MEDOLOGY

• XOLO Q1200 Review
• Samsung SM-G739F with 5.5-inch display spotted on GFXBench
• In the wake of privacy concerns, Xiaomi makes cloud messaging optional
• Now run Android KitKat (stable) on your x86 PC
• Nvidia Shield Tablet Unboxing
• Celkon Millennium Ultra Q500 with 5-inch HD display, 2GB RAM, Android 4.4 launching this month

XOLO Q1200 Review XOLO is a well known player in the Indian smartphone space. With several class leading devices over the last few years, it has established itself as a player that provides quality hardware with well optimized software at a price point that is within the reach of most buyers. The company recently launched the XOLO Q1200 and we take it for a spin. Read on to find out what we think of it. Xolo Q1200 specifications 5-inch (1280 x 720 pixels) HD IPS display with Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection 1.3 GHz quad-core MediaTek MT6582 processor with Mali 400 MP2 GPU Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean), upgradable to Android 4.4 (KitKat) 8MP rear camera with Dual LED Flash, Sony Exmor R sensor 2MP front-facing camera 3.5mm audio jack, FM Radio 1GB RAM, 8GB internal memory, expandable memory with MicroSD 3G, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, USB OTG 2000 mAh battery Hardware The XOLO Q1200 is a fairly run of the mill Android device and taking a look at it, the phone seems to lack a unique design perspective. It feels quite solid in the hand though the straight edges might make it appear a bit more chunky than it is. The front of the phone definitely seems to be inspired by the Apple iPhone. A ...

Samsung SM-G739F with 5.5-inch display spotted on GFXBench As usual, quite a lot seems to be happening at the Samsung camps of late. We're saying this because another Samsung phone (phablet? You decide) just got spotted thanks to a benchmark tool. We're speaking of the Samsung SM-G739F smartphone, that got public thanks to GFXBench, a popular benchmarking tool that OEMs love to pass their devices through before launch. The phone in question comes with a 5.5-inch 720p HD display, along with a quad-core Snapdragon 400 SoC, the 1.6GHz version. Working memory according to GFXBench on the device is 1.3GB, which means the SM-G739F (or whatever it is called at launch) will have close to 1.5GB of RAM. The listing also points at a 2 mega-pixel front camera and an 8 mega-pixel rear (7 mega-pixel is the working output) that the upcoming device will feature, along with 16GB of on-board storage. 12GB, that the listing specifies, could be what remains for the end user after an Android v4.4.4 KitKat install. Source | Via

In the wake of privacy concerns, Xiaomi makes cloud messaging optional Xiaomi managed to get some bad press of late, when a report from Taiwan claimed that the Chinese maker was gathering sensitive user data through its phones. The report said that Xiaomi Redmi Note was found to be sending information to Chinese servers without any such requests from the user. This made the Chinese company respond to the image-shattering claims, and in a short duration of time. A software update announced by Xiaomi yesterday addresses the issue by making Cloud Messaging an opt-in feature rather than being automatically on. Q: How does this relate to the privacy concerns raised about Xiaomi over the last 48 hours? What's your response? A: A recent article in Taiwan and a related report by F-Secure raised privacy concerns by stating that Xiaomi devices are sending phone numbers to Xiaomi's servers. These concerns refer to the MIUI Cloud Messaging service described above. As we believe it is our top priority to protect user data and privacy, we have decided to make MIUI Cloud Messaging an opt-in service and no longer automatically activate users. We have scheduled an OTA system update for today (Aug 10th) to implement this change. After the upgrade, new users or users who factory reset ...

Now run Android KitKat (stable) on your x86 PC Google's Android has turned out to be a prolific piece of software for a wide array of electronics, including smartphones, tablets and more recently, wearables. This has resulted in a great desire to have a distro of the OS running on PCs among the tech community. However, Android as it was designed, traditionally ran only on ARM-based SoCs, the ones you see on tablets, smartphones etc. On the other hand, a very large percentage of desktop users use chips from either Intel or AMD (among the likes) that use the x86 architecture. However, Android-x86 is a project that aims to do exactly that, i.e., run the Android OS on an x86 compatible machine, natively. While efforts have been going on since quite a while now, it was only yesterday that the Android-x86 project got a stable release, their first. So, if you would like to have the versatility of the Android OS on your x86 computer, go ahead, give it a go! You can download the release here. Via

Nvidia Shield Tablet Unboxing The Project Shield was Nvidia's first portable gaming project, which turned out to be really interesting in terms of idea and concept, never took off as the company had imagined. The GPU manufacturer is back with a sequel, but with a different approach this time. The Shield 2, or rather, the Nvidia Shield Tablet, is the company's latest unbundled approach to portable gaming. Acknowledging the reality of limited controller support in Android games and the need to cater to a wider audience, the company has gone for a powerful tablet + gamepad combo. The gamepad ships separately, but even standalone, the tablet is plenty powerful and can interface with your current controller setup if needed. Touting a 192 core desktop class Kepler GPU inside, the Shield tablet surely has the potential to change mobile gaming, but before we find out if that's true, here's an unboxing of the retail package, with a quick rundown of the hardware and the software - httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUupCHVGKC0 Here are the box contents laid out in a single picture - Nvidia Shield gaming tablet Safety information USB travel charger Micro USB cable for connecting gamepad and other use cases The Shield tablet is a 8" device with a full HD 1920x1200 resolution. Consider ...

Celkon Millennium Ultra Q500 with 5-inch HD display, 2GB RAM, Android 4.4 launching this month Celkon launched its Millennium series last month that includes, Millennium Elite Q470, Millennium Power Q3000 and Millennium Vogue Q455 smartphones running Android KitKat. The company is all set to launch the Millennium Ultra Q500, a new smartphone in the Millennium  series later this month. The Millennium Ultra Q500 would come with a 5-inch (1280 x 720 pixels) IPS display based on One Glass Solution (OGS), powered by a quad-core processor and run on Android 4.4 (KitKat) OS. It would come with 2GB RAM, 16GB of internal storage with expansion slot, front and rear cameras. Other specifications of the smartphone are not available at the moment. The Celkon Millennium Ultra Q500 will be priced at Rs. 9,999. It would be available for pre-order exclusively from Flipkart starting August 14th and would launch on August 24th.