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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
Samsung Galaxy Note 8 To Launch August 23rd

Samsung has finally made it official that the Galaxy Note 8 will be launched at 11 a.m. ET on the 23rd of August in New York’s Park Avenue Armory.

Samsung sent out the press invites and made the announcement that the Unpacked event would focus on “Samsung’s newest mobile device.” The invitation teaser shows an image with the silhouette of a device with an Infinity Display (similar to the one featured on the Galaxy S8) and thin bezels on the top and bottom. The S-Pen-like stylus in the teaser is also a big giveaway.

Though the name “Note 8” was to be seen nowhere on the unpacked event invitation, it was quite obvious from the “Do Bigger Things” and the outline of a phone.

Find out what it means to do bigger things on 08.23.2017. pic.twitter.com/xsbqdP0QBM

— Samsung Mobile (@SamsungMobile) July 20, 2017

The Galaxy Note 8 is said to feature a 6.3-inch Super AMOLED curved infinity display, a Snapdragon 835 a massive 6GB RAM with 64GB on board storage. The device is also rumoured to have horizontally placed dual cameras, which are expected to be 12MP.

The Unpacked event is extremely important for the company, considering the last year’s Galaxy Note 7 lineup was recalled thanks to faulty batteries. While Samsung has been extra cautious and playing it safe all this time, the last year’s recall of the Note 7 handsets still has the company dealing with losses in excess of US$ 5 billion.

Samsung was also recently reported to recycle the recalled Galaxy Note 7 devices as the Note FE and salvage about 157 tons of rare metal like gold, cobalt and copper. By staying true to its promise of recycling faulty devices, the company has earned much appreciation.

Samsung also regained consumer trust with the introduction of Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus in March. None of the devices have had any battery related troubles since they went up for sale. The launch of the Galaxy Note 8 will be a major milestone for the company.

July 24, 2017
The Rock is Making a Movie With Siri

Remember last year’s Taylor swift and Apple music collaboration, well Apple is back at it.

Rumours about the Siri integrated wireless charging have barely subsided and now Siri has been reported to star in a movie along with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.

While most of us are busy bossing Siri around, the voice assistant has managed to get its own movie titled, The Rock x Siri: Dominate The Day. Dominating the day or not, Siri is definitely dominating Hollywood now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufBLI6bB9sg

Despite initially describing it as a “Movie”, Johnson now says that his partnership with Apple is a commercial.

Haha it’s a crazy fun commercial we’ll drop tomorrow. Dominate your day brother ??

— Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) July 23, 2017

The extended commercial or a movie is a collaboration between Johnson and Apple. The “movie” made quite an entrance with an over-the-top poster featuring automobiles, satellites, space, car crashes etc.

The Rock also tweeted along with the poster of The Rock x Siri: Dominate The Day.

Teamed w/ @Apple to make the biggest, coolest, sexiest, funnest (is that a word?) movie ever. Drops TOMORROW!#ROCKxSIRI #DominateYourDay?? pic.twitter.com/STwlCPsVUh

— Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) July 23, 2017

By the looks of his Facebook page, Johnson seems quite excited about the collab. In his own words, the movie will be the “dopest” and was made to “motivate you to get out there and get the job done.”

The film itself will be released on July 24th, on Apple’s YouTube channel. Unlike most of the content being exclusive to Apple Music, Apple’s Siri co-starring movie with The Rock will be available for free on YouTube.

With Apple releasing the Siri integrated HomePod in a couple of months, this seems like an excellent opportunity to show that Apple’s virtual assistant can be held at par with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant.

July 24, 2017
Visit The International Space Station With Google Street View

Google street view now works in outer space. Google Street View partnered with the European Space Agency to create a walk-through of the International Space Station. Taking the street view a little outside the planet Earth, Google now lets you pay a virtual visit and explore the entire habitable portion of the ISS and the interiors of two commercial spacecraft, Orbital ATK’s Cygnus and SpaceX’s Dragon.

