First look: Google‘s new tablet Nexus 7 2

When it comes to technology, we've been trained to expect more for less. Devices get more powerful each year, as prices stay the same or drop. With the new Nexus 7tablet, Google hopes we're willing to pay more for more.

The new tablet comes with a $30 price increase over last year's model. At $229 for the base model, it is still a bargain - and 30 per cent cheaper than Apple's $329 iPad Mini. The display is sharper and the sound is richer than the old model. There's now a rear camera for taking snapshots. The new Nexus 7 is the first device to ship with Android 4.3, which lets you create profiles to limit what your curious and nosy kids can do on your tablet when you're not around.

Amazon.com's $199 Kindle Fire HD is cheaper, but it doesn't give you full access to the growing library of Android apps for playing games, checking the weather, tracking flights, reading the news, getting coupons from your favorite stores and more. The Nexus 7 does.

It's a fine complement to your smartphone if it's running Google's Android, the dominant operating system on phones these days - even as Apple commands the market for tablet computers with its full-size iPad and iPad Mini. Unless you tell it not to, apps you use on the phone will automatically appear on the Nexus 7, so you can switch from device to device seamlessly. When you are signed in, bookmarks will also transfer over Google's Chrome Web browser, as will favorite places on Google Maps.

If you were already eyeing last year's Nexus 7 model, then go ahead and pay $30 more for the latest.

Although screen dimensions are identical, the new Nexus 7 has a higher pixel density, at 323 pixels per inch compared with 216 on the old model. Trees and other objects in the movie "Life of Pi" look sharper, as do the movie title and credits on the screen.

Sound is much better with speakers on the left and the right side of the tablet, held horizontally. Although they are technically back facing, the speakers are placed along a curved edge in such a way that sound seems to project outward and not away from you. On the old Nexus 7, I can't even tell where the speakers are.

The new Nexus 7 also feels more comfortable in my hands. It's 17 per cent thinner and 5 per cent narrower when held like a portrait. The old model was a tad too wide to grip comfortably in the palm of my hands. The new device is also 15 per cent lighter, at 10.2 ounces. And the rubbery back feels smoother on the new tablet.

The new Nexus ships with a camera app, something last year's model didn't really need because it had only a front-facing camera, for videoconferencing. With the new rear, 5-megapixel camera, you can take photos and video of what's in front of you. Expect to be ridiculed, though, if I see you doing that. Still, it's not as bad as blocking someone's view with a full-size tablet.

As for the restricted profiles that come with Android 4.3, it's a good idea, though it still has kinks. When you set up a profile for your kid, you pick which apps to enable. Don't want your kid to be surfing the Web unrestricted? Then keep the Chrome browser disabled. Don't want him or her on Facebook? Keep that app disabled, too. The app store is also disabled, so Junior can't go on a download spree. If you do allow access to a particular app, though, then it's full access. There's no filtering to block porn and other questionable material, for instance.

I found that some apps won't work with restricted profiles at all, including those for Gmail and other email accounts. If you want your kids to have access to email, then you have to give them full access or enable the browser to check email over the Web. You can't turn on just the email app.

And although the new tablet is the first to ship with Android 4.3, it's available to download on other devices, including last year's Nexus 7.

What the new tablet does offer is the promise of a longer battery life - up to 10 hours for Web surfing and nine hours for video streaming. Last year's model was rated at eight hours.

There's no question the new model is better and worth the price increase.

Choosing between the new Nexus 7 and the iPad Mini is tougher.

If you already have an iPhone, the iPad Mini will be a nice complement. You won't have to buy music, video and apps twice, for instance. You might want to wait until this fall, though, to see whether Apple comes out with a new model.

It's a tougher call if you have an Android phone.

By volume, the two systems have a comparable number of apps. But I've found that many larger app developers have made versions only for the iPhone and the iPad. The American Museum of Natural History in New York has six that work on iPads but only one on Android devices. An app to watch full episodes of CBS television shows is for Apple and Windows devices only, not Android. Meanwhile, the iDonatedIt app for tracking tax deductions has more features for Apple devices, while features that are supposed to work on Android often don't.

Android is good in that many apps designed for a phone's smaller screen are automatically adapted to take advantage of a tablet's larger screen. On the iPad, apps that aren't optimized for it are squeezed into a smaller window the size of an iPhone. Blow it up to full screen, and it looks distorted. But that's not as glaring on the Mini as it is on the full-size iPad. And having apps automatically change their layout isn't the same as designing them for the tablet from scratch, as is the case with the hundreds of thousands of apps optimized for the iPad.

