Dual-identity smartphones

From next year, manufacturers will be incorporating processors that allow users to separate their business life from their personal life, or their personal life from their very personal life. 
At September's BlackBerry Jam event in the US, struggling mobile maker RIM unveiled a raft of new features for the handset that it hopes will re-establish the BlackBerry alongside Apple and Samsung, chief among which was ‘BlackBerry Balance' -- a feature that allows users to keep their work emails, contacts and apps separate from their personal lives. Essentially combining two handsets in one device.

                                        
Aimed at the growing trend of BYOD (bring your own device -- to work), it was one of the stars of the show and a clear differentiator between it and its iOS and Android peers.

When the long-awaited new BlackBerry 10 is unveiled in January 2013 it will be the first to offer this feature, but it won't stay unique for long as a number of software and chip developers have been contracted to develop the same technology for Android phones, and the same dual-handset feature is expected to start rolling out on LG, Samsung and Motorola phones before the second half of next year.

And while the intention is to help businesses keep their data secure when letting employees use their own smartphones for work, if the latest smartphone user surveys are to be believed, it could have another more widespread use -- for keeping secrets from partners.

According to research by BullGuard, published in November, one in five UK men has a secret email account they use for hiding correspondence from their partner, and 5 percent have gone as far as buying a second smartphone for fear of their partner snooping on their messages and photos.

A similar study in the US from Virgin Mobile Live found that 20 percent of married people said they felt uncomfortable giving their phone to their partner and 44 percent of women admitted to going through their partner's phone behind their backs.

Micromax Superfone Canvas 2 A110 vs Samsung Galaxy S Duos S7562

The Canvas 2 A110 has established its self as a good value for money option under the Rs.10,000 price bracket. This begs the question as to how does it fare against a similarly featured smartphone from a popular brand. Is there any dual SIM handset that manages to come close to the A110 in terms of features without having to spend a whole lot more? After looking at the offerings in the market, we find that the Samsung Galaxy S Duos S7562 is the closest priced handset that comes close to the features of the A110. And what better way to settle this than pit both of them in a grudge match. 
                                               


Samsung Galaxy S Duos S7562 – Rs.14,900

We haven’t put the S Duos through its paces yet, but there’s still a lot we can derive from the specifications alone. For starters, the handset is priced a good 5K higher than the Micromax, so we expect it to put on a better show, at least on paper. The S7562 does have a smaller 4-inch screen, but with the same resolution as the A110, we have much higher pixel count. This should make text and images sharper. It also uses a standard TFT display instead of the IPS used on the A110. The smaller screen also allows for the S Duos to be lighter and more compact as well. Samsung has slipped up big time here by not including an ambient light sensor. This could be the deal breaker for some as at this price, one would expect it to be a given.

Samsung has also used an older single core Qualcomm MSM7227A chipset here in order to cut costs and the result of this is average multimedia capabilities. The slower Adreno 200 GPU will not help much in games either. Samsung has added a generous helping of RAM (768MB) compared to the A110, so that should take care of any lags one might face. Due to the chipset, the 5MP camera maxes out at 480p for video recording – another area where the Micromax has the upper hand. 

The bottom line 
Besides possibly getting better aesthetics and build quality, it doesn’t seem like the Samsung Galaxy S Duos S7562 offers a whole lot more in terms of features, or even functionality. The higher ppi screen and the fact that it’s built by Samsung would be the only reason you would think about shelling out the extra 5K for it. The Micromax Canvas 2 A110 continues to be a force to be reckoned with. However, how will it stand up against the iBall Andi 4.5h? Stay tuned for the ultimate showdown between the A110 and the Andi 4.5h, coming soon.

Students spend 60% of classroom time on smartphones: Study

MUMBAI: Here is a worrisome finding on the ever-growing internet obsession among children. An Israeli study has revealed that high school students spend 60% of their time in the classrooms exchanging social media trivia with each other. Using internet-able smartphones, around 94% of the students in a high school in Israel surfed the internet, accessed social media sites, listened to music, took photos, played games or sent text messages--all during the class hours.

