Ford launches Ford EcoSport starting at Rs. 5.59 lakhs.

 One of the leading car makers in the lucrative Indian car market is Ford India. This highly reputed automotive manufacturer is said to be presently on the 6th position in the car market. This acclaimed automobile manufacturer has its head office in the metropolis of Chennai, which is in southern state of the Tamil Nadu. This company is the Indian subsidiary of the multinational automobile maker, Ford Motor Company, which is located in America. The passenger cars made by the company are renowned across the globe in all the markets for being incorporated with performance packed fuel efficient engines, which are dependable and equipped with impressive aspects. Their esteemed fleet in the country's market is splendid and has several automobiles, which are doing splendid business for the company. Ford India is said to be adding newer additions in their splendid fleet of vehicles with new entrants, which are been expected to enter the Indian car market very soon. There are reports which state that the impressive and increasingly becoming popular Ford Ecosport , which is an SUV.

Joginder Singh, MD, Ford India said that the company expects the EcoSport to be a game changer for Ford India. He added that based on the One Ford global platform, the product is tuned to the needs of Indian consumers.

The EcoSport comes fitted with Sync, Ford’s voice-enabled in-car connectivity system, which enables to operate your Bluetooth-enabled phone and USB devices. EcoSport1.0-litre EcoBoost engine develops a maximum of 125PS of power; the 1.5-litre petrol develops 112PS and diesel units develop 91PS. The entry-level Ambiente variant offers a decent amount of standard equipment including power steering and air-conditioning.

The EcoSport EcoBoost technology 1.0-litre three-cylinder engine mated with 5 speed gear box which delivers power and performance of a traditional 1.6-litre engine claims a fuel economy at 18.9 km per litre.

The 1.5-litre diesel engine is mated to a five-speed manual transmission gearbox and claims a fuel economy of 22.7kmpl; the 1.5-litre petrol gets both five-speed manual and six-speed automatic gearbox options. It has 200mm of ground clearance.

Ford EcoSport Ambiente 1.5 Petrol: Rs 5.59 lakh

Ford EcoSport Trend 1.5 Petrol: Rs 6.49 lakh

Ford EcoSport Titanium 1.5 Petrol: - 7.5 lakh

Ford EcoSport Titanium 1.5 Petrol Automatic: Rs 8.44 lakh

Ford EcoSport Ambiente 1.5 Diesel: Rs 6.69 lakh

Ford EcoSport Trend 1.5 Diesel: Rs 7.6 lakh

Ford EcoSport Titanium 1.5 Diesel: Rs 8.62 lakh

Ford EcoSport Titanium 1.0 EcoBoost: Rs 7.89 lakh

Ford EcoSport Titanium (O) EcoBoost: Rs 8.82 lakh

Sony Xperia Tablet Z Is the World’s Thinnest Android Slate

Sony launched the Xperia Tablet Z, its latest Android slate, in Barcelona at the Mobile World Congress show on Monday. The device is the thinnest and lightest 10-inch tablet produced by any hardware maker thus far at 0.27 inches thick and a weight of 1.09 pounds. And it also is making its debut just six months after Sony’s last Android slate, the Xperia Tablet S.

We got to spend a bit of time using the tablet last week, ahead of its unveiling in Spain, and the sleek build of the device was mightily impressive. As was the Tablet Z’s 1920 x 1200 pixel display. And, like the Xperia Z smartphone Sony showed off at Las Vegas’ Consumer Electronics Show in January, the Tablet Z is water resistant — which might make it a great choice for use in the kitchen. Sony says the Tablet Z can survive being submerged in water as deep as 3 feet for as long as 30 minutes.

Powering the Tablet Z is Google’s Android Jelly Bean operating system (it’ll ship on 4.1 and later be upgraded to 4.2), Qualcomm’s Snapdragon S4 Pro quad-core CPU, clocked at 1.5GHz and 2GB of RAM. Storage comes in at 16GB for $500, or 32GB for $600 — placing the pricing square against Apple’s iPad. Each model of the Tablet Z will sport a microSD card slot, which can handle up to an additional 64GB of storage, as well as an 8-megapixel rear camera, that can shoot up to 1080p video. And up front, it’ll have a 2.2-megapixel, 720p camera. NFC connectivity (which Sony will be marketing under the name One-Touch for some odd reason) will be built in as well.

Like the Tablet S, the Tablet Z features a built-in IR blaster and an app that will allow owners to use the device as a universal remote for TVs, Blu-ray and DVD players, and home theater receivers. No official release date has been announced as of yet.

