LG Portable Speaker NP1540
Street Price: Rs 3700

When it comes to appliances, LG is one of the biggest name in India. In a last couple of years, it has been going good in the smartphone market too. For the Koreans brand, accessory business is the next step. So has its affordable product got what it takes to challenge the likes of JBL and Creative?

Design
On a first glance, LG's speaker looks a lot like the Play 360 speaker from Nokia. There's a big difference between the two though. The latter, as its name suggests, throws music in 360 degrees. On the other hand, the LG NP1540W is upward firing.

Due to its all plastic construction, the speaker only weighs in 370 grams. But yes, it feels too plasticky compared to the competition. Matte rubberised coating would have done the trick here.

The product also lacks detailing. The port and button alignment is slightly off at places. The speaker comes in black and white. The unit we received is white, which now looks off-white due to its tendency to attract dust.

Features
The portable speaker has a 2.8W output. It has Bluetooth radio and 3.5 mm jack. You can charge the speaker via micro-USB port. The speaker houses basic controls such Power, Volume, and Play/Pause buttons. If you have a pair of this particular model, you can set them as separate channels (Left and Right) using the dedicated key.

Setting It Up
The speaker starts beaming Bluetooth signal once you turn it on. You just have to discover it from your smartphone/tablet/PC and pair. And for some reasons, the speaker shows up as LGBT on your handset.



You can also use a 3.5 mm AUX cable to hook it up to your media player. I know I'm nitpicking, but the notification voice blurts out "disconnect" instead of "disconnected".

LG hasn't stuffed the speaker with features such as card reader and speakerphone, which is fine if you prefer simplicity over utility.

Performance
In terms of output, there's nothing to compare as far as the loudness is concerned. This speaker can easily fill a large room. However, powered by a upward firing driver, this speaker lacks the depth of sound. If you into 80s rock, you will find the bass to be muffled.

The speaker handles high frequencies well though. If you're into treble-heavy tracks, you won't complain much about the NP1540's output.

I know you can't expect impressive sound quality at this price tag. However, both the JBL Go and Creative Woof that cost less than Rs 2500 sound better than than LG's product.

Battery
The NP1540 charges with any smartphone charger that adheres to micro-USB standards. On a single charge, it plays around 4 and half hours of music before running out on juice.

Verdict
From a smartphone or refrigerator, LG makes promising products. However, the NP1540 portable wireless speaker does not live up to the quality expected from LG. The speaker is loud and lightweight. As mentioned earlier, it supports stereo mode in the dual speakers setup. That's an interesting feature, but rather buying two mediocre speakers for around Rs 7000 I would rather buy one that sounds good. So if you are hunting for a budget portable speaker, JBL Go still tops our recommendation list.

Rating: 2.5

Features: 3.5
Design And Build: 3
Performance: 2.5
Value: 3
Mojo: 2

While we did have a hands-on with the Lumia 640 at Microsoft’s launch event, we certainly did not notice that the new Windows Phone 8.1 Update 2 supports .mkv video files.

WindowsCentral noticed this and has even tested a couple of videos on their Lumia 930 running the Update 2 build and noticed that the phone supports MKV video natively.

This is impressive indeed and goes to show that Microsoft is slowly adding support for more video formats.

Most of you will say that CCPlayer (which is free for Windows Phone) already supports it. But it is indeed good to see that the native Xbox Video app, which was practically useless until now actually supports a format that is commonly used online.

As for the update itself, there is no confirmation about which devices will receive it. The source confirms that apart from the Lumia 640 and the Lumia 640 XL, only the 730 and 830 will be receiving it; leaving the rest out in the cold till Windows 10 arrives.

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Indian mobile maker Karbonn has come up with a new budget smartphone for Rs 4,590.

Dubbed as Karbonn Alfa A120, the smartphone comes with a 4.5 inch display screen which seems to be pretty common among the entry-level budget smartphones.

The Alfa A120 comes with a 5 MP rear camera with LED flash and a VGA front camera. It has 3G, WiFi, Bluetooth and GPS.

