Nexus 8 running Android 4.5 to launch in July:

Nexus 8 running Android 4.5 to launch in July: 





 Google is reportedly working on an 8-inch Nexus tablet that will run Android 4.5, the next iteration of Google's mobile operating system. 

According to a report by Android Geeks that cites a Google Dublin employee as source, Android 4.5 will be introduced in July along with a new tablet, the Nexus 8. The source said that Google's I/O event which is scheduled to take place on June 25-26, will only focus on services. 

It also added that Google will stop making a 7-inch Nexus tablet, due to increased competition in the segment. 





Earlier, a Digi Times report that cited a Taiwan based source had said that Google will launch an 8-inch Nexus tablet at the end of April with "initial shipments of two million units." The same report had also suggested that the tablet would be made by As us, the OEM which makes the Nexus 7 tablet for Google. 

The Nexus 8 tablet would compete with Apple's iPad mini, Samsung's 8-inch Galaxy Tab and LG G Pad.


Google is reportedly working on an 8-inch Nexus tablet that will run Android 4.5, the next iteration of Google's mobile operating system.

Bhutan turns to Nissan electric cars to help cut oil imports

Nissan Motor Co has struck a deal to supply its Leaf electric car for taxis and government use in Bhutan, it said on Friday, as the Himalayan kingdom seeks to cut expensive oil imports.

Bhutan regards environmental protection as a priority, but while it exports clean hydro-electricity to India, the proceeds are wiped out by the oil it imports to power its vehicles.

The country - home to about 740,000 people - will seek funding from international agencies to help pay for the Leaf cars, Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay said.

Nissan did not disclose how many cars the deal would involve or how much they would cost. In the firm's home market of Japan, the Leaf costs from around $29,300 without subsidies

Other car makers, including India's Mahindra & Mahindra and Tesla Motors Inc are seeking to bring their electric cars into Bhutan's tiny auto market.

Mahindra Reva, the electric car unit of Mahindra & Mahindra, is expected to launch its e2o car in the country next week.









"I see Bhutan as a great showcase for emerging markets wanting to go this road," Nissan Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn told Reuters in an interview in Bhutan's capital Thimphu.

Bhutan adopted a mantra in 1979 that a happiness index, rather than orthodox economic indicators, was a better way to measure national progress and the protection of its rich environment is a cornerstone of that.










In developed markets, electric vehicles have been slower to take off than some had expected.

Ghosn pushed back by two to three years an initial target for Nissan and its alliance partner Renault SA to sell a combined 1.5 million electric vehicles by the end of March 2017. As of November, the two companies had sold 120,000 electric vehicles over three years.

HP Slate 6 Voice Tab review: Good design, average performance

Over two years after HP - a company we all know for its desktops and laptops - killed Web OS, it is taking another stab at the smartphone market. But this time HP is doing it with Android. The company today formally launched Slate 6 and Slate 7. Both are part of Voice Tab series, which means they support 3G connectivity and you can make calls using them. Both are first launching in India and are created keeping in mind the needs of customers in developing market.

We have Slate 6 with us for review today. It is a phablet with 6-inch screen and is meant for consumers who like to have one device through which they can make calls as well as enjoy web browsing, video playback and games on the large screen.

In India, the phablet category is quite crowded. Almost all phone makers have at least one phablet - a phone with a screen size of more than 5-inch - in the market. Can HP match or surpass the existing phablets with Slate 6?

Dive in for the answer.

Sleek and with a touch of gold
Getting the design of a phablet right is not easy due to its size. But with Slate 6, HP has done well. With a thickness of less than 9 mm, Slate 6 is among the slimmest devices in its class. The slim design means it feels compact and easy to hold and carry despite its large screen. Another thing that helps is the weight. At 160gm, Slate 6 is surprisingly light for its size. It is definitely not a device that you will like to - or will be able to - use with a single hand. But it is not as unwieldy as Huawei Ascend Mate.

The phone has the usual rounded-corners, flat-box design but there are some design elements that make the Slate 6 stand apart from other devices in the market. The back cover, which can be removed, is made of plastic with matte finish. But the highlight of the back cover is the glass-weave finish. It looks really nice and gives the device a premium feel. 

The        plastic frame around the device has been given gold finish instead of the usual f aux chrome that we find in other devices. The metal buttons too feature the same finish. The combination of black body and the golden frame gives Slate 6 an appealing look.

Despite all plastic design, the build quality of the device is very good. It doesn't have any flex. Back cover fits snuggly. Buttons feel firm and not loose.

Slate 6 is powered by a quad-core processor. HP says the processor runs at 1.2GHz. However, in our tests we never saw it go past 1.1GHz. Though this is a very minor difference and something that doesn't have potential to affect any performance. There is 1GB RAM in the device. It has 16GB internal storage - you can add more through a micro SD card, a 3000 mAh battery, a 5 MP primary camera and a 2 MP front camera. The 6-inch screen has a resolution of 720P (1280 X 720 pixels). The device is powered by Android 4.2.2. Slate 6 has support for two sim cards.

Let down by performance
For Slate 6, HP gets the design part absolutely right. However, on other - and more crucial - aspects it has missed a beat.

The biggest let-down is the overall responsiveness of the device. Unlike other phone manufacturers who love to customize, or rather over-customize, the Android experience on their devices, HP is using the stock version of Android in Slate 6. This is a good thing. Unfortunately, it looks like HP just didn't optimize the OS at all for the device. The user interface on Slate 6 has noticeable lag. This lag is visible while scrolling through the list of home page, or during multitasking. Also, apps take a few extra milliseconds to open. And so does the keyboard when you click in a text field.

Overall, Slate 6 feels a little slow. Yes, it works. You can browse all sorts of websites on it. You can play all kind of videos in all sorts of formats on it, if not through the default player then using an app like MX Player. The GPS in Slate 6 works reliably. But it all feels a little slower than it ought to be, especially compared to phones like Galaxy Grand 2 or tablets like Nexus 7.

What about games?
Slate 6 can handle casual games like Angry Birds Go with ease. But more demanding games like Asphalt 8 can be played with smooth frame rates only at low graphics settings. At high graphics settings there is visible lag and the game doesn't respond to controls well.

The performance story is repeated in the hardware. On paper, Slate 6 has good hardware. But in actual use we found it to be rather average. While the screen is adequately bright and shows decent colours, we have seen better. The viewing angles for the Slate 6 screen are below average and there is a noticeable shift in colours if you tilt your head or move the device while looking at it.