10 Reasons To Buy A Tablet (And 5 Reasons Not To)    

 You’ve held out for months, waiting and watching the market for some sign of a tablet that you think you’d like. But maybe you’re asking the wrong question. Instead of “Which tablet should I buy?” maybe you should be asking why you need a tablet in the first place?

We’ve written out a brief guide to deciding whether you need a tablet at all. As for a recommendation, the two devices we can unequivocally recommend right now are the iPad and, if you’re into Android, the Galaxy Tab (although there is some talk of an upgrade coming soon). However, don’t buy right now. The iPad 2 is on its way and the Xoom, Playbook, and TouchPad, are coming soon as well.
So before you break out the credit card, let’s talk about a few reasons to buy a tablet… and a few reasons not to.
1. Tablets make great e-readers. Although many would complain that the reading experience isn’t nearly as focused as single-purpose e-ink devices, and the text isn’t as legible, these drawbacks haven’t stopped users from cracking open PDFs, comics, long web articles, and so on tablets. Plus kids books are fun in full color, something Kindle can’t yet beat.
2. Tablets are portable productivity stations. There’s nothing like a calendar and an email window on a big screen. Although many of our phones now run PIM applications, the real estate afforded by a tablet makes for a far superior experience.
3. Tablets are better than older laptops. If you don’t need to type a lot, tablets will handle more content than a two-year-old laptop, and there are more modern apps and games.
4. Tablets are great for meetings. While you should probably paying attention during meetings, tablets are a great way to take notes unobtrusively and, when things get boring, play Angry Birds on mute.
5. Tablets are great for sharing photos and 1-on-1 presentations. Tablets are excellent for a communal photo sharing experience and are a boon for insurance adjusters, real estate folks, and salespeople. Having everything in front of you in cool little device sure beats firing up a laptop and running a presentation.
6. Tablets are great for movies and music. There’s nothing better in the car for kids than a copy of Cars or Dora on an iPad. Our kids love it and a tablet costs a bit less than installing soon-to-be-obsolete DVD-powered LCDs in the headrest. I also enjoy taking the iPad on a plane for movies, a job that used to go to the iPod Touch.
7. Tablets are cheaper than a new laptop. Your old coffee table laptop died and you’re thinking about a new netbook. Don’t bother. Tablets, as we said before, are on par or more powerful than a standard ~$500 laptop.

8. Tablets don’t crash. Or at least when they do crash it’s not a big deal. A quick restart is is all it takes to get them back on track.
9. Tablets are good for travel. Tablets usually work with Wi-Fi and 3G networks and the large screen and storage space is great for maps, guides, and dictionaries. Think of your tablet as a Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy.
10. Tablets are just cool. They make you feel like you’re from the future.

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And now, Five Reasons Tablets Aren’t Ready 1. Are tablets as portable as the phone you already have? You can stick your phone in your pocket and never know it’s there, but can you do the same with an iPad or TouchPad? I don’t think so, unless your name happens to be Baggin’ Saggin’ Barry. Is carrying an extra bag to holster your tablet the end of the world? Clearly not, no, but don’t try to tell me it’s as portable as my handy little Android (or whatever) phone when it’s patently not.
2. Where are the games? And by games I don’t mean things like Angry Birds, with all due respect to our fine feathered friends. Will I be able to play 64-play multi-player in Battlefield with a tablet? Will I be able to waste hundreds of hours playing World of Warcraft? What about Crysis 2? Tablets may have their place in the world, but playing real games to the fullest will always require a discrete GPU-backed PC.
3. How much work can you do on one of these things? Do they run Photoshop? How long will it take to render video? My guess is that my desktop PC, with its overclocked (to 4.0GHz) quad-core processor and hundreds of gigabytes of free space, will be able to render a video 800 times in succession before a tablet can render a video just once.
4. “You can browse the Web with a tablet while watching TV on your couch! And movies look great on them!” All fair points, but I can already browse the Web on my couch with my battle-tested laptop, so why get another device to do the same thing? That doesn’t make much sense, does it? As for movies, well, I prefer watching them on with a proper setup—Blu-ray player, big screen TV, surround sound, the works—as opposed to watching them cramped on a train, or even hunched over in bed.
5. Something better will come along in a few months. Remember when netbooks were all the rage a couple of years ago? The future of computing, and so forth. You barely see them mentioned anymore, and that’s because tablets are the new soup du jour. In four years we’ll all be writing “Remember tablets?” articles, lamenting having spent all that money on a silly piece of transitionary technology.

10 Reasons Android Beats the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus

Android handily beats the iPhone because it provides a lot more flexibility, functionality and freedom of choice.                                                                                                      

Apple's iPhone 6s and 6s Plus phones generate a lot of press, but there are many reasons why 82.8 percent of all new smartphones sold run Android. Apple provides a completely catered, top-down experience in which it dictates exactly which apps you can run and which features your phone can have. Android takes off the training wheels and lets consumers have a swath of hardware and software to choose from, along with access to key technologies, such as NFC pairing and 4K screens that Apple doesn't think its users are ready for.
Here are 10 reasons Android beats the iPhone.

