Motiongraph app launched by Sony DNA, lets you create cinemagraphs on your Android phone

Sony’s Digital Network Applications division has pushed out a new application for Android devices which lets you create motion enabled images. The motiongraph smartphone application creates images in which part of the image moves like a video while the rest remains stationary creating a surreal effect.

The app works in three steps involving shooting a very short 2 second video and then defining the areas that you want to move. Once saved, the motiongraphs can be shared over on social networks. The images can be viewed in any browser window.

The application also features the best motiongraphs from around the world. It provides a range of features to allow users to fine tune their images. Focus, white balance and exposure settings can be manipulated while jitter is reduced by Sony’s proprietary image stabilization technology. Click the source link to download the application from the Play Store. The app has been priced at $0.99.

Nokia Asha 205 launched in India, priced at Rs 3,499

The phone includes innovations like SLAM which is enables fast content sharing between devices. Slam lets consumers share multimedia content between phones equipped with bluetooth regardless of OS.

The specifications of the Asha 205 include :

• 113 x 61 x 13 mm
• 94 grams
• Dedicated Facebook button
• QWERTY keypad
• 2.4 inch QVGA display
• GPRS/EDGE connectivity
• 1020 mAh battery
• VGA camera
• microSD card slot, 10MB of internal memory
• Dual SIM with EasySwap
• Push notifications for eBuddy and Facebook
• Cyan and Orange colors

The phone supports Facebook chat and includes push notifications for Facebook. Direct sharing is built in letting you send over images to the social network really quickly. The phone comes equipped with Nokia Xpress browser which offers cloud based compression and results in lesser data being needed. Ind addition the Nokia Nearby service will also be integrated in letting users locate relevant point of interest around them.

The company has tied up with Idea letting users on that network access Facebook for free for the first three months.  The Nokia Asha 205  in Cyan and Orange will be available in India from December 24, 2012 at a price point of Rs 3,499.

HTC Windows Phone 8S finally hitting stores in India at Rs. 19,359

The long awaited entry level Windows Phone 8 handset, the HTC 8S, is now available in India at a price point of Rs. 19,359. Online retailer Saholic has now listed the handset as available. The HTC 8S follows the 8X which has been quite a popular handset partly due to the lack of competition in the WP8 segment.

The smartphone is powered by a 1 Ghz dual core processor and is coupled with 512MB of RAM. A 4″ SLCD panel with WVGA resolution can be seen up front while the back houses the 5MP camera with LED flash. Connectivity options include  3G, WiFI, Bluetooth. Like most HTC phones, the 8S too is equipped with Beats Audio which boosts audio quality. Unlike the 8X, the 8S has a memory card slot to increase the inbuilt 8GB of storage. We’ve talked in-depth about Windows Phone 8 previously and feel that it is finally a mature OS and is worth taking a look at. At Rs. 19359, the HTC 8S makes for a compelling deal.

Facebook to launch snapchat-like app with timed self destructible messaging

Facebook, after aggressively targeting Whatsapp with new capabilities in its messenger app, is now reportedly ready to launch another standalone app, that takes advantage of your Facebook account.  This app is supposedly a snapchat-like app with self-destructible timed messages. Read on to find out what it is about.

Nationwide Mobile Number Portability expected by February 2013

Mobile Number Portability (MNP) is expected to be rolled out Nationwide by February 2013, said Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal, according to report from Economic Times. This would let the subscribers retain their numbers even if they move to another state, irrespective of the service provider. Mobile Number Portability (MNP) went live in India back in January 2011 that enables users retain their number when they switch from one operator to another within the circle.

According to the latest data from TRAI, Mobile Number Portability requests increased to 75.14 million at the end of October 2012, from 69.78 million at the end of September 2012 with 5.36 million MNP requests on October 2012 alone.

The Cabinet has approved New Telecom Policy 2012 back in May 2012. The Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal also said that the Department of Telecom has finalised an agenda for the next three months (December 2012 to February 2013) that includes, providing Mobile Number Portability on a nationwide basis and removing roaming charges across India.

Source: Economic Times

Facebook for Android goes native, Now twice as fast

Facebook for Android has always  struggled with performance issues and particularly laggy scrolling due to its dependence on webviews instead of native code. The company has now finally rolled out a native build of the app for Android which promises to double the performance of the application. The application is expected to be twice as fast at looking at photos and opening up the timeline.

Launch timings to have been worked at according to Phillip Fung, a Facebook engineer. The popular social network has decided to keep the interface the same while making extensive under-the-hood changes to create a solid foundation for the app moving forward. There’s much improved memory efficiency and garbage collection to ensure that the performance is right in line with the updated iOS application which shipped a few months ago. Facebook has built its own scrolling engine and is using it instead of the one built into Android. The update will go live later today on the Play Store and should show up on your devices as well.