iPhone 5 launched in India

The world’s most-anticipated smartphone, the iPhone 5, was launched in India on Friday to grand customer reception, with its prohibitive price-tag hardly deterring die hard Apple fans. The iPhone5 is available in three memory sizes — 16 GB, 32 GB and 64GB — priced in inida at rs 45,500, 52,500 and Rs. 59,500, respectively.

Prebooked  150,000 Apple iphones units over the past one month across India speaks volumes about the enthusiasm for its latest product.

The iPhone 5 has a 4-inch retina display and is around 20% lighter than the previous version.

“We had ordered 20,000 units of iPhone5 and all these will go to customers who have prebooked,” an Apple store manager said. He added that from Sunday onwards, the iPhone5 would be available off the shelf.

This time, the Apple phone is not being bundled with a telecom service offer and is available across retail stores.

Microsoft makes its move with Surface challenging Apple iPad(4th gen), Android tabs

These days a new tablet is released almost every other day. The tablet market is showing no slow downs.

So in this post we'll see new Windows RT and Windows 8 tablets from Microsoft and its partners. 

The manufacturers are flooding the market with too many options but the quality does remains high (and in some cases gets higher).

With the release of the Surface, it would be interesting to compare the current full-size flagship tablets running Windows, iOS, and Android.

Let's take a look at the specs of each tablet:

	Microsoft Surface	Apple iPad (fourth gen)	Asus Transformer Infinity
Operating system	Windows RT	iOS 6	Android 4.1
Price	$499 (32GB), $599 (32GB with Touch Cover), $699 (64GB with Touch Cover)	Wi-Fi: $499 (16GB), $599 (32GB), $699 (64GB) Cellular: $629 (16GB), $729 (32GB), $829 (64GB)	$499 (32GB), $599 (64GB)
Release date	October 26, 2012	November 2, 2012	June 2012
Display	10.6-inch IPS, 1,366x768 pixels (148 ppi)	9.7-inch IPS, 2,048x1,536 pixels (264 ppi)	10.1-inch IPS, 1,920x1200 pixels (224 ppi)
Size	10.8 x 6.8 x 0.37 inches	9.5 x 7.3 x 0.37 inches	10.3 x 7.1 x 0.33 inches
Weight	1.5 pounds	1.44 pounds (1.46 for cellular)	1.31 pounds
Processor	1.3GHz Tegra 3	A6X	1.7GHz Tegra 3
Storage	32GB or 64GB	16GB, 32GB, or 64GB	32GB or 64GB
Camera	720p HD rear-facing, 720p HD front-facing camera	5-megapixel rear-facing, 1080p HD video; 1.2-megapixel front-facing camera, 720 HD video	8-megapixel rear-facing with LED flash, 1080p HD video; 2-megapixel front-facing camera, 720 HD video
Battery	"31.5-watt-hour"; 10 hours battery life (rated)	"42.5-watt-hour"; 10 hours battery life (rated)	"25-watt-hour"; 8.5 hours video battery life (tested)
Full USB	Yes	No	No
Extras	Built-in kickstand and Office 2013	4G LTE versions available	Tegra 3 games
Other ports	Micro-HDMI, microSD	Lightning connector	Micro-HDMI, microSD
Color	Black	Black, white	Purple, silver

So which is best?

The final verdict can't be given as the 4th gen ipad is yet to be released, so lets do some quick pros and cons of each tablet, relative to each other..

If you're looking for a tablet you can actually work on, the Surface RT should be your choice. Paired with either its Touch or, preferably, its Type Cover keyboard and with the inclusion of Office 2013, the Surface is the best productivity tablet yet. Its keyboard is much more comfortable than the Infinity's or any iPad keyboard accessory I've ever tried. The Surface also includes a full USB port that supports game controllers and flash and optical drives.

It's not a PC replacement, but the Surface comes closer than any other tablet before it to that title.

Not into work? The iPad is still the best overall entertainment tablet, and the fourth generation should continue to thrive thanks to its robust media ecosystem, fast performance, and incredible app support. The Transformer doesn't receive the same kind of app support, nor is its performance as impressive, but in terms of ecosystem, Android is beginning to nip at iOS' heels.

The Surface can't compete on the app front, and aside from movies, TV shows, and music, its media ecosystem leaves a lot to be desired. There's no real support for books or magazines (the current Windows Kindle app is slow and clunky), and very few quality games or useful utility apps are available.

To quickly sum up: If you're looking for a productivity tablet, the Surface is it. The iPad will likely remain the best entertainment tablet in the world, and for those who want a powerful Android tablet, the Transformer Infinity is still tops.

iPhone 5 of Verizon boasts 650K sales

Verizon's iPhone sales are reportedly up thanks to growing iPhone 5 sales and cheaper iPhone 4S and 4 which are still able to attract decent customers.

Verizon, the second major wireless carriers to offer the iPhone in United States, is on the verge of beating AT&T’s. As reported by All Things D, sales of iPhone under the banner of Verizon is blooming with growing numbers compared to its 2011 posting.

For the third quarter of this year, Verizon reportedly sold 3.1 million iPhones and 650,000 were iPhone 5 with unlocked SIM slot out of the box. Unconfirmed reports from other sites say the Verizon iPhone 5′s unlocked SIM slot helped a lot because some customers who purchased the device are from other wireless carriers or loyal to other prepaid or postpaid carrier (T-Mobile USA customers are worth noting).

