Author: Vipul Vij

Google Could Owe Over US $650 To Every iPhone User

Lawsuits and counter lawsuits within tech companies have been going on since as far as one can imagine. But, a tech giant owing considerable amount of money to consumers could be the new talking point. British consumers who used an iPhone between June 2011 and February 2012 could receive as much as US $672 each from Google as compensation for the search giant bypassing Safari privacy settings between those dates.

Google’s backdoor method of installing cookies on iPhones despite them being blocked in Safari’s settings was discovered in 2012.

A British campaign group launched a class action lawsuit on behalf of the 5.4 million iPhone users in England and Wales affected by Google’s ‘Safari workaround.’ The lawsuit could cost Google as much as US $3.63 billion.

The campaign group, You Owe Us, has said that the British iPhone owners affected by the breach of privacy do not need to take any action at this stage to be included in the lawsuit.

We have started a representative action against Google because we believe they abused the rights of iPhone users by taking their data unlawfully.

A representative action is when a group of people affected by the same issue are represented by a single person to bring a claim. Consumers can use such an action to hold large companies to account. Representative actions need representatives, ours is Richard Lloyd.

If you were affected you will automatically be part of the claim and you do not need to take any further action. Richard Lloyd and the lawyers are taking care of the case.

The compensation amount has not been officially decided yet. The campaign group says that the amount would be decided by the court.

November 30, 2017
Apple’s Counter Suit Against Qualcomm Could Mean Bad News To Android Phones

Apple vs Qualcomm is not a new story. The two tech giants have been embroiled in a legal battle for many years now. But, this legal battle is not just two big companies going against each other, the result of the legal battle will have consequences which the whole tech industry will have to deal with.

Apple has filed a new countersuit against Qualcomm, in which it is targeting some Snapdragon chips that power some of the most prominent Android phones in the market right now. Even though Apple has received support from other Android phone makers in this case, Apple targeting Snapdragon chipsets won’t go down well with these companies which rely on Qualcomm’s chipsets for powering their devices.

In a revised response to Qualcomm’s previous lawsuit, it has listed some accusations of its own. Apple says it owns at least eight patents related to battery life that Qualcomm’s chips have violated.

The patents describe technologies that allow a certain part of a phone’s processor to only draw the minimum power needed and turn off when it’s not needed. The two main chipsets in question here are the Snapdragon 800 and Snapdragon 820 chipsets.

Apple is asking for damages from Qualcomm, but, an actual number has not been specified yet.

November 30, 2017
Honor 7X To Go On Sale In India On The 7th Of December

Huawei’s sub-brand, Honor recently launched the Honor 7X in India. It has announced that the device will go on sale on the 7th of December and will be an Amazon exclusive. The price of the phone is still not revealed by the company.

The Honor 7X has a 5.9 inch LTPS IPS LCD display with a 2160 x 1080 px display which translates into an 18:9 aspect ratio.

Under the hood, the Honor 7X has the HiSilicon Kirin 659 chipset, Mali-T830 MP2, 4GB of RAM and three storage options of 32GB, 64GB and 128GB. The onboard storage is expandable up to 256GB via microSD card. The device is powered by a 3340 mAh battery which charges via a micro USB slot. Since the device has thin bezels, the fingerprint sensor is placed at the back of the below the dual-camera setup.

The Honor 7X runs Android 7.0 Nougat with EMUI 6.0 on top which gives a user more options for customising their phones.

You may also like: Why Are New Android Phones Launching With Old Android OS?

The smartphone has a dual camera setup at the back. One of the cameras is equipped with a 16MP senor while the other one is a 2MP depth sensor. The camera setup at the back has PDAF and records 1080P videos at 30fps. On the front is an 8MP camera which also records 1080P videos.

Buy it here

Watch our unboxing:

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRoUtlwFgP8[/embedyt]

November 30, 2017
Apple iPhone X Goes On Sale On Amazon At 2pm – Discounts, Offers And More On iPhone 7, iPhone SE
If buying an iPhone X was a part of your holiday plans then fret not. One of the most anticipated smartphones in the world, the iPhone X will go on sale in India via Amazon today (30th November) at 2pm. Here are a few offers available:
- No Cost EMIs up to 6 months on HDFC Credit Card along with INR 2,000 instant discount on HDFC Bank Debit and Credit Card transactions
The iPhone X is priced at Rs 89000 for the 64GB variant while the 256GB variant is priced at Rs 1,02,000 in India.

