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What went down at the Nokia World event

As many as six new devices came out of the recent Nokia event, Abu Dhabi. Here’s a look at each.
by Manik Kakra

The last Nokia World event, from Abu Dhabi, was recently concluded and we saw as many as six new devices from the company. Nokia announced three new Asha phones, two new Lumia smartphones, and one, its first, Windows 8 RT tablet.

Let’s take a look at the new launches.

Asha 500: This phone has a 2.80-inch QVGA touchscreen, and a 2 MP rear camera. Supporting a microSD card of up to 32 GB, it is equipped with Bluetooth 3.0, WiFi, microUSB, and comes in single SIM and dual-SIM options. It’s priced at $69 (before tax).

Asha 502: This dual-SIM phone boasts a 3-inch QVGA touchscreen and 64 MB of RAM. On the back, there’s a 5 MP camera (with LED flash). Other features include Bluetooth, WiFi and microUSB. It’s priced at $89 (before tax).

Asha 503: This is an Asha device with 3-inch touchscreen along with Gorilla Glass on top. Available in dual-SIM and single SIM options, the phone sports a 5 MP rear camera and expandable storage up to 32 GB. It’s priced at $99 (before tax).

It was also announced that WhatsApp is soon coming to the existing Asha devices.

Lumia 1320Lumia 1320: The Lumia 1320 (in pic on left) features a 6-inch 720p screen with Gorilla Glass 3 on top, and is powered by 1.7 GHz dual-core Snapdragon 400 chipset and 1 GB of RAM. Running Windows Phone 8 with Nokia’s own apps available on it, the phone sports a 5 Mp rear camera, which can do 1080p videos; and a VGA front-facing camera. Connectivity-wise, there’s Bluetooth 4.0, WiFi, and microUSB 2.0. Equipped with 3,400 mAh battery, the Lumia 1320 supports microSD card of up to 64 GB. It comes in red, yellow, white and black colours.

Lumia 1520: This is Nokia’s first Windows Phone device that boasts a full HD screen (in featured image above). It has a 6-inch 1080p screen with Nokia’s ClearBlack technology. It is powered by Qualcomm’s 2.2 GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 SoC, along with 2 GB of RAM. Other features include Bluetooth 4.0, WiFi a/b/g/n/ac, microUSB 2.0. The phone packs 3,400 mAh battery, and also supports wireless charging. Another USP of this phone is its 20 MP camera that has Nokia’s popular PureView technology. On the front, there’s a 1.3 MP camera, too. Colour options include red, yellow, white and black.

Nokia-Lumia-2520 and keyboardLumia 2520: This is a big one – literally and figuratively. Nokia’s Lumia 2520 (in pic on right) is the company’s first Windows 8.1 RT tablet, and it follows their Fabula design. The tablet has a10.1-inch full HD screen, a 6.7 MP rear camera, and a 2 MP front-facing camera. With 32 GB of internal storage, and expandable option through microSD, there’s a lot of storage space for its users. Under the hood, there’s 2.2 GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 SoC, along with 2 GB of RAM. Connectivity-wise, there’s Bluetooth 4.0, LTE, microUSB, NFC and WiFi. The Lumia 1520 comes in white, black, red and blue colour options.

Nokia also mentioned that Instagram, Vine are coming to Windows Phone pretty soon, while Flipboard is now available for Windows 8 RT.

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New iPhones coming to India on November 1

The iPhone 5C starts from Rs 41,900, and the 5S from Rs 53,500; current forex rates have pushed prices up.
by Manik Kakra

Apple is officially bringing its new iDevices — iPhone 5C and iPhone 5S — to India on the 1st of November. The phones were announced on the 10th of September, and have been available on several countries included in the company’s first and second list. Here’s the complete price list:

iPhone 5SiPhone 5S (comes in space grey, gold and silver colours):

16 GB: Rs 53,500

32 GB: Rs 62,500

64 GB: Rs 71,500

The iPhone 5C (comes in blue, pink, yellow, green, and white colours)

16 GB: Rs 41,900

32 GB: Rs 53,500

iPhone 4S (8 GB) is now priced at Rs 31,500, and the iPhone 5 has been discontinued, as mentioned by Apple at the launch event.

