Mirchu.Com: Android

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

The Best Android Phones

These days, it seems like there's always a smarter, faster Android phone on the horizon. And this month's list is proof of that. Since we last updated this roundup in mid-June, half of the phones have changed. That's because the long-awaited Samsung Galaxy S III finally made its arrival, and is now available on every major carrier. Not to spoil the surprise, but four of our 10 best Android phones are Samsung Galaxy S IIIs—the phone nabbed our Editors' Choice on all four carriers. If you want Android 4.0, state-of-the-art hardware, and cutting-edge features like voice control and facial recognition, you probably want the GS3. But that's not to say there aren't other top-notch options on every carrier.

HTC One X (AT&T)

With Ice Cream Sandwich, a stunning screen, and fast LTE, the HTC One Xis one of the top smartphones available on AT&T.

Samsung Galaxy S III (AT&T)

With top-of-the-line everything and plenty of innovative features, the AT&T Samsung Galaxy S III delivers an incredible LTE Android smartphone experience.

HTC EVO 4G LTE (Sprint)

The HTC EVO 4G LTE is one of Sprint's fastest, most powerful and elegant smartphones.

Samsung Galaxy S III (Sprint)

If you love big phones with lots of options, Sprint's Samsung Galaxy S III delivers state-of-the-art performance with bonus sharing and media features that you're likely to continue discovering a year from now.

HTC One S (T-Mobile)

The HTC One S looks good, feels good, and runs Android 4.0 out of the box. It's one of our favorite powerhouse smartphones on T-Mobile

Samsung Galaxy S III (T-Mobile)

The big, bold Samsung Galaxy S III is the most powerful, capable Android smartphone you can get on T-Mobile's fast HSPA+ 42 network.

Motorola Droid 4 (Verizon Wireless)

The Motorola Droid 4 gives you top-notch Android power, fast Verizon LTE, and the very best QWERTY keyboard you'll find on a phone.

Motorola Droid Razr Maxx (Verizon Wireless)

The Motorola Droid Razr Maxx fuses excellent Android performance with lightning-fast Verizon LTE and amazing battery life.

Samsung Galaxy S III (Verizon Wireless)

With state-of-the-art hardware, the Samsung Galaxy S III takes the prize for our top touch-screen smartphone on Verizon Wireless.

Samsung Galaxy Nexus (Unlocked)

The unlocked Samsung Galaxy Nexus is the only way to get pure, unadulterated Jelly Bean (Android 4.1), and it's an unusually good deal for a smartphone that doesn't come with a specific carrier attachment.

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Acer Liquid Gallant Duo coming in August with a low price and decent specs

I really like devices that are somewhat powerful yet affordable because they attract consumers on a budget. With the Acer Liquid Gallant Duo, you get just that. This device is sporting Ice Cream Sandwhich, a 1GHz Dual Core Processor, 5 Megapixel Camera with LED Flash and is also rocking Dual Sim. You will be able to pick it up in either white or black for just under $185 (£150)

I have to admit, when I hear about Acer devices, I kinda turn up my nose and you might be right there with me. After all, their releases haven’t exactly been stellar to date. Maybe we should give them a chance. Who knows, this could this be Acers ‘Diamond in the Ruff’ Only time will tell! Hit the break for full specs of the Liquid Gallant Duo.

CPU speed: 1GHz, MTK 6575
Platform: Android Ice Cream Sandwich
Network: HSPA/WCDMA 900/2100 MHz / Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz / (Band frequency, HSPA availability, and data speed are operator dependent)
Dual SIM
Memory: Internal phone storage: 4GB / RAM: 1GB / microSD slot (up to 32GB)
Display: 4.3-inch touch screen with qHD resolution
GPS: Internal GPS Antenna
Sensors: Accelerometer, Digital compass, Proximity sensor, Ambient light sensor
Connectivity: Bluetooth® 3.0 + EDR / Wi-Fi®: IEEE 802.11b/g/n / 3.5 mm stereo audio jack / Standard micro-USB
Camera: 5 megapixel camera, LED flash
Battery: Li-ion battery 1500 mAh
Weight: 145 grams with battery
Dimensions: (LxWxT): 129 x 65,9 x 9,9 mm

The MTK6575 processor concerns me a little because it’s common in very cheap Android devices, but with the price point, it’s a great way to get Android into the hands of more people! Chompin’ at the bit? Good news! The Liquid Gallant Duo will be available on August 8th in both white and black. Pre-orders had begun yesterday, but for whatever reason the page is down. Bookmark the source link and keep trying because hopefully it will be back soon.

