Swipe launches two budget smartphones and a tablet starting at Rs 3,299

Swipe Telecom has launched a new 7-inch tablet dubbed Halo Value for Rs 6,990. This new addition in the Halo series is now available online through retailers as well as Spice Telecom. The company has also pulled the covers off two new budget smartphones – Smart Flo Ivory 2 and Smart Flo Edge. The Ivory 2 is available online for Rs 4,000 while the Smart Flo Edge is priced at Rs 3,299.

The Halo Value sports a 7-inch TFT display, and comes with dual-SIM 2G calling functionality. It is powered by a 1.5GHz processor, coupled with 512MB of RAM. The budget tablet runs on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and includes a 3,400 mAh battery.

Here’s a quick look at  some of its specifications:

• 7-inch TFT LCD capacitive display
• Dual SIM, Wi-Fi
• Bluetooth 2.1
• 2-megapixel rear camera, VGA front-facing camera
• 4GB of onboard storage, expandable up to 32GB via microSD card slot

The Spice Smart Flo Ivory 2 (Mi-423) is an entry level smartphone that is powered by a 1GHz dual-core processor – the chipset has not been mentioned – and mere 256MB of RAM. It sports a 4-inch TFT LCD display and supports dual-SIM (GSM+GSM) as well as dual standby. It runs Android 4.2 Jelly Bean and includes a 1400mAh battery.

Take a quick look at some of its specifications:

• 4-inch TFT LCD display with 320x480 pixels resolution
• Dual-SIM (GSM+GSM)
• 3.2-megapixel rear camera with LED flash, 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera
• 512MB of onboard storage, expandable up to 32GB with microSD card slot

Just like the Ivory 2, the Spice Smart Flo Edge (Mi-349) is also a dual-SIM entry-level phone. It features a 3.5-inch TFT LCD display and is powered by a 1GHz processor – the chipset is unspecified – along with 256MB of RAM. The Flo Edge runs on the older Android 2.3 Gingerbread version and packs in a 1500mAh battery.

A quick look at some of its specifications:

• 3.5-inch TFT LCD display with 320 x 480 pixels resolution
• Dual-SIM (GSM+GSM)
• 3.2-megapixel rear camera with LED flash, 1.3-megapixel front camera
• 512MB of onboard storage, expandable up to 32GB with microSD card slot

Idea Cellular launches new ULTRA smartphone in India for Rs 10,500

Telecom service provider Idea Cellular has now entered the 5-inch smartphone arena with the launch of the Idea ULTRA, priced at Rs 10,500. The dual-SIM handset will now be available across all major 3G markets in a white finish. 

A quick look at the specifications shows that the device comes with an IPS display. Under the hood, the handset comes with a quad-core processor clocked at 1.2GHz and the ULTRA runs on Android Jelly Bean 4.1.2. The device comes with an 8-megapixel primary camera that the company has said will allow users to capture up to 90 continuous images of a moving object. Also packed in is a VGA front shooter. The device comes with 512MB of RAM and 4GB of internal memory, expandable up to 32GB via a microSD card slot.

In terms of connectivity, the device will come with the usual suspects like Bluetooth 2.0 and Wi-Fi support. Rounding up the package is a 2000mAh battery. Idea Cellular has said that the ULTRA is the twelfth smartphone that the company has added to its roster. The company has so far sold 6 lakh devices across the 3.5-inch, 4-inch and 4.5-inch smartphone categories. The company was last seen launching a dual-SIM 3.5-inch smartphone, the Idea Ivory, in India for Rs 7,390.  

The company will now be retailing the new device through its own retail and service outlets across markets like Maharashtra and Goa, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, Kerala, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh West and East as well as Haryana. As part of the package with the new launch, the company is also giving Idea users across all major 3G markets data benefits of 3GB 3G Internet and free Idea TV offers for three months, with a pack priced from Rs 259 to Rs 261. 

