Author: Vipul Vij

Lenovo To Launch The ‘Killer’ K8 Note On 9th August

Lenovo India has unveiled its next ‘killer’ smartphone, the Lenovo K8 Note. After recently showing up on a Geeksbench, Lenovo India has confirmed that the K8 Note will be the latest offering in the K Note series and will launch on August 9th.

Most of you did get it right! The #LenovoK8Note will #KillTheOrdinary & leave the rest behind! Ready to see it uncage on 09.08.17? Save it! pic.twitter.com/FKp1Nibknu

— Lenovo India (@Lenovo_in) July 28, 2017

The Geekbench stats show that the new K8 Note will run on Android Nougat 7.1.1 out of the box. Powering the device will be a deca-core MediaTekek Helio X20 processor and 4 GB of RAM. Other rumoured specs are a 5.5-inch display and 32 GB internal storage.

The Lenovo Note series has been a budget offering of super fast devices and the K8 Note looks all set to continue the trend with the rumoured MediaTek Helio X20 chipset under the hood. Lenovo India itself has gone all out this time, teasing its followers that the new-age fast device will kill the ordinary speed. Lenovo India’s social media has been hard at work trending the #MyNeedForSpeed, encouraging people to choose their device for its lightning fast speed.

Lenovo K6 Note was released back in December 2016 powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 chipset with 4GB of RAM and 32 GB of internal storage. The K6 Note was well-received for its pricing and performance. It was widely reported that the K7 Note will succeed the K6 Note but Lenovo seems to have dropped the idea because of the potential ‘Note 7’ reference. The K8 Note will be K6 Note’s India-exclusive successor and the rumoured specs surely back that up. It is also reported that the K8 Note will be manufactured at Lenovo’s Chennai-based plant.

The Lenovo K8 Note seems to be the ideal successor of the snappy K6 Note if you go by the specs at least. We will hold our judgment and wait to get our hands on the device that will launch on August 9th in India. What are your thoughts on the new K8 Note? Let us know in the comments below.

UPDATE – Lenovo has sent out press invites for the launch of the ‘killer’ K8 Note on 9th August at 11:30 am with the #KillerNote.

July 28, 2017
Google Pixel 2 May Dump The 3.5MM Headphone Jack

Every smartphone is preceded by numerous leaks and renders that keep the potential owners guessing. More often than not the leaks turn out to be a thing of passing. New rendered images of the 2nd gen Google Pixel suggest that the smartphone might ditch the 3.5mm headphone jack for a single USB-C port.

It’s no joke that every phone that launches with a headphone jack these days is met with extra adulation since the Apple iPhone 7 and 7 plus ditched it for a “jack-less, wireless future.” To see reports of Google Pixel 2 ditching the headphone jack is quite surprising considering their famous jab at Apple when the Pixel and Pixel XL were launched with the adored headphone jack.

It is worth mentioning that these are rendered images and nothing is set in stone. Pixel and Pixel 2 have been under the radar for a while especially since the Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ stormed on to the scene and grabbed all the attention. With the dust now settling in after the S8 and S8+’s launch, the attention is back on Google’s 2nd gen smartphones and its fair to say that this won’t be the last leak for the phones.

The Google Pixel 2 and Pixel Xl 2 are expected to run on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chipset, with 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage. Google will launch the phone with Android O and improved cameras and bigger battery life.

July 27, 2017
WhatsApp Hits 1 Billion Active Users Per Day

The most popular messaging application in the world just hit a mammoth milestone. WhatsApp announced that it has hit the daily 1 billion active users mark and the growth is incredible! Compared to the numbers from last year where WhatsApp had 1 billion active users every month, this jump is massive and quite astonishing. To add to that, WhatsApp’s rendition of Snapchat stories has hit the 250 million daily active users mark as well. Interestingly, this is much more than what Snapchat itself enjoys currently.

