Samsung has finally achieved the skill of being stealthy. The company has quietly released the new Galaxy Tab A Plus on its Samsung Belgium-France website without an official press release. The new tab boasts of a 9.7” display and an S Pen stylus.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab A sports a 9.7″ LCD display with 1024x768p resolution. It is powered by a Ziilabs ZMS-08 chipset with 1.2GHz quad-core CPU with 2GB of RAM. It runs on Android 5.0 Lollipop based TouchWiz UI and offers 16GB of storage, which can be further expanded up to 128GB via microSD card.
The Galaxy Tab A Plus boasts of a 5MP rear camera and a 2MP front camera. The tab has video recording capability of up to 720p. The device runs on a 6,000 mAh battery and is available at a price of €339 (around Rs.23,750). It is available in two colours: Sandy White and Sandy Black. There is no mention of the tab on Samsung India’s website.
Today Yu Televentures announced a new handset, the Yu Yureka Plus. The phone is a revision to the existing Yureka, with added benefits. The revised specs also called for a revised price of Rs. 9,999.
Registrations for this handset have started again today and the handset will go on sale on the 30th of July exclusively on Amazon.in.
Overview
The Yu Yureka Plus is a phone that the Yureka should have been, in the first place. However, it is the company’s way of letting their consumers know that they are listening. The Yureka Plus improves on key features without drastically increasing the price. Is it worth the extra moolah? Let us find out in the iGyaan review.
Alabaster White and Moonstone Grey
Hardware
Spec wise, the phone is more or less the same with some improved features. A higher resolution display with Gorilla Glass 3, a new Sony sensor in the camera and a stronger chassis.
Design wise, you really cannot tell one Yureka from the other (even if the other is a Plus). The only real design change is the availability of the the alabaster white colour, which is great to look at. Since it is a matte finish, it won’t attract fingerprints, but it will attract stains and pen marks just like the Silk white OnePlus One. For our other inputs on the design you can revisit the original Yureka review.
Build-wise, Yu claims that there is a brand new chassis which has been reinforced for additional rigidity in the frame. The phone is more resilient to drops and dings and just like the first gen Yureka, should last you a long time. The addition of Gorilla Glass 3 as a top layer of the display will make the phone slightly more tougher.
The Yureka was pretty tough as it is, and we showed that off in our review of the handset. Pop on a case and the included screen protector and you are good to go. However, the new white colour, despite being resistant to smudging and fingerprints, gets dirty easily and will attract ink stains and food stains.
Performance and Gaming
Just like on the design front, the performance of the Yu Yureka Plus is the same as the Yureka. The Hardware is identical and a few software improvements are apparent. The phone does not heat up despite excessive usage, and the plastic shell of the phone aids in keeping the heat at bay. Although the Yureka was in big trouble with heating issues, after some usage, it appears to be resolved.
We, just like everyone else who waited for a new device, expected a big bump in specs and that was not the case with the Yureka Plus. The company launched a modest update and the performance hasn’t been entirely impacted. The benchmark scores are higher due to software optimizations, but this might not be the case after weeks of usage.
Gaming seems better too, we did face few drops and jitters while playing games like Asphalt 8 and we are not sure if the full HD display will impact the GPU performance enough to make a difference in gaming.
Network, Calls and Battery
The Yu Yureka Plus will handle two LTE enabled SIM cards, however, you can have data running on one SIM at a time. LTE speeds are good as we managed over 20 Mbps downloads on Airtel Delhi Network. The network remains strong through most areas, which also impacts the battery less, hence improving the battery life.
Calls remain good too, the proximity sensor issue also seems to have been addressed. Sometimes however, during the calls the screen turns on, on its own, which can get rather frustrating. Dropped calls are negligible and can also be due to network limitations in certain areas.
Battery will last you a day with moderate usage. The Full HD display will impact the battery life a little extra, but optimisations from the company improve performance, considerably. We did hear mixed opinions about the battery last time, where some experienced good battery life while others had heating and battery drain issues. If that will be the case with the Yureka Plus or not, is presently unknown.
