GOSF 2013 - Shop online for mobiles, gifts, apparel and more heavy discounts!!

Planning to gift a surprise gift on your loved one? There are a lot of gifting options which you could check out online. Yes, you need not even venture out to the market or stores to check them out all as you can view them on your computer screen or tablet and get them delivered at your home promptly.

Choosing a gift could be one time consuming affair but what if you could check out the products on offer along with best possible prices and discount offers, choosing the gift does become quite easy. For instance, shopping for laptops, smart phones, home appliances and more becomes even more

Continue...

Best Smartphones Under 10000 in 2013

Every big is launching cheaper smartphones having features comparable to high end smartphones. Today we are reviewing best smartphones under the budget of 10000 in 2013. With the launch of
Micromax Canvas 3D A115 competition in the market became stiff. Nokia Lumia 520 gave high end features in under 10000 category.

Our criteria for choosing

• Screen size
• RAM
• Build quality
• Internal memory
• Looks
• Processor and its speed
• Popularity

Sony Xperia E

Key Features

• 1 GHz Qualcomm Processor
• RAM - 512 MB
• Internal memory - 4 GB
• Battery - 1430 MAh
• Android 4.1 Jelly Bean
• 3.5' TFT Capacitive Touchscreen
• Memory expandable upto 32 GB
• 3.2 MP Camera

Micromax Canvas 3D A115 ( Most Popular )

Features

• Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean OS
• RAM - 512 MB
• Internal memory - 0.93 GB
• Battery - 2000 MAh
• 1 GHz Dual Core Processor
• Memory expandable upto 32 GB
• 5 MP Primary Camera
• Dual SIM ( Both GSM)
• 0.3 MP Secondary Camera
• 5-inch LCD Capacitive Touchscreen

Nokia Lumia 520 ( Recommended )

Features

• Windows Phone 8 OS
• RAM - 512 MB
• Battery - 1430 MAh
• Internal memory - 8 GB
• 4-inch IPS Capacitive Touchscreen ( Better than TFT )
• 5 MP Primary Camera
• 1 GHz Qualcomm Krait Dual Core Processor
• Wi-Fi Enabled
• HD Recording
• Expandable Storage Capacity of 64 GB

Samsung Galaxy Ace Duos S6802

Key Features

• Android v2.3 Gingerbread) OS
• RAM - 512 MB
• Internal memory - 3 GB
• Battery - 1300 MAh
• 5 MP Primary Camera
• Smart Dual Active SIM (GSM + GSM)
• 832 MHz Processor
• Expandable Storage Capacity of 32 GB
• Wi-Fi Enabled
• 3.5-inch Capacitive Touchscreen
• FM Radio

XOLO A500

Features

• Dual SIM (3G and 2G)
• RAM - 512 MB
• Internal memory - 4 GB
• Battery - 1500 MAh
• Wi-Fi Enabled
• 5 MP Camera
• Memory expandable upto 32 GB
• 4' TFT Capacitive Touchscreen
• 1 GHz Dual Core Qualcomm Processor
• Android 4.0 Icecream Sandwich OS
• 0.3 MP Secondary Camera

Final result - It all depends upon your preferences. Based on features I recommend you Nokia Lumia 520 because of its eye opening features. Many people would recommend you Micromax Canvas 3D A115 due to its 5' HD screen which is also a good choice.

Continue...

Sony Xperia U - Review and Specifications

Sony Experia U is a beautiful bar shaped mobile powered by Android 4.0 (Ice cream sandwich). I was surprised by its superb camera quality and speed. It has micro USB port so by using a connecting wire you can use any USB device on it, they call it OTG (On The Go), you can run pen drives, external hard disks or any USB device. The battery lasts for at least 2 days if it is tweaked for optimum power consumption. It never slows down while using multitasking. 

Features

• FM Radio functionality
• 0.3 MP rear Camera
• 3.5'' TFT Capacitive Touchscreen
• Android v2.3 (Gingerbread) OS
• 5 MP Camera
• 1 GHz Dual Core ARM Cortex-A9 Processor
• Wi-Fi Enabled
• RAM - 512 MB
• Internal storage - 4 GB
• Battery - 1300 mAh
• Price - Rs. 10,450

Cons 

Only 4 GB internal memory and no SD card slot. 4 GB is too small now a days when Android apps are too heavy and takes huge space.

Continue...

