Author: Rachel Issac

Add Capacitive Touch Buttons to an iPhone 6s and 6s Plus

There’s a new tempered glass for the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus from Quad Glass and unlike others this one is a four dimensional tempered glass. But, that is not even the special feature of this touchscreen guard; it is adds capacitive touch buttons at the bottom of your iPhone 6s and 6s Plus. Before going into details, take a look at our hands on video –

The company explains the introduction of such a feature because of the hassle caused by the huge screen size of the ever growing iPhone. Therefore, instead of continuously having to move your fingers right to the top of the screen, you can just reach the Menu and Back Button by touching the two extra capacitive touch button at the bottom. An added incentive to use this, is that, the button can’t even be felt.

Source

December 7, 2015
Apple iPhone 7c Might See a September Launch

Post the launch of the iPhone 5c, more popularly referred to as the ‘cheaper’ iPhone, most people wanted to see another upgraded ‘c’ version of the iPhone. We waited for an iPhone 6c which didn’t happen, and now rumours have resurfaced about an iPhone 7c.

The information suggests that the iPhone 7c will have a 4 inch display and can be expected to be unveiled in September 2016. Further reports also suggest the price of this device; it will be tagged at around $400-$500.

These rumours are all well placed as we await the arrival of the iPhone 7. Needless to say, Apple hasn’t confirmed any of the above rumours.

December 7, 2015
Is Samsung Finally Calling A Truce By Paying Apple $548 Million?

It has been almost five years since Apple sued Samsung for infringing smartphone patents. Finally, Samsung has decided to pay up an amount of $548 million before the 14th of December 2015. This decisions was reached up on, after a joint court statement from both companies that agreed on it. However, the statement notes that Samsung “continues to reserve all rights to obtain reimbursement from Apple,” if the invoice is not received before the weekend; while Apple has disputed these rights in the same document.

According to reports, Samsung said that it is only paying the money because an appeals court refused to block a judgement ordering it to pay. They intend to continue pursuing reimbursement if the U.S Patent and Trademark Office invalidates the patents and if the U.S Supreme Court takes up the request for review. Both companies are said to have dropped all the non-US cases while leaving only two main disputes that still have a way to go in courts.

“I don’t think it’s over, but hopefully we’re getting close,” said Robert Stoll, a patent lawyer with Drinker Biddle in Washington

This particular sum of money ($548 million) is allegedly part of a case that dealt with Apple’s “pinch to touch” technology; that the company claims has been copied by Samsung. The patent on this has been invalidated by the PTO, but Apple is still challenging that decision.

Honestly, though we’re all sick of this fight. Both mega tech companies fighting about one copying the other. It is high time they learn to co-exist with one another regardless of who is copying whom. At the end of the day, we all know who is getting the real credit. So, if Samsung is copying Apple, the latter should only feel flattered.

December 5, 2015
Five Gadgets That You First Saw In Movies

In the 21st century we have almost every gadget that was ever portrayed in The Jetsons, and if we don’t then it is probably in the making. Agreed, we don’t have efficient flying cars yet, but we’re pretty sure it is ‘coming soon’. So, in memory of all the great movies that have inspired human to create futuristic gadgets; here is a list of some very cool devices/gadgets that have been inspired from our favourite Sci-Fi movies.

December 4, 2015
Xiaomi To Roll Out Marshmallow Update For the Mi 4 and Mi Note Soon

Android 6.0 Marshmallow has been making the rounds pretty efficiently and is now expected to reach Xiaomi’s Mi 4 and Mi Note very soon. This piece of information was revealed in a Weibo post by Xiaomi’s MIUI operations manager.

Xiaomi Mi 4

If this does happen, then the Mi 4 and Mi Note would be the first of Xiaomi’s devices to receive the Marshmallow update. Further reports also suggest that the update will not bring a change to the company’s interface.

Mi Note Pink Edition

The Xiaomi Mi 4 flaunts a 5 inch 1920 x 1080 pixels IPS display and is powered by a 2.5 GHz Quad-core Snapdragon 801 processor paired with 3 GB of RAM. The handset gets in juice from a 3,080mAh battery.

The Mi Note flaunts a 5.7-inch 1080p display, is powered by a Snapdragon 801 processor and comes with 3 GB RAM. The phablet is available in 16 and 32 GB variants and is fueled by 3000mAh battery.

