Author: Rachel Issac

Microsoft’s New project To make 3D Scanning Possible On the iPhone Soon

Microsoft is now creating a camera for smartphones, that can also be a 3D scanner. The name of this project is – MobileFusion and the first research has been conducted on an iPhone 5S to scan objects by moving the phone around them. Kind of like the new pen scanner we just reported about.

The phone is said to be able to capture and track objects and then build up a model as the camera captures it from different angles. Microsoft has stated that no additional hardware would be required to turn the iPhone or any other smartphone into a 3D scanner. All the computation is done within the phone itself.

Microsoft’s project is quoted as being different from other projects such as, Google’s Tango project, which uses additional hardware. It has also been said, that Microsoft’s single camera should be enough to make models for printing or use in augmented reality gaming.

As of now, they are trying to get it running on the iOS, Android and Windows Phone.However, the date of release or any news of mass production is unavailable. Stay tuned and watch the video below:

August 25, 2015
Huawei’s New Nexus Phablet Leak Shows An All-New Design

There have been rumours and reports about Google looking to upgrade its Nexus line, however, now we know that there are two phones set for this upgrade – the first one that is allegedly said to be made by LG and a phablet made by Huawei.

The Huawei images of the new Nexus phablet seems to have been leaked, with pictures suggesting that the display could be a 5.7 inch display and could possibly run on the Snapdragon 810 with a 3500mAh battery.

The Huawei Nexus images show a phone carrying both the Huawei and Nexus logos with a dual front-firing speakers and a fingerprint scanner on the back. The third image allegedly shows a USB Type C port along with rumours that this device could also be fully metal.

watch this space for more updates.

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August 24, 2015
Here’s a New Fuel Battery That Can Make Your iPhone Last a Week

New reports suggest that a British company called Intelligent Energy, has cracked the fuel cell miniaturization code,so that now, it can even fit in a hydrogen battery into an iPhone 6, without disturbing it’s original rechargeable battery inside. The hydrogen battery is said to have the ability to keep the iPhone 6 going up to an entire week without having to charge it.

The only inconvenience that has been spotted, is the fact that there will be some water vapour emitted through vents at the back. Intelligent Energy has not yet confirmed the pricing of the device but as of now, the prototype iPhone 6 with the weeklong fuel cell battery is recharged via an adapted audio jack socket.

August 24, 2015
Another Major Chinese Smartphone Manufacturer to Enter India

Meet ZOPO, a new Chinese smartphone company, that is planning to launch a phone called ZOPO Speed 7 in India on the 26th of August 2015. They have currently partnered with Advantage Computers India Pvt. Ltd. (ADCOM) to be their Indian distributor. The ZOPO Speed 7 will be sold online through an exclusive retailer and also through offline stores in India.

The phone is said to come with a 5 inch display and 1080 X 1920 pixels resolution along with a full HD view. It is powered by a 1.5GHz Octa-Core 64-bit MediaTek MT6753 processor with Mali-T720 GPU and a 3GB RAM. It has 16GB of internal memory which is expandable up to 64GB with the help of a microSD slot.

It is also run by the Android 5.1 (Lollipop) and connectivity features include a dual-SIM, 4G LTE / 3G HSPA+, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0 and GPS. The ZOPO 7 Speed comes with a 13.2MP rear camera with LED Flash and a 5MP front camera.

The dimensions of this phone are 146.1×70.6 x8.65mm and weight – 150g. The phone comes with a battery life of up to 2500mAh. It also comes in two colours – Black and White. You can buy the phone on Snapdeal from the 26th of August 2015, at Rs. 12,999.

However, the import of so many Chinese smartphones into India – Meizu, Xiaomi, OnePlus etc, providing high end services at lower rates, is really increasing the competition between Indian companies to step it up. We saw Micromax’s move of starting the Yu Yureka line up of devices to compete with the Chinese companies.

So should we allow the Chinese companies to export their products to India, or should we empower our own companies by boycotting the Chinese devices? Or should the Indian companies just stop whining and step it up? Feel free to leave your comments below.

August 24, 2015
India To Soon House the World’s Largest Solar Power Station

New reports suggest that Madhya Pradesh will soon have the world’s largest solar power station in the district of Rewa. Rajendra Shukla, MP’s energy minister said:

“Global tenders for commissioning the solar power station in an area over 1,500 hectares at Bandwar region in Gudh tehsil of Rewa, will be invited shortly.”

This solar station is said to house up to 720 megawatts of electricity and is expected to start generating solar energy by March 2017. This project is a joint venture of Solar Energy Corporation of India and MP Urja Vikas Nigam, and will reportedly come up on barren government land and not on private property.

The estimated cost of such a project is quoted as being Rs. 7.6 crores, however, it is yet to be seen how much money will be officially allocated to this project.

August 24, 2015
MIT Successfully Manages to Make 3D Printed Glass

A new development at MIT has shown us how to expand the 3D printing technology and use it to make 3D printed glass.