The Nexus 7's screen is much sharper than that on the iPad Mini, which has the non-HD display technology of the iPad 2 from 2011 - ancient in the world of mobile gadgets. The Nexus 7 is also a tad lighter, by 6 per cent.

That said, the iPad Mini has a larger screen, measuring 7.9 inches diagonally compared with 7 inches on the Nexus. And the iPad Mini has had a rear camera from the start. The iPad Mini also has Siri, a voice assistant that is feistier than Google Now on the Nexus. If you prefer Google Now for its ability to give you information you need to know without even asking, you can download it on the Mini. You can't get Siri on the Nexus.

If you do get the Nexus 7, it supports wireless charging, so you can get rid of the messy wiring. The device comes only with a standard microUSB charger to plug in, so you'll have to buy a Qi-compatible wireless charger yourself.

The $229 base model comes with 16 gigabytes of storage. For $40 more, or $269, you get twice the storage. Both will go on sale in the US next Tuesday. A 32-gigabyte model with 4G cellular capability will cost $349. By contrast, the iPad Mini starts at $329. A 32-gigabyte version with 4G costs $559.

Even with the price increase, Google has Apple beaten on price. The Nexus 7 may lack the cachet and many of the apps that the iPad Mini has, but you'll be able to do a lot with it. I hope technology companies won't make price hikes a habit, but this one is made palatable by the device's richer display, sound and camera.

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IT sector to hire 1.20 lakh this year: Experts

The country's IT & ITeS industry would generate as many as 1.20 lakh jobs this year even as campus hiring is likely to remain subdued, experts say.

While there has been a drop in campus hiring in IT sector as the industry reels under a economic downturn in the West, jobs added this year will see large hiring from the market.

"Last year, the campus hiring numbers had dipped from the normal and this year, it is not going to be any different. We estimate that there will be around 1,20,000 jobs created this year," talent assessment company Merit Trac Head of Innovation and Corporate Business Rajeev Menon said.

The IT sector is set to grow by 12 to 14 per cent this year, as per Nasscom estimates.

Over the years, large IT companies have relied on campus hiring for large scale recruitment. However, since 2008, these companies have been trying hard to adjust to changing economic and business landscape and campus hiring has been impacted.

Last year, around 1.8 lakh graduates were placed in the IT sector. The number, however, is expected to be 30 per cent less this year.

The changing economic scenario is the most compelling reason why hiring from campuses are reducing and these are causing inconsistencies in the business demand which is reflecting in hiring - particularly at the entry level.

Commenting on the trends, executive search firm GlobalHunt MD Sunil Goel said: "Expectations from the campuses also have gone down as experienced resources are easily available at the similar price. So, the companies are preferring to hire from the market than going to campuses with larger reasons to drop in campus hiring."

Campus hiring has been under stress amid rising number of candidates seeking employment. For example, in 2005 there were 365,000 graduates in IT sector but the same stands at around 1.3 million graduates in 2012.

Some of the service domains within IT like e-commerce, social media, mobile banking are showing consistent growth.

The India IT-ITES sector faced strong headwinds in 2012-13 due to global economic slowdown and muted spending in North America and Europe, which accounts for as much as 80 per cent of Indian IT companies' revenues.

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Mobile etiquette: 11 things you must know

Cellphones are ubiquitous and research shows that although most users think they have good mobile manners, many people report being irritated or annoyed by the use of the phones in public places. 

Clearly there's a lack of understanding of what is and isn't acceptable in terms of cellphone etiquette. Following is a list of do's and don'ts: 

*Do respect those who are with you. When you're engaged face-to-face with others, either in a meeting or a conversation, give them your complete and undivided attention. Avoid texting or taking calls. If a call is important, apologize and ask permission before accepting it. 

*Don't yell. The average person talks three times louder on a cellphone than they do in a face-to-face conversation. Always be mindful of your volume. 

*Do be a good dining companion. No one wants to be a captive audience to a third-party cellphone conversation, or to sit in silence while their dining companion texts with someone. Always silence and store your phone before being seated. Never put your cellphone on the table. 

*Don't ignore universal quiet zones such as the theater, church, the library, your daughter's dance recital and funerals. 

*Do let voicemail do its job. When you're in the company of others, let voicemail handle non-urgent calls. 

*Don't make wait staff wait. Whether it's your turn in line or time to order at the table, always make yourself available to the server. Making servers and other patrons wait for you to finish a personal phone call is never acceptable. If the call is important, step away from the table or get out of line. 

*Don't text and drive. There is no message that is so important. 

