How to flash official Kitkat ROM for Canvas A120

I am using Micromax Canvas 2 Colors A120 (4GB ROM model). Today I updated my phone to Android Kitkat 4.4. It is not official update. I manually flashed this ROM. Below is the screen shot of my updated MMX C2C A120.

 My phone became smooth after updating it to Kitkat version. I feel heating problem has been slightly reduced after the update. I am not sure because I have used only for 5 hrs. 

 Bugs after updating:

I found one major bug. My internal storage is not getting detected in my PC while connecting via USB cable. However I can see internal storage in my phone in File Manager.

The other bug is I was able to record only 720p - 3gp format video. Previously I as able to record 1080p video.

So far I was able to see detect only this bug. Soon I will share the bugs after I found it.  

 How to update to Kitkat version

You need to download the following tools first to flash Android Kitkat ROM.

1. http://d-h.st/oef for sptools
2. http://singledrivers.blogspot.in/2014/05/micromax-a120-canvas-2-color-usb-driver.html?m=1 for drivers
3.  http://www.mediafire.com/download/ooke3prh5j36hde/S5501_KK_Agua_Rio_20140719_V0.0714475.zip for kitkat rom

1. Open SP tools
2. Click scatter loading
3. Select the scatter file from extracted ROM folder .
4. Then click frimware upgrade.
5. Then remove battery on your phone .
6. Then connect your phone via data cable .
7. Then flashing will continue automatically
8. Before opening SP tools you must install drivers and extract the ROM zip

Windows Phone Game: Tank invaders (RAM: 512 MB, genre: Strategy)

Tanks Invaders is voted as best mobile game in many Windows Phone gaming forums. This is a new strategy game Windows platform.

Publisher: Mgaia Studio 
Size: 48.96 MB (92.30 MB after installation) 
Price: Free 
RAM required: 512 MB minimum 
Compatibility: WP8

Here are three sentences to remember about that game: A wacky arcade game, boss fights surprising, intuitive touch-based shooting mechanics. Tanks Invaders, first developed and published by Studio Mgaia game has a simple and addictive concept. The game play? Tap cars and tanks that appear on your screen. In fact, cars (and sometimes tanks) scroll across your screen and you have to press them, and as quickly as possible. You must tap and, depending on the vehicle, a number will be set. For example, for a car, you have to press once on the screen. For a tank, twice, and so on.

When you tap the screen, you can launch a missile that destroys everything in its path. But since the game is 2D / 3D, you should not just rely on a car, stupidly. Depending on the speed of the vehicle, you must (mostly) just tap in front of it, since it takes a split second for the missile "triggers."

The game is pretty good and, even better; it also runs well on devices with 512 MB RAM. What more? The game (tested on a Nokia Lumia 520) works great on all devices, despite a little lag occasionally.

In short, Tanks Invaders is a mixing 2D / 3D game, offering a simple but original game play with unique and quirky spirit, giving access to many levels and some relaxation if you have time on your hands.

How to remove permissions?: Android app

APK Permission Remover is an application that allows you to modify APK or applications already installed on your Android phone, to remove their rights. Indeed, there are many Android applications that require the installation much more rights than they really need.

An app can have permissions like right to make calls, right to create accounts on your phone, right change settings silently, ability to read your text messages or access the list of your contacts etc.

APK with Permission Remover and not root, you can read about the list of permissions for and remove the application of your choice. Nothing complicated, and in the end, all you need to uninstall the original application and then install the new modified to have a clean app APK. However, beware of bugs. For example, I deleted a lot of rights to the Facebook application and in the end it did not want to start. Well, okay, but you have to go by trial and error.

APK Permission Remover is available in free version and paid version. The difference is that the pro version even frees entire components in the APK. Sometimes it's more effective.

Lock screen app for Window Phone by Microsoft - Live Lock Screen BETA

Microsoft came up with new lock screen app for Windows Phone users.