Talk Time : 5-6 Hours. (LTE)
Music : 10 Hours
Internet Usage : 5.5- 6 Hours
Multimedia and Gaming : 4 Hours.
Cyanogen
Yu Yureka was the reason that OnePlus had to drop Cyanogen OS usage on the One when it was launched in India. Their Cyanogen OS exclusivity partnership is one of the biggest reasons that makes the Yu franchise stand out. Cyanogen 12 OS comes out of the box on Android 5.0.2 along with many of the new features on the OS. The newer user interface has a highly improved experience. Transitions and page changes are fluid too. Cyanogen customization options make the usage very personal, and the tweaks and quick toggles make usage, easy.
Alabaster White and Moonstone Grey
Yu Brand Value and Promise
Negative chatter still remains high on the lack of service quality from Micromax. The Yu franchise also has the same response. With a lack of spares, service from the brand is slow and tedious and somewhat expensive in case of things like cracked display replacement.
The forums are active and a large community has adapted the brand and endorse it thoroughly. We don’t see many updates from the company when compared to the activity of companies like OnePlus and Xiaomi on their respective forums. However the discussion boards are full of consumers and prospective buyers communicating within themselves, which is in itself, a great thing. There are also YU team members who answer queries, in the usual, robotic manner.
Display and Camera
The increase in resolution is always welcome, especially when it brings along added Gorilla Glass 3 protection. The outdoor visibility is poor and at its brightest setting, it is barely visible. The increased resolution improves ppi to 400ppi which will improve the usage experience. The display has good colour reproduction and viewing angles.
The camera sensor has been improved from a previous gen Sony sensor to a newer sensor which will capture colours better and work well in low light conditions. The megapixels remain the same at 13MP, however images are sharper and contrast is better. Some samples are given below. Video is still shot at 1080p and thanks to better low light performance and colour saturation, the video quality is much better.
Yureka
Yureka Plus
Yureka
Yureka Plus
Conclusion
While the price difference is negligible and so are the improvements, the Yureka Plus adds a Full HD display and a better camera, with a supposedly better build. All of which are worthy of the Rs. 1,000 price increase. There is no loss in performance, in fact, it is a tad bit better. If Yureka was your choice before, the Yureka Plus should be your choice now. There are however some other options in this price bracket, the ZenPhone 2 and the new Moto G (3rd Gen) is just around the corner. Check out our video review below.
Click here to register for the Yu Yureka Plus : [tw-button size=”medium” background=”#07ABE2″ color=”” target=”_blank” link=”http://www.amazon.in/b/ref=as_li_ss_tl?_encoding=UTF8&camp=3626&creative=24822&linkCode=ur2&node=6690337031&pf_rd_i=yureka&pf_rd_m=A21TJRUUN4KGV&pf_rd_p=656691227&pf_rd_r=1R4GV1T0M1A7TNVFECFT&pf_rd_s=desktop-auto-sparkle&pf_rd_t=301&qid=1437731665&ref=spks_0_0_656691227&tag=igyaan-21″]Register Now[/tw-button]
LG has released a new mid-range phone aimed at selfie enthusiasts, the LG Max, in India at a price of Rs. 10,990. Successor to last year’s LG L Bello smartphone, the LG Max features a larger display and a more powerful selfie camera than its predecessor. LG has launched the Max in India ahead of Europe and the CIS. However, judging by the specs, it doesn’t look like a winner.
The LG Max boasts of a 5.0-inch FWVGA display with 854 x 480 resolution. The phone uses a 1.3GHz Quad-Core chipset with 1GB RAM. The phone has a storage capacity of 8GB with MicroSD support. It runs on Android 5.1.1 Lollipop and is powered by a 2,540mAh removable battery. It supports 3G and is a dual-SIM phone.
