Mobile

Sony Xperia Sola goes up for pre-order at Rs. 19,999

Sony's Xperia Sola, featuring the much-hyped 'floating touch display', is now available for pre-order at online shopping site Flipkart. Priced at Rs. 19,999, the device is expected to release in the fourth week of May.

Xperia Sola's availability comes shortly after Sony's another Xperia device, Xperia U, went up for pre-order. To refresh your memory, Sony had announced Xperia Sola in February this year. The Xperia Sola previously codenamed Pepper MT27i, will run Android 2.3 Gingerbread out-of-the-box, but has been promised an ICS update sometime in Q2 2012.

The Sola has a 3.7-inch 854x480 pixel display with the Mobile Bravia engine, a 1GHz dual-core NovaThor U8500 processor, 512MB of RAM, a 5MP autofocus camera with LED flash and 720p HD video recording, and 8GB of built-in storage.

The 9.9mm-thick Sony Xperia Sola weighs 107 grams, and will be available in black, white and red colours. As for connectivity options, the Xperia Sola features 3G, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n with DLNA and hotspot functionality, Bluetooth 2.1 with EDR and A2DO, microUSB 2.0, stereo FM with RDS, and NFC - the device will come with two NFC Sony SmartTags.

It runs on a 1,320 mAh battery, rated to deliver up to 470 hours of standby time, 6 hours of talk time, and 40 hours of continuous music playback.

Samsung starts rolling out Android 4.0 ICS update for Galaxy Note

Samsung has finally begun rolling out the long-awaited Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich update for its Galaxy Note smartphone. The ICS update is being released Over-the-Air for the Samsung Galaxy Note users. So fare there is no official confirmation from Samsung; therefore, the roll-out schedule is sketchy.

The latest ICS update, officially dubbed as the “Premium Suite”, brings a host of new features for the Galaxy Note users such as TouchWiz user interface. The near-320MB upgrade also includes new S Note apps including an advanced note taking feature. The update brings My Story feature that lets you make digital cards for your friends. The new Video Everywhere feature allows users play a video in part of the screen, while rest of the screen can be used for other purposes. S Memo has also been upgraded allowing users to record their ideas direct from the homescreen. Check out the video below to find out what the “premium suite” brings for the Note users.