New 2-in-1 detachable device at MWC 2017 from HP

The new HP Pro x2 612 G2 is a versatile 2-in-1 detachable laptop, featuring multiple modes ideal for commercial use, including presentation mode, inking mode for taking notes, tablet mode for data collection, and notebook mode. 
"Today, more than 60 percent of Millennials work from more than one location and by 2020 they will be a majority of the workforce. They want sexy mobile devices that meet their on-the-go work styles and IT needs these devices to be manageable, serviceable and secure," said Michael Park, Vice President and General Manager, Mobility, Personal Systems, HP Inc. 
"Only HP is combining these amazing mobile form factors with the built-in security and vertical workflow capabilities with a lower total cost of ownership," Park said. 
The Pro x2 can be configured with a choice of the latest seventh generation Intel processors, providing reliable performance to meet a variety of end-user-needs. 
The Pro x2 includes a USB-C connection for quick charging and data transfers and USB-A for accessing traditional legacy peripherals. 
The device was built from the ground up for secure work environments and includes a built-in smart card reader, a removable SSD, and the HP Client Security Suite Gen3, along with an optional fingerprint sensor and optional Near Field Communications (NFC), HP said. 
HP also announced a range of new vertical workflow accessories for the company's x2 lineup and Elite x3 platform. 
These accessories are designed with versatility in mind, helping mobile professionals be productive and remain connected whether they are in the office or on the go, HP said.

Fight between Reliance jio and Airtel

 As we all know that Reliance Jio has come up with an attractive offer, Buy One, Get One Free. Under this offer, any customer who recharges with Rs. 303 will be getting an additional data of 5GB that is worth Rs 201 for free. Also, any customer who recharges their Jio number with Rs 499 and above will be getting an additional data of 10 GB that is worth Rs 301 for free. 

Bear in mind, the above offer is applicable only for Jio Prime numbers who signed up for the membership before March 31st, 2017 by paying Rs.99. Only first recharge made in April 2017 is eligible for these benefits, and the free data will only have one-month validity. 

The offer was earlier reported by TechPP today morning. Taking it further, we confirmed about the offers with Reliance Jio officials, and the reports have come out to be true. 

 In the battle for the best telecom network in India, Reliance Jio currently has an upper hand with its cost effective plans. The carrier ensured that customers are hooked on to its network with the initial “Welcome Offer” which offered unlimited 3G/4G data plus voice calls to all its customers. 

But now that the plan has concluded, Jio has announced an attractive paid plan which gives users 30GB of data for Rs 303 per month along with unlimited calling to all networks.

To avail this particular plan, customers will need to be members of Jio Prime, which costs a further Rs 99 per year. Customers will have to recharge for at least Rs 149 per month to keep their benefits in tact. 

Keeping this in mind, Airtel is trying to combat this with a new wave of plans of its own. There are currently two plans that have been announced by Airtel, one which costs Rs 149 per month and the other for Rs 349. Both plans have similar benefits, with the only differentiating factor being voice calls. 

With the Rs 149 plan, the network offers 15GB of 3G/4G data along with unlimited Airtel to Airtel calls. The Rs 349 plan, on the other hand, comes with the same data benefits plus unlimited voice calling to any network in the country. As you can see, this is not quite on the same pegging as Jio’s plans. However, considering that Airtel has a significantly better data network which spans across India, we're sure the customers won't mind the price difference much. Let us see what other networks will do to fight and win the war.

How to Book an Ola or Uber Using Google Maps

How to book an Ola or Uber via Google Maps:

Open the Google Maps app.
Using the search bar, enter you destination.
Tap the 'car icon' navigate button.
Tap on the taxi tab - the one that looks like a person holding one hand up.
To look at Ola and Uber fares, tap on the respective icons.
To book an Uber, tap on the class of car you want, then tap on Request.
The first time you do this, it will pop up a window where you have to link Uber to your Google account. Tap on your preferred account, and then tap on Link.
In the next screen, it will again show you the fare estimate. To complete the booking, tap Book.
To call an Ola instead, go to the Ola tab, choose the class you want, and then tap on Open app.
Assuming that you have Ola installed on your phone, this will open the Ola app, with the pickup and drop location already entered as it was on Google Maps. You can use the app as you normally would.
One thing we should point out is that there doesn't seem to be a way to unlink your Google and Uber accounts after you set this up - we've written to Uber to ask if it's possible, and will update this piece if and when we hear back from the company.

Fitbit Blaze

Fitbit has become a household name when it comes to fitness trackers and wearables in general - and not always for the right reasons. With affordable price points, the company behind some of the earliest fitness trackers to hit the market has consistently released well-received products.

