Latest Technology News

This light and thin notebook has gone to take the extraordinary step of adding together a low-end yet a decent and dedicated graphics card in the system.

The processors in light and thin notebooks tend to be fairly slow as a thumb rule. This deficiency has been overcome by the low voltage of Intel Core i3 processor in the Dell Inspiron 13z laptop and is better than most as it provides a high-end gaming pleasure when it gets combined with a dedicated ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5430 graphics card. Rs 39,000/- priced this electronic marvel has one thing that is disappointing and that is its battery life. It is far too less than the price of this laptop.

The 1.33 GHz Intel Core i3-380UM processor is a slow processor, but for applications related to productivity, it handles itself very well. The graphics card called ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5430 can play very heavy games on low settings, but here is where the low processor speed actually hampers the performance. To get this better, there became a necessity of putting a very high speed large quantity of RAM and hence, 4GB of RAM certainly helped the performance of the games, and it also improves the overall system performance as well.

A hard drive of 320 GB is necessary to keep up the profile of Dell Inspiron 13z Laptop, as high as possible, as the hard drive is only 24 mm thick. This big hard drive helps the users to put in large collection of movies and songs in the disk for various moods. An added feature is the presence of 13.3 inches of screen having a resolution of 1366 x 768, making it an awesome experience while watching the videos. The quality of the Dell Inspiron 13Z laptop is good enough for gaming or productivity, but this laptop also allows enhanced portability. The Dell Inspiron 13Z has a total weight of 1.8 Kg and has the dimensions measuring 328 mm in width and 235.5 mm in depth.

There is plethora of non-compulsory accessories, and their worth boils down to the basic question; whether you require the specific extras or not? You can order to get the Dell Inspiron 13Z with a hard drive size of 500 GB or can ask for an enhanced RAM for 2 GB, to meet up your requirements. In any case Dell will keep its promise as always to give you your requirements at the earliest.

Whenever we talk of ThinkPad series of laptops from Lenovo, we come to a simple thought of business class laptops. There has been no release of the thirteen inch ThinkPad after the X301. This new ThinkPad X1 has kept its promise of delivering all the features and dependability one can expect from the thin and lightweight thirteen inches laptop. Lenovo has taken more time so as to bring this laptop into the market as the company was dealing with the design requirements of making it light and yet delivering serious performance.

In terms of build and quality, we find that the body or the chassis of the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 has passed the eight MIL specified tests and these tests are mechanical shock, vibration, altitude, sand, extreme temperatures, high temperature, low temperature and humidity. The keyboard is spill resistant with drain holes and also has traditional black rubberized matte paint finish that has the power of resisting fingerprint smudges and scratches.

There is one interesting fact about the design of the Lenovo ThinkPad X1is that the durable hinge has the ability of allowing the screen to open perfectly flat. Also, in this laptop, there is a unique layout of the ports and all the ports are available in the thin side which is just 16.5 mm. On the front side there are no ports available. In the rear, there are many ports and those are security lock slot, power jack, USB combo port, mini display port, HDMI, USB 3.0 port, SIM card slot and Ethernet port. The left side of the laptop has USB 2.0 port and headset jack. The right of the laptop has access panel for hard drive, SD card slot and wireless on / off.

There is one great thing to notice about the left side of the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 and that is all the ports of the left side are hidden and that too behind the rubber door. This is an awesome thinking by the ThinkPad experts to keep the edge of the ThinkPad clean.

The screen of Lenovo ThinkPad X1 is 13.3 inches with a resolution of 1366 x 768. The screen is rated at 350 nits for bright backlight. The glossy panel is such as the screen comes with an extra coating of Gorilla Glass. The quality of the speakers is also good as compared to the thinness of the ThinkPad. Overall, it’s a good buy and the worth is more than the money you spend.

This is Sony’s third tablet. It is more of an Android 3.1 inside that is now known as the Sony Tablet P that supports 4G and Wi-Fi.

It is definitely a cost-saving model having 512MB of RAM, 2 GB of Micro-SD card and permanent storage of 4GB. The design also is very light. The tablet has two 5.5-inches touch screens and it weighs only 0.82 pounds, and this is half of what Sony’s larger tablet S weighs. The very modest VGA camera as a webcam is likely owing to cost of the tablet.

