New Dell Venue 7 and 8 with Intel Merrifield Available in the US, Starting at $160 / €116

Earlier this month, the new Dell Venue 7 and 8 tablets were spotted making a stop at the FCC, so it was pretty clear to us they were going to be making it into retail soon enough.

Well, this day has come and now Dell has announced both slates have been made available in the US. The original Venue tablets were introduced back in 2013 and now Dell is taking an opportunity to refresh the lineup by bumping their speech sheet a little bit.

First off, the two tablets now enjoy the services of the Intel Merrifield platform. The 8-inch model delivers FHD resolution (1920 x 1200 pixels) while relying on a 2.1GHz Intel Atom CPU Z3480. The tablets are fitted with 1GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage (expandable via microSD card).

The 7-incher doesn’t offer the same advanced resolution, limiting itself to bringing just 1280 x 800 res to the tablet. The CPU under the hood is an Intel Atom Z3460. Both slates run Android 4.4 KitKat out of the box, so you won’t have to wait for any soft updates if you purchase this bunch.

The 7-inch will take you back with $159 / €116, while the 8-incher will sell for $199 / €146. You can pick up both from the Dellwebsite.

Samsung Galaxy Mega 2 Tipped with 5.9-Inch HD Display, 64-Bit Processor Snapdragon 410

There are lots of rumors surrounding Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy Mega phablet, but most of the details we got are probably referring to some of the prototypes that are now being tested in the wild.

The latest info on the alleged Samsung Galaxy Mega 2 comes via Dutch website Techtastic, which spotted the smartphone onGFXBench database where most of its specs are revealed.

According to the benchmarking website, the Galaxy Mega 2 should boast a huge 5.9-inch HD (720p) capacitive touchscreen display, but this is not the only major feature that will be part of the phablet.

It appears that the Galaxy Mega 2 will be equipped with a Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 410 chipset, which features a 64-bit capable quad-core processor clocked at 1.4GHz, and an Adreno 306 graphics processing unit.

The smartphone is also listed with 2GB of RAM and 8GB of internal memory. The Galaxy Mega 2 is also supposed to pack an impressive 13-megapixel rear-facing camera with full HD video recording, as well as a no less impressive 5-megapixel front-facing photo snapper for that perfect selfie.

Samsung Galaxy Mega 2 is powered by Android 4.4.3 KitKat operating system out of the box, but it might get released with a newer version. What do you think about Samsung’s new phablet in the Galaxy Mega family?

HTC Desire 816 With 5.5-Inch HD Display Now Available Online at Rs. 24,450

The HTC Desire 816 is now available via an e-commerce website in India at Rs. 24,450. HTC's latest mid-range smartphone, the Desire 816, was launched in April alongside budget smartphone HTC Desire 210 Dual SIM.

The Taiwanese handset maker at the Desire 816 launch in late-April had promised that the smartphone will be available within two weeks; however the smartphone never hit Indian market shelves in the said time.

The Desire 816 was globally announced alongside the Desire 610 at MWC.

Notably, the smartphone is available at various e-commerce sites, first reported by Android OS, such as Infibeam (Rs. 24,450) and Flipkart (Rs. 24,490), and is priced higher than the official Rs. 23,990 launch price tag.

The HTC Desire 816 comes with a 5.5-inch HD (720x1280 pixel) display and is powered by a 1.6GHz quad-core Snapdragon 400 processor, alongside 1.5GB of RAM. It includes 8GB of inbuilt storage with support for microSD cards up to 128GB.

There's no word about the Android version on the HTC Desire 816, though HTC did confirm the presence of HTC Sense 5.5 UI on top. It sports a 13-megapixel f/2.2 rear and a 5-megapixel front-facing camera. The smartphone features dual frontal stereo speakers with built-in amplifiers.

Connectivity options on the smartphone include Bluetooth, DLNA, Micro-USB, and Wi-Fi, part from 3G connectivity support. The Desire 816 is backed by a 2600mAh battery, which is rated to deliver up to 21 hours of talk time and up to 614 hours standby time on 3G network. Interestingly, the handset is the first HTC device to incorporate a Nano-SIM instead of a Micro-SIM card.

A recent report claimed that the struggling Taiwanese smartphone maker is expecting to swing to profitability and double its revenues in the three months to June, aided by the good sales of its new flagship, the One (M8) (Review I Pictures) and the new mid-range Desire 816.

