The industry has witnessed several launches
in the gadget segment last year. The selection of gadgets for the
TelecomLead.com editorial was easy as select gadgets made consumers happy.
1) Apple iPhone
4S
The latest smartphone from Apple has become a cult with a
new operating system in the form of iOS 5, iCloud and Siri voice assistant.
iPhone 4S officially sold 4 million units during its opening weekend.
The features of the Apple smartphone include a 1GHz
dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 processor, PowerVR SGX543MP2 GPU, Apple A5 chipset, and
8-megapixel camera capturing videos at 1080 pixels. It also has a 3.5-inch TFT
Retina multitouch display, and is loaded with iOS 5. The device measures 115.2
x 58.6 x 9.3 mm and weighs 140 grams.
Though, the new iPhone is lacking prominent
specifications like edge-to-edge design, a larger display, 4G LTE, and
near-field communication (NFC) technology.
2) Samsung
Galaxy S 2
Samsung Galaxy S2 runs on Android 2.3 Gingerbread OS and
sports Samsung’s TouchWiz UI, comes in three variants. It has been officially
known that Galaxy S2 would be upgradable to Google Inc.’s smartphone
operating system.
Galaxy S2 received overwhelming responses from around the
world it has 4.3-inch display, featuring 125.3 x 66.1 x 8.5 mm dimension and
weighs 116 grams. The smartphone is powered by a dual-core 1.2 GHz ARM
Cortex-A9, Mali-400MP GPU Orion chipset.
Galaxy S2 also has an 8-megapixel camera with flash and
can record HD video in 1080 pixels. The phone also has the front-facing
2-megapixel camera for video chat.
3) HTC EVO 3D
The HTC 3D has arrived in India after an impressive launch
in the US market. The key attraction being the 3D image capturing and
glasses-free viewing capabilities, the smartphone also allows instant sharing
of content. The smartphone runs on Wualcomm Snapdragon processor and powered
with the Gingerbird Android OS. Gingerbird allows the phone to offer all the
multimedia functionalities. In India the cost of HTC EVO 3D is Rs, 34,125.
4) Nokia Lumia
800
Nokia Lumia is enabled with 3.5 mm audio
jack and loud speaker options. The Nokia Lumia 800 comes with 142
gm of weight. The dimensions of the model are 116.5 x 61.2 x 12.1 mm. The
mobile phone is having 3.7 inches AMOLED capacitive touch screen display with
16 M colors. The 480 x 800 pixels resolution is presented in the display.
Vibration, polyphonic, MP3 and WAV as ringtones options are well integrated in
the handset.
The Smartphone is integrated with 1.4
GHz processor, Microsoft window phone 7.5 Mango OS and Qualcomm
MSM 8255 chipset. The phone offers 16 GB internal memory and 512 MB RAM. It
comes with Bluetooth v2.1 with EDR+ A2DP, Micro USB 2.0 cable port
and Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n as data connectivity options. GPRS and EDGE
internet connectivity options are available in the model. The Nokia
Lumia 800 is providing 8.0 MP camera with Dual LED flash and Geo tagging
options. The model comes with 3264 x 2448 pixels resolution of camera.
5) LG Thrill 4G
LG Thrill 4G is a unique 3D phone competing with its
counterpart LG optimus 3D and HTC EVO. Easily considered its attention grabber,
the Thrill 4G’s 3D display appears to be slightly better than the one
on the HTC EVO 3D mainly due to its better viewing angles.
LG Thrill 4G captures 5 megapixel still images and full
HD 1080p video in regular old two dimensions. The Thrill 4G comes with
Android 2.2 and 8GB of built in memory as well as an 8GB microSD card (though
this slot is expandable up to 32GB). It offers the HDMI output and can connect
up to 4 Wi-Fi devices. The phone is powered with Dual-core 1GHz ARM
Cortex-A9 processor and TI OMAP4430 chipset.