The Sony Tablet P is a boon to the music lovers and the game players as this small piece contains playable effective games for the kids and also has high resolution and speed for the music and audio lovers. This slate made by Sony is likely to be out in September. There have been rumors that Sony might ask for premium over what Apple charges.

The ‘P’ in the name stands for the portability of the tablet as such. The name is definitely a simple name, and it sounds good. The Sony Tablet P is loaded with the most advanced version present till date, of Android. This version is called the Android Honeycomb OS.

The specifications of the Sony Tablet P are as follows:-

1. The tablet has dual 5.5 inches screens.

2. The total weight of the tablet is only around 370 grams and this is just equal to half the weight of the iPad.

3. The best part is a 2 GB Micro-SD card for expanding the memory and built in 4 GB of storage memory, giving an excellent space for the movie, music and game lovers.

4. To cover up with the high speed storage memory, it comes equipped with a 512 MB of RAM.

5. It has a 0.3 megapixel web camera in the front, which is equal to the VGA camera.

6. The tablet is made with the latest technology that supports 4G Internet connectivity.

7. A Wi-Fi port to connect with other devices and / or to the Internet where Wi-Fi nets are available.

8. To get together all this, there is a need for a high speed microprocessor and this need is fulfilled by NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor.

The release of these tablets in India is expected to be in the month of September and the price tag would be approximate Rs 29,000/-. With all these features, the Sony Tablet P is a hit and opens new dimensions for the use of tablets.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 is an outstanding tablet with Android Honeycomb inside it. It is technically thinner and lighter than the Apple iPad 2. The Samsung Galaxy Tab’s a big contender in the arena of tablets. The Samsung Galaxy Tab is 0.2mm thinner than iPad 2, having only 8.6mm of laser accuracy thickness. Its weight is just 565 grams and this is further 36 grams lighter than the iPad 2.

One can look at the Samsung Galaxy Tab and easily come to the conclusion that this tablet is a magnificent marvel of engineering. When one holds this in one hand, one can easily say that it looks more of a mini version of the Samsung LED HDTV. The engineers have gone in to details like a person when holds the tablet, slightly touches the screen and hence there is a slight edge of the screen throughout that is devoid of touch enabling.

The device is right enough to be compared with the other competitors as many have considered this device marvel as the best e-book reader while on the way. Android Honeycomb version 3.1 enables the processor to be used optimistically even, to the heaviest of the application running on the tablet.

Samsung Galaxy Tab does not have a USB port and this means that it cannot be connected to any of the computer based devices, but there is no requirement also as Samsung has made it as a pick and go device having the portability and functionality.

The front facing camera is 2Megapixel camera and the rear of it has a 3 Megapixel camera that can be utilized on heavy duty basis.

The best part is the 7000mAh rechargeable battery that is inside it, and it is the best because it gives the Samsung Galaxy Tab users an added advantage of using the device all day long. Nine hours is the limit if the Samsung Galaxy Tab is used for hearing music or watching videos or even playing games, when the tablet is utilized to maximum.

A built in gyro and a four way accelerometer gives the ability to respond faster to the turns and rotations of the screen and works even better when the kids are playing the games. Built-in features like GPS, Adobe Flash Browser, screen resolution of 1290 x 800, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and the NVIDIA Tegra 2 dual core processor, has given the tablet a boost in the market for its availability at a lower price range than the other Android based tablets. For sure, Samsung Galaxy Tab is an excellent by for techies and professionals.

The design of the package is like the package of iPad. The package is white in color having the photograph of the device on it, making it a good and a decent package. The package consists of a 7 inch Reliance Tablet, an AC charger, USB cable, Reliance SIM, Headphone, 4GB Kingston Card and a user manual.

Touch Screen and Panel of Reliance 3G Tablet

The 7 inches of capacitive screen, along with a panel that has looks similar to its competitor Samsung Galaxy tab, and the buttons work satisfactorily. This is one device that never gives an impression that this device is a low cost tablet. The touch screen is a decent screen and the keys for volume and power are on the right side. There is a Micro USB port for charging the device. There is also a 3.5mm audio jack at the top panel along with the speakers. There are three options on the Touch Panel and that is Home, Back and Menu.

Technical Specifications

Reliance Tablet is bundled with Qualcomm 800 MHz Microprocessor, with 512 MB of RAM at its disposal and there is the standard 2Megapixel camera in the rear and a VGA camera in the front. The 3400mAh battery gets charged very fast and works for six to seven hours under normal usage and three to four hours under heavy duty usage.

