Ubislate 7: India Gets Second Low-Cost Tablet – For US$57

India is getting a second government-sponsored tablet. The first model (the so-called Aakash) sold out in just a few days after it was launched online last week, but maker DataWind has already followed up with another 7-inch model, the Ubislate 7. It was actually announced a few weeks back, but is now available for pre-order, priced at US$57 (US$10 more than the original Aakash), and features much better specs.

The Ubislate 7 comes with the following features:

* Android 2.3 (Aakash: Android 2.2)
* 7-inch touchscreen with 800×480 resolution
* Cortex A8 – 700 MHz CPU (Aakash: Arm11 – 366MHz)
* 3 hours battery life – thanks to the new 3200 mAh battery (Aakash: 2100 mAh)
* Wi-Fi and GPRS connectivity (the Aakash was Wi-Fi only)
* HD video playback
* 256 MB RAM
* one USB 2.0 port
* 2GB internal storage, which can be expanded to 32GB via microSD

Customers in India can expect to lay their hands on the Ubislate next month. DataWind will produce, via QUAD Electronics in Hyderabad, about 1,000 units daily.

Samsung Galaxy Nexus available in the U.S.

It took a while but it’s finally here. The highly anticipated Samsung Galaxy Nexus will be available in the U.S. starting TODAY (Thursday).

The smartphone — the first device to run Android’s Ice Cream Sandwich, the latest version of Google’s mobile operating system — will be sold at Verizon for $299.99 with a new two-year customer agreement. It will run on Verizon’s 4G LTE network.

Here are some of the phone’s highlights:

– Redesigned user interface: Software navigation buttons, a first for Android smartphones, and a dedicated recent apps button to make multitasking easy.

– Face unlock: Use state-of-the-art facial recognition to unlock the Galaxy Nexus.

– Android Beam: Share Web pages, apps, contacts and YouTube videos with friends by tapping two compatible phones together.

– Redesigned camera: Introduces panorama mode, 1080p video capture, zero-shutter lag for instant photo capturing and effects such as silly faces and background replacement.

– People application: Browse friends, family and co-workers, see their photos in high-resolution and check their latest status updates from Google+ and other social networks.

– Cloud services: Keep email, contacts, photos, music, browser bookmarks and other data synced to the cloud, available across multiple devices so customers never lose important data.

– Google Music: Upload up to 20,000 songs to the cloud and stream it instantly on Galaxy Nexus and from the Web for free.

If you want the phone you will have to get Verizon Wireless’ Nationwide Talk plans beginning at $39.99 monthly and a smartphone data package starting at $30 monthly for 2 GB of data.

You want it?

MLB 12 The Show Video Game Update

Video game baseball is about to get a little – check that: a heckuva lot – more realistic. And it has Sony’s PS Move to thank for it.

For years, gamers have spent inning after inning perfecting their timing, learning to pick out pitches, then jamming on a button to hit fastball into right field seats.

But in “MLB 12: The Show,” everyone will have another incredibly enticing option. The Move controller, that horrible magic wand of a gadget that’s been collecting dust on many a shelf for the last few months, can now serve as a baseball bat, meaning you can take every at-bat in every inning of your 162-game franchise.

The System Update checked the game out on Wednesday, and we came away impressed. Sure, we played the Move-enabled Home Run Derby in “MLB 11: The Show,” but could developer SCEA San Diego take that element to the next level?

It does, featuring the fluid hitting throughout the game. The Move handles responsively as a baseball bat, and there’s nothing more engaging than hammering a CC Sabathia slider into the cheap seats.

Sony’s Move can differentiate various swings, and it does it with relative accuracy. If you pull your shoulder back and “load,” it reads that as a power swing, and if you attempt to check your swing, the game can read that, too. It’s all instantly immersive, and it easily adds tremendous drama to each and every at-bat.

It’s also incredibly difficult. I don’t know about you, but I’m not exactly headed for next year’s MLB Draft, and if not for pitch-guessing and quick button-pressing reflexes, my virtual Albert Pujols would never smack a single home run, so the idea of stepping into the batter’s box against a pixelated Jared Weaver is not a pleasant thought. You don’t have much time to recognize pitches in this game, and while each and every at-bat is exhilarating in its realism, it’s also frustrating once you realize that you’re, well, not anywhere close to MLB-ready.

SCEA San Diego realizes this, though, and they’ll do their best to help you along. Miss a fat fastball, and the game tells you if your timing was too early or too late, if your swing was on track to connect with the ball, and the like. It all helps you along, and, in theory, it will eventually help you hone your timing.