Earth From Space via Google Street View – ISS Edition

While the regular street view let us see places like the Mount Everest, London. etc. navigating the ISS street view image is a bit different from the typical setup. Google also added side notes or as they call them – annotations to the images describing the significance of what you are viewing with additional information on items around the space station, because well, not all of us are bestowed with astronauts like wisdom. Besides, who is not curious about where astronauts eat or sleep, among other things.

Looking at the images, Google and Nasa did an impressive job, considering they were clicked in space. That said, Google’s typical street view wasn’t practical for the space station’s zero gravity therefore Thomas Pesquet, the ESA astronaut (who worked with Google to capture the images), improvised using the DSLR cameras which were already onboard the Space Station. The images were then amalgamated together to create the 360-degree views we see now.

Pesquet said that they “did a lot of troubleshooting” before they could get the images right. “The ISS has technical equipment on all surfaces, with lots of cables and a complicated layout with modules shooting off in all directions—left, right, up, down, And it’s a busy place, with six crew members carrying out research and maintenance activities 12 hours a day.”

Google and the ESA also made a video about the process of creating the simulation.

July 22, 2017
Andy Rubin’s Essential Phone PH-1 Is Almost Ready For Sales

The Essential phone which was announced last month by Andy Rubin is almost ready to hit buyers. Emails went out from Andy Rubin to those who ordered the Essential phone, confirming that the devices will be shipping in a few weeks.

Hi Bharat,

I personally wanted to thank you for putting your name down for our first phone. We’ve been hard at work getting everything ready and the good news is that we’re now going through certification and testing with multiple US and international carriers.

You might be getting impatient to get your hands on your new Essential Phone (and I’m also impatient to get it to you!) but rest assured that you will have a device in your hands in a few weeks.

Andy

The essential phone has a full front 5.71 inch display with radiused corners, a 19:10 aspect ratio, 2560 x 1312 QHD resolution and a brightness of 500 nits. The back has 13 MP dual cameras with one RGB sensor and one Monochrome sensor and f/1.85 aperture lenses. The front has an 8 MP camera and both cameras are capable of shooting 4k video at 30fps. The Essential phone also has a 3040mAh battery and supports fast charging using USB, but also has a cordless dock that allows you to lay flat the phone while it charges.

The Essential phone costs $699 and has flagship specifications like a Qualcomm 835 processor, 4GB of RAM, and 128GB of storage.

July 22, 2017
Samsung May be Making A Bixby Powered AirPod Competitor

Recent announcement of Samsung’s Bixby voice support being available to Galaxy S8 and S8+ owners in US has kept Samsung in news. The latest rumour is that Samsung might be working on making AirPods-like headphones powered by its smart assistant Bixby. The headphones are expected to feature noise-cancelling tech and are expected to be launched alongside the Galaxy Note 8 launch next month.

The Bixby powered earphones are also reported to also allow users to talk to Bixby and ask the voice-activated assistant contextual questions, thanks to Bixby’s recently released voice support.

While Samsung’s Smart assistant is still in works and requires many updates, releasing a pair of expensive Bluetooth earphones might not be the best decision. Bringing Bixby to be up to par with the Alexa, Siri, Google Assistant might take some time.

Samsung is also reportedly working on a Bixby speaker, designed to compete with Google Home, Amazon’s Alexa-powered Echo and Apple’s HomePod. But the recent rumours suggest that the project might have been scuttled.

The rumours also state that the device isn’t fully ready yet, therefore, there are chances that the launch might not happen as soon as the Note 8 launch. Which, may also buy Samsung the time it needs to work on it’s smart assistant and launch with a much improved device.

It is all heresy till the end product is officially announced by Samsung. For now, their focus should be on the Note 8, as they have some really angry people to please in the Note world..

