Google Nexus 4 may be priced around Rs. 30,000 in India

Flagship Android smartphones, the likes of Samsung Galaxy S III, HTC One X, etc., are generally priced above Rs. 30,000 in India. The Google Nexus 4 with its $350 price tag on Google Play store has got the Android community in India all excited. I am personally all set to buy the device if it costs anything below Rs. 25,000. The reality, however, might be very different. The Nexus 4 in India might just be priced closer to $650, rather than the $350.

Nexus 4 U.S. pricingWhen Google announced the Nexus 4 we were pretty impressed with the specifications. What impressed us more was the pricing of the device - 8GB model for $299 (Rs. 16,300 approx.), and a 16GB model for $349 (Rs. 19,000 approx.) unlocked. The phone will be selling at the mentioned price if a user picks it up from the Google Play store. A version of the Nexus 4 will be available in the US that will be on contract with T-Mobile and will be priced at $199.

Google Play store (Nexus section)
Now, India doesn't have access to the hardware section of the Google Play store, where Google lists its Nexus devices. In the past, we haven’t seen any Nexus smartphone officially launch in India. We were expecting the Samsung Galaxy Nexus to see the light of day in India for months, with Samsung only recently introducing the device in limited quantities at select stores.

Asus’ Nexus 7 India pricingAsus has manufactured the Nexus 7 tablet for Google and the 16GB variant is priced at $199 (Rs. 10,800 approx.). The Nexus 7 just launched in India today, and unfortunately, bears a whopping Rs. 19,981 price tag – or nearly twice the U.S. asking rate.

Our readers have already expressed disappointment at this turn of events – the much awaited low-cost Nexus 7 tablet from Google no longer falls in the low-cost category in India, in fact, is just a few grand away from the iPad 2 pricing, and the expected iPad mini pricing.

Google’s subsidized/at cost Nexus pricing If Asus’ pricing of the Nexus 7 in the Indian market is any indication, we can forget about the LG Nexus 4 being priced anywhere close to the U.S. unlocked pricing. To further rub salt in Indian consumers’ wounds, recent reports indicate that Google’s $199 and $249 U.S. price points, are in fact subsidized, and are only this low at the Google Play store.

The reports claim that while many European customers will be able to buy the Nexus 4 from the Google Play store (only in some regions) at relatively reasonable prices, customers who are forced buy the device from retailers or LG, will be paying a substantially higher amount – anywhere from €549 to €599.

Just what will it cost in India?Keeping this information in mind, we are highly skeptical that the LG Nexus 4 will be available in India at anywhere close to the $199 price point. As we mentioned, India, just like the few unlucky regions in Europe, does not have access to the hardware Nexus section of the Google Play store. We can therefore expect non-subsidized pricing in India, which could be as high as $750 (or roughly, Rs. 40,000), or more reasonably $550 (the pricing of the unlocked and similar specced LG Optimus G in the U.S).

If true, this pricing is roughly comparable to other top-end smartphones in the Indian market, from the Galaxy S III, to the HTC One X, automatically negating the single biggest draw to the Nexus 4 – its attractive pricing!

Would Indian consumers choose to buy the LG Nexus 4 at the Rs. 30,000 – Rs. 35,000 price point? Is the vanilla, update-friendly nature of the Nexus 4 sufficient to make the device appealing?

We argue, that yes, it is quite sufficient, but only if the device manages to perform at par with the other top-end Android smartphones in the Indian market. LG Nexus 4 customers will then get a top-end quad-core device with direct access to Google’s latest Android updates. The lack of LTE support, when the service is available only in a few, sparsely served regions in India, is not an important enough deterrent. The lack of a microSD card slot, and perhaps a few niggles, dostand out sorely however.

While we do wish such an eventuality (of LG maintaining a $550-$750 price point in India) does not occur, if true, we would recommend interested but price conscious Nexus 4 buyers to consider buying the imported units from resellers like eBay.in, or asking a Stateside friend to send one across. Warranty certainly becomes a concern then however. For a list of other countries where the Nexus section of the Google Play store is active, click here.

Let us know what you think about the probable pricing of the LG Nexus 4 in India, in the comments section below:

First Impressions: Acer Aspire S7

After two waves of ultrabooks that featured Windows 7, the third wave is upon us, one that combines Microsoft’s shiny new Windows 8 operating system with Intel’s 3rd generation Ivy Bridge chips.