Top 8 affordable Quad-Core tablets compared

The defining benchmark of a Post PC era is that tablets are becoming hugely popular and are giving a stiff competition to laptops and ultrabooks. And why not? They are much more portable and offer almost all the features and capabilities one can get on a laptop. Most modern-day tablets are easily as powerful (if not more) as two-three year old laptops.

The ‘slate’ has been prevalent for quite a few years but the modern age tablet gained popularity and traction in the year 2010. In our opinion, the credit goes to Apple for shaping the tablet market when it released the first iPad in 2010 and pushed tablet segment into the mainstream consumer market. The company also brought in capacitive touchscreens to the tablet category which meant that users could just tap away with their fingers without having to rely on a stylus pen. A number of manufacturers followed Apple’s move and today every hardware-based technology company operating in the consumer space has a tablet to offer.

SAMSUNG GALAXY 10.1"

According to the International Data Corp. (IDC) the year 2013 saw a rise of 50.6% in tablet sales with the worldwide tablet shipments totalling to 217.1 million, an increase from 144.2 million in 2012. For the Indian market, researchers have predicted that the period of 2013- 2014 will see a boost of 50% in the sales on tablets. These numbers are actually huge and are a big threat for laptop makers as the tablet has been marginalizing PCs and laptops for quite some time.

A large chunk of the total number of tablets in the market is occupied by Android as it has become the dominating platform in the mobile device industry purely by number of devices adopting it. Apart from Android one can even get their hands on a Windows 8.1 running tablet under a budget of `25,000 which provides the Modern UI, as well as proper desktop mode just like a PC. Today, manufacturers like Apple and Samsung offer tablets in a premium range but a large portion of consumers in the Indian market opt for more affordable tablets to fit their budgets.

While we are on the subject, the budget category of tablets has widened a lot and with Indian brands bringing in a mix of their own products, there has been an increase in variety as well. If we look back to 2013, getting your hands on a powerful tablet meant shelling out a lot of money. But times have changed and one can easily get a tablet running on a quad-core processor with plenty of features under a budget of Rs 20,000 without breaking a sweat.

For this shootout we have picked tablets from well-known companies and also some indigenous brands which provide some competitive features. The focus here is on tablets selling around `25,000 which attracts the majority of the consumers. We have included eight Android tablets namely the Dell Venue 7 and Venue 8, iBerry Auxus CoreX8, iBall Slide 3G Q1035, Micromax Canvas Tab, Google Nexus 7 (2013), MTV Slash 4X and Simmtronics XPad Turbo. We have also included two Windows 8.1 tablets one from Dell and one from Acer.

THE PLATFORMS

Android had stepped into the tablet game by releasing a different version altogether (3.0 Honeycomb) which was specifically designed for tablets. It did not gain a lot of popularity back then, so Google scrapped it off and made a unified version (4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich) that would run both on smartphones and tablets. Today the platform is on the verge of becoming the most selling tablet operating system and the numbers are just going stronger by the day. Almost all of the Android tablets that we have tested run on Android 4.2 and the only tablet with the latest KitKat update was the Nexus 7.

Hopefully manufacturers will be announcing some new tablet this year with Google’s latest 4.4.2 update. With almost 2 million apps available on the Google Play store, Android tablets are poised to take over the industry. When Microsoft had announced that Windows 8 will feature an app ecosystem on top of the traditional desktop layout, it seemed logical that the OS would be ported to tablet devices. The good part is that one can get a full-fledged desktop/laptop experience but the bad part is that using its touchscreen on the desktop mode is a real pain. The tiled UI is similar to what we have seen on Windows Phone devices and the apps work in a similar fashion. With the app development steadily going stronger, Windows 8.1 tablets could soon gain a decent market share.

HP Omni 10 review: A tablet for working men

Over four years after Apple introduced iPad - and dazzled the world - tablets remain a work in the progress. iPad is more or less amazing at what it does. But at the same time, it is a device that has limited appeal, especially in the developing countries where people don't want to carry more than one or two devices at a time, because of what it can't do. For most people it doesn't replace a laptop. People who carry an iPad also carry a laptop with them. Usually.

Microsoft, which realised the disrupting power of tablets late, understands this. Windows 8, launched in 2012, was an attempt to combine the power of PC into the convenience and appeal of a tablet. It didn't succeed. But Microsoft and its hardware partners haven't given up. The company has worked on improving Windows 8 while its partners have polished the hardware that is supposed to replace the tablet-laptop combo with one device.
Omni 10, a tablet by HP, is one such device. Powered by Windows 8.1 (upgradable to Windows 8.1 Update 1 for free), Omni 10 promises consumers full Windows functionality in a form factor that offers the ease and convenience of a tablet. Does it succeed? Let's find out...

