Fitness and health is n everyone’s mind but only a handful do something about it. People are more conscious about their health, but they are too busy with their hectic life and schedules. So they don’t have enough time for gymming or yoga sessions. But, now one can easily stay fit by using these fitness bands. These act like your personal trainer to bring you back into shape. Check out our top 5 fitness bands recommendations.
Goqii Fitness Band
The Goqii Fitness band is a decent looking band. It comes in black and red colour combination. The Goqii fitness band is a light fitness tracker that can be adjusted over any wrist type. The tracker is right in the middle of the strap and can be easily removed for a quick charge. One can easily use it by downloading the Goqii app on the Smartphone.
This band is water resistant and one can take it out on (light) rainy day too. The Goqii fitness band show you things like calories burnt and distance travelled. A charger comes in the box so that one does not need to find a USB port to it. Users can get the GOQii Fitness band with a 6 month coach subscription option of Rs 6,999 or 12 month option of Rs 11,999.
Yu Fitness Band
The Yu Fitness band is a simple looking rubberized band, which consists of various sensors that helps to track the daily activities performed by a person. This device comes with OLED touch display and is water resistant. This band also notifies users with new missed calls, SMS and mails alerts.
Yu Fit is an activity tracker, which shows you things like calories burnt and distance travelled. One has to download Healthify Me application on their mobile device to use the band fully. This app will coach its users to be healthy and fit. Healthify me provides various kinds of exercises, workouts, diet controls and weight loss tips. Yu fit band can be bought for just Rs 999.
Mi Band
The Mi Band is another rubberized band. This oval-shaped tracking module comes in black colour. There are three LEDs on top, which can be customised in the Mi Fit app. This app will show one’s own progress. Mi band show the steps you walk, distance covered and calories burnt.
It will also show you that how close you are to complete your daily target. Mi band also features alarm and vibration on calls functions. A charger comes in the box so that one does not need to find a USB port to charge the Mi Fitness band. Mi band is available at Rs 999.
TomTom Runner Band
The TomTom Runner band is available in two colours, which consists of grey and pink. It comes in two parts. First part is the watch module. This is made up of a scratch resistant LCD display. The other is the One Touch control that surrounds the receiver. It also sports a four-button control pad.
The display and control pad can be taken out of the rubber watch strap to charge inside the dedicated charging slot. The TomTom Runner delivers real-time details about time, distance, heart rate, pace and more to its user. It packs a built-in heart rate monitor for tracking user’s heart rate, too. The TomTom Runner is available for Rs 12,999.
FitBit Surge
Now hers is a tracker that we quite like. It looks like a smartwatch, but actually is an advanced fitness band. It is designed for people who love to work out or are willing to get back into the routine. The Fitbit Surge has a large LCD display on it that is able to fit multiple stats. The backlight interface allows you to keep tabs of your active minutes, heart rate and more. Under the watch one will find two green LED lights, which actually monitor the user’s heart rate. One can easily strap the device on and use it for prolonged periods of time.
Fitbit Surge has a total of eight sensors. It can track your movements beyond the usual steps, distance traveled and calories burned. Altimeter will monitor how many floors you climb and the GPS can map your running path. All in all, a great fitness tracker for a serious price of Rs 19,990.
India has been struck by the startup wave and we see new companies, firms and businesses emerging every day. Some cater to the digital world and some adopt the offline model. But, whatever the case be all of them are looking to boost productivity and make best of their working hours.
If an organisation and its employees are productive, they can complete work in no time at all. Not to forget the profits will also start to sky rocket. So if you are a part of a startup or are soon going to join/begin one here is our list of productivity apps that you should put on your Android Smartphone.
Porducteev by Jive: This is a great app to boost productivity amongst colleagues and get tasks done on time. Meeting deadlines and delegation of work is where many start-ups struggle. Producteev takes care of these troubles and much more. One can easily connect with co-workers manage projects, get work done in an orderly fashion and also delegate work. Moreover, this app is cross platform ready.
