Saturday 30 June 2012

Android 4.1 Jelly Bean preview


Google used its I/O 2012 conference in San Francisco to unveil the latest release of Android. Carrying the version number 4.1, the new Android Jelly Bean is supposed to come as more of a polish to Ice Cream Sandwich, than a major game changer.
Don't think for a second though, that Jelly Bean doesn't have anything interesting to offer. On the contrary - the latest Android version brings a truckload of new features, and should help noticeably improve the overall user experience. Here goes the full breakdown:

Android 4.1 Jelly Bean changelog:

  • Project Butter has brought smoother and faster feeling user interface
  • Improved notification center with expandable and actionable notifications
  • Updated widget behavior
  • Improved camera and gallery apps for easy photo snapping and sharing
  • Improved keyboard behavior with with word prediction
  • Added Accessibility options with support for external Braille input
  • Enhanced Android Beam allowing transfer of photos and video
  • Offline Voice recognition and typing
  • Google Voice search is more intelligent than ever
  • Updated Google Search user interface
  • Google Now adds automatic information feeds to your device (weather, traffic, sports, etc)
  • Bi-Directional text and additional language support
  • Truly high-resolution contact photos
  • USB audio output and HDMI multichannel audio output
  • App encryption and Smart App updates
The list might not be too long, but Android ICS was arguably the most feature-rich platform already, so major changes were hardly required. With Android easily the most popular mobile OS out there, Jelly Bean's task is to solidify its lead by polishing the user experience.
The Project Butter sounds like a great start, but it's certainly not the only trick up Jelly Bean's sleeve. The revamped notification center, the updated widgets and the new natural language searches should really make a difference to end users, while the improved Android SDK and extended API support should keep developers happy.
The question remains if every feature on the list work as advertised, so let's not waste any more time and start testing them out. User interface awaits you on the next page.

User interface

Android 4.1 Jelly Bean sticks to the foundation laid by Ice Cream Sandwich more than half a year ago. There are very few visual user interface changes, but some cool added functionality. Of course, as with every previous Android release, the bootscreen animation has also been updated.

Project Butter

Project Butter is Google's answer to the oft-criticized Android user interface stutters and is probably the most important new feature of Android Jelly Bean. Cool animations have been an integral part of Android for quite some time now, but the problem was that they weren't always perfectly smooth. Even really powerful smartphones and tablets were guilty of the lagging occasionally and it was about time Google did something about it.
In fact, Google has worked so hard on these performance optimizations that it even borrowed the services of a high-speed RED camera to record the improvements throughout the UI. Check it out.
To get the interface so fluid and smooth, Google has made Jelly Bean's UI run at 60 frames per second where the hardware allows it. Since software engineers didn't stop there, they also added triple buffering (CPU, GPU and display working in parallel, not waiting in turns).
Finally, there's the feature called Touch responsiveness, which makes your phone anticipate and predict where your finger will be on the screen next and preloads any animations it might need to display when you start touching the screen.
The result, as you saw in the video above is an interface you can safely call "smooth as butter".

Lockscreen

The lockscreen for example is altered and now shows a large dotted circle around the center-placed unlock button. You still the two familiar shortcuts - move the unlock button to the left for camera, and right for unlock. There's a new, third icon above them for jumping to Google Voice Search.
We still feel Google isn't utilizing the lockscreen to its fullest, though. A small weather widget would've come in handy, or even a short calendar snippet showing the upcoming appointments. We've seen those in some of the custom launchers, but it would be great if they were backed into the OS itself.
Android 4 1 Jelly Bean Preview Android 4 1 Jelly Bean Preview Android 4 1 Jelly Bean Preview
The refreshed user interface of Jelly Bean feels familiar

Enhanced notification center

One of the best bits about Jelly Bean is its revamped notification center. It features a redesigned clock and date icons on the top left followed by a larger settings icon. The clear notifications icon has also been refreshed and it looks much sharper now.
The updates here don't end with the looks, either. Select app notifications have gotten really smart, not only delivering you the notification, but also providing you with several options for interaction.
Android 4 1 Jelly Bean Preview Android 4 1 Jelly Bean Preview
The all new notification drawer
For example, you can snooze a reminder for an upcoming meeting or email its guests right from the notification area. This is quite convenient, saving you a few seconds from the time you'd normally spend tapping your way through the app to get the same thing done.
Next, you can answer or hang up a call right from the notification blind. Yes, this feature was present in previous Android releases too, but now it's icons have been redesigned don't feel out of place.
Finally, starting with Jelly Bean, you can view photos shared with you on Google+ or even read your incoming messages without even having to enter the Messaging app.

