Technology Book

Bharti Airtel on Friday said it will deploy the advanced Massive MIMO Pre-5G technology across Indian Premier League (IPL) match venues starting with the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai where the first match will be played on April 7.

Motorola at its September 5 event in India has finally showcased the Android Wear-based Moto 360 smartwatch in all its glory, and put up all its specifications. While the company hasn't yet provided India pricing, it has detailed US pricing to $249 (roughly Rs. 15,000). Motorola says will be made available in India later this month.

The consumer electronics giant announced the Moto 360 will be available from Friday in black leather and a limited edition gray leather with suede finish in the US, starting at 12:00pm EST for motorola.com, Google Play (US), and through Best Buy stores and BestBuy.com.

The Moto 360, which is compatible with smartphones running Android 4.3 Jelly Bean or higher, features a 1.56-inch backlit LCD display with a resolution of 320x290 pixels - translating to a pixel density of 205ppi. It features Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection.

Motorola's first smartwatch features a diameter of 46mm, and is 11.5mm thick. It weighs 49 grams with the leather strap. It will be available in two models. One with a light stainless steel case + gray Horween leather band, and the other with a dark stainless steel case + black Horween leather band.

Motorola notes that customers will be able to buy a metal band for the Moto 360 later this fall, priced at $79.99 (roughly Rs. 4,800). Leather bands will also be available independently at $29.99 (roughly Rs. 1,800).

It features a 320mAh battery, and Motorola says it will be sufficient for all day (mixed use). The Moto 360 supports wireless charging, and comes with a charging dock. It is powered by a TI OMAP 3 processor (exact chipset unspecified), coupled with 512MB of RAM.

It features 4GB of built-in storage, and comes with Bluetooth 4.0 Low Energy connectivity. It features a pedometer, and a optical heart rate monitor (PPG). It comes with IP67 rating, making it water-resistant.

Other features a single physical button, a vibration motor, and dual microphones.

Motorola has launched the second generation of its popular Moto G and Moto X devices on Friday, called the Moto G (Gen 2) and Moto X (Gen 2). The Moto G (Gen 2) will be available from Friday (at midnight) via Flipkart, priced at Rs. 12,999 for the 16GB version.

Much to the surprise of fans across the globe, the company has launched the smartphones first at its event in India, despite confusing reports of a launch event on Thursday in Chicago. With the popularity of the Moto G and Moto E in India however, the country's importance to Motorola cannot be underestimated.

Both phones are powered by Android 4.4.4 KitKat, and the company has confirmed it will roll out an Android L update for the two devices - however, there was no mention made of such an update for the previous generation.

Motorola did mention that the previous generation Moto G, Moto X, and Moto E will remain available on Flipkart, but will be phased out with time.

The Moto G (Gen 2) will be available in 8GB and 16GB variants. The biggest addition to the smartphone compared to the first-generation Moto G is the inclusion of a microSD card slot. The company hasn't yet specified the maximum supported card capacity however.

The Moto G (Gen 2) features a 5-inch HD (720x1280 pixel) display, and is powered by a 1.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon 400 (MSM8226) processor, coupled with 1GB of RAM and the Adreno 305 GPU.

The second-generation Moto G features an 8-megapixel autofocus rear camera, and a 2-megapixel front-facing camera. Notably, the smartphone - like the Moto E - features dual front speakers, above and below the display, apart from 2 mics.

Connectivity options on the Moto G (Gen 2) include 3G, Wi-Fi 80211.ac, Bluetooth 4.0LE, Micro-USB, and 3.5mm audio jack. It has measures 141.5x70.7x10.99mm, and weighs 149 grams. It is powered by a 2070mAh battery.

Lenovo seems set to launch its Vibe X2 smartphone running Android L, with the company sending lollipop-featuring invites for its September 4 pre-IFA 2014 event.

