Category: Featured

WeChat Social Messaging App Review
Networking apps are good to have for connecting with friends while on the go. They are not only easy to use and convenient but also add in an element of fun. While there is no dearth of social applications that allow you to connect with friends, one that has been garnering a lot of attention is WeChat. We decided to find out how good the application was and if it was worth downloading?

Developed by Tencent , the largest Internet company in APAC , We Chat is the only Social Messaging App to offer Video/Audio calling and voice messaging with about 200 million users worldwide. It is a free mobile communication and social networking app for Smart phones with features like Video/Audio Calling, Push-to-Talk Voice Messaging, Group Chat-text & voice (up to 40 people) and Location based friend-discovery social features.

WeChat’s interface is something that will take getting used to. On the homescreen you will find all your contacts who use the application. You can start a conversation with them by simply tapping on their name. You can convert the conversation into group chat by clicking on the face icon on the right hand corner at the top of the screen. Clicking on the keyboard icon will allow you to type a message. This keyboard icon also alternates as the speaker icon to send voice chat when the keyboard is in use. To send a voice message press on the ‘Hold to Talk’ button, you will have to keep it pressed till you are done with the message, simply release to send. Currently you can send messages up to one minute long. You can cancel the recording by an up swipe movement.

Pros: Apart from the novelty this app offers ,this app has a sound presence with its novelty in chatting as briefed above.To use the best of this app from the android market, you and your friends has to use WeChat and then no one is going to stop you.The speed is fast and sitting from UK , you can send a faster message to Turkey.And if you have connected your FB friends, then be ready for a typing war.It also offers the convince of grouping your friends/family together and then do a group chat. A well designed app for conversation at great speed l. A new feature Video which has been added recently lets you to group video chat. The mobiles in -build camera works at its best for you and you can talk roaming around with just a click on the go. A cool app which is totally free offers you ads-free HD Video Chat.

Sharing Files and Chatting through PC
Extendability of using WeChat even from PC through the browser is by scanning the code displayed in web.wechatapp.com .One addition here is “File Transfer” where we can transfer files (text, image, audio, video, and any other file types) between my phone and my computer with File Transfer. We can also to the same with our contacts in WeChat.

Video Chat and Voice Messaging :
Another great leap in this social app making it popularity grow very fast. Using this service, it is very easy to send and receive voice messages at greater speed as well as use web cam on the mobile to its best.

From the above image you can see that to use Voice Messaging, you got to Press& Hold the button on the right side for sending your Voice Message. A sophisticated way of using free Voice Chat on Mobile/Tablet/IOS .
Video Calling
To use this free feature, just click on the add button on the lower bar of the app and choose Video Call (see Features and Addition Image above ) .

Plugins
With couple of plugins pre-installed plugins, WeChat offers more.Moments , a new plugins uses Face Book like feature with a WeChat cover and options for text ,photo as well video sharing (see “getting social ” image above).

Cons : Being a Chinese social app , whenever you stumble upon someone or someone stumbles upon you he/she happens to be a Chinese.Rarely we happen to meet an English speaking one.Also, it also surprises you with a ping from unknown people cleverly using this app for inappropriate use and this personally doesn’t work for me.But still, being a part of “look around” and “shake“, it offers loads of fun for people who love to make new friends .If I have to offer one suggestion for improvement, it will be that there should exist a way to acknowledges this app as relevant to Face Book/Twitter and using them for proper use other than unknown flirting hiding their identity .

Neutral View: As far as the privacy is concerned , unless we allow this app to post on your behalf on the FB wall when used Face Book to sign in, otherwise with use of We Chat ID’s and QR codes , this app is perfectly safe and fine chatting with new people with its Fact sheet
- Protects user data by offering on-demand contact list backup and retrieval to/from our cloud-based service.
- Provides a secure and robust social networking platform that emphasizes user privacy and fast response performance.
When compared to other social apps giants like FaceBook , Twitter, Tango , Palringo , etc that flocks the Internet , Android Markets, Google Play and iTunes , WeChat offers the combined effects/results that all the above specified apps offers. WeChat apps multimedia communication flexibility and convenience offers hassle free text messaging, hold-to-talk voice messaging, Video/Audio calling, broadcast (one-to-many) messaging, photo/video sharing, location sharing, and contact information exchange at all in One.

