Huawei has just launched the Honor 7 at an event held in New Delhi today at Rs.22,999. The phone has previously been revealed in China and came in the mid-range section of smartphones.
Having said that, let us have a look at its features. The first thing about its display that was revealed, is that, it will come with a multi-purpose fingerprint scanner, which can be used to check notifications and take selfies.
The Honor 7 comes with a 5.2 inch display with an aluminum body, thermal design and an aluminum frame. On the camera front, it comes with a 20MP rear camera with PDAF, fast focus (0.1s), and Sapphire lens cover. The front camera is 8MP along with 26mm wide angle lens, and front faced soft light feature. The camera on this handset has a couple of special features, such as, the fact that the front camera has a Time lapse option and the camera features a ‘Good food mode’ filter.
Another feature of the Honor 7, is its Knuckle screenshot. Basically, you just have to double tap to capture the entire screen and just draw on it to crop the screenshot. A function feature called the Honor Smart Key allows you to access functions with a single, double or long press accordingly. Finally, a Voice Wake up feature that allows you to wake up using voice recognition.
On the storage front it will arrive with a 16GB of ROM space and a 3GB of RAM. It has also been said that the Android Lollipop version upgrade will be available for the Honor 7 by the end of 2015. It will also come with a 3,100mAh battery with energy intensity of 600 Wh/L, Smart Power 3.0, a Fast charging option and will support reverse charging too.
Here are its specifications :
Feature
Specification
Display
5.2 inches
Resolution
full HD display (423ppi).
Body
aluminum body, thermal design and an aluminum frame
Processor
64-bit octa-core Kirin 935
OS
Android with EM UI 3.1 on top
RAM
3GB
ROM
16GB
Rear Camera
20MP, PDAF, fast focus (0.1s), and Sapphire lens cover
Front Camera
8MP, 26mm wide angle lens, and front faced soft light feature
Battery
3,100mAh, 600 Wh/L, Smart Power 3.0, Fast charging option and reverse charging too.
Apart from the Honor 7, Huawei also showcased the Honor Band Z1 which will be priced at Rs.5,499. The band is Huawei’s smartwatch which comes with a circular design with a metal bezel around the corners and display at the center. The Band Z1 is also dust proof, water proof and comes with an entourage of features such as, MyFitnessPal app, call reminding, SMS notification, calorie consumption tracker, calendar function and a three day battery life. This smartwatch will be available for purchase by the end of October, 2015. Let us know what you think about these devices.
After Microsoft’s mega event yesterday, we found out that both its Lumia 950 and 950 XL will be powered by the new Windows 10 software. The current Lumia users though, had nothing to gain from this announcement, until now. Recent reports suggest that the existing Lumia owners will also be receiving the Windows 10 update by December.
This bit of information was seen on Facebook when Microsoft responded to a comment on its official Lumia page. Here is what the conversation looked like :
Furthermore, they also added that they would “make an upgrade available for majority of Lumia smartphones running Windows Phone 8.1,” however, this announcement is only good for Lumia phones that have an internal memory of 8GB or above. Fair enough. What do you think?
A lot of us who weren’t aware of the Marvel universe, suddenly found that it was a vortex of unending questions. The difference between the Lord of the Rings world and the Marvel world is that, you might have thought that the latter was connected but it really was just about different superheroes indulging in a whole lot of self-importance.
Now, if you suddenly started watching Thor without having watched anything else in the Marvel series ever, you would have a bunch of questions that even Thor 2 won’t be able to answer. It’s like watching Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix and asking yourself; why is Harry so upset that a guy named Sirius died? So, this piece is for those who want a basic understanding of the marvel world.
CNet.com has a very very useful and accurate timeline of the Marvel vortex. Here it is:
Image Source: CNet.com
In order to understand the purpose of this continual warfare with super weapons we first need to get a basic idea of how it all began. Well, before the universe existed there were six singularities that existed in the forms of ingots, which were then combined into one infinity stone. This infinity stone was the axis of all the action because it had the power to control the entire universe.