Using WordPress and a VPN Service to Increase Online Business

When WordPress first started out in 2003, it was considered to be the best blogging tool in the market. Since the beginning, it has utilized a powerful content management system (CMS) that is based on open source code. In the last decade, since its original release, it has come to be known as the best blogging and website building platform in the world. Millions of companies and individuals use the power of WordPress for a variety of different reasons including as an e-commerce store, corporate website, blogging site, and to provide information.

The Success of WordPress

The key component that has built the success of the platform is its simple to use interface. Additional key components include:

· Its high-level content management system
· Its huge variety of available themes and plug-ins 

· The easy ability for search engine crawlers to locate newly posted content. This maximizes search engine optimization (SEO) performance

· Its easy-to-use interface allows for endless customizable theme possibilities 
WordPress comes with a huge array of themes, plug-ins and widgets that can be used to fully customize any website or blogging site. The versatility of these widgets and themes allow individuals to create nearly any type of site they desire. WordPress is king in the world of online platforms, simply because of the hundreds of millions of sites that are built using the system. 


Their online support is impeccable. They offer open forums to help their customers answer all pressing questions on how to best develop their website and grow their business.

Flexible Enough for Business

WordPress is ideal for companies that need flexibility. It has the capacity to expand in size as the company’s online business grows. With its easy-to-use content management system (CMS) it can easily be customized to meet the requirements of any business. Successful businesses often incorporate a VPN service when building, developing, creating and managing their online website using the WordPress platform. 

WordPress provides the best solution for online marketing strategies that incorporate social media sites and blogging sites. With its ability to provide newly posted content, search engine sites including Google and Bing can easily update their systems when they recognize the fresh content, to push the rankings of the business website higher in search engine results. This maximizes SEO (search engine optimization) performance, and helps to increase traffic to the site.
With all of the functionalities that WordPress offers, along with its versatility, it works well for companies that need an easy-to-use interface and a quick way to update online content. 

Continue...

Windows 8 - A user's Review

With updates in the Windows 8 operating system, a number of Windows 8 tablets and windows 8 Laptops have been in the market for quite some months until now. This is a game changing OS. This operating system was launched on the 26th of October 2012. Windows 8 has brought in radical changes to the User Interface. It is interface is designed so that it can be used with the touchscreen, mouse and keyboard as well.

We can download the windows apps through the Windows store or from the apps designer website as well. This windows store is quite similar to that of Google Play store and Apple Store. As of now you can get many free apps but they would eventually increase as the number of windows users will increase. Like the previous versions of Windows you can definitely run all the previous version of windows on Windows 8which is only possible on PC and Laptops but not on Tablets.

Once you enter your password, you will come across the modern UI (User Interface) which gives you an amazing experience of the new start screen. Most people feel lost at this juncture. It takes only some time to figure out how you need to proceed with the new interface. It allows you to install all the apps you would like to have. This allows you to zoom in and out of the screen. Those without touchscreen can also do this by holing the Ctrl key and roll their mouse wheel to do so. It’s good to learn the keyboard shortcuts as this would be the only way for you to get your work done fast if you had a touch screen.

Keyboard Shortcuts:

Windows + L: Locks your system and shows you the lock screen

Windows + C: It opens the Charms bar

Windows + H: Helps you share the charm bar

Windows + Z: It displays the apps bar

Windows + I: helps you with the charms bar settings

Windows + D: It shows you the traditional/ Conventional desktop.

Windows + X: It opens the admin menu.

Alt + F4: Closes the current application.

Charms Bar:

This charms bar is a brand new feature included in the Windows 8. It appears on the right edge of your screen. From the top you have the following in sequence of Search, share, start, devices and settings. Start takes you to the start screen. Share allows you to share stuff with people if you have some apps like Facebook and Twitter downloaded. Search is the substitute for the search box in the previous version of Windows.

Continue...

iPhone 6 - Expectations and Big time for Apple

Samsung S4 is a take of Samsung on Apple's iPhone 5, A much powerful, with better features, innovative and not a copycat at all. Major two features that are "Smart scroll" and "Smart pause" never seen before. With a life like screen with more pixels per inch, a 13 mp camera, bigger 5 inch screen and everything to beat iPhone 5. Not just Samsung S4, in market there is Blackberry B10, HTC One and Sony Experia Z which are giving neck to competition to Apple.
Apple used to be an industry leader, not in terms of profits and revenue but in terms of technology, innovation and design. But they are losing their "Throne" to Samsung, In past many years it was Apple which use to bring new features and everybody in the market follow them. Samsung is now changing the game, they are hitting Apple in every market, Samsung is also snatching tablet market from Apple.

