Creative launches a range of new gaming audio products in India

Creative today launched a range of audio products for gaming enthusiasts in India. The product line range includes sound cards and headphones, along with an external sound card, which can be connected to a PC/Mac or even a gaming console .
Sound Blaster Recon3D:

The Sound Blaster Recon3D is powered by the Sound Core3D quad-core sound and voice processor. This USB audio enhancer delivers gaming audio to your Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC or Mac. The hardware accelerated THX TruStudio Pro and Dolby Digital decoding, the Sound Blaster Recon3D enhances even basic stereo sound into 3D surround audio on headset or speakers. The device has a proprietary Scout Mode that enhances the audio in gaming to a level that lets you hear you enemy’s footsteps even before they appear on screen adding to a realistic 360-degree audio effect.

The Sound Blaster Recon3D also supports optical audio in, but only supports 3.5mm out. Another disadvantage is that only one source can be connected to the device at a given point in time.

The Sound Blaster Recon3D is premium priced at Rs. 9,999.

Creative has also launched 3 gaming headsets in India today. Their details are as follows

1. Sound Blaster Tactic3D Wrath Wireless Gaming Headset:

Priced at Rs. 11,999 the Sound Blaster Tactic3D Wrath Wireless Gaming Headset boasts of delivering THX TruStudio Pro audio wirelessly. The device has illuminated ear cups housing 50mm FullSpectrum Speakers, a removable microphone, integrated volume and mute controls, and uncompressed wireless technology delivering THX TruStudio Pro-enhanced audio on your PC or Mac.

2. Creative Draco HS-850 gaming headset:

The Creative Draco HS-850 gaming headset boasts of audio quality that is close to reality. The device has full-size circum-aural earcups in soft leatherette. The swivel earcups fold easily for storage. The microphone on this headphone is detachable as well. The Creative Draco HS-850 gaming headset is priced at Rs. 3,999.                                                                                                        3. Creative Draco HS-430 gaming headset:

The Creative Draco HS-430 gaming headset is the cheapest headset launched by creative today and is priced at Rs. 1,999. The headset is lightweightmaking it extremely portable. The Creative Draco HS-430 gaming headset also boasts of a noise-canceling microphone that is detachable.

On the soundcard front, Creative has launched three of them in India today. The Sound Blaster Recon3D PCIe, the Sound Blaster Recon3D Fatality Professional and the Sound Blaster Recon3D Fatality Champion. The three soundcards are priced at Rs, 7,999, Rs. 11,999 and Rs. 14,999 respectively.

All the sound cards feature the SoundCore3D quad-core sound and voice processor, hardware accelerated THX TruStudio Pro technology, and CrystalVoice technology that enhances vocal quality of the mix and an easy switching between 5.1 channel speaker systems and headsets. Apart from the above-mentioned features, the higher end Fatality Professional features a special ERM shield for better stability and audio quality. The Fatality Champion features all of the above feature plus an I/O drive for audio controls and high quality beam-forming microphone.

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Hand Written Message review

Price: NA

Our Rating: Good

3.5/5

Features:

Performance:

Value:

Design:

PROS

• Variety of permutations and combinations to make the notes look cute
• Easy to create and send
• Once a paid app, but now its free

CONS

• Limited space to type the message
• You cannot save your creations

Summary

All in all, the app is a nice one to own. Sure, there a lot of apps that recognize you handwriting and can send it across as a message, but the customizable options of Handwritten Message app gives it a personal touch. Add to the fact that the app is now free instead of $0.99 and there is more incentive to give it a try!

Review

Leaving personalized hand written notes has been lost as a cute gesture thanks to the digital age of SMS, MMS, BBM, iMessage, What’s App and the plethora of other ways that people choose to stay in touch. Gone are the days when you’d find a posted note on the fridge telling you that your loved one has left the house or that message for the kids, “there’s food in the fridge”, So on and so forth.

Today we have with us an iOS app, Handwritten Message, that lets you send personalized messages that you can write on the screen using your finger. Is it the modern day version of showing cute gestures or are you better off sending the good old text?