Also, one more key specification of the smartphone is the 3,000 mAh battery for the given low price of the device.

However, the other specifications include; 1.3 GHz quad-core processor, 512 MB RAM, Android 4.4 KitKat OS, 4 GB Internal Storage expandable up to 32 GB with a micro SD slot.

Having said about the specifications, it is also worth noting that the pocket friendly smartphone is yet to be listed on the company website but is available on e-commerce websites.

We all remember that in February this year, the company launched its Titanium Dazzle with support for 21 launguages. But, now, with the new Alfs A120, the support has been incsreased to 22 languages and also some multi gesture features have been included.

To conclude it, we feel the smartphone is pretty decent for the first timers and also it looks like the Alfa A120 would compete with Lava Iris X1 Atom and Intex Aqua Y2+ both of which fall in the same price segment.

While we have yet to get a glance at the complete list of Apple Watch apps out there, Microsoft with its latest update has also decided to add support for its PowerPoint iOS app.

Apple Watch support for its OneDrive service was only the beginning so it seems. The updated PowerPoint (v1.8) for iOS now supports the Apple Watch in a pretty rudimentary manner.

The update simply turns your Apple Watch into a detailed remote for presenting your PowerPoint presentations.

So you can now leave your iPhone aside, and control your presentation from your Apple Watch. And there are plenty of details as per the changelog as well.

You have the basic controls like Start, Pause, Next slide and for the Previous slide, but you also get details about the elapsed time, the current slide number and the total number of slides as well.

All-in-all a pretty handy addition if you happen to own the most talked about smartwatch that is currently not available in the Indian market.

Still then, it is good to see Microsoft innovating for platforms other than its own.

The company already has the best Office viewing and editing apps on any mobile device built specially for the iPad and iPhone (even better than the Windows Phone ones, until Windows 10 that is).

Oh how we wished Google felt the same way about the Windows Phone platform.

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As we all know Sony announced its Xperia Z4 smartphone flagship recently in Japan. The handset as we now know was built for the Japanese market only and while many Sony fans would love to own one, there is better news in the form of a rumour.

The rumour comes from Russia, stating that Sony is planning a launch for a global flagship as soon as May. This comes as a shocker, but as much as we liked the new Z4, the improvements were only skin deep.

So there are murmurs about this flagship handset that may launch soon, that it will sport the Quad HD display, that fans were hoping to see on the Xperia Z4.

Along with the display Sony is also expected to overhaul two other things, the physical appearance of the handset and the software (UX) in it.

While this is still a rumour, there is some fresh news about Sony’s smartphone designs as well.

The information comes from a leaked dump of files that was allegedly obtained from the recent hacker attacks on Sony’s servers.

Inside, there are images show Sony’s original concepts and ideas. Showing off never before seen designs for both flagships and mid-range smartphones (including a cool-looking alarm clock).

The ones above certainly looks refreshing and impressed us, although to expect something like this from Sony is indeed a dream for now as it would be a really big departure from its now boring OmniBalance design philosophy.

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Xiaomi has plans to announce a brand new global smartphone on the 23rd of April in Delhi, India. While the Chinese smartphone maker is busy pushing out teasers, leakers have been hard at work and have already uncovered this budget LTE beast.

The handset is called the Mi4i (which is where all the “i” teasers for the announcement fall into place) and will be a plastic-bodied budget LTE device.

While Xiaomi may have carefully planned the right hardware bits to battle the competitive market (that Xiaomi itself created) it is indeed a bit late. But not very late as its Redmi Note 4G is currently bearing the brunt from the rest of the competition.

Still then the leaked image shows off a handset similar to the Mi4 flagship, but made of plastic; that will deliver a smaller body compared to its Note series.

