Intex Aqua HD and Aqua i4 Officially Introduced in India

Intex has just announced the upcoming availability of Aqua HD and Aqua i4 Android smartphones in India. Both will be available for decent prices in the coming days.

According to AndroidOS, the best-featured of the two is the Intex Aqua HD, which will be available on the market for Rs 15,900 outright ($255 / €190). The second smartphone introduced by Intex, the Aqua i4 has been confirmed to hit shelves soon for only Rs 9,490 off contract, which is about $150 or €110. Hardware-wise, Intex Aqua HD is better equipped than the Aqua i4, as we have already pointed out earlier. It comes packed with a 1.2 GHz quad-core processor, 1GB of RAM and 4 GB of internal memory, which can be further expanded up to 32GB via microSD memory card. In addition, the smartphone boasts a large 4.7-inch IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen display that supports HD (720p) resolution. It also sports an impressive 13-megapixel rear-facing camera with autofocus and LED flash, as well as a secondary 5-megapixel front-facing camera.

The budget-friendly Intex Aqua i4 features a slightly larger 5-inch FWVGA capacitive touchscreen display, but packs a less powerful 1.2 GHz dual-core processor. There’s no word on the amount of RAM and storage, but Intex states that the Aqua i4 will come with an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera with autofocus and LED flash, as well as a secondary 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera for video calls. The Aqua i4 is powered by a high-capacity 2000 mAh Li-Ion battery, which has yet to be rated by the manufacturer, and packs microSD card slot for memory expansion (up to 32GB). Last but not least, both Intex smartphones coming soon to India will ship with Android 4.2 Jelly Bean operating system out of the box and dual-SIM support. “With festive season around the corner, we are planning to sell 3 lakh smartphones in the month of October, 2013.” said Sanjay Kumar Kalirona, business head, mobile, Intex Technologies.

Intex Aqua HD
Image credits to AndroidOS

Intex Aqua i4
Image credits to AndroidOS

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Verizon’s BlackBerry Z30 New Leaked Photo Emerges Online

Mobile phone carrier Verizon Wireless has already confirmed plans to add the BlackBerry Z30 smartphone to its offering, and a leaked image with the device is now available for your viewing pleasure.

Said photo, available via BerryReview and embedded above, shows the mobile phone with the Verizon logo placed at the top of its screen. It matches the official press photo that Verizon published last week. No other details on the handset are available as of now, but the fact that this image made it online suggests that Verizon might have already started testing the device.

According to CrackBerry, we could expect for Big Red to announce some more info on its plans for the launch of this smartphone within a few weeks, despite of the lack of details. Stay tuned for more on the matter.

Verizon's BlackBerry Z30
Image credits to BerryReview

Verizon's BlackBerry Z30
Image credits to @Verizon on Twitter

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TCL N3 Emerges with 6-Inch Screen and 1.5GHz Quad-Core CPU

Soon, mobile phone users in China will be able to purchase a new smartphone from local phone maker TCL, namely the TCL N3.

The smartphone has been spotted online a few times before, yet now it popped up on the web in a teaser image coming from its maker itself, which makes it as good as officially unveiled. The handset will land on the market with a large 6-inch touchscreen display capable of delivering a full HD resolution, while also featuring a very small bezel around it. This is visible in the photo attached to this article, available courtesy of mydrivers. The smartphone is said to pack a 1.5 GHz quad-core processor inside (none other than the MediaTek MT6589T CPU), along with 2GB of RAM.

Furthermore, a recent post on UnwiredView notes that TCL N3 features a 13-megapixel camera on the back, most probably capable of offering support for full HD video recording. There is also a 5MP front camera included in the package, enabling users to make video calls in high-definition. The specs list of the new device is also said to include a 3400mAh battery, as well as the Android 4.2 Jelly Bean operating system loaded on top. The usual set of connectivity options should also be included in the package. As it usually happens, this TCL smartphone is expected to arrive on shelves internationally under the Alcatel brand, yet no official info on the matter has been provided as of now.

However, the specs list that this smartphone is said to arrive on the market will match those of Alcatel One Touch Hero, which was announced not long ago. Featuring a 6-inch full HD IPS touchscreen display, the smartphone was unveiled with a small bezel as well, as can be seen in the hands-on photos we had the chance to snap at the IFA 2013 conference in Berlin. No specific info on when the TCL N3 will arrive on the market has been provided as of now, or on the price tag that it might feature when released, so stay tuned to learn more on this.

TCL N3
Image credits to mydrivers

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Samsung Confirms about SIM Card Lock on European Galaxy Note 3 and Other Handsets

Today, South Korean mobile phone maker Samsung Electronics has confirmed that some of its smartphones sold in Europe come with a local SIM card lock.