Àny Do: in a startup every penny counts and keeping a personal assistant for yourself is not feasible. So, how about a virtual assistant insteat. Any.do is a great app that keeps tracks of events, notes, to-do lists and more. Reminders can be set and one can work more efficiently and meet deadlines. A must-have app for startup CEO’s and top/mid level management.
Skype: has been doing the rounds on PC’s and mobiles since ages now. It is by far the best app to quickly video chat with office workers across platforms. The app installs on the Android phone effortlessly and one can quickly do a video and voice meeting with subordinates or superiors. This is a must have app if you are a roaming professional.
Refresh: in a startup you end up meeting dozens of new clients every other week. Most of the times you are facing a wall that you know nothing about. Refresh is a great app that takes care of the next confrontation with a potential client. This app pulls in details about the client you are about to meet from their Facebook, Twitter and other social feeds, so that you know a bit about the person before you go meet them.
Evernote: you never know when you need to take a note. You might forget to pick up a pen and a paper, but chances are you will always have your mobile phone with you. Enter Evernote, which takes care of all your noting tasks. This one is an easy to use app that lets you take and upload notes, pictures, audio and video snippets. It is a cross platform ready so one can easily share these notes with co-workers.
Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi is developing a full-fledged retail business model for its phones and other devices in India, to strengthen its offline presence. The company has tied up with Redington to make its smartphones available across physical brick and mortar stores.
Mr. Manu Jain, Xiaomi India Head has be heard saying, “Offline has done well for us. But the focus will remain on online. In China, about 70 percent of our sales come from online and the remaining is offline. In India too, we should see similar trends. Currently about 90 percent sales in India is online. This should stabilise at about 20-30 percent in the coming time.”
Xiaomi will soon be selling its four smartphone models in the offline retail stores, which consist of Redmi 2, Mi4, Mi 4i and Mi Pad. The company has also got into these retail stores by affiliating with retail chain The Mobile Store and private telecom operator Bharti Airtel Limited. Together they want to bring in more customers to brand.
It seems that the Indian buyers will soon be getting the Xiaomi smartphones at their nearest retail stores. And, we do expect Xiaomi to bring more devices in the near future at more price segments.
Meizu, the Chinese smartphone manufacturer has just announced the launch of its Meizu m2 note in India. The smartphone will be available from August 10, exclusively on Amazon India at Rs 9,999.
The Meizu m2 note is available in White, Blue, Gray and Pink colours. The mobile phone features a. 5.5 inches screen with 1080P Full HD resolution. Powering the smartphone is a 1.3GHz Octa-Core processor paired with 2GB of RAM. The onboard storage of the mobile phone accounts to 16GB and 32GB, which can be expanded by up to 128GB using a microSD card. This smartphone runs on Flyme 4.5, based on Android 5.1 Lollipop operating system.
The Meizu m2 note sports a 13-megapixel rear camera with LED flash with Samsung CMOS sensor and 5-megapixel front-facing camera. This smartphone offers 4G LTE, 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS as connectivity options. This mobile phone would house a 3,100 mAh battery.
The Meizu m2 note will be available for purchase with an invite in India starting August 10, for Rs. 9,999 exclusively on Amazon.
Techs Specs of Meizu m2 note
Network supported: 4G LTE and 3G
Display size: Full HD 5-inch display
Operating system: Android 5.1 Lollipop OS
CPU: Octa-Core 1.3GHz processor
Chipset: Mediatek MT6753
RAM: 2GB
Memory:16GB and 32GB (memory can be extended up to 128GB via microSD card)
The Cupertino based giant Apple has announced that the company has more than 11 million subscribers using its Apple Music service. The company is overwhelmed with the response they have received just one month after the launch of its music streaming service. Apple senior vice president of Internet software and services, Eddy Cue, told USA Today, “We’re thrilled with the numbers so far.”
The firm has also revealed that 2 million people have signed up for the family plan which incorporates accounts for up to six people at a discounted price. The service is free for the first three months after the sign up and then it will charge $9.99 per month.
This music streaming service from the house of Apple is considered to give a blow to the rival services Spotify, Pandora and Rdio. The company is geared up to excel from all the other music streaming services by providing a seamless user experience.