Features: 
The app is really simple. There is a message box. You use your one finger to type and two fingers to swipe/move and pinch to zoom. The notes have a defined space, which cannot be expanded upon.

In terms of customization, there are 48 solid colour backgrounds and 30 textured backgrounds to choose from. These backgrounds are really nice and enhance the personal touch of the message. You can also change the colour of the text in the message.

For that extra personal touch, there are 60 shapes including smiley faces, roses and love hearts to choose from. To add to the finishing touches, there are 48 custom borders to choose from. With the permutations and combinations, you can really make each message look unique.

Click to enlarge

http://www.thinkdigit.com/FCKeditor/uploads/file/Handwriting%20app-350%20(1).jpg

Performance:
Straight out of the box, the beauty of the message you create in the Handwritten Message app depends on how good your handwriting is. No matter how many of the available effects you apply, if your writing looks like crawling ants, your message will look bad.

One downside is that the place to write the message feels a bit cramped. But the developers have said that in the next update to the app, users will get a larger area to type in.

It is easy to type a message on the device especially since the gestures of typing with one finger and scrolling with two starts to feel natural after a bit. Beautifying the messages is also a lot of fun as you can add borders and colour the text. The only downside is that you cannot choose the location you want to put the smiley face or the heart images. Their location is fixed.

Also, you cannot erase specific text. You can undo your last typed word but if you want to erase the 1st word, you will have to undo the whole thing or clear the slate completely. You cannot save your creations either.

Once you’ve “written” your message it is very simple to send it. Hit “done” and then hit “send” and the message gets copied to the clipboard. You can then “paste” the note in iMessage, send it as an MMS or even e-mail. The message will not go via a regular SMS, as it is an image and requires to be sent as an MMS, so you may want to keep the cost of sending an MMS in mind before sending cute posted style messages to the entire world.

Verdict:
All in all, the app is a nice one to own. Sure, there a lot of apps that recognize you handwriting and can send it across as a message, but the customizable options of Handwritten Message app gives it a personal touch. Add to the fact that the app is now free instead of $0.99 and there is more incentive to give it a try!

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NVIDIA launches GeForce GTX 680

NVIDIA have announced their flagship graphics card for the new GTX 600 series. Popularly known as Kepler GPU, GeForce GTX 680 GPU is based on TSMC's 28-nm manufacturing process. It houses 3.54 billion transistors, supports DirectX11.1 and PCI Express 3.0 which gives double the bandwidth of PCI Express 2.0. NVIDIA has introduced some new technologies with the Kepler GPUs. Let us look at some of them. 

NVIDIA GPU Boost is a technique which dynamically boosts clock speeds based on the workload of the game and the headroom available. It not only changes the clock frequency but also the GPU voltage. In principle it looks somewhat similar to Intel's Turbo Boost technology. 

Adaptive VSync is another innovation that NVIDIA has introduced with the GTX 680. Normally when your VSync is on, as soon as the frame rate drops below 60 FPS, you experience a stutter. With Adaptive Vsync, the NVIDIA card automatically switches off the VSync when the frame rate falls below 60 FPS, thus reducing unwanted stuttering.  

Fast Approximate Anti-Aliasing or FXAA has been added as an option in the NVIDIA Control panel, so you can switch it on and get a 4x AA image quality without a performance hit. Another AA feature introduced is called TXAA. There are two levels - TXAA 1 and TXAA 2 and according to NVIDIA, with TXAA 1 enabled you can get an image quality similar to 8x MSAA but with a performance hit equivalent to 2x MSAA. On the other hand TXAA 2 will give you the image quality better than 8x MSAA with a performance hit equivalent to 4x MSAA. 

3D Vision Surround Sound can be supported on a single GTX 680. It has four display out ports - 2xHDMI, 1xDVI and 1xDisplayPort, so you can connect a 3-monitor system for gaming and have one monitor for your work. Apart from these new technologies, the card has managed to keep its TDP lesser than the GTX 580. The card comes with two six-pin power connectors with a maximum TDP of 195 Watts which is much lesser than the 250W seen on GTX 580. The memory bud width has come down from 384-bit (in GTX 580) to 256-bit. 