Build quality, screen and camera
Compared to some other Windows tablets - Microsoft Surface is one example - Omni 10 is a budget device. But HP has managed to strike a good balance between keeping the price low and opting for premium build material. The shell of Omni 10 is made of plastic that has soft rubber coating. The tablet has a tried-and-tested rectangular design with rounded edges, which makes it easy to hold. The whole design is very minimalistic. On the back, there is a shiny engraved HP logo and a small camera slot. On the left, there is a 3.5mm jack for headphones. On the right, there is a volume rocker that sits flushed with shell of the tablet. This too adds to the minimalist design.



The power button is on the top right. The tablet has stereo speakers, which are very loud for their size but the quality of sound is nothing special. The speaker grills are on the bottom side along with a micro HDMI port, a micro USB port and a covered micro SD card slot.
The ports and buttons are well disguised and that gives the tablet a design that looks clean and seamless.

Omni 10 has a 10-inch screen, covered by tough (Gorilla Glass 3) glass. The screen has a resolution of 1200 X 1980 pixels. It is not among the best screens we have seen in a tablet but it gets the job done. Colours look punchy on Omni 10 and contrast is good. The brightness is on the lower side, but is adequate unless you are standing under the sun.

Compared to the screen in iPad Air, Omni 10 doesn't look that good. The iPad screen is sharper, has better viewing angles and shows punchier colours. But compared to screens that you will get in a similarly priced laptop or a Windows tablet, HP Omni 10 does a very good job. The Omni 10 screen won't dazzle you but whether you are browsing the photos you snapped during your latest holidays or reading a book on it, it will look pleasant to you.



The tablet has two cameras. Both are passable. The 8MP primary camera shoots images that lack contrast. Though the level of detail it captures is decent and focus is usually sharp. If you are using Omni 10 for taking photos - we don't recommend it because it is a large tablet and it is little awkward to hold it as a camera - you can click images that are fit to be shared on social media. But just don't expect it to match the images that similarly-priced smartphones can click.

The 2MP camera on the front captures noisy footage, especially indoors where it is likely to be used. But it offers enough clarity to hold video chats.

While it is mostly a good show from HP in Omni 10, we have one complaint: The capacitive home button under the screen is not sensitive to touch. There were instances when we had to tap on it twice or thrice before it registered the touch.



Overall, we like the design and build quality of Omni 10. The quality of plastic used to build the shell of tablet and the use of Gorilla Glass give it a solid feel. Finishing is top notch, buttons don't wobble and due to the rounded edges it is easy to carry and use Omni 10.

Software and performance
Omni 10 runs the full and fat version of Windows. It uses Windows 8.1 and not the Windows RT that some other tablets use. In terms of hardware requirements, the full version of Windows is more demanding than the iOS that powers iPad or Android.
Omni 10 is powered by Intel Atom Z3770 quad-core processor running at 1.46GHz. It uses 2GB DDR3 RAM and 32GB Samsung hard drive - of which around 10GB is available to users.

Atom Z3770 is top of the line processor. In a tablet like Omni 10, it is a necessity too. For most part, Omni 10 offers performance that is very good. A user gets the full Windows experience optimized for touch and with Omni 10 you can do almost everything that you can do on a laptop.

Earlier Windows tablets suffered due to performance issues but Z3770 offers enough speed and power to make the experience better on Omni 10. Web browsing is smooth on Omni 10. And so is working on Word or PowerPoint documents. Demanding games like Asphalt 8 can be played but the gameplay is not entirely smooth and there is a hint of lag.

The biggest strength of Omni 10 is that it runs the full version of Windows. This means you get access to the "desktop" mode as well as the Modern UI mode. This also means that you can install almost any Windows application on it.

In terms of user interface, Windows 8.1 one big advantage over iPad or Android tablets: Full multi-tasking. If you use Omni 10 in desktop mode, you can enjoy the same multitasking that you get on a laptop or computer. Even in modern UI mode, you can snap two applications side by side - the windows are resizable - and work on both of them simultaneously.



But the biggest disadvantage of Omni 10 is also Windows. It is not as elegant or easy to use as an iPad or an Android tablet. If you are familiar with computers and like working on them, you will feel comfortable with Omni 10. But it will not delight you the way an iPad does.