Resizable and self-aware app widgets

Ice Cream Sandwich introduced resizable widgets, and they have been further improved in Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. With the latest release of the Google OS widgets will automatically adjust their size to fit on the screen where you'd want to put.
Android 4 1 Jelly Bean Preview Android 4 1 Jelly Bean Preview
Widgets now automatically readjust their size to fit on the selected screen
This means that if you place a widget in an icon-congested screen, the widget will contract to fit in whatever gap is available for it. Also, if you drag one widget on top of the other, it will make space for itself by forcing the icons underneath to rearrange.

Google Now

Google Now is definitely one of the most interesting of the Jelly Bean novelties. To put it simply, it's Google's version of Siri, but it learns constantly about you from your daily routines. The weather sites you look at, the news and videos you watch in the morning and the routes and calendar appointments you create daily - Google Now uses them to give you provide better, more accurate results to your searches.
Android 4 1 Jelly Bean Preview Android 4 1 Jelly Bean Preview Android 4 1 Jelly Bean Preview
Google Now in action
The service interacts with you by generating cards, which gives you short overview of information it believes is relevant to you right now. Going to work in the morning? Google Now knows this and lets you know there's a big traffic jam on your usual way to the office, so it offers you a re-route.
It can interpret a lot of things from your search history as well. If you've been searching for, let's say, your favorite football team, Google Now will prepare a card showing you the next match the team is playing and will provide you score updates once the game begins.
Check out its promo video:
Sounds creepy at first, but could prove to be really handy eventually. It interacts really nice with Google's new Voice search, too.

Google Voice Search

Naturally, search is where Google excels. And with its enhanced looks and heavily updated Voice search, it gives Siri a run for its money.
Now you can ask Google everything you want to know in natural human language. "What's the tallest building in the world?" would bring you a cool looking card carrying the answer and an photo of Burj Khalifa. To top things off, Google's Voice Search assistant will read the answer to you, so you don't even need to look at the screen.
Android 4 1 Jelly Bean Preview
Google Voice Search
It's not witchcraft this Google Voice Search. It utilizes the company's Knowledge Graph to gather the snippets of information needed to give you a satisfying answer. That's certainly bringing us a step closer to a more advanced virtual personal assistants, but just like the competition, Google's assistant need to go a long way before it becomes useful for daily tasks.

Offline Voice typing and a new smart Keyboard

Voice typing now works offline. To make it happen, Google has baked the voice recognition algorithms needed to make it run into Android itself. Not only does this make Voice typing faster, but also eliminates the need for internet connection.
With Jelly Bean, the Android keyboard's nuts and bolts got updated as well. It now features smarter dictionary algorithms and the more you write, the better it can predict your words as it's learning algorithms let it unveil its full potential.
Android 4 1 Jelly Bean Preview Android 4 1 Jelly Bean Preview Android 4 1 Jelly Bean Preview
Offline Voice typing comes in handy at times
So for example if frequently write "I am going home, see you in 15 minutes", the dictionary will be able to predict words and phrases like "home" and "15 minutes". It resembles Swiftkey's smart dictionary system, but only time will tell if it performs as well.

Truly HD contact photos

Ice Cream Sandwich introduced the updated People app, which boasted a cool looking large contact pictures. They looked great on the Google demos, but once users got to test them, they weren't quite as impressive.
That's because Google was using the contact photos from Gmail, which were limited top 96x96 pixels. Put simply, they looked terrible on the HD display of the Galaxy Nexus.
Fortunately, Google got around to fixing them in Jelly Bean by increasing the maximum possible resolution to 720x720 pixels. This may not sound like much, but it was a major eye sore that accompanied every call.
Android 4 1 Jelly Bean Preview Android 4 1 Jelly Bean Preview
Jessica Alba deserves an HD contact photo and Jelly Bean finally allows it

Updated Camera app

The camera app is a bit nicer to look at and somewhat more intuitive in Jelly Bean. When you snap a photo, it flies sideways from the viewfinder and into the gallery. You can then do a finger swipe to follow it and review your recently captured images.
Yes it works just like on Windows Phone, but there's some extra functionality. Once you are in the gallery, you can pinch-zoom out and view your photos in a card-like interface, which lets you delete some of them with simple upwards swipes. As cool and easy as it gets.
Android 4 1 Jelly Bean PreviewAndroid 4 1 Jelly Bean Preview
Deleting your gallery images
And don't worry - if you delete something by mistake, you can always bring it back by tapping the undo button.

