Google Maps Navigation & Traffic Data Launched In India

       Google announced advanced features such as voice guided turn by turn navigation and live traffic updates in India. India is the latest addition to the list of countries where Google offers these features. Google Maps is a free app that can be downloaded from the Play store and navigation also doesn't incur extra charges but for using the navigation you will be charged with the mobile data charges. Google Maps app can be used in any smartphone running Android 2.2 or later.

       "We're extremely excited to bring Google Maps Navigation and live traffic information to Google Maps users in one of the world's most dynamic and fastest-growing markets for online maps, and we're confident that these features will help Indian users find their way around town with greater ease and convenience than ever before." says  Mr. Darren Baker, Product Manager for Google Maps.

       The voice enabled directions will help you reach your destination by simply typing or speaking out your destination address. Currently live traffic update is only available to a few selected cities which are Bengaluru, Mumbai, New Delhi, Chennai, Pune and Hyderabad. 

"Live traffic" on Google Maps

     Different colours are used in the map to show traffic density. Green for free flowing traffic, yellow for small slowdowns, red for significant traffic density. Navigation in Google Maps also considers traffic density and thus you will be shown the lowest time consuming route to current location. 

      Google Maps saves your precious time by reducing the time you stay in traffic blocks. Live traffic updates for other cities will be coming soon. Every Google Maps users in India will surely enjoy the new features added to this excellent app.

Microsoft’s Social Network So.cl Opens to Everyone.

So.cl page with rich content.

       Microsoft silently launched their social network So.cl, which is said to help students to connect each other. The new Social Network was in development stage for almost a year. So.cl, pronounced “Social” lets users share and comment on interesting search results and connect with "like-minded" people. The site was developed by Microsoft’s FUSE Labs intended to help students on learning purposes and to enhance social experiences. 

       “We expect students to continue using products such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other existing social networks, as well as Bing, Google and other search tools. We hope to encourage students to reimagine how our everyday communication and learning tools can be improved, by researching, learning and sharing in their everyday lives.” Says Microsoft on So.cl’s “About” section. 

       Microsoft says that the social network is not arrival to Facebook or Twitter. They are aiming add a new layer to the current social networking concepts. So.cl even accepts login via Facebook account or Windows Live Account. Microsoft has made a wise decision by not launching the site as a rival for any of the other social networks. It seem that they might have learned it from Google+. It is interesting fact that the beginning of Facebook was similar as students were targeted at first. 

       So.cl is similar to other social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. The site allows users to share pages, follow “like minded” people, make discussions etc. All searches in So.cl are public by default and users can make their content “private” or delete it. The overall look of the site is good. The layout is similar to Google+, with elements from Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest. 

"Vidoe Parties" in So.cl

       Users can share their activities on So.cl with other users, as in Facebook. Users can follow each other or follow interests as “pages” in Facebook. The “Everyone” feed option is users can see what others are searching or sharing. Users have an option to cross post their So.cl activities on Facebook. The “Video Party” feature which is similar to video sorting in YouTube is a major highlight of So.cl. The feature allows users to create slideshow of videos. 

       The features of So.cl are minimal compared to other mainstream social networks. It is an experimental research project which help combine search with the social network for the purpose of expressing and sharing ideas, organized by interests. Thus So.cl is not meant to replace existing social network at present. 

Samsung Unveils Galaxy Camera.

        Galaxy Camera is the first android digital camera made by Samsung. It is a point and shoot camera with 21x zoom and a 4.8” LCD HD touch screen. Most amazing part is surely the OS which is the new Android 4.1 jelly bean. Galaxy camera is not the first android powered camera; Nikon has already taken that position with the introduction of Coolpix S800c. Other cool features of this camera include Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 3G/4G LTE and GPS. It has an internal memory of 8GB and it can be expanded via micro SD card. Galaxy camera is very stylish in looks but not the slimmest one. It has many camera modes for inexperienced photographers and it also has advanced modes which can be used by professional photographers. With 1.4 GHz quad core processor under the hood this camera is powerful than most of the mobiles phones in the market.

