Facebook hits 100 million India users, largest after US

Facebook has hit more than 100 million users in India, making it only the second country after the United States to achieve the milestone, the social network company has said.

The mobile phone market was driving growth in India along with better Internet coverage across the country of 1.2 billion people, said Kevin D'Souza, Facebook India's head of growth and mobile partnerships.

"Today, we have more than 100 million people who access Facebook actively in India each month," D'Souza was quoted in local media on Wednesday as saying.

"Now, we look forward to one billion in India that's a different focus and challenge," Javier Olivan, who looks after global growth in Facebook, told the Economic Times newspaper.

India is expected later this year to overtake the United States as the country with the most Facebook users, with the figure forecast to pass 150 million, analysts have said.

(Also see: Facebook reports 82 million monthly active users in India, 62 million via mobile)

Facebook, with more than 1.23 billion users globally, is turning to emerging markets including those in Asia to drive expansion after growth in the West tapers off.

It leads social network services in all but six countries notably Russia, where local rivals are preferred, and China, where it has been largely banned since 2009.

Facebook announced in February a takeover of free mobile messaging service WhatsApp for $19 billion in a deal that marries its social network users with Whatsapp's 450 million users.

Facebook has seen a meteoric rise in India since setting up its first office in the southern city of Hyderabad four years ago, when the country had about eight million users.

India has 164.81 million Internet subscribers, with more than half logging in from their mobile phones, the telecoms regulator said last year.

Google introduces Indoor Maps for malls in India

Google announced on Wednesday that indoor maps for a number of public spaces such as malls and along with locations like the National Gallery of Modern Art in Delhi and the Salar Jung Museum in Hyderabad. The museums were already being covered by Google's Art View project, as reportedpreviously.

Google's indoor maps are already available in other parts of the world, in countries including the US, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong and the Netherlands.

Google has recently been resurrecting their map offerings in India, after their Street View plans ran into roadblocks in June 2011, after security concerns were raised in Karnataka, just three weeks after they started.

Some of the major locations include Ambience Mall in Gurgaon and Select City Walk in Delhi. In a press release, Google stated that they have worked with 75 partners, across 22 cities to launch indoor maps in India and they will be adding more locations.

The maps cover the major metros and also big cities like Bhopal, Coimbatore, Dehradun, and Ludhiana. According to Google, detailed floor plans will automatically appear when you're using the Google Maps app on iOS and Android, and zoomed in on a building where indoor map data is available. Simply zoom out and the indoor Google Maps will fade away.

In some locations, users will have the option of using the indoor My Location feature to help you navigate your way inside. This means that when you move up or down a level in a building with multiple floors, the map will automatically update to display which floor you're on.  At these locations, you can also access indoor walking directions to help you get to where you need to go more quickly.

While Google has just started indoor maps, Nokia got a head start with their HERE maps. Nokia launched the service in June 2013, covering 150 malls, in 17 cities, as previously reported.

For a full list of locations, click here - the service is being rolled out in the following 22 locations for now: Bangalore, Bhopal, Chennai, Coimbatore, Chandigarh, Dehradun, Delhi, Ghaziabad, Goa, Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kochi, Kolkata, Lucknow, Ludhiana, Moradabad, Mumbai, Noida, Pune, Raipur and Vadodara

Samsung Galaxy S5 available online in India for Rs 45,500

UPDATE: The product is no longer listed on the site. The previous page is now redirecting to Samsung's range of Galaxy phones available on the site.

New Delhi: While Samsung is expected to officially launch the Galaxy S5 smartphone in India next month, the phone (16GB) has already made its way to e-commerce website Saholic.com, which is selling it for Rs 45,500.

ALSO SEE Samsung Galaxy S5 review: Improvements might be enough to entice Samsung fans to upgrade

The website says the phone will be delivered by March 8. The Galaxy S5 has a 5.1-inch FHD Super AMOLED (1920 x 1080) display. Powered by a 2.5GHz quad-core application processor and Android 4.4.2 KitKat, it comes packed with a 2800mAh battery. It has 2GB of RAM.