Along with the iPhone X, other iPhone models will be available at a discounted price as well. Buy it here

The iPhone 7, which usually retails for Rs 49000 for the 32GB variant is on sale for Rs 41999 while the 128GB variant is available for Rs 51999 which usually retails for Rs 58000. Buy it here

The iPhone SE, one of the most affordable iPhones ever made, is currently available for Rs 19999 which usually retails for Rs 26000. Buy it here

Watch Our iPhone X Unboxing:

Watch Our iPhone 7 Review:

Watch our iPhone SE Review:
November 30, 2017
Unboxing The Xiaomi Redmi 5A – “Desh Ka Smartphone”
Xiaomi has launched the Redmi 5A in India as the ‘Desh Ka Smartphone’ at a price of Rs 4999 for the 2GB RAM variant and Rs 6999 for the 3GB RAM variant. At such a competitive pricing, the Redmi 5A at least on paper, seems a worthy successor to the hugely popular Redmi 4A. Xiaomi claims that the Redmi 4A sold over 4 million units within eight months of its launch.

Today, let’s unbox the Redmi 5A and see what we get inside the retail box:
- Redmi 5A
- Documentation
- Sim Ejector Tool
- Wall Charger
- Micro USB Charging And Data Syncing Cable
Even though there is space for earphones inside the box, in typical Xiaomi fashion, you don’t get a pair of earphones with the phone. In the era of big 5.5 inch and 6 inch phones, the Redmi 5A has a 5-inch display which gives it a compact feel in the hand. The device has an IR Blaster on top and in a welcome move, there is a dedicated microSD card slot along with two SIM card slots.

The Redmi 5A isn’t a huge upgrade over its predecessor, the Redmi 4A. The Redmi 5A has a 5 inch LCD display with a 1280 x 720 px resolution.

Just like the Redmi 4A, the new smartphone is also powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 chipset, quad-core CPU clocked at 1.4GHz, along with 2GB/3GB of RAM, 16GB/32GB of onboard storage which can be expanded up to 128GB via microSD card. The dual-SIM Redmi 5A is powered by a 3000 mAh battery which seems to be a downgrade when compared to the Redmi 4A which packs a 3120 mAh battery.

The device will run Android 7.1 Nougat out of the box with Xiaomi’s custom MIUI 9 skin on top.

The Redmi 5A has a 13MP rear camera with an f/2.2 aperture, burst mode, panorama mode, HDR mode, and more. To the front is a 5MP camera with an f/2.0 aperture. The smartphone records 1920 x 1080 px videos.

The Redmi 5A will be a Flipkart exclusive and go on sale on the 7th of December.

Buy it here

Watch Our Unboxing Video –
November 30, 2017
Xiaomi Launches Redmi 5A In India At A Price Of Rs 4999

Xiaomi has launched the Redmi 5A in India as the ‘Desh Ka Smartphone’ at a price of Rs 4999 for the 2GB RAM variant and Rs 6999 for the 3GB RAM variant.

The Redmi 5A isn’t a huge upgrade over its predecessor, the Redmi 4A. The Redmi 5A has a 5 inch LCD display with a 1280 x 720 px resolution.

Just like the Redmi 4A, the new smartphone is also powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 chipset, quad-core CPU clocked at 1.4GHz, along with 2GB/3GB of RAM, 16GB/32GB of onboard storage which can be expanded up to 128GB via microSD card. The dual-SIM Redmi 5A is powered by a 3000 mAh battery which seems to be a downgrade when compared to the Redmi 4A which packs a 3120 mAh battery.

The device will run Android 7.1 Nougat out of the box with Xiaomi’s custom MIUI 9 skin on top.

The Redmi 5A has a 13MP rear camera with an f/2.2 aperture, burst mode, panorama mode, HDR mode, and more. To the front is a 5MP camera with an f/2.0 aperture. The smartphone records 1920 x 1080 px videos.

The Redmi 5A will be a Flipkart exclusive and go on sale on the 7th of December.