Google Maps offline

Google unveiled its updated Maps app at a special event and now all the goodies are available to Android users as well. A new addition is the inclusion of a 'Save for offline view' button, allowing you to precache whole cities into your phone. Previously, it was only available as a Labs feature.
Mind you the feature is available in select regions only so your mileage with it will vary depending where you are in the world.

Android Beam shares more

The Android Beam service which came along with Android ICS allowed users to share small bits of information through NFC. Contacts, links, calendar events and addresses could be shared via NFC, but now Jelly Bean brings support for even more content.
Android 4 1 Jelly Bean Preview
Android Beam has been updated as well
By leveraging on the Bluetooth connectivity, which virtually every Android smartphone has, Jelly Bean allows you to share photos and videos with a simple NFC-enabled tap. You can even use Android Beam to pair with Bluetooth devices (via NFC) like speakers, headsets and other gadgets.

Conclusion

After spending a day with it, we feel Jelly Bean is exactly what its version number suggests - a significant update to ICS, but by far not the largest one Android has seen.
Jelly Bean smooths things up, cleans up a lot of bugs, brings a bit of cool new functionality here and there, but doesn't make you scratch your head and feel lost. It's enough to make the ICS users happy with the update, without giving JB owners too many boasting rights.
Google's Voice search and Now service look cool for now, but have yet to prove themselves as the useful companions Google says they are. We are far from convinced that those virtual assistants are worth the effort going into their development, but with all the big players so keen to invest in them, there might be something about them after all.
More importantly, Jelly Bean finally gives Android the smooth feeling of its rivaling platforms. Even on moderately powerful hardware such as the one on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, Android now has much smoother and faster animations and a bit more fluid navigation.
In a way Google felt so comfortable about Android's lead in functionality that it thought, it might ease off the gas a bit and focus on optimizations for a while. With the platform pretty mature as it is, now seems like as good a time as any to fix those remaining performance issues.
The only thing seemingly missing now is a cure for the fragmentation issue, which is still keeping some developers away from the platform. A little over than 9 months ago, Google unveiled Ice Cream Sandwich and now as it's successor came to live Android 4.0 is powering just over 7% percent of all Android devices out there.
We'll now probably be treated to several months of rumors and contradicting statements from Google's partners before any updates actually make it to the market. We are still hoping, though that the step from ICS to Jelly Bean will be an easier one to make and Android 4.1 won't share the fate of its predecessor - becoming obsolete before even becoming the second most popular Android release.



Friday 29 June 2012

Google releases Chrome and Drive for iOS


Who said that Google's I/O conference isn't an important event for iOS users? Google just announced that it's adding iOS support to its Drive cloud storage service and Chrome web browser.
Google's own cloud storage, which launched back in April, is already available for download at the iTunes store, while Chrome is still on the way, but should arrive later today.


Google Drive is compatible with iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch running iOS 5 or later and gives users 5 GB of free storage with the option to expand it for a fee. It will also boast the offline editing feature wejust told you about.
Google Chrome will be available to iPhone and iPad users running their devices on iOS 4.3 or later. It still hasn't debuted at the App Store, but Google said that should happen later today. The app supports Chrome sync so that if you're using Chrome on your desktop computer too, you'll have all your bookmarks, searches, etc. with you on your iDevice. This should help boost that impressive number of active users even further.
Source | Via 1 | Via 2

VAIO™ Laptop.......Completly Smart..

 VAIO™ Laptop.......Completly Smart..: VAIO™ Laptop - E Series.. 14 (35.56 cms) VAIO E Series 14A (White) E Series brings pure in appearance, features aqua blue ...

EXCLUSIVE: Galaxy Note 2 5.5


We already knew that a successor to the wildly successful Galaxy Note is already in the works and that it might feature a 5.5" AMOLED. Now, an insider source, whom we have good reasons to trust has send us a tip, saying the screen size is now confirmed.
The Galaxy Note 2 will indeed sport a 5.5-inch Super AMOLED and a design inspired by the Galaxy S III flagship smartphone. Interestingly, even though the screen size is larger than the original Note, the width of the Note 2 is actually reduced compared to its predecessor.
Even more interestingly, the release date of the Note 2 has been moved to September, rather than the previously rumored October. The reason for the switch is Samsung's desire to bring the Note 2 to the market before Apple releases the iPhone 5 in October, thus stealing some users from the Cupertino-based company.
The rumors of an 8MP camera with improved sensor, as well as 2 GB of RAM, along with a new Exynos 5250 chipset, featuring a dual-core ARM-15 processor remain unconfirmed at this point.

