Author: Vipul Vij

Google Pixel 2 XL Images Leaked

Google will launch the new Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL on 4th October. There have been a number of leaks about the specifications of both new Pixel devices and now, new images of the Pixel 2 XL have been leaked by Droid Life. The images reveal that the Pixel 2 XL will come in two colour variants – Black and White, and Just Black.

Along with the images, the website also revealed that the Pixel 2 XL will be priced at US$849 for the 64GB variant and US$949 for the 128GB storage variant. Google, in its teaser for the new phones, hinted at a solution for phones running out of storage, which means that there might be microSD card slot for storage expansion on the new Pixel devices. Google will offer to finance both the phones as well. The 64GB Pixel 2 XL will cost US$35.38 per month over 24 months and the 128GB version will cost US$39.54 per month over 24 months.

The black and white colour variant looks like an interesting choice for the new Pixel 2 XL and will definitely help the phone stand out from the crowd of the same old black and gold coloured phones. The all-black colour variant also has a two-toned shade and with the “glass window” at the back being black and the rest of the back is dark gray.

As far as specifications go, the Pixel 2 XL is expected to have a 5.99 inch QHD display with an 18:9 aspect ratio and minimal bezels around the screen. The smaller variant, the Pixel 2 will have a 4.99 inch 1920 x 1080 px display with the same thick bezels around the display like last year’s Pixel and Pixel XL. Under the hood, both the phones will have the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chipset and 4GB RAM. The new Pixel smartphones will run Android 8.0 Oreo out of the box and will be the first devices in line to receive Android P update next year. The Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL will also ditch the 3.5mm headphone jack this time.

There isn’t much known about the cameras on the Pixel 2 devices except the fact that both the phones will have a single-camera setup. If last year’s Pixel cameras are anything to go by, the new phones will have a great camera performance.

In 2016, India was among the first 6 countries to receive the Google Pixel and Pixel XL, and it is expected that this year as well, the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL will be launched in India soon after the global launch.

September 20, 2017
OnePlus And Castelbajac Releases A Limited Edition Variant Of The OnePlus 5

OnePlus, in collaboration with renowned French designer and artist Castelbajac announced a limited edition variant of the OnePlus 5 at an event in Paris. The limited edition device will be launched at a pop-up event on September 22, at the Colette gallery in Paris.

Contrary to popular belief, OnePlus did not launch a OnePlus 5 variant with an overpowering vibrant colour, but, the phone has a unique colour scheme for the hardware buttons, and sports a mantra on the back. The custom wallpapers too, follow the design language inspired by the work of Castelbajac. The wallpapers are vibrant, unique, have loose designs and thick lines. The accessories unveiled along with the phone have a similar colour scheme and continue the trend of being reminiscent of the work Castelbajac. There are two different T-shirts available, a dual-layered tote bag, a Never Settle baseball cap, a red, blue and yellow phone holster that’s worn much like a gun holster, and colorful waist-worn case bag that seems fit to be worn on the front.

As far as what’s inside the phone is concerned, OnePlus did not touch upon that during the event. This means that the OnePlus 5 Castelbajac Limited Edition will have the same 5.5-inch 1920 x 1080 px Super AMOLED display. The smartphone runs Android 7.1.1 Nougat with OnePlus’ Oxygen OS on top. The 2017 flagship has the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chipset with a combination of either 6GB RAM and 64GB of storage or a whopping 8GB RAM and 128 of storage which can not be expanded. The OnePlus 5 also features dual cameras on the back, one of the main cameras is a 20 MP sensor with an f/2.6 aperture, while the other is a 16 MP camera with an aperture of F/1.7.

The limited edition OnePlus 5 will be a hard device to get your hands on and how many pop-up events will be organised for the device is yet to be seen. As far as the price goes, there is no official word on the pricing yet, and the final price will be unveiled at the pop-up event on September 22nd.

