Panasonic launches Toughpad FZ-A1 tablet, announces CF-AX2 Ultrabook

Panasonic has launched two new products from its rugged Toughbook range of laptops, the Toughpad FZ-A1 and the Panasonic CF-AX2, as well as the Convertible Windows 8 Pro Ultrabook. 

The Panasonic Toughpad is a purpose-built Android-powered tablet, which the company claims is designed with enterprise-class security, long product life, and advanced device management in mind. The Toughpad FZ-A1 is aimed at healthcare services, pharmaceutical and construction companies as well as aviation and military sectors.

The Panasonic Ultrabook is equipped with a Flip-Over design, and is aimed towards mobile sales workforce, merchandisers and executives to use in notebook or tablet mode. The CF-AX2 has high usability, style, durability and a long battery life with a hot-swappable, replaceable battery, and is Microsoft Windows 8 Pro certified.

“The concept of "ruggedness" into business mobile PC was originally introduced by Panasonic, which made mobile users realise that Panasonic was seriously trying to adopt customer needs. Due to our effort to listen and understand customer needs, we have today been able to translate these customer conversations in breakthrough design, productivity and portability. India is a huge potential market for us and we hope that our solutions will contribute immensely to the critical applications related to development in such emerging nations”, said Hide Harada, Director of IT Products Business Unit, Panasonic Corporation. 

Commenting on the features of the Toughpad, Gunjan Sachdev, General Manager & National Business Head, Panasonic Toughbook India, said, “As we see an increase in uptake of tablet-form mobile computing devices in Asia, we want to ensure that we apply our market knowledge as well as our deep store of intellectual property, engineering and R&D resources as the leader in the ruggedized mobile computing space, to deliver an Android-powered tablet that is radically different from the largely consumer-based devices on the market today. The Toughpad, with its daylight-readable screen with anti-glare coating and enhanced security features, will remove adoption barriers in the healthcare, construction, aviation and military industries, where there is a strong need for such capabilities.”

The Panasonic Toughpad is priced at Rs 75,000 and is already available in India. The Panasonic Ultrabook is priced at Rs 1.3 lakh and will be available in India from February 2013 



Source:- Tech2

Nokia announces Windows Phone 8 Lumia 620

Nokia today unveiled the Nokia Lumia 620. The Nokia Lumia 620 will be available in a range of colors including, lime green, orange, magenta, yellow, cyan, white and black. Priced at US 249$, which roughly translates to approximately Rs 13,600, excluding taxes and subsidies, the Nokia Lumia 620 will begin selling in January 2013 in Asia, followed closely by Europe and the Middle East before expanding further. powered by  processors.

Some of the key specs of the Lumia 620 are:-

• 3.8-inch TFT ClearBlack display with a resolution 800 x 480
• Qualcomm's SnapdragonS4 Plus processor
• 3G, EDGE, Wi-Fi, NFC
• Bluetooth 3.0
• GPS with A-GPS and Nokia Maps Suite
• 5MP camera with f/2.4 aperture and 720p video recording, front-facing camera with 480p recording
• 8GB mass memory with Micro SD support up to 64GB

YouTube for iOS updated

Google has updated its YouTube app for iOS to run better on the iPhone 5 and the iPad, and support the larger screen sizes and higher DPI. Besides the optimisation, users can now stream video with AirPlay, a feature that was not available with the previous version of the app. The update also allows you to tap the logo to open your channel guide, add and remove videos from playlists, click links in video descriptions, and brings improved accessibility with VoiceOver.

After Apple removed the YouTube app, which came pre-loaded  from iOS 6, Google swiftly released a dedicated app for the iPhone. However the app wasn't fully optimised for the iPhone 5 and the iPad, and lacked support for the high-resolution screens. Click here to download the app for your iPad or iPhone.

The YouTube app for the iPhone and iPad allows users to browse through YouTube’s vast video catalogue, find videos and channels easily with voice search and query auto-complete, subscribe to channels and instantly access subscriptions with the channel guide UI. Users can also read comments, browse related videos and enable subtitles while viewing content. The app also features the ability to share videos via Google+, email, Facebook and Twitter.

Gmail for IOS updated

Google has updated its Gmail app for iPhone and iPad with a number of new features including multiple account support and a neater interface, which is said to be inspired by Sparrow's Gmail app. Google had recently acquired the company and had assigned its employees to work on Gmail.

Apart from the cleaner look, Google has brought in a number of new features to the app that make it easier to use. Now messages now display a contact's profile image on Google+. The details of each contact participating in a group chat is shown immediately.

The updated app allows users to RSVP to Google Calendar invites and +1 and comment on Google+ posts directly from the app. The inbox scrolls infinitely as you swipe through your inbox, which is considered to be a major improvement on loading it screen by screen.