A 5.5-inch Galaxy Note 2 allegedly scheduled for October 2012


Samsung scored a huge hit with their Galaxy Note, a combinatio of phone and tablet which was released late last year, featuring a large 5.3 inch screen complete with stylus. To date, some 7 million Galaxy Notes have been sold globally.
It seems that the success has spurred the Koreans to work even harder on a sequel to the popular device, as rumors have surfaced that the Galaxy Note 2 is scheduled to be released this October, exactly one year after the original.

Check out this mockup of the new Note:
The new device will supposedly feature a slightly larger 5.5-inch screen (as opposed to the 5.3 on the original), which will again be of a Super AMOLED variety, and have an even higher WSXGA+ resolution (1680 x 1050 pixels).
Also rumored is an 8MP camera with improved sensor, as well as 1.5 GB of RAM, along with a new Exynos 5250 chipset, featuring a dual-core ARM-15 processor. 4G connectivity will allegedly come standard for all international units.






Wednesday 27 June 2012

Apple launches iTunes Store in twelve Asian countries


Unlike the practically omnipresent App Store, Apple’s iTunes Store has always been available in only a few locations, and in a crippled form in others, where all you could download from it is free content such as podcasts and some ebooks and none of the music, movies, TV shows and other excellent paid content that the iTunes Store serves elsewhere.
The Asian countries in particular got the short end of the stick when it came to getting the iTunes Store. So to make things a bit right, Apple is now releasing the iTunes Store in some of the Asian countries, twelve to be precise, starting today.
The list of countries that will be getting the iTunes Store include Brunei, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Laos, Macau, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Sri Lanka and Vietnam. Apart from being able to choose from 20 million DRM-free tracks, these countries will now also be able to rent or purchase movies as well, along with being able to take advantage of the iTunes in the Cloud and iTunes Match services.
If you are in either of these countries, you should be able to see the additional categories within the iTunes desktop app.

Apple releases iOS 6 beta 2 for developers


Apple released the first version of the iOS 6 beta for developers during the WWDC keynote on June 11. Now, two weeks later, the second beta is being seeded to those installed the first on their iOS devices.

The update brings several bug fixes and performance updates, including fixes for the Address Book, Game Center, iCloud, iMessage and FaceTime, Maps and Safari. You can find the entire exhaustive list in the source link below.
One minor feature that has been noted is that when you are downloading this update, the Settings icon you see on the side is animated, so you can see the gears moving within. We wish Apple extended this functionality to app icons as well so they can animate and show some more information rather than just a just static image.

Tuesday 26 June 2012

REALLY SMART...SONY SMART LED T V.....

 REALLY SMART...SONY SMART LED T V.....: SONY SMART LED T V........... Smart TV , which is also sometimes referred to as " Connected TV " or " Hybrid TV ", (not to be confused ...

Monday 25 June 2012

Touch your home....Sony Xperia SmartTag...

Touch your home....Sony Xperia SmartTag...: Xperia™ Smart Tags.. Simplify your everyday NFC tags save time and make life easier Available colors Enjoy X...

Sunday 24 June 2012

Nokia outs exclusive Camera Extras app for Lumia phones


Nokia has released a special app for its Lumia series of smartphones. Currently available on the Windows Phone Marketplace, the Camera Extras app will give users four new shooting modes for their devices.
The new modes are Smart Group Shot, Action Shot, Self-timer and Panorama shot. The first one allows you to capture burst shots of a group of people and then automatically chooses the best one judging by face expressions, while the second allows you to capture fast-moving objects improving shooting speed. The other two are quite self-explanatory.
For now only users in China and the United States are bound to get the update. Other countries will follow later in July. Head to the Windows Phone Marketplace to get the juicy app now.
Source | Via

Samsung GALAXY S Advance


Samsung GALAXY S Advance


Advanced in Style & Power

With Curved Design and Dual Core Processor

Samsung Galaxy S Advance 3

Visually Spectacular

Stylish users will enjoy showing off their new mobile especially with the large 4" curved glass screen and premium finish. As comfortable to use as it is to look at, the fit is perfect in the palm and next to your ear for calling. The WVGA Super AMOLED display offers the most vivid images for your all-around visual enjoyment.


Powerful in Performance


The Dual Core computer-grade processor offers outstanding performance for your mobile. It’s powerful enough to handle your mobile’s needs including rich graphics required by high-spec games, web browsing and watching HD video. You’ll always enjoy a smooth performance no matter how advanced the operation!