September 20, 2017
iOS 11: Top 5 Features, Eligible Phones And How To Upgrade
On September 12, Apple launched the iPhone 8, 8 Plus and the much awaited iPhone X. Along with the high-profile launches, Apple also announced that the global rollout of iOS 11, which was announced at the WWDC 2017, will start seeding to compatible iPhones and iPads on September 19. Apple has always supported older devices unlike Android, and there is no surprise in the case of iOS 11 update as well, as the iPhone 5s will also updated to the new OS. A

As the official rollout has now begun, let’s take a look at the Top 5 new features of iOS 11 that should get you excited:

New Control Center

The control center gets an overhaul here in iOS 11. You still have to swipe up from the bottom of the screen to bring up the control center, but, you have the ability to add or remove a lot of shortcuts and toggles. From the settings app, you can fill up the control center to the brim or keep it clean and empty. There are two vertical sliders, one for brightness and one for sound. You can tap and hold an icon for further settings even if your phone doesn’t have 3D touch. There is a new feature called screen recording which can be triggered directly from the control center. Tapping on the WiFi or Bluetooth icon disconnects you from the current device, rather than switching off the WiFi or Bluetooth.

Siri

Siri has received a massive overhaul as well. The Voice Assistant, since it was launched with the iPhone 4s, has become better with every iteration of iOS. In iOS 11, Siri is going to sound better, and it’ll have new capabilities, such as translating a lot of different languages, which can come in handy if you’re traveling to a foreign land. But, one of the most useful features Siri received in iOS 11 is the ability to respond to texts, which will come in handy when you can’t talk to the phone.

Notes

One of the most used in-built apps is the Notes app. In iOS 11, Apple has added a lot of new features to the Notes app that can help the app stack up against other famous third-party note-taking apps. The notes app includes support for drag and drop, a built-in document scanner, markup tools (handwriting support included) and adding tables to your notes. These features will shine even more in the iPad because of a larger screen.

Storage

The storage window in the settings app gets a new look as well. In addition to showing you what kind of data is cluttering your memory, the iPhone Storage menu in the Settings app will let you instantly free up space that you’re not actually using. At a glance, you’ll get suggestions for deleting old messages and pictures, as well as apps that you don’t really use. The menu also shows you all the videos and attachments you can remove to free up space, and lets you act on it.

Files

Apple has introduced a new standalone Files app, which essentially replaces the iCloud Drive app. The Files app lets you browse the files stored in your devices locally and in your iCloud account. It is an app which has featured in Android devices for the longest time and now, iOS users will be able to manage their onboard storage better.

All devices which will receive the iOS 11 update
- iPhone 5s
- iPhone 6/6 Plus
- iPhone 6s/6s Plus
- iPhone 7/7Plus
- 12.9-inch iPad Pro (2017)
- 12.9-inch iPad Pro (2016)
- 10.5-inch iPad Pro
- 9.7-inch iPad Pro
- iPad Air 2
- iPad Air
- iPad (2017)
- iPad Mini 4
- iPad Mini 3
- iPad Mini 2
- iPod touch 6th generation
How to install iOS 11:

You need to back up your data before beginning the installation process. Connect your device to WiFi in order to download the software update file.
- Go to Settings>General>Software Update. Your phone will now look for a software update and ask your permission to install the update.
- Once downloaded, your phone will again ask permission to install the update.
Once the necessary permissions are granted, your phone will restart and iOS11 will be installed.
September 20, 2017
Sony Xperia XZ1 Set To Launch In India On 25th September

Sony unveiled its new flagship, the Xperia XZ1 along with XZ 1 Compact during the IFA 2017 in Berlin in August. At the time of its unveiling, Sony announced that the smartphone will be available globally in the coming month and it looks like Sony is set to launch the XZ1 in the Indian market on September 25th. Sony has sent out press invites for a launch event in Delhi on 25th September. Whether the compact variant will be launched along with the XZ1 is yet to be seen.

The Sony Xperia XZ1 has a 5.2 inch 1920 x 1080 px display with Corning Gorilla Glass 5 on top for protection. The design of the phone is reminiscent of a lot of previous Sony flagships, dating back to 2013’s Xperia Z. The display still has thick bezels around it and doesn’t look like a 2017 flagship smartphone. Sony claimed during the launch of the XZ1 that the device will run Android 8.0 Oreo out of the box, whether that will be the case with the Indian variant has not been confirmed yet. The device is powered by a 2,700 mAh battery, which is considerably smaller than a lot of smartphones in the market. Under the hood, the device has the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chipset, similar to the one found in XZ Premium, 4GB RAM, and 64GB onboard storage.

