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Asus Zenfone Giveaway

Update: Winners of the Asus Zenfone giveaway have been announced. Check out if you got lucky.

Hello readers! We are back with another giveaway. To celebrate the smashing success of the Asus Zenfone in India, FoneArena and Asus India have teamed up to bring you one of a kind giveaway. Asus launched the Zenfone series in India last month at competitive price points. All these smartphones have dual SIM support, powered by dual-core Clover Trail+ Intel Atom processors and runs on Android 4.3 (Jelly Bean), upgradable to Android 4.4 (KitKat). Asus recently said that the sales of Zenfone series is nearly one lakh in India. Continue reading “Asus Zenfone Giveaway”

Samsung Galaxy K zoom Review: Almost there

Samsung launched the Galaxy S4 zoom last year, to place their bets on the cameraphone market. It didn’t work out so well, as the S4 zoom was basically two devices slapped on together. The sequel announced this year, the Galaxy K zoom, is visibly better, with a slimmer profile and a lens unit that is more pocketable. The megapixels are higher and the phone itself gets a decent spec boost, but does Samsung get the formula right this time? Or is the company going to need a third time lucky? Let’s find out in our full review.

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Oppo Find 7 Review: Leading the race to the top

The idea of a Smartphone flagship is a race to the top where companies constantly try to 1up each other with class leading technology and innovative new additions to their top end smartphone, every year. The Find 7 is Oppo’s entrant into this increasingly crowded flagship rat race, meant to appeal to the buyer seeking cutting edge technology. The Chinese manufacturer has been playing this game since the Find 5, and for the second time, they have captured the pole position by introducing a Quad HD display in a smartphone way ahead of any one else. But the race has already started and the gap has closed, with new uncertainties and the competition rapidly stepping up its game. One of the major uncertainties is the need for a Quad HD display on a smartphone. With a 1080p display on its younger sibling (the cheaper Find 7a, read the review here), the Find 7 finds itself facing a tough argument from the user “Is a Quad HD display really needed?”. But even then, as a top end flagship, can it endure the onslaught from the competition and retain the pole position it wanted initially? Find out in our full review of the Oppo Find 7.

Oppo Find 7 is available in India for a price of Rs. 37,990

Continue reading “Oppo Find 7 Review: Leading the race to the top”

Xiaomi Mi3 officially launched in India for Rs. 13999

xiaomi-mi3-review (16)

Xiaomi has launched the Mi3 in India. It has a 5-inch (1920 x 1080 pixels) IPS display with 441 PPI, based one-glass solution (OGS) ultra-sensitive touch, powered by a 2.3 GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 (MSM 8974AB) processor with Adreno 330 GPU and runs on MIUI v5 on top of Android 4.4 (KitKat). It has a 13-megapixel rear camera with Sony Exmor RS BSI sensor, 28mm lens with f/2.2 aperture, dual LED flash and a 2-megapixel BSI front-facing camera with 30mm lens. Continue reading “Xiaomi Mi3 officially launched in India for Rs. 13999”

Xiaomi Mi3 Review: Game Changer

Xiaomi made its name in the global scene from its home market, China. The company, initially making its own custom ROMs (MIUI) for Android devices, entered the highly competitive world of hardware with its Mi range of smartphones. After a few iterations, the company unveiled Mi3, Xiaomi’s latest flagship device, packing top end specifications, but at a very low price unmatched by the competition. This is all thanks to Xiaomi’s business model where it sells to its consumers directly, without the overhead of a distribution channel on the price. After hiring Android VP Hugo Barra, the company recently took its operations to other countries like Singapore and Malaysia, where it saw success, and is finally here in India, where its flagship Mi3 will go on sale the 15th of July, at a shockingly low price of Rs. 14,999 (Update: Now Rs. 13,999) Even just by looking at the on-paper specifications, one can say it is already worth it. In fact, it could even be perceived as undervalued, but what about the details, you ask? That’s where our in-depth review can help, read on.