The Infinity Stone
The problem began 5000 years ago, when the Elves of Svartalfheim decided to use the aether of the infinity stone to destroy all the nine realms. Because, you know, that’s what Marvel baddies do in their free time. Oh, and these elves are no Legolas.
Malekith absorbing the Aether
Now, the nine realms are connected by a cosmic tree called Igdrazil and Asgard is the protector of the nine realms. So, when Odin, the King of Asgard found out that Malekeith and his evil elves were about to destroy the nine realms, he went to war.
That was to give you an idea of what could happen if the infinity stone was in the wrong hands. So, a couple of hundred years later, Oden went to war with the frost giants of Yodenheim because they were about to take over mid-gard aka Earth. After almost destroying them, he found a little frost baby whom he adopted – Loki. Suddenly, the Tesseract, which was another infinity stone found its way to Norway, which was on Earth. Actually, Odin hid it there, so that no one can find it. But, obviously somebody found it. Not just anybody, a Nazi official. Whoops.
The Tesseract
Then begun the story that is Captain America : the First Avenger. This was set in the 20th century where humankind was looking for a higher form of weapon during the first World War, and hence created Captain America (buff soldier who danced through the first half of the film. Period.) So, you’re probably asking – ok, where is the problem? Here it is. Captain America was a Jewish scientist’s second experiment and that turned out successful, but what about his first one? Well, he had created a super soldier serum way back in 1935 and had to use it on a Nazi commander whose name was obviously, Schmidt. That first experiment didn’t go so well, and turned the Nazi commander into Red Skull instead of a handsome and buff super soldier. Red skull found the Tesseract that was hiding in Norway, and Captain America had to get it back. Here, watch the trailer :
The film didn’t end with captain America either dead or alive, he had gone into hibernation and during this time his fellow comrades – Howard Stark (Iron man’s father), Peggy Carter and Chester Phillipps created S.H.I.E.L.D, otherwise called – Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division.
But soon, SHIELD got infiltrated by the remnants of hydra that were left behind after the defeat of Red Skull and then SHIELD found Captain America’s best friend who was supposedly dead, and created the Winter Soldier. During this time, Howard Stark started creating this super armour which eventually went on to be used by his son Tony Stark aka Iron Man.
Then America needed some more super soldiers, so there was the experiment gone wrong, otherwise also called – the Incredible Hulk. The Hulk goes into hiding because of a minute accident, that involved his hand getting cut, his blood finding it’s way into a soft drink and a little innocent boy dying. Obviously, the American government was hunting for him. So, he went into hiding to some South American country. Watch the trailer below, in order to get an idea of the “Hulk-hunt.”
Now, after announcing himself as Iron Man, Tony Stark went on to open up the Stark Expo 2010 and did other cool things like meeting senators etc. During that time he also met a certain Natalie Rushman, got attacked by a Russian man (Vanko) during the Grand Prix, found a new ‘element’, and finally defeated Vanko aka Whiplash. Don’t heave a sigh of relief yet, theres more.
Let’s move on to Asgard now.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNQowwwwYa0
Odin’s son Thor was about to get coronated as the next King of Asgard, but was interrupted when the Casket of Ancient Winters, from which the Frost Giants could restore their power, got stolen. Thor, who is the strongest man in the realm with a huge lightning hammer and equally huge muscles (basically has everything except for a real brain), saw this as an act of war and immediately went over to attack the Ice Giants with his possy of four or five. This didn’t go down too well and so he was exiled to mid-guard aka Earth. There he met Jane Foster and fell in love with her, got captured by S.H.I.E.L.D, got tricked by his brother Loki (who found out that’s he’s not really an Asgardian but is actually a Frost Giant), and finally he also destroyed the big evil monster that Loki sent down to earth in order to destroy Thor. But, love-struck Jane Foster was left behind on Earth, more about that later.
