Mobile Phones News Blog

DataWind’s UbiSlate, which is considered as the cheapest Android tablet in the world after Aakash, will now support more Indian languages including English, Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, Punjabi etc.

DataWind has entered in a strategic alliance with Reverie Language Technologies of Bangalore which will equip the UbiSlate with the necessary support for various Indian local languages.

Announcing the alliance Suneet Singh Tuli, chief executive officer of DataWind said, “We are very happy to have formed this strategic partnership with Reverie for supply of language solutions. We feel strongly that technology should reach every corner of the world and knowledge of English should not be a barrier. This language solution will benefit the users by offering a new world of services and products to a segment of world population that has been ignored for so long.”

Reverie technologies will be providing the UbiSlate devices with an operating system level integration with the local language that will ensure that the complete user experience will be in the language of choice of the customer. UbiSlate tablets will have text rendering technology capable of displaying all languages including complex scripts and keypads for all supported languages including transliteration technology. So if a user opts for Tamil, then all the content in the tablet will be displayed in Tamil.

After perhaps more speculation and rumours than any handset in the history of smartphones, the Samsung Galaxy S III has finally landed at the Samsung Unpacked event at Earls Court in London. We were fortunate to be able to attend the launch in all its orchestra-backed, Oscar awards ceremony tinged grandeur, where we would be introduced to this most anticipated of devices and, most importantly, get our hands on one.

On picking up the Galaxy S III the first thing that jumps out is the stunning 4.8-inch Super AMOLED display which offers dazzling colours and excellent contrast. The device is extremely lightweight at just 133g and also slender with a thickness of 8.6mm. The overall form factor is reminiscent of the Galaxy Nexus complete with rounded corners, however, the inclusion of a physical home button differentiates the S III from its predecessor.

In terms of design, the S III is said to be inspired by nature and this is apparent in both the colourways the device is available in (pebble blue or marble white) and the glazed finish of the plastic rear panel which supposedly represents flowing water.

The S III features a quad-core processor under the bonnet and the device also comes loaded with a huge 2100mAh battery, one of the largest capacities we have come across in a smartphone. Connectivity options are plentiful with 3G, NFC and Bluetooth 4.0 built in ensuring connectivity is as cutting edge as the rest of the phone. Internal storage comes in 16GB, 32GB or 64GB options with expansion options catered for by microSD slot.

Android ICS runs out of the box as expected and comes skinned with an all new TouchWiz Nature UI which, as the name suggests, is built broadly around the themes of air, water and all things outdoorsy.

The onboard 8 megapixel camera offers some particularly intuitive features including “best shot” mode (which will automatically pick the best image from an 8 shot burst), zero shutter lag for instant capture and a start up of just 990ms. Video capture is available in full 1080p HD and impressively, the front-facing camera is also capable of HD recording.

Samsung has positioned the S III as a device that is ‘effortless and intuitive’, meaning great measures have been taken in order to make the features included as useful as possible in everyday use. These features include S-Voice, a function that appears to be along similar lines to Apple’s Siri, and S -Beam which is built upon the foundations of Android Beam. One particularly innovative inclusion is the Pop-up Play video functionality which offers the ability to watch videos at the same time as carrying out other tasks on the handset.

Another innovation is Smart Stay, an intriguing feature which uses the front-facing camera to read the users eyes. This technology has the ability to place the handset into standby if you fall asleep while watching a movie, or even stop auto-rotation of the display if you lie down whilst using the handset.

The focal points of the Galaxy S III all appear to be built around the need to be intuitive and Samsung’s desire for this handset to effortlessly fit into the user’s everyday life. Although the numerous features are a little overbearing at first, they will undoubtedly be attractive to consumers wanting the very latest technology in their pocket. Also, innovative functionality such as pop out video really did provide the wow factor in our short time with the handset.

Although we will withhold judgement of the Galaxy S III until we can really delve into the workings of the device, we’re sure that it will be another Samsung creation that really pushes the boundaries of smartphone technology.

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Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus, which is the latest in the series of Google Nexus phones offering pure Android 4.0 experience, will not be launched in India at all. Samsung has announced this in reply to a post on Twitter.

Samsung had earlier promised to launch the phone in December 2011 itself. “The launch of Galaxy Nexus will take place before end of this year (2011),” Ranjit Yadav who is the country head of mobile & IT business at Samsung India, told reporters last year.