Timing is of the essence, too. Foul balls happen with great frequency because by the time you recognize a pitch – and figure out where it’s going – it’s right on you, and, like an aging MLB veteran, you’re swinging defensively to just keep your at-bat alive.

But the final game will include a bit more margin for error than, say, Derek Jeter vs. David Price. Devs told me that there would be serious difficulty tweaks before the game ships. SCEA San Diego realizes that few couch potato gamers sport Griffey-sweet swings, so simpler difficulties will provide a greater margin for error. Expect a rookie difficulty that has a huge sweet spot and lets you drive the ball as long as your timing is adequate.

Pitch-guessing will not disappear, either. You will still be able to get what one dev called “contact bonuses” and “contract deductions” by guessing pitches, but don’t be surprised if you forget all about that once you fall into the regular rhythm of hitting.

At the moment, though, fielding and pitching leave much to be desired. It’s admirable – necessary, actually – that Sony remaps both features for Move usage, because it keeps the Move in your hands and keeps you immersed. But throwing to bases involves a rather foreign point-at-the-base interface that seems like it belongs in the next “Dance Dance Revolution.” Pitching, meanwhile, is still partly button-driven, so don’t expect to be getting into your windup and tossing your Move at the big screen.

“The Show 12’s” Move functionality could certainly use a few tweaks, but from what we’ve seen, it’s no gimmick. Instead, it’s a far more natural way to play the game, and it’s fluid enough to bigtime baseball fans with only a casual interest in video games. Think about it: It’s light years easier to pick up a Move and hit than it is to choose your swing style and guess pitches and do all the other insanity that now proliferates in baseball video games.

It also highlights one of the few uses in which the Move is superior to Microsoft’s Xbox 360 Kinect. For all its no-hands potential and amazing motion-sensing capabilities, I have yet to find a baseball video game that plays well with the Kinect. I need – nay, want – a baseball bat in my hands when I get ready to hit, and the Move is the perfect size and weight to function as imaginary lumber.

It’s realistic, and it seems like incredible fun.

If, of course, it’s not too hard.

‘TIS THE SEASON FOR . . . GIFT GUIDES

Christmas shopping for video games isn’t easy, and the System Update knows that well. That’s exactly why, starting on Monday, we’ll provide you with a series of gift guides, stepping you through the best, worst, even quirkiest gaming selections in a variety of different categories. Just because we’re nice like that. So make sure to check back next week, so we can help you with your shopping.

CONTEST: READY TO STEP INTO “RAAM’S SHADOW”?

Yes, “Gears of War 3” had a great ending. But no, it’s not all over. On Tuesday, Microsoft will release “RAAM’s Shadow,” the second DLC for the landmark Xbox 360 game. The DLC promises to tell an entirely new three-chapter tale, and – even better – it will let gamers step into the shoes of Locust General RAAM, the final boss from the original game.

Best part? We’re going to help hook you up with the DLC, and the rest of Microsoft’s “Gears 3” Season Pass. That means you get “RAAM’s Shadow” as well as the already-released Horde Command pack, and two other future “Gears 3” DLCs.

To win, just retweet this week’s System Update and put @ebenezersamuel somewhere in the tweet. Feel free to rave about the System Update in your tweet, too. You’ll be giving us a little bit of publicity, you’ll tell everyone how much you love us, and best of all, you’ll be entered to win one of three Season Pass codes, courtesy of our friends at Microsoft.

Happy tweeting!

TURBO BOOST

All that “MLB 12: The Show” goodness, and here’s one more thing to get you excited: You’ll be able to save a game on your PlayStation 3, then continue it on the go on your PS Vita. If, that is, you can get ahold of a Vita when it’s released in late February . . . Speaking of the Vita, Sony refuted those nasty rumors that you can only store one PS account on your Vita. PS accounts will be locked to your memory cards, not your Vita unit itself. And yes, that sound you hear is every prospective Vita owner heaving a sigh of relief . . . The iPad version of EA’s “Dead Space” is currently 50% off on iTunes. Grab it, before it’s too late . . . Even better deal? The Android version of “Age of Zombies” will run you all of 10 cents on Saturday . . .

LG Nitro HD Review

 

To start, I want to say that this isn’t an awful phone and I want to applaud the fact that I think LG is moving in the right direction in terms of design. However, the LG Nitro HD simply isn’t the fastest, nor is it the most visually appealing phone on the market. LG made about as many good design choices as it did poor ones, in my opinion, and the software just doesn’t do anything to help it out.

The real shining star here is AT&T’s 4G LTE network, and unfortunately I’ve only been able to access that for a few minutes. That said, it seems to be rock solid showing download speeds between 17 and 20 megabits per second. Then again, there are only so many people playing on that network right now so it’s hard to make judgements.