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

LG Optimus L3 DualSIM Android Smartphone

LG introduced the Optimus L3 DualSIM (model E405) Android Smartphone. Like the original L3, this dualSIM version has a 3.2-inch 240×320 touchscreen display and a 3 Megapixelauto focus camera. It is powered by a Qualcomm MSM7255A 800MHz processor with 384MB of RAM.

The L3 DualSIM has 1GB of internal storage and supports microSD/SDHC up to 32GB. You can expect Bluetooth 3.0 and WiFi 802.11b/g/n connectivity as well as support for GPS. The handset comes loaded with Android 2.3.6 Gingerbread OS with LG’s custom UI. LG will release the dualSIM Optimus in July.

LG Optimus L3 DualSIM

Android Smartphone

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Best Android Tablets Available in Pakistan

Gadget experts opine that tablets are going to replace regular desktops and laptops in next few years. Due to their portable nature, tablets are best placed to offer optimum solution for business, academic and entertainment needs of individuals.
This is probably why software and hardware makers (from Microsoft to Samsung) are focusing on Tablets.
Having said this, due to in availability of high speed mobile internet in Pakistan a.k.a 3G, tablets are yet to make an impact in local markets. But with possible emergence of 3G or even with lowering tariffs for GPRS/EDGE services, chances are that soon tablets will get common in our hands.
To get you prepared for that, we are presenting following list that consists of Android tablets which are best in their respective price ranges:

Takhti 7 – Rs. 15,500

We already told you about takhti 7 just couple of days back. Takhti 7 is a 7 inch Pakistani tablet offered by Pakistan Aeronautical Complex in co-operation with INNAVTEK.
It comes with Android 4.0, 1Ghz processor and 512Mb RAM. The tablet has a front-facing camera, G-sensor, Mini USB 2.0 port, HDMI port, rich codec support and expandable memory.
Compared to other tablets, Takhti 7 is amazingly cheaper, coming at Rs.15,500 only but its availability is limited (i.e. in Rawalpindi/Islamabad only, as of now at least).

Archos 70 – Rs. 24,990

Archos has managed to make a good, cheap tablet in Archos 70.
Archos 70 is a cheap tablet which runs on the aged Android 2.2. It has a 7 inch touch screen with a resolution of 800×400. It has a 1Ghz processor, front facing camera, card slot, mini USB, mini HDMI and 256Mb RAM.
The tablet skips out on the camera, a good build and android market (which can be enabled by a simple hack) but still it manages to be a respectable tablet in this range at Rs. 24,900.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 – Rs. 31,900

A mid-range tablet, Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 is not only cheap but also comes with a rich feature set.
It comes with a 7 inch screen with a resolution of 600×1024. It has a 1Ghz dual-core processor with 1Gb RAM. Back boasts a 3mp camera with a front-facing camera as well.
Tablet has 8/16/32 Gb expandable storage. Bluetooth 3.0, USB-on-the-go, micro USB, compass etc are all onboard too.
Tablet runs on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and is available for Rs. 31,900.

Asus Eee Pad Transformer – Rs. 39,990

The strongest competitor against the Ipad 2, Asus Eee Pad is still a great tablet. It has a 10 inch touchscreen with a resolution of 1280×800.
It runs on dual-core 1Ghz processor with 1Gb RAM. The back has a 5mp camera with HD video recording. OS running is Android 3.0 upgradeable to Android 4.0.
A front-facing camera, mini HDMI port, USB 2.0 port, card slot and scratch-resistant screen are all there too. Additional docks can be bought for the tablet separately and at Rs. 39,900 its a great value for money.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 2 – Rs. 44,900

Original tab wasn’t very impressive but the Galaxy Tab 2.0 is one of the best in this range. Packed with a 10 inch screen with a resolution of 1280×800.
A 1Ghz dual-core processor and 1Gb RAM power the tablet. The camera is of 3mp resolution with HD video recording with 2mp front facing camera at the front as well. OS is Android 4.0 pre-installed covered in Touchwiz. Bluetooth 3.0, HDMI, card slot, USB-on-the-go are there too.
For Rs.44,900 Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 is a very good package.

Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime – Rs. 57,990

Easily the biggest competitor to the new Ipad, Eee Pad Transformer Prime has brilliant specs.
To start off, it has a 10 inch touchscreen with a resolution of 1280×800. The OS running is Android 3.2 upgradeable to Android 4.0.
The machine is powered by a quad-core 1.2 Ghz Nvidia Tegra 3 processor with 1 Gb RAM. The back has a 8mp camera with Full HD video recording. A 1.2mp camera is at the front too. A HDMI port, Corning Gorilla glass and stereo speakers and additional docks (brought separately) are there too.
And even at Rs.57,990, Asus Transformer Prime still offers a huge bang-for-the-buck.

Saturday, June 2, 2012

Angry Imran hits Android Store

A new Android game entitled as Angry Imran has hit the Android store. The new Angry Imran game’s main theme is inspired by

Angry Bird and it seemingly a sarcastic work where players use Angry Imran to kick other politicians out of screen to clear levels.
This v1.0 (beta) is the result of a request from a group of friends. It is a tribute to the emerging leader of Pakistan, Mr. Imran Khan.
Scope of game is limited and you might not enjoy the luxury of features offered in Angry Birds.
But the developer of the game said that they aren’t associated or affiliated with any political party.

*Brain freeze does not have any political affiliations with any party*

Angry Imran is compatible with all Android devices. Developers said that Angry Imran is currently in beta, hence we can expect more levels, features and enhancement in Angry Imran in coming days.
So if you want to get the Angry Imran game then click here to install it Free of Cost.

Sunday, May 27, 2012

Five reasons you need Android 4.0

We list five important reasons why you should want Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) on your next phone or tablet. If your phone manufacturer is doing its job, you may not have to wait long, either.

It has been seven months since the release of the release of Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich), the operating system that is supposed to unify all devices running Android, whether they be phones or tablets. Android 4.0 is great — we love it — so why is it installed on only 4.9 percent of Android devices? We are finally starting to see non-Nexus devices being released with the frosty treat, and ever so slowly older handsets are getting updated. It is easy to say that there is a nearly endless list of great new features on ICS, but in reality, most of these new additions won’t be used by the majority of Android users. So if your phone or tablet is getting updated from Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) or Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) to Ice Cream Sandwich in the near future, we’ve rounded up five reasons why you should want Android 4.0.

Task Management

One of the strong points of the Android operating system has always been its multitasking capabilities, but one of the real weaknesses of previous versions was that you couldn’t see which apps are running, nor could you easily close those apps without digging through the Settings menu. ICS has changed this; not only is it easy, it is also extremely satisfying. There are only three navigation buttons on Android 4.0 devices: Back, Home, and Applications. When you press the Applications button you will be presented with a visual list of all the apps currently running on your phone. With a simple swipe of your finger, you can close each app. There is a real sense of accomplishment when you whittle away running apps using your Fruit Ninja swiping skills. (Though sadly, there are no sound effects like in Fruit Ninja.) Besides being fun, the benefit of closing unused apps is that you can really save battery life, so it is always a good idea to check what you have running. If an app is acting up, closing it and restarting it through this method can also save you some grief.

Camera app

It is unbelievable how much the camera app has changed from Android 2.3 to 4.0. Even with exactly the same hardware, it is as if you have a brand new camera. You can take pictures instantaneously, with absolutely no shutter lag no matter how slow your previous camera operated. No longer do you have to wait for the exact perfect moment to take your picture; you can just continuously press the shutter button until you get the shot you want. This is also a great way to impress friends who have iPhones, or have yet to upgrade to ICS.