Bharti Airtel Limited is a leading telecommunications company of India. They have finally launched its high speed 4G LTE services in 296 towns across India. This is by far the largest 4G rollout and comes as a surprise to many. Now, Airtel 4G is available to customers across a range of smart devices including mobile phones, dongles, 4G hotspots and Wi-Fi dongles.
Airtel has also launched an all new carrier agnostic mobile application called Wynk Movies that offers customers thousands of movies and other video content. They have also announced a range of strategic initiatives as part of its 4G rollout.
Gopal Vittal, MD & CEO, Bharti Airtel (India & South Asia)said, “At Airtel, the customer is at the heart of everything we do and therefore we first opened our 4G network to some of them for their valuable feedback. With the help of the feedback received from the beta launches, we have now built India’s first commercial 4G network that will make high speed mobile broadband a reality. The national roll-out today is another small step in our journey to be the most innovative and customer focused brand. We also believe that an open platform is critical to developing an ecosystem that nurtures innovation and enabling our consumers to access a myriad set of possibilities on their mobile phones.”
Airtel users can now get 4G data at 3G data prices with packs starting at Rs 25. Users can instantly swap their old SIM for a 4G SIM. With every 4G SIM swap, Airtel is giving six months of unlimited music streaming and downloads on Wynk Music. Along with that, they are also providing five free movies per month for six months on the Eros Now channel of Wynk Movies. Airtel also offers home delivery of SIMs and postpaid connections in just four hours.
They have also announced Flexpage. This is an automated platform that allows customers to track their data usage and get real time usage alerts. With Flexpage, users can upgrade their mobile plan starting at Rs 100.
Airtel is putting its best foot forward in delivering blazing fast 4G speeds to its customers. One can easily walk into their nearest Airtel store and switch to a 4G SIM to avail these amazing offers.
The tech giant Microsoft has rolled out its email app Outlook for the Apple Watch. The users will now be able to check and revert to their mails directly from their wrist at a single glimpse. The app provides Focused Inbox Watch notifications which enable the users to know about their emails along with the various calendar events.
The users will also be able to browse and read the complete email and also performs functions such as archiving, deleting, flagging or scheduling, right from the watch. The users will also be able to see the unread mails and also next calendar appointment on the screen. Along with this, the app also let the users to get Quick Replies, with pre-written responses and voice dictation.
The Outlook app will be available for download form the App Store.
Micromax, the Chinese smartphone manufacturer has got yet another budget smartphone in the Indian market. Called the Micromax Canvas Xpress 2, we got to review it recently and it surprised us quite a bit. Here is our take of the phone.
Design
The Micromax Canvas Xpress 2 is available in black colour. The phones black rubberised back panel is grippy and one can hold the phone nicely. The black panel has a golden metal rim along the sides that gives this phone a stunning and stylish look. Even the Micromax logo on the back, is in golden colour. Over that, the circular camera ring at the back also has a golden thread around it that shines under the light. Together, the gold does add to the theatre of the device. Overall, the design is pretty competitive.
The Micromax Canvas Xpress 2 screen has Corning Gorilla Glass 3 over a 5-inch HD IPS display. This HD IPS capacitive display comes with 16 million colours. The mobile phone is not that heavy and is very comfortable to use, even with just one hand.
Under the rear removable plastic panel, there is a battery that can be removed, two Micro SIM card slots and a Micro SD card slot. The power button is located on the right side of the phone along with the volume key. The USB port is located at the bottom of the phone and the 3.5mm headset jack is located at the top of the mobile phone. The primary camera is on the top right (rear) of the mobile phone, which comes with the LED flash. A neat pair of headphones also come in the box for music lovers.
Performance
The Micromax Canvas Xpress 2 has a 1.4GHz true Octa-Core processor that comes with 1GB of RAM. Hand in hand, the duo tries to make the applications and services run as smoothly as possible. The users also get 8GB of internal memory to store files. And there is also the option to add up to a 32GB microSD card to add more files. All this runs on the MediaTek MT6592M chipset.