1. More Storage for Less Money

The iPhone 6s and 6s Plus are priced like high-end phones, but that doesn't stop Apple from skimping on storage. For starting prices of $648 and $744 respectively, you get just 16GB of internal memory. After you deduct 1.3GB for iOS 9, you have almost no space for the 12-MP pictures you'll take, the 4K videos you'll shoot, your music collection or iTunes movies, which can take up between 1 and 3GB depending on resolution. Some popular iOS games can also eat as much as 1GB to 2GB a piece. If you really want to make the most of your iPhone, you need to add another $100 to the price to get 64GB of storage.
All of the latest high-end Android phones, including all the major Samsung phones, the HTC M9 and the LG G4, start with a more-reasonable 32GB of internal storage. Better still, HTC and LG's flagships come with microSD slots that allow you to add more capacity by using very inexpensive memory cards. A 64GB microSD card costs around $20.

2. Higher-res screens

Apple's tagline for the iPhone 6s and 6s plus is "the only thing that's changed is everything," but "everything" apparently doesn't include screen resolution. In 2014, the company finally released its first full-HD phone, the iPhone 6 Plus — two years after the first 1080p Android handset debuted. Today's iPhone 6s Plus is still stuck at 1920 x 1080 while the mainstream 6s clocks in at a mere 1334 x 750. By contrast, the Sony Xperia Z5 Premium has a 4K (3840 x 2160) display and several mainstream Android phones offer 2560 x 1440 screens, which makes them a lot sharper for high-res video viewing, reading and gaming.

3. Customization, widgets and skins

Like the father in a 1950s sitcom, Apple thinks it knows what's best for you, no matter what you need or want, so it locks down the UI and offers fewer customizations than Google. Whereas on the iPhone, you can put a few select widgets in your notification drawer, with Android, you can choose from thousands of widgets that live on your home or lock screens and provide everything from music playback to weather and note-taking.

Manufacturers such as Samsung and LG add custom "skins" on top of the core operating system that offer a unique look and feel, along with features Google hasn't implemented yet (e.g., gesture controls and Air View). Better still, you can install your own launcher or add a custom theme, which makes your phone look and feel completely different — and yours.

4. Many more hardware options, including rugged phones

Google's marketing tagline for Android is "Be Together. Not the Same." That makes sense, because the platform appears on hundreds of different phone models around the world. You can get Android phones with giant screens, small screens, built-in projectors, QWERTY keyboards and replaceable batteries.

Perhaps most important, there are many rugged Android phones that are made to survive being submerged underwater or dropped. If you want a new iPhone today, you have four choices: the a iPhone 6s Plus, a midsize iPhone 6s and three old models: the similarly-sized. None of these is designed to take a beating.
REBUTTAL: 10 Reasons the iPhone Beats Android

5. Freedom to install any app you want

Apple may get some apps first, but it also limits which apps you can install by forcing you to go through its tightly controlled app store. If the tastemakers in Cupertino decide that an app competes with Apple or is too violent, sexual, political or controversial, you won't be able to buy it. While Google has its Play store for Android, it allows competition from alternative stores, such as Amazon's Appstore. You can also take any APK file you download and sideload it on your own. Try that on the iPhone 6s.

6. A working file system

Want to copy files from your iPhone to your computer? You'll need to install iTunes and set up an account, and even then, you can move only media files, such as photos, back and forth. Plug an Android phone into your PC, and it instantly mounts as an external drive filled with folders you can drag and drop. You can also navigate through the file system on the phone using apps such as Astro File Manager or ES File Manager. Apple apparently doesn't trust you to see the file system on your iPhone.

7. Universal sharing

You see a Web page in your browser, a map in your navigation app or a photo in your gallery, and you want to share it. On Android, you can share to any service whose app you have installed: Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or anything you've installed. Google doesn't need to bless an app for it to show up in the sharing menu, nor does the browser maker, the navigation app publisher or drawing app developer.
MORE: The Best Android Apps to Try Today
Unfortunately, on the iPhone, you can share only to the apps that the browser, photo gallery or other app specifically support. So, because Apple doesn't think much of Google+, WhatsApp or Pinterest, you can't share to them from Safari, and you won't be able to unless Apple’s gatekeepers specifically build in support.

8. A back button

Android's back button provides a really simple and helpful way to return to a previous screen no matter where you are. The button even works across apps. If you hit a link in Facebook and get transported to the Chrome browser, you can return to the social media app when you hit the back button.
On the iPhone 6s, you can use only app-specific navigation or hit the home button to end up back on the home screen. That's a lot more swipes and taps that waste your time and tire your fingers.

9. Multiwindow support

If you want to multitask on your phone, you want an Android phone from Samsung or LG. Both of those brands let you split your screen between two apps, allowing you to, for example, look at the company Web page in one window while you reply to your boss's email in another. Google hasn't built multiwindow mode into the Core OS yet; it is adding that ability in the next version, called Android M. Apple is adding a split-screen view in iOS 9, but only for tablets, not phones.

10. Full NFC support

For several years now, all Android phones have come with NFC (near field communication) chips built in. With NFC on board, you can tap to pair with gadgets, tap another phone to exchange files or contacts, tap information tags, tap to unlock a door and even tap to pay using Google Wallet. Apple has incorporated NFC into the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, but you can only use it for Apple Pay.

4 Ways to Run Android on Your PC and Make Your Own “Dual OS” System

Intel is now interested in pushing “Dual OS” PCs — devices with both Windows 8 and Android on them. But you don’t have to buy a new PC to do this — you can run Android apps and even the Android operating system on your current PC.
This allows you to use Android’s ecosystem of touch-based apps on touch-enabled Windows laptops and tablets, so it does make some sense. Of course, the process is clunker than just using Windows 8 apps.