However, there was also the kerfuffle over the Fitbit Force causing rashes, and later reports of the same issues in small quantities with the Charge and Surge iterations.

Regardless, Fitbit seems determined to push forward, and show everyone it still has some tricks up its sleeve. And now Fitbit feels that it's time to hit the smartwatch market, taking on the Motorola Moto 360 and the Huawei Watch with the Blaze.

But it has decided to do so without running Android Wear software. That makes it decidedly different from everything else out there, except the Samsung Gear Fit 2, which also straddles that fitness tracking and smartwatch line.

Fitbit Blaze price and release date

Announced in January 2016 at CES and released a few weeks later

Easily available now for $199 (£159.99, AU$329.95)

You can buy the Fitbit Blaze for $199 (£159.99, AU$329.95). That's the cheaper end of the smartwatch price scale, considering the likes of an Apple Watch 2 will cost you $369 (£369, AU$529) or more.

But this is still one of the more expensive Fitbit products, only just beaten for price by the $250 (£200, AU$350) fitness-focused Fitbit Surge . Plus the new Fitbit Charge 2 costs quite a bit less at $150 (£129.99, AU$250).

You may be able to get the Blaze a touch cheaper now it's a bit a older - take a look around for the best deal before you buy.

The Blaze is all about the fitness – after all, Fitbit does call this a 'smart fitness watch'.

Attractive UI in the app which is very easy to use

Works with almost all smartphones, but it's worth checking before you buy

If you've used a Fitbit product before, you know the app is one of the best things about owning one of its devices. The app makes the process of setting up the Fitbit Blaze simple, and presents you with a guide on how the watch works as soon as you download it.

When it's all set up, the Fitbit app will give you a huge variety of information. The main menu covers steps, heart rate, miles, calories, floors climbed and active minutes. You can compare past and present performance using daily, weekly or monthly charts.

Alcatel A5

The Alcatrel A5 puts a party in your pants that everyone can attend. The Light Show rear cover uses LEDs that can dance along with your music, alert you to notifications and color match to your games and photos. 

With the budget market increasingly competitive manufacturers are having to find new ways to stand out and Alcatel’s A5 is certainly doing something different – but does it work? 

The Alcatel A5 features a 5.2-inch HD display, octa-core processor, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of storage, 8MP rear camera, 5MP front camera with selfie flash and Android 6.  

The Alcatel A5 price has been confirmed as €199 (around $210, £170, AU$275) which makes it a rather attractive proposition. 

If that’s piqued your interest the Alcatel A5 release date for the UK and Europe is from May onwards, and we’ve also been told the phone will be coming to the US at some point in the future.

The Alcatel A5 doesn’t shy away from its budget credentials when it comes to design. It’s big, chunky and plastic, and picking it up it certainly doesn’t scream premium. 

That’s okay though, as at this price we can accept a solid plastic build. The A5 has a sturdy construction and the volume and power/lock keys on the right are easy enough to hit. 

There’s a headphone jack up top, while a microUSB port joins the internal speaker on the base. 

Considering one of the main selling points of the A5 is the ability for its LED cover to flash along to music we were disappointed by the low quality of the audio output from the speaker. 

Thanks to the added depth of the Light Show rear though, the A5 doesn’t sit as neatly in the palm as rival phones with a similar sized display and we found ourselves employing both hands when it came to testing out the keyboard. 

It’s the rear cover that’s the big talking point though, packed with LEDs which illuminate in five different colors in time to music, which notifications are received and during gaming sessions. 

It can also color match the key hues of your photos – we’re not overly sure why you’d want this particular feature, but it’s here anyway. 

This is all controlled by an app pre-installed on the phone, allowing you to toggle various features on and off. 

The lights are a nice touch, and are fun to watch for a bit, but we not sure whether the novelty will wear thin quite quickly, and what sort of hit the battery takes to light it up. 

The Alcatel A5 comes with a metallic black LED back-cover in the box along with a non-LED packed additional black or silver back-cover. 

The 5.2-inch HD display is clear and makes viewing images and text comfortable, but even at full brightness it failed to really pop, making things a little dull on screen.

The Alcatel A5 runs Android 6 Marshmallow, which isn’t the latest version of Google’s operating system. The hope is it will be updated to Android 7 later this year, but there’s no information on this currently. 

It’s not pure Android though, with Alcatel covering it in its rather heavy interface. It looks childish and doesn’t provide any real benefit to the user over the stock offering. 

