Author: Shivaank Rana

Oppo N1 To Feature Rear Touch Panel, Will Launch In September

What if manufacturers would come up with a control scheme that would allow users to easily and single-handedly control smartphones with 5+ inches screens? That would be perfect, right? We know that Samsung has been working on implementing such a control scheme through some software tweaks, LG was bold enough to move the power and volume rockers on the back of its upcoming flagship, and now it looks like Oppo will take it one step further.

The Oppo N1 rear touch panel is teased in a new ad promoting the camera-oriented smartphone. The teaser shows a photo of the bare back of a woman. In the middle, the double entendre “Don’t just touch the front, the back is also interesting…” appears. At the bottom of the teaser, are the words “N1 Rear Touch Panel. A brand new user experience.”

Not only does the Playstation Vita utilize a panel on the back, but we’ve even seen a Google patent related to the idea of using rear touch on mobile devices.

This camera-centric smartphone is set to release in late September (regions unconfirmed) and from what we’ve heard so far the Oppo N1 will have a lot to recommend it.

Oppo has been coming up with some very notable phones recently and obviously the focus of the N1 is on its camera capabilities. It’s expected that this camera phone will have a 12-megapixel rear camera with Xenon flash and that the new Owl technology will provide better quality images in Iow light conditions.

Stay tuned for more updates!

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August 22, 2013
New Images Of Alleged Gold iPhone 5S Leak

Last week a couple of images leaked out possibly revealing that Apple was creating a new gold or rather champagne coloured iPhone 5S smartphone and now, adding additional weight to the rumour more images from an entirely different source have leaked out.

The images were posted on Japanese tech site ASCII and show a similar design to the iPhone 5. All the buttons are in the same location as the iPhone 5. Everything from the rear antenna windows to the highly polished chamfered edges are identical.

The major difference when compared to the earlier leak is that the Apple logo is now present, but still missing the famous ‘Designed in California. Assembled in China’ label.

Some features the new iPhone 5S is rumoured to be equipped with are a finger print scanner for extra security and a dual LED flash equipped camera for extra light when required in low light conditions.

Apple is expected to unveil the new iPhone 5S and low-cost and colourful iPhone 5C on September 10th. Speculation around the web is that we’ll see both become widely available by the end of September – potentially September 20th. In addition, Apple’s new iOS 7 software will be given a firm release date.

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August 22, 2013
Rapper Boasts Of Gun Sales On Instagram, Leads To Biggest Guns Bust In New York History

Nineteen people have been indicted in a gun bust that began as a narcotics investigation after an aspiring rapper posted photos of weapons and cash on Instagram.

An undercover city police officer posing as a gun broker for criminal customers bought 254 weapons from the men in dozens of transactions since last year – the largest gun seizures in the city in recent memory. One of the guns was an assault rifle that was disassembled and transported in a girlfriend’s zebra-striped bag, authorities said.

Aspiring rapper Neno Best is among a group of 19 people charged with selling nearly $160,000 of illegal weapons in New York.

Best, 26, whose real first name is Matthew, was investigated by an undercover NYPD detective after the rapper posted images of large quantities of money on Instagram, captioning one photo ‘Brown bag it’.

Other photos and videos, most of which have now been deleted, included shots of a variety of guns. One of the guns shared on Instagram was a Luger pistol, with Best commenting underneath ‘This old ass gun lol a hundred years old lol’. Neno also attached details to the images saying that he was selling weapons out of his Ocean Hill recording studio.

According to CBS New York, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said “New York is the safest big city in the nation, but year after year, illegal guns flow into our city from states that don’t have common-sense laws that keep guns out of the hands of criminals. There is no doubt that the seizure of these guns has saved lives,” the Mayor said at the news conference.

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August 21, 2013
7 Months After Launch, Vine Hits 40 Million Users

Twitter’s video sharing app, Vine, has been overshadowed by the addition of video to Instagram, but that hasn’t stopped millions of people from signing up for Vine. Vine announced this afternoon that it just hit 40 million registered users today – a huge jump from the 13 million users it announced in June.

However, the company behind the app, which lets users share looping videos of up to six seconds, doesn’t give any data on the number of active users. Without the all-important active user figures, it’s difficult to draw too many conclusions from Vine’s announcement, though at least the numbers appear to be heading in the right direction for the company.