SWOT analysis of Apple for smart phone market

Strenghts 

• Industry leader in design, huge following for its product design.
• Big brand (much higher brand value than competitors)
• Culture to shape markets and bring new features in the products
• Operating system, which is still better than Google's android
• Apps marketplace provides huge apps

Weaknesses

• Kept the prices of smart phones high, it was strategy when there was no close alternative in the market and people were ready to pay premium, but now things have been changed.
• Not product lines for cheaper smart phones, every competitor have a wide range of product line, but Apple just want to create it's own market and want people and it's competitors to follow them.

Opportunities

• Still competitors are trying eat market share of Apple, it can broaden its product line to increase the customers' base.

Threats

• Samsung!!! New players in this segment are doing really well. It's stupid to underestimate any of them, Sony in their new smart phone Xperia Z, brought "Best of Sony", Sony makes one of the best cameras, displays and portable music players. That is a great product.

What is the deciding factor in this Smart phone war :-

Apple is leading in smart phone marketplace because of their Operating system, Wide apps marketplace and Design. Now development of Android is a deciding factor in this market. Next 2 years are really important for this market as everything is dependent on app market, it would be amazing to look which platform will be able to host exclusive apps that can shaken the market.

What new features we expect from Apple in iPhone 6 :-

• Wireless charging (Nokia and Samsung done this before, this is the most probable feature)
• Higher resolution ( currently 226 ppi is not that much crystal clear as of competitors)
• Better primary camera - even 8mp is not enough now
• Smart scroll and smart pause ( Copyright stuff, now that's really dependent on the market response on these features

Continue...

Samsung Rex Series Mobiles - No Value For Money

In a attempt to capture low cost handset market, Samsung Mobiles launched Samsung Rex series by launching 4 handsets in the series - Rex 60, Rex 70, Rex 80 and Rex 90. These handsets are targeting low cost Nokia Asha series, but Nokia Asha series supports Whatsapp and many other applications that are not supported by Rex series. These are low quality mobiles, According to me Samsung is trying to incash it's brand value that is created by Galaxy series and it's landmark handsets.

Overall Rating - 2 out of 5
Price - 3 out of 5
Features - 1.5 out of 5

Features of Rex 60

Screen size - 2.8''
Primary camera - 1.3mp
Internal storage - 30mb
Battery - 1000mAh
Dual sim, Samsung TouchWiz Lite
Price - 3700

Features of Rex 70

Screen size - 3.0''
Primary camera - 2mp
Internal storage - 10mb
Battery - 1000mAh
Dual sim, Samsung TouchWiz Lite
Price - 4070

Features of Rex 80

Screen size - 3.''
Primary camera - 3.2mp
Internal storage - 10mb
Battery - 1000mAh
Dual sim, Samsung TouchWiz Lite
Price - 4790

Features of Rex 90

Screen size - 3.5''
Primary camera - 3.2mp
Internal storage - 10mb
Battery - 1000mAh
Dual sim, Samsung TouchWiz Lite
Price - 5990

Pros of Rex series phones

Cheap
Value for money
Looks good
Dual sim
Nice user interface

Cons of Rex series phones

No android
Whatsapp not supported by Rex series mobiles
Low internal storage space
Less battery life, just 1000mAh battery,

Price - Rs.3500 to 5800

Advice - You can purchase Samsung Galaxy Y for Rs.5100, it runs on Android and with much better specs than Rex.

Rex 90 Vs Samsung Galaxy Y 5360
Please read deatied review of Samsung Galaxy Y 5360

You should also read this

• 9 Best Android Mobile Phones Below Rs.10,000 In India

Continue...

Indiatimes Shopping Review - Worst place to shop online

Today i will give you a review of my personal experience with Indiatimes shopping. To say the least, it has been a horrendous experience. To know the details, read further.

I ordered a pair of Nike shoes on 23th Jan through my credit card. I shop a lot online, However, this was my first shopping experience with Indiatimes shopping. Ebay, Myntra, Bestylish, Pepperfry, Tradus are few of my preferred online stores and to be honest my experience with them has always been good. Trusting the Times brand, I placed the order with estimated delivery date of 2^nd Feb.