Other two features are autocomplete suggestions that help in completing e-mails faster and the other, the most notable one, is support for multiple accounts.

The two final features are general, but welcome, improvements. The first is the addition of autocomplete predictions to help complete emails faster. It will also catch all those nasty typos that frequently make their way into emails sent from mobile devices.

Users can download the updated Gmail app for iOS here.



Source:- ThinkDigit

Google I/O 2013 starts May 15 2013

Google has just announced the dates for its annual I/O event. The event kicks off on May 15th 2013 and ends on May 17th 2013. As of now, registrations aren’t open. They are expected to open in early 2013. The event will take place in Moscone Center in San Francisco.

No details are known as to what Google will show at the I/O event in 2013. Speculations are high that we may just see the next iteration of Android, 5.0 KLP (Key Lime Pie) make an appearance at the event.

At Google I/O 2012, Google showed off Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, the Nexus 7 tablet and the nexus Q music streamer. Google also had quite a dramatic stage show with Project Glasses. Google also announced Google Drive, the Chrome Browser for iOS and the Samsung ChromeBook Series 5550.

Google recently launched the Nexus 4, their fourth flagship Nexus smartphone along with the Nexus 10 tablet. The devices are quite stellar and we do hope Google shows an update roadmap of these devices at the I/O 2013 event.

In 2012, the I/O event too place in June and is scheduled for May in 2013. That's a whole month earlier than last year. If you are interested in taking a look at the highlights of Google I/O 2012, you can do so at the official Google I/O 2012 page here.



Source:- Engadget

WishTel launches Linux-based PrithV tablet

WishTel announced the launch of the world’s cheapest Linux-based tablet PC, “PrithV”. Designed and manufactured in India, and priced at US$50 ( Rs. 2745) , the tablet is designed to serve all the global education needs.

Some of the key specs of the PrthV are:-

• 800 Mhz processor
• 7-inch TFT (LCD), capacitive display
• 3G dongle support, Wi-Fi
• 0.3 MP camera
• Supports up to 32GB MicroSD Card
• 2800 mAh battery

PrithV is a Linux-based educational Platform to be offered on tablets and net book PC supporting 85 global languages including English, Spanish, French, German, Arabic, Urdu, Zulu and 23 Indian languages. PrithV has been developed in Association with Gnowledge lab, Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education under guidance of Prof Nagarjuna. PrithV comes loaded with Educational Suite to offer Self Learning software’s for Pre-Primary, Tertiary, Higher Education for Languages, Science: Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Astronomy, Geography, Math: Algebra, Calculus, Geometry, Medicine, Computing etc.

PrithV is a free and open source platform offering access to library of over 3 million books, encyclopaedia, class room videos, virtual lab for Science, Math and Geography. PrithV shall be collaborated efforts of all teachers and Linux developers to offer Education for free.
PrithV, meaning “Earth” in Ancient Sanskrit, is the world’s economical computer that can perform complete computing, programming, database management, arithmetic and logical operations in addition to basic tasks like emails, web browsing, media, office applications etc.

Magicon launches budget phablet mNote, Android phones m1 and M2

Magicon Impex has released a new range of smartphones in collaboration with Aircel. The new models include the m1, m2 and the mNote. All three models offer dual-SIM, a proximity sensor, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, and feature the UltraTouch capacitive touch screen.

The mNote features a dual-core 1 GHz processor, 5-inch WVGA display with 16 million colours, a regular front camera and an 8.0 MP rear camera with auto-focus and flash. It is a 3G Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich device and can create a Wi-Fi hotspot around itself for sharing internet connectivity with other devices. It also includes a 2,000 mAh battery powering it. The Magicon mNote is available at Rs. 9,999.

The Magicon m1 and m2 are both Android 2.3 Gingerbread models with a 1 GHz processor and have a 5.0 MP rear camera. The m1 model features flash and a regular front camera as well. Both models feature a 3.5-inch WVGA display and are powered by a 1500 mAh battery. The m2, like the mNote, is also a 3G device capable of creating a Wi-Fi hotspot while the m2 is a 2G phone with EDGE connectivity.  The m1 model is priced at Rs 4499 and the m2 is priced at Rs 4999.

All 3 models come with popular apps like Skype, Facebook, Twitter, Angry Birds and Fruit Ninja etc. already pre-installed.

The Smart phones come with various data plans offered by Aircel and a 4 GB memory card. Aircel has offered 250 minutes of talk time, 250 SMSes and 1 GB data for 3 months with all three models. Furthermore, each model has a warranty period of 18 months.



Source:- ThinkDigit