Go indoors with Google Maps 6.0 for Android

Google Maps for mobile had its sixth birthday earlier this month and we’re celebrating by releasing the next generation of Google Maps for Android, which is first to get indoor Google Maps.

Mapping the vast indoors 

When you’re inside an airport, shopping mall, retail store, or other public space, Google Maps 6.0 for Android brings the freestanding map directory to the palm of your hands -- helping you determine where you are, what floor you're on, and where to go indoors. For example, in this busy travel season, you can use Google Maps 6.0 to help you find your way around airports.

Detailed floor plans automatically appear when you’re viewing the map and zoomed-in on a building where indoor map data is available. The familiar “blue dot” icon indicates your location within several meters, and when you move up or down a level in a building with multiple floors, the map will automatically update to display which floor you’re on.

Switching between features gets easier

When you open Google Maps for Android, you can do many things: view your location on the map, discover where to go with Places, get GPS turn-by-turn directions with Navigation, check in to share your location, and more. We wanted to make it easier to hop from one feature to another; so, we’ve added a drop-down menu to the top toolbar for quick access.

Discovering what’s great nearby with the new Places home screen

The new Places home screen includes popular searches for your current location, so you can find the best spots in any area you travel.

Check the walkthrough here and simply upgrade the google map from android market and enjoy the surf of 6.0

iBall Slide Android Tablet

Past 3 months, and is been just a tablet world. Olive, Reliance,Beetle and now iBall . iball primarily into computer accessories , Launched new first tablet named iBall Slide.This Tablet Available in affordable Price at just Rs. 13,995. 

Form Factor

Spekaing about the form factor, i really have no comparison to big giants but within its scale, i think its a good tablet. The Slide lacks the royal styling which current tablets offer,but i would say whatever the work, its put up nicely together. The first thing you’ll probably notice is the lack of a rear camera, which is a bit of a downer seeing at a 2MP camera lens is staring at you in the face for video VoIP calling support. The 7-inch capacitive display is actually quite bright and the though resolution.

User Interface

IBall Slider runs on a 1Ghz ARM Cortex-A8 processor with Android Gingerbread (2.3) the iBall Slide offers no customized UI.The UI worked out to be much more fluid compared to the others in its segment with enough juice to play full HD (1080p) content almost flawlessly.

Media

This is where it lacks to impress customers. Audio listening quality is not very great and is the major factor not to have this tablet as priority purchase for all music lovers. Strange is, even with the headphones, it works weak.

Connectivity

Other than 3G data connectivity via a USB dongle, the Slide also offers Wi-Fi, Bluetooth with A2DP and USB 2.0 on-the-go. Video chatting is enabled using the skype which can be either connected via 3G or WiFi.With Skype pre-loaded on the card you can video chat with your contacts via 3G or Wi-Fi. Rest of the android features like Gtalk,Search,Voice and YouTube are preloaded just like the other tablets on android. No GPS support is another down factor for this tablet. 

Battery

With video, 4 hours is what iBall guarantees, which i feel is less. Run iBall slide powered by 4000mAh lithium-ion battery for 2 hours of video and somewhat closer to that, run music, and i am sure what you will notice is nothing more than red bar of battery low time.

Beetel Magiq Tablet

Have a contemplating feeling to buy a tablet? Here comes another Tablet. With the likes of the Reliance 3G Tab making the tablet market cringe when it comes to the price, here’s one that thought they can do better. Beetle Phones and Beetle Codless and now Beetle Tablets. Having good chance, i had expirienced Beetle Telephones way back many years and i had no issue with it until it was aged. But I’m sure you’ll be quite familiar with atleast the name "Beetel".It’s priced at just Rs. 9,999 and i expect tablet prices still coming down. 

Beetel's Magiq 3G Tablet runs on Android 2.2 and has 7 inch TFT touchscreen and powered by a 1 GHz processor. Reliance launched their 3G Tab recently, but this tablet is cheaper and has faster processor. The Magiq tablet also comes with free 3G data for both prepaid and postpaid customers from Airtel.Whats surprising about the tablet is the pricing under Rs.10,000 considering it runs on Android 2.2.

Key features :-

• Android 2.2
• 7" WVGA TFT Touch Screen
• Dual Camera - (2MP + 2MP)
• Track Pad
• 3G Wireless
• Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n
• Bluetooth
• Dual Camera - 2MP/2MP
• 2200 mAh Battery
• External Memory Support - up to 16GB
• 1Ghz Snapdragon Processor
• Android Market
• E-mail
• Facebook
• Stereo Speaker
• Comfort Stand
• HD Playback
• 3.5mm Jack
• Portable Wi-Fi Hotspot

Google Buys Motorola Mobility

Since its launch in November 2007, Android has not only dramatically increased consumer choice but also improved the entire mobile experience for users. Today, more than 150 million Android devices have been activated worldwide—with over 550,000 devices now lit up every day—through a network of about 39 manufacturers and 231 carriers in 123 countries. 


Google has recently announced that the company has purchased mobile phone and tablet maker Motorola Mobility for about USD 12.5 billion. This deal means that Google will work closely with Motorola - a hardware manufacturer - on developing Android.

The next release for Android, code-named Ice Cream Sandwich, will be an operating system designed for tablets and mobile devices.

Google said the acquisition will "supercharge the Android ecosystem and enhance competition in mobile computing," according to a news release. Google said the deal will not affect how Android is developed, and the operating system will remain open, Google said. This was a sigh of relief that it still remains open source.

Motorola Mobility is composed of two groups: Mobile Devices, which makes phones, and Home, which makes set-top boxes and other IPTV equipment.

Motorolla XOOM - Everything a tablet should be

Tablets have been pouring in tech market in a mass. Choosing the right tablet for a right need has been so confusing with new models from new companies being  launched.  Motorola's much anticipated Honeycomb infused tablet the XOOM has finally been officially announced for the Indian sector. The XOOM may have been the world’s first Android Honeycomb tablet, but it's certainly not India's first as the Acer ICONIA Tab A500 has usurped that title. 

The XOOM sports a 10.1-inch touchscreen offering a resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels. It's touted as one of the fastest tablets around because it is powered by a 1GHz Nvidia Tegra 2 dual-core processor. The tablet also features a 2 megapixel front-facing camera, and 5 megapixel rear-facing camera with 720p video recording capabilities. Playable video formats are AAC, H.263, H.264, MP3, MPEG-4, ACC+ Enhanced, OGG, MIDI, AMR NB, AAC+.  The XOOM also supports 1080p FullHD video playback and an HDMI port, too. Additionally,

it has 24 W-hr battery time, approx.10 hrs. browsing over WIFI capability, MP3 Playback for approx 3.3.days and standby time of 14 days. Never to miss out on its Video playback which is 10 hours.XOOM is also equiped with Google Mobile services, Internet services and Connectivity modes.