At CES 2015, Lenovo introduced the A6000 capable of taking on the likes of Xiaomi Redmi Note and the newly launched Yu Yureka. The phone has some good specs for the sub Rs.10,000 segment. But how does it rate against its competition?
Here is a comparison of specs for you to decide:
Redmi Note 4G
Specs
Lenovo A6000
Xiaomi Redmi Note 4G
YU Yureka
Display
5 inch HD IPS
5.5 inch IPS LCD
5.5 inch HD
Processor
1.2 GHz 64-bit Snapdragon 410 processor
1.6 GHz quad-core Snapdragon 400
1.5 GHz octa-core Snapdragon 615
RAM
1 GB
2 GB RAM
2 GB
Storage
8 GB
8 GB
16 GB
Expandable Upto
32 GB
64 GB
32 GB
Main Camera
8 MP
13 MP
13 MP
Front Camera
2 MP
5 MP
5 MP
Battery
2300 mAh
3100 mAh
2500mAh
Operating System
Android 4.4
Android 4.2
Cyanogen OS 11
Price
Below Rs. 10,000
Rs.9,999
Rs.8999
Overall it’s easy to come to the conclusion that Yureka’s spec sheet coupled with CyanogenMod and its attractive price give it an edge over the competition. Lenovo’s A6000 seems to lag a bit behind, but a competitive price tag might give it a chance to establish itself in the market. We just have to wait for the arrival of the A6000 to check out the final spec sheet and pricing for a final conclusion!
Microsoft is leaving no stone unturned in building its upcoming operating system Windows 10 and the company is presently working on overhauling the browser of its forthcoming Windows. According to a recent revelation, the new browser, tentatively titled ‘Spartan’, is said to have some exceptional features. These features are not contained in any other browser till date.
The first major feature of Spartan is the inking support through which Windows 10 users hold support to the web note service. Through this, users can add web pages and send notes to a friend with the help of a stylus. The personal notes written by you gets stored on a copy of the web page, which can later be seen at any browser. As all the browsers support this service, the messages can be easily be read by any of your friend or colleague using a different version or OS.
The second major advancement is the group tab feature in which users can categorize tabs as per their choice. One can split work tab from personal tab to declutter the messy screen. The company has also hinted at launching custom themes with Spartan, but they may arrive as future updates of Spartan.
COnsidering the initial presentation of Windows 10, it seems like Lumia phones are only going to get better
Another important feature of the up-and-coming web browser its assimilation with the company’s digital assistance, Cortana. Windows 10 users will be able to get information on flights, hotel bookings and other vital data in the browser. One can track a particular flight just by typing its name and all the data like departure time, arrival time and current status will appear before the user.
Unlike the previous OS by Microsoft, this time it is going to be a single browser for all platforms whether computer, handset or tablet. For the latter two devices, it will be available as an app on the Microsoft Store. It was earlier reported that Microsoft will be bringing back Internet Explorer with the Windows 10. Microsoft as well as the audience, has high hopes from the latest Windows as its preceding version. Windows 8, was a big blunder; we hope that the Windows 10, Spartan and Cortana stand up to their expectations.
Xiaomi hasn’t faced a lot of adversaries who could hold out a real challenge against it in its short duration of existence. The company creates a havoc in the minds of smartphone makers wherever it launches its products. Many companies have tried to take a shot at Xiaomi with their own products, but they haven’t been successful in causing a real dent in Xiaomi’s armour. Now Lenovo is attempting to take a shot at challenging Xiaomi’s dominance in the sub-Rs.10,000 smartphone market with the new A6000.
Lenovo launched the A6000 at CES 2015 which is being held in Las Vegas. The company has tied up with Flipkart for an exclusive partnership to sell the device. Flipkart is slowly and steadily becoming the primary destination to launch exclusive handsets online. The Indian price of the device hasn’t been declared yet but expect it to be close to the price of the Xiaomi Redmi Note.
The A6000 sports a 5 inch HD IPS display. It will get its processing from a 64-bit 1.2GHz, Snapdragon 410 processor. It holds 1GB of RAM and offers 8GB internal storage which can be expanded up to 32GB. It runs on Android 4.4 Kitkat and gets its juice from a 2300 mAh battery.