Researchers from Haifa University said this disruptive behavior would certainly affect the child's learning experience as well as hasten any teacher's burnout rate.

In India, where a sizeable number of the 27 million smartphone users are children, the study should serve as an eye-opener. Last month, a phone company studied phone usage patterns among Indians and found that 30 million out of 69 million urban members of India's 'Generation Z' owning one. Indian tweens spent roughly seven hours a day on mobile phones, televisions and gaming consoles, said the survey. While our schools have largely managed to keep phones out of classrooms, the potential for misuse of smartphones is always there (students manage to smuggle smartphones into classrooms in urban areas).

How can parents and school authorities curb this obsession? Restricting the use of phones may not be the best strategy. Teenagers may rebel and the obsession may get worse. In fact, the Israeli study also showed that students in classrooms where the teacher Interestingly, it was also found that in classes with more permissive teachers, cell phone use was lower than in classes where the teacher imposed strict discipline. Behaviour therapy and psychology may clearly be better tools to curb the internet obsession.

New OS soon for smartphone

The Indian market might see a new operating system for smartphones soon, as Japanese telecom major NTT DoCoMo and Samsung Electronics are jointly developing one that will likely be released in Japan and other Southeast Asian countries sometime this year.

According to Japanese daily The Yomiuri Shimbun, the operating system (OS) that DoCoMo, along with other partners such as Vodafone and France Telecom, is developing, is called the ‘Tizen’.

In India, DoCoMo has a presence in the form of Tata DoCoMo, a joint venture which is a cellular service provider on both the GSM and CDMA platforms.

The ‘Tizen’ operating system has been backed by Samsung since last year but has been invariably shelved for various reasons. The report further reveals that Samsung would probably begin selling ‘Tizen’-equipped smartphones sometime this year. The Tizen OS, like Android, is open-source for most part, and is being developed on the premise that cellular service firms will be able to offer their own services, taking a slice away from the value-added services pie dominated by Apple and Google.

LG Nexus 4 available online in India now at Rs 35,999

The LG Nexus 4 is a hot selling device and if one is able to get their hands on one, they should consider themselves extremely lucky. The price of the 16GB Nexus 4 on eBay was previously listed as Rs 29,990, but the units got sold out from eBay seller Cart2india2010. The handset is now available through other sellers, but at a considerably higher price, which is Rs 35,999.

Those who had managed to procure the Nexus 4 last month through eBay.in should consider themselves lucky as the price has skyrocketed since. There are listings on eBay.in with price as low as Rs 30,000 for the 16GB version, but one would need to bid for it. This in turn could take the price a lot higher. The model with a ‘Buy it Now’ option is for Rs 35,999 and this appears to be the cheapest listing on the popular retail site.

The handset had also been listed on online retailer Tradus.in with the 8GB version selling for a steep price of Rs 31,999 and the 16GB model selling for Rs 37,999. Even though these handsets had a higher price than that of eBay, both devices are already listed as sold out. So any hope of procuring it from there has been reduced to nil as of now.

As usual, we would caution you about buying it online as there may be issues with the buying process and as a worst case scenario, there may be the chance of one not even receiving the device at all. However, if you are eager to get your hands on this device no matter what, then it is available on eBay.in, but at a higher price.

If rumours are to be believed, then the LG Nexus 4 is expected to launch in India in January 2013. Along with this handset, LG is expected to introduce the LG Optimus G in India, too, which is the brand’s flagship handset.

Google had announced the latest devices in its Nexus line-up in late October, along with a new flavour of Android – version 4.2. The new version is still named Jelly Bean. A revised version of the Nexus 7 tablet, a new 10-inch tablet called the Nexus 10, was also announced alongside the LG Nexus 4.

The Nexus 4 is Google's latest smartphone developed together with LG. It has a quad-core processor, runs on android 4.2, has a crisp 4.7-inch (320 ppi) display and boasts of wireless charging. The company has reinvented the photo experience with Photo Sphere, which lets you capture shots up, down and in every direction to create 360-degree experiences that you can share on Google+. You can also add your Photo Sphere to Google Maps for the world to see.

