"World's Slimmest" Monitor From BenQ

BenQ has announced the launch of the "World’s slimmest LED Monitor" (which actually means LED backlit LCD monitor, but you get the gist) expanding their LED offering with the launch of 3 new V Series models spanning HD to Full HD, 18.5”W to 24”W, bringing the company’s total LED lineup to 8 models. It's got 14mm and 15mm rated as the  respective thickness, also each model has extreme energy efficiency, and dynamic contrast ratio of 10M:1.

Micromax X235 - Universal Remote Control Phone

With the Indian mobile phone market exploding, manufacturers are bringing in lots of new devices that boast of extra features to attract consumers and to ensure that they don't look towards competing brands to fulfil their mobile telephony needs.  Micromax, which has been over the past few months on a marketing spree with its wide range of cellphones, has launched its latest model, the X235. While the phone looks quite unassuming from a distance, don't be fooled by its looks. What you are looking at is a remote control phone.

Bluetooth 4.0 specs are ready, devices ecpecting by year's end

With Bluetooth 3.0 barely out the door, the Bluetooth SIG finalized the next version - Bluetooth 4.0. It builds on the previous version, but adds a new low power mode, which can be used by watches, training equipment and so on.
Bluetooth 3.0 brought high-speed transfers by piggy-backing on 802.11 technology and achieved maximum speeds of 24Mbps (vs. 3Mbps for 2.0 + EDR). Version 4.0 on the other hand is low-bandwidth, but low power enough to work on cell-button powered devices.
Use cases include sending Caller ID info to watches, data from pedometers, glucose monitors and so on without drying out the battery.
However, Bluetooth 4.0 incorporates classic Bluetooth, high-speed Bluetooth and low-power Bluetooth. According to the Bluetooth SIG, devices are now not limited to 10 meter range - ranges can go up to 60 meters.

Run Android on iPhone

iPhone Dev Team member Planetbeing has finally achieved what many geeks have been dreaming for over a year - successfully running Google's Android operating system on an iPhone. After a break of almost a year, Planetbeing sent a Twitter update announcing his success on making Android run on iPhone. However, this port is not of 'production quality' but still, almost everything works on it.   While the tension between Apple and Google keeps growing to higher levels each time, developments like these may frustrate Apple further.

HTC New Android Mobile launch.

HTC has announced the launch of the Android-based Legend in India.

Witha a sleek uni-body design and a brushed metallic finish, the HTC Legend sports a unique design with a smooth, continuous surface, machined from a single aluminum block into a seamless compact frame. The Legend also includes a 3.2-inch, OLED HVGA display. The traditional trackball has also been replaced with an optical joystick, surrounded by a narrow button to improve usability without interrupting its unique design.

Opera Mini Tops App Store's Downlaods

Just over 24 hours after the entry of Opera Mini in to the Apple App Store, it has become obvious that the software was lapped up with keen interest by many iPhone users.

So much was the interest in the browser that the application ended up being on the top of the "top apps list" across all the localised App Stores available globally. Opera Mini received mixed reviews from iPhone users and geeks alike. While most agree that it is significantly faster than mobile Safari - the only browser that iPhone users had to put up with, there is widespread criticism that Opera Mini on the iPhone doesn't render pages as well. There are reports about the occasional bugs.
Having said that, it remains to be seen if Opera manages to maintain its popularity in the weeks to come. Only then would we be able to say that the interest in the Opera Mini isn't just an initial curiosity and that people really wanted a choice when it came to browsing the web on the iPhone.

Opera Mini already is the world's most used Mobile Browser and with the entry into the Apple App Store, it has the potential to increase its lead significantly.

iPhone Game - The Sealink with Mumbai Auto Riksha

Well what do you know, Mumbai’s very own ‘bridge over troubled waters’, the now famous Rajiv Gandhi Sealink is the source of entertainment for iPod users all over the world. Spiel Studios, who’ve developed a few games here and there for various platforms have thought of this rather curious idea for a game, using our Sealink as the staging area. Here’s a closer look.

Look and Feel
I’m not going beat around the bush and be overly diplomatic about this but the game looks quite corny. The reason I’m going with that term instead of anything a little stronger is simply because the graphics of this game look really old school considering how far we’ve come in mobile and especially iPhone gaming. The surroundings and layout are accurate to an extent but I’ve never seen the sea from there ever look so blue. I also haven’t seen all that graffiti on the railings either..

Java OS - The Mobile Clones Heaven

The budget mobiles i.e. Java based mobile handset or the ones that are still quite popularly being referred to as ‘China mobiles’ have hit the Indian market like a tsunami. They had a bit of a problem when it was assumed that they were ‘pirated’ copies and had no IMEI numbers to offer validity. But they’re back - it's The Return of the Java, pun intended obviously, and they are not going anywhere.

They come bearing promises of offering users everything they could possibly want at an unrealistically low price. While there was a time not too long ago that these same handsets also referred to as clones as most of their designs very closely resemble some of the bigger brands Samsung, Nokia et al. The current trend is to have handsets embody RIM’s BlackBerry form complete with QWERTY keypad and UI.  