On the camera front, the device offers an 8 MP camera on the back and a 2 MP camera on the front. The specs offered on the A6000 also seem to challenge a recent arrival in the Indian smartphone market, the Yu Yureka.
Overall on the spec sheet, the A6000 looks like it could be quite a formidable opponent to the Xiaomi and YU. But both these companies have the advantage of customizable UI such as MIUI and Cyanogen, which are fast gaining popularity. So Lenovo is not going to have such an easy run in the market. But we still want to see it try because ultimately it’s the Indian consumer who wins from these affordable smartphone wars.
The South Korean electronic giant, Samsung, seems to be on a launching spree. After launching a couple of devices in the Galaxy E series – E5 and E7, and Galaxy A series – A3, A5 and A7, it seems company is not done yet. The South Korean manufacturing giant has released a new mid-range smartphone, the Galaxy Grand Max, in their domestic South Korean market.
The handset boasts a 5.25-inch 720x1280p HD TFT display. It is powered by a 1.2GHz quad-core processor with an unspecified chipset. The Android-based phone packs 1.5 GB of RAM and has 16 GB of internal storage capacity, which can be extended using a MicroSD card slot. The device sports a 13MP rear snapper and a 5MP front shooter along with wide-angle lens. The smartphone is housed by a powerful 2,500mAh battery.
The Galaxy Grand Max goes on sale starting 9th January at a price of 319,000 Won which translates to Rs. 21,200 approximately or USD $290,. However, the firm hasn’t revealed as to when it will be available in other markets, namely India
Additionally, the South Korean firm released another device in Malaysia, called the Galaxy A7. The Galaxy A7 is a comparatively better device than other phones in the A series. It has a 5.5-inch full-HD display, 64-bit Snapdragon 615 octa-core processor clocked at 1.5GHz, 2GB of RAM and 16 GB internal memory. The device is rumoured to launch in South Korea on 14th January.
Android Lollipop is one of the most significant releases from Google yet. It gave a redesigned look to Android that was long overdue. It also brought a barrage of new features including extended battery life. But even with such arduous effort that Google put into its latest mobile OS, it hasn’t found a lot of takers in the market.
According to data released by Google, Lollipop is running on less than 0.1% Android devices. Android’s last major release, the Android 4.4.4. Kitkat is on a growth path though, the operating system now runs on 39.1% of the devices. The operating system was running on 33.9% devices in December, so it grew by 5.2% in just over a month. One of the major reasons can be the boost in the number of lower-priced devices running Android Kitkat.
With less than 0.1% market share, Lollipop doesn’t even appear on the graph yet.
The leader of the Android corps of devices is still Jellybean, which accounts for different versions across the Android ecosystem. The good news, perhaps for Google is that the share of versions before Jellybean are fast disappearing from the market. In comparison to June, last year, the combined hold of OS’s before Jellybean (Froyo, Gingerbread and Ice Cream Sandwich) has gone from 35.2% down to 14.9%.
One of the biggest headache for Google has been the massive segmentation of Android OS in the market, and it seems like Kitkat and Jellybean are fast bridging that gap. Google also launched the ‘Android One‘ line of low-cost devices, to have greater control over its OS in the lower segment of the market.
Lollipop’s launch was followed by reports of bugs and that initially deterred the users from switching to the new operating system. The slow rollout process can also be blamed for the low market share of new operating system. Android’s previous version such as KitKat have also faced a slow start but did manage to gain the ground later. So we might expect a growth spurt for Android Lollipop to arrive soon.
In a time when mobile devices are gaining prominence over computer, its time for the good old computers to stand up and fight back. Intel seems to have a solution, and it’s an entire computer that fits in your hands. Meet Intel’s Compute Stick, a device that can turn your regular TV into a computer and costs just $150.
There are at present many devices such as Google’s Chromecast and Amazon Fire Stick that provide streaming services, but the Compute Stick goes a little further. This device plugs into the HDMI port of your television and transforms it into a computer. It is available in Windows and Linux variants. The Linux variant comes at a price of $89.
The Windows version of the Compute Stick comes with 2 GB RAM and 32 GB Flash storage. On the other hand, the Linux version comes with 1 GB RAM and 8GB storage. Both devices are powered by a quad-core Atom CPU.
