Samsung Galaxy Nexus a sweet smartphone Review


As fans of Google's Android mobile software well know, each new version is named after a sugary treat, such as Gingerbread or Honeycomb. Android is about to get even sweeter with Ice Cream Sandwich a smooth, feature-rich operating system that will run first on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus smartphone.
The combination of Google's software and Samsung's hardware makes the Galaxy Nexus one of the best candidates to compete with Apple's latest iPhone, though its price is steep. It began selling last week in the U.S. for $300 with a two-year Verizon Wireless contract.


Like the previous phone in the Nexus line, the Nexus S, the Galaxy Nexus was jointly developed by Google Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. It features a slim frame with a large, curved glass screen that's comfortable for chatting with friends and excellent for watching videos. There are 32 gigabytes of built-in storage space on the Verizon version of the phone, but no external slot for a microSD memory card.
The screen, a pocket-busting 4.65 inches at the diagonal, makes the iPhone's 3.5-inches look diminutive. And despite the size, the Galaxy Nexus manages to weigh just 4.8 ounces, slightly less than Apple's offering.

On it, videos and Web pages looked crisp and bright, with rich colors. I started watching a video during testing — an HD copy of "The Help" that I rented from Google's Android Market — and had to force myself to break away to test other features of the device.

With the latest version of Android under the hood, the Galaxy Nexus is packed with new and improved features. Many of them are great; others are simply great in theory.

Overall, the software looks fresher and less cluttered. The virtual "buttons" that usually sit at the bottom of the screen have been redesigned. There's still a "home" and a "back" button, but no "menu" button to pull up various options within an app. Instead, there's now a "recent apps" button that shows what you've been doing lately on the phone.

Another neat change: The buttons are completely virtual, so they change directions when you flip the phone sideways and disappear when you're viewing photos or videos.
Other changes to Android include an overhaul of its virtual keyboard, meant to make it easier to type without messing up — something I've always had trouble with on the stock Android keyboard. I was often able to type more accurately than in the past, but sometimes still ended up with unintended words in my messages.

The Android browser and Gmail are updated, too. Gmail's new functions include the ability to search emails while offline The browser is zippier and has a "request desktop" option so you can check out Web pages in their non-truncated desktop version.

One new feature that falls into the "great in theory" category is Face Unlock, which uses facial-recognition technology to unlock the phone from standby mode. To set it up, you take a picture of your face with the phone. Then, all you have to do to unlock the phone is stare at the screen after you press the power button.

Most of the time it didn't work, though, probably because the phone couldn't recognize my face from certain angles. I was also able to fool it by holding up a shot of my face on an iPhone. So much for security.

Ice Cream Sandwich also has Android Beam, which lets you share such content as a Web page, map or video between two Android phones by bringing the backs of the phones close together. It only works with phones that have this Android software and near-field communication technology, though, so unless you and your friend both buy the Galaxy Nexus you'll be out of luck at launch.
More immediately useful was the phone's 5-megapixel camera, which is the snappiest I've seen on any Android phone. There was almost no shutter lag between shots, even when I had just turned the camera on.

Still, I would have preferred a higher-resolution sensor — 8-megapixel cameras are quickly becoming common on smartphones. In addition, photos I took could have been brighter, though this can be improved somewhat by using some of the available editing options, including numerous color filters and adjustable contrast options.

Like the iPhone 4S and some other high-end smartphones, the Galaxy Nexus can record high-definition videos in 1080p — the best resolution you can get on a consumer camera. I had some fun taking sunset videos with a time-lapse feature, and there are some goofy filming effects to play around with, too.

» Read More...

Samsung Sweet Slate 7 Is Saddled by Its Software


Samsung's Series 7 Slate PC with the optional charging dock and keyboard accessories. The stylus, however, is included.....



