September 17, 2011

Samsung will announce Windows 8 tablet next week

Korean electronics giant, Samsung has partnered with Microsoft to launch the first tablet running Windows 8 OS. This announcement should take place during Microsoft’s developers’ conference in California next week. Android tablets aren’t exactly flying off the shelves, which is primarily due to the limitations of Honeycomb. So, it makes sense to expand one's product base with a different OS, which is exactly what Samsung is trying to do. Who knows, maybe Windows 8 could be the next best thing after iOS in the tablet world.

We still don’t know anything about what the tablet will look like or its specifications, but I think it’s safe to assume it won’t be far off from their current offerings. With Apple harrowing Samsung at every turn with lawsuits, it’s not a bad idea to plan for the future. Being a Windows-based tablet, we should be able to expect certain things like a USB port, more than 1GB RAM and possibly HDMI. Samsung may just go with their Super AMOLED Plus screens like the ones used on the Note. The conference will be held from the 13th to the 16th of September, this year. So, I guess we wait till then for more news to pour in.

Google+ releases API for developers

While Facebook has been rolling out features this week with improved lists and subscribe buttons, Google+ has stayed quiet for the most part. Now, however, Google+ is releasing part of their API for developers saying, "This is just the beginning". This means there will now be outside applications for Google+, however, they have laid some pretty strict rules for third party developers. Some of the principles Google has laid for their developers include, "put the user first, be transparent, and respect user data". The API was released on public data only, which means they can only retrieve public posts and public profile data.

Developers note that there are not a lot of APIs in this release, and it only allows for querying of a single person or an activity/action on Google+. So third party apps like Tweetdeck or HootSuite could be created to display what's going on on Google+, but they will not let users post to Google+. Because the APIs are so simple, the app approval procedure is also simple, they only request to know who the developer is on Google. Given that this is only an initial release, more releases of Google+ APIs are sure to come. Which means more potential for Google+ to be more ubiquitous.

September 16, 2011

Nokia 100 & Nokia 101 Affordable Phone from Nokia

Nokia has announced two very affordable phones with music features in India, the dual-SIM Nokia 101 and the single SIM Nokia 100. We had posted the global announcement about the launch of these mobile phones a few weeks ago. The 101 is the fifth dual-SIM phone from the company and is the most affordable of the lot.
 
The Nokia 101 is a dual-SIM phone, allowing the user to access two different networks. The Nokia SIM manager in the phone allows the users to decide which SIM card is to be used to make calls and which is to be used for SMS, to maximise cost benefits and maintain network coverage with just a single phone. It also allows users to store settings of up to five SIM cards on the phone and to personalise them by assigning names and logos for each SIM setting. The 101 comes with multimedia facilities including an MP3 player, FM radio, loudspeaker, and 16 GB expandable memory.
 
The Nokia 100 is aimed at users looking for durability and simplicity with an affordable means of texting and making calls. It is the most affordable colour display phone from Nokia and comes with an easy to use grid-based menu system with icons, which is easy to use. This phone also features an FM radio and a loudspeaker to play the same. The above phones come with Nokia Life Tools and Nokia Money for instant access to locally-relevant information on healthcare, education, agriculture, and entertainment.

The phones will come with an attractive offer from Airtel, which will provide customers with 100 minutes of free Airtel to Airtel talk time for one month. Customers can opt to continue the plan for the next month with a minimum recharge. The offer also includes 400 national and local SMS free every month. The Nokia 100 and Nokia 101 will be available at MRPs of Rs 1399 and Rs 1699 respectively with the former becoming available in October, while the latter launching in the next few weeks in black and red colours.