Hardly a fortnight after Windows 8’s official launch, Acer has sent our way its very first Windows 8-ready ultrabook, the slim and beautiful Acer Aspire S7. It may well be the slimmest ultrabook around, and while we put it through its paces and work on the final review, here’s our first impression of the Acer Aspire S7.

The unit we received for review sports an ultra-low voltage dual-core Intel Core i7-3517U 1.9-GHz processor, 4GB of DDR3 RAM, 256GB SSD (Default RAID 0), and onboard Intel HD 4000 graphics. It came with a portable wireless Bluetooth mouse, additional battery pack, and HDMI-to-VGA and USB-to-Ethernet connectivity cables.

Design and looks: The biggest draw of the Acer Aspire S7 is its beautiful metal body. Sporting a silver brushed aluminium finish on its screen lid, the Aspire S7 is every inch an elegant and exquisite ultrabook, one of the best we’ve come across in terms of look and feel. It’s difficult to not to think of the Apple MacBook Air while exploring the Aspire S7, and we definitely mean it as a compliment. Apart from measuring a few millimetres, the Acer Aspire S7’s thin body weighs just a little over 1 kg! So yes, we are quite impressed by the S7’s thin, bodacious exterior.

Build quality and form factor: The Acer Aspire S7 is built well, it has solid metal hinges that bring together the 11-inch ultrabook’s screen and rest of the chassis pretty well. Nothing bends or flexes as much on the Acer Aspire S7 compared to laptops or ultrabooks that sport a predominant plastic build. The ultrabook comes with an additional battery strip which plugs into its bottom panel, near the Aspire S7’s spine, giving the machine extra portable power on the go. The Aspire S7’s ultrabook has a 11.6-inch screen with a full-HD pixel resolution, which is quite good -- even 15-inch ultrabooks don’t have such high-resolution displays. Even though it’s difficult to read text at native DPI (something that can be easily corrected through Windows’ display settings), Acer should be commended for packing in such a high-res display in the Aspire S7’s tiny form factor. And, of course, the S7’s 11-inch form factor is extremely ultraportable to carry around; the thing can be easily stowed away in your backpack and you won’t even notice it.

Keyboard: Keyboard feels a little cramped mainly because of the form factor, but the alpha-numeric keys, Space bar, Alt, Shift, and Control keys are full-sized and easy to press. The feedback on the keys isn’t optimal mainly due to their travel -- the typing experience would’ve been better if the keys were slightly more raised, but we’re just nitpicking here. The keyboard is backlit, which helps while typing in the dark. Once you spend some time using this keyboard (especially while typing extensively) you get used to it eventually. Not the best keyboard we’ve used, but still quite good given the Aspire S7’s tiny form factor.

Trackpad: The single-piece trackpad on the Acer Aspire S7 is good to use, it supports multitouch without any trouble. It sits a millimeter apart or lower than the palmrest, functions well and distinctly registers left and right clicks. It’s also gesture-enabled allowing you to scroll, flip through different apps, pinch to zoom, and perform other gestures flawlessly. We also think the trackpad experience on the Acer Aspire S7 has improved a bit over the previous Acer Aspire S3 and S5 ultrabooks.

Touchscreen display: The IPS screen with edge-to-edge Gorilla Glass display supports and detects multi-touch input. It’s a capacitive touchscreen with good touch response. The screen isn’t coated with too much gloss which helps keep the fingerprint smudges down to a minimum, which is quite good. Viewing angles of the screen are quite good with just a hint of colour shift at extreme angles, and the screen is nice and bright overall. There’s little or no backlight bleed to speak of on the Acer Aspire S7’s 11-inch touchscreen display, and the overall experience in our limited time spent on the product is definitely encouraging and a sign of good things to come as far as touch-enabled Windows 8 ultrabooks, laptops or desktops are concerned.

Onboard audio: The Acer Aspire S7’s onboard speakers are quite good by ultrabooks standards -- it’s mighty difficult to pack in a good audio experience in a razor thin laptop. The speakers, situated on the bottom panel near the spine of the Aspire S7 and sporting Dolby audio, pumps out loud music which is pretty good for personal entertainment. Bass is lost, but the overall clarity and quality of audio from the S7 is definitely better than most laptops we’ve reviewed in the recent past.

