Top-10 : Tablets 2013

We today proudly present to you the Top-10 Tablets list made by us after reviewing each and every product in the market.
So here it goes...

1) Apple iPad (4th Generation)

Apple iPad 

This is the best choice in this category. Retina display with superfast engine makes it one of the best from Apple.

PRICE : Rs.32500


2) Google Nexus 7

Google Nexus 7

Google's Nexus 7 might just be the best 7-inch tablet on the market. The device runs Google's latest mobile operating system, Jelly Bean, and comes with a nice design. It's one of the most affordable devices in this roundup.

PRICE : Rs.17000

Apple Mini

3) Apple Mini
Apple's iPad Mini is something of a marvel in the tablet market. The device comes with a 7.9-inch display, which makes it much smaller than its alternative, but it's also capable of delivering the true iOS experience that many consumers and enterprise users like. Plus, it's more mobile than bigger devices.

PRICE : Rs.25000

Note 800

4) Samsung Galaxy Note 800
The tablet has everything going for it - fantastic power under the hood, a great display and good battery life. The only thing it has against it is an underwhelming build that can be overlooked considering the overall package. If you are in the market to pick up a premium Android device, go ahead and pick this one up.

PRICE : Rs.40000

Galaxy Tab 2 

5) Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 
The Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 is a fantastic device. It hits the sweet spot between the budget tablets and the iPad. It has features and specifications that are value for money, and it is an better overall performer than the Sony Tablet S and the Motorola Xoom.

PRICE : Rs.19300

Apple iPad 2 

6) Apple iPad 2 
At an MRP ranging from Rs. 29,500 for the 16 GB model, to 46,900 for the 64 GB model with 3G support, the iPad 2 is only slightly costlier than its predecessor, but more expensive than any other tablet on the market. However, its leagues ahead of the mob too, and makes a great, (if expensive), addition to your gadget collection.

PRICE : Rs.25000

Microsoft Surface Pro

7) Microsoft Surface Pro
Microsoft's Surface Pro is one of those devices that gains a lot of attention but doesn't necessarily get the right kind of attention. Whenever it's brought up, a discussion follows about how Windows 8 is having trouble gaining traction. Nevertheless, the Surface Pro is a well-built, nice product that will catch on with Microsoft fans in 2013.

PRICE : Rs.44000

Asus Pad Transformer

8) Asus Eee Pad Transformer TF101G
The Asus Eee Pad Transformer TF101g is a dream come true which pairs a very good Android tablet with a tried-and-tested netbook keyboard to create one great product. It's sleek, stylish, and extremely practical and well worth its asking price.

PRICE : Rs.30000

9) Sony Tablet S 

Sony Tablet S 

The Tablet S catches your attention with the excellent performance, unique design and interesting extra features like the Universal Remote and the PlayStation app. However, Sony needs to address the issue of internal storage space available - only about 9GB is available for the user out of the 16GB. If it is an Android tablet you desire, you now have the choice between this and the Google Nexus 7.

PRICE : Rs.23000

10) Acer Iconia Tab A501
In a straight comparison to the Motorola Xoom, the Iconia A501 has the advantage of feeling lighter and bearing a much better display.

Iconia Tab A501

PRICE : Rs.32990

Mac or Windows? Find Out!

The debate was always on and still will be. There have been developers, programmers, experts, and even the CEO's who have given a numerous reasons to prove why Windows is better than Mac or vice-versa.
So, today we put our view on the same. We have been getting quite a few queries about the question - Which one to buy - Mac or Windows?
So firstly lets see the pros and cons of both and then we will proceed to a 5-point conclusion.