Video Review

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3duNKIDsVc

Continue reading “Xiaomi Mi3 Review: Game Changer”

Material Design is the new visual language of everything Google

Yesterday, at the Google I/O conference in San Francisco, design played a huge role in the company’s announcements to the public. After getting Android One out of the way, Android and Chrome chief Sundar Pichai invited Matias Duarte on stage. Being one of the highly creative minds behind the critically acclaimed WebOS interface, Matias made his mark on Android with Ice Cream Sandwich. Fondly called Android ICS, the update was and still is one of the biggest visual overhauls for Android, as a platform. “Holo” was the design language spear headed by Matias, who talked up design principles based on clean lines and flatter interface elements. It was the beginning of a more coherent interface for Android, but Google, as a company, was heading in a separate design direction.

Continue reading “Material Design is the new visual language of everything Google”

LG G Watch Hands On

LG G Watch-1

We are at Google I/O 2014 and got our hands on upcoming LG G Watch which is the first Android Wear based smart watch from the Korean company.While we had heard about the G watch before , it is the first time the company is actually showing it off publicly.Google even confirmed that it would be handing it out to attendees at Google I/O and also it is currently available for purchase on the Play Store.The main functionality of the watch is that it acts like an extension of Google Now on your phone but now on your wrist. You can see your messages , calls, calendar items, Google Now cards such travel, weather and you can also see the time. Check out the hands on video below :-

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F72RUiBSlek

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LG G Watch goes on sale on Google Play Store in US for $229, ships July 3rd

lg-g-watch.google-play

Google announced that it was going to start selling the LG G Watch in the US starting from today during the Google I/O 2014 keynote where the company announced its big ambitions for Android Wear.The devices are currently up for order on the Google Play store in the US. The LG G Watch is not something which is totally new and was announced few weeks back when Google announced the Android Wear platform.The G Watch features a 1.65 inch 280×280 pixel display and is 9.95 mm thick.It has a 400 mAh battery is powered by a 1.2 GHz processor on the inside. It has 4GB of storage and 512 MB of RAM. It connects to your Android phone using Bluetooth 4 LE and is water and dust resistant.The main idea behind Android Wear is bringing notifications which you generally see on your Android phone over to your wrist. Since the device has a touchscreen, you can swipe through the various cards and is very similar to how Google Now works on your phone.

Continue reading “LG G Watch goes on sale on Google Play Store in US for $229, ships July 3rd”

Microsoft Surface Pro 3 Unboxing and First Look

Microsoft announced the Surface Pro 3, the latest iteration of its own hybrid efforts under the “Surface Pro” moniker, at an event in New York last month. Panos Panay, the guy heading the Surface group, kept referencing the Macbook Air as the Surface Pro 3’s competitor and got the audience intrigued, including us, watching the live webcast from afar. But we have now got the chance to try one out in person, as the device has started shipping in the US and Canada, with units available even without pre-order. So, what are our first impressions like? Check out our unboxing and setup video where we detail everything –

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUc95M6Z8zs

Continue reading “Microsoft Surface Pro 3 Unboxing and First Look”

Pebble Smartwatch Review: Tip of the iceberg

From Kickstarter project to an actual company, it must have been a roller coaster ride for Pebble, the smartwatch, and the company behind the product, making it one of the first wearable gadgets to work in tandem with the smartphone platforms of our time. It is still one of the most well-funded Kickstarter projects of all time, having served as a clear indicator for the birth of a whole new market. Several months after the funding was completed, it shipped its product to its backers and now, it is shipping globally with two models, the original and a more premium Pebble Steel.

Since then, competitors have scrambled to make a mark on this new market, but none have succeeded so far. With Android Wear on the horizon and supported devices coming out in a few weeks or months, the landscape is set to change, but we don’t know how yet. Assuming you, the readers, are in the market for a smartwatch now, will the Pebble still be worth it, even after the onslaught of Android wear powered devices? Let’s find that out in our review.