The Note 8 is expected to have a horizontally placed dual camera setup with 12MP dual pixel sensors each. Expected to run on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 with a 6GB RAM and 64GB on board storage, the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 will reportedly run Android 7.1 from the get go and is said to have a 3,300mAh battery pack. Recent reports also suggest that the Note 8 will feature a 4k borderless Super Amoled display design and a newly designed S-Pen with improved features.

July 22, 2017
iPhone 9’s L-Shaped Batteries To Be Made By LG

We already have enough of the iPhone 8 rumours and speculations, but that hasn’t stopped new reports from claiming that LG will be the exclusive battery supplier of the L-shaped batteries of next iPhone, dubbed ‘iPhone 9’. According to the report, Apple and LG have reached an agreement, making LG the sole vendor of the iPhone 9’s battery.

Apple is usually known to hire multiple providers for sourcing parts but apparently, LG’s huge investment in dedicated battery manufacturing facilities was a major reason why Apple sided with them. One of the other reasons could be the recent backing out of providers from the agreement causing an expected further delay in launch of the iPhone 8.

As per the recent speculations, Apple’s next-generation iPhone will use a battery module that is either “bent” or extended to one side at its bottom to form an “L” shape. The L-shaped battery feature is also expected in the iPhone 8. The feature will not only allow Appleto increase the battery size without increasing the phone size but will also boost the charging speed.

LG’s focus on the L-shaped design can also be another reason for Apple to get in with the agreement. Whereas other suppliers like Samsung, Motorola etc., choose to stick with the traditional design featured in the most smartphones.

A report earlier this year said that Apple could also introduce two new OLED screen sizes with the iPhone 9, including 5.28-inches and 6.46-inches. Of-course nothing can be said for sure based on the far fetched speculations and considering the delays in the production of iPhone 8 we might want to get past the current launch season before taking a dive in the next one.

Meanwhile,

The “iPhone 8” is rumored to feature a full-front OLED screen, front-facing 3D-sensing camera, wireless charging and embedded Touch ID sensors. And is expected to be announced at Apple’s September event.

July 21, 2017
Apple Working On a Siri Activated Wireless Charging Dock

The rumours about Apple bringing wireless charging to its iPhone 8 lineup have been innumerous. Given its membership in the wireless power consortium, Apple is likely to depend upon the Qi inductive standard for its rumoured new feature. For a feature like wireless charging, the company will most likely have to come up with a pad- like device, may be like a -Siri powered wireless charging dock. And considering that Apple has recently been granted a new patent which states, “Smart dock for activating a voice recognition mode of a portable electronic device,” the company might just roll out a Siri powered dock sometime in the future.

The patent describes a device that could serve as a dock for “a portable electronic device”, an iPhone outfitted with microphones for voice commands, allowing the users to access the phone from a distance, processors and wireless charging. The microphone installation in dock indicates it being powered by Siri. Further, the patent also states multiple ways of powering the iPhone which includes wireless charging, docks that range from basic microphone and speaker integrated connectors to mini computers with displays.

Filed back in 2012, the patent defines Siri integration in the dock as “a voice recognition mode of the portable electronic device,” than a built in feature but considering the upcoming trends in the tech world, Apple might infuse Siri directly in the dock. The filing date of the patent also suggests that Apple might have been working on the idea for a while.

Amidst all the ongoing rumours and announcements, the $349 HomePod, one of the upcoming Apple product is also expected to hit the stores in December. The Siri supported speaker is rumoured to serious contender against the Amazon Echo and Google Home. As to when the Siri powered wireless charging will be announced or if it ever will be, its all upto Apple. Amongst all the speculation, we still can’t claim it for sure until Apple officially announces the rumoured Siri connected dock.

