L5 II and the Optimus L7 II and their dual SIM variants earlier this February. The L4 II Dual went on sale in India last month and the entry-level phone L1 II was announced earlier this month. LG has also unveiled both the L4 II and the L1 II in Netherlands.

No word on pricing yet, but the phone is expected to on sale in the Netherlands in October.

Nokia Lumia 1520 with 6 inch 1080p display appears in leaked image

Nokia’s intentions to introduce a large screen device are fairly obvious by now. It has been long rumored that the Finnish smartphone company is working on a phablet class device that would bring a large 6 inch screen to Nokia’s Lumia hardware. The image leaked earlier today  corroborates all that we know about the device. Placed next to the Lumia 1020, the handset appears positively gargantuan.

With the screen switched on, we also seem to be getting our first look at the upcoming GDR3 update that would bring support for 1080p screens, faster processors. To make use of all that screen real estate, Windows Phone will now allow you to place a double wide tile next to a medium sized tile. Additionally, a third row of tiles can be placed on the homescreen. The leaked image closely resembles an image that had earlier this year that claimed to depict the front panel for the upcoming device. Additionally, the engraved proto.nokia.com text is true for all Nokia prototype devices.

It also appears that the phone will ship with a smart cover accessory of sorts. We should expect to see Qi based wireless charging built into said accessory. Rumored specifications for the handset include a quad core Snapdragon CPU, 20MP PureView camera, 6 inch 1080p display all built into a polycarbonate shell. The device is expected to be announced at an event late next month alongside the company’s firstWindows RT tablet. We’ll keep you posted as and when we find more details.

Nokia 515 revealed, brings aluminum construction to feature phones

Nokia today announced a brand new S40 device, the Nokia 515, that has been designed as a throwback to classic handset designs from Nokia’s past. The body has an anodised, sandblasted aluminum construction and the 2.4″ QVGA display has Gorilla Glass 2 protection over it. The Finnish company claims to have developed a new hardened polycarbonate resin for the keymat that has a gentle curvature to it. The entire handset is 11mm thin and weighs in at 101.5 grams.

Over at the back you’ll spot a 5MP camera that includes the same voice guided self portrait feature that we’ve seen on other Nokia devices. A panorama mode is also included. An LED flash is located above the camera unit. Connectivity options include 3.5G HSDPA., Bluetooth. It is possible to share your 3G connection over USB. On the software side of things, this being an S40 device, you shouldn’t expect much. That said, the handset supports social networking apps like Facebook, Twitter, Nimbuzz and Nokia’s Xpress Browser will bring server side compression to the browser. You also get Mail for Exchange that brings access to contact, calendar synchronization as well as corporate email support.

The Nokia 515 will ship in both single SIM and dual SIM configurations and will be available in black and white colors. The single SIM model is rated at a standby time of 38 days. Pricing has been set at 115 Euros before any taxes.

iBall Andi 4a Projector a new projector phone with 4-inch display, dual-core processor coming soon

iBall had been teasing their projector phone for over a week. The iBall Andi 4a Projector has appearedon the official website. It has a 4.0-inch (480×800 pixels) display, powered by 1 GHz Dual-Core Cortex A9 Processor and runs on Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean). It has a 8-megapixel Auto focus camera with flash and a front-facing camera for video calling. It has 35 lumens projector that allows users to project  digital media instantly up to 10 feet or 120-inch wide at a distance of 8 feet in VGA (480 x 640 pixels) resolution. The projector has a contrast ratio of 1200:1.

Intex was the first company to launch a projector phone back in 2010. Spice launched the Popkron M-9000 later in 2011. Even Samsung launched the Galaxy Beam last year. iBall says that the Andi 4a Projector is the first smartphone to offer 35 lumens projection.

iBall Andi 4a Projector Specifications

• 4.0-inch  (480×800 pixels) display
• 35 lumens projector with  VGA projection up to 10 feet by 8 feet
• 1 GHz Dual-Core Cortex A9 Processor
• Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean)
• Dual SIM support with dual standby
• 8MP Auto focus camera with LED flash
• front-facing camera
• 3.5mm audio jack
• 512MB RAM, 4GB Internal Memory (2GB user memory), expandable memory up to 32GB via micro SD card slot
• 3G, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth with A2DP, GPS / aGPS
• 1500 mAh battery

The iBall Andi 4a Projector would be priced at an MRP Rs. 18,999 according to the official website. It also comes with a free tripod.