Sony has used its “Motion Eye” camera system in the XZ1. According to Sony, “Motion Eye” system uses a 1GB memory-stacked camera which has five times faster image processing than other smartphones. Ditching the trend of the dual camera setup, Sony went with a single camera at the back with a 19MP 1/2.3? Sony IMX400 camera lens with an f/2.0 aperture. Sony has pointed out that the phone’s 3D scanning capability is one of its highlights. The camera app includes features like Predictive Capture which will click the picture seconds before you actually hit the shutter button. Sony has used SteadyShot electronic stabilization for video instead of optical image stabilization for images. The primary camera can also record super slow motion 720p video at 960fps in addition to recording 4K videos at 30fps. On the front, the XZ1 has a 13MP camera with an f/2.0 aperture and 22mm wide-angle lens.

The Sony Xperia XZ1 is priced at US$699 (Rs 45000 approx.) in the global market and the price in India could well cross the Rs 50,000 mark.

September 19, 2017
Moto X4 Set For October 3rd Launch In India

Lenovo-owned Motorola launched the Moto X4 at IFA 2017 in Berlin in August. The launch of the Moto X4 will take place in India on October 3rd after the company sent out press invites for an event in New Delhi. The launch of the Moto X4 will be Motorola’s third in quick succession in India after the Moto G5S and G5S Plus were launched in August in the sub 20K category. Motorola has been teasing the launch of the X4 on Twitter and even hosted a giveaway contest.

The Moto X4 has a 5.2 inch 1920 x 1080 px IPS LCD display with Corning Gorilla Glass on top for protection. The smartphone runs stock Android 7.1.1 Nougat and is powered by a 3,000 mAh battery with TurboCharge capabilities. Motorola recently announced that the Moto X4 will receive an update to Android 8.0 Oreo by the end of the year. The company claims that the 15 mins of charge can give up to 6 hours of talk time. The Moto X4 has the Qualcomm Snapdragon 630, 2.2 GHz octa-core processor and Adreno 508 GPU, along with 3GB RAM and 32GB onboard storage which can be expanded up to 2TB via microSD card. The phone has an IP68 rating for water and dust resistance.

The new smartphone will also feature Alexa, the Amazon AI voice assistant. This isn’t the first time that Alexa has made its way onto a smartphone, the Huawei Mate 9 was the first smartphone to feature the voice assistant. Since then, we have also seen Alexa make its way to the HTC U11.The 4 in Moto X4 signifies that the new smartphone will be able to share the sound with up to 4 devices, thanks to the presence of Bluetooth 5.0.

The Moto X4 has a dual-camera setup at the back. The main camera is a 12MP sensor with an f/2.0 aperture, and the 8MP secondary camera with an f/2.2 aperture is equipped with a wide-angle lens. The dual-cameras allow users to have depth effect shots, bokeh effect shots, ultra-wide angle shots, and selective focus shots. On the front of the device is a 16MP camera with an f/2.0 aperture and an LED flash. The cameras record 4K videos at 30 FPS.

The Moto X4, is expected to be priced at around Rs 25000 even though its European price is higher. The promotional poster doesn’t give away any other information but, the smartphone is expected to go on sale on Amazon and Motorola’s recently launched Moto Hub retail stores.

September 19, 2017
Call Of Duty: WWII Story Trailer Released
The Call Of Duty: WWII story trailer was released and it features blood, gunshots, explosions and the spoils of war. The game is played against the Nazis and the Sledgehammer co-founder Michael Condrey said in May that the new CoD will not give players the opportunity to view the war from the German perspective. Talking about the narrative and the storytelling of the new game, Michael Condrey said,

We’re storytellers, part of that narrative is having fans really be able to experience that for themselves. We don’t want to get into mass graves or things like that. I don’t want to get into the full narrative arc, but suffice it to say there is a flux in human history because of the power of those atrocities committed and we want to tell the whole story.

Publisher of the new Call Of Duty: WWII, Activision said:

Call of Duty: WWII tells the story of Private Ronald ‘Red’ Daniels, a young recruit in the U.S. First Infantry Division who experiences combat for the first time on D-Day, one of the largest amphibious assaults in history. After surviving the beaches of Normandy, Red and his squad will fight their way across Europe, engaging the enemy in iconic battle locations such as the Hürtgen Forest and the Battle of the Bulge, as they make their way into Germany.

The trailer reveals young men in the middle of a war in foreign territory and the aftermath of the war of that scale. There’s no first-person gameplay shown in the trailer, instead, the trailer focuses on the characters, highlighting the facial capture work done to harness their likenesses and performances. While the trailer doesn’t show Nazi concentration camps, it does show trains rounding up Jews. The emphasis on the Nazis being the villain is also quite evident in the trailer. The main villain has a big scar across his face making him visually more unpleasant.

