Micromax a110 canvas 2 Price and Review

Micromax A110 Canvas 2

Micromax Canvas2 A110

 

Micromax knows really well, how to catch Indian market. Their recent phone models clearly shows that. The products, which are released by Micromax recently like Micromax canvas 2 mobile, 3D LED TV etc are excelling in their quality and amazing in case of their budget price. This has attracted a lot of Indian buyer to Micromax. Micromax a110 canvas 2 has got a response from Indian market, which is comparable to flagship models of Samsung like Galaxy S 3. To understand the reason of the phone’s success, have a look on the specifications of the phone in the picture below,

Price Rs.10200 ($105)

        The price of the phone is the most attractive feature of the phone and reason behind its success. There is no other phone below 15k with such excellent features. It just cuts out all the competition. Everybody is still wondering how Micromax managed to release a phone with such configurations, at such a low price. Just two or three weeks after the release of the phone it is out of stock in most of the online and offline showrooms. That indicates the popularity of the phone in Indian market.

Operating System (Android 4 (Ice Cream Sandwich))

        This phone is running on Android 4 (Ice Cream Sandwich), which is not the current latest Android version available. It comes with certain drawbacks like there is no standard 1080p playback capability. But still you can install free apps like MX player and play full HD videos. If you are a more techie person, you can root the phone and install jellybean ROM which is available in internet free of cost for the phone. This will also enable other new features of jellybean. In XDA developer forums you can get more details about custom ROM available for the phone.

Processor (1 GHz, Dual Core)

     This phone is powered by a 1GHz dual core Mediatek 6577 processor. There is an additional POWER VR Series 5 GPU for good graphics support in video playback and gaming. Because of the powerful processor, you will not feel any delay or lag in user interface. Even with good number of applications running in backend, the phone responds well to new apps. Also you can run HD games, which will be supported in high end phones only, in this phone.

Memory (512 MB RAM)

     The phone comes with 512MB RAM and 2 GB internal memory. Internal memory is expandable using microSD card  upto 32 GB. 512MB RAM offers a good amount of multi tasking but you cannot expect the multitasking capability of high end phones like Galaxy S3. Still you can see around 100MB free RAM, even while 10 apps(apps like message, chat, music etc) are running in the back end. Some people are complaining that with 2GB internal memory you cannot install much HD games. But there is a work around for that problem. There is a tweak in XDA developer forum to convert memory card memory into internal memory, so that you can use your memory card to install data, which should otherwise be installed in phone internal memory.

Camera (8 MP main and 0.3MP front)

      This phone comes with an 8MP primary camera and 0.3 MP Secondary Camera. Main camera is average in terms of quality of pictures. When lighting is good, camera is giving good pictures, but clarity is little bit low in low light photographs even with Dual LED flash. Main camera offers other features like Auto Focus, Touch Focus, Face Detection etc. Front camera of 0.3MP will be quite useful for video calling. Video quality in main camera is little bit lower than what is expected from an 8MP camera

Display (5 inch, FWVGA, 854 x 480 Pixels)

         The phone with 5 inch screen should have some more resolution than 854x480px. But the IPS Display manages it well. Even though the resolution is little bit low for the screen size, we will not feel that while using the phone. Display has other features like 5 Point Multi-touch, AGC Sodaline Screen Protection, Touch Sensitive Controls. But the display is not scratch resistant. It will be a really big task to keep that big screen from not getting any scratch.

Battery (Li-Ion 2000mAh)

     The battery capacity is good enough to power the dual core processor and 5 inch display for long time. With normal use of the phone, you can expect a backup of two days. If you are a heave user also the phone will last upto one day with single charging.

Internet Connectivity 

It offers all the regular connectivity like GPRS, Edge, 3GY, Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g/n) etc. Internet is pretty fast in the phone. In case of speed of internet you cannot compare the phone with high end models, but still it offers good speed

I/O Ports 

In addition to normal 3.5 mm audio jack, micro USB. It supports USB OTG connection. Using this if you purchase USB OTG cable from some online website, you can use any normal usb 2.0 pen drive with this phone. So you can use it as a mini computer itself or at least as a tablet. Also the 5 inch screen is good to watch movies.

Other Features 

It comes with sensors like Accelerometer, Gravity Sensor, Proximity Sensor. But it does not have Magnetic sensor. So compass applications will not work. Also in Google map, if you are turning the phone pointer will not change direction, because of the same lack of magnetic sensor. All other sensors are fine. It would have been good if it had an ambient light sensor also to control the brightness according to the surroundings.

Overall it is a phone which has already become a hit in market. It offers more features than any other phone provides for this price range. In online and offline stores also its stock is emptying more faster than we have seen for any other phone.