Firstly the MAC...
Pros : 

• Reliable platform
• More stable
• Design, Look excels 
• LED back lit screen
• Energy efficient and long battery life
• Best to use in digital (a/v editing) career 

Cons :

• Complex to use
• Only 2 USB ports 
• Not a gamer-friendly platform
• Expensive ( even at base model )
• Body gets scratched easily
• Limited upgrades and updates
• Limited softwares 
• Choices are less b/w the Mac's 
• Limited Support available
• Outrageous license agreements

Now, lets come to Windows...
Pros : 

• Used by almost more than a billion people worldwide, making almost 90% of the global market
• Easy to use
• Gamer-friendly
• Everything is available
• Support easily available
• Large shareware and freeware softwares available 
• Numerous updates and upgrades

Cons : 

• Prone to viruses and spywares
• Little instability is seen
• Outrageous license agreements
• Poor support for older hardware
• Poor remote access

Conclusion :
Firstly after going through the Pro's and Con's of both, you guys are free to post your views in the comment section below. Now coming to what we feel, definitely we will go with a billion users of Windows. To prove the same we are going to lay down some points :

Compatibility
Windows has and will always give you more hardware choices, and this perhaps is it's greatest strength. PC's give you a lot more choices and capability at less price. You can have the color you want, the size you want and the features you want. You even have an option for a fully customised PC.
On the other hand, Mac's, are only run on a limited set of hardware, mostly which are designed by Apple

Customizability
Windows have always proven this that there are almost a million developers around the globe which use windows for designing and publishing. It has much more open environment for developers.
Windows has a capability to be heavily modified, from XP to Windows 7/8 or form dual-core processor to i7 processor.
As far as games are concerned, windows has been the best for the gamer platform  It is a platform for world wide game tournaments. And this is reason why Windows gets much more and much better games as compared to Mac's.

Support
Microsoft has always provided better and secure technical assistance to it's users. In any city around the world you will find much more Windows stores that will provide technical assistance for your PC than you will find for you Mac. And obviously at a much lesser price.

Simplicity
Windows is much much easier to learn as well as to use. Actually if we go by the official data, the Windows has not changed much from the past 20 years or so, though, each new version has its own new features and capabilities, its quick to learn and to use.
The latest change in Windows 8, with its Live Tiles, has taken some off guard. It’s bringing the same look across all of Microsoft’s platforms: PC, tablet, phone, and Xbox. This is just another change that in time will be quickly accepted, and only make the interface more familiar not just with PCs, but all other Microsoft devices.

Price
The price has always been the center of the debate for anything that exists in this world. Same goes for the products that are manufactured by Apple and those by Microsoft. If we go by the logic, Microsoft (with the exception of the Surface tablet) doesn’t make computers. They leave that to their manufacturing partners; the Dells, HPs, Toshibas, and Acers of the world. And every one of these companies provides world class support as well as security for their products using Windows, but the point is that they do it cheaply. The price for which they sell products which have Windows is very low as compared to that of Mac's.

iPhone 5 : The All New Apple Warrior

The all new Apple iPhone-5

Apple has always fascinated people from the starting. This time the company is back with it's all new iPhone 5, which was launched late in 2012. So we are here today to review the product, which is currently priced at Rs.45,500, and see if it is a good competitor to other high end devices like Xperia Z or Samsung S IV.
Firstly the Specifications....

Design
Device Type - Smart Phone
Operation System - iOS

iPhone-5 is incrrdibly designed

Display
Physical Size - 4 inches
Resolution - 640 X 1136 pixels
Pixel Density - 326 ppi pixel density
Technology - LED-backlit IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen
Colors - 16 Million colors
Touch Screen - Capacitive, Multi-Touch
Sensors - Three-axis gyro, Accelerometer, Proximity sensor, Ambient light sensor
Dimensions - 123.8 X 58.6 X 7.6 mm
Operating System - Out-of-the-box iOS 6, upgradable to iOS 6.1.3upgrade ready
Others - Corning Gorilla Glass, oleophobic coating

Battery 
Capacity - "Non-removable" Li-Po 1440mAh battery

Hardware
Processor - 1.2 GHz Apple A6 Processor
Graphics - PowerVR SGX 543MP3 (triple-core graphics)
System Memory - 1 GB RAM
Built-In Storage - 16/32/64 GB storage
Storage Expansion - No