*Do keep arguments under wraps. Nobody can hear the person on the other end. All they are aware of is a one-sided screaming match a few feet away. 

*Don't forget to filter your language. A rule of thumb: If you wouldn't walk through a busy public place with a particular word or comment printed on your T-shirt, don't use it in cellphone conversations. 

*Do respect the personal space of others. When you must use your phone in public, try to keep at least 10 feet (three meters) between you and others. 

*Do exercise good international calling behavior. The rules of cellphone etiquette vary from country to country. 

Good cellphone etiquette is similar to common courtesy. Conversations and text exchanges have a tendency to distract people from what's happening in front of them. Cellphone users should be thoughtful, courteous and respect the people around them.

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Mobile internet, tomorrow belongs to Asia

After five years of explosive growth sales of high-end smartphones have hit a plateau and the $2 trillion industry -- telecom carriers, handset makers and content providers -- is buckling up for a bumpier ride as growth shifts to emerging markets, primarily in Asia. 

While carrier subsidies have helped drive sales of high-end devices in mature markets, the next growth chapter will be in emerging markets where cost-conscious users demand cheaper gadgets and cheaper access to cheaper services. 

This year, the number of mobile internet users in the developing world will overtake those in the developed world for the first time - growing 27 times since 2007, compared to the developed world's fourfold growth, according to estimates from the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). 

"The centre of gravity in the mobile ecosystem is likely to shift from the United States and Western Europe toward Asia," Mary Ellen Gordon, director at mobile advertiser Flurry, said in an emailed interview. 

That shift is a challenge to profit margins at the likes of Apple and Samsung Electronics, which together sell half of the world's smartphones. Both companies announce quarterly results this week. 

Samsung has indicated its second-quarter operating profit will fall short of estimates as demand for high-end smartphones slows. Apple is also exploring cheaper iPhone models that come in different colours to tap the mass segment, sources have said. 

Neither faces any kind of crisis. But, industry experts say, many users in mature markets who want a smartphone already have one. European smartphone shipments grew 12 percent in January-March from a year ago, the slowest growth since IT research firm IDC started tracking the mobile market in 2004. 

Asia a driving force
Many of the new mobile users will be in Asia Pacific. The region will this year have more mobileinternet users than Europe and the Americas combined, the ITU predicts. And there's plenty of room to grow: fewer than 23 in 100 in Asia are mobile internet users, versus 67 in Europe and 48 in the Americas. 

"Asia will be the driving force of global growth for the next two decades," says Scott Lee, head of Asia at Appsnack, a division of US based digital advertising company Exponential Interactive. 

The catch: much of this growth will come from users of devices that are up to 10 times cheaper than those in the developed world. Cheaper components, easy and fast access to latest versions of Google's Android operating system, reference designs from chipmakers and falling prices of the chipsets themselves are pushing this, says Frederick Wong, a portfolio manager at tech-focused eFusion Investment Ltd, who owns four smartphones. 

China, the world's biggest mobile market - where only about a fifth of its 1 billion users are on 3G - has emerged as a fierce battleground for smartphones. Each niche has a different local challenger: Xiaomi, for example, offers phones which could be mistaken for iPhones at first glance, but which sell at less than half the price of an iPhone 5. 

This presents problems for the bigger players. 

"Our objective is to achieve a leadership position in the market," Lenovo Group Ltd CFO Wong Wai Ming told Reuters recently, "and therefore only being involved in a certain price range will not enable us to achieve that." 

Even more cut-throat is India, the world's second largest mobile market, where the price of a low-end Android phone has halved in the past year to about $50, says Sameer Singh, Hyderabad-based analyst at BitChemy Ventures. By next year, he reckons prices will drop another $20, undercutting feature phones from Nokia and Samsung. 

As the price points fall, more users will adopt smarter devices. Between now and 2017, eMarketer estimates China and India will account for more than 28 percent of new smartphone subscribers. India's share of the world's smartphone subscribers will triple. 

Moving away from high-brow
This is already challenging existing players. Samsung, for one, is being squeezed at both ends of the market. While rivals at the lower end say it has cut prices on some models on a quarterly basis, others are challenging it at the high end with cheaper handsets with more or less the same specifications. 

Indian handset maker Micromax, for example, this month released its Canvas 4 phone with features comparable to Samsung's Galaxy S3 and Note 2, but at up to half the price. "It's very hard for a company like Samsung to compete with these guys," noted Singh. 

It's not just the prices of phones that are dropping. Tablet prices are actually falling at a faster rate creating across the region what Singh calls "a whole new category of internet user." 