On the invitation, Lenovo shows a big lollipop (appearing to be referring to Android L) with the Vibe X2 name written at its centre. The invite also contains a tongue-in-cheek reference to Apple's September 9 invite, which had said "Wish we could say more." Lenovo on its own invite says, "We can't say anything either."

While we will know more about the Vibe X2 in less than a week's time, recent leaks (via gdgtarena have pointed a 2.2GHz dual-core processor, 5-inch full-HD touchscreen, 2GB of RAM, 32GB inbuilt storage, 13-megapixel rear camera with LED flash, and a 5MP front-facing camera.

Based on the leaks, the Vibe X2 features nearly the same specifications as its predecessor, the Vibe X, except a bumped-up processor. The Vibe X was launched in December last year and got a price cut by roughly Rs. 3,000 in May this year - bringing the cost down to Rs. 22,999.

With the Vibe X2 launch invite, Lenovo may just have revealed that the real name of Android L is Lollipop, and not Lemon Meringue Pie as recently reported. Of course, until Google confirms the name - even such a revelation by a Google partner cannot be taken as confirmation.

The OnePlus One aka “flagship killer”, is headed to India. While there is no word on when the company plans on debuting in the Indian market, we may have some idea about the pricing plans. In a chat with Times of India, Carl Pei, director, OnePlus global, has revealed that the 64GB variant of the smartphone is likely to be priced under Rs 25,000.

The sub-Rs 25,000 price tag will be close to the One’s US price tag of $349 for the 64GB variant. The company is also contemplating if it should launch the 16GB variant in India, which costs $299 in the US, or Rs 18,300 approximately.

Pei talks about how the company is currently looking for online retailers in India to partner, and is also looking for a general manager to lead its Indian operations. When asked about launch time frame, Pei said, “It’s really hard for us to give an exact time frame for the launch. It’s more important for us to do things right than doing it quick.” OnePlus will also persist with its invite-only system to sell the phone in India.

To recap on the specifications, the OnePlus One flaunts a 5.5-inch full HD 1080p display with a pixel density of 401ppi and protected by Gorilla Glass 3. It is powered by a Snapdragon 801 quad-core processor clocked at 2.5GHz and paired with 3GB of RAM.

Motorola is hosting an event on September 4 Chicago, and almost simultaneously it will host an event in India too, where it is expected to unveil a bunch of devices including the Moto G2. The Moto G successor has now been spotted on an Indian import manifest, which reveals that more than 50,000 units have already arrived in the country. This could be an indication that the Moto G2 will be launched on September 5 itself, making India one of the first markets where the phone would be launched.

The Moto G2’s import pricing is listed as Rs 10,640, which means the retail price will be closer or lower than the current pricing of the Moto G 16GB at Rs 11,999. Motorola has imported white and black variants, with the former set to be available in limited quantities. Another interesting thing is that the manifest only mentions the 16GB, so chances are there won’t be an 8GB variant this time around.

Following the Moto G won’t be an easy task, which shook the affordable smartphone segment in India and also helped Motorola get a foothold in the country. Decent specifications at an affordable price was a tempting combination for buyers, andMotorola sold a million smartphones in India within five months of launch. Flipkart however recently started phasing out the Moto G in the wake of the launch of the Moto G2.

The eyes of the tech world will be on Berlin, Germany next week for IFA, the biggest European gadget show in existence. 

IFA is an eclectic mix of the old and the new. The Internationale Funkausstellung Berlin (IFA) can trace its history all the way back to 1924, when it was started to showcase the latest developments in radio ("Funkausstellung" literally means "radio show").

Many important inventions have been demoed there over the years, from early cathode-ray-tube TVs to the very first cassette recorder from Philips in 1963. IFA's Wikipedia entry features this chilling image of Joseph Goebbels attending in 1933 to look at a radio sponsored by the Nazis.

