HTC Desire 816 with 13MP camera outed in India

The HTC Desire 816 smartphone has finally gone on sale in India. Online retailers have started offering the Desire 816 for a price slightly higher than what was announced by the company.
The HTC Desire 816 was said to retail for Rs 23,990, but is currently listed on listed on Infibeam for Rs 24,450. Flipkart on the other hand, is charging even more at Rs 24,999. The handset is currently the best you can get from the Desire series and it competes with Sony’s T2 Ultra and Samsung’s Note 3 Neo. A 5.5-inch HD IPS display sits pretty on the front along with a 5MP camera and there’s a 13MP snapper on the rear which can record videos at 1080p HD resolution.

The phone features a plastic design and has a very minimalistic appearance. It has the same dual front-facing BoomSound speakers with built-in amplifiers found on the flagship series. Being dual SIM enabled, the
handset comes with a 1.6GHz quad core Snapdragon 400 processor and supports HSPA+ connectivity along with Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, GPS and Bluetooth 4.0 radios. The phone runs on Android KitKat and features HTC’s Sense UI with the BlinkFeed interface.
The HTC Desire 816 was launched in multiple shades, but only the white and grey models are available for purchase online.

Here are the key specs of the HTC Desire 816:
- Android KitKat with Sense 5.5
- 1.6GHz quad core Snapdragon 400 SOC
- 1.5GB RAM
- 8GB internal storage, 128GB expandable
- 5.5-inch HD display
- 5MP front camera
- 13MP rear snapper
- 2600mAh battery

Bharti Airtel gains on definitive agreement with Loop Mobile

Bharti Airtel stock rose over one per cent to touch a high of Rs 342.6 in opening trade at the BSE.

SummaryBharti Airtel gained ground after company announced signing of a definitive agreement with Loop Mobile.

Shares of telecom major Bharti Airtel today gained ground after the company announced signing of a definitive agreement with Loop Mobile to create Mumbai's largest mobile network.
Bharti Airtel stock rose over one per cent to touch a high of Rs 342.6 in opening trade at the BSE. However, it pared most of the early gains in a weak overall market and was trading 0.1 per cent up at Rs 338.65 in mid-day trade.

Earlier on February 18, Bharti Airtel had announced an agreement with Loop Mobile to create "Mumbai's largest mobile network".
Taking the announcement forward, the company said this morning that it has now signed a definitive agreement with Loop Mobile (India) Limited in this regard.
Under the agreement, Loop's 3 million subscribers in Mumbai will join Airtel's over 4 million subscribers. It will also bring together Loop Mobile's network supported by 2,500 plus cell sites and Airtel's network supported by over 4,000 cell sites across Mumbai.

Honda recalls 2 mn cars globally over airbag flaws

Tokyo, June 23:  

Honda Motor Co is recalling about 2.03 million vehicles worldwide to fix flaws in airbags made by Takata Corp, the carmaker said on Monday.

The recall covers the Fit compact globally and includes about 1.02 million vehicles in North America, 666,000 in Japan and 154,000 in Europe, a Honda spokesman said.

Also on Monday, defective airbags produced by Takata also prompted Nissan Motor Co and Mazda Motor Corp to recall 128,000 vehicles and 11,800, respectively.

Toyota Motor Corp recalled about 2.27 million units over the airbag flaws earlier this month.

Asus Zenfone 5 first look: The dark horse in the mid-range segment?

#asus zenfone

By Roydon Cerejo /  23 Jun 2014 , 10:42

If rumours are to be believed then Asus will be announcing their entire Zenfone series come July 9. This will mark Asus return to the smartphone game in India after a long hiatus. Luckily, you need not wait till next month to get a first hand look as we managed to snag a unit off a cargo truck on the way to Asus’s warehouse. Just kidding, but we do have, what is likely, the final retail unit which will go on sale in India next month.



We have the Zenfone 5, which is the 5-inch version in the series and from the looks of it, seems like a serious contender against offerings from Samsung and Sony. The phone was first announced at CES 2014 but since then, Asus has made a couple of changes to the final Indian retail unit. For starters, the Zenfone 5 ditches the Intel Atom Z2580 for a Z2560 SoC, which runs at 1.6GHz instead of 2GHz. This is not a major setback as it’s still a dual-core with HyperThreading based on the CloverTrail+ platform. To make up for it, Asus has also increased the RAM to 2GB and boosted the battery to 2,110mAh.

The rest of the specifications remain pretty much the same. You get a 5-inch HD IPS display with Gorilla Glass, quad-band 3G and 2G, dual-SIM, expandable memory (8GB onboard) and a 8MP camera on the back.

The phone feels very well built and put together. It’s extremely sturdy as well and the back cover sits flush with the rest of the body. The little brushed aluminium trim at the bottom adds some flair to the phone and is in keeping with the Zen-series design language.

The Zenfone 5 had a launch price of $149, which should translate to an India retail price of roughly Rs 14,000 to Rs 16,000, after adding taxes and duty. If this is indeed true then it’s not too bad considering the specifications. We’ll be putting the Zenfone 5 through the ringer over the next week so stay tuned for the full review.

BlackBerry Z3 launch special: Four reasons why it might be a good buy

 

The Z3 has the potential to bring the Canadian smartphone maker back to the forefront in India.