The stick sports a USB port, micro USB port, and supports Bluetooth 4.0, and 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi. You can connect a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse and begin your task where ever you go. The company claims that this will help in bringing low-cost computing to schools, institutions and individuals too.
The device will come to market in March and is a good option if you own an HDMI capable TV and are in need of a low-cost computer. You should, though, know that this is no-frills computing and don’t expect to play any high-quality games on it. Intel plans to bring an upgrade to the device that will feature a Core M processor to increase performance. In our view, what it should really provide is storage expansion through a micro SD card, as 32 GB is comparatively less for modern computing needs. Overall, this looks like a great effort by Intel.
The year 2014 was the year the smartwatch gained prominence in pop culture. Samsung, LG, Motorola along with Asus and others brought their models in the market. On the operating system front, most of the watches have gone for the Android Wear OS. Samsung has gone with its own Tizen OS for its smartwatch lineup; the only exception is the Gear live which was unveiled last year at Google I/O. Now LG has unveiled a prototype of new smartwatch that runs on webOS.
LG’s new Smartwatch almost looks like the G Watch R that it released last year. It has a circular display which is more wrist and eye-friendly than the rectangular clock faces we have seen in the market. The patterned leather along with the machined crown and buttons give the watch a premium look.
The circular UI does look user friendly. (Source: TheVerge)
But the real revelation is what is on the inside. Observing a few demos, it is quite clear that the WebOS running on the device is user-friendly. It was Palm that originally developed the OS and later sold it to HP that subsequently sold it to LG. LG has inducted the OS in its Smart TV line-up making it quite easy to use and navigate. Even on this prototype smartwatch the OS seems to perform quite efficiently.
The menu options are presented in a circular dial fashion where all icons can be rotated around. Unlike the Moto 360 where the edges of the display gets slightly cropped, this smartwatch has an OS that is tailored for a round display. The device also packs a phone dialer. The feature that might help it find a lot of premium consumers is its ability to unlock an Audi door lock using NFC. The company plans to bring a webOS powered smartwatch lineup by next year.
Overall this prototype webOS smartwatch looks like a good effort on the part of LG. Android wear is still in its initial stage and considering the massive support it has from Google, it will stand as a formidable opponent to any OS in the industry. Apple Watch too is bound for the market in a few months. It seems like the Smartwatch market is finally ready to shed its infancy and ready to be recognized as a valid consumer technology.
The smartphone market is getting more and more competitive every passing day. Few months back, Samsung brought out the edgy new Galaxy Note Edge that was a class apart from the other handsets available in the market. Its unique feature was the sloping display on the right-hand side. However, LG seems to take over the Note Edge market with its 6-inch device with bending OLED display on both sides.
Well, LG moved a step ahead and presented an example of supreme leadership at the ongoing CES 2015. The smartphone stole the audience of the Note Edge and acquired a huge crowd gathering at the show. Although the futuristic device has a 6-inch display which is difficult to manage as the edge display presses accidently at times, but its extra peril on the side screen will help users navigate their way through the phone.
Another known feature about the device is its 1280x720p screen resolution, which could have been better. No other specifications about the phone have yet been disclosed, other than the fact that it’s 0.7 mm thick. The P-OLED technology was first used by LG itself on its G Flex smartphone, which was then carried by G Flex2 as well, showcased at the event.
The LG Director of Corporate Communications Ken Hong hinted at the successor of LG G3, tentatively titled G4. Hong commented about the same –
I think we will [experiment with our high-end phones]. I think we have to. If you look at the specs only, there are other competitors with similar-spec phones. How do you stand out in that pile if you’re not doing something different? I don’t think we are going to be able to sit back and expect people are just going to fawn over the G4, or whatever the name will be, just because they liked the G3. I don’t think it works that way anymore. I don’t think people are as loyal on the Android side as they are on the iOS side, so you really have to win every customer with your products.
It’s true that LG has disclosed a surprise which it was preserving for the big day, but if it would be able to hold a strong position in the market with contenders around, only time will tell!
The Canadian telecommunication giant BlackBerry was on the verge of disappearing, but its last year’s release BlackBerry Passport bought the company some time. The last month’s release BlackBerry Classic received a lukewarm response from the international audience and now, it is set to launch in the Indian subcontinent.
