TechGazing

As the number of Android phones in the country increases, a rather disturbing trend is becoming evident - a number of smartphone manufacturers are selling their devices with older versions of Android and what’s worse, are not providing any option to the user to update them to newer versions. In simple terms, just imagine that someone not only sells you a computer that is running an older version of Windows (say Windows 98) but also prevents you from updating it to a newer version. Sounds ridiculous? Well, that is exactly what seems to be happening. Of all the Android devices in the country, only two - the HTC Legend and the Motorola Milestone - are running the latest version(2.1) of Android. Of the rest, only one - the Samsung Spica - has been updated to the latest version. The others - HTC Hero, HTC Tattoo, HTC Magic, Sony Ericsson Xperia X10, LG GW620, Samsung Glaxay, Acer Liquid - are all running older versions of Android (either 1.5 or 1.6). Continue reading »

The GW620 is LG’s first Android phone and after using it for a few days, we must confess to being more than a little impressed by it. It may not have the high jinks or style quotient that the iPhone 3GS or the Motorola Milestone have, but delivers something that is equally important - value for the consumer’s money. So in a nutshell, here are six reasons why we think the GW620 is an outstanding phone Continue reading »

One of the biggest complaints we had about Google’s Android mobile operating system was the fact that there were very few handsets in India running it. In fact, until last Friday, there were just five Android handsets in India: the HTC Hero, the HTC Tattoo, the HTC Magic, the Samsung Galaxy and the Samsung Spica). Well, that number just got bumped up by three as three more players entered the Indian Android fray - Sony Ericsson with the Xperia X10, Motorola (welcome back, Moto) with the Milestone and LG with the GW620.

Without going too deeply into the tech specs of this Android threesome (they are all over the Internet anyway), I think we can safely say that these are targeted at three different segments. The Xperia X10 is a multimedia monster with a 8 megapixel camera and a lovely 4 inch touchscreen display, the Milestone is more of an all arounder with a QWERTY slideout keypad, 3.7 inch touchscreen, while the GW620 is playing to the benches with the most modest specs of the lot, but a price tag that at Rs 16, 490 is about half that of the Milestone (Rs 32,490) and the Xperia X10 (Rs 35,795).

In terms of Android, the Milestone has the latest version (2.1), while the Xperia X10 has 1.6 and the GW620 is still at 1.5. We will be taking a more in depth look at this threesome in the coming days. Bookmark this site.

The recent wave of phones with QWERTY keypads from the likes of Micromax, Samsung and LG, have made us wonder if one really needs a smartphone. If that sounds ridiculous, just consider the facts. The Micromax Facebook phone comes with a good QWERTY keypad and a decent screen, ability to access mail and social networks, browse the Internet, chat away merrily, and a reasonable, if not exceptional camera, topped off with storage of up to 8 GB. And all for less than Rs. 5,000! Similarly, the relatively more expensive high-end Corby throws in a touchscreen and a QWERTY, with Wi-Fi and GPS and a decent camera for around Rs 11,000. Continue reading »