Tuesday 4 December 2012

Apple iTunes store goes live in India

  
Just days after the rollout of the latest version of iTunes, the iTunes 11, Apple has made the iTunes store live in a few more countries, including India.
 
 
iTunes India store is now live with a full-fledged range of music and movies. This is a part of the global rollout, which will see localized versions of iTunes store go live in Russia, Ukraine, Turkey, and possibly even Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and United Arab Emirates.
 
The prices for the music on the India version of the iTunes store are mentioned in Rs, and not in US$. From what we can see, all the latest Bollywood soundtracks seem to be available, suggesting no major labels are missing. There are quite a few movies available to buy or rent.
 
The launch of the India chapter of iTunes means Apple is now ready to take the store globally. This is good for the consumers, who can now utilize the cloud service to get the music on all iOS devices. But the more important thing is that Apple now seems ready to take the piracy issue in most markets head on, considering that this is pretty much a global release.

 

Now gloves that work with touchscreen

  
The leather touchscreen gloves, by a Dutch firm Mujjo, can work with your smartphone. The Ethiopian lambskin gloves use nanotechnology integrated into the leather. This makes them compatible with a touchscreen. The gloves have also been treated for wind and water resistance
 
 
Mujjo, the firm behind the gloves said, "The nanotechnology functions independent from the human skin, this enables us to fully insulate the gloves with a layer of soft 100 per cent wool lining. The leather fully retains its characteristics, affording the wearer maximum comfort and dexterity just like any other glove."
The technology is pretty impressive and has become sort of a necessity. Most of the high-end smartphones today have complete and only touchscreen capability. Some countries are too cold and require people to wear gloves. It’s quite uncomfortable to remove your gloves to answer your phone or send a text. In such places, these gloves make sense. The gloves are priced at Rs. 1,774.
 
The product seems to be compatible with most touchscreen devices available in the market but it isn’t the only one implementing the technology. Recently, we have seen the Nokia show off its Lumia 920 flagship smartphone.
The touchscreen of the Lumia 920 has two different modes that are automatically switched between depending on what your figures are wearing. At the unveiling of the device, a demo was presented where the touchscreen of the phone was navigated with the person giving the demo wearing gloves. Its nice too see a smartphone manufacturer implement this technology straight out of the box so that the user doesn't need to purchase special gloves to use his smartphone in the winters.

Intel planning 10W processor IVB chips in 2013

  
Intel processors are known for their power efficiency. Its current most power efficient chip being used in Apple’s MacBook Air and a lot of Windows 8 based ultrabooks is rated at 17 Watts (also known as a Consumer Ultra Low Voltage (CULV) chip). But Intel plans to make even more power-efficient chips in 2013.
 
 
An industry source familiar with Intel’s plans told CNET () that the future version of Ivy Bridge (not Haswell), expected to come out in 2013 will be rated at 10 Watts, making it ideal to be used in tablets. In September this year, Anandtech had also reported on the limited availability of 10W Ivy Bridge processors in early 2013. Exact dates of this low-power Ivy Bridge chips’ debut are not known.
Lower wattage implies a longer battery life and a slimmer form factor for the product (as it requires lesser cooling solutions) - be it ultrabook or tablet. Intel has the Z-series of chips which are power efficient, but fail to provide the kind of performance numbers seen with an Ivy Bridge chip. Intel plans to change that for the better. An ARM based chip is rated under 5 Watts and can provide battery life for a day or so, which is not possible with mainstream x86 chips.
The alleged 10W Intel Ivy Bridge chips will definitely not offer the same kind of performance numbers as the 17W counterparts, but will surely be better than the Intel Atom or ARM based chips which are running some Windows 8 tablets.
Taking the recent example of the Surface tablet, there are two versions: the Surface RT which runs on ARM chips as it has a limited Windows 8 OS and the Surface Pro which runs on Ivy Bridge processors as it is expected to run the full Windows 8 Pro version.
Intel had already stated in its roadmap that its 4th generation of Core-i family of chips, codenamed Haswell, will be rated at 10 Watts which are expected to launch in the second quarter of 2013.

 

Sunday 2 December 2012

The Wii Mini is real, arrives December 7 (Updated)

  
Nintendo was set to release a brand new version of the Wii console called the Wii Mini. The new machine would be significantly smaller than the current Wii, is expected to ship with a Wii Remote Plus, Nunchuk, and Sensor Bar, and hopefully carries a much lower (sub-$100) price. I also said I’d like to see a game thrown in the pack, too.
 