According to a recent disclosure, it is confirmed that the company will roll out the Classic in India on 15th of this month. BlackBerry has sent out the media invites for the launch of the phone which reads, “Join us to witness the unveiling of the new BlackBerry 10.” The text is followed by another statement, “Serious Mobility for Serious Business.”
As far as its specifications are concerned, the Classic flaunts a 3.5-inch display with 720×720 pixels resolution. The device is powered by a 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4 dual-core processor and comes along with 2 GB of RAM. The handset runs on the company’s own software BB OS 10, but provides access to Google Play Store and Amazon app store. On the camera front, it sports an 8MP rear snapper along with a 2MP shooter upfront to capture selfies. The phone gets its juice from a 2,512mAh battery. However, there is no word about its price, it is expected to cost somewhere around Rs. 30,000.
The CEO of the company, John Chen, stated that the firm will focus on the business and will not come with a lot many devices. John commented:
BlackBerry will launch fewer devices and focus on profitability.
As it’s clearly evident from the picture itself, the company has moved back to its roots with the reintroduction of the QWERTY keypad. The firm earlier tried its hands in the touch screen arena with the BlackBerry Z3 announced in May 2014, but failed to make a mark in the crowded smartphone market.
As BlackBerry has restored its look with the new Classic, it’s likely to get a good response from its fans. Check out the video below to get an insite of the phone:
Yu by definition is supposed to mean “you”, which when Micromax decided to launch a new company was intended to make devices more personal for the users. Hence the company chose to go with Cyanogen, even though they decided to procure and rebrand devices like they used to in the past.
But what is Yu intended for? Is it really a way for Micromax to change their company’s brand value and appeal to a younger and much more aware online generation, or is it just a way of seeking vendetta against Micromax’s newest enemies: New Chinese entrants like Xiaomi, OnePlus and even Gionee.
5 MP Front Camera
We’re aware of the fact that Micromax is selling the Yu Yureka at a massive loss of Rs. 2000-2500 per handset sold in India. Micromax is buying the hardware for around Rs. 8300 and they are paying Cyanogen royalties, apart from the massive one time exclusivity deal they did with the company before launch, which led to the temporary ban of the OnePlus One in India. Not to mention import duties, shipping, Amazon’s fee etc.
Micromax also got the YU into the limelight by playing politics and getting “free media controversy” over the ban of the OnePlus One sale in India.
After all that, the Yu Yureka will sell for Rs. 8999 on 13th of January 2015, and our review will tell you whether or not you should be getting in line to get this device.
Hardware
In terms of hardware the Yureka is pretty great, in fact the closest devices in terms of hardware cost double and don’t feature the same performance standards as the Yureka. Cameras are a high 13 MP and 5 MP combination, which does work well.
Over at the front, garnering a great amount of resolution, is the 1280 x 720p display in all its 5.5-inch glory. The display is bright and easily visible outdoors. On the inside is the intriguing Snapdragon 615 CPU + Adreno 405 GPU combination which fails to satisfy us, although, for the price you couldn’t ask for much more.
The Phone supports USB OTG, with the use of a micro USB to USB adapter (which is not included). Interesting to note, is that the USB storage shows up, but you need third party filing software to access it. Apps cannot be moved to the SD card, not in the handset’s current software layout. So you are stuck with about 11-12 GB of space for Apps, which is a serious let down.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 615
Specs
Yu Yureka
Display
5.5 inch IPS LCD
720×1280 px
Gorilla Glass 3
RAM
2 GB
Storage
16 GB – (12 GB free)
Battery
2500 mAh
Processor
Qualcomm Snapdragon 615
CPU
1.5GHz Octa-core
GPU
Adreno 405
Front Camera
5 MP
Rear Camera
13 MP
Price (Click for Updated Pricing)
Rs. 8,999
Special Features
Cyanogen OS 11
Build Quality and Design
The thing about buying devices from vendors is that you have no control over build quality. While Micromax has seen some great built phones like the Canvas HD and most of the relative series, we have also seen especially poor phones like the Canvas 4 Plus which was a blatant copy of the iPhone and well, it bent too.
However the Yu Yureka, is not a Micromax product, or atleast that is what they want us to believe, as they elaborately set up new dominions and a new company in an exercise to get rid of their past. Well fret not Micromax, because the Yureka is different in many ways however it’s also the same in many.
