Huawei and Airtel launch India's first LTE smartphone called Ascend P1 LTE

Huawei along with Airtel has launched the Ascend P1 LTE smartphone in the Indian market, and it is officially the country’s first LTE capable smartphone. While LTE 4G is still to spread country wide it will run on Airtel’s LTE 4G network wherever available.

The Ascend P1 LTE sports a 4.3-inch AMOLED display with a 960x540 pixels (qHD) resolution and the device is powered by a dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor clocked at 1.5GHz. It's fitted with 1GB of RAM, 4GB of built-in storage, microSD card slot and a 1,800 mAh battery to run the show.

This is an Android 4.0.4 ICS based smartphone which is skinned with Huawei’s own user interface. The Ascend P1 LTE sports an 8 megapixel rear camera and a secondary front facing 1.3 megapixel camera.

The device will not be locked to Airtel’s network, however Airtel is the only operator which currently provides 4G connectivity in select regions. Airtel and Huawei will announce the pricing and the availability of these devices later this month.

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Apple sends out invites for Oct. 23 iPad mini event

Tech watchers and Apple fans are speculating that Apple will launch a new smaller iPad model as early as next week after Apple today issued a media invite to a special launch event to be held on October 23, at the California Theatre in San Jose.

The invite revealed little about the launch, merely stating that “We’ve got a little more to show you.”

Apple, not surprisingly, has yet to confirm whether the iPad mini even exists, but rumors of a smaller iPad have been circulating for years, with speculation ramping up substantially over the past several months and weeks.

Most have dubbed the unconfirmed new device the “iPad Mini”, “iPad Nano” or even the “iPad Air”.

Further speculation believes the smaller iPad will be available in black and white with storage options of 8GB, 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB.  Moreover, it’s believed it will be Wi-Fi-only and may start at a price as low as $249.

What will the smaller iPad feature? We’ll find out on October 23.

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Microsoft unveils Xbox Music

Microsoft has unveiled Xbox Music, which combines free music streaming, music subscription and purchasing into an all-in-one service. The company said it will first roll out the service Tuesday on its Xbox 360 video game console and later in October on personal and tablet computers and smartphones. Xbox Music will come pre-installed as the default music player for Windows 8, officially launching on Oct 26.

With the new service, users can listen to streaming songs for free, from a catalog of over 30 million titles, on PCs and tablets running on Windows 8. They can also choose to pay $9.99 per month to get unlimited access to songs on various devices. The service includes an on-line store that allows users to buy single songs or entire album on their computers or smartphones. It also allows users to create the so-called "Internet radio" based on their favorite artists.

With Xbox Music being a cloud-based service, users can access their carefully-created playlists and play their favorite music on any device. "There are a lot of individual services that do a good job, but today there isn't a service which can pull together the benefits of download-to-own, music subscription, or free streaming services," Yusuf Mehdi of Microsoft said in a statement.

Xbox Music is Microsoft's new move to compete with technology giants, including Apple and Google, which have launched their own digital music services. Xbox Music will eventually be available on other platforms such as Google's Android and Apple's iOS as mobile applications, Microsoft said. -IANS

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HTC Desire X officially launched in India, priced Rs. 19,799

Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC has officially launched its Desire X smartphone in the Indian market. This is an Android 4.0 ICS based device powered by a 1GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor, supported by 768 MB of RAM.

The device was announced in August and it went on sale in India starting last week. The HTX Desire X is equipped with a 5 megapixel rear camera with autofocus, f/2.0 aperture, 28mm wide angle lens, BSI sensor and LED flash. It does not include a front facing camera, unlike most of the new Android smartphones. Additionally, it includes 4GB of built-in storage capacity, a microSD card for expandable storage and a 1,650 mAh battery.

The Desire X has a 4-inch Super LCD display with 480x800 pixels resolution and 233 ppi pixel density. In terms of the connectivity the device features 3G capability, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, DLNA, Bluetooth 4.0 with A2DP and aptX audio and finally GPS/aGPS capability.

It will come with 25GB of free Dropbox storage and also built-in Beats Audio technology. The device has been up for grabs at a best buy price of Rs. 19,799 and has a MRP of Rs. 23,499.