For graphics a Mali-450 is also on board. Other features include accelerometer sensor, proximity sensor, ambient light sensor and gyroscope sensor. The primary camera of Micromax Canvas Xpress 2 comes with auto focus and can capture 13-megapixel still images. For selfies, there is a 2-megapixel secondary camera. The rear camera captures very decent pictures. Macro shots were also quite good. Other photography modes are also present in the smartphone like frontback which captures front and back images at the same time. Micromax Canvas Xpress 2 also has a Flipboard style feature called Quick Look, which aggregates news, weather and social media feeds.
We were able to play most apps and high-end games on the phone without any hassles. But, the games loudspeaker volume could have been better. Talking about which, we faced no problems when it came to audio and call quality on the Micromax Canvas Xpress 2. If you want good personal sound quality then we suggest you use the supplied headphones, as they are great for personal resonance. Screen, image and video quality is also above average and we quite liked what we saw.
Moving on to its battery life, the Micromax Canvas Xpress 2 has 2,500 mAh interchangeable battery inside it. It worked for 22 hours straight after a full charge (under nominal use). We tested the phone with Quadrant and it managed to score 11,648 that puts it right in the middle of the pack.
Verdict
The Micromax Canvas Xpress 2 is built for the youngsters. It has the Android 4.4.2 KitKat OS, which can get upgraded to Lollipop OS. It comes with a lot of preloaded apps such as Housing, CleanMaster, Apps Center, M!Live, Scandid, Start, SwiftKey, Chaatz, Newshunt, Quikr and Hotstar app. The experience was quite smooth throughout. The company has priced the Micromax Canvas Xpress 2 for Rs 5,999 and is exclusively available on Flipkart.
Pros
Quite affordable
Stylish compact design
Nice cameras
Decent battery life
Cons
Not a 4G phone
Lots of bloatware
Comes with Android KitKat OS
Tech Specs of Micromax Canvas Xpress 2
Network supported: 2G and 3G
Display size: HD IPS 5-inch display
Operating system: Android 4.4.2 KitKat OS
Chipset: Mediatek MT6592M
CPU: Octa-Core 1.4 GHz processor
GPU: Mali-450
RAM: 1GB
Memory: 8GB (memory can be expanded up to 32GB via micro SD card)
Karbonn, the domestic smartphone manufacturer has just launched its latest Titanium Mach Five in India, which will be exclusively available on Amazon. Karbonn has partnered with Peel for its IR app to double up as a universal remote control for home appliances such as modern television sets, air-conditioner, set top box etc.
Shashin Devsare, Karbonn Executive Director said, “While the actually sales of Karbonn smartphones are mostly happening through brick and mortar stores, the brand has slowly increased the sale on e-commerce websites as well. Over 30 per cent of our smartphones are now sold on online shopping sites. We want to strengthen our presence in stores as well on online websites. Karbonn Titanium Mach Five comes with infrared emitter and Peel application that enables it to function as remote control for TV, STBs, and ACs of about 400 brands. At Rs 5,999, it is value for money.”
The Karbonn Titanium Mach Five features a 5-inch 720p HD display. Powering the smartphone is a 1.3GHz Quad-Core processor paired with 2GB of RAM. The onboard storage of the mobile phone accounts to 16GB, which can be expanded by up to 32GB using a microSD card. The smartphone runs on Android 5.0 Lollipop operating system.
The smartphone comes equipped with an 8-megapixel rear sensor camera with LED flash alongside a 5-megapixel front camera with LED flash. This smartphone offers 3G, Wi-Fi, microUSB and Bluetooth as connectivity options. The device packs a 2,200 mAh battery.
Karbonn Titanium Mach Five will exclusively be available on Amazon at Rs 5,999. It shall arrive in stock on August 7.
