Technology
Review: Micromax Funbook
Apr 10th
Last few weeks have seen a number of low-cost tablets coming into Indian market. The idea is that in India where a computer is still a luxury, an affordable tablet could help masses connect to the web and help them enjoy the wonders of digital world. It sounds logical. But reality is more nuanced. We had looked at some of these low cost tablets and were largely unimpressed.
Micromax believes that in Funbook it has a product that might not cost a bomb but is good enough to offer a compelling tablet experience. We are using the device for the last several days. To know how it fares in our rigorous tests, read on…
Build quality & hardware
Just like other budget tablets in the market, the Funbook has an all-plastic build. But it is put together well. Design elements like faux aluminum coating on back cover make it look good. The tablet has a 7-inch capacitive screen with a resolution of 800×480 mega pixels. The compact size, rounded edges and weight of around 350 grams make it very portable.
Micromax has placed three buttons – options, home and back – under the screen even when the same functions are available through virtual buttons in Android 4.0 aka Ice Cream Sandwich(ICS) that powers the tablet. It looks like waste of space though some users, especially first time tablet users, may find physical buttons comforting. A mini USB port, which supports pen drives and 3G dongles when used with an adapter, which Micromax is bundling with the tablet, is placed at the bottom along with 3.5mm jack, charging port, HDMI and microSD card slot.
Funbook is powered by a 1.2Ghz Cortex A8 processors. For graphics duty, it has two Mali 400 GPUs. Theoretically, this means that when it comes to processing 2D and 3D graphics, the tablet has half the power of Samsung Galaxy S2, the best-seller Android phone that has 4 Mali 400 chips. There is 512MB RAM, a VGA front camera, 4GB internal storage and support for up to 32GB microSD card. While benchmarks never tell the whole story about a device, we ran two on Funbook for some, ahem, fun. It scored 2446 points in Antutu and 1722 points in Quadrant.
Is it fun?
Aware of the competition in the low-cost tablet market, Micromax is positioning the Funbook a little differently. Unlike most low-cost tablets, the Funbook is powered by ICS. (Though we must add that HCL’s U1 and Zync Z990 also run ICS). This means the Funbook has a slightly better user interface compared to other tablets.
Then, there is Micromax’s big push for making sure that the Funbook users have access to content. The company believes that students are especially likely to benefit from the tablet and hence tied up with study material providers like Pearson, Everonn, and Vriti. It’s not only about studies, though. The tagline for the Funbook is “pass bhi hoga, timepass bhi hoga”. To cover the “timepass” part, the company has worked with firms like BigFlix and Zenga, which will provide users access to Bollywood and other video content at a small fee.
Does this content make the tablet useful and fun?
In some ways it does. Funbook is a better preposition compared to devices from the competitors. But in a category where getting a usable device is a challenge, it is not saying much. Despite it’s low price, the tablet is not a slam dunk!
Before we talk about where the device falters, let’s highlight what it does best. Media playback is superb on the tablet. It plays all popular video formats in a resolution of up to 1080P with ease. This means that connect it to a TV through HDMI, and you have a very nice media player. Also, the speaker on Funbook is loud and sounds nice. This is something we can’t say about many tablets.
Casual gaming – Angry Birds and stuff – gave no trouble to the tablet. At the same time, its weight, or lack of it, makes it a nice e-reader for occasional reading.
In our use we found the Funbook to have a largely decent performance. We are saying ‘largely’ because there were occasions when we faced lag, at times crippling, while navigating around the user interface. Web browsing turned out to be a disappointing experience as the tablet found it hard to deal with full-fat pages. Multi-tab browsing slowed the tablet and pinch-to-zoom never worked smoothly.
But the deal-breaker is the screen. The capacitive screen not only has a very low resolution of 800×480 pixels, which makes for a somewhat dull display, but also very poor viewing angles. The poor screen on the Funbook means that the users are likely to find it difficult to read, browse or watch something on it for long durations.
To be fair to Micromax, we must add that screen is one component that none of low-cost tablet makers has got right. But we had high hopes from Micromax. The USP of low-cost tablet makers should not be affordable. Their USP should be affordable and good experience. Of course, as reviewers it is easy for us to say this. Cutting price while still maintaining quality is not easy. But this is where innovation comes into play. Releasing a tablet with cheap parts is not difficult. The challenge is to release a low-cost tablet that provides decent experience at an affordable price.
Pass or fail?
Let’s sum it up. There is lot to like in Funbook. Build quality is decent, it’s portable and the performance in video playback is stellar. Battery life is also good with the tablet lasting around seven hours with moderate use (gaming, video playback, browsing etc). Then there is the case of content. Though it is limited and the presence of YouTube negates the need for much of the entertainment stuff, it is nice to see a tablet maker trying to make sure that users have access to content.