A method called G3DP is said to allow the creation of complex 3D glass structures to be printed in a similar fashion to plastic constructs. This process uses two chambers – one that acts as a kiln cartridge and the other that works to melt structures together. The molten glass is then distributed through an alumina-zircon-silica nozzle that pours the material out smoothly.

The entire process was developed by a team including the MIT Media Lab’s Mediated Matter group, the MIT Glass Lab, the Wyss Institute and MIT’s Mechanical Engineering Department. This new breakthrough is also said to advance the process of creating fiber optic cables that transmit data more efficiently. One of the project’s leaders, Neri Oxman, while conducting research said :

“Now [we can] consider printable optoelectronics, or the possibility of combining optical fibers for high-speed data transmission by light, combined within glass printed building facades.”

One of the research’s vision is to one day employ this technology in building facades. However, reports suggest that the entire process is slow and therefore not efficient enough, but it can still create complex structures for other purposes.

There has been no information regarding the implementation of this device by any commercial application, but the MIT G3DP is going to be showcased at an exhibit in the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York next year.

August 24, 2015
Huawei Beats Apple to it; New Mate S to Feature Force Touch Tech

Year after year, we see minor yet significant new features in smartphones. At one point the fingerprint scanner stole all the attention, this year it seems it is ‘Force Touch’. According to reports, Huawei’s Mate S, that is expected to be revealed at this year’s IFA event next month, might come with the the same technology. This information was revealed in a listing that appeared on OppoMart.

The Force Touch technology is also said to feature on Apple’s upcoming smartphone next month – iPhone 6s and 6s Plus. It was first introduced by Apple with the Macbook. This feature allows a device to differentiate between a light and strong touch and reacting accordingly. Other secifications for the Mate S, that have been revealed are – home-grown Kirin 935 SoC, 5.7-inch (1080 x 1920 resolution) display, 3GB RAM, and 64GB of expandable internal memory. A 20MP rear cameraand an 8MP front camera.

It comes with a 4100 mAh battery and runs on the Android Lollipop 5.1 along with the Emotion 3.1 UI. and a fingerprint scanner. The device is currently priced at $599 which is approximately Rs. 39,815.

August 24, 2015
Reports Suggest Google’s Android Pay Might Release This Week

Apart from its burgers and fries, McDonald’s is also known for being quite tech savvy. They have free Wi-Fi, complimentary iPads and were even one of Apple Pay’s first few partners. Now, recent information also suggests that the McDonald’s is preparing employees to be ready for the new Android Pay system.

The exact date of release, that has been indicated by a leaked memo is said to be on the 26th of August 2015. The Android Pay was announced at Google’s I/O developer conference in May and is said to launch in the United States first.

Android Pay relieves users from the hassle of carrying cards and the payment is done at merchants’ contactless terminals. Simply unlock the device and as soon as you place it near the machine’s NFC reader, a card interface will pop up automatically. Fingerprint scanning isn’t a must. Pick from the virtual cards to complete your payment. With this, you are done. Payment confirmation and transaction details will be received on your smartphone. There is no need to call up Android Pay and put in a separate PIN or password to authenticate payments. Android Pay deals with all by integrating with the security of the operating system.

The Android Pay has the same results as Apple Pay – you can swipe your phone instead of using cash or cards. Further reports also suggest that the new Android Pay will run on the Android KitKat or above.

However, Google has not made any official statement about the release of their new feature.

August 24, 2015
Report: Pre-Order the New iPhone 6s, 6s Plus September 11 Onwards

The iPhone 6s and 6s Plus are both said to arrive on the 9th of September 2015. However, a leaked image from a company in France suggests that its employees can start pre-ordering the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, starting September 11th 2015.

This new date also would suggest that the announcement of the two new iPhones should be on the 8th or 9th September, thereby further confirming rumours. According to these reports then, the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus should be available from the 18th of September 2015.

These new devices are expected to come with a 12MP camera, an A9 SoC, 2GB of RAM, and the much awaited Force Touch. Apple, however, has not confirmed any of the rumours.

Source

August 22, 2015
Asus Deluxe Edition Zenfone 2 Comes With 256GB Internal Storage

Asus has unveiled the Deluxe Special Edition of Asus Zenfone 2 in Brazil on Friday. The feature that makes this phone truly ‘deluxe’ is the fact that it comes with a 256 GB of internal storage.

Other general specifications include, a Gorilla Glass 3 protected 5.5-inch display with a 1080 x 1920 resolution, an Intel Atom Z3580 SoC along with an octa-core 2.5GHz CPU and a PowerVR G6430 GPU. The phone also comes with an additional expandable microSD card slot up to 128GB along with a 4GB of RAM space.

The camera comes with a 13MP rear camera and a 5MP front camera. Other connectivity features include, 4G LTE (Cat.6), 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 and GPS connectivity, Dual SIM, Dual Active capabilities and the Asus Boostmaster fast charging technology. It is powered by a 3000mAh battery and runs on the Android 5.0 with Zen UI.

Along with all this, the Deluxe Edition Zenfone 2 also comes with an exclusive version of the racing game Asphalt 8, and two new back covers -Black with red, and White with red.