Call of Duty: WWII will be out on November 3. A multiplayer beta is set to be released for PC on September 29. The game will be released for the following platforms:
- PS4
- Xbox
- PC
Watch the trailer here:
September 19, 2017
This App Gives Your Android Device The iPhone X Notch

Apple launched the much awaited iPhone X on September 12th. One of the most talked about features of the phone before and even after the launch is its display. The iPhone X’s design is a huge departure from the previous gen iPhones and looks like a 2017 flagship device with minimal bezels. A notch at the top of the display, which has already become synonymous with the iPhone houses all the sensors and the cameras. The iPhone X however, is not the first phone to have a notch, the Essential Ph-One also has a notch at the top which houses the front camera and looks like a cyborg’s eye.

If you are someone who is a fan of that notch on the iPhone X but, do not want to wait until November to see how a display with notch looks like, there is an app for you to experience it right now. Developed by Github user idoideas, XOutOf10 is an app that lets you simulate the iPhone X notch on practically any Android device. The developer believes that this app will save your $999.

If you want to know how the iPhone X notch will look like on your Android device, you can download the app from here. You need Android 6.0 Marshmallow or above to run this app. The developer warns Marshmallow users that the notch will disappear when the status bar is expanded due to Android API limitations set by Google.

This is how the notch looks like on the Samsung Galaxy Note8–

September 19, 2017
Sony Flagship Device With A Bezel-Less Display Leaked

Sony recently launched its new flagship, the Xperia XZ1 at IFA 2017 in Berlin. Although the phone has top-notch specifications and a promising camera, the design of the phone is still reminiscent of all Sony devices since the 2013 Xperia Z. When all the big smartphone manufacturers are moving towards a bezel-less display, the Sony Xperia XZ1’s design looks dated. However, it seems like 2018 will be the year when Sony finally ditches the top and bottom chins and launch a flagship Android smartphone with an 18:9 aspect ratio display.

A recent leak on GFXBench reveals that the new Sony smartphone, named Sony H8151 will have a tall display with an 18:9 aspect ratio. The phone will have a 5.8 inch 2160 x 1080 px display. In the display column, there is another 11.5-inch 4320 × 2160 resolution display listed, which will be a 4K display and succeed the Xperia XZ Premium next year. The smartphone will run Android 8.1 Oreo out of the box. The CPU column mentions a 2.6GHz octa-core processor, but, the Snapdragon 835 is clocked at 2.4GHz. This means that the new device might have the Qualcomm Snapdragon 836 chipset, should Qualcomm change their mind and announce the chipset before the launch of the Sony smartphone. The phone will have 4GB of RAM and 64GB internal storage.

On the camera front, it looks like Sony will continue producing smartphones with a single camera. On the back will be a 17MP camera which will record 3840 x 2160 px (4K) videos. The front camera will have a 12MP sensor with 4K video recording capabilities as well.

The design of the smartphones will be marketed as the ‘Mirai’ design, which means ‘the future’ and will be unveiled at the Mobile World Congress 2018.

September 19, 2017
Samsung Galaxy S9 May Have A 1000fps Camera

The South Korean tech giant, Samsung, has built a camera that clicks a thousand images in a second. Samsung has completed the test phase and may move into mass production in November. With the Samsung Galaxy S9 expected to launch in Q2 of 2018, the next year’s flagship might just feature this camera.

Samsung is working on a “three-layered image sensor.” In a normal setting, there is a camera sensor and a logic board that is responsible for the process of taking pictures. The logic board takes the image passed through the sensor, does some calculations, and turns what the human eye sees into data to be stored on the phone. Samsung is adding a DRAM chip into that equation to allow the camera to capture video at 1000 fps. If Samsung delivers this, it will join Sony as the slowest slow-motion camera right now.

Sony was the first company to commercialize the ‘three-layered image sensor’ with the XZ Premium. The Sony XZ Premium features a camera that records 720p videos at 960fps. It is reported that Samsung’s implementation of the same costs way more than Sony’s. Samsung decided to go with a different method in order to avoid paying a royalty fee to Sony for using their method.