For a long time, Vine was an iOS exclusive, but the Twitter-owned startup released an Android app in June, and has been constantly improving both versions since then.

Instagram recently attempted to thwart Vine’s rise with its own video component, but it lives within the main app and its 15 second limit has inspired less creative results. By comparison, Instagram had 130 million active users as of late July when it introduced video, and likely has more than that by now.

More competition in the mobile short-video space appeared this month with the arrival of MixBit, created by YouTube co-founders Chad Hurley and Steve Chen.

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August 21, 2013
Google Completes Play Services 3.2 Rollout

Google just finished rolling out its Google Play Services 3.2 update, affecting anyone who uses a device running Android 2.2 Froyo or later.

You may recognize the container in your app drawer, the green Google icon with the cog on top, where within you can adjust settings pertaining to location, Play Games, Android Device Manager and more.

According to a blog post on the Android Developer Blog, the update also contains some important behind the scenes additions, such as hardware-based GPS geofencing on devices that support it. When paired with a location-based app, this allows apps to use far less battery when engaging the GPS, while maintaining a precise lock on a user’s position. Also included is the new Fused Location Provider, which also significantly boosts battery life when location is needed.

Google+ sign-in has been fleshed out to include something called simplified sharing control, which cuts the steps needed for a developer to share to Google+.

Photo Sphere now has a compass mode in the Play Services update that allows users to explore these images by moving their phone or tablet and the InstantBuy implantation has been improved with goodies to include increased efficiency, improved latency, a cleaner UI and more. Bottom line here, while some of these items are aimed more towards the developers — the end users should be happy to learn that Google is working to improve the battery life of your devices.

While these features may not matter to the average Android user, one universal benefit should be improved battery life across all devices.

To learn more about Google Play services and the APIs available to you through it, visit the Google Services area of the Android Developers site.

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August 21, 2013
LG Executive Confirms A Tablet Launch By Year-End

LG recently registered trademarks with the KIPO (Korean Intellectual Property Office), specifically the GPAD, G Watch, G Glass, G Link, G Band and the G Hub. Many of these struck immediate rumours of a tablet, Google Glass competitor, wireless internet hub and a fitness Smart Activity Tracker.

Looks like some of these will come to market. An interview with Dimitar Valev, Sales & Marketing Manager of Mobile Communications & PC at LG Bulgaria, reveals that in the coming year LG will produce ‘an even bigger phone’ and enter the phablet arena. No word on its size or specs. In addition, when speaking about coming back to the market with a tablet, Valev declared that LG anticipates “participation in the segment of tablets. Although they market is very competitive and even struggle for survival. Most manufacturers operate at a loss. But since it is a very growing market and has emerged as a very large over the next few years will take part. Probably by the end of the year there will be a tablet.”

LG put their tablet plans on hold last year. Their first Android-powered tablet was the 8.9-inch Optimus Pad, however, an 9.8-inch LG tablet was just spotted at the FCC with the model number of V500. No word on its availability.

Dubbed the G Pad, the new tablet is said to come with an 8.3-inch display with a resolution of 1920 x 1200 pixels. As far as processing power goes, it will have a Snapdragon 800 quad-core processor as well as 2GB of RAM.

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August 21, 2013
Battlefield 4 Beta Coming in October
Battlefield 4’s beta will launch on PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in early October, developer DICE has announced.

DICE boss Karl-Magnus Troedsson took to the stage at today’s EA Gamescom 2013 press conference to announce details of the game and its DLC Premium service.

As Game Informer reports, those that buy the $50 season pass will get five expansions and a number of other perks. The map packs have been named and dated:
- Battlefield 4 Second Assault – Includes four fan-favorite Battlefield 3™ maps now re-imagined with the power of Frostbite™ 3. Available first on Xbox One.
- Battlefield 4 China Rising – Players fight for dominance across the vast and majestic Chinese mainland. Available December 2013.
- Battlefield 4 Naval Strike – Experience dynamic ocean combat as the Chinese armada takes the fight to the sea. Available Spring 2014.
- Battlefield 4 Dragon’s Teeth – The US strikes back engaging in all-out urban warfare. Available Summer 2014.
- Battlefield 4 Final Stand – Bring the war to its epic conclusion. Available Summer 2014.
Additionally, players will receive early access to the new content (two weeks), priority queueing on servers, 12 bonus battlepacks (which seem like the bundles of gear in Mass Effect 3’s online mode) that include knives, dog tags, gun attachments, camoflauge, and XP boosts.