Sylvania Android tablet priced Rs- 3400 ($68) Review

It is another popular budget Android tablet available in the market. This Android tablet running on Android 2.2 and 1GHz processor is priced only Rs.3400($68). It provides many other interesting features like 7 inch 800x480 pixels WVGA resolution resistive touch screen. 4GB internal memory with the support for external memory card slot which can support upto 32GB. RAM is 256MB.

This tablet can provide excellent internet browsing experience with the help of built in wi-fi support or with the help of external 3G modems. It also comes with a front camera of 0.3MP which is helpful for video chat over internet using apps like skype. As SIM card slot is not available, phone functionality over mobile networks is not possible. The lack of SIM slot also denies the probability of having GPRS capability in the tablet. Another one drawback about the tablet is its 6 month warranty. For most of such low budget tablets now manufacturers are providing at least 1 year warranty.

Please have a look in the specifications of the tablet.

This tablet is a good buy for the price. But there are some other tablets also available for the same price with almost similar specifications. Check them also before you are buying and make sure that  you are buying one with all the features you need. Also if you can stretch your budget a little more bit, you can try for capacitive touch screen tablets which will make the touch effect more smooth.

Watch a video review of the tablet

Android tablet 'Zync Pad Z-909 PLUS' review

Zync Pad Z-909 PLUS is one of the most cheap Android tablets available in the market. Like most of the other budget Android tablets, it also comes with some basic set of features. Even though it is built of plastic, its build quality is good. This tablet comes with a price of Rs.3400 ($66). But it provides most of the features, that are provided by other budget tablets. See the pictures of the tablet

This is the front view of the tablet

You can see the ports in the tablet in the picture above. It comes with a micro and macro USB port, memory card reader slot, charging and 3.5mm headset jack etc.

Specifications of the tablet

If you check the specifications of the tablet, you can see that even though it is one of the cheapest tablets, it provides features that are available in most of the similarly priced Android tablets. Some disadvantages are you cannot make video call and GPS functionality is not available. SIM card slot is also not available. 3G is possible only through external USB dongles. But there are many positive sides for this tablet like, it supports flash and there are preloaded apps for handling office documents. Gravity sensor gives good gaming experience. Also the built in speaker is also an added advantage.

See a video review of the tablet

Android tablet Apad 701 review

Apad 701 is an entry level ‘7’ inch Android tablet from Adcom. It comes with pretty decent configuration for the price you pay. It is available for a price of Rs.3700 ($72) from sites like homeshop18.com. It runs on a 1GHz processor with 256MB RAM and 4GB flash memory with additional expandable memory card slot that can support upto 32GB. The resistive touch of the tablet will not be responsible as capacitive touch screens, but multi-touch and 800x480 resolution offers clear display.  Give a detailed look into the specification of the tablet.

This Android 2.3 tablet comes with a built in camera of 1.3MP which can be used for video calling. Also the presence of gravity sensor gives good support to motion sensing games. This phone supports external 3G dongles but SIM card slot is not available, so you cannot make voice calls over mobile network. Battery of 2500mAh is also good for this price. The  absence of graphics chip is a drawback, but that is far more than you can expect for this price. Checkout the picture of this tablet

From the picture of the tablet you can see that it has aesthetically appealing design even at such a reduced price. You may feel doubt about purchasing a tablet from a new manufacturer, but this tablet comes with 1  year manufacturer warranty, which will ease your doubts about the tablet.

How to transfer contacts to android phone?

Smartphone platforms like Android, iPhone are getting more popularity these days. Many people are moving to these smartphone platforms from base phone models like Nokia. In this article you can check different ways to transfer contacts to Android phone from different platforms.

1) Exporting contacts as CSV from your current phone and import in Android phone.

 This is the easiest option, which will help you to finish the process within 5 minutes. First thing you have to do is, go to contacts menu in your phone and check whether there is an export to CSV option. CSV is comma separated file. If such an option is there, you can export all your contacts into one CSV file and then copy that file to your Android phone and in every android phone there is an option to import contacts. So different steps are:

• Open contacts in current phone
• Find Export option in contact options.
• Export as CSV file
• Copy that CSV file to Android phone. (If same SD card you are using in both phones, put that memory card in Android phone.)
• Open contacts in Android phone
• Give import option in contact menu. (for Android versions 2.1 and before path is Contacts -> Menu -> More ->Import/export. For Android version 2.2 or newer ones, Contacts ->Menu ->Import/Export.)
• For Android version 2.1 and previous this option will open following window.

 

• For Android version 2.2 and newer ones this option will open following window.

• It will import all your contacts in the CSV as contacts in Android phone. As you can see android versions like 2.3 are offering much more options like send namecard via. It will allow you to send all your contacts via bluetooth, email message etc.
  

