Ex-Nokia employees unveil Jolla smartphone

London, Nov. 28 (kin): A team of former Nokia employees has finally unveiled the Jolla smartphone, pronounced Yol-la, with an operating system MeeGo, now renamed Sailfish that was abandoned by the Finnish mobile maker in 2011 in favour of Windows Phone.

Ex-Nokia employees unveil Jolla smartphone :

Ex-Nokia employees unveil Jolla smartphone :

Display: Ample 4.5" IPS qHD display, 5-point multi-touch with Gorilla 2™ Glass Camera: 8 megapixel AF camera with LED flash, 2 megapixel front-facing camera

Memory: 16GB storage, 1GB RAM, MicroSD slotTalk time & battery: 9 / 10 hours (GSM / 3G approx.)User-replaceable battery

Dimensions: Height: 131 mm Width: 68 mmThickness: 9.9 mm Weight: 141 gm

Connectivity: GSM/3G/4G LTE* (Works on 6 continents)

Jolla runs on Sailfish OS, but can also run most of the apps designed for Google's Android system.

According to the BBC, the company has paired with a major Finnish network, and hopes to set up a similar deal with a UK operator.

Only 450 Jolla phones were made available at launch on Wednesday evening, with the majority going to customers who have pre-ordered the device.

Antti Saarnio, chairman and co-founder of Jolla, said that called Sailfish OS had not been given enough chance to succeed.

Analysts predict that Sailfish is going to face a tough challenge in a market dominated by smartphones running Android software or Apple's iOS.

However, one analyst from CCS, Geoff Blaber has a different view, as he said that it might seem Jolla was taking on an impossibly large challenge by trying to muscle in, but its strategy could pay off as it offers interchangeable back panels that alter the phone's software

FEATURES  OF JOLLA SMART PHONE :

Top 5 cheapest Android smartphones

If you are tired of charging your phones many times a day, here are the phones for you. There are hundreds of Android smartphones, spread across broad price ranges. However few of them come with decent battery life. Here we have listed the top five Android smartphones that have highest claimed talktime.
To see a list of cheapest mobile handsets with good performance powered by 1 GB RAM

Karbonn S5 Titanium

Karbonn S5 Titanium Currently available for just around Rs 10,000, the Karbonn S5 Titanium comes armed with a 5 inch touchscreen and it too has qHD resolution. The handset has Android 4.1 Jelly Bean operating system, a 1.2 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon quad core processor, 4 GB ROM, 32 GB expandable memory, 1 GB RAM, 8 megapixel rear camera, and 2 megapixel front camera.Karbonn S5 Titanium has a 2000 mAh battery that is said to provide 13 hours of talktime on 2G and 11 hours of talktime on 3G network.

     Lenovo Ideaphone A706

It too is available for around Rs 10,000. Lenovo Ideaphone A706 has a 4.5 inch display with only 480 x 854 pixel resolution. The handset has Android 4.1 Jelly Bean operating system, 4 GB ROM, 1 GB RAM, 1.2 GHz Qualcomm quad core processor, 5 megapixel rear camera, and a 0.3 megapixel front camera.

2     It has a 2000 mAh battery that it claims provides 14 hours of 3G and 16 hours of 2G talktime. Besides, it has a dual SIM slot, WiFi and Bluetooth.

    Micromax Canvas 2 Plus A110Q

This is the second costliest phone in this list and comes for around Rs 10,500.
The Micromax Canvas 2 Plus has a 5 inch IPS touchscreen but with very poor 480 x 854 pixel resolution. It has a 2000 mAh battery that promises only 6 hours of talktime.

2.        The best part is that the Canvas 2 Plus has Android 4.2 Jelly Bean operating system, a 1.2 GHz quad core processor, and 1 GB RAM. Like Xolo Q800, it has an 8 megapixel rear camera, but in the front the Canvas 2 Plus has a 2 megapixel unit. We do not swear by these snappers.
Besides, the Micromax Canvas 2 Plus has 4 GB ROM, 32 GB expandable storage slot, WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth, and a dual SIM slot.

   Spice Coolpad 2

This is the cheapest handset in the list, which means it is the cheapest Android smartphone with 1 GB RAM. Though most online retailers are selling it for above Rs 7,000, Saholic is currently selling it for Rs 5,999.

2     it has a 4.5 inch LCD touch screen with hdqrs resolution. Besides, it has a 1.2 GHz quad core processor, 4 GB internal memory, 32 GB expandable storage slot, a 5 megapixel rear camera, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean operating system, and a 1700 mAh battery.Coolpad 2 also has WiFi, Bluetooth, dual SIM, and GPS functionality as well.

