Posted on

Amazon India introduces #AmazonCart; How to enable it and make purchases using Twitter

Amazon India recently announced the #AmazonCart launch. #AmazonCart is a new feature that allows the users to reply to tweets that contain Amazon India product link with ‘#AmazonCart’ and the product will automatically be added to cart. The user can finish checking out the cart later.

Launching with the slogan ‘Add it now. Buy it later’, this free feature is available for all the Amazon India users. To use this new feature, you will have to link your Twitter and Amazon India account.

image

There are two ways to do this. You can either go to the #AmazonCart page and link your Twitter and Amazon India accounts. Or, if you are lazy to type the link in your web browser, reply with ‘#AmazonCart’ to any tweet that has Amazon India product link and Amazon India will send you a reply tweet with a link to connect your accounts.

Getting back to using this feature, when you reply with #AmazonCart to any product link tweet, the product will be added to your cart immediately and you will receive a confirmation reply tweet from Amazon India for the same. Also, Amazon India will attach the cart review link which will take you straight to the Amazon India cart where you can check out.

 

This feature was introduced first in the United States of America and the United Kingdom under the name #AmazonBasket and now, it’s here for Amazon India.

Will it be useful for Indians?

While most Indians are still positive about buying from brick-and-mortar stores, India has its own share of online shoppers. And these online shopaholics are seen mostly active on social media sites like Twitter and Facebook with Twitter users being the majority.

From the consumer point of view, Indians might really find this new feature useful, like the people in the United States – they are active on the social media.

Consider yourself scrolling down your Twitter Timeline. When someone shares an interesting Amazon India product, you will find it easy to reply to that tweet than clicking that link and adding it to the cart manually, right? That’s where this #AmazonCart feature helps. It makes shopping easy and more convenient for the buyers.

Privacy issues; other features needed

While this feature might look interesting and surprisingly easy to use, it comes with its own issues too.

With Twitter being a public platform, most of the tweets are available for public view. So, things you add to your cart will be visible to the public / followers. If you are cautious about your online activities, this feature is probably something you should stay away from.

Also, there isn’t an option to remove products from cart though. There are chances that Amazon India might bring it soon. Another feature that I would like to see is an option to check out without leaving Twitter – this can be achieved by using a pre-paid wallet service like Flipkart Wallet.

Amazon is growing fast in India

It has been one year or so since Amazon India launched, and it is over 1.5 crore products listed on the site already. After introducing many interesting services including quick deliveries, the company is doing its best to offer quality services and options to the customers in India.

And the launch of #AmazonCart will make things only better for Amazon India. This is the first time a e-commerce company has announced this feature in India. Flipkart, Snapdeal, HomeShop18, Jabong and others haven’t implemented any similar social media features.

What do you think about this feature? Do you find it useful for you? Do share your thoughts with us in the comments section.

Posted on

Xiaomi Mi 3 to go for sale exclusively on Flipkart at Rs 13,999 starting July 22

Xiaomi, the Chinese smartphone manufacturer is moving into the Indian operations with the launch of the Xiaomi Mi 3. The Xiaomi Mi 3 will be launched exclusively on Flipkart at the price of Rs 13,999.

This is the third Xiaomi smartphone to enter the Indian market, after Redmi 1S and Redmi Note priced at Rs 6,999 and Rs 9,999 respectively.

image
Xiaomi Mi 3 to launch on Flipkart

Xiaomi’s flagship device, Mi 3, will go for sale first on July 22. To buy the device on Flipkart, you will have to register yourself on the Flipkart website between July 15 and July 21, confirming that you will be buying this device in July 22.

Xiaomi Mi 3 comes with high end specifications at a low price tag. It comes with a 2.3 GHz quad core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor and has 2 GB RAM.

This 5 inch 1080p LCD device is packed with a 13 MP camera at the rear, a dual LED flash and a 2 MP camera in the front for video calling purposes. It has 16 GB internal memory and sadly, there is no external storage slots.

It comes with Android 4.4 out of the box and has Xiaomi MIUI on the top of Android 4.4.

Buying suggestions

If you are planning to get a daily driver with a decent hardware and software specifications, Xiaomi Mi 3 is one good device to go with.

Other alternatives in the price range can be Moto G, Sony Xperia M 2 Dual. But if you are rooting for a device that can actually perform faster and better than other similar devices, Xiaomi Mi 3 is your best shot.

Success in sight for Xiaomi?

If you didn’t know, India is the third largest smartphone market, after United States of America and China. With Samsung dominating the smartphone market in India, Android is the most widely used mobile platform.

With Xiaomi’s launch, chances are that the company might see success like Motorola which recently sold 10 lakh smartphone units in India in the past five months. On the other hand, Nokia sold a relatively smaller figure of 7 lakh smartphone units.