November 30, 2017
Specifications Of Sony’s Upcoming Bezel – Less Phone Leaked

Sony has been one of the few smartphone makers who hasn’t jumped the bezel-less smartphone train so far and has continued with its tried and tested designs. All of that appears to be changing as the specifications of an upcoming bezel-less smartphone from Sony have been leaked online.

According to the leaked spec sheet, the device will have a 5.7-inch 4K HDR display with Gorilla Glass 5 on top.

Another interesting thing to note here is that Sony H8541 will have the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chipset. Now, the Snapdragon 835 is a flagship chipset for only a couple of months more as the Galaxy S9 will have the Snapdragon 845 chipset. The new 2018 flagship chipset won’t be available to smartphone makers until a few months after the launch of the Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+, similar to what happened during the Galax S8 launch, thanks to a deal between Qualcomm and Samsung.

The upcoming Sony H8541 will have 4GB of RAM, 64GB of onboard storage which could be expandable via microSD card. it will be powered by a 3420 mAh battery which will charge via a USB Type C port.

Other that that, the spec sheet mentions the presence of Bluetooth 5.0, GPS, GLONASS, NFC, and IP68 water and dust resistance.

There are no details about the camera on this phone.

November 30, 2017
Apple Has Fixed The MacOS Security Flaw Already

Only yesterday (29th November), the news broke out of a major security flaw that allowed anyone to gain root access to a Mac device running MacOS High Sierra.

Apple issued a statement:

Security is a top priority for every Apple product, and regrettably we stumbled with this release of macOS.

When our security engineers became aware of the issue Tuesday afternoon, we immediately began working on an update that closes the security hole. This morning, as of 8:00 a.m., the update is available for download, and starting later today it will be automatically installed on all systems running the latest version (10.13.1) of macOS High Sierra.

We greatly regret this error and we apologize to all Mac users, both for releasing with this vulnerability and for the concern it has caused. Our customers deserve better. We are auditing our development processes to help prevent this from happening again.

Apple’s latest MacOS High Sierra operating system had a very serious flaw that allowed anyone with access to a Mac gain root access by simply typing “root” as the username. The flaw didn’t even require someone to enter a password, which means that anyone with zero hacking knowledge and evil intentions could get into your Mac.

November 30, 2017
Xiaomi’s ‘Desh Ka Smartphone’ Set For Launch Today – What To Expect, Live Stream

Xiaomi will launch its new Redmi smartphone in India today. It is widely expected that the Redmi 5A will be unveiled as the successor to the Redmi 4A with an even cheaper price tag. Watch the live stream here.

The Redmi 5A has a 5 inch LCD display with a 1280 x 720 px resolution.

The Redmi 5A has the Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 chipset, quad-core CPU clocked at 1.4GHz, along with 2GB of RAM. At the time of its launch in China, only one storage model was announced but, more storage and RAM variants could be introduced for its India launch. The current model has 16GB of onboard storage which can be expanded up to 128GB via microSD card.

The dual-SIM Redmi 5A is powered by a 3000 mAh battery which seems to be a downgrade when compared to the Redmi 4A which packs a 3120 mAh battery. The device will run Android 7.1 Nougat out of the box with Xiaomi’s custom MIUI 9 skin on top.

The Redmi 5A has a 13MP rear camera with an f/2.2 aperture, burst mode, panorama mode, HDR mode, and more. To the front is a 5MP camera with an f/2.0 aperture. The smartphone records 1920 x 1080 px videos.

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November 30, 2017
Unboxing The Sony WF-1000X
Sony recently launched four new bluetooth headphones in India ranging from truly wireless earbuds to over the ear headphones. We recently unboxed the Sony WH-1000XM2 and now, it’s time we unbox the Rs 14990 priced truly wireless earbuds, the Sony WF-1000X. Let’s see what we get inside the box and have a quick look at the new earbuds:
- Sony WF-1000X
- Extra ear tips
- Charging/carrying case
- Charging cable
- Documentation
The truly wireless earbuds have been the new rage in the headphones industry with every company launching its rendition of the earbuds. The WF-1000X from Sony have a solid build quality and thanks to a slew of ear tips provided, every consumer should have no difficulties wearing these earbuds and going out for a stroll.

The earbuds feature active noise cancelation and connects to your phone via Headphones Connect app which will let the users fine tune the sound stage according to their preference. It has a 6mm driver unit and weigh in at about 6.8 grams.