Mysterious HTC smartphone with a 4-inch display shows up in China

Over Weibo, a user has shared images of a mysterious HTC smartphone along with the specifications. Th unnamed HTC’s upcoming smartphone is expected to feature a 4-inch (480 x 800 pixels) display , powered by a dual-core processor, 5-megapixel rear camera and a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera. As you can see from the leaked images, it is likely to come with the Android 4.1 or 4.2 with latest Sense 5 UI.

It would also have beats audio support, but it would have only one front-facing speaker on the top instead of dual speakers in the HTC One and the One mini. It would have 1GB RAM and 8GB of internal memory. No word on battery life yet.

This device is expected to be priced around 1299 Chinese Yuan (~Rs. 14300). It is not clear when HTC plans to release the phone in China or if the phone would be available globally. HTC is also planning to release the One Max, their flagship smartphone which is rumored to come with a fingerprint sensor on the back of the phone.

Evernote 4.0 for Windows Phone brings Multi-shot Camera, Speech-to-Text and more

Evernote for Windows Phone has received a major update to version 4.0 that brings log of new features including a new multi-shot camera, speech-to-text capabilities, smart note titling, and better support for Windows Phone 8. The multi-shot camera  lets you take photos without exiting camera mode, new slideshows lets you swipe through to view images in a note. The speech-to-text automatically transcribes your speech to text, you can use this by pressing the speech bubble icon. The app now has auto title that uses  your location, the content of your note, and even a calendar event to give your note a useful title.

New features in Evernote for Windows Phone v4.0

• Windows Phone 8 support: Faster loading and navigation
• Multishot camera: Take multiple snapshots without exiting the camera
• Slideshow: Swipe through a slideshow of all images attached to a note
• Speech to text: Transcribe your words and save the audio to the note
• Auto-title: Smart note titles based on note content, calendar events and location

The app is also significantly faster and easier to navigate. Evernote promises that more features would be available soon. Download Evernote for Windows Phone from the Windows Phone Store, if you don’t have it yet.

LG Optimus G Pro vs Sony Xperia Z

LG Optimus G Pro is LG’s first Full HD smartphone and it comes with a 5.5inch display making it more phablet than phone. Sony’s first Full HD smartphone, Xperia Z comes with a 5inch display giving it a more compact body. Powerful quad-core Snapdragon processors power both the phones although the Optimus G Pro has newer generation processor.

Lets check out how the phones fare against each other.

Design, Build Quality

The LG Optimus G Pro has a solid glass front and back supported by a solid and heavy metal rim at the centre. The Sony Xperia Z too has a glass front and back, but has a solid rectangular build and sharp edges.

The Optimus G Pro is taller, wider and thicker than the Xperia Z because of the bigger 5.5inch display. It also weighs considerably more than the Xperia Z.

On the front of the phones, we have the display, above which we have the earpiece and front cameras along with ambient and proximity sensors on the right side on the G Pro while the front camera is on the left side of the earpiece on Xperia Z. The earpiece on both the phones is along the top edge.

On the Optimus G Pro, below the display, we have a physical home button surrounded by LED light with capacitive touch keys on either side, but on Xperia Z, there are no navigation buttons and everything is restricted to on-screen keys. The microphone on the Xperia Z is along the bottom edge.

The positioning of keys is different with only the power lock key on the right side in the G Pro while the Xperia Z has the covered microSIM card slot, power lock key and volume rocker along with the speaker near the bottom.

The bottom of Optimus G Pro has the microUSB port and the microphone while the Xperia Z is barren.

On the left side, we have the volume rocker and the customizable Q-slide key on the G Pro while we have the covered micro USB and microSD card slot.