The LG Max comes with features like Gesture Shot and Selfie Flash that makes it easy to click selfies. Gesture Shot enables users to take selfies without pressing any buttons by simply opening and closing the palm in front of the camera and Selfie Flash turns the phone’s display into a soft flash for portraits.
At this range, LG Max can be easily beaten by Yu Yureka and Lenovo K3 Note, which possess better specs than it. If LG says that the phone is specially manufactured for selfie enthusiasts, then the phone has to prove that its image processing software is good.
September is only a month away and it seems Apple has already started the preparations for the launch of the next iPhone. According to photos leaked on the French website nowhereelse (via AppleInsider), Apple has reportedly begun the production of the new iPhone.
If we go by the photographs, it seems the latest iPhone will be identical to the existing iPhone 6 lineup. The leak cannot confirm though, if the material used is sapphire or alkali-aluminosilicate glass like Gorilla Glass.
Source: Nowhereelse
Source: Nowhereelse
Source: Nowhereelse
The photos also do not indicate the presence of Force Touch, which Apple will reportedly include in the new iPhone. ‘Force Touch’ is a feature that detects the level of force in a tap and responds accordingly. For example, a light tap on the screen will perform another task than a hard tap. Tiny electrodes surrounding the Retina display sense the difference in the amount of pressure applied on the screen. Thus, a user can perform simple tasks such as fast-forwarding a movie or using pressure to zoom in on a map with ease.
Earlier this month, it was reported that the next-gen iPhone would be thicker than the existing iPhone due to the integration of the ‘Force Touch’ feature. Also, Apple is reportedly integrating support for the feature in the beta versions of iOS 9, which will allow developers to make use of ‘Force Touch’ in navigation and media controls.
We have more proof that history repeats itself – after Android phone sales surpassed those of Windows computers in 2012, an analyst has estimated that the same thing will happen again, this time, it will be iOS devices instead of Android. As ZDNet reports it, an analyst has tweeted a trailing 12-month chart of iOS and PC sales using data from various companies.
If you look at the graph closely, you will see that while PC sales increased post June 2009, right when Microsoft introduced Windows 7 and experienced a sharp decline post June 2012, when Microsoft introduced Windows 8, a well-intentioned but misfired attempt for cross platform OS. At the same time, Apple introduced iPhone 4S, which set a precedent for future iPhone designs and was a notable improvement over iPhone 3GS. Not to forget, iOS 5 achieved what Microsoft tried to – cross platform OS for the iPad, iPhone and iPod.
Moreover, over the years, developers and manufacturers have made phones and tablets suitable for tasks that required PCs. For example, you can now create and edit a PowerPoint Presentation on your phone, a task which required a PC in earlier times. Apps like Instagram and Pixlr allow users to edit their photos at a basic level, WordPress’ app allows you to manage your blog on the go and more such apps have made it possible to ditch the PC for basic tasks. Still, the PC won’t be extinct right away, as there is still some use for it.
Microsoft still has a chance to beat Apple at its cross-platform game, when it rolls out Windows 10 next week. It seems Microsoft has learned from its mistakes; Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 and can hopefully regain its position as the leader of the PC market.
We have all been recently experiencing something that has been termed as ‘call drops’, and as of June 30th 2015 Airtel has received the the most number of complaints (31) followed by Vodafone, Idea Cellular and BSNL as written by telecom minister, Ravi Shankar Prasad in a written reply to the Lok Sabha. The TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) has also received complaints from Reliance, Aircel, MTS and Tata users too.
The Airtel CEO had written an open letter to its customers asking for their help. He mentioned that the two most important things necessary for a good service or network were sites and spectrum. He also requests customers to identify nearby mobile sites to reduce call drops in a particular locality.
But what is the government doing about this, since customers are still paying for inefficient services?