App name - Live Lock Screen BETA

Size - 4 MB

Minimum RAM required - 512 MB (Runs smoother in 1 GB)

Internet connection – Not required

Compatible - Only with Windows Phone 8.1

This App is still beta so there may be a few bugs. Microsoft said that it would require 1 GB of RAM. But it can be used on Phones with 512 MB of RAM.

Features:

This new lock screen app has six different theme. By default date, time and notification will be there in all themes. The position and style of date, time and notification changes in all the themes. 

Notification from social networking such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Microsoft Exchange can be viewed from the home screen.

This app slows down the performance in Lumia phone with 512 MB RAM. In 1 GB RAM Lumia phone this app work smoothly. If you have installed more app in your phone then obviously the your phone performance become slow.

Since the size of app is just 4 MB there won't be much RAM usage by this app. It is in beta version but it is good enough. I am sure with latest updates speed of this app gets improve. 

Window Phone app to get lyrics display along with music playback

To play song along with lyrics you can use Musixmatch app. This app can play song as well show lyrics. This is a free app available in Windows Phone store. This app is supported for all Windows Phone 7.5, 8 and 8.1. Even if you are having old Windows Phone you can install this app.

App name - musiXmatch lyrics player
Size - 9 MB
Minimum RAM required - 512 MB
Languages - Deutsch, English, Español (España, alfabetización internacional), Français, Italiano
Internet connection – Required to play lyrics

App features:

With this app you can find and sync lyrics to the musictracks you are playing in your mobile. There is no charge for this service. Ithas got over 7 million popular lyrics in their database. You can access the lyrics database for free. To do this you must be online every-time.

To use this app you need an active internet connection. Without internet connection many features won't work. You can share the lyrics to Facebook/message or Email to your friends. The app uses Windows Phone theme and it looks exactly like default music player in your phone.

It has dedicated search bar for searching lyrics. You can search lyrics by providing title or artist name or even any lyrics phrase that is in your mind.

Some lyrics are not available in this app. You don’t have option to copy/paste and run the lyrics. Added this feature will be more useful. Lyrics play only if you are in online. It doesn’t work if you are in offline mode.

If you don’t have active internet connection there is not point in using this app.

BlackBerry Z10 vs Z3 which is the best?

BB Z10, BB Z3                                       Image Source:Zing.vn

BlackBerry recently launched its new model Z3. It was priced close to BlackBerry Z10, just Rs.1000 less than the old one. The BlackBerry Z10 was a high end mobile and during the launch it was flagship mobile. Let's look at its current price.

BlackBerry Z3	BlackBerry Z10
Rs.15990	Rs.16990
Launch:Jul 2014	Launch: Mar 2013

Specification wise best - BlackBerry Z10

BlackBerry Z10 specification in too good compared to Z3. It has 2 GB RAM, 1.5 GHz clocked processor and 8MP rear camera plus front camera. 

On the other hand Z3 has 1.5 GB RAM, 1.2 GHz clocked processor and 5 MP rear camera. 

BlackBerry Z3	BlackBerry Z10
1.5 GB RAM	2 GB RAM
1.2 GHZ CPU	1.5 GHz CPU
5 MP Camera	8 MP rear + front camera

BlackBerry Z3 has big display

BlackBerry Z3 has 5-inch display and Z10 has 4.2 inch. However Z10 has higher resolution than Z3. Even in this section Z10 is superior. Overall the only advantage of BlackBerry Z3 over Z10 is battery backup and big display. 

Verdict

I visited many BlackBerry specialist website and all of them recommend Z10 over Z3. It seems Z10 is a high end device and for the price 16,990 it is a great deal. If you are concerned more about battery life then Z3 is the best which last for 1 and half days as per the report by Firstpost.  

How to take burst shot in Lumia 520 - Windows Phone

Brush shot feature is not available for Nokia Lumia 520. I tried this app named Blink which is good to take brust shot. Let see more about this app.

Blink download size - 3 MB
Runs in - Windows Phone 8.1 and Windows Phone 8
Price - Free
Link to download - http://goo.gl/8OVnNn

What this app can do

The primary feature of this app is to take burst photograph. It takes the photos while pressing shutter button and stops when you release it. It takes continuous photos while you are pressing shutter button. 