Note : Some times while importing to Android phone an error may be shown, that is because while exporting in the CSV file too many columns may come. In that case open the CSV with some spreadsheet software and delete unnecessary rows. Or you can use some software like Samsung Kies, where you can map the columns in the CSV to different contact fields like First name, last name, email etc.

2) Exporting contacts as CSV and import in Android phone via Samsung Kies.


If you have exported contacts as CSV file from your old phone, and importing directly to your android phone as specified above, is not working and showing some errors, you will need to use Samsung kies or some CSV editing software like Microsoft Excel.

Once Kies is installed, when you connect your Android phone, it will be automatically detected. For example see the picture below.

   As you can see, it will automatically detect your phone model. In the picture it is detected as GT- I9001. Once phone is detected, when you click on 'Contacts' from the menu in the left, it will show and option to import from PC. Using this option you can import CSV and other contacts stored in your PC. While importing like that you can map different columns of CSV to different fields of contact. So if direct import of CSV is failing in Android phone, you can try this.
Samsung Kies, can be used with Samsung Android phones. If your Android phone is of some other manufacturer, you can download their mobile pc integration software and then import contacts.

2) Exporting contacts as CSV and import in Android phone via Google Contacts.

Another way to import CSV contacts to Android phone is through Google Contacts. You can synchronize Google contacts from your Android phone just by entering your Google user name and password in the phone. So the first task is to get your contacts in CSV format to Google Contacts.

For moving you contacts to Google contacts, first go to the Google contacts

https://www.google.com/contacts

Login with your Gmail username and password. Then at the top you can see more option on clicking which following menu will come.

Then it will ask to upload contacts in either CSV or vCard format,

Once it is successfully imported, you have moved all the contacts to the cloud. Even if  you loose your local backups, your contacts will be available in Google contacts always. Whenever you want you can export it to CSV format or directly synchronize with your android phone, just by adding your Google account in Settings -> Accounts&Sync ->Add Account ->Google Account.

Even if your contact is in your Nokia phone you can export as CSV using Nokia PC suite export contact option. If it is synchronized with outlook, then also you can export as csv. So to move from anywhere to Android, first try to convert it is CSV file and then import to Android phone using any of the methods specified above.

Read more about:

Free android apps that you must have in your android phone

Tips to extend the battery life of your android smartphone



Android tablets with SIM card slot in India
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Smartphone Battery Saving tips

Smart phones are becoming more and more powerful day by day. With Samsung Galaxy S3, quad-core processors also have become a reality in mobile world. Now dual core processors are quite common in smart phone industry. As the processing power is increasing, batteries of better capacity is also coming, but still any smart phone is not able to give battery life more than one day.
The only restriction in   industry is the lack of an excellent power source that can power the gadgets for longer time. Even though researches are going on the field, considerable success is still a distant dream. Most of the smart phone batteries are using Li-Ion technology. In present day smart phones, you can use some battery saving tips to get good battery life. See the list of tips and explanations below.

1. For first two charging, charge for a minimum of 6 hours.

  When you are charging your battery for the first time, charge it for minimum of 6 hours. You can do it for the second time also. When you are doing this you may feel battery is getting hotter, but it is okay for the first two times. But never ever charge battery for longer time, if it has reached 100% from the third charging onwards. Overcharging the battery will heat it up.


2. Overcharging and Draining charge fully.

Charging the battery even after it has reached 100%, will overheat the battery, and will affect the Li-Ion layers. In future it will cause reduction in battery life. So never overcharge the battery. For this you can use some apps to give you an alarm when the battery reaches 100%.
Also draining the battery fully to 0%, so that it will get switched off, is also not good. Draining the charge fully will stress the polymer layers and decrease battery life.
So Recharge when your battery reaches to a low-level of 5% at least.

3. Take the most out of every charging.

For Li-Ion battery there will be a limited number of charging cycles, independent of how you are using your battery. So if you are charging your battery only to 80%, you are losing 20% of one charging cycle. So charge your battery to full charge, and never overcharge (use apps). Also to get the most out of one charging, put it for charging, only after draining battery to a very low-level (never let it to get switched off). Like this you can use the most out of charging cycles. As the charging cycles are limited for any particular battery, you can get most life for your battery only by getting the maximum out of each charging. Overall this point we can explain with an example. Suppose, you have a phone battery which has 400 charging cycles. ie battery will deteriorate after this 400 charging cycles. If you are charging your battery once in two days you can use it for 800 days. But if you are charging the battery everyday, before the charge is fully draining out, you can use it for only 400 days. For Li-ion battery this example of limited number of charging cycles is true.