Conclusion

Overall, WeChat is a good option that you can consider if you are looking for a networking app. But considering that there are several other networking apps that have quite established their presence, convincing your friends to switch to WeChat could be challenging. However, the video calling feature is something that can give it an edge over others. And while the app offers the necessary features to network, there are some that you can do without, especially if you are concerned about privacy. Thankfully, you can disable these features and still be able to use the app without a problem. You will however need to get used to the interface. Lastly, even though the app is free it is devoid of ads.

Click here to download WeChat for Android

Click here to download WeChat for iPhone

Click here to download WeChat for BlackBerry

Click here to download WeChat for Windows

Click here to download WeChat for Symbian
May 30, 2013
Geeky One-Liners to geek the laugh out !
Whether you’re a nerd, a geek, a programmer, or just a regular person interested in technology, you should enjoy some serious humor, otherwise this world is very sad.

With this article you can also do something for your abs and burn off the excess Christmas treats. Start the New Year with a broad grin and lots of laughter. It’s healthy and contagious.

Infect yourself with 50 hilarious geeky one-line jokes.

Logical
- There are only 10 types of people in the world: those that understand binary and those that don’t.
- Computers make very fast, very accurate mistakes.
- Be nice to the nerds, for all you know they might be the next Bill Gates!
- Artificial intelligence usually beats real stupidity.
- To err is human and to blame it on a computer is even more so.
- CAPS LOCK Preventing Login Since 1980.
Browsing
- The truth is out there. Anybody got the URL?
- The Internet: where men are men, women are men, and children are FBI agents.
- Some things Man was never meant to know. For everything else, there’s Google.
Operating Systems
- The box said “Requires Windows Vista or better”. So I installed LINUX.
- UNIX is basically a simple operating system, but you have to be a genius to understand the simplicity.
- In a world without fences and walls, who needs Gates and Windows?
- C://dos
  C://dos.run
  run.dos.run
- Bugs come in through open Windows.
- Penguins love cold, they wont survive the sun.
- Unix is user friendly. It’s just selective about who its friends are.
- Failure is not an option. It comes bundled with your Microsoft product.
- NT is the only OS that has caused me to beat a piece of hardware to death with my bare hands.
- My daily Unix command list: unzip; strip; touch; finger; mount; fsck; more; yes; unmount; sleep.
- Microsoft: “You’ve got questions. We’ve got dancing paperclips.”
- Erik Naggum: “Microsoft is not the answer. Microsoft is the question. NO is the answer.”
- Windows isn’t a virus, viruses do something.
- Computers are like air conditioners: they stop working when you open Windows.
- Mac users swear by their Mac, PC users swear at their PC.
Programming
- If at first you don’t succeed; call it version 1.0.
- My software never has bugs. It just develops random features.
- I would love to change the world, but they won’t give me the source code.
- The code that is the hardest to debug is the code that you know cannot possibly be wrong.
- Beware of programmers that carry screwdrivers.
- Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the Universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning.
- The beginning of the programmer’s wisdom is understanding the difference between getting program to run and having a runnable program.
- I’m not anti-social; I’m just not user friendly.
- Hey! It compiles! Ship it!
- If Ruby is not and Perl is the answer, you don’t understand the question.
- The more I C, the less I see.
- COBOL programmers understand why women hate periods.
- Michael Sinz: “Programming is like sex, one mistake and you have to support it for the rest of your life.”
- If you give someone a program, you will frustrate them for a day; if you teach them how to program, you will frustrate them for a lifetime.
- Programmers are tools for converting caffeine into code.
- My attitude isn’t bad. It’s in beta.
Ad Absurdum
- Enter any 11-digit prime number to continue.
- E-mail returned to sender, insufficient voltage.
- All wiyht. Rho sritched mg kegtops awound?
- Black holes are where God divided by zero.
- If I wanted a warm fuzzy feeling, I’d antialias my graphics!
- If brute force doesn’t solve your problems, then you aren’t using enough.
- SUPERCOMPUTER: what it sounded like before you bought it.
- Evolution is God’s way of issuing upgrades.
- Linus Torvalds: “Real men don’t use backups, they post their stuff on a public ftp server and let the rest of the world make copies.”
- Hacking is like sex. You get in, you get out, and hope that you didn’t leave something that can be traced back to you.
Calculations
- There are three kinds of people: those who can count and those who can’t.
- Latest survey shows that 3 out of 4 people make up 75% of the world’s population.
- Hand over the calculator, friends don’t let friends derive drunk.
- An infinite crowd of mathematicians enters a bar. The first one orders a pint, the second one a half pint, the third one a quarter pint I understand, says the bartender and pours two pints.
- 1f u c4n r34d th1s u r34lly n33d t0 g37 l41d.
What is your favorite geek one-line joke?
Mar 24, 2013
MWC 2013: Asus Fonepad

