Bharti Airtel has announced that they’ve picked up a 49 percent stake in Qualcomm AP’s India entities that hold the BWA licenses. The deal means good news for Airtel consumers as the operator will soon launch its 4G LTE service in Delhi, Mumbai, Haryana and Kerala, expanding its LTE service to a total of 8 regions, including Kolkata, Karnataka, Punjab and Maharashtra.

As for Qualcomm, they’ll provide technical assistance to Bharti with respect to network architecture and optimization, infrastructure and device testing.

Samsung’s first tablet to run Android 4.0 out-of-the-box has been launched in India. Pegged at Rs. 23,250, the Galaxy Tab 2 310 aka Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 brings the ICS experience in one of the most affordable package. The tablet features 3G support with voice calling and comes with a 7-inch WSVGA (1024×600) display, 3MP rear-facing camera, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, 8GB internal memory, microSD card slot and 4000mAh battery.

Samsung also pre-loads the Galaxy Tab with their own services like Game Hub, Readers Hub, ChatON, S Suggest app recommendation engine, Allshare, Kies air.

Consumers purchasing the tablet will also be eligible for 3GB of free data from Tata Docomo for a period of three months.

After South Korea, Thailand and Malaysia, India is the latest Asian country to receive the Premium Suite upgrade. Galaxy Note users in India should receive an OTA notification on their device or can connect to Kies to update the device.

The Premium Suite will upgrade the phablet to Android 4.0.3 and will bring in S Pen optimized apps like S Note and My Story. Take a look at the video below to check out the Premium Suite upgrade.

[Via Sammy Hub]

Samsung has started taking pre-orders of its 7-inch Galaxy Tab 2 in India. One of the most affordable Galaxy Tabs, the Galaxy Tab 2 310 can be booked by interested consumers for Rs. 23,250, which is bundled with a free Tab stand worth Rs. 1000. Interestingly, the same tablet is now up for sale from retailers in Mumbai at a discounted price of Rs. 19,500.

Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 2 is the first tablet in its range to run Android 4.0 out-of-the-box and features 7-inch WSVGA display (1024×600), 3G support, 1GHz dual-core processor, Wi-Fi, 3MP rear-facing camera, front-facing VGA camera, GPS, 8GB internal memory, microSD card slot and 4,000mAh battery.

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[Via Sammy Hub]

After LG and Samsung revealing their range of Smart TVs, Panasonic last week announced their Smart Veira TVs for the Indian market. Ranging from 24-inches to 55-inches in size, the new TVs will allow users to browse the internet, update social networking feeds and even stream content from a smartphone to the Viera TV via a downloadable app.

On the hardware front, Smart Viera TVs are equipped with 3D support, IPS LED panel that promises improved picture quality and lower power consumption, full HD support, integrated Wi-Fi and more.

Panasonic Smart TVs start from a Rs. 13,990 and goes up to Rs. 3,20,000.

Samsung India has started taking pre-bookings for its upcoming Galaxy S III phone. The start of the pre-booking is interesting because Samsung hasn’t revealed the exact price but is asking interested consumers to pay Rs. 2,000 in advance for a coupon that expires 15 days from the launch of the device and is non-refundable.

However, if you’re genuinely interested, you can head to the link below to pre-book it in the color of your choice. Consumers pre-booking the phone will also get an assured gift, which is a Bluetooth headset.

Samsung’s Galaxy S III comes with a quad-core 1.4GHz processor, 4.8-inch 720p HD display, 8MP camera, 1.9MP front-facing camera, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, up to 64GB microSD card slot, 2100mAh battery and software features like S-Voice, Smart Alert, Direct Call etc.

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[Via Sammy Hub]

LG last weekend revealed its 2012 range of Smart TVs for the Indian market. The new LED TVs ranging in various sizes will make its way to the retail stores from this month with the flagship LM9500 series expected in June.

All the TVs support full HD 3D functionality while the top-tier TVs pack some interesting features like Intel Wireless Display (WiDi) support, MHL, Wi-Fi ready, video upscaling, web browser, smart apps support, DLNA and 3 Mode Magic Motion Remote Control support.

As for the 3D prowess, LG 3D TVs use FPR technology that promises to give superior quality than active 3D tech and more importantly supports lightweight and affordable 3D glasses. The TVs also support 2D to 3D conversion with depth control and Dual Play that makes two-player gaming possible without the conventional split screen technique. For Dual Play to work, users need to wear special Dual Play glasses that show content specific to Player 1 or Player 2.

Check out the pricing and availability of all the upcoming LG Smart TVs below.

Consider this: You’re on a work trip abroad and your favorite TV show’s finale will be aired while you’re away. The possible solutions to watch the finale will be to watch it once its uploaded online or watch the rerun when you’re back in the country. But if you had Sling Media’s Slingbox PRO-HD in your home, you’d be able to enjoy the TV show live from anywhere in the world.

For the uninitiated, Slingbox PRO-HD is a device that is attached to the user’s TV, set-top box or DVD player and the router and allows to stream the content from the TV to a web browser or a mobile app.

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Read the rest of Slingbox PRO-HD Review (568 words)

Huawei is one of the few Android manufacturers that has been slowly and steadily expanding its mobile phone portfolio. The Chinese multinational started with entry-level Androids to establish a foothold in the country and have now graduated to the mid-range and upper-mid range segment with the recently announced Ideos X5 Pro and Huawei Honor.

The Ideos X5 Pro is an improved version of Huawei’s Ideos X5 and understandably goes for the same moniker as the predecessor. The device boasts a similar look to the Ideos X5 but it’s under the hood is what matters the most. The phone now comes with a slightly faster 1GHz processor which promises an improved multimedia and processing performance. The new Ideos X5 comes with 512MB of RAM, 3.8-inch WVGA display, 14.4Mbps a 5MP camera, 720p HD video playback and recording, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS, 4GB internal memory, microSDHC card slot and 1500mAh battery. The new Ideos X5 runs Android 2.3 OS, supports Huawei’s Cloud+ features that enables app and data backup, phone locator etc. It is priced at Rs. 13,800.

The Huawei Honor on the other hand, is the phone to look out for. Priced at just under Rs. 20,000, the phone is superiorly spec’d in its class. Honor’s USP is its battery and the fact that it can be upgraded to the latest Android 4.0 OS. Honor comes with a 1900mAh battery and coupled with Huawei’s proprietary battery management, the phone claims to last up to 3 days with a standby time of 3 weeks or up to 10 hours of continuous video playback.

It is powered by a 1.4GHz single-core Snapdragon processor, 512MB RAM and features a 4-inch FWVGA (854×480) which gives the best pixel per inch amongst smartphones in its price range. Additionally, it comes with an 8MP camera supporting HD video recording and HDR, 14.4Mbps HSDPA, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS and microSD card slot supporting up to 32GB.

After Kolkata, Bharti Airtel has launched its 4G service for the Bengaluru city. Users in the India’s ‘Silicon Valley’ will now be able to enjoy wireless internet speeds to up to 100Mbps (theoretical). As an introductory offer, Airtel is offering 4G CPE devices for free when a user opts for a Rs. 1,999 or a Rs. 2,999 plan that gives 30GB of free bandwidth.

Additionally, Airtel 4G users will also be able to stream up to 10 movies for free in the first month or can go for a Rs. 149 monthly subscription for an unlimited streaming of the movies.

Airtel will introduce its 4G service in Punjab and Maharashtra (excluding Mumbai) later this year.

Airtel 4G