December 4, 2015
Facebook’s ‘Safety Check’ and Hashtags to Help Chennai Flood Victims

Chennai has been battling its worst rains in a century with 188 people confirmed dead and thousands having to evacuate their homes due to the flooding. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J.Jayalalitha said that –

“State police, fire and rescue services, state and national disaster response forces and coast guard are ready to rescue people using boats, and adequate precautionary measures are being taken to protect people.”

But, in our country we have grown used to not relying on the government and taking things into our hands during dire times. So, ordinary citizens have come together on social media to send or seek help. This instance reminds us of the time when a similar online effort was made in March 2015 when Jammu & Kashmir was hit by massive floods and people who wanted to help used #KashmirFloods to connect on Twitter and Facebook.

Likewise for the Chennai floods we have #ChennaiRainsHelp and #ChennaiFloods among the most used hashtags on Twitter and Facebook. These hashtags are beings used to offer shelter, food, transport and even mobile recharges. Meanwhile Facebook has also put out its safety check feature where you can mark yourself safe if you are in Chennai.

All the online efforts put together have more often than not been successful in meting out necessary help during times of need. Maybe governments should really start prioritizing people instead of shunning them and letting them fend for themselves.

December 3, 2015
Yahoo In a Soup; Might Put Itself Up For Sale

According to reports, Yahoo might be considering to put itself or its core businesses up for sale. This could include selling off Yahoo’s internet business, spinning off its shares in Alibaba, or doing both.

Yahoo has been deteriorating slowly through the years, and CEO Marissa Mayer had been given several years to work on it, in the hope to turn things around. Despite all of that, Yahoo’s biggest asset remains its stake in Alibaba. The company was planning to spin off its holdings in Alibaba for a while, however, the plan was never executed due to tax concerns.

If Yahoo does decide on selling off its internet business shares, it will end up remaining barely anything more than a holding company for its Alibaba shares. On the other hand if they decide to keep the internet business and let go of its Alibaba holdings; that will just leave Yahoo a weaker company than it is now. Despite such worrying reports emerging, Yahoo has not made any official announcement yet.

December 2, 2015
Motorola Testing Marshmallow On Moto X Pure

We are aware that Motorola’s Moto X Pure Edition will soon be receiving the Android 6.0 Marshmallow update. Further reports suggest that David Shuster, Motorola’s Senior Director of Software Product Management, announced that Motorola has started the soak test for the update.

Last month Motorola had sent out the update to a couple of devices on a simple test drive, but this time around the real soak test will begin. If everything goes according to plan, then Motorola will be ready to launch it eventually. So, the Moto X Pure Edition should begin receiving this update in a couple of weeks.

The update to Android 6.0 Marshmallow is expected to bring significant changes such as the new Google Now on Tap, a granular permission model, improved volume controls, as well as a smart battery saving feature called Doze.

https://youtu.be/Kq06uPwt188

The Moto X Pure Edition is priced at $399 and comes with a 5.7″ 1440p Quad HD display and front-facing stereo speakers, 21MP primary camera and a 5MP secondary camera, 4k video capture, has a 3000 mAh battery with TurboPower charging, is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 808, has a 3GB LPDDR3 RAM, and 16GB/32GB/64GB internal memory that is expandable up to 128GB via a microSD card slot.

December 2, 2015
Android Users Are Switching To iOS Faster Than Ever Before

Newly found reports suggest that the number of Android users switching to iOS is increasing. The Consumer Intelligence Research Partners report indicates that 26% of people who bought the iPhone 6s switched over from Android within the first month itself.

“The iPhone 6s and 6s Plus launch attracted a greater percentage of Android owners compared to a year ago,” explains Mike Levin, Partner and Co-Founder of CIRP.

Statistics show that previously, Android switchers accounted for 12% of iPhone 6 buyers and 23% of iPhone 5s buyers. However, this year’s reports have exceeded both the previous stats. Here is a CIRP chart showing the percentage of iPhone buyers who are switching over from Android:

Further reports also suggest that iPhone buyers are switching to buying the larger iPhone models this year. Here’s a table:

The above table indicates that the sales for the iPhone 6s Plus accounted for 37% of sales of new iPhone models this year, whereas the iPhone 6 Plus accounted for just 25% of new model sales in 2014; and thereby proving the second point. Overall, Apple seems to be moving forward in its goal of capturing the smartphone market slowly but steadily.

