Android-Based Home Surf Touch Tablet in India - By Binatone

Binatone, a UK-based provider of telecom products, has entered the Indian market with the launch of its Android-based Home Surf Touch Tablet. The new tablet, which is almost as slim as the iPad, runs on Google's Android 1.6, has an 8-inch resistive screen, Wi-Fi, 2 GB onboard storage, 128 MB RAM and is powered by an ARM 11 667 MHz processor.

Binatone said the Home Surf Touch tablet is priced at Rs. 9,000/-, which is less than half that charged by other Android tablets available in the market today. The 8-inch Home Surf Touch Tablet based on Android technology powered by Google.

Sat Murthi, Executive Vice President Binatone India, said, "We are committed to breaking the barriers of technology reaching the masses." Murthi said that technology no longer commands a premium in the market place and that Binatone continues its stride to provide the latest technology products at affordable prices.

"Binatone plans to invest Rs. 50 crores in the next 12 months in technology, product development and marketing. Our products are specifically 'Indianized' with special features like 'Audio boost', 'Power saver' and 'Binatone Zone', which all have been carefully market researched and implemented to address the specific Indian needs," added Murthi.

Murthi outlined the company's development of futuristic products with solar charger mobile handsets to address the frequent power outages in rural markets. "Binatone is also bringing in the low cost 3G handsets by end of the year to cater to the deployment of newer technologies in India," said Murthi.

Dino Lalvani, Chairman Binatone Communications Group, said, "The Home Surf Touch Tablet is the first of its kind in India. To reinforce this excitement it will be aggressively priced at Rs. 8,995/- in retail. The Home Surf Touch Tablet, with its ultra slim design can access the Internet on Wi-Fi. The battery operated device can retain its charge for several hours in video, Web browsing and many other applications for daily use."

"India deserves the best of technologies in communication and we at Binatone, with our 50 years of experience, will harness the latest in innovative technologies and bring them to market affordably. Our India software team, based out of Bangalore, is always exploring newer technologies and our collaboration with semiconductor partners helps us to work on cost effective solutions, given our economies of scale which is supported by our global reach," added Lalvani.

Ref: http://www.itnewsonline.com/news/Binatone-Launches-Android-Based-Home-Surf-Touch-Tablet-in-India/21243/3/1

Oracle finally outlines roadmap for mobile Java

Oracle finally outlines roadmap for mobile Java

There has been considerable criticism of Oracle since it acquired Sun Microsystems, and with it, the Java technology. In particular, the database giant has been accused, by Google and others, of failing to provide clear direction and leadership for the mobile version of the open source software, which underpins a huge percentage of low-end and midrange handsets, as well as media players and other devices, and many mobile apps and content delivery systems.

Oracle went some way to address its critics at the OpenWorld JavaOne conference, promising hardware accelerated graphics and web integration for mobile Java. Its plans are particularly interesting in light of the firm's quarrels - including Android-related patent litigation, with Google, which uses its own Java virtual machine, Dalvik, on its OS.

Java's mobile iteration, ME, is now to be brought firmly into the world of modern web apps and development, and will be able to render the key web standards – HTML, CSS and Javascript - by default. Java ME will also gain engines for Javascript and for WebKit browsers, and a Java-to-JavaScript Bridge. This will allow Java ME handsets to access web services and apps outside the browser and without the current performance issues in this area.

Oracle also promised a Java rendering engine to enhance 2D and 3G graphics, available next year. This will plug into the virtual machine and into Java FX, one of the most important technology layers Sun added to open source Java, supporting the creation of rich graphics and user interfaces. As The Register describes, the engine will support "modern graphics hardware accelerators", notably Direct X for Windows and OpenGL.

Java ME will be optimized for the ARM7 and ARM9 processor designs commonly used in handsets, and the stack will be upgraded to support mobile phone APIs handling functions like telephony, payments and location. This will enable Java developers to create apps that tap into those phone functions directly, rather than relying on less optimized web-based alternatives.

All this should bring Java, which usually lives in featurephones, closer to the smartphone experience, a goal also pursued by the other major midrange apps platform, Qualcomm Brew, and by Java-based software players like Myriad. Such initiatives are important as mass markets and developing economies start to demand support for mobile apps and browsers, but on low cost, contract-free handsets. Many operators – like AT&T and Verizon with their support for Brew – see this as a way to get more value from the prepaid base; to attract low end users who may later upgrade to full smartphone plans; and control the user experience. Many carrier app stores, like the one from Orange, support Java apps as well as products for fully blown operating systems like Android or Symbian.

By belatedly setting out Java's roadmap for the next generation of mass mobile apps, Oracle is staking a claim to considerable influence over the mobile experience. It also aims to achieve a more prominent role for Java FX, a hugely promising technology that was sadly underpromoted by Sun, rather like Java in general. Oracle will now open source FX and the Java user interface controls, under the GPL process used by the main Java platform, to get it the same visibility among programmers as Flash or Silverlight.