Blink app has face detection technology and so you face will be captured clearly. Image stabilization is good which helps you to take clear image. The chances of blur images are less due to its image stabilization technology. 

It has two modes: Blink mode and Still mode. With Blink mode you can edit the photos you took and with still mode you can capture the photo.

It can also take animated photos. It looks like flash post that you see in Google +. Animation photo is similar to the Cinmematograph app in Lumia handsets. 

Live tile has been included in this app and so the shortcut of this app look great. The Live tile of Blink will display the recently took photos. 

There is separate gallery for Blink. All the photos you caputured using Blink gets stored in My Blinks (Gallery). 

Now tutorial has been added to those who are not clear with the working. You can always refer the tutorial if you feel something as a pain area. Tutorial guides you to do all the stuff available in this app. 

Jolla phone - My price expectation in India

Jolla phone is developed by Nokia engineers who designed Mee Go OS. You might not heard this term as this phone is not so popular. This Mee-Go OS runs in Nokia N9 and below is the Nokia phone running Mee-Go OS.

Price - Rs.13,990

Jolla phone is going to share almost the same feature available in the above shown phone. It runs Sailfish OS which is upgraded version of Mee-Go OS.

Jolla phone price

Jolla phone is already launched in European countries - Swizerland and Norway. The price of the phone is 349 Euro which is Rs.28,527 in India. I hope it is not going to be the same price in India. 

Its Specification

Color
White "The Other Half"

Display
Ample 4.5" IPS qHD display
5-point multi-touch with Gorilla 2™ Glass

Camera
8 megapixel AF camera with LED flash
2 megapixel front-facing camera

Memory
16GB storage, 1GB RAM, MicroSD slot

Talk time & battery
9 / 10 hours (GSM / 3G approx.)
User-replaceable battery

Processor
Qualcomm Dual Core 1.4GHz

Connectivity
GSM/3G/4G LTE

Design & dimensions
Height: 131 mm
Width: 68 mm
Thickness: 9.9 mm
Weight: 141 g

What's included
Jolla with The Other Half in white
EU adapter (UK adapter not included)
USB cable
Quick User Guide
Warranty leaflet

My price expectation in India

Considering the current situation, if they launch this mobile for Rs.20K I am sure many won't go for it. This phone is comparable with Motorola G, Motorola E, Mi 3, BlackBerry Z3 and Lumia 525. Comparing this phone with Nokia makers Lumia 525 seems to be fair. I want this phone to be priced Rs.7,999. They can exclude 4G feature and reduce the internal storage to 8 GB. 

Hitman Blood Money run in Core i3, 2GB RAM and needs no graphics card

I love to play third person shooter games. Hitman Blood Money is one such game. It is stealth action genre. I bought this game from Flipkart and I was excited once it started in my laptop. I thought Hitman Blood Money won't be compatible since my laptop has minimum configuration in this generation. My configuration are as follows

RAM - 2GB
Processor - Intel Core i3 (2nd Generation)
Chipset - Mobile HM77 Express
Clock speed - 2.2 GHz

It is literally a low end configuration in this generation. My laptop doesn't have graphics card.

I am posting this because I tried installing this game in my Pentium 4 desktop. It got installed  and I am not able to launch it. I know this is tad late posting about this game. But still it is one of the bestseller game and you can buy it from online store.

Hitman Blood Money game review

Maybe it was an old game but still it has good graphics more than I expected. It has many missions as you had in old Hitman games. There will be a short briefing and after that you can access weapon inventory and start the mission. The new version has adopted story version where one man will be describing about Agent 47 (Hero) to other and we will be playing the story. It just like a man describing about a skills of an underworld Don.

The story boost you to play furiously. In this game you need to complete a mission in single shot. If not the mission will start from first. Saves are allowed but they are temporary. 