“Fan reaction to Battlefield 3 Premium has been nothing short of amazing. We are humbled to see more than 4 million people join in,” said Patrick Bach, executive producer.

“With Battlefield 4 Premium we continue to roll out the red carpet, treating our fans like VIPs with a massive amount of new gameplay, exclusive new content and even more benefits at an incredible value.”

Battlefield 4 will be available on October 29 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC. Battlefield 4 will also be available for Xbox One and PlayStation 4.
August 20, 2013
Apple Patents 3D Gesture Control On Touchscreen Devices

As Apple Insider reports, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Tuesday published an Apple patent for a method of generating and manipulating a three-dimensional object on a computing device, with the process controlled by special gestures made above a touchscreen’s surface.

The system Apple envisions would work in tandem with its existing multi-touch input controls on devices like the iPad, allowing a user to lift their fingers off of the screen in order to sort of pull out a 3D shape from a 2D one in software like CAD programs, and then twist, turn and modify it in 3D space using gestures in the air just above the device’s screen.

As the patent application explains it:

The CAD program may provide a drafting area showing 2D or 3D objects being processed by the user, and menus outside the drafting area for allowing the user to choose from various tools in generating or modifying 2D or 3D objects. For example, there may be menus for 2D object templates, 3D object templates, paint brush options, eraser options, line options, color options, texture options, options for rotating or resizing the objects, and so forth. The user may select a tool from one of the menus and use the selected tool to manipulate the 2D or 3D object.

Other uses for the new technology include the ability to use 3D gestures to sculpt using virtual clay-like materials and to change parameters such as shadows, brightness, textures and more.

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August 20, 2013
HTC Zara Specs Leak, Budget Device With 4.5″ Display And Sense 5.5

HTC is bringing the design language from the One series down to entry level devices, according to an image by notorious leaker evleaks.

The HTC Zara has been rumoured before, but its specs never really jumped out at us. With a 4.5-inch qHD screen (960×540 pixels), a dual-core 1.2Ghz Snapdragon 400 processor, 1GB of RAM, 8GB internal storage, an UltraPixel camera, a 2100mAh battery and, perhaps most interestingly, Android 4.3 with Sense 5.5.

As handsets go, the HTC Zara (a codename and not final shipping designation) looks to be a mix of the lower-end Desire line and the HTC One. You can see two front-facing speakers along with the company’s unique button placement. The main differences are the more rounded corners and that distinctly Desire-like camera ring on the back.

HTC Zara is the second phone we hear of that’s going to launch with the updated Sense 5.5 user interface running on top of Android 4.3 Jelly Bean. The HTC One Max is going to debut with the company’s updated UI. Sense is HTC’s differentiator in the Android game, though recently it has been focusing more on hardware improvements than software gimmicks. Whether Sense 5.5 will retain the familiar BlinkFeed home screen remains to be seen, but we don’t think HTC will mess with a good thing.

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August 20, 2013
Leaked : Samsung Galaxy Gear Specifications

The finer details of Samsung’s upcoming smartwatch are finally starting to leak out. If you’re into extending technology down to your arm, specifically Samsung technology, you might want to consider wrapping the Galaxy Gear around your wrist. Rumours are that Samsung will unveil this device on September 4th at their upcoming Unpacked event.

The Galaxy Gear will be a ‘smartphone companion’ and new reports indicate that it’ll sport a 2.5-inch OLED full colour display with a resolution of 320 x 320, plus have the usual touchscreen gestures and accelerometer, but will lack text-input commands. Under the face the Galaxy Gear reportedly has a dual-core 1.5GHz Exynos 4212 processor and Mali-400MP4 GPU.

In addition, GigaOM reports that the watch has a camera that is integrated into the strap and even has tiny speakers in the clasp of the watch, plus built-in NFC to allow for bump-to-sync and authenticate. The watch uses Bluetooth 4.0 LE to connect with smartphones for connectivity.