The official phone cases for the iPhone 5S are available in beige, black, blue, brown, yellow and red colour options, priced at Rs 3,200; while the official iPhone 5C cases come in blue, green, pink, yellow, black and white for Rs 2,300.

Yes, folks, the prices this time are pretty high, but not too surprising due to our foreign exchange rates. While Apple could have made a bit of a bargain on the highest storage models, it is hard to say if many people would buy one 64 GB model at launch.

Both these iOS 7 devices are Apple’s latest devices that are more or less among the best smartphones available today. While a lot of Indian users would be waiting for their launch, it is sort of disappointing to see so many smartphones, not just these iPhones, being priced above Rs 40,000 so often these days.

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Kobo enters the Indian market with four devices

Global eBooks company launches three E-ink readers and an Android tablet to mark its first foray into India. A preview.
by Manik Kakra

Kobo, the global eBooks company, has launched three E-ink reader and one Android tablet to mark their entrance into India. The company has tied up with Croma for retail, and Crossword and WHSmith for content. Let’s take a look at the devices launched:

Kobo Touch (in featured image above): This is the low-end eBook reader from Kobo that has a 6-inch E-Ink equipped touchscreen, and has got 2 GB of internal storage, which is expandable up to 32 GB via microSD card. The screen has got no glare, and it adjusts to brightness on its own, without providing to the user any brightness settings to choose from. The Kobo Touch has been launched at a price of Rs 6,999.

Kobo ArcKobo Arc (in pic on left): This is an Android 4.1 tablet with Kobo’s own Arc UI on top. It has got the Kobo app pre-loaded for reading your content on the device. Powered by TI’s 4470 SoC, along with 1 GB of RAM, this tablet has got a 7-inch (1280 x 800) screen. It is available for Rs 9,999.

Kobo Glo: The Glo is an eBook reader with a 6-inch E-Ink powered touchscreen that has got light to read in dark, without having to worry about lights around you. The company claims that its battery can provide a backup of up to two months. This reader is available for Rs 10,999.

Kobo Aura HD: This is the only HD eBook reader from the company. It has a 6.8-inch (1440 x 1080) touchscreen. Powered by a 1 GHz Freescale chipet, along with 2 GB of RAM, this one also comes with expandable storage of up to 32 GB. This device is launched at a price point of Rs 13,999.

All the devices are equipped with WiFi a/b/g/n, nd have microSD card slot, plus microUSB for connectivity. The first three E-Ink readers have got Kobo’s proprietary eBook software, while the Arc comes with Arc on top of Android 4.1.

All these readers are available from today, and come with five free eBooks, available for reading for first few weeks, to buyers. You can also get a cover for your device, available from the same stores. The Kobo app is available for iOS, Android and BlackBerry OS, and allows you to sync your Kobo library across your devices.

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Just in: Pinnacle Stylus smartphone

Spice launched the new smartphone today. Among other things, you get a year’s Evernote premium subscription free with this phone.
by Manik Kakra

Spice launched its new Pinnacle Stylus smartphone today. The phone runs on Android 4.2, along with Spice’s proprietary UI on top. Boasting a 5.5-inch 720p screen, this phone is powered by a 1.2 GHz chipset as well as 1 GB of RAM. This dual-SIM (GSM + CDMA) smartphone is equipped with 8 GB of internal storage (expandable up to 32 GB), FM radio and 2,500 mAh battery.

Pinnacle StylusOne of the things worth noting is that you get a year’s Evernote premium subscription free with this phone. That’s a nice new touch, especially considering how popular Evernote is getting today for mobile devices.

As the device’s name suggests, you also get a stylus with the phone. Using Skitch, you can draw, annotate, and take tiny notes with the Stylus. The phone features an 8 MP (AF) camera on the back, which can do HD videos at 30 FPS; while the front has got a 2 MP camera. Connectivity-wise, the Pinnacle Stylus has got Bluetooth 4.0, WiFi a/b/g/n, WiFi tethering, A-GPS, and microUSB.