Notifications

Technically, the notification system on ICS hasn’t changed much from previous versions of Android. How you manage your notifications is where Android 4.0 really shines. Now you are able to view your list of notifications and simply swipe away any that you want to ignore, or are unimportant. Granted it wasn’t too difficult to press the little X on the right side of each notification in previous versions of Android, but there is just something visceral about swiping away notifications. If you have never tried it, find someone who has an ICS device and ask to try it, you will never want to go back to clicking away notifications. Swiping is better than tapping.

Unified Applications

One of the big challenges Google is facing with making an interface is making sure that applications designed for phones can work properly on tablets while still looking good. There still aren’t many apps that are fully 4.0 compatible, but the few that are available look and feel great. Google is also taking a cue from Apple and has issued a style guide for ICS apps in hopes that future apps will share a similar look feel. As the library of ICS-specific apps increases, this feature will only become more and more beneficial.

Chrome Browser

Chrome Browser is an example of one of the unified applications we just talked about. Google’s Chrome browser is in beta and doesn’t come pre-installed on any device, but it can only be installed on devices with Android 4.0 — and only devices with 4.0. Personally, we haven’t really had any issues with default Android browser; it got the job done and didn’t get in the way. Chrome, on the other hand, is the best mobile browser we’ve used. Unlike the other mobile browsers we’ve used, it is able to handle multiple tabs flawlessly. You can view your open tabs visually like cover flow, and swipe to remove tabs that you no longer need. Chrome the first app you should download when you get ICS.

There’s more…

The actual list of improvements packaged inside of ICS is quite extensive, but most of the benefits will go unnoticed by the average consumer. Some highly anticipated features like Face Unlock and Android Beam have been big letdowns functionally, but are still neat gimmicks to show off to your friends. Hopefully your device is scheduled to be updated in the not so distant future so you can enjoy some of these features. If you are currently using Ice Cream Sandwich and your favorite feature was left off this list, let us know

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Samsung Galaxy S3 launches

Later today, Samsung — the largest phone manufacturer on the planet — will launch the Galaxy S3 at the Samsung Mobile Unpacked event in London. Other than Apple’s upcoming iPhone 5, which should arrive in the fall, the Samsung Galaxy S3 will be the biggest (and most anticipated) launch of the year.

Unlike the iPhone, though, which usually remains heavily wrapped in mystery until its unveiling on stage, we already know quite a lot about the Galaxy S3. While the following hardware specs won’t be confirmed until the actual launch event, most of the bullet points below can be reported with fairly high confidence.

The Samsung Galaxy S3 will have a 720p or 1080p display. Depending on who you talk to, the S3 will either have last year’s HD Super AMOLED Plus 1280×720 display, or a first-of-its-kind, jaw-dropping 1920×1080 display. A 1080p screen is definitely possible, and would give the S3 an edge on other recently-released phones such as HTC’s One series. Screen size is expected to be somewhere between 4.6 and 4.8 inches; the S3 definitely won’t be a small handset.
The Galaxy S3 will ship with Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich — but unfortunately (or fortunately, if you’re a diehard Samsung fan) it’ll still be skinned with TouchWiz.
There will be blue and white versions of the Galaxy S3 available at launch. It isn’t clear whether there will also be a black version, or if the blue version will simply be so dark as to appear black (like the Galaxy Note).
There will be at least two major variants of the Samsung Galaxy S3 with different SoCs: One model will come with Samsung’s own quad-core Exynos 4412 SoC, a 32nm chip clocked at 1.4GHz, and another will sport Qualcomm’s dual-core Snapdragon S4 Krait SoC, a 28nm chip clocked at (probably) 1.5GHz. The Snapdragon-powered Galaxy S3 will be sold by carriers with 4G LTE deployments (Verizon, for example), while the Exynos-powered S3 will be sold in 3G markets. Because LTE uses different spectrum bands all over the world, there will also be lots of regional variants of the Samsung Galaxy S3.
The jury is still out on how powerful (and efficient) the quad-core Exynos 4412 is. Samsung’s extensive use of the dual-core Snapdragon S4 implies that the Exynos 4412 isn’t significantly faster or more efficient. The Exynos 4 series is the first Samsung chip to utilize per-core scaling and voltage adjustments, but other than that it’s a fairly humdrum quad-core Cortex-A9 part. Unlike TI’s OMAP4 orNvidia’s Tegra 3, there’s no low-power “companion core” to offload processing to. GPU-wise, the Snapdragon has the Adreno 225, which competes well with the Mali 400 in the Exynos 4. Ultimately, we’ll have to wait for some real-world benchmarks to see if the Galaxy S3 really makes use of all four cores.
Memory- and storage-wise, the S3 will probably have 1GB of RAM and 16-32GB of storage; no big surprises there.
Little is known about the camera, but rumors seem to suggest that the S3 will have a 12-megapixel rear shooter, but it could be as large as 16MP or as small as 8MP, too.
The Galaxy S3 will have enough battery life to last a whole day, with moderate to heavy usage. This is part of an overarching scheme from Samsung to make sure all of its phones last from when you wake up until you go to bed — something that many of its recent phones haven’t been able to do. With the huge screen and the quad-core processor (and LTE on the Snapdragon-powered handsets), we assume that the Galaxy S3 will have a fairly beefy battery