Well, it looks as though this wasn’t just a rumor. Best Buy Canada has the image you see above visible on its homepage along with confirmation of the December 7 release date. Unfortunately, clicking on the image does not lead to a page full of details about the Wii Mini.
If the image is correct, though, then the Wii Mini is indeed a smaller unit. Just look at its proportions next to the Wii Remote Plus in the image. I’d guess the new machine measures just 157 x 170mm, with a depth probably similar to the existing Wii. That 157mm width would match the current console, with the space saving coming from the depth (currently 215mm).
If that’s final packaging, then it doesn’t look as though Nintendo has included a first-party game in the box, which is unfortunate. However, if the price is very low then retailers will surely offer discounted games with a Wii Mini purchase and still make it a tempting deal.
Would a cheap Wii Mini tempt you into a purchase? If so, how cheap would it need to be?
Best Buy Canada, via CVG

 

Apple starts selling unlocked iPhone 5 in the US

  
Apple has started selling the unlocked version of its iPhone 5 in the US starting at $649 (Rs. 35,400 approx.) for the 16GB version. That's a whopping Rs. 10,000 cheaper than the price of the 16GB iPhone 5 in India.
 
Apple’s website goes on to say, “The unlocked iPhone only works on supported GSM networks, such as AT&T in the U.S. When you travel internationally, you can also use a micro-SIM card for iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S or a nano-SIM card for iPhone 5 from a local GSM carrier. The unlocked iPhone will not work with CDMA carriers such as Verizon Wireless or Sprint. Limit two per customer.”
The three storage variants of the unlocked iPhone 5 are priced as follows
  • 16GB: $649 (Rs. 35,400 approx.)
  • 32GB: $749 (Rs. 40,900 approx.)
  • 64GB: $849 (Rs. 46,300 approx.)
The iPhone is available way cheaper in the US when compared to India. The India pricing of the smartphone unlocked is as follows.
  • 16GB: Rs. 45,000
  • 32GB: Rs. 52,500
  • 64GB: Rs. 59,500
Apple’s iPhone is a gorgeous device. It runs on the Apple A6 dual core 1.2GHz processor and has 1GB RAM. The display is 4-inchs with 1136 x 640 pixels. A PowerVR SGX543MP3 GPU powers it. The rear houses an 8MP iSight camera. Under the hood, it has a 1440mAh battery. If you are interested in picking up an iPhone 5 in India, you may want to check out our review here.
The iPhone 5 launched in September in the US and saw the light of day in India in November officially. When the smartphone was officially launched in India, it was sold out in less than 24 hours.

 

Microsoft Surface Pro comes with hefty price tag, 4 hour battery life

  
Microsoft has finally announced not just the pricing, but also the availability of the Surface Pro tablet. Pegged at $899 for the 64GB SSD version and $999 for the 128GB SSD version, the Surface PRO tablets will start shipping come January.
 
 
Packed with an Intel Core i5 (Ivy Bridge) chip with 4GB of complimentary RAM and a full HD (1920x1080) 10.6 inch display. There is also a fully functioning USB 3.0 port along with a microSDXC card slot to expand the storage capabilities of this swanky tablet from Microsoft. There’s also two 720p HDcams on the front and back along with a microphone and stereo speakers.
 
What’s new with the Surface Pro tablet in comparison to the Surface RT is that the Pro version will ship with a Surface Pen, but the Touch Cover and Type Cover will be optional accessories. However, we can’t imagine why one wouldn’t want to get the covers as well, since it’s very essential to have a keyboard to get the most out of the Surface. Not making them part of the standard package does leave us a little confused.
 
With all that hardware under the hood, comes a price. It is being reported in other news that the Surface Pro will have a battery life of 4 hours at most. This really isn’t very surprising, given the Intel based hardware.
Not to mention, the Surface Pro is configured more like an Ultrabook than a tablet, so the reduced battery life is again nothing out of the ordinary. Back in June when Microsoft announced the Surface tablets, they made it clear that the Surface Pro was being targeted at the Ultrabook segment rather than the tablet market, despite its form-factor resembling the RT tablet.
 
Microsoft’s announcement of the Surface Pro comes at a time when reports are claiming that the Surface RT has been slow to pick up sales number. Regardless, how well the Surface Pro does with respect to its younger sibling is something we’ll find out in January, along with whether the 4 hour battery life really is an issue or not.

 

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