Windows 8: We’ve been using Windows 8 throughout its Developer Preview stage on a traditional keyboard and mouse PC and we’ve had our reservations against it all along. But, the beauty of Microsoft’s latest Windows 8 operating system is truly revealed when you use it on a touchscreen device. Invoking Windows 8’s “Edge UI” (launch Charms on the right edge, flip through running apps on the left edge, kill apps by swiping and dragging them down to the bottom edge of the screen, etc.) is actually quite simple to get used to through on-screen gestures. Finger taps on the Acer Aspire S7’s screen are distinctly registered and Windows 8’s response wasn’t laggy in our brief time spent on the machine. The on-screen keyboard is nice and accurate, with good word prediction -- a feature we liked on Windows Phone 7.5 -- and handwriting recognition is also good. With the touchscreen display and Windows 8’s slightly re-imagined interface, touch plays a crucial role in your overall experience of the device and Microsoft’s new operating system. In fact, in our brief time spent on the Acer Aspire S7, we were willing to spend more time exploring the OS through the device’s 11-inch touchscreen display, then use the bundled trackpad and mouse -- we resorted to the keyboard only while requiring to type long paras of text (like this article).

Stay tuned for the in-depth review...!
 

Google Nexus 7 (16GB) launching in India tomorrow, priced at Rs. 19,981

Asus has officially announced the launch of the Nexus 7 in India and it will be hitting store shelves tomorrow, on November 8.

Google’s tablet made by Asus is already up for grabs on Croma’s website for Rs. 19,981. It is the 16GB variant of the tablet. Once ordered, the product will ship to the user within 7 working days. Those interested in ordering it can catch the tablethere.

The pricing of the device feels a little steep considering the fact that the Nexus 7 tablet is priced at $199 (Rs. 11,339 approx.) for the 8GB variant and $249 (Rs. 14,188) for the 16GB variant in the US. The Nexus 7 was unveiled at the Google I/O event back in June. You can catch the details of the event here.

In July, the 8GB version was available for Rs. 16,952 via the Indiatimes online shopping website. You can read that complete story here. It seems as if the 8GB model will not be officially available in India unfortunately, if the Croma listings, and the refreshed Nexus 7 lineupfrom Google, are any indication.

The Nexus 7 as the name suggests features a 7-inch display with a resolution of 1280x800 pixels, and is powered by an Nvidia Tegra 3 1.3GHz processor, coupled with 1GB of RAM. It was also the first device unveiled that ran on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. You can read our in-depth review of the Nexus 7 here.

LG Nexus 4 reveals surprising flaws a week from launch

Google’s next flagship smartphone, the Nexus 4 made by LG, has shown off some seriously exciting specifications for its $299 price point, easily matching many top-end offerings.

The Nexus 4 runs on Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, has 2GB of RAM, 1.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro processor, an 8MP rear snapper, and a 4.7-inch display with a resolution of 1280x768 pixels. The front and back of the device are encased in Gorilla Glass.

The fact that the rear of the device is virtually encased in Gorilla Glass doesn't seem to be the best decision as reviews all over the Internet suggest that the rear will crack with a single drop of the smartphone despite the fact that the glass is scratch resistant.

At this stage, a week from launch, other disappointments gave emerged from the internals of the device. For those of you that aren’t aware, the Nexus 4 runs on Qualcomm's Snapdragon S4 Pro SoC, quad-core 28nm Krait CPU with Qualcomm's next-gen Adreno 320 GPU. Since the hardware under the hood of the Nexus 4 is pretty impressive, the masterminds at AnandTech put the device through its paces and the results were a surprising mixed bag.

After putting the device through a large number of benchmarks, it is clear that something is off in terms of the performance. The best examples are the GLBenchmark 2.5 – Triangle Texture Test – Vertex Lit (Offscreen 1080p), and GLBenchmark 2.5 – Triangle Texture Test – Fragment Lit (Offscreen 1080p), wherein Adreno 225 powered smartphones perform much better than the Nexus 4. The difference in performance in some cases was astounding. AnandTech says, “ARM shows the biggest gains here once again thanks to its move to a unified shader architecture. The Adreno 320 does ok here but it's really no better than the 225, I suspect there is some thermal throttling happening on the device.”

The benchmark comparison analysis goes on to say “Once again we're seeing huge gains for the Mali-T604 compared to the Mali-400MP4. The Adreno 320 in the Nexus 4 actually performs worse than the Adreno 225 in older devices, possibly due to thermal throttling we saw on the Nexus 4 sample during periods of heavy load.”