“TRAI has been monitoring the performance for service providers against the quality of service benchmarks for the various parameters through quarterly performance monitoring reports.” – Ravi Shankar Prasad
Ideally, the call drop rate should be less than 2%. Although, service providers have cited various reasons such as equipment faults, frequent load shedding in some circles, difficulty in site acquisition, shutting of existing mobile towers due to radiation concerns and restrictions near international borders. These don’t seem to be excuses but facts of this situation.
The government promises to meet telecom service providers in April as well as the second week of July, 2015 regarding the call drop issue, wherein, they have been asked to take immediate measures to address issues of call drops by radio frequency optimization, installation of new sites and in-building solutions.
However, the results of these measures are yet to be experienced.
Source: [tw-button size=”medium” background=”#07ABE2″ color=”” target=”_blank” link=”http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/tech-news/Airtel-subscribers-suffer-maximum-call-drops-TRAI/articleshow/48184843.cms?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=TOITech”]Times Of India [/tw-button]
Yu Telecommunication’s first product, the Yu Yureka, was an instant hit when it was released in January this year. Later on, the Yu Yuphoria worked out really well for the Indian audience. Now, the company bought Yu Yureka’s brother, the Yu Yureka Plus, a few days ago and will go on the company’s trademark style of flash sale today.
The handset will be up for sale from 12 pm Indian time on Amazon India. But, this sale is valid only for registered users, which began on 21st July and expired yesterday.
The Yu Yureka Plus consists of small and significant changes. The Yu Yureka Plus comes with a 1920x1080px display, as compared to Yu Yureka’s 720p display. Since the screen size remains the same with both the handsets, the pixel density of the Plus version is bumped up to 400 ppi. The screen is also protected by a Gorilla Glass 3.
Yu Yureka Plus
The Yu Yureka Plus also has a new camera sensor made by Sony. The Plus also boasts of improved chassis and better build qualities.Other than this, both the handsets are the same, overall.
The Yu Yureka Plus comes in two colour options, the Moondust Grey and Alabaster White.
Hardware Specs
Yu Yureka Plus
Display
5.5-inch FHD Gorilla Glass 3
Resolution
1920 x 1080px 400ppi
Chipset
Qualcomm Snapdragon 615
Processor
1.5GHz Octacore | 64 Bit
GPU
Adreno 405
RAM
2GB
Primary Camera
13MP Sony Sensor
Front Camera
5MP
Video Recoding
1080p Full HD
Storage
16GB
Expandable Up to
32 GB
Battery
2,500 mAh
Operating System
Android 5.1 Lollipop with Cyanogen 12
Bluetooth
4.0
Price
Rs. 9,999
Check out the unboxing and hands on of the device below:
We had recently mentioned to you that Samsung is all set to take the markets with the new S6 Edge Plus. However, the coming of this new device might see the exit of the 128GB variant of the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge that have been taken off the shelves of Indian and Dutch markets.
Earlier, these devices were available in three variants: 32GB, 64GB, and 128GB in countries like Singapore, UK, Australia etc. But now, it is likely that the 128GB will exit these countries as well.
While the actual reasons for taking the 128GB off shelves are unclear, it could be due to the exorbitant price tag it had. That’s right. The 128GB Galaxy S6 model costed a whopping Rs.61,900 (970$) while the Edge variant costed Rs.70,900 (1110$). Keeping these rocketing prices in mind, bidding farewell to this variant, won’t be such a bad decision, after all.
After announcing at CES, Las Vegas, earlier this year, Sony has finally rolled out the Android TV in the Indian market, becoming the first company to launch TV based on Google’s Android Lollipop. The Android TVs start at a price of Rs. 69,900 for a 43-inch model.
Earlier this year, Sony partnered with MediaTek at CES, Las Vegas and announced that it would manufacture Android Lollipop based Smart TVs. Sony’s Android TV aims to provide the proper TV viewing experience on Android and deliver the large screen experience it was designed to do.