July 21, 2017
Samsung Bixby’s Voice Is Ready For Showtime

With the markets flooded with the likes of Siri, Google Assistant, Alexa etc. Samsung’s Bixby is the latest to join the mixer. The company recently announced that the voice support of its smart assistant is out in US, available to Galaxy S8 and S8+ owners. Samsung states that an opt-in Beta test in US on Bixby’s voice support which will be later available in other markets and an eventual release in India. Over 100,000 Galaxy users issued about 4 million voice commands in the early access programs. The test led to faster response time, improved understanding of phrasing the same query differently, better hands-free functionality and ability to read messages and emails aloud, provided you use its stock apps on Galaxy S8.

Similar to its competitors, Bixby can be launched with a push of a button (dedicate to Bixby) on the side of S8 or S8+ or by simply saying “Hi Bixby”. Very much like Siri, Google Assistant and the likes, Bixby can set alarms, send messages, read the news along with image recognition and barcode scanning. But what sets it aside from its contendors is the ability to access the granular phone setting and switch between different menu screens to run commands.

Samsung had earlier planned on making Bixby more aware of the user’s wants and needs, as to customize the user experience. Samsung believes that Bixby will gradually improve as it continues to recognise and learn user’s preferences and adapt accordingly. Choosing not to limit itself to smartphones, Samsung also added Bixby to its line of smart refrigerators last month though without voice support for now.

July 19, 2017
Google Resurrects Google Glass

The original Google Glass was designed to log everyday life events, answer random search queries etc. The Glass designers expected people to live their lives in tandem with a wraparound frame and a tiny computer screen hovering over their eye. The glory of the consumer version of Google Glass was expected to take the streets by storm. But this glory was short lived as the initial users faced many problems with the Glass, delivering less than it promised and was further criticised for privacy violation. After three years of efforts to keep the product afloat, Google’s parent company, Alphabet and its sister company, the “moonshot factory” decided to shut down the operation. Later, few reports surfaced indicating that Alphabet had a small team working on a new version of Google Glass – Glass 2.0, for workplace. Google launched the Google Glass Enterprise Edition, officially resurecting the wearable as a workplace tool.

Workers will wear the headset to get hands-free guidance on tasks while keeping their eyes on their work. As to how the wearable works, the Glass 2.0 is not very different from its earlier prototype. The Glass places the information or messages in the wearer’s field of view. Built to support both regular frames and safety glasses, workers can activate their company specific softwares with command “OK, Glass, proceed.” The new Enterprise Edition Glass can be connected with other devices and has more processing power, extended battery life, faster Wi-Fi and a superior 8MP camera(an upgrade from earlier 5MP model). The major difference between the original Glass and the enterprise version is the new red LED light that turns on when recording video(Google’s way of addressing privacy concerns) and a detachable ” Glass Pod ” that can be reattached to Glass-compatible frames, which can also include things like safety goggles and prescription glasses.

Now that the Glass 2.0 has been officially introduced as a workwear tool, Boeing, GE, DHL, and Volkswagen have started testing the headset in hopes of expanding their pilot programs into full-fledged adoption. The glass has also been reported to increase the efficiency of mechanics by 8-12%, with the help of custom software designed by Upskill.

A pilot project with doctors has also led to some interesting help tools art their disposal.Using Glass with Augmedix, doctors at Sutter Health estimate that they have reduced the amount of time they spend on electronic health record keeping.

Glass has brought the joys of medicine back to my doctors. – Dr. Albert Chan, Sutter Health

Though off to a strong start, the company is facing competion with already existing smart-glasses upstarts like Vuzix, ODG, and Epson. While its still too early to speculate the success of Alphabet’s workplace-focused Google Glass Enterprise Edition, it is sill enough to offer the Google Glass a second shot in the smart-glass world.

July 19, 2017
Samsung To Recover 157 Tons of Rare Earth Metals From Recalled Galaxy Note 7 Devices

Staying true to its promise made in March, Samsung will recycle parts from then recalled exploding Note 7 devices . Sales of the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 were suspended last year, due to the poorly manufactured batteries. As stated in the reports released in March, Samsung has recently released refurbished Galaxy Note 7 FE in Korea. Even with all the refurbished handsets for sale, Samsung will still be left with the heaps of devices to recycle.