Here is a video where Ujesh Desai, VP Corporate Marketing NVIDIA, introduces the latest features in the GTX 680

Apart from these new technologies, the card has managed to keep its TDP lesser than the GTX 580. The card comes with two six-pin power connectors with a maximum TDP of 195 Watts which is much lesser than the 250W seen on GTX 580. The memory bud width has come down from 384-bit (in GTX 580) to 256-bit. 

Here is a video where Ujesh Desai, VP Corporate Marketing NVIDIA, introduces the latest features in the GTX 680

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxkXmxFx5Tg&feature=player_embedded

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Nokia Asha 303 launched in India, 3G Touch and Type at Rs. 8,999

The much-awaited Nokia Asha 303 has been launched in India, priced at Rs. 8,999. Vodafone customers will get special introductory tariff plans, with 1GB of free 3G data per month for the first four months. Asha 303 will also come with a subscription to the DRM-free Nokia Music Unlimited service, and feature Zenga TV, and Whatsapp, preinstalled, amongst other apps. The Series 40-based Nokia Asha 303 is a Touch and Type device, featuring a 2.6-inch capacitive touchscreen with a 320x240 pixel resolution and 256K colour gamut, apart from a full QWERTY keypad. Other specifications include a 1GHz processor, 128MB of RAM, 256MB ROM, 100MB user available built-in storage expandable up to 32GB via microSD, and a 3.2MP fixed focus camera.

In terms of connectivity, the Nokia Asha 303 features 3G (HSDPA 10.2 Mbps, HSUPA 2 Mbps), Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP and EDR, stereo FM with RDS, microUSB v2.0 HS, and USB On-the-Go support. It features a 1,300 mAh battery, which is rated to deliver up to 47 hours of continuous music playback, 8 hours of talk time, and 720 hours of standby time.

The Nokia Asha 303 weighs in at just 99 grams, is 13.9mm thick, and will be available in red and graphite colours. Speaking at the launch, Viral Oza, Director Marketing, Nokia India said:

“Nokia has been bringing smart innovation on mobile devices to newer price points, feeding the vast appetite for digital consumption for consumers who are young, urban, hyper-social and want the smartest phones at affordable prices. The Nokia Asha 303, loaded with Nokia Browser, Webapps, preinstalled Zenga TV, Whatsapp and Angry Birds Lite, stands very strong as an affordable smartphone.”

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Nokia to launch Lumia 900 in India soon, without 4G support

If reports are to be believed, Nokia will be launching a non-4G version of its Lumia 900 smartphone in India soon. The Windows Phone 7.5-based Lumia 900 smartphone was launched at the Mobile World Congress 2012 held in Barcelona earlier this year. Nokia has already launched Lumia 800 and 710 smartphones in India and is reportedly going to launch its low-cost Lumia 610 smartphone in the country within the next two months. The Nokia Lumia 900 is touted as the first LTE network supporting Windows Phone device from Nokia. The device sports a 4.3-inch with 800 x 480 pixel resolution. It is powered by a single core 1.4 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon APQ8055+ processor on the MDM9200 mobile chipset, along with 512 MB RAM and 16 GB on-board storage. It also features an 8MP main camera and 1MP front camera.

The Nokia Lumia 900 is expected to be priced at roughly Rs. 31,500 in Indian market and is going to be pitted against the likes Samsung Galaxy S II and Apple's iPhone 4S. Nokia is a major player in the Indian mobile phone market, and may just launch the device at a lower price. It may recalled that Nokia recently slashed the price of the Lumia 800 by Rs. 6,000, making room for the Lumia 900. Also read,

• Nokia to launch Lumia 610 in India for Rs. 11,000
• Latest Nokia Lumia 800 update triples battery life
• Nokia Lumia 800 gets a price cut; selling at Rs. 24,000

