Microsoft Lumia 535

Key Features: 5-inch, 960 x 540 screen; Snapdragon 200 processor; 5MP cameras front and rear

Manufacturer: Microsoft

Lumia 535 is the first official Microsoft phone – First Impressions

Nokia is no more. While the Lumia smartphone brand it championed remains, the Lumia 535 is the first phone branded by Microsoft. But this isn't a revolution, as the Microsoft Lumia 535 still has its roots in Nokia phones – it's kind of an upgrade to the lacklustre Nokia Lumia 530. It's too early to say if this is the supreme budget phone that Microsoft hopes it is, but it's a clear improvement on the 530.

Lumia 535 Release Date and Price: The Lumia 535 will go on sale by the end of the November for €109 before tax. UK price to follow. Microsoft currently has no plans to sell the Lumia 535 in the US.

Key to this transformation is the screen, a 5-inch display with a 960 x 540 resolution. It's an improvement over the ugly TN-based LCD screen of the Lumia 530. It's not hugely sharp, but colours appear above average and the viewing angle is adequate. Microsoft also claims superior outdoor visibility, though I had no chance to test this out.

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Panasonic Toughpad FZ-E1 Rugged Handheld

Doomsday preppers behold – the Panasonic Toughpad FZ-E1 is the only phone you need for a zombie apocalypse, if you are a fan of Windows Embedded 8 that is (not WP8!). The handset is rated for IP68 and MIL-STD-810G and can survive drops from 3m (10ft).

And was certified by the GCF in the States, meaning it will be available over there too.

The Panasonic Toughpad FZ-E1 features a 5″ 720p display and is powered by a speedy Snapdragon 801 chipset with 2GB of RAM that runs Windows Embedded 8.1 Despite the power, the massive 6,200mAh battery will keep the phone going for up to 14 hours.

LG Tone Infinim (HBS-900) stereo Bluetooth headset

While LG isn't exactly a household name in the headphone business, the company's Tone line of Bluetooth headsets are extremely popular - like, 7,500+ reviews on Amazon popular. The company's newest model - the most premium it's released yet - is the Tone Infinim, model HBS900. With tuning by Harman Kardon, they get a bit of audio brand recognition, but I honestly would just say these are a good set of headphones altogether.

Still, they're $150, and that's pricey - are they worth it? Bluetooth headsets, to be honest, haven't come very far in the last few years in terms of functionality on Android. Google voice command integration is spotty (voice input works, hotwords do not), and that makes a lot of potential usefulness for the headset go right out the window for me. Otherwise, you're left using standard Bluetooth voice dialer controls that are built into Google... which are terrible.

Gionee S5.1: Thinnest smartphone

Last time we met, Gionee had quite a flagship to show off. Looking extra sharp and more than decently equipped, we deemed it capable of getting users interested well beyond the traditional Asian markets. Some months later, Gionee has toned some of the specs down but their next phone is looking even more impressive.

The Gionee Elife S5.1 may have lost some screen and camera resolution but it managed to shed some grams and millimeters off the waistline along the way too. It briefly held the world's slimmest smartphone title until Oppo slipped a note under the door, in the form of an R5.

But even without a world title on its resume, the Gionee Elife S5.1 makes a fantastic first impression. An AMOLED screen within an all-glass shell reinforced by a metal frame - a premium combo and a weight of the unbelievable sub-100g.

   

Lamborghini's 88 Tauri

Tonino Lamborghini, asexpected, has launched its new premium smartphone called the 88 Tauri.

The new premium Tonino Lamborghini 88 Tauri will be available at a hefty price of $6,000 (approximately Rs. 3,71,500) and will be up for sale starting late December.

The company has announced that the 88 Tauri will have 1947 units only. The 1947 year being the birth year of Lamborghini founder Tonino Lamborghini.

The 88 Tauri (via Hi-Tech Mail) will support dual-SIM with both the SIMs active at the same time and will support 4G LTE networks.

The Tauri 88 is made of steel (available in Gold, Black or plain steel colours) and leather (a choice of Black, Blue, Red, Orange and Brown) complete with decorative stitches. The phone was designed in Italy and sports the recognizable raging bull logo (which was inspired by the Taurus constellation).

The 88 Tauri features a 5-inch full-HD (1080x1920 pixels) display and is powered by a 2.3GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor coupled with 3GB of RAM.

The handset supports expandable storage via microSD card (up to 64GB). The 88 Tauri sports a 20-megapixel rear camera, while it also houses an 8-megapixel front camera. It packs a 3400mAh battery that is rated to deliver up to 35 hours of talk time and 1,000 hours of standby time.