The Facebook-owned company shared this news in a blog post, stating that active users per month have reached 1.3 billion. Moreover, about 55 billion messages are shared every day in 60 supported languages. 1 billion videos and 4.5 billion images are shared every day on the messaging platform that has steamrolled every other messaging app in the market right now.

WhatsApp has come a long way in the last few years. In 2014, it had monthly 450 million active users when Facebook acquired it for $19 billion. Since then, it has managed to almost triple its daily active users from 350 million to now 1 billion.

A noteworthy development is the rise of WhatsApp status feature which launched in early-2017. It has hit a staggering daily 250 million active users. To put this stat into context, Snapchat as whole experiences about 166 million daily active users. And WhatsApp status feature was set out to be a ‘Snapchat Stories’ clone. Instagram stories, another Snapchat clone hit the 250 million daily active users as well.

India is WhatsApp’s largest market with 200 million active users. In fact, back in February WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton visited India in order to gather insights from people on how WhatsApp can contribute to the country in a more prominent way. WhatsApp is even looking to foray into the digital payment space in India.

July 27, 2017
MIUI 9 Launched With New Features

MIUI has long been one of the most polarising custom Android skins. It has garnered quite a fan base across the board but also has its fair share of cynics, and you can’t disregard either. For long, MIUI has been a highly customisable but also slow and unstable skin that a lot of people love to hate. Even Xiaomi’s latest flagship Mi 6 with all the high end specs was found to be a little slow in certain areas. To deal with all that, Xiaomi has launched MIUI 9 with new features. It is worth noting that MIUI 9 will for the time being just be available in China, and the release date for other markets has not yet been announced.

Faster App Launching Speed

One of the main criticisms of MIUI has been its sluggish nature and the slow speed of general usage even in the flagship devices. Keeping that in mind, Xiaomi has promised much faster app launching speeds and navigation between multiple apps will be snappier as well. Performance enhancements are always welcome and this looks to be a step in the right direction for the Chinese giant.

Under The Hood Updates

Xiaomi has also introduced MIUI 9 with a few features that run in the background for example application prioritisation. This basically means that apps in the foreground will use up more power, but that has been on Android for a while. It also has better cache management, a new file system and a bunch of other tweaks to make the user experience crisper and snappier.

The ‘Smart’ Features

Xiaomi has also launched its Smart Assistant to compete with the likes of Google Assistant, Siri, Alexa and even Bixby. The voice assistant will be available in China only for the time being as localisation of the software may take time. Image search allows you to search your image talliers by image context keywords, so if you a looking for pictures with dogs that you have clicked you will be able to do that. The Smart App Launcher is a feature that makes a lot of sense as well. It basically means that you can open up a relevant app on the basis of the content on your current app. For example, if a friend sends you a restaurant’s name, you can open up Zomato to look up the restaurant.

Split-screen Is here, Finally.

The split-screen feature was one of the major upgrades in Android Nougat and a plethora of phones from mid-rangers to flagships have embraced this handy little feature. Xiaomi, on the other hand, has launched it just now with MIUI 9 and it’s a welcome update.

Xiaomi will begin to roll out the MIUI developer beta 9 from August 11 to the Xiaomi Mi6, with more phones will follow suit in the coming months. There is no clarity as to when Xiaomi will launch MIUI 9 in the global market.

July 27, 2017
Flipkart All Set To Takeover Rival Snapdeal

Flipkart is reportedly closing in on taking over e-commerce rivals Snapdeal. A report claims that the Snapdeal board has accepted Flipkart’s offer in the region of $900-$950 million last week. The future of Snapdeal has been a topic of discussion for the longest time and looks like the speculations will finally end now as the deal reaches a completion.

Snapdeal has raised over $1.5 billion over the years including, from investors such Alibaba and Softbank. Snapdeal was valued at $6.5 billion as recently as 2015 and is now set to be taken over by Flipkart for under $1 billion. It has also been reported that other assets such as FreeCharge, which Snapdal acquired two years ago will be sold off to Axis Bank.