Samsung Galaxy Note 4  In the past four years, it has been a tradition for Samsung to announce their Note device at the IFA event and this year too will be no different.  As per the previous rumors, Samsung Galaxy Note 4 will pack in 5.7-inch Quad HD (1,440-pixel) display. The phablet will also have a 4GB RAM and up to 64GB of internal space. It will also have a 16 MP rear camera. In the past we have also heard murmurs that just like the Samsung Galaxy Alpha,the Note 4 too might have a metal-clad body. 

HTC Desire 820  After launching the Desire 510, the company might showcase another 64-bit smartphone at the IFA 2014. As per the leaks, this smartphone might be dubbed HTC Desire 820.  The HTC Desire 510 is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 processor which is a 64-bit chipset. But HTC might be turning to the Snapdragon 615 chipset instead for the Desire 820.  There has been much interest in the Snapdragon 615, which unlike the quad-core Snapdragon 410,is said to be of the octa-core variety with four Cortex-A53 cores clocked at 1GHz and four Cortex-A53 cores clocked at 1.8GHz.  There have also been speculations regarding HTC outing a Smartwatch running on Android Wear at the IFA 2014. 

LG  LG has already announced its G Watch R but there are plenty of other devices that this Korean company can showcase at the event. As per the grapevine, LG might showcase an updated version of LG G3, which might be christened LG G3 Prime. There is also a possibility that LG will be launching a sequel to its curved display smartphone - G Flex in the form of G Flex 2.  Also the company has recently announced the LG G3 Stylus, which will be featured at the event. 

Motorola  Motorola is expected to showcase the successor to Moto X (which as per the leaks will be called the Moto X+1) and Moto G (that is likely to be called Moto G2) at the IFA 2014. The company is also likely to formally announce its smartwatch - Moto 360 at this event. In addition, Motorola is holding an event September 4, in Chicago and on September 5 in India. 

Nokia/Microsoft  From the past few weeks we have been hearing a lot of buzz around the selfie smartphone that Nokia might be working on. The smartphone is said to be called the Lumia 730 and is likely to see the light of the day at the IFA conference. Another smartphone that we are likely to see at the conference is the Lumia 830. 

Chinese handset manufacturer Xiaomi, often referred as the "Apple of China", plans to launch its flagship Mi 4 phone by the year-end in India and also plans to set up its Mi Home experience zone in Bangalore within four to six months, a top company official said. "The next few things that we will be launching are Mi 4, our flagship product; Mi pad, which is a tablet and Mi Band, a health band. Xiaomi Mi 4 will come to India towards the end of the year, post-Diwali in all likelihood," Manu Kumar Jain, Xiaomi's India head of operations, told IANS in an interview.

The company's second product, Redmi 1S (Review I Pictures), was launched Tuesday, with registrations continuing till Sep 2. Redmi 1S will retail in India at Rs.5,999. The company has entered into exclusive partnership with e-commerce site Flipkart to sell all its products.

"Redmi Note, which is the elder brother of Redmi 1S, with a 5.5 inch panel, will hit the market around three-four weeks from now," said Jain, the co-founder of e-commerce portal Jabong and who earlier worked with McKinsey & Company.

The company launched its first product, Xiaomi Mi3 (Review I Pictures) on July 22 "and we have sold around 95,000 units till now," Jain said. The company opens flash sale once a week for the phone, which costs Rs.13,999.

Xiaomi has also set up 35 service centres across India, including two exclusive Mi service centres in Delhi and Bangalore, to ensure after-sale services for its customers. "We want to expand service centres to six. They will be in Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai and Gurgaon."

Saying that Xiaomi does not believe in number targets, Jain said the focus was on the right inputs: "The best service centres, the best products and ensuring that products do not have issues. We ensure the software is great and customised for Indian customers and the pricing is right. If the inputs are right, output will follow, which is the number of phones that we are selling."

As for the experience zone in India, Jain said: "We plan to have a Mi Home in Bangalore within four to six months."