Samsung's Series 7 Slate PC with the optional charging dock and keyboard accessories. The stylus, however, is included. Photo by Michael Calore/Wired

The jury is still out on Windows 7 tablets — and, at this point, it looks like it may never come in — but with the Series 7 Slate, Samsung at least gives this difficult niche the old college try.
Our last encounter with a Windows tablet dates back to March’s Viewsonic ViewPad 10, which disastrously attempted to combine Windows and Android in one device, dramatically failing at both. Here, Samsung is at least wise enough to pick one, and give that OS its all.
On paper, it gets off to a good enough start: The 11.6-inch LCD is gloriously bright (if you can keep the blasted auto-dimmer from engaging) and offers a 1366×768-pixel resolution. Under the hood, the 1.6GHz Core i5, 4GB of RAM, and 128GB SSD hard disk would be capable specs for just about any standard laptop. And yet, at 1.9 pounds, the Samsung manages to weigh in at not much heavier than most 10-inch Android tablets.

Sure enough, performance is on par with similarly equipped laptops. If you connect a mouse and keyboard, you can even use the device for (very) rudimentary gaming — a testament not so much to the Series 7’s capabilities but rather its stability under load. It didn’t crash during a single benchmark test.
But the Series 7 is a tablet, not a laptop (Samsung confusingly makes both a Series 7 laptop and also this device with the almost-same name). As such, it’s designed with a different use pattern in mind. Like traditional tablets, the Series 7’s display auto-rotates based on how you’re holding it, but the vagaries of Windows means this happens more slowly than you might be used to with iOS or Android tablets. You’ll probably also want to use the included stylus instead of your finger. Clicking through Windows menus and toolbars is just too fine-grained for the average user’s ham-fisted touch. It’s up to you, though, to figure out what to do with the little plastic stick: There’s no place to store the stylus anywhere on the tablet, so consider wearing shirts with pockets from now on.

Samsung also includes a novel feature called the Touch Launcher, accessed via a button front and center at the base of the device. Press this and up pops a familiar icon wall very similar to the typical tablet interface. It’s pre-populated with links to YouTube, Twitter, a web browser, and so on. It all looks so easy, but these aren’t mobile apps — they’re either web shortcuts or Windows apps, many of which Samsung seems to have written itself. As such, they’re inextricably tied to Windows 7’s backend, and the spit-and-twine approach to building this system shows through often. Windows dialogue boxes often require your attention, and the overall lack of polish is distinct. Set the weather app to use Fahrenheit instead of Celsius, for example, and the weather widget on the Tablet Launcher home screen doesn’t make the change, only the app itself. The user can add and delete apps to this subsystem, but they have to be already installed on the device, or created as web links.

Aside from the Touch Launcher button, all the remaining buttons and ports are relegated to the sides. They are unfortunately difficult to get at by touch alone: All shaped like slim rectangles, it’s tough to tell the power button apart from the rotation lock button on the right, and the volume control on the left is actually tough to distinguish from the lone USB port (above) and mini-HDMI port (below) without a good amount of fumbling. A microSD slot and headphone/mic jack are also available. A charging dockaccessory ($100) replicates the HDMI, USB and headphone ports, adds an Ethernet port, and props up the tablet for use with a wireless keyboard (Samsung’s is $80).
But the real issues with the Series 7 aren’t Samsung’s, they’re Microsoft’s. To date, most Windows tablets are targeted for “vertical markets” like healthcare and manufacturing management, where users are constantly on their feet and need full-on Windows at the ready. But the Series 7 lacks the ruggedness most of these devices boast. More casual users will likely wonder why none of this works “as well as my iPad,” and that’s a fair criticism.

The response to that issue is essentially why Windows 8 is being developed, at which point the Series 7 may be batting clean-up in a whole new ballgame.

WIRED PC-class features in a tablet body. Possibly the most powerful tablet on the market today.
TIRED Windows remains a struggle with a pen-and-finger interface. Samsung’s Tablet-esque add-on is only three-quarters baked. Dock and wireless keyboard cost extra. Tepid battery life of about 4.5 hours.




The pokey pen comes with, the keyboard is extra. Photo by Michael Calore/Wired

» Read More...