   Coolpad 2 also has WiFi, Bluetooth, dual SIM, and GPS functionality as well. it has 4 GB ROM, 32 GB expandable storage slot, WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth, and a dual SIM slot.

    Xolo Q800

       Though we have not reviewed this smartphone yet, its price and 1 GB RAM automatically placed it in our this top 5 list. Besides RAM, Xolo Q800 also has an impressive specification sheet that includes a 4.5 inch touchscreen. But this IPS display has only qHD (540 x 960 pixel) resolution. The display though is said to have 5 finger touch response capability.

2      Xolo Q800 is 9.6 mm thick and has a 1.2 GHz quad core processor, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean operating system, 4 GB internal storage, 32 GB expandable storage slot, 8 megapixel rear camera, and a 1 megapixel front camera. This dual SIM, 3G smartphone also has WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, and a micro USB port. A crucial aspect of Xolo Q800 is its battery - it has a 2100 mAh battery that is said to provide 16 hours of 2G and 10 hours of 3G talktime. Currently, Xolo Q800 is available online for over Rs 10,500.

1.     Phones with best battery life
We earlier compiled a set of handsets, which are available for less than Rs 20,000, with the best battery life. Are you bothered about battery life of the smartphone more than anything else? If quick draining battery is what troubles you, here see top 5 mobiles with long battery life. 

Google announces Android Kitkat, `Nexus 5'

The next update to Android OS will be Android Kitkat (Android 4.4). After the launch of Android 4.3, it was said that Android 5.0Key Lime Pie would follow. However, the latest announcement says that Google entered into a deal with Nestlé, the makers of Kitkat, and is coming out with the Android Kitkat. 

Earlier Android versions were named after desserts such as Cupcake, Donut, Eclair, Froyo,Gingerbread, Honeycomb, Ice Cream Sandwich, and Jelly Bean. "As everybody finds it difficult to stay away from chocolate we decided to name the next version of Android after one of our favorite chocolate treats, Kitkat"said Google on its Android Kitkat page.

As part of this deal, Nestle will promote the software by selling 50 million Android-branded KitKat bars
in 19 countries, where purchasers have the chance to win a Google Nexus 7 tablet or Google play gift cards. This deal does not include exchange of money.

Like most tech giants, Google is also looking to enter into smartwatch market, and analysts say that the new OS will support this venture.

Nexus 5 shows up!

The Verge has published this photo of a Google employee taking pictures using a device, which might be the `Nexus 5'. The image is a grab from Google’s Android Kitkat promotional video. Unlike in the Nexus 4 devices, this device has a horizontal Nexus logo, which is similar to the one on latest Nexus 7. Let us hope Google will launch Nexus 5 along with Android Kitkat.

TOP 5 APPS FOR STUDENTS

Smartphones and tablets can be best used in education if you can find right apps. Here are top 5 apps that help students from keeping up with their class schedules to do research and to do group projects. Go through the details below and find the links from where you can download these apps.

My Class Schedule: Timetable _nikhil
Student life revolves around time tables. But now you don't have to pen it down in a notebook as apps such as this one let you store all information including schedules, homework, exam dates, etc. Easy to use, this app requires you to feed in all the relevant information to keep reminding you about upcoming classes and exams. The time table is colour coded and easy to read. It also has the feature to automatically mute the phone during a class.

Wolfram Alpha
A must-have application for students, Wolfram Alpha uses its vast collection of algorithms and data to compute answers and generate reports. The app covers a number of domains categorised in mathematics, physics, chemistry, statistics and data analysis, engineering, astronomy, earth science, life science, transportation, etc. This is a complete computational knowledge engine that comes in really handy with instant answers to your queries.
*Android, iOS: Rs164.24

Pagination

Dictionary.com
When you get stuck at a word, all you need to do now is open this app and search. The app features English Dictionary and Thesaurus with over 2,000,000 definitions, synonyms & antonyms, daily content including Word of the Day, the hot word & slideshows, audio pronunciations, idioms & phrases, voice search and search history. A notable alternative is the Merriam-Webster dictionary for Android.
*Free: iOS, Android, Windows Phone






Dunno (by spacestation6 Inc)

The power of the Internet has made it much easy to research away from the college library (not to mention the great volume of information available instantly). Dunno takes research to a different level by looking up and compiling all possible resources available about a topic online. So there are sections for web pages, blogs, Wikipedia, images, news, even tweets.