ExtremeTech will be at the launch of the Samsung Galaxy S3, which is scheduled for 2pm EST today (May 3). Be sure to check back for lots of pretty photos of Samsung’s new fondleslab, and hopefully some hands-on impressions as well.

We’re also hoping for an answer to one of the most important questions: When will the Samsung Galaxy S3 launch in the US? We don’t think US carriers will botch the S3′s launch as badly as the S2, but who knows.

Read more about the Exynos processor found in the Samsung Galaxy S3

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Monday, April 23, 2012

Top Reasons To Pick Android Over iPhone

The smartphone race is pretty much a two-man battle right now. There’s Google’s Android operating system and Apple’s iOS for iPhone. Both are good. But when it comes to certain features, Android may be a better option for you than iPhone.

Integration with social network Sites:
We share a lot of stuff on our phones on a lot of different services. On iPhone, we usually have to open up a separate app if we want to post something to Facebook, LinkedIn, Evernote, Dropbox, and many others.
With Android, all those services become baked into the operating system as soon as you install the app. Want to share a photo you just took? You don’t even need to leave the camera app. Just tap the service you want to push it to. Easy.

Android still does multitasking better:
We still can’t get over how bad multitasking is on iPhone. It’s insanely difficult to reopen the app you want.
Android’s solution is much more elegant, especially in the latest version. All you do is tap the multitasking button in the taskbar and a list of your most recent apps appears over your screen. Tap the app to open or swipe across to close it for good

More hardware choices:
If one smartphone model doesn’t cut it for you, there are dozens of Android phones to choose from. Each one has a different screen size, storage option, processor speed, price, etc. If choice in hardware is very important to you, Android is your best option.

Expandable storage:
Android phones let you pop in a Micro SD card for extra storage. Plus it’s a lot cheaper than spending another $100 or so on a model with more storage.

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Best Apps For Smart Phone And Tablet

Evernote :

This app consider as sharper and active app. that called much useful as it works. you can insert your notes all time. It is like extensions for some most browsers. You can snip on web too. obtainable on Android, iOS, Blackberry, Mac OS X, Windows.

Dropbox:

Have much comparable status to Evernote, this is also a cloud service. You can stock your files up to 2 GB on their servers for free. Do insert more storage up to 16 GB.you can use referring system, through their referral program.

Available for Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, iOS, Android, Blackberry.

Google Voice:

It is phone app service. This is best by google.make direct calls to any your friend or relative any time. Even readable your voice messages too.

If you are in the States then you are free to call anyone within the country for free. It is a great service available on several platforms and even allows PC-to-PC and PC-to-phone calls internationally.

Available for Android, iOS, Windows, Mac OS X, Blackberry.

Pageonce:

It will run and track your credit card transactions, bills, itineraries, bank accounts, frequent-flyer miles etc. It is a premium app and costs $7. Available for Android, BlackBerry, iOS, Windows Phone 7.

Angry Birds:

it is very popular and famous game. Even we no need to take any intro for this app. you can download it very easily in any version. You can view its paid and free version too.

Available for Android, iOS, Blackberry, Symbian, Windows Phone 7, Windows.