The Asus ZenFone 2 Deluxe Special Edition will be available in Brazil next month. Pricing of the product is unknown for now, as is its availability for other countries.

August 22, 2015
Apple Begins Replacing iPhone 6 Plus’ With Faulty Cameras

Apple Inc. has announced the launch of its iSight Camera replacement program for the iPhone 6 Plus. This program is said to help replace the camera module in some of the iPhone 6 Plus devices that have allegedly come with a faulty rear camera.

According to some statistical reports, some of the iPhone 6 Plus models that were sold between September 2014 to January 2015 might have had a component that made photos to look blurry. This particular component also prevents the camera from focusing and could be related to the Optical Image Stabilization, since this device also comes with a much larger screen.

Therefore, all the iPhone 6 Plus models that are facing this problem and have an eligible serial number will get their cameras replaced by Apple, free of cost.This service can be obtained through Apple’s online support team, an Apple retail store, or an Apple Authorized Service Provider.

The company has recommended users to back up their data to iTunes or iCloud in order to get ready for the replacement process, and iPhones that have other damages need to be fixed first, before replacement of the new camera.

Specifically, this new iSight Camera Replacement Program will cover iPhone 6 Plus iSight cameras for three years after the first retail sale of the unit.

Click here to check if your iPhone 6 Plus eligible for the program.

August 22, 2015
Upcoming Android Devices Will Come With Less Google Bloatware

We had earlier reported about how Samsung was planning to introduce apps to delete bloatware in China. It has now been reported that Android users all around the world will soon be getting less bloatware on their phones. Therefore apps like – Google+, Google Play Games, Google Play Books and Google Newsstand will not come pre-installed.

Some new devices such as the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 already doesn’t have Google+ pre-installed. The problem of bloatware did upset many customers and perhaps even companies that decided to use Android as their operating system. Hence, if a company wanted to make an Android handset with the Gmail app, it would also necessarily have to pre-install Google+ and Google Newsstand on it.

However, this new report does not mean that the pre-installed apps are soon to become redundant; they will be available on Google Play Store for those who want them and will be regularly updated too. This new move seems to give users a chance to choose what they do with their storage and companies a chance to provide more storage space and memory to the users.

Source

August 22, 2015
List of Samsung Devices First in Line to Receive Marshmallow
We had recently announced the introduction of Android’s new update called the Android 6.0 Marshmallow. New reports now suggest that there are plans for this new edition to be updated on a few Samsung smartphones, once it is released. The Marshmallow is said to bring with it features such as – app permissions, memory usage tracking, power saving, auto back up etc.

A rumour suggest that the initial batch of Samsung’s Android gear could be updated to the Android 6.0 Marshmallow. This list includes the:
- Samsung Galaxy Note5
- Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+
- Samsung Galaxy S6
- Samsung Galaxy S6 Duos
- Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge
- Samsung Galaxy Note 4
- Samsung Galaxy Note 4 Duos
- Samsung Galaxy Note Edge
- Samsung Galaxy ALPHA
- Samsung Galaxy Tab A
However, this information has not been confirmed by Samsung but according to the rumours, these devices should get updated by early 2016.

For more information on Android Marshmallow, click here.

Source
August 21, 2015
Upcoming Samsung Note 5 Variant Might Come With a 4100 mAh Battery

Recent rumours suggest that the Galaxy Note 5 might actually come with a 4,100 mAh battery after all. These rumours were flying around even before the product released, however, were proved wrong once the Galaxy Note 5 was seen to arrive with a 3,000 mAh battery only.

PhoneArena reports that the Galaxy Note 5 Active model, which will be released in November this year will sport a 4,100 mAh battery. This upgraded device is said to release on AT&T, and along with the new battery will come with an IP68 waterproofing certification.

Even though these rumours remain unconfirmed, we do know that Samsung had once upgraded the Galaxy S6 Active similarly. So, this might after all be good news for Samsung users.

The speculated date of release is – 8th of November 2015.

August 21, 2015
Report : Google India Takes a Stand Against Net Neutrality

According to various news reports, Google could be lobbying against net neutrality in India, as it has been asking the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) to support zero rating plans.

The zero rating plans allow people to use certain web services for free, this basically also allows telecom operators to selectively offer its users access to certain applications/websites without incurring any data charges. Therefore, any telecom company that signs up for this plan would have to pay the telecom provider a large sum of money in order to make their apps and services free for users.

Early this year, Airtel had decided to offer its own Airtel Zero plan in India. This plan was said to be in violation of net neutrality. Very recently though, MediaNama reported an email exchange between Google and the IAMAI, which suggested that Google was trying to push for the removal of zero rating plans from the IAMAI’s submission to the Department of Telecom. Google has further argued that there was no unanimity among internet companies on this issue and therefore, should be removed.

In the recent past, Google has been a part of the zero rated plan, but has put it on hold to provide free data to end users in India. Some companies have still not responded to the net neutrality debate in India, however, Facebook is reported to have taken a stand supporting zero rating.

Let us know your comments on the zero rating plans and net neutrality.

Source

August 21, 2015