Omni 10 can run almost any Windows app. But the good Windows apps that are optimized for Windows 8.1 and are available through the Windows App store are still not as abundant as iPad specific apps or Android apps. If you are using an iPad or an Android tablet, you will have access to higher quality games and better looking apps compared to what you will get with Omni 10.

In the past, battery life has been an issue with Windows tablets. Omni 10 fares better. It still doesn't offer 15 hours of battery life that the latest iPads or some Android tablets can manage but depending on your use, it is easy to get battery life of around 10 to 11 hours from the device. The fact that Omni 10 is a Wi-Fi only device (it doesn't support cellular connectivity) also helps.

Should you buy it over iPad?
In general, Windows tablets are still not at a stage where we can recommend them over iPad or a good Android tablet. But there are some specific exceptions.

If you are looking to get a Rs 30,000 tablet to browse the web and social media sites, use apps like Gmail, watch movies an play games, we still recommend iPad. But if you want a good portable device that can run some specific Windows apps that you use at work, or offer you a fully-functional file system, Omni 10 is a good option. It is not as good as Surface Pro but then it also costs almost half of what Surface Pro would cost if Microsoft launches it in India.

In a way, with a price of Rs 29,990 Omni 10 is a poor man's Surface Pro. It is fast enough and good enough to be recommended over a Rs 30,000 laptop if you are looking for a portable Windows device. Buy it if you REQUIRE a Windows tablet. Don't buy it if you just want a tablet because in that case iPad Mini/iPad Air or a device like Nexus 7 is a better option.

Apps that you can use on an Android phone

Several weeks ago on Twitter I made a few comments. Just some ‘thinking aloud’ kind of tweets.

While going through my timeline, I saw a tweet saying that True Caller, a popular app that gives you the identity of a caller even if the number is not saved in your phone, has partnered with Twitter.

So, I tweeted, “I don’t use True Caller.”

Next, I said that I also don’t use Instagram, one of the most popular apps in the world.

I got several replies and one of them said that if I don’t use these popular apps, then what is it that I use on my phone.

The apps a user likes depends on how he or she uses the smartphone. Is it an entertainment device? Or a communication device? Or portable PC? Or a digital diary?

You can use a smartphone in different ways and hence will have different favourite apps. I mostly use the phone as a communication device or as a portable PC. And here are the most-used apps on my phone — Nexus 5:

Plume For Android: This is the most used app on my phone. I use Twitter a lot. This is something of an occupational hazard considering that as a journalist I deal with information in real time. And currently Twitter is all about real time and information.

Twitter experience on Android is broken. It used to be much better earlier when TweetDeck and Falcon existed. But Twitter bought TweetDeck and killed it. Falcon was killed with an artificial limit on how many users it can serve.

Currently, there is no Twitter app for Android that can meet all my requirements. In particular I want an app that can regularly fetch tweets and store them on the phone, so that even if I browse my timeline for four hours I can start from where I had left. For me only Plume can do this. (For some reason Robird doesn’t work on my phone). But Plume has a limitation of 1,000 tweets. This means it can’t cache more than 1,000 tweets. Yet, this is better than what other apps manage.

In terms of user interface, Plume is an average-looking app. But I can live with that. It is feature-rich and serves my purpose better than any other Android app.

I use a paid version of Plume. But you can also use the free version, which is supported by ads.

SwiftKey: Before Google introduced a new stock keyboard in Ice Cream Sandwich, the Android keyboard used to be terrible. In fact Google’s hardware partners – hey Samsung, I am looking at you – still put terrible keyboards in their phones. These keyboards have poor accuracy of recognizing touch and poor auto correct or prediction.

SwiftKey is an amazing app. In particular, its prediction is fantastic. I have typed 500-word news stories on my phone with SwiftKey without missing the physical keyboard.

Nowadays Google keyboard has improved a lot and it may be good enough for users. But just in case you are not happy with the keyboard on your Android phone, give SwiftKey a try. It is a paid app but is often available at a discount.

ES File Explorer: I grew up tinkering with a computer and belong to the old school. This is the reason I totally love the flexibility that a desktop computer provides. Much of this flexibility is because of the open-file system. You can cut, copy, paste, and modify almost any file in a computer. On mobile phones, it is not possible. But with an app like ES File Explorer, you do get the ability to cut, copy, rename, move, and see details for almost all files that are user accessible. The app has a clean user interface and can also connect to services such as DropBox. This is a free app.

Gmail: OK, this one needs no introduction. Gmail is used on my phone all the time. I don’t use any other email app because Gmail acts as a unified inbox for me. I have also found that the Gmail experience is best on Android. If I was using iPhone or iPad, I might have used some other email app, but on Android, Gmail is almost perfect.