If thermal throttling is the issue, we should at least be assured of stellar battery life. Unfortunately, other test results show that the device’s battery life suffers, and it behind the iPhone 5, iPhone 4S, Samsung Galaxy S III, and the HTC One X.

There are other tests which put the CPU through its paces and the Nexus 4 performs at par if not better than other devices powered by the S4 processor but the heart of the matter remains the same; there seems to be some problem with Android V8 optimization due to which its performance seems underpowered.

In the face of these two issues, the Nexus also lacks LTE, which is a big deal if you are going to use this device in the US. In India it doesn't really matter, unless you are within certain hotspots. The other disadvantage is that it comes with wither 8GB or 16GB internal storage with no expansion options. The competition offers up to 64GB, so storage may just become a bit of an issue. Google Drive cloud storage should help to some extent though.

Despite these flaws, the Nexus has received some great reviews all over the web, perhaps simply because the pricing of the device is very attractive, and the performance is snappy (albeit not up to the top-end mark). What do you think? Is the Nexus 4 the phone it should be, or does the competition taste sweeter? Let us know what you think of the Nexus 4 in the comment section below.

Asus launches Windows 8 touchscreen ultrabooks and hybrids in India

Asus has had a busy day today, with the launch of a whole host of products as a part of its Windows 8 lineup. Among them are two touchscreen ultrabooks, and two hybrid devices that can be used as full-fledged laptops as well as tablets.

The two ultrabooks released by Asus are the VivoBook F202E and the VivoBook S400CA. The VivoBook F202E is priced at Rs. 39,999. The specifications for this one are as follows – Intel Core i3-3217M clocking at 1.8GHz, 4GB RAM, 500GB hard drive, Intel HD 4000 graphics, an 11.6-inch touchscreen display and Windows 8 Pro preloaded on the machine. The VivoBook S400CA is priced at Rs. 59,999 and is powered by an Intel Core i7-3517M clocking at 1.9GHz with 4GB of RAM. There is a 500GB hard drive for your storage requirements and the Intel HD 4000 chip handles the graphics. In a difference to its lesser-priced sibling, this version has a 14-inch touchscreen. Windows 8 Pro is what these machines come with preloaded.

Then came the turn of the hybrid devices. The VivoTab TF600TG features a 10.1-inch Super IPS+ display and a quad core Nvidia Tegra 3 processor powers it. There is 2GB of RAM, and a 64GB flash storage. This version comes preloaded with Windows RT. Following on from the tradition set by the Transformer and the Transformer Prime, the keyboard dock will come with and additional battery as well as a host of ports for connecting external devices. The price of the VivoTab is Rs. 61,999.

The notebook-tablet hybrid, the Taichi. The version that has been launched is the one with the Intel Core i7-3517U processor clocking at 1.9GHz and has 4GB of RAM. The Asus Taichi has 13.3-inch dual displays, back to front, with one keyboard. You can work on either of the displays when in keyboard more, including the mirroring option to replicate the same content on both. When closed, this works as a conventional tablet. The display has both pen as well as finger touch support. This comes with a 256GB Sandisk SSD, and Windows 8 Pro is preloaded on the machine. The price of the Asus Taichi is Rs. 1,39,999 and Asus claim that this will be available in the Indian markets from December 2012.

F202E

S400CA

Taichi

TF600TG

Refer to the below spec sheets provided by Asus for more details on all four products:

ASUS  TAICHI31-CX010P	LCD	CPU	VGA	System RAM	Storage	ODD	WLAN	BT
	13.3” Dual LED-backlit TFT LCD display Full HD  Non-glare  with Touch function	Intel Core i7-3517M  (1.9G, 4M)	Intel HD 4000	4GB DDR3 1600	256GB SATA3 SSD	-	802.11 b/g/n (WIDI)	BT 4.0
Webcam	Battery	OS	Warranty	Accessory1	Accessory2	USB 3.0	HDMI	MRP
HD Camera 5M	4 Cell 3535	Win 8 Pro	1 Year	Bag	stylus Pen	2	1	139,999
ASUS  F202E-CT148H	LCD	CPU	VGA	System RAM	Storage	ODD	WLAN	BT
	11.6" LED Backlight HD Touch screen , Glare	Intel Chief River	Intel HD 4000	4G DDR3 1333	500G	-	802.11 b/g/n	BT 4.0
		i3-3217		On Board	5400rpm
		(1.8G, 3M)
Webcam	Battery	OS	Warranty	Accessory1	Accessory2	USB 3.0	HDMI	MRP
HD Camera	2 Cell	win 8	1 Year	-	-	1	1	39,999
ASUS  S400CA-CA028H	LCD	CPU	VGA	System RAM	Storage	ODD	WLAN	BT
	14" HD Touch screen, Glare	Intel Chief River	Intel HD 4000	4G DDR3 1600	500GB 5400rpm + 24GB SSD	-	802.11 b/g/n	BT 4.0
		i7-3517M		On Board
		(1.9G, 4M)
Webcam	Battery	OS	Warranty	Accessory1	Accessory2	USB 3.0	HDMI	MRP
0.3M	3 Cell	win 8	1 Year	Bag	-	1	1	59,999
ASUS TF600TG	LCD	CPU	VGA	System RAM	Storage	ODD	WLAN	BT
	10.1" HD Glare with  capacitive touch/multi-touch	Nvidia Tegra3	Nvidia Tegra3	2G DDR3	64G EMMC	-	802.11 b/g/n	BT 4.0
Webcam	Battery	OS	Warranty	Accessory1	Accessory2	USB 3.0	HDMI	MRP
Front: 2M  & Back: 8M with Flash	2 Cell	Windows 8 RT	1 Year	Docking	3G & GPS Embedded	-	-	61,999

First Impressions: HTC Windows Phone 8X and Windows Phone 8 [Video]

Windows Phone 8. Let’s face it, a lot of people are excited about it and if you’re not one of those, then you really should be. Why? Well, let us tell you why.

Windows Phone 8 is the last loop in the Windows 8 OS ecosystem, and with the mobile OS finally launched, the ecosystem is complete. All Windows 8 devices are meant to function with seamless integration of files and data across devices (phones, tablets, PCs etc). Windows Phone 8 in itself brings to the mobile game some aces in the form of improved Live Tiles, Kids Zone, Rooms and a lot more. The OS is just beautiful and manufacturers like Nokia, Samsung and HTC have been hard at work to built equally impressive devices that will house the new OS.

We received an HTC Windows Phone 8X, the company’s flagship Windows Phone 8 device, from Microsoft to test out the new OS. It is in direct competition with Nokia’s Lumia 920 andSamsung Ativ S, and consequently, will be competing against the big-boys (Samsung Galaxy S3 and the iPhone 5). The device has just been announced for India, along with its smaller sibling, the HTC Windows Phone 8S. Check out detailed coverage of the pricing and availabilityhere. From the minute we pulled the device out of its cardboard abode, we’ve had a hard time putting it down.

For starters, the phone is incredibly thin, with a tapered body that follows the curve of your palm. The phone is unbelievably light too, but after sitting on it a couple of times, we’re pretty damn sure this thing is anything but flimsy. We even tried bending it with our hands, but no luck. Of course, throwing the phone against the wall is strictly against our working ethos, but we would definitely not worry too much about a drop or two when it comes to HTC’s Windows Phone 8X.

When it comes to designing the phone, HTC has gone the absolute minimalist way. Everything about the phone just “blends in,” which is not all that a great thing. We had (and still have) major issues finding and pressing the power button, which sits on top of the phone just like the iPhone’s. The edges of the button blend perfectly into the body and the button itself isn’t raised at all. The same problem exists with the volume rocker, with the camera button being the only easily accessible button. If you’re driving, its an extremely good idea to not try and find the power or volume button because there’s no way you’re doing that without taking your eyes off the road.

The one physical gripe later, we’re in love with this phone again. The OS complements the design of the phone so well! Windows Phone 8 brings with it features like improved Live Tiles that personalize your phone so well that it will stand out against even if it were tossed into a bathtub full of other phones. There’s also the Kids’ Zone feature which makes sure that the little tykes say busy playing games or using kiddy apps, and not wrecking havoc on your company mailbox or social networks. Rooms allow synching of information between various users for efficient planning and instant sharing of notes, calendars, images and messages between various people.

Besides the new awesome features, Windows Phone 8X also came built-in with an Xbox Companion App, OneNote and Microsoft Office for Windows Phone. All these apps integrate with Windows 8 and Xbox 360 via the wireless modes of connectivity and are augmented by deep SkyDrive integration throughout the ecosystem.