While there’s an octa-core processor and 2GB of RAM under the hood, the A5 isn’t overly snappy when it comes to performance. Navigation around the phone is okay, but it lacks the zip of rival smartphones such as the new Nokia 5 and Moto G5 . 

The 8MP rear camera is also a little disappointing, with low image quality and a sluggish shutter meaning this isn’t a feature you’ll want to use all that often.

There is good news for selfie fans though, as the front-facing 5MP snapper is accompanied by its own LED flash, allowing you to take better lit pouts. 

Compare that to the latest Surface Book i7 in this price range and you’ll find that the Book One is only outdone in terms of graphics hardware.

In addition, it also matches the Surface Book i7’s 16GB of RAM and 512GB solid state drive (SSD). We’d be remiss not to pit these two head-to-head in a full review.

Running Windows 10 Pro as a touch-sensitive device, Porsche Design’s 2-in-1 is afforded all of the latest tricks, like Windows Ink. The company even built its own pen with Wacom that magnetically attaches to either side of the computer.

Other signature features, like Windows Hello, are set to appear on this machine as well via a 5MP infrared webcam.

As you can see, the specs and design pair up to tell a pretty convincing story, especially from a company that has never attempted such a device before. The price is quite a lot to swallow, but we’ll determine if it’s a balanced value when we test it in-depth for the full review.  

Samsung launches new tablets

               Samsung Electronics launched two new tablets on Sunday, marking its first major announcement since being forced to withdraw the flagship Galaxy Note 7 smartphone after some of the devices caught fire.

         The Galaxy Tab S3 and the Galaxy Book were presented at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, in past years the scene of major Samsung launches. This year, Samsung has postponed the presentation of the Galaxy S8, its next key device.
         Instead, it took the wraps off the Galaxy Tab S3 and the Galaxy Book, which comes in a 10.6-inch and a 12-inch version.

         The Galaxy Book will run on Microsoft Windows 10. The Tab S3 will have speakers by Harman-owned AKG, Samsung's first use of the brand since agreeing to buy Harman for $8 billion last year.

           Samsung withdrew the Galaxy Note 7 last October after faulty batteries led some devices to catch fire, leading to a loss of consumer trust, wiping out $5.3 billion of operating profit, and allowing Apple's iPhone to overtake it in sales.

       Samsung's smartphone market share dropped to 17.7 percent in the fourth quarter, while Apple's rose to 17.8 percent, according to market research firm Strategy Analytics.

         Samsung is expected to launch the S8 in April. In the meantime, dozens of device makers are launching new phones at Mobile World Congress, hoping to exploit the gap Samsung has left.

Jio offers announced. prime memberships starts.

                Kudo jio users.Reliance Jio announced the launch of its commercial operations  starting  from April 1st. The company also announced that it had crossed 100 million customers. As a token of appreciation for helping Jio test its network over the last few months, a new Jio Prime offer was announced for all existing customers. It's a win-win for existing Jio customers as well as Reliance .It offers Jio customers one more reason to continue using Jio. At the same time, Reliance Jio gets to tap in its pool of100 million customers and convert them into paid customers. 

            Jio Prime offer subscription can be availed for just Rs. 99 for the first year. The company is offering a range of plans, starting at Rs. 149 per month and going up to Rs. 9,999 per month. On the whole, as a Jio Prime subscriber, you will get  many ad ditional benefits and perks over regular Jio customers. 
            After almost 9 months of free services, Reliance Jio’s free offers and services will come to an end. Before reaching the start of the last month of the free services, the company recently announced its plan for existing Jio users. In case you plan to retain you Reliance Jio SIM, you will have to subscribe to one of the tariffs. To get the best services from your Jio SIM, you can subscribe to the Prime member ship 

          You can subscribe to Jio Prime membership starting March 1 onwards till March 31. Although Mukesh Ambani announced only one plan of Rs. 303 per month, you still have some other plans to choose.

         According to a recent report from Moneycontrol referring a CLSA note, Reliance Jio Prime members will also have additional plans. These plans are aimed to provide a long duration data allowance, including plans at Rs. 999 valid for 60 days offering 60GB of data, Rs. 1,999 valid for 90 days offering 125GB of data, Rs. 4,999 valid for 180 days offering 350GB of data, and Rs. 9,999 valid for 360 days offering 750GB of data. All the above plans come without the daily limitation on high-speed data. 

        "As per our discussion with channel partners and retailers, Reliance Jio has revealed more tariff plans under the "Jio Prime Program" that requires one-time membership charge of Rs 99 to be paid before March 31, 2017," said CLSA in a note.