Asus announced the Fonepad on Monday at MWC along with its third generation Padfone, a 7in tablet that can make phone calls.

Following its announcement, all were confused, and questioned whether a 7in tablet should double up as a smartphone.

The first thing that struck us about the Fonepad was its design, in particular its similarities to the Nexus 7 tablet built by Asus. From the front, you’d be forgiven for confusing the Fonepad for Google’s tablet, since its glossy black bezel and dimensions are almost identical to those of the Nexus 7.

However, when you flip the device over the Asus Fonepad starts to show its uniqueness.

Unlike the plasticky Nexus 7, the Fonepad features a metallic back panel, which will be made available in both silver and gold hues. Although it’s not quite as easy to grip as the textured back panel of the Google Nexus 7, it certainly delivers a more high-end feel, despite the tablet’s budget price tag. Not to mention it looks great, especially the silvery hued model.

A 7in 1280×800 screen sits within this metallic casing, and for us this is one of the device’s highlights. The IPS screen technology that Asus has used means that the device offers excellent viewing angles, and text was legible even when we held the device under the bright MWC lights.

Not only that, the 7in multitouch display also delivers extremely vivid colours, and despite the similar screen specifications it easily outperforms the Nexus 7 display.

The Asus Fonepad is quite responsive too, thanks to the 1.2GHz Intel Atom processor under the bonnet. It”s not a fancy quad-core chip, but it certainly offers an all-around slick and fluid experience.

The latest version of Google’s mobile operating system, Android 4.2 Jelly Bean is onboard too, which Asus has supplemented with its own custom software shell. However, unlike the user interface that you’ll find on a Samsung or HTC device, Asus’ skin is very stripped back, a feature that should appeal to those who prefer a vanilla Android experience.

Of course, the most quirky feature Asus has added to the device is its ability to make calls. Much like the Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0, you can make calls straight from the device – a feature that will confuse some, including us. However, when we used the Fonepad’s dialpad we immediately recognised the the thought process behind it. Sure, we wouldn’t walk around London with a 7in tablet pressed against our face, but the device boasts a built-in speakerphone and can be used with headphones.

There’s also the ability to make video calls, thanks to the Fonepad’s front-facing camera. This has a 1.2MP sensor, and while it doesn’t produce high quality images, its good enough for video calling.

That’s not all the Asus Fonepad has to offer. It also comes with 16GB of internal storage expandable to 32GB via microSD, alongside a large 4,270mAh battery.

Feb 27, 2013
MWC 2013: Asus announces Padfone Infinity combo tablet/phone
After weeks of teasing their MWC announcements, Asus has officially unveiled the PadFone Infinity. The new phone/tablet combo comes with improved internals to make for a package that competes directly with other 2013 flagships and brings the unique PadFone experience to a high-end smartphone.