Continue reading “Pebble Smartwatch Review: Tip of the iceberg”

Micromax Canvas Win W092 and Canvas Win W121 with Windows Phone 8.1 launched for Rs. 6500 and Rs. 9500

Micromax Canvas Win W092

Micromax has entered into the Windows Phone market with Canvas Win W092 and Canvas Win W121 in the Canvas Win series. The company partnered with Microsoft earlier this year to launch Windows Phone 8.1 smartphones. These are powered by quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 processors and run on Windows Phone 8.1. The Canvas Win W092, an affordable Windows Phone handset has a 4-inch WVGA IPS screen, a 5-megapixel rear camera with LED flash and a 0.3-megapixel front-facing camera. The Canvas Win W121 has a 5-inch HD display, a 8-megapixel rear camera with LED flash and a 2-megapixel front-facing camera. It also has leather finish back panel. Continue reading “Micromax Canvas Win W092 and Canvas Win W121 with Windows Phone 8.1 launched for Rs. 6500 and Rs. 9500”

64GB Moto X now official, Priced at $449

Its long been expected that Motorola will launch a higher capacity variant of the Moto X. Today, the company has confirmed that it plans to launch a 64GB version of the phone.

There’s little else that has changed here. The base specifications of the phone include a 4.7 inch 720p display, a 1.7Ghz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro SoC and this is paired with 2GB of RAM. The USP of the phone comes in the form of touchless controls that let you activate Google Now and use voice based commands without touching the device. Continue reading “64GB Moto X now official, Priced at $449”

Nokia Lumia 630 Dual SIM Review: Missed Opportunity

Nokia’s devices and services division, now officially part of Microsoft, unveiled the Lumia 630 Windows Phone at their developer conference at San Francisco. This low end Windows Phone, which will cater to the budget customer, has a number of firsts and even a last, in terms of features. It is the first Windows Phone 8.1 device to be launched into the market, it is the first Dual SIM Windows Phone, it is the first Windows Phone with a quad core Snapdragon 400 chip and also the first one to support on-screen navigation buttons. But, having launched before April 25th, this, along with the Lumia 930, will be the last Windows Phones with a “Nokia” brand on them. Sporting a price tag of Rs. 11,500, the successor to the yesteryear Lumia 620 sports a bigger screen, with roughly the same resolution, undercuts it by a couple of thousands, but loses the LED flash and goes for a cheaper bill of materials (referred to as BoM from here on) generally. With the RAM staying at 512 MB, does the Lumia 630 Dual SIM Windows Phone strike a good balance between price and specifications in this crucial segment? Lets find out in our full review.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixmnsH_1sQI

Continue reading “Nokia Lumia 630 Dual SIM Review: Missed Opportunity”

Apple’s health-focused iWatch reportedly launching in October

Apple healthkit

Apple would unveil its long rumored smartwatch at an event in October, according to reports from Japanese business newspaper Nikkei and Re/code. Apple introduced its new Health app with the iOS 8 earlier this month that would collect a number of body metrics including blood pressure, heart rate, and stats on diet and exercise and consolidate at one place. Continue reading “Apple’s health-focused iWatch reportedly launching in October”

Ford Superfan Contest Day 4

computex-fordteaser

We are here at Taipei , Taiwan for Computex 2014 and today is the last day of the Ford Superfan Contest . Ford is bringing AppLink to 3 new countries in Asia.

Contest Day 4 Question

Ford’s Emergency Assistance technology can automatically call for help in the event of an accident. How many seconds after the event of an accident is Emergency Assistance initiated?

Do tweet your answers with the hashtag #fordcomputex for a chance to win some goodies every day from June 3rd to June 6th here at FoneArena

Click here to tweet your answer and enter into the contest.

Watch the video below for the clue. Continue reading “Ford Superfan Contest Day 4”