Now is the confusing bit – when all the Avengers come together to destroy the ‘abomination’. Yes, that’s the name of the monster that becomes of Emil Blonsky – the guy who fought Hulk in Incredible Hulk. After turning into the Abomination he fought Hulk and lost, Hulk then moved to Bella Coola. Then Tony Stark met a man named General Ross, who had been looking for Hulk too and Nick Fury approached Captain America (who is now awake) about The Avengers. During that time Loki infiltrated SHIELD and stole the Tesseract and Nick Fury decided to assemble The Avengers in an attempt to defeat Loki. Loki escaped and the avengers split up.
Meanwhile Jane Foster (Thor’s earthly lover), was obsessively trying to find a way to be with Thor, and instead came across the aether of the infinity stone that was hidden by Odin. The dark elves awakened from their slumber and decide to attack Asgard. Thor eventually defeated them and went to his father to decline the throne of Asgard. But, we soon found out that it wasn’t even his father he was speaking to, it was Loki in disguise of Odin. Mind = Blown.
Now in the real world, Aldrich Killian (that guy in Iron Man 1 whom Tony Stark kind of forgot to meet) came back with some neat powers and he’s obviously had to do evil things with it. Meanwhile, a terrorrist named Mandarin threatened Iron Man and attacked his bodyguard. Tony Stark then gave his address to mandarin, and soon found out that the real Mandarin is not the guy on TV, it’s Aldrich Killian.Tony obviously defeated Killian and then underwent an operation to remove the arc reactor from his chest.
Captain America, was meanwhile working for SHIELD. Suddenly, there appeared an assassin named Winter Soldier who wanted to kill Nick Fury. Captain America soon found out that Winter Soldier is none other than his best friend Bucky, who fell off the cliff and apparently died back in the first film. He also found out that SHIELD had been infiltrated by HYDRA (Nazi division led by Red Skull in the first film), so he defeated Hydra but did not kill his friend the Winter Soldier.
Moving on to a boy named Peter Quill who was at some point abducted by aliens, grew up into an intergalactic thief. He stole something that Gamora (daughter of Thanos) was sent to get. Gamora however, was planning to betray her father and his servant Ronan, and ended up trying to steal the power ball from Quill on a planet called Xandar. They teamed up with a couple of other misfits in order to stop Thanos and Ronan.
And finally, the recently released Ant-Man – a small creature who can communicate telepathically with insects and such. Not too sure about the connection, but if you watch it you’ll definitely find one.
Obviously you still have tons of questions, therefore, for best results, you can actually just watch all the films. It’s an entertaining journey, which thankfully is not yet over.
Google-owned robots are somewhat like YouTube stars, however, Google still is not ready to discuss their robotics operations publicly. Reports suggest, that they are currently laying a foundation for ‘intelligent and multipurpose robots’.
Further reports also have suggested that Google wants to separate their internet services from their research arms and unrelated businesses. So, going ahead with that goal, they will be creating a separate robotics division for robotics within Alphabet. Boston Robotics, which is a company that makes robots for the US military will be operating within Alphabet with some independence.
Google’s robotics division has made great strides towards their goals especially with the autonomy they get under Alphabet. They have eight robotics acquisitions including Boston Dynamics and are using their resources to build domestic helpers or security droids for the future.
To update us on what they’re working on, Google sometimes publishes research papers and one of these papers was recently published in Cornell University’s Arxiv repository. This particular paper revealed that the company has been “experimenting with feeding short video clips into machines’ electronic brains to improve their vision.”
All signs point to the fact that Google is making an effort to make robots a part of our domestic lives soon. Till then, let’s just hope we don’t really have to ever be in an I-Robot type situation ever.
For those of you who have vertigo – this piece of information may not interest you. Eleven engineers in China have made a new glass-bottom bridge that is 980 ft. long and is suspended between two cliffs at 600 ft above the ground.
