Smartphones eating up time spent with loved ones in India, reveals a study

Time is not far when smartphones are going to be the most favourite in Indian life, overtaking even their loved ones. A study conducted by Ericsson in India shows that smartphones are considerably eating up the time their Indian users otherwise spent with their loved ones.

Analysing the mobile broadband usage among the Indian public, the handset maker has conducted a survey among some 5000 respondents all over India, to find that 34 percent of them felt smartphones are eating up the time they used to spend with spouse or loved ones. 

Eventually, the study also shows that the gadget is turning dearest to average Indian user. 45 percent of the respondents showed nomophobic (fear of parting with their mobile phone) tendencies which make them to go to sleep with their smartphones. 

Interestingly, at least 28 percent of the people in the study opined that they forgot people in the vicinity while chatting or texting on the small screen device.

Indicating increasing popularity of mobile broadband usage in India, the study revealed that 69 percent of all first time smartphone users spend more than 50 percent of their internet hours on their smartphone. 

Among this, men often check with the Google Maps, while women text and talk more.

However, 3G networks in India are yet to make the most, according to the study. Though the number of mobile phone users crosses an 850 million mark in India, barely five percent among them have access to 3G services. However among this five percent, one in three depends on 3G broadband as the sole source of internet.

The study also found that ignorance about data plans and absence of easy ways to check the usage deter public from hoping on a 3G network.

HTC One X to hit Indian market in April for a Rs. 35000 tag

Good patience often pays off well. So is the case with the HTC and Android fans in India. The Ice Cream Sandwich party from Android packed in the cute body of HTC One X is just weeks away to hit market shelves in Indian cities. This is no third rate rumor, as HTC official Facebook page has confirmed the news through a teaser video about the upcoming arrival of the rig with all its glory.

Though no dates on the exact roll out of the device are available right now, we may get an update at any time. It has stolen many hearts since the time it came out to public in the MWC along with other Smartphones in the HTC One series.

Being the first phone among the One series, One X is expected to cost anything under Rs. 35000 right now. However the confirmation on price too will come with eth surprise update.

If you missed the first episodes of the One X story, here you can have a small recap. The ICS device with HTC Sense 4.0 comes with massive 4.7 inch screen of 720p resolution. Powered by a Tegra 3 quad-core chip at 1.5 GHz and 1 GB RAM. A list of specs is below. Happy waiting.  

     * Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich with HTC Sense 4.0 UI
    * 1.5 GHz quad-core processor
    * 4.7-inch display with a resolution of 1280 x 720
    * 8MP camera with AF, LED flash, BSI sensor and 1080p HD video recording
    * F2.0 aperture and 28mm lens
    * 1.3MP front camera with a resolution of 720p for video chat
    * 32GB Internal memory
    * 1GB RAM
    * Beats Audio
    * NFC, Wi-Fi, DLNA, micro-USB 2.0, HDMI
    * 1800 mAh battery

Lenovo and HP to start own-brand stores in Asia, India one of the destinations

Apple is a success story indeed. So what do unsuccessful people do? Try to copy the ways of the successful ones, right? May be that is the reason why major PC makers HP and Lenovo want to try a marketing strategy in Asia in lines with what Apple did in the US and other countries.

Apple presently runs more than 300 own-brand retail outlets worldwide known as Apple Stores. During the last quarter of 2011, Apple witnessed a staggering 42.6 percentage growth in its revenue from Apple Stores. Now it constitutes 13.2 percent of Apple’s total annual revenue.

Inspired by the Apple story, Lenovo is now planning to expand its presence in the Asia region by starting not less than 1000 own-brand showrooms. They already have five own-brand stores in the region, in the metropolitan cities Taipei and Kaohsiung in Taiwan.

Hewlett Packard is also planning to follow suit by starting own-brand showrooms. They are about to start their eight full service centre in Asia Pacific at Taipei. The centre will give complete customer support and will also carry out product exhibition and sales.

There are indeed advantages in opting for on-brand retail outlets than depending on other retailer chains where the brand has to compete with other brands for customer attention. In an own-brand store, brand image gets maximum enhancement through decorations and proper communication by the staff. It also delivers warmer customer service than trouble shooting customer issues through call centers.

Well, we are right now not sure about the number of retail stores Lenovo plans to open in India. Stay tuned while we get the updates.

Path to hit Windows Phone platform, no plans for BlackBerry, says CEO

At last Windows Phone users can take a sigh, Path is on its way to hit WP platform. Path is a social networking service meant for smartphone users which allow people to add only 50 friends to their network.  Fed up with the friend’s crowd in Facebook? Path is the answer for you.

However, Windows Phone owners were not able to enjoy the Path experience as it was available only on Android and iOS platforms. But things are going to change. A recent statement given by Path CEO hints that the unique social networking service will soon roll out an app for Windows Phone users.

Since it allows only 50 friends, users don’t add anybody and everybody to their network as they do it on other social networks. So you will have only the closest 50 from your friends and family around you in Path.

The idea has won more than 2 million users world over so far. It makes Path experience more private and informal and decreases the chances of getting spammed or meeting with mean behavior. Due to its uniqueness, Path is in no direct competition with popular networks like Facebook.

By bringing it to Windows Phone platform, Path is expecting to lure more users. In a way, it is an indication that Windows Phone has indeed become the third most important smartphone platform behind Android and iOS.

Path CEO has clearly said that the company has no intentions to push themselves to Blackberry devices. Despite bringing their presence to Windows Phone platform, the major focus is improving  Path’s performance on iOS devices, said he.

Akash 2 tender coming up in two months, Wishtel, PSUs eyeing to clinch the deal

                      Sky is the limit for technology these days. So they named it Akash when Indian government decided to float tenders for manufacturing a cheap tablet for students. Though the original Akash project is haunted with controversies on the quality of the gadget and leg pulling attempts from major gadget makers, more takers are eyeing the tender for Akash 2.

                                Though the number of tablets and the timing of the tender are not yet revealed, many OEMs are gearing up to clinch the deal this time. IT product maker Wish Tel, who lost the tender last time to Datawind by whiskers, is a major one among them, while Public sector undertakings like Hindustan Computers Limited and Bharath Heavy Electricals Limited are also eyeing at the pie.

                           The original Akash which was launched last October has seen high demand from the student community in India, especially in the backdrop of the subsidized rate of  Rs. 1500 offered by Ministry of Human Resource Development. Dubbed as the cheapest tablet in the world, it is obviously cheap in its specs too. Powered by a 700 MHz ARM A8 processor, the 7 inch Android 2.3 tab has a 256 MB of RAM.

                             Though it has a nominal 2 GB internal storage, the microSD card slot of the rig can support up to 32 GB sized microSD cards. However, problems are aplenty when you put the rig in use. Frequent system breakdowns and incompatibility with certain commonly used free software are major usability issues.

                      Due to the nominal price of Rs. 2276, Akash is not a luring product for the manufacturer, as far as profit per unit is considered. However, since the orders are pouring over, the net figure is huge. Within a one month period, the Datawind found more than 1.4 million orders, which was beyond their manufacturing capacity.

It makes Akash 2 is a pie lucrative enough for OEM manufacturers. Government is mulling over calling the tenders within two months.