“This phone is powered with Evernote and Skitch, which makes the phone even more interesting and allows users to visually communicate more effectively than ever. The phone also comes pre-bundled with Evernote, which helps individuals save their thoughts, ideas and all they want to remember, thereby making them more organised and productive. With the new smartphone, we aim to satiate the consumer needs with the best-in-class technological innovations,” said the company’s CEO,  TM Ramakrishnan.

The phone has been launched at a price of about Rs 15,990, and comes with a leather case. Looking at Spice’s recent activities, it’s clear that they are getting more serious about their Android line-up. It won’t be easy with so many OEMs in this range, but there is definitely a lot to which could be done to get a very good smartphone at this price point.

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Preview: Spice Mobile’s AndroidLand Store

The country’s first Android store opened this week. The store’s fun and engaging concept was developed in collaboration with Google.
by Manik Kakra

Spice Mobile, one of India’s leading mobile companies, opened the country’s first AndroidLand store in Noida’s The Great India Place recently. The store houses Android devices from Spice, Lenovo, Samsung, LG, HTC, Karbonn, Sony, LAVA and Micromax, along with a variety of accessories for your device. Google is reportedly helping in training staff for more such stores in order to give a user improved experience and know-how.

Spice Mobile AndroidLandThe store also has free WiFi access for users to download and check apps on their Android device, as well as get their queries related to the OS answered there and then.

“We are confident customers will love the fun and engaging store concept that we developed in collaboration with Google. We have created a destination for customers to experience Android technology and learn about what they can do with mobile Internet. Spice has always believed in constant innovation in retail and with this launch we have kept our promise of bringing many ‘firsts’ to India”, in the field of technology retailing,” said Dilip Modi, Co-Founder and Group CEO, Spice Global.

While it is good to see such initiatives in the market, especially considering we might soon get Play Store gift cards in India, it would be interesting to see how well these stores compete against these companies’ own and other retail stores. The company has also opened a bigger store in Bangalore.

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Check your systems for ZeroAccess

A new botnet is getting alarmingly bigger; India reportedly has the third highest numbers of affected users in the world.
by Manik Kakra

New and increasingly more dangerous spywares and viruses making their way to our computer systems is a fairly routine occurrence these days. But these are usually covered by most users either themselves or through a security suite. But, recently, there’s a new botnet in town, called ZeroAccess, which has spread quite rapidly – to about 1.9 million systems counted about a month ago – but not many are aware of this, or know how to tackle it.

Infograph - ZeroAccess BotnetSymantec, in its security blogpost, has issued a statement that it has partnered with several ISPs and even CERT teams to bring down the level of this botnet affecting systems worldwide.

Simply put, if your machine is running this botnet, it could be used to send out spam and active bots to affect more systems. Owing to this threat, it is also believed that many are abusing this botnet for click fraud and Bitcoin mining, meaning that any affected system could be used to generate artificial clicks on a website to improve its page rank, and allow people to earn Bitcoins (a virtual currency) in a similar fashion, respectively. So, yes, a lot of monetary benefit, apart from users’ data access, is at stake.

In fact, this botnet isn’t very new. Believed to be active since 2011, it was during the month of March 2013, that security firm Symantec got some proof of this peer-to-peer botnet. ZeroAccess is primarily maintained by a few individuals with some expertise and who also have some malwares for a better success rate with this botnet.

India ranks third among the countries with most users affected by ZeroAccess. India ranks behind Japan and the US, with 5.6 per cent of total affected users. This base of users is image001definitely relevant and needs to be addressed fast.

It’s not at all easy to do away with such command-and-control programmes, resilient botnet, which communicates continuously with its peers, but you can take a few precautions to ensure your system doesn’t get infected by this botnet: Fire up your security software, update it and run to scan the whole system.

Other than that, I would also suggest that you scan your Windows PC, just once, with this small removal tool.

(Picture courtesy betanews.com)

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