It has Bluetooth with A2DP profile and this enables one to directly play music on the tablet while using it as a mobile. The version of the operating system is Android 2.3.4, which is the latest for the smart phones.

Applications on the Reliance 3G Tablet

Reliance Tablet is pre-loaded with a few applications, to enhance the tablet on the whole. These applications include Gmail, YouTube, Face book, Google search, and Google maps. The tablet has ‘R World Online’ installed on it. This is an application that works as a door to a wide variety of Reliance provided leisure options, like wallpapers, movies, music, news, and so on. The other feature of the tablet includes Video recorder, Bluetooth voice calling, Wi-Fi Hotspot, Alarm, GPS, Speaker phone, MMS, and SMS. There is also an option to hear the world around you through FM radio. The tablet is compatible with many audio formats and is also able to decode the images like JPEG, BMP and the PNG formats.

The Reliance 3G Tablet has all these features as those in other tablets of similar nature, but is available at a much cheaper rates, giving a complex to the other tablets available in the market.

The ThinkPad X220 cannot be really distinguished from other X Series laptops that Lenovo released in a series, but there is more than what meets the eye and that is the word ultra portability. This 12.5-inches machine is overflowing with the latest technology that includes the latest Intel Core i5 processor, a six-cell battery and an IPS display.

Despite the powerful and rigid internal organs, Lenovo ThinkPad X220 is incredibly light. The chassis of 1.25 inches weigh only 3.6 pounds and this includes the weight of six-cell battery.

The plus point is that the extra battery fits with the system and does not block the important ports like the three USB ports, the headphone connector, an Ethernet port and the Display port sockets. Apart from these, there is also a four-in-one card slot and an Express Card 54 slot.

Lenovo has always prepared some of the most excellent laptop keyboards, and the panel contained by the Lenovo ThinkPad X220 is no different. Curved keys present just the right quantity of view, and the spacing is approximately perfect for tap typists. Thanks to the faintly expanded 12.5 inches screen. And there is completely no bend to the pane, although one can easily make out that the function row has been shrunken by Lenovo. But, comparatively, the Delete and the ESC keys are a bit oversized.

As with Lenovo’s most ThinkPad’s there is absolutely no shortage for the navigation options in the X220. Lenovo ThinkPad X220 also comes with the same combo of its touchpad and pointing stick. There is also a famous red nub that resides in the centre of the keyboard, but the bigger news is the presence of a new Click-Pad with integrated mouse buttons and this is what is providing efficiency to the Lenovo ThinkPad X220. The pad has been raised in this model as Braille like bumps and because the buttons have been integrated, the surface has become wider and longer than the previous models.

All these features have made the Lenovo ThinkPad X220 to become the most rugged and toughest, yet maintain the presence of new technologies fairly embedded inside the metallic black structure. This ThinkPad has become a competition in the market for its strength and the relative effectiveness of the hardware to get engulfed in any of the existing networks of the world. The success of the X220 is guaranteed its previous models as this is a more enriched flavor of the older versions.

Dell Latitude E5420 is the toughest corporate laptop that is purposely designated as rugged. The dark grey, anodized aluminum case with its magnesium-based interior and sturdy hinges with lock, gives the look of a hard laptop. The price is tagged at rupees eighty four thousand only, for the 14 inches screen and Intel Core i5 configuration, Dell Latitude E5420 has best features for video-chat support and portability.

The laptop Dell Latitude E5420 is equipped with 2.5 GHz Intel Core i5-2520M, Intel HD integrated graphics, 4GHz of DDR3 RAM and loaded with 64-bit Windows 7 Professional operating system. The Dell Latitude E5420 is a class apart with its nine and half hour battery life, and this is almost three times greater than the laptops in the top charts. This lithium battery is of 97 Watt Hour and allows the optimized usage by controlling the brightness and switching to power saver mode while working.

The Dell Latitude E5420 has more than a few features that are liked by the corporate buyers and their elements. It has got both joystick and touchpad. The wonderful keyboard has satisfactorily sculpted the keys and its backlight comes to ON, the moment one touches any key.

Small, silvery audio control buttons let one quickly to fiddle with the volume of the sound. Other amenities include external hardware Wi-Fi button, SD Card and Smart Card slots.