2500 mAhBattery
The device already exists in other markets with a different name, and Yu plays no real role in the design of the hardware, except probably plastering some logos, and naming the standard black variant the never-heard “MoonStone” finish. (Wow ! Really? ). All new nomenclature aside, the built is pretty good, the finish on the back is no where near the “Sandstone” that you will find on the OnePlus One, however it is clean and well defined and feels great in the hand.
The bezel does not stick up a lot from the edge and this may be a problem for a lot of folks, who drop their phones on the frequent. The front does feature Gorilla Glass 3 so you will get some persistent protection.
Design-wise the phone will not win any awards, but it’s not a poor looker, in fact it can become quite the eye candy. The edges are nice and rounded well and the feel and finish of the product in hand is premium to say the least. Remember this is a Rs. 9,000 product we are talking about, and using words like “premium” is far from our usual banter.
Performance and Gaming
The Yureka is a workhorse in your pocket, and each time something like that appears from a company like Micromax (Sorry “YU”), we recall the toasty Micromax Canvas Knight, which was easily the best product to buy if you were short of a egg frying pan.
The Yureka is not that product. Heck the Yureka is easy to hold in the hands and disperses heat well. The extensive use of plastic also probably aids in the isolation of heat from the hands of the user.
As far as performance is concerned we were elated to see benchmark scores from the Yu Yureka easily match expensive devices for one quarter of the price. However no where near that of Xiaomi Mi3, OnePlus One and the Note 4 as it stands at present.
Games run happy, however the Adreno 405 doesn’t do much justice to high end gaming. The CPU is designed to leverage the 64 bit architecture which will enable better performance in the future and once the whole eco-system runs on it. For now gaming is still good, and blows away most of its present competition.
Network and Battery Life
The Network connectivity is fabulous, signals are strong and voice quality is impressive from the handset. The tower to tower jump is a bit sketchy so you will face call drops on the go.
The brilliant thing is the fact that the handset does LTE based on networks that will eventually launch in India. So for a price of under 10k this is a strong contender if you are looking for a future safe investment. However as many have pointed out, LTE may not be a prerequisite of those aiming for a new device in this price bracket. We say that it’s a fantastic add-on to have, and will aid in better connectivity in the future so why not get the extra benefits. And hey, once you do want LTE, you won’t need to switch phones.
Battery life is average or slightly better than. We saw the handset run a full day, however if you have had a busy day and have been receiving calls on both sim cards you might need to charge, atleast once in the late-evening. That being said we got 5-6 hours of screen on time from the Yu Yureka, which is excellent.
Talk Time : 7-8 Hours.
Music : 10 Hours
Internet Usage : 5.5- 6 Hours
Multimedia and Gaming : 4 Hours.
13 MP Rear Camera
Camera
The Camera like many-a Micromax devices in the past is mostly talk and no real action. The rear camera will impress in outdoor and well lit conditions, images captured and saved are not compressed well, which may be a doing of the build of Cyanogen on the Yureka, thus resulting in unwanted noise on the dark spectrum of the range.
Results are unwieldy in poor or low light situations where sometimes the images are decent while sometimes they are unusable. The shutter is no where as fast as that on the OnePlus One, but the camera app includes almost all the features sans the 4K video capture.
Samples
You do get 1080p on the rear camera while the front camera is limited to 720p. The rear camera will also capture double the frame rate i.e. 60fps but only at 720p. Video is decent but tends to be shaky since there are no stabilization features in the handset, electronic or otherwise.
Advantage: Cyanogen’s camera app has the extensive availability of customizations, including filters, face detection features, continuous focus, time lapse all built in.
Multimedia
The display is excellent indoors and outdoors, the resolution of 720p is considered good for the price bracket and the IPS panel significantly improves on the viewing angles. Touch response is commendable and the color reproduction is good as well.
Speaker is Muffled
The speakers are tiny and quiet, sort of muffled, as if there might be a piece of tape on the inside, left by mistake (we checked and there isn’t any.) The speaker is just not loud enough and that is something most buyers will have to look past. The included earphones are usable but will not enhance the audio in any way. The audio output from the headphone jack is loud and rightly mixed, when tied with good quality headphones. The headphones we tried the Yureka with cost several times more than the handset itself. However, feel free to use your own favorite pair, and they should work just as well.