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Nokia Windows 8 tablet in the works, confirms company's design chief

Rumours of Nokia prepping a Windows 8 tablet have been around for a while, but this is the first time we are hearing from a company official. Nokia's design chief Marko Ahtisaari has confirmed that the Finnish company is 'working on' a tablet and that he is spending a third of his time on the device. Ahtisaari said this in an interview with the Finnish newspaper, Kauppalehti. Ahtisaari, however, did not divulge more details about the tablet. Considering the time spent by Ahtisaari on the new device, it looks like Nokia is hoping to make a strong debut in the tablet market. Ahtisaari's comments on the Nokia Windows 8 tablet come days after reports suggested Nokiahad well moved ahead in developing a new 10.1-inch Windows 8 tablet, which will be powered by a dual-qore Qualcomm processor and is slated to launch before this year. Speculations are rife the announcement regarding the launch of the tablet will be made at Nokia's annual Nokia World event, which is slated to be held in Helsinki this year.

As said before, rumours about the Nokia tablet have hit the Internet multiple times over the last year, even as CEO Stephon Elop, said once that the company would “hold off” until it launched something really out-of-the-box. Elop pointed out that the tablet market is interesting for the company. However, he had then not given any timeframe for the launch of Nokia's first tablet. The design exec’s full interview is not yet available online though, but an excerpt at the magazine’s site hints Nokia is also working on a significant “breakthrough” in user interface.

Microsoft recently launched the consumer preview version of Windows 8 and is supposed to launch the final version by mid 2012.

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Samsung working on an Android-based digital camera

Recent reports indicate that Samsung is considering a digital camera with Android onboard. The company has experienced much growth in the mobile space with Google’s operating system, and apart from tablets, already offers it on one of its portable media players.

The concept of an Android digital camera is not especially new, and the implications are interesting, with specialist camera, social and sharing apps on the Android ecosystem, along with location based features transforming the device into much more than just a camera. A touch-based interface could allow for more than just navigation, but also editing features, and a full web-interface.

For now, details are scarce, and Android is just one of the open operating systems thatSamsung is reportedly considering.

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BenQ launches two 24-inch 3D gaming monitors in India

BenQ has launched two new 24-inch gaming monitors in the country, part of its XL series of 120Hz displays, featuring Nvidia 3D technologies – BenQ XL2420T and XL2420TX. Prices start at Rs. 21,990. They’ve apparently been designed for FPS games with the help of pro-gamers Zowei Gear, HeatoN, and SpawN.The BenQ XL2420T and XL2420TX feature 2ms response times, 12 million to 1 dynamic contrast ratio, a Black eQualiser for enhanced visibility in dark regions. BenQ has also added a smart scaling feature to allow users choose from preset screen sizes and resolutions. They come with an ‘S Switch’ remote control to adjust display settings.

The difference between the BenQ XL2420T and XL2420TX is that the former features Nvidia 3D LightBoost technology, while the latter features Nvidia 3D Vision technology with a 3D IR emitter for the bundled 3D Vision 2 glasses.
BenQ has put two FPS special preset modes, designed for Counter Strike 1.6 and Source. Other modes can be downloaded via the Game Loader, and mapped to the S Switch controller.

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Micromax P-300 ICS tablet spotted online; priced at Rs. 7,999

, Micromax has quietly launched its first tablet, P-300in India. Running on Android 4.0.3 Ice Cream Sandwich OS, the Micromax P-300 tablet has been spotted at online shopping site Homeshop18 with a price tag of Rs. 7,999.

Speaking of specifications, the Micromax P-300 tablet sports a 7-inch display, 0.3MP camera, Android 4.0.3, 512MB RAM, 4GB Internal storage and microSD card support. There's little information about the battery life, though the site says the P-300 gives four hours of web browsing. Other features include support for Adobe Flash Player: 10.3 or later and 1080 P video recording. The device, however, has been listed as “out of stock” at the website presently. So far there's no word on the fresh availability of the device. Check out other details of the Micromax P-300 tablet here.