Flipkart’s new CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy, who took up the position in January of this year seems to be on the track of resurging the e-commerce giants. Under his leadership, Flipkart looks to be preparing to go head-on against global e-commerce leader Amazon. Flipkart also recently raised funding of $1.4 billion from eBay, Microsoft and Tencent at a valuation of $11.4 billion. All in the while acquiring eBay.in under its portfolio.

eBay recently sold its India business, eBay India Private Limited, to Flipkart.

With Snapdeal’s acquisition, Flipkart and Amazon will be the only players in the e-commerce space and this duopoly is a bad news for any other up-and-coming e-commerce player. Flipkart seems to be making up the ground it lost to Amazon in the recent past and this aggressive Snapdeal acquisition is just another step towards gaining back that power position.

Amazon’s heavy investments in their Indian businesses, as much as $5 billion, since it launched India operations in late-2012 indicate that Amazon is serious about turning this duopoly into a monopoly. The e-commerce war is in full swing and it’ll be interesting to see how this pans out in the coming years.

July 27, 2017
Daniel Craig Will Reportedly Return to Play James Bond

Daniel Craig was widely reported to have ended his tenure as the suave Brit super spy James Bond after the release of Spectre in 2015. Daniel Craig was criticised and presumed to fail as James Bond when the trailer of Casino Royale was released back in 2006, but, has since garnered great response across the board for his portrayal of our beloved Bond, James Bond. All hope of seeing him as Bond again were quashed when Craig stated in an interview that ‘I would rather slash my wrists than play Bond again.’

He later did clarify that he was really tired during the interview and he would consider the role if an opportunity arises. And it looks like the opportunity knocked on his door and he gleefully welcomed it into his house. According to a report, he will play the famous spy in its 25th instalment. Yes, James Bond will return to the big screen for a record 25th time, that’s how much we love our super spy. But amongst immense speculation about who will be the next Bond, the report claims that Craig has agreed to play the character for the 5th time.

The out-of-this-world gadgets used in Bond movies over the years has kept us fishing for more and the 25th edition of the series, releasing in November of 2019 is a proof that the world just can’t get enough of the Brit spy! The same report has also claimed that Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, who have teamed up on the screenplays for the last six Bond instalments, will return.

The name of the new movie has not yet been locked but whatever the title may be, we are extremely excited to see Mr Craig back on the big screen killing bad guys and making us envy his super awesome collection of tech! Tell us what you feel about Daniel Craig reprising the role and your favourite Bond movie!

July 27, 2017
KFC’s Gamer’s Box Will Be Your Partner In Virtual Crime

The tech industry strives to evolve on a daily basis and it results in some of the coolest products you can get your hands on. KFC seems to have recognised that the tech industry has a huge potential for fan-engagement and innovation can get you the right publicity. Earlier, KFC teamed up with Huawei to launch a limited-edition KFC Huawei Enjoy 7 in order to celebrate its 30th anniversary in China. The smartphone was launched with a 5.5-inch screen and a Snapdragon 425 processor and a fingerprint scanner.

But, if fried chicken and FIFA 17 are your thing, then look no further than the KFC Gamer’s Box 2.0. If you are a sucker for limited edition stuff then this weird yet pretty awesome piece of tech (or food?) is just for you. Only 10 of these bad boys will be produced and you need to log on to KFC’s website or Mountain Dew’s Facebook page to try and win one of these.

KFC and Mountain Dew have teamed up for this bizarre product and we can’t help but get really excited about it because well, fried chicken! It’s a nifty little accessory to have, you can marvel at the bright red box on which you can play a few games while connected to your smartphone via Bluetooth. Yes, your food now comes with Bluetooth out-of-the-box (that has to be the most 2017 thing to say).

This is not the first time KFC turned your run-of-the-mill 5-in-1 meal box into a tech product. Back in 2016, KFC released the ‘Watt A Box’ which charged your phone after you ate all the chicken from it. The out-of-the-box thinking (get it?) has come a long way since and the gamer’s box can be your gaming companion when the touchscreen gets too redundant.

