Category: Android

Categories
Android Mobile

Fix for SIM 2 not working issue with LeEco Le 2 Phone

LeEco Le 2 superphone has created a lot of interest among smartphone users because of the affordable price with impeccable specs. Being a gadget freak myself, I was able to get hold of the Le 2 phone on the first ever flash sales on 28th June 2016. I received my phone on 1st July via Flipkart and ever since I opened the phone I am in love with it. This is a real beauty and certainly will give orgasms to many gadget lovers. The beauty of this phone is certainly negated by the pathetic LeEco support team. They have the lame support I have ever seen from a tech/product company. Anyway this post is not about ranting about my bitter experience with their support team but about the fix for the issue “SIM 2 stop functioning after the latest EUI 5.8.015s OTA update for Le 2“.

IMG_20160706_144530

The story So far

LeEco started the OTA update from 4th July for Le 2 phones. The update changes the EUi version to 5.8.015s from the existing 5.6 version. This new update brings lot of new features to the phone like VoLTE, App Lock via finger print, Phone Manager, Data Usage checker and removed 2 beautiful features Voice command for camera and Call recording feature. As soon as I got the notification about the OTA update, I was happy to try out as I badly wanted the full VoLTE support like ability to make video call over VoLTE via JIO4G sim. So I started downloading the OTA update of around 430 MB. The update went smoothly and phone rebooted. That’s when my problem started. After the OTA update I noticed that the SIM2 slot in my phone was greyed out and it was not detecting my BSNL SIM. I thought it was a network issue so tried the following:

  • Rebooted the phone (Did not fix)
  • Put the phone into and out of aeroplane mode (Did not fix)
  • Swapped the BSNL SIM with Airtel and Vodafone (Did not fix)
  • Swapped the SIM with my JIO 4G sim which was on slot 1 and got tower on BSNL which was now on slot 2 and JIO 4G loose tower. (Did not fix)
  • Tried searching network manually and it said error in searching (Did not fix)
  • Tried a factory restore (Did not fix)

At this time I was so mad that I was literally cursing LeEco. I called up their Tech Support via the toll free number 180030101838 (Toll free/Available 24/7). The guy named Shivam took my call and talked nicely using a scripted verse. He was unaware of this issue when half of the users were crying about it in their support forum. He assured me a call back in 24-48 hours and told issue will be fixed (So scripted). I asked for a service ticket number and he told they don’t have such a ticket number (Seems like they do not use a CRM). Asked to transfer the call to his Supervisor (somebody by the name Rishab/Roshan) and he told he cant transfer the call. This shows how lame their support is. (Oops I am still cribbing about it).

I thought buying the phone was a mistake, but I loved the phone. So at this point it seems if we want to use this phone we are on our own and it is of no use to expect support from LeEco. I even contacted Flipkart and initiated a refund request which they happily agreed. But as I mentioned earlier, I loved this phone and I was trying various methods to fix the issue as I was sure the SIM2 not working was not a hardware fault but has caused by the Update. So I did try fixing it myself and finally now I am able to use both the SIMs, yes you got it right I HAVE BEEN ABLE TO FIX THE SIM 2 NOT WORKING ISSUE with the Le 2.

What I Did to fix the issue:

The OTA update released by LeEco had bugs as if they were in a hurry to push out to users to create more user interest to buy Le 2 phone. So I thought of downloading the whole massive 1.7GB of offline update.

I downloaded the whole EUI 5.8.01s update and installed it via Updater app. Once my system got updated and phone rebooted wow both SIMs were working fine.

If you do not know how to do manual offline update, you can read further. But if you are aware of the manual update just do it and enjoy your Le 2 super phone.

Steps for manual offline update:

  1. Download the complete package from official LeEco repository by clicking the below link

EUI 5.8.01s file for Le 2

  1. Connect your Le 2 phone to PC using the supplied cable.
  2. In Le 2 phone connect it as MTP and it will be shown as Le X526 in your PC Explore. Click on that and it will show you the storage drive.
  3. Copy the downloaded file from your PC to the root folder of the storage drive.
  4. Rename the just copied file to update.zip.
  5. Open the System Update app in your phone.
  6. At the top right, click on the 3 vertical dots and select Local Update.