BlueStacks

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BlueStacks is currently the best way to run Android apps on Windows. It doesn’t replace your entire operating system. Instead, it runs Android apps within a window on your Windows desktop. This allows you to use Android apps just like any other program. BlueStacks also includes support for easy installation of apps from Google Play, so the process is as seamless as possible. Even better, BlueStacks runs Android apps and games with surprisingly good performance.
This solution can’t replace Windows with Android, but that’s not a bad thing — competing solutions that allow you to dual boot Android with Windows are currently unstable. This is only a solution for running Android apps on Windows.  Unlike many of the other options here, this is a fairly stable and polished experience.
Similar applications, including YouWave and Windroy, lack the speed and easy app installation BlueStacks offers.

Official Android Emulator

Google provides an official Android emulator as part of the Android SDK. You can use it to run the Android operating system in a window on your existing computer. This gives you complete access to the entire Android operating system. It’s intended for developers to test their Android apps.
Unfortunately, the official Android emulator is rather slow and isn’t a good option for everyday use. It’s useful if you want to test apps or play with the latest version of Android, but you wouldn’t want to actually use apps or play games in it.
To get started with the Android Emulator, download Google’s Android SDK, open the SDK Manager program, and select Tools > Manage AVDs. Click the New button and create a an Android Virtual Device (AVD) with your desired configuration, then select it and click the Start button to launch it.

Android-x86

Android-x86 is a community project to port Android to the x86 platform so it can run natively on Intel and AMD processors, allowing you to install Android on a laptop or tablet just as you’d install Windows or Linux. This project was originally noteworthy for providing a way to run Android on low-power netbooks, giving those old netbooks some additional life.

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Only certain devices are officially supported at this time. The official page lists ASUS Eee PCs, the Viewsonic Viewpad 10, Del Inspiron Mini Duo, Samsung Q1U, Viliv S5, and Lenovo ThinkPad x61 Tablet as tested platforms. However, you should also be able to install it inside VirtualBox. This allows you to install Android inside a virtual machine.
Bear in mind that this project isn’t stable. You should exercise extreme caution when installing it on physical hardware.

Android on Intel Architecture

Intel develops their own distribution of Android for new Intel-based PCs with UEFI firmware. It’s named Android on Intel Architecture, or Android -IA. Intel even provides an installer, which you can use to install Android on your Windows 8 device. The installer will ask if you want to preserve Windows in a dual-boot scenario, so this is a way to dual boot Android and Windows on a new laptop or tablet.
Bear in mind that this project isn’t stable and won’t work on every device yet. At the moment, the Samsung XE700T, Acer Iconia W700, and Lenovo X220T and X230T devices appear to be officially supported targets. This project is really interesting because it’s being driven by Intel itself. This is likely the same software you’ll find on those new “Dual OS” Intel PCs.
This option isn’t for casual users, but it may become more stable over time. For more information, consult Intel’s Downloads, Quick Start, and Devices pages.

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If you really want to run Android apps on your Windows computer, you should install BlueStacks. It’s the easiest, slickest, most stable option.
In the long term, the Android on Intel Architecture and Android-x86 projects may make Android easier to install and use on a wider variety of hardware. They could provide an easy way to dual boot Android and Windows — or even replace Windows with Android. For now, these projects aren’t recommended unless you have supported hardware — and you should be careful even if you do.

Key Board Shortcuts for Android KitKat

Keyboard Shortcuts for iREVO Smart PC & Smart TV Box!

We are back again with keyboard shortcuts for iREVO KitKat Based boxes.

A. ANDROID HOME SCREEN SHORTCUT KEYS
Ctrl+Esc - Home screen context menu
Ctrl+N - Nova Launcher settings
Ctrl+M - Manage Apps in Settings
Ctrl+P - Settings, main system settings menu
Ctrl+S - Store, Google Play Store
Ctrl+W - Wallpaper manager
Alt+Spacebar - Opens Android search screen; sends to default browser
Alt+Tab (Alt+Shift+Tab) - App Switcher, hold down Alt key
Ctrl+Alt+Delete - Reboots instantly

B. GLOBAL APP SHORTCUTS ON WINDOWS KEYBOARD SUCH AS LOGITECH K400r
WindowsKEY+A - Calculator, open or switch to
WindowsKEY+B - Browser, open or switch to
WindowsKEY+C - Contacts, open or switch to
WindowsKEY+E - Email, open or switch to
WindowsKEY+L - Calendar, open or switch to
WindowsKEY+P - Music app, open or switch to
WindowsKEY+Spacebar = Opens Android search screen; sends to default browser

C. ANDROID DEFAULT BROWSER SHORTCUT KEYS

NAVIGATION
Esc - Go back, dismiss
Ctrl+Left Arrow - Back to previous page
Ctrl+Right Arrow - Forward to next page
Reload Page - Ctrl+R

SCROLLING
Spacebar, Page Down - Scroll down a frame
Shift+Spacebar, Page Up - Scroll up a frame

ARROW KEYS FOCUS ON THE PAGE ELEMENTS
Up Arrow - Move up one element
Down Arrow - Move down element
Left Arrow - Move left one element
Right Arrow - Move right one element

WHERE IS THE SUPPORT FOR THE HOME AND END KEYs? Mine don't work!
PageDown and PageUp keys will work if available