If you love either fried chicken, controllers to play games on your smartphone or a collectable piece of tech or well, all three of them then this little fried chicken meets gaming console is just what you needed.

July 27, 2017
Moto Launches Moto Z2 Force With Shattershield Display

Lenovo-owned Motorola has launched its flagship for the year, the Moto Z2 Force with a shatterproof display technology. With a lot of high-end specifications, the 2nd-gen Moto Z phone will be the flag-bearer for Moto this year. It goes on sale in the USA on August 10th and is already available for pre-orders.

Moto Z2 Force has got the hardware to compete with any flagship device this year with 4 GB of RAM, 64 GB of storage and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chipset. It has Android Nougat out-of-the-box with a promised update to Android. Let’s just say, pretty standard stuff for an expensive 2017 flagship device. The USP of Moto Z2 Force is three-fold. It has a shatterproof display that won’t crumble after a few regular drops thanks to a shatter-resistant coating on the display. Next up are the Moto Mods, which is why the design and the feel of the phone have been retained, except that it’s much thinner now thanks to a 2,730 mAh battery. The previous gen Moto Z had a 3,500 mAh battery, so to ship a new phone with that big a slump in battery size, just to make it thinner seems like a tricky decision. What’s also missing is our beloved 3.5mm headphone jack, so if you’re still living in the good ol’ days of wired headphones then you need to either make a shift to the wireless universe or live the dongle life, a USB C dongle is included in the box. Another significant change is the camera setup. It now has a dual-lens camera setup with dual 12MP sensors with an f/2.0 aperture. One camera shoots in monochrome, and the other shoots in colour, similar to what we saw on Huawei devices and recent Nubia M2. The Z2 Force also has laser AF, phase detection but no mention of optical image stabilisation. Similar to Apple’s portrait mode, the dual-lends setup has allowed Moto to implement a depth-of-field effect on the Moto Z2 Force.

The Moto Z2 Force doesn’t have the edge-to-edge display from the Galaxy S8 or a huge / relatively large battery one would expect, but with a price tag of $720 (roughly INR47,000), it competes with the big boys of the current flagship market aka the Samsung Galaxy s8 and its bigger sibling the S8+, Apple’s iPhone 7 and 7 plus. The release date in India has not been specified and it is likely that the phone may not launch in India at all as the company stayed away from the Force variant last year.

July 26, 2017
Nokia 8, HMD’s First Android Flagship Is Launching On August 16th

HMD Global is gunning to unveil Nokia’s first android flagship- the Nokia 8 on August 16th. The phone maker has started sending out media invites to an event in London on August 16th. What’s interesting is that this invite comes just days after the Nokia 8 was leaked. Prepare for a pleasant throwback because Nokia 8 is set to become the first smartphone with Nokia’s branding to ship with the Carl Zeiss optics. Expect a spec’d out smartphone with the prospect of owning a premium Nokia branded phone in the longest time!

The Nokia 8 is rumoured to have a dual-camera setup which has become a standard now on flagship devices. Expect dual 13-megapixel cameras with Carl Zeiss Optics. The Nokia 8 is rumoured to be sporting a 5.3-inch display (2560 x 1440), Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor, 4 or 6 GB of RAM and 64 GB internal storage and dual-SIM options.

Expect a snappy fingerprint scanner and an iris scanner on Nokia’s latest phone. The Nokia 8 is expected to ship with a large 3,800 mAh battery with quick charge. While the price is nowhere near certain, it is rumoured to be priced much like a premium flagship, carrying a hefty price tag of $675 (INR 44,000 approximately). They phone may be launched in several colours including Blue, Steel and Gold-Copper colours.

The date is set and in just a little more time, we will have the first ever Nokia branded premium Android smartphone! Who’s ready for the throwback ride?!