Hardware:

The Nitro HD hardware shines in a few select spaces: the screen, the shape, and the textured back panel. Obviously the 4.5-inch 720p display can be considered the left cheek of this phone’s moneymaker (LTE being the right), and it does a good job at living up to the hype. We’re seeing great real-life color reproduction, and little to no differentiation between pixels.

The shape of the phone feels great in the hand, and this coming from someone who prefers boxier builds like the Droid RAZR. It has rounded corners and a flat face and back, which makes such a large phone a tad easier to grip. The top edge the phone has squared edges, and then curves off around the sides and on the bottom. It’s 10.4mm thick, which is the exact midway point between the HTC Rezound and the Droid RAZR. Not thick, but not anorexic by any means.

Then there’s the back panel. LG seems insistent on building plastic phones, which tend to feel a bit cheaper and less sturdy than phones made of metal. That said, the textured finish along the backside of the Nitro HD definitely makes the phone feel more solid and high-end than it actually is. Unfortunately, the majority of the phone, including that back panel, doesn’t take prints well at all.

But for all the good, there’s plenty of bad. The micro-USB port along the top has a plastic covering which will no doubt break off at some point. Plus, I’m not all that fond of placing a micro-USB port square in the middle of the top or bottom of a phone, as it makes it hard to do anything in landscape when the phone’s plugged in.

I’m also not all that thrilled with this strip of grey plastic connecting the black bezel to the rest of the phone. It simply works against all the work that textured back panel did to make this phone feel more high-end. In terms of sturdiness, I’m not all that convinced that the Nitro HD has the most solid build quality either.

It creaks quite a bit when stressed, and if you put any pressure on the back panel you can feel it move around a bit, like it’s not securely latched on.

Software:

When speaking on software I must first do some back-peddling when it comes to earlier statements. I do, in fact, have some complaints when it comes to software performance on the Nitro HD. I didn’t notice when doing preliminary tasks just how much Android lags and stutters when switching between home screens and scrolling. Web surfing wasn’t any better, with the entire screen freezing up and then jumping into position during any form of pinch-to-zoom.

LG’s Optimus overlay isn’t all that bad, to my surprise. The weather and social networking integration baked right into the UI are actually quite pleasant and seem to function quite well. The UI itself isn’t terribly obtrusive, but I fear that it may be contributing to the annoying lag I’m steadily growing impatient with.

You’ll find a handful of AT&T bloatware-style apps, along with Amazon Kindle, Qik Lite, MOG Music and Zynga Poker HD pre-loaded.

Camera:

I’m actually pretty enthusiastic about the Nitro’s 8-megapixel camera. While it is a test in patience getting from home screen to snapped picture, the end product is exactly what you hoped it’d be. We saw really clear color reproduction, though the pictures do stray into greenish/greyish territory when using flash in low-light situations.

The video capture capabilities performed well, too. It normally takes a second for a mobile camcorder to adjust from a sunny scene to indoors, but the Nitro HD’s camera did it quite quickly.

Performance/Battery Life:

To start I have to say that the speaker (lower-right portion of the back panel) on this phone is pretty underwhelming. Watching YouTube videos and talking on speakerphone was a struggle. Even with the volume all the way up, it makes you wonder what the point of a 4.5-inch HD screen is when you’re constantly holding the phone up to your ear.

When you can hear it, watching video on the screen is a joy, as is playing games. The same lag that plagues the OS in general — from multi-tasking to opening/closing apps — doesn’t seem to be present during gaming or video playback. A nice change of pace.

I’m also impressed with the battery life on the Nitro HD. I got a solid eight hours out of it (around five hours of setup, browsing, talking on the phone, gaming, taking pictures and watching video; the rest was standby). This may not sound like enough, but the truth is that most 4G LTE-capable phones suck wind in the battery department and eight hours is saying a lot. It’s also worth noting that I had the screen brightness turned all the way up.

Conclusion:

The Nitro HD is like a box of chocolates, you don’t know what you’re going to get. While watching video and playing games was a great experience, doing simple things like browsing the web or scrolling through the phone book was tedious. Some design choices (like that micro-USB mess) we could’ve done without, while others (like that back panel) are a great step in the right direction for LG.

At $249 on a two-year contract, I’d say a lot is riding on whether or not you live in one of AT&T’s LTE markets and just how well AT&T’s LTE network performs. So far, things are looking pretty good on that front so I’d suggest doing a little research on whether you’re covered and perhaps picking up a Nitro HD (or a Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket or HTC Vivid) and seeing how you feel about AT&T’s new network.