New Honda City 2012 Launched With New Features


Starting at a price tag of Rs. 6.99 Lakhs, ex-showroom Delhi, this is a facelift on the third generation of Honda's mid-sizer for India
NEW DELHI: Japanese car maker Honda today launched a new entry-level variant of its flagship sedan City in India, slashing the price by Rs 50,000 compared to that of the existing model.
The company, which is present in India through a joint venture with the Siel Group, had cut the price of the City by up to Rs 66,000 in June also, after implementing various cost reduction measures.
Marketing), at the launch of New Honda City in New Delhi on 14 Dec. 2012. 
 Honda Siel Cars India (HSCI) on Wednesday launched   refreshed version of the new City at prices ranging  from Rs 6.99 lakh to Rs 10.22 lakh (ex-showroom,  Delhi). The old City was priced between Rs 7.49 lakh  and Rs 9.89 lakh.
 "Our target is to offer a product as affordable as  possible to customers. So we have launched a new  Corporate Edition of the City that do not have some  features, and we have cut the prices from the earlier entry-level version," HSCI Director (Marketing) Seki Inaba told reporters here.
The company's R&D division is also working on to increase the localisation of components and implement cost reduction activities, he added.
HSCI will start taking booking orders for the new City immediately and delivery will start from January.
The company had introduced the current third generation City in 2008 and has sold 1.36 lakh units so far.
The City sales have been facing stiff resistance from other models in the segment such asHyundai Verna, Maruti SX4 and Volkswagen Vento. While Verna, SX4 and Vento offer both diesel and petrol options, City comes only in petrol variant.
In August, HSCI had launched a new version of its premium hatchback Jazz, cutting the price by over Rs 1.5 lakh from the existing model as it looked to increase sales in a fiercely competitive compact car market.
Talking about the impact on sourcing of components from Thailand due the flood, Inaba said: "Our production was curtailed due to component shortage. However, we have been successful in ensuring components for the new City."
The production of its hatchbacks Jazz and Brio is likely to be normalised from February next year, he added.
"After the impact, we are now seeking alternate locations like China and Japan to source various parts. We are hoping that we will attain normal production level from February," Inaba said.
During 2011, HSCI has lost about half of its production  than its initial plans for the year due totsunami in Japan  and flood in Thailand, he said without giving details.
Asked about the impact of depreciating rupee, Inaba said: "We are trying to increase the amount of export of components like body panels from India to reduce the affect... We do not have any plans to raise the prices of our products."
Stating that the production of its hatchbacks Jazz and Brio would be normalised from February-March next year, Mr. Inaba said: “We are now looking at various alternative destinations such as China for sourcing components…focus is also on increasing localisation of cars that would help bring down our production costs and reduce dependability on other countries for sourcing parts.”
The 2012 City is mechanically identical to the 2011 model and comes with the 1.5-litre i-VTEC engine and a choice of manual or automatic transmission. The 2012 City is prices as below (all prices ex-showroom Delhi):
  • Corporate Edition – Rs. 699000
  • E MT – Rs. 770000
  • S MT – Rs. 820000
  • V MT – Rs. 870000
  • V AT – Rs. 942000
  • V (Sunroof & Leather Seats) MT – Rs.950500
  • V (Sunroof & Leather Seats) AT – Rs.1022000

» Read More...

How To Delete Facebook Timeline Profile


In my previous post , i have posted on How To Enable Facebook Timeline? . This was an 100% working trick which will help you to activate developer version of facebook timeline Instantly . Not many  were fortunate of getting this new feature so this trick was a blessing for those .
So now you have reached here searching for how to remove this timeline feature . I’m not surprised because many of my friends asked me the same . I helped them in removing their account by the most simple method and I’ll help you in doing the same . Please not that the facebook will soon this change to all the profiles and it will be a permanent change .
To remove Facebook Timeline Developer Version:
  • Goto https://developers.facebook.com/apps .
  • Select the app which you have created for enabling this timeline , and Edit Open Graph right to the open graph heading text .
  • Now a new window with open graph features will appear . Look for the bottom of the left sidebar , You will find a option like Delete App click on that and your app will be deleted.
Please note that the removing of the developer version will not affect your profile when the facebook launches the feature for all profiles .
And After That You Deactivate Your Acc.. And Reactivate It after 20-30 min. .!! =)


» Read More...

Search This Blog

Archives

Business Research Industry. Powered by Blogger.