The manufacturing process of a three-layered chip can be tedious and costly. If any of the three layers are bad, the whole chip will have to be tossed, which can be quite costly. Samsung’s process even though costlier, has its positives. The South Korean tech giant is a conglomerate, and therefore, can get its hands on the chip it needs internally. Whether this process yields in better performance than Sony is yet to be seen. Samsung uses Sony’s sensors in a lot of its flagship devices, especially for the US market. If the 1000fps camera makes its way to the Galaxy S9, we may see a high-performing Sony sensor for the American market and an in-house sensor for the South Korean market.

September 19, 2017
The New HP Z820 Work Station Is For Professionals Who Need Raw Power

HP has announced the latest iteration of its workstation and it packs a lot of power. The new Z workstations have been developed with product designers, architects, digital creators, scientists, educators, healthcare workers, and financial traders in mind, but could also be a good fit for home-based content creators who value processing power more than anything else.

The flagship of the Z workstations is the HP Z820. The Z8 packs in two Intel Skylake-SP processors, with twinned Xeon Platinum 8180 chips: 28 cores/56 threads and 38.5MB cache each running at 2.5-3.8GHz, along with support for up to 1.5TB RAM. Those processors and memory can be combined with up to three Nvidia Quadro P6000 GPUs or AMD Radeon Pro WX 9100 parts. The desktop system has four internal drive bays, two external (and a third external for an optical drive), and nine PCIe slots. Storage options include up to 4TB of PCIe-mounted SSD, and 48TB of spinning disks. A range of gigabit and 10 Gigabit Ethernet adapters are available; the machine also supports 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.2. Thunderbolt 3 is available with an add-in card. HP says that novel ducting ensures a second CPU is cooled with fresh air rather than recycled (warm) air from the first CPU’s ducting.

The desktop system has four internal drive bays, two external (and a third external for an optical drive), and nine PCIe slots. Storage options include up to 4TB of PCIe-mounted SSD, and 48TB of spinning disks. A range of gigabit and 10 Gigabit Ethernet adapters are available; the machine also supports 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.2. Thunderbolt 3 is available with an add-in card.

The HP Z820 is expected to be released in October at a starting price of US$2439 (Rs 156,000 approx.) in the United States. There is no official word on its global release yet.

September 18, 2017
Apple Pay Will Enter India By The End Of 2017
On September 12, Apple launched the iPhone 8, 8 Plus, the eagerly awaited iPhone X along with Apple Watch Series 3 and Apple TV 4K. Apple also announced that the global rollout of iOS 11, which was announced at the WWDC 2017, will start seeding to compatible iPhones and iPads on September 19. One of the most popular features available on iOS devices is Apple Pay, which is not yet available in India. However, sources close to iGyaan tell us that Apple has begun testing Apple Pay in India and will be introduced in the country by the end of 2017. Sources tell us that Apple is in talks with several merchants like Starbucks and Croma stores, and banks like HDFC Bank, Standard Chartered, and Citi Bank to introduce the contactless payment machines compatible with Apple Pay at their outlets.

Apple Pay securely stores credit cards, debit cards, or other sensitive payment information from the Wallet app and lets the user pay for goods directly from their mobile device. For Apple Pay to work, the merchant needs to have a contactless machine which is compatible with Apple Pay. During the transaction, TouchID or FaceID is required to authenticate the payment. Once the authentication is successful, a subtle vibration confirms that the transaction was successful.

The cardless payment service works on the new MacBook with TouchID and all iOS devices launched after iPhone 6, including the iPhone SE which is one of the most popular iOS devices in India and also the only Apple product currently being manufactured in India at the company’s Bengaluru Campus. Devices compatible with Apple Pay are:
- iPhone 6/6 Plus
- iPhone6s/6s Plus
- iPhone SE
- iPhone 7/7 Plus
- iPhone 8/8 Plus
- iPhone X
- iPad Pro
- iPad Air 2/iPad Air 3
- iPad Mini 3/iPad Mini 4
- Apple Watch Series 1/ Series 2/ Series 3
- MacBook Pro 2017 with TouchID
Samsung has already introduced Samsung Pay in India which works exactly like Apple Pay, except that it doesn’t need a compatible contactless machine to work. Samsung Pay works with any card payment machine, giving it an advantage over Apple Pay. Other online payment apps like PayTM also allow its users to make cardless payments directly through the PayTM app, although, you need to top up your PayTM balance before making any transactions. In the case of Samsung and Apple Pay, transactions are made directly from the credit or debit card synced with your account.