It will now automatically detect the update file on the storage and start the update process. Just relax and let the system do it’s task automatically. Once the system reboots after applying update you will get both the SIM slots working.

Please let us know if this worked for you. If you want more tutorials on Le 2, please write in comment.

Categories
Android Mobile Reviews

Jio Play Android App: First Impression

This is the second in the series of post related to Jio Apps. The first one covered about Jio Mags app, which is an Android App for reading magazines on the go.

Jio Play is the app offering from Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited for watching Live TV. With high speed Internet offering via 4G, watching TV on the Go is a breeze. And to complement the high speed Internet service Jio has launched many entertainment app to take advantage of 4G network. Recent entry of Netflix in India has intensified the competition of streaming service. But if we talk about competition, Jio Play remains at the top in terms of content and quality. So lets have a look at what is in store for us.

Download and Installation

Jio Play is not yet launched for Public (available as limited beta via Play Store) so can not be directly downloaded via Play store. However you can install it by getting the .apk file from someone else and installation will continue without any hassle. Like all other Jio Apps, Jio Play needs a Jio ID and password to be usable.

Channel List

Jio Play has the highest number of channel availability. Currently there are 301 channel available in Jio Play and Hotstar too is available inside Jio Play. Out of the 301 channels , 27 are HD channels but only 24 HD channels as mentioned below are operational in Jio Play.

 

jio-play-channels

Quality and User Experience

Jio Play is having a very clean and intuitive user Interface and offers a very immersive TV watching experience. During our usage most of the time the default video quality appeared in HD and channels played without any lag. But if the bandwidth availability is low the player automatically switch the video quality to offer a non stop viewing experience. The sound quality is also quite good.

The most beneficial aspect of Jio Play is you can use it to stream the Live TV to your capable HD TV set and watch all your favorite channels on the TV. (For this to work you need to have wireless display capability on your phone and Wi-fi on the TV. )

Another nice feature of Jio Play is Catch Up TV function. So if you have missed your favorite TV program from yesterday or from last week, you can watch those by dragging the slider to that particular date and time. And yes, you can even pause the Live TV if you have an important call to attend or finish your cooking in the evening.

Jio Play Screens

As of now with trial offers, all the Jio apps subscription are free and in future we expect either a very economical tariff plan or free offer with certain recharge plans for Jio Play. So this will be the best choice to watch TV on the go while using your mobile to stream live TV on your TV when you are at home. With as much as 25 HD TV channels in the offering it is quite good option to have a HD TV viewing experience.

Jio Play offers a blissful TV viewing experience and you can watch your favorite program at your own comfort and schedule.

Categories
Android

Jio Mags Android app: The first impression

Reliance Jio is all set to launch 4G Services across India. As Internet speed over 4G network is high, it will facilitate entertainment on the go. To complement their 4G services they are also going to launch many apps to let the users glue to the device. As the 4G service is already launched for the employees and Channel Partners and I am being a Channel Partner of Reliance Jio, I got access to many Apps like Jio Mags, which are still not released to mainstream users (though many apps are already in stable build). Following are the list of Android apps by reliance Jio which I have been using and I will cover each app in a separate post.

Note: As Jio Chat and Jo Money are launched I am not going to cover those.

  1. Jio Mags (App for reading magazine on the go)
  2. Jio Play (App for watching TV on the go)
  3. Jio Beats (App for streaming music on the go)
  4. Jio On-Demand (App for watching on demand content)
  5. Jio ExpressNews (News reading app)
  6. My Jio (One stop app for managing your Jio services, recharge and bill pay)

So here we go with our first look of Jio Mags Android app.

Download & Installation:

Jio Mags like all other Android Apps from Reliance Jio is not available to download directly from Play store. As the availability is limited to Employees and Channel partners, one need to be signed up as a beta tester to get hold of the download via Play Store. For this a Jio ID is required.