ADDRESS BAR
Ctrl+L - Shift focus to the address bar (doesn't always work)
Arrow keys move focus within navigation bar area; Spacebar/Enter selects

TABS
Ctrl+N - Open a new tab
Ctrl+T - Open a new tab
Ctrl+W - Close current tab,if last tab, return to Home screen
Ctrl+Tab - Switch to the next tab
Ctrl+Shift+Tab - Switch to the previous tab
Ctrl+1 through 8 - Switch to the specific tab

SEARCH/TEXT
Ctrl+F - Open the in-page search box
Shift+Backspace - Forward Delete (works like a normal "Delete" key)

BOOKMARKS & HISTORY
Ctrl+D - Bookmarks the current page
Ctrl+H - Opens the Bookmarks page
Ctrl+J - Opens download history as a popup
Ctrl+? - Browsing history (used to be H) WHAT HAPPENED TO THIS?

OTHER
Ctrl+Esc - Page context menu
Ctrl+G - Page info
Ctrl+I - Zoom in (depends upon context), three levels
Ctrl+O - Zoom out (depends upon context), three levels
Ctrl+P - Open Settings for browser
Ctrl+R - Reload page
Ctrl+S - Open Share popover with page destination options
including ES File Explorer (social networking sharing?)

If  You Are using Logitech KYB like ME.

LOGITECH K400r INSTRUCTIONS/RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ANDROID TV / PC Box.

LIST OF JUST THE FUNCTIONAL KEYS (from upper-left)
Left Mouse
Music Note - Opens Music app
Home - Home screen
PC/Lock - Opens Calendar app
F3 unshifted - Opens Android search screen; sends to default browser
F7 through F12 unshifted - Media/Sound controls
Fn+Delete - Print Screen
Fn+Ctrl = Menu - Context Menu

TOUCHPAD
One finger swipe - move mouse pointer any direction
Two fingers scroll - move document any direction
Zoom, pinch or spread - not currently supported in Android OS
One finger single tap - left mouse button (cursor active)
Two finger single tap - right mouse button (cursor active)
One finger double tap - app context sensitive zoom function

MOUSE BUTTONS
Left mouse click - Tap with one finger or press left pad button; long press in

an unoccupied area of Home screen - Launcher configuration

Right mouse click - Tap with two fingers (when cursor is not sleeping) or press

right pad button; long press brings up Bookmarks in Browser

Left mouse, press and hold with simultaneous swipe, moves background in map apps.

Fn + left pad button disables tap gestures
Fn + right pad button disables edge gestures designed for Windows 8;

RECOMMEND DISABLE EDGE GESTURES! (Seems to need this each time power switch is used)

USING ANDROID OS - FUNCTION KEYS NOTES (from upper-left):
Left Mouse - works
Music Note - Opens Music app
Home - works!
PC/Lock - Opens Calendar app
Power/PC - dead key
Esc - Back, same as right click

UNSHIFTED FUNCTION KEYS
F1, F2 - dead keys
F3 - Opens Android search screen; sends to default browser
F4 through F6 - dead keys
F7 through F12 - Media/Sound controls
Insert - (what does anybody use the Insert key for?)
Delete - works

FUNCTION KEYS + Blue Fn key
Fn+F1 through F12 - dead keys, unassigned
Fn+Insert = Scr Lk - (what does anyone use the Scroll Lock key for?)
Fn+Delete - Print Screen
Fn+UpArrow = PageUp - dead key in browser (NEEDS TO BE ENABLED!)
Fn+DownArrow = PageDown - dead key in browser (NEEDS TO BE ENABLED!)
Fn+Ctrl = Menu - Context Menu
Fn+LeftArrow = Home - dead key in browser (NEEDS TO BE ENABLED!)
Fn+RightArrow = End - dead key in browser (NEEDS TO BE ENABLED!)

Track pad mouse accelleration can be adjusted in Android Settings/Language & Input;

Scroll to the bottom until you find Mouse speed.

To fully reset K400r - Remove the batteries. Make sure the power switch is OFF. Press any three keys for at least thirty seconds. Low batteries will cause flakey operation. Put the batteries back in and turn the keyboard back on. This should fix 90% of issues--if not it's time to start removing software/drivers that may be causing conflicts

Blessing In Disguise. NETFLIX

Time To Switch From TVs !

The arrival of NETFLIX in India has been hailed by many pundits as a game changer, with some even claiming that it will pose a threat to conventional television.

For most indians television viewing habits have been more or less same for years, yes we now own a big screen HDTV and an access to a cable TV subscription is what we need to entertain ourselves in the maddening world of 24 X 7 broadcasting.

Now imagin yourself enjoying on demand television cont across multiple screens without flipping through the TV channels.

What is NETFLIX ?

U.S. based Nnetflix is the leading on demand subscription-based video streaming service extremely popular with 16:17 million subscribers worldwide, including more than 4.3 million in U.S. And through use of internet Netflix users can stream and view  a section of popular TV shows and unlimited movies on a number of supported devices. 

It is available on PC and Mac through browser, Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS3, PS4, Smart TVs and selected Blue-ray players from Samsung and Sony, Apple TV (old and new), Media streaming set-top boxes such as Google Chromecast and Amazone Fire TV, iPad, Iphone, Ipod Touch, Windows Phone devices, Android smart phones and tablets and iREVO Smart PC (android os) and iREVO Smart TV boxes.