We also get a glimpse about its hardware specifications:

• Expect a 5 inch Full HD (1920 x 1080 pixels) display on the front
• Inside, we should have an octa-core, Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 chipset with 2 GB of RAM and 16 GB of internal memory (expandable)
• In the camera department one can expect a 13 MP primary camera with 5 MP secondary unit
• Apart from the usual radios and connectivity options, the dual LTE set-up will support a large number of LTE bands making it a truly global handset

Pricing hints at the sub Rs 15,000 range, which may indeed be a good deal considering the Full HD display and the smaller form factor (not everybody wants a phablet).

As of now this is just leaked out information, so we do suggest that you take this with a pinch of salt. Either ways, Xiaomi’s announcement takes place in two days so things will get official soon.

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Nokia is one company that somehow manages to make news even though it is not really coming up with anything new. Its recent accomplishments in the mobile space include the Z Launcher and the N1 Tablet that made waves during launch but now seemed to have died out.

Still then, today’s news is refreshing indeed. re/code managed to get a few snippets via inside sources and claims that the company is planning a big come back.

While its recent $16.6 billion deal to buy Alcatel-Lucent has nothing to do with this; it along with the recent rumours of Nokia putting its Maps business up for sale certainly got the attention of many.

It indeed goes to show that everyone’s interested when you are sitting with a portfolio of about 10,000 patents (Nokia Technologies).

[Also Read: Meizu MX Supreme Could Be Nokia’s First Android-Powered Smartphone]

And its not just the smartphone market that Nokia is planning to enter when its deal with Microsoft ends in 2016; it’s virtual reality as well.

Nokia’s way of making it to the surface (after its troubled past) gradually by licensing its software and entire products for other manufacturers to build, sell and support is smart; but a risky one.

Hopefully, we get to see a Nokia C1 powered by Android getting announced soon.

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Chinese smartphone maker indeed had a big announcement to make today, but this indeed was not related to the launch of the much-awaited OnePlus 2, but the OnePlus One itself.

The smartphone maker marked its first anniversary by announcing the sale of OnePlus One units without its much talked about invite system.

While many will rejoice that they will no longer have to beg online for invites, we are pretty sure the invite system is what made the OnePlus One such an exclusive device. After all you had to “earn it”.

OnePlus’ official blog post states that the OnePlus One will “forever” remain invite-free for purchase.

Now that everyone is waiting for the OnePlus 2 to be announced, sales for the One have clearly matured and the same can be said about the price tag as well.

Coming to the OnePlus 2, the company states that it will stick to the invite system during launch (whenever it is announced). This means that you will have to earn one, making it exclusive once again.

This is for reasons, as OnePlus states, will allow them to deliver better value to customers by sticking to razor-thin margins and production in control to keep up with demand and reduce risk.

Celebrating its one year anniversary, OnePlus also decided to throw a party by offering a 75% discount on OnePlus Flip Covers and Premium Screen Protectors for the next 24 hours.

The premium looking Bamboo StyleSwap covers will also be available with an invite till the supplies last.

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Windows Insider users will be in for a treat with their new build (10051) as the new Maps app that was available for PC Windows 10 Technical Preview users, is now also available for phone users.

The new app combines the power of Microsoft’s Bing Maps along with HERE Map’s offline sorcery, making it a pretty good combination. This we conclude because the app is based on the new Windows Universal app platform.

What this means is that if you were searching for a restaurant on your desktop running the Windows 10 Technical Preview, you will also see the same search results appearing in the app on your smartphone.

Even more interesting are support for new touch-based navigation. You can now pinch to zoom and tilt the map by scrolling with two fingers as well.

You also get the new hamburger icon for the hidden menus (a route that Microsoft is taking thanks to the plethora of features built into its universal apps) that makes in app navigation easier. Users will also get access to a richer database and more information about place.

Lastly, there is the universal search box, that comes up with suggestions as well along with offline maps along with 3D Cities for your viewing pleasure. Also introduced along with this version are Streetside Panoramas which again like every other feature is limited to your region (users in India will be lost as usual).

[Also Read: How To: Install Windows 10 On Your Lumia Smartphone]

All-in-all it is a great new app to try out provided your have the Windows 10 Technical Preview running on your device.

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