The PadFone Infinity is two devices bundled into one. We will start with the good news. The Infinity ships with Android 4.2, so at least the software experience should be on par with the rest of flagships around. The display has grown from the 4.7-inch one in the PadFone 2 to a 5-inch Super IPS+ LCD, and the full HD tag means you get 441 pixels per inch. It matches the likes of the Xperia Z and HTC Butterfly and brings a 1080p resolution to the table.

The Asus PadFone brings two full HD displays in one retail package

The PadFone Infinity’s tablet component, or what Asus calls the Infinity Station, retains the 10.1-inch screen, but there’s full HD resolution here too: it now has a resolution of 1920 x 1200 pixels, up from 1280 x 800 pixels in the last model.
The Infinity’s insides have been upgraded too. It packs a quad-core Snapdragon 600 chip clocked at 1.7GHz and an Adreno 320 GPU, a combination that is gracing more and more flagships. The RAM has also been increased from 1GB to 2GB.
Buyers can choose to get the 32GB or the 64GB version of the PadFone Infinity. However, there is no microSD card slot, which is an odd decision considering one could have been fitted into the PadFone’s tablet component without much issue.
You get the usual connectivity options such as WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC, A-GPS and even GLONASS. The device uses a nano-SIM rather than micro-SIM.
On the back, Asus has added a 13 megapixel auto-focus camera, an LED flash, a five-element f/2.0 lens and burst shooting at 8fps. The front-facing camera on both the tablet component and the phone is a 2 megapixel one. When docked, the PadFone uses the phone’s primary camera to take rear shots.
Besides running Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, the PadFone Infinity comes with come Asus-exclusive apps. These include SuperNote for note taking, Story for creating a more immersive photo album and ASUS Echo for voice control.
Battery life on the PadFone Infinity sounds promising. The 2,400mAh battery within the phone is good enough for about 10 hours of real-world use. The company claims the device can give you up to 19 hours of 3G talk time and 40 hours when docked into Infinity Station. The dock also has enough juice (5000 mAh) to fully recharge the docked PadFone Infinity up to three times, according to the company.
Here are the key specifications of the PadFone Infinity:
- 5-inch Super IPS+ full HD display (phone) and 10.1-inch display with 1920 x 1200 resolution (tablet)
- 4G, LTE Cat3 up to 100Mbps DL, 3G, DC-HSPA+ up to 42Mbps, GSM, EDGE
- Wi-Fi 802.11 a/ac/b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct, dual-band, Wi-Fi hotspot
- Bluetooth 4.0 with A2DP
- GPS with A-GPS support and GLONASS
- 13 megapixel primary camera with LED flash and 2 megapixel front camera
- 32 or 64GB internal storage
- MicroUSB 2.0 with MHL link and USB Host support
And now for the bad news: the combined price of the Asus PadFone Infinity and the Infinity Station will be around £800 (approx Rs 65,000). The PadFone will arrive in Europe first, followed by Asia. Those looking to buy will have grey, gold and pink colour options to choose from.
Feb 27, 2013
MWC 2013: Samsung officially shuts down bada, Time for Tizen Now

Samsung has shown off a Tizen reference device at MWC 2013. The first devices running Tizen are expected to hit store shelves as early as June this year.

We’ve known since last year’s rumours, that Samsung will be shutting down development of the bada OS, and instead focus on its open-source Linux-based OS Tizen which it is building in collaboration with Intel. That announcement is now official, and the Korean giant aims to allocate resources from bada to Tizen, whilst helping developers with the transition. The bada OS was Samsung’s self-developed smartphone OS that initially gained traction, but ultimately failed to grab a market share when compared to Android-powered devices in the same price range.

The first devices running the Tizen OS are expected to hit store shelves as early as July 2013. Apart from Samsung and Intel, who are at the forefront of the development of the OS, NTT Docomo has committed itself as a carrier for the device in Japan.