SPECIFICATIONS:
*  1.4 GHz quad core processor
*  Android 4.1 Jellybean OS
*  Sensor size: 1/2.3”
*  CMOS sensor
*  16.3 MP
*  Minimum/Maximum ISO: 100/3200
*  4.8” HD LCD display
*  21x zoom
*  1080p video capture
*  Memory: 8GB internal and can be expanded using micro SD card
*  4.1-86.1 mm f/2.8-5.9 lens
*  focal length (35mm equivalent): 23-483mm
*  Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, 3G/4G LTE, HDMI, built in speaker and microphone

         Galaxy camera with its all new cool features has astonished everyone. 21x zoom is very respectable in the case of a camera like this. But however without closer look the image quality cannot be predicted. If you are a traveller and want to share all your pictures you can consider this as it has a lot of connectivity options. But are all these features essential for a camera? When better cameras are available for the same price range will consumers prefer Galaxy camera over them just to play with android? Let’s wait and see…

Expected Price Tag : $630

Microsoft unveils Office for tablets.

Microsoft on July 17, 2012 unveiled a new version of its Office suite tailored for tablets and other touch screen devices, in the company's largest-ever overhaul of the workspace software it relies on for much of its profit. The revamped Office takes advantage of Cloud computing and is designed for use with the Windows 8 operating system, Windows Phone 8, and the updated Xbox. It makes use of cloud computing by storing documents and settings on the Internet by default, and is compatible with touch screens widely used in tablets. It also incorporates Skype, the video-calling service Microsoft bought for $8.5 billion in 2011. While the previous vesions of Office uses PC's hard drives for saving documents, the new Office uses Microsoft's online "Skydrive" or "Sharepoint" service for default storage. The new Office incorporates social networks which allows you to view multiple email accounts, get facebook updates etc in Outlook itself. Documents can be easily shared on facebook or published in blogs in the new Office. The company is planning to sell the product through online subscription service. Office is Microsoft's single-biggest profit driver. The last update of the office was done on 2010 when it introduced the online versions for the first time. The full version of Office 15 is expected to be available in the first quarter of 2013. However it is unclear whether Microsoft have plans to launch versions of Office compatible with Apple's iPad or tablets running Google's Android platform.

ACER ICONIA TAB A110

       Acer has come up with a new budget tablet which is rumored to be priced at 199$. When it was announced by Acer they said it would run Android 4.0 icecream sandwich but now there are some rumours about Android 4.1 jelly bean running the show. Acer Iconia A110 packs a 1.2 GHz Nvidia Tegra 3 quad core processor and a 1 GB RAM. Its main rival is the Google’s own tablet Nexus 7. Unlike Nexus 7 this tablet provides a micro SD slot and HDMI out. So this could be a serious competitor to the Nexus 7 and Amazon’s Kindle Fire. The launch of this tablet is expected to be in October this year.

SPECIFICATIONS:
*  Android 4.0 icecream sandwich (rumour says jelly bean)
*  1.2 GHz Nvidia Tegra 3 quad core processor
*  1 GB RAM
*  7” display
*  1024 x 600 screen resolution
*  Memory: internal 8 GB and expandable upto 32 GB
*  Camera: 2 MP front and no rear camera
*  3420 mAh battery
*  Sensors: Accelerometer, Gyroscope, Compass
*  Wi-Fi, USB 2.0, micro USB, Bluetooth 3.0, micro HDMI, GPS

       At this time more details are not available. But surely this will be a great competitor in the 7” market. Most of the customers who were disappointed with the absence of expansion slot and HDMI out in Nexus 7 will be happy to see this new tablet. But screen resolution and ppi are lesser than Nexus 7 and sometimes battery life also will be a problem. But enough with the assumptions, let’s see more about this tablet when it actually arrives in the market. We will be back with the detailed review soon…  

                                                                                                                                                                                                   
                                          

ASUS N56VM LAPTOP - $1610 (Rs.90,000)

Asus N56VM Laptop.
[Image Source : www.asus.com]

       The Asus N56VM is powered by Intel's Core i7 Ivy Bridge processor. The 2.7 kg multimedia laptop has a 15.6 inch full HD LED-backlight display. The SonicMaster technology,co-developed with Bang & Olufsen ICEpower gives a good audio experience. Video Magic technology is used to enhance the visual experience. The design of NV56VM is appreciable. The gadget has won the Reddot 2012 Design Award for its zinc-alloy body. The laptop excels in both video and audio performance.