All the Jio apps are login protected, so if you get hold of the apk and can install the apps, as of now you might not be able to use it unless you get a Jio ID.

After the Jio Mags app is installed via playstore and opened, you will see the login screen where it will ask for Jio ID and Password. There is an option to Signup as a new user, which takes to Employee portal and ask for RIL domain ID. The main thing to notice is that, without a JIO ID, you will not be able to use the service.

Jio Mags screens

Jio Mags has virtually all the Indian magazines and many international magazines available in digital format. You can view and search the magazines based on category and language. You can even set language preference to show only those language magazines which you understand.

You can even select magazines to put into favorites. You can download any magazines to the device and can access that offline. All the downloaded magazines can be accessed from My library section. In order to read full magazines, you need to have an active subscription to Jio Mags, without which you can only see the preview.

As of now I am totally glued to Jio Mags and it is proving a real money saver for me as I read lots of magazines. One thing I noticed that with a bigger screen like 5.5 inches the Jio Mags will have a better experience as compared to my 4.8 inch screen. As I need to do a little zoom which brings scrolling.

Overall Jio Mags is a nice app and it is almost bug free and ready for public launch.

Categories
Android Mobile

Hands on review and Unboxing of Micromax Canvas 2

Android has paved the way for many companies to jump into the mobile and tablet manufacturing business. Among them few have carved a niche for themselves like Micromax. Recently Micromax has come up with many attractive phones and tablets.  But with introduction of Canvas series of phablet (Essentially Canvas can be termed as a combination of Phone and Tablet) it has ascended greater heights. Micromax Canvas 2 A110 also known as the Superfone is the cheapest Phablet currently available in the market with an impressive specs. I bought it couple of days ago and here is my hands on review of the same.

Unboxing

The Canvas 2 A110 package is very small and one will not believe that such a big phone is resting inside it. So it rightly said that “every beautiful gifts come in smaller packages”. As soon as you open the cover you will find the beautiful monster laying flat on it. You pull it out and hold it on your hand and you will have that macho feeling. The package also contains data cable cum power cord, power plug, the battery, 3.5mm earphone and instruction booklets. Here is the unboxing video:

Build and Design

When I saw A110 , just one word came out-wow!!. Initial look of the device is very impressive. It looks identical to Samsung Galaxy S III and size is almost the same as of Note II. The device is available in two colors, white and black. The build is much nicer and also heavier than the other micromax devices. The device features a 5 inch capacitive touch screen which gives a resolution of 480 x 854 pixels. The screen guard that came on the device was of very inferior quality and came out once I put the phone in picket and took it out. I had to change it the next morning with a new screen guard. There are three touch sensitive hardware keys at the bottom of the screen and used for Option, Home & Back. on the right hand side power and lock button is present, the left hand side has the volume keys, the top side contains one microUSB port and 3.5 mm audio jack. On the back side a 8 MP camera, a dual LED flash and on the front side 0.3 MP front camera is placed . The rear of the Micromax Canvas 2 has a textured finish giving it a very good grip. Though the rear panel is plastic it has a premium feel.

Rating: 4.0/5

Multimedia

Multimedia features are not upto the mark. Because of the bigger screen size watching video in this device is a bliss but if you are looking for super sharp pictures you will be little disappointed. The built-in video player does not support all the formats, so you must download MX player to enjoy all video formats. FM radio is another facility which stands as an alternate style of multimedia. Sound has to be little good but nice. If you want a better multimedia experience, just replace the earphone that came bundled with it with a better one. However if you like reading novels and reports on your smartphone, you will in ,love with this device. As reading on this device is very smooth because of the large screen size and does not generate any stress even after reading continiously for 30-40 minutes.

Rating: 3.5/5

Camera

This comes with a 8MP primary camera with dual flash light. But low-light or night photography is a disappointment. The low light photos are of lower quality as compared to that on a 5MP camera with only single flash light. But outdoor photography is just superb. This also has a 0.3 MP front facing camera primarily used for video calling. Video Recording quality of the primary camera is also not upto the mark. Overall the camera is a little disappointment. Look at the bottom of the post for few shots taken at different lighting condition.

