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Galaxy S7 Edge May Have a Batman vs Superman Edition

Samsung Galaxy S7 devices are the one of the most anticipated smartphones of 2016, while Batman vs Superman is one of the most anticipated films of 2016. Put them both together and voila! Everyone is paying attention now.

A Korean publication, Naver reports that Samsung is likely to introduce a Batman vs Superman edition of the S7 Edge. If the source is to believed, it will arrive somewhere around March-April. This in turn means, its launch may or may not coincide with the launch of the standard S7 devices as well as the release of the film on March 25th.

Last year Samsung had pulled a similar stunt by toying with the idea of making Avengers-inspired variants of Galaxy S6 Edge. Needless to say, this sent fans, both of the Marvel universe as well as of Samsung, into a frenzy. It was later in 2015, a little after the release of Galaxy S6 Edge, that Samsung came out with Iron Man Galaxy S6 Edge edition.

Though the phone piqued everyone’s curitosity, it was made available only in selected Asian markets (only 1,000 units were made) and costed a fortune. Let’s see if a Batman vs Superman S7 Edge meets a similar fate and gives DC fans something to rejoice about this year. Fingers crossed.

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February 16, 2016
Samsung Shows Off Waterproof Galaxy S7, S7 Edge in Leaked Video

Samsung is just days away from unveiling its Galaxy S7 flagship lineup. We’ve already seen a lot of renders, leaked benchmark tests, and more that tell us what we can expect from the devices. Today, we have a video that has been released by Samsung’s Indonesia page that gives and perhaps confirm a bunch of details about the devices.

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

The minute-long video doesn’t reveal much on the hardware front, but it does give us some details on some of the features and the look of the devices. First off, the Galaxy S7, S7 Edge do look a lot like their S6 counterparts in terms of looks.

The video shows that the Galaxy S7 can handle rain without frying on the inside, which means both the devices will be IP67 rated. Apart from this, the video also shows that the S7 will come with an improved camera module that can capture better low-light images. The S7 also appears to have a flat back, which tell us that Samsung has ditched the camera hump. We’ll know for sure about these features in just a few days at the MWC ‘Unpacked’ event on February 21.

February 16, 2016
LG to Unveil Stylus 2 at MWC 2016

LG is gearing up for a busy week ahead it seems. The company had already revealed plans of unveiling the G5 and the new X series mid-range smartphones to the tech world next week at the Mobile World Congress 2016, and now the marketing guys at LG have gone ahead and dropped another bombshell.

The South Korean tech giant has now revealed that a sequel to last year’s G4 Stylus, which will be called the Stylus 2 will also be unveiled at MWC 2016. The Stylus 2 will also come with a pen, but unlike the last iteration, it will come with nano-coated tip instead of the previous rubber-tipped pen. According to LG this will offer increased accuracy.

Specifications of the phone list the Stylus 2 to be powered by a 1.2GHz quad-core processor, and sport a 5.7-inch HD display. RAM is 1.5GB, while internal memory is 16GB which will be expandable up to 128GB. The phone will also house a removable 3,000mAh battery which will be great news for users.

On the camera front, the device features a 13MP rear shooter and an 8MP front shooter. Dimensions of the phone are 155 x 79.6 x 7.4mm and it weighs at 145g, the handset will run Android 6.0 Marshmallow out of the box, and will be available in three colors namely titan, white, and brown. Pricing details were not announced, but LG did reveal that the “Stylus 2 will be exceptionally priced.”

In an official comment, Juno Cho, president and CEO of LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company, said “LG Stylus 2 provides both the big screen and premium notetaking functions of a premium large phone at a price of a mid-tier phone. This device is another example of our commitment to the mass-tier segment where there is so much opportunity for growth and creativity.”

The Stylus 2 will also come with special features aimed at improving user experience. These include Pen Pop and Pen Keeper. Pen Pop “toggles a popup menu when the stylus is removed to offer shortcuts to Pop Memo and Pop Scanner,” Pen Keeper will help prevent the stylus from being misplaced by displaying “a popup message when the phone is detected as being in motion when the stylus bay is empty.”

February 16, 2016
Samsung Galaxy Tab E 7 Press Shots Leak

Reports today suggest that Samsung is working on a 7-inch variant of the Galaxy Tab E. Earlier we had seen specs of a 7-inch Tab E variant leak online, but today press images of the tab have also leaked.

Coming to the internals of the 7-inch monster, the Tab E will come with a 1.3 Ghz 1.3GHz processor, and sport a 720p AMOLED display. On board RAM will be 1.5GB, while internal memory will be 8GB, expandable up to 128GB. The tablet will house a 4,000mAh battery, and run Android 5.1 Lollipop.

