Nokia Asha 501 detailed review

Nokia’s Asha 501 launch was a grand affair, so much so that Nokia’s very own CEO Stephen Elop flew down to our nation’s capital for the big unveiling. The Asha series hasn’t exactly been a runaway success mostly because, even at its selling price, the user experience left a lot to be desired. Local smartphone makers have changed the perception of a cheap mobile phone. After being exposed to Android ICS at prices as low as Rs 5,000, the Asha series paled in comparison.

The Asha 501 is the first in the new series of Asha phones with which Nokia hopes to gain better traction against the never ending horde of budget droids. We’ve had a chance to spend some time with the phone so here’s our first impression of the device. 



 Display
The 3-inch display feels a little too small for a phone without a keyboard. Not only that, the resolution (240 x 320) is very low which makes everything pixelated. Don’t be fooled by the crisp and vivid display seen on Nokia’s website or the press shots; it looks nothing like that in reality. The screen sensitivity is pretty good however and even slight gestures are registered. There’s no ambient light sensor onboard, just a proximity sensor and accelerometer.

 Interface
The Asha 501 debuts Nokia’s brand new Asha software platform v1.0. The UI is quite a bit faster as compared to the older Asha series but not what we’d called smooth. With just 64MB of RAM onboard, the interface gets sluggish quite fast. The other issue that’s parcelled with a new platform is apps. The ones available for the previous Asha series will have to be ported over so apps like Whatsapp is still not available for the 501.

The new UI gets rid of Nokia’s typical S40 homescreen. Switching the 501 on will take you straight to the list of apps on your phone. Nokia has added a new feature called ‘FastLane’ which essentially keeps a track of any and all activity performed on the 501. This means, you can just swipe right from the homescreen to see your recent activity and jump to that app directly.

 The audio quality is quite good given the size of the speaker. Music and alerts can be heard clearly, even in relatively noisy environments. Video playback is not great due to the low resolution screen. The camera has a fixed-focus and quite frankly, it wouldn’t have made a difference if it weren’t there. 

The Nokia Asha 501 is definitely a fresher and more interesting offering compared to its predecessors. A couple of features you’ll find lacking in the 501 is 3G and a front-facing camera but we won’t hold this against it since it's supposed to be an entry-level phone. Looking at the market however, we do feel the pricing is a bit high especially since you can find Android handsets with better specifications around the same price (the Karbonn Smart A4+ is one such example). The low resolution screen and lack of popular apps could be the two big factors to hold back sales of the device. 

Online price in India 
Rs. 5,199-5,400

Micromax launches 5-inch, quad-core Canvas 4 priced at Rs 17,999

It is finally here. The much-awaited Micromax Canvas 4 has been launched today at an event in New Delhi. The latest flagship from Micromax has been priced at Rs 17,999. This is significantly lower than what was expected. The phone has seen a lot of buzz thanks to a high volume TV campaign that has been running since June 19. The "blink-and-you'll-miss it" TV ad showed precious little about the phone, except an aluminium frame and what looked like a plastic body. Turns out that like the iPhone 4, the aluminium casing houses the antenna.

The 5-inch Canvas 4, which you can, emm, blow to unlock, is powered by a quad-core processor. The True HD IPS display is not full-HD, but a disappointing 720p.

The dual-SIM phone comes with a 13MP rear camera that has a 5 lens array. It also has optical image stabilisation, HDR,  effects and filters, and does 1080p videos. The phone also has a 5MP front-facing camera. Micromax has said that the phone will also get OTA updates.
Like the latest phones by Samsung in the Galaxy series, the Canvas 4 has a bunch of features, such as burst mode for the camera that shoots 99 pictures in 15 seconds, video pinning, simultaneous video playback, look away to pause video and other gesture controls.
Here's a quick look at the official specs of the Micromax Canvas 4:

• Display & Resolution: 5-inch True IPS HD display with 720p resolution at 293ppi
• Processor: 1.2Ghz quad-core MT6589 Mediatek processor
• Camera: 13MP camera at the back and 5MP front-facing shooter
• OS: Android 4.2.1
• Memory: 1GB RAM
• Storage: 16GB internal memory, expandable to 32GBvia microSD card
• Battery: 2000 mAh

Micromax does not operate in a bubble. It has a keen eye on the competition and the thought of Micromax not going after Samsung’s kingpin, the Galaxy S4, does not sit well with us. Already the teasers and first images reveal a phone with a very similar design to the S4. Secondly, Micromax is the closest Indian rival to Samsung, so naturally, the Canvas 4 will be going head-to-head against the S4. And a lower resolution display sounds like weak weapons to take into that fight. Forget Samsung, even Micromax’s Indian rivals are prepping 1080p display-toting smartphones. Karbonn S6 Titanium, being one example.