Demand for tablets in the Philippines, for example, grew fourfold in the past year, according to consultancy GfK; prices across Southeast Asia during that period fell by a quarter. 

Talmon Marco, CEO of internet phone and messaging service Viber, says the shift from a standard phone to even the most basic device running operating systems like Android is like "moving from a great bicycle to an old leaking 1970s car. That car can still take you from New York to Chicago in a couple of days. The bicycle never will." 

Whatever the quality of hardware or connection, a smartphone or tablet shares the same DNA - user interface, apps and access to an online store - which stimulates higher usage, Marco says. 

"The spike in usage seems to happen when the user moves to a smartphone - any smartphone," he said. "These users are by far more active than users on a feature phone." Viber is seeing its fastest growth and highest usage in Vietnam, Pakistan, Myanmar and many African countries. 

Hot apps, online shows
What's surprising those behind the services that ride on top of these networks is the speed of take-up - even if the networks aren't that good. In India, for example, 3G coverage is spotty and largely confined to bigger cities, said BitChemy's Singh. 

When serial entrepreneur S. Mohan co-founded Bollywood streaming site Spuul in Singapore, for example, he expected India to be about five years behind the diaspora in more developed countries in using the service. "I was surprised by the timing in India," Mohan said. "I was told it would take longer to become aware about streaming, that there wouldn't be enough WiFi or 3G. But I found that if you have a smart device you were hungry for content." 

In China, it's services like Tencent Holdings' chat platform WeChat, which has more than 300 million users, American Idol-like shows such as The Voice of China and games like online mahjong which are spurring demand. 

But bottlenecks remain. 

Poor network coverage or the high cost of 3G access relative to phone and SMS services still hold many users back. Last year, according to market research firm Euromonitor, 62 per cent of all mobile phones sold in China were smartphones, but only 16 per cent of subscribers had access to a mobile Internet connection. 

The three carriers - China Mobile, China Unicom 

and China Telecom - typically dole out billions of dollars of handset subsidies to entice users to subscribe to their networks, dragging down profit margins. 

Elsewhere, operators in the Philippines are experimenting with subsidies at the lower end, while in India the handset makers are trying to stimulate smartphone adoption. Apple offers installment plans for its iPhone, while Micromax bundles several free months of data together with a handset.

As the industry matures, phone and tablet makers will have to settle for smaller margins and lower prices, says Joe Nguyen, Singapore-based analyst at Internet metrics company comScore. 

"At the end of the day these are utility devices much like the PC was."

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5 tips for Gmail power users

Think you're proficient with Gmail? Google is routinely adding and testing new features to help you be more productive and get the most out of the service.

Most recently, Google launched a complete redesign of the Gmail interface, replacing its one-column email view with multiple inboxes that sort your mail depending on whom it's from: your contacts, social networks or retailers. 

From how to customize this new inbox to quickly transferring money, here's a look at five new Gmail features that will help you get work done.

1. Customize tour new inboxGmail's new interface, which is still rolling out to users, automatically sets you up with five inbox tabs: primary, social, promotions, updates and forums. If some of these are useless to you, you can easily remove them.

To customize the look of your new inbox, click the Settings button at the top right of your screen. Then, select "Configure inbox." On the form that pops up, uncheck the tabs you want to remove and click Save.

2. Add events to your calendar from GmailIf you use Gmail to coordinate events or meetings, adding them to your Google Calendar is now a lot easier.

Dates and times in emails sent to you are now underlined. Hover over one to preview your schedule and change the date, time or title of the event. Then click "Add to Calendar" to confirm and add it to your schedule. The entry in your calendar will include a link back to the original email to make referencing the details easier.

3. Transfer money from Google Wallet using GmailIf you need to reimburse a friend or add money to your kid's checking account, doing so is as easy as sending an email. This new feature is also still rolling out to users. You'll know you have it when a ($) button is added to the Gmail compose window.

To send money, compose a new email and click the "Attach money" button. On the form that appears, enter the amount you want to transfer and click send. Transactions are free if you send money from Google Wallet or directly from your bank account. A 2.9 percent fee per transaction is charged if you use a credit or debit card. Receiving money does not cost anything.

Recipients will receive an email confirmation and the funds will be available almost instantly. If you send money from a bank account, the transaction could take several days to clear, Google said.

4. Mute conversationsIf you're involved in a never-ending email thread that you've lost interest in, Gmail has one feature that will keep your inbox from filling up. "Mute conversations" is a feature that prevents the thread from reappearing in your inbox.