Yet, drawback in the form of low-quality screen and poor web browsing experience means we can’t recommend it. Even at the price of Rs 6,449.
That said the low price does make Funbook a decent option for one particular segment of consumers. If you don’t have a computer or a smartphone – this means you are probably reading this article from a cybercafe or from your office – and want a computing device on the cheap, Funbook could fit the bill. Support for a 3G dongle means it can keep you connected to the world and its ability to access pen drives is sure to come handy.
Students, especially those in colleges, will also find some value in Funbook. Once again, the reason is same. It’s the device to get if you don’t have access to anything better and want to stay connected without spending a fortune on a good smartphone, laptop or iPad. Just don’t expect it to be ‘cheap and best’.
Samsung Galaxy S3 release date and specs a mystery
Apr 7th
Galaxy S3 artificial image
Stakes are running high as the Samsung Galaxy S3 (III) approaches its release date. The most talked about aspect being 4.6 inch or a larger screen size with 720×1,280 pixels crammed in – at par with the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. If Korean news sources are to be believed, the panel might not be same as on the Nexus – the Samsung Galaxy S3 will sport a Super AMOLED Plus display. The bottom line is that the S3 will have a screen technology that will be crispier than the Galaxy Nexus.
Those who were speculating a 3D display, Samsung has definitely played spoilsport by suggesting that 3D is still a no-go for the Galaxy. Tech lovers are, however, keeping their eyes fixed on the specs of the flagship S3 – in the hope that it will set Apple to pause prior to the launch of the much hyped iPhone 5. As a flagship model, we can expect the Samsung Galaxy S3 packing in some extra punches against the specs of the iPhone 5. Given the success Galaxy S2 has enjoyed, take it a little easy on your think tank and do not expect specs that are too extreme. Well…just in case, you misinterpret us, we do remember what Samsung stated last year – that it would launch hardware with flexible OLED (FOLED) in 2012. OLEDs being slimmer than traditional displays and this handset as it suggests, is all screen, we can expect some off the wall options.
Loaded with the latest Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system, it remains to be seen what’s up Samsung’s sleeve this time – given the fact that android 4.0 has features like easy screen grabs and resizeable widgets. Feature-wise, it’s definitely going to give a run for the money. Probing the insides, the Galaxy S3 is rumoured as Samsung’s quad-core ARM A9-based Exynos 4212 chipset, clocked at 1.8GHz – that makes it twice as fast as the iPhone 4S. This syncs with Samsung claim of immense speed boosts on graphics and at the same time promising to be easy on the battery. Preorder benchmark results by unspecified sources however claim that the processor clocked at 1.4GHz. Nonetheless, with four cores and 2GB of RAM, the Galaxy S3 will show off some robust multi-tasking power. Together with 32GB of storage, the S3 should be capable of powerhouse performance, good enough to throw off some laptops off the cliff! Now, that’s something we too are keeping our fingers crossed. If you are shutter-happy, there is something to cheer about. There’s likely to be a 12-MP rear camera – that’s 4-megapixels higher than the Samsung Galaxy S2.
Samsung might equip the handset with a 1/2.3 inch sensor and that’s much bigger than the sensor on the iPhone 4S. Of course, it won’t replace your DSLR, but it sure will come in handy in low light situations. More so, if it comes with dual flash. With Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich’s picture taking and easy editing capabilities, we have here quite a rival.
From what we understand, here’s what could be the specs of the Samsung Galaxy S3:
Styled like the Galaxy Nexus
4.6 – 4.8-inch Super AMOLED Plus screen
720×1,280-pixel – 1,920×1,080-pixel screen resolution
1.5GHz – 1.8GHz chip with 2GB RAM for flawless performance
Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich with TouchWiz skin
12-megapixel rear camera with high ISO feature
However the release date of samsung galaxy s3 in india or anywhere is still not known and remain mystery.
Source: nvonews
Google Glasses Face Serious Hurdles, Augmented-Reality Experts Say
Apr 6th
When Google officially unveiled Project Glass — the company’s bid to develop Terminator-style augmented-reality glasses — we saw a provocative glimpse of the future. The video Google released yesterday showed us the point of view of someone wearing the glasses, with icons, maps and other graphical overlays appearing over the user’s complete field of vision.
Accompanying photos, meanwhile, showed us how the new glasses might look — but the glasses weren’t really glasses. Instead, we saw a system that lacked full lenses, and included just a small, rectangular pieces of glass hovering over the wearer’s right eye.
If anything, the system in the photos looks similar to what Recon does with its head-up-display snowboarding goggles: Data overlays don’t consume one’s entire field of vision. Rather, small bits of data appear only in one’s peripheral vision.
So where is Google really going with Project Glass? The hardware that appears in the photos doesn’t appear capable of delivering the augmented-reality experience we see in the video. Is Google working on two different delivery systems? Or is the company going with a Recon-style approach, but released a video that over-reaches?