Apart from the new iPhone 5, customers of Verizon Wireless also purchased phones from older iPhone lineup. ATD estimates that the remaining 2.5 million iPhones activated by the largest LTE carrier in America were older models like dual-core processor-equipped iPhone 4S and the years-old iPhone 4.

Verizon and the two other partner carriers of Apple, Sprint and AT&T, are set to add more iPhone customers before the end of this year courtesy of the Thanksgiving and Christmas shopping rush and the growing demand for touchscreen smartphones.

The iPhone 5 is the first Apple smartphone with LTE or Long Term Evolution and also the first to include a 4-inch Retina touchscreen display. Apple’s iPhone 5 is also the thinnest and the lightest so far. The device is also equipped with an improved 8-megapixel camera, front-facing HD Facetime camera and the first to ship with iOS 6 mobile operating system out of the box.

Apple compares the iPad mini to Google’s Nexus 7(Ipad mini vs Nexus 7)

During the announcement of all new Apple iPad Mini they also took out time to take a few shots at Google’s extremely popular Nexus 7. As we already know, the iPad mini is thinner, lighter, and comes with a 7.9-inch display. Few talking points about Apple’s ipad mini vs Nexus 7 are written below.

While we can’t actually go and compare everything until we get our own hands-on them. Apple’s already quickly jumping at the heels of Google by flaunting ipad mini's larger display, smaller bezels, thinner and more durable aluminum design and more. While the resolution is only the same as the iPad 2, being 1024 x 768, we still get a display that looks gorgeous. 

As you see above, they were quick to mention the bezel. Showing the iPad mini has a much smaller bezel while still having a larger display and staying thinner. Pretty impressive right? The image above shows Google’s Nexus 7 without the on-screen keys, without the browser tabs up top, and as an end result you get a much smaller display for actually viewing and enjoying HD content. From browsing the web, enjoying movies, playing games and more the iPad mini and its 7.9-inch display just does more — according to Apple.

 Apple’s new iPad mini comes with an A5 dual-core processor, an HD display, iOS 6, and of course 4G LTE as well. For full details you’ll want to check out our iPad mini announcement post. Starting at just $329 for the 16GB WiFi model, it still costs more than Google’s Nexus 7. Stay tuned for more details and hands-on coming soon!

iPad mini debuts with a surprise 4th gen iPad

The big reveal is here: Apple has introduced an iPad Mini. The new pencil-thin (7.2mm) iPad mini comes a mere half-year after the third generation iPad was introduced. Apple says it's as light as a pad of paper.

It will be priced at $329.

Is it different? Apple says it is not merely a shrunken down iPad. It has a 7.9-inch screen, measured diagonally (vs. 9.7-inches for the larger iPad). That's larger than the 7-inch screens on the Kindle or Nexus 7. The new screen has resolution of 1024 by 768, so all software created for previous iPads will work.

The iPad mini is made of aluminum, as opposed to the plastic that Google's Nexus 7 is made of. Though they had to expect it, I imagine there's an uncomfortable feeling circulating through the executive offices at Amazon and Google.

The new iPad has a dual-core A5 chip. It has FaceTime HD and a 5MP iSight camera. It has LTE wireless as fast as the bigger iPads, and faster Wi-Fi, too. And it has the inevitable Lightning connector (bad news for those of you with lots of iPad accessories based on the prior dock connector). 

Apple says the new smaller iPad has 10-hour battery life, and it retains what is arguably the biggest advantage that Apple claims — the 275,000 tablet apps in the App Store.

"You knew there would be something mini in this presentation," Schiller joked.

— iPad Mini, Wi-Fi only,16 GB , $329

— iPad Mini, Wi-Fi only, 32 GB, $429

— iPad Mini, Wi-Fi only, 64 GB, $529

— iPad Mini, Wi-Fi + Cellular, 16 GB, $459

— iPad Mini, Wi-Fi + Cellular, 32 GB, $559

— iPad Mini, Wi-Fi + Cellular, 64 GB, $659

I think this is going to be a humongous seller — and I suspect the executives at Google, Amazon and Microsoft may be quaking in their boots, especially at the $329 starting price for a Wi-Fi only model with 16 gigabytes or $459 starting prices for 16 GB with Wi-Fi plus cellular. 

The fourth-generation iPad boasts the sharper, Retina display with 2048-by-1536 pixel resolution and a 9.7-inch screen measured diagonally. It has a dual-core A6X chip with quad-core graphics. Apple says that doubles the computing power of the previous-generation iPad. It also has front and back cameras and 10 hours of battery life. It is 9.4 millimeters (0.37 inch) thick and weighs 1.44 pounds. It also comes with the Lightning connector.

— Fourth-generation iPad, Wi-Fi only, 16 GB, $499

— Fourth-generation iPad, Wi-Fi only, 32 GB, $599

— Fourth-generation iPad, Wi-Fi only, 64 GB, $699

— Fourth-generation iPad, Wi-Fi + Cellular, 16 GB, $629

— Fourth-generation iPad, Wi-Fi + Cellular, 32 GB, $729

— Fourth-generation iPad, Wi-Fi + Cellular, 64 GB, $829

Apple's website will start taking advanced orders for the iPad Mini and the fourth-generation iPad on Friday. They will first start shipping and go on sale in stores on Nov. 2.

They will be available in the U.S., Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the U.K.