The info emerged yesterday, and an official word on the matter is now available from the handset vendor, with additional info on what all that involves. According to the company, some of its current devices sold in the European Union with SIM cards from carriers in Europe work as usual. Furthermore, the company explains that users can continue using these devices outside the European Union with the SIM card of their carrier via roaming service to appropriate roaming charges to their wireless service provider. What’s more interesting is that Samsung suggests that the device could be unlocked to be used with any other carrier worldwide if a SIM card was not placed inside it, as SamMobile reports.

“If purchased in the European Union and not yet been put into use to be activated for the first time abroad, users can unlock their device for the region free from local Samsung service partners,” the company notes. Samsung has also unveiled that the regional SIM card lock has been applied to models that have been produced starting with the end of July 2013, and that they will be marked with corresponding stickers. The list of affected devices includes Samsung GALAXY S III, Galaxy S II, GALAXY Note, GALAXY S4, GALAXY S4 mini and the GALAXY Note 3.

Additionally, the company explains that this is a functionality of devices sold with SIM cards from mobile carriers in specific countries in the European Economic Area (EEA) and non-EU markets. The list of EEA countries includes: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, UK, Switzerland, and Croatia. At the same time, the move was put in effect for devices in Albania, Andorra, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, San Marino, Serbia, and Vatican City.

It’s yet unclear what the SIM card lock implies, but the general consensus here is that users in Europe who will purchase any of the aforementioned devices won’t be able to place inside them SIM cards from carriers operating in countries that are not mentioned above.

Samsung Galaxy Note 3
Image credits to Samsung

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Nexus 5 Spotted in GFXBench Next to iPhone 5s and Xperia Z1

Google and LG have been long rumored to plan the release of the next device in the popular Nexus lineup, and some more info on the handset is now available.

Supposedly set to land on shelves as Nexus 5, the smartphone has been spotted in the GFXBench benchmarking website, where its performance capabilities were compared to those of iPhone 5s, Xperia Z1, and other devices. As it turns out, the Adreno 330 graphics processor that the smartphone is expected to pack inside can deliver great performance capabilities, at least this is what the results in the GFXBench T-Rex HD off-screen test show. This is a graphical-intensive test meant to show how well devices can perform when it comes to maximum workloads that games can put on them. The unannounced Nexus 5 scored as high as iPhone 5s, while leaving the Sony Xperia Z1, LG G2, Samsung Galaxy S4 and HTC One behind, as the graphic published on PhoneArena shows.

Of course, the Nexus 5 GFXBench results haven’t been verified as of now, and it might take a while before they are, given that the device is not official just yet, so we should take this with a grain of salt. Even so, Nexus 5 was long said to be built based on the LG G2 flagship smartphone but to pack a series of improvements inside, and the above info might pan out in the end. Rumor has it that the new mobile phone will feature a Snapdragon 800 processor inside, paired with the aforementioned Adreno 330 GPU, and with at least 2GB of RAM. The smartphone is also said to arrive on shelves with the next version of the Android platform, namely 4.4 KitKat, which should deliver various performance improvements of its own as well.

What remains to be seen is whether Nexus 5 will manage to perform at the same level once it becomes official. Given that it might have been tested with a development build loaded on top, it could deliver even better test results.

Nexus 5 GFXBench test results compared to those of iPhone 5s, other devices
Image credits to PhoneArena

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Sygic India Navigation App for Android Now Available for Free

Sygic, developer of navigation applications, has just announced it India: GPS Navigation app for Android devices is now available for free via Google Play Store.

According to AndroidOS, Sygic discounted the navigation application a few times before deciding to offer it for free. Sygic India: GPS Navigation is one of the most downloaded offline applications available on Google Play Store. As developers point out, this app works with the built-in GPS and does not require an Internet connection at all. It also features turn-by-turn voice navigation and drag & drop for simple route editing.

You can now download Sygic India: GPS Navigation for Android for free via Google Play Store. The application is fully compatible with all devices powered by Android 2.0.1 and up. Keep in mind that the graphics has been optimized for tablet display as well.

Sygic India: GPS Navigation for Android
Image credits to Sygic

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ZTE Geek Arrives in China with Nvidia Tegra 4 Inside

A new Nvidia Tegra 4-based smartphone is now available for purchase in China, namely the ZTE Geek, which features a price tag of only 1,888 Yuan ($308 / €229).

The mobile phone comes with appealing hardware specifications, starting with the 1.8GHz Tegra 4 chipset inside it and going all the way to the 5-inch 1920 x 1080 pixel touchscreen display. Furthermore, the device was launched with 2GB of RAM packed inside, as well as with 16GB of internal memory, as GizChina reports.

ZTE Geek features a 13-megapixel photo snapper on the back and a 2MP front camera. It also includes Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS receiver, Glonass, and a 2300mAh battery. The handset was launched in China with support for the TD-SCDMA 3G network of China Mobile. It runs under Google’s Android 4.2 Jelly Bean operating system at the moment.

ZTE Geek
Image credits to GizChina

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