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Friday, May 29, 2015

Honor 4C Review: Gets the Basics Right

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Like many other Chinese manufacturers, Huawei has been trying to create a footing for itself in the budget segment. Under the Honor range of smartphones, we've seen the Honor Holly and the Honor 4X try to battle it out with some strong competition. Despite being good devices in their own right, smartphones such as the Asus Zenfone 5 (Review | Pictures), Xiaomi Redmi 1S (Review | Pictures) and Xiaomi Redmi Note 4G(Review | Pictures) offered better value overall.
This year, Huawei is back with a new device, the Honor 4C. It costs a shade less than Rs. 9,000 and has a decent set of specifications. We've had a review unit for quite some time to figure out whether or not Huawei has managed to engineer the best budget device this time around.
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Look and feel
The first thing you notice when you pick up the Honor 4C is that it is quite a chunky device. Its 162g weight makes it unusually heavy for a phone in this day and age. The fact that it doesn't  have an especially high-capacity battery makes matters slightly worse. Moreover, the 8.8mm thickness is on the higher side.

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The Honor 4C is made mostly of plastic and rear has a textured design. It looks good but the phone doesn't grip properly and it kept slipping from our hands. The top left of the rear cover has a metal plate with cutouts for the primary camera and flash, and there are machine-drilled holes for the loudspeaker near the bottom. Removing the rear cover reveals that the battery is non-removable and that there are three slots - one for a microSD card and two for Micro-SIM cards.
The volume rocker and the power button are on the right of the phone. The power button is made from metal which makes it easy to locate by touch. The Micro-USB port and the microphone are on the bottom of the phone, whereas the top houses the 3.5mm audio port. The phone has a row of three capacitive buttons below the screen but they aren't backlit. Above the display one can find the earpiece, front-facing camera, and an LED indicator for notifications.
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Specifications and software
Huawei has used its own 1.2GHz octa-core Kirin 920 SoC and there is 2GB of RAM for support. The Honor 4C has 8GB of storage which can be expanded by up to 32GB using a microSD card. There is a 13-megapixel primary shooter, which is great, and also a 5-megapixel front-facing camera for selfies.

One disappointing thing about the Honor 4C is that it doesn't support 4G networks. We really think this should be a default feature considering the LTE rollout is happening fast. Other connectivity options include Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct, Bluetooth v4.0 and even FM radio in for good measure. The battery has a capacity of 2550mAh.
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The 5-inch IPS panel has a resolution of 720x1280, which translates to a pixel density of 294ppi. The screen is crisp and the colours are natural, but it is very dull even at maximum brightness and viewing angles are bad too. Sunlight legibility isn't that great either.
The phone runs Android 4.4.2 with Huawei's Emotion UI 3.0 skin on top. It is a pity that it doesn't come with Android Lollipop out of the box. The skin does not have an app drawer and so the home screens are filled with apps. The UI looks sleek and feels nimble to use. The One-hand UI and Suspend button features that we saw in previous Honor phones are also present here. Overall, it is a decent experience.
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Performance and camera
Huawei has done a good job of optimising software and hardware performance. The combination of octa-core SoC and 2GB of RAM keeps the phone running smooth and we never faced any hiccups. A few early buyers on forums have been complaining about heating issues on the phone but frankly we faced none even when we ran our intensive battery test and benchmarks. Additionally, even high-end games ran without lag.

In our AnTuTu and GFXbench tests the phone scored 24,139 and 6,435 respectively. While the GFXbench score is really low, the AnTuTu score is definitely much higher than most other phones in this price range. In 3DMark Ice Storm the phone scored 5,803 which is once again higher than a lot of other phones.
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The phone managed to play all our test video samples without any issues. That said, one complaint we've always had with Honor phones is  sound quality. Both the speaker and the earpiece sound is really low. You will need a headset to enjoy music or videos. We didn't face any call drops though and the connection stayed strong throughout our test period even in network-congested areas. Our video loop battery test lasted 8 hours and 5 minutes before the phone turned itself off, which is pretty good.
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(Click for full size)

The 13-megapixel rear camera is a really fast shooter. It takes very little time to focus and most importantly captures some really good details. The natural colours are pleasing to the eye as well. We didn't notice any sort of chromatic aberration or barrel distortion. We are really pleased with the performance of the camera. Low-light performance is not great but not bad either. The camera can capture 1080p video which looks good, and the 5-megapixel front camera can capture some very good details as well.

