Intex launches Aqua Octa, India's first octa-core phablet, for Rs 19,999

Intex has beaten Gionee to the punch and has finally launched a true octa-core powered Aqua Octa in India. This is the first octa-core phone to be available in India and is priced at Rs 19,999. The company had announced its alliance with MediaTek in November to bring octa-core powered devices to the Indian market.

Dipped in white and black colours, the Aqua Octa will be available from January 15 onwards in most retail stores. However, it is exclusively available through Snapdeal from today. Gionee has also targetted a mid-January date for the launch of the Elife E7 Mini.

The Aqua Octa is powered by an octa-core processor clocked at 1.7GHz coupled with 2GB RAM. With all 8 cores running simultaneously it will definitely provide a boost when it comes to performance, although we don't think there are many use case where you will reuqire all eight cores simultaneously.

The Aqua Octa is a slim phone with a 7mm thin edge and sports a massive 6-inch OGS HD display. That's a 720p display and not full HD. It’s a dual-SIM phablet and runs Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean, with minor customisations. The device comes fitted with a 13MP rear snapper with autofocus and a 5MP front-facing camera. On the connectivity front, one will find the usual compliment of ports and radios: a microUSB port, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, 3G and EDGE. Along with 16GB onboard storage, the company has included 5GB of cloud storage. There's also a microSD card slot for further expansion.

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

• 6-inch OGS 720p HD display
• Dual SIM, 3G, Wi-Fi
• Bluetooth, GPS
• 13MP rear camera, 5MP front-facing camera
• 16GB onboard storage, microSD card support up to 32GB

All of this is fuelled by a 2300mAh battery that Intex says will offer up to 6 hours of talk time and 180 hours of standby. Intex has preloaded the multilingual app Matrabhasha, which brings support for regional Indian languages.

Acer's 7.9-inch A1-830 and entry-level 7-inch B1 tablets unveiled ahead of CES

Acer has already begun with its pre-announcements for the CES 2014. We’ve earlier seen its Liquid Z5 smartphone for entry-level users. The company ha now announced two new tablets – 7.9-inch A1-830 and 7-inch Iconia B1. 

The Iconia B1 is an entry-level tablet priced attractively at $129.99, which amounts to approximately Rs 8,000. It sports a 7-inch OGS (One Glass Solution) display and comes powered by a 1.3GHz dual-core MediaTek chipset coupled with 1GB of RAM. On the storage front, it offers 16GB of onboard storage that can be expanded up to 32GB via a microSD card. It runs on Android 4.2.1 Jelly Bean and will be available in grey and colour variants. 

Acer hasn’t put much thought into the camera and one will find only a front facing camera on the device. The resolution of the camera is not known yet. The battery capacity is also unknown but the company says that it will provide 5 hours of continuous usage. 

Apart from the budget Iconia series, the company also adds a new device to its A1 series of tablets. The A1-830 is a stylish aluminium-bodied 7.9-inch slate priced at $179.99 (approximately Rs 11,100). The device sports a 7.9-inch display with 4:3 aspect ratio, 1024 x 768 pixel resolution and is supposed to be the iPad mini rival from Acer this year. However, as you see, it comes for almost half the price of the iPad mini and runs Android 4.3 Jelly Bean, instead of iOS 7. 

The tablet is light weight at 380 grams and mere 8.15mm in thickness. Under the hood, one will find it powered by a 1.6GHz Intel Atom Z2560 (or Clover Trail+) processor and 1GB of RAM. Acer promises a battery life of up to 7 and a half hours on a single charge for the A1. Unlike B1, it comes with both rear and front-facing camera, but their resolution isn’t disclosed yet. It comes with 16GB of onboard storage, expandable further using microSD card.

Acer will also launch some accessories for the A1 such as the Acer Crunch keyboard built using soft synthetic leather case that can also be transformed into a stand. Then there’s the Acer Crunch Cover in several colours, which is a microfiber stand that folds into multiple angles.

The Acer A1-830 will available in the US and Canada in Q1 2014 while the Iconia B1 will launch stateside in mid-January.

Micromax Bolt A28 and Bolt A59 budget smartphones listed online

Micromax seems to be on a roll as two more Android-based budget phones surface online. After the Bolt A61, Micromax’s Bolt A28 and Bolt A59 are now listed at an online retailer. However, both smartphones come with the coming soon tag. However, users can key in their details, and will be notified once the phones are available. Having said that neither phone is impressive. 

