Windows Phone 8.1 update for Lumia 520 goes live in India!

Aaaannnndd we said it first. Nokia has released the 8.1 update for Lumia 520 in India, midnight onwards. Rumours were going rounds for the Cyan update required for the 8.1 version to be installed, immediately after which the 8.1 update is available for download. While the Cyan update took only a few minutes, The 8.1 had a download size of around 400 MB and installation took a hefty 1 hour. The phone works fine with the new update, and soon We'll be having a new post with details and screenshots of all the new features of Windows Phone 8.1.
 

Cortana, the Siri-like Personal assistant ot AI is the most awaited feature on the 8.1. With a better personality than that of Siri's with Cortana, Windows Phone now directly locks horns with iOS. The two were already in race for the privacy features on offer, but Windows phone lagged behind in terms of applications and features. Windows phone now offers a better set of features along with a very pleasant User Interface. Stay tuned for more updates on the same. 

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And we can't let Motorola win. Meet Micromax Unite 2.

Hardly a week after the Moto E launch from Motorola, Micromax took the challenge to beat the moto E to death. And so Unite 2 is born. The Spec sheet of the Unite 2 is baffling compared to that of moto E.

A 4.7 inch IPS display, with 800*480 resolution, at par with the E. Wait for the treats. It's a quad-core 1.2 Ghz processor, along with 1 GB of RAM and Mali 400 Graphics processor. A sweet 5 megapixel AUTOFOCUS camera WITH A FLASH. A 2 megapixel FRONT CAMERA is also present. While the build quality may not be at comparison here, as the moto E offers Gorilla Glass 3 protection and Splash proof coating, The Unite 2 offers more in terms of processing prowess and the camera features, along with the front camera's presence. The front camera makes a huge difference here as the moto E is devoid of the same. Also the E has a fixed focus camera without a flash. Micromax sure know how to choke the competition. And moving on to the price, its priced same as the moto E, at Rs. 6,999, with 4 colors on offer. Regarding the availability, it's readily available at e-tailer snapdeal and various other vendors, without any waiting. While the moto E is back in stocks, flipkart is the only authorised vendor and it takes a week to get the order delivered to cities like Ahmedabad. 

The build quality and the service support from Micromax are the questionable terms here, but a better set of features and availability through local vendors will work in the favor Micromax. We'll soon come up with a detailed review of the device as soon as it's available.

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Motorola takes covers off the Moto E

And with the day's launch of Moto E, it confirms to the images and specifications leaked about a week ago. Motorola's "Made to last, priced for all" phone is finally official and surprisingly enough, Indian market is the first to have Moto E start selling almost just after the launch, available for Rs. 6,999 from the e-tailer flipkart, Motorola's only authorised seller in India.

Now as we said, the rumoured specifications were right, i.e. the 4.3" display with Corning Gorilla Glass 3 lagging with qHD(540*960) resolution which we thought might be 720p. But considering the surprisingly low price point, it's negotiable. A 5 megapixel camera, without a flash unfortunately, and no front camera. So forget about Skype and selfies. A 1.2 Ghz dual core snapdragon processor backed by a 1 GB of RAM.
On the build front, Moto E comes with interchangeable back shells with different colours. Motorola has the same splash proof Nano coating done as seen on the Moto G in the E as well, which translates to an almost water-resistant capacity, but the company doesn't claim that though. You get a 1980 mAh non-removable battery, courtesy the splash proof coating to protect moisture entering the battery bay. It only comes with a mere 4 GB of internal storage, but is expandable via MicroSD.

And the biggest news of all. A segment where the E did better than G. It comes with Android 4.4 KitKat out of the box, with guaranteed updates until the next release. So Moto E does pack in a punch with the low price point and a good build quality, compared to the Lumia 520, it's greatest competitor, which is priced around 500 bucks more than the E, with lesser set of features and Windows Phone platform, which is lesser preffered due to lack of apps and functionality. But with the 8.1 updates slated for release, Microsoft is all set to take the competition to a whole new level. So it might be nail biting for the consumers to make a choice. But for now, Motorola is star of the alley. 

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HTC launches the One M8

HTC recently launched a revamped version of their ongoing flagship, aka the One, One M8. The One is still regarded as the best of the Android, until the M8 launched. And M8 surprises us with a host lot of more features.

On the display section, M8 has a 5.0” Super LCD 3 Capacitive touch screen at Full HD i.e  1080*1920, which translates into a stunning 441 ppi density. It’s also backed up by Corning Gorilla Glass 3 so the M8 can take a couple of drops without shattering/scratching the screen.

The M8 comes with dual front firing speakers, built in amplifiers with Boomsound, and boy, they ARE impressive. Loud enough to scare the hell out of you, clear and clean as diamonds. Whoa. It’s not much of a surprise comparing with the previous version of the flagship, but other brands and flagships just can’t take on HTC in this segment.

The memory segment is backed up by 2gb of RAM and 16/32gb of internal storage, with an additional 128gb of expandability. That makes the M8 capable of sweet 160gb of storage.

Now the take on performance. M8 houses Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 chipset, getting ahead of other brands . The CPU is clocked at 2.3 GHz, and is backed up by the Krait 400 Graphics processor.

The USP however is the dual camera. Yes. You have 2 primary camera sensors at the back, both of them HTC’s UltraPixel shooters with 4 mp resolution and 1/3 sensor size. We’re still not clear of the HTC’s intension of keeping 2 sensors, but that sure opens up a whole spectrum of new kind of applications that need 3D image rendering and stuff. 

The other improvement is the outer shell of the device. Compared to One’s 70% metal, the M8’s shell is 90% metal. The body wraps around from the back of the device to the front, which makes it a true unibody build. The UI also got whole bunch of tweaks and updated like the Blinkfeed, latest version of HTC’s Sense etc. We’re not sure of the pricing yet as it’s still not in the markets, but don’t be surprised if it crosses the 50k mark, and we can’t complain as of now.