Source

December 2, 2015
Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 830 To Arrive With 8GB RAM

The Snapdragon 820 is still on its way, and the rumour mills have already begun churning out information about its successor – the Snapdragon 830. According to them, it will arrive with 8GB of RAM space; which could possible bridge the gap between a PC and a smartphone. The other piece of information is that, the Snapdragon 830 will incorporate a 10nm production process for the chip

Until then, what we need to know about the upcoming Snapdragon 820 is that it comes with a mobile data bandwidth of up to, wait-for-it, 600Mbps downstream and 150Mbps up over LTE-Advanced (X12 LTE). It will use four custom 64-bit Kryo cores instead of the usual Cortex and will arrive integrated with the Adreno 530 GPU and the Hexagon 680 DSP. The GPU is said to support an HDMI 2.0 and up to 4K at 60fps output.

December 2, 2015
Here’s a List Of Android Games You Must Play This Week

We cannot even remember the time when mobile phones were only used to make a call and send a text, today we can do almost everything on it. One of those many things include modes of entertainment; and we are here to bring you a list of six Android games that you must play this week.

December 1, 2015
Yu Yutopia To Launch In India This Month

Micromax has finally announced that, the highly advertised Yutopia will be launched in India on the 7th of December 2015. The Yutopia, referred to as The Real Beast, will finally see the light of day, and we will be able to see what the fuss is all about. The upcoming phone claims to have a better battery life than the Apple iPhone, a better display than the OnePlus 2 and is also expected to arrive with a better camera.

https://twitter.com/YuYutopia/status/671620046624428032

There isn’t much that is known about the confirmed specs of the phone but speculations suggest that it could include a 5.2 display, 64 bit class Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 backed by a 4GB RAM, 32GB memory with expandability and a rumoured 21MP primary camera with an 8MP front camera.

As the phone makes some big promises with regards to its high resolution camera, powerful battery, enhanced display and metal body. Let us hope it’s not all just big talk.

December 1, 2015
Apple Experimenting With Five Prototypes For the iPhone 7

The iPhone 7 has not even been announced, and the the iPhone 6s released just a couple of months back. But, that does not stop users and tech fans to get preposterously curious about the next iPhone – the iPhone 7. So, there is good news for them – a new report suggests that Apple might be looking at five different prototypes this time, for the iPhone 7.

The timeline for the iPhone goes somewhat like this – the iPhone 3GS was followed by the Apple iPhone 4 and iPhone 4s which introduced Siri. The following year saw the iPhone 5 with a 4 inch screen and then came the revolutionary iPhone 6 with a 4.7 inch screen and the 6 Plus with a 5.5 inch display; after which we know about the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus.

Now, returning back to the good news bit, Apple is also testing a bunch of new features on the prototypes; such as – testing a USB Type C port that supports headsets, wireless charging capabilities, fingerprint scanner within the phone’s display, multi-Touch Force, and maybe a dual camera set-up for the rear of the handset. There are also further reports that claim that Apple is experimenting with an AMOLED screen too. Apple has not confirmed anything yet, but until then let us hope that the iPhone 7 is another revolutionary smartphone.

December 1, 2015
Huawei Teases Their Upcoming Device Showcasing a Swiveling Camera

Huawei released a teaser of their upcoming phone, revealing a camera that flips back to front. Therefore, this phone will take high quality pictures and selfies just like the Oppo N1, which offers a camera that swivels around, allowing the user to take selfies with its 13MP camera.

This teaser was posted bu Huawei’s Portugal division, however, there are no further reports on this phone. The company has been doing well globally, with reports stating that it had the largest gain in the global smartphone market share between July to September 2015.

Huawei released its first stock Android handset with Nexus 6P and has recently introduced the Huawei Mate 8 which is expected to arrive with the new Kirin 950 chipset.

December 1, 2015
Blackberry Exits Pakistan Due To Government’s Data Requests

Blackberry is withdrawing its services and operations in Pakistan, and has ascribed ‘security concerns’ as the main cause. Earlier in July, the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority sent out notifications to the country’s mobile phone operators stating that BlackBerry’s BES servers won’t be allowed to operate in the country starting December due to “security reasons”.

These “security reasons” have not been specified, but speculation suggests that it has to do with the fact that the Pakistani government requested for an unrestricted access to their customers’ information/data. Blackberry refused to consent to this request and has therefore, received the notification to shut down.

“The truth is that the Pakistani government wanted the ability to monitor all BlackBerry Enterprise Service traffic in the country, including every BES e-mail and BES BBM message; but BlackBerry will not comply with that sort of directive.” said BlackBerry.

However, the government had only requested for Blacberry’s BES servers, the company has decided to stick to its decision of exiting the country altogether.

December 1, 2015