Cyanogen
We saw it simply laid out when we were extensively testing the OnePlus One, the reason why that device rocked all the mobile lovers’ world was the right mix of hardware and software at that price. Yu Yureka is attempting to do that at half the price and in our opinion it is winning. The handset and UI is buttery smooth; you glide and slide through windows and apps, withough much ado. The mix of a very well developed build of Android “Cyanogen” the hardware, including all 2 GB of Random Access Memory, is working in sync with the software.
Cyanogen is one of, if not the only, largest developer supported builds of Android, and it’s only growing by the day. The Cyanogen team has shown promise with their builds in the past and they showed excellence with the OnePlus One.
The Yu Yureka does not fall short of the experience, and offers all the same customizations, albeit lacking a few of the features that for the time remain restricted to the OnePlus handsets, like gesture actions and quick launching shortcuts which can be easily enabled.
The image compression is not that great, however the front camera images are saved in a less noisy format when compared to similar images from the OnePlus One, which may be a definite win. (Selfie Time!)
YU forums will also help the company deal with everyday problems by letting people discuss their issues amongst each other, help in bug detection and elimination. And build a cult around the device which will enable future loyalty towards the brand.
YU Forum
Conclusion
Despite numerous efforts from our Northerly neighbors and companies like Xiaomi and OnePlus, with their “flash sale” systems and invite-only buying options, the Indian powerhouse Micromax has shown us that they are still the king in their own domain. However, and a big doubt here, the phone is being sold for a loss, and that too a major one, only to piss off the competition. Only to win back the market share that they have been losing. All this without hurting their current partners and networks.
If Micromax was to sell ‘online only’ devices which would be available exclusively through select Online E-commerce websites, the company would seriously jeopardize its retail network, ensuring a boycott of the brand and a loss of a strong foothold in non-online markets, which is still a large chunk (over 80 % believe it or not). Micromax tried it with the Nitro and faced huge backlash.
So how does Micromax deal with the threat of new “cheaper”- “Online Exclusive” brands without hurting its strong retail market presence. Simple : Lets form a new company! Hence, YU is born. It solves the problem for Micromax on many levels; it makes the parent company more viable for investors. It can build better trust for its customers from the get go (unlike Micromax and its service fiasco) and it can keep the competition at bay, all this without hurting the Micromax Retail network : Win Win! Right?
Wrong!
Let’s talk about the handset, like many other handsets in the past, the Yu Yureka is excellent for the time it has been launched in, and for the price it has been launched at. The Yureka looks impressive, is built well, performs efficiently while delivering good network capabilities and better than acceptable battery life. All this while being future proof for India – with the LTE capabilities and all that it promises under the hood and inside of the glamorous package.
But there are a lot of future promises that will help us determine the real fate of this handset. A lot of Questions still need answering – Will it really get software updates? Will the company remove its loss margin and add a profit margin after selling a lakh or two handsets? Will Indian people buy into the forum culture the same way the Chinese, American and European have?
Yu Yureka comes with door delivery service and support. Will it be possible for Micromax/Yu to cater to the large numbers, if there are problems with the handset?
We do not know the answer to so many questions, what we do know is that the Yu may be one of the best devices to get under the Rs. 10,000 price bracket. And that too, without causing much worry to the buyer. If you are not looking into developer options and don’t care much for the extra frills, then at this price the Yu Yureka becomes the undefeated champion without entering the ring officially.
The handset has the potential to set a record, a benchmark of sorts for India, something that will show on a Global scale that our country and its manufacturers can match up to global standards. We said it before, if anyone could do it it was Micromax! But can they?
The ball is in your court : YU! the world awaits. While India waits in line to buy your handset.
FLIR is the company which specialises in making thermal image sensors. The company works from consumer level all the way up to military defense. Last year they brought an innovative back cover for iPhones that let them take thermal images. But ever since Apple went ahead and stretched out the size of its iPhone line-up, it became evident that FLIR had to take a new course of action to revive its market.
So this year at CES, FLIR has come with a new gadget that works with just about any smartphone device. The FLIR One attachment can be plugged into a lighting port for Apple devices and the micro USB port for the Android devices. The variant seems more convenient than its previous generation as you have the option of using the device only when you need it.
