At Las Vegas, everybody bets on Android

From massive screens to show off their product capa-bilities to dancers on a makeshift stage, companies use all kinds of gimmicks to draw footfalls to their booths at the Consumer Elec-tronics Show - one of the world's largest annual technology fairs, in Las Vegas, Nevada.

But there's one company that hasn't bothered to take a booth and is yet making headlines. Google. The company's Android software is everywhere - with every other smartphone or tablet being launched running on different versions of its Android operating system. Sony Ericsson, Samsung, Motorola, LG and Dell were just some of the companies that unveiled Android-based products.

Google's operating system - which is provided to companies for free so that they can build on it in any way and then install it on their gadgets - has given phone and laptop manufacturers, who were be-sieged by Apple's iPhone and iPad, a new lease of life. Other smartphone makers like Research In Motion, which makes Black-berry, have also closed software that they do not share. Microsoft also charges for use of its Windows Phone software. So Google's free and flexible platform has allowed companies like Sony, LG, Mo-torola and Samsung to step up and compete with Apple.

At CES 2011, there was a lot of excitement at the Motorola booth where the company unveiled two new Android-based smartphones - the Atrix 4G and the Droid Bionic. Atrix 4G is powered by An-droid 2.2 (Froyo), but will be upgradable to Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) later this year.

Samsung, which already has Galaxy S smartphones that run on Android, introduced the Infuse 4G, a super-thin Android 2.2-based 4G smartphone. Sony Ericsson unveiled the Xperia arc based on An-droid 2.3, the latest version of Google's open mobile platform.

Acer introduced a new line of Liquid Mini Android phones. It fea-tures Acer's customised user interface, which sits on top of An-droid 2.2.

Taiwan-based HTC launched three smartphone - ThunderBolt, Evo Shift and Inspire - all on Android 2.2 or Froyo.
In the tablet space, Motorola announced its Xoom tablet that runs on Android 3.0 also known as Honeycomb, the latest version which has been developed exclusively for tablets. LG launched its G Slate, a 4G tablet which also runs on Honeycomb, and is likely to hit the US in 2011. Dell launched the Streak 7, a tablet with 4G connectivity, a dual processor and of course, Android 2.2 upgradable to Honey-comb.

While Samsung only announced an upgrade on its Galaxy Tab - a WiFi only version will be available soon - the company did say that the Android platform has helped them enter the tablet and smartphone space. Samsung's chief strategy officer Omar Khan said that using an Android platform with access to a number of apps has "led to sales of 1.5 million units of the earlier version of the Galaxy Tab, which had both 3G and WiFi capabilities".

Samsung also unveiled the Galaxy Player, which it calls the "first Google-certified Android-based smart player", and a rival to Ap-ple's iPod. The Player was introduced in Korea last year and runs on Android 2.2, with access to 120,000 apps on the Android platform.

It wasn't just smartphones and tablets. Android also made its pres-ence felt in the car space. At the automotive section, there were a number of applications on Android for smarter cars. For instance, automotive parts supplier Continental showed a head unit called AutoLinq with a range of apps that ran on Android. The device, still a
prototype, has applications such as navigation with real-time traf-fic; a vehicle diagnostic system that can tell a driver exactly what's wrong with his car, like low-coolant or brake fluid, rather than just flash a check-engine light; speed limit data and safety features.

Other parts suppliers also demonstrated systems based on Android, like Audiovox's Android-powered headrest-based entertainment system where people can connect to their Facebook pages, watch videos on YouTube and go online, all from the backset of their car.

BlackBerry Bold 9780

Just a month after I bought a BlackBerry Curve 8900 (in 2008), I heard of the launch of the first BlackBerry Bold; the 9000. "Here goes my chance to own the new king of the BlackBerry universe", I thought. But my regret turned into relief when I first saw the Bold. It was bigger, heavier and less sleek than the Curve. In less than a year, Bold (9700 version) shrunk in size, shed weight and started looking very similar to the Curve.

Surely, I wasn't the only one thinking that Bold's first version had out-reached itself in weight and size. Though Bold 9700 was a phone I would have liked to have, I still found my thinner, lighter (and cheaper) Curve a better value for money, with almost identical functionality.

Bold's newest variant (9780) finally brought my regret back.

It's a show-stopper for both its form and functions. It's small and light enough to fit into your pocket—so you don't have to carry a separate pouch if you are not used to it. The keypad is revelation of sorts. It's amazing that so much research goes on (and not by BlackBerry alone) to keep improving the typing experience in a space that is less than 6 cm in width and 3 cm in length.

The new Bold's keys are bigger and better shaped and the wire-like divisions between the rows of keys ease typing . The edges are better curved to make holding the handset easy—it grips very well in your palm. Replacement of the steel colour ring with black colour one enhances the handset's smartness quotient.

BlackBerrys never needed to look beautiful, but they were always smart looking. Bold is undoubtedly the smartest of them all.

But the real breakthrough isn't really in the hardware—it's in the new operating system called OS 6. Emailing and messaging experience—still the easiest and best in BlackBerry—is enhanced further. Universal search is now both possible and easy.

This is an absolute must as apps begin to crowd the screen space. The browser is better with the welcome option to toggle between several web pages. However, BlackBerry needs to urgently work with telecom operators in bringing down the tariffs for unlimited Internet plans, which are substantially lower for Android, iOS and Symbian-based phones.

For those who want something cheaper, the Curve 8520 (for about 11,000) is amazing value for money. The new Bold is clearly a good QWERTY phone if you don't mind spending 28,000 and having the most expensive data plan. But is it also a good a second phone? That's tough to say. If you have a touch phone already, the Bold is a good companion for 'serious' work.

But for a little extra, you can have the Black-Berry Torch, their flagship device. But even the Torch suffers from abysmally small pool of apps, which is turning paler compared to Android, Apple or even Symbian apps with each passing day. Buy the Bold 9780 if you are a BlackBerry 'purist' and a touchscreen is just not on your list of wants. Get the Torch if you want to stick with Black-Berry and get the best of both worlds; touch and QWERTY.

HTC HD7 in India, the first Windows Phone 7 device

After a period of relative inactivity, HTC seems to have stepped into gadget device release overdrive. Within days of the launch of the HTC HD7 in India, the first Windows Phone 7 device to be seen in the country (notwithstanding no access to Xbox Live and Windows Market), comes the release of yet another Windows Phone 7 handset, the HTC 7 Mozart, in association with Tata DOCOMO. And if looks and specs were all that mattered, then this is a rare combination of beauty on the outside with a beast nestling within.

The device is made of a single piece of brushed aluminum and has a large 3.7 inch display. And within that great casing, there is a 1 GHz processor, 8 GB onboard storage, all the connectivity options you can think of, high fidelity audio and what we really like – an 8.0 megapixel camera with autofocus and (hear, hear) a Xenon flash, which is also capable of recording HD video. All of which makes it a contender for the best smartphone that can also double as a camerphone, alongside the likes of the Nokia N8 and the Motorola XT720. All that for a price tag of Rs 26,490, along with a special data package offer for Tata DOCOMO users.

Of course, we do not know yet if Windows Market and Xbox Live will work on it and Microsoft’s studied silence about official support for Windows Phone 7 in India makes us wonder, but the stark fact is that Windows Phone 7 is up and running in India as far as devices go.