Google Maps for Android gets Voice guided turn-by-turn Navigation and Live Traffic in India

Google has started rolling out 2 new features, Voice guided turn-by-turn Navigation and Live Traffic updates for the Google Maps for Android in India. The Voice guided turn-by-turn Navigation would be helpful while driving or walking. You can click the navigate button after you request for a destination. You can also turn the voice navigation off or select alternative routes. This feature was introduced back in 2009.

Sony Xperia tipo dual now available for pre-order in India for Rs. 10299

After the Sony Xperia tipo, the tipo dual, dual SIM variant of the tipo is now available for pre-order from online retailer Flipkart. Other than the dual SIM (GSM + GSM) support, it shares similar features as the tipo including a 3.2-inch (480 x 320 pixels) 262k color TFT display, 800 MHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) OS.

It has 3.2 megapixel auto focus camera with VGA video recording, 3.5 mm audio jack, FM Radio with RDS, 512MB RAM, 2.9 GB internal memory (up to 2.5 GB user-accessible memory), expandable memory up to 32 GB with microSD.  The connectivity features include, 3G (HSDA 7.2Mbps HSUPA 5.76Mbps), Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n with DLNA and aGPS. It comes with 1500 mAh battery.

The Sony Xperia tipo dual is now available for pre-order from Flipkart for Rs. 10299. It is expected to ship in the 2nd week of September.

Is this the nano SIM card for the iPhone 5 ?

We told you last year that a nano SIM card which is smaller than the already tiny microSIM card is in the works. Then there were rumours floating around that the next iPhone or the iPhone 5 would be using the nano SIM card slot.What followed was Apple, Nokia , RIM and Motorola defending for their own proposals at the industry standards body known as European Telecommunication Standards Institute ETSI . Interestingly , Apple’s proposal won and rest of the companies were disappointed about the outcome.

Samsung Galaxy Note II unveiled: Comes with Android Jellybean, 5.5″ HD Super AMOLED display

Samsung just announced the Samsung Galaxy Note II, the follow-up to its popular phablet. The Note II comes with an even larger 5.5 inch display with a resolution of 1280 x 720. Battery capacity has been upped to 3,100 mAh and it is of the fast charging variety. Powered by a quad core Exynos processor clocked at 1.6Ghz, the Note II runs on Android 4.1 Jellybean.

The design looks heavily inspired by the Galaxy SIII using rounded edges and an extremely glossy finish. There’s an 8MP camera sensor on the back of the device capable of recording 1080p video.  The S Pen itself has undergone some work. With a rubber nib, users can now add quick commands to gestures. “Air View” allows users to preview galleries and folders just by floating the stylus above the display. The Samsung Galaxy Note II will ship in Titanium Grey, Marble White towards the end of the year.

Water resistant Sony Xperia V launched, Comes with onboard LTE

As part of its next generation Xperia lineup, Sony just announced the Sony Xperia V. The USP of the device is that it has the highest level of water resistance available in a smartphone. The phone is equipped with LTE. The phone runs on a dual core processor clocked at 1.5Ghz.

Samsung ATIV S : First Windows Phone 8 device announced with 4.8-inch HD Super AMOLED display

Samsung has announced ATIV S, the first device to run Windows Phone 8 OS. It has a 4.8 inch HD Super AMOLED display with Gorilla Glass protection and is powered by 1.5 GHz dual-core processor. It comes with an 8 Megapixel rear camera with LED Flash and 1.9 Megapixel front-facing camera. It can record and play Full HD videos at 1080p. It is 8.7 mm thick and weighs 135 grams. It has brushed aluminum body and a physical Windows button at the bottom instead of capacitive one.

Samsung ATIV S Specifications

• 4.8 inch HD Super AMOLED display
• 1.5 GHz dual-core processor
• Windows Phone 8 OS
• 8MP camera with LED Flash, 1.9 Megapixel front-facing camera
• 8.7 mm thick and weighs 135g
• 1GB RAM, 16/32GB User memory, expandable memory with microSD
• 3G (HSPA+42Mbps), WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n (2.4 & 5 GHz), Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi Channel Bonding, NFC, Bluetooth 3.0, aGPS
• 2300mAh battery

No details about the pricing and availability yet.

Budget minded Xperia J announced by Sony

Rounding up the lower end of the segment is the newly launched Sony Xperia J. The 9.2mm thick phone has a FWGA display. A 5MP camera unit can be found around the back of the phone.

The Xperia J comes with a front facing camera to allow video calls. Details are still coming in but the phone will be available in black, gold , white and pink when it is available towards the end of the year.