* Free: iOS








This collaborative tool allows students to do group projects with ease. Students can systematically organise projects and delegate work while others can add inputs and comments. It also lets students interact with their classmates and keep track of what each person is doing.
* Free: Android, iOS

Top 5 free expenses management apps for Android

Keeping track of daily expenses is a bit time consuming, but it certainly gives clarity to a person: where did the money go? If you are often left broke and wondering at the end of the month, it is a good time to get started with tracking your personal finances.

Before you make drastic changes you can start by recording and tracking your daily, weekly ormonthly expenses.

Here are five free apps that will help not only in expenses or income tracking, but some will even allow setting budgets, or give reminders about due bills. You can find all these apps on Google Play Store.
Expensify

Frequent travelers and those who move to new places should get the Expensify app. It is a semi-automated expense tracker for keeping a tab on cash expenses, credit card expenses and bank account. Built-in optical character recognition technology allows scanning receipts and note data through a SmartScan feature. Of course, shabby and illegible handwriting will not be recognized.

This information gets marked as cash expense if it doesn't match with the items in the credit card statement. Time-related expenses can also be added. For those who ride or drive, the app can use GPS for tracking the mileage of the vehicle. You can also submit your bills via email. All the expenses can be synced to create reports for analysing your personal financial situation.

Toshl Finance

Toshl is a multi-platform expense tracking app with online syncing and several nifty tools. Feed in your expenses to keep a track of them. Users can also set expenses as recurring in order to save time. Weekly or monthly budgets can be set using the easy and versatile functions that also help to track and manage those budgets.

The bills organiser acts as the reminder service for pushing alerts about bills that are due soon. While travelling, the foreign currency converter along with a daily exchange rates chart makes it easy to keep track of the money spent outside the country. Finally, the entire personal financial data can be analysed using graphs and infographics.

Daily Expense Manager

As the name suggests, this app is meant to record and note down your daily expenses as well as income-pretty good for those involved in freelancing projects. The colour coding helps in navigating through the app's interface. Users can always add different categories of income sources and expenditures. 

The Expenses can be viewed by date, month, payment and even category. Reminders can be created for weekly and monthly income-expenses. It is a simple app for users who just want a quick record.

Expense Tracker Plus

It is yet another simple expenditure tracking app that also incorporates income tracking. In Expense Tracker Plus, all kinds of expenses can be tracked by simply adding the income received. One can feed expenses and track them on a daily, monthly and even a yearly basis. The income and expense categories are suggested but can always be customised.
 
The app also tracks savings from the incomes received and reflects that on the home screen of the app. Users get control to edit the date, time and categories while feeding income or expense data.

EasyMoney

This app acts as the expense tracker, bill reminder, checkbook register and also a budget planner. Note the expenses with relevant categories and timing so that they can be analysed later based on categories or time. Notifications about upcoming or overdue bills can be received from the built-in bill reminder. Monthly and yearly budgets can be set for different accounts.

Categories can be customised to enter more accurate information. The data can be exported as qif or csv information to be analysed over the desktop. Add images of the bills and receipts.

Samsung launches special edition Galaxy Tab 3 for kids

Samsung has announced the launch of a special edition Galaxy Tab 3 tablet for kids. This special edition tablet is aimed at offering fun and easy learning to kids by providing an exciting way of grasping information. The tablet, called Galaxy Tab 3 Kids, comes with special applications and features designed specifically for children while offering special security features to parents.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 Kids comes pre-loaded with top ranked children oriented applications that include educational, games, entertainment and e-book apps. Besides, Samsung has created a Kid's Store from which you can download additional educational and learning content for your kid. The tablet also offers parents the ability to select the apps they want their kids to have access to by using the Application Manager.

Along with that the Galaxy Tab 3 Kids also includes a time management feature that allows parents to set specific time periods for use. When the designated use time is up, a password protected lock screen appears, requiring a parent or adult to enter the password to unlock the device, otherwise the kids cannot access the device.

The Galaxy Tab 3 kid's comes with a 7 inch display with 1024x600 pixels resolution. The 9.9 mm thick tablet weighs 300 grams. It has Android 4.1 Jelly Bean operating system, 1.2 GHz dual core processor, 1 GB RAM, 4000 mAh battery, 3 megapixel rear camera, and a 1.3 megapixel front camera.

The tablet comes in 8 GB internal memory along with a micro SD card slot to expand its memory to up to 32 GB. The Galaxy Tab 3 Kids has no SIM connectivity and is a WiFi only tablet.

The tablet will be made available in Korea this September and will be made available in other countries in phased manner. Indian availability of the tablet can be expected by the end of September or early October this year.

Popular phones below Rs. 5000