The bridge is being called the Haohan Qiao Bridge, which means the ‘Brave Men’s Bridge’ in English. It is located at the Shiniuizhai National Geological Park in southern China and is attracted many tourists from all over the country.
However, this bridge was not always made of glass, it was previously just a long wooden overpass that linked the two peaks of Stone Buddha Mountain.
More information about the bridge tells us that it was made using double thick glass panes, which weighed about 140 kg and required four people to lift and put it in place. The glass is also said to be 25 times stronger than regular window glass and visitors are given special footwear to travel across.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7z06mcBEHA
What we’ve also found out, is that this idea of glass-bottomed walkways is a new adventure thrill among the Chinese in recent times. Apart from the Haohan Qiao Bridge, there is also a glass elevator opened in Hubei. This elevator allows people to reach the peak of the mountain, without having to trek it up.
It is situated next to the cliff face and is 3,543 feet above sea level. This is not even the end, there’s another glass-bottomed bridge that is currently being constructed in Zhangjiajie, Hunan at 984 ft. above the canyon it is being built over.
The Nexus 5X and 6P had been revealed at the Google event held on the 29th of September, 2015. Both devices were announced to arrive with the new Android Marshmallow version along with many other upgraded specs. Today, we’ve come to know that the Nexus 6P will arrive in India, sooner than expected.
Flipkart has already put up a small teaser of the device, however this time it does not have a ticker that shows the pre-order date. But, what we do know is, that the device will be shipping for pre-ordered customers later this month so, we can expect the pre-order to begin in India around the same time. Reports also suggest that it could go on sale next month.
The Google Nexus 6P could be priced at Rs. 39,999 for the 32GB, Rs. 42,999 for the 64GB, and Rs. 47,999 for the 128GB variant. It also comes in three colour variants – Aluminium, Graphite and Frost White.
New reports have suggested that Motorola will release the Moto X Style in India soon. There are no confirmed dates for the said device, however this is what was tweeted by the company :
Get ready to live life to the fullest & party in 15 minutes flat with the Moto X Style. Coming very soon! pic.twitter.com/7b9JgGtPPP
That doesn’t seem too bad at all, since they’re already tweeting about it, we can probably expect the process to begin soon.
Why should you be excited about the new Moto X Style? Well, apart from being a high-end phone, it is an upgrade from the X Play that Motorola has brought to India in September. It is powered by the Snapdragon 808 processor, contains a 3GB of RAM and flaunts and display that is larger than 5.7 inches. The display is further enhanced by a QHD (2560×1440) resolution too. The Moto X Style will come with a 21MP rear camera and dual SIM support. The only down side of this phone is that it features a smaller battery.
Till now this is all we know. However, we will bring you the latest updates and official announcement of the release dates as soon as it’s out.
Facebook has just updated a new profile picture feature for iOS users. Now, your Facebook display picture could be a GIF of yourself.
iOS users will have to check their profiles on the mobile app in order to find the notification. Once on the app, you’ll have to click on the ‘more’ tab and select your name to go to your profile. Then you will be asked to add a new summary bio. After editing that you’ll have to loop a profile video.
For this, you will find an icon between the camera and video symbol on your profile picture. Click on that, and pick whether you want to take a video or upload one. The video is supposed to be only seven seconds long.
The last step is to add featured photos, for this you will find a space for inserting five pictures below the ‘About Me’ section. You’re done. Your profile will look somewhat like this now :
Image Source : wired.com
However, there are a couple of things you need to know about this feature. Firstly, that it’s not yet available to all users and as of now, just a select few have got it. Secondly, the profile GIF can be viewed all across Facebook, but can only be edited via the mobile app. So go check your Facebook as soon as possible and tell us what you think about this cool new feature.
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has approved a proposal by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), stating that there will soon be a single emergency number in India.The existing numbers are – 100, 101, 102 and 108. These will exist for a period of one year before being re-routed to a single emergency number 112.