July 25, 2017
App Of The Week – Comics Is Everything You’ve Ever Wanted To Read Comic Books on the Go

Some of the fondest memories of a comic book reader are peeling off the plastic wrap off of the comic book and turning the cover page. That sound of fresh paper rattling still makes us a little giddy inside. As much as we hate to admit, digital books are the present and the future. The purists still believe that nothing’s better than the feeling of a physical book in the hand and the sound of the rattling pages is unparalleled. But, the success of Kindle and reading apps tell us a different story. The handiness of a small gadget essentially carrying your whole library is too good a deal for avid readers to not look into. The comic book readers have long been waiting for a solid platform to satiate their digital comic book cravings.

We went on a spree to find you the perfect app for comic books and boy do we have a good one! Comics by ComiXology is all you’ll ever need and it is great. With a collection of over 75,000 graphic novels, comics and manga this is your one true flight-mate.The collection is mostly paid but there are a few free comic books to get you started.

As is with every app, to access the full library you need to buy the books and read them offline while you are on a flight or a place where you can’t access the internet. From Archies to DC and Marvel to Appleseed, the collection is huge and it’ll take you the long time to even try and finish reading the whole library. Another important box that this app checks out is the UI. An easy-to-use app with proper refined categories and an easy payment method makes using the app an absolute walk in the park. It has all the necessary tabs to help you find the comic book you’re looking for. The text is crisp and the images are sharp to keep you immersed in whatever you’re reading.

Available for free, this app is a must-have for all you comic book/graphic novel enthusiasts who travel a lot and can’t afford to give up the precious space in your hand-baggage. This handy little app will soon become your go-to saviour from the perpetual boredom. Check out the app below and tell us what you feel about it!

[button type=”link” link=”https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.iconology.comics&hl=en” variation=”btn-info”]Explore The App Here[/button]

July 25, 2017
Awesome Tech: The Robotic Glass Cleaner!

Every now and then, we stumble onto greatness while scouring the internet. The piece of tech in the centre of attention here is the Robotic Glass Cleaner, and it blew us away with how easy (and an excuse to procrastinate longer) it made our lives! Our office has quite a lot of glass walls which you would’ve noticed in our office tour video a few days ago. What we also showed you a glimpse of, was this futuristic looking uber cool glass cleaner. Now, what this device essentially does is clean your glass walls in a circular motion with the use of its plush soft micro fibre padding. And we don’t need to tell you how awesome micro-fibre is!

The design of the glass cleaner is extremely cool and looks like a thing from the future with its round paddings and a black-and-white colour scheme giving it a robotic feel. Hence, the name as well. It’s extremely sturdy and won’t break down on you anytime soon. It comes with a safety harness to break a fall in case it isn’t connected to a power source and the battery runs out. that brings us to its functionality, and boy is it a keeper! The glass cleaner moves horizontally or vertically on auto mode and also has a manual mode where you can change its directions from the accompanying remote control and the smartphone app. It really is extremely satisfying to just sit and watch it spread its magic of cleaning. We aren’t talking up this product because it actually is the most hard working member at our office.

The price is a huge factor for whatever people decide to buy, and this extremely handy tool retails for $150.With the coupon GBS60 you can save an additional 20-30$. It is an investment if you ask us and our spick and span glass walls will back us up here. This Robotic Glass Cleaner should be a part of every dream setup, be it an office or a home. Check out the link below to see how the magic happens and tell us what will prompt you to add this tool to your repertoire.

[button type=”link” link=”http://igy.me/2vSCBVF” variation=”btn-info”]Buy the Robotic Glass Cleaner here![/button]

July 25, 2017
People, MS Paint Is Officially Dead

The good ol’ MS Paint, the tool that inspired the lot of us to become artistes is getting ‘deprecated’, according to Microsoft. In a recent announcement by Windows, it listed out the features and software that will be in the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update. The iconic MS Paint was first introduced by Microsoft back in 1985 ie 32 years ago! MS Paint will be missed, not for its functionality but for just being, well Paint. It’s like that old t-shirt which doesn’t fit you anymore but you can’t give it away either because it was cool a several year ago. MS Paint getting the axe doesn’t come as much of a surprise though, as Microsoft is now pushing Paint 3D as the next big thing in their repertoire.