It connects via Bluetooth 4.1 or NFC. The earbuds come with a charging case which is also used to carry the tiny earbuds around so that you don’t lose them.
- 0.24″ Dome-Type Neodymium Driver
- Frequency Response – 20 Hz–20,000 Hz
- Bluetooth 4.1
- NFC
- Battery charge time – 1.5 hours
- Playback time – 3 hours of continuous music
- Colours – Gold and Black
- Price – Rs 14990
Click here to buy
November 29, 2017
Google Knows When A Stranger Is Looking At Your Phone

A lot of experts are touting machine learning and AI as the 2018 flagship smartphone feature, similar to what thin bezels and tall displays was for 2017. Google has kickstarted the trend of AI with its tight integration of Google Assistant and machine learning in the Pixel 2 smartphones.

Implementing machine learning in day-to-day seemingly trivial situations will be important. That’s where this new software from Google comes into play. If you travel in public transport a lot, you’d be aware of that annoying feeling when you know someone is staring at your phone while you are watching a video or having a private conversation.

This new software can recognise when a stranger is staring at your phone and will quickly prompt you about it. The software was first spotted by Quartz and is called “e-screen protector”, and is currently in the research stage. It uses your front-facing camera in combination with some face- and gaze-detection algorithms to identify if anyone else is looking at your display.

As you can see in the demo video, it reacts almost instantaneously to a stranger’s glance on your screen. It then uses a Snapchat-like rainbow filter to tag the stranger and prompt him/her that they’ve been caught. The creators of the software, Google researchers Hee Jung Ryu and Florian Schroff, say the system works in all sorts of different lighting conditions, and has a reaction time of just two milliseconds.

Considering Google’s ambitions of making machine learning an integral part of its smartphone ecosystem, this feature might make its way to future Pixel phones when Google is confident about its performance.

November 29, 2017
Unboxing The Sony WH-1000XM2 Headphones
Sony recently launched a host of noise canceling bluetooth headphones and one of them was Sony WH-1000XM2. Priced at Rs 29990, the Sony WH-1000XM2 has some great features and an excellent battery life on paper. let’s unbox the headphones and see what we get inside the box:
- Sony WH-1000XM2
- In-flight adaptor
- Headphone cable
- USB Cable
The Sony WH-1000XM2 are the premium headphones offering from Sony. The headphones have a nice fit and the touch enabled ear cups make it easy to control the volume without reaching for the phone.

Here are a few specifications of the Sony WH-1000XM2
- 40mm dome type Neodymium driver unit
- Impedance – 46 ohm when connecting via the headphone cable with the unit turned on, 14 ohm when connecting via the headphone cable with the unit turned off
- Detachable headphone cable with Gold-plated L-shaped stereo mini plug
- Frequency response – 4 Hz-40,000 Hz
- NFC
- DSEE HX
- Active and Passive noise canceling
- Plug Adaptor for In-flight Use
- Bluetooth 4.1
- Touch sensors for volume control
- Battery charge time – 4 hours
- Battery life – Up to 38 hours with noise canceling off
November 29, 2017
Unboxing The Samsung Gear Fit2 Pro And Gear Sport
Samsung has launched two new wearable devices in India, the Gear Fit2 Pro and the Gear Sport at a price of Rs 13590 and Rs 22990 respectively. The Gear Fit2Pro is a fitness tracking band while the Gear Sport is a smartwatch. Let’s unbox the two wearables and see what we get inside the box:

Samsung Gear Sport box:
- Samsung Gear Sport smartwatch
- Extra wrist straps
- Charging cradle
- Documentation
Samsung Gear Fit2 Pro
- Samsung Gear Fit2 Pro
- Charging base
- Documentation
Both the wearables are compact and have different straps depending on the size of the consumer’s wrist which makes it ideal for everyone. Both the wearables can be connected to an Android phone via bluetooth and can be customised through the Samsung Gear app. The Gear Sport has a rotating bezel to interact with the watch which is much more intuitive than tapping on the tiny display.

If you are a swimmer, then the Gear Fit2 Pro can be ideal fro you to keep a track of your swimming performance as the Gear Fit2 Pro has a lot of features for swimming. It can eventrack a user’s stroke type, stroke count, and lap count.

