Android 4.0 Mini PC

MRP: 4500

Rating: Average

3/5

Features:

Performance:

Value:

Design:

PROS

• Extremely portable
• In-built Wi-Fi adapter
• Affordable
• Easy setup
• Complete Android 4.0 experience on your TV/monitor

CONS

• Poor gaming experience
• Noticeable lag with certain apps
• Mouse responsiveness is not the best

Summary

The Android 4.0 Mini PC is definitely a very interesting device and probably your best bet if you are looking to buy a budget web-connected media player. Its extremely small form factor makes it very attractive. Connect it to your regular flat-screen TV and convert it into a smart TV. It does come with its fair share of flaws such as the response of the mouse, apps automatically changing their orientation despite forcing the auto-rotation off, among others. It is definitely not a tablet replacement. But it shines when it comes to video playback and that should be one of the main reasons why you should consider getting this. If you are a YouTube junkie, then watching HD videos on the big screen is a treat. Regular surfing, checking mails and...

REVIEW

When we got the fluorescent green box of this product, our first impression was that this was just another cellphone. But the words ‘Android Mini PC’ caught our eye and we got really curious as to what was housed inside. On opening the box, we had a palm-sized plastic enclosure, almost like one of your SD card readers, staring back at us with the Android greenbot embossed on one of its front face. On the rear side of the box we found the Android 4.0 Mini PC specifications. That is when it dawned on us, that this was in essence a smartphone or tablet SoC housed in a tiny enclosure which would require you to connect the peripherals to make it an Android-ready PC.

Bottomline is, Android 4.0 Mini PC KY-108 allows you to convert any display into an Android 4.0 ICS based PC. Thanks to its connectivity options, this can be used as a media player, and can convert any display into a Smart TV. It is developed by a Chinese vendor named OEM Systems Co.

Build Quality and Design
Like we said, the enclosure is palm-sized, measuring 89x35x13.5 mm and weighing less than an average cellphone. It is a black coloured matte-black plastic body which seems poorly built.

It has a mini HDMI port on the left hand side, a USB port and the power port on the right hand side. On one of the edges it has a groove which houses a mini-USB port. It bundles a mini USB to USB adapter wire. On the other edge you have a microSD card slot. It also bundles in a mini HDMI to HDMI cable which is a big plus. It comes with an inbuilt Wi-Fi adapter. So all-in-all, it has quite a lot of connectivity options for its size, but you will be better off using a USB hub along with this device. Just like a cellphone it is extremely portable.

Mini USB port to connect the PC to a power adapter	MicroSD card slot	USB port to attach peripherals
Bundled apps that come with the Android Mini PC. You will notice quite a lot of Chinese apps	The mini HDMI port	The first time you access the menu. It is a bit strange that it talks about 'Touch and Hold' when this clearly is not a tablet.

Features
The Mini PC houses an Allwinner A10/1.5 GHz Cortex A8 SoC but on checking the processor clock speed using the AnTuTu app we realized that it is underclocked to 912 MHz. It comes in a variety of memory and internal storage options. The model we got had a 1GB DDR3 memory module and 4 GB of internal storage. Since this is a PC, you have to use a keyboard and a mouse to operate it. There is no dedicated power switch on the device. It can be powered on by connecting the mini USB to USB cable to a powered source (such as your TV) or using the bundled power adapter. To turn off the power, you simply disconnect the power adapter.

It comes bundled with a lot of apps including the Google native apps, Twitter, Angry Birds, Skype and a couple of Chinese apps such as QQ, Yokuku, etc which are of no use here. Most of the popular audio and video formats are supported.

Performance
We tested this device on an LG 42LK430 TV using a USB keyboard and mouse connected to the device via a USB hub. Since Android is primarily a touch-based OS, navigation using a mouse feels as alien as using Windows XP or 7 with a touch interface. It will definitely take some time getting used to. Also the responsiveness of the mouse pointer is not as smooth as we would have liked. This gets even worse when some apps forcefully go in the landscape orientation, when it becomes cumbersome to use the mouse.

There is no right click mechanism here. If you hold on to an app, then the OS gives you an option to rearrange the app or remove it, by dragging it to the top of the screen. When you are in the app menu, you can long hold onto an app to get it on any one of the five home screens.

Flipboard app always went in the portrait orientation (with respect to the TV) despite keeping the auto-rotate function off	Websites look quite good on the big screen	1080p content played flawlessly
The black outline on the mouse pointer becomes quite prominent when you turn on any video file	Google Play Store and Quick settings menu	As seen from the benchmarks, the device is not competing with the existing smartphones or tablets out there

Apps such as Flipboard, Quadrant, etc went from portrait to landscape orientation despite keeping the auto-rotation tab off. There may be many more such apps which make the overall experience a bit annoying. Considering this is a mini PC, there should have been a mechanism which disallows you from installing camera related apps or navigation apps, as it does not make sense on this product. Browsing experience was quite good. We noticed minor issues with scrolling on certain ad-heavy sites.