Huga Barra, an ex-Android engineer joined Xiaomi last year and is the International Vice President of Xiaomi. Based on reports, he claims that the company isn’t expecting profits in the near future. But, considering that Android is the Indians’ favorite smartphone OS, Xiaomi Mi 3 might really find success in this new market. Also, the other two budget smartphones Redmi 1S and Redmi Note will be going for launch in the mid August and late August respectively.

Xiaomi has also setup 20 service centers in some of the biggest cities of India. There are also 2 exclusive Xiaomi centers in New Delhi and Bangalore. A 24/7 hotline is also setup.

Are you buying one? Do let us know if you’re ordering one on Flipkart. Tell us in the comments.

Link : Xiaomi Mi 3 on Flipkart

Posted on

Nokia announces it’s first Android app – Z Launcher

From being a mobile phone manufacturer, after selling itself to Microsoft, Nokia is fast developing into a software maker now. Nokia announced it’s first Android app and is calling it Z Launcher.

The launcher learns from your using of your smartphone and suggests the top apps to you at the right time. It’s not just the apps. The launcher learns from your web browsing history too.

It keeps suggesting you apps and content to access during different time phases – morning and evening to name a few. That is, the launcher will offer different apps when you are at work during morning and different ones when you are at home during evening.

Z Launcher learns and suggests apps and other content
Z Launcher learns and suggests apps and other content

The time and calendar widgets are shown above the apps suggestion. Five static apps are shown at the bottom of the apps suggestions.

Another unique feature is Scribble. Just scribble the first letter of the app that you wish to open and all the apps with that starting letter will be shown. You can access apps quickly this way. If you wish to open Uber app, scribble ‘U’ on the screen. (Check the video below)

The launcher is in beta form right now and is available for download for a quite few interested users. A dedicated website has been setup for the launcher. Interested users can connect with their Google account, download the APK file and try this new launcher on their device.

The launcher is available only for top selling models like Samsung Galaxy S3, S4, S5 and the Nexus 5 running Android 4.1 and above. The app is not optimized for tablets.

Link: Z Launcher website | Download APK via BGR

Posted on

Facebook launches Slingshot

Facebook has officially announced the launch of Slingshot app for iPhone and Android. It was leaked accidentally a week back before Facebook took down the app soon. The app allows you to send and receive photo or video messages that self-destruct after viewing. Yes, it does look similar to Snapchat, but it comes with a different working mechanism.

In Snapchat, you can see the photo or video that your friend sent and then respond with a similar one. But with Slingshot, you will be able to see what your friend sent only when you send one back yourself. You can use your rear camera to shoot a normal photo or video or the front one for a selfie. You can enable or disable Flash too.

 

Choose your friends and Sling!
Choose your friends and Sling!

When you receive a Sling from your friend, it is Locked by default. Locked Slings are pixelated and can’t be viewed as a normal photo or video. To Unlock the Sling, shoot a Sling of your own and send to that friend to Unlock the Sling he/she sent.

This is a Locked Sling. You will be able to see only the Pixelated view.
This is a Locked Sling. You will be able to see only the Pixelated view.

Once Unlocked, you can either tap the Sling to respond with one back, or simply swipe away the Sling to discard it. Do remember that once you swipe away the Sling, the message will no longer be available for your view.

This Sling is Unlocked
This Sling is Unlocked

Slings can also be customized with a text message (limited to 140 characters). You can also draw something on your Slings before Slinging them.

There is an option to Sling to all your friends too. Simply click the Select All button while you are about to Sling your message.

Since the messages self-destruct automatically, the photos and videos that you send or receive are not stored locally on your device. But, there is an option to opt-in to save your images to your local storage – check the Settings section inside the app.

The app is made by Facebook Creative Labs, the same team that made the Facebook Paper app. Slingshot is available for free on the iTunes App Store and the Google Play store, but is limited to the United States for now. As for the Android users, the Slingshot APK is already available on the internet.

Related : How to install Facebook Paper for non-US users?

What do you think about this app? Do you think Facebook’s Slingshot will succeed over Snapchat, the company which denied Facebook’s offer of $3 billion? Do share your thoughts with us.

Link : Slingshot website | On iTunes App Store | On Google Play store | Slingshot APK

Posted on

Apple announces OS X Yosemite, works better than ever with your iPhone/iPad

Apple has yesterday announced updates for OS X and iOS at their annual developer conference – WWDC. A lot of focus was on OS X this time, and rightly so.

Last year’s Mavericks release was all about memory/battery efficiency, with iOS 7 taking center stage at the WWDC. It was OS X’s turn this time and they did what everyone expected – integrate it deeply with iOS.

Design

Though Jony Ive is touted as one of the best industrial designers of current time, most people, even fanboys, would accept that he didn’t do a great job with iOS 7 redesign.