We love the HTC Windows Phone 8X, and the Windows Phone 8 OS. The 8X is a truly personalized device which is functional in every way you would want it to, while packing in a style quotient that’s bound to get many red with envy. That’s the HTC Windows Phone 8X for you. With WP8, Microsoft has truly injected a breath of fresh air to a now stagnating mobile OS market, and it is something to applaud.

HTC Windows Phone 8X, 8S announced for India, along with pricing details

HTC has announced that its first two WP8 handsets, the Windows Phone 8X and 8S, will be released in India this month. The Taiwanese mobile giant also released pricing information for the two devices – the top-end HTC Windows Phone 8X gets an MOP of Rs. 35,023, the mid-range HTC Windows Phone 8S gets an MOP of Rs. 19,260.

The company also announced two other smartphones for the Indian market, the HTC Desire SV, and HTC One X+ (hit up the links for detailed coverage), pricing them at Rs. 22,590 and Rs. 40,190 respectively.

We’ve received a test unit of the HTC Windows Phone 8X from Microsoft, so do stay tuned for our in-depth look at the new device, and the new platform, in our hands-on.

HTC Windows Phone 8X

Running on a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 chipset, the HTC Windows Phone 8X features a dual-core 1.5GHz processor and Adreno 225 GPU, coupled with 1GB of RAM. It bears a 4.3-inch (1,280x720 pixel - 342ppi) Super LCD2 display, complete with Gorilla Glass 2 protection, and anti-glare lamination. Lightweight at 130 grams (compared to the Nokia Lumia 920's staggering 185 grams), the 8X is 10.1mm-thick, and uses a polycarbonate unibody design. The HTC Windows Phone 8X is available in four colours - California Blue, Graphite Black, Flame Red and Limelight Yellow.

The HTC Windows Phone 8X comes with 16GB of built-in storage, with no microSD slot. It features an 8MP autofocus camera with a BSI sensor, LED flash, and an f/2.0 lens, with a 28mm FOV. The 8X also boasts of a dedicated image processor – the HTC ImageChip, which will also deliver 1080p HD video recording at 30fps, along with stereo sound. The device also comes with Beats Audio sound – there will no bundled headphones though.

As for connectivity options, the HTC Windows Phone 8X offers 3G (HSUPA/HSDPA), Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n with dual-band functionality, Bluetooth v2.1 with A2DP and EDR, NFC, microUSB v2.0, GPS with A-GPS support, 3.5mm audio jack, and no FM radio. The 8X is powered by a 1,800 mAh battery, however, HTC has not revealed expected battery life for the device.

HTC Windows Phone 8S

The HTC Windows Phone 8S also runs on Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 chipset, with a dual-core 1GHz processor and Adreno 225 GPU, coupled with 512MB of RAM. The 8S features a 4-inch S-LCD display with an 800x480 pixel resolution (233ppi), and a Gorilla Glass screen. Weighing in at 113 grams, the 8S is 10.3mm thick, and features 4GB of built-in storage, with microSD expandability up to 32GB (unlike the 8S).

It features a 5MP autofocus camera with LED flash, and 720p HD video recording at 30fps. The 8S also comes with Beats Audio sound, with no bundled headphones once again. In terms of connectivity, the HTC Windows Phone 8S offers 3G (HSUPA/HSDPA), Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth v2.1 with A2DP and EDR, microUSB v2.0, GPS with A-GPS support, and a 3.5mm audio jack. The HTC Windows Phone 8S is powered by a 1,700 mAh battery.

Google brings new security features to Android 4.2 Jelly Bean

The advent of Android 4.2 Jelly Bean brings new security features to the platform, features that have been required for a while to protect users from the many dangers associated with malicious apps.

The new security features are built natively into Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, and the most vital of them, is in essence similar to the Bouncer feature rolled out for the Google Play store in February this year. While the Google Play store is now supposedly cleaner because this feature, Android users are still at risk when sideloading apps from other sources.

Completely opt-in, the ‘verify app’ feature can be toggled from the ‘Security’ section of Android 4.2 settings. Each time users download and sideload an app, it is sandboxed, with virtual walls put up between the app and other software on the device. A pop-up box will then ask user if they want to check the app for potentially ‘harmful behaviour.’ The device will then send information about the device to Google’s servers, and compare it with a database of known applications.