After getting a look at Tizen 2.0 in action on this developer device, it definitely looks like the OS is coming along nicely. It seems to have most of the trappings of a modern OS, like a slide-to-unlock lock scree, multitasking menu and notification shade, but there are some small parts of those features that are a bit different than what we’re used to seeing. For example, the green battery indicator below the time at the top of the screen and the fact that the action of swiping down to access the notification area actually pulls the home screen down to the bottom of the display rather than pulling the notification shade down over the top of the home screen.

The Tizen Association has been working for a year and a half on the application ecosystem, and there are thousands of apps already ready to support the platform. But the group declined to provide an exact number, and only said that there would be a robust number of apps by the launch.

The show has also been the place for upstart operating systems. Mozilla unveiled its Firefox OS earlier in the show, complete with a large group of partners backing the initiative. Phones running on the Ubuntu mobile OS have been floating around the show as well.

The mobile industry is definitely becoming a bit more crowded as of late with all of the new OSes that are coming soon, including Tizen, Sailfish OS, Ubuntu and Firefox OS. It’s not known which of those platforms will take off and which will fizzle out, but with heavy backing from Intel and Samsung as well as support from several other companies, Tizen’s certainly got a shot at gaining some traction. After watching Tizen 2.0 in action on Samsung’s reference hardware, what are your thoughts on the OS?

Feb 27, 2013
MWC 2013: NVIDIA shows off 5 new Tegra 4 optimized games

With the announcement of the new Tegra 4 processor and devices, NVIDIA is looking to showcase what it is capable of by highlighting 5 new Tegra 4 optimized games in TegraZone. Burn Zombie Burn, Carie: Blood Mansion, CODEX: The Warrior, Dead on Arrival 2 and RU Golf have all been updated with enhanced graphics to show off just what makes Tegra 4 so much more appealing over other processors when it comes to playing games. NVIDIA is well known for partnering with game developers to release these high-end titles via the TegraZone, and these will kick it off for Tegra 4.

More about Tegra 4

Burn Zombie Burn

Developer: Tick Tock Games

Burn Zombie Burn blasts onto the mobile scene for the first time with fast-paced, console-quality action that has you striving to survive against a never-ending horde of zombies. With a slew of weapons available for your zombie-blasting pleasure, you’ll master the art of eradicating the undead.

Carie: Blood Mansion

Developer & Publisher: Neowiz

Tegra device users will get an exclusive map in Carie: Blood Mansion, with even more immersive graphics on Tegra 4 devices. You’ll guide Carie through bloody battles in this action adventure title. Keep an eye on the high-res textures, enhanced physics simulations and optimized fire and smoke effects in the below video.

CODEX: The Warrior

Head-to-head fighting in this RPG title shows off what Tegra 4 is capable of with HDR (High Dynamic Range) lighting throughout.

Dead on Arrival 2

A follow-up to the original, Dead on Arrival 2 adds full map destruction and high resolution models.

RU Golf

Developer & Publisher: Nutgee

RU Golf swung onto the mobile scene last year for Tegra 3-powered devices and will follow through with Tegra 4. Experience mano-a-mano multiplayer online battles with dynamic specular lighting, soft shadows, and bloom and lens flare effects. With various levels and character customizing features, get ready to tee off with RU Golf.

As you can see from the games above, there’s a lot to look forward to. Now we’ll just patiently (or impatiently) wait for Tegra 4 devices to arrive so we can promptly throw our cash at these upcoming titles!

Feb 27, 2013
MWC 2013: LG showcases Optimus G, Vu, L and F series smartphones

LG showcased its much hyped Optimus series devices, that we’ve known about for quite sometime now, at the Mobile World Congress. It reiterated the presence of the Optimus G and Vu series and officially debuted the F and LII series of smartphones that have been seen in the previous weeks gaining momentum to the MWC.