Enrich Your Mobile Experience

 This mobile comes packed with four content-rich hubs
that will enhance your entertainment experience on the
 mobile. Whether you’re connecting socially, looking for
 reading material, listening to music or playing games,
 Samsung GALAXY S Advance has the hub for you.
 Stay social with simplified access to SNS, IM, email
 and Samsung Messenger. Avid readers will always
 have access to a multitude of reading resources
 without having to tote around heavy books or
 cumbersome newspapers. Music fans will be able to
 add to their music libraries from wherever they are
 and preview DRM-free songs before purchasing!
And for the perfect way to relieve stress, you can easily download and play games. Thanks to the powerful Dual Core
 processor, built-in 3-axis accelerometer and gyroscope sensor, you’ll be able a top scorer in no time!

Multimedia


• 5MP Camera is always ready to take beautiful pictures
• Enjoy HD Recording & Playback at 720p@30fps
• Listen to your favourite tunes on the embedded MP3 Player
• Tune into the latest hits, news and information on FM Radio
• Long-lasting 1,500mAh battery lets you enjoy your mobile for longer

ChatON (Downloadable)


• Works with all mobile devices
• Contacts are based on phone numbers not hard-to-remember IDs
• Freely send text, image, video and voice messages
• Enjoy one-on-one or group chatting, or interact with a micro community
• Scribble introduces a creative way to sketch messages freehand
• Ranking of buddies helps you keep your VIPs within easy access
• Also available through a PC web version

specifications

Dimension of GT-I9070

Platform

BandGSM&EDGE Band850/900/1,800/1,900MHz
3G Band850/900/1,900/2,100MHz
Network&DataGPRSYes
EDGEYes
3GHSPA 14.4/HSUPA 5.76
Operation SystemAndroid 2.3 (Gingerbread)
BrowserAndroid Browser

CPU

CPU TypeDual ARM cortex A9
CPU Clock RateDual 1GHz

Design

Form FactorFull Touch

Physical Specification

Weight120g
Dimension(HxWxD)123.20 x 63.00 x 9.79mm

Display

InternaltechnologysAMOLED
Resolution480 x 800
Size10.16 cms
Color Depth16M

Battery

StandardCapacity1,500mAh
Talk TimeUp to 930 minutes (2G)/
Up to 410 minutes
 (3G)/Video call time: up to
170 minutes
Stand-by TimeUp to 690 hours (2G)/
Up to 660 hours (3G)

Camera

Camera Resolution5.0MP
FlashLED
Auto FocusYes
Shot modeSingle, Smile, Panorama, Action
Photo effectsAcua,Black and White,Negative,Sepia
White BalanceAuto, Daylight, Cloudy, Incandescent, Fluorescent
ISOAuto, 100, 200, 400
Image FormatJPEG/GIF

Video

Input DeviceTouch
ResolutionD1, HD, VGA
Frame rate30fps
Video PlayerYes
Video recordingYes
Video StreamingYes

Camera(2ed)

Camera Resolution1.3MP
Image FormatJPEG

Video(2ed)

Resolution1.3M

Music&Sound

Music PlayerYes
Poly Ringtone64
MP3 RingtoneYes
DRMOMA DRM 1.0 FULL

Fun&Entertainment

Embedded WallpaperYes
FM RadioYes

Business&Office

Document ViewerYes
Offline ModeFlight Mode
Voice MemoYes

Memory

SMSUp to available memory
Phone Book EntriesUp to available memory
External MemoryUp to 32GB
Storage (Size)8Gb

Messaging

Predictive Text Input T9Yes
EmailYes
Instant MessagingYes
SMS/MMSYes

Connectivity

BluetoothBT 3.0 + HS
Bluetooth ProfilesPBAP, PBA, A2DP, AVRCP, HFP, HSP, OPP, SPP, HID
USB2.0
USB mass storageYes
Internet HTML BrowserYes
SyncML (DM) SupportYes
WiFia/b/g/n
AGPSYes
Further moreMicroUSB, 3.5mm Earjack

Personal Information Management

CalendarYes
SchedulerYes
To do listYes
ClockYes
World TimeYes
AlarmYes
CalculatorYes
Memo bookYes
Stop watchYes
Countdown TimerYes

Call Function

Speaker PhoneYes
Caller IDYes
Call TimeYes
MultipartyYes
Dialed/Missed/Received CallsYes

OMA

OMA Device ManagementYes

Further Information

Mobile TrackerYes
Touch ScreenC-Type