As per the announcement, don’t expect MS Paint to vanish off the face of the earth just yet, as it states that MS Paint will ‘deprecated’ rather than ‘removed effective immediately.’ What this essentially means is that the software is not in active development and can be removed in the future updates. MS Paint will be available through the App Store with its functionality integrated with paint 3D. If you’re wondering what this Paint 3D is, then here’s a small introduction: It is nothing like our ‘masterpiece creator MS Paint.’As the name suggests, it is designed to make in 3D. Paint 3D will let users turn parts of photos, artwork into full-fledged 3D objects. It was announced back in April 2017 with the Creator’s Update. It also lets users work on a 2D image and convert it into 3D artwork.

MS Paint is here to stay, it will just have a new home soon, in the Windows Store where it will be available for free.

The final word on when MS paint will be removed in its entirety is not out there, yet. The Windows 10 Creators’ Autumn update will start rolling out soon, although a definitive date has not been announced, expect the gradual removal MS Paint as soon as the update starts rolling.

Till then enjoy this MSPaint creation :

July 25, 2017
Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 Allegedly Bursts Into Flames

Last year was all bout smartphone fires and about the infamous Samsung Galaxy Note 7 which was LIT (pun intended)! Long story short, lots of Note 7 handsets started randomly catching fire and Samsung recalled all the units and hence, the ‘Note 7 bursting into flames’ jokes came into being. In a rather bizarre news, a Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 was caught on tape bursting into flames in a shop in Bengaluru.

As the shopkeeper was trying to insert a Sim card in the phone, it caught fire after an explosion and burned the handset’s entire body. In the video, you can see that the phone isn’t connected to any charger or an accessory and quite astonishingly burst into flames while the retailer was handling the phone. A lot of similar cases are a result of overheating due to charging, so this is a rather rare case and quite bizarre.

Image via TechCase

In a yet another Firegate incident, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 bursting into flames seems like an isolated incident and although it is scary, no one in the incident got hurt. After Samsung Galaxy Note 7, this news comes in as a shock as we expect all the smartphone makers to be on top of their stop-the-phone-from-catching-fire game. We will reiterate that this is an isolated incident and doesn’t necessarily indicate and serious or inherent problem in the Xiaomi Redmi Note 4.

Late on Monday, Xiaomi released a statement which indicates that it believes the video is of an unrelated incident. Here’s Xiaomi India’s statement on the incident:

At Xiaomi, customer safety is of utmost importance to us. We investigated the Redmi Note 4 in the images, and concluded that it was a case of damage due to a faulty third-party charger used by the customer. Nonetheless we worked with the Poorvika store where the unit was bought, and replaced the customer’s damaged unit with a brand new Redmi Note 4. However, after a thorough investigation, we cannot validate the source of this video, as it has no relation to this case, and was not from the Poorvika store. In fact, it is unclear if this separate and unrelated incident depicted in the video involved a Xiaomi device.

Note- It appears that the video is fake and iGyaan has received the following statement from Xiaomi

At Xiaomi, customer safety is of utmost importance to us.

Recently, a video has been shared across a few news publications claiming that a Redmi Note 4 unit experienced an explosive scenario. We would like to state that this video has no relation to the concerned Redmi Note 4.

After an internal investigation, we found that the only recent incident of a burnt Redmi Note 4 stemmed from a Bangalore based customer – Arjun. He had purchased a Redmi Note 4 from a Poorvika store in Bangalore on 1st June 2017. His phone was damaged at his home on 17th July 2017, following which he took the phone to the aforementioned Poorvika store on the same day.

As soon as we were alerted to this incident, we took the device back. After a thorough technical investigation, we found out that the damage was caused due to a faulty third-party charger used by the customer. In addition, there were signs of physical damage on the phone as well.

