First impressions: At Rs 6,999, Lenovo A6000 is the cheapest 4G phone you can buy

First impressions: At Rs 6,999, Lenovo A6000 is the cheapest 4G phone you can buy

Lenovo has launched the budget A6000 smartphone in India today, priced at Rs 6,999. The device was first showcased at the CES 2015 and Lenovo has already brought it to India, making it the most affordable 4G smartphone to have launched in the country so far.

Interestingly, Lenovo has opted for a ‘registered sale’ model for this budget phone and it will be available only on Flipkart. Interested buyers can register on the site from today, and registrations will remain open until January 27, 6 pm. The smartphone will go on sale at 2 pm on 28 January and only those who have registered will get a chance to buy the smartphone.

We spent some time with the smartphone during the launch and here’s our first impression of the device.

Design, Screen: It’s impressive that the phone packs a 5-inch HD screen, given that it costs just Rs 6,999. Of course, the biggest plus point of the phone is not the screen but rather the 4G LTE capability, so we’ll get to that later.

The display is fairly sharp, though it’s susceptible to fingerprints. Lenovo hasn’t specified whether the smartphone’s screen is scratch-proof, so we’re guessing you’ll have to buy a screen guard for this device.

The design is fairly standard for what we’ve come to expect from smartphones – it’s 8.2mm thick, although the phone doesn’t look too bulky. The back cover is removable and the volume and power buttons are positioned on the right-side. It’s good to see that Lenovo has gone for a matte instead of a glossy back cover, so it doesn’t look or feel too cheap.

The A6000 smartphone also has stereo speakers on the back that work on Dolby Digital Plus technology. We played a movie on the smartphone and, despite the noise in the background, the sound was fairly crisp and audible.

Storage, Processor, Camera: The A6000 has 1GB of RAM and a 64-bit 1.2GHz Snapdragon 410 quad-core processor. It also comes with 8 GB total storage space, which users can expand via a microSD card (32 GB is the limit). Lenovo’s A6000 also has an 8 megapixel rear camera and 2 megapixel front camera.

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Unknown 08:45  1 comment

Pakistan's fourth Khushab nuclear reactor now operational

Pakistan's fourth Khushab nuclear reactor now operational

Washington, Jan 17 (IANS) US-based Institute for Science and International Security has said that Pakistan's fourth heavy water reactor at Khushab nuclear site, which allows it to build a larger number of miniaturised plutonium-based nuclear weapons, is now operational.

The reactor is a part of Pakistan's programme to increase the production of weapons-grade plutonium.

"A recently purchased Digital Globe high resolution satellite image dated Jan 15, 2015 shows that Khushab's fourth reactor's external construction is complete and has become operational," David Albright and Serena Kelleher-Vergantini of the institute said in a statement Friday.

"This assessment is based on the presence of a very specific signature, steam is venting from the reactor's cooling system," the statement said.

Albright and his co-author said Pakistan's Khushab nuclear site, located 200 km south of Islamabad, is dedicated to the production of plutonium for nuclear weapons.

"Its expansion appears to be part of an effort to increase the production of weapons-grade plutonium, allowing Pakistan to build a larger number of miniaturized plutonium-based nuclear weapons that can complement its existing highly enriched uranium nuclear weapons," the statement said.

"Originally, the site consisted of a heavy water production plant and an estimated 50 megawatt thermal (MWth) heavy water reactor, both of which became operational in the 1990s. However, Pakistan initiated the construction of a second heavy water reactor between the years 2000 and 2002, a third one in 2006, and a fourth one in 2011," it added.

Noting that Pakistan has never provided public information regarding any of the Khushab reactors, Albright and Kelleher-Vergantini said therefore the power output can only be estimated.

The Institute for Science and International Security estimates the power of the original heavy water reactor to be about 50 MWth while reactors Two, Three and Four are believed to generate double or more the power of the first one, and are thus capable of producing more than double the amount of weapons-grade plutonium per year.

A technical consultant to the US-based institute with years of experience in heavy water reactors assessed that the power of these newer heavy water reactors is likely to be more than the first one and over time, their power could be further increased.

The Dec 2014 and Jan 2015 imagery also shows that the third Khushab reactor is also operational, since steam is venting from the cooling system.

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Unknown 08:35  No comment

NASA to launch drought-tracking satellite to track droughts and to study moisture

As per the Statement released by NASA, it is all set to launch a  new satellite in January 2015 to improve drought monitoring around the world. The Satellite is named Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) satellite.

The satellite will be probably launched on January 29, 2015 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

The Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission is going to take the pulse of a key measure of our water planet. The mission will provide the most correct, highest-resolution global maps that ever attained from space of the moisture present in the top 2 inches of Earth's soils.

Data from SMAP is going to be utilized to improve scientists' knowledge of the processes that connect Earth's water, energy and carbon cycles. It is going to detect and map whether the ground is frozen or thawed.

"With data from SMAP, scientists and decision makers around the world will be better equipped to understand how Earth works as a system and how soil moisture impacts a myriad of human activities, from floods and drought to weather and crop yield forecasts", said Christine Bonniksen, SMAP program executive with the Science Mission Directorate's Earth Science Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

Christine Bonniksen said that Global soil moisture measurements of SMAP will offer a new ability to enhance their knowledge of Earth's climate. There are various reasons that researchers want to measure soil moisture and its freeze/thaw state better. Data from SMAP will increase confidence projections of how Earth's water cycle is going to react to climate change.

SMAP will also improve capability to monitor droughts, forecast floods and mitigate the associated impacts of these extreme events. It will also enable to monitor regional deficits in soil moisture. High-resolution observations of soil moisture are going to enhance flood warnings. It will give information on ground saturation conditions before rainstorms. Two advanced instruments of SMAP work together in order to produce soil moisture maps.

Expected Features of the Satellite

>The satellite will provide the best maps yet of soil moisture levels from pole-to-pole

>The satellite will be carrying a loft by a Delta II rocket

>Data from the satellite will track global soil moisture levels for the top two inches of the Earth's surface every two to three days

>The satellite will enable scientist to get a bird's-eye view of drought patterns; for instance, it will watch where droughts begin and end, and how droughts spread across large areas

>The soil moisture maps will supposedly help farmers who depend on rain to irrigate crops

>The SMAP satellite's feature rotating mesh antenna, which measures nearly six metres across - the largest ever deployed in space

It should be noted that the Soil moisture is one of the key factors in estimating drought severity; it also influences local weather, adds to hazards such as flooding, and plays a role in how plants store and release carbon.

The satellite mission costs around 916 million dollars and is planned to last for at least three years whereas the instruments will last for several years.

SMAP is one of five Earth observation satellites that NASA targeted for flash in 2014.

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Unknown 08:15  No comment