Reports suggest that the tablet will come with a plastic body, and will be a budget offering and as such will be expected to retail for around the Rs 10-15k mark.

This tablet which can also be named as Tab A 7.0 could be seen in markets by April-March later this year. The report further states that this upcoming Tab could be seen in two variants, one of them which could feature 4G connectivity.

February 16, 2016
iPhone 7 Concept Renders Show the Device without a Headphone Jack

It’s perhaps inevitable now. We may just see a new era of technology where headphone jacks are a thing of the past. It has been rumoured, among other things, that Apple will ditch the 3.5mm headphone jack in its upcoming iPhone 7. Instead, we may just see Lightning connected headphones and wireless headphones. If you’ve been wondering how the new iPhone could look minus the headphone jack, some new renders have graciously hit the internet to tease your imagination.

These renders are only meant to show an iPhone without the 3.5mm headphone jack and is no indication of the iPhone 7’s final look. indeed, it is still too early for that. The renders focus on the bottom edge of the phone that adds a second speaker grill instead of the headphone jack.

One of the possible reason behind ditching the headphone jack is Apple interest in improving quality of music streaming, since streaming is Apple’s game right now. Furthermore, the loss of a headphone jack means more space for Apple to add a larger battery to the iPhone 7, as well as make the device thinner. We’ll just have to wait and see how this strategy plays out.

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February 16, 2016
We Can’t Wait For Sony’s Shiny New E-Ink Remote to Arrive in India

A couple of months ago, Sony launched a crowd-funding platform, a la Kickstarter, for its own new products. Called First Flight, the platform is one of company’s attempts to get itself back on its feet by increasing profitability. The platform includes crowd-funded projects, along with allowing customers to directly buy or pre-order products developed by Sony workers.

The latest updates from Sony’s First Flight comes in the form of an e-ink device called ‘Huis’, pronounced as ‘house’, which is also the first project of the platform. It is a remote for your smart-home allowing you to control lights and remote controlled devices. How is it different from the many other such devices out there, you ask? To begin with, it is fully customizeable, is very low on power-demands and has support for IR, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.

The remote works with television sets, music systems, lights, air conditioners and pretty much anything that is capable of communicating with a remote (barring any pets of the feline origin). Watch technology make your life so much easier as remotes for so many different gadgets get condensed into one with Sony Huis.

Though there is no word yet on when Huis would be made available globally, Sony has already begun taking orders for it in Japan. Currently it costs ¥27,950 or about Rs. 30,000.

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February 15, 2016
Apple to Invest 150 Crores for a Tech Development Centre in Hyderabad

After big names from the tech-industry like Google and Microsoft, Apple is all set to enter the Indian terrain, and how. The company is starting with a $25 million dollar investment along with about 4,500 potential job openings in Hyderabad. The centre is expected to open by June 2016.

The centre will span an area of 250,000 square feet in the real estate firm Tishman Speyer’s WaveRock facility. This project is expected to cost Apple a whopping Rs.150 crores.Though it will open as early as in June, executions of fully-fledged operations won’t start as late as the end of this year.

This move is a very significant one because Apple has kept its operations confined to mostly the United States so far. Commenting on the same, Jayesh Ranjan, Secretary to IT department in the state of Telangana says,

“It’s a very positive development as Apple has not looked at cities only in India, but across many places in Europe and other parts of the world. Their decision to have the facility in Hyderabad is a strong endorsement of the city as a major IT hub in the country.”

Though Apple has recently announced retail stores in India along with the filing of an official application for the same, this would be the first project where the company becomes an important IT presence in India, inevitably pulling India deeper into the international circuit. Apple had maintained a technology support centre in Bangalore once but it was shut down about a decade ago due to poor quality services. Let’s see what the future holds for this new Apple project in India.

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February 15, 2016
Lenovo to Unveil Lemon 3 Plus at MWC 2016

Lenovo, which looks to be on a singular mission to take over the mobile phone market has just tweeted a teaser of what looks to be a new mobile phone being launched at the MWC 2016 at Barcelona later this month.The tech giant is currently sending out teasers via social media platforms for the same with the tagline “#KnockOut Coming Soon MWC 2016”

Lenovo India has also joined in the fun and tweeted a photo from its official handle with a caption saying, “A gorgeous new device has been engineered from scratch to deliver the #Knockout punch. Brace yourselves.” The picture shows liquid metal being poured on a smartphone, indicating a full metal-body phone from the company.

https://twitter.com/Lenovo_in/status/698129306698981376/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Though nothing more has been revealed about the device but reports suggest that the handset in question here is the Lemon 3 Plus, the successor of the Lemon 3 which was launched in China earlier this year.