Finder

Excessive use of Helvetica, neon colours, childish icons and more, there’s nothing perfect about iOS 7.

Now here’s the bad news: All of this is going to make it to Yosemite.

That’s pretty scary right? Turns out Apple didn’t do such a terrible job with design in Yosemite. The icons do look terrible, but as a whole it looks not too bad. Apparently, one needs to use it, to make a firm comment on design.

One of the most intriguing feature for me is dark mode. It basically turns all the context menus dark, which is a huge visual change.

Spotlight

Spotlight is one of the standout features in Yosemite. Apple basically borrowed a lot of inspiration from Alfred, a third party app launcher.

Spotlight

It’s not just a menubar app anymore. Instead it floats as a small window on top of all apps.

Apart from searching for files/apps, you can now get showtimes for Movies, locations, unit and currency conversions and more. Think Google Now.

I really wish they open it up for developers to add custom search engines. You could then search Spotify for songs etc.

Continuity

This is probably the best feature Apple has baked into OS X Yosemite and iOS 8. It’s a problem many people face and Microsoft has tried to solve it with Windows 8. They couldn’t, but Apple probably has got it right.

Calling from Mac

The idea is simple: you are composing an Email on your iPhone, turns out the Email is lengthy, you want to use your Mac. You put the iPhone to desk and start drafting the exact same Email on your Mac. Exactly where your left off.

This works with most system apps and of course developers can use it for their apps.

In addition to this, you can now make and receive calls/SMS messages right from your Mac. That’s pretty amazing. You can even start a Wifi hotspot on your iPhone, from your Mac (which isn’t connected to internet).

There’s a lot more stuff packed into this update, like redesigned system apps, mainly Safari, bringing widgets to Notification Center, MailDrive and iCloud Drive.

The update will be available this fall. For free.

For the first time, Apple has a public beta program, where you can sign up with your Apple ID and get hands on OS X Yosemite this summer. Follow this link.

Have you watched WWDC? Tell us what you think in the comments.

Posted on

Gmail for Android gets ‘Save to Drive’ button and other new features

Gmail for Android is now updated with a couple of new features. The app now has the much needed Save to Drive button that automatically uploads the attachments to your Google Drive. The announcement comes with +Gmail on Google+.

The Save to Drive button helps you to reduce the burden of downloading the attachment to your local storage (laptop, desktop or your smartphone) before uploading to your Google Drive account.

‘Save to Drive’ button automatically sends attachments to your Drive
‘Save to Drive’ button automatically sends attachments to your Drive

Other updates in this new version include improved readability for Right-to-Left languages like Arabic, Persian, Hebrew and Faster access to side navigation menu. You will now be able to access the navigation menu whenever you want to.

On the user interface part, the mail refresh bar has received the Google Now colored refresh style. And also, the app seems faster and sleeker than earlier.

The update is being rolled out to all the users. At the time of writing this post, the update was available in the Indian Google Play store.

Google is known for integrating most of it’s native apps together. There are no reports on if Google is integrating Google Hangouts with other apps or not. As of now, Hangouts stands as a separate app.

If you didn’t know, Gmail for Android is the first Android app to reach the 1 billion unique installations ever. It reached this milestone a few days back.

Posted on

Flipkart to sell Moto E at Rs 6999, How Motorola is playing smart

Flipkart is again the exclusive launch partner for yet another Motorola smartphone. Moto E is all set for launch on May 14 0000 hours. This time Motorola has placed the price tag really low. Moto E is available at a very cheap price of Rs 6999.

Moto E, a 4.3 inch device, is powered by a 1.2 GHz dual core Snapdragon 200 processor and a Adereno 302 GPU. It is also packed with a 5 MP camera at the back and has 4 GB internal storage. You can expand the storage till 32 GB with external storage cards.

image

Also, Motorola has used the Corning Gorilla 3 glass on this latest smartphone. Also, the device has water repellent features.

Talking about the software part, the device comes out of the box with Android 4.4 KitKat. The device is a dual SIM smartphone.

Offers on Flipkart

Flipkart is offering 3 offers with the launch of Moto E.

Flat 50% offer on Transcend 8 GB memory card, flat 50% offer on Moto E cases and e-books worth Rs 1000 come prepacked with the device. You will have to download the Flipkart e-books Android app to access the e-books.

Blow at the other Indian manufacturers and sub-10000 smartphones

With the launch of Moto E, without doubt, Motorola is playing the aggressive game perfectly. It is believed that Moto E will be immensely popular among the budget smartphone buyers.

For the price tag, Moto E comes with really impressive hardware and software configurations. As for India, Android updates are pushed really slow to the users. A majority of the Android users in India are still running Gingerbread. The launch of Moto E with Android 4.4 KitKat might attract lots of Indian buyers.