Samsung has launched two new wearable devices in India today. One of them is a smartwatch and the other one is a fitness tracker. The pre-bookings for both the devices will start from the 4th of December and will be available to public on the 11th of December.

The Samsung Gear Fit2 Pro is priced at Rs 13590 and will be available in Black, and Black/Red colour variants. The fitness tracker has a 1.5-inch curved display, a 5 atm water resistance rating and has features specifically made for swimmers, including ways for the wearable to track a user’s stroke type, stroke count, and lap count. It also has a continuous heart rate monitor.

The Gear Fit 2 Pro has built-in GPS, as well as an automatic workout detection feature.

Buy it here

The Samsung Gear Sport is priced at Rs 22990 and has a 1.2-inch circular screen with a 320 x 320 resolution and Gorilla Glass 3, a water resistance rating of five atmospheres, as well as a focus on nutrition, with the ability to monitor your calorie balance throughout the day. The Gear Sport has access to fitness programs, along with a way to help the user complete their weight loss goals.

The new smartwatch can also be connected to Samsung’s smart TVs via the Samsung Connect app, and will support the company’s Samsung Pay service with its NFC hardware. The Gear Sport will be available in Black and Blue and colour variants.

Buy it here
November 29, 2017
Samsung Launches Gear Fit2 Pro And Gear Sport In India

Samsung has launched two new wearable devices in India today. One of them is a smartwatch and the other one is a fitness tracker. The pre-bookings for both the devices will start from the 4th of December and will be available to public on the 11th of December.

The Samsung Gear Fit2 Pro is priced at Rs 13590 and will be available in Black, and Black/Red colour variants. The fitness tracker has a 1.5-inch curved display, a 5 atm water resistance rating and has features specifically made for swimmers, including ways for the wearable to track a user’s stroke type, stroke count, and lap count. It also has a continuous heart rate monitor.

Samsung Gear Fit2 Pro

The Gear Fit 2 Pro has built-in GPS, as well as an automatic workout detection feature.

Buy it here

The Samsung Gear Sport is priced at Rs 22990 and has a 1.2-inch circular screen with a 320 x 320 resolution and Gorilla Glass 3, a water resistance rating of five atmospheres, as well as a focus on nutrition, with the ability to monitor your calorie balance throughout the day. The Gear Sport has access to fitness programs, along with a way to help the user complete their weight loss goals.

Samsung Gear Sport

The new smartwatch can also be connected to Samsung’s smart TVs via the Samsung Connect app, and will support the company’s Samsung Pay service with its NFC hardware. The Gear Sport will be available in Black and Blue and colour variants.

Buy it here

November 29, 2017
Huawei Claims Its Facial Recognition Technology Is Ten Times Better Than Apple’s Face ID

Apple may note be the first one to implement a certain technology in its products but, it does set a trend whenever it does innovate. Facial recognition and its renditions have been prevalent in the smartphone industry long before Apple launched the iPhone X and introduced its Face ID feature.

Apple iPhone X has definitely set the standards in terms of design and the technology that is stuffed inside the body of the iPhone X. Following the reports that OPPO will launch an iPhone X clone, Huawei has announced that it is working on facial recognition technology which is “ten times better” than Apple’s Face ID.

Huawei Facial Recognition Technology

Huawei’s facial recognition technology uses a combination of infrared and a projector to create a 3D map of the user’s face. Why Huawei has claimed that its technology is ten times better than Apple’s is because its 3D sensor captures 300,000 data points which is ten times more than what iPhone X’s FaceID captures.

iPhone X Face ID

Huawei claims that its facial recognition technology is not only secure enough for payments but, is also extremely fast. Huawei claims that once perfected, it will take just 400 milliseconds to unlock the phone. Huawei has not announced which phone will be the first one to take advantage of this technology and there is also no definite timeline for the technology.

Apple’s Face ID technology has another very famous implementation, Animojis. And Huawei took the time to boast about its rendition of 3D animojis as well. Huawei claims that its animojis are more advanced than Apple’s Animojis because apart from mimicking facial expressions, it can even track the movement of your tongue.

Which smartphone from Huawei will get its rendition of Face ID is yet to be seen and whether Huawei will also drop the fingerprint sensor just like Apple did.

November 29, 2017