Even if the app is not also listed on the Google Play store, Google is confident it can detect if it is safe or not, as the company says it is constantly scanning the web for newly appearing APKs, and has a good understanding of how the ecosystem works. If the app under scrutiny is detected as safe, the installation will continue, if it is detected as dangerous, it will prevent you installing it. If however, the app is questionably secure, but not strictly harmful, the user will have the option to continue with the installation.

According to Google, the app installation process will not be greatly slowed down by the new security process, as most of the processing happens on the company’s servers, and the user device only has to send an APK signature onward.

As for the other new security features, Google has also introduced an improved app permissions screen, for sideloaded apps, which is apparently much simpler to read than before. Android 4.2 also brings a scanning feature, that detects any attempt by an app to send a text message to a known fee-collecting short code (premium number), and will alert the user. The user will have the option to then allow, or deny the app from continuing with sending.

Microsoft testing its own smartphone with Asian suppliers: Report

Microsoft along with component suppliers in Asia is testing a smartphone based on its own design, according to a report in Wall Street Journal. Whether the product under test will go into mass production is something that officials at Microsoft’s parts suppliers are not confirming. The device is said to have a screen size between 4 and 5 inches according to sources.

It may be recalled that on the eve of the launch of Windows 8, Steve Ballmer had told BBC that they will be doing more hardware.

It will be interesting to see if Microsoft pulls this off. The announcement of Surface had taken everyone by surprise earlier this year, as Microsoft isn’t really known to come out with the hardware, the Xbox being the only exception to the rule. Microsoft had launched the Kin smartphone in May 2010 (which was manufactured by Sharp Corporation), but it was killed by mid-July 2010 citing low sales as a reason.

HTC, Nokia and Samsung are currently the only manufacturers with a Windows Phone 8 OS and most of the specifications are dictated by Microsoft. It does not seem likely that a Microsoft designed phone will come anytime this year – but next year seems a distinct possibility.

What will be even more interesting is how the other vendors will react and how it will affect them, especially Nokia. HTC and Samsung still have a healthy portfolio of Android OS-based phones, so they are not as dependent on the Windows Phone ecosystem as is Nokia. Also would it really be in Microsoft’s interest to come out with its own phone, when other vendors are producing really high-end phones with stock OS experience? What do you think? Let us know in the comments.

Airtel, Aircel announce iPhone 5 tariff plans ahead of the official launch

While the iPhone 5 is scheduled to be officially introduced in India today, telecom operators Airtel and Aircel have announced their exclusive data plans for the new iOS device. The official India pricing for the iPhone 5 has also been revealed, which is Rs. 45,500 for 16GB model, Rs. 52,500 for 32GB model and Rs. 59,500 for 64GB model.

Bharti Airtel is offering four new voice and data tariff plans for the postpaid users of the iPhone 5. Airtel is giving a 50 percent discount on all its plans. The cheapest Airtel plan starts at Rs. 300 (after a discount of 50 percent) and includes 500 local minutes, 300 local and national SMS and 200MB of 3G data. The Rs. 500 plan includes 900 local minutes, 400 local and national SMS and 500MB of 3G data.

The Rs. 800 plan offers users 1,400 minutes of call 500 local and national SMS and time,1.2GB of 3G data, while the most expensive Rs. 1,000 plan has 1,500 minutes local time, 600 local and national SMS, and 3GB 3G data. Airtel is offering similar data plans for the prepaid customers as well.

Check out Airtel's iPhone 5 tariff plans for your circle here.

Airtel's tariff plans for the iPhone 5

Aircel has also announced its exclusive data plans for the iPhone 5. The telecom operator claims to offer a range of usage plans giving a benefit of more than Rs. 20,000 annually with the iPhone 5.

Postpaid users of Aircel are offered a special plan which includes benefits such as no monthly rental and free 1GB data usage, 500 minutes of voice calls, and 500 SMS per month. After going past the free data and voice limits, users will be charged as per regular tariff rates. There is no rental fee on these plans.

After 12 months, the customer has to pay only Rs. 399 per month month to continue getting these benefits.

Aircel will soon launch a series of value-based prepaid plans, starting at just Rs. 399, with bundled data and SMS pack, aimed its prepaid customers. Aircel’s iPhone customers will receive their devices with pre-loaded settings for the unlimited Internet access. There's also an option of a EMI for 12 months through the company's stores