Lemon 3 Plus is expected to come with a 5.5-inch Full HD IPS display and a1.5 GH octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 616 processor. It will be paired with 3GB of RAM and Adreno 405 GPU, and will be ship with Android 5.1 Lollipop operating system out of the box.

It will be equipped with 16GB of internal storage, further expandable up-to 128GB via a micro SD card.The cameras on the phone will see a 13-megapixel rear camera with LED flash and a 5-megapixel selfie snapper. It will also include 4G LTE, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, USB 2.0 and GPS for connectivity.

February 15, 2016
Sony Planning to Bring Back Crash Bandicoot

We love being teased from time to time. And if it’s a tease about a game that we have grown up with then the hype is next level. We’ve already been jumping with joy with the trailer for Street Fighter V. Now, another childhood memory ready to jump and spin back into our lives is the much-beloved Crash Bandicoot.

It is possible that we may be jumping to conclusions as Sony has not confirmed a new Crash Bandicoot game. However, there have been some recent rumours and teasers that are just too exciting to be wrong now. NECA Toys’ toy director Randy Falk said Sony is bringing back Crash Bandicoot. Check out the video below to relive your favourite Crash Bandicoot games.

At a recent toy fair in New York, Falk said that Destructoid has “a lot of stuff going on with Sony.” The toy director continues to praise Sony and its titles, saying “I see they’re bringing Crash Bandicoot back, so there’s some great stuff there.”

If that wasn’t enough to tease a new Crash Bandicoot game then how about a tweet from Sony PlayStation’s Middle East account of an image of Crash Bandicoot with the line “Most wanted person….where are you Crash?” Now, a company as big as Sony wouldn’t tease fans like that if they weren’t planning on delivering something exciting in the near future, would they?

???? ??? ?????… ??? ??? ?? ????? pic.twitter.com/aj85Ap018v

— PlayStation Mid East (@PlayStation_ME) February 6, 2016

February 15, 2016
HP to Reportedly Unveil a Windows Phone at MWC 2016

Latest reports suggest the company best known in India for making laptops has now plans of getting back into the mobile manufacturing space.

HP which has tried its hand in the market before and now it is being tipped to launch a phone based on the Windows platform. Originally dubbed as the “Falcon”, it is now expected to be called the Elite X3.

According to sources ,the Elite X3 it will be powered by Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 820 SoC, and will come equipped with a 5.8-inch Quad HD display. Sadly, the report says that it will come only with 1 GB of RAM. As far as the rest of the specs go,the phone will have 64 GB of inbuilt storage and the camera setup will be an impressive 20 MP shooter on the back and a 12 MP one on the front.

Probably the most interesting part of the rumour is that it pegs the device for a launch at MWC 2016, which if it indeed is true, would be a great thing for the Windows platform which is seeing its presence in the market diminish with each passing day.

February 15, 2016
LG X Series Will be Unveiled at MWC

We all know that LG is ready to unveil the G5 flagship smartphone at the MWC one week from today. It has been spoken about quite extensively. But that’s not all LG will be revealing at the event. The company is also ready to bring out its mid-range X series smartphones.

The two models in the LG X series, the X Cam and X Screen, will fall in the mid-range category for those consumers “who do not want or need all the bells and whistles that come with today’s high-end phones.” The devices will have a few high-end specs nonetheless.

The LG X Cam comes with a 5.2-inch screen, with 1080 x 1920 pixel resolution. An octa-core 1.14GHz CPU coupled with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage. This model sports two rear-facing cameras. One is 13MP while the other is 5MP, and an 8MP front-facing selfie shooter. Lastly, a 2520mAh battery brings the device to life and Android 6.0 comes pre-installed.

The LG X Screen features a 4.93-inch screen with a 720 x 1280 HD resolution. A 1.76-inch secondary screen is on top which shows notifications, time, weather and battery status without having to turn on the phone, similar to the one found on the LG V10. There are rumors that the G5 flagship will also come with a secondary screen. A quad-core 1.2GHz CPU powers the LG Screen couples with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage. The device comes with a 2300mAh battery, and Android 6.0 pre-installed. This model will be offered in Black, White and Pink Gold.

Pricing and availability will likely be revealed at the MWC next week.

February 15, 2016
Amazon Celebrates “Make in India Week” with dedicated Store on Websites

Showing its support for the ‘Make In India Week’, Amazon India today has put a ‘Make in India’ store which will according to the company showcase products that are manufactured in India, including products from hundreds of Indian and International brands. This initiative will be taken forward and be seen on Amazon’s US web page too.