Though the online retailer hasn't mentioned the pricing, both devices appear to be entry-level. The dual-SIM Bolt A28 sports a 3.5-inch display and runs on a rather older Android 2.3 Gingerbread version. The budget smartphone comes powered by a 1GHz Cortex A5 processor and 1GB of RAM. The chipset isn’t specified yet, but we don't have too many hopes about its performance.

On the camera front, the A28 gets 0.3-megapixel rear and front-facing cameras.The onboard storage is limited to 512MB that could limit the number of apps you run. However, it is expandable up to 32GB. The smartphone is fuelled by a 1500mAh battery that promises up to 4 hours of talktime and up to 260 hours of standby time. Connectivity options include Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPRS, EDGE, GPS/AGPS and micro-USB. 

The Micromax Bolt A59 is also a dual-SIM phone but runs Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. It is fitted with a 3.5-inch display with 320 x 480 pixels resolution. The smartphone is powered by a 1GHz Spreadtrum SC7710 processor along with a Mali 300 GPU and mere 256MB of RAM. The 4GB onboard storage is further expandable up to 16GB via microSD card slot.  

On the camera front, one will find a 2-megapixel rear camera with LED flash and a VGA front-facing camera. The device packs in a 1500mAh battery that claims to offer up to 160 hours, and up to 4 hours of talktime. The connectivity options include Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Micro-USB, GPRS, EDGE and 3G. Despite the addition of Jelly Bean, this phone seems like another forgettable effort from Micromax.

Samsung Galaxy Pro tablets and Galaxy Tab 3 lite coming in early 2014

The Samsung-Apple rivalry gets fiercer with each passing year. Just yesterday, we heard about Apple working on a new 12.9-inch tablet dubbed iPad Pro, and now news has it that Samsung is also working on its new tablet lineup called Galaxy Pro. The Galaxy Pro series will also bring a 12.2-inch tablet along with 8.4-inch and 10.1-inch display sizes. There have been rumours about both companies working on 12-inch tablets for some time now, and now they look to have gone with the same “Pro” branding.

Samsung will reportedly launch the Galaxy Pro tablets in the first quarter of 2014. According to the report, Samsung is building the Galaxy Pro lineup along with a lite version of the Galaxy Tab 3. The three tablets to come under the series include Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4, the Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1, and the Galaxy Note Pro 12.2.

Samsung is working on LTE as well as Wi-Fi versions of these tablets. The company won’t go all-colourful with these devices as the Pro lineup will be available in black or white colours.  The report further claims that 8.4 and 10.1 editions will feature 16GB onboard storage while the 12.2-inch variant will pack in 32GB of storage.

The cheaper, 7-inch Galaxy Tab 3 Lite would also be getting a cellular model and could be priced much lower at $136, which is approximately Rs 8,500. The Galaxy Tab 3 lite is expected to launch sometime in the first week of January. The Galaxy Pro 8.4 and 12.2 variants are expected to reach users in the second week of February, followed by the 10.1 model in the third week. All tablets are expected to be in stores before March, but there could be slight changes in the release dates.

Earlier report claims that Apple is working on a 12.9-inch iPad Pro with crazy high resolution display.The tablet is said to be a blend of the Macbook Pro and Macbook Air. The upcoming model is currently being called iPad Pro. One can expect two variants of the iPad – one with 2K display coming in April 2014 and another with 4K display slated for October 2014 launch.

The next version of world's cheapest tablet PC Aakash 4 will start in January and the price of the devices are expected to further come down by Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,500 in a year, Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal said today. 

"Aakash 4 now has been tendered for manufacturing. From January 2014, Aakash 4 which is like any other modern tablets in the country, is going to be manufactured by several players. (As many as) 18 people have actually participated in the tender," Sibal said while addressing students at Modern School. The Directorate General of Supplies and Disposals, which procures product for government supplies, has floated tender for Aakash 4 tablet for which bids will be opened tomorrow.

The Minister said that after 5 to 7 years enough number of Aakash devices will be available for every school going children in the country. Sibal said he expects the price of this cheapest tablet to further fall by about Rs 1,000 next year. 