The device comes with its own internal battery so it doesn’t suck in the precious juice from your smartphone. Thermal camera in itself is not capable of capturing detailed images and so FLIR One has two cameras. One called the Lepton camera which shoots thermal images while a standard camera that shoots a normal image. Then both the images are blended together to give a better thermal image output.
Thermal cameras let you see the world with a new perspective. This device is not just for educational and entertainment purpose but can also come handy in day to day life. You can use it to find the rodent or insects hiding inside your walls or even finding pets lost in the woods.
The new FLIR One is expected to come into the market by the mid-2015 and is expected to be priced close to its predecessor at $350.
Future looks quite promising for wearables as prominent manufacturers have shown a renewed interest in the wearable segment. Intel being the latest to jump onto the wearable bandwagon, as the company’s CEO Brian Krzanic announced a new tiny chipset for wearable devices which is the size of a coat button. It’s a low power 32 bit micro controller called the Quark SE which has 384kb of flash memory and 80kb SRAM. In addition, the chipset also features a plethora of sensors including accelerometer, gyroscope and Bluetooth LE support.
CEO Brian Kraznic with the Intel Curie Prototype
Intel also announced a development module called Curie, that will allow companies to manufacture wearable devices out of anything. Krazinch claimed that with Curie and Quark, one could build a wearable device out of anything from rings to handbags, pendants and even glasses.
Intel seems all geared up to speed up the development of Curie based devices. It is providing complete software and technical support needed to work with its reference wearable applications called Intel IQ Software Kit. The company believes it will help customers across all demographics, including fashion, sports and lifestyle companies.
Dr.Dre, Jimmy Lovine celebrated publicly on the acquisition of their audio company, Beats by Apple for a sum of $3 Billion. Beats has grown strong since its inception and with massive celebrity endorsements, these expensive (some may consider overpriced) headphones have been selling like hot cakes. Beats now commands over half of US headphone market worth $1 Billion. But now the company has run into legal troubles with Monster, which originally created the technology behind the Beats headphones.
Monster has been in the audio business since Noel Lee, an engineer and self professed audiophile founded the company in 1979. Since then it has grown to become a respectable audio brand. In 2008, Noel’s son Kevin Lee met Jimmy Lovine as he was looking for partners for a new line of prototype headphones. Jimmy brought Dr.Dre along on the deal and hence Beats audio came into existence. During the signing of the agreement, Monster gave permanent ownership rights to everything under the Beats brand name to Jimmy and Dr.Dre. This meant that even though the technology and designs were created by Monster, it was the Beats team who would reap the profits.
In 2011, HTC bought 51% stake in Beats which fetched Dr. Dre and Jimmy Lovine about $100 million each. Beats and Monster parted ways in 2012, the reason cited internally was ‘financial disagreement’. Now Monster is alleging that the team at Beats is actively trying to erase the contribution of Monster in the making of the successful brand.
Beats has fast grown to become the preferred audio brand for about half of the US market.
In the complaint filed at Superior Court in San Mateo County, Califorinia, Monster alleges that Beats basically robbed Mr. Lee out of his invention. During the HTC deal a change-of-ownership clause was added which meant that all intellectual property such as technology and designs were to be transferred to Beats brand. After the deal Monster CEO Noel Lee’s stake in Beats was reduced from 5% to 1.25%.
Monster has also called the HTC deal a sham, orchestrated by Dre and Lovine to cease control of the company. It is asserted in the complaint that Beats repurchased 25.5% of its own shares from HTC less than a month after the deal closed. HTC also sold back the shares of Beats in 2013 which made the complaint sound genuine but we’d rather the judge decide on the verdict.
Beats most major gain came when last year Apple acquired it for $3 Billion. It’s major focus is on the Beats music service as it tries to take on new generation competitors such as Pandora and Spotify. Apple hasn’t been named as a defendant in the case. It is alleged though that during the deal, the role of Monster in creation of the Beats brand was concealed. It is said that months before the Apple deal Mr.Lee was misled to sell his shares as he was told that there was no “liquidity event” on the horizon for the next year or two.
