HTC Desire 500 goes up for pre-order in India

By Vijay @ 06:08pm

 

HTC’s affordable dual-SIM smartphone, the Desire 500, is now available for pre-order in India with deliveries expected to start within a week. It is currently available on Snapdeal, where it can be pre-booked for Rs 999, with the balance to be paid at the time of availability. There is no word on the pricing yet but we would be surprised if it is priced upwards of Rs 20,000, though given HTC’s past record they might just price it higher. 

The Desire 500 features a 4.3-inch WVGA display, a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 processor clocked at 1.2GHz, 1GB of RAM, 4GB of internal storage and a microSD card slot. It also features dual-SIM card slots (micro SIM) and the regular connectivity options. We expect HTC to highlight the 8-megapixel rear camera with a 1/3.2-inch BSI sensor, f2.0 aperture and 28mm lens. If priced correctly, this could be one of the best camera phones from a global brand in its price segment.

What worries us, however, is the use of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 200 SoC, which has four Cortex A5 cores (there’s a Cortex A7 variant as well but it seems HTC has gone for the Cortex A5 version), which could mean lower performance than competing devices running on MediaTek’s quad-core chipsets. Add to it HTC’s Sense UI and its pricing strategy, which could make the Desire 500, less desirable.

Micromax A240 Android Smartphone with 5.7-inch display launching next week

By Vijay @ 01:41pm

After Canvas 4, Micromax seems to be readying another flagship device. AndroidOS.in  reports  that this forthcoming phone will be called the A240 and could be announced as early as next week.

According to report, A240 is likely to flaunt a 5.7-inch 720p display and will be powered by a quad-core MediaTek MT6589 processor clocked at 1.2GHz. Other features included are 1GB of RAM, 12-megapixel rear camera with LED flash, 5-megapixel secondary camera, 16GB of expandable internal memory and a 2,600mAh battery.

Connectivity-wise the device will feature dual-SIM support and on the software front, will run on Android 4.2 Jelly Bean along with the various add-ons like vertical panorama in camera app, video pinning to home-screen support, Flip to mute, and Smart Pause that were introduced on the Canvas 4.

The report further claims that the device will be priced somewhere around Rs 18,000/-, which is similar to the launch price of the Canvas 4. The A240 could be Micromax’s answer to Samsung’s Galaxy Mega series of phablets.

Lava 3G 356 and 3G 402 Cheaper Android smartphones launched for Rs 4,499/- and 5,499/-

By Vijay @ 09:45pm

Lava has launched two new entry-level smartphones named Lava 3G 356 & 3G 402, which run on Android and also offer 3G connectivity as it names suggest, at an affordable price point.

Coming to specifications, Lava 3G 356 comes with a 3.5-inch HVGA capacitive touchscreen with 480X320 pixels resolution. It consists of  MediaTek dual-core Cortex A7 processor clocked at 1GHz. Other features, include a 1.3-megapixel rear camera, a VGA front-facing camera, a 1,500mAh battery with up to 5 hours of talktime and 200 hours of stand-by time, and a proximity sensor.

And the Lava 3G 402 comes with a 4-inch WVGA capacitive touchscreen with 480X800 pixels resolution. This smartphone is also powered by a MediaTek dual-core Cortex A7 processor clocked at 1.2GHz, and sports a 3-megapixel primary camera and a 1.3-megapixel secondary camera, with  1,500 mAh battery.

Both the phones run on Android 4.2 Jelly Bean with OTA upgrade and come with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS and 3G support. On the memory front, both offer 256MB of RAM, 512MB of internal memory, and external memory support for up to 32GB through a memory card.

The Lava 3G 356 is priced for Rs 4,499/- and the 3G 402 for Rs 5,499/- and are available in grey, white and black for the Lava 3G 356 and white, grey and red for the Lava 402.

 

Lava teases Iris Pro series (Lava’s high end smartphone) expected on August 25th

By Vijay @ 08:14am

Lava which is one the leading indian electronics company is now teasing the Lava Iris Pro series in a TVC. According to the teaser the phone will be available from August 25 onwards. By the looks of it the main USP of the phone seems to be its all new slim design that seems heavily inspired from the iPhone and also exudes a sense of quality that no other phone from Lava can boast.

This teaser also shows a 1.2GHz quad-core CPU, and a HD display. Most probably, this device will feature a MediaTek chipset and will probably feature an upgraded camera module.

Like the Micromax Canvas 4 it appears that the premium design of the Iris Pro series will appeal to the consumer.

 

Smart Namo phablet revealed, packs 6.5-inch FHD display with Andriod 4.2 Jelly Bean..

By Vijay @ 10:52pm

 

I hope you might have heard about Android smartphone dedicated to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi for the last few days. Now, the official specifications of this device, had been revealed online named as Smart Namo phablet,

There is no official confirmation on the pricing but multiple reports note that Smart Namo will cost around Rs. 21,000/-.

Smart Namo phablet packs a 6.5-inch 1080p display, 1.5GHz quad-core MediaTek processor and Android 4.2.1 and also comes with 13MP rear camera, dual-SIM support (3G + 3G) and 2GB of RAM.

Moreover Smart Namo will feature 32GB of internal storage, microSD card slot, 3100 mAh battery and 2MP front camera.

The device will come with a free 32GB microSD card slot, a Bluetooth headset, and leather cover along with Box contents.

On paper, the device certainly looks interesting but the display size limits the target users. As, it is not a commercial profit making product and it is reportedly being sold at the buying price, the Modi fan business community, which is bringing Smart Namo to India, is not concerned about sales or orders.