Techs Specs of Karbonn Titanium Mach Five
Network supported: 3G
Display size: HD 5-inch 720p display
Operating system: Android 5.0 Lollipop OS
CPU: Quad-Core 1.3GHz processor
RAM: 2GB
Memory:16GB (memory can be expanded up to 32GB via microSD card)
The Asus Zen festival did seemed like a huge hit, as there was not a seat in the huge JLN indoor arena that was not occupied. The first phone that the company has launched at the event is the Asus Zenfone 2 Deluxe, which is an upgrade to the Asus Zenfone 2.
Asus Zenfone 2 Deluxe sports a 5.5 inch HD IPS display. The screen is supported by the latest Gorilla Glass 4 that is twice as tough as before. Underneath the touchscreen Asus has installed an Intel 2.3 GHz 64 bit CPU, 4GB RAM and up to 128 GB of memory is available. The rear camera has a 13 MP sensor and the front one uses a 5 MP one. Dual SIM card slots are available that support LTE and 4G technology.
Powering the device is a 3,000 mAh battery that can be quick charged up to 60% in 30 minutes. Not bad for a mid range smartphone. As far as the operating system is concerned Android Lolipop has been installed on this smartphone. Asus has priced Zenfone 2 Deluxe well at Rs 22,999 and this flagship phone does bring you the bang for the buck. Do check out the first look video of the Asus Zenfone 2 Deluxe (above).
Goqii Fitness Band
The Goqii Fitness band is a decent looking band. It comes in black and red colour combination. The Goqii fitness band is a light fitness tracker that can be adjusted over any wrist type. The tracker is right in the middle of the strap and can be easily removed for a quick charge. One can easily use it by downloading the Goqii app on the Smartphone.
This band is water resistant and one can take it out on (light) rainy day too. The Goqii fitness band show you things like calories burnt and distance travelled. A charger comes in the box so that one does not need to find a USB port to it. Users can get the GOQii Fitness band with a 6 month coach subscription option of Rs 6,999 or 12 month option of Rs 11,999.
Yu Fitness Band
The Yu Fitness band is a simple looking rubberized band, which consists of various sensors that helps to track the daily activities performed by a person. This device comes with OLED touch display and is water resistant. This band also notifies users with new missed calls, SMS and mails alerts.
Yu Fit is an activity tracker, which shows you things like calories burnt and distance travelled. One has to download Healthify Me application on their mobile device to use the band fully. This app will coach its users to be healthy and fit. Healthify me provides various kinds of exercises, workouts, diet controls and weight loss tips. Yu fit band can be bought for just Rs 999.
Mi Band
The Mi Band is another rubberized band. This oval-shaped tracking module comes in black colour. There are three LEDs on top, which can be customised in the Mi Fit app. This app will show one’s own progress. Mi band show the steps you walk, distance covered and calories burnt.
It will also show you that how close you are to complete your daily target. Mi band also features alarm and vibration on calls functions. A charger comes in the box so that one does not need to find a USB port to charge the Mi Fitness band. Mi band is available at Rs 999.
TomTom Runner Band
The TomTom Runner band is available in two colours, which consists of grey and pink. It comes in two parts. First part is the watch module. This is made up of a scratch resistant LCD display. The other is the One Touch control that surrounds the receiver. It also sports a four-button control pad.
The display and control pad can be taken out of the rubber watch strap to charge inside the dedicated charging slot. The TomTom Runner delivers real-time details about time, distance, heart rate, pace and more to its user. It packs a built-in heart rate monitor for tracking user’s heart rate, too. The TomTom Runner is available for Rs 12,999.
FitBit Surge
Now hers is a tracker that we quite like. It looks like a smartwatch, but actually is an advanced fitness band. It is designed for people who love to work out or are willing to get back into the routine. The Fitbit Surge has a large LCD display on it that is able to fit multiple stats. The backlight interface allows you to keep tabs of your active minutes, heart rate and more. Under the watch one will find two green LED lights, which actually monitor the user’s heart rate. One can easily strap the device on and use it for prolonged periods of time.
Fitbit Surge has a total of eight sensors. It can track your movements beyond the usual steps, distance traveled and calories burned. Altimeter will monitor how many floors you climb and the GPS can map your running path. All in all, a great fitness tracker for a serious price of Rs 19,990. 