This case, if for anything shows the fierce nature of the technology industry. Here knowledge is power, but legal clauses are more powerful as they might make you compete against your own creation, as Monster has to now compete with Beats products. So it is important to not just be a good innovator, but also a good businessman!
With almost all companies showing off their best innovations in the ongoing Consumer Electronic Show, the Cupertino-based giant Apple is geared to showcase its best product. The company is reportedly working on a prototype of the new MacBook Air, which will be launched in 2015. The upcoming 12-inch Air will be even thinner than its predecessors; believe it if you can!
An authentic source 9to5mac has unwrapped some external details of the forthcoming Mac. It said that the new offering from the company will be completely resigned and will feature full-sized USB ports, MagSafe connectors, and SD card slots.
Internally termed as “MacBook Stealth”, the 12-inch MacBook will be entirely revamped. The keypad is modified and the new keypad sits edge-to-edge to the width of the laptop. Each key is relatively closer and some keys are relocated in order to make the laptop narrow. Above the keyboard, there are four speaker grills that are redesigned to act as ventilation holes to help cool the fan-less model. Furthermore, there will be alternations in trackpad and speakers once it reaches the end-consumers.
The upcoming Air will house comparatively lesser number of ports than the previous versions. There is just one USB Type-C port at the left and a standard headphone jack along with dual microphones on the right-hand side. The USB Type-C port is said to be smaller, more capable and faster than the USB 2.0 and 3.0 ports embedded on the present models. If the latest specifications from the USB foundation are to be believed, then the USB Type-C port cannot only transfer data but can also charge the device, making the MagSafe plugs unnecessary on the new machine.
According to the source, the 12-inch MacBook Air will be approximately 0.25-inch narrower than the 11-inch model and of course, would be a bit taller. The thickness reduction is to a bare minimum, but it is a nice move to fascinate potential market.
Internal specifications of the laptop are yet not revealed. There are possibilities that Apple may bring out this new version in gray colour as it has done with its recent offerings. However, there is no notification about when the new Air will roll out; although rumours reveal that it will be shipped in mid-2015.
Xiaomi is in a bit of a legal tussle with Swedish communication giant Ericsson. The Chinese smartphone maker was banned by the Delhi High Court(DHC) on a patent infringement complaint by Ericsson. The court later allowed the company to sell devices with Qualcomm chipsets until January 8th. Xiaomi is making the best of this sale period afforded to it by the DHC and brought huge stocks for its flash sale today.
According to the companies official FB page they had 50,000 handsets of the Redmi Note 4G and 40,000 pieces of the Redmi 1S. This was the first time the company brought two devices for a flash sale in a single day and the reason is pretty apparent, its the ban that starts from January 9th.
50000 Redmi Note 4G were sold in 5 Seconds
40000 Redmi 1S were sold in 4 Seconds
As usual only only folks who registered yesterday, the 5th of January were allowed to participate in the sale. The flash sale for the Redmi Note 4G was scheduled at 2 PM whereas the Redmi 1S sale was scheduled at 5 PM.
According to Xiaomi India head Manu Kumar Jain, the Redmi Note 4G went out of stock in just 5 seconds. He also added that there were more that 5,00,000 registration for todays sale.
Today’s sales of Redmi Note 4G: went out of stock within 5 seconds. Thank you Mi fans for your awesome support. @MiIndiaOfficial
The Redmi 1S which went on sale at 5.00 PM too went out of stock almost immediately. According to Manu Jain, it went off the shelves in 4 seconds. Today’s sale shows that the interest in the handsets by Xiaomi hasn’t waned much in India. The company is growing strong worldwide and its strategy of providing high quality specs through online flash sales have really paid off.
Today’s sales of Redmi 1S: went out of stock within 4 seconds. Thank you Mi fans for your love and support. @MiIndiaOfficial — Manu Kumar Jain (@manukumarjain) January 6, 2015
The next sale is listed to be held on January 13 which is still tentative as the ban on the sale of the devices begins starting January 9th. The High Court of Delhi has set a date of hearing on February 5th 2015. The company now has a big fan base in India and it will be disappointing news for the company if it loses on such a giant market.
Update: Xiaomi has reported later that due to unforeseen logistic delays they were only able to bring 20,000 units of the Redmi 1S for yesterday’s sale.
, and our review will tell you whether or not you should be getting in line to get this device.
