50000 Xiaomi MiPad units sold in 3 Minutes 59 Seconds on launch day

Xiaomi the famous Chinese phone maker had announced its plans to enter the tablet market with the Mi Pad back in May and looks like the tablet has gone on sale recently. A post on the official company forum says that Xiaomi sold 50000 units of the MiPad tablet on launch day thereby running out of stocks. Continue reading for some more breathtaking news. The 50,000 MiPads were sold out in just 3 minutes and 59 seconds. There is no mention about the location but we place our bets on China as it is the home market for handset maker which is now headed my Ex-Googler Hugo Barra. Priced aggressively at about 240 USD / Rs.14400 for the base 16GB version , the company is clearly taking on the Apple iPad Mini with its first tablet.

Here are the specs of the Xiaomi MiPad -

•  7.9-inch (2048 × 1536 pixels) display at 326 ppi with 4:3 aspect ratio and Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection
• 2.2 GHz NVIDIA Tegra K1 processor
• 8MP rear camera with Sony BSI stacked sensor, 1080p video recording, f/2.0 aperture
• 5MP front-facing camera with f/2.0 aperture
• 8.5mm thick and weighs 360 grams
• WiFi 802.11/b/g/n/ac Dual Band (2X2 MIMO)
• 2GB of RAM, 16GB / 64GB of internal storage, up to 128GB expandable memory with microSD
• 6700 mAh battery
• Android-based MiUI ROM

Xiaomi is expected to enter the India market soon and we can only hope that it launches the MiPad tablet here along with the Hongmi and MI3 phones.

Xolo launches quad-core Q500s IPS and hexa-core Play 6X-1000

Xolo announced two new smartphones - the budget Q500s IPS with a quad-core processor and the powerful Play 6X-1000 running on a hexa-core chip.

Xolo Q500s IPS features a 4" IPS display of WVGA resolution and comes with two SIM slots. It is powered by MediaTek's MT6582M chipset with a 1.3GHz quad-core Cortex-A7 processor, Mali-400 GPU and 512MB of RAM. The rest of the specs include 4GB of microSD-expandable storage, a 5MP FF camera with 1080p video recording, and a 1,500 mAh battery.

The Xolo Q500s IPS, in addition to the dual-SIM option, supports 3G, Wi-Fi N, Bluetooth 3.0 and GPS. It will launch soon for INR 5,999 (€74) and will be available in black, white, red, blue and green flavors.

Xolo Play 6X-1000 comes with a bigger 5" IPS display of 720p resolution and is powered by the MediaTek's MT6591 chipset. The MT6591 offers a hexa-core 1.5GHz Cortex-A7 processor, Mali-450GPU and 2GB of RAM. The phone also comes with 8 gigs of expandable storage, an 8MP auto-focus camera with 1080p recording, and a 2,100 mAh battery.

The Play 6X-1000 features dual-SIM capabilities, 3G connectivity, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS.
Xolo Play 6X-1000 will hit the shelves soon for INR 14,499 (€178) in black and white paintjobs.

Nokia by Microsoft branding spotted on Lumia 830

The Lumia 830has  been spotted in a brand new leaked render, this one courtesy of Chinese search engine Baidu.

The most intriguing thing about it is obviously the new branding: Nokia by Microsoft, as you can see.
As recently as last week it's been rumored that something like this would happen, and in the leaked image above we get our first confirmation of sorts.
So the consequences of Microsoft purchasing Nokia are going to slowly start showing up. One wonders if there isn't a plan to gradually phase out the Nokia brand entirely - maybe in a year or two we'll see Microsoft's name on smartphones by itself.
Until that happens, though, let's focus on the Lumia 830. The new picture tells us that it will have a 13 MP rear camera with Zeiss optics. Previously we heard that it would also sport a 4.5-inch touchscreen, but everything else about it is still a mystery.

Gionee Elife S5.5 gets Android 4.4 KitKat update

Gionee has started rolling out the Android 4.4 KitKat update for the Elife S5.5. The update weighs in at 865MB and will make the phone jump from Android 4.2 straight to 4.4.

The list of changes in the update include:

• Android upgrade to KitKat
• New Desktop layout
• Removed the world cricket championship
• Added Du speed booster for faster operations
• Updated Amigo Paper with a brand new UI interface design
• Updated Game Zone with a new UI interface design
• Updated GioneeXender for optimized performance and further improved the linking success rate
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

iPhone users are switching to the Galaxy S5

There's a significant number of iFans in the UK who are fed up with waiting for an iPhone with a larger screen and have jumped ship to the Samsung Galaxy S5 as a result.
It turns out that 26% of new Samsung Galaxy S5 users have switched from the iPhone in Britain; a huge increase from the 12% new adoption rate of the previous year. The rates were lower in Europe: a 17% turnover, but the region with the highest level of Apple loyalty is the USA. In the States, only 8% of new S5 buyers were former iPhone users.

It's interesting to see that such a high number of iPhone users are now opting for the S5, especially with rumors that the iPhone 6 will have a larger screen. The projected release date of Apple's next flagship phone is slated for September, so there may be more Apple turncoats before then.
However, it should be noted that the Galaxy S5 still lags behind the iPhone 5c and 5s in the UK, which are the number one and two highest selling handsets in the region.
11.1% of all phones were iPhone 5cs, 11% of the market belongs to the 5s, and the Galaxy S5 comes in third with 9% of the mobile phone market. Samsung has another phone on the top five list: the Korean manufacturer's former golden child: the Galaxy S4, with the Moto G rounding out the list with 6%.

Samsung Galaxy Ace 4, Core II, and Young 2 get priced

Samsung's Dutch portal announced today that the pricing for three of its latest entry-level droid iterations, the Samsung Galaxy Ace 4, Galaxy Core II, and Galaxy Young 2. All three devices will become available in Q3 of this year.
The Galaxy Ace 4, announced on Monday, will continue the legacy of cheap, quality droids put forth by the company's Ace lineup, with a 4.0-inch WVGA display, 1GHz dual-core processor, and a 1,500mAh battery. It will be available for €219.

The Galaxy Core II sports a 4.5-inch WVGA display with quad-core 1.2GHz processor, 2,000mAh battery and will sport Samsung's leather-esque rear panel the company introduced with its Galaxy S4 flagship. Strangely enough the Galaxy Core II will retail for €179, even though its specs sheet is better than the Galaxy Ace 4's. There is also a dual-SIM variant of the Core II, which will likely be sold at a slightly higher price.
The Galaxy Young 2 is set to be the cheapest member of the trio at just €99, but it only sports a 1GHz single-core processor, 3.5-inch HVGA screen, and a 1,300mAh battery.
All three devices will be powered by Android 4.4 KitKat with Samsung's TouchWiz overlay.
Samsung also announced another entry-level device alongside the Young 2 - the Galaxy Star 2. Although pricing has not been disclosed, the Star 2 is almost identical to the Young 2, except without 3G connectivity and a downgraded 2MP camera.
Expect Samsung's budget droid lineup to become available this quarter.