glowerchild

Embedded Companies is not exactly a worldwide operation. This is primarily because of the fact that the embedded revolution has yet to receive worldwide status as being a way that companies and infrastructure around the world should go in the future. There are two places in the world that really have jumped onto the bandwagon of embedded technology, however, and one of those places is India.

India is a country that, nowadays, is associated massively with the idea of software development and the outsourcing of different computer related projects. Because of that, people tend to blame India for economic problems elsewhere around the world, while conveniently ignoring the fact that some of the most innovative technological products in recent years have come out of that country.

Embedded Companies has been operating in India for some time now and has been able to witness firsthand all of the amazing technological marvels that the country has been able to produce. Give it a few more years, and Embedded Companies expects that India will become one of the world’s most innovative centers of technology.

Innovation doesn't just happen on its own, however. It needs to be propelled forward through the use of multiple market conditions, one of which is an atmosphere within the market that promotes and rewards innovation in a financial way. The fact of the matter is that growth in the private sector in India has exploded in recent years, with Embedded Companies being at the heart of the growth to catalogue it.

On Friday, Apple retail stores across the world were braced for the long lines of shoppers ready to get their hands on the iPhone 5. The new edition isn’t revolutionary in terms of design nor ground-breaking in paving the way for mobile devices being benchmarked against it for years to come, but is nonetheless a sleek new addition to the Apple product line. Customers seem to agree because in a statement released by Apple last Monday it was revealed that the company had sold over two million iPhone 5s on the Internet, on the first day orders were allowed to be placed. The iPhone5 comes in three models: 16, 32 and 64 GB priced at £529, £599 and £699.

All hasn’t been so smooth sailing for the device, however. Criticism has been rife about the new Apple maps app, which users still on previous editions of the iPhone and iPad can upgrade with the latest Apple operating system, the iOS 6. It has been claimed by many that the app provides inaccurate directions, misplaced landmarks, missing locations, and a lack of ground-level photographic street views. It is important to note here that there is no reason to be hanging in the doldrums about the major flaws it presents though, because the mapping database of the app relies on crowdsourcing customer data, so when owners report problems with the maps service, Apple can fix it for you.

The new slimmer and taller design of the iPhone 5 incorporates LTE wireless, increased battery life, less weight (a meagre 112 grams) and a much bigger 4 inch display enabling it to be 16:9 for those awe-inspiring HD content in all their glory. Coated in aluminium at the back, it comes in two forms: anodized black and au naturel. The headphone jack has been moved to the bottom, where it sits with the speakers. The Lightning connector has been introduced for the very first time in the iPhone, and it is a massive improvement over the 10-year old, clunky former trademark Dock connector. Apple EarPods was also launched along with the Lightning, which Apple says is built to enhance the newly added noise-cancelling technology.

In the tablet computer realm, big is not always superior. Indeed there are many users who are interested in a smaller form factor with the accompanying benefits of portability, style, and inexpensiveness. And Asus, the creators of the once-ubiquitous netbook, have realized this very need by introducing their new budget 7-inch Android tablet named “FonePad” with calling features as well.

Here’s a roundup of the FonePad that was formally announced at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) – with a competitive starting price of USD 249:

Key Features

7-inch IPS screen, top resolution of 1280 by 800 pixels

Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) operating system

1.2 GHz Atom (Z2420) core processor, 1GB RAM

PowerVR (SGX540) graphics processor

16GB internal memory, extendable to 32GB

3G (HSPA plus) phone functionality

1.2-megapixel (front-facing) camera

4270-mAh  battery capacity

Appearance and Build

Asus, going by the MWC 2013 promotions, seem to have taken a leaf out of their previous PadFone mobile device as well as Google’s Nexus 7 tablet in designing this device. The FonePad possesses an attractive metallic chassis with sleek curved flanks and robust all-round construction. The various controls and ports (including a micro USB slot) are also nicely embedded into the device’s frame.

The tablet is considerably compact with dimensions of 196.4 by 120.1 by 10.4 (length, breadth, slimness) millimeters and a carrying weight of just about 340 grams. Some users, however, may be loath to using the FonePad for calling due to its ungainly size as a mobile phone. The device can be had in gray and golden shades.

Screen

The FonePad showcases a 7-inch IPS capacitive touchscreen with a backlit LED set up and a fairly decent 1280 by 800-pixel resolution. Consequently the viewing results are suitably commendable with vivid hues, lucid text, and good contrasts. The display houses a 1.2-megapixel camera for video calling with an ability to render 720p content.

The touchscreen functionality too is acceptably smooth and on par with comparable Android devices of its class.

Inner Attributes

The Asus FonePad sports Intel’s single-core Atom (Z2420) central processor with a clock speed of 1.2GHz. The device is also armed with a PowerVR (SGX540) graphics processor and an attendant RAM of 1GB.

These core attributes ought to provide most users with creditable speed and multitasking abilities.

The device possesses a micro SIM card slot and supports 3G (HSPA+) as well as quad-band WCDMA and GSM phone functionalities. Due to these facets, general users should experience clear, uninterrupted calls as also expeditious data transfers.

The FonePad embeds Android’s Jelly Bean (4.1)) user interface that makes the device fluid and comes with helpful features such as Floating App (for administering applications), SuperNote Lite (for annotation), the ability to edit Microsoft Office documents, access to the Google Play repository, and even 5 gigabytes of Asus cloud memory.

The FonePad’s 16GB internal (NAND) memory can be increased by 32GB thanks to the entrenched micro SD card slot.

The tablet incorporates a 4270-mAh power backup that Asus claim can sustain the gadget for 9 hours on a single charge.

The FonePad also comes with a built-in Wi-Fi connectivity option. There is, however, no rear camera.

Verdict

The Asus FonePad tablet should please most buyers with its all-embracing qualities when it releases shortly.