As GigaOM reports, the Galaxy Gear watches that have been seeded with the developers are based on Android 4.1 (and in some cases 4.2) and there is very tight integration and syncing between the watch and the phones and tablets. For instance, if one has swiped through notifications, stops at an email blurb and then picks up the smartphone, the phone will display that email message attached to the blurb you were looking at on the watch. The company will feature integration with Twitter and Facebook at launch.

The watch will connect to a Samsung watch manager app on the phone to manage the connection between watch and the phone. The connection will use Samsung’s proprietary accessory protocol and will use Bluetooth LE as the network transport. Apparently if there is any app running on the watch, it is its own discreet endpoint and will work directly with the servers.

The Galaxy Gear will use apps ‘not from the Google Play store, but instead from the Samsung App store.” Possibly another signal that Samsung is reducing its need on Google’s Android OS – this could mean the watch will only work with Samsung Galaxy smartphones and tablets. However, popular social media apps like Facebook and Twitter will be heavily integrated, along with a collection of health apps – possibly SHealth – to take on competing watches like the Nike Fuelband.

The only major items missing now are the completed design, battery life, and yes, pricing and availability.

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August 20, 2013
Microsoft Issues Apology And Explaination For Outlook Outage

During this week, Outlook.com suffered from an outage causing users to not be able to read their emails nor could they retrieve their files stored on Microsoft’s SkyDrive service. Today, Microsoft has offered an apology and an explanation on why this outage happened.

The company posted a message on its service status page to describe the problems, explaining that it was all just a glitch caused by a caching service.

Here’s the full message posted by Microsoft on the recent Outlook.com outage:

“This incident was a result of a failure in a caching service that interfaces with devices using Exchange ActiveSync, including most smart phones. The failure caused these devices to receive an error and continuously try to connect to our service.

This resulted in a flood of traffic that our services did not handle properly, with the effect that some customers were unable to access their Outlook.com email and unable to share their SkyDrive files via email.

In order to stabilize the overall email service, we temporarily blocked access via Exchange ActiveSync. This allowed us to restore access to Outlook.com via the web and restore the sharing features of SkyDrive. These parts of the service were fully stabilized within a few hours of the initial incident.

A significant backlog of Exchange ActiveSync requests accumulated as we worked to stabilize access. To avoid another flood of traffic, we needed to restore access to Exchange ActiveSync slowly, which meant that some customers remained impacted for a longer period of time.”

Microsoft has also decided that it’s the time to issue an apology for all its users, as many have turned to the company’s support forums to express their frustration regarding the outage.

“We want to apologize to everyone who was affected by the outage, and we appreciate the patience you have shown us as we worked through the issues,” it said.

Microsoft admits it has learnt from the incident and has made two changes to the networks.

August 19, 2013
Google Patents “Pay-per-Gaze” Advertising Model, Exploring Options

Google has been granted a patent for eye-tracking technology that could one day allow for a pay-per-gaze model of advertising in the real world and online. The Google Glass-like device registers when individuals look at an advert before charging the relevant company, according to the patent.

The technology (spotted by The Verge via Phys.org) could also detect individuals’ “inferred emotional state information” by measuring pupil dilation. The patent was actually filed back in 2011, but was only granted to the company last week.

“Under a pay per gaze advertising scheme advertisers are charged based upon whether a user actually viewed their advertisement,” reads the patent. “Pay per gaze advertising need not be limited to on-line advertisements, but rather can be extended to conventional advertisement media including billboards, magazines, newspapers, and other forms of conventional print media.”

The patent also allows the technology to generate “latent search results” based on “at least a portion of the items views by the user” including items that are in the user’s peripheral vision. Search requests can then be cached for later use automatically without the user’s active permission.

Google has previously been criticised for its attitude to privacy with regard to Glass, particularly by the Information Commissioner’s Office.

Google has generously allowed for some degree of privacy here:

To protect individual privacy, personal identifying data may be removed from the data and provided to the advertisers as anonymous analytics. In one embodiment, users may be given opt-in or opt-out privileges to control the type of data being gathered, when the data is being gathered or how the gathered data may be used or with whom it may be shared.