The pre-installed file manager quickly recognizes any external storage that you may add. You can also search for content based on its type: image, video, documents. It played most of the video formats we threw at it including .MKV and .MOV formats. It failed at playing .FLV files. The dual-core processor comfortably plays back even 1080p content, despite it being underclocked to 912 MHz and not the 1 GHz CPU speed as promised in the specs. We did not notice any frame skipping while playing our test samples. The YouTube app works quite well, but we did face some issues when we tried to play live Olympics content. The mouse pointer develops some sort of weird black halo around it once you start any video.

Since Android games are built around the touch interface and keeping in mind the slow response of the mouse, it is a nightmare to play games on the Mini PC.

We did notice the system responding very slowly at times. Specially whilst in the Google Play Store, where the mouse clicks were registered after a definite delay. Scrolling is a bit problematic.

Looking at the synthetic benchmarks, it performed better than some entry level tablets such asMercury Mtab, Reliance 3G Tab and Beetel Magiq. But then, it is not really fair to compare the Mini PC with tablets, as they are completely different product categories, but the scores are just for reference purpose.

• Quadrant – 1116
• LinPack Benchmark (multi-thread) – 10.5
• GLBenchmark Egypt Standard (Frames) – 1707
• NenaMark2 – 15 fps

Verdict
This is definitely a very interesting device and probably your best bet if you are looking to buy a budget web-connected media player. It’s extremely small form factor makes it very attractive. Connect it to your regular flat-screen TV and convert it into a smart TV. It does come with its fair share of flaws such as the response of the mouse, apps automatically changing their orientation despite forcing the auto-rotation off, among others. It is definitely not a tablet replacement. But it shines when it comes to video playback and that should be one of the main reasons why you should buy this. If you are a YouTube junkie, then watching HD videos on the big screen is a treat. Regular surfing, checking mails and minor office work is also quite easily doable on this Mini PC.

Samsung reveals details of the new Exynos 5 Dual chipset

Details about Samsung’s new Exynos 5 Dual chipset have been revealed, a 32nm offering that outperforms the previous Exynos 4 Quad chipset in terms of battery life, graphics performance, and connectivity.

The Samsung Exynos 5 Dual chipset bears a dual-core 1.7GHz ARM Cortex-A15 processor, along with a quad-core Mali-T604 GPU that supposedly provides 5 times the performance of previous generation Mali graphics, with support for resolutions up to 2560x1600 pixels, and stereoscopic 3D.

The new quad-core Mali GPU also features support for OpenGL ES 3.0, OpenCL 1.1, and DirectX 11 APIs, with the last a direct nod at the Windows Phone 8, and Windows RT platforms (Samsung's got a RT tablet due in October).

The Exynos 5 Dual chipset bears SATA III and USB 3.0 controllers, and support for 800MHz LPDDR3 RAM, with a memory bandwidth of roughly 12.8GBps, far ahead of the Exynos 4 Quadand Snapdragon S4.

While Samsung’s new chipset won’t be the one replacing the Exynos 4 Quad in terms of raw processing power, it will give the company a stronger contender against the likes of other current-generation dual-core mobile chipsets, like the Qualcomm Snapdragon S4, in terms of performance versus efficiency.

Samsung hasn’t yet announced any devices that will ship with the new Exynos 5 Dual chipset, and for now, no benchmarks have yet been shared. We’ll have to wait a while to see just how well the new chipset performs in front of the competition - though on paper, it looks like Samsung has a winner.
 

Nokia launches Asha 305 and Asha 311 feature phones, with 40 free EA games

Nokia has added to its existing lineup of Asha phones with two new models, the Asha 305 and the Asha 311 in India. The Asha 305 is priced at Rs. 5,029 whereas the Asha 311 is priced at Rs. 7,139.


The Nokia Asha 305 and 311 were first announced in June along with the Asha 306 that was expected to beannounced today but didn't make the cut.
Nokia Asha 311

The Nokia Asha 311 boasts of a 3-inch scratch resistant capacitive touchscreen with a resolution of 400x240 pixels. The device has 256MB internal storage of which 100MB is available to the user. The storage is expandable up to 32GB via a microSD card. The device is quite lightweight, weighing a mere 95 grams. Under the hood, the Asha 311 is powered by a 1GHz processor and runs on an 1110mAh battery. The rear of the device houses a 3.2MP camera and the device doesn't have a front facing camera.

Nokia Asha 305

The Nokia Asha 305 on the other hand is a dual-SIM phone. The SIM cards are hot swappable meaning that you don't need to switch off the device or remove the back cover to insert the SIM cards. The phone also boasts of a 3-inch touch screen but it is resistive in nature. The Asha 305 has internal storage of just 10MB but it is expandable via a microSD card up to 32 GB. The device has a 2MP rear snapper and weighs a mere 98.3 grams.
Both the devices boast of a new Nokia swipe user interface, a browser that boasts of cloud acceleration and 40 free EA gamesincluding the likes of Tetris, Bejeweled, Need for Speed: The Run, Fifa 12 and more.
Announcing the latest Asha Touch range, Mr. Viral Oza, Director Marketing, Nokia India, said, “The Nokia Asha family has received tremendous consumer response. With a variety of form factors across price points and innovations such as Nokia Browser, Nokia Maps and DRM free Nokia Music, Nokia Asha family has triggered data consumption habits in first time data users. With the launch of Nokia Asha Touch range, we are strengthening our range of ‘mobile internet’ devices that offer these exciting experiences to the consumers.”
The latest Nokia Asha devices were launched by India’s ace racer, Karun Chandhok. “I spend most of my time on the road and this is a great device for me to stay connected with my friends and loved ones. Being a gaming enthusiast, I am impressed by the EA Gamespackage on these devices. With these devices, Nokia again has launched a winner true to its legacy,” said Karun Chandhok.