Users can access a number of features present on Android OS such as the Google Play Store and YouTube and can play HD videos as long as they have an Internet connection of 8Mbps or more. Plus, you can also play your videos from your smartphone onto the TV, using the the Google Cast feature. The users can also give commands using the voice feature. Sony has customised the OS for Indian users with the app SerialAbTak, that plays most popular soaps and shows from Indian channels.
Sony has gone one step further and has added the 3D feature onto the Android TV, which means you can plug in your PS4 and enjoy the 3D movies, which will look better with Sony’s X-Reality PRO Picture Engine.
The announcement for the launch of the Apple Watch was met with great optimism and reviews encouraging the users to adapt to the product despite certain glitches. Fashion experts were also looking forward to its launch as it was hoped that Apple would finally launch a fashionable smartwatch that would be wearable.
Despite these reviews, the critical opinions seemed to overpower them, even post release. For instance, Brad Hargreaves initially predicted an 11 million sale in the third and fourth quarter which he later slashed down to 10.5 million. Most reviews seemed to tag the product as ‘destined for failure’ and no one would ever know since Apple rarely reveals sales numbers or internal statistics.
However a new report is said to show the Apple sales as “exceeding internal expectations” despite the pessimistic aura. Numbers never seem to fail Apple Inc. and as reported they have sold four million watches in the second quarter, giving them 75.5% of the global smartwatch market shares.
Global Smartwatch Vendor Shipments (Millions of Units)
Q2 ’14
Q2 ’15
Apple
0.0
4.0
Samsung
0.7
0.4
Others
0.3
0.9
Total
1.0
5.3
Global Smartwatch Vendor Marketshare (%)
Q2 ’14
Q2 ’15
Apple
0.0%
75.5%
Samsung
73.6%
7.5%
Others
26.4%
17.0%
Total
100.0%
100.0%
Total Growth: Year-over-Year (%)
~
457.3%
Source: Strategy Analytics
In direct comparison we have the Samsung smartwatch that sold only four hundred thousand watches giving them a 7.5% share in the market. Other brands like Motorola, LG etc. have sold around nine hundred thousand watches giving them a total of 17% of smartwatch sales. In total, Samsung plus the other smartphones own 24.5% of the market, with Apple far ahead of it with 75.5%. Hence, proving that Samsung and the rest have a long way to go before catching up to a Cupertino product.
Motorola has dropped the prices of Moto E (2nd gen) and Moto E (2nd gen) 4G by Rs.1,000 on Flipkart. The price drops by another Rs.1,000 if you exchange your old phone, although it is to be noted that the discount is available only on select handsets.
Motorola’s latest move comes just a week before it announces the latest Moto G and Moto X on July 28. In addition to that, it seems Motorola has been keeping track of its rival Xiaomi, which has slashed rates of its phones in the past two weeks.
The Moto E (Gen 2) 4G LTE, touts a 4.5-inch qHD (540×960p) screen and a 1.2 GHz quad-core Snapdragon 410 processor as compared to the Snapdragon 200 processor of the Moto E(Gen 2) 3G model. The handsets features 1GB of RAM and 8GB of inbuilt storage capacity, expandable up to 32GB. A rear camera of 5MP is fitted onto Moto E (Gen 2) LTE, while the front has a 0.3MP shooter. Running on Android 5.0 Lollipop, the device comes with a 2390 mAh battery.
According to our very own Bharat Nagpal, the 2nd Gen Moto E is “a budget hero and gets better with an improved build and customizable options thanks to the new grip bands”.
The iPhone 6 is touted as being different from all the other iPhones especially since it catered to the ‘large screen’ demand. However, the rumours about the iPhone 6S do not mention a larger screen and it is precisely this reason that has made many analysts and firms wary about it’s success and appeal.
Macquarie, a global investment banking and diversified financial services group, writes:
Since the new phone will not be a size upgrade, we are concerned that the growth simply won’t be there. We are well aware that this is incredibly simplified, but because it is simple doesn’t mean it won’t impact the growth and stock.