SPECIFICATION:

GENERAL	2G Network	GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
	3G Network	HSDPA 850 / 900 / 2100
		LTE 800 / 850 / 900 / 1800 / 2100 / 2600
	SIM	Micro-SIM
	Announced	2013, February
	Status	Coming soon. Exp. release 2013, Q1

BODY	Dimensions	266 x 172 x 6.9 mm (10.47 x 6.77 x 0.27 in)
	Weight	495 g (1.09 lb)
		- IP57 certified - dust proof and water resistant

DISPLAY	Type	LED-backlit LCD, capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
	Size	1200 x 1920 pixels, 10.1 inches (~224 ppi pixel density)
	Multitouch	Yes, up to 10 fingers
	Protection	Shatter proof and scratch-resistant glass
		- Sony Mobile BRAVIA Engine 2

SOUND	Alert types	N\A
	Loudspeaker	Yes, with stereo speakers
	3.5mm jack	Yes
		- 3D surround sound enhancement

MEMORY	Card slot	microSD, up to 64 GB
	Internal	16 GB, 2 GB RAM

DATA	GPRS	Up to 107 kbps
	EDGE	Up to 296 kbps
	Speed	HSDPA, 42 Mbps; HSUPA, 5.8 Mbps; LTE, Cat3, 50 Mbps UL, 100 Mbps DL
	WLAN	Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, dual-band, DLNA, Wi-Fi hotspot
	Bluetooth	Yes, v4.0 with A2DP
	NFC	Yes
	USB	Yes, microUSB v2.0 (MHL)

CAMERA	Primary	8.1 MP, 3264x2448 pixels, autofocus
	Features	Geo-tagging, touch focus, face/smile detection, HDR
	Video	Yes, 1080p@30fps, HDR
	Secondary	Yes, 2.2 MP, 1080p@30fps

FEATURES	OS	Android OS, v4.1.2 (Jelly Bean), planned upgrade to v4.2 (Jelly Bean)
	Chipset	Qualcomm Snapdragon APQ8064
	CPU	Quad-core 1.5 GHz Krait
	GPU	Adreno 320
	Sensors	Accelerometer, gyro, compass
	Messaging	SMS, MMS, Email, Push Mail, IM, RSS
	Browser	HTML5
	Radio	Stereo FM radio with RDS
	GPS	Yes, with A-GPS support and GLONASS
	Java	Yes, via Java MIDP emulator
	Colors	Black, White
		- SNS integration - TV-out (via MHL A/V link) - Xvid/DivX/MKV/WMV/MP4/H.264/H.263 player - MP3/WAV/eAAC+/FLAC player - Organizer - Document viewer - Photo viewer/editor - Voice memo - Predictive text input

BATTERY		Non-removable Li-Po 6000 mAh battery
	Stand-by	Up to 1230 h (2G) / Up to 1270 h (3G)
	Talk time	Up to 10 h (multimedia)
	Music play	Up to 110 h

Samsung Galaxy S Duos:The best android mobile under Rs17000

Duos is undoubtedly the best android phone in the market which comes under this sweet price range and is also a look-alike of Samsung’s flagship smartphone Galaxy S3. The phone has a sleek design and has features which are only available in high end devices, much above the price range.

Samsung Galaxy S Duos is engineered with single-core 1 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor along with 768 MB of RAM. It works on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system and the latest TouchWiz UI dubbed as Nature UX which is present in Galaxy S3.

The phone features a 5 mega pixel rear camera with autofocus and LED flash, a VGA front facing camera for video calls, has 4 GB of internal memory and comes with a microSD card slot to expand the memory up to 32GB.

It boasts of features that are not available in other phones is having a “DUAL SIM”capability and a front and rear camera.

We all have two side to our lives, the professional and the personal. However, you can still manage your dual roles with one phone if that phone is the Samsung Galaxy S Duos S7562. Designed for the active lifestyle the dual SIM (GSM + GSM) Galaxy S Duos uses the Android v4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) OS that gives you unlimited features and functions. And to give you impeccable precision and speed the phone is powered by the 1 GHz Cortex-A5 processor with 768 MB RAM

To bring this robust and powerful phone to life is the 4-inch TFT capacitive touchscreen that supports WVGA, 480 x 800 pixel resolution with 16 M colours. With the Adreno 200 GPU you can enjoy smooth, rich and enhanced graphics.