Camera of iPhone-5 is capable of taking decent photos

Camera
Camera - 8 MP (3264 X 2448 pixels)
Flash - LED
Features - Simultaneous HD video and image recording, touch to focus, geo-tagging, face detection, panorama with HDR
Camcorder - 1080p@30fps with video stabilization
Front-Facing Camera - 1.2 MP, 729p@30fps with face detection, FaceTime over Wi-Fi or cellular

Multimedia
Speakers - Loudspeaker, earpiece
3.5mm jack - Yes
Radio - No ( using third-party apps )
Music Player - Supports AAC, protected AAC, HE-AAC, MP3, MP3 VBR, Audible, Apple lossless, AIFF and WAV
Video Player - Supports H.264, AAC-LC, .m4v, .mp4, .mov, MPEG-4, M-JPEG, .avi
Sound Enhancement - Audible Enhanced Sound
Ringtone - Polyphonic

iPhone-5 is one of the best products from Apple till date

Internet Browsing 
Browser - HTML ( Safari )

Technology
SIM - Nano-SIM
Positioning - A-GPS with GLONASS

Phone Features 

Lighting Connector of iPhone-5

• Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic
• Siri natural language commands and dictation
• iCloud cloud service
• Twitter and Facebook integration
• TV-out
• Maps
• iBooks PDF reader
• Audio/video player/editor
• Organizer
• Document viewer
• Image viewer/editor
• Voice memo/dial/command
• Predictive text input
• 4 inch Retina Display
• Ultrafast Wireless network
• Lightning Connector
• AirPrint
• AirPlay

iPhone-5 excels Connectivity

Connectivity
Bluetooth - Yes, v4.0 with A2DP
Wi-Fi - Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac with dual-band
Wi-Fi- Hotspot - Yes
USB - USB v2.0
Others - GPRS, EDGE

Availability  
Announced - September, 2012
Release - September, 2012

Now a look at the Highs and Lows...

Highs :

• Good Processor 
• Siri works just perfect
• Camera works quite well
• Incredible Dimensions
• Light weight and easy to handle
• Perfect screen size for a phone
• Excellent build quality

Dimensions are just perfect

Lows :

• Battery life is poor
• Maps are just terrible
• Fingerprint magnet
• No storage expansion card slot
• Aluminum back is delicate and gets scratch and dents too often
• No Micro-Sim, else Nano-Sim
• No optical zoom in camera

Conclusion :

iPhone 5 is slimmer, thinner and smarter than the previous 4S version

If we go by the specifications the phone is overall well built with some problems it in. But if you want the brand name Apple associated with the device this one is just perfect for you. The screen of the phone is just the best and suitable size that a phone should have, with the build quality being just amazing, even though the back panel has aluminium which posses a problem as it easily catches scratches and dents, also being aluminium it's a fingerprint magnet. But if you can go with it, this one is just the perfect one for you.
Now, coming to camera, the camera of this phone is well built and perfectly designed that is capable of taking decent photos and good video recordings, although there is no "optical zoom" available.
The phone got excellent features with it with some flaws. It's a Apple A6 processor that works as perfectly as it is advertised, with Siri that works brilliantly. Now coming to some flaws, battery life is not so good for a 4-inch device, it's not even 1500 mAh battery. The maps are just terrible, due to which the CEO of the company recently apologized  We would have been more happier if there was a micro-sim capability for this device, it's not easy for everywhere and for everyone to get a nano-sim, also there is not Storage-Expansion card slot available.
But still, if you can go with all these flaws and you like the iOS and Apple, this one is the best product available for you in the over-crowded market for high-end smartphones.
Alternatives for iPhone 5 - Sony Xperia Z, Samsung S IV, HTC One, Nokia Lumia 920