“These numbers will be closed in a phased manner (following a public awareness campaign),” said the DoT.
This number will be accessible to all, even those who do not have a GPS enabled cellphone. However, reportedly, DoT has suggested the telecom regulator to study the impact of enabling all mobile phones with GPS before finalizing the view.
A statement issued by the TRAI mentioned that they would soon be finalizing a date for the incorporation of GPS on all mobile phones in order to have a more accurate location information. Until this works out, we’ll still have to remember a set of numbers.
Here’s some very cool news for iPhone 6s users – it is reportedly waterproof. How do we know? Well, some people at iFixit decided to dunk their iPhone 6s into the water in order to see what happens. They found that the iPhone 6s is actually somewhat water-resistant. However, you’re probably wondering why Apple didn’t announce this game changing feature. It’s because the iPhone 6s is not entirely waterproof. So, let’s find out how waterproof the iPhone 6s really is.
Image Source : iFixit
iFixit, a private company, broke down the iPhone 6s for us all, and found that the new device actually has some of the waterproof tech that Apple has already patented. Apple has redesigned the iPhone’s internal structure in order to bring this product closer to its goal of making a fully water-resistant smartphone.
Image Source : iFixit
The purpose of the glue band around the display screen is reportedly more than just to make the screen stick better to the metal. It’s actually also to keep liquids out. When iFixit took a close look at the logic board, they found that every cable connector was surrounded by a small silicon seal, that keeps the water away. This is also reportedly the first time, that Apple has used such a technology.
However, as mentioned before, the reason Apple hasn’t marked this iPhone as waterproof is because all its components haven’t been water-proofed. For example, its headphone jack and speakers will still let water flow in. But, we can most definitely anticipate Apple to create a fully water-proof iPhone soon enough. Let’s hope till then.
Panasonic has added 5 models to its Viera HD TV range today. There are two new series, namely, the CX700 series of 4K Ultra high-definition 3D TVs and the XXL series. The former will be come in two display sizes, 55, and 60-inch sizes, respectively while, the later will also come in two variants, a 50 and 60-inch wide screen.
“4K technology is the most advanced for Ultra HD TV, delivering sharper and more vivid images than ever before” says Neeraj Bahl, Associate Director, AVD Sales, Panasonic India.
The CX700 series is supported by various apps and devices that run on the internal quad-core processor. The display features an LED Super Bright Plus screen that portrays images illustrated by Panasonic’s HEXA Chroma colour drive. It also has an 800Hz intelligent frame creation feature to capture fast-motion shots clearly.
On the other hand, the XXL full HD range, caters to a person to has a sharp ear for sound, by offering a Dolby Digital Audio with an LED screen that also supports an internal multimedia player across HDMI, USB and PC inputs.
The two new series come with screen mirroring technology, that enables it to connect between Android devices. It can also be controlled by a wireless remote app and through voice interaction technology, along with a light-sensitive LED backlight.
They are both powered by the Firefox operating system and has predictive content preference features such as Home Screen 2.0 and Info Frame. Last but not the least, you can stream web music on it, as well as video and live broadcasts, as it offers a compatibility with apps such as YouTube and Vimeo.
The availability and the price of these products are currently unavailable. However, we will bring you the updates soon enough.
New reports have suggested, that Chinese smartphone manufacturer, Xiaomi Corp is under investigation for allegedly violating China’s new advertisement law. This new law, that became effective from the 1st of September, 2015, states that the use of superlative adjectives in promoting products would be banned.
Investigation of the matter is being made on suspicion of the usage of phrases such as “the best” to describe their product. Zhu Dalin, an analyst at the Beijing based Internet Consultancy Analyses told the Economic Times :
“The new law will have a certain impact on Internet companies, but not too much-after all, consumers are so accustomed to cliches such as ‘the super phone’ and ‘the omnipotent TV’ that these phrases make no real sense to them now.”