"We want the nine million Java developers in the world to never have to chose a different environment to build a great looking UI ever again," SVP Thomas Kurian told the conference. The next release of FX, in Q311, will introduce generics, annotations and multithreading, and continue work started by Sun to open the VM to non-Java languages including JRuby, Groovy and JavaScript, says The Register.

Instead of Java ME, Android uses a subset of the Apache Software Foundation's Harmony and runs the Dalvik VM, claiming this delivers better performance than ME. Oracle will clearly be trying to take any sting out of these claims now.

Ref: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/09/26/mobile_java_oracle/

iPhone OS 4 vs Android

Why Apple just lost the game

Multitasking

The biggest news, it seems, is multitasking.  For iPhone users, this is huge.  A true multitasking ability, instead of just push notifications, has been sorely missing since day 1.  In fact, it was Palm's entire attack with WebOS versus the iPhone.  Sadly, we see how that battle is going.

But for those of us with Android devices, this isn't news; this is expected.  If I have to close my applications in order to use another one, I'd get annoyed.  Now, points go to Apple for how OS 4 will handle the tasking.  I have to give genuine kudos to the priority-based functions.  I think that Android could certainly see a benefit in following suit.

The problem that I see, though, is that the iPhone is still locked (unless you want to take its life into your own hands and jailbreak) to the App Store.  In fact, the multitasking capability will be based upon App Store classification that might not allow an application as much processing power as you'd like for it to have.  For my money, I'll take Android's way of doing things when it comes to multitasking.

Folders

Sure, on my iPod Touch, I'll use them.  I have so many games that it's just plain stupid not to.  But really, this is big news?  Oh yes.  I forgot.  I can also rename a folder.  You know, like I've been able to do in Android OS all along.  Even my Apple-loving brain has a hard time getting truly excited about this.

Email Changes

I have to give Apple some credit here. The unified inbox feature sounds very nice. It's something that's been a thorn in my side with Android's base features. Likewise, simple methods for encryption would be great.

Again, though, one of Android's main features shines here. Open source.  I honestly haven't done much digging, but I'd almost bet that there's an application in the Android Market that can give me unified inboxes.  Oh, and my guess is that there's an encryption application too.

But as for the rest, on Android?  Threaded messages?  Check.  Multiple Exchange accounts?  Check.  Attachment handling?  Check.  Sorry Steve.  I'm just not excited.

Enterprise Features

Wireless delivery of applications, great data encryption, Exchange Server support. When you're in a business world, with today's technology, these things become expected. These are no longer seen as value-added features of any OS, mobile or otherwise.

Now, in fairness, Android OS is not at the top of the Enterprise game. But neither is Apple. For years, RIM has set the standard. Even today, other companies have a lot of work to do in order to catch up. I have to call this an even draw.

All the Rest

I'm going to wrap the Game Center and iAd into one section, because both features really come down to making more money for developers. This is something that both of my brains can stand behind. The development community for Apple products is stellar, if crippled. But that's not anything of their own doing.

With the new Game Center, and integrated iAds, developers will really be able to monetize their applications without the risk of becoming annoying. This is important, and should continue. I sincerely hope that Apple gives the developers the autonomy that they need to let this happen.

At the moment, the vast majority of games on the Android platform suck. But I think that has more to do with a less-explored platform than with the OS itself. As time goes on, and as more Android devices sell, I firmly believe that we'll see more features and better games.

Wrapping Up

So if I'm giving Apple points on a couple of features, and calling another one a draw, how can I still declare Android the winner? It's simple: the open-source method just works.

Android market share is going through the roof. With it, we're seeing developers shifting their attention to Android, and releasing applications that are higher quality every day.  Instead of getting wrapped up in politics, Android developers have the autonomy that Apple needs to give.  Because let's face it, approving every application does not mean that every application will be of good quality.

For those who have crossed over from iPhone to Android, today's announcements likely come as too little too late.  We users shouldn't have to wait years for basic features, or for nagging problems to be fixed.  We should have the ability to find something that works better, if we don't like what you're offering, and we should be able to use it on our existing device.

The Apple xenophobia, in this case, might be alienating iPhone OS 4 from gaining buyers.

 

Ref: http://thenextweb.com/google/2010/04/09/iphone-40-android-os-apple-lost-game/

Tiger Airways to expand in India - Flights to Trivandrum and Kochi in Kerala state and Trichy in Tamil Nadu

Tiger Airways to expand in India

SINGAPORE budget carrier Tiger Airways said on Tuesday it was looking at flying to three more destinations in India in addition to Chennai and Bangalore.
Tiger president and chief executive Tony Davis said the airline wants to fly to Trivandrum and Kochi in Kerala state and Trichy in Tamil Nadu.
'As the world's second most populous country, India is a natural consideration for us to expand our low-fare offering,' Mr Davis said in a statement.
'We have had numerous requests from passengers to fly to more Indian destinations. With this encouragement, we plan to commence discussions with the airports and authorities.'
Tiger Airways, which is one-third owned by Singapore Airlines, operates flights to 33 destinations across 11 countries and territories in Asia and Australia from bases in Singapore and the Australian cities of Melbourne and Adelaide. -- AFP
Ref: http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_493895.html