by admin | May 25, 2021 | Branding, Business, Markets, Medium Enterprise, Technology
HP Ink Tank 419
By Nishant Arora,
New Delhi : In a society that is increasingly becoming paperless, a home printer is still top on a parent’s mind — both for homework as well as the experiential learning needs of their children.
Beyond facilitating homework prints, a consumer-grade printer today has to be a cost-efficient device that is wireless, can be connected from a smartphone and helps in running a small business.
Now imagine a printer that does not need ink to be replaced even after months!
HP Inc, a leader in the consumer printing space, has brought Ink Tank Wireless 415 and 419 — targeted at the millennial parents as well as micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) users — to the country.
Priced at Rs 15,493, the HP Ink Tank 419 claims to print up to 8,000 coloured pages or 15,000 black and white pages with ease.
The device has fade-resistant ink technology which lasts 22 times longer than any other material users for businesses.
Let us see what the iOS and Android-enabled HP Ink Tank 419 has to offer.
Weighing 4.7 kg with a low-profile height and width and an elegant exterior, the Ink Tank 419 has the control panel situated left to the scanner lid.
The printer has a control panel with icon LCD display and copy counter, flatbed scanner that handles letter/A4 pages with up to 60-sheet input tray.
The device uses a special kind of ink that is water and fade resistant. The ink is refilled with the new spill-free refill system where bottles are directly plugged into the printer and you do not need to squeeze those.
The printer ships with a two-year spill-proof supply of ink. Each colour bottle is 70ml, while there are two black ink bottles of 170 ml each (as black is used more).
With built-in USB, Wi-Fi Direct and wireless networking, you can print from your smartphone, scan on the go, and easily order ink with the HP Smart app.
The HP Smart app will allow you to quickly send scans to email or Cloud storage through mobile devices.
The Wi-Fi Direct function can be used by a variety of mobile devices, including iPhones and iPads using AirPrint, or smartphones and tablets running Android, Windows 8 or Windows 10.
The Google Chrome operating system enables users to print from anywhere in the office, even without a wireless network.
You can not only quickly access and print photos on your smartphone, from social media, the Cloud and camera-roll gallery but also scan files using your camera, and share to email or the Cloud from virtually anywhere.
Not just for home use, the printer is also suitable for MSMEs with high-volume printing needs.
What does not work?
Overall, the printer is made too delicate and it seems any rough use will break it apart (including touch buttons. But it looks great though.
Conclusion: No more secret printing in office for your personal needs as you can now print at just 10 paise per page with HP Ink Tank.
The value-for-money printer definitely stands out among the crowd of Ink Tank devices — both for high-volume printing needs as well as home use.
(Nishant Arora can be contacted at nishant.a@ians.in)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Branding, Business, Markets, Sales, SMEs, Technology
By Gokul Bhagabati,
New Delhi : In a list of top smartphone players in the Indian market for the third quarter of 2018, Micromax made a surprise entry after a long hiatus, once again bringing back the domestic handset player into the spotlight.
With a nine per cent share in the overall shipments of smartphones in India, Micromax surpassed OPPO to occupy the fourth position in the list after Xiaomi (27 per cent), Samsung (23 per cent) and Vivo (10 per cent), according to Counterpoint Research.
While much of that lead is attributed to a contract with the Chhattisgarh government for the supply of five million smartphones, Micromax seems to be gearing up to give its Chinese rivals some competition, especially in the sub-Rs 10,000 market.
The launch of its first “notch” series of smartphones — the Infinity N11 and Infinity N12 — for Rs 8,999 and Rs 9,999, respectively in December can be seen as a step in that direction.
And the Infinity N12 that we used for some time does surprise with a good front-shooter, big display and a decent battery.
Let’s find out how it works.
Powered by the Mediatek Helio P22 processor, the Infinity N12 is 3GB phone with 32GB internal storage. It supports dual SIM and also has a dedicated microSD slot that allows one to extend the memory up to 128GB.