LG Optimus G with 1.5 GHz quad-core processor, 4.7-inch True HD IPS+ display, Android 4.0 announced

LG has finally unveiled the Optimus G (LG-F180), their new flagship smartphone. They already revealedthat it would have a Snapdragon S4 pro quad-core processor and  True HD IPS display with  G2 Touch Hybrid Display and better battery. Now, they have officially announced the device. It has a 4.7-inch (1280 x 768 pixels) True HD IPS + Display and is powered by a 1.5GHz quad-core processor.  It runs on Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) and comes with a 13MP camera with an LED flash at the back and a 1.3MP front-facing camera.

Samsung unveils Brown, Red, Black and Grey Galaxy S3

Samsung has announced that the Galaxy S3 would be available in new range of colors, Amber Brown, Garnet Red, Sapphire Black and Titanium Grey, globally. The Red Galaxy S3 was exclusively launched for AT&T in July and it was spotted in Germany last week. The Black Galaxy S3 was spotted earlier this month, and Clove UK confirmed that it would be available in October.

Drive Link app for Samsung Galaxy SIII now available

Samsung has rolled out its Drive Link app which gives Galaxy SIII users a launcher view which has been optimized for in-car usage. The app allows access to music, GPS navigation in addition to hands-free calls.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 (Tab 750) Android 4.0 update now rolling out in India

Samsung has started rolling out the Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) update for the Samsung GalaxyTab 10.1 (Tab 750) in India. This 10.1-inch tablet was launched in India last August, and it came with Android 3.1 (Honeycomb). The Android ICS update would bring redesigned user interface with new TouchWiz UI, improved multi-tasking, notifications, faster browser and much more new features. It would also download new Ebook app from the Samsung Apps once you enter the App Store for the first time, after the update.

This update is about 232MB and is available OTA (Over the Air) and via Samsung Kies. You can check for the update manually from the Settings, About device, Software update.

Sony Xperia Android ICS updates OTA for 8 phones

If you are one of the Android faithful that own a Sony Xperia 2011 smartphone, some of you are no doubt still waiting for Sony to update your smartphone to Android 4.0.4 ICS, and as you are probably aware, Sony kicked the update game off last week by pushing our the ICS update to the Sony Xperia P, but what about other 2011 Xperia handsets, when will they start seeing ICS hit?

Well we now have that information for you, as Sony Mobile has now release news on what Xperia handset will see the Android Ice cream sandwich update next, and those devices will be the Sony Xperia Arc, Xperia Arc S, Sony Xperia Neo, Xperia Neo V, the Sony Xperia Mini, Sony Xperia Pro, Sony Xperia Active and the Sony Xperia Ray, all of which will start to gain Android 4.0.4 this week.

Hey France! Get Google Nexus 7 September 3rd

If you happen to be one of the Android faithful over in France, and have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Google Nexus 7 tablet to become available for purchase in the country, you might like to know that the release date for the Android Jelly Bean tablet has now been revealed by numerous retailers, and that release date for the Nexus 7 slate in France is the 3rd of next month.

According to a report over on Gadget Venue, initially the 16GB Google Nexus 7 tablet will go on sale in France, and then followed by the 8GB model later on, and various store will offer the Android Jelly Bean tablet to customers including Boulanger, Darty, and Fnac.

Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 easy to repair if stripped

As you know, when a new tech device hits the mobile space it isn’t too long before someone manages to break inside that device to see just what is going on internally, and this has now happened to the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1, revealing that the Android Ice Cream Sandwich device is fairly easy to repair, apparently far more easier to repair than the new iPad.

An article over on Eweek states that the guys over at iFixit have now performed a tear down with the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1and gave the device an 8 rating for repair easiness, whilst the new iPad received a low rating of 2, and that low rating was commented upon by readers saying it was impossible to use clips rather than glue to fix the glass to the slate as it is too thin.

iPhone 5 New Charging USB Cable Revealed

iLounge has posted an image showing the expected iPhone 5 mini USB dock connector cable. Cable seems to be same from USB connector side and smaller dock connector as was rumored previously.

The cable appears to be highly similar to past Apple cables, with a full-sized USB plug on one end and what appears to be Apple’s newly shrunken 8-pin connector on the other. Veister is a Shenzhen, China-based accessory vendor, but the cable has yet to appear on the company’s site. It is unclear whether the part shown is a replacement cable or a genuine Apple part with pre-production markings.

Check out below image and give your comments on this picture.