Tips 

This game is very easy if you plan well. First check the map and locate the enemy. Then plan your way. Upgrade Silverballer gun and carry only this gun with you. You don't carry other weapons because you can't hide them. First upgrade in Silverballer gun is silent mode, so even if you kill your enemy other enemies won't get alert.

Look for the tension meter. If tension meter gets red then kill any enemy and use their clothes. Drag the killed enemy to a hidden place. 

How BlackBerry Z3 is superior to Android in its price range?

BlackBerry Z3 is launched and available for sale. It is clear that this mobile has got mixed reviews. As usual users compared the Z2 with Android phone in its price range and they might have seen Android phone got bulky hardware. I appreciate Android phone hardware offers but here are some facts that makes BlackBerry superior.

Quality

Android phone in Rs.15,000 has great quality but BlackBerry is premium. BlackBerry Z3 look more stylish than any other phone in this price range. It has LED notification in its front panel whereas Android phone priced above Rs.30K have this feature. It may be a small thing but it make a lot of difference when you see others having a phone with LED notification. 

BlackBerry Z3 doesn't have any physical or soft keys. The OS is very different and you can do all the things using touch. It means you are going to make use of full 5 inch display for navigation instead of 3 small soft keys. It may be little harder for first time user, once you get to know how it works then it is lot easier than Android. 

Messaging made easy

BlackBerry Z3's keyboard has been tweaked and it offers suggestions in very useful way. The keyboard is really awesome and you no need to type letter by letter to get accurate suggestions. For example: If you type the letter H first then it shows 'Hi' above the letter I, 'He' above the letter E. The suggestions are placed above the next possible letter. In Android it shows suggestions but it shows all the possible and it takes time to select the one you want. 

Texting now became the basic need of smartphone. Things are made easier in BlackBerry Z3 in this area increase you user experience. 

Get all message in single place

BlackBerry Z3 has an inbuilt app, BlackBerry Hub. In this place you will get all the social network, messages and email updates. You no need to launch separately for each app. So you get you office email, personal email, WhatsApp chat, SMS all in one place. It is really convenient and increases your productivity.In Android you will get only the latest notification and to review it again you need to launch the app. In BlackBerry Z3 you get notification and if you want to review it again then you can check BlackBerry Hub. 

This feature is very useful for those who maintain several accounts and get many messages. It also has filter option which shows you only the important message from all accounts (email, social network and SMS) depending on your activity. 

You can reply to any messages just from the option available in the HUB. 

Other facts

I would like to add it is very fast and responsive. It is able to multi-task 4 apps at a time with great speed. The OS itself is well designed and with simple swipe movements you can access all the apps. Most of the apps will be related to communication and they all gets equipped under BlackBerry Hub. You don't have to go home every time and swipe four to five times to search and launch app as you do in Android phone. They optimized the OS to run in the given hardware and so don't confuse yourself by comparing BB Z3 hardware with Android hardware. If you are able to afford the price then you will surely enjoy this phone. 

Asus Zenfone 5 VS Motorola G - specification comparison

Asus now came up with new series 'Zenfone'. Among the series, Zenfone 5 targets 10,000 rupee price cap. Currently the only bestbAndroid phone in 10K category is Moto G. But this new phone from Asus seems to
be a threat to Moto G.

Price of Asus Zenfone 5 – Rs.9,999
Launch date – July 2014
SIM – Dual SIM
Display – 5 inch

Moto G’s current price is 12K, which is costlier than Zenfone. If you look at the Zenfone 5 specs you may think Moto G is nowhere near to this phone.

Hardware Specs

Big display

The Zenfone 5 has 5-inch IPS display which is larger than the Moto G’s 4.5 inch display. The new phone has a facility for readers called reading mode. Obviously 5-inch display phone will be cool for reading books. This reading mode will enhance you experience while reading in this phone.

More RAM

Zenfone 5 comes with 2GB RAM, yes you are reading correctly. It has Intel’s Atom processor and the clock speed is 1.2 GHz. Whereas Moto G has 1GB RAM, quad core Snapdragon processor with same clock speed.