Samsung to unveil Galaxy S5 in January 2014: Report

After the massive success that was 2012's Galaxy S3, the sales of this year's Galaxy S4 have been quite poor. According to Korean news site Naver, the company hopes to remedy these problems by pushing out a new smartphone in the S-series as early as January 2014. Naver cites an unnamed sources, and states that Samsung might be unveiling a Galaxy S5 some time in January, and the smartphone might hit stores as early as February. The site has even gone as far as posting what it claims is a picture of the Galaxy S5.

 earlier reports are to be believed, Samsung will be attempting to one-up Apple by introducing its own 64-bit chip, which will presumably be featured in the Galaxy S5. The chip will presumably be octa-core, much like the Exynos 5 Octa. Other expected features are a 16 megapixel shooter with optical image stabilisation and a curved display like the one featured in the recently-unveiled Galaxy Round.

Samsung had launched the Galaxy S4 earlier this year. A quick recap shows that the handset comes with a 5-inch full HD Super AMOLED display with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels. Internally, the S4 comes with a quad-core Exynos 5 Octa SoC and 2GB of RAM. The device comes with a 13-megapixel camera with auto focus as well as an LED flash. One of the main sources of criticisms for the S4 was the fact that Samsung decided to keep the same visual design as the S3. The company did, however, manage to give it the same or less dimensions as the S3 despite a larger display.

ZTE Open, India's first Firefox OS smartphone, spotted online for Rs 8,590

The ZTE Open, which is officially the world’s first Firefox OS-running smartphone, is now being sold in India for Rs 8,590. The device is now available on eBay India from today. The device was first launched in Spain back in July and came with a price tag of 69 Euros. The device is now officially the first one available for Indian users running the new OS, and we took at look at both the eco system as well as the phone itself.  

Firefox OS, which is being positioned as a cheap alternative to Android, uses HTML5-based apps and is targeting entry-level devices. The ecosystem’s app store, the Firefox Marketplace, has some popular apps like Facebook, Twitter, Nokia’s HERE maps service, Box cloud storage as well as games from EA Mobile and Disney Mobile Games. 

A quick look at the specifications of the device shows that the ZTE Open comes with a 3.5-inch display sporting a low resolution of 320x480 pixels. Internally, the device comes with a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor clocked at 1GHz coupled with 256MB of RAM. In terms of photography, the handset comes with a 3.2-megapixel primary camera. Overall, the design of the phone looks pretty basic, with a plastic exterior as well as a rounded body. Keeping the relatively low cost in mind, though, it seems to be a pretty decent device.

In terms of connectivity, the device comes with many of the usual suspects like 3G, GPRS and EDGE. It also comes with support for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.1. The ZTE Open also comes with GPS and A-GPS support. The handset comes with 512MB of internal memory which can be expanded through the microSD card slot. It is available in a bight orange avatar on eBay India.  

The ZTE Open is not the only Firefox-running smartphone in the market right now. LG has now launched a new smartphone with the OS as well, titling it Fireweb. A quick look at the specs shows that the new device comes with a 4-inch display with a resolution of 480x320 pixels. The handset comes with a single-core Qualcomm processor clocked at 1GHz. The device also comes with 4GB of internal memory that can be expanded via a microSD card. In terms of photography, the device comes with a 5-megapixel camera with autofocus and LED packed in. The device is currently priced at $207 (Rs 12,750 approx), although there is no word on when the LG Fireweb will be hitting the Indian market.

BlackBerry launches flagship Z30 smartphone in India for Rs 39,990

BlackBerry has now launched the company’s latest flagship smartphone, the Z30, in India for Rs 39,990. The newest installment is the fourth smartphone added to the BlackBerry 10 category. The Z30, from all the specifications, looks to be the largest and the most powerful device from the company till date, running the latest BlackBerry 10.2 OS.

A quick look at the specs reveals that the new handset comes with a 5-inch Super AMOLED display and a new 1.7GHz processor with quad-core graphics. Packed into the device is a massive 2,880mAh battery, the largest seen in a BlackBerry so far, which the company has promised will give up to 25 hours of performance. 

BB 10.2 comes with a revamped OS and the biggest beneficiary of these changes is BlackBerry Hub. The new features include a new Priority Hub that will learn the user's habits over time to showcase what it thinks are the most important messages gathered from emails, social networks and other synced accounts. BB10.2 also sports a revamped version of BlackBerry Messenger that comes with pop-up previews of new messages and details of received messages from the phone’s locked screen.