I regularly checked the order details to see if they had shipped as most of the stores I order from, ship within a couple of days even if they mention 5-7 days. However, Indiatimes had still not shipped. On 31^st Jan, I contacted Indiatimes shopping customer care on chat(which was equally pathetic). The chat support agent assured that the product will be shipped by 1^st Jan, and I will get the product within 2 days.

I checked again on 2^nd Feb, but it was still not shipped. I decided to wait and see exactly how bad their service can be. On 6^th Feb I received a call from them informing that the order has been cancelled as the product was out of stock. I had never experienced this kind of 3^rd Grade service and that too from a Times Group company.

Online shopping has become a rage in India and is growing really fast. The scope of price differentiation is really less, so online stores create a space for themselves on the basis of their service.

My experience with Indiatimes shopping was not just one example of really bad customer experience. The same thing happened with a good friend.

As a customer, I love to get a good product at reasonable price, however good customer service is more important for me, and I most certainly appreciate honesty.

Indiatimes shopping took my order and my money upfront even though the product was out of stock. They kept me waiting for 15 days for the product and then cancelled it.

So if you are one of those people who don’t mind paying a little extra for better service, try avoiding indiatimes shopping if you can.

Continue...

{Infographic} The great Indian Shopping Guide

India is one of the fastest growing economics which is possible due to the change in the online trends which are extremely positive. Google has done a survey about the growth in the online shopping in the year 2012-13. The results reveal amazing trends of growth as it has reported 128 % growth in one fiscal alone. This change is due to the introduction of many e – commerce websites which are promoting virtually every product online. The users or the customers do find these websites very attractive because of the discount vouchers, smart deals and fair variety. Customers have many brands to choose from and comfort is an added advantage. Online shopping is a convenient affair with the options to shop 24x7 and easy payment process. There are some exceptions in terms of fraudulent and suspicious websites which are being promoted with ill intentions. Such websites can compromise your security and identity online. Please go through the following infographic for more details.

Continue...

5 Best Stores To Buy shoes in India

Everybody is crazy about shoes, gone are the days when people use to buy one pair of shoes and use them till they torn off. Now in India people buy shoes for every occasion just like apparels. Buying shoes have become a fashion in India. Indians are so much comfortable with online shoe stores, most of youth now is purchasing shoes online. There are many reasons behind this :-

• Online stores offers huge discounts
• They have large variety of shoes
• Ease of shopping 
• Shop anywhere

So let's talk about top shoe stores in India. Shoes is the most purchased item online after pen drives, it generates huge revenues so large number of startups enters the market. But you need to be cautious while purchasing shoes online

Myntra

Myntra is a big guy when it comes to men's shoes. With very high customer satisfaction and almost 0% order cancellations, I give this store number 1 spot.
Strengths
Quick delivery

Easy return policy
Quick customer care response
Largest collection of shoes in industry
Lowest price
Great user experience on website
Big brands available

Jabong

Jabong is one of the best online shoe stores in India. They have huge collections both for male and females. Best thing about this store is whenever you like a pair of shoe, you will find your size.

Strengths
Nice user interface
Low prices
Genuine products

Bestylish

Bestylish is the only big store targeted towards shoes only.

Strengths
Everyday low price, don't wait for sale

Huge collection
Nice user interface
Quick and free shipping, Cash on delivery available

FashionAndYou

Out of box shopping portal. They don't allow anonymous shopping. Amazing thing I noticed is very low prices of products. But it is more like a clearance store selling whatever left unsold with manufacturer.
Strengths
Low prices

Weaknesses
Bad user interface
Lack of variety
More like a female store, most of the products are for girls

Yebhi

Strengths :-
Great offers

Super savers that can give you great deals


Weaknesses
Bad user interface

High prices without coupons
Lack of big brands

Worst Place to buy Shoes online

Indiatimes Shopping 

After purchasing a dozen pairs of shoes online. I placed an order with Indiatimes, they were offering A pair of Nike canvas shoes for Rs.1278, I placed the order although i knew they asked for 10 days for delivery. I made the payment from my credit card and after 10 days, I got their call that order had been cancelled and I will receive my money back in my account after another 5 days. It's been 1 week, I haven't received any money in my account. I think they don't even have a warehouse and they are a middleman, that's why they were asking for 10 days for delivery and they didn't knew that there was no stock. This happened to 3 of my friends who who purchased different shoes from this website on that day. So i recommend, stay away from them.

Continue...