Verdict
We have to say that Huawei has created a pretty decent product for the price. The Honor 4C is a good shooter, fast performer, and doesn't have unnecessary software bloat either. We'd have liked the Honor 4C to have been lighter and have better sound quality, but these are minor problems. At Rs. 8,999, if you are not particularly interested in 4G, the Honor 4C is a great phone to buy. Some other great phones in this price range include the Yu Yureka (Review | Pictures), Lenovo A6000 Plus (Review |Pictures), and Lenovo A7000 (Review | Pictures).

source: http://gadgets.ndtv.com/mobiles/reviews/honor-4c-review-gets-the-basics-right-697011?utm_source=taboola

Avago Technologies Ltd buy Broadcom Corp for $37 billion

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Avago Technologies Ltd agreed on Thursday to buy Broadcom Corp for $37 billion in the largest merger of chipmakers ever, turning a lesser known company run by a ferocious dealmaker into one of the biggest industry players.
Avago, which serves the wireless and industrial markets, is offering Broadcom shareholders $17 billion in cash and Avago shares valued at $20 billion.
Broadcom is best known for its connectivity chips, which are used widely in smartphones made by Apple and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd.
The deal is the biggest so far by Avago Chief Executive Hock Tan, who has developed a small chipmaker into a $36 billion company through acquisitions since taking the helm nine years ago.
Tan, a serial deal-maker, has trimmed Avago's portfolio by divesting units while bulking up in faster-growing areas.
The combined company, to be based in Singapore and known as Broadcom, will be the third-largest U.S. semiconductor maker by revenue, behind Intel and Qualcomm. The merger is the industry's second megadeal this year and is unlikely to be the last, analysts said.
The $37 billion price represents a premium of about 28 percent over Broadcom's market value of $28.85 billion as of Tuesday's close, before the Wall Street Journal reported that the companies were in talks.
More deals?
Demand for cheaper chips and new products to power Internet-connected gadgets is driving consolidation in the industry.

The Avago-Broadcom deal follows NXP Semiconductors' $11.8 billion offer to buy Freescale Semiconductor Ltd in March. Avago had also bid for Freescale, people familiar with the matter said at the time.
Intel has also been in talks to buy chipmaker Altera Corp in a deal that could top $10 billion.
Until Thursday, Avago's biggest deal was for chipmaker LSI Corp, which it bought for $6.6 billion last year.
Tan's strategy has been to look at potential targets that do not necessarily have the best strategic fit but have cost-cutting potential to build value.
Avago and Broadcom first spoke about a potential merger in October 2014 but could not agree on a price, said people familiar with the matter who are unauthorized to speak publicly about it.
Talks heated up in April when Avago approached Broadcom again with higher offers, and negotiations continued until the two agreed on a deal.
Private equity firm Silver Lake Partners, which is an Avago investor and holds a board seat, worked closely with the company to help evaluate Broadcom and structure the deal, said two sources who are unauthorized to speak publicly about the deal.
Bargaining chip
The merger will help the companies improve their bargaining position with manufacturers.

Irvine, California-based Broadcom has been struggling to grow as competition in the mobile chip business intensifies. The company's revenue increased by just 1.5 percent last year.
Broadcom's shares closed down 1.5 percent at $56.25 on Thursday, while Avago's fell 0.62 percent to $142.38.
The companies said they expected to close the deal by the end of the first quarter of 2016 and save $750 million within 18 months. The deal has a breakup fee of $1 billion, one of the unidentified sources said.
The new Broadcom would have annual revenue of $15 billion and an enterprise value of $77 billion, the companies said in a statement.
Broadcom shareholders will own about 32 percent of the combined company. They would also have the option to choose between various combinations of cash and stock.
Avago, which is incorporated in Singapore and also has headquarters in San Jose, California, said it intended to fund the cash portion of the deal by using funds from the combined company and new debt of $9 billion.
Avago was advised by Deutsche Bank, Bank of America, Barclays, Citigroup and Credit Suisse.
Broadcom was advised by JPMorgan Chase, while Evercore served as financial adviser to the Special Committee of the board.
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP is the legal adviser to Broadcom. Broadcom co-founder Henry Nicholas was advised by Centerview and Morrison & Forester.
© Thomson Reuters 2015

Sunday, May 24, 2015

Intex Cloud N with 8 MP camera, quad core CPU launched at Rs 4,199

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Intex Cloud N looks pretty decent for the said price with features like 1 GB RAM, 64 GB expandable storage.
While Yu and Xiaomi are launching their devices with much fanfare, other Indian handset makers too are launching decent devices albeit without the same zeal. The recent one comes from desi company, Intex which has launched a device called Intex Cloud N for Rs 4,199 and it is available on many e-retailers' website.
As per the listing on Intex's website, the Cloud N has a 4 inch display with 480x800 pixels resolution, Android 4.4.2 KitKat operating system, 1 GB RAM, 8 GB built in storage, and 64 GB of expandable storage.
The phone offers decent 8 megapixel rear auto focus camera as well as a 2 megapixel front camera. Intex has armed the Cloud N with a 1400 mAh battery. The Intex Cloud N, which measures 124*64.5*9.0 mm, comes in grey, white and black colours, and weighs 101 grams.
Like other Android smartphones, the Intex Cloud N too has WiFiBluetooth3G, WiFi Hotspot, micro USB port, dual SIM and GPS with AGPS for navigation.