Apple iMac

Apple has always fascinated people from the starting of the company, when it was founder in 1976. It made its way as a computer maker to high end Ipods and then came the top class Iphones.
But iMac's were the only products of the company that have seen great improvements and great selling of the product. A month or two ago iMac 21.5 inches and 27 inches was revealed,  Apple has put some serious engineering efforts into this, with rigorous techniques like friction stir welding. But the only thing that matters here is the price tag. The 21.5 inches comes in Two models - The Base and The Top End with price of $1299 ( INR 85,900 inc. ) and $1499 ( INR 99,00 inc. ) respectively.
Similarly the 27 inches also comes with two models - The Base and The Top End with price tag of $1799 ( INR 122,900 inc. ) and $1999 ( INR 134,900 inc. ) respectively.
Today I will review the 21.5 inches one ( both the models ), here it goes ...
Firstly the specification....
[ "AND" separates the two models of 21.5 inches one ]

Specs :
Weight - 5.68 kgs
Operating System - Mac OS X 10.8.2
Screen Size (diagonally) - 21.5 inches
Screen Type - LED-backlit display with IPS technology; 1920x1080 resolution with support for millions of colors.
Cpu Brand - Intel Ivy Bridge
Graphics - NVIDIA GeForce GT 640M graphics processor with 512MB of GDDR5 memory AND NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M graphics processor with 512MB of GDDR5 memory

CPU Specs : 

Processor - 2.7GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 processor (Turbo Boost up to 3.2GHz) with 6MB L3 cache  AND 2.9GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 processor (Turbo Boost up to 3.6GHz) with 6MB L3 cache ( can be upgraded to 3.1GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 (Turbo Boost up to 3.9GHz).
RAM - 8GB (two 4GB) of 1600MHz DDR3 ( can be upgraded to 16 GB )
Stroage - 1 TB (5400-rpm) hard drive AND I TB (5400-rpm) hard drive ( can be upgraded to 1 TB ( Fusion Drive )

Physical Interfaces :

• Four USB 3 ports
• Two Thunderbolt port
• Mini DisplayPort output with support for DVI, VGA, and dual-link DVI (adapters sold separately)
• Gigabit Ethernet 
• Stereo speakers
• Dual microphones
• Headphone/optical digital audio output (mini jack)
• Support for Apple iPhone headset with microphone
• 720p FaceTime HD Camera

Wireless Interfaces :

• Wireless - 802.11n Wi-Fi wireless networking
• Bluetooth 4.0 wireless

Silent Features :

• Kingston Lock Slot
• Dual noise-canceling mics
• Ambient light sensor
• Magic TrackPad ( on demand )
• Latest Mac OS 

Now Lets See Highs and Lows...

Highs :

• Camera supports full native resolution on the built-in display and up to a 30-inch display (2560x1600 pixels) on an external display
• SDXC card slot
• Multiple Thunderblot ports 
• Amazing performance
• Awesome design
• Superfast multitasking
• Very user-friendly
• Anti-glare screen coating
• IPS display panels, keyboard and mouse, and wireless capabilities are all still excellent
• More power-efficient hardware cooled by a single fan ( which is better for a desktop PC 

Lows : 

• Users are not able to swap to newer CPU ( in future )
• Hard drives cannot be removed or replaced 
• Graphic Card cannot be replaced
• 512 MB graphics is less at this price
• Number Pad not available on keyboard ( comes with iMac )
• No Blue-ray
• Somewhat Glossy screen 
• Speakers are not upto the mark
• No optical drive
• No height adjustment.
• Heavily priced

Conclusion :
Although there is an option b/w Base and Top End model of thw 21.5 inches, I would prefer to buy out Base Model because even at the default configurations iMac should satisfy all the computing needs of yours. But, if your looking to shell out more then go for the Top End one. Even with the great performance, I would consider buying a Window's computer instead, because if offers more flexibality and more friendly user interface with less price.
Nobody buys a Mac to use it just as a games machine, and if you treat the iMac as a general multimedia and entertainment system then it’s gonna hard to beat. The slimline design is superb, as is the improved display, and the engineering quality is truly in a class of its own. But the problem with this one is it is heavily priced, I am not able to understand for what the company is charging this much!
Still its upto you go for the Brand Apple or you have a better choice in the market out there!

