In the News

Microsoft has launched the large screen variant of the Nokia X, Android-based smartphone, Nokia XL in the Indian market. The phone is available on the official Nokia online store at a price of Rs 11,489. Nokia XL sports a 5-inch screen, 768MB RAM, 5MP auto-focus camera with LED flash on the back and 2MP front camera. Powered by a 1GHz dual-core Snapdragon processor, Nokia XL offers dual-sim functionality, access to 3G networks and a display resolution of 800x480p. Nokia offers a 4GB microSD card free with the phone. Nokia XL runs on a ‘customized’ version of Android and does not offer access to Google apps and services and the Google Play Store.

The article presents a review of Lumia 630. Nokia carries on with the cheerful theme, with five bright colour options for the back panel, each with the soft feel finish that helps with the grip. Not a unibody design, so the battery is accessible, but the quality of construction and plastic used stands out in this affordable phone. Windows 8.1’s biggest visual change is the integration of the three navigation keys within the user interface or UI. The lack of any touch-sensitive keys below the display gives the Lumia 630 a clean look on the front. The proper notifications system is a welcome feature, and can be accessed by swiping down from top, even within most apps. The on-screen keypad has been given a slight tweak as well, and the keys are a tad wider.

Most of the opening keynote for Microsoft TechEd 2014 focused on new and upcoming features and capabilities for Azure, Microsoft’s cloud platform. The one thing that impressed me most, though, was the demonstration of Office Graph and the value of ‘Oslo,’ a standalone app Microsoft is currently developing. Microsoft initially showed off Oslo at the SharePoint Conference back in March. The app is basically a front end for Office Graph built to display or “surface” in Microsoft parlance relevant information. Office Graph already knows what meetings are on your calendar, who is presenting, where on the network the presentation is stored, and who you’ve been communicating with regarding the event.

In an interview, Anshu Mor, Director – Interactive Entertainment Business, Microsoft, spoke about Xbox One plans for India, Kinect voice support in India and entertainment content on Xbox Live. He said, “Xbox One launches in September. We don’t have a date to announce yet. We intend to announce that soon, but September stays. We’re trying to do it as fast as possible. I know we’ve said that we would come back with more information in April. That got delayed a bit, but now we’re trying to quickly fix a date when we can make the announcement. We want to make a comprehensive announcement, rather than just say, ‘Here is the date’. We intend to come with a date, a price, features, bundles all the information required for the launch together.”

Microsoft has decided it will sell its Xbox One gaming console without the Kinect accessory starting from June. This will help Microsoft bring the price of the Xbox One down by $100 to $399.99, which would help it compete better with rival Sony’s PlayStation 4, which retails at $399. Microsoft has revealed that the Xbox One will be launched in India sometime in September. It will be interesting to see the price of the console, especially since the PS4 was launched for Rs 39,990.

Microsoft has today finally announced the subscription rates for its Office 365 Personal service, which is meant for an individual user and can be installed on one desktop including a Windows PC or a Mac, one tablet and one smartphone. A user can subscribe to the Office 365 Personal service for Rs 3,299 for a year or can go for a monthly subscriptions priced at Rs 330. With the Office 365 Personal, a user gets access to Microsoft services including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, Publisher and Access. In addition to that Microsoft is offering an additional 20 GB of cloud storage for a subscriber to the personal service.

Microsoft Hyderabad today announced the successful roll out of the third edition of TOFFEE (Total Offence Free Entity), a traffic awareness initiative organised by the company’s employees in association with the Cyberabad Police. DCP (traffic-Cyberabad) Avinash Mohanty and DCP (traffic-Hyderabad) Shyam Sundar, announced that TOFFEE will be valid all over Hyderabad city as against only Cyberabad Commissionerate limits (till now) from this year. “The partnership between the Cyberabad Traffic Police department and Microsoft has significantly improved traffic and road safety conditions in the Cyberabad region. In 2012, together with Microsoft, we helped WiproBSE -1.85 % roll out this program for their employees. This year, we would like to see more companies come forward and replicate TOFFEE,” Mohanty said.

At a Nokia event last week, many known faces from the company introduced themselves as Microsoft employees. It was, in a way, a clear statement of the fact that the future of the Finnish phone giant was now captive to the plans of its new master from Redmond. This alliance is also a great opportunity for Nokia to regain its place at the top of Mount Mobile Phone and for Microsoft to finally become relevant in the conversation about smartphones and mobility. With the launch of Windows 8.1, Microsoft has also tied up with Indian manufacturers like Micromax and Lava to offer affordable devices. This opening up of the platform will take Windows Phone to different users who have not yet experienced Windows Phone.

Microsoft has released a security update for the Internet Explorer to close the vulnerability gaps. In a blog post yesterday, Adrienne Hall, general manager, Trustworthy Computing, Microsoft has said that the update has gone live already. “If you are like most people, you have automatic updates turned on, and you’ll get this new update without having to do anything. If you haven’t turned on automatic updates yet, you should do so now. Click the “Check for Updates” button on the Windows Update portion of your Control Panel to get this going,” she said.

India has some of the world’s best developers and they have huge advantage over start-ups in other countries, believes Microsoft, engaged in developing, licensing and supporting a range of software products and services. Joseph Landes, General Manager, Developer and Platform Evangelism, Microsoft India, said, “Indian start-ups have huge advantage over start-ups in other parts of the world, because the core of the start-up is about technology. India has some of the best developers in the entire world. So when we get a start-up and see the ingenuity to take up something from an idea and bring it into a product, I think we (India) have a big advantage over developers in other parts of the world.”