Rating: 3.0/5

Battery 

I loved the battery supplied with Micromax Canvas 2 A110. It has a lithiumm ion battery of 2000 mAh that provides longer uptime for the device. I  noticed that with maximum brightness of the screen, the battery was draining pretty fast. So if you reduce gthe brightness to atleast 50%, you can get a good battery life.

Rating: 4.0/5

Hardware and OS

Canvas 2 is powered by a 1GHz dual core processor and running on Ice Cream Sandwich 4.04. It is having 2 SIM slots which is an advantage, as there are only a few smartphone with dual SIM capability. It comes with 2GB ROM and 2GB built-in storage which is expandable upto 32GB via microSD. Micromax could have done a better justice to this device by putting 1GB RAM instead of  512MB. That would have found lot more takers for the phone. However the 512MB RAM seems to be quite good while operating this device and there is no lag in game play or while using lot of applications. While checking the available RAM I saw a very peculiar thing. In Google Nexus S with same 512MB RAM I got different result, the screen shot from both are attached. It clearly indicates that the available RAM to OS in Micromax Canvas 2 is more as compared to Nexus S.

Rating: 4.5/5

Connectivity

Micromax Canvas 2 A110 Superfone offers loads of data connectivity features including the bluetooth 3.0 facility that ensures that the user can transfer and receive data from other device. The USB 2.0 port helps the user to connect the device with their computers or laptops and charge the device through it or even exchange data with it via USB cable. GPS is working fast , where you can create Wi-Fi network by the device.

Rating: 4/5

Applications

Micromax Canvas 2 A110 Superfone comes with many preloaded apps like the Facebook and Twitter applications along with HookUp, M! Zone, M! Store & M! Buddy. M! Store is a content delivery platform like Google Play store. So apart from Play store you have another options to download apps. The user can also download more games and apps from the play store.

Specification of Canvas 2

Canvas 2 as described above comes with an impressive specification.

OS: Android ICS 4.04
Chipset: MediaTek MT6577
CPU: Dual-core 1 GHz
GPU: PowerVR SGX531
Sensors: Accelerometer, proximity
SIM slot: Dual SIM slot
Camera: 8 MP Primary, 3264 x 2448 pixels, autofocus, dual-LED flash
:0.3 MP secondary
Battery: Li-ion 2000mAh
Memory: 512MB RAM
2GB ROM
2GB built-in storage, exapndable upto 32GB
Display: IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
Resolution: 480 x 854 pixels

Final Verdict

Overall Rating: 4/5

This phone is available in India at an MRP of INR 10,299 (You might get better deal in some online stores too). So at the 10K range this phone is a real value for money. But if you will try to compare it with Galaxy SIII or Note II, yu will be disappointed.  In-fact both caters to the different segment of buyer and should not be compared. However if it is compared to any other smart phone at this price range, it will surely be a winner. Micromax A110 is fail to gain extra points. It has has a smaller screen with the latter featuring a 5.5 inch screen as compared to the former’s 5 inch. If you want a bigger screen phone or a phablet and you are on a tight budget just go for it and you will love every penny spent.

Gallery


Categories
Android Mobile

Review of Huawei Honor 2

In this never ending Smartphone market, Chinese phone maker Huawei has unveiled its high end Android handset, “Huawei Honor 2”. This smartphone is going to hit the retail stores pretty soon. Here, we will give you a brief-up of the features of this Chinese gizmo which is a low cost alternative to other expensive android phones. Pre-orders for this phone started off in China. Mobile Phone Prices vary usually from city to city within the country and this smart phone is available in all the metros across India.

