iPad Air, Retina iPad mini launched in India

Apple launched its iPad Air and iPad mini with Retina display tablets in the Indian market today, bringing its latest products to the country soon after their global launch. The company held a launch event in New Delhi for the two tablets.

The iPad Air is the new full-sized tablet in Apple's portfolio and will be on sale alongside the two-year-old iPad 2. New features of the latest Apple tablet include the 64-bit A7 chipset, thinner profile and refreshed design.

The second-generation iPad mini comes with major upgrades over its predecessors, mainly the Retina display and the latest 64-bit A7 processor.

The prices for the 9.7 inch iPad Air starts at Rs. 35,900 for the base model 16GB variant without cellular connectivity and goes right up to Rs. 65,900 for the 128GB variant with built in LTE. The iPad Mini with Retina Display on the other hand starts off at Rs. 28,900 for the 16GB version with WiFi and goes up to Rs. 58,900 for the 128Gb WiFi + 4G LTE model.

iPad Air Pricing

• 16GB, WiFi only – Rs. 35,900 | WiFi + 4G – Rs. 44,900
• 32GB, WiFi only – Rs. 42,900 | WiFi + 4G – Rs. 51,900
• 64GB, WiFi only – Rs. 49,900 | WiFi + 4G – Rs. 58,900
• 128GB, WiFi only- Rs.56,900 | WiFi + 4G – Rs. 65,900

iPad Mini with Retina Display

• 16GB, WiFi only – Rs. 28,900 | WiFi + 4G – Rs. 37,900
• 32GB, WiFi only – Rs. 35,900 | WiFi + 4G – Rs. 44,900
• 64GB, WiFi only – Rs. 42,900 | WiFi + 4G – Rs. 51,900
• 128GB, WiFi only-Rs. 49,900 | WiFi + 4G – Rs. 58,900

iPad Air will compete against the likes of Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 (2014 edition) and Sony Xperia Tablet Z in the Indian market. Rivals of the Retina iPad mini in India include the second-generation Google Nexus 7 and Samsung Galaxy Note 510.

Kindle Fire HDX tablet

The all-new Kindle Fire HDX tablets are sleeker, lighter and come with upgraded hardware specifications. The Kindle Fire HDX 7 tablet comes with 7-inch display with 1920x1200 pixels resolution and 323ppi pixel density, while the 8.9-inch model features an 8.9-inch display with 2560x1600 pixels resolution and pixel density of 339ppi. The Kindle Fire HDX 7 only sports a front-facing HD camera (unspecified megapixel count), whereas the bigger sibling comes with front-facing HD camera and an 8-megapixel rear camera. Both new tablets are powered by a 2.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 processor alongside 2GB of RAM, and run the new Fire OS 3.0 based on Android Jelly Bean.

A 1.3MP camera will full HD video recording capabilities ensures that video chatting on this device is a breeze. Internal storage is decent at 16GB. Connectivity options include Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS and microUSB connectivity.

Credit : Slashgear

Amazon.com modifies Android so much that it no longer resembles Android. The company calls it Fire OS 3.0, or Mojito. Amazon's services are front and center on the Fire, and Google's are nowhere to be found. It's the other way around on the Nexus 7 and other Android devices. For a day or two, I even forgot the Kindle Fire can do much more.

Regular customers of Amazon will appreciate that integration. A row of tabs at the top of the screen offers quick access to various Amazon services, including e-books, music, videos and audiobooks, the latter from the Audible business that Amazon bought in 2008. Another tab gets you Amazon's shopping site, where you can buy television sets, vacuum cleaners and tennis rackets. The Kindle is already tied to your Amazon account, so it's easy - perhaps too easy - to just click and buy.

Kindle Fire HDX 7 tablet key specifications

• 7-inch display with 1920x1200 pixels resolution
• 323ppi pixel density
• HD front-facing camera
• 2.2 GHz Snapdragon 800 quad-core processor
• 2GB of RAM
• Fire OS 3.0 based on Android Jelly Bean
• 16GB/32GB/64GB storage variants

Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 tablet key specifications

• 8.9-inch display with 2560x1600 pixels resolution
• Pixel density of 339ppi
• HD front-facing camera
• 8-megapixel rear camera
• 2.2 GHz Snapdragon 800 quad-core processor
• 2GB of RAM
• Fire OS 3.0 based on Android Jelly Bean

As successor to the Kindle Fire, the Fire HDX lives up to expectations thanks to exceptional specs like the stunning display, awesome processor, good front camera and sufficient connectivity options. The colour options are limited, but that aside, this device is good enough for anyone seeking a powerful tablet that is capable of providing an excellent visual experience.