LG Optimus G series

The company announced its latest flagship, the Optimus G Pro, which was recently launched in Japan and Korea both countries receiving different variants of the device. As expected both devices were spotted on the MWC floor.

To recap, the Korean version of the Optimus G Pro comes with a 5.5-inch 1080p full HD IPS display, a powerful 1.7GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro processor with 2GB RAM, Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean, 3,140mAh battery, 13-megapixel rear shooter and a 2.1-megapixel front camera. The device features advanced UX features like dual-recording allowing users to shoot video from both the cameras simultaneously and Virtual Reality Panorama to capture panorama shots at 360 degree, QSlide, Live Zooming and QuickMemo.

The device features the typical LG glitter pattern on the back panel offering a "Digital Cube" effect, which is quite reminiscent of the Nexus 4. It sports a curved glass display that the company claims to give it a "2.5D" effect. The handset will be available in black and white colours and will pack a rather slim bezel.

This joins the company’s Optimus G that was originally launched in September last year. It is powered by 1.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro processor alongside 2GB of RAM. It includes a 4.7-inch 1280×768 (320ppi) display and sports a 13-megapixel rear camera and a 1.3-megapixel front shooter.

It comes with 32GB of built-in flash storage, but no microSD card slot or expandable storage of any kind. Connectivity options include Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Micro-USB and NFC. The phone originally shipped with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, but as per the listing on Saholic, in India, the phone will come with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean preloaded. The device is now available online in the country for Rs. 30, 990.

LG Optimus Vu Series

The LG Optimus Vu was launched in Korea and Japan in August last year and reached India two months later priced at Rs. 34,500. The 5-inch device simply made an appearance at MWC. It features TRUE-XGA IPS Display with a 1024×768 pixel revolution and a 4:3 aspect ratio.

Other specs include a 1.5GHz quad-core processor with 1GB RAM, Android 4.0.4, 32GB of internal storage and a 2,080mAh battery. The device also boasts a variety of connectivity options like Wi-Fi, 3G (HSPA+21 Mbps), Bluetooth 4.0, HDMI, DLNA, NFC, LTE and A-GPS. LG is also offering an NFC Tag(3) and a Rubbebdium Pen with the Optimus Vu.

The successor to this device came in the form of the Vu II, with a Qualcomm 1.5Ghz dual-core processor on board with 2GB RAM, 3 GB of internal storage, an 8-megapixel autofocus rear shooter and a 1.3 megapixel front camera and a 2150mAh battery. It is available in three colour options – white, black and pink. The Pen of the Optimus Vu II has a slimmer nib, which LG feels will facilitate more accurate handwriting. Other features include Vu Talk and QRemote.

LG Optimus LII Series

LG unveiled the next generation L Series II smartphones – the Optimus L3 II, Optimus L5 II and Optimus L7 II ahead of their official debut at MWC. The Korean manufacturer claims that it has built upon the widely successful L Series smartphones that sold more than 10 million units in the first 10 months, to include "contemporary design aesthetics and innovations that improve on the original".

In that regard, LG says it has introduced four new design elements incorporating a Seamless Layout, Laser Cut Contour, Radiant Rear Design and Smart LED Lighting on the home button.

The Optimus L7 II features a 4.3-inch IPS WVGA display, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, 8-megapixel rear camera with LED flash, VGA front-facing camera, 1GHz dual-core Qualcomm MSM8225 processor with 768MB RAM, 4GB of internal storage and microSD card support. The handset measures 121.5 x 66.6 x 9.7 mm, and comes with a 2,460 mAh battery.

The Optimus L3 II with 3.2-inch QVGA IPS display and 1,540mAh battery Optimus L5 II has a larger 4-inch WVGA display and 1,700mAh battery.

The LII Series devices are said to be equipped with various proprietary features like QuickMemo, Quick Button and Safety Care.