Shazam:

Shazam, will show you the song, artist’s info and even the lyrics of the song. You can read album reviews, artist info etc. in the app too.

Available on Android, BlackBerry, iOS, Symbian, Windows Phone 7

Kindle:

Just get this free app to read books anywhere you go, and also buy books from Amazon too. Available on Android, BlackBerry, iOS, Windows Phone 7, Windows,Mac OS X.

Foursquare:

Connect with friends wherever you go with this great service which lets you “check in” at places such as restaurants, hotels, stores etc. With this free app. It fix with facebook too. It is a universal app and is very handy if you want to meet your associates somewhere.

Available on Android, BlackBerry, iOS, Symbian, Windows Phone 7, WebOS, Meego

Spotify:

It river songs to your smarpthone/laptop from their library which boasts of over 80 years of non-stop music and about 10,000 tracks are being added every day. You can generate a playlist that is synced to your device so that you can listen to them offline too.

It is a premium service and you can try it for free for a month at first.

Available on Android, BlackBerry, iOS, Symbian, Windows Phone 7, WebOS, Meego.

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Android Trends in Pakistan

Google’s Android, the Linux-based OS for smartphones has been gaining immense popularity in the mobile market. It has receiving signiicant attention from customers in Pakistan’ growing mobile market.

In terms of mobile phones users Pakistani ranks 8th worldwide and 5th in Asia. In a world having 5.6 billion mobile phones users, China tops the ranking by having the maximum number of mobile phone users followes by India, United States, Indonesia, Brazil, Russia, Japan and Pakistan.
Nearly 67% of the Pakistani’s population uses mobile phones and 23% of them own Smartphone. Although the overall share of Smartphones is comparatively lower, it is reckoned to increase significantly.

Android penetration in Pakistan can be observed from the fact that Pakistan Air Force (PAF) manufactured and introduced Android Tablet, PACPAD.

In Pakistan, all sorts of latest Android phones are available in the market including the most popular sets ranked by PC World i.e Samsung Galaxy Nexus, HTC One X, Rezound, T-Mobile MyTouch 4G Slid, Motorola DROID RAZR MAXX and Samsung Epic Touch 4G.

In App Market, most downloaded Android app in Pakisyan are iQuran, CamScanner, Advance TaskKiller, AccuWeather and Barcode Scanner.

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Google Play Now Accepts Paid Android App Submissions From New Seller Countries

While Google’s top brass were busy dissecting the company’s Q1 earnings on their scheduled conference call, it was business as usual for the rest of the company. Over on the official Android Developers blog, for example, Google announced that developers in the Czech Republic, Mexico, Israel, and Poland can now sell Android apps and in-app additions in the Google Play store (and in their native currencies to boot).
“But wait,” you may say. “Developers from Israel and Mexico have been able to sell their apps for years now!” You’d be absolutely right — the Czech Republic and Poland are the only really new additions, but there was a bit of a catch for the other two.
At the time, developers in Mexico and Israel could only sell their apps through an AdSense merchant account and set prices in U.S. dollars. With this new change in place, Google now supports both countries’ respective currencies. The process for Israeli or Mexican developers to make the transition seems a bit hairy though — Google outlines the whole thing here, and it involves creating a new Google account and re-registering with Google Play.
So what does this mean for you developers? Well, unless you live in one of the aforementioned countries, not a whole lot. While most of the work will have to be done by developers operating out of those locales, Google still suggests that you consider whether or not you want to set a specific price for each of those new markets instead of just letting your default price ride.
Those minor issues aside, Google now officially supports paid application sales from developers in 31 countries. It sounds pretty good until you realize that it’s taken over a year and a half for Google to add these new names to the list of supported countries. I’m sure that developers in those countries will appreciate that Google has finally gotten around to them, but there are still quite a few that haven’t.
A link to the post was shared by the Android Developers’ Google+ account, inspiring a litany of requests from people asking Google to support their countries as well, prompting Android Developer Relations Lead Reto Meier to apologize for the delay. Then again, Google’s always been very upfront about this sort of thing — they note in their list of seller countries that they are “unable to provide any guidance on timelines.”