Android 4.2 bring some great goodies, including Gesture Typing, which lets you glide your finger over the letters you want to type on the keyboard—thus adding the functionality of the Swype keyboard into the stock Android keyboard. Android 4.2 also adds support for wireless displays, so you can wirelessly watch movies, YouTube videos and play games right on a Miracast-compatible HDTV.

HTC Will Pay Apple $6-$8 Per Android Phone As Part of Patent Settlement

Over the weekend, Apple and HTC announced a surprise settlement to their global patent battle, along with a 10-year licensing agreement that includes current and future patents held by both companies.

The terms of the settlement deal were not initially disclosed, but Sterne Agee analyst Shaw Wu reports hearing from multiple industry sources that HTC has agreed to pay Apple $6-$8 in licensing fees for each Android phone it sells. Wu estimates that could work out to be between $180-$280 million paid to Apple annually, given that HTC is expected to ship 30 million-35 million Android smartphones in 2013.

While this might sound like a lot, Wu points out in his research note that it is comparable to the $5 that HTC reportedly pays Microsoft per Android device as part of a separate patent settlement.

“We think $6-$8 seems reasonable if not a relatively small price for HTC and others to pay to be able to sell a modern smart phone with touchscreen,” Wu wrote in the note.

Apple first sued HTC for infringing on patents related to the iPhone in 2010, as part of the so-called “thermonuclear war” against Google’s Android phones and its manufacturing partners declared by Apple’s former CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs’. Apple and HTC have since battled it out in court rooms around the world, with Apple winning multiple decisions.

After the patent settlement was announced late Saturday, an HTC spokeswoman told The Wall Street Journalthat she doesn’t expect the terms of the agreement to have an “adverse material impact” on HTC’s business. Wu argues that the settlement won’t likely have any material benefit on Apple’s business either, considering that $280 million annually is pocket change for a company that generates $193 billion in sales annually.

More important than the money, Wu speculates that the terms of this agreement could be used as a “blueprint” for Apple coming to similar settlements with other Android manufacturers, including Samsung and Motorola.

SOURCE:mashable

What is Root, and Why Root?

What is Root, and Why Root?


The good thing about having root is you can go back if you want. The same is not true of not having root. We do not know what steps Google/Tmobile will take to rid the end users of root in the future. For all we know the next OTA will remove the keys that allows the RC29 downgrade method to work and you could be stuck on a non rooted G1 forever. If you have root and for some reason it does not work for you there is always the option of going back.
What Does Root Give Me?

1.Full control over your system
2.Ability to alter system files. You can replace many parts of the "Android Core" with this including:
-Themes
-Core apps (maps, calendar, clock etc)
-Recovery image
-Bootloader
-Toolbox (linux binary that lets you execute simple linux commands like "ls") can be replaced with Busybox (slightly better option)
-Boot images
-Add linux binaries 
3.Run special apps that need more control over the system
-SuperUser (lets you approve or deny the use of root access to any program)
-Task Manager For Root (Lets you kill apps that you otherwise could not kill)
-Tether apps (like the one found at [android-wifi-tether.googlecode.com])
4.Backup your system
-You can make a folder on your sdcard and backup all of your .apk files to your sdcard (helps if an author decides to "upgrade" you to a version that requires you to pay to use the version you just had) 
5.Relocate your (browser/maps/market) cache to your /sdcard
6.Relocate your installed applications to your /sdcard
7.Reboot your phone from the terminal app easily (su <enter> reboot <enter>) 
What Do I Lose Having Root

-The ability to accept OTA updates (well, you can but you would lose root, so its been made so they get denied)
-The sense that someone else controls your phone
-The need to sit in an Android chat channel asking how to get root
-The need for a stupid useless "File Manager" that lets you see filenames but almost nothing else.
-The ability to have a knowledgeable conversation with a T-Mobile rep about your phone. (Ask one of them to spell root for you)
Source : Root