Tech PIVI

The repercussions of Apple's billion-dollar patent victory over Samsung were still being felt at Europe's biggest consumer electronics show, as the South Korean firm launched a host of new gadgets. After losing the biggest patent case in decades, Samsung came out fighting at the IFA show in Berlin which opens on Friday, with a sweeping media launch of smartphones, tablets, a "smart PC" and a voice-controlled camera. But as Samsung made every effort to shrug off the defeat with a dazzling array of new toys, there were concerns the court case could stifle innovation as firms fear to launch new products that could be the target of patent suits. "Behind closed doors, you can be sure that there will be serious discussions taking place, device makers talking to different platforms makers," said Florian Mueller, an intellectual property expert. "There will be private meetings in which it will be a big issue," he added. "An overprotected ...

An upgraded version of the Aakash tablet would be launched "very soon", HRD minister Kapil Sibal said in Hyderabad on Sunday. "It (the idea of low cost computer) was rejected throughout the world and it was said that India would not be able to make it. Our HRD ministry was committed to the Aakash project and ultimately we came out with the first version of the Aakash which costs Rs 2,276.", PTI quotes the minister as having said at the first convocation of the Birla Institute of Technology and Science   ( BITS) at its Hyderabad campus. "Now, Aakash 2 has been rolled out with battery life of three hours, 800MHz processor, providing internet access everywhere and it has a capacitive screen. The process to distribute this device has begun and it would be formally launched very soon." "That was the dream and I as minister for Human Resource Development, asked myself the question can I provide a tablet to the students throughout the cou...

Sony’s next tablet, presumably a successor to the Sony Tablet S has been leaked online ahead of its launch. The tablet, dubbed as the Sony Tablet SGPT1211, is expected to launch around Christmas and has passed the US FCC approval. A slideshow of the forthcoming tablet was published by  XDA-Developers forum member qsp , who claims to work for Sony. The slideshow was posted on a German site  Mobiflip , which hints the device will sport the 'Xperia' brand. The rumoured Xperia tablet is likely to come with a Nvidia Tegra 3 processor, 8MP rear facing camera and a 1MP front facing camera for video chatting, a 6,000 mAh battery and a magnesium-aluminium alloy body. The weight of the device is 570 grams. Pricing details too were revealed on the forum. The device is available in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB priced at $399.99 (Rs. 22,300 approx.), $499.99 (Rs. 27,900 approx.) and $599.99 (Rs. 33,500 approx.). The device is expected to run on Google’s Android 4.0 ICS. The ...

Tablet - a word that was synonymous with stationery and medicines until the late Steve Jobs launched a device called the iPad, and the rest as they say is history. However, the Apple iPad is one expensive device and even though it is the dream gadget for almost every tech lover, it isn’t affordable by all! That's where the plethora of budget tablets take the limelight. At the beginning, these budget tablets were, for the lack of a better word, horrible. Why? Well for starters they ran smartphone OSes and the utility you derived from them was zilch. Fast forward two years and we have a different scenario. The phase of bad first generation tablets has passed; we have tablets that are not only affordable but boast of decent power under the hood. The best part is that these devices run on Google’s Android OS, which gets the job done really well, especially if the device runs Android 4.0 ICS. If you are one who is testing the tablet waters and doesn't want to drop...

SanDisk has launched a new range of products on Tuesday. The launch comprised of four USB pen drives and a high speed memory card. In addition to these products, SanDisk also introduced the SanDisk SecureAccess software that allows encryption and password protection for selected files on the USB drive. It also provides 2GB of online storage that can be accessed from any web browser. According to the company, the four USB flash drives namely SanDisk Extreme, Cruzer Glide, Cruzer Facet and Cruzer Pro are aimed and designed for the youth. The fifth product, SanDisk Extreme Pro has been labelled as the fastest microSD card in the world. SanDisk Extreme SanDisk Extreme is the fastest USB flash drive offered by SanDisk. Contrary to majority of the pen drives that are powered by USB 2.0, this one is USB 3.0 enabled. It can transfer and store files with a speed of up to 190MB/seconds, which means that a 3 GB file will be transferred on this pen drive in just 20 seconds and a 40 ...

Los Angeles:  Microsoft seems to have gotten the design and form factor right with its new Surface tablet computer. But the user interface, not so much. That's an odd conclusion to make about a device from a software company that usually lets others do the manufacturing. Still, that's how I felt after feeling the heft of the device, examining it from all sides and making a few swipes at the screen. The Surface has a touch keyboard cover that feels great and, to me, is a big step forward for tablets. The tablet's software interface, however, seems non-intuitive and sluggish. Microsoft is clearly straddling the uncomfortable divide between the old world of mice and keyboards, where it dominates, and a future ruled by touch screens, where Apple and Android devices prevail. Although the Surface won't go on sale until this fall, I had the chance to spend a few minutes with some devices in a group demonstration after Microsoft unveiled them in Los Angeles on...