Upgraded Asus FonePad with better memory and processor available online for Rs 17,999

Asus’s upgraded variant of the FonePad tablet with a slightly better set of features is selling for Rs 17,999 on e-commerce portals in India. First spotted by NDTV, this upgraded tablet packs in a better processor along with 32GB of internal storage as against the 8GB seen on the original model, which was launched for Rs 15,999 a few months back.

The company representatives have told BGR India that this will be a limited edition of the FonePad in India and has been launched to provide better memory space to those working professionals who demand for it.

In terms of specifications, the new variant has a 7-inch LED display offering 1280×800 pixels resolution, as was seen on the original version and on the Asus Nexus 7’s original model. Asus has upgraded the processor from 1.2GHz Intel Atom Z2420 chipset to the 1.6GHz Intel Atom Z2460 one, which is accompanied with PowerVR SGX540 GPU and 1GB of RAM. It also comes with voice-calling support on 2G as well as on 3G network. On the software front, the tab runs on the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean which can be upgraded to version 4.2 later.

Review: Nokia Lumia 720

Ever since the Finnish company decided to join forces with Microsoft, Nokia has been steadily releasing a slew of Windows Phones into the market covering various price points.

We have seen devices like the Lumia 920 and the Lumia 820 in the past, which took care of the high-end of the market and phones such as the Lumia 520 and the Lumia 620, which are covering the low-end.

Today we have the Lumia 720 with us, which sits bang in the middle of Nokia’s Lumia range and is a mid-range device with enough features to attract those who don’t want to spend too much but want something more than a budget device. Let’s see how well it performs.

Design

Nokia has history of making great looking and the Lumia 720 is no different.

 

The phone takes on the appearance of the more expensive Lumia 920 and looks really good, particularly the red version pictured here.

 

Unlike some of the other Lumia models, the 720 has a unibody construction and the polycarbonate on the back fuses effortlessly with the glass on the front.

The front has the Gorilla Glass 2 stretching from top to bottom and housing the display roughly in the middle.

 

As with the previous Lumia phones, there is a sizable bezel around the screen, particularly below with the three keys, and it does tend to make the display look smaller than it is. Above the display are the earpiece and the front facing camera.

On the right, the phone has the volume control keys, power keys and two-step camera shutter key.

 

Having the power key on the side instead of the top is convenient but having it on same side as the volume keys means you often end up pressing one when you want the other. Having it on the other side would have reduced the confusion.

On top is the 3.5mm headphone jack. Since the phone has a unibody design, the card slots are on the outside, with the micro SIM slot on top and microSD slot on the left, both operated using the provided tool. On the bottom is the micro USB port.

All you need to know about the world’s coolest Nokia Lumia 1020 infographic

 

Today’s the day when lucky Americans get the chance to buy the world’s most amazing camera smartphone. Yes, it’s Nokia Lumia 1020 sales launch time! To celebrate this, and to showcase the stunning tech inside this imaging masterpiece, we commissioned designer Jing Zhang to create a Nokia Lumia 1020 infographic.



But it’s not just any infographic, it’s one of her much loved Imaginary Factory series. To see for yourself why they’re so popular, click here to get a closer look out her latest work below and discovery 41 reasons why nothing comes close to the Nokia Lumia 1020.

We love this infographic almost as much as the Nokia Lumia 1020 itself, so to find out more about it’s creator and how she works her magic, we hooked up with Jing Zhang in London. Here’s what she had to say

You’ve been an illustrator/typographer/designer for last five years? How did you get into this field and what do you like best about your work?

I settled in London in 2007 with the initial intention to pursue a glamorous career in Fashion Design. Unfortunately, there was a recession after my graduation in 2008. But thanks to support from my family and my then boyfriend (now husband) I was able to work as an unpaid graphic design intern in a small company. During this difficult time, I got commissioned by Computer Arts magazine to work on a cover. For many graduates, it was more like a gift from heaven rather than a job. It also reinforced my determination of becoming an illustrator, which is what I do now.