We asked Google for specifics, and were told in an e-mail, “We aren’t prepared to put additional information on the record at this time.”
However, according to Pranav Mistry, an MIT Media Lab researcher and one of the inventors of the SixthSense wearable computing system, “The small screen seen in the photos cannot give the experience the video is showing.”
Blair MacIntyre, director of the Augmented Environments Lab at Georgia Tech, concurs: “You could not do AR with a display like this. The small field of view, and placement off to the side, would result in an experience where the content is rarely on the display and hard to discover and interact with. But it’s a fine size and structure for a small head-up display.”
Mistry does point out that the Project Glass demo is a concept video. But MacIntyre believes Google may have set the bar too high for itself. “In one simple fake video,” MacIntyre told Wired, “Google has created a level of over-hype and over-expectation that their hardware cannot possibly live up to.”
“Some of what I find a little annoying about the video is that they staged all these things such that as when these notifications come to the middle of the screen, the person is looking at the thing it’s referring too,” MacIntyre said. “Is it augmented realty, or is it location-based notifications? It’s going to generate ideas in people and expectations that just might not match.”
Even if Google is able to deliver the goods, says Mistry, we won’t see the glasses on the market for at least two years. Most of this has to do with limitations in current mobile display technology. “Current HUDs utilize a fixed lens distance of two feet,” he says. “For true augmented reality, the display would have to dynamically focus, which would require additional hardware on the glasses to read your eye.”
MacIntyre brings up another issue. He’s found that in his own Georgia Tech research, it’s difficult to create a transparent display that renders viewable overlays both indoors and outdoors. “The brightness difference between inside your bright office and outside on a bright day is multiple orders of magnitude,” he says.
In other words, a display bearing overlaid graphics that performs well indoors would be washed out when the user encounters the brightness of the outside world. Because of such huge differences in ambient lighting, MacIntyre says creating a display that can handle multiple environments will be difficult. “You wouldn’t be able to accomplish it by just changing the brightness,” he says.
Google’s public posting on Project Glass couches the technology in incredibly vague terms: “So we took a few design photos to show what this technology could look like and created a video to demonstrate what it might enable you to do.” Nonetheless, if Google is unable to deliver on most of what the video shows, all the research in the world won’t stop consumers uttering the worst word in the technology world: vaporware.
iPads could replace books in China school
Apr 3rd
Students in a Chinese school may soon carry iPads instead of books to their classrooms as the management is planning to allow the use of the gadget.
The Jinling High School in Nanjing city has already allowed three students to bring iPads to their classrooms on a trial basis once their new term begins in September.
The policy has been discussed extensively and will possibly be extended to all students, the management said.
The iPads can set students free from the burden of carrying school bags, said Xin Qihua, vice director of the school’s international department.
It can also improve interaction between the students and teachers who can ask questions through the device and review all answers from the students immediately, said Mr. Xin.
The gadget can also give students access to foreign educational resources, which will contribute to their preparation for the SAT, TOFEL and AP exams, Mr. Xin added.
It can also help save up to 90 per cent of their expenditures on teaching materials.
The measure was hailed by many young people. “I am so jealous. I have an iPad too, but I am not allowed to take it to the classroom,” said a blogger on Sina Weibo.
However, some expressed doubt. They worry that the gadget may spoil the students.
“Although it is worth trying, children who lack self-discipline may waste time in playing games,” Xinhua quoted another blogger as saying.
“The teacher has technical control over all the iPads, and students will be prevented from installing any games,” Meng Qun, a teacher at the school, as saying.
To lighten the load on students in primary and high schools, local governments have been pondering the idea sometime whether to allow students to use devices like laptops.
However, Yin Fei, professor with Nanjing Normal University, said: “It is a fallacy to reduce students’ burdens by introducing electronic devices.
“The excessive burden on students’ shoulders is not from the weight of school bags, but the flawed educational system itself.”
Source : http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/technology/article3276096.ece?homepage=true
Preparations on for India’s first radar imaging satellite launch
Apr 2nd
Preparations are underway for this month’s launch of an indigenously designed and developed satellite that has the unique capability of imaging during day and night and in all weather conditions.
ISRO is looking at ‘lucky April 20′ for the blast-off from India’s spaceport of Sriharikota.
RISAT-1, a Radar Imaging Satellite with the capability to take images of the earth during day and night as well as in cloudy conditions, is a first of its kind by India and has already reached the spaceport having been transported from here.
India had launched RISAT-2, which it bought from Israel for $110 million, on April 20, 2009, and Resourcesat-2 mission took place on the same day last year. Both were successful ventures.
“April 20 is a lucky day for us”, an ISRO official told PTI here. After back-to-back failures of GSLV — one with Russian engine and another with homegrown one –, this statement did not come as a surprise.