The 14 inches LED-backlit widescreen display is crisp and bright, with an strangely high resolution of 1600 x 900. The Dell Latitude E5420′s built-in speakers give out surprisingly robust audio. However, if one needs to put a audio jack, it has one common audio microphone joint port.

Dell Latitude E5420 comes with a small 250 GB hard disk fitted inside, having an rpm of 7200. The other options consist of larger encrypted drives, and small solid-state drives that can be attached to get the desired storage space. The customer gets three USB 2.0 ports, out of which, one is a combined USB-e-SATA port. HDMI, VGA, Ethernet gigabit are a few other ports available for the use along with a DVD burner.

The bundle for Dell’s software for its commerce customers is least. The customers get the starter edition of Cyber Link’s PowerDVD and Roxio Creator for using the DVD burner.

Dell has always meant business and Dell Latitude E5420 is a perfect make by the company for the corporate world. With its rugged and tough looks, it gives the impression of a hard standing of the company.

For our Apple users – the IPAD 2 is different than the original IPAD more importantly in terms of its refined shape in terms of its thinness and increased speed, making it a brand new product by itself.

The Apple IPAD2 weighs few ounces smaller than its predecessor. This is 1.3 pounds versus the original 1.5 pounds and is 0.34 inches thick (which equals nearly 33% than its original version).

On the speed front, critics have claimed that the new A5 processor in the IPad 2 is two times faster than the original version. The apps and the websites load more quickly. It is reported that in the newer version, the applications and the websites load faster and the 3-D games appear more detailed.

These few important factors are the one which make the tablet a perfect use in his or her professional field, especially those people who are constantly moving around. The gadget can become a replacement kit as against X-rays for doctors, an interactive blueprint for or architects and a text-book, note-taker and daily planner for students. The more light and thin the gadget is the more useful is it for professional purposes.

While we have mentioned a few of the pointers above, a product review would be incomplete without entailing some more details of the product for the users. We have compiled some of the features in the thumbs up and the thumbs down format. The thumbs up format are a notification of those key features which gel which the critic favorites while thumbs down comprises of those features which the critics. The factors are as under:

Thumbs up:

ü Applications:

The first thing about any smart gadget which comes up in mind these days are the applications. The new Apple IPad 2 has around 65,000 applications, which gives it a perfect head start against its competitors.

Stars: 3

Pros: Extra surfing options.

Constructive utilization of time.

Cons: Sometimes too much is a problem!

ü Smart Cover:

Who wouldn’t wan`t to protect their gadgets from the smudges and fingerprints which is a general phenomena that arises in touch screen gadgets these days? Apple IPad 2’s smart cover micro fiber lining boasts of boasts of keeping your gadget clean and users have well rated this feature of their instrument.

Stars: 4

Pros: Helps the gadget last longer

: Protection is always better than cure!

Cons: Can`t really think of any!

ü Battery Life:

When it comes to battery, one can only think of one slogan last long really long! Surely, Apple IPad 2 lives up to it. The battery approximately lasts around 2-3 days. Do you really want more?

Stars: 4

Pros: More battery = More Power = More Surfing!

Cons: Beware – it`s harming your eyes!

Thumbs down:

While the new gadget is really an eye candy for the go getters and technology lovers, it does have some of its own pitfalls which wouldn’t put them off. Nevertheless, we have taken pains to highlight a few of the factors which are likely to put off the users.

û Games up gradation:

While the IPad 2 offers a vast collection of games, the manufacturers have forgotten to upgrade them!

Stars: 2

Pros: The new collection offers a great variety

Cons: The X factor taken for a toss

û Resolution:

While the critics expected a higher screen resolution, the IPad 2 has retained its original resolution viz.9.7 in 1,024 X 768.

Stars: 2

P.S: We would prefer giving a miss to this feature of the gadget!

Conclusion: While the new Apple Ipad2 surely does have it’s own pitfalls – at the end of the day, it is a gadget which is surely going to find place in the hands of youth!

Price: $499-$829

Apple has abandoned its slim and light Ipod with decently sized display and clickwheel and unveiled the Ipod Nano with a completely new touch screen technology. (The in factor with all the mobile phones!).

The new device is a full touch screen device that brings to mind something more like a large, living postage stamp than a portable music player. This is a complete departure from the older version. The music gadget boasts of only three hardware buttons. These include one larger button on the top right for power / sleep; two smaller, circular ones on the top left for volume controls.