4. Make better use of power saving mode.

In most of the smart phones you can see, power saving mode option. It will decrease power consumption. You can activate this mode when the phone is idle. During power saving mode brightness of display and processor clocking speed will decrease, consuming less power only. Also you can set auto activate of power saving mode when battery level reaches below a particular level like 50%. This mode will be very useful in phones with multi-core processor. When the phone is idle, if some cores can be given rest using power saving mode, battery consumption will be considerably less.

5. Make use of battery saving applications

For all smart phone platforms there are lots of battery saving apps. For android platform there are many like Battery doctor, Battery Notifier, Battery level widget etc. All these apps will give tips and functionality to save your battery charge. These apps can be used to keep an eye on battery level, kill unnecessary apps, give alarm sound when charging is complete etc.

6. Find what is draining your battery most, and avoid it.

Some apps are there in all smartphone platforms draining more battery charge, that a normal app does. This can be due to malicious apps or faulty code in apps. If you are feeling that after installing or while using some app, battery is draining very fast, uninstall it.  You can monitor which part of your phone is using battery most. For Android this option will be in settings as shown below

Read about more tips to extend the battery life of your android smartphone

Waiting list confirmation chances - Indian Railway

There is a large number of waiting lists associated with Indian Railway ticket booking system. Read more about the types of waiting lists and chance of confirmation of these waiting lists.

Majority of the people in India is depending on trains for internal long distance journey. So booking tickets for trains is common in every Indian's day to day life. But the confusing part about Indian railways is its ticket booking system. There are many different types of trains with different types of coaches, each with various pricing scheme. In these trains itself there are various kinds of quotas and special reservations. So the entire seat allocation of Indian railways is little bit confusing.

Seat allocation while booking train ticket

       When you are booking a ticket in Indian railways, your ticket can come in any of the many categories like confirmed, RAC, WL, CKWL etc. How these statuses are coming and what are the meaning of these is the topic of discussion here.

Confirmed tickets

       Once the booking for a train has started, first booking will start for all seats. The status of these ticket will be confirmed.

RAC tickets (Reservation against Cancellation)

 Once all seats are over, still booking will continue, but this time the status of the tickets will be RAC(Reservation against cancellation) . All those people who are holding RAC ticket can travel in the train. But they may have to share the seat with one more fellow. Because in RAC, same seat will be allotted for two people. As these are sleeper seats, there will be enough seat for two persons to sit. Usually most of the RAC ticket will become confirmed, once the journey is started, because ticket examiner is supposed to give the confirmed seats of persons who are not traveling to RAC holders. RAC booking will continue to some additional 90 seats. Usually these seats will be side seats (side upper or side lower).

Waiting lists.

Even if the additional 90 seats of RAC also over, ticket booking process will not stop. Booking will continue as waiting listed tickets. For the waiting list tickets the limit is nearly 300. After that booking will stop for the train. Out of these waiting lists there is  a large number of  confusing varieties. Different types of waiting list are,

WL

This is the normal waiting list. If it is shown like WL30, that means there are 29 waiting people before you to get at least an RAC ticket. Sometimes it will show like WL84/WL50, this means when booked the status was 84, but now you are at 50th position. ie only 49 more people waiting in front of you. Rarely this waiting list will be mentioned as GNWL also, which is general waiting list.

CKWL

These are waiting lists for tatkal tickets. If you are trying to book train ticket through tatkal one day before the day of journey, there will be only CKWL after confirmed ticket. No RAC will be there. CKWL will get confirmed only if somebody with confirmed tatkal ticket cancels their ticket, probability of which is very less. So confirmation chance for CKWL is less. Also it will not move to RAC, it will directly become confirmed if you advance from CKWL. As there are some additional quota tickets, you will get confirmed tatkal ticket while preparing chart even if you are in CKWL. Upto CKWL 15 will get confirmed like this.

PQWL

These are Pooled quota waiting list. Region wise some trains will be sharing some pooled quota. Usually these, quota is possessed by small stations in the middle of the travel route of main trains. As they will not come in the main quota of starting point people, this quota is necessary for giving some waiting list preference to the people from the middle small stations. In short these seats are aimed at travelers boarding or unboarding from intermediate stations. Confirmation chance for these seats is also less as it is a very small quota.

RLWL   

This is called Remote Location waiting list. RLWL is aimed for the travelers from non starting main stops like main cities or metros to small stops before terminating stop. Unless these people are included with separate quota, a large number of people boarding from intermediate cities will not be considered equally. Waiting list confirmation chance for these waiting lists depends on the cancellation of tickets booked in these quota.

In addition to these there are some other quotas created to help travelers from all categories. It includes RQWL, Ladies quota, Foreign tourist quota, Emergency quota, against all of these there will be waiting lists also.

If you want to read more about waiting lists read on,

IRCTC waiting lists and chances of ticket confirmation