The image shows the scores of AndEBench CPU benchmark. It uses Intel processor mode Z2580 and it scored higher than Qualcomm, Mediatek and old Intel Atom version.

More camera MP

Zenfone has 8MP camera which can take good photos even in low light using Pixelmaster technology. Moto G had 5MP camera with standalone camera app. However the image quality of Zenfone is superior when compared to Moto G. With Zenfone’s camera you have provision to record 1080p videos which
is maximum HD video a phone can capture. This facility is not available in Moto G and it is limited to 720p. There are cameras that record 4K resolution video but for a budget phone 1080 is the max.

Has expandable storage

In addition to the internal storage of 8GB, Zenfone has expandable storage that supports upto 64GB. Moto G doesn’t have expandable slot with it. However it has same internal storage of 8GB.

More slimmer

Zenfone is looks slimmer than Moto G. It has grippy concentric circle design on its front and matte finish on its back panel. Both phone weighs almost same but Zenfone looks slimmer when viewed through our bare
eyes.

Image Source - Asus official site

How to open .msg file without Outlook?

I usually get this .msg file from my company. To open it you need to have Outlook or similar client configured in your system. Double cliking on it will directly open Outlook in your Windows system. If you have Outlook configured this .msg format gets opened.

To view .msg file you no need of any third-party software. I have found a website which opens .msg format file for you. The good thing is it will open even in your office as it is a encrypted (https) website. Below is the link to open .msg format files.

Link -
https://www.encryptomatic.com/viewer/

To use this online .msg viewer you must download the .msg file in your system. Open the above link in new tab. Click browse and select the .msg file. Within a second it will display the msg for you.
.msg format

It is acutally the format of Outlook mail message. This is developed by Microsoft. Any email received in Outlook or any email you create gets converted to .msg format. It is actually a text file. There are few offline program to open this format. Below I have give platform wise.

For Windows
Microsoft Outlook 2013
Encryptomatic MsgViewer Pro
BitDaddys Email Open View Pro
EZ Freeware Free Opener

For Mac OS
Kupon.BG Klammer
45RPM MailRaider

For iPhone
Kupon.BG Klammer 3

It is better to use Encryptomatic website as it not a platform dependent. You can you this website to view .msg format in any device like Linux, Android, Blackberry, Nokia X etc.

AMD's new processor with 12 cores competes Intel Core i7

AMD has come up with a new product Kaveri (mobile version) APU. They already had a desktop version Kaveri APU. They showcased the mobile versoin in Comptex Taiwan 2014. Now they claim that Kaveri mobile version can compete Intel's Core i7 processor.

This mobile processor shares the same architecture of its desktop version. This chip holds both CPU and GPU in it and it is the first time to have both. It features Radeon R7 series graphics card. AMD plans to use this chipset in mobile and tablet platform.

This chipset is designed in such a way that some computing task can be handled by GPU instead of CPU as it happens in traditional chip-sets. Transferring the tasks to GPU will improve the overall efficiency of the chipset.

The AMD Kaveri has 12 cores - 4 cores for CPU and 8 cores for GPU. It is designed to support 4K resolution video output. Since the number of cores is more it is expected to give good batter backup for 9.3 hours.

The company planned to launch nine version of Kaveri chips. Three versions from A-Series, three from ULP and three from Pro SKU. The Prox SKU versions will target commercial applications. As usual AMD compared their chipset with Intel Core i7 and proved theirs is 50% faster in graphics processing. However it seems to be less energy efficient than Intel Core i7. AMD has already tied up with popular OEMs like Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, Lenovo, Samsung and Toshiba.

Official Source - http://community.amd.com/community/amd-blogs/amd/blog/2014/06/04/mobile-kaveri-apu-brings-steamroller-graphics-core-next-and-hsa-innovations-to-notebook-fans

How to retrieve files stored in old hard disk and floppy disk

Old computers were replaced when Windows came into existence. Before Windows, products from Appple like Apple I, Apple IIe were popular. There may be few users with Apple disks in their attic. You might wonder is it possible to know the content on those disks.