It produces a decent amount of detail and poppy looking colors. Also, its
great viewing angles allow it to maintain its appearance, though its
brightness output is still lacking and ultimately requires us to shield it from
the sun. The phone is priced at
Rs. 30,100/- in India.
6) BlackBerry
Bold 9900
In India, the growing BBM fan base seems to be the reason
why Blackberry handsets are making their way into the market. The most recent
release of BlackBerry, which is Bold 9900 smartphone fuelled by BlackBerry 7 OS
and 1.2 GHz processor. The Smartphone’s iconic form factor along with the 2.8
inch transmissive LCD display and liquid graphics makes it even more desirable.
It is priced at Rs. 31,999.
7) Amazon
Kindle Fire
Amazon Kindle Fire features a vibrant 7-inch color touch
screen offering 1024×600 resolution with 169 ppi, a 1GHz dual-core processor,
512MB RAM and a new browser – Amazon Silk – as well as the Amazon Web Services
cloud. Amazon began shipping its Kindle Fire tablet on Nov.14 and the price of
this tablet is $199.
The tablet is appealing to an entertainment hungry
audience, as Amazon will integrate the tablet tightly with its Cloud services
that sells books, movies and music, providing stiff competition to Apple in
terms of content. Kindle Fire is built on the older generation of Android
systems (Android 2.2 Froyo) and lacks a camera, which may disappoint photo
enthusiasts.
8) Huawei
IDEOS S7
Huawei IDEOS S7 Slim, also known as the Telstra T-Touch
Tab, that uses a 7in (800×480 resolution) resistive screen. The onboard
storage is a tiny 0.512GB flash drive, which will fill up in the blink of an
eye unless upgraded to a healthier 16GB via the Micro SD slot.
In terms of slots and ports, there’s a Micro USB
2.0 port and an audio jack, and connectivity-wise, there’s 3G and 802.11 b/g/n
Wi-Fi. It runs on various frequency such as GSM 900 / 1800 / 1900 / HSDPA 900 /
2100 MHz. There’s also a camera, and despite all this the S7 remains very
light, coming in at 500 grams. The OS is Android 2.1, but happily enough it can
be upgraded for free to Android 2.2. We think the S7 is a good option for
anyone wanting to try the tablet experience as cheaply as possible.
Admittedly the S7 is inexpensive, and priced at $199. It
could be seen as an alternative to other costly tablets.
9) ZTE
Light Tab
Another addition to the range of Android tablets, ZTE
Light Tab 2 is a 7-inch Android 2.3.5. The 12.6mm-thick Tablet comes with a
1024 x 600 non-IPS LCD and a capacitive touchscreen, garnished with a 1.4GHz
Qualcomm single core chip, 4GB of ROM, 512MB of RAM, a 0.3 megapixel
front-facing camera, a 3.2 megapixel imager on the back, a generous 3,400mAh
battery and, of course, 14.4Mbps HSDPA connection that supports voice call.
This tablet weighs only 389g and priced at $370.20.
The multi-lingual Android 2.3.5 smart operating system
features GPS, enables seamless multitasking on the tablet and provides access
to 300,000 apps in the Android Market. The ZTE Light Tab 2 frees customers to
play with apps, browse the Internet, read books, listen to music or watch
movies anywhere.
10) Akash tablet
Akash tablet is jointly developed by the London-based
company DataWind with the Indian Institute of Technology Rajasthan. The tablet
comes with 7-inch resistive display, powered with 266 MHz processor. The tablet
has Graphic Accelerator and HD Video co-processor. The tablet has 256 MB RAM,
supported with 2GB Micro SD card, expandable to 32 GB. It comes preloaded with
Android 2.1 operating system. Connectivity wise it supports Wi-Fi and GPRS. It
has 2 USB ports and 2100 mAh battery. The tablet is priced at Rs 2,999.
By Danish Khan
editor@telecomlead.com