The new smartphone also boasts new stereo speakers and what the company has titled BlackBerry Natural Sound. The new feature is basically designed to improve voice and video calls made over BBM. The company claims that users will feel like they are in the same room with the person they are having a conversation with. Rounding up the package is a new antenna that promises to give faster data speeds.

The company has said that the Z30 will be out in the market early next week, although a fixed date for the same has still not been announced.

18GB Grand Theft Auto 5 PC torrent turns out to be malware

Here’s a public service announcement: if you spot a torrent for the (currently unannounced) PC version of Grand Theft Auto 5, don’t download it. According to WCCFTech, despite legitimately seeming like a real download, it’s not. The 18GB download is actually malware. The torrent has been quite popular, owing to its search engine optimisations.

According to some metrics, the torrent has already been downloaded thousands of times. What tends to fool victims into trying it out is how legitimate the torrent actually seems. 18GB isn’t too far-fetched for a game, especially not when it’s as big as Grand Theft Auto 5. It also features a splash screen as well as a setup.exe. The installation for the “game” runs fine till you run into a window demanding a product key, which a notepad file in the torrent helpfully tells you is available once you take part in a never-ending amount of surveys.

Keep in mind that a PC version of Grand Theft Auto 5, while having been demanded for a long time now, is still under tight wraps. Rockstar has so far been unwilling to comment on when the PC version will be released, assuming there is a PC version of the game in the first place.

Earlier this month, it was revealed that GTA 5 broke seven Guiness world records, including the highest revenue generated by an entertainment product in 24 hours and the fastest entertainment property to gross $1 billion. It isn't surprising, considering all the hype that was built around the game up to its launch. It also helps that since we are almost at the end of this generation of consoles, the number of people owning an Xbox 360 or a PlayStation 3 is the highest it has ever been.

Micromax Canvas Magnus A117 now available online for Rs 14,999

Yesterday, leaks pointed at a new mid-range smartphone from Micromax dubbed Canvas Magnus A117, and the company has now quietly slipped it up for sale online. Though there is no official word from the company, the new Magnus A117 mid-range smartphone is listed online on Snapdeal and Flipkart. Snapdeal is selling it for Rs 14,999 while Flipkart has listed the phone as “Coming Soon”. 

Specifications are the same as the ones leaked yesterday. The Magnus A117 smartphone is powered by a 1.5GHz quad core processor coupled with 1GB RAM. It gets a higher resolution 12MP snapper and runs on Android 4.2 Jelly Bean. It is fuelled by a 2000 mAh battery.

Take a quick look at Canvas Magnus' specifications:

• 5-inch IPS display with 1280 x 720 pixels display resolution
• 3G, Wi-Fi
• GPS
• Bluetooth
• 12 megapixel rear camera, 2 megapixel front-facing camera
• 4GB on-board storage, expandable up to 32GB

Micromax is also working on its first 1080p smartphone known as he Canvas Turbo. the company has even roped in Hollywood A-lister Hugh Jackman to endorse this upcoming smartphone. So far, it looks the device may come with a 5-inch display full HD display, 13-megapxiel primary shooter and a 5-megapixel front camera. We can also expect a quad-core processor, although there is no word yet on the amount of RAM it may come with. While the price has not been officially released, speculation places the device in the Rs 20,000 to Rs 22,000 range, which makes it the most expensive smartphone that the company has worked on yet.

Micromax Canvas Turbo vs Gionee Elife E6: Specs comparison

Micromax just made the Canvas Turbo official at a very aggressive price of Rs 19,990 as compared to Gionee’s offering, the Elife E6. This builds the stage for a perfect head-to-head comparison between the two handsets as they are practically identical on paper. Let’s take a closer look at both.

MICROMAX CANVAS TURBO A250~ 19,999
The A250 or the Wolverine phone as it will be known due to its brand ambassador, gets an all new design compared to the Canvas 4. Micromax is hoping for better luck with the Turbo as their earlier hyped flagship didn’t go down too well with everyone. The A250 gets all the upgrades that we expected along with a very crucial sub-20K price point. The lack of expandable memory is one factor which might be a pain point for the phone but apart from this, it seems like a good offering considering the specifications alone. We can’t say much for the design as all the images of the handset appear to be renders rather than an actual shot of the phone so we’ll reserve our judgement on that till we get our hands on it. 

