Tata Sky launches its 4K UHD set-top in India, to be priced at Rs 6,400 for new users

Tata Sky was the first Direct-To-Home (DTH) service provider which showcased the first 4K broadcast in India, during the Germany vs France tie at the World Cup 2014. On Saturday, Tata Sky announced the retail launch of this 4K UHD set-top box (STB) at Rs 6,400 for new subscribers and Rs 5,900 for existing subscribers.

Subscribers can buy a brand new 4K set-top box or use Tata Sky’s multi-TV connection option. Apart from 4K content, the STB can showcase SD as well as HD streams. You can pre-book the 4K STBs using the Tata Sky 24×7 helpline, Tata Sky website and through dealers.

Tata Sky 4K offers Ultra High Definition picture quality and Dolby Digital Plus 7.1 surround sound. 4K at 8.3 Megapixels (3840×2160) has approximately four times the pixels as that of 2K (1920×1080) the current HD standard.

With the ICC Cricket World cup beginning next month, the time is ripe for Tata Sky to capitalise on the 4K frenzy. In fact Tata Sky had showcased its first live 4K broadcast last year, during the football world cup.

We did a first hand preview of the live 4K broadcast, and came away impressed with the picture quality and overall 4K experience. Here is a gist of the experience: ‘This being the first ever 4K broadcast in India, naturally it had piqued our fancy. Tata Sky also had an HD broadcast as well as a standard definition (SD) broadcast on two different TVs on display as well. These TVs were surrounding the Sony 4K UHD TV. This immediately gave you an idea of the details being shown by the 4K broadcast vis-a-vis the full HD and SD broadcasts. Needless to say, the details were impressive. Naturally, since 4K (3840×2160) has four times the pixels as the regular full HD stream, that is expected. We were observing the 4K broadcast from a distance of around 20 feet and couldn’t really notice any kind of pixillation on the 4K broadcast. Having said that, we would have liked to see at least the HD and 4K broadcasts on similarly sized TV sets, as that would have given us a true idea of the quality difference.‘

Now it is just up to the TV channels to start offering 4K streams. We wonder what the pricing will be like for such channels. Tata Sky hasn’t mentioned any 4K-ready channels which it plans to start off with.

Mad Catz L.Y.N.X 9, a gaming controller that 'transforms' to suit you

Mad Catz announces L.Y.N.X 9 at CES which is more than a simple Android game controller.

Mad Catz has announced the L.Y.N.X 9, a new modular gamepad controller at CES 2015 which will work with your smartphone, tablet and your gaming PC as well. The controller is now available for pre-order for $299 (Rs. 18,900) from the Mad Catz website and will start shipping by March 2015.

The L.Y.N.X 9 is made mostly of metal and since it is a modular controller, the whole controller can be adjusted to your liking. The controller is made primarily for Android gaming and can accommodate up to a 7-inch Android and hold it in place.

The bundled app which comes with this controller lets you change the precision levels for individual sticks and triggers. It also has a built in mic which can used for calling or can be used for Google voice. The controller uses Bluetooth and Mad Catz claims that the rechargable battery on the controller will last 30 hours.

The controller can also be used with your Windows powered PC or laptop via Bluetooth, the only requirements being Windows 7 or above and the required proprietary software. You can also hook the controller to your HDTV via Play Big cables and mirror your device to your HDTV. And if you have an Onlive or Steam account, you can stream your games from your PC to the screen you desire.

Source: Mad Catz

CES 2015: Lenovo A6000 is a budget 4G smartphone for India

Lenovo has announced their most affordable LTE handset called the A6000 which will be available exclusively on Flipkart later this month.

After announcing a number of laptops, two new smartphones and a fitness band at CES, Lenovo has announced another smartphone. The A6000 comes in as the company's most affordable smartphone with an LTE radio and will compete against the upcoming Xiaomi Redmi 2S.

The smartphone comes with a 5-inch HD (1280×720 pixels) display, runs on a 1.2GHz Snapdragon 410 quad-core 64-bit processor coupled with 1GB of RAM and 8GB of expandable storage.The smartphone also features an 8MP rear camera, 2MP front-facing camera, dual-SIM card slots, dual speakers with Dolby Digital Plus technology and a 2,300mAh battery. The handset will run on Android 4.4 KitKat with Vibe UI 2.0 on top.

Lenovo has made the A6000 a Flipkart exclusive product and will be available starting this month itself. The price has been quoted as $169 (Rs.10,500) but hopefully we will see the handset come here at a lower price of somewhere around Rs. 7,000.

CES 2015: Fuhu goes big with 65-inch 4K Android tablet

Fuhu, a California based company has unveiled a range of tablets which go all the way from 32-inches to one with a gigantic 65-inch 4K display.

If you believe in living large, then you may want to feast your eyes on the Fuhu tablet range that runs Android OS. Announced at CES 2015, the company offers tablets in a variety of sizes including 32, 43, 55 and 65-inches which basically means you that you can replace your TV with a tablet.

The specs of the 32 and 43 inch models include 1080p resolution displays, Nvidia Tegra K1 processor, 2GB of RAM, a 2MP camera for video-conferencing, HDMI slot, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and NFC. The larger models will come with more powerful specs including an octa-core Nvidia Tegra X1 chip with a 256-core Maxwell GPU, 4GB of RAM and to make things sharper, 4K resolution displays.

The large tablets can be connected to various input devices such as controllers, keyboards and mice, to improve productivity and make them your primary entertainment hub.

These tablets will also have a big impact on your pocket. The 55-inch model is priced at $2,499 (Rs. 1,50,000), and the 65-inch will come for a massive $4,000 (Rs. 2,40,000). No price info has been released about the smaller models as of yet.

Source: FUHU

Nokia N1 sold out in China in 4 minutes

Demand for Nokia's latest device N1 seems to be high. The initial batch including 20,000 units sold out in just 4 minutes.

Nokia's comeback device – N1 – has seen an overwhelming response in China. About 20,000 unites of Nokia N1 went up for sale in China on Thursday, and were sold out in just four minutes and 20 seconds.

Interestingly, Nokia has also adopted the flash sale model to sell its devices in China – a model successfully deployed the likes of Xiaomi. Nokia will be holding another round of flash sale for the N1 in China on January 15.

Nokia's N1 has also been creating buzz for its impressive benchmark scores, thumping the likes of iPad Mini 3. In an AnTuTu and GFXBench tests, Nokia's N1 beat the iPad mini 3. In the T-Rex,  N1 scored 1,437 to 1,271, while in the 1080p T-Rex offscreen test the N1 got 1,691 frames while the iPad Mini 3 just 1,598.

Nokia had unveiled the N1 tablet in November last year. The tablet, priced at CNY 1599, roughly Rs. 16,286, features 7.9-mm display with a quad-core Intel Atom Z3580 64-bit SoC and unibody design, 8MP rear and 5MP front cameras and 32GB storage. Read: Nokia N1 Android tablet: All you need to know

Right now, there's no word on the availability of the N1 in other markets. But, we speculate the company will roll out the tablet in emerging markets including India soon.

Source: GSMArena