In terms of design, it offers consumers a decent look within a budget. While the dual rear camera set-up and the LED flash are vertically aligned in one corner, the fingerprint sensor is centrally located.
From the front, the power button stands alone on the right sidebar, while the volume buttons are placed on the left. The SIM tray is placed at the top of the device.
The rounded corners of the phone help provide an easy grip and the thin bezels on the sides occupy very little space of the screen, enhancing the video viewing experience. The bottom chin is, however, big.
The 6.19-inch display comes with HD+ resolution and 18.9:9 aspect ratio. The phone runs Android 8.1 Oreo OS and houses a 4,000 mAh battery, which is good enough to last a day after moderate level of usage.
The large battery, however, is not the only highlight of the phone. The 16MP front camera that Micromax offers at sub-Rs 10,000 captured much better pictures than what we could with some costlier devices. The front camera picked up the details well, even of the background.
We found the fingerprint sensor working very fast. In terms of user interface and overall performance, our experience was smooth.
What did not work?
As much as we liked the front shooter, the 13MP+5MP rear camera was equally disappointing. The camera captured photos well only in sufficient daylight. In most other conditions, they came out very grainy.
While the sound quality was also not to our satisfaction, we also found the face unlock feature full of glitches.
And, even as the phone houses a big battery, it does not offer any fast-charging capability as it supports USB 2.0.
The phone also comes with a lot of pre-loaded apps which users may find useless.
Conclusion: Compared to many of its popular competitors like the Xiaomi Redmi 6 and Honor 7A, Micromax Infinity N12 offers better features in several segments.
With a good selfie camera, ample battery and a big display, the phone has the potential to strike the right chord with the youth of the country.
(Gokul Bhagabati can be contacted at gokul.b@ians.in)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Branding, Business, Markets, Sales, SMEs, Technology
ASUS ROG Phone
By Vivek Singh Chauhan,
New Delhi : As demands for high-end mobile games continue to rise in the country, Taiwanese electronics major ASUS recently launched its first gaming-centric smartphone under its Republic of Gamers (ROG) brand in India.
The company’s flagship device ROG Phone is designed for high-performance mobile gaming and smartphone experience. It was first unveiled globally at the Computex 2018 in June this year.
ROG Phone was launched on November 29 in the country for Rs 69,999.
One of the major highlights of this gaming device is its 3D vapour-chamber cooling system. As per the company, it is the world’s first smartphone to be clubbed with this technology.
Let’s see how it fared during the time we used the smartphone.
Looking at the design language of the device, we found it to be big, and yet stylish and aggressive that gave a perfect “powerful” look to the device.
The gaming smartphone comes with a six-inch fullHD+ (18:9 aspect ratio), AMOLED display with Corning Gorilla Glass 6. It has a refresh rate of 90Hz.
The device comes with a metal-glass body that has a plastic cooling panel on the back with copper-coloured grills. To give the gaming device some flashy lighting effects, there’s a customisable RGB-lit ROG logo, that can change colours, on the back.
Of all the gaming phones available in the market, this device seems to have the best screen so far.
The volume and power buttons are placed on the right side and the primary USB Type-C port and 3.5-mm headphone jack on the bottom. It also has a regular USB Type-C port for charging the device.
The device is powered by the speed-binned 2.96GHz octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 chip with gaming-optimised Qualcomm Adreno 630 GPU.
It is coupled with 8GB RAM and internal storage up to 128GB. It runs Android 8.1 operating system (OS) and has ROG Gaming user interface (UI).
No lag was found even after running multiple apps in the background which also included heavy games such as Asphalt 9 and PUBG.
The device performed quite well in the battery department. It houses a 4,000mAh battery and supports Qualcomm QuickCharge 4.0 fast charging.
The phone has a unique “GameCool” vapour chamber cooling system, with detachable “AeroActive” cooler for an extra cooling boost.
It features 3D vapour-chamber cooling inside that provides larger surface area for heat dissipation than a standard heat-pipe cooling system.
This cooling system is enhanced with a copper heat spreader and carbon cooling pads on the circuit board for maximum cooling performance.