Let`s check out the feature list of this music gadget in a better detail:

Hardware:

Slightly wider – 1.54-inch 240 x 240 capacitive multi touch LCD display. The touch screen provides larger accuracy. The Ipod Nano, weighs roughly around 21 grams as compared to the older version which was around 36g, making it barely noticeable when you attach it to your shirt or strap it on your bag.

Software:

While hardware is all about devices, the software is all about simplicity and ease to use features. On this front, the company has done away with some of it’s older features and stuck around to a more easy to use simple features with which you can only listen to songs and look at the videos. It has done away with the video camera and the ability to pay back the video thus making the gadget simpler. Along with that the company has done away with a lot of extra stuff which include contacts, calendars, notes amongst others. The other software which we shall talk about a bit of in detail include – the interface and the sound quality.

Interface:

According to the critics, the new interface provides a better insight than the classic iPod interface. While the options for sorting and playback remain the same, the multi touch iOS-ness helps you get away with the endless scrolling through menus to search what you are exactly looking out for. Reviewers have claimed that the Nano`s new interface is a mixture of a wide variety of tried and tested frameworks, making the gadget so appealing that they have at times mistaken the gadget to be an actual phone.

Describing some of the key additions and subtractions in the interface would be worthwhile.

While the company has dedicated icons for podcasts, FM radio, video recorder, Apple has left the “add” and “edit” button for play lists for the user to explore. Another noticeable feature is what while one can use the multitouch to rotate the screen to the orientation required, the photos don`t provide that option. In this category, one has to double tap to zoom to view the required snap shot.

Sound Quality aka playback:

Again here, reviewers have given a thumbs up to the sound quality of the given the size and price point. The noticeable point is that while the bass feels full and deep, the highs were less cutting than the other players. However, the gadget fails to compete with recognized players like Zune and Walkman as regards quality but that can be discounted.

The final verdict!

Coming to the round off, the new version surely makes one feel like heaven, especially if you have been using the same iPod nano for a couple of years from now. While the gadget is surely for an upper end pocket, you can surely go for keeping in mind the slew of fresh additions and subtractions which are abruptly noticeable. The gadget is smart, fast and a capable player which is capable of pleasing the markets. A request to the nano (we are not referring to the Tata Nano here!) makers – Please reduce your price so that it can fit the masses as well!

There are plenty of notebooks available for under Rs 35,000/-, but a notebook with a nearly Rs 45,000/- starting price has to bring special thing to the table. Providentially, Dell’s XPS 15 offers a lot more than just a 1 GB NVIDIA graphics card and Core i5 processor. Blazing fast performance of the laptop and the 15-inch model of Dell’s revamped laptop line; supports fantastic JBL speakers along with high-definition webcam making the first for notebooks. Playing 3D content after hooking it up to an attuned TV, makes you take the plunge to get it at this price.

The Design

The Dell XPS 15 has a lid that is made of silver anodized aluminum that does not get sticky due to finger prints but has a dull color. There is a small black bar behind the lid that has backlit XPS logo, which flashes when the system’s asleep. The fine finish of matte continues to the sides and underneath, the areas frequently overlooked by other notebook developers.

The dark aluminum deck of the machine and diamond-cut, silver trimming surrounding the touchpad and the keyboard look modern. The speakers are present on both sides of the keyboard and have a unique pattern.

The dimensions of the hefty Dell XPS 15 are 15 inches x 10.4 inches x 1.5 inches and weighs around 6.1 pounds.

Dell XPS 15

Above the keyboard there are few status lights and there are some touch-sensitive buttons. First button is for launching Windows Mobility Center, which is a mini control panel allowing to easily manage Wi-Fi, display settings and Bluetooth. We are also able to set the backlight brightness for the keyboard. Second button is for the user-configurations. Third button is for launching the Dell Audio control center.

The 3.9 inches x 2.2 inches touchpad of the Dell XPS 15 has a shell that offers the friction and executes multi-touch gestures. The two discrete mouse buttons offer good perceptible feedback, a colossal benefit over competing notebooks that make one click the entire pad.

The Dell XPS 15 has the technology and the looks that satisfy the customer to their best. The service Dell has to offer is never even comparable to the companies in the market. The Dell XPS 15 is a notebook that speaks itself of the brand it has fallen into. With Windows 7 preloaded, it has become the best notebook that we have seen so far.