Asus Zenfone 2, unveiled earlier at CES 2015, is all set to enter the Indian market next month. According to androidpure, the company will launch the device in the country in April. The The Zenfone 2 will be sold sans flash sales or invite-only basis on Flipkart, says the company. Looks like, the company is taking a dig at smartphone makers such as Xiaomi, OnePlus and Micromax Yu.
In terms of specifications, the Asus Zenfone 2 sports a 5.5-inch full HD display. The device has 72 per cent screen-to-body ratio. The rear side of the Zenfone 2 is rounded in a way that it is thin around the edges and is at its thickest in the center region on the rear side. The rear cover comes with a brush metal finish. A power button is located at the top and the volume rocker at the rear side, making the edges as thin as 3.9mm.
It is powered by a 64-bit Intel Atom processor codenamed Z3580 which is clocked at 2.3GHz. The Zenfone 2 comes with a whopping 4GB of RAM. It will be available in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB storage variants and has an option to expand the memory via a microSD card slot. Apart from this, users will also get 5GB of free Asus web storage.
The Zenfone 2 comes with a new version of the Zen UI that is built atop Android 5.0 Lollipop. On the camera front, it sports a 13MP rear camera with f/2.0 aperture and 5MP front facing camera. It features Real-Tone flash to ensure warm skin tones and accurate colours.
In terms of connectivity, the device supports HSPA, 4G LTE Category 4 (FDD and TDD), WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC, micro USB, GPS/A-GPS, GLONASS and USB OTG.
It has a 3,000mAh Li-polymer battery along with fast charging technology. The phone is available in five colours namely Osmium Black, Sheer Gold, Glacier Gray, Glamor Red and Ceramic White.

Android Device Manager, launched in 2013 to help users locate and secure their Android devices, now comes to Android Wear.
“Misplaced your Android phone? No problem! Android Wear connects your phone to your wrist, and together with Android Device Manager, you can make sure it stays that way,” Google says in the official Android blog.
To start using the new feature, Android Wear usershave to simply say ‘Ok, Google. Start. Find my phone’. They can also select the ‘Find my phone’ option from the Start menu. The phone will then ring at full volume, helping you find your device.
Moreover, you don’t need to update the device in order to enable the new feature It will start rolling out to all Android Wear devices over the next few weeks.
Google has been sprucing up the Android Wear experience further, ever since Apple announced its highly anticipated Watch lately. Just ahead of the Apple Watch launch, Google released its new ad. According to a report by TheVerge, Google also plans to enable Wi-Fi and gestures with its next Android Wear update. Among the long list of features showcased for the Apple Watch, one of the highlights is support for Bluetooth as well as Wi-Fi.
Here’s everything you need to know about the Apple Watch. Though India is not among the list of countries to get the Watch next month, it is likely to launch here by June-July for a price over Rs 30,000.
LG had introduced the AKA smartphones, aimed at young users, in South Korea last year in November. Now, the company has announced the first overseas roll out of its fun and customizable smartphone starting in Hong Kong next week followed by China, Taiwan, Singapore and Turkey. These phones have received positive feedback and healthy sales due to their originality and fun element.
LG’s AKA smartphones are available in four ‘personas’ namely Eggy (Yellow), Wookie (White), Soul (Blue) and YoYo (Pink). According to LG, the characters’ personalities are an integral part of each phone as they are woven into wallpapers, widgets and ringtones. To make these phones more palatable to the global consumers, LG has added an emotional UX element to AKA. A unique UX feature included is the Art Toy figurine, which can be digitised and integrated into the phone’s user experience.
LG has also collaborated with TUBA Entertainment, the creators of the popular Larva animated series, to produce a new series called Rotary Park. The first episode of Rotary Park will debut tomorrow on YouTube.
Juno Cho, President and CEO of LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company said in ablog that, “AKA is the first smartphone that gives owners a blank canvas to express their own personalities via a customized user experience.” He added that, “AKA is about being creative and never losing sight of the things that make us young and interesting. This is a whole new direction in smartphone UX and we’re excited about where it may take us.”
In terms of specifications, the device features a 5-inch HD IPS display which is powered by a 1.2GHz quad-core processor along with 1.5GB RAM. It gets an internal storage of 16GB that can be expanded further (unknown capacity) via a microSD card slot. On the camera front, expect an 8MP rear snapper with laser auto-focus and 2.1MP front facing camera.
The phone is powered by a removable 2610mAh battery and runs rather older Android 4.4 KitKat. The connectivity options include 4G LTE , Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC, A-GPS and USB 2.0.
The device measures 138.7 x 71.9 x 9.9mm and weighs 135.5 grams without front slide cover and 157 grams with the slide cover. Read our review about AKA here
Baselworld 2015: Please make it stop, make it stop....
Will.i.am Puls Gucci edition goes live
The standalone wearable, which looks to be a touch different in design to the original Puls, has call functionality, can send and receive texts or emails, navigate, track your activity and give you calendar notifications. That's the promise, at least.
The original Puls hasn't exactly reviewed well.
Under the headline, "Will.i.am's Puls: This is what a wearable nightmare looks like", Mashable described the device as: "the most uncomfortable and most frustrating wearable" and claimed the user interface is a "nightmare".
"The Puls is a lesson in how not to design a wearable," the review concludes. "In no way is it worth $400. If Will.i.am's intent was to make a house arrest anklet for your wrist, then congrats because the Puls looks and feels like one."
Oh dear.
Wareable learned that a second generation Puls, one that is 40% smaller than the one on sale now, was scheduled for launch in February or March 2015. Let's hope this is it. We don't need another one.
TAGGED Smartwatches
Company puts its money where its mouth is to promote new platform
Pebble Time smartstraps boosted by pledge.
The Pebble Time smartwatches boast a smart accessory port, allowing developers to build sensors and smartstraps which add extra functionality. Think of the Blocks smartwatch, currently in development, and you get an idea of the potential here.
Hands on: Pebble Time Steel review
Pebble has pledged $1m to help fund ideas and "encourage the development and commercialization of smartstrap projects". It will back any startup Kickstarter campaigns it deems worthy and is asking for devs to pitch them ideas directly on Twitter. It's all very web 3.0.
"We truly understand the value of backing projects in their early state, having started that way ourselves," read an update on Pebble's Kickstarter page.
"From there, we expect many projects to evolve into products fit for wider release. Not every single project will get funding from Pebble; we'll use our best judgment to support the most promising and innovative projects."
best pebble smartstrap
The company has highlighted a couple of ideas already floated that it likes the look of as well. The Xadow modular smartstrap system (above) adds modules that pack the likes of NFC, GPS, heart rate sensors and even OLED displays.
Read this: The best Pebble apps
The Spark.io concept (below) uses the Spark Electron to untether a Pebble and connect it directly to a mobile network.

What kind of concepts would you like to see for future smartstraps? And what would be your must-have feature? Let us know in the comments below.
TAGGED Pebble