FEATURES & SPECIFICATIONS
*  3rd Gen Intel's Core i7 3610QM (Ivy Bridge) processor clocked at 2.3 GHz
*  SATA 750 GB HDD
*  Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
*  Blue Ray 4X Combo Drive
*  8GB DDR3 1600MHz SDRAM
*  2GB DDR3 video memory
*  NVIDIA GeForce GT 630M GPU
*  15.6" full-HD 1080P LED-backlit display
*  Weight : 2.7 kg (with 6-cell battery)
*  Dimensions : 38.0 x 25.5 x 2.73 (WxDxH)
*  Interface : Microphone jack,Headphone jack,VGA port/Mini,4xUSB 3.0 ports,RJ45 LAN Jack,HDMI,SPIDIF speaker out.

       The laptop is very reliable and has a good multimedia experience.The NVIDIA GeForce GT 630M graphics processing unit is very dedicated when it comes to smooth visuals. The wide-view panels provide good image quality and viewing angle upto 150ﾟ. Asus Super Hybrid Engine II provides a two-second instant resume.The high-end laptop is priced at Rs 90,000.

SONY XPERIA ION - $666 (Rs.36000)

SONY XPERIA ION
[Image Source: www.sonymobile.com]

       At last Sony unveiled its new Xperia phone to compete with the rulers of today’s market HTC One X and Samsung Galaxy S3.But isn’t it too late? Both One X and S3 have proved that they are the best ones out there and Sony’s answer to them is the Xperia ion which runs on outdated android gingerbread version and having Snapdragon S3 dual core processor. Android lovers will not appreciate this and launching a dual core phone rather than a quad core phone does not seem good. But its processor is clocked at 1.5 GHz and has a 1 GB RAM. Xperia ion has no resemblance to its brothers Xperia P and U. The notification light bar in the base is missing in ion which is a shame. It has a display of 4.55” and has 4 capacitive buttons in the base. To protect the phone from scratches it has a metal coating which does a pretty good job. 1280 x 720 HD display is quite good and provides a decent visibility in sunlight. In the back there is a 12 MP camera with LED flash and 1.3 MP front camera is also present.

SPECIFICATIONS:
*  Android 2.3.7 gingerbread
*  1.5 GHz Snapdragon S3 dual core processor
*  1 GB RAM
*  4.55” display
*  1280 x 720 screen resolution
*  Memory: Internal 16 GB and can be expandable upto 32 GB
*  Camera: 12 MP rear with LED flash and 1.3 MP front
*  1900 mAh battery
*  Wi-Fi, USB 2.0, micro USB, NFC, Bluetooth, GPS

       Sony Xperia Ion comes with PlayStation certification. It has a good build quality and premium looks but does not fit very well in our hand. It is heavier than its rivals weighing 139 grams. The pictures taken with its camera are quite good but not as good as One X’s camera. Ion also boasts of HD video recording but it does not come upto the expectation. There are also performance hiccups when opening some apps which is a shame to such a high end phone. With its 1900 mAh battery you can easily get through a day.

       Android 4.1 jellybean is on its way and yet Sony launched ion with outdated gingerbread and outdated processor. Android ics updates will be available soon but will any users be interested in this when compared to One X and Galaxy S3? They are surely one big leap ahead of this phone. And if you are going for very stylish look and good camera then you can consider Lumia 900. But if you are an android addict then it is not such a good idea to buy Xperia ion.