How Much Do I Pay ?

Indians are currently offered 1 month of free trial which then moves to three main  monthly subscription fees, based on how many screens you wish to watch on Netflix simultaneously.

For Rs. 500 a month you can stream unlimited movies and TV shows in standard definition across 1 device only. At Rs. 650 per month you can stream content in high  definition across 2 devices. And a premium plan of Rs. 800 you can stream unlimited shows in 4K UHD Format, across 4 screens. Netflix pricing in india is not over the top, perticularly in comparison to its U.S. pricing, where basic monthlysubscripton plan is $7.99 (approx Rs. 535) . It also gives you freedom to cancel your subscription anytime within 1 month and will also send reminder two days before the free trial expires.

Buying a Laptop

7 Features To Consider When Buying a Laptop

How many hours a day do you spend on the computer?

Probably plenty.

And that means that you spend hours a day staring at a screen.

That means that the resolution of that screen matters. Screen resolution can be described as the number of pixels making up a display. The more pixels on the display, the higher the resolution. Higher resolutions have all kinds of advantages, namely:

So your computer is on the fritz, eh? 10 years old, full of viruses, slower than molasses in January, and you’re lucky if it even turns on? Yes. Might be time for a new machine.

So, you go to the store? And what do you see? About 50 different laptops, all different in size, form factors, price, and brand.

How do you choose one? Follow this handy guide to figure it out.

Size –When it comes to laptops, you can buy them in several different sizes. The smallest laptops come in at only 10.6″ and the largest laptops can be over 20″ in screen size! Obviously, if you travel a lot, or plan to move your laptop around, a smaller size is more convenient. If you plan to use your laptop primarily in your home or on a desk, a larger laptop might be a better choice.

Weight –Tied into size, obviously, the larger the laptop, the more it is going to weigh, as a general rule. Again, if you’re traveling with it, a lighter laptop is the much better option – it’s easier to take in and out of a bag, and puts less of a burden on your back. They also tend to cost a little more. Heavier laptops are cheaper, but a bigger pain in the butt to move!

Processor –This is the brain of your computer. Picking a good one is essential to your computer experience. The better the processor, the more you can do with your computer now, and in the future. There are two primary processor brands on the market – Intel and AMD. Intel tends to receive the better ratings across the board, using less energy and performing calculations more quickly and more intelligently than the competition. AMD is good bang for your buck. If you’re looking at Intel Processors, stick with their I-Series, I3, I5, and I7. If you’re purchasing an AMD, try to aim for either their A6, A8, or FX processors.

RAM –If your processor is the brain, the RAM is it’s desk space. The more RAM you have, the more programs you can have open and running on your computer, and the larger those programs can be. When buying a new laptop, try to aim for at least 4GB of RAM, if not 8GB.

Hard Drive –This is where you store your stuff. Documents, movies, and pictures all sit here. So do game files, program files, and music files. The larger your hard drive, the more stuff you can store. There are two kinds of hard drives on the market – HDD’s, which are mechanical spinning disks, and SSD’s, which are slim, light computer chips. HDD’s offer more storage for a lower price, but are slower, SSD’s are faster and less susceptible to damage but cost more and offer less storage for the money.

Screen Resolution –In an earlier post, I mentioned screen resolution and it’s importance. Basically, laptops come with one of three kinds of screens, High Definition, Full HD, or Ultra HD. The higher your screen resolution, the better your picture – simple as that. Take in to account how often you’re going to be looking at your screen each day. The more hours you spend on your PC, and the more you use it for, the better the screen you should splurge for.

Optical Drive –Something to consider when PC shopping nowadays is whether the computer has an optical drive or doesn’t. Most PC’s nowadays are foregoing the feature in order to create more room for batteries or other components. Furthermore, smaller, thinner laptops just don’t have the space for them. Consider whether you actually need an optical drive, and don’t be surprised if you have to make sacrifices on other preferences to get one on your new laptop.

iREVO Smart PC The Android Awakens !

It's genius in a small box just like gini in the lamp of aladin. Weighing just 120 grams and 180mm x 92mm x 34mm in dimension. The box looks sleek and sturdy for day to day usage.

                                         The Box Contents.

It resembles iREVO smart tv box but is only available in black color. This box also works as a WI-FI router. At the back side it has 2X USB 1xHDMI 1xRJ45 & 1 power and on off switch. It runs KitKat version of Android with iREVO webtop on top of it . Since there have been a lot of manafactures who came in the market with android pc have flopped due to there pc design or pricing like vodafone magic box which had a laptop keyboard design but failed as was not easy enough to carry. This box is easy to carry and use. Connecting to my WI-FI and register my account was as easy as 123, Nor did i face any problem brousing websites as firefox and crome came pre installed along with normal android brouser. Unlike the smart tv box this pc can run without internet. I used MS Office 365 Suite for work which came with Word , Excel , Powerpoint and Outlook. Using them was very easy as they resemble there brother from Microsoft Windows. Best thing that i liked hear was that interface was neatly tiled accourding  to the catagories which made using different apps easier to use as i was able to pull them out of there respective catagories. Though This device uses 1 Gb ddr 3 Ram only disappointment was that we got 275 MB to 400 MB and sometimes 175 MB also  but despite that multitasking was a breez.

Tech Spec As per Antutu

Webtop user interface.

