Gadgets

Nowadays, most of the film producers and private firms are advertising through digital concept art.  So professional digital artists are hired often and the opportunity for these kind of  jobs are increasing day by day. So if you are a professional artist or just an artist by passion. You might want to have a handy pen tablet that makes drawing and painting easy for you to achieve that photo realism through your art and make them come to life. Working with these pen tablets is very much efficient and time saving. If you are a good digital artist, then you got to know about these pen tablets and how important they are.

Why do you need these top pen tablets ? 

Because they make your work real easy, it might be a little bumpy in the beginning to get used to it but later on when you get a hang on it, you are a professional. A digital pen tablet can help you achieve what you cant do with a mouse. Usually mouse is designed to only output binary actions. Pen tablets have pressure points, that is, you can get dark and thicker strokes when more pressure is applied and thinner or lighter strokes when less pressure is applied.The pressure-sensitivity can control line thickness, transparency, and/or color. Another reason why you need a pen tablet is that, it improves your creativity persuading you to achieve those amazing results. You also have that miracle button called the “undo” button that saves you a lot of time  compared to when done on a computer with any good mouse you have.

Now let’s look at the coolpctips list of the top pen tablets for digital artists.

1) Wacom Intuos 4 6X8-Inch Pen Tablettop pen tablets

Certainly the best tablet in the world has got to belong to Wacom, no surprise. Wacom Intuos is a complete professional designing tool that is almost used in every animation industry such as ILM, Pixar, Disney etc is because of the sleeky design and the comfort that it offers an artist while painting. It just eats away your time, makes sure you complete your work on time. The best part of  the Intuos4 is that offers a large workspace with a comfortable, lap sized tablet. It’s much more open to art compared to other tablets , with quick access buttons and a 3d mouse to boot! The scroll wheel is a nice addition and offers good control when zooming.

What’s so good about it?

- OLED screen shortcuts gives you better accessibility in case you forget the express key assignments.
- Like the previous versions Intuos 1,2 and 3, the pen is ergonomic and comfortable.
- It has more functionality because it now holds nibs. Convenient, since you’ll be needing to replace the nibs very often.
- Widescreen formats allowed in all sizes.

2) Wacom Bamboo Pen Tablettop pen tablets

The reason why I put this on top of the list is that, its one of the best Wacom tablets you can buy at a less price. The best deal an artist can get. The only drawback is that, the drawing panel is pretty small and takes a lot of time getting used to the tablet. And the rest, it has 1024 pressure points, you can achieve almost anything that an artist can. If you need to buy a tablet and you can’t afford to get an intuos, then this is the best option out there. Go get it if you are really upto it.

3) iBall Design Tablet PF1209top pen tablets

I’m actually proud to tell you that there is a tablet that tops the list that isn’t made by the Wacom. That is the iBall Design Pen tablet PF1029. The reason why this tablet is placed on the top third position is that, it is used by the professionals and incorporates alike, sophisticated technologies such as pen tilt support and a report rate capacity supports upto 200 rps. The design is sleek and satisfyingly thin to work on. Bad thing about PF1209 is that there are no custom colors and white is the only available color in the market so far. Another bad thing is that, its expensive (more than the Wacom products) and I’d insist you buy a Wacom instead if you are not looking for state of the art performance.

 4) Wacom Silver Bamboo Fun Tablettop pen tablets

It’s not the thing for pros, though, because it’s small.It has a small screen which restricts your brush strokes and flows, as they say, the bigger, the better. Working on this tablet will not allow you to do a high resolution sketching or painting. Despite its size, which is very tiny, this thing works like a charm. Simply put,this tablet needs to be loved for its simplicity and its convenience. Its something you could gift to a kid who loves drawing as a birthday present. He/she surely would love it.

5) Wacom Bamboo Pen And Touch Smalltop pen tablets

Finally we have Wacom Bamboo pen and Touch small tablet that has all the basic features a professional tablet needs to have. The only negative point about this tablet is that, the drawing panel is too small and gets too sloppy when working on a high resolution drawings as you need to repeat your strokes over times for achieving desired results. Perhaps this is the tab you can afford at a low price if you are just looking for a hobby just to fill that time up with something interesting in your daily routine life.

That’s all folks, hope this top pen tablets article helped you gain knowledge about the best and top pen tablets for digital artists out there.