Allegedly, Xiaomi has also been in a similar situation earlier, when it had launched the Red Mi Note 2, where it showed the device to be equipped with panels from Japanese electronics giant Sharp Corp and the Taiwan manufacturer AU Optronics Corp. Soon, after buying the product, consumers found that the screens were actually produced from a Microelectronics Co Ltd based in Guangdong province.
This kind of an allegation is probably going to cost the manufacturer its reputation. However, no official reports have been made by the company so far.
A new report suggests that HTC is all set to give their smartphones an update to the new Android Marshmallow 6.0. Obviously, this update will not be available to all their smartphones, but a select few which include the HTC One M9 and HTC One M8 before the end of this year.
We’re roasting marshmallows this fall! We’ll begin our Android 6.0 rollout to devices before the end of the year. pic.twitter.com/Zd59NaqTjx
The list is however longer than this, since it also includes – the One M9+, One E9+, One E9, One ME, One E8, One M8 Eye and the HTC Butterfly 3.
All the above phones are HTC’s high-end phones, but it has also been said that HTC’s mid-ranged Desire 826, Desire 820, and Desire 816 will also be updated in the future. No dates have been confirmed for this update, but what we also know is that HTC will be adding more devices to this list. So sit tight and hope that one of them is yours.
Snapchat seems to be changing its display, format and along with it, the way its users interact with each other. Snapchat originally became very popular amongst the younger generation because of the fact that it erased memories in 10 seconds and kept their live statuses for just 24 hours. So, unlike Facebook, where someone can look through your past and bring up an embarrassing status or profile picture, Snapchat erases it all.
However, there is one thing on Snapchat that does not self-destruct, and that is the profile GIF. The profile GIF was added in July along with the tap-to-view feature. So, now, on your profile screen, if you tap on the QR code you will be able to shoot a series of 5 selfies which turns into an animated profile GIF.
Initially this seemed like just a cool customization which encouraged people to share it more and thereby strengthening Snapchat’s user base. However, there is another purpose for this customization, and that is, it somehow solves Snapchat’s identification problem. Basically, previously, when you added someone on Snapchat, you knew nothing about them except for their username. The anonymous character of this app made it very popular with the youngsters.
However, now, when you add someone, their profile GIF shows. So, you can immediately identify the person’s gender, and perhaps even their sense of humour. So, you won’t have to follow a person, then check out their Snap Story and then unfollow them, if you’re not interested.
This is very useful for Snapchatters who make their profiles public, because they can efficiently decide whom to follow back. The profile GIF definitely seems to be providing more transparency to one’s identity, thereby allowing you to be more aware of whom you add and follow.
Oh well, in this fast-paced world where social interactions and networking seem to play an important
role, it is necessary for social media to catch up too. And that’s exactly what Snapchat is doing.
Massive Audio Inc announced their new set of ‘Doctor Who’ Headphone Collection today, under license from BBC Worldwide North America. The company had previously released other products such as the TARDIS and Dalek Bluetooth speakers for Doctor Who fans too. So, this new collection of TARDIS and DW insignia Bluetooth and Wired Over-Ear Headphones will add to their line of tech merchandise.
These Bluetooth Headphones have built-in buttons for full control over tracks, volume, phone calls and a bass boost option. The device also has a built-in microphone for phone calls without the need of a boom. Apart from these savvy buttons, the headphones also have a rechargeable battery which can be charged via the USC cable and will last for up to 30 hours with constant music.
The wired headphones are slightly different, since they come with an inline control box. However, they come with the same features and microphone. The packaging comes in a cool Doctor Who branded carry bag along with flat tangle-free wire packed in a collector’s-style windowed gift box.
The TARDIS & DW Bluetooth Headphones will come at a price of approximately Rs.7,889 while the TARDIS & DW Wired Headphones will be priced at around Rs.5,194. Both products will be released on the 1st of October 2015 and will be available for sale online an in retail stores starting early October.