Google also launched its own UPI based mobile payments app, Tez in India on September 18th. The app has a widespread support of banks and the Finance Minister of India, Mr. Arun Jaitley himself launched the app and even made the first ever Tez transaction. It will be interesting to see how many banks come on board with Apple Pay and how Indian consumers react to the service as the convenience of PayTM and a surge of Google Tez by December may hamper the popularity of Apple Pay. However, considering Apple is India’s second largest premium smartphone maker along with Apple Pay’s integration with iOS 11 and the Apple ecosystem may persuade iPhone and other Apple product owners to switch to Apple Pay.
September 18, 2017
Google Tez, A UPI Mobile Payments App Launched In India

Google has announced the launch of its new India-centric UPI based mobile payments app, Tez. The search engine giant’s new app will let users link their smartphones to their bank accounts to pay for goods securely in physical and online stores, and for person-to-person money transfers.

Payments made straight from your bank account, big or small. Presenting #GoogleTez, money made simple. https://t.co/yb71ezw9Ol pic.twitter.com/Ywy6xJf2qj

— Google Pay India (@GooglePayIndia) September 18, 2017

The information portal of Tez reads

Send money home to your family, split a dinner bill with friends, or pay the neighbourhood chaiwala. Make all payments big or small, directly from your bank account with Tez, Google’s new digital payment app for India

The app will be available to download on all iOS and Android devices. The payments app will tie up with several banks through Unified payments Interface (UPI), a payment system backed by the government in its push to bring more integrated banking services in the Indian market. Supported banks include Axis, HDFC Bank, ICICI and State Bank of India and other banks that support UPI. Online payment partners include food chains like Dominos, transport services like RedBus, and Jet Airways. To help address one of the most important factors that make or break an online service in the Indian market, the app has support for English, Hindi, Gujarati, Kannada, Marathi, Bengali, Tamil, and Telugu. Tez features a technology called audio QR that allows users to transfer money using sounds to pair two devices. Called the “cash mode option,” phones negotiate a connection using audio to identify the payer and payee.

It is worth noting that the app is not a digital ‘wallet’ like PayTM wherein the money is stored in the app and is topped up for purchases. The Google Tez is more like Apple Pay where the app links your phone with your bank accounts to let you use your phone as a way to deduct payments from those accounts. There is also has a separate business portal for sellers to register themselves and accept payments through Tez itself.

India has seen a fast growth of online payment apps like PayTm in the past few years and last year’s demonetization further fueled this growth. UPI is a payment system launched by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and regulated by the Reserve Bank of India which makes the instant fund transfer between two bank accounts on the mobile platform possible. There have been reports suggesting that the infrastructure of digital payments in India is expected to grow three-fold by the end 2017. Talking about the meteoric growth of online payments in India, Secretary of the Ministry of Electronics and IT said

We expect that by December, the number will actually go up to five million PoS(Point of Sales), which means that the infrastructure for digital payments is going to grow three times in the short span of one year.

Tez enters the Indian market at a time when the online payment industry has just started seeing an exponential rise. The app offers a different service than PayTM, the most successful UPI payments app in India right now and might be able tp differentiate itself from PayTM but it may take a while before people accept Tez as their primary mobile payments app.

September 18, 2017
GoPro Hero6 To Capture 4K Videos At 60fps

Soon-to-be-announced tech being leaked is not new in the era we live in. Everyone has a smartphone that can click decent images and hence, leaks are common nowadays. The GoPro is the most famous action camera right now and there have long been rumours of the sequel to the GoPro Hero5, the GoPro Hero6 being launched in September 2017.

Images from Best Buy Canada suggest that the Hero6 Black will record 3840 × 2160p videos at 60fps. This is a first for the GoPro lineup. The new packaging images also suggest that the GoPro Hero6 will record 1920 x 1080p videos 240fps, which is 10 times slower than real-life. According to the packaging, the GoPro Hero6 Black has a 12MP sensor, the resolution same as its predecessor.

The Verge has reported than GoPro will most likely drop Ambarella, which has supplied processors for the company’s cameras for a long time. For the Hero6, GoPro will go for a custom processor called GP1, which will result in improved battery life or image quality. The Karma system will receive a software update that adds a “follow me” mode similar to what’s found on DJI’s drones. The Karma stabilizer grip will also get a physical upgrade and have features like a joystick for aiming the camera. GoPro has plans for the large rollout of its 360-degree Fusion Camera later this year and maybe a part of the announcement as well.