Micromax FunBook is another Tablet PC which hit the Indian market today. We are seeing too many tablet PC’s releasing these days. The best part is, all of these tabs are ranging below Rs: 9,000 only. Two days ago HCL has released HCL ME U1 & MyEdu tablet PC’s with good configuration and prices under Rs:9000. Also Zync Tablet is another tablet PC with good configuration on price under Rs:9000. But today Micromax has released an amazing tablet call FunBook which is far better compared to all these tabs and priced at an unbelievable Rs: 6499. This device is targeted specially at education sector and will be manufactured in India itself.

Micromax is a mobile company which has produced amazing phones earlier in 2011 and 2010. Micromax is aiming at younger generation to market their new FunBook tablet PC. The firm has already tied up with leading education and entertainment content providers.People who heard about Aakash I, II are no longer bothered about its release date. They no longer need wait for years to get your their own tablet for a lesser price. Many companies are making a foray into the tablet PC market by offering feature rich devices at unbelievable and competitive prices. The recent launches by many companies has made the Indian government to bid up the process for Aakash project. Micromax will manufacture these tablets at a plant in Haridwar and will be initially available in 50 cities across India.

Micromax Funbook

Highly Suggested Topics:
BSNL Launches Penta Tablet for Rs 3,250 to Rival Aakash Tablet
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The company has a target of releasing 1 lakh units in a month. Micromax has already roped in companies like Pearson, Everonn, Vriti to provide digital education content. And companies like Bigflix, Indiangames and Zenga will offer entertainment apps.The users has to pay just Rs: 799 for educational content of a particular class and they can also get access to the multimedia content from their partners. Micromax has already reached no: 3 position in Indian mobile phone market. With this tablet, may be this will soon conquer the top 5 positions in Indian tablet PC market. Because, seeing the technical specifications of this tablet, its hard to believe that it comes for an amazing price of Rs: 6499.

Micromax Funbook

Specifications of Micromax Funbook:

Processor: Lightning fast CORTEX A8 Processor with 1.2Ghz speed. Dual mali 400 – 2D/2D Graphics Processor for seamless Multimedia Processing, Multi-perform to achieve more.
Operating System: Latest Android 4.0 OS – Ice Cream Sandwich with Super fast performance, Intuitive user interface.
Display: 17.8 CMs Multi Touch Capacitive screen which is large enough to entertain, compact enough to carry and Display Ratio – 16:9 with Screen Resolution of 800* 480 Pixels.
Design: Slim, Sleek design form, Easier to hold/carry and available in grey and midnight black.
Connectivity: Wi-Fi Internet connectivity for seamless web browsing. 3G Dongle bundled from TATA photon +, 802.11 b/g, USB 2.0
HD Video: 2160P – Astounding clarity, Fantastic Hi definition, HDMI Port to connect your Hi-definition TV’s.
Memory: Comes with a 4GB NAND and can be expanded to 32GB in future.
RAM & Sensor: 512MB and Gravity sensor, Accelerator Sensor.
Camera: 0.3 VGA Front facing camera, 3.5mm Jack
Battery: 2800mAh Browsing time – 5hours
Apps: Preloaded apps like Read/Edit documents, Zip Files, Text Editor, Adobe PDF, Adobe Flash, Youtube & More.
Edutainment: Study materials for classes from primary to under graduate level, Sample papers for medical and engineering student, Interactive video classes in HD, Social networking, Music, and lot more.
Multimedia: Music player which can play all supported formats, Video player which supports all latest codecs, Picture viewer and Web browser.
Other: First Developed/ Made Indian Tablet with latest technology.

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Micromax has launched this tablet PC to improve the education system in India. Students can excel their studies by spending more time in knowing about latest technologies like Tablet PC’s and Android apps. This amazing FunBook will surely fulfill the dreams of students to improve the Indian education system.

Where to Buy this Micromax FunBook ?

You can book your Micromax FunBook in the official site mentioned below. The best part is that, you can buy this tablet in Installments too. You can pay in 3 interest free EMI’s or Pay Rs:500 at time of registration and remaining while delivery. The official price of Micromax FunBook is absolutely Rs: 6499/- ONLY. It has a free delivery option with 1year Manufacturer warranty and 100% secure shopping trust. You can buy this tab by clicking the below link : Buy Micromax FunBook

Looks the long wait for Aakash tablet has really frustrated many people in India. Finally a kind of good news for you guys. An Enhanced, faster version of Aakash tablet pc will be launched in May 2012. This Monday (i.e) 02/03/2012, The Indian Human Resources Development Minister Kapil Sibal said, “A Faster and enhanced version of low cost tablet PC, Aakash would be launched on trail basis in May 2012.” He also said that the device is being tested and based on feedback from students and gadget guru’s, the device will be out with more advanced features and long battery.