How to install Android apps on BlackBerry till it opens up to Amazon store

BlackBerry is all set to launch its new device, the Z3 in India this week. The phone has been designed for emerging markets like Indonesia and India. It is also the most affordable BlackBerry 10 device till date. The Indonesia launch was successful enough for it to find a mention in the company’s results for the first quarter of 2014.

But will the phone be good enough for India and the customers here? There are still a lot of loyal BlackBerry users in India, but that is a vanishing tribe. The once ubiquitous BlackBerry devices are almost on the verge of being relegated to a senior management device again. But the Z3 has the potential to bring the Canadian smartphone maker back to the forefront in India. Here are three reasons:

1. Affordability: BlackBerry got its volumes in countries like India thanks to devices like the Curve 8520, which brought the company’s unique features to very low price points. The Z3 is also a very affordable device, having been launched in Indonesia for the equivalent of Rs 11,500. That is a good price for a 5-inch all-touch phone from a global player. However, Indians still have some fixation with the Rs 10,000 price point. If the company devices to launch the phone below that price point, it would have won half the battle.
REPLUG: You first read about the launch and price here
2. Android apps: The BlackBerry OS 10 is a good operating system that exploits the company’s expertise in security, device management and, of course, great keypads. However, the best feature of the latest OS is the fact that on top of all this you get to add any, yes any, Android application you want to. This solves one of the biggest problems people had with BlackBerry, the lack of apps that are popular in other ecosystems. While you can side-load apps from any app store, BlackBerry will in a few months offer official access to the Amazon app store. That will give BlackBerry 10 OS a slight edge over Android.
ALSO READ: How load Android apps on your BlackBerry
3. BlackBerry OS 10.2.1: The latest version of the BlackBerry operating systems plugs most of the gaps in the first version of the phone. With BlackBerry Hub the OS manages your mails and notifications much better than others, you can now act on notifications from the lock screen itself and the entire experience is intuitive and simple.

4. The device: Even at the price of Rs 11,500, a 5-inch smartphone with Android apps is a steal. On paper, the Z3 gives you 8GB of storage and a battery that is good for 15.5 hours of talk time. Which is at par with any phablet in this price range.

BMW-7 Series 760Li High Security launched in India

BMW India sprang surprise by launching armoured variant of 7-Series saloon in domestic market christened, 760Li High Security. The armoured version of the saloon is built specifically for individuals who require high security for which the company has bestowed 760Li High Security with the necessary modifications to make it meet the stern safety standards. BMM 7-Series 760Li High Security has been certified to the international standard guideline, BRV2009 and complies with the top most requirements of the ballistic protection. The vehicle has been tuned to provide adequate safety and is a strong contender on individual mobility segment.

BMW-7 Series 760Li High Security launched in India

The company says that the security variant was developedin line with the standard avatar of 7-Series and amalgamation of safety components were done at the company’s manufacturing unit located in Dingolfing alongside the standard variant. Revivifications have been made to the chassis of the vehicle to render sturdiness, suspension has also been revised, dampers and strut top mountings have been tweaked too which are responsible for balancing excess weight due to armour plating.

To maintain the confidentiality of the customers, BMW India is also extending services including consultancy, personalized sales and service support to the customers in the country. Servicing of the new BMW 7-Series 760Li High Security can be done at the certified special garages only where the access to the vehicle is allowed to select trained personnel. Driver training programmes for BMW security vehicles can also be availed by interested customers, these programmes are being conducted by BMW itself.

Ministry terms for spectrum sharing

Connecting call

New Delhi, June 12: The finance ministry may push the Telecom Commission to accept the sharing of spectrum provided the company farming out the scarce resource pays a percentage of the revenue it earns from such a deal to the government.

According to officials, with the Telecom Disputes Settlement & Appellate Tribunal allowing roaming pacts, stalling spectrum sharing did not make sense, unless the government decided to challenge roaming before the Supreme Court.

They said the alternative was to foster a healthy market for sharing unused spectrum with a fee that would add to the coffers of the government.

The government is likely to agree to spectrum sharing within the same circle, officials said. However, this will depend on inter-ministrial consultations.

The government will also have to decide on the spectrum usage charge and how they will be levied on a company taking extra spectrum within a circle.

At present, the formula to calculate the charge is based on slabs, with the charge varing from 3-8 per cent of revenue, depending on how spectrum is being used. This means when an operator buys or rents fresh spectrum, it moves to a higher slab. Analysts maintain that the implementation of this rule will lead to the clubbing of total spectrum being shared by two operators to calculate the fee.

“For example, if telco A has 7 MHz of spectrum and B has 4.4 and A rented out 2 MHz to B, both will pay a proportionate but higher charge calculated on the total, that is 11.4 MHz,” independent telecom sector analyst Sudipto Bose said.

Telecom regulator Trai had called the differential spectrum usage charge “a disincentive for any merger or acquisition, spectrum sharing and trading as well as in acquiring any additional spectrum”.

Idea QIP

Idea Cellular today said it had raised Rs 3,000 crore through qualified institutional placement (QIP) which witnessed strong interest from both foreign and domestic investors.

The company will raise Rs 750 crore through private placement of 5.18 crore shares to its Malaysia-based existing shareholder Axiata.