I also used GTalk a lot but then Google killed the clean and easy-to-use GTalk app and replaced it with Hangouts, which is rubbish and probably the worst app Google has ever made. It is bafflingly useless.

Whatsapp: This is a new addition. With GTalk useless after the Hangout update, I needed a new IM messaging app. Facebook messenger was one option but after briefly using both, I found Whatsapp to be slightly better. The UI of Whatsapp can be improved but in terms of functionality, this is an amazing app.

Chrome: While I am a Firefox user on computer, on Android Chrome is really good. It is fast and has a user interface that makes it incredibly simple to use. It is the default browser on my Nexus 5.

Facebook: This one also doesn’t need an introduction. But I use Facebook app only for going through my timeline. I don’t use Facebook Messenger.

CamCard: This is one of those apps that have potential to change the way you work. Basically, the life changing stuff! OK, not really that but CamCard is an incredibly useful app which shows how smartphones are more than a communication tool. This app helps me manage the business cards that I get while meeting people. Earlier, I used to keep business cards in a folio. Then if I wanted to look for a card, I would have to flip through the folio. It is all very time consuming and tedious. Now when I get a new business card, I scan it with CamCard. The app automatically recognizes the information on the card and saves the details. It also saves the image of the card. The scanned information can be directly added to Contacts. Or I can leave it inside CamCard. The scanning also makes cards searchable. With a price of around Rs 650, this is an expensive app. But it is worth the price.

MX Player: On computers we have programs like VLC Player or KM Player, which can handle almost all video formats with ease. On Android, MX Player is similar to VLC Player. It is an incredible app and can handle videos in almost all popular formats. AVI, WMV, FLV, MKV… You don’t have to encode videos on a computer into MP4 format before putting them into your phone. MX Player will recognize and play them in their native format. A lot of video playback depends on the hardware in the phone. But even if the hardware encoding is lacking in a phone, MX Player will use software-based encoder to play a video. It doesn’t always succeed in this case, but yet it is better than nothing. I use the free version of MX Player.

AnyDo and Cal: The first one is a to-do list app while the second one is a calendar. Both are incredibly simple and joyful to use. I often list the stuff I need to do in AnyDo. Because it seamlessly syncs with Cal, the tasks are automatically added to the calendar. Cal connects to Google calendar. So I can directly add an event or task to it from the Gmail. Cal also hooks into Facebook and fetches the information on birthdays of my contacts. All in all, AnyDo and Cal make for a nice little package. AnyDo and Cal are free apps.

DOTS: There was a time, when I used to play Angry Birds almost all the time. But now when I am in mood for some casual gaming, I play DOTS. The game has a fresh and playful approach – the bouncy dots are amazing. It is also very simple to play and yet is challenging enough to keep a person hooked. DOTS is a free game.

GT Racing 2: This is the game I play when I am looking for little bit more thrills than what DOTS can provide. Racing games work very well on smartphones and tablets – easy controls – and GT Racing 2 takes full advantage of it. It is a game with gorgeous graphics and fun gameplay. It is not as explosive as Asphalt 8 but I like the closer-to-reality feel it offers.

Keep: While there are many note-taking apps, the one that I use is Google Keep. The reason: It is simple to use, even though not as feature rich as Evernote or some other apps out there. This is a free app.

Pocket: Every day I come across articles on the web that I want to read but don’t have time. So I save them in Pocket. This also means that while I discover most of my content on my phone, I read most of the stuff on iPad. The pocket app is cross-platform, which means I save an article in the app on my phone but then read it on the iPad because reading, especially long articles, is a much better experience on a tablet. Pocket is a free app.

Smart Voice Recorder: This is an app I have to use. As a journalist, I have to record interviews and conversations all the time. Smart Voice Recorder helps me do that.

Tiny Flashlight: Well, everyone uses a flashlight aka torch app. After trying several, this one created by Nikolay Ananiev is what I like most.

Two apps I don’t use anymore: Earlier, I was using Runkeeper, an app that tracks a user while walking or running to measure the pace and distance, and Pedometer Pro, an app that counts the steps of a user while he is walking. Both are fantastic apps if you want to track your runs or walks. But around a month ago I bought FitBit force, a fitness band which does the same thing. So, I don’t use these two apps anymore.

These are most used apps on my phone currently. There are some more that are installed on my phone, but they are not used frequently.

What are your favourite apps? Let us know in comments.