The ‘comp issue’ mentioned above refers to the hypothesis that – if the iPhone is already doing so well then it would be difficult for the future creations to compete with what is already available.
Piper Jaffray, an investment bank and asset management firm also has similar worries and writes that the iPhone growth is expected to go flat in CY16. It is said that because of the level of excellence that the iPhone 6 surpasses, it will continue to be successful even after the announcement of a new device. Especially because the price of the iPhone 6 will drop.
Apple is expected to release their reports earnings later today and announcements for a new iPhone is anticipated.
After rolling out 360 degree videos on YouTube in March, Google has now extended the same to video ads from today. No one prefers to sit through advertisements, but Google’s latest move should lead to some interesting ad campaigns, like this one:
Google says that these 360 degree videos are best enjoyed on Cardboard, its VR platform for Android. The VR does give an added advantage to 360 degree videos as it increases the presence of interactive elements in the video. Google says that for every one of these videos run as ads, the results have been impressive. For instance, Google says that Coca-Cola’s 360 video celebrating the 100th anniversary of their iconic bottle design outperformed standard in-stream video ad view-through rates by 36%.
The 360 degree videos can only be viewed on Google Chrome and YouTube apps for iOS and Android. If you want to create your own 360 degree video, you have to use one of these cameras as described by Google: Ricoh Theta,Kodak SP360, Giroptic 360cam, or IC Real Tech Allie.
As reported earlier by us, Apple has not yet made an official announcement about its new electric car project that is currently being called Project Titan. What we know about it, is that Apple has been on a recruiting spree, hiring about a hundred new professionals from Tesla, Ford, Mercedes-Benz and the like. They have also hired former deputy director of the Autonomous Systems Lab at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Paul Furgale. In fact very recently, Apple just settled a law suit filed against them by automotive battery manufacturer A123 Systems accusing them of an attempt to use A123 employees to start a battery operation.
Their latest hire is Mr.Betts, a former VP for Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA), who has also worked with Toyota and Nissan in the past. He worked at Chrysler from 2007 to 2014 and is said to have left one day after after the company had a relatively poor showing in a Consumer Reports quality survey. It is said that Mr.Betts may be the first major automotive executive to join Apple.
Furgale is said to be hiring recruits and researchers to work with him while Apple CEO Tim Cook is also said to have hired Steve Zedesky, a veteran product designer and former Ford Motor Co. engineer, to hire a 1000 member team and recruit employees from other parts of Apple.
This initiative from Apple Inc. comes at a time when many other software companies are looking at opportunities in the automobile industry by creating software savvy, driver-less cars. Google and Uber have also been reported as developing and testing what might be called the next-gen automobiles.
Source: [tw-button size=”medium” background=”#07ABE2″ color=”” target=”_blank” link=”http://www.wsj.com/article_email/apple-hires-auto-industry-manufacturing-veteran-1437430826-lMyQjAxMTI1NjIwMDgyODA4Wj”]Wall Street Journal[/tw-button]
Samsung may be months away from launching the upcoming Galaxy Note 5, but this hasn’t stopped people from looking for a glimpse of the new phone. A new set of images has been released by a retailer that shows the colour renders for the Note 5 cases, giving us the closest look at the phone so far.
As you can see in the above image, the Galaxy Note 5 will have a curved back, just like the one we saw a few days back in a render based on leaked CAD data. The design of the new Galaxy Note could be real since the render is for a case of the phone. The cases are from the Rearth Ringke Fusion and Rearth Ringke Slim series and are already up for preorder.
The Samsung Galaxy Note 5 is likely to feature a 5.4-inch or 5.5-inch Super AMOLED display with curves on both the edges. The display is likely to also feature a 4K resolution. According to reports, the Note 5 will feature 3GB LPDDR3 DRAM, 32GB of eMMC (embedded multimedia card) along with a controller. The phone may also feature a 16MP rear camera and a 8MP secondary shooter.