QuickMemo allows users to capture and share handwritten ideas with a single tap, while Quick Button enables customers to personalize a hotkey to launch any app such as the camera, browser, music player or even QuickMemo. Safety Care offers three options – Emergency Call Forwarding, Phone Non-Usage Notice’ and My Location Notice – which can be programmed for emergency contacts.

LG Optimus F series

Earleir teased on LG’s Facebook page, the new F Series device feature the 4G LTE capable Optimus F5 and F7 smartphones. The device images were posted by notorious Twitter user @evleaks a week before the Barcelona event.

The Optimus F7 is said to feature a 4.7-inch True HD IPS (312ppi) display, a 1.5GHz dual-core processor, 2GB RAM, 8GB internal storage with a microSD slot for up to 32GB expansion, an 8-megapixel rear camera, 1.3-megapixel front camera and a 2,540mAH battery.

The Optimus F5 will sport a 4.3-inch IPS (256ppi) display, a 1.2GHz dual-core processor with 1GB RAM, 5-megapixel rear camera, 1.3-megapixel front camera, 8GB internal storage expandable upto 32GB via microSD and a 2,150mAH battery. Both the phones will feature Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean and will have latest LG features like QSlide, QuickMemo, Live Zooming, QTranslator and Video Wiz amongst many others.

Feb 26, 2013
MWC 2013: Lenovo introduces a trio of new Android tablets

Following in the wake of Samsung’s and HP’s announcements yesterday, Lenovo has unveiled three new tablets to join the Android fray. These include a pair of 7-inch models, the A1000 and A3000, and a 10-inch slate, the S6000.

Lenovo’s two 7-inch tablets and 10.1-inch tablet all run Google’s Android operating system and feature enhanced audio and dual-core or quad-core processors.

The company is positioning the A1000 as “ideal for first-time tablet buyers,” which suggests a budget price point as does the dual-core processor. Lenovo says it has up to 16GB of internal capacity, which may mean there will be 8GB and 16GB versions, though the A1000 will come with a microSD card slot for additional storage. One premium feature is the inclusion of Dolby Digital Plus technology for improved audio performance.

In comparison, the A3000 gets a quad-core MediaTek processor and a vague promise of ” extensive memory, ” though the IPS display only has a resolution of 1,024×600. You do get the option of 3G connectivity if you need to get online while away from a Wi-Fi connection.

While the S6000 doesn’t have all of the top-end features of Google’s Nexus 10, it may turn out to be a lower-cost competitor. It will also make use of a quad-core MediaTek processor (the MTK 8389/8125), and the company promises a “substantial battery” in a 20-ounce package. Again, resolution on this IPS screen is not ultra-high res — 1,280×800 — but presumably the price tag is not ultra-high, either.

“Lenovo’s latest Android tablet family is designed to meet the demands of a wide range of customers, particularly young, active users who are always on the go, and have adopted the 7-inch form factor as their own. With these latest additions to our tablet portfolio, we’ve created devices that address these customers’ needs, as well as devices for more demanding gamers and multimedia users,” Chen Wenhui, vice president and general manager of Lenovo’s mobile business unit, said in a statement. “We believe that our Android family of tablets will appeal to customers across the world as we’ve built our products to be highly accessible and flexible to serve multiple needs and budgets.”

Unfortunately, Lenovo hasn’t disclosed the pricing on any of the three new tablets, though it says they will be released sometime in the second quarter of this year.

Feb 26, 2013
MWC 2013 : Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Tablet

Samsung has surprised everyone at MWC in Barcelona by unveiling an eight-inch version of its stylus-equipped Galaxy Note tablet.

The new tablet is more than a smaller version of the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1; there’s an uprated specification, and Samsung has also improved how the Note’s built-in stylus works. In Europe the Note 8 will have built-in 3G.

The Note 8 has a 1.6GHz quad-core processor, up from the 1.4GHz model in the Galaxy Note 10.1. As you’d expect, it’s significantly lighter, at 335g compared to 597g, so won’t be as much of a strain to carry around.