Micromax is a major player in the budget smartphone segment in India. With a price tag of Rs. 7,999, the Micromax P-300 is likely to be pitted against the likes of Beetel's Magiq-series, iBall Slide, Reliance CDMA Tab and other tablets under Rs. 15, 000. Do you think Micromax's ICS-based tablet is going to have a strong impact in the budget tablet market? Let us know in the comments section below:

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Logitech Tablet Keyboard for iPad

Price: 3995

OUR Rating: Good

3.5/5

Features:

Performance:

Value:

Design:

PROS

• Simple to set up
• Well spaced out keys
• Good build quality
• The iPad stand well built too

CONS

• Keys don't have enough travel; can be a tad disconcerting
• Design too flat; could have done with a bit more incline towards the top

Summary

If you want to integrate the iPad into you daily work routine, which will undoubtedly call for a lot of typing, this keypad accessory will be quite valuable. While it isn't as comfortable as a full-fledged laptop keypad, it is definitely a lot more comfortable than typing on the touchscreen.-----------------------------------------------review------------------------------------------------------                                 Being in the business, we have received umpteen queries from readers, friends and family alike about whether the iPad can replace a laptop. Our genuine advice to them has been - not if you aren’t comfortable typing on a touchscreen. Not that the iPad cannot work well in the work environment, a virtual keyboard isn't the most comfortable when it comes to quick typing. Since we are writers, we can be very finicky about the keyboard we are typing on, and tend to notice most niggles with the hardware. That has been the stumbling block for the iPad - it cannot truly replace the notebook. However, with accessories like this Logitech Tablet keyboard, the game does close up quite nicely.

Look & Feel
When we saw the black colour, we held our breath in fear of a glossy finish. Thankfully, it has the matte finish, with a light metallic tinge. The top spine has a nice rounded design, which also helps elevate the keyboard very slightly. There is the toggle switch for power on/off with the Bluetooth connectivity and the battery level indicators. Flip it over, and there is the connect key to switch the device into Bluetooth pairing mode.

The shell casing, when packed, also doubles up as a stand for the iPad. Since it isn't the docking type, this will work with both versions - iPad and the iPad 2. When closed, this acts as a solid jacket to keep the keyboard protected when in travelling and storage mode. The hinge to open this is a little on the hard side. Once set up, the stand is quite stable, and the incline is perfect to be able to view the iPad display comfortably.

Features & Performance
Once the hardware is in place, connecting it is a breeze. Press the pairing key, after switching on the Bluetooth on the iPad. Takes about 5 seconds to pair. Once done, you are good to go.

To test, we decided to write some of our daily articles on this, instead on the laptop. Quite clearly, this keypad takes some getting used to. First, you will feel the lack of a palm rest. Most laptops afford that quite nicely, and it is a bit weird to not have any in this case. Second is the key travel bit. While the key size is fine, the keys don’t travel as much as most other keypads, and takes some variation in typing speed to get used to it. However, once you get past these teething problems and your fingers get used to it, typing is a breeze. You can type out documents quite quickly, without too many spelling errors. Whatever spelling errors are there is because of a human error, and not because of the design of the keypad in any case. Adequate key spacing is something what we appreciate.

2 AAA batteries power the Logitech Keypad - no worries about the batteries running low in the middle of an important document. Keep a couple of AAA batteries in the vicinity, and you are good to go.

The stand is quite neatly designed. Feels solid enough to hold the tablet, and most importantly, the tablet design won’t really restrict the placement on this - in portrait or landscape mode. Critical bit - the display angle is just perfect. You won’t really be looking down on the display while typing, helping body posture - something that helps during long typing sessions.

Our Take
As we said, this is the accessory that you must have if the iPad is really replacing the laptop in your life. The charm of using a touchscreen is one thing, but objectively, not the most comfortable for a lot of typing. While there are better ones around, we don’t think we can hold anything against this keyboard at this price.

Contact: Logitech Harmony Support
Phone: 000 800 600 1133
Website: http://www.logitech.com/en-in/contact

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