The top of Optimus G Pro has the 3.5mm audio jack, IR blaster and secondary microphone while the Xperia Z has just the covered 3.5mm audio jack.

Moving to the back side, we find glossy glass on both the phones with the 13MP camera along with LED flash. The back of the Xperia Z is more prone to fingerprints than G Pro. The secondary microphone is right next to the camera on the Xperia Z.

The Optimus G Pro has a removable battery cover and beneath the cover, we find a hot-swappable microSD card slot and microSIM slot.

Overall, both the LG Optimus G Pro and the Xperia Z have a very premium finish and solid build quality, but the Optimus G Pro feels slightly slippery, while the Xperia Z feels quite solid because of the rectangular build.

Display

Both the phones have Full HD displays but the G Pro has a bigger 5.5inch Tru HD IPS+ display with a pixel density of 401ppi while the Sony Xperia Z has 5inch Mobile Bravia Engine 2 display with a pixel density of 441ppi. Both the displays are sharp, but the display on the Xperia Z has very poor viewing angles and poor contrast, everything seems to appear unnaturally whitish on the Xperia Z, but the G Pro had excellent colors. The viewing angles were quite impressive as well.

Overall, the G Pro has a much better display than the Xperia Z.

Hardware and Performance

The LG Optimus G Pro is powered by a 1.7 GHz QuadCore Snapdragon 600 SoC, has 2GB RAM and Adreno 320 GPU while the Xperia Z is powered by a 1.5 GHz QuadCore Snapdragon S4 Pro, has 2GB RAM and Adreno 320 GPU.

The Optimus G Pro has 16/32GB variants (we have the 16GB variant) while the Xperia Z has 16GB internal storage. Out of the 16GB, Optimus G Pro has 10.11 GB available while the Xperia Z has 11.7 GB and both the phones have a microSD card slot for expansion.

Out of 2GB in both the phones, the G Pro has around 1781MB usable RAM while the Xperia Z has 1837MB usable and G Pro has 1.2GB RAM free when the device is idle while the Xperia Z has 1.3GB free RAM.

The faster processor and more RAM give the LG Optimus G Pro a big upper hand in terms of performance. Both the phones are super fast and you would hardly notice the difference in day to day usage.

In benchmarks, the newer LG Optimus G Pro easily beats the Xperia Z.

Camera

Both the phones have a 13MP camera at the back and Optimus G Pro has a 2.1MP camera at the front while Xperia Z has a 2.2MP camera at the front. Both the phones can record 1080p videos at 30fps with stereo sound from both the cameras.

The camera UI is different on both the phones with some skinning from the manufacturers. There are various shooting modes on both the phones like Panorama, HDR.

In terms of image clarity, the Optimus G Pro was better with less noise, more details, better contrast and true colors. Do check out our camera samples comparison video below to get a clear understanding of the image clarity.

Software features

Both the phones run on Android 4.1.2 Jellybean with a custom UI skin on top of it. LG packs its phone with Q-apps that can be placed anywhere on the screen which is very similar to the small-apps on the Xperia Z. Only one small app can be run which is not the case with Qapps. There is no landscape mode in Xperia Z while it is present in G Pro. The Q button can be assigned to any app. IR blaster is present in G Pro which is missing in Xperia Z.

Gaming

Gaming on both the phones is quite good. The powerful processor makes the gaming experience quite smooth without any lags. But the poor display on the Xperia Z and the bigger and better display on G Pro make it a winner here.

Battery and Connectivity

The Optimus G Pro has a 3140mAh battery while the Xperia Z has 2330mAh battery. In terms of battery life, the bigger battery in the G Pro is definitely better.

In terms of connectivity, both the devices are equipped with features like WiFi b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, 3G, A-GPS, NFC, WiFi Direct and DLNA. Wi-Fi ac band support is present only in G Pro.

Conclusion

The LG Optimus G Pro Retails at Rs. 36,000 while Sony Xperia Z retails at Rs. 33,000. Xperia Z offers a better design, premium build and dust/water resistance while the extra 3k fetches a better display, camera, gaming performance and better battery life in the Optimus G Pro.