As with the Note 10.1, the Note 8’s S-Pen stylus is more than just a dumb pointing device. There are several stylus-specific functions built into the tablet’s Android 4.1 OS, such as pressure-sensitivity and windows that pop up over whatever app you’re currently using to help you take a quick note. Unlike on the Note 10.1, you can now use the S-Pen to tap the back and menu buttons under the Note 8’s screen.

The Note 8 also improved on the Note 10.1’s Multiscreen support, where two apps sit side-by-side, so you can watch a YouTube video while taking notes, for example. While the larger tablet only supported Multiscreen in six apps, there are now 20 apps that can sit side by side. It’s a big step towards making a tablet as useful as a laptop for certain tasks.

There are no great surprises behind the Note 8’s display. It’s a 1,280×800-pixel model, which gives it a pixel density of 189ppi. This is nothing spectacular, but is slightly more than the iPad Mini’s 163ppi.

The built-in 3G is a bonus for European users, especially for city dwellers with easy access to fast HSDPA networks. It also means it’s possible to use the Note 8 as a phone, but we’d recommend using a headset of some description rather than holding it to your head.

We liked the Galaxy Note 10.1’s stylus, but thought the tablet was overpriced compared to the competition. The Galaxy Note 8 is a useful smaller version, but, with no pricing information yet available, it remains to be seen whether Samsung will charge a large premium over the benchmark for tablets at this size: Google’s £159 Nexus 7.

Feb 25, 2013
Oscars 2013: Winners Full List

The 85th Academy Awards ceremony (referred to as The Oscars), honoring the best films of 2012 in the United States, took place February 24, 2013. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) presented its annual Academy Awards to honor the best films of 2012 in the United States. The ceremony was held at the Dolby Theatre in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles, California Seth MacFarlane hosted the Academy Awards for the first time.

Life of Pi won four awards (the most for the evening) including Best Director for Ang Lee^,and Argo won three awards including Best Picture. Les Misérables also won three awards; Django Unchained, Lincoln and Skyfall won two awards each. Jennifer Lawrence won the Best Actress award for her role in Silver Linings Playbook. Daniel Day-Lewis won a third Best Actor (the most for any actor) for his role as President Abraham Lincoln in Lincoln.

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained

ANIMATED SHORT FILM
Paperman
John Kahrs

ANIMATED FEATURE
Brave
Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman

CINEMATOGRAPHY
Claudio Miranda, Life Of Pi

VISUAL EFFECTS
Life Of Pi
Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik-Jan De Boer and Donald R. Elliott

COSTUME DESIGN
Jacqueline Durran, Anna Karenina

MAKEUP & HAIRSTYLING
Les Misérables
Lisa Westcott and Julie Dartnell

LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
Curfew
Shawn Christensen

DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
Inocente
Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Searching For Sugar Man
Malik Bendjelloul and Simon Chinn

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Amour (Austria)
Michael Haneke, director; Margaret Menegoz, Stefan Arndt, Veit Heiduschka and Michael Katz, Producers

SOUND MIXING
Les Misérables
Andy Nelson, Mark Paterson and Simon Hayes

SOUND EDITING
(tie)
Zero Dark Thirty
Paul N.J. Ottosson

Skyfall
Per Hallberg and Karen Baker Landers

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Anne Hathaway, Les Misérables

FILM EDITING
Argo
William Goldenberg

PRODUCTION DESIGN
Lincoln
Production Design: Rick Carter; Set Decoration: Jim Erickson

ORIGINAL SCORE
Life Of Pi
Mychael Danna

ORIGINAL SONG
“Skyfall” from Skyfall
Music and Lyric by Adele Adkins and Paul Epworth

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Chris Terrio, Argo

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Quentin Tarantino, Django Unchained

DIRECTING
Ang Lee, Life Of Pi

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln

BEST PICTURE
Argo
Grant Heslov, Ben Affleck and George Clooney, Producers

Feb 25, 2013