Earlier this year, BlackBerry and Porsche Design in collaboration launched the Porsche Design P'9983 premium smartphone. It was priced at EUR 1,650 (roughly Rs. 1,27,000).

Source:gadgets.ndtv.com

Micromax announces Canvas Selfie with 13MP front camera

At a press event in India with tennis stars in attendance, Micromax took the wraps off the Canvas Selfie smartphone. As its name suggests, the dual-SIM handset is designed with self portraits in mind. Like the HTC Desire Eye, Micromax Canvas Selfie features a 13MP front-facing camera with LED flash.

Micromax Canvas Selfie packs 1.7GHz octa-core CPU, 2GB of RAM, and 16GB of expandable memory. The device’s display is a 4.7” 720p unit covered by Gorilla Glass 3. The smartphone boots Android 4.4 KitKat and is powered by a 2,300mAh battery.

The main camera of the Canvas Selfie is a 13MP Sony sensor with dual-LED flash. The front-facing unit is listed as having a single LED light.

As expected from a selfie-centric phone, Micromax Canvas Selfie will offer a number of software tricks that will help users edit the photos they captured of themselves. Some of the features include Eye Enhancement and Face Slimming among others.

Micromax Canvas Selfie will launch in India in the second week of January in two colors - Angelic White and Mystic Blue. Pricing will be announced as the launch nears.

Source:gsmarena.com

YotaPhone 2 with two screens view

Two is often better than one, something YotaPhone is banking on to sell its new YotaPhone 2. This smartphone has two displays, with an e-ink screen in the back that promises to stun your friends while saving battery life. But before you rush out to buy a YotaPhone 2, here are the top things you need to know about this eye-catching handset.

LCD Front, E-ink Back

The e-ink display on the first rendition of the YotaPhone showed promise, but there wasn't much you could do with it. Now, along with a complete design overhaul, the YotaPhone 2 has an always-on, 4.7-inch e-ink display you can use to check notifications and read books for long periods of time, without killing your eyes or your smartphone's battery. You'll be able to customize the e-ink screen as you would the front LCD, with widgets, wallpapers and photos.

Samsung Gear VR (virtual reality )

Samsung's Gear VR is out today, putting virtual reality on the mass market in a way we haven't seen since the Virtual Boy — although hopefully, this time, with more staying power. The Gear VR fits around a Galaxy Note 4 smartphone, magnifying the Note's screen to create the illusion of presence. Carefully marketed as an "Innovator Edition," it's technically a beta product with no final version announced. Even so, it's probably the most user-friendly headset available, and Samsung virtual reality VP Nick DiCarlo succinctly sums up the marketing pitch: "We're very carefully trying to avoid overhyping this, but we think it's going to be amazing."

The Gear VR was built in partnership with Oculus, which has sold over 100,000 of its own Rift VR headset prototypes and describes its relationship with Samsung as symbiotic. The second generation of the Rift uses the same screen as Samsung's Galaxy Note 3, and the Gear VR incorporates a tracking sensor from the first Rift development kit, as well as an Oculus-designed user interface that will well serve as a testing ground for future Rift software. The Gear VR's catalog draws partially from existing Oculus Rift experiences — among other things, at launch, you'll be able to explore the solar system with Titans of Space and play cyberpunk hacking game Darknet. "There's a couple people that work primarily on mobile, and a couple that work primarily on PC, but a lot of what we're doing applies to both platforms," says Oculus mobile head Max Cohen. "These are two projects which are more similar than different."

Nokia Lumia 735

Selfies are a really, really big thing. Walk around any major city or tourist attraction and you’ll
 see loads of people holding their phones at arm’s length to get themselves into a front-facing
camera photo. You even sometimes see people with their phones on poles to get the most epic
'wide angleshot, looking silly at the same time.

The problem with selfies is that the front facing cameras on most smartphones suck. A two megapixel sensor with awful low light performance and weak optics is a hardware combination I would verbally annihilate if it were the main camera on a smartphone. Some manufacturers have noticed this, promising to deliver significantly better sensors to facilitate higher quality selfies that we all love to take.

And so the Nokia Lumia 735 was born. Under the command of Microsoft, the company’s device
s team has produced a mid-range handset dubbed the “selfie phone,” complete with a higher
 resolution and better quality five megapixel front facing camera. Although the 735’s standout
 feature is the selfie cam, it also packs other things we’ve come to love from Lumias, such as
the solid build quality across the entire lineup.