Microsoft came out with their own mobile KIN

Finally, the much rumored Microsoft's Project Pink phones saw day light officially at an event held at San Francisco. Microsoft has introduced new KIN handsets which are based on Windows Phone and designed specifically for social media enthusiasts. Tagging these new touchscreen handsets as Windows Phone, the new KIN One and KIN Two, these are same two Pink phones which were spotted last year in September. KIN One is a the Turtle Pink phone while KIN Two is the Pure model. KIN phones will be available exclusively from Verizon Wireless in the U.S. beginning in May and will be available through Vodafone in Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom in Autumn.

Forget about Sony PSP Room.

Sony has cancelled its plans to launch social networking service dubbed Room for PlayStation Portable gaming console. Till date, Room was a closed beta and surprisingly, Sony dropped it off the shelf without giving any reasons. This social networking service allowed users to create avatars, personal spaces or blogs and share with other users.   Last year, Sony had unveiled Room closed beta at the Tokya Game Show in 2009. This close beta service was available only to PSP owners in Japan since fall 2009. PSP Room was based on similar concept to that of PS3 based Home service. Sony, in a statement, mentioned that the user feedback was taken for the future network service on PSP and PS3.   Sony's Home service for PS3 also has gone through a tough time and it looks like PSP owners have been saved from something awful. Nevertheless, it's quite possible that both PS3 and PSP owners will share similar service with interoperability and compatibility amongst each other.

Another OS from HTC

HTC got its start in the smartphone business by creating a wide range of Windows Mobile handsets under a variety of different banners. More recently, the company has developed a good number of Google Android phones too. Well, it seems that HTC Has yet another card up its sleeve: its own smartphone OS.

Cheng Hui-ming is HTC chief financial officer of HTC and he recently had an interview with Bloomberg wherein he revealed that the company is developing its own smartphone platform. As if Android and Windows Mobile weren’t enough, they want to add yet another OS to the mix.

When Steve Jobs began to announce the new iPhone OS 4 features last week, the excitement was palpable. Years of anticipation finally realized with the addition of multitasking as well as other tent-pole features. That was the climate of the room until the very end when Jobs casually mentioned during the Q&A that many of those shiny new features you were just made to drool over were not going to be available on the iPhone 3G (so iPhone 3GS and newer only).

Google Nexus One Doing well

It’s quite clear that more people are buying the Apple iPhone than they are buying the Google Nexus One, but does that mean that the latter is not profitable for the search engine giant? Apparently not, because Google is very proud to say that the Nexus One is “a profitable business for us.”
This comes from Patrick Pichette, Google’s chief financial officer, during a company earning’s conference call. Clearly, the Nexus One is not the primary source of revenue for Google, but it’s not a loss leader either. While they aren’t coming forward with more economic details on the matter, Pichette did say that they are “driving the business to be a profitable business from the get-go.”

Android-based Personal Education Tablet Launched

iProf Learning Solutions India has launched an Android-based personal education tablet, iProf, and iStudy Zones, the first chain of e-learning centres in India that will spread to 30 cities.


A 7-inch touch screen tablet, the iProf comes bundled with content from premier education institutes and is priced at Rs. 14900 exclusive of taxes. iProf is now available in the iStudy Zone in Kalu Sarai, Delhi.

Initially, iProf is set to cater to the test-preparation education segment, the market of which is estimated at about Rs. 10,000 crores. iProf is starting with IIT-JEE preparation and has tied-up with Brilliant Tutorials.

Mobile on AAA battery

There have been several innovative handsets from mobile phone manufacturers in the past, and today we have one such mobile phone for review. This is a handset that smartly charges itself from a AAA battery that can be accommodated in the phone. The manufacturer we are looking at today is Olive and the handset is called FrvrOn. The handset has gained attention globally because of its simple and yet innovative idea. 

 I think it's time to cut to the chase and get right to what matters most in this phone. The phone lives up to what it promises in its name - to keep the phone running throughout. The phone has a stated battery life of three hours of talktime with just over four days of standby. Though the standby time of the battery may seem low, its three hours of talktime is quite good. The use of the AAA battery to charge the handset is the best option and has put the Olive FrvrOn on international news as well. 

Watch Live TV on Samsung Corby TV, Metro TV Phones

Samsung has introduced two new mobile phones that will let users watch live TV on two Corby and Metro models based on CDMA. New Samsung Corby TV and Metro TV handsets come with a customized MimobiTV Mobile TV application that enables watching TV and on-demand TV streaming. The Metro TV handset is priced Rs. 6,999 and the Corby TV mobile handset is available for Rs. 9,699.

The MimobiTV mobile TV application has been jointly developed by Samsung with Apalya technologies. Corby TV handset has 2.8-inch QVGA TFT display, Open Market Handsets enabled, 2 megapixel camera, stereo FM Radio, Bluetooth 2.0 and supports up to 8GB microSD card. Corby TV supports Mobile TV streaming on CMDA 1X and EVDO 3G mobile Networks. This phone offers 32 touch widgets, up to 2,,000 phonebook contacts, 1000 SMS and active mail sync for push mail.