We did try to get the bench mark for this pc and the results are right hear :-

Antutu Benchmark

SEASCAPE Bench mark

Vellamo bench mark

Quadrent Spec of this product

We were not able to get Quadrent Bench mark results as app  went blak at the time of test.

This pc has contents for all age groups  like e-basta for kids till 12 class for ICSC , CBSC oard. It also has section for shopping apps  where we can installl flipcrard or apps like that. Different sections like games, learning Etc... are there . I was trying to call one of our family friends who are in US but due to no responce this pc pre installed with skype came to resque as i was able to use my 6 yrs old webcam from intex it-305wc and it worked a charm as i was able to video call them. 

Setting up screen in the begining was a little pain as things ware a little amiss but in a matter of 2 to 3 min all was alright as little manual tuning from my moniter's setting did the magic. I Kept resolution of 1080 on my 10 yrs old viewsonic it worked welll however could not play the videos from youtube . but in 720 resolution all worked well.

Switching between apps was easy as either i used Alt + Tab or switch Apps buttion on my task bar in the bottom. Major Disappointment was lack of shortkut keys in the manual and lack of e-manual on the pc . Keyboard and mouse supplied with this box is a bliss but I found it to be little flimsy near battery pannel as we dont know when that covers puller will break. The mouse has space for storing the receiver however it Feels rugged in usage . Also tried many wireless keyboard and mouse some did not work but Logitech K400r did extremely well  as it came with built in trackpad and on pusing windows logo key it took me to my desktop. When using mouse or trackpad right click exited application and took you back to desktop  which was useless as it should have shown a menu just like in windows. However no lights on key board and lack of osd to display caps on off light or display will be a miss as you wouldnt come to know it you are in caps mode or not. Though keyboard resembles apple type size but will still prifer Logitech K400R as it is truly a life saver with 1 year of battery usage time and K400 R plus with 18 mts of battery usage.

Producte was a breeze to use and light in weight but  if wallpaper could be visiable like on windows phone where it makes tiles transparent would have been an added value and somehow i did miss deep customisation of Caynogen OS whch could have given us a better view in terms of theams icons and fonts. 

However mouse did fail once or twice in use as cursor dissapaired on its own. and the task bar kept apparing on its on once or twice when we took mouse to the bottom of the screen. Device did reboot on its own at times but did perform well. Specially tv browser was amazing to run on my 720p tv  as it made my tv smart. Storage is to less as compaired to other devices  manafactured on planate earth (only 2 gb for apps as others give 4 to 6 gb for the same)

Price factor generally kills the product of it's calling as  pc but worable on both monitor and tv makes a great value in anyones home.

All i used was hdmi to vga connector with aux and it simply did great.  Available in 8 or 16 Gb only and can be upgreaded with harddisks of 2 tb.

Boot up Time 8/10 (takes  2 Min 30 Sec)

Interface 10/10

Usage 9/10

Looks 10/10

Specs 8/10 (at the price value a 2 gb would be good)

Storage 5/10 (1.40 gb out of 8 or 16 gb)

Over all 8/10

Would recomend this device to you if your budget is not more than 7 to 8 thousand and would like to have both pc and tv device . If you don't like media boxes I am shure you could go for smart tv's . 

Alternatively you can try " Volo Android Smart PC & Gaming Selector Box " for Rs. 8,500 on Flipkart or Aeoss Mini Pc Tv Box Quad core CS918 with Android 4.2 2GB RAM/ 8GB ROM Rs. 4,995.00 @ Amazon India Or AEOSS Official Website.

But this is the only box in android which makes your monitor a pc or your tv smart.

just like saying " Kabhi pc toh kabhi tv "

kudos iREVO.

Tech Specification

iRevo Smart PC Specifications

MODELS QC1 B08/QC1 B16

Interface: Audio, Visual & Connectivity

HD A/V Output

One HDMI 1.4 output, up to 1080p

SD A/V Output

RCA composit video and stereo audio output

Wired Networking

10/100 Base-T Fast Ethernet port

Wireless Networking

802.11 B/G/N Wi-Fi with External Antenna; Functions as Wireless Router too

USB Ports

Two USB 2.0 ports

Technical Specifications

CPU

Quad Core ARM Cortex A9 1.4GHZ

GPU

3D with OpenGL ES support

RAM

1 G-byte DDR3 RAM

Hard Drive/Flash Drive

8G-byte (Model QC1 B08) & 16G-byte (Model QC1 B16)

OS

Android 4.4.x

Application Platform

iRevo WebTop with DLNA and iRevo Cloud

Users Supported

Up to 4 Users

Video Formats

MPEG1, MPEG2, MPEG4, MPG, H.264, H.263, VC-1, WMV, AVI, MKV, MOV, MP4, FLV

Audio Formats

MP3, WMA, WAV, AIFF, AU, MIDI, RealAudio, AAC, APE, Vorbis

Image Formats

JPEG, BMP, GIF, PNG

Software Updates

Automatic, over-the-air software updates

Hardware Acceleration

Yes

Video Resolutions

HDMI 720x480p(60hz), 720x576p(50hz), 1280x720p (50/60hz), 1920x1080p (50/60Hz), Composite A/V 480i, 576i (NTSC/PAL)

Power

DC 5V 2A, 110-240V AC

Physical Specifications

Dimensions

180mm x 92mm x 34mm

Weight

120g

Package Contents

iRevo Smart PC, USB Wireless Keyboard and Mouse, AC Adapter, HDMI Cable, Ethernet Cable, Alkaline Batteries, Installation and User Guide

How to use

More On iREVO

Channel

Not So Smart Yet Smart

In this world of smart gadgets you need to keep updating your self. Be it your phone , tablet, watch or television you want every thing smart. But when it comes to Tv’s you can’t keep changing them every time. Because they are not upgradeable and if they are like samsung need a evolution kit for 17,000 inr, Tizen os by samsung , LG web os & Android os (onida and videocon).  A huge number of people have CRT  or LCD type tv’s but some have moved to LED HD Ready tv’s or HD smart tv’s. HD ready support 720 p resolution and hd tv support 1080 p resolution.   