Huawei Honor 2 Salient Features

> Huawei Honor 2 is a 4.5 inches phone with IPS-LCD capacitive multi-touch screen, with Touch-sensitive controls, along with the resolution of 720 x 1280 pixels (16M colours & pixel density of 326 ppi ).
> While talking about physical dimensions, this phone has 134mm of height with 67.5mm of width and barely 10.5 mm thick.
> Honor 2 weighs barely 145 gms, making it one of the lightest phone hybrids in the Android market.
> This smartphone is powered by company’s in-house K3V2 – 1.4 GHz quad-core processor along with 2GB of RAM.
> Honor 2 boasts off 8 megapixel touch to focus (autofocus) rear side camera (with the resolution of 3264×2448 pixels), complemented by other features such as HD Video recording, audio/video playback, Geo-tagging and face detection.
> Those who are expecting, this smartphone to be installment with Android till date, Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean OS), will be little
disappointed, as this device feature only the Android 4.0 i.e. Ice Cream Sandwich Operating System.

Huawei Honor 2 Technical Specifications

> Mobile Networks:2G and 3G
> Micro SIM Card: Yes
> Physical size details: 134mm(H) x 67.5mm(W) x 10.5mm(TH)
> Weight: 145 grams
> Screen: 4.5” IPS-LCD capacitive multi- touch screen, touch-sensitive controls
> Resolution: 720 x 1280 px (pixel density:326 ppi)
> Rear camera: 8 megapixels, touch-to-focus function (autofocus)
> Videography: HD video rec. with 1080p at 30 frames per second
> LED Flash, face detection. Also includes Geo-tagging and HDR.
> Front Camera: 1.3 megapixel
> Front Camera VideoGraphy: HD video rec. with 720p at 30 frames per second
> Processor: 1.4 GHz, (Quad-core)
> Chipset: Huawei K3V2
> RAM: 2GB
> Internal Memory: 8GB MicroSD Card (expandable upto 32 GB)
> Speed: 21 Mbps on HSDPA, 5.76 Mbps on HSUPA
> Wireless connectivity: Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, DLNA, Bluetooth v4.0 with A2DP
> Wi-Fi specific features: Wi-Fi hotspot
> Connectivity: MicroUSB v2.0, 3.5mm headphone jack
> Mobile OS: Android version 4.0 [Ice Cream Sandwich]
> Mobile Internet: HTML5 mobile browser
> Voice quality: Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic
> A/V: Supports all major audio/video formats
> Voice controls: Voice memo commands
> Battery: Li-Ion[2230 mAh], (Stand-by) Up to 541 hours, (Talk time) Up to 13 hours
> Radio/FM: Comes with stereo FM radio
> Navigation: GPS/A-GPS(supports GLONASS), Digital compass
> Sensors: Proximity, accelerometer, gyro sensors
> Colour option: Black, White
> Other features: Multi-touch input, SNS integration

Huawei Honor 2 Final Review

This smartphone has a sleek & smart design drenched in black color (also available in white). It has a rock-like screen bracketed in plastic made case. With its such extraordinary features at a low budget, it is a highly opinionated smartphone amongst the latest Android devices. General availability of Honor 2 is not yet announced, but China might start pre-order soon. The expected price is approximately 1888 Yuan or close to US$300. The expected price in India is approximately INR 17,000-20,000.

Categories
Android Gadgets Tablet PC

Unboxing and Review of BSNL T-Pad IS703C Tablet

It seems the Tablet market in India is growing pretty rapidly and this growth is being supplemented by introduction of low cost tablets with open Source Android as the platform of choice. HCL, Micromax and Pantel technologies are leading the bandwagon to release the quite affordable low cost tablets in India. Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has collaborated with Pantel technologies to release affordable tablet by the brand name T-Pad. Recently we got an opportunity to try our hands on BSNL T-Pad IS703C tablet and we got a mixed review of the tablet for our readers.

T-Pad IS703C was launched on 29-05-2012. With a price tag of INR 6999, we cannot say T-Pad IS703C as a low cost tablet when there are tablets available for INR 3000. But it will come in the mid or lower midrange tablet category. To offer users a low cost gadgets, company has definitely compromised in few features such as display, battery life, camera, body etc.

Body

At the very first look, it grabs an ascent look but when we look at the rear the blacky shiny plastic body may disappoint few users as the material used for the body is below standard. The form factor is also not quite impressive as compared to other high end tablets like Galaxy Tab or iPad. When I hold the T-Pad for 15-20 minutes, I started feeling pain in my hand. So this might play hindrance to be used for a longer period.