Samsung will kick start its phone recycling process this month and is expected to recover 157 tonnes of rare metals like gold, cobalt and copper. Samsung also plans on utilising the existing parts like OLED display modules, memory chips, and camera modules from the unsold refurbished handsets as replacement parts for repairs. New reports have surfaced stating that Samsung might pair with local (in Korea) and international companies for the recycling initiative, though the names of the companies have not been disclosed.

Samsung’s Note 7’s failure cost the company a loss of US $5.4 billion. Though the rare materials like gold, cobalt and copper from salvaging the scraped Note 7 might not be enough to cover the losses, it will still offers some respite, to Samsung and to the environment. In a recent statement made by Samsung, the company has “actively lead the industry in terms of environmental protection and resource recycling.” and is working on discovering new ways to recycle materials from the products in an environmental friendly manner. Apple, amongst many others have followed the lead to recycle and reduce their impact on the planet by figuring out a way to use only renewable materials in its products. And while Apple’s Robot Liam helps them deal with the reduction of the company’s footprint, Samsung’s Note 7 recall has offset the company’s carbon footprint for the worse.

While Samsung’s Note 7 recycling efforts will be appreciated, it seems that the company has timed the announcement just around the soon to be launched Galaxy Note 8, being one of the crucial launches for the company. Good PR we’d say !

July 18, 2017
New Nokia 8 Leak Shows That It Is Ready For The Big League
Nokia may have been playing in the low, to mid range since its relaunch with HMD Global, but, it looks like that may be about to change soon. A new leak shows off the Nokia 8 smartphone design which includes an all metal design along with a dual camera setup with Zeiss branding.

HMD Global run Nokia, had already announced its plans to re-invigorate the relationship between them and Zeiss. Aside from the design new specifications for the upcoming Nokia 8 have also surfaced which include the new Snapdragon 835 chipset and a 5.3 inch QHD display.
- 5.3-inch, QHD, 2560 x 1400 px display.
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chip
- 4 GB /6 GB of RAM.
- A dual-camera setup on the back, with both cameras set at 13-megapixels. Zeiss Lenses
- Android 7.1.1 Nougat
According to VentureBeat, Nokia may be gearing up for a July 31 announcement for the Nokia 8 which will be priced at €550 (€589 including taxes) which makes the phone approximately $633 or Rs. 41000. The report claims that the phone will be sold in blue, steel/silver, gold/blue, and gold/copper color variants. How the phone stands up against like of Samsung, LG and even OnePlus is yet to be seen. The Smartphone generation hasn’t truly known Nokia, and with its big comeback this year, the market seems to be warming up.

Markets like India are still struggling and while the phone are yet to be officially available in India, buyers seem eager, even at prices much higher than international markets.
July 18, 2017
Apple Showcases New Emoji Heading To iOS and Mac

To celebrate World Emoji Day, Apple has shown off some of the new emoji heading to iOS, MacOS and WatchOS later this year. The new emoji set include some interesting emojis, including a zombie emoji, a “mind blown” emoji, a new puke emoji and for overtime you needed to express a dinosaur in your conversations the new T-Rex dinosaur emoji.

Emojis have become popular of the past few years, and while every company showcases emojis differently, the essence of the conversation remains the same, and allows people to express what they are feeling in an otherwise bland textual conversation.

But Emoji also keeps up with the trends now days as Apple will also add Daenerys Targaryen, aka the Mother of Dragons, from the Game of Thrones as an emoji.

Apple is also celebrating World Emoji Day in the App Store. By highlighting a number of emoji-themed apps available for download for emoji lovers in the App store, including

Emojily, which helps you create your own characters

Swiftmoji-Emoji Keyboard, which is essentially an emoji search

Gymoji, which promises to. Perfect for those Gym selfies.