These are strong motivators for Micromax and it would be folly to ignore them, if at all the company has. We wouldn't be surprised if the rumour of a 720p display has been floated around just to create a false negative buzz. After all, who doesn't love a pleasant surprise?

 

A pen that vibrates when you spell 'liek tihs'

You have got to hand it to the Germans. They honestly believe in perfection, even when it comes to the simple act of writing a letter. German inventors have now developed a new hi-tech pen that gently vibrates every time it senses a spelling mistake or sloppy handwriting in real time. The spell check is definitely a feature that most of us wish was around in the days before Microsoft Word spell checks came to save the day.

While Lernstift is a regular pen with real ink, on the inside it sports a special motion sensor as well as a small battery-powered stripped-down Linux computer with a Wi-Fi chip. Together those parts allow the pen to recognise specific movements, letter shapes and know a wide assortment of words. If it senses bad letter formation or messy handwriting, it will vibrate, ABC News reported.

Users can choose between two functions: Calligraphy Mode, which will point out flaws of form and legibility or Orthography Mode, which will recognise words and compare the word to a language database. If the word isn't recognised it will vibrate, according to Daniel Kaesmacher, the 33-year-old co-founder of Lernstift from Munich.

The other co-founder Falk Wolsky, 36, had the idea for the pen last year while his 10-year-old son was doing his homework. "His son had been struggling with his work and staying focused and Falk thought there should be a pen that gives him some sort of signal so he stays focused," Kaesmacher said.

After a year and a half in development, the founders have now brought Lernstift to Kickstarter to begin raising money and gauging interest. The project is looking to raise $181,476, and if you want this pen for yourself or your kids, a contribution of at least $150 is needed. The device, because you simply can’t call it just a pen, should definitely have a lot of interested takers. And people who may not want to shell out the cash, but love the concept, should definitely check out the video below.

New HTC One Mini leak shows 1.4GHz Snapdragon 400, Android 4.2.2 OS

HTC One Mini has been popping up a lot on the Internet lately. Following up to a number of leaks revealing a 4.3-inch screen, the smartphone has once again been spotted; this time with fresh photos and specifications, according to AndroidNext.

While talking about the specifications of the as-yet-unreleased smartphone, it seems like the HTC One Mini will be coming to the market with slightly less power compared to some of the other high-end HTC devices. The smartphone should, however, come with Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean as well as the latest Sense 5.0 UI being thrown in.

Here is a quick look at the specifications of the HTC One Mini, which have been confirmed by latest reports: 

• 4.3-inch display with 720p resolution
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 dual-core processor
• 1GB RAM
• 4.3 UltraPixel camera (same as HTC One)
• Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean
• Sense 5.0 UI
• Adreno 305 GPU

The earlier news of the HTC One Mini coming with a 4.3-inch 720p display and a resolution of 720 x 1280 pixels have also been reinforced by the new data. This should amount to the screen having a pixel density of 342 ppi.
Similar to the HTC One, the HTC One Mini may also sport the same 4 megapixel UltraPixel camera as well as a 1.6 megapixel front camera.  In terms of memory, the device will come with 16GB worth of storage, out of which 12 GB will be user-accessible, according to the source site.

Xolo has launched its new smartphone, dubbed the Xolo Play T1000.

Xolo has launched its new smartphone, dubbed the Xolo Play T1000. Disappointingly, despite sounding like the name of a Terminator, the phone only runs on the Nvidia Tegra 3 quad-core chip (the same one that powers the Nexus 7 tablet). The handset is available for Rs 15,999, which is quite a competitive price since it runs on a Tegra 3. It comes out of the box with Android Jelly Bean.

The Play T1000 features a 4.7-inch IPS screen with a 720p display resolution. It is equipped with an 8 megapixel camera on the back and 2 megapixel front-facing shooter. It has 4GB of internal memory with a microSD card, giving it expandable memory up to 32GB. Thanks to the chip, the phone is capable of recording as well as playing videos at full 1080p resolution. The chip, coupled with 1GB of RAM, gives the smartphone adequate multitasking capabilities. Connectivity options include the standard 3G, 2G, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth capabilities. All of this is kept alive by a 1,900 mAh battery.

Since it runs on a Tegra 3, Xolo is hoping to sell the handset as a gaming machine, hence the “Play” in its Terminator-esque name. Thanks to the Tegra 3’s setup of having four cores for processing and an extra underclocked battery-saver core, the Xolo Play T1000 should be able to handle battery and CPU intensive tasks (such as gaming) with ease. As with any device that runs on a Tegra chip, the Play T1000 comes pre-loaded with Nvidia’s TegraZone app, which is essentially an alternative app store that has games that make better use of the Tegra 3’s power.