 Below are the con’s of the following:-

Evolution kit

1 Bit fiddly to fit.

2 No screen mirroring feature.

3 Old technology of 2013.

4 Requires only samsung smart tv (certain models) only.

Tizen os 

1 Has limited number of apps.

2 TIzen os based tv’s are expencive.

3 N built in storage.

LG Web OS

1 Though being a stable and slick os it’s setup menus are clumsily implemented.

2 Expensive (starts from 65900 inr).

3 No built in storage .

Panasonic Life Screen

1 38000 inr
2 no storage
3 limited apps
4 always needs internet to use any app.

Android OS TV

1 Cheap 27000 inr from onida.

2 has 1 gb of ram with 4 gb storage.

3 Uses arm a7 cortex quad core processer.

4 Android KitKat.

With changing times our tv’s should change but at what cost is the question here. How much do you think you can atain for your old tv set , may be 1500 inr or 2000 inr on olx or quickr. But wait there is a solution to make your old boring CRT or LCD smart. How is no more a question as solution to this is a smart tv box that does it all right from streaming to casting . I did try couple of devices like chrome cast , ez cast, roku stick , mkv stick, iball splendo, 8m smart box and rconnect smart box.

With each having it’s own whims and fancies like :-

Chrome cast 

1 Needs either pc or mobile to cast from youtube.

2 Though  lighter on pocket 2999 inr.

EZcast

1 Needs either pc or mobile to cast from youtube.

2 Available at all pc harcware stores.

3 Cost is 1200 inr.

Roku stick

1 Has remote controller.

2 just like chrome cast in behvour but goes one step further.

3 @ 4000 inr.

8M smart movie box

1 Has minimum bandwidth usage.

2 Runs android (version not known).

3 800 Mhz processer .

4 No storage defined.

4 Costing 3599 inr with 6 Mts warrenty

5 @ reliance digital only.

Rconnect smart box

1 1 Ghz single core processer.

2 no warrenty , steep price of 4999 inr with just 4 gb storage

3 Android jellybeen.

MKV stick

1 No warrenty,

2 storage of 4gb.

3 1 gb ram and 1 GHZ processor.

4 @4000 inr available locally at Fort or Manish Market.

Iball Splendo 

11,3 Ghz quad core baytrail processor

2 32 gb of storage .

3 2 gb DDR 3 ram.

4 No auto sync or os recovery

5 Only works on 1080 resolution.

6 @9999 Inr.

Unboxed device has 1 rca cable , 1 hdmi cable, 1 device and 1 airmouse with receiver + 1 user manual (though not so detail).

The back side has 1 set of 3 rca ports for old tv's and hdmi for new ones with 2 usb and 1 powerport . It also has an on off switch with antenna for wifi (to use as a router).

bottom has wall mounts and model and serial info with sides of this device being plane but front has small led to let you know that device is turned on.

But when it came to IREVO Smart tv Box I could notice vast difference. It runs on 1.4 Ghz arm processer, 8Gb of storage, 1Gb DDR 3 Ram with wifi router. It runs Android KitKat under the hood with Metro interface. It opens doors for video on demand, Live poadcasting & cloud broadcasting.

User Interface

When connected to my videocon 24” tv it performed fairly well . There was no lag in the software and operations Were smooth and navigating on user interface was a breeze. At speed of 2Mbps from mtnl router it did give me fair well broadcast of videos  from youtube. As they were quite clear in quality and audio. When I changed the resolution from 720 p to 1080p it still gave me a good quality output. Though the courser kept going heighwire  on day one as I am used to keyboard and mouse . But on day two all went well  as I learnt how to navigate.

Getting videos brocasted from my galaxy note 4 was not so easy but later it did work when I used it in dlna mode. Couldn’t try teleplay as iRevo Play cast app was not available on playstore.

Over all experince of browsing net by my novice wife was a breeze. She liked the broadcast quality as she could pause and resume the same serial or movie from where she left. I too watched my favourate video from my phone using dlna.

When my neighbor who had an crt tv used the same device, he to went gaga about it. But I cant show you the picture as power went off . Besides being rugged it also handled my try band from mtnl well as it has a built in router.

Tried and throughlly on Dell 54.61 cm (21.5) Touch Monitor (S2240T) at a friends house in neighbourhood using supplied hdmi cable and guess what no air mouse as my hands are better . Typing and navigation was a breez. Now I feel gone are the days when i used to use a settop box  specially in rains where it would conk off reception with a message Error 400 which ment no reception due to cloudy weather. this box can run 24/7 without  such issues and doesnt cost a bomb. Even my old keyboard and mouse on usb hub worked well .