Mr. Viral Oza, Director Marketing, Nokia India and F1 racer Mr. Karun Chandhokat the press conference, launching Nokia Asha 311 and 305 mobile phones.

LG Optimus L3 Dual available online at Rs. 8,299

 The LG Optimus L3 Dual E405 is now available in India via online shopping website Flipkart. Priced at Rs. 8,299, the LG Optimus L3 Dual is the dual-SIM version (GSM-GSM) of the Optimus L3, which was launched in India last month. 

Specifications of the LG Optimus L3 Dual are reminiscent of the original L3. The device runs on Android 2.3 Gingerbread operating system and is powered by a Cortex A5 800MHz processor. It has a 3.2-inch TFT display with a resolution of 240 x 320 pixels. The Optimus L3 features a 3.2MP camera, 384MB of RAM, 1GB of internal storage and micro-SD card slot that supports storage up to 32GB.

For connectivity, the Optimus L3 Dual supports Wi-Fi, 3G, Blutooth and USB 2.0. The device comes with a 1,500 mAh battery, which is rated to deliver 17 hours on 2G and 10 hours on 3G.

The Optimus L3 Dual comes preloaded with a number of applications such as YouTube, Android Market, Google+, Gmail, Latitude, News and Weather Update, Software Update, Google Talk, Google, Gmail Sync, AOL, Yahoo, Hot Mail and LGE Mail.

The Flipkart page does not reveal the exact availability of the device right now, but promises 'delivery' in seven to nine days. LG has also not yet officially announced the availability of the device in India.

LG Optimus L3 Dual listed on Flipkart

With the new Optimus L3 Dual, LG looks to tap the growing dual-SIM smartphone market, currently dominated by Samsung, Micromax and Nokia. Samsung has released quite a few dual-SIM smartphones of late; the company recently launched the Galaxy Ace Duos. Nokia has maintained its dominance in the segment with the new Asha phones.

Karbonn officially launches Jelly Bean-based Smart Tab 1 at Rs. 6,990

 Karbonn Mobiles has officially announced the launch of Android 4.1 Jelly Bean-based Smart Tab 1 tablet PC. Priced at Rs. 6,990, the new Karbon Smart Tab 1 comes with MIPS-Based JZ4770 SoC from Ingenic as its running core. The tablet is powered by a 1.2GHz processor. Karbonn has also announced rolling out Jelly Bean update for the customers of the Android 4.0.3 ICS-based Smart Tab 1. Booking for the Jelly Bean-based Smart Tab 1 has already begun. 

The Karbonn Smart Tab 1 features 17.8cm capacitive 5-point touch screen, 2MP camera, Full HD video playback up to 1080p, HDMI support, 3D gravity sensor, Wi-Fi and 3G support through USB dongle, Pre-embedded applications - Karbonn Smart Browser & Karbonn Smart Games and local apps such as Times of India & Economic Times app and Facebook. The device comes with a 3,700 mAh battery.

Karbonn has also explained features of the Ingenic JZ4770 SoC loaded in the Smart Tab 1:

• JZ4770 SoC is powered by a MIPS32 compatible XBurst CPU designed by Ingenic
• Adopts an ultra-low-power pipelining architecture which consumes less than 90mW in 1GHz (with L1 cache) with the entire SoC consuming ~250mW with the CPU and video engine operating under full load
• The JZ4770 SoC integrates an optimized 1080p video processing engine, OpenGL ES 2.0 3D graphics processing unit from Vivante Corp
• Also integrates numerous on-chip analog and application blocks such as audio codecs and GPS

“This new tablet demonstrates continued adoption of our cost-effective JZ4770 SoC in mobile devices. The JZ4770 SoC leverages the simplicity and elegance of the MIPS architecture, and features extremely low power consumption, 1.2GHz performance, and a high level of functional integration. Millions of tablets are already shipping around the globe based on our design, and we anticipate increasing success as more and more companies recognize the differentiation our solution can enable,” says Qiang Liu, Chairman and CEO of Ingenic Semiconductor.

There are already a range of budget tablets in the market right now. Karbonn, however, has grabbed an edge over the rivals by becoming the first Indian brand to announce a tablet which features Jelly Bean out of the box, apart from an update for existing customers of the Smart Tab 1, which currently ships with ICS. As for now, there are quite a few ICS-based tablets such as Funbook, Funbook Pro and Penta T-Pad WS802C in India. For more, check out our list of Top 10 Budget Tablets.