Buttons and Ports

The T-Pad IS703C does not have a physical button on the body, so everything needs to be controlled by touchscreen. As I have been a long time Google Nexus owner, I am pretty used to the physical button, so I found it little awkward at the beginning to work with this tablet.

This has got a lot of physical ports like card reader, HDMI for high definition video output, 3.5mm audio jack, DC adaptor port, USB port to connect a 3G USB dongle or a USB storage device. These ports ar all placed comfortable on one side of the tablet.

It has great support for USB thumb drives and it detected our 4GB Transcend pen drive in no time. We could read and write data to our pen drive without any issue.

Touch Screen/Camera/Speaker/Display

T-Pad IS703C comes with 2 point capacitive multitouch. The sensitivity of the touch screen is not so good when we look at the response time. There seems to be little lag when you touch and when the device senses it and specific command is performed. This might be issue with touch screen or may be due to processing.

It has got only a 0.3 Mega Pixel front facing camera to facilitate video chat.

The built-in speaker provides quite loud sound but the sound quality is not clear when it is output through the speaker. Where in the sound is quite good when heard through a good ear/head phone. We listened the same MP3 song through built-in speaker and ear phone and the difference was clearly noticeable.

Internet Connectivity

This tablet offers Internet connectivity through wi-fi and 3G. But as it does not have a SIM card slot, only 3G USB dongles can be used for 3G Internet access. But wait..it supports only a few 3G dongles. So if you are thinking that you can use any 3G USB dongles then you may be disappointed as we did when we tried to use our Micromax MMX352G. So Micromax 3G dongles are not supported. Below are a list of supported 3G dongles for T-Pad:

Huawei E171

Huawei E173

Huawei E169G

Idea GSM HUAWEI E1732

AIRTEL HUAWEI E1731 (E173Bu-1)

Reliance GSM ZTE MF190

TATA Photon+ EC156

Connectivity through Wi-Fi is pretty good and we could watch youtube videos without buffering at a very nominal Internet speed via wi-fi.

Accessories

T-pad IS703C comes with a wall charger, an earphone and a data cable with micro USB at one end and normal USB at the other end.

Specification of T-Pad IS703C

Processor: Cortex A8 1 GHz

Memory(RAM): 1GB DDR3

Internal Storage: 8GB

External Storage(Memory Card): T-Flash upto 32 GB

Camera: 0.3 Mega Pixel VGA

Operating System:  Android 4.03 ICS

Display: 7” Capacitive Multi touch with 800X480 pixel

HDMI: Supported with video output upto 1080P

G-sensor: G-sensor 3 planes

Conclusion

Some good things about T-Pad 703C are, it supports flash. Internet surfing is a good experience in this device and the speed is quite impressive. It has a good battery backup but takes a little time to charge fully (approx  4hrs). Let us tell about few negative things about this device, first of all absense of sim slot is a disadvantage as user will need to buy a supported dongle.It lacks presence of. It does not support have a GPS or AGPS chip so location will be a spoiler.

Though T-Pad 703C has got some impressive specifications like a 1GHz processor and 1GB RAM, it does not seem to work so fast. This can be a good buy for entry level users and students but for veterans this will be a disappointment. This being a BSNL co-branded tablet should come with some free goodies from BSNL like a supported 3G dongle. As Micromax dongles are advertised as BSNL device and that dongle not being supported in T-Pad will make people confused and disappoint. This device can be a good competitor to Akash as well as Micromax Fun book.

Categories
Android Mobile

Hands on review of Google Nexus S

Whole of last week I was in a dilemma to choose the best Android phone for me. I zeroed in on HTC Desire S, Samsung Galaxy S and Google (Samsung) Nexus S. These 3 phones were short-listed as they were perfectly fitting in my budget and had all the features I wanted. So the final visit to my regular shop in MG Road, Bangalore let me go for Google Nexus S. And today I am quite happy about making the best choice to own the Nexus S phone. When I paid the money (that’s when I actually owned the phone 🙂 ) and got my hands first time on Google Nexus S, the experience was amazing. I am constantly glued to it after that and have examined it quite closely. I came across very good results offered by Nexus S. Here are some of the features of this incredible Smartphone.