How To Install .deb File On iPhone, iPod and iPad

1. Install MobileTerminal by opening Cydia => Go To Search => Type ” MobileTerminal” and install the latest available version (520-2)
2.  Download and install iPhonebrower on your Windows computer. Download iPhoneBrowser
3. Download the .deb file which you want to install.
4. Now connect your iPhone iPad or iPod to your computer and start iPhonebrower.
5. Select “tmp” folder and drag and drop the .deb file into the tmp directory.

6.Start MobileTerminal on your iPhone iPad or iPod and Type su and Enterthe password alpine when asked. Your prompt will be changed to :/var/mobile root#

7. Now type below command by replacing the appname with the .deb file you want to install and which you copied in tmp folder.

dpkg  -i /tmp/appname.deb

8. Now you can delelet the .deb file from iPhonebrowser, just right click and click Delete.

9. Reboot your iPhone, iPad or iPod and your .deb app is now installed.

Samsung Windows Phone 8 Odyssey & Macro specs & price difference

A while back we posted what info we knew on the upcoming Windows Phone 8 devices from the Samsung camp called the Samsung Odyssey and Samsung Marco, after which we also reported on what other specs came to light on the Samsung Odyssey including that the smartphone would be an LTE device and T-Mobile’s first Windows Phone 8 handset. Now we have more on those specs along with price differentiation for your consideration.

An article over on International Business Times, by way of Samsung Mobile, the two Windows Phone 8 handset model numbers have now been revealed with the Samsung Odyssey being the GT-i8750, and the Samsung Marco being the GT-i370, of which the Samsung Odyssey is the more expensive of the two.

Samsung Galaxy Player YP-GP1 looks like Galaxy S3

Many of us now use our smartphones and tablet for playing various types of media but for those who prefer a dedicated media player then today we have news of the new Samsung Galaxy Player. It seems as though an update to the current Galaxy Player version 5.0 could be announced as early as IFA in Berlin later this month and now leaks have appeared showing what purports to be the next Samsung Galaxy Player YP-GP1, showing that it will look just like the smash-hit smartphone, the Galaxy S3 (S III).

Samsung Galaxy Note II teaser video goes up, and a new image leaks too

Samsung is going to host a press event in Berlin on August 29th. If you include today, then that’s just 10 days away. Now we already know what they’re going to announce there. Several weeks ago a Samsung spokesperson told Reuters that the company has plans to “unveil the next Galaxy Note”. Four days agowe even saw a leaked image of the front of said device. So what’s new today? Two things. First, there’s another leaked image, this one courtesy of Know Your Mobile. Their sources tells them nothing we already haven’t heard: 5.5 inch screen, quad core processor, ultra thin bezels, you get the idea. The second bit of “news” comes from Samsung themselves, who have uploaded a teaser video that clocks in at less than 40 seconds. It’s incredibly arty, with ultra fast cut scenes, and at the end it features German director Wim Wenders. Some of you might know him from the 2011 film “Pina”.

What don’t we know about that Galaxy Note II? We don’t know when it’ll hit the market, how much it’ll cost, and what version of Android it’ll run. All will be unveiled next week, but let’s just say this: Similar to how the first generation Galaxy Note polarized people, this next Note is going to do the exact same thing. For some folks, 5.5 inches seems ludicrious. For others, they’re thrilled that a company is finally listening to them. The first Note has managed to sell an average of 1 million units a month since it hit store shelves, so we know there’s a market for crazy large devices.

Are you a part of that market?

Sony Xperia ion officially launched in India for Rs. 36,999

Sony has officially launched the Xperia ion, their new smartphone in the Xperia line-up. It comes with 500MB of free 3G data per month for 3 months and 200 minutes of Mobile TV (through appXtra application) for a period of 2 months. This offer is valid till 30th Nov 2012. It went on sale from online retailer in India earlier this month.  It has 4.55-inch (1280 x 720 pixels ) HD Reality display and comes with 1.5 GHz dual-core processor. It runs on run Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich). 

It has 12MP auto focus camera with Exmor R mobile camera sensor with 1080p HD video recording and LED flash and 1.3MP front-facing camera. The connectivity features include, 3G HSPA+ support, HDMI out ,WiFi, DLNA, NFC and aGPS.

It has 1GB RAM, 13.2GB internal memory (up to 12.9GB user-accessible memory), microSD slot that supports up to 32GB, FM Radio with RDS, 3.5 mm audio jack and 1900 mAh battery. It is PlayStation Certified that would let you play PlayStation titles.

The Sony Xperia ion comes in Black and Red colors. It is priced at an MRP of Rs. 36,999 and is available from retail stores across India.