We advise our customers to only use Xiaomi authorized chargers and accessories.

Regarding the video being circulated, we would like to clarify the following points:
(1) The video was attained from a random WhatsApp group, and has nothing to do with this recent Redmi Note 4 case.
(2) In fact, there is no evidence in the video to suggest that the device is a Redmi Note 4 or any other Xiaomi phone.
(3) The video is not from the aforementioned Poorvika store, or any other Poorvika store. On further investigation, we found that the CCTV video was from a retailer in Anamangad, Kerala. Xiaomi India only started selling devices at 3G and Fone 4 stores a few weeks ago in Kerala.
(4) The CCTV video was recorded on a different date, not 1st June (when Arjun bought the phone) or 17th July (when his phone got damaged).
(5) The customer in the video is not Arjun. He has confirmed to Xiaomi that the people in the video does not include or represent him or any of his relatives.

It is unfortunate that a member of the technology blogging fraternity used a video of an unrelated incident attained from a WhatsApp group, and merged it with the above-mentioned case involving Arjun, without doing any investigation. We find this behaviour very irresponsible and disturbing. We are currently evaluating legal action against this publication.

To all our Mi Fans, we would like to re-emphasize that safety is of utmost importance to us! All of our devices go through stringent quality tests to ensure that you get the best quality. We will once again encourage everyone to only use Xiaomi authorized chargers and accessories.

July 25, 2017
Awesome Tech: An Old School DIY 35mm Pinhole Camera

Smartphones have upped their camera game in the past few years resulting in a steep rise of interest in photography. The ease with which you can click beautiful pictures with these immensely spec’d out smartphone cameras is bound to make anyone a “photography buff.” 4K video recording, dual-lens camera setups and whatnot, smartphones of the present age are judged based on what they offer in the camera department, such is the essence of cameras nowadays. Don’t get us wrong, the DSLR’s of the world are here and will live on in the foreseeable future, and that’s the reality. But the need to go old- school in tech has become a strong phenomenon these days. From the resurgence of vinyl records to people resorting to B&W filters on apps like Instagram. That is where this Kickstarter program comes into play, the space of old school tech winning people’s hearts.

No, we’re not talking about polaroids, we are talking pinhole cameras. Now before you leave this tab and head over to Google to know what this is, give us a chance to tell you about it. A pinhole camera uses a single small aperture – a pinhole – instead of a lens. The ingenious process of pinhole photography involves exposure of film using light filtered through a small hole in a light-proof box. It strips photography into its bare bones- Light. As light passes through this hole, an image is exposed on the film loaded inside the camera. Due to such a small size of the aperture, it may take anything between a few seconds to a couple of hours to expose a photograph.

Sounds tedious, no? But, the pleasure of handling a camera that uses a process dating back to the 1880s is unparalleled. The whole purpose of this camera is to give you a chance to travel back in time and experience photography before there were filters and touch screens. The new pinhole camera by London-based designer Kelly is an improvement in many aspects over her 2013 version of the pinhole camera.

Unlike the 2013 model, the new VIDERE pinhole camera shoots on 35mm film which is easily accessible even in today’s all-things-digital world. It also has a tripod thread for stability along with a new ultra-hardwearing shutter. As per the DIY process, it goes from a flat pack to shooting mode within an hour! The VIDERE 35mm pinhole camera packs a punch with stability options, an easily accessible 35mm film process and a good ol’ throwback!

It’ll be interesting to get our hands on a piece of tech like this and experience photography from the simpler times. You can check out the product below on Kickstarter and tell us your thoughts on old-school gadgets making their way into our lives at this point in time!

[button type=”link” link=”https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/kellyangood/kickstarter-gold-videre-35mm-diy-pinhole-camera-ki?ref=category_popular” variation=”btn-info”]Check Out The VIDERE 35mm Pinhole Camera[/button]

July 24, 2017