Google Nexus S

Design

When I first unpacked Nexus S, first I noted its similitude with that of Galaxy S. However, little detailed look introduced me with the slightest curve that Smartphone features, which is believed to be optimized for better grip. Though device is as light as 4.5 ounce, I felt it solid and comfortable to handle but my fingers left their marks on back.

Google-Nexus-S-Side-View

Scrutinizing it introduced me with power button on right side and volume controller on left side. It doesn’t feature camera launch key. Headphone jack and microUSB are present at the bottom, which I believe is a work of design creativity.

Google-Nexus-S-Display

4” Super AMOLED display has 4 touch buttons located at the bottom viz back, menu, search and home when looked from left to right. Display offers quite brilliant experience that hardly let users go for those keys and same happened with me! Device is loaded with two cameras- 5 megapixels with LED flash located at the back and VGA camera right beside ear piece for video calling.

Features Offered by Android 2.3 Gingerbread

Being a pure Google phone, Nexus S is the first device to introduce Android 2.3 Gingerbread. And it has the purest form of Gingerbread if you ever wish to experience it.  Others like HTC and Samsung use modified ROMs with their own interface. I was totally excited to check out features offered by this new OS and believe me; it was not at all disappointing. Gingerbread has some tiny features that are quite interesting. For example, it suggests end of list in particular menu by glowing orange colored bar. Also, connectivity indicator turned green only when I synchronized my Google Account with it.

I don’t have enough words to describe incredible interface of Android 2.3. Black notification bars consume less power and also provide regal look to gadget. I just had to keep menu key pressed to check out which applications were still running and eating valuable battery life. For sake of some detailed knowledge, I used battery tool to find out which apps are eating up more energy and turned them off!

Android_2.3

Customizable home screens, and that too 5 of them, is what fascinated me most. All 5 home screens can be familiarized with numerous widgets as per your taste. One of them on mine features many exciting games from Android Market.

Most attractive update of Android Gingerbread is sophisticated keyboard. Wider space and multi touch approach helped me type faster than that of other high-end Smartphones in market. I hardly turned device in landscape mode; so you can understand how spacious it was! Typing special characters and numbers is not at all cumbersome as tasks can be easily done by pressing respective key a little longer.

gingerbread-keyboard

Web Browsing, Hot Spot and Apps

Being fond of sports, first I opened ESPN official website to check out updates and it took around 9 seconds for site to load fully, which is same as that of many Android devices in market. Though device can be used as Wi-Fi hot spot, I didn’t find any dedicated app for it. Sadly, I had to go into wireless settings each time I tried to use it Wi-Fi hot spot.

When it comes to apps, device is undoubtedly the king. I was delighted to see Google Apps, which includes Maps, Google Earth and much more, were preloaded in the gadget. Nexus S also automatically install apps that you download.

Camera and Multimedia

What made me feel depressing is that 5 megapixels camera of Nexus S couldn’t record 720p videos. It can be considered as severe drawback of the device. While taking still pictures, camera worked really well both outdoor and indoor but when I used flash, it took considerable time to process image and save it on memory. Front facing VGA camera is meant for services like Skype or Google Talk but it lacks clarity.

samsung-nexus-s-camera

Music experience offered by Nexus S was quite brilliant. Though there is no software like iTunes in case of Android, listening to the songs from Amazon or Pandora was quite delighting experience. Super AMOLED display did its task while playing videos where colors looked more vivid.

Technical Specifications of Google Nexus S

  • Processor: 1 GHz Cortex A8 Hummingbird Processor
  • Operating System: Android 2.3 Gingerbread
  • Internal Memory: 16 GB
  • Camera: Primary 5 megapixels with LED flash, secondary VGA front facing camera
  • Display: 4” Super AMOLED display (480 x 800)
  • Connectivity: 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1 EDR
  • Ports: 3.5 mm Audio jack and microUSB
  • Dimensions: 2.4 x 4.8 x 0.4 inches
  • Weight: 4.5 Ounce

Google-Nexus-S_final

Verdict

If you are going to buy gadget that looks trendy, user friendly interface, long battery life and experience the power of Android Gingerbread in it’s truest form, go for Google Nexus S. You will always praise yourself for making a wise decision.