Gionee Elife E6 - Rs 22,000
We really had high hopes for this phone but sadly, it failed to perform even some of the basic tasks properly. We still maintain that the E6 is easily the best looking ‘Chinese phone’ till date and we doubt the Turbo will take that away from Gionee. The E6’s trump card is the 32GB onboard storage and the unibody design. Unfortunately, the battery life is below average and there are many quirks with the audio and proximity sensor which is why it makes it to our no-go list.

	Micromax Canvas Turbo A250	Gionee Elife E6
Display Size	5-inch	5-inch
Resolution	1920 x 1080	1920 x 1080
Pixel Density (PPI)	441 ppi	441 ppi
Display Type	IPS	IPS
Scratch Resistant	No	Yes
SIM	Dual	Single
Sensors	Accelerometer, Gyroscope, Proximity, Compass	Accelerometer, Gyroscope, Proximity, Compass
Processor	Mediatek MT6589T, quad-core at 1.5GHz	Mediatek MT6589T, quad-core at 1.5GHz
RAM	2GB	2GB
OS version out of the box	Android 4.2	Android 4.2
On-Board Memory	16GB	32GB
Memory card Support	No	No
Battery	2,000mAh	2,000mAh
GPS	A-GPS	A-GPS
Wi-Fi	802.11 a/b/g/n	802.11 a/b/g/n
Bluetooth	v4.0	v4.0
NFC	No	No
Primary Camera	13MP BSI sensor	13MP BSI sensor
Secondary Camera	5MP sensor	5MP sensor
Flash	LED	LED
FM Radio	Yes	Yes
Special features	Gestures, pop up video	Unibody design, Gionee apps
Pricing (In Rupees)	Rs 19,990	Rs 22,000

Verdict 
On paper, the Gionee Elife E6 seems like a better offering thanks to its better onboard storage and Gorilla Glass. However, due to many critical issues that we’ve highlighted in the review, we wouldn’t recommend it even if the price does drop to Turbo levels. This leaves us with just the Turbo A250, which can easily walk away with the best value-for-money droid under Rs 20,000, provided it delivers on all fronts where the E6 failed.

We’re not looking for any breakthrough feature here as that would be unreasonable to expect at this price but basics such as decent battery life, good audio levels for alerts and a display that’s legible under sunlight are no-compromise areas. If Micromax gets this right, then there’s no stopping the Canvas Turbo from being a big hit.

Micromax launches Canvas Turbo in India for Rs 19,990

Micromax has now launched its new flagship smartphone, the Canvas Turbo for Rs 19,990. The phone was last seen when the company roped in Hollywood biggie Hugh Jackman as the brand ambassador for the Canvas line-up, and there have been a host of speculations and rumours surrounding the smartphone. We now have the official list and the company has not disappointed.

A quick look reveals that the handset comes with a 5-inch SHARP full HD CGS display. The device itself comes in full aluminum casing. Internally, we have a quad-core processor clocked at 1.5GHz coupled with 2GB of RAM. As expected, the device comes with a 13-megapxiel AF primary camera as well as a 5-megapixel front shooter.

The company has said that it come with a quirkily named “Camerazzi” camera that comes with a ton of tools like 360 degree panorama, Cinemagraph, which allows which users to animate still photographs i.e. making GIF as well as Object Eraser, so that you can erase unwanted objects from still pictures that are shot with the smartphone. In terms of connectivity, the company has said that the new device will come with the standard Bluetooth and Wi-Fi support.

The handset runs on Android 4.2.1 Jelly Bean and has 16GB of internal storage. There is no word on whether the device comes with support for expandable memory. The device also comes with a Freewheel feature that will give the user access to various apps with one click. Rounding up the package is a decent sized 2,000mAh battery.  The Canvas Turbo will be available in retail outlets from October 26 and users can pick from either blue or white avatars for the new device.

Here’s a quick look at the specs of the Micromax Canvas Turbo:

• 5-inch SHARP HD CGS display
• Bluetooth, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n
• 13-megapxiel rear camera, 5-megapixel front camera
• 16GB internal memory