"The cost of that ( Aakash tablet) at the moment we say is Rs 2,500 but its going to come down to Rs 1,500," he said. Aakash 4 will have a 7-inch capacitative touch screen which will be also scratch resistant.  The tablet will support wifi, 2G, 3G and 4G connectivity, come with 4GB of internal storage, external memory card slot with storage capacity of up to 32 GB, bluetooth and front camera. The Minister said that modern technology and devices like Aakash will change the way students will learn in coming days. 

"No longer teacher is sole repository of knowledge. Children get knowledge from all sorts of network site," Sibal said. Citing transformation in education sector, the Minister touched upon concept of Meta-University floated by him when he was Human Resource and Development Minister. 

"The concept (Meta University) is 3-4 University can get together and actually create a course which is not provided by syllabi of any particular university...this will happen in years to come not only between universities but between nations and universities around world," Sibal said.  He said students will be able to combine two courses and get degree from respective universities.

5-inch Samsung Galaxy Grand Neo with quad-core CPU revealed in leak

Cashing on the popularity of the Galaxy Grand range, Samsung is all set to bring in yet another variant of the device dubbed Galaxy Grand Neo, according to a report by SammyHub. The company recently launched its latest Grand 2 in India, here's our first impressions of the smartphone. 

The report claims that the Grand Neo will sport a 5-inch WVGA display, but there is no word on what type of display panel the company will employ. The device will be powered by a 1.2GHz quad-core A7 processor, similar to the one found in the Grand 2.

The alleged Galaxy Grand Neo will also run on Android 4.3 with Samsung's high-end smartphone feature called “Multi Window”. The rear panel of the smartphone will reportedly feature a soft-touch back, as found on the Galaxy Note 3 and Galaxy Grand 2. Aimed at budget phone users, it is expected to be priced well below the price tag attached to the Grand 2. Apart from these, no other details of the device are out yet. 

Samsung is also known to be working on the “Lite” variant of the Galaxy Grand, which was lately spotted at the FCC. Rumoured specifications of the Grand Lite are a 5-inch display with 480 x 800 pixels of resolution, 5-megapixel rear camera, VGA front-facing camera, 1.2GHz quad-core processor, 1GB of RAM and microSD card support. Looking at the specs, it is quite possible that the Grand Lite and Grand Neo are the same device and marketed with different names depending on the region they are released in

Specs are great, but Xolo Q3000's Rs 20,999 price tag could be its downfall

The Xolo Q3000 that was spotted on online retail sites is now official. The 5.7-inch phablet is now available for Rs 20,999, a hefty price tag for a phone from an Indian company. It is being sold for slightly lesser prices through e-retailers like Flipkart and Snapdeal. Flipkart promises to deliver it in a week's time, while Snapdeal says it will dispatch the device in a day. 

The dual-SIM (GSM+GSM) smartphone sports a massive 5.7-inch full HD 1080p IPS display. It runs on Android 4.2 Jelly Bean and is powered by a quad-core 1.5GHz MediaTek MT6589T processor coupled with a healthy 2GB of RAM.

On connectivity front, the device supports 3G, Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi hotspot, Micro-USB, USB OTG, MHL and Bluetooth 4.0, so it's quite well-outfitted in that department. It comes with 16GB onboard storage, which can be expanded up to 32GB via microSD. As is becoming a norm nowadays, it gets a 13-megapixel rear snapper along with a 5-megapixel front-facing camera, that should deliver clear self-portraits. In addition, Xolo will be pre-loading its own security and software update apps.

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

• 5.7-inch full HD 1080 x 1920 IPS display
• Dual SIM, 3G, Wi-Fi
• GPS with A-GPS, Bluetooth 4.0
• 13-megapixel rear camera, 5-megapixel front-facing camera
• 16GB onboard storage, expandable via microSD card slot

The smartphone is fuelled by a gigantic 4000mAh battery that promises up to 33 hours of talktime on 2G and 21 hours of talktime on 3G. This is one of the largest battery packs we have seen in a phone.

The price of the phone puts it at a great disadvantage, considering the imminent arrival of the Elife E7 and the Samsung Galaxy Grand 2. The Gionee phone has a much better processor and a smaller body, while Samsung's mid-range workhorse has some interesting software additions, the promise of good after-sales service (and future software updates), and preloaded multimedia content thanks to Samsung's many tie-ups.