Some of the other top smartphones in this price range include Lumia 520, Samsung Galaxy S Duos 2, Karbonn Titanium S5 Plus. Even Micromax’s smartphones are not priced as low as Rs 6999.

Also, Motorola is now covering all the segments of smartphone based on price – the low budget Moto E, Moto G priced a little high at Rs 12,499 and the high end Moto X at Rs 23,999.

Moto G LTE version

Also, Motorola announced a LTE version of Moto G at the London event. Moto G 4G also comes with an external SD card slot for expanding memory till 32 GB.

What’s your thought on Moto E? Do you think it will be as popular as Moto G and Moto X? Do tell us if you are buying one.

Link : Moto E on Flipkart

Posted on

Flipkart fights Amazon with Flipkart First – Free shipping and more

Flipkart is launching Flipkart First – a premium annual subscription service. It offers services like free, quick deliveries, 60 day replacement guarantee and more.

This is the first of this kind in the history of Indian e-commerce. If you are an user of Amazon, you will notice that this is exactly like Amazon Prime – a premium subscription service offered by Amazon. It offers free two day delivery service, unlimited video streaming and free access to Kindle books.

image

Getting back to Flipkart First, Flipkart is yet to launch this product. A dedicated web page has already been setup for Flipkart First. There are no in depth details on when this service is launching and how much this service will cost.

Features of Flipkart First

Flipkart First is offering 5 features for now. More will be coming soon.

Flipkart First users get Free delivery on no minimum purchase, free In-a-day delivery, discounted price on Same-day delivery, 60 day replacement guarantee and higher prioritized customer support.

Similar to quick deliveries, Flipkart is limiting this service to products sold by WS Retail for now. There are no reports on whether Flipkart will bring this service to products sold by other sellers.

To get more details on Flipkart First, enter your email ID at the Flipkart First web page. You will be added to the mail list and notified when Flipkart First launches.

As an introductory offer, Flipkart is picking 75,000 users and offering 3 month free Flipkart First subscription service.

What do you think about this new service by Flipkart? Do you think you will use this? Do tell us.

Link: Flipkart First

Posted on

Google Maps gets a prominent “Save to Offline” button and many new features

Google had added the feature to save a map offline, for phones long ago. This is useful when sometimes you do not have connectivity. The feature even though available for a while, was not used as by many people. The main reason being that the option was not visible enough or rather hidden too well for normal users to discover it and use it. Most people who use Google Maps do so while travelling for a quick reference, so most do not have time to spend looking at each of its features.

Today in a new update, Google Maps has introduced a more prominent “Save to Offline” button.

Offline Maps
Credits: Google

There are some other major upgrades and changes introduced too like integration with Uber. Another good addition is Google Maps showing which lane to stay in before taking a turn. This will be a lot more useful to anticipate where exactly you need to watch out for the right or left turn.

Finally there are some smaller additions which will be useful for business like showing closing times (last call) and can filter places based on prices and even user ratings.

Google Maps is still vastly more popular and honestly as a user myself, I think it is vastly better than all alternatives out there. Google should be commended on investing even more time and energy than it did before despite its leadership role. But this might be mainly because Google Maps is a product that is hugely important to collect data of the real world around us that users generate.

The updates are rolling out today itself on both Android and iOS versions.

Posted on

OS X 10.10 to take center stage at Apple’s WWDC

Last year has been pretty huge for iOS, with major changes in interface, along with addition of lots of new features. Apple did release OS X Mavericks, but it wasn’t a huge update and iOS took all the limelight.

This year however, might be totally opposite. According to 9to5Mac, Apple is set to revamp OS X with 10.10 update, bringing it on par with iOS in interface.

OS X 10.10

Apple has been bringing iOS features to OS X for quite some time now. It started with Lion, introducing LaunchPad, Calendar and Contacts apps etc. In Mountain Lion, we have seen Notification Center, Messages app and more.

This is going to continue in OS X 10.10. Aesthetics of iOS 7 will indeed make their way into OS X.

But what’s important is, will Apple dumb down OS X, to make it appealing for iOS users? 9to5Mac says, power user features like Mission Control, Finder etc. will be left untouched. Unlike Microsoft, Apple has no intentions of merging the two operating systems and only wants to bring design consistency between them.

It will be really weird to see OS X in the neon colours of iOS 7 and the glyph icons, but I’m sure Apple won’t go that far. Surely, Jony Ive knows what people think about his design.

Webapps at iCloud.com, like Calendar, Mail, Contacts etc. give a pretty good hint at what the revamp could look like.

While we’re not sure how this update will turn out, it’s good to see OS X getting focus at WWDC after a long time. Of course, this won’t be the only thing releasing. iOS 8, Apple TV upgrade and the one more thing (iWatch?) are on list.

This year’s WWDC is set to start on June 2nd at San Francisco. Are you looking forward to the event? Tell us in the comments.