After missing the initial deadline, Samsung then promised to introduce the phone in India in March this year. And now finally it has said that it will not launch it at all, and instead wants people to wait for its next big launch.

Though it is purely Samsung’s call to launch a device in a particular market, the way in which the entire thing has been handled is highly unprofessional and it seems that either Samsung is getting complacent or taking Indian consumer for granted, or doesn’t consider Indian market fit for a more than few high-end devices.

This is not the first time that a Nexus series phone has not been released in India. Even the first Nexus series phone, called Nexus One and was made by HTC, was not launched in India as well. The second one made by Samsung, called Nexus S, was launched after several months of its global launch.

It is important to note that Samsung claims that India is one of the most important market for the company.

It seems that company has taken this decision to make way for its yet to be launched Samsung Galaxy SIII, which is going to be launched in London today.

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Camera lens maker Carl Zeiss has had a long and illustrious partnership with Nokia already, and an announcement has just been made that the relationship is set to continue for several more years.

Carl Zeiss lenses have been found on many of Nokia’s best camera phones, including the N95, N82, the N8 and the latest 808 PureView, equipped with a show-stopping 41 megapixel camera.

Nokia’s vice president of smart services, Jo Harlow, said Carl Zeiss was a “crucial partner in the creation of the first PureView experience,” and that we should expect “more PureView innovation and further enhancements in smartphone imaging in the coming months and years.”

The new deal between the two companies will see Carl Zeiss work exclusively with Nokia, and although PureView technology is currently only found on a single device, it’s expected that we’ll see a similar camera on a Nokia Windows Phone in the future.

Launched at Mobile World Congress, the 808 PureView will go on sale in certain markets later this month, before arriving in the UK before the end of June. It has a 4-inch touchscreen, 16GB of internal memory, NFC and uses Nokia Belle as its operating system. The phone’s standout feature is the 41 megapixel camera, which also shoots 1080p video and has a xenon flash.

Nokia recently produced a special video promoting the 808 PureView, which was shot using the device itself.

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The second day of RIM’s showcase event was a calmer affair than the first lacking anything to match the dazzling display of the new BlackBerry operating system. However, the Canadian company has laid out more of its future plans since we last updated you.

The biggest announcement, one that will ease any worries of dedicated BlackBerry fans, is that RIM will continue to make devices with physical keypads. US-based mobile site Phone Scoop report that RIM confirmed the strategy at BlackBerry World, but was informed that the first BB10 devices may be touchscreen-only. Physical keypads are said to be something that will be reintroduced into the BlackBerry range at a later stage.

Whilst on the subject of hardware, another announcement from RIM states that it is planning on releasing another developer-only device before the end of the year. The Dev Alpha, which has been given out at the event, does not run BB10 and RIM has stated that it has no plans for an upgrade. Any new device will only be available to developers who have made an app compatible with the new OS and had it approved.

The other news for developers of BlackBerry apps is that RIM is now offering a cash incentive to create for the upcoming OS. BB10 is said to be mostly incompatible with previous iterations of RIM’s proprietary platform and the company is eager to have a good stock of apps available upon launch. Developers are being offered $10,000 (£6,200) as a reward, although it is specified that the app must have made at least $1000 dollars worth of sales and have passed BlackBerry’s quality tests.

Elsewhere, RIM made a triumphant claim regarding its app sales. During 2011 the number of developers working within the BlackBerry App Store grew by 254%, making it the fastest growing app-development community in the mobile world. The number of apps available has now reached 99,500, which RIM claim dispels rumours that developers were leaving the platform. However, the figure is still a long way off the numbers that can be boasted by Apple’s App Store and Android’s Google Play.

In amongst all the talk about BB10, the PlayBook hasn’t been forgotten as RIM announced an upgrade to the tablet’s software, PlayBook OS 2.1, will be available to developers at the end of this month. A full version will be released in the summer and will include new features such as in-app payments and over-the-air activation. It was also revealed that that the existing PlayBook device will be upgradeable to BB10 when it launches.

Lastly, there is some bad news for RIM itself. Despite yesterday’s opening of BlackBerry World 2012 and CEO Thorsten Heins’ impressive display of the manufacturer’s new software, the company’s share value fell by 6%. We’ll have a round-up of news from the third and final day of BlackBerry World 2012 tomorrow.