"Mi Homes are there in China. The experience zones have a huge area. We convert it into a Mi store. Products are displayed with a huge amount of accessories and this also acts as a service centre. A small lounge or cafeteria is attached where people can enjoy themselves," Jain explained.

Talking about alternative channels of sales, Jain said: "We might start selling through our own website mi.com. We will continue to sell through Flipkart. No timeline has been set so far. Setting up e-commerce operations from scratch takes time in India. In many countries, like in Singapore, we sell through mi.com."

The Indian site is so far used for marketing alone and no purchases can be made from there.

As for target customers, Jain said: "Our target audience is the youth and the tech savvy. We believe that this population will grow, will be the dominant and people will buy online. Our products are comparable to any other Rs. 30,000 - Rs. 40,000 device available in the market."

iOS 8

WWDC is Apple's annual chance to talk to developers, and most of its announcements will be geared to app makers. An update to Apple's mobile operating system, iOS, is all but guaranteed. iOS 8 likely won't be as dramatic a change as iOS 7, but it should have some nice tweaks to keep app makers and users happy. There is some speculation, however, that many new features could appear in iOS 8.1 instead of iOS 8.

As far as the likely additions, a big one is Healthbook. The long-rumored feature could be a hub for collecting health and fitness data in one place, like Apple's Passbook aimed to do for tickets and gift cards. Healthbook could be a first step toward an Apple wearable, but it also could be a way to better connect fragmented health gadgets and apps.

OS X 10.10

Apple also likely will use WWDC to show off its latest Mac software. The prior version -- Mavericks -- unveiled at the conference last year, featured improved battery life, many new applications, better power management, tabs in Finder, and the ability to add tags to file names so they're more searchable.

Not much is known about the latest update to OS X, but many people expect a completely revamped design, similar to what the mobile operating system went through last year. That could include some features that make the operating system more iOS-like, though the two aren't expected to converge into one platform anytime soon. Some sites have speculated the OS X redesign could include sharper edges and icons.

Beats

There was some speculation that Apple would use its developer conference as the place to announce adeal to buy Beats. However, Apple actually revealed the news Wednesday, saying it's buying the company for $3 billion. There's still a chance Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine, Beats cofounders and soon-to-be Apple employees, could take the stage at WWDC, but Apple likely wouldn't let them say much.

iWatch

Apple CEO Tim Cook has promised interesting new products in new categories this year, and smart money has been betting on a wearable. Apple likely will introduce a smartwatch or fitness band sometime this year, but it's unlikely to happen this soon. Generally, rumors have pointed to the iWatchhitting the market in the fall.

Apple TV

What started as hobby for Apple has become a pretty big business over the years. The company revealed during its earnings call in April that it has sold 20 million Apple TVs since it launched the device, and in 2013, people spent more than $1 billion on Apple TV content.

Apple released the schedule for its Worldwide Developers Conference on Wednesday.

The conference, which runs from June 2 - 6 at Moscone West in San Francisco, is historically where Apple unveils its latest iOS and OS X software updates.

The keynote for the event will take place on June 2 at 10 a.m. PT. Although Apple hasn't revealed what executives will be on stage during the event, you can bet Tim Cook will play a big role in the overall proceedings.

We can expect to get a first-look at iOS 8 and the next version of OS X. According to 9to5Mac, Apple is also planning on unveiling new hardware.

That would make sense. In the past, Apple has used WWDC to show off new hardware — including the Retina MacBook Pro and the new Mac Pro. In fact, the iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4 were all revealed during WWDC keynotes.

Apple has shifted its release schedule to launch phones in the fall — so don't expect a new iPhone — but it doesn't seem unreasonable to expect at least a MacBook Pro update (or a new Retina MacBook Air?).

Of course, WWDC is more than just a keynote. Its also a major developer conference. Apple has made the WWDC 2014 session schedule viewable to the public — but don't expect to get any insights into what new features might be coming to iOS 8. Most of the session names and descriptions are sealed. Apple will release the session names and descriptions after the keynote on June 2.