There is no official word on the launch of the GoPro Hero6 yet, but, it might be announced on 28th September. This date seems viable since the Hero5 Black was launched in September 2016. The Hero6 will also subsequently go on sale the day it is announced, just like the Hero5. Leaked images reveal that the GoPro Hero6 Black will retail in Canada for a price of $649 in Canada, which translates to approx. Rs 34000.

September 18, 2017
Motorola Teases Moto X4 Launch In India

Lenovo-owned Motorola announced the Moto X4 at the IFA 2017 in Berlin with dual-cameras and Amazon Alexa support. The company has now teased its India launch via Twitter and the Moto X4’s entry into the Indian market is now imminent. Motorola also launched the Moto G5S and Moto G5S Plus in India in August offering dual-cameras in a budget category. The Moto X4 is priced at EUR 399 (Rs 30,000 approx.) in the European market.

Guess what we're hinting at for an #xperience twice as nice & stand a chance to win a soon to be launched motorola device. pic.twitter.com/eXJ9dlwyIZ

— Motorola India (@motorolaindia) September 18, 2017

The Moto X4 has a 5.2 inch 1920 x 1080 px IPS LCD display with Corning Gorilla Glass on top for protection. The smartphone runs stock Android 7.1.1 Nougat and is powered by a 3,000 mAh battery with TurboCharge capabilities. Motorola recently announced that the Moto X4 will receive an update to Android 8.0 Oreo by the end of the year. The company claims that the 15 mins of charge can give up to 6 hours of talk time. The Moto X4 has the Qualcomm Snapdragon 630, 2.2 GHz octa-core processor and Adreno 508 GPU, along with 3GB RAM and 32GB onboard storage which can be expanded up to 2TB via microSD card. The phone has an IP68 rating for water and dust resistance.

The new smartphone will also feature Alexa, the Amazon AI voice assistant. This isn’t the first time that Alexa has made its way onto a smartphone, the Huawei Mate 9 was the first smartphone to feature the voice assistant. Since then, we have also seen Alexa make its way to the HTC U11.The 4 in Moto X4 signifies that the new smartphone will be able to share the sound with up to 4 devices, thanks to the presence of Bluetooth 5.0.

The Moto X4 has a dual-camera setup at the back. The main camera is a 12MP sensor with an f/2.0 aperture, and the 8MP secondary camera with an f/2.2 aperture is equipped with a wide-angle lens. The dual-cameras allow users to have depth effect shots, bokeh effect shots, ultra-wide angle shots, and selective focus shots. On the front of the device is a 16MP camera with an f/2.0 aperture and an LED flash. The cameras record 4K videos at 30 FPS.

The Motorola India Twitter account has announced a giveaway contest in the build-up to the launch of the Moto X4. There is no word on when the smartphone will be launched, and what the price will be. Considering the Moto G5S and G5S Plus were launched at a more competitive price than the European market, it won’t be a surprise if the Moto X4 launches in India in the sub-25K category. The smartphone is expected to go on sale on Amazon and Motorola’s recently launched Moto Hub retail stores.

September 18, 2017
Airtel Is Offering 60GB Free Data
Telecom companies have started offering competitive data offers ever since Reliance Jio stormed into the telecom industry with its practically free offers to all the customers. The 1GB high-speed data per day that Jio offers is still the most popular plan in the country but, companies like Vodafone, Airtel have come up with plans that offer free 4G/3G data to its customers. Continuing their efforts to offer Jio-competitive data plans, Airtel has announced a new data scheme wherein its offering 60GB free 4G/3G data to its existing postpaid customers. This plan doesn’t have pre-requisites other than your account being postpaid.

This plan follows Airtel’s Monsoon Plan in which the company offered 30GB free 4G/3G data to the postpaid customers. This plan is an extension of Airtel’s Holiday Surprise offer, which was rolled out in April of this year. The Holiday Surprise offer, much like the Monsoon Plan, offered 30GB free data over the course of 3 months. It is worth noting that the 60GB data will be spread over 6 months, hence, you will get 10GB free data every month for the next 6 months. Every monht, 10GB of data will be added to your existing data plan.

Steps to claim free 60GB data-
- Download MyAirtel App from the Play Store on Android or the App Store on iOS devices
- Click on the ‘free data’ banner ad
- The MyAirtel App will then ask you to install the Airtel TV app
- Once installed, simply open the MyAirtel App and click on the ‘Claim’ button to activate the plan and within 24 hours, the data will be credited to your account
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September 18, 2017