The new tablet would have a better 3200 AH battery with minimum of 3 hour battery backup and a 700 MHz cortex A8 processor and a capacitive touch screen which would get over the earlier issues observed in Aakash tablets. He also said that the first 100,000 tablets was aimed for students of higher education institutions in India and the optional examination in class X would be extended across the country like CBSE. Mr.Sibal also said that he wanted a structural, decentralised, administrative reform with a collaborative approach for development of education sector.

Well, if we keep this aside, there are many tabs in India now which are amazing in performance and very cheap. Its really good to know that Indian government has taken this initiative of giving tabs for 35$ or less. But how far they will be used by our students and higher education institute students ? This is a million dollar question. Because recently we have bought a low cost tablet for Rs:6999/- which has 1Ghz processor speed and a 256mb RAM. To our surprise, nothing worked well in that tablet. The touch screen is very poor and the apps were not supporting well.

Aakash Tablet PC failed

Free Advice : People should know the fact that, Aakash will be used only to hangout with friends and to check what exactly android 2.3 is. Because you will never be able to use an more than 2 apps at a time. You never know what process is running behind and what exactly your device is going through. You can also check out the specifications of BSNL Penta T-Pad IS701R. This tablet costs around Rs: 3,250/- But still got some stuff in it. We didn’t received the delivery of this product so far. Will let you know about Penta T-Pad once it is out in market. Till then please don’t waste your time for Aakash tablet. Its always better to get a good tablet with few extra bucks.

Back in January 2012, Sony Ericsson mobile communications was renamed to Sony mobile communications after Sony bought out Ericsson’s stake. Since then, just a handful of phones have been announced and even fewer have been released as of now. The first Sony-only branded phone was the Xperia S, a fairly competent smartphone that was praised for its screen and media capabilities but let down by some poor software. It was also Sony’s first dual core smartphone.

In the recently concluded Mobile World Congress 2012, Sony announced a bunch of new smartphones covering pretty much every price range. Then came something completely new and revolutionary, Sony announced the Xperia Sola, the world’s first floating touch smartphone! Besides being a good looking, solid smartphone in the usual sense, the Xperia Sola offers a pretty cool new feature where you can control the UI just by hovering your finger over the screen instead of actually touching it. I’m sure it conjures up Minority Report-esque images in your head, it sure does in mine!

This floating touch technology is made possible by the usage of both self and mutual capacitance to detect a finger upto 20mm above the screen. Normally, just one of those sensors is used in touchscreen phones. Floating Touch was made in collaboration with Cypress Technologies and all software will work perfectly well with it. The only drawback is, not all applications are developed to respond to floating touch gestures. Also, multiple simultaneous gestures are possible only when your fingers touch the screen. For the floating touch, you will have to use just one finger. Besides this, the Xperia Sola works exactly like a high end touchscreen smartphone when used as such. As of now, only a few native applications like Sony’s inbuilt web browser respond to floating touch, but this number is sure to increase once the phone is launched sometime in Q2, 2012.

The floating touch technology allows for better control of the UI and gives mobile users access to hover events normally possible only on full size PC’s. This also opens up avenues for mobile gaming where floating touch offers another degree of control. The Xperia Sola also features live exclusive wallpapers that respond to floating touch. At launch, the Xperia Sola will come with Android 2.3, but an update to Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) is due in the summer. This is an important update because Android 4.0 allows third party applications to make use of hover events and floating touch can be used on most applications by then. The Xperia Sola also has features such as 3D surround sound (xLoud) and access to Sony’s new entertainment network. It runs on ST Ericsson’s NovaThoa U8500 SoC (system on a chip) which includes a dual core ARM Cortex A9 processor at 1Ghz, 512MB RAM and an ARM® Mali 400 GPU along with a built in HSPA modem.

Now, for the specs:

Processor: Dual core ARM Cortex A9 at 1Ghz
RAM: 512MB
GPU: ARM Mali 400
Storage: 8GB built-in (5GB usable), expandable up to 32GB
Display: 3.7inch screen, 480×534 resolution, 265ppi, capacitive multi touch with scratch resistant glass
Camera: 5MP back camera with LED flash and 720p recording, front facing camera for video calls
Connectivity: Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, USB 2.0 and MicroUSB expansion slots
Expected Price: Rs: 21,000 – 24,000 INR.

The best part is, the Xperia Sola is supposedly going to be light on the pockets as well! The specs may not be say, HTC One X like, but it’s nevertheless a pretty solid smartphone. Leave a comment and let us know what you think, is floating touch the future or is it just another gimmick?