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Gionee launches the Elife E7 mini with swivel 13 mp shooter at Rs. 18,999.

Gionee last year left us with a clue that it would launch a mini version to its flagship, the Elife E7. We had no idea that it had to be something that was , (no words!). Cutting the chase. All hail the Elife E7 mini!



Now Gionee had to come up with something exceptional, make it flagship in its class. So not one, there are two highlights in the phone, i.e. the one you just noticed, the swivel camera module as we have seen before in the oppo N1, and an octa-core processor clocked at 1.7Ghz at all the 8 cores! This barely is the bomb. Most of the people would bang the table asking for its price. Well, 18,999 it is, and at some e-tailers like snapdeal and ebay, you can get it for as low as 17,000! Quite a steal, isn't it? Well read on, and you might be further amazed.
To complete the spec sheet, it has a 13 MegaPixel swivel camera, a 720p HD edge-to-edge display, 1gb of RAM, 16gb of onboard storage, and the Amigo OS, which is actually a tweaked version of Android 4.2.



         
                  Now a lot of you would be concerned if the brand is worth your trust. Well, Gionee is a new kid on the block, and going throught the internet you'll barely find user grievances for Gionee handsets. Atleast not as much as Samsung. And with the heating issue on the Canvas Knight, E7 mini is your best bet for a budget octa-core, atleast at the given price and considering the fact that it it offers a build quality that even flagships will be ashamed of.

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Top 5 fitness myths busted

Getting membership in a swanky gym will get you a super-celebrity physique:

Most of the people have no idea what bodybuilders and celebrities/models go through to get the superman-like physique. People in those fields have plenty of time and money to invest on fitness activities, not only that, they're under expert supervision and go through a deadly dose of supplements each day. So getting into the 6 pack league is not easy as it seems. While such kind of gyms do offer a great workout environment and experienced trainers, but your results depend on your will and your efforts.

Heavy amounts of cardio will cut the bad fat:

One of the most misunderstood concepts in fitness; while cardio is very important in the schedule, but heavy amounts of cardio every day might work otherwise. What most people end up doing while desperately trying to lose weight, is 'fasting' what they call 'dieting' , doing those endless cardio sessions. What that actually does is it slows down your metabolism, which will slow the fat burning process and in turn, your body will get its energy by breaking down those lean muscles, which are extremely important in cutting fats. All of this results in sudden, temporary weight loss along with malnutrition symptoms such as hair loss and pale skin, at times you might also end up gaining weight.

Referring to fasting as dieting:

Fasting is completely stopping to consume food, when you're supposed to. While fasting does have its pros, but it is NOT the alternative to what we call, dieting. Dieting is all about healthy eating, which most of the people get wrong. In today's times it may be difficult to maintain a strict diet, but it's your only alternative to healthy weight loss as well as gain. Dieting, for people who want to cut on fat, includes eating lesser amounts at regular intervals, so your stomach is full at all times. This helps in cutting your cravings, and boosts your metabolsim

                                                           

You got to have supplements to gain/lose weight:

Well, this is also one of those huge myths that need to get straight. For most of the people who are lean, the main cause being the inefficient digestive systems, you may not be able to bulk up fats on a natural diet, but if you intend to building muscles, you can do so on a regular diet, without any supplements. Having a meals with high protein sources such as soy, fish, milk, eggs etc can get you healthy muscle mass, provided it will take time. Same implies for people who're trying to loose weight. Supplements can get you those results in shorter span, but they give a workout to you liver and kidneys as well and nothing in the world beats naturally built muscles.

Weights are for guys:

No. The fairer sex needs to lift weights to get toned physique. You may not be able to lift as much as guys, but moderate weight training, coupled with cardio workouts and a healthy diet play an extremely important role in in getting a toned figure. 

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Samsung mobile: A troublemaker kid?

The Korean giant has been one of the best electronics manufacturers from decades now. And with the start of mobile business, Samsung became the top seller in India with the release of Galaxy series. Samsung phones were popular because of the impressive specs they offered, all at a wonderful price tag. Smartphones like the Galaxy Note 2, Note 3, S3 and S4 became a rage among Indians in no time.

But lately, Samsung has been playing foul with customers. The Success saga seems to be mishandled by Samsung. A lot of speculations have been reported against Samsung mobile during the last year. Let's go through some of such events.

At the Mobile World congress 2013 held in Germany, Clinton Jeff(of UnleashThePhones fame), was invited to attend the event by Samsung mobile, India. All his expenses were to be covered by SMI including his travel fares, accomodation etc. After reaching Germany, he got a call in his hotel room, asking for his t-shirt size. Puzzled, he told of what he was asked. The next day at MWC, he was handed over one of the t-shirts with a huge Samsung logo at the front, to wear it and volunteer at the Samsung stands, showing demos of Samsung products. This left him in shock. He called back at SMI, was further jerked by conveying him that if he doesn't follow the instructions, his hotel stay would be cancelled immediately, so will be the return tickets. He disagreed to their deal and decided not to comply. Somehow, he managed to return back to India with great deal of trouble, and told that this incident should be kept under the covers.

In another such incident, where a guy uploaded a video of his new Galaxy S4 caught under fire while charging, Samsung declined his warranty claim telling him to remove the video first, and then only would they 'consider' to his handset replacement claim. 

Recently after the launch of Galaxy S4, an unnamed person found out a code in S4's firmware that overclocks the CPU while benchmarks run, so as to project higher benchmark scores. After this news, Samsung did fix the bug with an update, but Samsung, WTF! 

These are only a few incidents to be named, with more of such events showing Samsung's unethical business terms. 

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