A phone wouldn’t be complete without an impressive camera but the Galaxy S Duos S7562 comes with not one, but two cameras. The phone has a 5 megapixel primary camera with 2x digital zoom and a 0.3 megapixel secondary camera. Features like auto focus, panorama and photo effects make photography fun. You can shoot videos at 30 fps and relive memorable moments in vivid colour. To give you even more entertainment the Samsung Galaxy S Duos has an FM radio, video player and music player.

Design

There is no denying that the slim design of the bar shaped S Duos grabs attention immediately. The smooth finish and compact design makes it quite appealing. The phone neatly packs a 3.5 mm audio jack and a micro USB port into its design. To give you the best view when you switch between applications the phone is equipped with sensors like the accelerometer, proximity sensor and compass.

Storage and Battery

The Android Galaxy S Duos has 4 GB internal memory and the memory can be expanded up to 32 GB using micro SD and micro SDHC cards. A 1500 mAh Li-Ion battery powers the phone and supports up to 12 hours of talktime on the 2G network and up to 8 hours on 3G. The phone supports up to 570 hours standby time on 2G and up to 470 hours on 3G.

Connectivity and Features

The phone is equipped with GPRS, EDGE, Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi Hotspot for uninterrupted internet connectivity. The ChatON feature allows you to chat, group chat, share multimedia content and even create personalized animated messages. The S Duos has Bluetooth that facilitates unlimited transfer of music, videos and data files to other compatible devices.

The A-GPS enabled S Duos comes with useful features and apps like Google Maps, Document Viewer, Pushmail and Google Search to make this phone the perfect device to carry when you travel and to make every day fun.

Samsung announces waterproof phone-Galaxy Xcover 2

Samsung has made the rumoured Galaxy Xcover 2 official, a mid-range smartphone that is IP67 certified. This means it is waterproof and is impact and dust resistant. The new smartphone runs on Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) layered with Motion UI and takes over from its younger sibling, Galaxy Xcover.

The newly announced Galaxy Xcover 2 features a 4-inch TFT display with resolution of 800x480p and has approximately 233ppi pixel density. It is powered by a dual-core 1GHz processor, paired with 1GB RAM, and comes with 4GB onboard storage, along with microSD card support up to 32GB. Connectivity options in the device include 2G, 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 and microUSB 2.0

The phone's specs include:

• HSDPA 7.2Mbps / HSUPA 5.76Mbps support
• 800MHz CPU
• 3.65" HVGA TFT LCD
• Android 2.3 OS (Gingerbread); (Samsung Social Hub app on board)
• 3-megapixel LED flash-equipped camera with 30fps VGA video recording
• 150MB of built-in storage, micro SD card reader (up to 32GB)
• 3.5 mm jack, FM Radio with RDS
• Bluetooth 3.0 +HS, USB 2.0, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
• Battery: 1500 mAh
• Dimensions: 121.5 x 65.9 x 11.95 mm (4.78 x 2.59 x 0.47 in); weight: 135 grams (4.76 oz)

Apple reports record profits; CEO says iPhone 5's screen size is perfect

Apple has reported the numbers for a very strong quarter. The sales of all devices were given a boost during the festive shopping period. Apple made a record $54.5 billion in revenue with a net profit of $13.1 billion.

There were specifics on the sales of the iPhone and the iPads. Apple said that it sold a record 47.8 million iPhones (all generations included) during the 13-week period ending Dec. 29, 2012. This is a steady increase from 37 million in the same quarter last year, which was a 12-week period. A record number again - 22.9 million iPads were purchased, up from 15.4 million during the corresponding quarter last year.

Apart from the big numbers, some very interesting information was shared as well. Apple's average weekly revenue is now $4.2 billion, an increase from $3.3 billion per week at the same time a year ago. Tim Cook, the CEO said, that half a billion iOS devices have been sold till date, with one selling every 10 seconds. He also said that 250 million users have signed up for iCloud, and 200 million iMessages are sent daily. Not just that, 2 billion apps were downloaded from the Apple App Store, garnering in a record (again, that word!) $2.1 billion for Apple. While we keep talking about the future Apple TV, Tim Cook reported at 2 million Apple TV boxes were sold in this quarter.

But all was not good news for the Cupertino giant. They sold 4.1 million Macs, which is lesser than the 5.2 million sold during the corresponding quarter last year. Apple blamed "significant restraints" for the decline in Mac sales. The iPod music player sales were also down to 12.7 million, from 15.4 million last year.

