Tech2 Touch

Author: Aniruddh

  • Micromax Canvas A1 USB tethering and WiFi Hotspot

    Micromax Canvas A1 is one among the Android One series smartphones. The other two are Spice Dream Uno Mi-498 and Karbonn Sparkle V. These are smartphones get a direct software update from Google. The hardware specifications also made based on the guidelines of Google. The good performance, almost all features of Android in a pocket friendly price, timely Android updates makes these device very attractive. In this post, we will see how use Micromax Canvas A1 as modem through USB tethering and WiFi Hotspot.

    Micromax Android One Smartphone

    How to use Micromax Canvas A1 as Modem

    Using Micromax Canvas A1 as WiFi Hotspot

    To use Micromax Canvas A1 as WiFi hotspot, you need to have a active data plan. Then enable the mobile data on your Canvas A1. Now to use Micromax Canvas as WiFi Hotspot, follow the steps given below.

    • Go to Settings > More… > Tethering & Mobile Hotspot
    • Tap on to Mobile Wi-Fi hotspot to enable.
    • Once enabled, you will find a icon, in left top notification area.
    • Tapping once again will disable the WiFi hotspot.

    Customize WiFi Hotspot Settings

    • Tab on to Set up Wi-Fi Hotspot.
    • Enter the SSID, Security type and Password and tap Save.

    Using Micromax Canvas A1 USB tethering

    • Connect your device to PC using the USB cable,
    • All the required drivers will installed automatically. If now, you can get it from Micromax support page.
    • Go to Settings > More… > Tethering & Mobile Hotspot
    • Tap on to USB tethering.

    You can even use Micromax Canvas A1 Bluetooth tethering by pairing up with PC or other devices which supports Bluetooth. Micromax Canvas A1 is powered by 1.3 GHz Quad Core Mediatek Processor with 1GB RAM and has 4.5 inch WVGA display screen.  There are 5 MP primary rear camera and 2MP front facing camera. Canvas A1 houses 1700 mAh battery and has connectivity features such as 2G, 3G, WiFi, Bluetooth, USB and GPS. Micromax Canvas A1 price in India is Rs.6,299.

  • Apple iPad Mini 3 Vs iPad Mini 2 Which one to Buy

    Last weeks Apple event showcased unveiling of Apple iPad Air 2, iOS 8.1, Upgradation of iMac models and also the iPad mini 3.  When there is successor is announced, earlier device gets a price cut. Apple continued the same trend and iPad Mini 2 price is cut by close to 7k.  This gives a thought on whether to upgrade to iPad mini 3 or buy iPad 3 instead of iPad mini 2. Here is an attempt to simplify your confusion. So lets have a quick comparison between Apple iPad Mini 3 Vs iPad Mini 2.

    iPad Mini 3 Gold
    iPad Mini 3 Gold

    Apple iPad Mini 3 is nothing but addition of Gold Colour option and Touch ID fingerprint scanner. Interms of all other specification it remains same as iPad mini 2.

    Display

    Apple iPad Mini 3 and iPad Mini 2 with retina display both have 7.9 inch screen with 2048×1536 resolution. As per the data given by Apple, iPad mini 3 doesn’t future Anti glare, laminated display which is introduced in iPad Air 2. This makes the display of both devices exactly same. There is no difference.

    Processor

    The new iPad mini 3 comes with the same 64 bit A7 processor and M7 motion co processor which is seen on its predecessor. Though, there is no official communication of RAM quantity, it is likely to be 1GB which is same in iPad mini 2 as well.

    Build and OS

    Both these Apple mini tablets runs on the iOS 8.1 which latest OS available. The thickness also maintained at 7.5mm. All other dimensions and weight remained same.  Once again there is no change.

    Camera

    Once again both iPad mini 2 and iPad mini 3 share the same camera specification. i.e 5MP primary rear camera and 1.2 MP front facing camera. The software and image processing features also remained same.

    Price

    This is one of the segment where there is a huge difference and this is the key point which differentiates between two according to me. As of now basic WiFi only model of iPad mini 2 priced at 21,900 wherein iPad mini 3 is price is 28,900. The difference is 7k.

    Verdict:  From the above comparisons, we can conclude that Apple iPad mini 2 is much value for money buy. The Gold colour variation and Touch ID sensor is not worth 7 thousand rupees according to me. I would suggest you to buy iPad mini 2 rather than the iPad mini 3 in India as Touch ID based payments are not available in India as of now.

  • TP-LINK TL-WR740N 150Mbps Wireless N Router Review

    TP-LINK TL-WR740N 150Mbps Wireless N Router is entry level router without modem. This is the cheapest router with decent permanent available today in the market. TP-LINK TL-WR740N 150Mbps Wireless N Router price in Amazon is Rs699 and price in Flipkart is Rs.799.

    Cheap WiFi Router
    TP-LINK TL-WR740N Router

    As I mentioned earlier, TP-LINK TL-WR740N 150Mbps Wireless N Router is router without modem. That is, if you already have modem and want a wireless network then you can use this router. Coming back to features, it provides speeds upto 150mbps. It also provides Wireless security encryption easily at a push of QSS button.

    TP-LINK TL-WR740N has IP based bandwidth control which allows administrators to determine how much bandwidth is allotted to each PC.