 

Portable computers are usually referred to as laptop computers or simply, laptops. In reality, there are many types of laptop computers. There’s basically the default laptops, which have slightly less capabilities than a full desktop PC, there’s the desktop replacement laptop, there’s ultrabooks and finally netbooks. In the strictest sense, classifications like these are usually done based on a set of conditions the portable computer in question fulfills.

Laptops, their average capabilities and price range is already well known. They are portable, quiet and have all components integrated. However, the sub categories of laptops are still not very well known. It’s quite important to known exactly what type of laptop to buy because there’s not much sense in buying a full featured laptop when all you need is to edit a few word document or browse the web, is there? So lets break down the types of laptop computers on offer so you can choose one exactly according to your requirements. The categories are:

Desktop Replacement laptops:

These laptops are exactly what their name suggest, they are desktop replacements. They are often also called gaming laptops or media center laptops. Desktop replacements are basically large, bulky laptops with everything you can find in a desktop computer. They have large screens, powerful graphics cards,  high storage capacities and basically all the bells and whistles. The only downside is, they don’t offer much in the way of battery backup. Then again, they’re not exactly meant to be taken around everywhere, they’re just a portable version of your desktop. With all this power in a portable package, needless to say, desktop replacements are rather expensive.

For example, the MSI GT783R offers a 2nd generation Core i7 processor, 6GB DDR3 RAM, GeForce GTX580M graphics card with 2GB VRAM, 1TB HDD and a Blu-Ray drive! Similarly, Dell, Razer and Alienware offer such high powered laptops with amazing performance. They retail for around 2000$ and above. So if you’re looking for the highest computing power in portable form and aren’t concerned with battery backup, then grab one of these!

ultrabooks

Ultrabooks:

Ultrabooks are Intel architecture only superlight laptops that sport good performance while not compromising on battery life. These category of laptops usually don’t have much storage capacity or expansion slots. They usually sport only SSD’s or an SSD in tandem with a small regular HDD. To minimize power consumption, size and weight, power efficient processors and RAM modules are used that offer good, but not blazing fast performance like the desktop replacements. The term “ultrabook” was basically coined by Intel and all ultrabooks run on Intel processors. Intel has applied for a trademark and dictates certain minimum specification a laptop computer must have before it can be classified as an ultrabook. The first set of specifications were stated in October 2011 and the second and current set will be effective minimum from June 2012. The minimum specifications are:

Release date October, 2011 June, 2012 (expected)
Processor  Sandy Bridge microarchitecture
Intel Core models
CULV (17 W TDP)
 Ivy Bridge microarchitecture
Intel Core models
CULV (17 W TDP)
Height (maximum) 18 mm for 13.3″ and smaller displays
21 mm for 14.0″ and larger displays
18 mm for 13.3″ and smaller displays
21 mm for 14.0″ and larger displays
23 mm for convertible tablets
Battery life (minimum) 5 hours 5 hours
Resume from hibernation (maximum) 7 seconds from S4 7 seconds from S4
Storage no requirements 80 MB/s transfer rate (minimum)
16 GB capacity (minimum)
Ports no requirements USB 3.0
Software and firmware Intel Management Engine 7.1 (or higher)
Intel Anti-Theft Technology
Intel Identity Protection Technology
Intel Management Engine 8.0 (or higher)
Intel Anti-Theft Technology
Intel Identity Protection Technology

(Table courtesy Wikipedia)

Although the ultrabook classification is basically Intel’s, the Apple MacBook Air also comes under the ultrabook classification as it satisfies the specifications albeit running on Mac OS X. An example for an ultrabook is the Dell XPS 13, which has an Intel Core i5 processor running at 1.6GHz, 4GB DDR3 RAM, 128GB SSD and Intel integrated graphics. It weighs around 1.3kg, has a claimed battery backup of 8 hours and costs about 1000$. So if you want portability and battery life at the cost of a little less performance, then get yourself an ultrabook!

ultrabooks

Netbooks:

The last and smallest versions of laptops are called netbooks. They are sometimes also called mini-laptops. Netbooks feature small screens, low powered processors and less storage capacity. They often also come without optical drives, with small keypads and weigh 1kg or less. However, netbooks have a long battery life and are frequently used in educational environments. Netbooks usually run on the Intel Atom platform or the AMD Fusion platform. Although most modern netbooks run on Windows 7 Starter, netbooks running on higher versions of Windows 7 are available as well.