The United States based company revealed that it will feature over 6000 products across categories to its users under the ” Make in India” store.

“The Amazon platform, with innovations such as Easy Ship, Fulfillment by Amazon and Global Selling, can serve as a strong enabler for Indian manufacturers artisans, and businesses to reach customers not only in India but also across the globe. We are very excited to support the Make In India week with several initiatives on both Amazon.in and Amazon.com. Make in India connects with our mission to transform how India buys and sells and we are thrilled that it will provide further impetus to Indian manufacturing allowing customers globally to access Indian innovations and creations,” Amit Agarwal, vice-president and country head, Amazon India, said in a statement.

The Make in India week, a business expo to promote manufacturing in India, commences in Mumbai today, and Amazon along with other e-retailers stand to gain from the growth of manufacturing of smartphones and consumer gadgets in India.

February 13, 2016
Apple’s Original TV Show to Star Dr. Dre

Apple is going the Netflix way and is making an original TV series that will star popular rapper and Apple-owned Beats co-founder Dr. Dre. The show is called Vital Signs and is a dark drama which will have six 30-minute episodes showing Dr. Dre responding to different emotions. It is semi-autobiographical in nature and will also start Sam Rockwell and Mo McCrae.

This will be Apple’s debut venture in original content and, like Netflix, the episodes will release all at once for viewers to binge on. The series will debut on Apple Music, according to reports. It is still not clear when and how big the launch of the show will be. One of the reasons behind going with Dr. Dre for its first TV series is due to Dre’s ties with Apple on Beats.

Another reason could be Apple trying to get a piece of the success that followed Straight Outta Compton, which was a story about Dre’s life as a rapper during his time with the N.W.A. According to reports, Dre has already begun filming for the show.

Early in January, we had reported that Apple was working on a project called “Apple Video” and has partnered with ABC, CBS, and Fox. Apple has also worked out details with Sony Pictures, Universal and Disney and may be negotiation with some other studios.

Apple has been working on a video streaming service, according to the rumour mill, for the past six years. It seems 2016 will be the year of release. With the recent news of Netflix going global and launching in 190 countries worldwide, Apple may have to move fast if it wants to get on with the competition.

February 13, 2016
Google CEO becomes the Highest Paid CEO in the US

In a securities filing, Alphabet revealed that it awarded Sundar Pichai, the Indian-born CEO of Google 273,328 class-C Google stocks. These stocks at the time of transfer were valued at $199 million. The company has revealed that these were transferred to him when he took over the role last October, and reportedly makes him the best-paid CEO in the United States.

The new shares granted to him lifts the value of Sundar Pichai’s stake in Alphabet to more than $650 million which is around 14,400 times the average wealth of a US citizen but still comfortably below the shares the stakes held by co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, whose net wealth is around $34.5 billion $35.3 billion.

Google’s stock price has reportedly grown over 17% since Sundar Pichai took charge of work at Alphabet’s prime business earning the company billions in revenues.

February 13, 2016
Apple Music Now Has Over 11 Million Subscribers

It’s only been a little over six months since Apple started operations at Apple Music, and in that short span of time, this promising service has outdone expectations, as well as the previous market leader, Spotify. Apple Music now has over 11 million subscribers, along with 782 million iCloud users.

The new 11 million figure was mentioned by Craig Federighi and Eddy Cue, Apple’s Senior Vice Presidents, on John Gruber’s podcast, The Talk Show, published today. It should be noted at this point that it took Spotify, its main rival, 6 long years to reach its first 10 million milestone.

This is an interesting piece of information because Apple’s streaming service had faced a lot of flak at its launch owing to its bug ridden, and clustered interface. It was only after iOS 9 came in that many of these issues were cleared.

However, Apple Music is not where it ends for the Cupertino tech-giant. “Apple Video” is something else the company has up its sleeve. It’s the next big Apple project with many partners involved, such as ABC, CBS, and Fox. Apple already has a large library of movies and video on its iTunes Store, which can currently be only bought or rented.

Streaming is slowly becoming the preferred form of consumption of music, and is growing rapidly as people give up on downloads. In the US, demand for streaming has increased more than 50 per cent, with 317 billion songs being streamed last year.

Apple despite all of this has a long way to go before it comes close to overtaking Spotify. Spotify last reported its number of subscribers in June, and it is expected to have grown substantially since then. Back then it had 20 million paid members, and in total it reported 75 million users.

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February 13, 2016