The gaming device delivered performance without overheating, which was quite overwhelming.
The AirTrigger buttons — that uses ultrasonic technology — on the left edge acts like shoulder buttons seen on actual game consoles.
The device’s stereo speakers worked quite well.
The gaming smartphone also comes with a 12MP f/1.7 lens with Sony’s IMX363 sensor and a 120-degree wide-angle camera and an 8MP shooter with f/2.0 aperture for selfies.
What doesn’t work?
Not a major disappointment but this device does not have “Face Unlock” feature. A fingerprint sensor is there, but we found its slower than expected.
And nobody would mind a bigger battery as it is a gaming-centric smartphone.
Conclusion: ASUS’ ROG Phone, with its rough look and powerful hardware, is here to stay until some other beast of a gaming phone overpowers it.
(Vivek Singh Chauhan can be contacted at vivek.c@ians.in)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Branding, Business, Markets, Sales, SMEs, Technology
Nokia 8.1
By Krishna SinhaChaudhury,
New Delhi : Finnish company HMD Global, which sells Nokia-branded phones, has more or less designed products based on the traditional “Nokia build” that has been received warmly by Indian buyers.
The latest Nokia 8.1 smartphone retains the design language that we have been seeing in Nokia devices.
Available in India for Rs 26,999 in a single configuration of 4GB RAM and 64GB onboard storage, the device supports high-quality HDR10 display, like its predecessor, the Nokia 7.1.
While the handset maker’s focus has been on manufacturing value-for-money devices for the price-conscious Indian market with good hardware and neat Android One experience, this device has been priced a little higher and, according to the company, falls under the “value flagship” category.
We used the phone for a few days and here’s how it fared in real-life usage.
HMD Global has used a single block of series 6000 aluminium to build the device — in a rich glass sandwich design with a sand-blasted finish. The iron/steel-coloured review variant was a refreshing change from the usual blue and red tints that we see in smartphones these days.
Considering the design language, the Nokia 8.1 looked a lot more premium than its rivals in the same price segment. The maroon-coloured finish with hues of steel looked great.
Talking about the front of the device, a 6.18-inch Full HD+ screen takes up most of the space. There’s a notch as well that houses the earpiece, and the selfie camera.
The screen definitely outpaced Xiaomi Poco F1 in terms of sunlight legibility and brightness.
The phone’s display settings can be tweaked between the default Dynamic mode, the Vivid mode and Cinema mode. The FHD+ LCD screen is also protected by a layer of Gorilla Glass from Corning.
The Nokia 8.1 features a 12MP auto focus (AF) sensor and a 13MP fixed focus (FF) sensor at the rear that churned out good photographs with the right amount saturation. Images shot in both landscape standard auto were equally sharp.
The smartphone also sports HMD Global’s famed “Bothie” feature that essentially lets the user shoot photos from the rear and selfie cameras simultaneously.
A 3500mAh battery powers the device that let us churn out over a day’s juice on a single charge.
Android “Adaptive Battery” feature is worth mentioning that adapted to the usage pattern and helped increase the battery life after using it for 2-3 days.
A Qualcomm Snapdragon 710 system on chip (SoC) paired with 4GB RAM and 64GB onboard storage handled most everyday tasks efficiently. Usual social media surfing, Internet and video streaming and gaming was pretty smooth on the device.
The internal storage can be further expanded up to 400GB via a hybrid MicroSD card slot.
What doesn’t work?
While the Nokia 8.1 ticks most boxes, it comes with a few caveats too. For example, the size of the notch could bother some users. Also, considering the price point of Rs 26,999, we would have loved some sort of weather-proofing (IP rating) on the device.
The photos taken in low-light conditions fell short of detail.
Conclusion: Android One (pure Android experience) and timely software paired with the Snapdragon 710 chipset make this one stand out in the mid-range priced smartphone category. Those looking for an enticing design and capable hardware should consider buying this phone.