Meizu M1

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Meizu M1 Note comes in two storage variants but it is not clear which one of them has been launched in India.
Chinese handset maker, Meizu has formally entered the Indian market today with the launch of its M1 Note smartphone. The smartphone will be available from Amazon.in from Wednesday (May 20).
The Meizu M1 Note has a 5.5 inch full HD display with Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection. The handset measures 150.7 x 75.2 x 8.9 mm and weighs 145 grams. Released in January this year, the M1 Note Android KitKat operating system and 2 GB RAM. The smartphone has a 64 bit, 1.7 GHz Mediatek MT6572 octa core processor and comes in two versions – 16 GB and 32 GB. However, it is as of now not clear which version has been announced for India.
The Meizu M1 Note has a 13 megapixel auto focus rear camera with dual LED flash light and a 5 megapixel front camera. It has a non-removable 3140 mAh battery and offers dual band WiFiBluetooth 4.0 A2DP LE, micro USB port and a host of sensors. Note that his dual SIM smartphone is 4G ready.

Lenovo S60 quad core smartphone with 2 GB RAM launched in India

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The Lenovo S60 offers a 13 megapixel rear camera and a 5 megapixel front camera.
Lenovo today announced the launch of Lenovo S60 in India for Rs 12,999. It will be available in retail outlets soon and you can grab it from Lenovo's official brand store thedostore.com, Flipkart.com and Amazon.in, starting 12noon on Monday, May 18, 2015.
Lenovo S60 has rounded poly-carbonate shell, a 13 megapixel rear camera and 5 megapixel front camera. It is equipped with 2 GB RAM and 8 GB internal storage which is expandable upto another 32 GB.
The smartphone sports a 64-Bit 1.2 GHz quad core processor and a 5 inch HD screen. The S60 comes with a battery of 2150 mAh which claims to offer talk time of up to 30 hours and standby time of up to 14 days. The phone runs the Android 4.4 KitKat operating system and is said to be upgradable to Android 5.0 version.
The S60 has connectivity options which include WiFi and Bluetooth 4.0 and it also has Lenovo's P2P sharing app SHAREit that can be used to share files without WiFi, Data or Bluetooth. The S60 also comes preloaded with Lenovo's super camera software that offers multiple photo filters along with selfie enhancements and gesture controls for taking photographs.

Intex Cloud M5 II launched at Rs 4,799, offers 5MP front cam with flash light

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The front camera of Intex Cloud M5 II can be used for clicking selfies, taking panorama shots and continuous shots by using the volume button.
Intex today announced the launch of Cloud M5 II exclusively on Flipkart. The smartphone features a 5-inch FWVGA display and runs on Android 4.4.2 Kitkat on a 1.2 GHz quad core processor. The feature rich Dual-SIM smartphone is priced at Rs 4,799.
The Intex Cloud M5 II comes with a stunning 5 megapixel rear camera with flash and a 1.3 MP front camera which also has flash light support for clicking selfies, taking panorama shots and continuous shots by using the volume button.
Cloud M5 II also comes with an inbuilt memory of 8 GB, expandable up to 32GB. Additionally, the device has a light sensor that adjusts the screen brightness by detecting the light intensity of the environment. The product has a bunch of pre-loaded apps like Service, Clean Master, Ask Me, OLX etc.
Commenting on the launch, Sanjay Kumar Kalirona, business head, mobiles, Intex said, "The Cloud M5 II is yet another innovation of ours, towards improvising our offerings such that the aspirations of our consumers are reached. We believe in providing our customers with products that fit perfectly in the bracket of their needs and their pocket. This new product will be a package of the right design, colors and features at the right price."
This smartphone will be available in the colour variants of - White+Orange and Black+Blue

Samsung Galaxy Grand Neo Plus launched for Rs 9,990

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It has average features like a 5 inch display with 480x800 pixels resolution and Android KitKat operating system.
As was reported by The Mobile Indian earlier, Samsung has launched the Galaxy Grand Neo Plus. The smartphone was found listed on the company's official retail store for Rs 9,990.
The Samsung Galaxy Grand Neo Plus has a 5 inch display but with just 480x800 pixels resolution. The phone is also based on the old Android KitKat operating system but has a quad core processor. There is also decent 1 GB RAM, 8 GB inbuilt storage and a 64 GB micro SD card slot.
Samsung Galaxy Grand Neo
The Galaxy Grand Neo Plus has a 2100 mAh battery, 5 megapixel rear auto focus camera, and a 2 megapixel front camera. There is a flash light in the back panel too. The handset has a dimension of 143.7 x 77.1 x 9.5 mm and weighs 160 grams.
This dual SIM smartphone has GPS">AGPS and GLONASS for navigation, Bluetooth 4.0, and WiFi with WiFi Direct.

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