The Galaxy S5 is dust and water resistant. It also offers a Finger Scanner, providing a secure, biometric screen locking feature and a seamless and safe mobile payment experience to consumers.

ALSO SEE With the Galaxy S5 Samsung shows restraint, goes back to the basics

Its Ultra Power Saving Mode turns the display to black and white, and shuts down all unnecessary features to minimise the battery consumption.

The Galaxy S5 features a 16 megapixel rear camera. It is claimed to offer the world's fastest autofocus speed - up to 0.3 seconds. Its new Selective Focus feature allows users to focus on a specific area of an object while simultaneously blurring out the background. It has a 2.1 megapixel front camera.

The phone comes with the improved S Health 3.0, which, Samsung says, offers more tools to help people stay fit. Galaxy S5 users can further customise their experience with a third party app ecosystem and the ability to pair with next-generation Gear products for real-time fitness coaching.

Samsung's new Galaxy S5 will be available globally through Samsung's retail channels, e-commerce and carriers from April 11 in over 150 countries, said the company.

LG G2 4G LTE variant launched in India at Rs. 46,000

LG has announced the launch of another variant for its flagship G2 smartphone in India. The LG G2 4G LTE variant is priced at Rs. 46,000 for the 16GB variant, and Rs. 49,000 for the 32GB variant. The smartphone will be made available by the company after two weeks (mid-March).

LG had first unveiled the G2 3G version in August last year, and it later was launched in India at Rs. 41,500. The 4G LTE version sports same specifications as that of the present LG G2 available in market, apart from the additional 4G LTE support.

The LG G2 features a 5.2-inch full-HD (1080x1920 pixels) display, with a pixel density of 423ppi. It is powered by Qualcomm's quad-core Snapdragon 800 processor that's clocked at 2.26GHz. The device comes with 2GB of RAM.

The LG G2 sports a 13-megapixel rear camera with Optical Image Stabilisation and a 2.1-megapixel front shooter. LG's latest flagship runs Android Jelly Bean 4.2.2 and is powered by a 3000mAh battery. The LG G2 sports dimensions of 138.5x70.9x8.9mm, weighs 143 grams.

The LG G2 comes with a unique design that features the power buttons and the volume rocker at the back of the phone, below the rear camera, instead of the sides of the phone. It also comes with bezels as thin as 2.65mm.

In February, LG had also unveiled the compact version of the LG G2, called G2 mini, just before MWC 2014. The smartphone is the lighter version of the flagship G2 and features a smaller 4.7-inch IPS LCD display with a qHD (540x960 pixels) resolution.

The G2 mini will feature different chipsets for different variants, with the LTE and 3G versions featuring 1.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon 600 processors - MSM8926 for LTE, and MSM8226 for 3G. The Latin America LTE variant (LATAM LTE) will feature a 1.7GHz Nvidia Tegra 4i chipset.

All variants of the LG G2 mini will also come with a 1GB of RAM. The device's camera options will include an 8-megapixel rear (with flash support) and a 1.3-megapixel front facing shooter. The LATAM LTE variant will feature a 13-megapixel rear camera instead.

The LG G2 mini comes with 8GB of onboard storage with an option for its expandability via microSD card. The device also supports 4G connectivity. The battery capacity of LG G2 mini is 2440mAh.

LG has also planned the India launch of the LG Life Band Touch wristband in second half of 2014, which the company revealed on Monday during their LG Tech Show in India. The fitness tracker wristband was previously unveiled during the CES 2014.

The LG Life Band Touch wristband tracks physical activities such as steps taken, distance covered and calories consumption. The Life Band Touch features an OLED touch display which works as a watch and shows notifications from the connected device.

The Life Band Touch also includes touch controls for music playback and receiving calls from the synced device