One of the best and most popular netbook series is the Asus Eee PC series. The Asus Eee 1016P offers a single core Intel Atom N455 processor running at 1.6GHz, 2GB DDR2 RAM, Intel Integrated graphics, 250GB HDD and features a 10inch screen. It runs on Windows 7 Professional. Asus offers 500GB of cloud storage for customers of the Eee 1016P, so you effectively have 750GB of storage space, which should be quite enough for most people. It’s worth noting that the 1016P is a very basic model and the newer Eee 1215B features a AMD Fusion processor running at 1.6GHz, 2-4GB DDR3 RAM, 250-500GB HDD and an AMD Radeon 6 series graphics card with a 12inch screen and Windows 7. This fair bit of performance comes at a higher price, but still offers around 8 hours of battery life.

ultrabooks

While the specs don’t seem like much, it does everything it’s meant to do, you can surf the web, watch movies, listen to music and do most things, just not very system intensive things like video editing, gaming or heavy multi-tasking. Then again, netbooks aren’t meant for system intensive tasks. The biggest draw is battery life, the Asus Eee 1016P claims a whopping 13 hours of battery life! Most netbooks have a battery life of around 8-10 hours. For people on the go who just need the basic functions of a computer but need more flexibility than a tablet, get yourself a netbook. They are also quite affordable at around 500-600$.

So these were the types of laptop computers available, what would you prefer?

On February 28, Apple sent out invites to major publishers and tech sites. It was quite evident from the invite that the event scheduled on March 7 was going to have something to do with a new iPad. Consequentially, tech sites all over went berserk in trying to determine what the new iPad would look like, what its specs would be and most importantly, what it would be called. “iPad 3″ and “iPad HD” were two of the most likely and common names floating around. One feature everyone was sure would make it to the new iPad was Apple’s “retina display”. Even the invite made it rather apparent that retina display was coming to the iPad.

So on March 7, did the predictions come true? Well yes, and no. The names speculated for the successor to the iPad 2 were way off. Instead of having the iPad name and a number suffix, Apple named it simply “the new iPad”. Confusing? Slightly. Apple probably isn’t going to keep calling it the “new” iPad for very long, and there might be a time when customers would have to choose between the iPad (3rd generation) and iPad 2. At least until iPad 2′s are pulled off the shelves everywhere. Also, the next iPhone might also be named just “the new iPhone”. Apple can’t keep releasing new versions and keeping a number suffix, some day it might be “iPhone 14″, so that’s probably why the name change. Other products in the Apple lineup have been getting major updates for years but have been called the same anyway.

New iPad

Now, most importantly, what’s new in the “new” iPad? Quite a lot has changed. The new iPad gets a new Apple A5X dual core processor and a quad core graphics chipset for rendering all that retina display goodness. Speaking of which, the new iPad’s retina display means that it gets a screen resolution of 2048×1536 with a pixel density of 264PPI (pixels per inch). It’s 4 times the resolution of the iPad 2 and means that even though the screen size is same on the new iPad and iPad 2, the new iPad has four times as many pixels! So the display looks stunning with vibrant colors of outstanding clarity and sharpness. Text would look much, much better on the new iPad. Furthermore, the new iPad gets a 5-megapixel camera at the back capable of 1080p video recording and a front facing VGA camera for video calling. Another big new feature is 4G LTE capability. The new iPad will be available in Wi-Fi only or Wi-Fi+4G models. Apple has also put in a new lithium-ion battery to juice up all this hardware and claims a 10 hour battery life. The new iPad is about the same thickness but about 50g heavier.

On the software front, the new iPad will feature iOS 5.1. The new OS will also be available for older devices. iOS 5.1 has a new camera app, improved battery life and of course, bug fixes. The camera on the new iPad has a neat new feature called called “Temporal noise reduction”. In simple terms, it reduces “noise” from videos taken in low light. Basically, in low light, not enough light hits the camera sensor and the images turn out to be grainy and have unwanted noise. The new iPad’s feature will reduce this noise and render the pixels according to detected “non-noisy” pixels around it and reproduce the optimal video. This means quality of videos taken in low light will increase dramatically, or at least, that’s what Apple claims.

Interestingly, Apple closed their March 7 keynote with a new colorful logo instead of their usual metallic one, could this be the new logo?

The prices are as follows:

16GB Wi-Fi – 499$
16GB Wi-Fi+4G – 629$
32GB Wi-Fi – 599$
32GB Wi-Fi+4G – 729$
64GB Wi-Fi – 699$
64GB Wi-Fi+4G – 829$

That’s everything there is about the new iPad. Do you think it’s worth the price? Let us know!