In my sugestion you should go for this device if you are not wanting to burn a hole in your pocket.  Only disappointment is the user manual as it only has info for remote and not for air mouse or keyboard. Atleast there should have been a page or two consisting keyboard shortcuts. And second big disappointment was that the app required for teleplay was not there on playstore  atleast company shpuld have put the download of it's  apk file on there official website. 

iREVO V/S Smart TV. 

visit company's website on :-

http://in.irevomm.com/compare.html

Below are instructions on how to use DLNA.

DLNA is a very popular term used by all major consumer electronics companies on their products. Everything from media players to televisions to phones are said to be DLNA ready. Based on the talks we’ve had with a lot of people, it’s clear that quite a few people have a basic idea of what DLNA is, but haven’t practically tried it out. It’s because traditional methods have worked in the past and users seem to have grown comfortable to using those tools. Before we actually get into the process of setting up DLNA at your home, here’s a brief introduction to what DLNA is.

What is DLNA?

For those who’ve only seen the logo stamped on their products or have heard about them in product brochures, DLNA is a technology or standard that allows playing of content between devices connected over a network. The whole point of DLNA is to enable devices, no matter what the brand and what the product is, to communicate with each other. 

What devices do I need to use DLNA?

Streaming of media usually takes place between computers, notebooks, tablets, smartphones, TVs and media players. Of all these devices, DLNA compliance is important to hardware, such as TVs and other kind of media playback devices. Of course, televisions that support DLNA will have network capability, too.

Most network capable TVs are DLNA compliant

If you already have a television, make sure that it is network enabled, in the sense that it has an Ethernet port or maybe Wi-Fi capability. If you’re looking to buy a new television, make sure that it supports DLNA and also playback for most popular formats. 

Which devices can stream to each other?

In every DLNA set-up, a device can be set up to be a media player or a media source. So, there are a number of combinations in which you can stream media. For example, you can stream media from a PC to a phone, phone to a PC, PC to a TV, one PC to another PC and so on. DLNA isn’t designed to merely stream media, it can also be used to remotely control devices and push media from one device to another. This means, you can use the phone to list all the media on a PC kept in another room to a TV kept in the living room, for example.

Now, let’s look at how exactly to go about doing this.

What do you need?

Like we said, there are a number of scenarios that you can set-up at your home, but we’ll look at a typical scenario where the user has a television that is or is not network capable,  a PC and a mobile phone.

You’ll of course need a Wi-Fi router that’s connected to your devices. Preferably, connect the TV and desktops using wired connections to keep data transfer speeds as high as possible. Wi-Fi can be a little slow when you stream high-definition content that requires a lot of bandwidth. 

Share stored media on a desktop or a notebook

In almost all cases, you’re likely to use a desktop PC or a notebook to share media. All of the media, be it photos, music or videos are likely to be present in some folders on a computer. We need to first enable file sharing on Windows, for DLNA. We recommend using Windows 7 to do this, but older versions of Windows, such as Vista and Windows XP can also use it. 

Adding media to folders and libraries

Adding media to libraries on Windows 7

The first step is to make sure that your media folders are shared on Windows 7, which has libraries that can be customized to include these folders. To do this, first right-click on a folder, say a folder with photos in it  and click on the Include in library item, then choose the kind of media it is. If it were photos, add it to the Pictures folder. This makes it easier to browse media from other devices. 

Giving access to your devices

Allowing devices access to the media

Once we have our media folders configured, and once we’ve connected our devices to the network, the easiest way to enabling media sharing on your Windows 7 PC or notebook is by pressing the Start button and then typing Media streaming options. Here you’ll see a list of devices that are capable of streaming media. Choose the ones you want to allow. There’s a drop down menu that lets you do that. You can also customize the permissions by only allowing certain devices to play media from that folder. Remember that they won’t appear if they aren’t connected to the network or powered on. 

Setting up media sharing on an Android phone

While TVs are advertised as being DLNA capable, pretty much any Android phone with Wi-Fi capability should be DLNA capable. All you need is an app to work it. There are plenty of free ones in the market. We’ll be using BubbleUPnP for this demonstration purpose. Head over to the Android market and download it for free. 

Streaming media between devices

Here’s when you start making sense of DLNA. If you head over to the Devices tab on the app, you’ll find options to select the renderer and the library. The renderer is the device that will play the videos and the library is from where the videos will play. Here you can choose to play videos from say, your laptop or desktop and choose the television as the renderer. You can choose one of the many combinations available to you, depending on how many devices – source and players you have set-up at your home. 

Setting up DLNA on your phone or tablet

Click on Library and you’ll be able to see the contents of the folder. If you chose your own phone or tablet as the source, then you’ll be able to click on one of the music, video or images on your device and see it on the television. If you chose a remote desktop or laptop as the source, you’ll be able to list all those files, even add files to a playlist and stream them to another device. 

Of course, you still have the option to simply use television to stream media directly from a notebook or a DLNA network storage device. 

Why use DLNA?

DLNA makes it much simpler to use and things are more transparent. There are other advantages as well. On a standard television, you’d have to stop playing a movie and focus on the user interface to find a movie on a remote PC. With DLNA, you can use your phone and queue up media without taking your focus off of the movie being played on the TV. If you don’t have a TV that’s network enabled or DLNA enabled, then you have the option of setting up an HTPC, using software such as XBMC that acts like a DLNA client and lets your phone and other devices communicate with it.