Categories
Android Mobile

Top 10 most popular and useful Android Applications

Today Android is one of the most popular mobile operating systems in market. According to the survey, over 50% Smartphones in market feature Android as their operating system. Thousands of developers across the globe have been fascinated by this Linux Kernel-based mobile OS, which has ultimately resulted into richness of Android Application Market. Let us take a look at 10 of the most popular and useful Android applications.

1.  Layar

Imagine a situation where you are roaming in completely unknown city but curious to know about inch about the city. Layar is best application for you in such conditions. This application provides 3D view of the surrounding through your phone while providing vital information like Wikipedia information or tweets related certain things and much more. With increasing power of processors and camera, the application is set to hit the summit of popularity in near future.

layar for android

2. Google Maps

Human beings love to travel and Google has decided to help you in situations where you crave for tourist guides. With android version of Google Maps installed one can easily track down route to destination. This app supports voice recognition GPS that makes things even easier. It also tells latitudes and locations of your friends eliminating fear of losing them while exploring dense forests.

Google Maps

3. SwiftKey

Everyone is not comfortable with typing on touchscreen Smartphones. But no more, thanks to SwiftKey. A revolutionary version of Android on-screen keyboard; SwiftKey adds smartness to your device. This app is loaded with loads of features that also include text prediction facility. It not only predicts current word one is typing but also guesses next one. Scrutinizing your writing style, app predicts words more accurately as time passes.

Swiftkey

4. Smart Battery Monitor

Though Android comes with in-built battery indicator, the facility fails to show in-detail report of battery life. Smart Battery Monitor is very important application for such scenario. The app shows details like Battery level, its status, battery type and technology and most importantly battery temperature. All the data is represented in percentage format.

Smart Battery Monitor

5.     K-9 Mail

If you find Android Email client boring, as most of do, you might want to check out this fully customizable app; k-9 mail. This app provides you all the functionality as that is provided by Android email client. In addition, it allows full customization including changes in appearance of the browser. One can also change gesture and view options as per own taste.

K9-mail

6. SlideScreen

One uses Smartphone more for checking out emails, status updates, tweets and likes rather than editing files. SlideScreen is an application that creates several rows on your home screen, which provide you with recent updates on the websites you choose. Scrolling up and down through stack of rows reveals more updates and sliding particular message row to right marks that update “as read” preventing it from appearing again on your screen.

SlideScreen

7. Yoo Ninja Plus

Yoo Ninja Plus is one of the best time-killers available in Android Market. You have to perform very simple task of taking player to the next level dodging darts and jumping over the holes.    This gravity based game comes with a story mode making things more interesting and fun!

Yoo Ninja Plus

8. Nimbuzz

This all-in-one chat client was expected to make to the list of top 10 android applications. Considered as only cross platform chat client loaded with enormous features is must have app for chat loving Android users. Nimbuzz supports services like GTalk, Facebook, Skype and much more.

nimbuzz

9. Evernote

Evernote application is useful for all the students using Android. This app works excellent as reminder tool allowing you to store images, recorded voices and notes. One can apply different sorting criteria like date to arrange notes accordingly. Sharing feature makes this application even more useful as one can share his/her important notes with fellow classmates. Users are provided with storage of 500 MB and that’s too ads free!

evernote

10. Hi-Q MP3 Recorder

Hi-Q MP3 Recorder has turned out to be very useful for teachers. It allows user to record audio for ten minutes. Quality of recorded version is much better than default recorder offered by Android. Gain settings allow user to change intensity of the sound while recording.

Hi-Q MP3 Recorder

It ends us with the list of Top 10 Android applications. Apart from these 10, there are many other applications in Android market that one can find useful and possessing similarity to his/her taste. So what is your list of Top 10?