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Samsung showcases Ultra Touch Windows 8

Samsung has reportedly revealed the price and specs for 13-inch series of Windows 8 based laptops, which carries a rather misleading name of (Series 5) Ultra Touch Windows 8. The laptop will ship with a 500GB hard-drive for primary storage with a 32GB onboard SSD working as system cache. The display is not touch-sensitive, and has a rather modest resolution of 1366x768 pixels. The laptop has a CPU from the Intel Core i3 series, 4GB RAM, and the entire rig weighs about 1.7 kilos. In all fairness however, Samsung has priced the machine lower than Windows 8 systems we have seen so far from other vendors. Samsung’s Ultra Touch Windows 8 is priced at $809.99, and an upgrade to Core i5 costs an extra $50.

Source: The Verge

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Felix Baumgartner's stratospheric skydive drives most concurrent views ever on YouTube

Over 8 million concurrent users, the most ever on YouTube tuned into the livestream of Felix Baumgartner's supersonic skydive from the edge of space. "It was really a lot harder than I thought it was going to be," says Austrian Felix Baumgartner who broke the record for the highest ever skydive by leaping out of a balloon at a height of 39 km. The mission broke world records for maximum vertical velocity (833.9 mph), longest distance freefall (119,846 feet), and the highest jump from a platform (128,100 feet). Felix's jump took over five years of work from the Red Bull Stratos mission team, after rising in a capsule propelled by 30 million cubic feet of helium.

Describing his record breaking jump from the stratosphere, he said: "The exit was perfect but then I started spinning slowly. I thought I'd just spin a few times and that would be that, but then I started to speed up. It was really brutal at times. I thought for a few seconds that I'd lose consciousness."

"It was an incredible up and down today, just like it's been with the whole project," said Baumgartner, recounting his experience after the jump. "First we got off with a beautiful launch and then we had a bit of drama with a power supply issue to my visor," redbullstratos.com Monday quoted Baumgartner as saying.

"I didn't feel a sonic boom because I was so busy just trying to stabilize myself. We'll have to wait and see if we really broke the sound barrier. It was really a lot harder than I thought it was going to be," he said.

-IANS

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Leaked: iPad Mini price and configurations

While Apple is yet to officially confirm the existence of the iPad Mini, the rumour mills have filled us in almost all details regarding the new tablet. The latest leak, from mobilegeeks.de shows a screenshot of what appears to be an inventory system, with prices listed next to 16 iPad Mini versions - available in a choice of white and black colors.

Specs wise, the iPad Mini is expected in eight different options, with capacities ranging from 8, 16, 32 and 64 GB, with a cellular option at each storage level. While the prices are published in Euros, based on historical pricing, it's safe to estimate that the entry-level Wi-Fi version will start at USD $250, with a $100 markup for additional storage capacity or cellular capabilities.

The iPad Mini is rumored to be a powered by an A5x processor, and is fitted with a 7.95-inch 1024x768 resolution screen, which doesn't qualify as a Retina Display. Previously leaked images have shown off dual cameras and dual-speaker grilles and a lightning port. According to the latest reports, the iPad Mini is expected to be unveiled on October 23rd, and Apple has ordered its OEMs to produce over 10 million iPads in 4Q 2012.

Via: Cnet, Mobilegeeks.de

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Micromax updates Canvas A110, now available for pre-order

Micromax has lately really been upping their game in the Indian market, launching quality products at aggressive prices, in an attempt to capitalise on market share this festive season. The next big gun in Micromax’s lineup is the successor to the Superfone Canvas A100, powered by Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.

The Micromax A110 Canvas 2 is available for pre-booking on Snapdeal.com, for a small fee of Rs. 500. The updated phablet has the same 5-inch IPS display, now with a 1Ghz dual-core processor, 8mp camera with LED flash and a 0.3mp front facing camera. You also get the usual 3G, WiFi, and Bluetooth 3.0 capabilities with the smartphone. The updated Canvas runs on Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich, and is backed up by a 2000mAh battery pack.

The Micromax Canvas A110 is a cheap competitor of the Samsung Galaxy Note series, which created the phablet category. The smartphone is expected to launch at about Rs. 12,000. It also appears that Micromax have cooked a white version for the updated Canvas 2, which could boost sales.

Customers who pre-order the Micromax Canvas A110 are enrolled in a lucky draw, wherein you stand a chance of winning couple tickets to the Enrique Iglesias concert this month in the country. The pre-order is up for the whole country, whereas the contest is open only to people from Pune, Delhi NCR, and Bengaluru, where the international star will be performing.

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