    Advantages and Disadvantages of TP-LINK TL-WR740N 150Mbps Wireless N Router

    Pros of TP-LINK TL-WR740N

    • Very attractive price tag
    • Very easy to setup
    • Decent range and good speed
    • Light weight and Compact

    Cons of TP-LINK TL-WR740N

    • Not Dual Band
    • Fixed Antenna

    Key Features of TP-LINK TL-WR740N 150Mbps Wireless N Router

    • Wireless speed up to 150Mbps
    • WDS wireless bridge provides seamless bridging to expand your wireless network
    • Wireless security encryption easily at a push of QSS button
    • Priority of service assures the quality of bandwidth sensitive applications such as voice and video
    • Supports SPI firewall and access control management
    • Supports WPA/WPA2 encryptions
    • Seamlessly compatible with 802.11b/g/n devices

    How to configure TP-LINK TL-WR740N 150Mbps Wireless N Router

    • First disconnect from the internet. If you are connected to internet through modem, then turn off modem.
    • Insert the CD which you get along with the router
    • Follow the onscreen instructions to complete the installation.

    Note: If you dont disconnect while starting configuring the router, you may face issues.

  • Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime Pros and Cons

    Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime is a selfie focused Android smartphone. It is current trend in smartphone to launch selfie focused smartphones. We have seen Sony Xperia C3, HTC Desire Eye, Lava Iris X5 etc which has good front facing camera. Let us a quick review on Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime to know where it stands in the crowd.

    Galaxy Grand Prime Dua slim
    Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime

    Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime is dual sim and runs on Android 4.4 Kitkat. It is powered by 64 bit Quad core processor 1.2GHz  with Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 chipset and Adreno 306 GPU. It has 1GB RAM and 8GB internal storage in which 5GB is user available. Grand Prime also supports microSD card upto 64GB.

    Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime has 5 inch TFT capacitive touchscreen with screen resolution of 540×960 pixels and 220 ppi pixel density.  Connectivity features of the device includes 2G, 3G, WiFi, Bluetooth and WiFi. As a android feature, it does supports USB tethering and WiFi hotspot to use Galaxy Grand Prime as modem.

    Read:

    How to use Samsung Galaxy smartphones as Modem

    How to take screenshot on Samsung Galaxy Smartphone.

    How to download Samsung Kies PC Suite

    Biggest attraction of the device is its camera segment. It has 5MP wide angle front facing camera and 8MP primary camera. The camera is capable of recording 1080p videos at 30fps. Comparing to Galaxy Grand 2 and Galaxy Grand which has only 2MP front facing camera, it is welcome move. Galaxy Grand Prime houses Li-ion 2600 mAh battery which is rated provide upto 17 hours of talk time and 75 hours of music playback.

    Advantages and Disadvantages of Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime

    Pros of Galaxy Grand Prime

    • Display screen: The display screen has good viewing angles and good colour reproduction.
    • Performance:  Galaxy Grand Prime does performs great on day to day usage. The games like Asphalt 8 plays without any much lag or frame drop. Graphic intensive games like modern combat does shows some frame drops
    • Price: Price of the Galaxy Grand Prime is competitive and good value for money.
    • Good Camera: The front facing as well as secondary camera does takes good photos and records quality videos.

    Cons of Galaxy Grand Prime

    • No 720p HD Screen resolution: 5 inch screen without even 720p resolution, is downside. Considering many budget smartphones features 720p screen which are priced very much lower than this.
    • No NFC and OTG support: It is not a deal breaker considering , it supports microSD card.
    • Average battery life: In normal usage, it lasts one day. However, on heavy usage, need to charge twice.

    Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime Specification

    • Dual sim and runs on Android 4.4 Kitkat
    • 5 inch TFT capacitive touchscreen with screen resolution of 540×960 pixels
    • 1GB RAM and 8GB internal storage
    • Expandable storage support upto 64GB through microSD card.
    • 5MP wide angle front facing camera
    • 8MP primary camera with LED flash.
    • Li-ion 2600 mAh battery

  • Google HTC Nexus 9 Premium Tablet

    Last week we have seen two of big events with unveiling of great tablets and smartphones. There were lot of rumours and anticipation on launch of Nexus 6 smartphone, Nexus 9 tablet and Apple iPads. Both Google and Apple didn’t disappointed the gadget enthusiasts. Apple launched Apple iPad Air 2, iPad mini 3, upgradation for iMac series and launch of iOS 8.1 with lot of new features and bug fixes. Similarly, just one day ago to apple event, Google unveiled Nexus 6 and Nexus 9 with latest Android OS 5.0 Lollipop.  According to Google Android 5.0 is one of the major update in the Android history. In post we will discuss the features of of newly launched Nexus 9 tablet.

    Google Nexus 9
    HTC Google Nexus 9

    Google Nexus 9 tablet is manufactured by HTC. It marks many new things. One of them is the 8.9 inch display screen Nexus Tablet.  The screen has 1536×2048 pixel resolution with 281 ppi pixel density. The display screen has Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection which helps in reducing the scratches on the screen.

    HTC Nexus 9 is powered by Dual core 2.3GHz Denver CPU with Nvidia Tegra K1 chipset and Kepler DX1 GPU. The new tablet has 2GB of RAM and 16GB or 32GB of internal storage. Like previous Nexus devices, this too doesn’t comes with support for microSD card.

    Google Nexus 9 sports 8MP autofocus primary camera with LED flash. It record 1080p videos at 30fps. There is also a 1.6MP front facing camera which can record videos at 720p resolution. Connectivity features includes WiFi, Bluetooth, microUSB, NFC and GPS. Cellular connectivity is a optional.

    Google HTC Nexus 9 comes with Indigo Black, Lunar White and Sand Colours. It houses Li-po 6700 mAh battery which according to Google will last for 10 hours of video playing or surfing. New Nexus 9 runs on Android 5.0 Lollipop out of the box which is optimized or better battery utilization.

    Nexus 9 Tablet Price

    Just a day after global unveiling, Nexus 9 is listed in Google Play store India website.  The price of Nexus 9 is given below.

    • Nexus 9 16GB WiFi only variant Price: Rs.28,900.
    • Nexus 9 32GB WiFi  and Cellular variant Price: Rs. 44,900.