The best part of the new Kindle is its price. Amazon.com Inc. begins shipping it on Thursday,Nov 14 starting at $379. That's cheaper than the new $399 iPad Mini, which has a display that measures 7.9 inches diagonally. The full-size Kindle Fire HDX has an 8.9-inch screen, just short of the iPad Air's 9.7 inches. Even cheaper is the 7-inch Kindle Fire HDX, which costs $229.

Sony Xperia Z Ultra

The Sony Xperia Z Ultra is a big ol' phone. It’s huge in fact. After the 5.7-inch Samsung Galaxy Note 3 and the 6.3-inch Samsung Galaxy Mega, Sony is pushing the limits of what is acceptable to carry in your pocket with this giant 6.4-inch Android smartphone.

Almost every smartphone seems to be small when you compare it to the Xperia Z Ultra. The smartphone/tablet hybrid is huge with 179 x 92 x 6.5 mm, but also very thin. The Galaxy Note 3 is considerably thicker with 8.3 mm, but also more than 40 grams lighter. The use of glass at the back should be the main reason for that additional weight since the case of the Galaxy Note 3 is once again completely made of plastic.

The physical button for stand-by and the volume rocker can easily be reached with one hand because they are on the lower half of the device - no risk for contortions. The build quality is on a very high level and the materials can convince us - even though the glass at the back attracts fingerprints. The torsion resistance cannot quite keep up with the HTC One because of the thin profile and results in a slight point reduction.

Similar to many other Xperia devices, the Z Ultra is also certified according to the IP55 & IP58 standards. This means you can submerge the phone for 30 minutes to a depth of 1.5 meters. Even though the Ultra Z is supposed to be equipped with a back of robust glass and a protective film, we already had a few scratches after a little while.

The Xperia Z Ultra packs a powerful quad-core 2.2 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 MSM8974 System-on-Chip which is paired with Adreno 330 graphics chip clocked at 450 Mhz. To make the best of this SoC, Sony has fitted 2 GB RAM in the phablet. We ran variety of popular benchmark apps just to satiate our itch for testing the new SoC breed. We weren't surprised for the Snapdragon 800 easily topped in several benchmarks such as 3DMark scoring 15899 in the Ice Storm game benchmark. Interesting bit is that the Samsung Galaxy S 4 LTE-A model with the same processor gets slightly more score than the Xperia Z Ultra. The secret lies in the optimization performed by both companies separately.

The Xperia Z Ultra packs an 8 megapixel camera at the rear with Exmor RS imaging sensor for fast capture. When you look at the back, Sony inadvertently repeated the same mistake that Apple did with the first iPhone and Samsung followed it with Galaxy S - no LED Flash. Now there goes an opportunity to offer great images with little bit of artificial light. The Camera app remains the same as it has been with the last couple of Xperia series handsets. In the camera app, the on-screen button in upper left corner can be tapped to get single tap access to various modes - Normal, Burst, Picture Effect, Sweep Panorama, Scene Selection (With sub-menus), Video Camera and Front Camera-video.

The Sony Xperia Z Ultra is large screen phablet promising great multimedia possibilities at Rs 39,000 approximately. Undoubtedly the Xperia Z Ultra is one of the best and powerful phablets in the Indian market. The waterproof nature and slim body design makes it attractive to those who love big devices that can comfortably stay in the overcoat or blazer pockets. There is no way that this phablet can comfortably rest in the trouser pockets and having said that, it is one of the uncomfortable smartphones in terms of size.

Apple announces iPad Mini with Retina Display

Credit : TheVerge

Apple has debuted a new iPad Mini, called iPad Mini with Retina Display. The new tablet will obviously feature a much-requested 2,048x1,536-pixel Retina Display, comes in space gray and silver, and houses Apple's A7 chip, last seen in the iPhone 5S. On the software front, the Apple iPad mini 2 runs iOS 7 out of the box.

Credit : The Verge

 It ships in late November, starting at $399 for 16GB of storage for the Wi-Fi version, continuing to $499 for 32GB, $599 for 64GB, and $699 for the brand-new 128GB configuration. Cellular Minis start at $529 for 16GB and from there it's $629 for 32GB, $729 for 64GB, and finally a whopping $829 for 128GB.
Apple says the new iPad Mini is four times faster than last year's model and has eight times the graphics performance, while still providing a purported 10 hours of battery life.

Credit : The Verge

Camera specs are identical to last year's, but Apple has added an extra microphone. It features a 5 megapxel rear snapper, while there's a 1.2 MP front-facing camera for video calls (using Skype, Fring, etc).

Credit : The Verge

The 7.9-incher now crams in 1536x2048 pixels, which brings its pixel density to approx 325 ppi. Processing muscle is another aspect where the mini gets a serious upgrade. Apple has bumped up the innards from the humble dual-core Cortex-A9 processor to the spanking-new A7 chipset.

Credit : The Verge

A new version of the iPad Smart Case - think of it as a smart cover that surrounds the entire tablet - now for the Mini, will be released at $69.