Your Imaginary Factory collection of infographics looks great and is lots of fun. What inspired you to start creating them?

 Thank you very much. When I was a child, I always liked a toy called ‘Polly Pocket’. It’s a pocket-sized case which becomes a house when it’s open. There were several ‘characters’ living inside. It was the miniature world that fascinated me. You can find the same sort of influence from my other projects too, such as the Resort type.

Hipstamatic Oggl app lands on Windows Phone 8

 

Following the launch on iOS a couple of months back, the Instagram type photography-based app Hipstamatic Oggl is finally available for download on Windows Phone 8 platform. The app was announced for Windows Phone 8 a couple of months back on the sidelines of the launch of the Nokia Lumia 925, however was not out for users till now. 

 

This launch will be a respite for those WP8 users who have been looking forward to experiencing a good photography app with instant editing options using filters and other handy options.

For those who are unaware of the app, this is a photo sharing-based social app which comes with an array of interesting lenses, films and filters including a vintage-type interface. The app is quite handy in terms of its interface and allows users to click, edit and share photos with much ease, just like the Instagram. This version also features direct sharing to Instagram, which makes it a rather attractive photo sharing app over other substitutes.

Besides this, Hipstamatic Oppl app is also available in Pro version for Nokia Lumia 1020 owners. This Pro version features a number of new manual tools including exposure, white, balance, IOS and shutter speed adjustments which makes the app somewhat better than the original version.

 

Moreover, it also takes advantage of the phone’s 41-megapixel camera by including an auto-leveling tool that allows users to fix frame based problems, and to reframe shots.

In terms of availability and pricing, both the standard and Pro versions of Hipstamatic Oggl are available on the Windows Market for free. The free version features 5 lenses and films and additional set of filters available on a subscription model.

However, the company is offering an introductory offer to those who create their account on the app before August 9. They will be given the privilege to use any features from the app’s library for 60 days from the date of registration. They can continue using the library for $2.99 for next three months or $9.99 for a year.

Student invents magnetic pen for smartphones

 

A student in South Korea has developed a magnetically driven pen interface that works both on and around mobile devices.This interface, called the MagPen, can be used for any type of smartphones and tablet computers so long as they have magnetometers embedded in.

Advised by Professor Kwang-yun Wohn of the Graduate School of Culture Technology (GSCT) at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Sungjae Hwang, a Ph.D. student, created the MagPen in collaboration with Myung-Wook Ahn, a master’s student at the GSCT of KAIST, and Andrea Bianchi, a professor at Sungkyunkwan University.

Almost all mobile devices today provide location-based services, and magnetometers are incorporated in the integrated circuits of smartphones or tablet PCs, functioning as compasses. Taking advantage of built-in magnetometers, Hwang’s team came up with a technology that enabled an input tool for mobile devices such as a capacitive stylus pen to interact more sensitively and effectively with the devices’ touch screen.Text and command entered by a stylus pen are expressed better on the screen of mobile devices than those done by human fingers.

The MagPen utilizes magnetometers equipped with smartphones, thus there is no need to build an additional sensing panel for a touchscreen as well as circuits, communication modules, or batteries for the pen.

With an application installed on smartphones, it senses and analyzes the magnetic field produced by a permanent magnet embedded in a standard capacitive stylus pen. The MagPen detects the direction at which a stylus pen is pointing; selects colors by dragging the pen across smartphone bezel; identifies pens with different magnetic properties; recognizes pen-spinning gestures; and estimates the finger pressure applied to the pen

Notably, with its spinning motion, the MagPen expands the scope of input gestures recognized by a stylus pen beyond its existing vocabularies of gestures and techniques such as titling, hovering, and varying pressures. The tip of the pen switches from a pointer to an eraser and vice versa when spinning. Or, it can choose the thickness of the lines drawn on a screen by spinning.