To mute a thread, select it by checking the box beside it. Then select the "Mute" option from the drop-down menu under "More." After you mute a conversation, the emails are removed from your inbox and archived. You can still see the conversation in the "All Mail" label, where you'll see a new label called "Muted."

To unmute a conversation, check the box and click "Move to Inbox."

5. Use Google Drive to send large filesSometimes email attachments can be too large to send the conventional way using Gmail. In this case, you can now use Google Drive to send big files. Google's cloud storage feature lets you insert and send files 400 times larger than the traditional attachment -- with a maximum file size of up to 10 GB.

To send a large email attachment, make sure you've uploaded it first to Google Drive. Then, click the Drive icon from the Compose window, and choose the file you want to send. Gmail will verify that your recipients have access to the file you've chosen. If they don't, Google will prompt you to change the sharing settings.

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Only 5 percent of SMEs in India have a website, reveals Google-FICCI report

FICCI, in partnership with Google recently released new research that showed the web makes a big impact on small to medium enterprises (SMEs) in India. The report, compiled and presented by Nathan Associates, showed that SMEs, who use the web, fare much better than those that do not. On an average, web-enabled SMEs boasted revenues 51 percent higher, 49 percent more profit, and customer bases 7 percent broader than their offline-only counterparts.

The study revealed significant opportunities both for India’s booming SME sector, where fewer than 5 percent of all businesses even maintain a web presence, and for India’s economy: small medium enterprises are critical to the economic growth in India, where 47 million SMEs employ about 100 million people and contribute more than 8 percent of India’s GDP. According to the report, only 51 percent of online SMBs use the web to advertise a mere 27 percent use it for e-commerce. But with 95 percent of businesses yet to even establish a website; India is poised for big gains as more small enterprises come online.

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Free Wi-Fi at New Delhi railway station soon

Waiting for a train to arrive will no longer be boring as Railways is equipping India's busiest station with free Wi-Fi connectivity, a first in the country, to ensure value-added amenity for passengers.


New Delhi railway station, which handles about 300 trains and five lakh passengers a day, will be the first Wi-Fi enabled station in the country to have such a modern facility like major international airports. 

"A Mumbai-based company has been given the job to make the New Delhi station a Wi-Fi enabled station," a senior Railway Ministry official said, adding "the company was selected through tender." 

Wi-Fi is a popular networking technology which uses radio waves to provide wireless high-speed Internet and network connections. 

Once operational, passengers on all 16 platforms of the station will be able to access Wi-Fi from their laptops of mobile phones, the official said. 

The New Delhi station was chosen on a pilot basis to introduce the facility at an estimated cost of Rs 80 lakh. "The system is expected to be operational in 3/4 months," the official said. 

The company will install towers at strategic locations to provide the facility, which will be extended to other stations in due course, he said. 

Railways has already made Howrah Rajdhani trains Wi-Fi enabled. 

There are also plans to replace information kiosks with tablet computers at New Delhi station. 

"We are exploring to mount tablets on walls at certain places in the station for the benefit of passengers. The tablets will be equipped to disseminate information about the train position, expected arrival time and other relevant data required by the passenger," the official said.

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Android tablets: ‘The best is yet to come,‘ says product chief Hugo Barra

Tablets running on Android have yet to reach their full potential, according to the operating system's VP of product management Hugo Barra, who called on third-party manufacturers to up their game.

Despite launching a brand new version of the blockbusting Google Nexus 7 tablet last Wednesday, Barra said Android hadn't yet 'put its best foot forward' when it comes to creating tablets to rival the iPad.

Speaking to The Verge, he lamented the lack of a tablet (or ten) in the style of the HTC One smartphone, with high-end premium design, running on the Android OS.

He said the Nexus 7 is coming close to achieving those goals, but said OEMs must do their bit by creating top shelf devices with the same polish and finish as their flagship Android smartphones.

Pristine execution

He said: "If you look at the execution that HTC did on [the One smartphone], it's pristine. Why hasn't someone done that on the tablet? Or on like ten tablets?"

"I think we are perhaps coming close to it, but this is a $200 device. "If you were to price it at $300 or $400 you could do something a little bit more in that territory in terms of polish and finish and materials and so on.

"Why hasn't that happened yet?"

"Doing that at the $400 category can be done and it will. In my opinion, the Android ecosystem has been lagging behind a little bit but is catching up."

Barra also claimed tablet-optimised Android apps are now becoming commonplace on the Google Play store, estimating 60 per cent of apps have now been tailored for tablets, while the disparity between iOS and Android gaming experiences has also diminished.

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