RISAT-1, weighing around 1850 kg, is slated for launch by ISRO’s workhorse Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C19 (XL)) into a 536km orbit.
The launch of the spacecraft, the country’s first microwave remote sensing satellite, was put off by at least a couple of months following the ISRO row, the fallout of the punitive action against four former space scientists for their role in the Antrix-Devas deal, that delayed the preparations.
RISAT-2 with all weather capability and ability to penetrate through clouds was realised in association with Israel Aerospace Industries. RISAT-2, primarily a spy satellite, is being used solely for Defence applications, keeping an eye on the borders and the country’s neighbourhood.
“This satellite (RISAT-2) can sharply focus on metallic objects”, an ISRO official said.
“The RISAT-1 will be useful for monitoring of agriculture and water resources management, among other applications”, said the official, who added that this satellite would not be used for defence applications as RISAT-2 is already doing that job.
RISAT-1 carries a C-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) payload, operating in a multi-polarisation and multi-resolution mode to provide images with coarse, fine and high spatial resolutions respectively.
Worlds First Virtual Super Market Opens in Korea
Mar 30th
A major South Korean retailer has opened what it appears to be the world’s first virtual store geared to smartphone users, with shoppers scanning barcodes of products displayed in a Seoul subway station. Homeplus, the nation’s second largest discount chain, is offering 500 items including food, electronics, office supplies and toiletries at its “store” at Seolleung station in the south of the city of 10 million.
Seven pillars and six platform screen doors have been plastered with images of life-size store shelves filled with goods — such as milk, apples, a bag of rice or school backpacks — which each carry a small barcode. Shoppers download a related application on their smartphone and make purchases by taking photos of the barcodes.
“You place an order when you go to work in the morning and can see the items delivered at home when you come home at night,” said a spokeswoman for Homeplus.
In fact, consumers don’t have to be anywhere near the virtual store. For example, if you want to order replacements of a bottle of water that you have in your hand, you don’t have to stop by the subway station. You simply scan the bottle’s barcode with the Homeplus app. The products are delivered later to home or office.
Currently, only Android smartphone users will be able to use the service that launched last week. Not that Homeplus hasn’t made an app iPhone, it’s just Steve Jobs and Co. hasn’t approved it yet.
Two more cheap Android tablets
Mar 26th
Ira and Ira Thing are available for Rs 4,000 and Rs 5,500 respectively.
It’s raining tablets in India now. After a slew of tablets from the likes of BSNL, and Datawind, two cheap Android devices have made their debut in India recently.
The tablets, named Ira and Ira Thing, have been launched by one relatively lesser known Indian company – Wishtel.
Ira, which is the cheaper of the two tablets, comes with a 7 inch resistive touchscreen and has Android 2.2, WiFi, 2 GB internal memory, 3G modem support via USB, a 3.5 mm audio jack and a 2800 mAh battery. It will be available for Rs 4,000.
On the other hand, Ira Thing is the costlier version with almost similar specifications as the other but with a 7 inch capacitive touchscreen. It costs Rs 5,500.
Notably, Datawind came out with its Aakash tablet last year but has faced severe criticism regarding quality. The tablet is not available in the retail market even after repeated promises by the company.
BSNL’s cheap tablet has also faced a similar fate – its cheapest tablet, especially, has attracted criticism from various quarters, and it too is yet to make it to the market.
The latest tablets from Wishtel do not look good on paper but sometimes such devices with low specifications also perform well.
If you want to book this tablet, visit Wishtel’s website.
Source : http://www.themobileindian.com/new-launches/1489_Two-more-cheap-Android-tablets
Low cost tablets flood market again with Wishtel launching two tabs
Mar 24th
Wishtel launched two tablets costing between Rs 4,000 and Rs 5,500 on Friday, becoming the third company to introduce low-cost tablets within the week.
Ira, the seven-inch Andoid tablet supports more than Indian languages besides HD video, wi-fi and 3G. The tablets have an in-built memory beginning from 2 GB that can be expanded to 32 GB.
Wishtel will sell through 350 distribution and support centers, targeting end users such as students, homemakers and corporate executives.
The company that makes the tablets in Maharashtra and Gujarat said it would participate in the second bidding round for Aakash.
The $ 35 tablet Aakash was launched in October last year and managed to secure more than 1-lakh pre-bookings in a matter of days. Pegged as the world’s cheapest, the tablet is sold at Rs 2,276, compared to an iPad which begins from around Rs 28,000.
Early this week, two Indian companies engaged in making computer peripherals and commodity trading launched tablet personal computers or tablets at a fraction of high-cost tablets.
Zync launched its seven-inch tablet on the Android Ice Cream Sandwich at Rs 8,990 while Intex Technologies launched i-Tab, an eight-inch Android tablet priced at Rs 11,900.
ABI Research suggests the sub-$400 tablets will grab more than 60% share of the market by 2016.