These days we mostly use memory sticks and optical drive. So it is very hard to retrieve the contents of the past. Only if you have old working Apple computers you can retrieve the content.

Most of them won't have the old Apple computer. Luckily, there are services which help you to get the content from the Apple disk. They charge you a little fee for their service. This service is provided by
RetroFloppy, a online service.

This is how it works- First you need to send the physical disk to RetroFloppy. They will retrieve the data from the disk and send it through email. You can get back your floppy from them. You might be looking for a word or some files with old formats. There were so many formats for a simple text file. They need a lot of tool to get the contents from old text files.

The charges depends on the number of disk you send. There is discount for more disk you send. They currently support disks came from Mac, PC, Commodore, Apple II, Kaypro and CPM.

They charge you $7 for one 5.25 or 3.5 inch disk and $19.95 for one 8 inch disk and $40 for old hard drive. If you have many disks, say 20 then you would qualify for a discount.

You can send the physical disks through mail once you agree upon a price. You can make payment via PayPal or send in a check. For more details visit retrofloppy.com.

Sony Walkman NWZ-W273 sound quality review

Sony Walkman NWZ-W273 is new water proof MP3 player. Its main target is swimmers. Using this MP3 player you can listen music even in swimming pool.

Later on, people migrated from MP3 player to smart phones. However the biggest enemy of smart phone is water. There are few smart phone with water proof but they are priced way too high. This make NWZ-W273 a feasible solution.

Using this MP3 player one can swim 6 feet deep without causing damage to the MP3 player. It has wrap around design as the old models had.

Technically, NWZ-W273 has 4GB of storage space. In this space you can store up to 900 songs. Simple mathematical calculation shows 4GB is enough to load one month music.

This small device is able to deliver a great sound which is more than I expected. It is loud enough plus without any distortion. It is not just a shuffler, here you can choose desired song with the help of voice command.

Materials used in this MP3 palyer are sturdy and can withstand wear and tear.

Verdict

It is a best choice if you are annoyed with wires while jogging. It is worth paying Rs.6000  for this device. I would say it is a best alternative to iPod Nano with no compromise in quality.

Improve speed, battery and heating problem in Micromax Canvas Colors using Epic ROM

Micromax Canvas Colors has some issues like low RAM memory, heating problem and battery draining overnight issue. My main concern is to improve the RAM memory. I saw there are many ROM's available for MMX Canvas Colors but EPIC ROM caught my eye. In the description of the Epic ROM I found it give 650+ free RAM memory in broad letters. This is what I expect. Also, those who are looking for Stock ROM, it is great that Epic uses Stock UI.

The download and installation procedure will be found in XDA froum. Below is the like

Link - http://forum.xda-developers.com/android/development/rom-canvas-2-colours-a120-free-ram-t2809295

Changes I found after installing EPIC ROM

The size of this ROM is very less (295mb) and the system files occupy very low memory. It allows you to have more third party apps of your choice. The major change I was able to see is all system apps from Micromax were removed and it has stock Android user interface. I won't use Micromax default apps and it is good to see they were gone. I never noticed improvements in my battery backup, maybe it was because I was running background app all the time. 

Verdict

If you are concern is RAM, then this is the best ROM I experienced so far. I recommend this ROM if you are looking to improve the speed of you phone. 

How to run iOS app in Android phone?

Cider is a new app using it you can install and run iOS app in Android. It is a upcoming app currently under development. The motto of this app is to break the operating system barrier. Developers claim that using their app users  can access whole Apple store and install their apps. This app has some issues like iOS apps are running a bit slower on Android phones. There are issues in performance. They also found that this app conflicts with Bluetooth and GPS which make them not to work. Cider developers reported that it is a prototype and there is no plans to make it public.

So the catch here is iOS apps can be installed and run in Android phone. Sooner or later some developers will develop iOS apps for Android.

This reminds me using Wine application in Linux to run Windows software. Using Wine application you will able to run some of the Windows software in Linux. Because of some copyright Wine is not able to support all Windows software.