Android 4.1 Jelly Bean...What's New ...Review and Trailers

What’s New in Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and Google Nexus 7 Tablet First Look

Google has announced that the next version of it’s hugely popular mobile operating system Android will be called “Jelly Bean”. This is in keeping with the tradition of naming each OS version, Jelly Bean being 4.1, after a dessert in alphabetical order. So the next Android version will probably be named after a dessert starting with K, get the drift? Jelly Bean is the evolution of the Android OS which is now common for both phones and tablets. Google has announced that the first Jelly Bean devices will ship in July. Some of the devices are the Galaxy Nexus phone, the Motorola Xoom tablet and Google’s very own Nexus 7 tablet. So let’s have a look at all the shiny new stuff, shall we?

Android 4.1 Jelly Bean

The new Android packs in a host of new features, the most noticeable of which is what Google calls “Project Butter UI”. This rather quirky name refers to Google’s attempt to make the UI on all Android devices “fast, fluid and smooth” by triple buffering graphics. In practice, the Android UI now runs at a brisk 60 fps, and it seems far more fluid than Ice Cream Sandwich, even on the exact same hardware. Check out a comparison here:



Another big new feature is Google Now. It’s basically a predictive app that gathers data from the internet and observes your daily routine to provide relevant information. For example, you can simply say “sports” and Google Now would show you all your favorite team scores, upcoming matches and the like. Or in daily life, you can say “traffic” and it would check for traffic along your daily route and alert about any delays beforehand. Let’s just say Google Now makes Android devices more….sentient, *shudder*. Anyway, it’s a super cool feature that we can’t wait to see. Also included are new voice control features that improve and add more functionality to the existing set of features. Now voice input is possible without connecting to the internet too. The home screen is also changed, expect a better app launcher and more interactive notifications, a la Windows Phone.

Google Nexus 7 Tablet

The first new device to be running Android 4.1 Jelly Bean will be the Google Nexus 7 tablet. Manufactured by Asus, the Nexus 7 will come with a 1.2 GHz Nvidia Tegra 3 (T30L) quad-core ARM Cortex-A9, 1 GB RAM and will be available in 8 GB and 16 GB storage space variants. The Nexus “7″ is named such because unlike most tablets, it has a 7 inch screen running at 1280 x 800 resolution, so it’s a direct competitor to the Amazon Kindle Fire and the BlackBerry PlayBook. There is no expandable memory and it lacks an HDMI slot as well. But then again, the launch price is really very competitive. The 8 GB version is 199$ and the 16 GB version is 250$. Unlike the PlayBook though, the Nexus 7 features a front facing 1.2 MP camera for video conferencing.



All media content and apps will be delivered through Google Play and it will also feature Google Chrome as the default browser. The Google Nexus 7 looks like a fantastic device and we’d like to see it come to India priced reasonably. It’s no iPad competitor, but those features and specs are nothing to scoff at either!

Let us know what you think about the announcements of Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and the Google Nexus 7 tablet.

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Medal Of Honor Release and Trailer

Medal of Honor: Warfighter

Medal of Honor: Warfighter is a direct sequel to 2010′s Medal of Honor, itself a successful reboot of the Medal of Honor franchise. Continuing the storyline from the previous game, Warfighter lets you play as tough as nails Tier 1 military special forces operatives in locations spanning multiple continents. It’s looks good too, running on Frostbite 2, the same engine that powers the fantastic Battlefield 3. This time around, Danger Close games will be taking over development of both the singleplayer and multiplayer aspects of the game.

Developer: Danger Close Games
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Release: October 23, 2012

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Darksiders II Trailer Review System Requirements

Darksiders 2
A sequel to the surprise hit Darksiders released in 2010, Darksiders 2 follows another one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. In Darksiders, players got to play as “War”. Darksiders 2 puts players in the shoes of “Death” in a parallel storyline a la Crysis Warhead. A war has erupted between the forces of Heaven and Hell on earth and the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are sent by the Charred Council, a mediating faction to deliver justice to the both forces. Expect more hack and slash action in even larger environments as claimed by the developers.

Developer: Vigil Games
Publisher: THQ
Release: August 14, 2012

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Apple I-Pad MIni..To be Launched in 2012

  I-Pad MINI-for apple geeks ;)

The Apple iPad has quickly become one of the most popular devices on the planet and it’s actually set benchmarks for what tablets should be like. Combining a large, gorgeous high resolution display, powerful hardware and Apple’s slick iOS, the iPad was very well received. However, like most Apple products, it was on the steeper side on the pricing front. Despite this, the iPad has pretty much dominated the tablet market and every other tablet has been left in the dust.

Since a few months, there have been rumors of a new, smaller iPad launch by the end of 2012. Just recently a few manufacturers and anonymous sources have confirmed that Apple is indeed coming out with a smaller version of the iPad by fall 2012, probably with the iPhone 5. So what do we know as of now? Not much, unfortunately.

There have been tidbits floating around, have a look:

7-8 inch screen – The iPad Mini will go head to head with Amazon Kindle Fire, BlackBerry PlayBook and the recently announced Google Nexus 7 tablet. All of these tablets feature 7 inch screens.

Variants – Like the Google Nexus 7 tablet, the iPad Mini will probably come in 8 GB and 16 GB variants.

Screen Resolution - Apparently, the iPad Mini will not feature Retina Display as a cost cutting measure and will instead probably come with the original iPad’s 1024 x 768 resolution. However, some reports suggest that it will indeed feature Retina Display.

Hardware – Nothing has been revealed about the processing power, but we reckon it could be an underclocked version of the iPad 3rd Gen’s processor or maybe an underclocked version of the iPhone 5‘s processor, although that seems unlikely. Some reports say that the iPad Mini could also use the older Apple A5 processors.

Naming - While iPad Mini is the name being thrown around most often, it could also very well be called the iPad Nano. Let’s wait and watch.

Pricing - The biggest factor of them all is pricing. Even though the iPad is priced rather highly, it’s still flying off the shelves and people would rather wait, save up and go for an iPad instead of settling for a lower priced Android tablet. That speaks volumes about the way Apple has captured the market. Now, if the iPad Mini launches at a lower price point and manages to deliver the goods like its bigger brother, it will practically destroy the competition. On that note, rumored prices of the iPad Mini are around 249-299$.

The iPad Mini could very well turn out to be like the iPod, there are numerous alternatives but it remains the highest selling music player ever. Maybe a few years down the line the iPad could be the sort of product that holds 80% of the market share while everything else has to fight to remain in the 20%. Looks like the Google Nexus 7 has a solid competitor on the way, and it hasn’t even released yet!

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