(Krishna SinhaChaudhury can be contacted at krishna.s@ians.in)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Branding, Business, Markets, Sales, SMEs, Technology
By Nishant Arora,
New Delhi : Three years is enough time for a flagship consumer electronics device to don a new avatar and the new Apple iPad Pro (2018) has done just that — it is far superior to the first iPad Pro that came into existence in 2015. (The first iPad arrived eight years back.)
Smartphones have begun to rival tablets today and tablets have decided to go the laptop way — at a time when fixed office spaces are shrinking and professionals and frequent travellers are looking to create, work and enjoy from anywhere, everywhere.
With the all-screen iPad Pro, Apple has introduced the future of mobile computing that has the potential to outperform a traditional PC.
The new 11-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pros are available in silver and space-grey finishes in 64GB, 256GB and 512GB configurations as well as a new 1TB option (which we reviewed).
The 12.9-inch iPad Pro starts at Rs 89,900 for the Wi-Fi model and Rs 1,03,900 for the Wi-Fi + Cellular model. It is just 5.9 mm thin — the thinnest iPad design ever.
Let us see what went into making iPad Pro so that it can take on a laptop.
Once you own an iPad Pro, invest further in buying a Smart Keyboard Folio, encompassing a full-size keyboard that never needs to be charged or paired (the space grey Folio will cost Rs 17,900).
Now is the time to get the second-generation Apple Pencil that will cost another Rs 10,900.
Once the ecosystem is complete, sit back and witness new levels of precision and productivity with the iPad Pro.
The Apple Pencil magnetically attaches to the device for pairing and wireless charging. It became even more powerful and intuitive as we began selecting tools or brushes — with just a simple double tap.
The new touch-sensor built onto the Apple Pencil detects taps, introducing a new way to interact within apps like Notes.
If you are working in creative streams and love to multi-task, the Smart Keyboard Folio features a streamlined design that’s adjustable for added versatility.
The device packs creative apps from Adobe, Autodesk and Procreate (remember that Photoshop CC from Adobe is coming to iPad Pro next year).
Another noticeable thing for creative professionals is a high-performance USB-C connector that brings a whole new set of capabilities.
You can now connect iPad Pro to cameras, musical instruments, external monitors, even docks, and get data transfer done in a jiffy. This is important for creative pros whose workflows require high bandwidth.
The battery is great and gave all-day support during gaming and streaming movies.
For those familiar with iOS 12 on iPhone X and iPhone XS, the iPad Pro provides a similar experience, including tap to wake and swiping to go home, access Control Centre and for multi-tasking.
The new Shortcuts app will help you link together automated workflows for photo editing, video editing and file and asset management.
Improvements to Photo Import and support for native RAW image editing give photographers efficient ways to work on the device.
For a day-to-day user at home, iPad Pro is packed with fun features.
Group FaceTime now makes it easy to connect with groups of friends or colleagues at the same time.
Participants can be added at any time, join later if the conversation is still active and choose to join using video or audio from an iPhone, iPad or Mac.
With the new Animoji and customisable Memoji, you can take advantage of the large screen on iPad to add more personality to photos and videos in Messages and FaceTime.
iPad Pro features edge-to-edge Liquid Retina display with rounded corners. The A12X Bionic chip with next-generation Neural Engine outperforms most devices. The device offers Gigabit-class LTE and up to 1TB of storage to enable mobile workflows.
Face ID, the most secure facial authentication system in any tablet or computer, is now available on the iPad for the first time.
A seven-core, Apple-designed GPU delivers up to twice the graphics performance for immersive AR experiences and console-quality graphics.
What does not work?
Well, there are some limitations when it comes to a true laptop experience. If Apple decides to run macOS on iPad Pro in the near future (the hardware is ready for that), it will become a perfect laptop for sure.
Conclusion: Those on the iPad Pro ecosystem must go for the device as it has never-before-seen improvements, at both the hardware and the software fronts. For working professionals, switching to the iPad Pro will take a bit training time, but the experience is simply out of the world. For the rest, it is an iPad Pro anyway!
(Nishant Arora can be contacted at nishant.a@ians.in)
—IANS