Despite all the record numbers being thrown around, Wall Street remains unimpressed, with Apple stocks tumbling by as much as 10%. Analysts had set the US$54.9 billion mark, which Apple narrowly missed.

Quite uncharacteristically, Tim Cook made it a point to touch upon the aspect of the iPhone display size. “We've put a lot of thinking into screen size and we think we've picked the right one,” Cook said, referring to the iPhone 5, when asked about the rumours suggesting that Apple is developing a larger display iPhone. “The new 4-inch Retina display is the most advanced display in the industry," he continued. "No one comes close to matching its quality. We were able to develop a larger screen size without sacrificing one-handed use."

This would suggest that Apple is not working on a bigger display iPhone, contrary to what the rumour mill would have you believe. However, we would not take this as engraved in stone, because Apple is more than capable of pulling a fast one!

Sony vaio Z

When the Vaio Z was first released in 2011, it became clear that Sony was capable of besting Apple in the premium notebook realm, at least when it came to pure performance and exotic builds. The sub-three-pound notebook — a mix of carbon fiber, aluminum, and magnesium alloy — was one of the lightest and fastest machines available upon its arrival. It was also one of the most expensive, around $2,500 once you optioned it up.

This year’s refreshed Vaio Z still has the same striking design, and it’s still very impressive on specs. It’s also several hundred dollars cheaper, making it a much more sensible purchase. But the 2012 Vaio Z suffers from some weird design quirks, and even with a lowered price tag, it doesn’t do enough to truly outshine its competitors in today’s ultrabook-saturated laptop market.

All of this is housed in a sleek, 2.58-pound, 0.66-inch thin package made of the same unique blend of aluminum and magnesium alloy with a carbon-fiber-accented exterior. It’s definitely an incredibly light and portable notebook, even if it doesn’t technically qualify for Intel’s “ultrabook” label. The choice of materials offers slightly more flex than pure aluminum, and the carbon fiber feels similar to plastic. This gives the notebook a cheaper appearance overall, even though the material is sturdy.Sony has upped the Vaio Z’s power and speed to keep it in step with the advances that have occurred since the original’s arrival. This means it now has the latest, third-generation Intel Core chips. The Z sits at the pointy end of Sony’s Vaio line, and even the most basic model has a dual-core 2.5 GHz Core i5 chip. You can upgrade to a quad-core 2.1 GHz Core i7 chip (like the one in the “Enhanced” model we tested). The 13.1-inch LED display has a higher, full HD resolution, at 1920 x 1080 pixels — noticeably better than the MacBook Air’s 1440 x 900 pixel screen.

VERDICT

Unfortunately, almost nothing about the physical appearance has changed since the Z’s previous incarnation, and that’s not a good thing. The trackpad is still frustrating to use, and its inelegant, carbon-y textured surface doesn’t help. It also remains awkwardly off to the right of the keyboard’s space bar, and is incredibly small compared to other ultrabook track pads. Even more clumsy, a significant portion of the bottom section (where the clicking mechanism lives) is not touch-sensitive.

The keyboard could also benefit from some refining. The chiclet keyboard is not as responsive as Apple’s, and when typing very quickly, it led to a noticeable increase in typos. Another odd design choice is found in the hinge, which strangely lifts the back of computer by a few millimeters when you open the lid. I didn’t mind it too much, but I also didn’t understand the purpose of having such a quirky feature.

Unlike last year’s Vaio Z, the 2012 model does not come with a docking system, which means the Blu-ray drive and extra ports won’t be included. But that also means Sony was able to slash the price by several hundred dollars, making the most basic model of the Vaio Z $1,600. You get 128GB of SSD (upgradeable up to 512 GB) and the necessary ports, including one USB 2.0, one USB 3.0, HDMI output, VGA output, Ethernet, and a headphone jack.

Still, the Vaio Z isn’t easy on the wallet. And if you choose to upgrade just a few features — hard drives or processor or memory — you’ll quickly edge over the $2,000 mark. With more and more high-end ultrabooks entering the market at around two-thirds that cost, it’s hard to justify such a steep outlay, even with impressive specs.

GOOD Sharp and gorgeous matte display that has little to no glare problems. Top-of-the-line specs and upgradeable features. Good battery life, up to around 6.5 hours.

BAD Strange and impractical trackpad. Klutzy keyboard. Carbon fiber elements give it a cheap, plasticky vibe. Expensive.