MacBook Air

We have seen various changes in the technology of computer and smartphone giant APPLE in the past few years. In the list, lies somewhere is MacBook Air. Available in 11 and 13 inches, it is priced at $999 or Rs. 68,000 (approx) and $1199 or Rs. 75,000 (approx) respectively. But does that delivers with that price tag ?? We will Find Out....

Specs :
Thickness - 0.3 - 1.7 cm
Weight - 1.08 kg AND 1.35 kgs
Operating System - Mac OS X
Screen Size (diagonally) - 11.6 inch (1366 X 768) AND 13.3 inch (1440 X 900)
Screen Type - High-Resolution LED-backlit glossy widescreen dsplay with support for million of colors
Cpu Brand - Intel
Graphics Type - Intel HD 4000
Battery - 35 watt hr lithium polymer (in-built) AND 50watt (in-built)hr lithium polymer
Battery Life - 4-6 hrs

CPU Specs :
Processor - 1.7GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 (Turbo Boost up to 2.6GHz) with 3MB shared L3 cache AND 1.8GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 (Turbo Boost up to 2.8GHz) with 3MB shared L3 cache
RAM - 4 GB DDR3
Flash Stroage - 64 GB, 128GB (at $1099 or Rs.74,900)  AND 128GB, 256GB (at 1499 or Rs. 99,990)

Physical Interfaces :

• Two USB 3 ports (up to 5 Gbps)
• Thunderbolt port (up to 10 Gbps)
• MagSafe 2 power port
• * SD card slot is available in 13 inch 
• Wireless - 802.11n Wi-Fi wireless networking
• Bluetooth 4.0 wireless
• AirPort
• Audio - Stereo speakers
• Omnidirectional microphone
• Headphone port
• Support for Apple iPhone headset with remote and microphone
• Camera - 720p FaceTime HD Camera

Silent Features :

• Multi-Touch trackpad
• iCloud
• Full Size, Backlit keyboard
• Thunderbolt 
• USB 3.0
• OS X Mountain Lion + iLife

Now Lets See Highs and Lows...

Highs :

• Lightweight and extremely thin design 3 lbs
• Full size keyboard
• Good Speed 
• LED-Backlit displays high-resoulation for physical dimensions 
• Long battery life under "normal" conditions
• Innovative technology allows you to "share" DVD drive from networked computers (Windows or Mac)
• SD Card Reader ( Only in 13 inch model )
• Thunderbolt port provides the option of high speed peripherals as well as support for two external displays up to 2560x1600.

Lows : 

• No built-in Ethernet port
• Wireless only
• No wired Ethernet for Facilities backups
• No removable battery
• Must be changed by Apple Certified Technician
• No built-in DVD drive
• Thin case does not allow for a larger internal hard 
• Drive 80gb maximum
• Lack of common ports and connectors 
• Only 3 connectors available -  (a) USB port  (b) Headphone jack (c) Mini DVI port for connecting external display
• Requires use of external devices for additional connections

Conclusion :

If you are looking for a lightweight and stylish notebooks and do not wish for future upgrades, I would strongly recommend you this one. The only difference between 11 inche $1,099 model is four gigs of memory, except the other model doubles its storage space. You also have a choice to 2Ghz dual-core Core i7 CPU, 8GB of RAM or a 512GB hard drive, but the bad thing is, this is only possible if you start with the more costlier $1,099 model. While on the other hand, in 13 inch $1,499 model is the same, except with storage of 256GB. As with the 11-inch model had you must buy the most costliest model, if you want to upgrade to 8GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD or that 2GHz Core i7 processor.

Although the Mac Air actually is defeated in some categories namely, display quality and port selection, it becomes the winner, in the categories that are most important to buyers: speed, longevity and comfortable design. 

To understand easily, if performance, connectivity and expansion are most of the requirements but size and weight do not matter much - a MacBook Pro would be the best choice. But if considering price tag, then MacAir would satisfy your needs.