August 19, 2013
Alleged Rear Shell Of Upcoming iPad 5 Leaks

A couple of pictures leaked on the Weibo forums in China seem to depict the back shell of the next-generation iPad 5, next to the counterpart for the iPad mini (possibly second-generation model).

The iPad 5 is almost confirmed at this point, with every new leak pointing to a design akin to that of the iPad mini, including the chamfered edges, the super-slim body, and even the reduced bezel size.

We’ve seen leaked images of iPad 5 parts previously, including back covers, and these latest photos tie in with long-time and widespread rumours that Apple would be able to reduce the overall size of its next iPad.

It’s expected that the iPad 5 will release in Q4 alongside the iPad mini 2, although we don’t expect them to be officially introduced at the September 10 event where the reveal of the iPhone 5S is anticipated. You can be sure we’ll bring you further news on all of these devices as we hear it.

Meanwhile, a report last month stated that the next-generation iPad mini will likely include a Retina display, and will potentially be available with back covers in a number of colours.

Moving on to smaller side of the iOS family, a report from MG Siegler has shed a bit more light on the rumored gold iPhone 5S. Siegler claims to have been told by “multiple sources” that Apple is indeed planning to introduce a gold-colored version of its next iPhone that will feature a more “subtle” shade that’s akin to champagne.

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August 19, 2013
Rumour : Galaxy Note 3 Will Start Shipping In Early September

Samsung is preparing for their big Unpacked event on September 4th. This is when the Galaxy Note 3 and the rumoured Galaxy Gear smartwatch will be unveiled. Specs of both these Android-powered devices have leaked online, but today a new report by reputable site SamMobile has revealed possible shipping dates.

If the insider information is to be believed, we should expect the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 to be available for purchase in September. The company’s third-gen phablet is expected to start shipping in Week 36, which goes from September 2 to September 8. Actual market availability usually takes about a week after the units start leaving the factories, so mid-September seems like a a likely target.

As for the Samsung Galaxy Gear smartwatch, it’s going to hit store shelves in October or Week 40 to be specific (September 30 – October 6).

Of course, none of these dates are confirmed and SamMobile has a reputable track record of nailing Samsung products and specs, and states there might be “a delay of a week or two may happen, depending on region.”

Another note on the Note 3 states that Samsung will apparently drop the 16GB version and offer a base model of the Galaxy Note 3 with 32GB of internal storage. Other notable rumoured specs of the Note 3 are its 5.68-inch full HD Super AMOLED (1920 x 1080 resolution, 1.8GHz Octa-core Exynos 5420 processor, 3GB RAM, 13MP camera with OIS, LTE connectivity, 3,200 mAh battery and runs Android OS 4.3 Jelly Bean.

August 19, 2013
AMD Temash Powered ASUS VivoBook X102BA Leaks

Asus is one of the few major PC companies that still makes inexpensive laptops with 10 inch screens. Earlier this year the company released the Asus 1015E Windows 8 laptop with a 10 inch display and Intel Celeron dual-core processor. Now it looks like the company may be preparing a new model with an AMD Temash processor.

SweClockers published a leaked press shot of the notebook on Friday and reported that the VivoBook X102BA would feature a 1.0GHz, dual-core AMD A4-1200 CPU with Radeon HD 8180 for graphics. The mid-range PC will also sport a 10-inch screen, 2GB of RAM and a 320GB hard drive. One of the more interesting bits is that Asus will reportedly ship the new VivoBook with Microsoft Office Home & Student 2013.

The processor is the “entry level” model of AMD’s Temash family, the A4-1200, an APU which combines two general purpose computing cores running at 1GHz with a Radeon HD 8180 which has 128 stream processors running at 225MHz. This chip has a TDP of 3.9 watts.

As far as connectivity goes, the VivoBook X102BA has the standard 802.11 b/g/n WiFi and Bluetooth 4.0. Ports, meanwhile, include one Ethernet, dual USB 2.0 slots and a single USB 3.0 slot, as well as VGA and HDMI for video output, an SD card reader, and a standard 3.5mm audio jack. The battery comes in two configurations based on which model is purchased – 22wH and 33wH, reportedly giving 5 hours of use.

The VivoBook X102BA is rumoured to be priced around the $450 price point.

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August 17, 2013