The Emoji Movie, a Sony pictures Animated comedy production hits theaters on July 28, only to show how mainstream emoji has become. In total there are 2,666 emojis in the Unicode Standard as of May 2017. This includes some sequences for gender or skin tone, flags, and the components that are used to create keycap, flag, and other sequences. On iOS alone an estimated billion emojis have been shared on iOS alone. The most popular emoji used by people is the “Face With Tears of Joy ” emoji also known as the “lol” emoji. Here is how the emoji looks on different platforms.

July 18, 2017
Apple iPhone 8 May Face Major Delays

The rumor mill is awake with the recent reports of delays and production struggles faced by Apple for its new iPhone 8 lineup. Earlier, a report suggested that Apple has taken the manufacturing of iPhone 8’s key parts in it’s own hands for device’s timely release.

A more recent report suggests that the three new iPhones, the iPhone 8, the iPhone 7s and iPhone 7s Plus are yet to start mass production. While this might come as a shock for many, the reports suggest that the production for new ‘7s’ iterative with 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch phones might ramp up in August. Whereas, the iPhone 8 with the OLED 5.8-inch display, no bezel design with the “all new glass body” may not be available until November.

Even though, Foxconn, Pegatron and Wistron will reportedly be manufacturing the new Apple iPhone lineup hand in hand, the iPhones are still not expected to be at a level that may be considered mass production. Multiple reports have also indicated problems with features like wireless charging and the 3D front sensor said to replace TouchID.

It is also said that due to one of the suppliers walking out on the company, Apple resorted to purchasing and providing manufacturers with the production equipment required for manufacturing of the rigid flexible printed circuit board (connects chips with every part of he handset), a key component of the iPhone.

The production of iPhone 8 will be further the delayed as one of the three suppliers for manufacturing the RFPCB has recently backed out of the agreement. The only way Apple can hope to hasten the production process is by purchasing its own equipment and leasing it to its suppliers.

Apple may also ship the new iPhones with few key features disabled at first, while others say that the delays might just push back the release altogether. The Apple iPhone launch is expected to be bigger than ever, and if the leaks are accurate, the launch of three new models on the iPhone’s 10th anniversary will get industry excited.

July 17, 2017
Anytime May Be Amazon’s Answer to WhatsApp and Messenger
With the ever increasing messaging apps, here’s another name to add to the messaging app consortium. Though with Facebook, Apple and Google, the messaging apps have reached a saturation point, it reportedly hasn’t stopped Amazon from taking a shot at it. According to reports, Amazon has been working on it’s own messaging app for Android, iOS and desktop.

While it’s a little too early to speculate the app’s features, the Anytime app is rumored to be a full-featured, standalone messaging app for smartphones, tablets, PCs and smart watches. Designed to let people chat via text and video, exchange photos with filters, play games etc. Anytime will allow the users to engage with other Amazon services like making reservations, shopping, business interactions etc while sharing all this with your messaging buddies. The app is also said to include all the mainstay features like message encryption, stickers to begin with and then voice and video calls at a later stage.

Amazon has also been reported to survey its customer base about the potential features. Some of which include, groups, gaming, filters for images and video, and personal along with business chats.

The app is also apparently different from the likes of WhatsApp and messenger in the following ways.
- Reportedly, only a name will be required to reach out to another user.
- Unlike WhatsApp, Anytime might not be dependent on phone numbers of users.
- Only Twitter-style @ mentions will be needed to share photos or bring people into conversations.
- The chats can be color-coded just in case you need to highlight the important ones.
Amazon has already paved it’s way in the messaging and communications market with the launch of Chime- A video conferencing app for business users. Provided the rumors are correct, a chat app would offer Amazon another way to bring people into its stride. Anytime is reported to be designed to compete against messaging apps such as Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp etc and the fact that no phone number is needed to registerer the app maybe something that will excite potential users.
July 17, 2017